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jesncin · 3 days ago

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The Portrayal of Noah Ikumelo's Disability in Spurrier's Hellblazer and Dead in America run

Noah Ikumelo is a divisive new character introduced in Si Spurrier's 2019-2020 Hellblazer 12 issue solo (illustrated by Aaron Campbell and Matias Bergara, colors by Jordie Bellaire), he continues appearing as a recurring character in Hellblazer Dead In America (2024, 11 issues) Spurrier's long awaited continuation of his original run. Introduced in the very first issue as a Black, mute (hearing, but unable to orally speak) teenager who predominantly uses BSL to communicate.

We'll be discussing how Noah's disability was portrayed, how effective it was narratively, and thoroughly analyze the limits and ableist biases comics have as a visual language. Spoilers for Spurrier's Hellblazer and Dead In America run below. CW for ableism, racism, SA, police brutality, and general violence.

Disclaimer!! I am an able-bodied person with only occasional interactions with the Deaf community and am still studying ASL in my own time. All of these observations are made from an outsider perspective. I feel that starting a critical discussion from any source of knowledge for other more informed perspectives to follow up on is better than having no discussion at all.

However! I can offer some valuable perspective as a ~classically/formally trained~ comic artist- because we'll be discussing some inherit biases with how comic artists are trained to illustrate communication in this visual medium. I'll also be talking about lettering, which I'm nitpicky about so if I'm an expert on anything, it's those things.

I won't be going through each issue in as much detail as these first few issues for the sake of set up, but I will stop every now and then to discuss the portrayal of some scenes.

Let's start with Noah's very first appearance in Hellblazer 2019 #1. Noah is introduced as one of the very young members of a gang called the Ri-Boys. He's tasked with kidnapping a magic specialist to help get rid of murderous angelic spirits in their local park that are getting in the way of their prime location for selling drugs. He kidnaps John Constantine, who is quickly informed that Noah is mute.

Noah doesn't sign at all in this first issue, opting instead to communicate with a little notebook tied around his neck.

Despite K-Mag's (the gang leader) justification for recruiting teenagers as a "refuge" from a world that hates them, he's not afraid to treat Noah as disposable. He opts to send Noah's able-bodied friend (named Isa) on an errand instead of Noah because they "don't need no tongueless splesh backin' on ops-" and threatening Noah's life in order to get John to cooperate. So narratively the set up is clear: even though this gang is meant to provide jobs for the marginalized, it's still a bigoted organization that doesn't treat Noah well.

After accompanying John to the park where the angelic spirits murder another junkie, Noah is so traumatized by what he witnesses that he throws up on his notebook- rendering it unusable. Issue #2 starts with Noah raving in BSL (the image at the very top of this essay) to his gang mates that ignore him. When John asks if anyone knows sign language, he gets no response. It's clear that Noah is an outsider even among the Ri-Boys. Regardless, by the end of the issue in the following day, Noah is back to using his notebook (I guess he got a new one).

So. The notebook. I'll be honest I hate the notebook. It's such a clunky thing for Noah to carry around his neck, and it's clearly a set up so that Noah throws up on it and can't communicate to people who don't know sign.

On personal experience alone, I've been able to communicate with deaf people through texts on a shared phone. We'd just pull up notepad and write to each other to bridge the language barrier. And (as I've been informed by @scoliwings!) if phones running out of batteries is the worry, there's also pocket-sized boogie boards as a handy means of communication. At the very least Noah canonically has a phone (he is texting John in the panel above), and the Ri-boys can afford an ipad that K-Mag uses. These boogie board devices are much more affordable than either of those items and far better than a notebook.

Throughout Spurrier's treatment of Noah's disability, there will continue to be a sense of "we haven't even exhausted basic options to bridge a language barrier yet-" and this one is the first instance of that.

[this is not how the panels look in the comic, I chopped and arranged the last panel to save up on tumblr blog image space]

To keep this essay focused on Noah's disability, by issue #3 after some plot stuff progresses, John reveals to Noah that he actually can understand BSL. It turns out he knows "a bit" of BSL from a relationship he had with a deaf man in the 90s. Regardless, throughout Spurrier's whole run, John is shown to understand Noah's signing fluently. You might be wondering why John kept this a secret. Was he withholding his understanding of BSL so he could "eavesdrop" on something Noah signs to his friends without knowing? Nope. This reveal had no narrative purpose; John gained nothing from hiding this from everyone and it retroactively makes earlier scenes weirder. John just decides to reveal this to Noah for no other reason than to be a jerk I guess?

Once John fixes the "murderous angels in the park" problem, he also convinces K-Mag to let go of Noah from the Ri-Boys gang so that Noah can live a more honest life going to school (we will never see this) and uh. Being John's new personal driver. John used to have a friend, Chas, who drove him around everywhere but with Chas gone now- Noah is narratively set up to take his place.

Eagle-eyed readers might notice something odd about the way the scene where John reveals to Noah that he understands BSL is staged: if John supposedly understands what Noah is signing, why is he walking away, yet responding to what Noah is signing behind him? Yeah. This is one of the most annoying artistic blunders throughout all of Spurrier's Hellblazer runs with Noah. Despite Noah being mute, other characters still act like they can "hear" him.

Sign language isn't a language you can passively listen to. When someone is signing, that means you have to be looking at their hands and facial expression in order to understand what they're communicating to you. A casual irl example- in art school us hearing students could draw in our sketchbooks as the teacher lectured. A deaf student we had that year had to clarify that was not something they were able to do. As whenever the lecturer spoke- that meant that student would have to look up to their interpreter translating the lecture. So they weren't able to catch up with the classwork the way us hearing students could.

You'll notice in the panels above, John is preoccupied and talking to someone on his phone. Yet he's "hearing" what Noah is signing to him. John self identifies as someone who knows "a bit" of BSL- meaning he's not fluent. But this doesn't go anywhere since John's functionally fluent throughout both runs. It's like having a character say they know "a bit" of French only to show them being fluent through the whole story. Why bother mentioning a language barrier if it wasn't going to matter?

In these panels, Noah is signing while facing to the side- as in he's not facing John directly as he's signing, which obscures his signs from being clearly read. This wouldn't be a problem for folks who are way more fluent with any sign language (they can recognize signs at many angles), but for newbies you'll usually have people signing with their torso directly facing the other person to be as clear as possible. And they'll sign a lot slower. Little nuances like that make it clear that no one on the Hellblazer creative team have conversed with deaf people before- but why would something so obvious not be considered in the artistic direction of this run?

Let's quickly go over comics visual storytelling and how comic artists are trained to tackle staging a "talking heads" scene. Scenes like this are when characters are having a long conversation, visually giving the scene a "samey" vibe. Our job as comic artists is to keep the visuals interesting, so there are a ton of tricks we're taught to vary up how a conversation looks. We'll have a character hold a prop, walk around, look away to something else, have characters multi-task as they talk (bonus if it's thematic to the conversation), basically outside of zooming in and out it's good to keep a character busy to give the scene visual variety. Anything to break out of that silhouette of two characters directly facing each other.

[these are not how the panels are presented in the comic, I spliced these panels from 2 different issues to save up space]

Therein lies the problem: these tricks rely on an able-bodied standard of communication in order to function. Having a character like Noah communicate in sign, relies on the character he's signing towards to be paying full attention. Tackling "talking heads" as a comic artist explains but doesn't excuse these horrendous instances where poor staging of the characters ends up accidentally implying Noah "has a voice" because the able-bodied characters sure seem to be able to "hear" him even though they're facing all sorts of directions. Again, this just means the artist and writer have to rise to the challenge of keeping the scenes visually interesting while being inclusive to the disabled character the writer introduced into this world.

While we're talking about comics, I'm just going to go ahead and say I'm not a fan of the letterer's choices to visualize Noah's dialogue. To differentiate from the other characters, Noah's speechbubble is more like a caption box- it's square and light green. Instead of a tail pointing out of it to indicate who is talking like a traditional speechbubble would, instead Noah's dialogue box has a long arrow coming out of it. The arrow pointing out is just so corny. It says: "look! here's where the words are coming from! His hands!! Whoaaa".

Moreover, the arrows ruin the visual flow of the comic pages. We humans are hard wired to look at where an arrow is pointing. It's what that symbol is designed for. It's why all those clickbait youtube thumbnails have arrows pointing on them, it steals your attention. The best kind of speechbubbles are unobtrusive to the art, complementing it. Having it so that whenever Noah has dialogue we get these annoying arrows that stick out of the page composition just ruins it. Here's what it looks like edited on other characters' speechbubbles. It's a lettering eyesore.

