#valentina cares too much about what other people think

[notafunkiller]

I know many Bucky fans are mad, but I never expected him to have a lot of screen time in Thunderbolts* to begin with. Especially with such a huge team (and they need to be*come* likeable and relatable to the audience).

Thunderbolts* is NOT a solo movie, it's a team movie (Suicide Squad style).

He should've gotten a Winter Soldier film ages ago (getting some of memories back in Romania so we see many flashbacks), but in Thunderbolts*, he doesn't need to have 2h of screen time to be a key character.

And this is what I care about the most... Quality > quantity

In his MCU journey, we always found him in different stages (and this is what made it fun and exciting for Sebastian too) & I love the fact we get to put two and two together and try to understand hints rather than straight up being told everything about his life.

He is one of the most interesting characters & he carried the Cap triology (and Marvel knows it). He got less than 15 minutes of screen time & 13 lines in CATWS (a movie with his name in the title) & still stole the show... he always steals the show, he's "the underdog".

He's super popular & so is Sebastian. They don't bother to use him more because they know people (come to the cinema to) watch anything if he is in it.

They saw that with "Dumb Money".

So they might even give us Bucky in small doses intentionally.

Sebastian got more projects left, which = a safe paycheck he can use for other projects.

(This is why I disagree when people say he should leave Marvel as if:

1. He doesn't have a strict contract with more projects left & he wouldn't need to pay;

2. He doesn't need the money - to pay his employees, to produce & play in other films)

3. He doesn't find it comforting to play Bucky every 3 years...

He loves Bucky (and he is similar to Bucky) & he always gets to explore different sides of the character when he returns, which is amazing for an actor.

Also, Kevin said Bucky is the de facto leader, after all. And that doesn't mean his role isn't important (CATWS & CACW are good examples), quite the opposite.

(I think he might have a subplot & save the team at the end)

We all got ??? when we thought he's in the team because he is already pardoned. He proved he is "stable" in TFATWS.

It makes sense to me if he has his own thing.

The fact the team has to "earn the trust" aka go into a suicide mission bc they are seen as disposable is sick.

(Bucky is seen like this, too)

There is no good or bad side & Bucky sees right through this. He always did.

I'm glad Yelena is finally a lead, though & I wonder how she'll use the opportunity to take revenge on Valentina.

Also, I think she'll lose her dad (sacrifice maybe), and that will be an amazing scene.

I really hope Bucky & Yelena have at least one scene (maybe he is sent to lead them in the middle of the film or he just shows up to save the team at the end). They are similar, yet different, so a great, great duo.

Florence and Sebastian are 🙌🏻 (incredible actors... they portray the characters with so much passion. They know them so well) and I can sense a lottt of chemistry.

My point is: things always change, you never know with MCU & so let's wait and hope it's a good film⚡️

[evajellion]

SMRPG AU where Smithy wins

OKAY HERE IT GOES-

So hypothetically, let's say Mario, Peach and Bowser just completely vanish after Exor crashes down. Either they straight up died or got isekai'd to Smithy's realm by accident, idk I will let the rest of you figure it out.

Years and years pass, Geno can't really get the Star Pieces without Mario and co. so… Smithy just, straight up takes over Star Road and lets his minions do whatever.

Here's what we thought up-

Smithy: Bowser's Castle was nice, but after learning what the Star Pieces did, Smithy went directly to the source and took over Star Road himself as its new overlord. He built an entire factory around it and over the years, is now known as "he who grants wishes".

Of course, much like the main villain in "Wish" (terrible movie btw), Smithy only grants wishes that he likes. He ignores wishes that are selfless or relevant to one's family, and only grants stuff relative to wealth, gain, or wanting to win.

It's less out of malice and more out of ignorance, really. He doesn't see any value in wanting things that have no material value or glory.

Mack/Claymorton: After ambushing the castle, Mack became the new ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, but he said the name was stupid and changed it to the Claymore Kingdom.

There are, a lot of parties, almost every week. He's a complete tyrant who threatens and torments the Toads to the point where the Chancellor actually wishes Bowser would come back. If he gets bored? He decides to wage war on another kingdom "for fun".

He's getting an ego about it too, which some joke is just "him compensating for his size".

Bowyer: Honestly no one has any clue what Bowyer does. Some treat him like an actual forest cryptid that haunts the maze because he's been in there so long. People who enter the forest now never come back.

Bowyer doesn't understand the concept of killing anyone really, so it's not like forest intruders are dead. He just thinks it's fun to play "freeze tag but you're frozen for good" with anyone who comes by. Essentially, it's all a hunting game to him.

He probably views all his immobile visitors as trophies more than anything else.

Yaridovich/Speardovich: Eventually, he succeeds in duping someone to fight Jonathan and takes the Star Piece for himself. Smithy grants him his promotion and he is made mayor of Seaside Town, and he is a captain of his own crew of Drill Bits.

Jonathan is none too happy about this and makes beef with Yaridovich every day over what he had done. Jonathan prides himself on being a good fighter, but unfortunately, Yaridovich fights dirty.

Eventially, Yaridovich made a habit out of pirating other incoming ships himself. He wonders if doing this will get more promotion from Smithy, but… Smithy seems to have been ignoring him.

Axem Rangers: After beating up the Czar Dragon, Smithy suggests they take care of Nimbus Land since it's "uncomfortably close for his liking". They immediately make themselves known by exposing Valentina's lies and kicking her out, inadvertently making them heroes.

Axem Red and Pink take a lot of pride in removing Valentina and being adored by residents of Nimbus Land, but Black isn't happy with it at all and wants to go back to causing chaos. Green is neutral about the whole thing.

Axem Yellow meanwhile, managed to turn Dodo to their side simply by calling the large bird a "good boy" and giving him legumes as a treat.

Boomer: He's the shogun of Bowser's Castle, but nothing more. He guards Exor as he always did, and commands Smithy's Army, striking down anyone who dare cross his lord.

However, he isn't exactly happy with his position. He knows not to question Smithy, so he just… remains quiet about it. At the very least, he's humored by Axem Red's new heroic personality.

But he also fears if Red will turn on Smithy since he's so bent on appearing as "hero" for Nimbus Land. Boomer dad moments. :')

Exor & Count Down: Stationary. Exor is happy but Count Down seems bitter he cannot do more, he's kind of stranded and stir crazy.

Cloaker & Domino: They moved out of Smithy's dimension (much to Count Down's further frustration/loneliness) and settled into Marrymore for… obvious reasons.

Smithy doesn't mind so long as they can distribute. Domino quickly took advantage by becoming the most well-known medicine/potion seller in the land, kinda like Fairy Godmother. Excuses to depict Domino in sexy business glasses for my one friend who thirsts for him lmao.

Factory Chief: A second factory was built up in Star Road, that Smithy had taken charge of, so the Chief is now fully in charge of the old one inside of Exor! He's pretty happy about it.

The Director's son (because he has one for some reason?) is also working in the new factory while his father, the Clerk, and the Manager remain in the old one with the Chief. They all seem very happy, but the Director's son wonders if what Smithy is doing is right…

Gunyolk: Not used to having brothers. He was created by the Chief exclusively, and is now being mass produced, but… he liked it when it was only him and "papa".

Hypnosis Priest: She resides in Star Hill, discarding of wishes that Smithy tossed out. Essentially, she turned the entirety of the Mushroom Kingdom into a cult that worships Smithy as their Star Road overlord, with her as the leader of it.

And that's all I got, hi, feel free to throw anymore suggestions!!! :D

[hrts4fel1x]

Jealousy ? - Joao Felix

Joao Felix x female

• Y/n Fernandez is Enzo YOUNGER sister, she’s 22 and she is an American-Argentinian actress. She films in London at the moment and she’s staying with Enzo and his family. Y/n and Joao are good friends but maybe not just friends? Is Joao gonna be jealous when she starts posting with an actor?

•smau / use of swear words and slut ‘shamming’

•contains dialogue and story paragraphs

•maybe I will make more parts of this story.

@/yourname

liked by hero_ft, joaofelix79, and 235.690 more

@/yourname: I hope he won’t sue me

Tagged: hero_tf

Comments:

@/hero_tf : I’ll definitely sue you

@/yourname : 🖕🏻

@/enzojfernandez : ❤️❤️❤️

@/yourname : ❤️❤️❤️

@/user2 : OMG HERO AND Y/N?!? I SHIP SO BAD

@/usee1: I thought she and Joao were dating?!

@/user3 : where’s Joao comment?!

@/ynfan : he liked

@/celebupdates:

liked by 56.089

@/celebupdates: Y/n Fernandez was spotted last night with the loved actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin , the 2 of them seemed close, new relationship?

Comments:

@/user34 : Joao is way better

@/user12 : I ship so much

@/joaoswifey : what does Joao say abt this?

@/joaofelix79

like by yourname , pablogavi and 199.576 more

@/joaofelix79 : life lately

Tagged youruser, enzojfernandez

Comments:

@/yourname : 🤭🤭🤭

@/user0 : ARE THEY DATING?!?

@/pablogavi : ⚽️

You walked into the room and see some of the players. Enzo,Marc,Pedro and Joao. You sit next to Joao since is the only sit left and he looks at you. You started having feelings for him a few months ago but your to scared to lose his friendship.

“So what are you guys talking about?” You ask the boys

“We just talk about who we think will see in the call-ups” your brother answered

“I hope you guys see like Kenan, or Arda or maybe Jude” as soon as you say that Joao looks at you

“Damn you have a thing for Real madrid players? Or just for Turkey players?” Marc asked laughing

“Hey me and Kenan are friends and because of him I met Arda and because of Arda I met Jude”

Joao rolls his eyes annoyed

“And which one took ur eye or maybe heart?” Pedro asked

“Heart?” Joao asked surprised

“Calm down boys, I’m not into them, I mean I never thought of that but they are indeed hot as fuck” you said smiling when Joao gets up and leaves the room.

