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kurt-wagner-official · 2 years ago

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Post #61: Nightcrawler issues 1-4

Other than Giant-Size X-Men and Secret Wars, this miniseries is the first thing I've read that isn't written by Claremont. Unlike those, however, this isn't required reading, but I want to read it and it's obviously relevant to the character. It's written and drawn by Dave Cockrum, one of the few collaborators that Claremont actually likes and listens to, so it fits in well with the main series. I've never actually read this series, but I know this is where real life Bamfs are introduced. At the start, Kurt is exercising in the Danger Room, and then tells Kitty and Illyana a story about Bizarre Adventures 27, another book I haven't read. But that's okay, cause it all gets recapped here: Kurt and the Vanisher, another teleporter, were trapped in another dimension where their teleportation powers didn't work. They escaped through the Well at the Center of Time, a magic portal that exists in all dimensions. Kitty makes a hologram of the well, but because it exists everywhere she accidentally summons the real well, and a flying squid comes out, grabs Kurt and Lockheed, and flies back in. This has all been very contrived exposition to get us to the plot, which is Kurt and Lockheed being stranded in another dimension full of weird aliens. They start off by fighting off the squid and landing on a flying alien pirate ship. The crew mistakes Kurt for a boggie, which is apparently a creature in this world, but he introduces himself and joins the crew. He has fun for a few days, but when they meet another ship carrying a princess and open fire, Kurt realizes these are actual pirates. He takes out their weapons and ports to the other ship. They also think he's a boggie, but he explains the situation. They still think he's a boggie, but they agree to give him a ride to a city. When he gets there, he finds everyone in the world hates boggies, and they all think Lockheed is a bander-snitch, so they have a hard time finding any leads on a way home. They're then attacked by the pirates from the beginning, who as revenge sell them into slavery aboard another ship, this one hung under a giant squid and captained by a shark looking guy named Shagreen the sorcerer.

Shagreen takes his slaves to L'un Dun-t'wn, his evil fortress. He casts a spell to block Kurt's powers and plans to dissect him to learn about teleportation, and he's also kidnapped the princess from earlier for some other evil reason. The pirates who sold Kurt learn about this part and decide to go kidnap her back to ransom her themselves. Meanwhile, Kurt is rescued by the real boggies, teleporting creatures who look like Kurt but smaller and more demonic. They tell Kurt that Shagreen is going to sacrifice the princess for more evil magic, but if Kurt destroys his object of power it'll lift the teleportation block and they can all escape. Kurt destroys the staff, but the evil lair starts disintegrating and Shagreen flees with the princess. Kurt ports after him onto his ship and sword fights him. Kurt with pirate swords is always fun, and I think this is the first time he's actually used them outside of fairy tales and Kulan Gath related fantasies. The duel ends with Lockheed knocking Shagreen off the boat and the pirates catching up. Kurt convinces them to accept a reward for the princess's safety rather than a ransom, and he's named a knight of the realm by the princess's father. Everything seems to be going well until, back in the Danger Room, Kitty and Illyana try to recreate the well (for time travel reasons, it's only been a few minutes for them). They do open a portal, but it just pulls Kurt and Lockheed into another dimension, where they meet a Bamf.

Kurt and Lockheed are in the actual dimension from Kitty's fairytale, which I did not see coming. Kurt is baffled as he's introduced to the island of Bamfs, who all think he's their father. Suddenly Shagreen appears, somehow alive and in this world, and he kidnaps all the Bamfs except one and runs off, telling Kurt to come to his new lair and give himself up if he wants to save them. The Bamf calls his friends giant Lockheed, Pirate Kitty, Colossus, and the Fiend, who give them a lift over the ocean to Shagreen's evil lair. On the way, Kurt tells them about his world and they all ponder multiverse theory, which at the time was a pretty new addition to the Marvel Comics world. When they get there, however, they're picked off one by one by Shagreen's minions. Shagreen kidnaps them and cackles evilly about how they're doomed.

The only one to avoid being kidnapped is the Bamf, because Kitty and Illyana accidentally teleported him back to their world before quickly reversing it. He goes to the dungeons and starts a Bamf revolution. Windrider the genie shows up to help her friends, and at one point Kitty accidentally teleports herself into the battle and back with Lockheed. In the end, Kurt smashes Shagreen's staff again, which opens another portal and pulls him into a world of dinosaur cowboys. It activates again, and he's back in the dimension he went to with Vanisher a while ago. One of the people there says he still has magic energy left in him from last time he was there, which is why the real well was accidentally conjured. As for why Shagreen was teleported with him, she says some vague nonsense about Kurt's will having power over dimensions due to the leftover magic inside him. He's able to burn up the rest of that magic by teleporting home, ending the adventure. He has a sweet reunion with Kitty before the two of them, Illyana, and Lockheed go get some cookies.

The beginning and ending of this series made absolutely no sense, but that's fine cause it was really just a framing device for some weird fun fantasy stuff. Kurt doesn't learn anything or grow as a person, and if it weren't for Bamfs returning way later you could argue this series isn't canon. But it was really fun to read, and that's all they were going for. Cockrum isn't my favorite artist for some of these characters, but I love how he draws Kurt, and he has a good voice for him. Also, part of the reason why these paragraphs were short is that this was actually a very funny book, and a lot of it was just jokes, which would not be funny at all if I wrote them down here. It's been a while since the last lighthearted story, so I'm glad this mini exists.

#wes reads xmen

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justanie · 5 months ago

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I SO agree with everything you've said.

I'm not saying I'm against the current fans of the few that are in the Fandom, but god, I can't agree with this opinion they have that "Oh, if only the writers knew how to take advantage of her better" "she's the most underrated character in the Serie". I can give them a point in the first example, but it cracks me so much they say that Karmi is "unfairly hated" when, in her time, everyone loved Karmi the most, without giving a shit about the character that the series made explicit in her introduction and closing.

It depends on what plans the Staff had, Karmi and Karmiro is a great example of how NOT to write an "Enemies to Lovers". I mean that in the sense that, if that was the creators' intention, they would have taken Karmi more seriously...they just left us with the only development of her being "Despise and humiliate Hiro/Unhealthily harass Captain Cutie" Every time there was a chapter focused on her, I hated the Downgrade of the characters under her presence. In other chapters we see Gramville encouraging Hiro to do his best and his friends worry about his safety and health ("Bot Fight" is an example of this), but it only takes Karmi to enter the scene and they start licking her paws with arguments as incomprehensible as "Ow Hiro, learn to tolerate her/she's just having fun/You're good at your things and she's good at her things" (We are talking about students who have been in the SFIT for a long time and surely knew Karmi's real nature, they did nothing to defend Hiro every time he crossed paths with her).

Another Chapter that I want to highlight from all these aspects discussed is in "Big Problem" (the introduction of 'Liv Amada'):

There are so many things that are wrong, first of all, it was Gramville who made the announcement that Liv was going to have an interview with Hiro and only him about Baymax (if we ignore the second season and the real Liv that we saw throughout the series, we are Speaking of a robot designed to help whoever needs it, with all the general knowledge that has to do with medicine and psychology, the Baymax! miniseries is an example of what we could see before if Liv had accepted it in the first place). There is no Some logical or valid argument as to why Liv rejected Baymax out of hand when Hiro told her that "His brother built him". All so that Karmi is once again the star of the show with her paralyzing-crystal gen-edition that stole Liv's attention without even having permission from Gramville to approach her, and she does nothing, she just says "The green doesn't suit you, Mr. Hamada" and never showed empathy that date SHE announced was canceled because of a paralyzing sticker that doesn't compare to anything in Baymax's performance. The second thing we see is again the team's negligence and lack of appreciation towards Hiro, assuming that he is jealous when he had every right to be angry when he was ignored by Liv, disappointment does not equal jealousy, their only advice is to "accept that Hiro will have his moment to shine when his feats are recognized" but they ignore that Baymax was not only a robotics work, there was biology too, so in effect and all this time Baymax was always of biotechnological use, the area that Liv and Karmi specialize.

And that's it, we never saw Karmi receiving a real lesson/being denigrated since it is Hiro who must learn, a bad teaching to the public. And like Karmi's other appearances, it is letting the aggressor get away with it and the victim must tolerate it, Disney influences a bad message for its general audience, which is children, and no one is/was aware of the damage Karmi really caused.

my personal beliefs on why hiro is a victim.

YAP SESSION WARNING ⚠️‼️‼️

let me just clear up one thing before anyone decides to attack me. I am not saying that karmi has sexually assaulted or abused hiro (if that’s what anyone’s thinking when they hear the term victim), but I am saying that karmi has emotionally abused hiro with her stalker tendencies. karmi is known throughout the show to absolutely hate hiro’s guts, yet at the same time, she crushes over hiro’s superhero alter ego, also known as captain cutie. karmi constantly shames and makes fun of hiro every moment she gets, but when she sees his superhero form, she instantly gets all lovey-dovey and starts to do stuff that makes him uncomfortable, such as chasing him with love letters. nobody does anything about it. instead, they all cherish and love karmi and then proceed to not give two shits about hiro. take fan friction as an example. in fan friction, karmi writes self insert fanfiction about captain cutie, and when hiro finds out about it, he’s rightfully uncomfortable. he tries to tell his friends that he’s uncomfortable with it, but instead, they excuse it off as “just having fun”. hell even the students at hiro’s college call karmi “lucky” because they think that they’re actually dating, which only makes him even more uncomfortable. in the end, hiro gets pressured into satisfying karmi’s ego by changing their superhero names into the ones she picked out for her fanfic, even though he literally didn’t want to. need another example? prey date. in prey date, karmi gets mad at hiro for being in the labs, and she’s also seen embarrassed being around him. yet as soon as captain cutie shows up, she gets all lovey-dovey again and cuddles up with him, which hiro is shown to be uncomfortable with karmi doing this. also, karmi literally tries HITTING hiro when he instructs her to stay in the lab, which I shouldn’t have to explain why that is wrong. if you STILL need an example after this, then take issue 188 as an example too. in issue 188, hiro gets introduced to karmi, and karmi is automatically a bitch towards hiro because she took her spot as the youngest student to transfer to hiro’s college. yet, she doesn’t want granville to know because otherwise, she’d get in trouble. hiro tries to tell gogo about it, but she shrugs it off as hiro’s fault because he “took her thing”. later on in the episode, karmi is seen crushing on a picture of captain cutie. hiro says hi to karmi, and karmi instantly starts making fun of him in a way that makes him uncomfortable, saying that he has a crush on her when he really doesn’t. he then brings up the fact that karmi is crushing on a picture of captain cutie, aka him, and she starts acting creepy with him, saying stuff that makes him even more uncomfortable, and he ends up walking away. it doesn’t help that at the end of the episode, she gets away with makimg hiro’s life a living hell by comtinuing to say that he has a crush on her and by crushing on captain cutie. this just shows how much of a creep and a bitch karmi acts towards hiro, and it also shows that hiro’s “friends” really don’t care about hiro. that’s what makes hiro a victim.

#karmi #karmiro #hiro hamada #big hero 6 #bh6 the series #big hero six the series #big hero 6 the series #bh6 #unpopular opinion

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parkers-gal · 4 years ago

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masterlist

requests | closed to complete current requests <3

last updated | aug 5th, 2021

do not repost my work anywhere !! respect this please. | fics are not ordered in any particular way. these headers are mine so pls don’t use/take them

tom holland

insomnia - reader can’t get to sleep; tom finds out why

driving in the rain - fluffy dinner date and rainy drive back home

workouts and warmth - when all tom wants is some after-workout cuddles

from across the living room - announcing your engagement to your families

the one - you want to move out and get your own place as a couple, but tom doesn’t. nikki talks to him.

anything for the twins - tom massages reader’s boobies during her period

moms, makeouts, and mishaps - nikki walks in during your makeout sesh

simple acts of intimacy - a fluffy 3.1k words worth of blurbs

silver surprises - the reader surprises tom at a premiere

twenty questions - questions ensue after tom & reader get stuck in an elevator

my gut - spinoff of twenty questions with claustrophobic!reader (tw/ anxiety + attacks)

stealth mode - tom & reader scaring each other

unicorns vs pegasuses - tom shuts the reader up by kissing them

a good story - tom meets reader at a meet & greet — friendships blossom to lovers

deal breaker - tom wants kids, but the reader does not

his lap - reader asks for help in overcoming an insecurity; tom misreads the situation

pool day - pool day w/ tom + the boys

hot - the reader picks a certain song that reminds her of tom - the boys go wild

grounded by rocks - tom talks about you in an interview for cherry

your hands - when all he wants is a simple head massage

late flights - in which tom takes too much time with the fans

nobody wanted to - where only one person makes it out alive

way more than 50 - the hollands trick the reader into thinking they did something they weren’t supposed to

why [ pt ii ] - sweet cupcakes, and a not so sweet breakup

what looks suspicious - nikki doesn’t exactly approve of tom dating the reader

something sweet - reader drops off small gifts while tom’s on set

he remembers - when tom finds the letter

missed you - reuniting w/tom after four long months

soft gangsta - tom tries to dress edgy; the reader is unconvinced

the shoe game - reader & tom play the shoe game at their wedding

too much - when the reader has a rough time with work, tom comforts them

losing grip [ pt ii ] - a losing battle between the reader and a hereditary disease causes heartbreak

your captain america - protective!tom holland of young reader (age gap)

sexy genius - reader is a fan of (and meets) jake gyllenhaal

teddy bear cuddles - tom wears an oversized hoodie

nonsense - the boys think the reader is meddling with tom’s work

circles before yourself - rule #2 - osterfield!reader gets caught with tom

seventeen times - when the reader is having a hard time in lock down, tom tries to help (TW // depression)

pixie dust hair - tom assures insecure!reader that the pixie haircut looks good <3

a few more months - reader passes out during a run; tw // excessive exercising

tiktok au’s

body ody ody - tom gets a little jealous over a few social media comments

sweats in the supermarket - getting tom hard when he wears sweats

put your records on - trying not to kiss each other first

mood killer - saying dirty things into tom’s ear

say it back - pranking tom by not saying ily back to him

two different ways - tom choking the reader to get two different reactions

brutal - doing the “did you mean to post this?” trend on tom

worst thirty minutes of my life - playing a drinking game with tom to see who gives into cuddles first

my girl’s cuddles - crawling into tom’s lap

even - buying hot leggings & taping tom’s reaction

goofball - a silly way to reveal reader’s pregnancy to tom

end the debate - “i found out why my boobs are small” trend

slam the car door - doing the car door prank on tom

water bottle wars - the boys ask you and tom questions about each other. wrong answers result in sprayed water

get you back real good - you & the boys prank tom after watching a scary movie

peachy - sighing / moaning in front of tom playing video games to get his reaction

my princess - tom does a tiktok where he guesses all your answers to everyday questions

dad!tom

needles and needs - when scarlet has to get shots, you realize she may not be the only one that needs comforting

all my girls - scarlet meets her baby sister for the first time (dad!tom)

everything i love about u - tom is afraid baby red might hate him for leaving home too much

a little extra help - stepdad!tom being the best dad to your daughter

through the tears - pregnant!reader goes into labour, and baby holland meets the family

first feed - tom watches you breastfeed for the first time

warmth from the love - baby holland’s first Christmas

first words - baby holland speaks for the first time

breaking the internet - when your pregnancy announcement crashes multiple apps/websites (pregnant!reader)

breaking the internet... again - when baby holland breaks the internet

boyfriends and brunch - when jade brings home her boyfriend (aged!up)

big sister + how are babies made - telling scarlet about the baby on the way (pregnant!reader)

too many kids - the reader’s dad has some commentary about the twins

mumma’s girl - tom gets jealous when scarlet isn’t a daddy’s girl

angels - a little skin to skin time with his best girl

family man - after a nasty breakup, tom finds out you had his child

cheesy uncles - telling paddy he’s going to be an uncle

ag!reader (more to come !!)

y’all really get nasty - tom and the fans discuss ag!reader’s songs

my favorite things - ag!reader performs in front of the mcu cast at the grammy’s

34 + 35 - the boys react to reader’s new song(s)