I see no reason why Noah can't have a speechbubble tail like everyone else. I personally like making the speecbubble tail a lil-squiggly when I'm drawing a speechbubble for a character signing. Differentiating the speechbubble enough but not to the point it's obtrusive to the page flow.

Additionally, Noah has "translation brackets" around his dialogue- it's a block of dialogue that starts with the "less than" symbol and ends with the "greater than" symbol to indicate a sentence being translated from another language.

<So you'll have a character's dialogue look like this in the speech bubble.> *

accompanied by a translation box clarifying that the dialogue is; [*translated from French, for example] in the first instance we see the language featured in the comic. Of course this isn't the only way to portray language in comics, sometimes letterers will go for using colored text to differentiate languages. There's no standard look! Noah's dialogue never featured an initial caption box that discloses what language he's signing in. I'm going to charitably presume that it's a stylistic move away from that practice so that the reader is put in the same confused position as John is upon first meeting Noah.

I don't personally have an issue with the application of translation brackets to Noah's dialogue. Because even though Noah is communicating in a type of English language (British Sign Language), what we're seeing written in the dialogue of the comic isn't a direct translation of what he's signing. Unless it's Sign Exact English, sign language has different sentence structure, grammar and syntax from spoken English. So if Noah signs something like "#BUS RED YOU SEE WILL", then that translates to him saying "You will see a red bus." in written dialogue. It's a translation of his signing, even if it's still English.

I don't think there's an indisputably correct way to portray sign language in comics. Something like this will go down to personal stylistic choice of the artist. Maybe one artist decides they don't want to put brackets on ASL dialogue because they'd rather use that to differentiate English language from non-English language. There's an argument to be made either way! So long as you commit to your set of rules, I can at least try to engage with where an artistic choice is coming from even if I disagree with how it's done.

Unfortunately, that's not the case for Dead in America:

It's in the very last issue of the run, but well. You forgot the translation brackets there, guys. Sloppy work.

To wrap up Noah's arc in Hellblazer 2019, Noah is revealed to be John Constantine's son. John had a graveyard fling with Liza Ikumelo, a police woman (barf), thereby insulting a demonic spirit (and by extension, me, the reader). Many years later the spirit hunts down the woman, cursing her to an eternal sleep. Her child, Noah, was nearby and by proxy lost his voice from the incident. So it's John Constantine's fault that Noah's mute, and that Noah's mom is in a coma. Hellblazer 2019 ends with John feeling an immense guilt for forcing Noah to kill a friend, meaning they now have to flee the country. John doesn't tell Noah that Noah is his son.

So despite the poor portrayal of Noah's disability in this run, his character overall at this point was a really interesting addition to Hellblazer lore. He has a unique background of hardship; cursed by John's shenanigans at birth without even knowing it, and despite all of that he still has it in him to want to help and be kind. The reveal that he's John's son adds a layer of tragedy to everything- what does it mean to be another continuation of the Constantine family? Without even knowing it? There's plenty of angst on John's end of things, having unknowingly been an absent father for years. We get to see echoes between father and son in their actions. They're both from harsh backgrounds but humanitarians at heart, in different ways. It's very compelling stuff.

Years later, Dead In America is released as the long awaited continuation of this story. John, his friend Nat, and Noah are in America now, going on a long cross country road trip in a double decker London bus. Why? Just because. Noah and Nat take turns driving because John can't drive. In my opinion Dead In America is a bigger, more convoluted plot so I will stick to summarizing things that are relevant to Noah's disability.

This run has all the same problems as the 2019 Hellblazer run does with characters not being staged properly when Noah is signing to them, but it's the very first issue that reveals something particularly damning about how Spurrier views sign as a language.

As Noah is driving the bus he is instructed not to stop for anyone. But later that night he suddenly does. John berates Noah, only to be surprised that Noah is speaking (and sounding uncharacteristically posh)! John suddenly can't speak, instead he signs. This is how he realizes he's in a dream and regains his ability to speak. It's clear what's intended by the storytelling here. Seeing an able bodied person sign is part of the surrealism that makes this scene out of the ordinary. It's supposed to be odd that John is signing, because it's weird that Noah is the one speaking. Signing is a thing only disabled people do, not anyone else. This dream sequence is the only time a character other than Noah signs.

This single narrative choice has a drastic ripple effect on the rest of the run; it means that through both runs, no one ever signs back to Noah. According to the National Association of the Deaf, 72% of hearing parents with deaf kids don't learn sign language. This leads to deaf kids struggling culturally within their own families. Sign language expresses things that written or spoken languages can't. So having their own family not bother to learn sign is deeply isolating for deaf kids. By not having anyone but especially John sign to Noah, any narrative attempt to portray familial care and consideration between the two is undercut by this barrier. Sure John cares for his son in his own way, but not enough to converse with him in his own language.

This is when it became clear to me that Noah's use of BSL functions more as "a voice but #diverse" instead of portraying sign language as a culture and community of its own. It's like characters of color being written as white, where their identities are just a palette change. Only here, it's more of "this character is speaking, but with his hands this time" never mind how that drastically changes how a character navigates the world and how people interact with him. Attempts at writing Noah's disability in this run continue to be lackluster at best and insulting at worst.

Don't get me wrong, Noah is not a "whitewashed" character- his Blackness is integrated into the narrative of both Hellblazer 2019 and Dead In America... for better or for worse. By this I mean especially in Dead In America, Spurrier really likes to use Noah as a prop to show how racist America is. I don't think there's anything wrong with showing some uncomfortable scenes of Noah facing off American cops. In fact I like how this scene in the first issue shows the specific struggles a Black disabled person goes through, being double profiled as someone dangerous when Noah's attempts to communicate are misinterpreted as a threat- it sets the tone for how dangerous the country is for someone like him.

The original Hellblazer showed plenty of scenes where John is brutalized by the cops in both the UK and US, so gritty commentary is right at home with the character's stories. The difference here is there is almost a giddiness to inventing scenarios for Noah to experience profoundly racist situations at the expense of Noah's own characterization in this run. It becomes more obvious as we progress.

This is another nitpick but when John, Nat, and Noah meet up with Clarice Sackville (an elderly magician lady) in issue #2, Noah discreetly signs to John, calling Clarice a "wrinkled old hag" only for John to whisper back "Be grateful she can't sign, Noah." meaning "be glad she can't understand what you're saying". If there was any opportunity to use sign language as a means of discreetly communicating around someone who doesn't understand it, this would've been the moment. But alas, only disabled people use sign language, right guys. John can only sign in a weird dream sequence.

The punchline here is that Clarice actually understood what Noah was signing, making a jab at him for calling her a "wrinkled old hag". I don't know how she understood what Noah was signing when she was clearly facing away from him the whole time but well. That's basically a tradition for Spurrier's runs at this point. Technically John's dialogue isn't wrong here. Clarice "can't sign". She understands it, but doesn't sign. Because that's a thing only disabled people do.

Let's put a pin on issue #4 and skip ahead to Dead In America issue #5. This is essentially an anthology issue containing short stories of little incidents John, Nat, and Noah encounter on the American road. I will be discussing the second story, "One-Way Ticket" written by Aaron Campbell (ordinarily the main artist of Spurrier's runs) with art by guest artist John Pearson.

It's a story about a ghost guy who wants to go home but everyone ignores him (because they can't see him), John helps out by discovering his dead body and bringing the spirit comfort. It's a cute and cozy story if it weren't for the abysmal way Noah is treated in it, completely contradicting its themes. Noah is horrified at the prospect of John leaving him alone in the red bus, fearing the cops will show up. John responds "You're mute, just pretend you're dumb too." Even for asshole-John standards this is unnecessarily cruel. Dead In America started with Noah being profiled by the police, so Noah's fears are as founded as it gets. This short story may not be written by Spurrier, but it is written by the artist who DREW THAT SCENE.

I didn't splice the panels above, that is exactly how they are presented in the comic. Not only do we have characters facing away from Noah as he's signing again (a tradition even guest artists continue to perpetuate it seems), but it's followed up immediately with a ghost being grateful that John recognizes him. The irony that John gets told that after ditching his son. Why not make the story about Noah relating to the ghost? Remember that scene where Noah is signing to the Ri-Boys and they all ignore him? He and the ghost could connect over how they're ignored and treated as disposable, how accommodation for people like them is considered an inconvenience, how no one cares when their life is threatened.

When John returns from discovering the ghost's dead body, just like clockwork Noah is being searched by a cop. Only now it's treated like a joke instead- with Nat taking a smoke on the side and John just slapping a spell on the cop to make him stop.

