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danwhobrowses · 2 years ago

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One Piece Chapter 1089 - Initial Thoughts

It has been months

We've had awesome side quests and painstaking breaks, but now we return to Egghead for the Egghead Island Arc. Though at this rate we may just need to rename this the 'Incidents Arc' considering it's one incident after the other.

Still, we miss our sillies, so let's not wait any longer

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release

Nami is savage for the cover page, 'no thanks I already saw the stars' XD

I didn't even notice Sanji in the window the first time around

To recap though before we get to the chapter; Luffy and Lucci are fighting S-Bear, Bonney is going through Kuma's memory bubble, Shaka and Pythagoras are dead, Usopp and Lilith are stoned by S-Snake, Franky is partly stoned and chasing after S-Snake, Nami, Brook, Edison and Sanji are fighting S-Shark, Jinbe and Stussy are in the weapons area, Robin, Chopper and Atlas are exploring the organ regrowth area, S-Hawk is pursuing weaker targets but is being pursued by Zoro and Kaku, and Vegapunk is in the prison with the kidnapped CP agents next to Shaka's dead body and York. Sentomaru is rounding up Mark IIIs against the remaining CP forces in the main island, while most of the navy are outside with Kizaru and Jay Garcia Saturn. All goods? Let's gooooooo!

Starting at Foosha with the headlines involving Garp

Oda once again repeating our thoughts pointing out that MIA does not equal dead

Even iconic mayor Woop Slap isn't worried

But jail for iconic mayor Woop Slap for accidentally yelling at Makino's baby

Does Makino's baby have a distinct laugh? TCB reads it as kya ha ha but that's mainly women or Dellinger and I doubt either are the daddy. Then again did we ever confirm that Makino's baby was even a boy?

They apparently recognize Luffy from the papers though, I wonder if there's something instinctual *nonchalantly pushes ShanksxMakino agenda*

Also Makino calling Luffy 'Big Bro Luffy' to her child because dammit she raised those boys too!

Final mention because I have to soak in every moment of happy Makino I can because she is lovely and I will not take any slander towards her

Dadan is tearful though, I mean Morgans has painted Luffy as a kidnapper and now Garp's MIA, she has gone through the ringer

Hold up is that Fake Nami?

Earthquakes and Tsunamis across all four blues, these poor civilians

Laboon!

Iceburg, Tilestone and Pepe Lulu too? Oh god Water Seven don't need another Aqua Laguna

Hina and Momonosuke are noticing it too

Oh this is because of Lulusia

Wow...what a hole...kinda feels familiar doesn't it?

Vegapunk's tech is based off of Ancient Kingdom tech, so what if the Mother Frame is the same? What if Enies Lobby was the original Lulusia

Oh and the Sea Level has risen 1m, that's not great

Oda's tackling Global Warming

The World Government just fucked up the entire planet, drowned and displaced several millions people, and wiped out an entire nation just to test a fancy superweapon

Beaches gone, so no Okamas can chase Sanji across it, Top Gun cadets can't play volleyball, the Seychelles gone!

And god damn if you flood Foosha and any harm comes to Makino there will be fisticuffs

Also I fear very much that the World Government will blame the Fish-Men for the flooding

Plus if Wano ever opens its borders that water level is gonna rise even more

The fleet at Egghead notice it too

'More than enough firepower to put a buster call to shame'

1 in five ships are warships (20 out of 100), 30K marines, 9 Vice Admirals and Kizaru

Some of the vice admirals look familiar; Doll of course but I'm pretty sure on her left is Doberman, the bottom right could be Strawberry, wouldn't rule out one of them being a Giant either

The latter still chatting with Sentomaru, feasting on oodles of noodles, despite on different sides, as Sentomaru reprimands attacking the sea beasts and for wanting to kill Vegapunk

Kizaru still is very much an 'orders are orders' guy, in spite of the brief panel of him hanging out with the two

It's true though that everything in this incident is a net loss to the WG, but they also confirm with Sentomaru that CP0 failed

Saturn is still here keeping his presence under wraps

He at least approves of Morgans' headline, while getting the true facts

Oda's back at it with the silly doodle faces and the map levels

The Navy are pretty in the dark though; they still think all the Punks are alive, and that they are using the Seraphim

10 Members so far *sighs longingly at Carrot4Nakama agenda, before sifting to ViviReturns2Nakama agenda*

Even had to do a doodle of Hattori the Pigeon

Concerned with them highlighting that the Dome is at 100% gotta watch the numbers

Saturn is weird though; he hears that the Egghead researchers and citizens are accounted for and he goes 'sink them' but he hears that Bonney is on the island and goes 'ah, we have no use for her, but she's just a little girl so leave her be' like dude what?

Someone's calling Marejois from Egghead

One of the Navy members reminding Kizaru that he can listen in on the call with the Black snail on his wrist that's been there since his debut

York has made the call, and naturally is annoyed why the WG intended to kill her too

I mean the Gorosei do have that loophole: they want Vegapunk dead and York is a Vegapunk, though York does point out that if they had any interest in the Void Century they wouldn't have sold the others out

After citing the Seraphim as the reason for her survival, conversation turns to the massive fleet

Ju Peter however goes into the goods; they wanna know if York can replicate the Mother Frame

Does that mean that it's a one-time thing or are we doing scorched Earth?

York can, it's requested by 'someone' likely Im, their workplace is in Egghead

York introduces the terms of the new deal; no touching the lab, and the celestial dragon deal is still on, but also one more thing: save her from Luffy

Ah the crew are all here!

York has been conversing under threat of blade

Nami's packing heat and gets it, Luffy's packing meat and gets nothing XD

Usopp - looking cool with the anime shades flash - and Franky are quite unstoned as well, plus Vegapunk and Bonney's here, and Lucci seething at the back

Strange though, no Kaku, no Stussy, no Lilith, no Edison, no Atlas, no Seraphim, also no Caribou but we never know where he is...guess the spread's not big enough for them but most egregiously NO ROBIN!?