“What’s up with him”

“Your idiot” enzo answered to your question and you just raised an eyebrow

“He’s totally in love with you Y/n. I think he’s been in love with you for months but he never made a move”

You look surprised at what Marc said and you just get up and left the room going after Joao outside.

“Joao” you call his name when you see him walking in the backyard. He turns around and waits for you to say what you want.

“Im in love Joao” Joao look a little sad and just wait for you to continue

“With you” he looks surprised.

“What?”

“Joao I’m in love with you. I love you Joao for months. Please say something.” Joao didn’t say anything and just walks towards you and kiss you.

“I love you too” he said while your heads touch and his hand on your cheek.

A few weeks later.

Joao is playing vs gent. You and Valentina, Enzo’s wife are there to support the boys. Your boys. Both Joao and Enzo are on the field.

“They better win” you said to Valu

“They will I mean it’s Enzo”

You smile at her and watch the game. Some girls sitter on the road in front of you speak about Joao.

“I heard Joao has a girlfriend” one of the girl said to the other 2.

“Yeah well she’s probably just for his fame and money”

“Probably a slut”

You heard them and just rolled your eyes and wait for the game to end since it’s the last 5 minutes of the game.

After the game Chelsea won, Joao runs towards you who where now waiting in next to the boys who didn’t got to play. He runs towards you happy and hugs you.

“Hi” you said softly while he keeps you in his arms. The people around you do pictures but neither of you care. Your in your safe place. His arms. He whisper in your ear to look on his insta. So you open the phone.

@/joaofelix79

liked by pedri, enzojfernandez and 209.789 more

@/joaofelix79: My happiness. I love you so much Y/n you don’t even know how much. I’m so glad you came into my life and make it 100 times better. I love you with all my heart ❤️

Tagged @/yourname

Comments:

@/enzojfernandez : How tf did you post this the game just ended?

@/joaofelix79 : I had some help from your wife @/valucervantes

@/jpcancelo : my man got the girl ❤️

@/pedri : so cute ❤️

@/lamineyamal : ❤️❤️❤️

@/_ferminlopez : you still have time to limit the comments

@/marcguiu9 : FINALLYYYYYYYYYY

@/yourname: my other half ❤️ I love you so much baby

@/user1 : SO CUTE

@/user6 : she better take care of him

@/joaogf : that should be me 😞 (Jk jk I love you guys together)

@/sabrinacarpenter : @/yourname YOU HAVE SOME EXPLANATION TO GIVE ❤️

@/pedroneto_30 : ❤️❤️❤️

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[devourable]

Would it be alright to request some hcs for wedding stuff with Tina and her Darling? Like what she would wear, if she’d want a courthouse wedding or a ceremony, if a ceremony what theme/location/time of year… 🥺 I love your writing style, and Tina is so cool 🫰

also camping and stargazing that she likes so much would be such a cute honeymoon trip 😩💞💞💞

absofuckinglutely yes you can anon. bless. sorry this is a bit short </3

💒 valentina everett • wedding headcanons

the day that you get married could not come sooner for valentina. she'd be torn between rushing the entire thing and meticulously planning the wedding to ensure it's executed flawlessly.

she’d definitely want some sort of ceremony where as many people watch the wedding as possible. she doesn't have a lot of family to invite (as in... she only has one, her little sibling, who'd be content being a normal guest), but she's perfectly happy inviting all of your family and friends alongside her friends! in fact, one of them would walk her down the aisle <3

her ideal wedding would take place outdoors (obviously), maybe on a farm or by a lake, depending on your preference. and it'd have to take place early spring or fall so it'd be comfortable enough for everyone to be out and about during it.

she would want a nice wedding dress. something like this, probably? a corsetted dress with lots of pretty layers and lace. whether you wear a dress or a tux, she'd definitely want yours to match hers.

outside of those things, valentina would let you take the reigns. she doesn't care too much for other specifics once the basics are covered, and she'd want everything done as soon as possible so she can finally, finally call you her spouse and mean it.

when it is over, she'd definitely ensure a nice honeymoon location for the two of you — a luxury campsite or lakeside cabin, for sure. but it'd be a bit of wasted effort.

if you think that she's keeping her hands off of you for even a moment when you're finally alone together, you're in for a very long vacation. it's important that you consummate your marriage as soon as possible, after all! <3

[mateos-surgery]

alright, something I have to rant about, it ain't important but whatever.

it's about Mateo from SAW X and for THOSE WHO CARE SO MUCH ABOUT HIM Y'ALL BETTER SIT DOWN AND HEAR ME OUT ON THIS...

so...

remember a specific line Mateo said when the camera panned to each of them that were in their traps? well- besides Mateo?

he said and I quote:

"what the fucks going on?! why're we back here?!"

ya hear that? he said why are *we* back here, he didn't say "what the fucks going on, why am I back here?!" he said WE! he said WE! and I like to think that he cared about Valentina and Gabriela, maybe even Cecilia, but after finding out why they were there he quickly turned on Cecilia but not Valentina or Gabriela, telling John that *they* had nothing to do with the scam, it was all *her* [Cecilia].

and when I first watched SAW X in theaters I noticed something, when Cecilia is introducing John to Mateo, he looked nervous and..unsure of himself like he felt BAD lying to this person who is sick in the head [no pun intended], and have you ever thought that they three followed along Cecilia because THEY'RE broke too? I mean for fucks sake Gabriela has to have Mateo himself be her dealer for her drugs and Valentina has to be a PROSTITUTE! and she may look like someone who...likes it? but she probably cares more about the money than sex itself!

here's a lyric from a song:

"have you ever been, so damn broke, you'd do anything for some dough." -067 Sings A Song, a song by Aaron Fraser-Nash made about one of the characters from Netflixs series Squid Game, check it out its really good. those lyrics make sense for Valentina and the others, they are so damn broke that they'd scam poor dying people of their money just to be happy,

now back to SAW X, what I said about those three make sense, look at Cecilia she has this big gorgeous ass house! it's from the money yeah but do you think Mateo, Gabby and Valentina would be suffering in being 'broke' if Cecilia were to share the money with them? no! they'd be having parties, doing whatever, I know she never cared about them but still.

they're victims too I wanna think, not just John, and they had a will to live! Mateo & Valentina just weren't fast enough, they were terrified and Gabriela...Cecilia should've died in her trap, even Parker was hesitant on putting Carlos in the blood boarding trap with John:(

if all three [Mateo, Valentina & Gabriela] survived their fates, they definitely would've comforted eachother on their traumas and definitely would've helped John too but in their OWN helping way.

that's my conclusion on this rant :]

[candyskiez]

I am asking about your OCs, what is the story for them 👀

JOHOHOHOHOHO

So I'm working on this one story, I think I told you a bit about if the name Laika sounds familiar to you? And the whole gods take too much magic from this world to make other more Interesting worlds fucking over everyone on this planet. But imma tell you more about the other characters in this. Also it has a tentative name? Very subject to change. When Gods Go Silent. Don't know for sure yet. Something with Gods in it.

• Valentinas name is getting changed. Not sure what it'll be yet. Maybe Judith, or Jasmin, or Rosemary, or smth. I don't know yet.

• There's a healer lady names Crystal. She's, OK because this is a magical universe she's deerlike? She's not like...A Deer, or a hybrid or anything. She just has hooves and fur someplaces and antlers n shit. Gotta learn how to draw so.i can do her justice. Her identity issues have identity issues. She is incredibly religious. Where she comes from healing and religion are heavily intertwined. She has never been a person, only a Vessel for their gods beliefs and an entertainer for her community. She is very deep in denial. She's charming, she's very deep in her many persona's, and she's aware that they are persona's but at the same time she very much believes they're all there is to her. Im torn between her thinking "This IS the real me. I am many different things. Maybe they are all lies, yes, but they're as good of a self as I have. I did genuinely care, I did genuinely apply myself to this role, so it is Me. Just a cut up vwrsion of me. I cannot help my nature." And "Of course this isn't the real me. There isn't any. I do not have a personality, or an identity. I cannot help my nature." Idk idk.

Lola is very suspicious of her for joining her and...God whatever she ends up being named, because why would SHE joined? She believes in the Gods being good. Why would she thinks they need to do what she thinks the gods will get to when the time is right? And she very much doesn't think that Lola and Protagonist are right, but, well...she's curious. She's curious what will happen. She's never met non believers before. Not like this. She's never actually seen much of life outside her home. She's intrigued. She's known exactly what would happen her entire life. She has a strict destiny set up for her. (More on that...eventually )She might as well fill in the gaps between what will happen to her with something Interesting. Honestly so much of it is motivated less by what she justifies it as (I must bring them to the light) and more so she is so bored and these people are fascinating and she wants to figure them out. Weird psychoanalysis girl.

Her and Lola have a very interesting dynamic, with Crystal being very psychoanalyzing and weird studying/jabbing at her, and Lola snarking back and surprising her out of her persona, and there being Weird Chemistry underneath all of it. They eventually fall in love btw. I will tell you more about this when I figure it out.

• Crystal's whole thing in the overarching metaphor for capitalism is you can be Good and Perfect and throw yourself into the system and destroy any other parts of yourself and it will never ever be enough. You will still be next on the chopping block. You can be literally nothing but a shell for your Role in it all and it will never reward you. You will be bled dry and have nothing to show for it.