This nonchalant carelessness for the portrayal of cops is a big departure from how ACAB John was in his original Hellblazer run. John was a man who could outsmart and kill the Vampire King only to be immediately beat up by cops afterwards. He's called homophobic slurs for defending the dead body of his sex worker guy friend. It paints this image of a guy who can overcome the supernatural but doesn't stand a chance against mundane human cruelty. Because that kind of thing takes more than a magic trick to defeat. But in Dead In America, cops are a mild inconvenience to John. He can just cast spells on them and move on. It's disappointing how even in a run that's supposed to be a return to form for Hellblazer, John isn't as radical as he was written in the 80s and 90s. The cops don't have the kind of threatening authority they had in the older comics. Don't worry, it gets worse.

Let's hop and skip ahead to Dead In America issue #9. For plot reasons, John went missing. He disappeared to Hell and back for four weeks, separated from Noah and Nat. When he reunites with his friends, they want nothing to do with him. They're now running their own little film studio, shooting a film that metatextually reflects their road trip adventure. Again, for plot reasons. They're teaming up with a metamancer to speed filmmaking along. Nat's the director and Noah's the producer. He's practicing magic, and even found himself a girlfriend, Liz! She's an Asian girl though and that worries me. Because Asian love interests are usually seen as narratively disposable. A racist character assumes Noah is using "mind magic on her" because there's no way Noah would end up with someone so "hot", right? Right.

[spliced panels from issue 9 and 10]

Issue #10 is when we get very much needed perspective from Noah and Nat's point of view. Nat always wanted to be a writer, while Noah longs for a life of normalcy. The two narrate their backstories, building their life up to meeting John, to where they are now with their film studio.

We learn how Noah got into using magic, and. Urgh. Sick of dealing with a language barrier as a disabled person, Noah uses magic to communicate with people. It's another case of "we haven't even exhausted basic options to bridge a language barrier yet-" I get it, throughout this run Noah doesn't have his notebook, and he doesn't appear to have his phone either (perhaps to hide from the authorities tracking them down) but to that I say pocket-sized boogie boards are still an affordable option that won't get you tracked down by the cops. I'd even prefer him buying another notebook over this. In this issue he's even seen with a phone, so what do I know.

"huh! I just remembered that I, an American, actually do know British Sign Language! Hah how could I forget something like that ho ho" it's just so trite. Like we're not even going to try and grab a paper and pen to communicate? We're skipping to using dark magic instead? Okay. Worst of all, so you're telling me the racist loser was right about Noah?? That Noah wouldn't have a chance with Liz if it weren't for magic? What are we doing...

I'm not including the panel here but after Noah narrates "I won't use this shit to coerce people-- I'm not him. But... making things easier? Simpler? Why not?" the following panel is of him and Liz getting funky style in bed. Even with Noah saying he won't "coerce people" he still says that magic can make things easier. Simpler. There is this uncomfortable implication that Noah "made it easier" for Liz to sleep with him. Sure it can be read that he got close to her through them communicating on the same page. But when their relationship isn't developed, narratively she just kind of exists as a prop for his desires. To quote Noah himself in Dead In America issue #4: "It was rape."

Time to revisit that pin. So issue #4 is about John and Noah masquerading as an exorcist and...an enslaved person to trick a small town into revealing a coverup: a girl was assaulted by six boys in their local football team, ending her own life from her story being pushed aside for the bright future of the football boys. Noah is so infuriated by how she was mistreated that he beats up one of the boys. It's a heavy story about how far a town will go to protect the future of boys while discarding the life of the girl, who to this day is anonymous. If you're wondering whether Noah pretending to be an enslaved person was necessary to the con, I can assure you it really wasn't.

What's frustrating here is that are we really supposed to believe that Noah, a character who was willing to risk his safety by beating up a rapist, would then go ahead and "make it easier" to sleep with a girl later? Remember. The reason he did that was because his disability was apparently holding him back. Are we really having it so the only person of color in John's cast for this story did this? That if he wasn't disabled, he wouldn't do this? It's frankly disgusting.

Through John's silver tongue trickery, he pulls shenanigans that cause Nat and Noah to get arrested. Despite Nat being known to be violent, Noah is the one who is brutalized by the cops and put into solitary confinement. Because racism. Spurrier really wants you to know that American cops are so racist, guys.

I wonder where all this energy was for his Hellblazer 2019 run taking place in the UK. Where the only cop characters were noble people of color who are looking out for each other. Noah's own mom was a cop, even. He'll show Noah looking tense in a car as cops walk by in Hellblazer 2019, but for Dead In America? Noah is profiled by police three times, made to play an enslaved person for John's ends, and is in the receiving end of so many bigoted characters' racism. Spurrier is selective about his portrayal of cops when it suits him.

At this point it's transparent looking back at the treatment of Noah's character throughout Dead In America, that there's a giddiness Spurrier (and technically Campbell) have in crafting racist scenarios for Noah to go through. But it's okay because they have John say a lamp-shading comment to assure readers that the writers recognize "This Is A Racist Thing Happening".

Reading Dead in America reminded me of the discourse surrounding "Strange Fruit" a comic by Mark Waid and J. G. Jones. I won't belabor explaining the plot, but what they have in common is this self congratulatory "giddiness to put Black characters in compromising situations" I keep describing. Like, they didn't have to create a naked Black Superhero named "Johnson" who doesn't speak and wears a confederate flag while dealing with racists in the Jim Crow era South but...these white writers just didn't have a choice! It's the rules of story! John has to pretend Noah is his property!

"Strange Fruit's desire to make big, albeit familiar statements about America's sinful past and do justice to both the subject matter and history often comes at the expense of considerate or even dimensional characterization."

-Vox writer Tre Johnson, 2017.

This is the kind of giddiness to indulge in fictional cruelty that isn't written with Black readers in mind. It's to entertain white readers with an exaggerated depiction of racism to make themselves feel better about being British. And if anyone's excuse is "well it's Hellblazer! Vertigo comics are supposed to talk about uncomfortable topics, John gets beat up by cops too back in the day", then need I remind you that unlike John, the sheer frequency Noah is put into these compromising scenarios is at the expense of his characterization.

Don't think that Spurrier's done playing with his "America Sure Is Racist" prop yet though.

As Noah (still bruised and battered) escapes prison, John pulls a couple more tricks on him: he "accidentally" reveals that Noah is his son, tricks Liz into faking her death to freak Noah out (we'll never see her again after this), and gets Clarice to pretend to die in front of him. All this angers Noah into attempting to kill John- but he stops. Because Noah still isn't that kind of person.

This is all part of John's plan, supposedly he made a deal with demons in Hell that if John himself is killed in the allocated time, he won't actually die. But his plan failed. Unfortunately for John, Nat is still filming their road trip movie, and whatever the actors do, the real characters do as well. A script change happens, and John ends up killing Noah.

But aha, this is yet another trick. By issue #11, Noah wakes up bruise-free and alive (he even gets to smash in John's stand in actor for good measure). Turns out, John's deal with the demons of Hell was for his son to live, instead- a selfless act that none of the Gods and demons saw coming. After John does some more silver-tongue talking to a Dream Entity, he's able to grant people some rushed happy endings.

Noah's mom wakes up from her eight year magical coma, the policeman hunting down Nat and Noah deletes his files, and Nat becomes the boss of a major studio- her writer dreams come to fruition. I don't know how Noah's getting back home to his mom, but shh shhh it's a happy ending, Spurrier promises.

So we have a twist to the usual Hellblazer story. Instead of John surviving at the expense of his friends and family, now John sacrifices his life to Noah and Nat so they can live freely. Last but certainly not least, as Clarice dies she gifts Noah the ability to speak. And when Noah does speak, he sounds so out of character I thought I was misreading things. Is this another lettering mistake? No? Then what is this random poetry.

I recognize what the narrative is doing here. It's John's fault that Noah's mom is in a coma and that Noah is mute, so the resolution to that conflict is for him to undo the wrongs he did to the Ikumelo family- which includes Noah being "cured" of his disability. The problem here is not only is this an exhausting continuation of the "disabilities getting cured" trope- so Noah can join the "easier, simpler" life of able bodied people- but also that a large facet of Noah's identity is tied to John's character development.

Noah might not be the main character, but he's the deuteragonist of Dead In America- the beating family heart that ties John to someone who would otherwise be a stranger. Instead of narratively endearing us to Noah's character, Spurrier seems content to just have Noah drive the bus only to make occasional stops to demonstrate how Racist America Is. It's such a fall from grace to the intriguing character we met in Hellblazer 2019. All that characterization of someone willing to help despite a life of hardship is just out the window.