34 + 35 remix - the boys reacting to the remix

his remedy - the boys react to positions deluxe

neglected - AG!reader breaks up w tom because of their job; tom searches for answers

low-key wants him - reader talks about how much nonna (+ her fam) loves tom

see u soon - reader interacts with tom while on stage for the swt

a few spilled secrets - AG!reader performs on jimmy fallon’s show.. tom and her confess a few secrets

for the first time - when the reader breaks down crying while singing about her ex, tom is there to comfort her

dance with me, rain on me - reader has a hard time on set, tom to the rescue

every tomorrow - the first album release night after your breakup

here we go again - introducing tom (+ the boys) to your celebrity friends

condoms or safety nets - the boys react to AG!reader’s song “safety net”

we’re not engaged - AG!reader announcing to the world why they no longer have a fiance... (fluffy)

the late late show - AG!reader & tom do spill your guts or fill your guts

pain from pleasure - dad!tom goes through a birth simulator — controlled by the reader

never have i ever - tom & the reader play a game on the late late show

fluffy hair - ag!reader has a zoom interview with zach sang. tom makes an appearance

fighting off the haters - ag!reader and older!tom holland (age gap) attend an award show after going public

run your hands thru my hair - tom reacts to ag!reader’s song “my hair”

stick to acting - tom tries to make a beat for ag!reader

practically twins - reader meets sebastian & anthony at comic con

damn lucky - black!reader wears her hair naturally during an interview

what a piece - reader talks about tom related songs & tattoos

flip it - tom talks about reader in an interview

at the door - older!reader & tom fight off haters

a headcannon of ag!reader being a marvel cast member

a headcannon of tom & the reader attending the avengers endgame premiere

styles!reader (more to come !!)

bathroom kisses - makeout sessions with tom and styles!reader in the bathroom

yeah, he is - tom holland x styles!reader meet the styles family; protective older brother harry makes an appearance

unparalleled love - older brother harry styles makes a speech at reader’s wedding

grilled - date night for tom & styles!reader is a bit difficult with two kids; older brother!harry to the rescue

baby showers and brothers - dad!tom & styles!reader are going to be parents

potential boyfriend - tom has a crush on the reader when they first meet

ts!reader (more to come!!)

trust me - tom & the reader defend her after nikki doesn’t approve

your london boy - tom & co. + the world reacts to “london boy”

boy of my dreams - tom being proud of the reader for winning a grammy

rapper!tom

tom records your sounds during sex for his music (hc)

tom talks about you in an interview

concepts: one , two , three

professor!tom

my pretty girl - tom gets jealous when reader gets many valentines

other reader tropes

cherry - reader is a screenwriter for tom’s upcoming movie

no shouting - singer!reader needs some help after paparazzis are too much (based on a video of tom)

pregnancy belly - actress!reader has to wear a pregnancy belly for her role, and the boys tease tom about when it’ll be real

we march - actress!reader being a huge feminist

passions & pediatricians - pediatrician-to-be!reader meets tom

politics - reader’s granpa is joe biden (requested) and tom meets him

extra support - psychiatrist!reader helps tom on the set of cherry

you made it big - tom holland x actress!reader at the after party

partition - the boys react to famous!reader singing partition

senorita - singer!reader makes a music video with shawn, who’s tom’s new best friend

miniseries

boomerang: one , two , three , four [completed]

peter parker

making amends

➢ enemies to lovers ; college!peter x super soldier!reader ; 30k words ; sorta slow burn

cheeky guy, favorite thighs - college!peter doing a tik tok challenge — between the reader’s thighs [tik tok au]

a little nicer - doing the prank on peter (”you could’ve been a little nicer to me today”)

start searching - first make out sessions with our best boy :)

hidden hickeys - the avengers think innocence of peter, until they’re proven wrong

the team - part two of hidden hickeys; reader meets the avengers

all of you - late night talks about your future with peter :’)

like you wouldn’t believe - reader tells mj about her & peter’s awesome sex

slip from my hands - roommate!peter comforts the reader after a nightmare

i’d wait for her - college!peter parker needs to come to terms with you and your boyfriend

shut up and kiss me - soft make out sessions with peter :)

all the good things in the world, and i get you - insecure!reader needs a little reassuring

modern chivalry - peter being a gentleman on the subway

eggnog and mistletoe - peter helps you love the holidays

the force awakens? it sleeps - a little extra comfort & care from our favorite baby boyfriend

a prince - wonder woman!reader meets spider-man (& avengers) in a mission

steve rogers fics - peter finds you reading fanfiction abt steve rogers

fanboy!peter

fanboys and bracelets - fanboy!peter parker goes to famous!singer!reader’s meet and greet

fanboys and phone numbers - fanboy!peter parker continuation

showing around - fanboy!peter gets VIP access; some dancing ensues

stark!reader + avengers!reader

if you knew feelings - the avengers want you & peter to break up

sleeping - peter misinterprets a few important questions

the may to your ben - college!best friend!peter parker x stark!reader fluff

race ya - peter confesses his feelings for rogers!reader after a mission — on comms

frat bathrooms - stark!reader joins the avengers where she sees college!peter, the boy she slept with at a frat party

rainy days - reader doesn’t like rainy days, a certain wall-climber changes their mind

already got her - jealous!peter makes a public confession

flustered!peter

a nervous one - flustered!peter parker sees cheerleader!reader in her uniform

one day soon - flustered!peter parker x affectionate!reader

all better - flustered!peter parker does some lab flirting with reader

dad!peter + pregnant!reader

unplanned [ part ii ] - reader gets pregnant... breaks up with peter to avoid it all

burrito wraps - reader worries that baby parker might be cold

a name to remember - latine!reader & peter give their girl a special name

you’re magic - a certain wall crawler hears two heartbeats

sgt. bucky barnes

first cuddles - bucky asks to cuddle for the first time

harry holland

golden light, the love of my life - the boys tease harry —on a live video— for being whipped

it won’t f^cking open - harry lends a helping hand

how much i - those three magical words are exchanged for the first time

cuddly koala moments - time the reader just needed harry’s warmth

anything for hands - the reader cuts harry’s hair on instagram live

your other best friend - the reader is sam’s new friend, but harry thinks they like tom instead

you’re my anchor - harry has an anxiety attack, but the reader knows what to do

what’s his [ pt ii ] - when everything thinks the reader should date tom instead, harry snaps

whipped fries - harry brags about the reader winning the pub quiz for them

tell me, show me - the reader makes harry flustered by playing w/the strings from his sweatpants

keep your cool - tom setting u up with his brother // nikki being wary

ag!reader

you’re such a dream to me — ag!reader writes r.e.m. about harry

harry styles

intoxicating - soft bubbles baths with long haired!harry

frayed braids - reader braids long haired!harry’s hair

others:

harrison osterfield

not anymore - when harrison comes back from filming, he’s determed to win the reader’s heart

irreversible - when relationships fall apart, people fall apart. (infidelity)

circles before yourselves - rule #1 - harrison x osterfield!reader (sister) when brothers talk, bad things begin

think of her - harrison asks your family for their blessing [holland!sister]

steve harrington

together not never - steve discovers the reader is pregnant

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libradusk · 4 years ago

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Touch Starved | Captain Rex

Word Count: 2,129

Pairing: Captain Rex/CT-7567 x Reader

Summary: Grief is a frightening thing to deal with alone

warnings: mention of injury and death + heavy themes of wartime ptsd

a/n: Set just after the Battle of Umbara, someone give this boy a hug

Part of the Touch Starved miniseries

He’s not sure how long he’s been staring at the wall for now.

Amidst the heaviness clinging to his bones, he’s half aware that at least half an hour has passed by at this point, between him all but stumbling into his private quarters and finishing up slumped forward and crumpled on the untouched bed.

There's something calming about staring into the vastness of plain durasteel. It's almost featureless aside from the grey sheen that coats over it. There are no harsh lines to writhe against the room’s shadows, no bright flashes of colour for him to squint against without the safety of his helmet.

The whole space is solid, clean - coldly familiar despite the room remaining almost untouched. The irony of it serving as compensation for his Captain’s rank wasn't lost on him, considering said position’s duties meant he was scarcely granted the leave to actually use it. Home comforts hardly existed for Clones, but compared to the trenches of Umbara the quarters might as well be paradise.

Captain Rex is grateful that the panelling isn't reflective, because he's positive he would fail to recognise the man staring back at him if it were so.

He looks like shit. General Skywalker had practically told him so word for word when the surviving strain of the 501st had returned back to base mere hours before. Any other General may have taken offence to the dishevelled appearance unmasked behind the grime-splattered surface of his Captain’s helmet. Dark roots have sprouted amongst his overgrown buzz cut, and there's grime and stubble smeared across his face and neck that refuses to wash completely away. Rex is confident that the blood rusted amidst it wont leave until he hacks the whole thing off. It reaches crumbling fingers to scratch and irritate down his chest and back even now in the sterile air of the room. It feels foreign and invasive - he's not even sure if all of it is his own.

A shudder rattles across his bones before he can strangle it back, and his head drops to his hands, breath expelling between tanned fingers and winding down his wrists to bind them in place.

The floor greets his eyes with the same, featureless metallic surface, disturbed only by his shadow as it steps across it. It’s smoky and hunched in the faint light offered by his bedside lamp. The longer he stares at it, the deeper it seems to pool. His gaze climbs slowly up the wall once more, hoisting itself up by his neck before the shadow threatens to drag the rest of him down into it.

Anakin had relented the moment he had looked into Rex’s eyes and seen the same hollowness that scraped across the cheeks of his surviving men. The Captain’s heart had sunk further towards his stomach the moment realisation had twisted across Skywalker’s features. The Jedi had silently noted the missing faces across their ranks and the sight of an almost catatonic Dogma restrained in his binders. Rex had hardly even been able to conjure the energy to raise his arm in salute, and now he was finally alone his limbs felt heavier than ever, weighted down with bitter remorse and a pain that sunk deeper than just his bones.

Even with the guilt and fatigue clamouring over him, Rex knew that the contrasting fire of fury and remorse that blazed across Skywalker's eyes would stay with him forever.

The rage he had emanated felt like a precursor to death. A prologue, perhaps.

Rex knew within him that right now he should be feeling the same way, but he had no energy left to sacrifice, even breathing felt the most difficult it had ever been. It was as though every one of his ribs were splintered and mangled around his lungs, smothering his heart until he could feel each pound of it screaming in his ears.

Why was it so loud? Why did his skin feel like there was something crawling beneath it?

His programming must be faulty, because this battle had truly knocked the wind from his sails, and that is something that should never happen to a Trooper. His use-by-date must be fast approaching, it's the only justification he can clamber to reach, though the thought provides little peace for him to cling to.

No. There was no exact moment to pinpoint where it had all changed for Rex. This descent into agony had come slowly, like sinking into quicksand. This was just the breaking point for a build up that had been clawing away at little parts of him for a while now. He feels pathetic, shame cutting through the numbness and threatening to cleave his fingernails through his palms.

Fives had even been kind enough to fill out Rex’s reports for him - the Captain wasn’t even sure that decision was part of the correct protocol, but he couldn’t bring himself to complain, even if he wanted to. Even so, it served as another stab to his conscience.The ARC Trooper had no doubt suffered as much as Rex himself after experiencing what they had all gone through, and yet Fives had felt compelled to stand in for his own Captain’s incompetence... Perhaps Rex truly was too battle-damaged to function properly for the remainder of the war, he hadn’t even been able to put down Krell himself.

...No. He had to keep going, he owed his men as much - both to those who perished in the darkness of Umbara and those who had found the strength to keep on living.

His death needed to mean something - to push them further towards victory for the Republic. He had to fight off the urge to curl into the durasteel and disappear for at least another night.

Good soldiers follow orders, after all - that much was still ingrained within him.

His hands curl into fists then and he forces himself to look at them. They’re clammy and gloveless, coated with smatterings of grime and smear from where he's rubbed at his face and neck. Rex notes then that he hasn't seen them bare in some time, having resolved to sleep in his full blacks and as much armour as possible for the entire Umbara campaign. The tanned expanse of his skin looks alien, the cold plastoid plating of his uniform felt more familiar at this point, and the thought frightened him more than it probably should for a Clone Trooper - Captain or otherwise. He notes then, that he hadn’t even managed to completely strip himself of armour before slumping onto the bed. How ironic that his own flesh felt more out of place on his body than hard, synthetic material.

What pieces he had managed to tear away were stacked halfheartedly in the corner. His helmet stares back at him across the room, its visor appearing endlessly dark even with the light offered to it. It sits atop the rest of the display, throned ritualistically as it always had been. Once Rex had stared at it with pride each night as he attempted to drift off to sleep, yet now it sat crooked and war-tattered with filth. Looking at it felt like staring into a shattered mirror. Rex knew he ought to repaint it, along with the rest of his gear, yet that thought was quashed as quickly as it appeared. To paint over the blood of his brothers’ felt like a cheap way of blanketing their deaths, their own sacrifice to the war.

They deserved to be mourned, to be remembered. If Rex didn’t, then there were few others that would.

Nothing would be the same again, and it shouldn't. That thought would keep him going, he would ensure it would.

But in that moment, as he stared at the sickly red that stained across the blue and white plating, the echo of blaster fire tore open his memories and dragged the screams of his dead brothers behind it.

The durasteel walls begin to spin.

….

“...Rex?”

The voice that edges through the doorway is purposefully soft, barely above a whisper in fact - yet it still triggers him to flinch in response. His throat feels like it's on fire now and he has to fight back the urge to claw at where his pulse drowns in bile. The bodysuit clinging to his skin now feels much too tight, and he resorts to tear open the buttoned collar as he twists in the direction of the open doorway, shame already sinking its clutch into his veins.

It’s you, if you had knocked before opening the door it had never registered to him.

Had he even remembered to lock it in the first place? At that moment he couldn't remember anything aside from the tragedy he had barely just scraped through. The blastdoor seals itself shut as quickly as it opened and the hiss it exhumes drags him back to the present. You're cloaked in the same dim lighting as he is now, it spreads your shadow and melts it across the floor towards where he sits, half facing you and frozen in contemplation. Even with the low light, he doesn’t miss the way your face falls once his sunken eyes drag over to you. Your expression frightens him more than Anakin’s ever could, because he can't help but feel directly responsible for the immense sadness glassing over your eyes in that moment.

Rex fights the instinct to duck his gaze in disgrace. You've never seen him in this state, hell he doesn't recall ever being as big a mess as this before. The Captain had always kept his weaknesses guarded - from his men and his enemies alike - from you - even when you had allowed him to stumble into your own.

This feels humiliating, but he also doesn't feel that he deserves to object.

The twisting has traversed to his stomach now and his toes twitch with the urge to run despite the heaviness weighing down each and every part of him.

But he also knows you well enough to be confident you wouldn't let him hide anyway.

You're striding over to him now, your shadow oozing closer and wider with the movement. Within three quick strides you're in front of him and then beside him on the stiff, military grade mattress. It doesn't take long, after all the room is tiny despite being built for a Captain, but now there is truly nowhere left for the Trooper to hide. He wonders then, if the dull bedside lamplight paints him as sickly as he feels. It wraps around you too, brighter and more clearly than when you had leaned against the doorway. Up this close he can see the pity pulling at your frown, as he had expected it to, but nestled alongside it is something softer. It's frighteningly warm and only spreads wider as you sigh and wrap your arms around him with no other hesitation. He can't help but crumble into the safety you extend to him, leaning in and allowing the glow to envelop him completely. In those precious seconds you had quickly become the only solace he had left in the world, one that was safe and warm and cared about him.

By design, Rex was not a selfish man, but just for a moment he allowed himself to fall to pieces for the first time and sink into the fantasy that there was no war, no death, no regulations - just two people that cared for each other above all else in the world.

Yeah, just a moment wouldn't hurt.

He's sure you're uncomfortable, pressed up against a half-armoured body that's stiff with anxiety, but you’re relentless as you drape him in delicate empathy and affection. He's not sure if it's your tears or his own wetting the plains of his cheeks, but it doesn't matter - he feels like he's drowning all the same as you begin to slowly rock the two of you back and forth.

The touch you give him is so different to all he's known for the past weeks. Your arms and hands are not dictated with adrenaline soaked desperation, and there are no exposed bones, no bloody, mangled hands or rattling last words to be heard, there is just you.

In that moment, you are the softest thing he's ever known and he clings to you like a lifeline. You continue to hold him like he could break and shatter in your arms, and he does, shoving away instinct and indoctrination to bury his scruffy face in your shoulder and sob.

He would survive, he had always vowed to come back and continue fighting no matter what else was thrown his way.

But for now he would lay down his armoured soul and let it grieve alongside you.