• I love crystal

• I want Laika to be the last to join the group but there's probably going to be More People in it. Idk who yet. I gotta develop itttt. Aaaaa. Save me ideas. Save me

[sunshinesfm]

*ೃ༄ 𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑹𝑶𝑫𝑼𝑪𝑰𝑵𝑮 .... 𝑽𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑨 𝑫𝑬𝑳𝑮𝑨𝑫𝑶.

[ … ] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed { VALENTINA ‘VAL’ DELGADO } walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { SHE } is ? they kind of look like { CAMILA MENDES } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { TWENTY NINE } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { HER WHOLE LIFE }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { KATHERINE PIERCE } from { THE VAMPIRE DIARIES }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { SUNRISE CAFE } as a { BARISTA }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { THE SIREN } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { DECEITFUL } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { CHARMING } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { 3 BEDROOM } apartment beside me over in { SUNNY SHORES }. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you! { NIC. 27. SHE/ HER. EST. }

information:

full name: valentina 'val' silva.

age: 29.

occupation: barista.

residence: coral cove.

family: dad ( had never met ), mom, and sister.

favorite color: pink and red.

label: the siren.

hometown: palmview grove, florida.

hobbies: online shopping, going on adventures, spending time at the beach, journaling.

pets: one dog, one cat.

nickname: val or v.

hair color: black.

eye color: brown.

works at: sunrise cafe.

counterpart: katherine pierce.

birthdate: june 13th 1996.

star sign: gemini.

gender: cis-female.

pronouns: she / her.

martial status: single.

traits: decietful and charming.

about valentina:

valentina wasn't really someone that you wanted to mess with. in a lot of ways, she was known to not always be the nicest person that there ever was. she had her moments where she was less than kind. the only reason she would go out of her way to be kind to someone was if they happened to be close to her or if they were a significant other of hers. otherwise? she very much had her guard up around everyone and everything else. when it came to her home life, she never met her father because her parents spilt up when she was younger. he never wanted to be an active parent in her or her sister's lives. and because of the fact that her mother worked and it never seemed that she had time for her children... valentina ended up becoming quite resentful of that. she truly felt as though she never had a consistent support system in her life. that she was really all she had because of the fact that nobody else had ever really cared to listen. it hurt her, more than anything. but it wasn't something that she showed. whenever val was known to be upset she would push those emotions down. further and further down until she couldn't anymore. if anyone knew how to perfectly use her charm to be able to get what it is that she wants, it was val. she could very easily use it for something to work out in her favor. when it came to people that she didn't really know; she could easily come off as the rudest person you could ever come across. while she works as a barista for the time being; she does plan on eventually switching jobs within a different place in her hometown.

headcanons:

valentina never had much of a family. she lived at home with a single mother and her sibling.

but never had much of a consistent support system due to the fact that her mother was always working and majority of the time it was just her and her sister at home.

because she felt like no one had cared about her, she soon developed quite the 'i don't care about anything else either.' kind of attitude also.

the person she is the most protective of is her sister.

she works as a barista at the sunrise cafe but mostly works during the weekdays instead of the weekends.

she's quite charming and knows how to use it to her advantage.

she's vowed to never abandon her own family if she was to have one one day.

she loves the idea of being adventurous as well as being spontaneous.

val does not like it when people question her or underestimates her.

when she says she's going to do something, she usually ends up going through with it.

online shopping is one of her favorite things to do.

[original-character-championship]

Bracket H Round 1

Poll 3

NERF (@nen-kaii) vs. Bruce the Just (@bruce-stan)

453. NERF (@nen-kaii)

he/him or ne/ner/neir

He has a zipper that exposes his skull because he thought it was silly, he drinks led water, ne blows stuff up with neir rocket launcher for funsies, and ne makes cookies for neir friends. He's so silly it borders on stupid. Gonna squisch him. Squinch.

4'11" little guy, with a shaved head that's split open by a zipper to expose his skull. Sometimes wears a mint-colored helmet with googly eyes pasted on.

454. Bruce the Just (@bruce-stan)

He/Him

     Bruce is a were-shark Barbarian from a pathfinder campaign im in. he is my precious baby boi and the sole reason I'm on tumblr is to shill for him in this bracket. He was abandoned as a child due to his family thinking him a monster and fending for himself till one day while trying to rob a family for food, he goes too far and kills the dad. Stricken with the weight of his actions he seeks to save as many people as possible to make up for his terrible deed.

     He is the definition of a himbo. The kindest of beans and loves nature especially the water. He is allo-aro as he loves everyone as his ever growing number friends but just can't hold romance in his heart, but still is distracted by boobs; can your really blame him boobs bouncy. He is autistic coded and has PTSD from his past actions, hating loud sounds as they remind him of the child and mothers wails of grief at what he did. He is self sacrificing to a fault and will no hesitate to throw himself into any danger for any reason.

     This is reflected in his weapon "Penance". which he spells (penents). A metal shark tooth macuahuitl with one half cold iron and the other half adamantine. It is enchanted to deal extra dmg at the cost of backlash upon himself, which has been the cause of his many scars across his body. Bruce doesn't care however as his weapon is just as much penance for himself as for his enemies.

     He serves as both the heart and big guy for our groups five man band. While he is obviously the dumb muscle, he is the emotional core of our group that makes a cold-hearted assassin, a conniving theif, a vengeance possesed psychopath, a shadowfell raised Dryder, and an apathetic druid, all want to be better people because of his unrelenting love and kindness.

    He hates killing and will even in battle go out of his way to avoid it and violence in general as much as possible. Their is but a single exception to this rule and that is to put any of his new found family in danger. That makes a woman by the name of Valentina a dead girl walking, as she callously murdered his dear friend Ms. S. An ex school teacher who would hand out gold stars to the party. He still has the stars on his macuahuitl as a reminder of his late friend and debt to settle.

     His caring nature has gotten the party into many adventures as he is always willing to help anyone. From hauling wood, to hunting fish for a starving child, to collecting cat skeletons for a friendly necromancer, to even facing down a 40ft tall face stealing monstrosity, all one must do is ask.

     Now a list of my favorite Bruce quotes:

" I got my info from a trustworthy source....... ya know a crab from that creek over there".

"NO STEALING! I will buy you the shiny".

"I would never kill him, just break a few ribs".

"I've fought plenty of trees and I only lost twice".

"You can be gay just don't do crimes........ok maybe a little crime since he's was mean".

"BRUCE IS INDOMITABLE" ( after holding back a bullete from his unconscious friends.)

"violence doesn't just break a man's nose, it breaks his spirit.............I've seen how terrible that truly is."

     I could go on for days about my precious lad, so if anyone wants to hear more hmu. That being said though reckless, naive, and certainly buried in his own sins; his unyielding sense of kindness and do-goodery make no one more fitting of the name Bruce The Just.

Taylor Lautner from twilight as to add to the shark meme since he also played sharkboy.

[etaleah]

Seeing all these takes about how “Everett Ross was so useless in Black Panther why is he even there?!” And…look, if your definition of “useful” is limited to the action movie lens of “Does this character get to punch people and do car chases,” then yeah, he does come out looking pretty pointless. But that’s not the only lens there is, and it’s a pretty reductive one to insist on. There’s also thematic and symbolic lenses, and that’s where I think Everett Ross’s character actually adds quite a lot in addition to a few plot purposes.

Because yes, he does actually serve a few plot purposes. In the first movie, he’s the reason Klaue goes to South Korea. He’s the American vibranium buyer that Klaue is going to meet with, which helps set up that whole scene with the Wakandans going after him. Then he helps take out the ships carrying vibranium out of Wakanda, so there’s that. In the second movie, Everett is the one who tells them about Riri Williams’ existence, which is information they then act on. It’s true that he doesn’t have as much to do in the second movie, but that’s why he doesn’t get as much screen time, which is as it should be since the focus needs to stay on the Wakandans and Talokans.

But more important are the thematic and symbolic purposes. In the first Black Panther, a major theme is “the wise build bridges, the fools build barriers.” Those are T’Challa’s exact words, and his character arc in this story is to go from being dismissive of bridge building to being open to it to welcoming it. At the start of the movie, he mostly waves off Nakia’s urging to help other nations and clearly isn’t happy to see M’Baku show up to the challenge. Over the course of the movie, he changes on both these counts, and that starts with Everett. He takes a bullet for Nakia and almost dies doing it, which is what opens T’Challa up to the idea that maybe they should use their technology to help someone who helped them, because it could keep alive somebody who clearly cares about them and is willing to take huge risks for them. This is the beginning of the bridge-building, which later extends to include M’Baku and the Jabaris and then the whole world.

Everett Ross and M’Baku are the bridge, Killmonger is the barrier. Building bridges led to friendships and allies; barriers led to war. Everett’s presence serves a symbolic purpose that ties into the movie’s theme.

In Black Panther 2, the symbolism is different. My personal reading is that rather than symbolize the concept of “foreigner,” here Everett is instead meant to represent the idea of a “good cop” or a “good apple.” This is a movie that heavily (and rightfully) criticizes US imperialism and how the CIA helps make that happen, and Everett is the “good cop” within the CIA, which in this movie acts a lot like a police force. We’ve all heard people defend the police with the phrase about how there are just “a few bad apples” and that most cops are good actually. What Black Panther 2 does is respond to that narrative with “Here’s a good cop who genuinely tried to do good or at least reduce harm and look what you did to him. He tried to create positive change within the system and you punished him for that. You actually tried to lock him up for not being horrible ENOUGH.”