[spliced panels]

My overall feelings about the treatment of Noah Ikumelo is that whatever representation he embodies feels like being thrown a really shitty party. Noah Ikumelo is an original creation for these two runs. Si Spurrier didn't have to make Noah a Black disabled teenager, but he did. Spurrier takes up that responsibility of representation by half-assing it. The kind of thing a guy who gloats about a bi-colored comic cover would do before accidentally calling the character in it "pansexual" in said comic. And then backpedal on twidder when called out for it. Half ass behavior.

Noah went from being this interesting exploration of unintended legacy to being a prop to make shallow commentary on American racism. Noah is never drawn consistently between artists but he sure is adultified a bunch to the point that I even see readers describing him as "basically an adult" when he's only 16-17 years old. I get that it's supposed to be tragic that he's forced to grow up too soon, but part of that tragedy is that he still is a kid. The portrayal of his disability shows how no research was put into being inclusive in either the writing or the art to the point it's downright nonsensical. The research amounts to looking up a sign language dictionary for words and that's it. This isn't even touching on how there was no recognition of the intersection between Black culture and sign language.

The problems with Noah Ikumelo are not unique to Hellblazer, or Si Spurrier or the Hellblazer creative team. They're a reflection of a predominantly able-bodied and white industry that is comics and media as a whole. The very way comics as a medium is taught carries with it an ableist standard for portraying communication. All this to say that tackling a character like Noah would mean doing the extra work to be critical of what we're used to seeing as the norm. But if you were just going to half-ass setting up a party for Black disabled readers, then why even bother y'know? It's not like Spurrier was held at gun point to create a disabled character. Frankly he was too busy crafting scenarios for guns to be pointing at Noah instead.

#ramblings #jesncin dc meta #hellblazer #noah ikumelo #john constantine #long post #it's christmas let's go home #i left you all a spicy meatball for the holidays

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phoward89 · 7 months ago

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Masterlist

Stepcest, Stepson!Coryo x Stepmother!Reader, Sub!Coriolanus, Soft!Dom!Reader, Crassus Snow x Younger!Reader

WARNING ⚠️ Coriolanus Snow is a warning in and of itself. Crassus Snow is a cold hearted asshole, but he's a hot asshole... Stepcest, Cuckold, older man/younger woman, arranged marriage, cheating, affairs, secrets, cussing, secret love child

Part 2:

Your son Cassian Xandros was the spitting image of his father; his grandfather too. But nobody knew that. Mhm… Everyone thought that Coriolanus was the big half-brother and that Crassus was the proud father.

And that's the way it's going to be.

It's best for everyone involved.

And after Crassus arrived to visit you in the hospital after you gave birth, he ended up ordering his son to go to the University’s library to study and to work on whatever class assignments he missed out on. Coriolanus begrudgingly did as he was told; leaving you and Crassus alone with baby Cassian.

Alone to bond as a family.

Ha! As if…You'd rather be bonding with Coryo and Cassian right now, but you're married to Crassus. So you're stuck having a family moment with him.

Crassus picked Cassian up from the bassinet Coriolanus had put him back in, only to cradle the newborn while taking a seat in the open chair next to you. Looking between you and your son, your husband asked, “Has your mother seen him yet?”

“No.” You shake your head. “But Coriolanus called her as soon as Cassian was born tho.”

Crassus didn't make a remark about your mother being MIA, but he did have a disapproving glare in his cold pale blue eyes. “Has my mother been here to see her grandson?” The war hero asks, assuming that Coriolanus would've arranged for Tigris to bring Grandma'am to the hospital hours ago.

“No, but Coriolanus said that he'd bring her by to meet Cassian.”

“How? The sniveling brat doesn't have a car; he walks everywhere.” The stern man asks in a biting scoff. Cutting down his oldest son (like he always did).

“I know that, Crassus.” You dryly sigh. “I assume he meant to bring her by in a cab.” You logically supply while watching Crassus smooth his large hand over your son's wisp of pale blonde hair.

Standing up and placing the baby in your arms, he told you, “You need to nurse him; I'll go pick up my mother and bring her here.” The cold, giant blonde man’s mouth turned up at the corners with pride. “She'll be happy to know that our son looks like a true Snow heir.”

Before going to your penthouse to pick up Grandma'am, Crassus went to your childhood home to see your mother. He had a few choice words about her not visiting you and the baby in the hospital after Coriolanus called. Helenium’s your mother, she's supposed to visit you and Cassian, her grandson.

What kind of grandmother snubs their own newborn grandson?

“Crassus Snow, why am I being cursed with your presence on my threshold?” Helenium asked your husband, cigarette holder dangling between her fingers, after answering her front door.

Crassus, who was well over 6ft tall, towers over your mother as he dryly remarks, “That's not any way to speak to your son-in-law.”

Your mother wasn't in a mood to stand around and chit chat with your husband. Glaring at Crassus, your mother reminds him of why he's even your husband in the first place. “You're only my son-in-law as a favor to Javani, your dead war buddy and my late husband.”

Crassus didn’t find Helenium's remark to be amusing. He didn't go out searching for your hand in marriage. In fact it was quite the opposite.

“Hey, you're the one that came running to me for help; wanting me to find somebody to marry your daughter- somebody that wouldn't make her completely miserable, because General Byzantine kept harassing you about her.”

“That horrible man’s friends with Strabo Plinth, the richest man in the goddamn Capitol, so yes I wanted you to help me marry Y/N to somebody before Strabo came knocking on my door shoving a blank checkbook in my face while his friend gave me a pen and marriage contract to sign for my daughter.” Your mother told the man standing at her front door. A man that she couldn't stand the sight of.

A man that she absolutely, undoubtedly, without a doubt hated with every fiber of her being.

Shaking her head, she revealed, “I never thought you'd marry her yourself, Crassus.”

“Yes, well, Y/N is young and beautiful.” Crassus told your mother before revealing his true need for you with, “And, since I plan on running in the presidential race as soon as President Ravenstill either resigns or dies from his poor health, Y/N’s beauty will make for the perfect First Lady on my arm.”

“I'm not voting for you; I'll vote for your opponent.” Your mother tells your husband.

But little does your mother know that when the time does come to vote for a new president that she'll be voting for Crassus. That she'll approve of Crassus in the Presidential Mansion ruling over the nation of Panem rather than his young opponent.

And unknown to everyone, the next presidential election’s going to be very close and very very dirty…

“Yes, well, I'm not here to hash out my career goals or why we’re in-laws. I'm here to tell you that you need to go to the hospital to see Y/N and Cassian.”

Your mother took a long drag off her cigerette holder, only to look up at Crassus and blow a lungful of smoke into the direction of his face as he towers over her. “No, I'm not going tonight. But I'll see them tomorrow.”

Crassus narrowed his cold, icy blue eyes at your mother. “Y/N’s your daughter and Cassian's your newborn grandson, why aren't you seeing them tonight? As a grandmother shouldn't you want to see your own grandson?”

“I'll still be their mother and grandmother tomorrow, Crassus.” Helenium flatly reminds your husband. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for work tonight.”

“Javani would be appalled, ashamed, and disgusted by what you've become, Helenium.” Crassus told your mother, disdain dripping from his tongue, before pivoting on his heel and heading towards his car that was parked on the curbside.

“Mother, have you noticed a change between my wife and Coriolanus?” Crassus asks his mother, who's dressed to the nines in her fineries to meet her newest grandson, as she sits in the backseat of his car while he drives them to Capitol General Hospital.

Crassus, unlike other Capitolites, didn't have a chauffeur. He prefers to be in control; like to be behind the wheel. General Snow doesn't trust a driver's judgment. In fact he trusts his own judgment over that of a hired hand.

“What kind of change, Crassus, dear?” Grandma'am asked, her voice a bit aloof, as she looked out the window. She looked like the epitome of a fine Capitolite lady, which in fact she truly was.

“Have you noticed if they've become closer as of lately?” Crassus asked, brow raised.

The middle-aged man had noticed for the last few months how his whinny, spoiled brat of a son kept looking at you with a certain- yearning? And the. He called you mommy, which was unsettling to Crassus to say the very least. The only instances he knew of where grown men call grown women who's not their mother ‘mommy’ is when that man's a sub with a kink.

Crassus wouldn't put it past his son to be subby, but a mommy kink? Yea…well…he supposes he can see Coriolanus being into that as well.