Oda, sir, we need to talk about your breaks, we just came back from 5 weeks of breaks spread between 2 chapters and now another break? Thought the eye surgery was supposed to alleviate this

Well we got our sillies back: for one whole panel XD

It was a really good chapter still, but it's more one that makes me concerned for the rest of the world; we've got two gaping holes in the ocean that have fucked up the natural world, islands have sank, earthquakes and tsunamis are happening all across the world. I wonder if Aqua Laguna was caused by the hole that made Enies Lobby if this is what happened to it. I think what makes me most sad about it is that it cannot be undone, at least not in a way that won't further fuck something else up, the only caveat is that the quakes probably will affect the Red Line's structural integrity.

This does still feel like the calm before the storm, but it also seems that the game of Among Us has resolved off-screen, so I hope next chapter(s) we track back to that first before continuing with this Siege on Egghead. An important note is that Kizaru's been listening in on the conversation, so he has more context to go by.

Also, forgot to mention on posting, this is the first time the Straw Hats have interaction with the Gorosei, they know their voices now, they know their intentions, that's a big deal.

But yeah, another break kinda sucks given that we just came back from one, plus it means more waiting -_- the only plus side is that this final saga will last longer - though who really believed Oda when he said 5 years back in like 2021-22?

1090 is next though, and Oda likes round numbers so expectations are high.

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megaera-of-pigeon · 2 years ago

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✨Girbosstember✨Official Commentary— Day 4

Gooooood morning, Girlboss deciders!

Yesterday’s matches finished as anticipated, with the Mayor of Moonlit City advancing in the Love League and Yexiao claiming the Shining League’s next Quarter Finals spot. They’ll be back to continue their quest for the Ultimate Girlboss Crown later on!

But the playoffs are still playing, and we have some exciting matchups for you today! First up in the Love League, it’s Yvette against Peachy! Yvette has perhaps one of the most drastic character arcs throughout the plot of Love Nikki. While we first meet her as the meek and anxious personal Secretary to then-Prime-Minister Nidhogg, after his status as a double agent is revealed, her career is damaged. What’s more, some further meddling from that villain up North gets her framed for treason! But she fights her way back into good standing with the light and used her experiences to take a stand against having Miraland’s society structured exclusively around styling ability, founding the Fair Future College and acting as its principal in the hopes of effecting widespread change so no one else will struggle like she has. Girlboss worthy moves? We will see! For her part, Peachy is also famously the assistant to a villain, but this enthusiastic nurse is not being duped in the slightest. She is not only complicit but often a key supporter of Gray Raven’s shady medical procedures, assisting him in keeping the soul-stealing Sixth Clinic operational as well as participating in other underhanded schemes that he has need of. Why does she do this? Why, to stay forever young, of course, and also for love! She wants Gray Raven to be her boyfriend, which shows how truly fearless she must be. Is this self aware evil nurse the girlboss we seek? You decide! Yvette has established a strong and early lead but nothing is set in stone yet!

Meanwhile in the Shinjng League, we have Zoey against Yisu! Let’s not mince words, Zoey is one of those candidates who has often been pegged as the likely winner of her League. She performed excellently in the prelims, garnering more than a 90% nomination rate. She has been leading her own men from a very young age and has fought her way through the dog eat dog world of North’s militant landscape and come out on top as the leader of her own mercenary band, the Justiciars. Her time management skills must be through the roof however, because she’s not only managing that but also has a side career in the theater, working with the December Troupe to star in a show, as well as making time for some much deserved vacation days. Is Zoey’s take-charge, badass, having-it-all energy what voters are looking for in their girlboss? We will see! Up against her today is Yisu. A nomadic young woman who’s handy with a bow, she wanders Wasteland determined to protect it despite having lost her memories of her past and her identity. She also seems to strike up homoerotic relationships with young ladies in several different tribes such as the Priestess Tess and Priestess Rhoda. In actuality, she is another one of the envoys whose purpose will be to assist Nikki in saving Miraland. Is all of this enough for her to outGirlboss Zoey? We’ll find out! Zoey has an early lead, but the gap is not insurmountable for Yisu.

Stay tuned and keep voting!

#Girlbosstember #official commentary #a shame that the two of closest things we have to canon sapphic characters have to fight like this #so early too

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tornrose24 · 2 years ago

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I don't know how much of that CU fantasy AU I’m going to actually draw, so I made a list of who gets to be who/what.

George–regular human child. Loves adventure stories and was the one who first proposed to try to stop the dragon. Uses a sword.

Harold–half elf thanks to his dad (who left his mom before Heidi was even born) and was befriended by George. Still an artist and into illustrations. Uses a bow and arrows. Was hesitant about going after the dragon, but George convinced him to do it.

The other kids–

Erica–Maybe a paladin or a knight in training. Is actually the crown princess of the lands and is off exploring/checking on the people.

Melvin– human, but might later get briefly turned into a slime monster (Huh, I wonder what that’s referencing). Is from the boys’ hometown.

Bo–initially I was going to have him be an ogre, but I’m now leaning towards him being a giant who can magically change his size (lke Glogor from Star vs the forces of Evil). Is good friends with Gooch.

Gooch–probably a bard. (Not sure if I’ll keep the elven design from the original drawings or not). Has some misfortune wherever he goes with his pan flute.

Dressy–I originally had her as a fairy, but I think some sort of dryad or siren might be more appropriate.

Stanley–Probably human, because I can’t think of anything else he could be at the moment. Family would still grow stuff, and of course they suffer a lot financially given how a chunk of their produce is sacrificed to the dragon.

Jessica and the Sophies–I’m torn between having all three girls be fairies or have each one be something different. Definitely not human though. (And I admit it would be amusing if later on Other Sophie here IS actually queen of the Croco-bats, but never said anything about it to anyone).

Heidi–half elf like her brother. Absolute sweetheart.

Those from Harold and George’s town/nearby–

Barbara and Moses– Mom’s a scholar and dad is probably a blacksmith (instead of a mechanic).