And I think that matters. They’re making the point of how there are no good cops, because they either don’t stay good or they don’t stay cops. The system is set up to protect agents like Valentina who think the US should rule the world and punish agents like Everett who dare to think that maybe countries that are not the US matter too. It’s a very powerful critique, and one that I really hate seeing brushed aside as “pointless.”

And the fact that Okoye busts him out proves that the bridge is still there. Wakanda hasn’t given up on the idea of helping others despite everything that’s happened. That matters too.

Anyway please stop with the “Everett Ross is pointless and only there so the movie has a White guy” takes and maybe think a little deeper about what the films are trying to say. Because you’re giving an incredible director like Ryan Coogler far too little credit for some very thoughtful creative choices.

[theanticool]

I’m just going to talk about the fights I care about for this Singapore card. Honestly, not a whole lot of technical aspects to cover. Feels like a lot of the fights are going to be one sided. Bear with me.

Max Holloway vs Korean Zombie - This fight is sad. While Chan Sung Jung is still a top 10-15 fighter at featherweight, this match up could easily turn into a 5 rounds of a too tough for his own good KZ getting pieced up by Max Holloway a la Holloway-Kattar. I can’t knock it too much as it was the fight KZ asked for and with him being open about the end being near, give him one last big fight. He deserves it. But I expect sad times.

Giga Chikadze vs Alex Caceres - I strangely like this fight. While Caceres lacks a level of physicality and raw athleticism to hang with the top of the featherweight division, no striker by Cisco Rivera has ever been able to put him away. It’s always been big strong wrestle-grappling types who have been his foil. That said, I expect the technical, athletic, and power edge to carry Chiladze to decisive victory. Unless Giga has spent the last 17 months actively getting worse as a fighter, I think he should take it.

Rinya Nakamura vs. Fernie Garcia - according to Tapology, I have seen Fernie Garcia twice. The fact I can’t remember anything about him and that he lost twice to some guys does not bode well for him. This is a fight meant to get the UFC’s next big hopeful star, U23 wrestling world champ Rinya Nakamura some cage time. But I’m interested in seeing what improvements he’s made since Road to the UFC. He’s been working at ATT alongside Kyoji Horiguchi and them. Guy has a bright future!

Erin Blanchfield vs Taila Santos - the first proper competitive fight I’ll talk about. Erin Blanchfield has only grown more and more confident as a striker in the UFC. While the technical polish isn’t there, the power and aggressiveness are. In contrast, I’d argue the biggest thing that kept Taila Santos from straight up beating Valentina Shevchenko in her last fight was her unwillingness to exchange on the feet. Her reliance on Valentina feeding her takedowns as opposed to being able to use strikes to set them up herself meant when Valentina stopped, so did her opportunities. That said, if Blanchfield comes out guns blazing like she did against Andrade, she could find herself getting tied up and taken down. And while her top game is impressive, we have seen Blanchfield lose a bottom side grappling match to a physically imposing opponent (Tracy Cortez) before. Granted that was 4 years ago but still. I’m excited to see what new things both women have been working on since the last time we’ve seen them!

Kenan Song vs Rolando Bedoya - Song had a more competitive fight with Ian Garry than Neil Magny, which will always be funny to me. That said, i think it’s fair after 25+ fights to say that we’ve probably seen his ceiling. A fun action fighter who can and will be folded by fighters who are either more experienced or athletically gifted. So this fight with Bedoya has me intrigued, because I don’t think he’s either. But what he has shown is that he’s got some Alex Morono in him. Bedoya has a lot of intangibles that fighters who make long careers in fighting without competing for gold have. Good defensive instincts. Fills space with offense well. A guy like Song is the perfect test for him.

JJ Aldrich vs Na Liang - JJ Aldrich is the quintessential example you point to when you tell people this is a sport of athletes. Cause technically, she’s a darn good fighter. Great job. Solid striking. Ok wrestling. But because she is not fast, powerful, or physically imposing, she will occasionally get her doors blown off by a more athletic fighter like Maycee Barber or Erin Blanchfield. Like Aldrich was winning those fights in a lot ways before the other women just decided they were done and went in for the kill. Against Na Liang, I think it makes for an interesting fight.

[luckyqueenreign]

Honestly, it took me a min to process this weeks episodes.

I have been reading people thoughts about the episodes, and i miss when the Islanders had their own personal opinion on MC.

I'm also getting tired of FB desperately trying to make LI so shady in this case, Lewie, for me.

Like pls make up your mind. Is Lewie a sweet guy, or is he a red flag. Is Jamal the chilled cool guy, or is he a snake. Like i get there has to be drama but why is everything surrounding MC at least season 2 and 4 we had Priya/Noah/Hope drama Lottie or mc/Rocco/Marisol drama and 4, the whole Lexi/Kobi/Valentina.

If this is an attempt to bring back the story line of MC and Bruno, they are failing horribly.

At this point, i just feel like Ozzy is obviously the main character, I like him, but i really wanted to pursue and look into the other routes before his slow burn.

I did like that we finally got to interact abit with amelia and she wasnt mixed in the drama, but Pls for the love of god just get over what you have to say because i promise you i dont care if its anything Zeph involved.

I liked Lewie getting jealous, and im not gonna lie. i liked the whole (Suresh/Arlo) moment looking at each other through the dates, i wish we could have flirted like we did then, but i was a Suresh Girlie. But definitely, last season gave me whiplash, and i was hoping for a cleaner route the first time around.

The whole recoupling was so rushed like i was literally just coupled up with Lewie the night before????

Also once again FB WHY ARE YOU MAKING HIM GO TO TALK TO CHLOE BEFORE US, then coming to me to sneak away with you at the day beds???

I'm calling it now, FB IF I SNEAK OUT AND I FIND THIS MAN WITH CHLOE IN A COMPROMISING POSITION IM RESTARTING MY ROUTE AND STICKING IT OUT WITH OZZY.

Like i love Lewie but i hate how they are doing his route filled with sneakiness.

Something bugging me is that we can't seem to talk to other ppl unless it's LI related. In Season 2 my MC was hooping around in my noah route. Right now, i feel like i barely spoke to Jamal or Roberto. it's either flirt with your first LI or Ozzy. Maybe they change it later. Sorry for venting!

no bestie dont be sorry because I feel the same right now!!

Every single season since s2 we've all been like bring back s2. give us what we had back then. and I know when s2 was out people complained that MC was constantly in someone else's drama and it was too centered around the villa and not us. but why didnt they tweak that just a tiny bit instead of giving us the most boring season of life with s3. s4 I think is the closest we ever got to s2 because we actually had routes that season but we also had one of the ugliest MCs of all time. no need to drudge up the past on s5...I was a suresh girlie too and man they put literally everyone in hell every single week. I have some ptsd after that season and still havent been able to replay it. I know we said we wanted recouplings back after having zero last season but we actually wanted some control over them!! we didnt want fb to just dictate them all over again. fb lowkey has ruined the LJR route for me. one I hate that those THREE guys all have the exact same route. and then if you aren't romancing the other two u literally never see them or talk to them. S2 I never romanced Ibrahim or Gary and was never coupled with them but I actually got to know them and even though we were just friends I knew so much about them. We know nothing about the other guys. Some people have sent me asks about head canons for Roberto and I havent been able to answer them bc I literally dont know that man. the only people I know are Ozzy and Lewie and even then the convos have been kind of surface.

ps you can vent anytime!! 💖

[pastelskyesblog]

Thoughts on the parents of Coral Island: Dad edition

So... I think it's still too early to say considering everyone's stories and dialogues aren't complete yet but here's my thoughts on the parents of Coral Island so far

Jim

what do you mean Lily's job is not a real job?

being rather cold at first aside, he's a pretty cool dude

have you seen his younger pic drawn by the og artist? holy shit he was so hot

major tsundere vibes. like seriously we started off with him saying I look like I've never used a tool in my entire life before (he's right) to him teaching me how to make his specialty- smoked salmon

he's one of the non-dateables in the island that I have most hearts with

probably the kind of father your classmates look forward to seeing during parent-teacher conferences because he's good looking (along with his wife, she's good looking too)

you inherited your abundant knowledge in fishing and fishes overall thanks to him, even thought you don't fish often

Sunny

I LOVE HIM

his personality totes match his name

second highest hearts with him, only because Jim loves shiitake mushrooms and wasabi and those are abundant in spring.

he reminds me a lot of my grandpa so i love him x100000000

i give him a flower everytime i see him

much like Jim, thanks to him you know a lot about fishes and fishing in general.