Lord knows that Crassus has the stamina of a race horse. That he's been taking libido suppressants ever since getting with you since he doesn't think you can handle his true nature, being so young and all. Plus, it's not as if your marriage is a love match. It's a marriage of convenience, so quick meaningless sex is the expected norm.

Isn't it?

Well, you never complained so Crassus figures you're fine with the very boring vanilla sex life the two of you lead.

If only he knew that wasn't the case at all. That you're fulfilling your needs elsewhere. And with his son: the sub…

“Coriolanus called Y/N mommy in the hospital while explaining that she let him help her narrow down the baby names.” The war hero adds in, to future accentuate his worries and questions for his proper Capitolite lady of a mother.

“Oh, Crassus, it seems like Coriolanus is finally accepting a maternal figure in his life.” Grandma'am waved off her son's concerns. The old woman was a typical grandmother who felt that her grandson was a spotless, precious, innocent, baby lamb in her eyes.

If only Grandma'am knew that her grandson Coriolanus is actually a wolf in sheep's skin.

Crassus shook his head, knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere with his mother. She was an old woman who was charmed by her grandson’s smile and proper demeanor. She'll never think that her grandson could have perverted thoughts.

Crassus on the other hand decided to keep a closer eye on his son’s actions around you. He already picked up on how Coriolanus looks at you, so doing his own little investigation on his son's feelings for you won't be too hard.

But Crassus thinks that his son doesn't have the balls to try anything with you. That Coriolanus would be too scared of the punishment (being cut off from his trust fund) that would befall him if he seduced you.

If only Coriolanus was truly that ball-less. But he wasn't. He had a pair since he successfully seduced you, his stepmother, to become his lover. His ‘mommy’ that rides his cock hard and fast; who bosses him around and indulges him in all of his fantasies.

“I suppose you're right, mother.” Crassus tells Grandma’am as a way to close out the subject he brought up. A thin, barely there smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he tells his mother, “Your new grandson, Cassian, looks like a true Snow. Platinum blonde hair and icy blue eyes.”

“Oh, Crassus, I can't wait to meet him.” Grandma'am replies with the excitement Crassus expects from a normal grandmother. A reaction that your mother never showed.

Grandma'am Snow fawned over Cassian Xandros the moment Crassus placed him into her arms. The old woman smiled at your son, only to look at you and Crassus and say how proud she was that another Snow grandbaby was born. One that looked like a true Snow too, since the Snow looks are very important to upkeep in the family’s lineage.

You thought that the old woman was a bit extra for saying that, but to each their own.

Before Crassus and Grandma'am left to go home a nurse came into your room to explain that you and the baby would only be staying for a day since the labor went without a hitch. The nurse gave your husband the information about the date and time of your discharge so that he could be around not just to take you and the baby home, but to help you fill out the baby's legal paperwork.

So, that's why you're in your hospital room with your husband and a nurse as she asks the required questions that are on the form that will become your son's birth certificate. His legal paper proving his Capitol citizenship.

First the nurse asked the baby's name, to which your husband answered, “Cassian Xandros Snow.”

When the nurse asked about your name and birthday Crassus let you answer that yourself. And when the nurse asked your address, the cold natured man that you're cursed to call your husband answered for you with, “Road of Hope 26, 12th floor Penthouse.”

The nurse nodded and scribbled down the address before asking what your occupation, to which Crassus answered with house wife. Looking at your husband, the nurse asks, “Father's full name, please.”

“Crassus Xanthos Snow.”

You blinked your eyes, shocked to hear that your son's middle name was so similar to your husband's. You didn't even realize it when you discussed it with Coriolanus. Did your lover know that your baby's middle name would be so similar to Crassus'? Hmm…

Then the nurse asked Crassus his birthday, but his answer had you reeling more than the discovery of his middle name. When you heard the year of your husband's birth you quickly did the mental math and came to the startling conclusion that he's younger than you initially thought. Crassus isn't 60, but he's only middle-aged. Crassus is in his mid-40s.

Yea, he's much younger than you thought he was.

So why did both your mother and Coriolanus let you believe that he was old?

And since he's essentially a DILF, why does Crassus pop blue pills; why is your sex life the bare minimum?

Nothing makes sense.

Argh.

Why couldn't you be married to Coriolanus right now? Things would be so much easier if he was your husband.

And talk about the devil…

Coriolanus strolled right into your room, bouquet of white roses in his hand and a smile stretching wide across his face; baby blues flashing manically. And then when he saw you sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed with the baby cradled in your arms and his father sitting next to you all while a nurse asked the question of, “Father's occupation?”, the younger blonde man’s smile faltered.

“Military.” Was Crassus' curt reply to the nurse, all the while Coriolanus was asking why he wasn't told about your discharge. A question to which Crassus answered with a clipped, “Y/N’s my wife, not yours. And Cassian's my son; your baby brother, so you have no need to know about such things.”

Turning to you with tears brimming in his icy eyes like shiny diamonds, Coriolanus’ lower lip quivers as he asks, “Mommy, why wouldn't you call me about your discharge? Didn't you want me here to help you?”

Oh boy…

Not now. Not here in the damn hospital room. What the hell's wrong with Coryo? Is he crazy? He can't just go around calling you mommy in that subby tone of voice: the one he uses when he wants something from you whether it be in the bedroom or out of it.

Oh gods…

Coriolanus, your step-son, is acting up right now in front of both his father and the nurse. Oh, how you wish the floor could just swallow you up right now.

The nurse looked flustered, as if she was intruding in a family moment she shouldn't be a part of. Meanwhile, your husband's brows furrowed, as if the wheels inside of his head were turning.

Locking your eyes with Coryo's cerulean ones, you mustered up your soft dom voice and told him, “I have your father here to help me, Coriolanus. Crassus took some time off work to bring me and the baby home.”

Crassus' face was stern and his voice was low and cold as he told his young doppelganger, “Son, you need to be in class; not here tormenting my wife while she's being discharged with our newborn.”

“I told Dr. Gaul about mommy and the baby; she said I was excused from class to bond with my new mommy and baby brother.” Coriolanus countered his father in a bratty tone while placing the bouquet of white roses on your bedside table.

Oh gods, how you wanted to slap the boy with the light blonde halo of curls across the face. What the fuck’s wrong with him? This isn't funny. This isn't a game he's playing and breaking the rules with, this is your life.

You're married to Crassus; Coryo knows that, but here he is acting bratty and dropping hints here and there that you two are a little close.

The nurse seemed very uncomfortable by what was going on in your hospital room. So much so that she seemed a bit skittish as she flipped the paper on the clipboard to reveal the discharge papers. Before Crassus, you, or your brat of a step-son could say another word the nurse shoved the clipboard and the attached pen at your husband while saying, “Just sign, initial, and date the marked areas of the discharge papers please.”

Crassus nods at the nurse, only to pick up the pen and start marking up the papers in the prompted areas. Never looking up from the vast amount of paperwork, he sternly says, “Dr. Gaul's class is a tough one and one that's passing is required for Military Strategies majors. You, son, being a double major in both Military Strategies and Political Science, can't afford to skip a single day of her class.”

“I’m Dr. Gaul's star prodigy.” Coriolanus boasted with a charming smile. “She even says that once I graduate she'll be offering me a position as an Assistant Gamemaker right underneath her.” He added in, wanting to prove that there was nothing to worry about when it came to his studies with Dr. Gaul.

That woman gave you the creeps. And she says that Coryo's her star prodigy…

What the hell?...

“I thought after graduation you're signing up as an officer in the Peacekeepers; going to 2 for a couple months of quick training before receiving your commission?” Crassus asked Coriolanus, his brows arched, as he handed the clipboard back to the nurse.

“You decided I was going to follow your career path, but after talking to Dr. Gaul I've decided that I'm going to become a gamemaker.” Coriolanus told his father in a tone that screamed entitled brat.

“I'll go scan this into the computer and print out a copy of the birth certificate, then you'll be ready to go.” The nurse rattled out before rushing out of the room. Poor thing just had to get away from the Snow family before she cracked.

Father and son didn't even pay the nurse any mind. She left to scan the paperwork, good for her. Crassus and Coriolanus were too engrossed in their pissing match to care what the nurse did.

“You think you know better then me, son, but you're just a sniveling boy trying to play at being a man." Crassus told his son in a low biting tone that expressed his frustrations. Giving his son a hard, stern look, the older Snow said, "Now, you'll call off these silly notions of gamemaking and enlist as an officer in the Peacekeepers.”