Grace–the town’s artist. (There’s probably no fantasy version of a real estate agent, though I’d love to see a book about that). Has a thing for guys who aren’t human apparently.

Mayor–Same as in canon. Allowed the residents to vote on a human sacrifice to the dragon out of desperation.

Moxxie–a famous, daring knight. Teacher and protector to Erica. The only human the dragon genuinely fears, but she’s unable to fight him herself due to an injury.

Edith–was the town’s baker. To her horror, she was voted as the sacrifice since she has no family (and also… err…. There was another reason, but the adults would just tell the kids that she was an ‘unmarried woman.’) Does end up getting the dragon to stop terrorizing the town, but not in the way people had assumed.

Adults who are now obstacles or random encounters during the quest–

Ree–either a human or an ogre who is a well known fighter (and maybe an alchemist). Whatever he is would also apply to his brother. One of the few nice adult beings the boys run into on their quest.

Meaner–I’m thinking either a troll or ogre (which would also apply to his sister). Grace might show an interest in him (much to Harold’s horror).

Jerry–probably a fawn or stayr. Mainly because they are one of the chillest mythological beings ever and Jerry isn’t, so that combo would be hilarious.

Professor Poopypants–perhaps a gnome wizard. New Swissland is now a land of gnomes. You can guess how this encounter would go.

Ribble–a gorgon (as a reference to Wicked Wedgie Woman) but without being able to turn anyone to stone.

Anthrope–IDK on this one yet. It’d be funny if she was the most monotonous witch ever.

Fyde–a tree monster. Not a serious threat compared to the others.

Krupp–the dragon that terrorized the boys’ hometown by demanding sacrifices of food and money four times a year or else. Though that soon changed when Edith was dropped on his doorstep instead. (As for the dragon-man form, I’m torn between him being the result of a dragon and a man relationship, but he can’t become fully human like his brother can or it was alternatively the result of getting mixed up with a spell).

CU–Well if Krupp is a dragon then CU is a dragon. Takes an instant liking to the boys and helps them out once in awhile, while accidentally giving them hints on what direction they need to take on their quest. Definately on the boys’ side.

#captain underpants #cu fantasy au #too many characters to list LOL #random stuff would happen and the whole quest might as well be a dungeons and dragons game #the boys quest is them trying to stop a dragon #but it'd be funnier if there was like a second quest where they were stuck with said dragon and have to keep him from getting killed #mainly because i'm a sucker for any story where the boys are stuck with krupp in anysituation

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mintaka14 · 4 years ago

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This is a bit of something that got in my way while I was working on the ML ballet AU. Turns out I still have a grain or two of Lila salt in me. Quickspinner’s Out of Your League (from the All That Remains collection) needs the credit for a bit of backstory that I had in mind here. And yes, this is Lukanette. Always.

Lila wasn’t above using her mother’s sense of guilt to her own advantage. She also had no problem with feeding that guilt. A few sighs and teary comments when her mother (yet again) had to cancel on Lila to deal with something at the embassy, or a subtle reminder about all the times Lila had been left on her own in their apartment was all grist to the mill, and Lila had to admit that it had paid off in a big way this time.

Her mother had pulled every string and favour at her disposal for Lila’s birthday party, and Jagged Stone himself was going to be putting in an appearance. Lila was jubilant.

She watched the ballroom at the embassy – how her mother had managed that one Lila didn’t know, and honestly didn’t care – filling up with her classmates and everyone she’d ever met, and she allowed herself a satisfied smile.

Of course, Marinette wasn’t there. Lila had had an enjoyable month of it, tormenting the goody-two-shoes over it, and the beautiful part was that no one had even caught a hint of what she was really doing. She hadn’t been so crass as to leave Marinette out of the party invitations, oh no! She had handed the girl a gilt-edged invite with her most charming, and insincere, smile as she made a point of telling Marinette how much she hoped that Marinette would be there. Their classmates had eaten it up with a spoon, falling all over Lila to tell her how generous and forgiving she was, given the way Marinette had been so hostile to her, and all the while Lila had smiled sweetly and watched Marinette twist in the trap.

If Marinette begged off the party, she was the bad guy for refusing Lila’s olive branch. If Marinette came, then Lila won, and she would get to watch Marinette swallow her pride and suffer all night, or crack and create drama. Either way, it was all good, and Lila had had fun making little digs and comments about the party in front of Marinette for the weeks leading up to it.

As Lila accepted everyone’s tributes and praise, greeting each new arrival with becoming diffidence and subtly trying to gauge the worth of each gift that they piled on the table at the entrance, she came to the conclusion that Marinette had decided not to put in an appearance. Her smile grew wider.

“Lila!” Alya had arrived, and swept her into a hug, surveying the ballroom, and the tables of food, with an impressed eye. Behind her, Nino grinned and bobbed his head in greeting. “Amazing party, girl. And I can’t believe you got Jagged Stone to come!”

Lila gave her a modest smile. “It’s all about who you know, and Jagged was more than happy to come when he heard it was for my birthday.” She looked around as if searching for something, and made her eyes wide and hopeful. “Did… did Marinette come with you?”

Alya shifted uncomfortably. “Er… Marinette couldn’t make it. But she asked me to wish you a happy birthday.”

Oh, no, she didn’t, Lila thought, suppressing the smirk that pulled at the corners of her mouth. Alya, you liar.

She forced her face into a sorrowful pout with just the right touch of hurt. “It’s okay. It would have been nice if we could put aside whatever this grudge is that Marinette has against me just for once, but I guess not…”

Alya and Nino smiled awkwardly. And then her mother touched her arm, a harried expression on her face as she drew Lila away out of earshot for a moment.

“Lila, sweetheart, there’s some bad news,” her mother said anxiously, and Lila felt her smile slip a little. “We’ve just had word that Jagged Stone had to cancel at the last minute.”

“What do you mean, Jagged Stone cancelled?” Lila almost shrieked. A few heads turned towards them, and Lila brought herself back under control before they could overhear. “Mama, you need to fix this. Get him back!”