Jack

another cool parent, he gave me phat thai and then a lemon to make phat thai

another parent your classmates look forward to seeing during parent-teacher conferences

probably a cinnamon roll

the kind of dad whom you'd spend your weekend mornings together with the animals, telling each other about your week.

feels like a friend more than a father

Randy

TBH i don't know him enough but I have a lot of hearts with him because I see him often so I just gift him a flower like I do with everyone else (i should really chill and take it slow and talk to people smh)

probably the fun dad that you can easily open up to

definitely the kind of dad that can help you with your homework

the kind of parent every your friends look forward to seeing whenever they hang out in your house

Paul

another cinnamon roll

another dad that can help you with your homework

takes you on his adventures whenever you're not in school

lots of great memories together

always excited to tell your classmates about what he does for work

thanks to him you know a lot of animal trivia

i feel like out of all the dads, along with Randy, he'd tell the most number of dad jokes- and they're actually funny

Antonio

another dad I don't know shit about, but considering he takes days off to spend time with Valentina, he's definitely a good dad

the kind who'd take his kid's drawings to work to show his colleagues

I feel like he's also the type who'd support whatever occupation you want to pursue, as long as he sees you putting in effort and results are showing

probably lowkey strict, but you'll be thankful once you're older that he is (with a bit of pettiness cuz you missed out on some of the fun stuff your other friends went through)

you have cool and pretty outfits thanks to him HEHE

Walter

typical old money dad, what more can i say

knowing how to deal with money is something that's become second nature to you, thanks to him

brings you out to play golf with his associates

brings you out to play tennis with his associates

good luck if you're the only kid, the family business is definitely going to be managed by you

Joko

another super fun dad

cracks a lot funny jokes, not just dad jokes

his storytelling is god-tier, probably the reason why dinner is at least 2 hours long

known as the funniest dads of dads among you and your classmates

Wataru

another dude i have a lot of hearts with but don't know much about because his dialogue is so little

the kind that takes care of you silently (and you're super grateful for it)

quiet type of dad, but probably very observant regarding your needs (hence probably why Wakuu is the way he is towards him)

dinner is often quiet, but once it's time for dessert that's when the tea starts to spill (but you're doing most of the talking)

he's definitely the coolest, he owns a friggin chickin boat

[moonlightswritingandstuff]

all my life i've been so lonely all in the name of being holy (and still, you'd like to think you own me)

Valentina Diaz is a lot of things to a lot of people, but none of those are her own; those are all false facets of an imaginary person that Valentina never could and never will be. Or: five words others think of Valentina as, and her own opinion in that matter.

read on ao3!

trigger warnings: none

One

If there's one word to describe Valentina Diaz, it's unforgettable, Alex thinks. She is a tempest; a tempest of which stormed into his heart two months ago and broke it today.

He can still smell her perfume on the edges of his apartment; it seems to linger even though Valentina herself is long gone. The perfume smells of honeysuckle and hope, hope she seems to forget to inspire.

Oh, well. Valentina dated Alex for two months and he is not surprised. His friends had all warned him, a slough of "she only dates people for a maximum of three months" and "she's going to break your heart". He would just be another in her long line of exes, they said, and they were right.

Oh, well.

Alex likes fun, and Valentina was fun. It wasn't serious, she didn't even really break his heart. But she sort of did all the same, like a good memory that, in the light of its passing, renders it more sad.

But he still wasn't sure how he would move on, if he ever would completely. Stuck in heartbreak while also having moved on long ago, a strange limbo that Alex couldn't seem to shake no matter what he tried.

But for some reason, Alex didn't care. Bittersweet as it was, Valentina Diaz is not someone Alex would ever want to forget, or go back before they dated.

It was weird, but perfectly natural at the same time.

After all, if there's one word to describe Valentina Diaz, it's unforgettable.

«»

Two

If there's one word to describe Valentina Diaz, it's shallow. Piper's never found her sister to be all that interesting or deep, she just seemed to care for nothing but boys and breaking their hearts.

Well, most of Piper's siblings are like that. They don't care about people, they care about things. Material over emotional. Which is why Piper cannot stand her siblings. They're terrible, terrible people, only seeming to care about pink and love and dating and not the actual people behind them.

They're so fake, Valentina most of all. Because she pretends to care, even when everyone knows she very much does not. At least Drew has the decency to embrace how terrible she is.

Valentina pretends to care. She breaks heart after heart, all boys and girls who don't know what they're in for when it comes to Valentina Diaz.

And Valentina Diaz is a terrible, terrible person. She breaks hearts without remorse, she cares for nothing but the jewels adorning her neck and ears, she wouldn't know true love if it hit her upside down in the head.

Valentina Diaz hates Silena Beauregard just as much as Drew, too. Piper may have never met Silena, but she was a hero. That's what everyone says, except for the Aphrodite Cabin.

Honestly, Piper doesn't know how they can do that. How they can hate someone who clearly isn't in the wrong.

But, if Piper's being honest, she doesn't really care to know her siblings, and neither do they care to know her. Because her siblings are terrible, terrible people, and Piper most definitely is not.

Because at least Piper has the decency to care.

And just like every other one of Piper's siblings, the one word to describe Valentina Diaz is shallow.

«»

Three

If there's one word to describe Valentina Diaz, it is disagreeable. Adelita Diaz has find her cousin to be all too self-important.

Because something changed about Valentina Diaz when she was fourteen. Because Valentina Diaz holds herself like someone who has no experience with things, because Valentina speaks like someone tired with fate. What could she ever feel tired of?

Sure, Valentina’s mother is long-dead or long-gone - everyone around them talks too much about unimportant things and too little about important things when it comes to the mysterious woman who is Valentina’s mother - and Adelita doesn’t care much to listen, either.

Valentina Diaz has never been much of a concern to Adelita Diaz, yet Valentina bothers her all the same. Valentina goes through boyfriends (and girlfriends and partners in general) as fast as Adelita goes through books.

Which is to say, all too quickly.

But besides that, Adelita has never quite known how to act around Valentina. Sure, they're cousins, but Valentina changes like the fall winds. When Adelita thinks she has Valentina down - like she did until they were both fourteen - and then Valentina changes radically, and suddenly Adelita's blindsided by her cousin's changing. And then Adelita gets used to the new Valentina, and suddenly Valentina goes back to Old Valentina with the flighty dating, and then Valentina changes once more.

Valentina changes like the fall winds, and she doesn't slow down enough for Adelita to catch up.

And that's it, Adelita would say. Valentina is a cacophony that changes meter every few seconds. Adelita can never understand her cousin; Adelita can never sympathize with her cousin.

And because of that, the one word to describe Valentina Diaz is disagreeable.

«»

Four

If there's one word to describe Valentina Diaz, it is flaming. After all. Alice Miyazawa has always loved her best friend. Valentina is a tempest, a heartbreaker, but she's also fun. Just what Alice wants in a best friend.

Valentina isn't like Drew with a heart of snow; her heart is made of fire instead, burning and warming all the same. All that Alice wants for a best friend.

The boys she falls in love with only to fall out of love soon enough are just trees in a grand forest she rages in; Alice is not a tree. She is a person warming themselves by a hearth-fire after a cold night; Alice sees the life under the fire that Valentina is.

Fire is Valentina, Alice muses. Nothing more, nothing less.

Alice loves Valentina because she's fun, because although she may be flighty and may be careless with others' hearts, she'll never be careless with Alice's. Valentina will never be careless with her friends' hearts.

And Alice is Valentina's friend.

So the next time Alice gets broken up with someone, she'll sit on Valentina's couch with her friend and cry over ice cream and the best hot chocolate ever - because Valentina always makes excellent hot chocolate.

(Seriously. Is it an Aphrodite thing or is Valentina just that good at hot chocolate of all things?)

But there's no way in Hades that Alice would ever tell one of her friends to date Valentina. There's not way in Hades that Alice would ever set Valentina up with someone.

Because she doesn't want her friends to get their heart broken.

After all, through thick and thin, the one word to describe Valentina Diaz is flaming.

«»

Five

If there is one word to describe Valentina, it is unshakeable. Lacy admires her sister more than she'll ever tell.

Valentina, who can easily come back from everything. Valentina, who bounces back from tragedy and becomes their shoulder to cry on.

Lacy can rely on Valentina like no one else.

Because at least Valentina won't betray them like Silena did. Because at least Valentina won't twist her love into cruelty like Drew. Because at least Valentina won't expect them to be people they aren't like Piper. Because at least Valentina cares enough to leave her mask on and keep them safe.

Valentina has always been Lacy's favourite sibling. She's the person who taught Lacy how to apply makeup, how to select her outfits. Lacy has always looked like a doll, one of those creepy dolls that haunt suburban Southern homes, but Valentina tells her it makes her beautiful, tells her to lean into it.

And so Lacy does. And Lacy can rely on Valentina.

It's a few days after the Titan War. Valentina smiled at her through the mirror, raising her dagger up to apply her eyeliner. Lacy copied that motion, and it's messy, but Valentina smiled even more, and gently helped Lacy to get it right.

Lacy's young, they all are. But being part of the Aphrodite Cabin means something. It means something more than what it should. It means a certain responsibility, a certain awareness of her body that no thirteen-year-old should have. It's a silent obligation they all have. And Valentina bears it best, somehow. Valentina can carry the rest of them to a home they will never have.

They don't talk about it, but Drew once remarked something that they all know too dearly: beautiful women have unhappy fates. Lacy supposes it applies to everybody.

But it never seems to affect Valentina all that much.

And because of that, the best word to describe Valentina Diaz is unshakeable

«»

+ One

Valentina does not know who she is.

She feels terrible for breaking so many hearts. Alex was the most recent. She feels like she has to warm her friends. Like Alice. She feels like she has to portray a mask. Even to Piper, her sister. She feels like she has to be more mature. Like with Adelita and Lacy.

Romantic relationships are so easy, Valentina thinks. In romantic relationships, she doesn't have to be committed. She can casually date. Alex knew what was going to happen. He knew what he was getting into. Friendships are worse, family is worse.

With Alice, she never feels truly like herself. Alice sees what she wants, and she sees the Valentina as her best friend. Best friend is a scary term; it never seems to mean what people think it should. Best friend means too much. It sets Alice apart. Valentina doesn't do close relationships. So she'll make Alice her hot chocolate and don the mask of Alice's Best Friend, and it's so different from Valentina's Daughter of Aphrodite mask, and Valentina's Good Older Sister mask, and Valentina's Indifferent Beauty mask.

She shows so many people masks. All she is is masks, buried over and over and over each other, not a single one showing who she is.

She is a jewel, facets upon facets of equally beautiful, equally wanted. They are facets owned by many and owned by few, but none of those facets are owned by Valentina.