“I am a man, father, and I'm not going to waste my abilities in the military like you did. I'm going to become a gamemaker and then I'll become a politician." A sneering smile crossed his face as he announced, "The best politician in all of Panem.”

“You're a bit too ambitious for your own good, aren't you, Coriolanus?” Crassus rhetorically asked his firstborn son- his deep voice stony and cold.

“And you're not ambitious enough, father, otherwise you'd be more than a minister of some military department.” Coriolanus hurled out without thinking. His bratty boy behavior was on full display right now.

Was he showing out because you're with Crassus, filling out paperwork for baby Cassian. You know that Coriolanus wants to be the one by your side when all of this important stuff is happening, but it's no cause for him to get jealous and become an unbearable brat.

Coriolanus is nearly 22 for Christ's sakes!

He needs to stop being a jealous brat. You're married to Crassus, his father, so he doesn't own you. Coriolanus has no claim over you. All he has is the same as you, the stolen moments in his bedroom during the dead of night.

Crassus' voice was a low hiss that reeked of danger as he gave his son the warning of, “You don't know a damn thing about my ambitions or my career son. So, I advise you to go to class before I throw you out of this room.”

“I have a right to be here-” Coriolanus began to protest, only for you to cut him off with the order of, “Go, Coryo, before things get worse between you and Crassus.”

The young platinum blonde's shoulders slump upon hearing your words. Are you siding with his hateful father over him, your lover and baby daddy? If Coriolanus wasn't so turned on by your bossy tone, he would've objected to your order. But he loves it when you tell him what to do in that soft dominant way you have.

It always sends a twitch straight down to his cock.

Hopefully later tonight, once the baby's put to bed and his father's asleep, you'll be able to take care of his hard, aching cock for him.

“Okay, mommy, I'll be good and go home.” Coriolanus told you, a hint of a smile on his face. A face that was so similar to his father's, only that his features were more youthful.

“Get your useless ass to class, Coriolanus. There's no need for you to be home so early in the afternoon.” Crassus snapped at his son, who was walking out of the room.

Turning to you, Crassus said in a neutral voice, “I have the day off to help you and the baby settle in at home, but I'm afraid I'm needed back at work tomorrow.”

“Don't worry about it, Crassus. I'll be fine.” You assure your husband right as the nurse entered the room with your son's birth certificate along with the paper of his stamped footprints on it.

“I wasn't worried about it; I was telling you so you wouldn't expect me at home cooing over you and the baby whenever I have more important things to attend to.” Crassus told you in a low, bland tone that hinted that he didnt view you or the baby as a priority in his life. That his work was worth more than you and your baby.

If only you were married to Coriolanus. He clearly values you and the baby more than his work.

Or at least you think that he does.

In time you'll find out that Coriolanus’ ambitions will turn him into a monster. A monster some deems worse as his father.

Tags: @kuroosbby001 @purriteen @poppyflower-22 @meetmeatyourworst @whipwhoops @bxtchopolis @readingthingsonhere @savagenctzen @ryswritingrecord @erikasurfer @tulips2715 @universal-s1ut @thesmutconnoisseur @squidscottjeans @sudek4l @wearemadeofstardust0 @mashiromochi @gracieroxzy @belcalis9503 @shari-berri @aoi-targaryen @whiteoakoak @spear-bearing-bi-witch @gisellesprettylies @loverandqueenofdragons @qoopeeya @mfnqueen1 @permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88 @v-love @swiftieblyth @joyfulyouthlover @lady-harvey @chxrrybomb22 @marvel-hiddles-stark @xjinnix @devils-blackrose @zombicupcake3 @jacesvelaryons @tempt-ress

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littlelightfish · 8 months ago

Text

This half-foot. Dandan.

Looks preety similar to this lady here (I'll put them together so you see):

Half-lidded eyes, black hair&eyes, small eyebrows, curly hair... Dandan's skin is lighter probably because of low sun exposure (dungeon), and he has tons of freckles because he preety.

This two are clearly relatives if not siblings.

Flertom is a mirror image of the lady up there. She got Chil's eyes. She even has almost the same haircut (a bit longer). She's clearly the mother. We've solved Chilchuck's wife mystery.

But this wasn't what I was going to say.

This implies that Wife and Dandan both knew Chilchuck since their childhood. Because there's no way that Chil was just friend of the sister. They're both close to the same age, and I'll say Dandan is a Younger sibiling (she gives big sis vibes, and he gives young bro vibes). So either she introduced him to her brother or he introduced him to his sister and they became best friends as kids.

Could you imagine how their relationship was after Chil's Wife left him?

He knows he has to say something, but he doesn't want to end his relationships. At the end he takes his sister's side. He distances a bit from Chilchuck, calling him an "aquitance" rather than a friend. It isn't that he hates him, is just that it's complicated. And they both know it. They're in good terms tho, they just aren't best friends anymore and they don't talk about it. Their worry is the guild, not their personal stuff.

That's why Dandan introduces Chilchuck to Laios. If they were in bad terms, he would've suggested any other half-foot. They both priorize the guild and general safety of their own race. That's why Dandan suggests Chil instead of a less experienced hafling. He cares about the union and respects Chil's time and experience in dungeons. They're on good terms, at least good enough. Summing up, I get the feeling Dandan doesn't particularly likes Chil after what happened with his sister, but he respects him at least.

#hi fandom its me again overanalyzing side characters from 5 panels alone and some background context! <3 #i will do this again.. eventually... not on dandan. this is all i could see in him ;(#also i think their relationship gets better as time passes #it's been 4 years since wife left him #and 5 years since half-foot union was formed #i'm a wife×chilchuck lover. i'll believe they talked about it and eventually (give them a year) got back together #and Dandan allows himself to be friends with Chil again so he doesnt feel he's bettaying his sis by doing so or sth.#human interactions are so complicated.. i love them.. fascinating... eeling like Kabru. ill put them in a jar and study them like bugs.#Dandan #Dandan dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi #dunmeshi #delicious in dungeon #i need an oficial name for Wife. i need.#i have the feeling Wife's older because they got married quite young. and Dandan seems the same age as Chil.#if anything hes younger. idk. tgeres no way shes marrying at 12 (chil married at 13 and dandan is same age)#this is my theory #idk how they are i insist. im working with crumbs here.#chilchuck #chilchuck tims #chilchuck dungeon meshi #i need to get some sleep lol #my shit #dungeon meshi spoilers

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vcnillazelda · 2 years ago

Note

hello! i'm pretty sure your requests are open but i'm not sure if your write for all the cod characters if possible could you write for a reader who does beauty pageants/is a beauty queen and is really famous because of it. Thank you!!!!!

ghost team/141 with a beauty queen s/o

tags: established relationships, reunions, fluff, jealousy, talks of death/kidnapping, no actual death or gore, general chaos

characters: simon, johnny, gaz, price, alejandro, rudy, farah

a/n: this wasn’t exactly specific so i’m assuming it’s their s/o, i’m sorry if that’s wrong 😭

✞———————❖———————✞

ghost

he never actually talks about you

if word got out at all he knows he’d be putting you in danger

so everyone in his squadron is surprised when they touch down and a beautiful woman is standing there

they’re immediately gossiping, accusing each other of holding back on a relationship status- no attention lands on simon

johnny genuinely thinks you’re gaz’s girlfriend due to how young and vibrant you look (which mildly offends simon- is he saying he looks old 😭)

gaz on the other hand thinks you could be dating alex or rudy- who immediately gets flustered whereas alex laughs and said he wishes

this annoys simon, so he walks away from them, towards you. no one seemed to notice- but when you call simon’s name excitedly and fling your arms around him they’re all stunned

johnny SPRINTS over, wanting to meet you and tease his friend- simon punches him in the arm

“you’re beautiful by the way, i’m johnny. so how long have you been seeing this grumpy ass- ow!”

simon rolls his eyes, whereas you shook johnny’s hand and met all his colleagues

of course, they all complimented you, giving you wide smiles and sweet words

simon feels a spark of jealousy, protectiveness- he wants to pull you away but that would be extremely out of character

you notice simon’s discomfort and hold onto his arm, deciding on telling them the basics such as your name, occupation, how long you’d been seeing simon and the fact you were his fiance

johnny and gaz go wild- literally trying to get more information- yet price pulls them back

“sorry about them. have a nice evening, ma’am. you too, si’.” he smiles, and simon finally gets to leave

pampers you over you pampering him- he loves taking care of you

washing your hair, cooking for you, all that domestic stuff drives him wild <3

will only allow you to give him a massage when he’s half asleep, lord knows he needs one- but he will allow you to wash the fading face paint from around his eyes and press kisses along his lips and face

he’s very happy to be back with you, hugging you tightly and swaying with you

if you came home with another trophy from a pageant he’ll congratulate you then say sorry for missing it- so many kisses, he’s so proud!!