“Sweetheart, I can’t. His agent said it was unavoidable, and they’re paying the late cancellation fine in the contract. At this late notice I can’t get anyone else to come instead.”

Lila let her eyes fill with tears – she’d practised tearing up in front of her mirror, but in this case the tears were very real.

“Mama,” she insisted, and the harried lines on her mother’s face deepened.

“You’ll still have a lovely party,” her mother said weakly. “The food is wonderful, and you still have the DJ for entertainment.”

“But I told everyone that Jagged Stone was coming!”

“I’m so sorry, darling.” Her head turned towards the doorway, where an aide was waving a phone at her. “I have to go take this call.”

The moment that her mother had turned away, Lila’s mouth pinched with anger and frustration, and she barely stopped herself from stamping her foot.

“Hey girl, is everything okay?”

She heard Alya’s voice call out to her, and she smoothed out her face, spinning around with artificial enthusiasm. Several of their classmates were clustered behind Alya, and she turned a smile on them as well.

“So,” Alya continued, “we’re all really excited! When’s Jagged getting here?”

Lila gave a moue of only slightly exaggerated disappointment.

“Can you believe it?” she sighed, one hand fluttering up to her chest. “Jagged had to cancel. It was last minute, and I’m so worried it’s because that awful throat condition of his has flared up again.” Her hand went to her mouth. “Oh no! You can’t tell anyone about it, no one is supposed to know, but that was why he couldn’t do the zoom call with the class last month like he’d promised.”

There was a ripple of sympathy and concern through her classmates, but then Alix made a sceptical noise at the back of the group.

“Throat condition? But you said it was sunspot interference with the internet connection.”

“No, I was trying to keep his throat problems secret-“

“It was Clara Nightingale you said had a serious throat condition, and that was why she had to cancel helping out with the charity auction like she’d told you,” Alix interrupted.

“No, that was Jagged-“

“If recall accurately,” Max spoke up, “and I do, Clara Nightingale had the throat condition. I could have Markov replay the conversation,” he added helpfully, and Lila spun around in dismay.

“No, that’s not-“

“There have been a lot of cancellations,” Alix said in growing suspicion. Lila could see the faces around her registering confusion, and there was a growing murmur as her classmates tallied things up. She had to stop this before they came to the realisation that…

“What about that interview you promised me with Ladybug?” Alya was asking her, her voice sharp. “The one that got cancelled because of an akuma, except I could never find anything about that akuma, and you never rescheduled. And that meeting that Nino was supposed to have with that director?”

Nino wasn’t saying anything, his face hidden by his cap as he stared at the floor. The muttering was growing louder now as more people were working things out and the number of promises mounted up.

“Oh my god,” Juleka mumbled behind the fall of her streaked black and purple hair. “He was right.”

“Who?” Rose asked, but Alix was talking again before Juleka could answer.

“You didn’t need to fib about Jagged Stone being here to get us to come to your party, Lila,” Alix said as the expressions turned to disgust and disbelief.

“But I didn’t!” Lila protested, and for once she had been telling the truth. “I swear, Jagged really was coming. You have to believe me!”

“I said it was a bit hinky that Jagged Stone would have agreed to play a teenage party like this,” Alix told the group around her.

“I’m not lying!” Lila insisted, her voice growing shrill as the expressions turned to disgust and disbelief. “He did a signing for Chloe.”

“Yeah, well, that’s Chloe, and the mayor himself roped him into that.”

“But my mother works for the embassy! And I saved his kitten!”

Again, Alix snorted, and Alya had her arms folded now, frowning.

“You know, I couldn’t find anything about that online, or about Jagged even having a kitten. The more I think about it, the more I wonder why I believed that in the first place.”

“You believed Marinette,” she couldn’t help the slight snarl at that name, “when she said she designed stuff for Jagged and he came to her house.”

“But she didn’t say that,” Nino pointed out. “We saw all of that for ourselves. But now I think about it, I haven’t seen anything that proves you’ve even met him.”

“But I have! He really was coming, and he was going to sing Happy Birthday to me! He just had to cancel.”

“Sure, Lila.”

After all the stories Lila had spun, and the lies and embellishments, how could it be the truth that they refused to believe? The group drifted away from her while Lila stared after them in open-mouthed shock. She was left in a spreading circle of isolation at her own party.

The only person who acknowledged her existence was the tall boy with the blue hair over near the buffet table. Lila frowned, trying to work out where she knew him from. He was older than her class, and the ripped jeans and scruffy hoodie were out of place among the smartly dressed guests, but he looked familiar, and what was he doing at her party anyway? He raised the vol au vent in his hand in an unsmiling salute.

Lila made her way over to him.

“Now, where do I know you from?” she asked with an attempt at coyness, in spite of the fury still seething through her at her classmates’ revolt. His expression didn’t change.

“We’ve met before. I’m Juleka’s brother, Luka.”

Juleka’s brother. Marinette. She had a sudden memory of the steps outside the school and an older boy with blue hair and a guitar slung over his back, coolly warning her about what would happen if she messed with Marinette or his sister. Her eyes narrowed.

He said, “I just wanted to say Happy Birthday, and I’m sorry to hear that Jagged fell through on you.”

“Jagged?” Lila sucked in a breath at that. “What do you know about Jagged Stone?”

“You underestimated Marinette,” the blue-haired boy said calmly. “It’s all about who you know, isn’t that what you said, Lila? It’s all about connections. Except Marinette’s are real.”

She let out a smothered shriek.

“Marinette did this! How could she-“

Luka was shaking his head. “Marinette didn’t do a thing. She’s been trying so hard to take the high road, and she’s not vindictive. I did warn you, though, what would happen if you threatened someone I care about again – just because I don’t want to play your kind of games doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t.”

“Then you turned them all against me! You-“

“I didn't even need to do that,” Luka said, and gave her an infuriatingly composed smile. “In the end, all I really needed to do was tell my dear old dad how you treated his favourite designer. I didn’t even have to bend the truth to do it, and the music just played from there.”