#touch starved #captain rex x reader #star wars reader insert #star wars imagine #captain rex imagine #CT-7567 x reader #thats a lot of x's holy #mine #star wars #clone wars #reader insert #rex is my favourite #captain rex #captain rex x you

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eirian-houpe · 4 years ago

Text

For Your Consideration

It has taken me a while to get this together. I did way more writing this last year than I thought I had, so the decision to what I thought might be appropriate to suggest for nomination was a tough one for me. So please bear with me, and excuse my ramblings

Before I continue, I want to thank the Rumbelle community for giving me a home, and some sanity through a difficult year. I hope I have written something that has helped other Rumbellers to get throught it as well. Much love to everyone.

Below the cut are my thoughts and suggestions. If your favorite fic is not there, please feel free to put it forward as you see fit. You can find my fics here on AO3. Below the cut you’ll find my FYC presentation for this years TEAs.

Witness Protection

Summary: The Wife and Daughter of Massachusetts’ Governor, Maurice French, have been kidnapped. As the authorities raid the compound where they’re being held, his daughter, Belle, makes her own bid for freedom but is injured in the attempt before being taken into protective custody by Agent Milnor. Fearing for her life, Milnor calls upon an old friend to protect her; to keep her safe. A task that becomes imperative, as well as personal. Professional lines blur and the threat draws closer.

This was 2019 Secret Santa fic, and turned into an epic, sweeping drama of some 45,000 words, as such I feel it could be nominated for Best Novel length, Best Drama, Best Angst - Hurts So Good, and Best First Time. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Seven Tastes

Summary: Jefferson and Grace visit the Dark Castle to try and persuade Rumplestiltskin to celebrate the Winter Solstice. What begins with a hidden sprig of mistletoe leads through the emotional rollercoaster of a lifetime, that ends in a beautiful redemption.

Written for 2020 Secret Santa, It was a quite unusual fic, fun to write, a little angsty, and with a beautiful ending. I suggest it is suitable to be nominated for Best Rumbelle Secret Santa. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

The Gold Fleece

Summary: Belle wakes from a coma with no memory of who she is. Following a suggestion from her therapist she seeks to take up a craft she used to do before as a way to jog her memory. After making a deal with Storybrooke's craft store owner, it seems that the good Doctor Hopper may have been right... or was he?

Written for Rumbelle Christmas In July, an involved exploration of magic, memory and breaking of curses. My suggestions would be for Best Rumbelle Christmas in July, or Best One-Shot. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Awakening

Summary: Weaver is dreaming or halucinating after Alice shot him, but suddenly everything starts to make sense as he gives in to what he sees and feels, even from beyond the grave, his beloved saves him.

This was my first round Rumbelle Showdown Fic. I believe it could be suitable for Best Angst - Hurts So Good and Best One-Shot. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Beauty Compelled

Summary: Years ago, Moe French endebted himself to the nobleman, Mister Gold. Unable to pay the debt by any other means, he promises his daughter, Belle, in marriage to Gold. Now, on the day of her 18th Birthday, the contract is to be honored, and Belle must go to her new home, Adelram Hall, and to meet her husband-to-be, Mister Gold, who has a reputation for darkness.

Written from one of the Monthly Rumbelling prompts, I feel it could be nomintated for Best One-Shot, and Best Trope (arranged marriage). If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Lightly, Tender... My Dream

Summary: Between realms, beyond curses, and through the passage of many lost years, Belle and Rumplestiltskin find one another again, and finally act upon their love.

One of the Monthly Rumbelling fics I wrote this year, I feel it could be suitable for Best First Time, Best One-Shot and Best Monthly RUmbelling (smut). If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

A Blade For Belfrey

Summary: Edinburgh meets Glasgow as Weaver and Begbie clash when Begbie's alter ego, Jim Francis is commissioned by Victoria Belfrey to produce a work of art for a business rival. Rumplestiltskin, somehow suspecting Weaver an incarnation of himself, tries to take a back seat - but Belle needs otherwise.

One of the few crossover fics I have ever written, combines Once, with The Blade Artist. I feel it could be nominated for Best Crossover Fic, and because it has Begbie and Weaver, suitable for Best Bobbie Squared. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Fallen

Summary: Belle finds herself inhabiting the consciousness of a demon. When she finds a fallen angel, she begins to recognise the strand of darkness within herself. Not necessarily 'evil' but certainly not innocence and light. Who could she be if she embraced that darkness, and... shouldn't she be looking for Rumplestiltskin? Meanwhile, Rumplestiltskin finds himself in the conscisousness of an angel... falling.

One of my Lover’s Leap fics, and my first attempt at Creature fic. As such I feel it could be nominated for Best Creature AU, or Best Supernatural. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Gilded

Summary: Belle fears she is to become trapped in a gilded cage of her father, and Lord Gaston's making, with no relief and no way to be herself... until she meets the enigmatic little man trapped in the darkest, shadowed corner of the castle's library...

Written for the March 2020 Monthly Rumbelling, I feel it could be nominated for Best One Shot, and Best Monthly Rumbelling (non smut) If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Hatter

Summary: Belle's consciousness is kidnapped as she tries to return from the latest test of the Fairy Curse. Running out of time to bring her back to her body and save her, Rumplestiltskin persuades Jefferson to use the Hat to take them to where they need to be in order to retrieve it, trouble is... it turns out to be the one place in all the realsm that Jeffereson NEVER wanted to see again.

Another story from my Lover’s Leap series, and another of the few crossover fics I have ever written, crossing with Alice, the 2009 miniseries. I feel it could be nominated for Best Crossover fic, Best TV Show AU and Best AU. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Prima

Summary: Detectives Weaver and Rogers stumble upon a crime at a local theater where they meet the Prima Ballerina, Anabelle French in the process of apparently committing agravated assault with a deadly weapon, but as Weaver investigates, he discovers there is far more to it than a simple crime, and he is forced to run to a place of safety with his suspect in tow.

A Woven Beauty fic that was written for the Monthly Rumbelling, so I feel it could be eligible for Best Monthly Rumbelling (smut) and Best Woven Beauty. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Rack ‘Em Up

Summary: Gold indulges Lacey with a night out at the Rabbit Hole, and she teases him while hustling the other patrons at pool. This is a game that Lacey is playing to win, but the money's not the object. This was written as a gift on the occasion of @emospritelet's birthday.

I feel it could be eligible for Best Smut - PWP, Best One-Shot, and Best Golden Lace. If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

Two Could

Summary: Belle and Rumple jump into the bodies of two pirates. When the King's Navy blockade the harbor, the decision must be made to run the gauntlet, or wait out the siege, but two captains seek another way, and seal their alliance in a way that only pirates could.

One of my Lover’s Leap series, I feel it could be nominated for Best AU, Best Historical Romance, and Best Romance (Smut). If there is anything else you feel might fit, please feel free to add the fic in that category, and if you think it appropriate for any of the character awards, I would be honored to be nominated.

#teas 2021 #fyc #for your consideration

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crowleyaj · 4 years ago

Note

Hi! I was reading one of your stories on AO3 to try and get the personalities right for my own stories and happened to discover your post on the 00 Agents. May I use the agents in my story (not sure if they are OC or not but wanted to ask) and do you have any tips for writing personality? R is giving me particular trouble...

hi! of course you may, that’s why I made that post in the first place--in case someone needed some more 00s for their stories (because the movies don’t exactly provide). there are seven more but I never got around to making the second post... oh well. but here is a google doc with some notes. feel free to use them for inspiration! they are OCs, yes, all besides Bond and Trevelyan. and Turner, whom I borrowed from the miniseries ‘London Spy’.

and to answer your question about personality... I’m not sure if it’s helpful, but I always ask myself a few questions when it comes to OCs. are they social? do they like jokes and sarcasm, or are they serious? any pets? partners? how do they feel about relationships? what’s their favourite food? do they get angry, frustrated, or embarrassed easily? what’s a weakness someone can use against them in an argument and/or in combat? do they get along with their colleagues easily? or with their family? what’s their fatal flaw and their motivation--what do they want? why are they there? is there some background trauma? and in the case of these agents, are they reckless like Bond, or meticulous? can they be trusted? do they kill as a last resort or immediately? do they do honeypot missions? are they responsible? same for the Q-Branch nerds. how do they feel about their work, the environment, the equipment? safety measures? is their desk squeaky clean or messy as hell? how do they react to fucking up, or their subordinate fucking up? do they like the 00s or have this passive-aggressive relationship with them? or do they just do their job and not care about anyone beyond Q? and, you know, then I write those tidbits down on a piece of paper or a word doc somewhere, and a general idea of their personality forms in my head, kind of, and then as I write I think of that, but I also rely on intuition a lot and just write whatever comes to mind because, to be honest, the characters tend to do whatever they want and I’m not in control as much as I’d like to be :’)

as for R... I think at this point it’s kind of fanon that she’s a woman, and her personality is kind of similar to that of Q, as he personally chose her to be his replacement. extremely clever and creative, kind of geeky with a sense of humour, but also caring, friendly, hardworking, and taking responsibility for her work and employees. and a no-nonsense, down-to-earth kind of person. she runs the branch when Q isn’t there. means that she has to be able to work under stress and make decisions quickly when need be. there’s the whole administrative side to that, too, because paperwork still exists and she probably ends up doing it instead of Q, who’s too busy being exasperated with Bond and tinkering with new gadgets. and they’re definitely friends on- and off-duty, who banter and share meals and watch tv series together. with Eve, too. or that’s my idea of her anyway, partially inspired by the tonne of fics that I’d read where she was a character. if you know Star Trek, it’s basically like Q is the captain and she’s the first officer, and together they’re trying to keep the ship (in this case, the branch) running, which isn’t always easy, but they manage.

so anyway, I hope that helps at least a bit :’) tbh I don’t know what I’m doing half the time either, and also, I haven’t written for the Bond fandom since... 2018? it’s been a while. either way, good luck with your story!

#anonymous #answered #james bond #writing #text

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imaginationintowords · 6 years ago

Text

Not Good Enough *part three*

Avengers x Reader miniseries.

Avengers x reader angst.

word count: 2169

Plot: The Avengers discover the reader has left.

Part one [x] Part two [x]

Tagged: @firstonetoleave @nerdy-jelly-art @const4ntines @coldfacedwarf @mrs-hemmo1999 @l0kisbitch @lula132 @thetimidsarcasticcat @1awesomeash @littlephoenix-fire @xxxxnovagalaxyxxxx @inumorph @babymintuniverse @ohmygoditsanthonyedwardstark @thefridgeismybestie @strangersstranger

Permanent tagged: @purplesatinsheets @definitelynotafangirl @1awesomeash @princess-evans-addict

__________

[still at the Avengers compound]

[third person POV]

"Did she leave anything else?" Steve asked Bucky.

"She also left her laptop and phone." Bucky tells them.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. call everyone to the common room now, please." Tony says.

A few minutes later all the Avengers were sitting in the common room, not really knowing why.

"What's going on Tony?" Wanda asks.

"[Y/N] left." he tells the group.

"What do you mean left? Like for a vacation?" Bruce asked, confused.

"No. She's gone. She left this note in her room." Steve explains, handing the note over to Bruce to have a look at.

"I told you two, were too harsh to her about the accident." Thor says.

"It was only a suspension. We've all had them. It's not like we wanted her gone." Tony defends.

"Let's not fight about how we handled that situation. We admit our mistake and regret the way we handled it. We impulsively acted on our anger." Steve speaks up, trying to keep everyone at bay.

"When was the last time anyone saw or heard from her?" Tony asks the room.

Everyone paused to take a moment to think.

"Wanda, what about you? Your room is right next door."

"I haven't heard her any noise from her room in a long time. Last time I heard anything was probably a week ago. I didn't give it much thought. I wouldn't think she would just leave." Wanda sadly says.

"Where would she go?" Bruce asked, handing the note back to Steve.

F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice cuts through the room, before anyone could answer.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there's a Norman Osborn on the phone for you, Mr. Stark."

"Of course he is." Tony rolls his eyes.

"Patch him through to my phone please." he says pulling out his phone.

"Norman." he says stoically.

"Tony. Lovely to hear your voice!" Norman chirps.

"I can only imagine why you're calling." Tony says trying to maintain his anger.

There's no one he hated more than Norman Osborn.

"Oh, I bet you know exactly why I'm calling." Norman smirks through the phone.

“Cut the shit and tell me.” Stark said, getting more angry by the second.

“I just wanted to call and thank you.” Norman said.

“For what?” Tony asked.

“For letting go your best employee.”

“What are you talking about?” Tony asked confused.

“Wow. I can see how much you truly appreciated her.” Norman quipped.

“Who are you-” Tony began, thinking about who Norman is possibly talking about, then it all clicked.

“[Y/n]?” Tony asked, everyone turned their heads towards him.

“Ding. Ding. Ding.” Norman remarked.

“[Y/n] is working for you?”

“Yes. She just called, asking for a job. Was very surprised to hear you had let her go. Didn’t know you could make dumb decisions.” Norman continued.

“Well I just wanted to call and thank-you. Expect a gift basket soon. Bye Tony.” Norman smugly said, before hanging up on Tony.

“Son of a bitch!” Tony yelled.

"What's the matter?" Steve asked.

"Is [Y/n] okay?" Bucky asked in unison with Steve.

"That was just Norman Osborn, informing me that [Y/n] is going to be working for him." Tony said through gritted teeth.

"What? Why would she do that?" Bruce asked, confused.

"Because apparently I fired her."

"All we did was suspend her" Steve said, "Why would she think that?"

"I mean you did treat her like complete shit." Thor said matter-of-factly.

"You need to fix this. Now." Bucky told Tony and Steve.

"She's one of the best members on this team." Bucky continued.

"I think I might know where she could be." Tony said grabbing his jacket off of the chair.

"I'm coming with you," Steve said, "We both need to fix this mess."

They both left quickly.

"I don't know why you guys are bothering. She clearly doesn't want to be a part of this team." Natasha remarked, rolling her eyes.

"Because she thinks we all hate her. She thinks we wanted this." Bucky tells her, trying not to get angry.

"But maybe it's for the better."

"What the hell are you eve saying, Natasha?" Sam asked.

"I mean maybe this is what she wanted. She's the one that left. Maybe she thought it was for the better." she tried defending herself.

"She only thought that because she thinks we all hate her." Bucky says.

"She at least needs to know we don't hate her, and we didn't want this." Bucky finishes before leaving the room.

"What the hell is even his problem? If anyone should be upset at her, it's him. She almost cost him his life."

"She made a mistake, Nat. You've done the same. Plus, Bucky was really close to [Y/n]." Wanda speaks up.

"Let's just hope Tony and Steve can bring her back." Sam says before leaving the room to check on Bucky.

__________

{[Y/n]'s POV}

"Are you sure this is correct? I don't want to be mixing up chemicals and having everything exploding in my face." Peter asks me.

It was after dinner and I came over to help Peter with his chemistry project.

"Yes, it's going to work. Trust me, I do this for a living." I rol lmy eyes at him.

"Fine. I'll write it down, but if this explodes in my face, expect a phone call from Mrs. Johnson." he says writing down the formulas.

"Please, Mrs. Johnson loves me."

All of a sudden my ears picked up the sound of a very familiar car coming from outside. I jumped out of my seat and rushed towards the window in Peter's room.

And there it is, Tony's car.

The doors opened and out came Tony and Steve.

"Shit." I whispered.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, walking towards the window.

"Woah. That's Iron Man and Captain America." he said, surprised to see the two heroes walking into our building.

"Yup, that's them." I said, feeling sick to my stomach.

"Are you okay?" You look like you saw a ghost." Peter asks.

Crap. I forgot Peter doesn't know. All he knew was I had a lab job upstate. It was for his own safety that he knew nothing about my avenging life.

"Well, I haven't been totally honest with you." I swallowed, anxiously looking around his room, afraid Tony and Steve will find me in here.

"What do you mean?"

"You know that job I had, upstate?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that."

"How so?" he asked confused about what was going on.

I was having an internal battle about how much I should tel him.

I mean it's Peter, I can trust him.

"For starters, I used to work for Tony Stark." I tell him.

"Wait, what?"

"Well it was more like with him, instead of for him."

"Wait. With him? Wha-" he was cut off by me opening the door telekinetically.

"Surprise." I awkwardly said.

"You-you just opened that with-without-" Peter was at a lost for words, trying to peace everything together.

"Yup." I said walking out of the room, Peter following close by.