johnny

OH MY GOD THIS BOY LOVES YOU SO MUCH

will NOT stop talking about you

shows many pictures of you to the team- they think he’s lying 😭

simon teases him about having a ‘fake girlfriend’

gets so defensive of you, if someone even tries to say your images are ‘photoshopped’ he goes off on one saying how they haven’t met you and how you’re really pretty!

as soon as he can, he gets you to meet his friends :)

he hates feeling like he’s leaving you out of things when he goes out with colleagues, so he finally brought you along when your schedule was clear and literally everyone nearly fainted from shock

“so johnny wasn’t lying, huh?” “seems that way.”

he’s so prideful- HE pulled YOU, he’s so proud and loves you so much

keeps an arm around your waist, leans into you, kisses your cheek- loves pda

he makes sure to watch EVERY single one of your pageants- he gets upset at other models trying to one up you

the others just thought he was really into it because he has 3 older sisters, but they didn’t actually know it was you in them so they were really mean about it 😭

LOVES helping you pick out costumes or outfits, LOVES IT

will beg to do your makeup- he was used as a model for his sister’s stuff when he was younger so he knows the basics about makeup

it’s a little sloppy tho, he doesn’t practice so you’ll look a little… off

if you had to join some sort of reality tv style beauty show, he will kick EVERYONE out of the rec room to watch every episode and records every episode he misses on his phone 🫶

he loves you so much and is so supportive

gaz

he’s only open about it if people ask him if he’s dating anyone

so of course, johnny being johnny, asks one day

“hey are you seeing anyone?” / “oh yeah, my girlfriend back homes waiting on me.”/ “WHY DIDNT YOU TELL US????” / “no one asked..?”

when he shows everyone a picture of you, they’re all so shocked

“y/n l/n??? are you sure?!” “nice try kid, she’s a literal celebrity” type attitudes all around

he silently plots to prove them all wrong

texts you asking to meet him when his mission is over ‘because he misses you’ when in reality he wants to rub it in his friends’ faces- he’s so mischievous

as soon as johnny sees you he trips and falls out the jeep- he thought he saw a ghost or smth

“baby!” you grin, engulfing your boyfriend in a hug. he twirls you around as you kiss his cheeks saying that you missed him

“i missed you too. come meet my friends.” he’s so sweet

smug little smile as you talk to everyone, holding your hand, eyeing each of their surprised faces with pride

his plan worked perfectly and he was in such a good mood

anyway- as a general lover, gaz is so sweet

he’s got some spare cash- so he likes to spoil you

literally loves buying you dresses or makeup palettes and accessories, even if you can buy it yourself

adores your pageants- doesn’t understand them, but watches them anyway just to see you smile

if you get all ‘oh don’t look at me, i haven’t got ready yet’ type of person, he puts a whole ass rule on the house saying you’re not allowed to dress up fancy- he wants to see you however you look because he loves you no matter what <3

price

is very secretive. more than simon. doesn’t want you getting tracked down, linked to him or worse

comes home silently in the dead of night and kisses your face gently

you wake up when he gets in bed, rolling over and hugging him tightly.

“you should of told me you got home” / “no, no. it’s okay. i don’t want anyone affiliated with me seeing you… you’re too precious.”

so protective, when someone recognises you in public he’s got a hand on your lower back- if anyone asks about him you literally just flat out say he’s your husband (because he is), as much as he doesn’t like it

he understands you may want to be public about your relationship, but he doesn’t want the wrong people seeing it and coming after you- it’s his worse nightmare

he’s literally had nightmares of you dying, is so paranoid sometimes that he forgets to relax and spend time with you

as badly as he wants to keep it under wraps… he loves you too much. if you wanna go to dinner, he takes you. wanna go shopping? sure, where do you wanna go?

loves pampering you, like the others, but his pampering is much more personal or gentlemanly (not that the others aren’t) he loves showering with you, zipping up the back of your dress, holding the door for you, etc

literally the definition of gentleman, he loves doing things for you

calls you beautiful and gorgeous every time he sees you

can’t always watch your pageants because he’s such a busy man, but he does his best- he definitely forgets everyone’s names and does not understand anything

alejandro

you were a big face in las almas, but no one in his life other than you, his and your families and rudy knew about him being your husband

johnny saw your face on a billboard modelling something and immediately was like “she’s so pretty omg??”

alejandro grew very jealous, but understood people would react that way to you a lot considering you’re a beauty queen

like price, he keeps everything under tight secret- he’s dealing with a literal cartel, he can’t say a peep about you in any presence in case the wrong person hears it- your life is literally on the line

when he’s home with you, gives you gentle kisses and hushed words on how much he loves you

as much as he wants a normal life, he can’t take you out to places, el sin nombre has eyes and ears everywhere and if the cartel were to see you it would mark you as a target immediately- however, he does want to take care of you and give you a semi-normal life

he goes out, buys takeout for you, little gifts, ect

loves how your eyes light up when you see him, it’s what he lives for

doesn’t get to watch any pageants you’re in, but loves hearing you talk about them and you’re experiences

hugs you tightly at night, he’s so protective and silently scared- he doesn’t want you to get hurt. his worse nightmare is waking up and you’re dead or missing

such a clingy lover, he’s so romantic too. he wants you to know he genuinely loves you

brings rudy around sometimes, it’s always lovely because you and rudy are like best friends (i.e sneaking off to plot a prank whilst alejandro is terrified thinking something happened to you)

he adores making homemade food for you, it’s one of his passions, not to mention his food is amazing and it’s the least he can do for you

gets so involved in any gossip you have, literally sits on the couch with you gossiping and expressing his feelings on the situation/drama

will repeat the gossip to rudy on missions because he’s awful with drama, loves talking about it (in mexican spanish so the others don’t really understand it)

rudy

same as alejandro, he’s petrified something could happen to you

unlike alejandro, he loves going out to places with you

he’s a pushover too, if you wanted to go on a day out for your anniversary, he’s all there

keeps his pistol on him because he doesn’t want any trouble and wants to protect you

calls you his mariposa (butterfly) because he thinks butterflies are beautiful like you :,) <3

avid cuddler, yet he’s the one on your chest, head resting on you as you talk about all the drama going on with other models/beauty queens

adores you, stares at you with lovesick eyes because you’re just so pretty!!

doesn’t have a lot of money, but saves up a lot to buy you nice things :)

he’s reluctant, but after johnny nagging him he introduces you to the team- much to alejandro’s disapproval because he’s like your older brother and wants to protect both you and rudy

rudy will one hundred percent spend some time in and out of missions looking at pictures of you, you fuel him and give him a reason to fight to survive when he’s away

one hundred percent has a locket with your picture in it- the picture is of the two of you on your first anniversary with rudy smiling brightly and you kissing his cheek- but he isn’t stupid and leaves it at base just in case anything happened to him

watches your pageants on his phone, absorbs every drop of information so he can talk about it with you either on the phone or when he gets home

he’s such a dedicated lover too, spend so much time with you because you’re his favourite person :)

farah

gushes about you around base

like literally brags

“yeah that’s cool alex, but have you seen my girlfriend?” / “yes. as a matter of fact we all have”

rerun nights? rerun nights

will rewatch everything you’ve been in with you, face masks, junk food- she wants you to be a normal person outside of your ‘beauty queen standards’ that the company you’re under force onto you

never expects you to uphold those standards around her, she loves you and wants to let you be yourself <3

adores how you look no matter what- her gallery is full of candid shots of you and selfies of the two of you

nights out!!!! loves going out with you, especially if alex comes along because you guys are a triple threat

if you’re not from urzikstan like her, she wants to introduce you to her culture and wants you to do the same, loves cooking traditional meals for you and wants to know everything about your country

her wallet has pictures of you two in a photo booth, it’s her favourite things to show everyone around her

she CRAVES that domestic life with you, but also craves the chaos that comes with your fame

wanna chase paparazzi?? she’s leading the charge and will bark at people- she’s going the full mile

the public love her, they literally adore you two

interacts with your fans a lot too :) she loves watching them go wild when you post a pic of the two of you on a date night

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changbinsboobs · 1 month ago

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yes pleasue you have interesting things to read about. hmm i also wondered how they view their reputation among both male and female idols? do they think it could be better or worse?