Lila’s mouth fell open. “Jagged Stone… is your father?!”

“Surprised the hell out of me, too,” Luka muttered, and finished the pastry he was holding. He dusted the crumbs off his hands.

“Connections,” Luka said, and shoved himself away from the table. “I have them too, and I’m more than willing to use them for Marinette’s sake. Thank you for the lovely party.”

He gave her a little wave and walked away, leaving her standing there in the ruins of her reputation.

#Lila salt #Lukanette endgame

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xmanicpanicx · 4 years ago

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Mammoth List of Feminist/Girl Power Books (200 + Books)

Lists of Real, Amazing Women Throughout History

Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World by Ann Shen

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 2 by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Immigrant Women Who Changed the World by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu, Montana Kane (Translator)

Rejected Princesses: Tales of History's Boldest Heroines, Hellions, and Heretics by Jason Porath

Tough Mothers: Amazing Stories of History’s Mightiest Matriarchs by Jason Porath

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky

Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World by Mackenzi Lee

Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History by Sam Maggs

The Little Book of Feminist Saints by Julia Pierpont

Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History by Kate Schatz

Warrior Women: 3000 Years of Courage and Heroism by Robin Cross & Rosalind Miles

Women Who Dared: 52 Stories of Fearless Daredevils, Adventurers, and Rebels by Linda Skeers & Livi Gosling

100 Nasty Women of History by Hannah Jewell

The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around the World by Jane Yolen

The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience by Hillary Rodham Clinton & Chelsea Clinton

Fight Like a Girl: 50 Feminists Who Changed the World by Laura Barcella

Samurai Women 1184–1877 by Stephen Turnbull

A Black Woman Did That by Malaika Adero

Tales from Behind the Window by Edanur Kuntman

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall

Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1100 by Max Dashu

Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency by Bea Koch

Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History by Blair Imani

Individual and Group Portraits of Real, Amazing Women Throughout History

Alice Paul and the Fight for Women's Rights: From the Vote to the Equal Rights Amendment by Deborah Kops

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De Hart

The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice by Patricia Bell-Scott

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox

Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir by Cherríe L. Moraga

The Soul of a Woman by Isabel Allende

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Ashley's War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants: The Female Gang That Terrorised London by Brian McDonald

Women Against the Raj: The Rani of Jhansi Regiment by Joyce Chapman Lebra

Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot Grrrl Revolution by Sara Marcus

The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor

Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars by Nathalia Holt

The Women of WWII (Non-Fiction)

Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue by Kathryn J. Atwood

Skyward: The Story of Female Pilots in WWII by Sally Deng

The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II by Katherine Sharp Landdeck

The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II by Svetlana Alexievich, Richard Pevear (Translation), Larissa Volokhonsky (Translation)

Les Parisiennes: How the Women of Paris Lived, Loved, and Died Under Nazi Occupation by Anne Sebba

To Serve My Country, to Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African-American Wacs Stationed Overseas During World War II by Brenda L. Moore

Standing Up Against Hate: How Black Women in the Army Helped Change the Course of WWII by Mary Cronk Farrell

Sisters and Spies: The True Story of WWII Special Agents Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne by Susan Ottaway

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell

The White Mouse by Nancy Wake

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy

Tomorrow to be Brave: A Memoir of the Only Woman Ever to Serve in the French Foreign Legion by Susan Travers & Wendy Holden

Pure Grit: How WWII Nurses in the Pacific Survived Combat and Prison Camp by Mary Cronk Farrell

Sisterhood of Spies by Elizabeth P. McIntosh

Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan by Shrabani Basu

Women in the Holocaust by Dalia Ofer

The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos by Judy Batalion

Night Witches: The Untold Story of Soviet Women in Combat by Bruce Myles

The Soviet Night Witches: Brave Women Bomber Pilots of World War II by Pamela Jain Dell

A Thousand Sisters: The Heroic Airwomen of the Soviet Union in World War II by Elizabeth Wein

A Dance with Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II by Anne Noggle

Avenging Angels: The Young Women of the Soviet Union's WWII Sniper Corps by Lyuba Vinogradova

The Women of WWII (Fiction)

Among the Red Stars by Gwen C. Katz

Night Witches by Kathryn Lasky

Night Witches by Mirren Hogan

Night Witch by S.J. McCormack

Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith

Daughters of the Night Sky by Aimie K. Runyan

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

Code Name Verity series by Elizabeth Wein

Front Lines trilogy by Michael Grant

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

All-Girl Teams (Fiction)

The Seafire trilogy by Natalie C. Parker

Elysium Girls by Kate Pentecost

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

The Effigies trilogy by Sarah Raughley

Guardians of the Dawn series by S. Jae-Jones

Wolf-Light by Yaba Badoe

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Burned and Buried by Nino Cipri

This Is What It Feels Like by Rebecca Barrow

The Wild Ones: A Broken Anthem for a Girl Nation by Nafiza Azad

We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett

Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Bad Girls Never Say Die by Jennifer Mathieu

The Secret Life of Prince Charming by Deb Caletti

Kamikaze Girls by Novala Takemoto, Akemi Wegmüller (Translator)

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry

The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke

Sisters in Sanity by Gayle Forman

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl

Hell's Belles series by Sarah MacLean

Jackdaws by Ken Follett

The Farmerettes by Gisela Tobien Sherman

A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions by Sheena Boekweg

Feminist Retellings

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea by Axie Oh

Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue

Doomed by Laura Pohl

The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher

The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke

Seven Endless Forests by April Genevieve Tucholke

The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

Kate Crackernuts by Katharine M. Briggs

Legendborn series by Tracy Deonn

One for All by Lillie Lainoff

Feminist Dystopian and Horror Fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker

Women and Girls in Comedy

Crying Laughing by Lance Rubin

Stand Up, Yumi Chung by Jessica Kim

This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry

Unscripted by Nicole Kronzer

Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliot

Bossypants by Tina Fey

We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy by Yael Kohen

The Girl in the Show: Three Generations of Comedy, Culture, and Feminism by Anna Fields