She wants to be rough, a diamond uncut. She wants to be coal, messy and dirty and being everywhere possible. She wants to be obsidian, strong and unshakeable.

She is her masks, her masks are her, but they are not everything. Valentina has never been anything but her masks.

She knows all her ex-boyfriends and most people at camp - including Piper, her own sister - see the Daughter of Aphrodite mask, or the Indifferent Beauty mask, depending on how well they know her. Alice sees Alice's Best Friend mask, and so does Julia, Alice's other best friend who doesn't like Valentina all that much. Oh well. And Valentina knows her half-siblings except Piper see the Good Older Sister mask.

And they are her masks, and nothing more. Valentina has never been anything but her masks.

So, if you asked Valentina, and she was being truthful, she would say that she does not know who she is.

[demidevildiva]

Throw a Tantrum 001

October 18th, 2023 Location: Inside Talon's Apartment Time: 6:45 p.m Trigger Warning: gore, death mention Mentions: @islandmumublog @eclvpses

Thoughts of death...

... were nothing but satisfying fantasies when it came to Valentina. She didn't shake or quake at the thought - never had. Didn't hide from the realization that she, too, was eventually going to die. Instead she welcomed the thoughts and prayed for it to be in the most gruesome and grotesque way possible. A bear ripping her apart in the woods in front of a large crowd, serial killer on the loose picking her to torment and torture, a begrudged lover setting things right by stabbing her time and time again... the list was truly endless... funny enough though in most of her fantasies it was always her doing it to others. Laughing maniacally as she reached for a knife and watched them sob and beg her to stop.

This one had been different though. She didn't give him the change to even see her before she attacked. All done out of pure jealousy. Valentina reached for the knife she grabbed from his kitchen earlier, leveling it over his chest. Would she find it extremely romantic? She laughed thinking about it, but knew it wouldn't be so. Rosa should know better than to anger me- she thought as she brushed Talon's hair out of his face and jabbed the knife in. Once, twice, three more times over before pulling it out and having a taste - metallic and tangy. Valentina felt like she was tripping. Like the taste of his blood had somehow shifted her brain functions and now everything around her was in slow motion. All but her. The room twisted and turned so much that she had to put the knife down and hold onto his chest for support. That's when she began digging her fingers into his wounds. Poking his deceased frame with her fingers before fully ripping him open and digging her hands into his crevice.

Valentina had no quarrel with Talon until the night of the texts... She really didn't care much about the shy little tattoo artist - finding him too naive and impressionable to worry about. Rosa on the other hand knew better, and she knew Val well so she didn't understand how she could just parade her... relationship... - gag - before her like that. It's why she thought that this was all meant for her. Rosa had told her she wanted Valentina to always want her, but then she went and did this? It must be a sigh, right? And Val would do anything for Rosalind.

It was how she found herself inside of his home in the first place. She had broken in easily from years of experience making her way into other people's homes and businesses. Hadn't even broken a sweat as she crawled into through the window and into his bedroom. Valentina had not planned on doing anything but snoop around his place. Find out things about him - get to know him a little more, to see what exactly Rosa saw in the fool. Her plans failed though and she heard the front door opened. Quickly reaching for the first blunt object she could find, Val waited for him to open the door before knocking his ass out.

"None of this is your fault, if it makes you feel any better." she said to an unconscious Talon. "You see, Rosa likes taking her pick of the litter as usual and you just happened to get caught. So really this is all her fault... It's always the same, you know?... We break up, then make up, then break up some more, but in the end?" she let out a giggle, "In the end she always comes back, because this is what's right... This is our love."

The more she kept talking, the angrier she became. Out of most of the people in her life, Rosa had always been a constant. From the moment their eyes first linked, Val knew she belonged to her. Knew that nothing in this world - no Chase, no Stuart, no June, no Rylan and certainly no puffed up little therapist would ever make a difference to this. Talon on the other hand? That was a bit of a dangerous combination. Valentina always kept a close eye on Rosa, and had witnessed first hand the shift in interest for Talon over the years. Their interactions had never caused her alarm, so she never worried about him. As bad as she wanted to say she didn't care, or didn't get jealous, the knowledge of their relationship threatened her to the core.

In a pit of rage she threw the lamp - smashing it against the wall - before diving down to the ground and beating on Talon. "You should have stayed away from her." she staggered out in between hits. Her anger always got in the way of her better judgement. Leading her to ignore all reason with no care in the world. Not that she even cared before. Val didn't bother saying much else. This wasn't what she came here for, but it satisfied her towering fury to pull away from him breathlessly. Something the pathetic sap probably had never heard in his existence.

Another thing Valentina didn't thought about was what she to do now? She stood over his frail broken body and noticed that blood had began to pool beneath his head. "Well shit." she said, coming back down to his body and lifting his head. "You just had to be a fucking bleeder." she cursed angrily, as she moved his head around trying to find the source of the bleeding. The spot where the lamp clashed into his head. How did she not realize it all before? "Stupid fuck." she cursed once more dropping his head back to the floor.

She knew that she had to call 911 if she didn't want him to bleed out and die, but she also wanted to just stand back and watch him bleed for a bit. Valentina chose to do both, but before anything she needed to get rid of any and all evidence that pointed to her. She wiped down the inside and outside of the window, everything that she touched, and even picked up the shattered lamp: bagging it to take with her.

Once she had everything figured out she came back to his body and dipped her finger in his blood to scribble on the walls...

Bitch, are you tryna make me cry? Are you tryna make me lose it? You win some and lose some This could get gruesome

[charfletchh]

CALLING TOO MUCH, YOU'RE BREAKING MY PHONE. MAD WHEN YOU DO AND SAD WHEN YOU DON'T.

{ VALENTINA ZENERE, 22, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER } Is that CHARLOTTE FLETCHER? A SENIOR originally from BOSTON, MASS. they decided to come to Ogden College to study COMPUTER SCIENCE. They’re THE FEMME FATALE on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance. 

pinterest/spotify

BASICS:

full name: charlotte "charlie" elizabeth fletcher

age: 23

date of birth: oct. 28, 1999

zodiac sign: scorpio

hometown: boston, mass

gender: cis female

sexuality: pansexual

RELATIONSHIPS:

father: charles fletcher- disconnected, strict, but present. a lawyer of some kind, she doesn't really care what he does.

mother: mary brandt, formerly fletcher, formerly morales. charlie doesn't know where she is and she really doesn't care.

siblings: two younger brothersPERSONALITY:

positive qualities: generous, charismatic, supportive, nonjudgemental

negative qualities: apathetic, entitled, condescending

skills: just skating by in school, bringing the party, getting what she wants

character parallels: samantha jones (satc), serena van der woodsen (gossip girl), jackie burkhart (that 70's show), michelle richardson (skins), hailey dunphey (modern family), edie britt (desperate housewives)

relationship to greer: many thought that charlie was jealous of greer, and that was probably true in the way all women were jealous of a woman like greer. but that wasn’t it, really- charlie would have never traded her own life for greer’s golden cage. she loved her friend. but something about her dug under charlie’s skin. it could have been the glass-like skin, the goody two-shoes act, the way people looked at charlie’s chest when she talked and greer’s eyes when she did. whatever it was, she often found herself in a bad mood when they were together and would pick apart the smallest things she did. they were famous for their fights, frequently heard screaming at each other through the walls over a boy who had followed them both on instagram or a backhanded comment made two days prior about someone’s shoes. no one incensed her like greer did; the only thing more fun than fighting with her was making up with her.

school activities: volleyball (because her father made her join a sport in high school and she likes the shorts- she plays outside), kappa kappa gamma (for clout and because she looks fantastic in letters), and the robotics society (because she should probably get a job someday and she was told winning a robotics competition looked good to FAANG).

WANTED CONNECTIONS

the rolodex: her reputation is well-earned, and she wouldn't want to fail to live up to it. she's messed around with half of campus. open to any kind of FWB/one night stand/potential relationship connections!!

the chase: i think it would be funny if there was one person she was really into and they wanted nothing to do with her. or maybe the other way around!

the heartbroken: while many of her trysts end with a mutually agreed upon separation (or a separation she makes you think was your idea), inevitably, things get ugly. you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

charlie's angels: in greer's absense, charlie is taking advantage of the power gap to cultivate her own following. she's hand-selected a few dear friends to join her inner circle.

study buddies: "why doesn't anyone think i'm smart?" she says as she googles "do i need to pay taxes". she is good at what she does though and enjoys programming. would love to have a few other STEM connections so she can elle woods in Intro to Machine Learning.

mom friend: charlie is a wreck herself so when someone's coming to her for advice, shit must be really bad. she's always good for a cigarette and some good, if not always easy to hear, advice.

yuck!: charlie doesn't have a problem catching feelings, she just can't sustain them. so why hasn't she gotten the ick yet from someone she'd thought was just a one night stand?

i am literally down for anything though so if you have any wcs my girliepop can fill let me know!! she's unhinged i would love some unhinged plots

OTHER HCS:

i think the funniest thing in the world would be someone calling her chuck like i can't get it out of my head. if our muses r close pls call her chuck.

she's a big reader but mainly of books with insane female main characters. huge fan of Boy Parts, A Certain Hunger, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, ect.

she is not a "clean girl". she is a feral girl. she always has last night's mascara under her eyes and never makes her bed. she pays to have her laundry sent out not really because she's lazy but because she lets it pile up for like 3 weeks at a time and then has no underwear.

she was some kind of senior mentor/orientation leader/tour guide and she absolutely terrified the freshmen. i think she likes to mentor.

yes, she pulls because she's confident and confidence is sexy, but she also pulls because she's a little goofy.

her favorite moment in history is stevie nicks making lindsay buckingham sing backup on silver springs. she can only dream to have that much power over a man one day.

she's one of those girls who always thinks she should start a podcast.

she's anti-weed but pro-coke

big charli xcx girl

[casitafallz]

LTRL AU | Blood in the water

TW; blood and minor injury description

The shock was fast to kick in before Isabela screeched out as she distantly heard the crack of bone before she felt it and she almost fainted there on the spot. She hadn’t noticed the swipe of his paw either catching down her arm first or as it caught her leg as she went down, blood seeping through the tears of her clothes soon enough.