Since this requires lots of time to read for im gonna split it up in 2 groups again

Hyung line: How Skz think their reputation is among idols

Chan

Male: that one was a bit weird i think he thinks the opinions are split - like some absolutely love him and think he's a delight to be around, while others find him cold and stern and appalling(?).

Female: he definitely thinks he's charming them girls up😂 i think he thinks he has a loverboy image among them and is boyfie material.

Lee Know

Male: he thinks they view him as very motherly and caring. Often surprised by his nurturing and father/mother like qualities.

Female: thinks they view him as uninterested and maybe don't even have much else of an opinion of him cuz he's just not present around them.

Changbin

Male: thinks they view him as really fun and upcheering, kind of like the heart of the group or center of attention. He also thinks that they think of him as someone who brings or holds a group/hangout together. Like the burning flame that keeps the campers surrounded around it, warm.

Female: he thinks they like him and have a good opinion on him and feel comfortable & safe around him (he says one telling thing is that he gets to see their dorky side often, which they keep under wraps with other guys/people). Also he thinks that they like his money or view him as someone who's very generous and can spend on them🥲💀😂

Hyunjin

Male: this was also a bit difficult, i think this mightve struck a nerve or something as im getting an energy of him being very hurt by some sort of rumours or behavioursbof someone and it shattered his "views" of some people. Maybe there was a rumour or something spreading about him among guys that either isnt true and he feels horrible that someone put it out there and people believe it and now thinks everyone thinks bad of him or something, or maybe the rumors actually true, and he's certain someone he thought was his friend started it and whichever it is he feels really shitty and austrasized about it. Dont know if thats actually true - like if he's been really austrasized or not, but thats definitely what he feels. Back to the topic tho - his overal thoughts besides that, on his image among male idols is they think he's very cool and fierces, he thinks he's kind of a role model especially for younger ones, like ifhglgkg yk that energy of a big and little sis, and the younger one looks up to the bigger one. So in a way i think he thinks that a lot of guys look up to him and think he's really cool.

Female: here i don't pick up much on his reputation persee but he thinks that lots of female idols just look at him from afar and admire him, despite really wanting to get close or make a move but for some reason i get the feeling that they don't? As if he's there to just be admired but not touched😂 like the art in the museum. Maybe he has heard rumours or something about people really liking him and thinking about or wanting to make a move. But again im no getting much of a confirmation if they actually do or not. Oh and also in this reading rumours were pretty evident, so maybe he's someone that has had to deal with lots of that. Maybe he's in those kinds of groups where theres always some drama happening😂 or he just enjoys endulging in rumours or gossip himself? Idk but that stuck out in this reading so🤷🏻‍♀️

#skz #stray kids #tarot reading #kpop #asks #seo changbin #bang chan #lee know #hyunjin #skz tarot #stray kids tarot #kpop tarot #headcanons #reaction #skz imagines

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starry-eyedblog · 10 months ago

Text

ahh i’m so sorry @angelofacidx!! i accidentally posted this ask before it was ready and had to delete it so your ask is gone :(( i hope i did a good job and y'know i had to make simon a tad pathetic, just for you <3

warnings/tags: simon x fem goth reader, awkward simon, flirting, teasing, kissing

when simon caught a glimpse of you one night at the pub he frequented with his mates, he was instantly captured by your beauty. usually, his type wasn't goth girls but there was something just so intriguing about you and your style that he found himself unable to look away.

when his friend johnny saw he was staring off, uninterested in the conversation, he followed his friends eyes and saw what had his full attention. "got a wee crush have you, si?" he chuckles, playfully nudging at his arm.

"oh fuck off," simon grumbled back, thankful for his black face mask covering his flushed cheeks. then, another friend was peeping up. "not your usual type mate. gonna go talk to her? or just oogle all night like a dickhead?" gaz had laughed with a raised eyebrow, taking a sip of his pint.

simon shrugged off his friends and left his booth, walking over to the bar where you were sat on a stool, talking away to a friend. he slipped in behind you, akwardly coughing to catch your attention which worked.

you spun around in your stool, tilting your head back to take in the absolute mammoth of a man stood in front of you. "can i help you?" you had asked, tilting your head slightly with an almost annoyed expression and simon felt his face flush warm.

"i uh- i was wonderin' if i could buy you a drink?" he asked, trying to avoid staring at you too much incase it come off as rude. in reality he was soaking up your outfit and makeup, enjoying all the details his eyes could find.

you laugh softly and with a smile, you accept the offer. "course you can, i'll have whatever you're having." you say, leaning in a bit closer to him so he can hear you over the general chit chat filling the busy bar.

simon nods, watching the way you lean towards him. his hands grow sweaty and his eyes frantically try to avoid yours. he quickly orders two rum and cokes, paying for them with a tenner. he takes his change, watching the bartender pour the drinks and place the glasses down in front of him.

he says a quick thanks before handing you a glass, "thanks." you say simply, bringing the glass up to your lips to take a long sip. as you place the drink down onto the bar, you look up at him with a questioning look.

"gonna ask me any questions or?" you tease with a smile and simon feels his heart hammering against his ribcage. "oh yeah, sorry uhm. so what's your name? that's a good place to start yeah?" he chuckles, hooking his mask under his chin and taking a big sip of his drink to try settle his nerves.

simon was someone who was confident in his looks, knew how intimidating he was with his height and old scars. you'd think he was a womanizer, but in all honestly he got shy around pretty girls and always managed to make an arse out of himself.

you laugh and nod, "yeah that's a good place to start. maybe next you can ask what my job is?" you tease with a cheeky smile before taking pity on him and telling him your name before asking for his.

simon answers back with his name, complimenting how pretty yours is before trying to move on and ask more questions that aren't very surface level.

more drinks are bought throughout the night and you seem to stay by his side, enjoying how flustered he gets around you. the more tipsy simon gets, the more he's unable to hide his fascination about your style.

"so, goth huh? i may have uh been a bit of an emo when i was younger in all honestly," he admits and you bark out a laugh, body tipping back and simon hopes to engrave that sound into his mind to remember for the rest of his life.

you raise a brow, "that so? just trying to imagine you with piercings and eyeliner. paints a pretty image honestly." you say before leaning forward, taking one hand and slowly dragging it up his arm while staring into his eyes.

once simon realises what you are doing, his face flushes pink and he feels his heart race. "had to take those out for military." he murmurs, unable to hold eye contact for long.

"military? makes sense now with all that muscles." you hum, giving a gentle squeeze to his bicep. "i've been like 'this' since i was a teenager, first got into the music through my parents and then discovered how much i enjoyed the style and makeup. haven't looked back since, brings in a lot of unwanted attention though. guys asking me to be their goth mommy on nights out or even dates, like what the fuck?" you shake your head, laughing with him with your hand still resting on his bicep.

"guys actually ask you that? fuckin' hell and i thought i was bad at flirting." simon bites, throwing back the rest of his drink before placing the empty glass onto the bar.

you laugh loudly at his words, shaking your head before finishing your own drink. "trust me, you're one of the best so far. little shy though eh?" you tease, giving another squeeze to his arm before standing up.

once you are standing up straight, you turn to your friend and explain your plan to her. she laughs and smiles, gently smacking you in a playful way before agreeing.

you turn back around and go up onto your tiptoes, pressing your lips to his ear, "i'm going out for a smoke, if you'd like to join me." you whisper, pulling back to stare up at him.

silently simon nods and follows you outside, glaring at any men who even glance in your direction while you make it out the bar. he is under the impression it will just be a friendly smoke together but oh boy was he wrong.

as soon as the both of you are outside, you are dragging him down a dark alleyway around the corner. your arms wrap around his neck and pull him down until your lips are just brushing. "can i kiss you?" you ask while looking into his eyes, hoping he’ll say yes.

simon is caught off guard, his eyes widening as you easily pull him down closer to you. “su-sure.” he mutters before he feels your lips pressing to his in a slow kiss. his arms gently wrap around your waist, bringing his body flush to yours as he deepens the kiss.

after a minute or so, the two of you pull away panting quietly. you giggle softly as you look at him and simon pulls a confused expression. “what you laughing at?” he grumbles, pink flushing his cheeks.

“a bit of my black lipstick is smudged on your lips big guy.” you smile cheekily, bringing your thumb to your mouth to lick before gently swiping at simon’s face to get rid of the evidence. he smiles down at you as he feel you wiping at the lipstick left behind.

he then works up the courage to ask the big question. “so, will i be able to get your number?” he utters, holding your waist a little tighter as he stares down at you. the question makes you chuckle, your head nodding. “yes you definitely can have my number.” you answer, smiling happily up at him.

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