Trans Women

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock

Nemesis series by April Daniels

American Transgirl by Faith DaBrooke

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace

A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt

George by Alex Gino

The Witch Boy series by Molly Ostertag

Uncomfortable Labels: My Life as a Gay Autistic Trans Woman by Laura Kate Dale

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan

An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color by Ellyn Peña

Wandering Son by Takako Shimura

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

Feminist Poetry

Women Are Some Kind of Magic trilogy by Amanda Lovelace

Wild Embers: Poems of Rebellion, Fire and Beauty by Nikita Gill

Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul by Nikita Gill

Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters by Nikita Gill

The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill

A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland by DaMaris B. Hill

Feminist Philosophy and Facts

The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner

The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy by Gerda Lerner

Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice by Jack Holland

White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism by Bushra Rehman

Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics by bell hooks

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World by Kelly Jensen

The Equality Illusion by Kat Banyard

White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind by Koa Beck

Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates

I Have the Right To by Chessy Prout & Jenn Abelson

Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World by Kumari Jayawardena

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

How to Suppress Women's Writing by Joanna Russ

Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea Ritchie

Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks

Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins

But Some of Us Are Brave: All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: Black Women's Studies by Akasha Gloria Hull, Patricia Bell-Scott, Barbara Smith Women, Race, and Class by Angela Y. Davis This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe L. Moraga, Gloria E. Anzaldúa

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof & Sheryl WuDinn

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay

This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by by Cherríe Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa

Power Shift: The Longest Revolution by Sally Armstrong

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Had It Coming: What's Fair in the Age of #MeToo? by Robyn Doolittle

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement by Jody Kantor & Megan Twohey

#Notyourprincess: Voices of Native American Women by Lisa Charleyboy

Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time by Tanya Lee Stone

Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power by Sady Doyle

Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement by Robin Morgan (Editor)

Girls Make Media by Mary Celeste Kearney

Rock She Wrote: Women Write about Rock, Pop, and Rap by Evelyn McDonnell (Editor)

You Play the Girl: And Other Vexing Stories That Tell Women Who They Are by Carina Chocano

Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl: A Memoir by Jeannie Vanasco

The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers by Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Editor), Hollis Robbins (Editor)

Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change the World by Jessica Valenti and Jaclyn Friedman Bread Out of Stone: Recollections, Sex, Recognitions, Race, Dreaming, Politics by Dionne Brand

Other General Girl Power/Feminist Awesomeness

The Edge of Anything by Nora Shalaway Carpenter

Kat and Meg Conquer the World by Anna Priemaza

Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg

The Female of the Species by Mandy McGinnis

Pulp by Robin Talley

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

That Summer by Sarah Dessen

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti

The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

American Girls by Alison Umminger

Don't Think Twice by Ruth Pennebaker

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women by Alice Walker

You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down: Stories by Alice Walker

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Sula by Toni Morrison

Rose Sees Red by Cecil Castellucci

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell & Katie Cotugno

None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Everything Must Go by Jenny Fran Davis

The House on Olive Street by Robyn Carr

Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

Lady Luck's Map of Vegas by Barbara Samuel

Fan the Fame by Anna Priemaza

Puddin' by Julie Murphy

A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti

Gravity Brings Me Down by Natale Ghent

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachael Allen

The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

Don't Tell a Soul by Kirsten Miller

After the Ink Dries by Cassie Gustafson Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti

We Are the Ashes, We Are the Fire by Joy McCullough

Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters

Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone

The Prettiest by Brigit Young

Don't Judge Me by Lisa Schroeder

The Roommate by Rosie Danan

Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince

Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present by Lillian Faderman

All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister

Paper Girls comic series by Brian K. Vaughan

Heavy Vinyl comic series by Carly Usdin

Please feel free to reblog with more!

#book list #feminism #girl power

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wc-ff · 5 years ago

Text

There wasn't much to be done in a situation like this. What could you do?

Sage was almost sure she'd have to plead for her job back after having two detectives come in to take her to the station and interrogate her, leaving them with one less staff member for the day. They were already short and had called her in on her day off. She could always use the extra money so she agreed to work.

She knew they would come asking for her eventually but she didn't expect for it to be this soon and it showed in her demeanor. She couldn't stop moving around and fidgeting with her fingers as she sat all alone in the dull colored room. The room was cool but she still felt hot as she waited for them to come back in. Sage was also beginning to taste blood from the excessive amount of gnawing she was doing to the insides of her cheeks.

Her eyes couldn't do anything but dart around the room as she sat there. They had nothing else to focus on. She looked like a train wreck but was trying her best to seem as cool as a cucumber.

The detectives abruptly entered the room with stone cold glares on their faces. They weren't exactly looking at Sage though, and it made her a little nervous because she couldn't keep her eyes off of them.

Agents Morris and Steele sat down almost simultaneously, Morris releasing a slow sigh as Steele sat the case file on the table and opened it up. She sat a few pictures of the twins' dead disfigured bodies out in front of the platinum haired woman and Sage instantly winced. Her eyes quickly averted back up to the detectives. She could have kept the close up of the girls out of her imagination forever but now it was permanently etched there.

Still, no one said anything. She didn't know what they wanted her to say to those photos.

Sandra was getting tired of looking at this spec of dirt who she already felt most likely did the crime. She was just ready to put this woman behind bars so the case would be over with. At that point, there were no other leading suspects. "Do you know these two young ladies?" Her voice came out firm and slightly echoed throughout the plain room.

The only color on the walls was a dull gray that contrasted with the darkness of the double-sided windows the detectives were using to watch Sage before they entered themselves. The table and chairs they were sitting on were also metal and cold to the touch. The interrogation room was cool in general and wasn't quite designed to make people feel comfortable.

"No, I don't." Sage answered without so much as a second glance towards the disturbing pictures that were still laid out in front of her.