"Wait! You were an Avenger!" Peter exclaimed.

"Shh. Yes, I was." I shush him, moving to the front door, to listen out for Tony and Steve.

"Woah. That's so cool!" Peter gushed.

I could hear the elevator door ding, followed by Tony and Steve's walking.

"I'm going to need you to be quiet for the next couple of minutes okay. Tony and Steve cannot know I am here." I tell him, telepathically.

"What the-" Peter was caught off guard, I quickly threw my hand over his mouth.

I can read minds also. Now shush.

"What if this doesn't work Tony?" I heard Steve say, as they passed the Parker's door.

"It has to. We need her to know this was just a giant misunderstanding." Tony tells him.

Misunderstanding. I thought.

"Are they talk-" I quickly covered Peter's mouth, and pointed to his head.

Steve has super hearing. Talk to me through your mind, as if you were talking to me out loud. I tell him.

"Sorry. This is all new to me. Are they talking about you?" He asks, I shrug my shoulders, going back to listening in on them.

I can hear them knocking on my grandma's door, then the door opening.

"Tony? Steve?" I heard my grandma say.

"Hi Evelyn. We were hoping to speak to [Y/n]." Tony said.

"I'm afraid she's not here. May I take a message." I heard my grandma protectively say.

"Is there any way we could wait up for her?" Steve politely asked.

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen. I'm not going to let you two ambush her. If you need to speak to her, I will tell her you stopped by, and let her make that decision on her own."

"We understand why you want to protect her. But there was a big mistake." Tony begs her.

"The only mistake that was made was thinking I could trust you to take care of my granddaughter." my grandma bitterly said.

"Wow. You're grandma's a badass." Peter said to me in his head.

"We're sorry Evelyn. Can you please let [Y/n] know we stopped by, and that we really need to speak to her." Steve asked.

"I will tell her."

"Thank-you. Have a goodnight. Sorry again for causing any trouble." Steve apologizes one last time, before my grandma closed the door.

"Well that didn't go as planned." Tony sighed, as they began to walk back to the elevator.

I stopped listening after that. It was a lot to take in.

"Can I talk now?" Peter whispered.

"Yes, you can talk now." I slid my back down the door, and sat in front of it.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Peter hesitantly asks, sitting down next to me.

"Not really. At least not right now." I tell him.

"Okay. Well if you need to talk, I'm here." he said, placing his hand on top of mine.

I felt a weird buzz sensation coming from his hand.

"Thanks Pete." I said, cautiously moving my hand from his.

What the hell was that...

Peter's eyes were wide.

"Can you read my mind?" he asked.

"Yes and no. I can read your mind, but only when I want to. I can control when and when not to read minds. So don't worry, I'm not currently reading your mind. That'll be a total invasion of your privacy." I tell him, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay. Good." he awkwardly said.

I continued to stare at him, he was acting weird all of a sudden.

"Are you okay?" I ask him.

"Yeah. This is just a lot to take in. You can move things with your mind, you can read minds, and you're a freakin Avenger." he says.

"Was. I was an Avenger. Not anymore." I correct him.

"Right." there was an awkward pause.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I have no clue." I shrugged, completely unsure of what to do.

"Can't you just go back?"

"It's not that easy Pete. Plus, I already got a new job." I tell him.

"You did?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah. I start a new lab job at Oscorp tomorrow."

"That's cool." he says, with much less enthusiasm than when he found out I was an Avenger.

"Do you still talk to Harry Osborn?" I ask him.

"Haven't talked to him since Uncle Ben's funeral." he tells me.

"It's hard to keep in contact when we don't really run in the same circle anymore. He's at that fancy private school, and I'm here." he explains.

"At least you have Ned." I say.

"Yeah. Ned's the greatest." he smiles.

"Yes he is." I say, standing up and brushing my pants, Peter following suit.

"It's getting late, and I have my first day at Oscorp tomorrow. So I'm going to head home." I tell him.

"Okay. Thanks for the help. Also, thanks for trusting me with your superhero secret." he smiles, giving me a hug.

"You were going to find out eventually."

"Yeah, sure." he remarked, opening the door.

"Night Peter." I say stepping out.

"Night." he says closing the door behind me.

__________

"[Y/n] is that you?"my grandma called out, as I walk through the front door.

"Yes. Who else would it be? Tony? Steve?" I tell her, walking into the living room where she was seated at.

"Ah so you heard?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Yup. Even told Peter about it." I say.

"Oh really?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah. Couldn't really hide it that well when I heard Tony and Steve arrive."

"One less secret to hide." she says.

"Exactly."

"So, what are you going to do?" she asks.

"No idea. This day has already been stressful enough, I just want to go to bed and figure this all out another day." I tell her, feeling the pressure.

"Then do that. Go to bed, and take some time and figure this out." she lightly smiles.

"Plus, you have your first day at Oscorp tomorrow. Give it a week, see how you like it there, you might like it, you might not." she continues.

"Yeah, you're right." I give her a small smile.

"I always am." she says getting up and walking over to me.

"Now, go get some rest." she places a kiss on my head before lightly pushing me towards my room.

_________

As I laid in bed my thoughts were racing around in my head.

Am I making the right decision. Maybe I should call Tony and Steve and find out what they wanted. Maybe my grandma is right and I should just give it some time. Figure out my life outside the Avengers. Maybe this was meant to happen. Maybe I was meant to work at Oscorp.

Maybe I'm not meant to be an Avenger.

1K notes · View notes

galadrieljones · 5 years ago

Text

The Lily Farm - Chapter 36 & 37

AO3 | Masterpost

Rating: M (Mature) - sexual content, violence, and adult themes

Summary: To help her process Sean’s death, Mary Beth asks Arthur to take her on a hunting trip, somewhere far away. He agrees, and on their journey to the north, they find quietude and take comfort in their easy bond. They’ve been friends for a while now, but life, like the wilderness, is full of uncertainty and complications, and as they embark on their desperate search for meaning together, they endure many trials, some small, some big—all of which bring them closer to one another, and to their future.

***Acknowledgments for this chapter:

Texas Ranger Woodrow F. Call is borrowed from the Lonesome Dove series by Larry McMurtry; Texas Ranger LaBoeuf is borrowed from the novel True Grit by Charles Portis. I also won't lie when I say that their characterizations are informed by the actors who play them: Tommy Lee Jones as Call in the 1989 Lonesome Dove miniseries, and Matt Damon as LaBoeuf in the 2010 adaptation of True Grit.

Some exchanges in this chapter have been adapted directly from lines in the Red Dead Redemption 2 story mission "American Fathers I."

-gala

Chapter 36 and 37: Stand By Your Man (Pt. I and II)

“So. Texas Rangers, huh?” said Arthur.

It was noon in the high saloon of St. Denis. Arthur, Mary Beth, and Hosea were seated at a round table near the window with two Texas Rangers by the names of Call and LaBoeuf. Hosea had called them in that day to reap their help with the riverboat job, as he was collecting on a favor owed to him from years before. Arthur was smoking compulsively while Mary Beth leaned with her chin in her hands, bored by what she assumed would soon become a show of dueling masculinities. Call and LaBoeuf were both upright characters who took themselves very seriously but in different ways. Call was older and obviously much more distinguished. He had many lines in his worn-out features and a heavy but well-maintained salt-and-pepper beard. LaBoeuf was thirty or so. He chewed on a piece of cocaine gum with a great deal of enthusiasm and carried maybe a little too much weight around his middle section. They both spoke with tough Texas accents that were thick and recognizable but far different from the molasses drawls of Lemoyne.

"Texas Rangers," said LaBoeuf. "That's right."

“You lot still set on shining up your badges as priority one?” Arthur went on. “Or you catch anything worth hangin lately.”

“Forgive him,” said Hosea, straightening his neckerchief, sitting behind a blueprint of the riverboat he had skimmed off the captain's wife some days before. “He’s never had a badge to shine.”

“Not true,” said Arthur.

“We are currently hot on the trail of a man who killed a senator back in Dallas,” said LaBoeuf, unmoved, chomping. “Been on his trail since he left another man dead in Arkansas, husband, and father of one.”

“Killed the poor bastard right in front of his teenage daughter,” said Call.

“Jesus,” said Arthur.

“That’s awful,” said Mary Beth.

“Awful indeed, ma’am,” said LaBoeuf. “We got a tip, says he’s been shacking up here with a gang known as the Lemoyne Raiders. You know of these reprobates?” He said Lemoyne like Lee-moyne.

Arthur smoked his cigarette to the nubbin and stamped it out in the crystal ash tray in the center of the table. “Bunch of old-fashioned hillbilly racists, used to outfit in our camp. I know them all too well.”

“They killed Sarah,” said Mary Beth.

“Who is Sarah?” said Call. He was enchanted by Mary Beth and glanced at her often.

“My goddam prized Foxtrotter,” said Arthur. He reached into his pocket for the tobacco tin. “I don’t like losing animals, Mr. Call, and I got a bone to pick. Even more so than usual.”

“Well, we could certainly use your help, if you’re offering, Mr. Morgan.”

“Oh, I’m offering.”

Mary Beth leaned into him then, whispered into his ear. “You’re hunting Raiders now? What happened to living honest.”

"Gee," he said. He lit his cigarette, smirked at her as he shook out the match. “I don't know, Mrs. Kilgore.”

She elbowed him playfully and resumed her posture at the table. LaBoeuf cleared his throat.

"You got a cough there?" said Arthur.

“No, sir," he said. "Mrs. Morgan, I just overheard your concern."

"Which one."

"I would just like to remind you that bounty-hunting is legal work.”

She glared at him. “It ain’t the legality I’m worried about, Mr. LaBoeuf. Obviously."

"Then what's the worry."

“In my experience, legality don’t mean safe," she continued. "If you drag my husband out on one of your legal missions hunting murderers for the state of Texas, then he’d better not come back shot. That’s all I’m saying.”

Arthur grinned to himself, feeling hot in his cheeks and around the rim of his shirt. LaBoeuf studied her, popped another piece of gum. He had a ripe scar across the bridge of his nose and a superiority complex. “Well then.”

Hosea interjected. “She’s got spunk, our Mary Beth," he said. "Real tenacity. It’s why she needs bodyguards on the job.”

“Of course,” said Call, his voice stern and deep. “And we are happy to provide whatever assistance we can in the way of intimidation, Mr. Matthews, per the terms of our reciprocal agreement. We’d also be willing to enter into new and future negotiations if Mr. Morgan here is willing to assist us on that bounty.”

“The way you law men still rely so recklessly upon the lawless for your enterprise, even as you drive us from the open range and straight to the gallows will never cease to astound me, Mr. Call,” said Arthur. “Nevertheless, I am in.”

“Good,” said Call. He leaned back in his chair with one leg crossed over the other. His coffee sat, untouched and getting cold. He had a canny look about him as he lit a cigarette. “For the record, Mr. Morgan, we ain't Pinkerton Detectives," he said. "We may be law, but we know how the world works. You boys have helped us out of all manner of scrapes, from Arizona to the Dakotas. Mutual respect is in our best interest, and we’d just as soon keep it that way.”

“I admire your nostalgia,” said Arthur, gazing at him. “You keep me and my wife safe on that riverboat, and you and me, we’ll have an understanding. You got my word on that.”

They shook hands.

“Very good,” said Hosea.

"I would appreciate it now," said LaBoeuf, "if we could go over the specifics."

"Of course," said Hosea. He wiped his face with a pale handkerchief and then put it in his pocket. "It's rather simple, really. As a private security detail, you'll have two main objectives at the poker game."

"Go on."

"The first objective is to offer your authority on the manner of Mary Beth's alias. The second is protective in capacity. Mary Beth is playing a rather complex role, and she needs credibility, so as agents of the law in Texas, you can offer that to her. Anyone asks, her father is Larry 'Blue' Johnson, ex-outlaw turned oil man back in Galveston. Old Blue is a real person, or he was anyway, before we put him in the ground back in '91, but the State Government still believes he may be alive. I've had documents forged in his name, deeds of ownership for two fictional oil fields, one in Galveston, and one in Dallas. Those deeds have already been filed with the county assessor, thanks to a couple old buddies I got back in the Dallas City Hall. Those are just secondary insurance, mind you. They exist only as our benefactor at this party, Mr. Angelo Bronte, is a blowhard, but he's got deep pockets, and if he looks into Marie Kilgore's history, this is what he'll find. You two are our frontline defense and pony show. You're bodyguards, contracted by Marie Kilgore's father. Just follow Mary Beth around and stay quiet, looking tough and Texan, badges and sidearms visible. Your presence will be cleared ahead of time, through the riverboat's proprietor and host of the evenings' affairs. He's some local aristocrat or other, young as all hell, entirely harmless, a contact through our associate Josiah Trelawny. What's important is that you are Texas Rangers. Act like Texas Rangers, and everything should go smoothly."

"Sounds easy enough," said Call. "We'll study the blueprint this week and draw up an escape plan in the unlikely event that the night go south."

"Thank you," said Arthur.

"What about Mr. Morgan here," said LaBoeuf. "What's the story on his alias?"

Hosea rolled up the riverboat blueprint into a tight scroll, secured it with a piece of twine, and handed it to Call. "The beauty of Tacitus Kilgore is that he is a known outlaw, reforming as a married man, exactly like Arthur. There's nothing you need to do but keep an eye on him from afar. He'll be cheating cards while performing only minimal sleight of hand. He'll make his winnings believable, but should anybody desire to rustle him up and search his sleeves, you'll let them, and he'll submit. The goal is to make money, and nothing more. Nobody needs to get hurt, but there's gonna be a lot of chips on the table, and so tempers will fly. The priority is Mary Beth's safety. If it comes to throwing hands, exercise your authority, but for the most part, Arthur can handle himself. He gets into a scrape he can't get out of, that probably means the job has gone south, and it's time to relocate."

LaBoeuf nodded. Call studied the scroll as if it were a sacred artifact. Arthur took a deck of cards from his pocket. He had purchased them earlier from the bartender and was now shuffling them with precision. He watched Call through a haze of smoke. "There's one more thing," he said.

Call looked up. "Which is?"

"Angelo Bronte. Hosea mentioned him before. I am concerned that he has an unnatural affection for Mary Beth. We're gonna keep an extra special watch on him throughout the duration of the festivities. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," said Call.

"Bronte?” said LaBoeuf. He had produced a hunting knife from his belt with an ornate handle, took to studying its tip. “What is that, Spanish?”

“I-talian,” said Arthur, unthinking. Then he gave LaBoeuf a kind of strange look. “Spanish? Ain’t you from Texas?”

“Yes, sir.”

Arthur sighed.

"And this will square us away, financially speaking,” said Hosea. “For that time in Denver, the bounty on the train tracks. We let you have the full cake on that, and now you’ll do us the same.”

“Your terms are understood,” said Call.

“Is there anything else?” said Hosea. "Arthur? Mary Beth?"

“If we’re in agreement, then I’m good to go.” He looked at Mary Beth, softened, and took her by the hand. “You good?”

She smiled and kissed him on the nose. “I'm good.”

LaBoeuf smiled then, leaning in and still chomping on that cocaine gum like an addict. “Well ain’t you two cute,” he said, pointing with the knife. “How long you been married?”

Arthur glared at him, but Mary Beth was easy to talk about her romance. “Just a week,” she said, looking at Arthur. “But we known each other a lot longer than that.”

“Well, congratulations,” said LaBoeuf.

“Thank you.”

“You got wives?” said Arthur, pocketing the cards, sipping his coffee.

“No, sir,” said Call.

“Neither one of you?”

“Call here’s got a boy,” said LaBoeuf, casually brandishing the knife in a nonthreatening manner. “Well, more like a teenager at this point. But his momma ain’t no more. Went by the wayside years ago.”

“Thank you,” said Call. He was observing the depths of his untouched coffee. He had his hands folded, gentlemanly, in his lap. “I believe we’re finished here. LaBoeuf and I will be staying at the Parlor House in Rhodes for the purposes of future correspondence.”

“Wonderful," said Hosea, rapping on the table once. "We’ll be in touch soon, gentlemen. The game has been scheduled for one week from Friday.”

“Adios,” said LaBoeuf, saluting the knife as a psychopath.

Arthur, Mary Beth, and Hosea left the bar.

“That man is a veritable moron,” said Arthur. They turned the corner, stopped at the horses. “I ain't one to judge, but goddam.”

“Which man?”

“LaBoeuf."