By instinct, the vines grew around the jaguar’s body but mostly his neck, tight enough to force his jaw open to hiss out in pain but she didn’t think or care as the adrenaline kicked in and she pushed up and ran.

Blood pumped through her ears as she went, Isa could distantly feel the constant flutter in her belly, the world around her distant and muted but and she vaguely found herself almost walking straight into Fran.

“Isa? Oh my god!” She felt the girl’s touch, going with her obediently as she began to lead her away. “We need to get you to my Abuelo, now!”

“My arm hurts,” Isa complained faintly.

“Given what I’m seeing, you’re not wrong.” Fran muttered, “What happened?”

“Camilo… was a dick. Had your face…we argued. He was about to get crushed by stone bricks…I used my gift…pulled him safe. He set Parce on me…”

Fran swore again though Isa barely paid too much attention before she found herself inside and wincing at Fran’s alerting calls to action before she was pushed to sit and let the descending people get to work; it was best to do that… it seemed prudent.

“Stop the bleeding. She’s pregnant, she can’t afford the blood loss here.” Bella called, gathering up supplies from nowhere like a wizard. All too fast to keep track in Isa’s mind.

 “Her right wrist is broken, the bleeding stopped there but we’ll have to clean it. Madalina, get a clean bowl of water and a splint.” This came from her right from Fran’s sister

“We-we ran out of splints.”

“Get me your ruler and bandages then.” Fran’s voice was sharp though Isa eyed the drawn needle of fluid she was taking. “This is a local anaesthetic. The chemists finally approved these for medical usage. You’re not going to remember much of this so I won’t prattle on about the details.”

“Is it safe?” Valentina asked, reappearing “For the baby?”

“Should be, they did animal tests and none of the baby mice seem to be ill affected.” Fran shrugged, her eyes very serious though Isa just allowed her to insert the needle before she felt woozy…

  -

Fran was quick to catch the girl before she fainted, with help of her sister, she pushed Isa to rest on her side off her injury.

She had a ton of questions buzzing through her mind but now was hardly the time. First, she had to make sure Isa wasn’t left bleeding or the fact that the baby was at serious risk.

She pushed up her skirt and changed the needle and with a fresh dosage, quickly administered another to her leg, where the three claw marks were down her thigh. Each was about three inches to four long… but she felt relief in close examination to see it wasn’t too deep. Skin laters. It didn’t take much longer to see the bleeding on her leg stop; enough that her mother was quick to sew shut after Fran cleaned it.

Isa groaned as she arose from her faint but placidly lay there and she could see the tears from in her eyes. Fran let her for now. Comfort would need to be later.

“Here,” Madalina returned with a case of bandages, dressing and her collection of metal rulers. “I’ll get Abuelo; tell him what happened; Jaguar attack.”

Fran nodded, taking Valentina’s bottle of antiseptics and washed it into a spare dressing and began to gently dab it onto the three wounds that also lay close to her elbow. Clearly, she had been at the end of two paws, one caught her arm and the other her leg—or maybe a single swipe? Either way, it was more than just the bite to her wrist

Isabela hissed in pain. “Ow.”

“Sorry, this is cleaning the wounds for now. It’ll sting.” Fran apologised swiftly. “I’d think you’d rather have it sting than get infected and wind up cutting your arm off.”

“Fran, bedside manner!” Valentina hissed

“Oh dear, I left that at my bed room door.” Fran replied sneakily, though didn’t give her sister another glance. “How’s the rest of her arm?”

“The tears are deep as well as the bite marks, but the bleedings slowed down.  Can’t say much on the breaks. This will need Abuelo’s examination.”

“Clean it first then wrap it until then. Bacterial infection will harm the baby.”

It took five minutes before Abuelo came jogging in which was impressive for him being nearly seventy six before he went straight to the patient. Isabela looking calmer and stable, her pulse was steady though even Fran could feel the soft pressures when trying to feel the baby’s movements to know the baby was very active. It probably got shock as well from the adrenaline shot. She hoped it wouldn’t last. Isa hadn’t mentioned any beginning of low abdominal pain or cramps to indicate an inset of labour but that didn’t mean they were out of the woods just yet.

“We’ve cleaned and wrapped the injuries for now, numbed the areas with local anaesthetic so she’d not in serious amount of pain. I’ve prepped the needle and thread for stiches, I was just checking the baby.” Fran dropped her hands from her belly and moved.

Abuelo slid into the seat she had been in, his hand coming to peel back the loose dressing for his own examination of her leg first but she was glad he nodded and got to work to read their written notes on what they had also done and given her, medication-wise. It was a new habit but one, the family realised would be useful to keep going.  

“Your baby’s really tucked away in there,” Fran remarked, hoping to distract Isa. “How does it feel? Can you feel it?”

Isa sniffled softly before she nodded. “It’s calmer. It’s…hard to feel sometimes.”

“Any abdominal pain?”

“Not yet.”

It was still a relief to hear that. “Good, but the moment you feel any sort of discomfort like that, you tell me.”

Abuelo’s expression was less than impressed as he properly began to tend to her arm; the slashes on her arm were deeper but cleaned out and Isa had tourniquet her arm well with her vines above which they hadn’t removed yet but it didn’t look like Isa was overly aware of it.

“How bad?” Isa croaked after a moment.

“Right now…. It looked like your wrist is broken into multiple places which is the least of the problems. Jaguars have impressive bite force. Given it’s not as…bad as a wild attack is I suspect there may have been a restraint on the Jaguar’s part.”

“The Jaguar showed restraint?” Fran scoffed because that was unlikely. It was a fucking animal. Animals don’t tend to give much of a fuck when it’s attacking. It was go or stop, nothing more.

“If it’s the Madrigal’s pet that did this then si, given he’s more or less trained when around a five year old boy.” Abuelo’s voice was dry. “It looks clean, which is good. Any other pain?”

“No.”

“Any other indication of labour?”

“None so far.” Bella spoke, “Should we give preventative measures before any indication?”

Abuelito hesitated, “I’d…suggest prepping some steroids for the baby. It’s—“

“It’s a boy.” Isa interrupted tiredly

“His lungs will need it to develop first.” Abeulo continued, “Steroids will force more growth which…might be more beneficial given the nature of this pregnancy. If this attack may lead to preterm birth, at least we’re giving him a better chance of survival.”

“Anything else?”

“We have a few shots we can use to prevent labour but the chances of that working is small, but something we should still try.”

Fran watched her mother nod and then take her leave, probably to get the medications from the chemists. There was no mistake in the usefulness of the chemists had, now the reliance was off the magic because now, they could actually evolve their hobby to a job. They could afford more equipment or invent more with money and be more useful than just research. Fran knew her family had a wide girth of knowledge about plants and healing herbs with the human body but supply was another matter.

Fran turned her attention back to Isa’s arm, her stomach turning again as Abuelo gently began to examine the bite marks.

Of course, the silence was broken by a sudden knocking on the door.

“Isa!”

Ah, the magical healer herself, finally running to her daughter’s need.

“Fran, let her in.”

Fran sighed but didn’t say anything as she hurried to the door and opened it.

On the other side was Isabela’s magical mother but also Señora Rojas; both looking worried and the latter a little more dishevelled. The listener girl stood far back and wheezing but Fran didn’t give her more than a second glance.

“Is she here?!”

“Si, she’d being tended to,” Fran spoke but held a hand as Julieta made to pass her. “But you will need to respect the wishes of our patient. Heal what she wants to be healed.”

“Of course!” Julieta looked almost offended though Fran stepped aside and let the two in directly to Isa’s room. “Isa!”

Isa flinched at the voice, her head raising from the pillow before she quite abruptly burst into tears.

“Oh Isa, here, I’ll make it all better.” Julieta pulled out an aprea from her front apron but even to Fran’s surprise, Isa turned her head into the pillow away.

“Isa.”

“No.”

“You need to heal.”

“No.”

Fran exchanged a look with her Abuelo but nodded for him to interfere otherwise this was going to go nowhere. He tugged Julieta away a little.

“Isa, your arm is broken horrifically and you’ve got muscle and tendon tears to the bone from both claws and bite. Right now…I am not fully equipped to deal with such an injury without surgical practice. Given the pregnancy, your body is stressed and you’ll need to bring down your stress levels if you want to pregnancy to continue until the baby is properly developed.” Abuelito was soft as he spoke but factual, “Let her at least heal the bones, muscle and tendon. Your skin will heal on its own but it will scar.”

Isa peeked through the gaps in her hair and then at her mother with a narrowed, pale gaze. “Yes.”

Julieta huffed, “I can heal all of it, Isa. You don’t need to put yourself through that.”

“Just give her the damn arepa and heal her.” Señora Rojas spoke firmly. “We’re wasting time.”

Isa nimbly accepted the aprea with careful bites before she relaxed back but there was a half a second of silence before there was a seral sound of cracks and Fran watched in morbid fascination as Isa’s arm straightening up with each one, the movement shifted under the skin as the tendons reconnected and her limb resembled an arm again; the bite and slashed didn’t heal up completely, enough to stop any blood or possible infection from entering.