"That's Kaniya Holt," Sandra spoke as she pointed at one of the disfigured bodies, "and this right here is Malaysia Holt. Mayor Holt's twin daughters and only children. Well they were at least." She added, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Sage with her lips cut into a scowl.

Ronald felt like it was then his turn to speak up. He knew how worked up his partner could get and if this was a good cop bad cop scenario, she would most definitely be the bad cop. "And your phone?" He pulled the evidence bag containing her phone seemingly out of nowhere and placed it on the table. "Was found at the scene of the crime."

"And I saw you running away from the crime scene the next day when we were gathering evidence. Perhaps coming back for a certain cellphone you dropped while you were running away after you finished murdering those two girls." Agent Steele added, her voice stern like a mother scolding her child.

"What—no! I can explain that."

Sage barely even got to plea before Sandra cut in again. "Well you're gonna have to because surveillance cameras showed you running away from the crime scene around the estimated time of death. And after doing a little research... you have a motive better than anyone to hurt Malaysia and Kaniya."

The platinum haired woman's eyebrows instantly furrowed together. "What are you talking about motive? I just said that I don't know them." Her tone came out a bit more harsh now as she got defensive. She hated having to reiterate herself, it didn't matter who it was to.

Sandra only smirked and flipped through a few pages that rested in the manila folder sitting in front of her before laying out an article about Shamar's car accident from a couple of years ago. The headline read: Man Left in Critical Condition After Brutal Collision on Intersection.

Sage's face turned up in disgust and she pushed the article away, no longer wanting to read it. The way the title alone sounded as if there was no empathy involved when coming up with it was enough to turn her off completely. "What does this have to do with them?"

"Kaniya Holt was behind the wheel of the vehicle that hit your father and her sister was in the passenger seat. They both came out seemingly unscathed." Steele responded as if the woman was slow for even asking her the question. She knew exactly what the detective was talking about, Sandra was sure of it.

Sage stared at her for a while, unable to form any words to reply with as her eyes unwillingly swelled up with fresh salty tears. They were the reason that her father could never hug his family again? Why wouldn't anyone have told her that? "N-no, you're lying. I would have heard about it, the news would have reported about it."

"C'mon now. They're the mayors daughters and Kaniya didn't even have her driver's permit so the drivers of the other vehicle were kept under wraps and you're angry about that... aren't you?" Agent Morris' Italian accent was in full effect as questioned her, studying her behavior.

"Of course I am. My dad almost died! That girl should have been in jail, not protected. And y'all knew about this and just did nothing about it? You say your duty is to protect and serve but only when it's convenient, huh?" In all honesty with the news she had just received, Sage had completely forgotten what she was being interrogated about and was just livid as hell now. They did nothing to help her family when it was their job to do so. It made her realize how corrupt the world really was and how close to home it could hit.

"You're angry we didn't do something about it so you took it upon yourself to get justice for your dad. It's only human to feel that way and all but you have to own up to what you did now and sign a confession. These girl's families deserved justice too." Ronald continued, trying his best to sound as soothing as possible so he wouldn't upset her anymore than he knew she already was.

Sage immediately sucked her teeth. "For the last time, I don't know those fucking girls and fuck their families!" She stood up from her seat as the detectives just sat back and watched her point a harsh finger at them. "Neither them or you gave a fuck about my family when it came down to it. But that doesn't mean that I killed those girls."

"So who did then?"

The light caramel toned woman's words got caught in her throat as she tried to think of a response. She gulped hard as she sat down and began trying to explain everything that had happened that night. The date, why she was walking through that area in the first place, and what she saw and heard coming from that abandoned house that night. She hated reliving that moment but knew she had to for the sake of her freedom.

Sandra and Ronald looked at each other before looking back over at their suspect. "So you mean to tell me a 'black figure' beat them to death?" Agent Steele looked Sage dead in the eyes as if she was completely bored by the story she had just told her. It was unconvincing to say the least. She had the strongest motive and was literally in the area at the time of death. Sandra knew for certain that they had their man, they just needed to get this damn confession out of her and she was making it hard.

"I don't know how else to describe it. The person was dressed in black from head to toe, I couldn't see any skin."

"How convenient." Sandra gave her a sarcastic toothless grin, not moved by her story in the slightest.

Suddenly the door busted open and in walked Sage's mother followed by her attorney. "Sage, you don't have to say anything else."

It was sort of already too late. She had already said everything that she needed to say, she just didn't know where to go from there. The detectives didn't seem like they believed her at all.

Steele immediately rolled her eyes and closed up the case file, already knowing exactly where this was going and it annoyed her. She wasn't finished with the suspect, she knew she could break her down if she just had a bit more time with her. Everything lined up and pointed to her as the murderer but it was all circumstantial evidence. Neither her prints nor DNA were found in the actual house or on the persons of the deceased so they needed that confession from her to be able to make the arrest. Sandra was itching to slap some cuffs on her and finally close the case.

"If it's ok with you all, I'd like to take my daughter home now. You interrupted her life enough today." Sanai spoke in the voice she used when she was trying to sound as professional as possible.

Sandra scowled at the both of them but said nothing as she and Ronald watched them walk out of the door.

*******

Ronald sat in his office, typing away on his keyboard. His partner assumed he was doing the work to find more evidence on their case like she was, but instead he was chatting with a woman he had met on a dating app a few days ago.

She was average looking to him but she was of actual Italian descent and had a body that most women her age didn't have anymore so he felt like they could make something work. Thus far, she had been cool and funny. She had jet black hair that she had cut in a blunt bob that reached her shoulders, pale skin that had a few beauty marks scattered here and there, and thick fluffy eyebrows that arched perfectly over her dark brown eyes. She was a seven at the very least and since she exercised frequently, her body was nice and fit.

Ronald could only imagine how much stamina she'd have in bed. She seemed like she was down to find out too. They had planned to meet up that weekend at a bar for the first time and have a few drinks. He was ready to put that entire Chantell situation behind him now.