"Well, I’m not sure about his specific credentials," said Hosea, "but he’s partnered up with Woodrow Call on this one, and Call and I go way back. He’s a good Ranger, an ex-rustler if I remember straight, knows every corner of this god forsaken country and the people in it. LaBoeuf may not be the most cultured among us, but if Call trusts him, then I do, too.”

“Fine,” said Arthur.

“Do you know what happened to his wife?” said Mary Beth.

“I don't believe they were ever married,” said Hosea. “But it was Typhoid that got her. Or, at least I think it was Typhoid. Five or six years ago.”

“Just like my momma,” said Mary Beth.

“Yes, well, sweetheart, a lot of good people have gone that way, I’m afraid.”

“It’s sad,” she said, placing her hand over her abdomen, briefly, like it comforted her.

“I think we’re gonna stay, Hosea,” said Arthur, patting Diana behind the ears—he’d had to take her out in Sarah’s wake. “Kick around the city a little bit. Take in a show, spend the night.”

“You gonna look at the stable for a new mare?”

“Perhaps,” said Arthur. “I ain’t decided yet.”

“Maybe you’ll go back into the wild, break your own.”

“Maybe,” said Arthur, a little blue at the thought of it.

“We'll see you back at camp then.” Hosea mounted up, then glanced down at the two of them as he settled in his saddle. A horse and buggy went by in the background. The streets were starting to bustle with the day. It was warm and muggy, and there as a street fair somewhere. There were children walking around, holding pinwheels, and you could smell the corn-on-the-cob, grilling. “Thank you both,” Hosea continued, his hands on the reins, “for entertaining those men. It’ll be a good score. Of course, it’s still like we said. If, at any time, you get a bad feeling, and you wanna call it off, just say so.”

“Thanks, Hosea,” said Arthur.

Mary Beth smiled, leaning on Watson dreamily, and petting her pretty black mane. “Yes, thank you.”

They exchanged goodbyes, and then Hosea was off, trotting through the city streets, tipping his hat so diplomatically to strangers.

Arthur felt Mary Beth then, her hand on his back. “You okay?” she said, seeming to sense his restlessness.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said. He smiled and put his arm around her. He placed a toothpick between his teeth and sighed. “Just a little sad is all. About the old girl.”

“I know,” she said. She put her head on his shoulder.

They took a walk up to the park. On their way, they stumbled upon the street fair, which was along one of the main drags, at the center of the city. There were flags and colorful bunting everywhere, and lots of pinwheels and bubbles, making the world feel pretty and alive. They’d never really been to a street fair like this before. There was a man making balloon animals on the corner, beside a stop sign, surrounded by children. It was something neither Arthur nor Mary Beth had seen in a long time, so they stopped to watch for a little while as the children laughed and clamored for his attention, and then Arthur bought Mary Beth a tulip from a vender in a straw hat, and she blushed.

They bought hot dogs for lunch and a loaf of stale bread and they walked to the park to sit on a bench and feed the ducks. Then, they walked some more. Arthur took out his deck of cards. He showed Mary Beth a couple tricks he’d learned off Trelawny in years past and a couple more he had invented himself. She was captivated and as she sat admiring his gumption in the summertime sun and how it made his hair gold, she thought about how thankful she was to have found a man so good and so true to her, and how for a long time, she had never thought it possible, living the way she did.

“Hey,” she said then, noticing something. She was watching through the crowd in the park and she thought she saw a man she recognized. “Hey, baby. You see that country-lookin guy over there? With them Native men?”

Arthur squinted after her, seeing what she saw. “Yeah, I do.”

“It’s Evelyn Miller,” she said, holding her tulip. “That’s him ain’t it?”

“It is indeed.”

“What’s he doing there? And are those the same men from the party?”

“That there’s a government building,” said Arthur. “But I ain’t sure.”

“Let’s go say hi.”

Arthur thought on it, grinding the toothpick between his teeth and then spat it to the grass. He had a funny feeling. “I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Could be they’re busy.”

“They don’t look busy. Come on, Arthur. He’s a famous writer. I wonder if he’d remember us.”

So they walked over, arm in arm. When they got close, Arthur puffed up a little bit and assumed his more proper and upright posture. “Excuse me, Mr. Miller?” he said.

“Yes,” said Evelyn Miller. He turned toward them both in his stately manner. He was a man of the southern tradition and seemed to recognize them at once. “Ah, haven’t I met you two?”

“Yes, you have,” said Arthur. He held out his hand. They shook. “I’m Arthur Morgan. This is my wife, Mary Beth. You may actually remember us as the Kilgores, but that’s a bad alias.”

Miller had kind eyes. He smiled in recognition. “The Kilgores,” he said. “Why, of course. That ghastly party. You escorted a drunken fool from the premises if I remember correctly.”

“That, I did,” said Arthur. "Escorting drunken fools is one of my finer specialties."

Miller laughed. He addressed Mary Beth in a gentlemanly fashion. “Mrs. Kilgore. You are as lovely as I remember.”

“Why thank you, Mr. Miller,” said Mary Beth. She made a curtsy. “But you can just call me Mary Beth. Or Mrs. Morgan, if you’d prefer.”

“Noted,” said Miller. “This is quite the coincidence. Oddly enough, I was just speaking with the mayor about you two the other day.”

“The mayor?” said Arthur.

“That’s right,” said Miller. “I don’t mean to be awkward, but I just—I wonder if I might say something rude about it.”

“Go right on ahead,” said Arthur.

“The mayor, well. He thinks you stole from him.”

The Chief and who Arthur assumed to be his son stood nearby in silence, but they did not seem disinterested. Arthur gave Miller a kind of careful look. He didn’t like the notion of having entered into the casual conversations of polite circles. “Stole from him, huh?”

“To be clear,” Miller went on, “he wasn’t very upset about it. He rather liked the two of you.”

“I see.”

“Do you…well, that is to say…” He removed his hat. He shuffled in his shoes nervously.

“You got ants in your pants, Mr. Miller?” said Arthur.

“No,” said Miller, blushing. “No. I just wondered—is that something you can do? Steal things?”

“Excuse me?”

“I apologize,” said Miller. “I just. Well.” He looked at Mary Beth, seemingly conflicted. “I did not mean to imply—”

“Imply what?” she said, feigning that demure sensibility of hers. “That we’d rob a politician at his own party? That’s some highfalutin accusation, even for us.”

This confused him. He shook out his head a little and then looked at Arthur. “I thought she was an oil heiress from Texas.”

Arthur chuckled. “Well, that is the story. In any case I must ask if there is a reason you are asking me to incriminate myself, Mr. Miller. We didn’t come over here to enter into the wrath of the law. We just wanted to say hello.”

“No, no. Well. Not formally at least.” He turned to the chief and his son then, ushering them into the conversation as if he had been remiss. “Have you met? This is Rains Fall, a great chief, and his son, Eagle Flies.”

Arthur and Mary Beth both nodded, said hello. Eagle Flies must have been about twenty-two or twenty-three. A little younger than John. He had some kind of anger in his eyes, but it was not menacing. It was disassociated from man or object and seemed to turn outwardly upon the world as one single, existential atrocity. "How do you do," said Arthur.

“We have not met officially,” said Rains Fall. He wore a dark hat and jacket, as if to hide himself. “We saw you many months ago, however, on the wagon train, crossing the river at Cumberland Falls. Do you remember?”

“I do,” said Arthur.

“Mrs. Morgan, I remember you fondly from the party. Though we did not speak, many spoke well of you.”

Mary Beth smiled politely, seeming surprised. “I didn’t realize I’d made such a splash,” she said.

“Well, I remember.”

“Those are some mighty powers of observation,” said Arthur.

Rains Fall glanced away, heavily beneath the brim of his hat. He had much to say. “Indeed. My people, if we even are a people anymore, were once lead by our powers of observation. We have fought hard, and we have lost a great deal, Mr. Morgan. In the wake of our defeat, we have been repeatedly punished and removed from our land. Now, I am told that we are to be moved again. That is why we are here."

"I thought there was treaties for all that."

"There are treaties," said Rains Fall. "We've made peace treaties. Many, in fact. But those treaties are being been broken."

“In their most recent effort to uproot his tribe, the State Government is clearly contravening one of these peace treaties, proposed and signed only three years ago,” said Miller. "Don't you see?"

Eagle Flies stood by sadly, in deference to his father, seeming unwilling to look Arthur in the eye. Arthur glanced at Miller and felt Mary Beth renew her grip on his arm as if to signal that she was feeling things deeply and that the trajectory of the conversation were about to change.

"What are we getting at here," said Arthur.

“This will lead to war,” said Eagle Flies. He lifted his chin amidst the proposal. His father quelled him with wise words that seemed removed from the situation, high above, but Arthur could see the sort of hot indifference inside Eagle Flies and how he dismissed it. In his heart Arthur agreed with such anger, but he sensed now, too, as if he were tossing adrift in an endless ocean of responsibilities and getting too far from shore to turn back.

“It’s a bad business,” he said to them all, in an effort to end the conversation. “I’m mighty sorry.”

Even still, Miller pressed on. “It’s to do with oil,” he said. “I know it, but I need the proof.”

“What kind of proof?” said Mary Beth.

Arthur cleared his throat, went ignored.

“I believe there were some prospectors who were up on their land a few months ago who have filed reports with Leviticus Cornwall and the State Government, claiming huge reserves of oil under their land.”

“You can do that?” said Mary Beth. “Claim something that’s underneath something else? Ain’t the land just the land?”

“You would think so,” said Eagle Flies.

“Anyway,” said Miller. “If we could just get our hands on those reports. That would be the proof we need.”

There was a dull silence then, filled only by the sounds of the surrounding street fair and all of its ignorant bliss. Arthur was staring at Miller. It all came together and he was promptly put upon. “You want me to try and steal it,” he said.

Miller stared at him, a little slack-jawed. “Well, obviously they can’t, and even more obviously, I would be useless. Listen, I realize this is both a seemingly random and ridiculous request, but Mr. Morgan, we are desperate.”

Arthur was scratching at the back of his head then when he took a step back, as if to leave. Mary Beth watched him closely, still held onto him, waiting to see what he would do. “I ain’t no activist, Mr. Miller,” he said. “I’m real sorry for your predicament, but my wife and I, we’re working folk. We got problems and…a cause of our own. I hope you can understand.”

“We will pay you very handsomely, Mr. Morgan,” said Rains Fall, head on.

"That’s okay,” said Arthur.

But Mary Beth tugged him back. "Arthur," she whispered. "Wait."

This seemed to bring him frustration. “Mary Beth,” he said, lowering his voice. He turned his back to the men for a moment to privately address her. “I ain’t doing this. We got enough on our plate.”

"But you'll help them Rangers hunt that killer from Texas? Don’t you hear this man?” she said. “The government is stealing from him. That ain’t right.”

“I know it ain’t right. And I hear what you're saying, but it ain't the same. Hunting Raiders for the law is easy work I can do with my eyes closed, but going up against the government? That’s a whole other can of worms, Mary Beth and it ain't in our best interest.”

She looked at him. He had a good deal of hefty concern in his eyes and was soft to her. He was talking about her and their future and she understood this time. “Okay,” she said, giving in. She let it go.

But Rains Fall was insistent. “Please, Mr. Morgan,” he said.

Arthur glanced at him over his shoulder. Even still she could tell he was feeling things. He was very conflicted. “You want me to put myself in danger for a damn cause?" he said. "How much we talking then.”

“I told you,” said Eagle Flies to Rains Fall. “They’re all mercenaries.”

“Hey,” said Mary Beth, forcefully. She took a step forward. This surprised Eagle Flies. “It ain’t like that. You don’t know him.”

But Arthur calmed her. “It’s okay, Mary Beth,” he said. He turned to her, palmed her cheeks and smoothed her hair down her neck. She had only been defending him. “It’s okay. He’s right. Not about you, but about me, he's right.” Then he looked back at Eagle Flies. He removed himself from Mary Beth and addressed him man to man. “You wanna know about me?” he said.

“What about you."

“What about this?" said Arthur. "I got a price on my head in two states, my friend. The government don’t like me anymore than it does you, and like you, I been running for as long as I can remember. The same thing goes for my wife here, hence her anger. Like you, our time in this place is coming to a fast finish, and our cause is getting out of here with our lives and the lives of our loved ones. When it comes to any and all things extracurricular to that cause, well, morality is a concept of due relativity, Eagle Flies, and we don’t bend so easy. Now, I agree with you, and I find your dilemma mighty disturbing. But I got a woman and a family, and I gotta get paid for the risks I take, particularly when it comes to stealing from the State Government. Do you understand?”

Eagle Flies said nothing. He looked back at Mary Beth, but she was looking away at the cobblestone now. Rains Fall took over. He said, “We understand, Mr. Morgan. And we will pay.”

“Thank you,” said Arthur. He looked away, looked at her. He could not believe what he was agreeing to.

“You’ll meet my son in three days up near Citadel Rock, just west of the oil fields.”

Arthur nodded. “Fine.”

“We are very grateful for your help,” said Rains Fall, with seriousness. He looked at Mary Beth as well. “We are grateful to both of you.”

Mary Beth smiled, weakly. Arthur could tell she was still upset.

“You’re welcome,” said Arthur. He took her hand as Evelyn Miller broke the conversation, bringing up something or other about the senator.

“This whole thing is a waste of time,” grumbled Eagle Flies.

Rains Fall made to comfort him with a hand on his shoulder. He said, “We must try everything, son.”

Arthur looked away. That sentiment he had heard many times before.

Arthur felt himself stretched by circumstance after that. It was an old sensation very familiar to him. Mary Beth spoke little on their return walk through the town. She suggested they visit the stable, but Arthur was not ready for that. He didn’t fancy horse shopping at the time being, and she understood. They had earlier discussed buying tickets to a show, and so they began to head in the direction of the theater. Arthur could tell she was still cooling off. The day had become serious very quickly, and he could sense her processing as they went along, and even as he knew she did not desire to be preoccupied or for it to derail the day, he was grateful to her. Despite what many would have believed he did not have many people in his life who would defend him like she had so casually that day.

When they got to the theater, Arthur paid for the tickets, and then they went inside where it was only about half-full. They sat down in a row toward the back. Mary Beth had begun to loosen up a little at her excitement for the picture show. She had only ever been to one. Arthur waited until the lights went down, and a hush fell over the meager crowd, and then he took her hands into his in seriousness.

“What’s the matter?” she said, quietly, looking at him.

“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing is the matter. I just—before the picture starts, I wanted to thank you, Mary Beth."

“Thank me? For what?”

“For defending me today," he said, folding his hands over hers, completely. "With Eagle Flies. You didn't have to, but you did. You did it with those Rangers, too. You got my back. You always have, even when we was just friends, and I don't know that I've ever really thanked you for it.”

She smiled up at him, gracious, and she took hold of his ear and kissed him. “I’m always gonna have your back, Arthur,” she said. “This ain’t no one-sided arrangement, and you know that. You're welcome."

It was life-saving. The curtain went up. They turned to see, and the movie was perhaps a most preposterous show of artistic failure. They laughed, made fun of it a little, watched with their heads together, whispering. Even still, as they called it silly, they were having fun, and they had to admit it was sort of neat.

#red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #arthur morgan #rdr2 fanfic #mary beth gaskill #arthur morgan x mary beth gaskill #hosea matthews #rains fall #eagle flies #lonesome dove #true grit #not a crossover per se #just some cameos from texas rangers i love #<3 #the lily farm

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smutfornerds · 5 years ago

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Mile High Club // Sherloque x Reader

A/N: well these two are just fueling all my creativity this weekend smh. @jay-wells-writes wrote a wonnnnnderful Mile High fic about HR. Which then lead @cursed-ocs to start up a Harry version. So NATURALLY I felt obliged to get Sherly into the club too! So here we have one of three parts to our impromptu Mile High Wells Bois miniseries. Enjoy my babies!

—

The bags were fully stowed away above you in a Tetris-like mess, but at least the compartment doors closed. Where you seemed to be relieved that the plane would be taking of soon, the detective to your right was quite the opposite. Sherloque sat ringing his hands back and forth, the occasional swipe of his dry tongue over his even drier lips. His blue gaze was stuck piercing the tarmac like if he stared hard enough it would anchor the plane to the ground. Finally taking your seat, you placed a gentle hand to his arm and he snapped his gaze to you with raised brows. “Oui? Everything okay?” The very fact that in such an anxious state he was still worried about you made your heart backflip. You gave a soft squeeze to his arm before trailing your hand down to his own, breaking his nervous palm rubbing to cup your hand over his.