“Ew.” Fran wrinkled her nose though she was…relief to see colour quickly filling Isa’s face. Did that mean Julieta’s gift forced also made the body create more blood? How far did… this power go to do such things on a biological level? Could this…prevent Isa from going into labour?

Fran dismissed that thought quickly; labour was considered ‘normal’ not an injury to be fixed.

The relief in the air was immense but Abuelo changed from his needles to soft sticky strips to push the wounds together.

“Isa…” Julieta swallowed deeply, her eyes lingering on her sounds before she reached forwards and cupped one of her cheeks. Isa stared at her for a moment, sniffling before she shook her head out of her touch.

“No…you don’t get to suddenly start caring when I get hurt, Ma.”

Julieta gaped at her for a moment, shocked at the rebuke.

“Why don’t you head back to Casita?” Señora Rojas spoke, “Talk to your husband and family; calm them all down now Isa’s out of immediate danger. I will stay here with her.”

“She’s my daughter, I need to be here.”

“Right, like you’ve been at Isa’s side all along.” Fran pointed out bitterly, “You were there for everything.”

“Fran.” Her mother warned, “This isn’t your place.”

“Like hell it isn’t! I’ve been her friend for months to know they’ve been absent in her life. Why the fuck should she let them in when they care with conditions or when it’s convenient for them. They flew off the fucking handle when they found out about her and Mateo, god only knows they probably only care about the baby and not her—“

“Francesca Lopez that is enough!” Bella snapped, “Go to your room now!”

  -

Vera watched as the eldest Lopez granddaughter stormed away out of the new room. A borrowed building while the new one, by rumour, was still being built. But Vera had heard they had started this to avoid home visits to their personal space. Less personal.

Still, this situation was hardly enjoyable to be a part of. She couldn’t deny the fears she felt in regards to her granddaughter's health, mental and physical but also now the baby’s health. She felt there was almost a certainty it could be born today, or soon given what had happened. Surely they’d be faced with the harsh reality of what happened.

Vera patted Julieta’s shoulder, encouraging her up to her feet though Julieta refused to leave with a swift shake of her head and promptly sat at the offered chair beside the bed where Lopez's grandaughter had been on.

“Any pain?” Vera asked quietly. “She’s not in labour is she?”

“No, the best we’ve going to do is give her a shot of hormones to stop the onset of labour just as a precaution” Bella spoke sharply, her fingers gently coming to pick up the fresh needles on the side. Isa didn’t even move or react which tugged at Vera’s heart as Adrian continued to work to gently close up her wounds.

“Will that work?” Vera asked, “The baby is…too small to be born this soon. He won’t survive.” That was guaranteed. Her little Dante hadn’t lived for long; his lungs were too small. Underdeveloped to breathe.

“At the moment…the best chance we have is to wait out the next forty-eight hours to see if it has. It’s…only happened once with the same type of shot that it worked so I do have some faith but she’ll have to stay on bed rest and without any forms of stress. We’ve given her steroids to force the baby’s growth to develop his lungs more in the event labour is triggered, the longer the steroids work to his lungs, the better.”

Vera let out a shaky breath of relief. “That’s… a relief,”

“Si, but she’ll be staying with us.” Adrian spoke up, “She can share a room with Fran. This temporary clinic doesn’t have a bedroom.”

“Of course, whatever she needs; do it.” Vera spoke without any hesitation. “I’ll bring some fresh clothes down.”

“Gracias.”

“Julieta, I will not ask again. Come with me. We need to talk.” Vera snapped her fingers and led the way out of the clinic and onto the road. Fortunately, the younger woman had sense to follow and hovered a few feet behind her.

Outside —and more importantly; away from Isa—Vera allowed herself to feel the bubble of emotions as they walked, heading up to her own home for now as this was not yet the place for the other Madrigals.

They passed the Plaza where thankfully, it looked like it was otherwise vacant of Madrigals but otherwise bustling with the news and gossip of what had occurred nearly thirty minutes ago of people. The stone pallet was where it was but Vera didn’t try to see if there was anything in terms of plant life that Isa grew.

It was empty, not that she expected her husband to drop everything and run—he was probably getting the apprentice projects set up to be taken home before he was free to tend to this burning bin of a family mess.

“Why are we here?” Julieta asked quietly as she shut the door after her. “I need to tend to Isa and—“

“Cut the bull shit, Julieta.” Vera snapped.

Bemusement washed over Julieta’s face though tears once again sprung up in her eyes but that didn’t diminish Vera’s mood towards her very much.

“As a mother, I know that fear and concern over your child that you’re experiencing now but you’ve got the wrong end of the stick if you think you’re simply just going to be accepted by her to help her.” Vera puffed herself up. “I know you’re having troubles and I know you’re struggling but don’t try and push yourself into a situation you stepped out of because now she’s a victim to an attack.”

Julieta swallowed uneasily. “She needs me.”

Vera shook her head. “Yes, she does. She’s always needed you, Julieta. For the last nine months, she’s needed you. Up until now, you weren’t there. She found the fulfilment of emotional needs in Fran, Mateo, Ruben and myself mostly. Now she’s hurt… you’re suddenly now trying to be there for her? Can’t you see how…confusing that is?”

Julieta’s eyes dropped to the floor. “I don’t… I didn’t mean to…hurt her.”

“I know. But you did. Your fear of her is well known to her. She read your body langue to know how you felt around her.” Vera moved around to pull out a jug and two glasses, “You lost trust in her and so, she lost faith in you to be the mother she needed in a trying situation. It doesn’t go one way just for you or the ones also hurt by her.”

Julieta sniffled, graciously accepting the glass of water she pushed into her hands.

“If you want to build trust with Isabela, then you have to do more than heal her injuries and say nice things. You’ve got to start by trusting her more and respect her boundaries. Especially now that you know about the baby. Which…is another thing that’ll need to be addressed.” She knew Agustín had told her, but hadn’t talked too much to her in-law in the time since he had talked to her.

“I know.” Julieta’s voice wavered even more. “I…I don’t know…”

Vera sighed again, gesturing for her to take a seat at the table, taking a heavy sip to cool her mood. “I know it’s more recent news to you. Isa’s only really accepted it since the day before she was caught in bed with Mateo. She doesn’t trust your mother to know but…I don’t doubt Alma will find out at the end of this because it was more than just Isabela getting hurt today.”

Julieta’s breath paused, her fingers tightening on the glass as the look of realisation of what could truly be lost made itself known.  “There is still a high chance she delivers or loses that child…” Julieta whispered, “I…I don’t want that for her.”

“Neither do I. Which is why I am very hard on you and Agustín. I don’t enjoy being like this but I’ve had to look out for Isabela when she should have had the support of her close family. Things could have been far simpler if you all just…talked to each other. No dodging stuff because it’s uncomfortable to talk about. Do you know how scared Isa was when she first came to live with us?”

Julieta shook her head.

“She was scared of stepping out of line or relaxing too much, or accidentally breaking something. She thought if she did, then we’d tell her off and send her back to Casita.” Vera shook her head. “She shouldn’t have had to be scared of that. Of returning to your home. Her home.”

It was one of the few things that did generally upset her about Isa’s emotional state. She shouldn’t have had to think like that. Desperate to live away and out of the shadows of the Madrigals to…be herself. Fear of return. Isa had mentioned only days ago wanting to put colour in her hair using her pollen. It was bold and not something Vera personally would have enjoyed in terms of pollen stains going everywhere but…it was something Isa looked so…passionate about in light of everything.

She just…wanted her to be healthy and happy. Yet why did bad things keep happening?  

“As I said, I don’t know what’s going on with you and why you’ve been otherwise absent but change starts now if you want to actually have a part in your grandson’s life…if he survives the next few days.”

 -

 “Why didn’t you let her heal you completely?”

Isabela sniffled again as she felt the weird sensation on her skin as he began to wrap her arm tightly with bandages now her wounds were otherwise shut. Her mother’s food had…lessened the effect of some of the drugs in her system but there still wasn’t pain. It was just…weird. She didn’t like it.

Her eyes rose to Dr Lopez then down to her wrist. “This happened to me. I…didn’t want Mama to erase that.” Heal it all away so it was nothing. She didn’t like the idea of scars but… she couldn’t just…let it all go. What happened wasn’t nothing and… she couldn’t let Camilo see nothing come out of it.

Perhaps it was a petty reason…or hypocrite. She did hate seeing what she had done to Mirabel but… she knew she deserved to see; to know she did so much wrong to her little sister. Things left their marks; in Mirabel, it was in her mind. For her now… so what if it scared her body.

Isa still could barely comprehend this had really happened.

She had saved her ungrateful primos life and so, she almost got her arm torn off for her efforts? Would Camilo even get told off for it? What reasoning would he throw to make himself look good? Would…she have anyone back her up on what they saw?

Most people probably saw her use her gift… who cares on what happened after.

“I see.” Dr Lopez sighed. “You don’t have to put yourself through the pain. You know that, right?”

“I know.” Perhaps… this was karma; that she deserved this. Or justice for Camilo to feel better… who really knows. It was all just…really confusing. Her eyes welled up in tears again. “I…all I wanted to do was…meet Fran for a drink and talk baby names.”

“I’m sure you can,” Dr Lopez encouraged, “did you have any in mind?”

Isa rubbed at her face with her uninjured hand, “A few….I thought Dahlya for a girl; after the flower but…now I know it’s a boy I’ve thought…it’d be nice to call him Dante, after my late Tio.”

“Dante Rojas?”

Isabela nodded softly, “I…I got to ask Abuelita first. But…it’d be nice.”

“I’m sure she’d be honoured if you did.”