“Everything’s fine, and so are you. I promise planes are nothing to be afraid of.” Giving him the most reassuring smile you could still didn’t change his mind. “Nothing oh? What about if the engines are not fully operational? Or if the wing just - POOF —“ Sherloque threw his hands up wildly as he gave the visual of some sort of explosion before continuing. “Just like that, hm? That is not something to be afraid of?” He gestured it the window and back to you before rubbing his hand over his stubbled chin. You watched as his chest rose and fell with each semi-quick breath. Without a second thought you pressed your palm to the square of his chest. He opened his mouth to speak but you were already ready. “Deep breaths. In your nose, out your mouth. Five of them.” Shooting him a serious glance he rolled his eyes before obliging. You kept your palm pressed firmly to his chest as he did so, and you could feel his heart rate lowering with each intake of air. With breath number five he finally sat back against his seat, exhaling in a slow and exasperated sigh. “I don’t mean to be such a fuss.” He stated softly, much softer than his usual booming voice. You placed your hand on the arm rest, nudging his elbow just a bit as you spoke. “Hey I was the same way when I started flying. It takes getting used to, it’s alright.” You shrugged at the finish of your sentence only to be greeted by the flight crew over the intercoms.

They gave the safety speech and motioned towards every exit, the oxygen masks and floatation devices under the seats. Every other word you would glance over at Sherloque, and his eyes would widen at the little mentions of “if we were to go down” protocols. Both of you clicked your seatbelts as the captain rang through the speakers to alert you for take off. Again you saw your companions gaze lock on the window, but this time you weren’t about to feed into his fears. “Hey, Sherloque, don’t watch the take off.” Tapping his shoulder he turned back to face you and his expression read beyond nervous. To say it took a knife to your heart was an understatement. This man who was always so confident in his every move, had faced a meta-murderer more than once without flinching, and yet the idea of flying was making his hands all but shake. You softened your expression just as the engines whirred on. He tried to turn again but this time you cupped his face in your hands. “Hey hey hey, don’t look out there just look at me.” His eyes seemed to lose their worried glaze and find a calmer, warmer one to shine back at you. “Okay.. that I can do.” He murmured as the plane began to creep forward. Letting your hands slip to rest on on his shoulder, the other in the crook of his neck, you smiled sweetly over to him to help ease his nerves.

“This is exactly what my mom has to do for me when I was a kid, just hold eye contact til we’re in the air and it’s not as scary, I promise.” Nodding at your own words, Sherloque nodded once in return before scoffing slightly. “So I’m like a child being so scared and nervous? I mean really what could be so terrible about fly-aye!” The plane lurched just as he spoke and roared into the air, sending both of you unexpectedly thumping lightly into the backs of your seats. “Sacré bleu!” The detective let his voice boom through the rows of empty seats and around the ears of the few other passengers. You could hear the muffled snickers and couldn’t help but giggle a bit yourself. Eyeing him again you couldn’t help but notice his ragged breathing had returned, even shakier than before. A frown formed on your previously chipper face and he noticed immediately. Clearing his throat he wiped a hand over his face and blinked a few times to regain his composure. “Is there any chance they’ve got a.. a nice chamomile tea on this floating deathtrap?” The tone of his voice was a bit more shrill than usual, and you could see it all over his face how tense he’d become. Placing a hand on his knee you shot him a knowing smile. “I don’t know if the flight attendants do, but I made sure to pack a few bags in my carry-on.” As you leaned down to fish your bag out from under your seat Sherloque finally cracked a smile. “Look at you mon cher, always coming prepared.” As you say up and saw his softened features you gave him a warm smile. For a moment that’s all the two of you did, stare and smile in adoration of the other. The clanking of the refreshment cart snapped you back from the trance, and you handed him the tea bag. “Uh, here. Chamomile to help calm you down.” Another genuine smile crept over his lips, and this one finally sent those dimples popping to melt your heart. “Merci belle femme.” Sherloque let his hand linger over yours a moment before snatching the tea bag, and a rose tint hit your cheeks when you realized just what he’d said.

Just like clockwork the flight attendant tapped your seat and asked if you needed anything. After procuring hot water for his tea and a few bags of pretzels, Sherloque seemed as calm as he was going to get for a while. Seeing as you were on an evening flight you went ahead and ordered yourself a glass of sparkling rosé, gaining a teasing look from your travel companion. “What? Maybe you aren’t the only one who’s a nervous flier.” You took a slow and slurping sip of your drink, sighing contently when the fizz of the bubbly and the sting of the alcohol hit your throat. Sherloque followed suit and let the tip of his cup tap your wine glass before slurping up a bit more of his tea. He coughed a bit after his sip, setting the drink down as he blew at the steam. “Too hot for the tea connoisseur?” You teased gently, still unsure of where his anxiety was and how he was feeling. Thankfully he shot you an equally playful glance. “Au contraire, I just added a bit too much..” As he spoke he reached into his coat breast pocket, waggling a small and almost empty wooden flask. “Security scanners don’t detect what isn’t metal.” He shot you a wink and you couldn’t do a thing but scoff and giggle at his antics. Of course it didn’t surprise you that he’d snuck his honey whiskey with him. The countless times he’d poured a little splash into his tea with the whip “What’s tea without a little honey?” flashed through your mind and only got you laughing harder. To your surprise and joy, Sherloque was chuckling right along side you.

Most of the first half of your six hour flight was spent chit chatting. A few moments of small turbulence got the better of Sherloque but his tea concoction seemed to be helping keep his nerves at ease. Hearing the familiar ding to alert you that you could roam the cabin, you glanced over to see him unclicking his seatbelt. “Too much tea not enough bladder. Excusez-moi?” He motioned to your legs and you spun yourself to stick them in his seat. “I’ll keep it warm for you.” You teased, and he nudged you gently with his elbow as he slid past you. Watching him stumble slightly to the main cabin bathrooms at the back of the aircraft, you looked around to see just how vacant your cabin was. Four rows ahead was a man who’d been sleeping for a few hours already, and across from him and up a few more rows sat an elderly couple who were both watching a movie on a laptop. When a stewardess walked by you asked how far you were from landing, and she said it’d be about another two hours. Shifting around your seat you let your feet hit the floor, stretching as best you could in the cramped seat. You’d finished your wine and stolen a bag of his pretzels in the time Sherloque had been gone, and the plane had been a bit bumpy, so you worried he’d lost himself in his anxiety all alone.

Quietly as to not disturb the few sleeping passengers behind you, you crept to the bathroom and gave a light rasp to the door. “Sherloque? Hey it’s just me, is everything okay?” You spoke softly into the crack of the door, and heard him shuffle his feet and clear his throat before the lock clicked open. Instead of coming out however he opened the door enough to motion you in with him. The quarters were cramped, but not uncomfortably so. You stood with your back against the door and Sherloque leaned against the small counter. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to just leave you, the plane started back with the-the bumps and—“ He closed his eyes, trying his best to take a deep breath but you could see how hard it had become for him to stay calm. Unsure of whether it was the wine flowing your movements or because of how enticing the veins in his neck were looking you weren’t sure. But you closed the minimal space between you by locking your lips onto his. The faint taste of his whiskey floated into your mouth as his tongue skillfully rolled against yours. His slightly shaky hands fell to your hips and gripped tightly, pressing your body firmer and tighter to his. Another bump of turbulence and he groaned, but you weren’t about to let him lose himself in anxiety. Only in you.

Hopping onto the small counter area you wasted no time slipping your shorts off. Sherloque eyes widened at the sight but he wasn’t about to deny you. He slid his trousers down to his knees, letting himself hang out of his boxers when you pulled him back into another heated kiss. His hands traveled up your thighs and along your waist before he began palming at your breasts. A small whine left you and dripped into the kiss, and Sherloque ate up every little noise you made like he was starving for them. You rolled your hips forward and ground against him, feeling the way his erection grew against your thighs made the pool between your legs practically gush. As he moved a hand down to your panties you brought yours to his hair, combing your fingers through his wild curls only making them crazier. His fingers brushed your wetness and now he groaned for a whole new, breathless reason. Pushing the fabric aside he slicked his fingers into your awaiting wetness, rubbing figure eights over your clit. The moans and whimpers that trickled out of you melted him to the bone. Using his free hand he lined himself up with you, sliding in with ease. A strained groan left the both of you, and you both stopped to tell the other you needed to stay quiet. A seductive grin curled over your lips and you began grinding into him, forcing him to thrust into you deeper with each movement. Soon his hands were bracing the counter as he railed into your core, and your lip was throbbing with this hard you were biting it to stay quiet. Another bout of turbulence rocked the plane but neither of you could be bothered, as it had forced Sherloque to hit an angle in you that made your back arch harshly into him. That was all he needed to release, and he pulled himself from you to try to shoot into his hand.

As if on reflex you jumped from the counter and dropped to your knees, moving his sticky hand away to lap up his mess yourself. The look of shock and immeasurable pleasure on his face was more than enough fuel to keep going, but you knew you’d been in there long enough to draw attention already. So you gave a few slow bobs of your head as your tongue swirled his tip, cleaning every little drop of his seed before sliding your lips off of him again. His head hung back against the wall for a moment as he caught his breath. Taking the initiative you grabbed a wad of toilet paper and slid it across his messy hand, causing him to chuckle lazily. “Merci, you naughty little thing.” His voice was low and raspy, as if he was truly spent. What with how anxious he’d been and then surprising him with a ticket to the mile high club, you weren’t surprised. Standing to your feet again you wiped your thumb along your lower lip to clean any trace of your fun from your mouth. “We better get back to our seats before we get in trouble..” You shot him a wink before leaning up to peck his cheek. “I’ll see you out there.” Creaking the door open you scanned for any signs of what you’d done being known, but everything was exactly as you’d left it. Everyone asleep, flight attendants in the first class cabin being none the wiser.

Making your way back to your seats you decided to steal Sherloque’s window seat, and curl up with the complimentary blanket. When he came back a few minutes later he chuckled at the sight of you. “Keeping my seat warm hm?” He grinned down at you before settling into your previous spot. He lifted the armrest that separated the two of you and motioned for you to cuddle into him, and you happily obliged. You curled your legs up into his lap and the action made a slow creeping smirk grow on his features. Pulling the blanket up over you, he slid a hand along your thigh until he was pressed at your clit through your shorts. Shooting him a playful glare he whispered to you, just as he began pushing his fingers past the fabric. “It’s not at all fair that I got off and you, such a thoughtful..” He paused to slick the pad of his finger along your folds. “Wonderful..” Again he lowered his voice to a raspier whisper while his fingers glided along your wetness, finding your clit with ease and wasting no time rubbing hard circles against the bundle of nerves. A small whimper escaped you and you bit your lip again, wincing at the sensitivity from earlier. Sherloque simply let out a chuckle as he quickened the pace of his fingers. Burying your face in his neck you whined just below his ear, and you watched the goosebumps trail over his skin. “Belle femme.. so so beautiful like this, all for moi..” He continued rubbing furiously at your clit as you began writhing in your seat. His free hand braced your back as he pressed even harder to your clit.

Releasing your bite on your own skin you latched onto his neck, gaining a sharp gasp from him. He began flicking the tip of his finger rapidly across your throbbing clit, and you were had. Your hips twitched up into his hand and a soft, slow and needy whine escaped you against his bitten skin. “Oh, so beautiful..” Sherloque slowly pulled his hand from between your legs, starting to wipe it on the blanket when a thought hit his still slightly tipsy mind. “Since you were so willing to clean me before..” He trailed his hand up to your face, letting his middle finger trace your lower lip before slowly parting them to get his finger in your mouth. Without hesitation you licked him clean just as you’d done to his length in the bathroom. Sherloque bit back another groan and cleared his throat, stealing a chaste kiss once you’d released his digit. The kiss seemed calmer, less heat and more gratitude behind it. Upon pulling away you heard the intercoms click on to alert everyone the plane would be landing shortly. Sherloque sucked in a deep breath and locked his arm tightly around your shoulders to keep you close to him. Bringing your hand up to his chest, you placed it directly where you had at the beginning of the flight. “Don’t worry, I’m right here.” This time however, you were given a genuine smile in return and not a faked or scared one. “And aren’t I the luckiest man alive for that to be so?” He placed a sweet and tender kiss to your forehead just as the plane began to descend.

#sherloque wells #sherloque wells x reader #sherloque wells smut #the flash #the flash smut

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a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives · 5 years ago

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Aussie Luke sails into crusade against hunger

AFTER his stint in South Sudan visiting starving mothers and children, Australian actor Luke Arnold is back in South Africa this week on a very different mission — to start the third season of the runaway hit pirate series,

Arnold, a rising star on our screens who memorably played the late INXS singer Michael Hutchence in the TV miniseries has been living a whirlwind life since he was picked up as a relative unknown for the US.

TV series. He mixes work as a goodwill ambassador for Save the Children with acting in the grimy prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s literary classic

The series follows the exploits of pirate Captain Flint and his crew and Arnold has the plum role of Long John Silver.

“I get to play the original story of Long John Silver and we get to have our version of who that might be,” says Arnold, who trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth but grew up in Adelaide where he attended Aldgate Primary School.

It has lighthearted moments but the series is a characterdriven drama filled with liars, murderers and thieves, among them a young Long John. With more than five million Americans watching each episode, Arnold is getting his wish to allow Long John’s story to slowly build.

“When I signed on for this role it only felt worth it if we went for a few years and I got to turn this character, who is a chancer and almost a street rat, into one of the most notorious pirates of literature,” he says.

“So for me, I definitely want a few more years to complete that journey.”

Arnold was in Cape Town making the second series when his eerily convincing portrayal of the late Michael Hutchence screened in Australia earlier this year. The surviving members of INXS were on set during the shoot to support Arnold in what he says was the biggest gamble of his career.

For the month before it went to air, the pressure was so great he barely slept. Until then he had flown under the radar with smaller independent films like and

which came with their own safety nets. “If it wasn’t any good, no one would see it,” he says. “It’s OK if it’s good but if it’s not it will disappear. But with a show like this you knew people were going to watch.”

As it turned out, Arnold got rave reviews for a breakthrough role that made him a virtual overnight sensation. His malleable good looks fitted the rock star mould just as easily as they do a long- haired, treasure hungry pirate.

“While it was airing I was in Cape Town, which I think was kind of nice to not be here when it was going crazy,” he says. “Then I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like coming back.”

Since returning home he has been recognised at times but, he says, always in a positive way. People were touched by the show and wanted to pass on their appreciation.

“It’s actually been a pleasurable thing,” he says. “It’s a good reminder to do jobs that you believe in and you love. I’m sure being in the public eye is not always going to be fun but when it’s because of a show like it has been a really fun experience.”

After finishing season 2 last May, Arnold did some private travel in Europe and the US, stopping in Los Angeles to discuss work for next year. He can’t reveal anything but hopes for a new project after the third season of finishes filming in May 2015.

“There’s nothing I can speak of yet. It’s a little too soon to lock anything in but it feels like because of the success of both the shows some doors are opening that weren’t open before,” he says.

His took on the role of goodwill ambassador because he felt he could use his profile to spread a valuable message about what Save the Children was doing in a more obscure part of the world. He says South Sudan has been torn apart by tribal conflict since December last year. Supply routes are cut and people have fled their homes, creating a food shortage of serious proportions. He spent time at a hospital that runs a program to combat malnutrition using a highly nutritious peanut paste.

“That’s where I spent the majority of the trip, talking to staff as well as mothers and children,” he says. “Several mothers had got to the point of boiling grasses and leaves because they had nothing to eat. Obviously it isn’t enough.”

He says he feels a responsibility to do what he can to help.

#luke arnold #luke spam #interview #charity #sudan #black sails #inxs never tear us apart

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ty-talks-comics · 5 years ago

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Best of DC: Week of September 4th, 2019

Best of this Week: DCeased: A Good Day to Die #1 - Tom Taylor, Laura Braga, Darick Robertson, Richard Friend, Trevor Scott, Rain Beredo and Saida Temofonte

This was absolutely insane from start to finish.

DCeased as an event has been dire, hopeless and gory beyond all reason and while there has been some travel to different places like Keystone City or Atlantis, most of it has been confined to Metropolis and focused on Superman, Green Canary, Jon Kent and Damian Wayne. A Good Day to Die shifts the focus to an entirely different cast of characters and how they’re dealing with the Anti-Life infection.

Starting with an amazing shot of Mister Miracle, Scott Free, and Big Barda using a Boom Tube to look at the destroyed remains of Apokalips, the book establishes just how bad things have gotten for even the worst being in existence. Darkseid is more than likely very dead. Surrounded by the White Light of safety, the couple look on share a tender kiss full of love with Scott saying that seeing Apokalips decimated debris makes him feel pretty good, like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulder, especially since there were nothing but awful memories there. One of the first themes we get here is the love that he and Barda share throughout.

Soon after, we cut to Mister Terrific conducting a myriad of test on a captured but infected Captain Boomerang. There is never a reason given for why he has Boomerang, but his studies ultimately lead nowhere as he too is stumped about how to solve this problem. What makes this interesting is that, Michael Holt is one of the smartest minds in all of the DC Universe. He has almost as many resources as Batman has with double the mind power to piece together a solution, but he’s got nothing. So he turns to the only two people that may have a first person perspective of things - Scott Free and Barda who have just returned to Earth.

Truly, the only thing that could have made this better would have been an appearance from Guy Gardner for most of a Justice League International reunion. This was alluded to by Ted when Barda first showed up and while this does get some more creedence later on, it is far more gruesome than I would have expected, but it was a fun nod to some old history.

Taylor makes one of the first of many jokes as Terrific knocks on their door, but Scott is convinced that it’s a zombie with their bloody stump until he rings the doorbell, Braga then pulls in close on Scott’s face with the most serious look with him saying, “Answer the door.” and I just couldn’t contain myself. After Barda explains that Apokalips holds no answers as it too was destroyed, we cut to Blue Beetle and Booster Gold holed up in Kord Industries office building. Ted notes that the door is made of titanium and that nothing could get through it… Until Barda gets through it. Scott and Terrific cut down the zombies with ease, allowing the group to escape to Blue Beetle’s Bug on the way to another hope!

After all of that, we venture to the wonderful land of Liverpool, England where John Constantine is being chased by hordes of the Undead and yelling at Chas to start the car. Unfortunately for him, Chas had been looking at his phone and succumbs to the virus himself, forcing John to incinerate his best mate.

Darick Robertson is the artist for these pages and he does an excellent job of drawing a crowd of zombies with bloody faces. He's even better at setting a scene in only a few panels, showing John running from them at a distance, and keeping that same shot, bringing John closer and closer as we see just how dense the horde is. John is absolutely lucky that he manages to survive. The sheer terror on his face as he runs ragged away from danger is a delight and actually makes me feel horrified for him too.

Terrific and the others save John, asking if magic might be able to help them, but John retorts in his normal snide manner that if it could, he would have done it already. Not before making fun of their superhero names, John says that he's going to wait to die while being drunk off his arse in typical fashion.

Laura Braga's art shifts between the gruesome and the beautiful so often in this book that when Scott and Varda are on screen, they stand out well amongst the drab browns and reds of the zombies. While this is mostly thanks to Rain Beredo's great use of colors in Barda's iconic dark blues and yellows as well as Scott's distinct greens, yellows and red, credit should be given for Braga's amazing posing and scene setting. Seeing Barda and Scott so in love and having it juxtaposed against impending doom is just a wonderful sight to see.

The groups efforts are further impeded when Waverider, a "time cop" comes to prevent Booster from using his time machine to save the universe. Constantine returns out of guilt in the nick of time to try to save the universe, headbutting Waverider for a distraction when ZomBarda crashes through a wall and kills Mister Terrific. This keeps Booster away for time to take its toll as Waverider tells him that Superman apparently finds the body of Barry Allen in some rubble in Keystone, causing Booster and the future to start fading away.

With little options left, Terrific places his faith in the hands of Booster Gold who still has a working time machine somewhere. Even Booster acknowledges the idiocy of that idea, but what else can they do? Booster says he left it in the hands of some trusted friends and where do we go? Malibu! The home of Fire and Ice, the other two members of the JLI as mentioned earlier! Unfortunately for Mister Terrific’s team, both Fire and Ice lost the fight against the hordes and succumbed to the infection themselves. Seeing no other option and quickly being overcome, Scott and Barda sacrifice themselves so that the others may escape. They share one last kiss before getting completely overwhelmed.

I actually almost teared up as I tend to do when things involve Booster and Beetle. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have the most adorable bromance in the history of comics and watching Ted frantically try to calm his dissipating friend is nothing but heartbreaking. Booster apologizes to Ted that he'll never know him and it's almost too much, even in this series.

The biggest and best change here is John's unwillingness to let this universe fall. John's never been one for superheroics, but seeing just how close Terrifics team came to actually having something of a solution and knowing that he could have been a great help makes Constantine see that the world can still be saved.

DCeased has me far more involved at this point than I ever expected. Even if it's not a canon story, I really do feel for each character in it. This particular spin off is even better because it has some of my favorite characters and shows just how they'd deal with a rapid zombie infection. Tom Taylor must have been reading old issues of Justice League of America/International because he captured some of the essence that made that series so hilarious with great characterizations and gags.

Laura Braga's art stuns by being every bit as violent as Trevor Hairsine's on the main book while also being very distinct from it with thick lines, excellent facial expressions and good backgrounds. Her cities feel desolate, even with zombies roaming the streets and the way she drew Blue Beetle's Bug brought me back to my love for the character and the wackiness of the vehicle.

Things just tumble down from there as Ted allows himself to be infected and Constantine keeps Waverider locked in place so that he has to face the consequences of what he's allowed to happen. Ted kills Waverider just as Doctor Fate and Zatanna show up to try and rescue Constantine.

I really hope that this spin off continues to every part of the DC Universe and that even when the main series is over there will still be more stories to tell. Like Marvel Zombies, there's a lot of ground that can be covered and it can't just be contained to a six issue miniseries. I mean, it can to avoid oversaturation, but I love this so far.

#dceased #dc comics #dc #mister miracle #big barda #mister terrific #blue beetle #booster gold #john constantine #horror #zombies #tom taylor #laura braga #darick robertson #rain beredo

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escaping-thoughts-reviews · 5 years ago

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“Captain Marvel” mistaking misandry for feminism

This is my personal opinion as a woman who saw the movie with an open mind and hoped to enjoy it... sadly that wasn’t the case. I’ve heard some of the controversies surronding it and the main actress, but I didn’t care because I hadn’t seen the movie yet and didn’t want to judge it based on that. Now I’ve seen it and here’s my personal opinion:

This is not a feminist movie.

The main protagonist, Carol Danvers is a bidimensional character with no personal growth (emotional or power related) and no emotions what-so-ever. Jude’s character keeps telling her to "control your emotions", but here’s the problem: SHE DOESN’T HAVE ANY!! She never emotes, just stares blankly or makes a condescending face ever once in a while.

The writing is bad, really bad: from the exposition dumps and lines that no person would say (”This is you when you were little. You didn’t get along with your parents. So Mom said we became your real family"... hadn't seen this type of lines since the “children of the corn” miniseriers *cringe*, at least that was enjoyably bad).

She's rude towards her comrades and people she doesn't know yet (Fury), especially the men, that are represented either as idiots or as sexists and who she belittles at every opportunity, even if they are doing their job (Fury asking justified questions). On the other hand, the other women aren't allowed to shine, even if they are better characters. Point in case: Maria Rambeau, single mother (Frank nowhere to be seen, because... queerbate, I guess), who makes me wish she had been Captain Marvel! She has character, PERSONALITY! She has empathy and real stakes (her daughter's and planet’s safety), why wasn't she chosen to be Captain Marvel?! Or better, the acutal first female Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau. Maria’s daugther, now represented as a child who idolizes Carol and “wants to be just like her” (a Miss Marvel who’s comics never sold and that nobody liked). I’m sorry Monica, your character deserved so much better...

On that note even Maria’s character falls because when (according to the movie) Carol feels “lost”, Maria gives this speech that basically boils down to Carol=perfect. And I understand, sometimes, when you’re sad or depressed, you need to hear all the positive and amazing things that you are, but here it fails because C.M. never thinks that she not awesome. And after that Maria is relegated to half-sidekick with Fury, just so Carol can be her condescending self again.

So in the end every character in this movie exists solely to kiss Carol's ass.

Then in the climax, Ronan appears, you know, the big bad evil of GotG and even he is useless, and frankly I found it insulting that a ship that took thousands of lives to stop in an earlier installment was destroyed in minus 3 seconds just by C.M. flying by... way to take out all the gravity of those deaths (counting Groot) from Guardians of the Glalxy... (not to mention Lee Pace’s makeup... ugh, it didn’t even sound like him!).

Also a moment of silence for Jude’s character... thank you. Man, was he given the middle finger. The final showdown was suppost to be an important, emotional moment, where Carol has to face the man who saved her all those years ago, gived her his blood and acted as a mentor towards her. Sure, he was doing it for evil reason, but to her it was real, he was important, the only one she trusted and went to after a troubled dream... and what to we get? Carol, with the same emotionless face punching him with her powers to “stick it to the man” without batting an eye. Seriously?!

Take for example Thor realizing Loki’s betrayal at the end of the first movie, the emotions, the heartbreak he goes through because the brother he loves turned on him. Or Tony realizing the man he saw as a father figure wanted him dead and having to kill him to save the lives of innocent people. Or Steve finding out Bucky is alive, but has been turned into a murderer and feeling torn apart because he has to confront (and possibly kill) him. THIS is the right way to do it!

I'm not going to touch the whole Tesseract bs, because it's just dumb and opens up plot holes the size of Jupiter. Whatever...

Or Fury apparently knowing aliens exist since the ‘90, but being shocked in “Thor” after seeing the Destroyer, stating that “now they know they are not alone in the universe and are outgunned”. And later in Avengers, Black Widow saying S.H.I.E.L.D. (that wasn’t called that utill Iron Man) didn’t train them for an occurance such as an alien invasion... BUT IN THIS MOVIE they show us that they knew about other intelligent and advanced life forms. So bs on this one too. It’s lazy, sloppy writing and it shows.

Also, the Avengers are named after her? a character that didn't even exist in the MCU before this movie which is right before the big finale? Bull. F*****g. Shit! CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS THE FIRST AVENGER! It’s the f***ing title!

In the end Carol Danvers is (and I don't use this term lightly) a Mary-Sue.

p.s. B.Larson, STOP saying that you represent women and feminism because it's clear you don’t even know the meaning of the word. And the fact that now people think that what you are spewing is feminist it’s insultilting, because guess what: it's NOT!!! Talking s**t about men is NOT progressive and is NOT empowering. It’s misandry! That's it.

And Disney deleting reviews and videos that you don’t like just to make this dumbsterfire look better... It doesn’t. It makes it worst.

Here’s a list of actual feminist movies you can enjoy:

Star Wars (+ clone wars, rebels)

Mulan

Frozen

Mad Max: Fury Road

Wonder Woman

Alita Battle Angel

Alien

Terminator

Silence of the Lambs

Crimson Peak

Hunger Games

Princess Mononoke (and many other Ghibli movies)

Kill Bill

Hidden Figures

Fried Green Tomatoes

Other media with strong female characters:

Pride and Prejudice (book, tv series, movie)

Harry Potter (books, movies)

Once Upon a Time

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Legend of Korra

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Bones

Xena: Warrior Princess

Fullmetal Alchemist

Inu-yasha

Charmed

Please feel free to add to the list because having B.Larson stating that her character is the First™ is absolute bs and young women (and young men) need to know there are better and inclusive options, because at the end of the day that’s what feminism is about: inclusion and equality.

I only hope that all the money this movie made will lead to more movies with female protagonists that are actually good.

Rating: Crap/Forgettable

#captain marvel #captain marvel review #rant review #negative reviews #2019 #movies #reviews #Escaping thoughts

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libradusk · 4 years ago

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Touch Starved | Ahsoka Tano

Word Count: 1,260

Pairing: Ahsoka Tano x Reader

Summary: The most vivid memories of your adolescence were stolen by violence and war, a chance reunion 14 years after the fall of the Jedi Order reignites what little hope still dribbles through you

warnings: some mention of blood and death that comes along with Order 66

Part of my Touch Starved miniseries

Chance, that's what it had all boiled down to at the end of it all, how you had survived the worst day of your short life - the worst day of the war.

If you had been with anyone else at the time, you would have been dead, cut down just like your master and the thousands of other Jedi who had all met their fate that horrific day. You had known it at the time through your stolen adolescence, and you certainly knew it now as a fugitive - the only birthright you had ever known now sentenced you for execution, the Empire’s mark for death forever branded on your very soul.

When you had stepped onto that Star Destroyer bridge alongside Ahsoka and Captain Rex, you could never have predicted that the rapid flash of hyperspace would soon double as a blurred countdown to your final moments as a Jedi.

Your assassination had been pre-written in blaster-fire and blood.

At the time you had been happy - drained in every way possible following the Siege of Mandalore, but undeniably overjoyed at being reunited with Ahsoka once more. You had even noted - despite your conscience deeming the thought ludicrously selfish for a Jedi - that you dared to feel whole again, now that your closest confidant and treasured ally had returned to fight at your side - to fight alongside all of you to finish the war for good.

If only you had listened to Maul’s final, desperate warning to you all.

From the moment that first gunshot had grazed your neck, everything else stumbled into slow motion behind it.

The burn that seared and cauterised across your flesh was incomparable to the pain of realising that the only world you had ever known now crumbled around you, that the same soldiers you had battled alongside - laughed, cried and mourned beside, were now either dead or trying to kill you too.

Your own, personal tragedy had unfurled its merciless bindings around you and cut you to pieces in the process.

Bile, adrenaline and unadulterated fear curled over each other for the entire time it took you to escape, threatening to overwhelm every one of your senses as you navigated the dungeon of corridors and airfields. Recalling the events even now caused your lungs to constrict and shrivel in your chest the exact way they had back then - there was no mercy spared for whether you were awake or sleeping, your memories remained tarnished all the same.

Everything finally came to a screeching stop the moment you stumbled from that stolen bomber and your knees collided with solid ground. Despite your freedom, you had felt anything but relief at the feeling of snow blanketing your blistered knees.

You could still smell the smoking remains of the Star Destroyer ship and the clones that had perished alongside it long after you had finished burying their bodies.

Only after you had placed down the last helmet and turned to face the haunting expression on Ahsoka’s face had your body finally allowed you to cry, your soul wrecked with confusion and grief that neither of you could truly answer.

She had held you then, despite your bloodied hands staining her cowl and the fact you knew she was just as broken as you were - she remained steadfast and let you crash against her, your only remaining warmth left across the whole galaxy.

Her own tears had burned hot with fury as they dripped onto your frost-bitten skin when she finally shattered alongside you.

She was torn from you too soon after that.

Or rather the Empire tore you from her.

Your throat had practically bled as their forces had ripped you away, ravaged raw with screams of protest and pleas for her to run, to continue to survive through it all.

The look drowning in those misty-blue eyes still tormented your dreams long after rebel forces had come to your rescue, as did the way she had grasped helplessly towards you as Rex had muffled her cries and dragged her out of view - to safety.

You had made peace then, that somewhere out amongst the stars, Ahsoka was still safe - still alive, even if she couldn’t be by your side anymore.

The thought had eased the hollowness in your heart, if only by the most minuscule amount.

That fateful night relit the fire in your stomach - despite the terror and loss of the only two people you had left in the world it brought alongside it. You stopped running, determined now more than ever to retake the peace that was stolen from you - from Ahsoka and Rex and everyone else who’s lives had been dictated and swallowed by the horrors of blood lust and power born from war.

You had vowed to honour that reignited mission when you had settled down to sleep amidst the threadbare sanctuary of the rebel base that night - and every night that followed thereafter.

You cannot break me further, I have nothing left for you to take from me.

I will stop you from forcing others to suffer as I have.

That skeleton of a mantra continued to guide your every action, to dictate your very survival for years, until at last it guided you to the crew of the Ghost and settled you amongst its rag-tag family of Rebels.

You never envisioned yourself ever reuniting with Ahsoka in your remaining lifetime - had not even dared dream of it. Instead you had always placated yourself with a fantasy wherein she was alive and well hidden in a remote pocket of the galaxy - untouchable and sparkling and happy.

In retrospect you should have known better than to pacify yourself with the lie that the ex-Jedi would ever be the type to ever cower away while others suffered in her stead. Your morals - your spirits - would also entwine you together. The two of you shared a destination that had been forever stitched across the stars, regardless of the path you each walked to reach it.

Jedi or not, the stars could only keep you apart for so long - no matter how excruciating the wait, the means or the time between.

Yet the moment she stood before you once more, older and taller and exhausted, but still as warm and beautiful a soul as you always knew her to be, you couldn’t help but crumble.

And so did she.

For a second the two of you reverted to the ghosts of those tear-stomped teenagers once more, torn apart and furious when you had already lost everything but each other, jaded and scarred by events far beyond your control.

But beneath the tears and anger and pain there was the Ahsoka you knew, the same Ahsoka that had offered you a chance to live - to keep on fighting despite the hell you had both been dragged through day after day.

The Togruta had all but melted into your embrace then, choking back relief that quivered over her shoulders as wide eyes and tentative hands had swarmed over your face, desperate to check that you were truly there, truly alive.

You wondered, if your tears seared against her skin with the same intensity that buzzed across your own as her fingers cradled your jaw - every nerve threaded tightly with a prickling intensity as your soul restitched itself with each touch of Ahsoka’s skin against your own.

It bordered on overwhelming in the most magical way.

For at long last, after so much sacrifice you had been blessed with the most wonderful chance reunion - no, miracle of them all.

#touch starved #star wars reader insert #star wars imagine #ahsoka x reader #ahsoka tano imagine #i had forgotten how much tumblr's tag system overwhelms me #ahsoka reader insert #star wars #rebels #mine #oh god i really hope this has formatted ok i have no idea what im doing #ahsoka is the best ok goodbye thank you!#ahsoka #ahsoka x you #ahsoka tano

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themyskira · 6 years ago

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The Life of Captain Marvel - issue #1

So here we are. Issue #1 of The Life of Captain Marvel, the miniseries that was touted as a bold new origin story that would change everything we thought we knew about Carol Danvers.

And it starts strong by exploiting family violence, trauma, mental illness and traumatic brain injury for melodramatic effect, with no intention of dealing with any of these complex themes in any depth or sensitivity.

For all that, infuriatingly little actually happens in this first issue. No exaggeration, the issue actually includes a stretch of nine months wherein Carol essentially does nothing except mope and grow her hair out. The dang plot doesn’t even arrive until the final seven pages.

Content warning: This issue begins with a flashback to Joe Danvers verbally abusing and hitting his kids. I haven’t included any images, but I talk at some length about Margaret Stohl’s abysmal handling of themes of abuse and family violence. Just a heads up.

The story opens on a flashback to an idyllic childhood holiday in Harpswell, Maine. There’s a montage of Carol and her brothers flying kites, wrestling each other, splashing in the water and stuffing their faces with candy, while adult Carol muses that she used to think her family was perfect.

Then the flashback takes a turn. One of Carol’s brothers rips the kite from her hand, tearing it. Their father, Joe, descends on the boys in a rage and begins verbally abusing and physically beating them as Carol looks on, because — surprise! — it’s Traumatic Past Retcon time!

Goodbye Joe Danvers, well-meaning but hard-headed dad who’s never understood his daughter and whose approval always seems to be out of reach. Hello Joe Danvers v. 2.0, scary unpredictable drunk who hit his kids and terrorised his entire family. Aren’t comics fun?

The flashbacks are interspersed with shots of Carol in the present day, where she’s battling supervillains Tanalth and Moonstone. As the flashback progresses, present-day Carol lashes out violently, alarming friends and foes alike.

“That’s why fighting’s easier than remembering. I tell myself that if I’m strong enough… I’ll beat the memories down so hard they’ll never come back.”

What’s strange to me about this page is the way it deliberately draws a parallel between Joe, snarling and raising his fist to strike his powerless young children, and Carol, snarling and raising her fist to strike down a powerful villain. By implication, it places Carol in the role of abuser, indicating an intergenerational cycle of violence.

Which of course is never explored or discussed beyond this, because Stohl doesn’t want to actually talk about the lasting impacts and terrible toll of family violence, she just wants to exploit it for THE DRAMAS.

As Joe whales on his sons, kid!Carol tries to run to their defence, only to be held back by mother Marie, who tells her, “You’ll just make it worse. Now’s not the time.”

We will be told numerous times over the course of this book what an incredible, loving mother Marie Danvers is, and how she’s prepared to sacrifice everything for Carol. Her actions, though? Her actions consistently portray a woman whose number one interest is in not creating more work or emotional angst for herself, even when it means hanging Carol out to dry.

This is not to say that Marie isn’t a victim as well in this scenario: though she never fears for her life or safety (she could pummel Joe into the ground without breaking a sweat), it could well be that constant gaslighting and emotional abuse have left her feeling unable to oppose her husband in anything.

It could well be, but that is nuance that Stohl is not interested in exploring, and all we get throughout this miniseries is Marie making excuses for Joe’s abusive behaviour and prioritising her own comfort over Carol’s emotional wellbeing and safety.

So anyway, flashback!Marie says “Now’s not the time”, and in the present day Carol shrieks “WHEN - IS - THE TIME?!” while damn near beating Moonstone into a pulp.

The other Avengers are disturbed by this.

Iron Man: Hey, Carol? Could you maybe leave a little something on the plate for… you know… bad guy jail? Black Panther: Would you call that rage… disproportionate?

hellooooo unfortunate paternalistic implications. A female superhero has a hysterical outburst on the battlefield, while her almost exclusively male colleagues look on in bewilderment. (‘This is why women can’t be superheroes, they’re too emotional!!!’)

Cap and T’Challa have to physically pull Carol off Moonstone, as Carol begins to hyperventilate.

Adding to our list of things that this series has zero interest in exploring:

What it’s like to experience a panic attack or traumatic flashback

What it’s like to live with an anxiety disorder

What it’s like to live with trauma

The Carol of this story is not a woman living with trauma and mental illness, she is a woman who swoons hysterically whenever the narrative starts drag a bit. Her panic attacks are purely a plot device used to ratchet up the dramatic tension at convenient moments, and it’s some of the most insensitive handling of mental illness I’ve seen in comics for a while.

Next comes the obligatory scene of Carol getting a full medical in Tony’s lab, only for Tony to throw his hands up and declare, ‘welp, there’s nothing physically wrong with you, are you sure there’s not something else going on????’. Because apparently neither Tony — who has personal experience with trauma — nor Steve — who lived through a FUCKING WAR — know PTSD when it’s punching them (well, Tanalth and Moonstone) in the face.

I mean REALLY.

Tony: Look, the breathing thing is probably some kinda nervous tic.

hi, hello, person with an anxiety disorder here, please do not tell somebody having a full-blown panic attack that it’s just a ‘nervous tic’, you absolute insensitive fuckstick.

Carol: [sigh] It’s… Father’s Day. Not my favourite day of the year, you know?

waitwaitwait, so CAROL recognised that she’d triggered and experienced a traumatic flashback, but for some reason decided to play dumb about it until she’d after she’d had a pointless medical examination??

Tony tells Carol she needs to get herself sorted out or else somebody is going to get hurt, so she goes to visit her mother and younger brother Joe Junior at the family’s holiday home in Maine.

Carol flies into town past a sign that reads, “Harpswell Sound / Summer Home of Captain Marvel” Carol: [narration] Oh, brother.

‘Oh, brother’ is right. I guess at least it isn’t as embarrassing as the time Stohl introduced a D-grade Captain Marvel TV series.

“Sugar’s Donuts / Official Donut of Captain Marvel”

hoookay yep that’s a bit much now.

At the donut shop, Carol runs into childhood friend Louis Lee, who’s grown into a Designated Love Interest with an obnoxious phonetically-spelled accent

“Better keep that to yah self, Ms. Danvers. Wouldn’t wantitah get out that yah cheatin’ on us…”

I despise him already.

Carol goes up to the house and hangs out with her mother and brother. Over dinner, Marie and JJ ask her why she’s dropped by so suddenly. Carol evades and JJ blows up at her because apparently he’s been holding in some anger about how he feels she abandoned the family and didn’t even bother to come home when their dad was terminally ill. (Which, hey, here’s another potentially rich thread to explore — PITY IT NEVER COMES UP BETWEEN THEM EVER AGAIN.)

Carol shoots back that he knows full well she was avoiding home because of their abusive father, only to be interrupted by the door slamming as their mother walks out.

…eeeeeexcept apparently that was an art mistake, because the very next page is Carol chasing after her brother, the one who actually stormed out. She finds him at their father’s grave, drinking booze.

He offers his recovering alcoholic sister the bottle, and when she lightly turns it down he gripes that she’d always thought she was better than everybody else and she should feel free to piss off any time now. Then he gets into his car and Carol lets him drive home drunk like the responsible person she is.

“Part of me knew I should go after Joe Jr. I mean, nobody in my family was any good with a bottle.”

WHAT IN THE HELL, CAROL.

But nah, see, she has more important things to do, like scream at her dead father and desecrate his headstone, because that’s sure not going to upset her family further, nope.

Her little tantrum is interrupted by the sound of tyres screeching and a car plunging off a bridge because YOU FUCKING MORON you stood there and watched your brother stagger drunk into his car and made the conscious decision that ‘nah, I’m gonna let this one play out’.

and ohohohohoho how ~poetic~! He crashed right through the ‘Summer Home of Captain Marvel’

god I hate everything in this comic.

JJ is rushed to hospital, where he is diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, leaving him in a catatonic state.

And of course, Stohl’s Carol makes it all about her-fucking-self.

“In an instant, everything changes. You ruin someone’s life… it ruins yours right back. You’d give everything to have gone after him… and acted like the hero you’re supposed to be.”

Yes, JJ is in a coma with a traumatic brain injury, but let’s talk about how his near-fatal car accident ruined Carol’s life.

Anyway— NINE MONTHS LATER.

No, really.

We just skip over nine months.

Wherein apparently Carol has been doing nothing but poor-me-ing over her brother’s hospital bed.

Like.

She gave up her entire life and career.

Stopped saving the world.

Stopped interacting with everybody.

Just sat by JJ’s hospital bed looking melancholy and growing her hair out so that comic bros would stop complaining that she looked like a lesbian.

Tony tries texting her and she turns off her phone. So he appears beside her in an explosion of pixels.

which-- how?!?

There’s no visible technology at work here, nothing to indicate what’s projecting his image or enabling the two of them to communicate. Tony might as well be speaking to Carol via magic, for all we can tell.

Christ, it’s a superhero comic, it’s not like you have to work that hard to sell it to the reader. Two lines of dialogue: ‘What the actual hell, Tony?’ ‘Well, you wouldn’t return my calls, so I [insert technobabble here].’ That’s all you need. How lazy can you get?

Tony asks her to come back to the Avengers — we miss you, we need you, this isn’t good for you, etc. — and Carol’s like, ‘nah, I’m too busy wallowing in self-pity’.

And yes, like Carol’s PTSD and panic attacks, like the family violence, JJ’s brain injury exists solely here as a plot device. It’s not a disability he lives with or a trauma he survives, it’s a vehicle to bring melodrama to Carol’s story and a weakly-fabricated excuse for Carol to stay with the family and discover what she’s about to discover.

Because now it’s time to bring the still-catatonic JJ back home. And since the downstairs living room is more accessible than his upstairs bedroom, he’ll be taking the couch, where Carol has been crashing.

Yes, even though Carol has her own childhood bedroom in this house — we see it next issue — she has been couch-surfing for nine months. But now that somebody else has claimed her spot, she’s got to move into… JJ’s bedroom.

So she goes up the room and rather rudely starts going through her catatonic brother’s wardrobe and pulling his clothes out to make room for her own shit. Again, I cannot stress enough that she had her own bedroom in this house. She’s just… weirdly choosing to impose on everybody else.

In the wardrobe, Carol finds a box belonging to her dead father. The box contains a love letter, in Joe’s handwriting, addressed to a woman who is not his wife — along with what is obviously a piece of alien technology.

This is a comic with a goddamn identity crisis. It keeps tossing out plot hooks, only to abandon them pages later in favour of the next shiny idea.

It begins by announcing, ‘This is a story about Carol returning home and confronting her childhood trauma.’ Then it abruptly swerves: ‘wait, scratch that, this is a story about Carol struggling to hold her fractured family together after her brother is hurt in an accident she had the power to prevent’, and then, ‘hold up hold up what we meant to say was, this is a story about Carol discovering a hidden truth about her family and parentage’.

It’s like Stohl doesn’t know editing exists. Because spoiler alert: this story is not about either of those first two things. The first fifteen pages of this issue are a dead fucking weight. They do not need to be there, and in fact a lot of problems could have been solved by cutting them.

Carol decides to spend some time with her family because she’s working through some personal shit, and discovers a letter hinting that her late father was leading a double life. That’s it; that’s the story.

All these convoluted logistics around who gets the couch and who gets the bedroom? Not necessary. Again, Carol has a bedroom in this house. Since she’s not around much, it makes sense that Marie might be using it as a general storage space. So: Carol is staying in her old room and has to shift a few boxes to make space. In the process, her dad’s shoebox gets knocked loose from whatever nook it was stuffed into. THERE. EASY. DONE. PLOT UNLOCKED.

Like, the car accident actually makes it harder to get Carol to that point. The only reason I can see for it being there at all is to force the passage of time so that Carol can grow her hair out and dudebros can stop complaining that she’s unattractive. Because I guess it just never occurred to anybody that they could draw her with long hair to start with?

But ‘oh no, the aliens and the superpowers I can accept, but in the last comic I read Carol had short hair and I AM SORRY BUT there is NO WAY human hair grows that fast, this is BEYOND THE PALE’.

Oh, and can we talk about how Carol’s response to finding OBVIOUS ALIEN TECHNOLOGY is to go, ‘huh, I wonder what this is, let’s see if I can open it by smashing it repeatedly with a hammer’??

Carol: Huh. Let’s see if we can open it. [starts bashing the device wildly] Gah! Why — won’t — you— Marie: [off-panel] Carol! Can you help me with Joe’s tube? Carol: [wandering off as the device activates] Coming, Ma!

And then IMMEDIATELY GETS DISTRACTED AND WANDERS THE FUCK OFF, failing to notice that the OBVIOUS ALIEN DEVICE has suddenly activated and is now beeping ominously????

So while Carol blunders around obliviously, the obvious alien device sends a signal to a galaxy far far away, which in turn activates what is seriously and embarrassingly called a Kree Kleaner. A small spherical vessel orbiting a distant planet lights up and begin speeding towards Earth, while inside some kind of Kree cyborg gestates and grows to maturity at a rapid rate.

Meanwhile Carol sits by the sea with Digital Tony and mopes that “I knew my family wasn’t perfect… but I thought love was”.

you.

you fucking.

Look, I recognise that trauma is complicated and that family shit is even more so. I know people process and cope with things in different ways and at different speeds. And for Carol to suddenly discover that, on top of all the grief he was causing at home, her father was leading some kind of secret life with another women, must surely feel fucking horrible and bring up a lot of deeply painful memories.

But her reaction doesn’t gel with everything Stohl has told us about Carol’s relationship with her father.

We’ve been told that Joseph Danvers was a physically and verbally abusive alcoholic who terrorised his family to the point where, to this day, Carol struggles with PTSD and anxiety attacks. We’ve been told that Carol thinks of him as a mean, violent drunk who even in death haunts her family. She doesn’t understand why her mother stayed with him or why her brother still defends him, when all he ever did was make all of them feel small and powerless.

The idea that Carol would think all of this and yet still be totally blindsided to learn that Joe and Marie’s marriage was not a true-love-fairytale-romance is utterly, outrageously laughable.

Stohl presents the letter as bombshell that overturns everything Carol thought she knew about her family, indicating that Joe was leading a secret life she never knew about. It’s not. All it is is a confirmation of everything we’re told Carol already thinks about her father: that he was a cruel, self-absorbed bastard who treated his family like crap. You know what is a fucking bombshell?

The fact that Joe Danvers apparently had personal access to OBVIOUS ALIEN TECHNOLOGY.

AND AS FOR THIS LINE.

“And like they say, families were made to be broken.”

literally nobody says this.

I even checked, just to be fair to this comic, on the off-chance that it was in fact a thing.

One of the six search results is somebody on instagram quoting this comic. The other five are all related to the title of a single playlist on 8tracks.

But hey, like they say, Margaret Stohl is a fucking hack.

#comics talk #the days of our lives of captain marvel

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