She had been texting him nonstop since the night before and apologizing about making him feel like she was playing with him but he could honestly care less. He said what he had to say already and wasn't going to spend anymore energy on it. He was too old to be playing games or going back and forth with anyone so he wasn't going to.

He already had his next few options lined up and while Chantell was one of the best looking ones, she wasn't the only one and that was something he felt he needed to make clear to her.

A light knock sounded off on his door which instantly caused his eyebrows to come together in confusion. Usually, Sandra would just barge right in without so much as a warning first so he was sure that it had to be someone else. "Come in." He called out, his eyes trained on the wooden office door.

As if he had thought her up himself, Chantell sashayed through the door and closed it shut behind her. Her bronzed skin was radiating and the lip gloss that coated her lips made them look extra kissable. An all black strapless sundress hugged her curves perfectly and she wore a pair of black furry Ugg slides on her feet to match, showcasing her freshly polished toes. Her hair was slicked back into a low curly puff with two stray curls hanging at her sideburns and framing her gorgeous face that was dressed in light makeup. Her natural beauty never failed to amaze Ronald. She looked good without even trying.

Still, he couldn't let her off the hook that quick. He wasn't about to allow her to hypnotize him. "What are you doin' in my office? I'm at work and my partner works right next door so if you think you're about to come bring drama into my workplace 'cause I ain't been answering you then you got another thing comin'." He seemed to say all in one breath while Chantell just inched closer to him.

She inwardly rolled her eyes about his nagging before he even knew what she was actually there for. She rounded the corner of his desk and approached him seductively causing him to roll back in his chair a bit, unsure of what her next move would be since the last thing he did was smack her food out of her hands and left her standing on her front porch.

Chantell reached out and lightly caressed his face, slowly making her way down to her knees. Within seconds, the detective's belt buckle was undone and his pants were unzipped. Ronald kept his arms at his sides but kept his eyes on her as she kept eye contact with him with each new movement she made.

Her soft plump lips wrapped themselves around the tip of his member, immediately causing it to begin to harden in her small hands. The middle aged man's eyes rolled to the back of his head as her tongue traced circles along the skin of his dick which had now grown stiff. She kept her eyes trained on him, knowing how it made men crazy when they looked in her eyes while her mouth was full of their manhood.

She was glad he wasn't an unattractive older guy because it would have made everything ten times harder. She knew she needed to get back into his good graces, especially after speaking about the surveillance video he was going to show her the night before. He couldn't leave her hanging like that.

One of Ronald's hands rested on the back of her head as she began bobbing it up and down, an audible grunt escaping his mouth which made her smirk to herself. She wasn't even giving her best effort and she still had him right where she wanted him.

Her spit slowly oozed down his shaft while she picked up her pace, deep throating the entirety of his length with no hands as loud gargling sounds filled his office. She continued to orally pleasure him, allowing herself to get sloppy and nasty with it until he released in her mouth, a long barely audible groan coming from his own since he was sure Sandra was still closed up in her office beside his.

Chantell gathered all of his nut and the tip of her tongue and traced small circles on his tip with it before sucking it back off and swallowing it whole, a smirk forming on her face as Ronald widened his eyes at her. She stuck her tongue out to show him that she hadn't missed a single drop of it.

He had never had a woman swallow his kids like that with no problem before. He couldn't do anything but watch her astonished. His ex-wife, Marjory, could and would never. She always said his semen was too salty to keep in her mouth and would spit it back onto him. He should have known she'd think that though because she barely seasoned her food.

"I'm sorry for what I said." She mumbled as she planted a light kiss on his skin of his shaft, batting her long mink eyelashes as she looked up at him. "Forgive me?"

Ronald couldn't even form any words so he just nodded his head instead which instantly made Chantell smile at him before standing to her feet. "Call me when you get off. Don't wanna get you into any issues with your partner." She added, along with a seductive wink before making her way back out of his office with a grin, twisting her ass with each step she took.

She had him right back where she wanted him.

*******

Loud and hurried knocks sounded off on Sergio's front door as if it were the police ready to break it down at any second. He smacked his lips and instinctively pulled his strap out from underneath his mattress before heading over to find out who the hell was banging on his door like that.

He looked through the peephole and immediately furrowed his eyebrows when he saw his sister's face staring back at him. They hadn't had any type of contact with each other since the day he went over there and Sanai slapped him. Sage hadn't texted him either so he wasn't sure what she was here for but he unlocked the door and swung it open anyway.

Sage instantly barged in, pushing Sergio with all her strength and causing him to stumble back a few feet, twisting his face up as he glared at her like she had lost her mind. He wasn't sure what she was mad about now but he didn't have the time or patience for her shenanigans at the moment. "Fuck is wrong with you?"

"What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you!" She pushed him again and this time he forcefully grabbed her wrists, snatching them away from him. "You're the one that told me to watch the news so you knew who those girls were!"

Once he realized what she was rambling on about, his faced straightened out into a more bored expression. He was just telling her to let her know, he didn't think it would be a problem. "And?"

"And when you and daddy got into that accident, they were the ones driving the car that hit you. You didn't think that was something I should know?" Her face was a reddish tint and her blood was boiling at this point. Her family kept so many big things from her all the time when all she did was help them and she was beginning to get really tired of it.

Sergio slightly rolled his eyes at her dramatics. She was always overreacting to things that weren't that big of a deal and then blew up the same way she was doing now. "Why would you need to know that? You wasn't in the car. You wasn't even in the state. You wasn't around when it happened so it's irrelevant." He shrugged.

Sage only glared at him for a split second before she swung but her little brother's reflexes were a bit quicker than hers and he swiftly dodged out of the way in time before grabbing both of her arms and spinning her so that her back was to him as he pinned her hands by her sides. "Aye, stop fuckin' hitting me!"

"They think I killed them because dad got hurt and they didn't get in trouble for the accident. You should have fucking told me that when you found out it was them!" Tears were coming to her eyes because she was so pissed she couldn't take her anger out on him. He was stronger than her and had an advantage.

"I don't like talking about that shit Sage, you know that." Sergio retorted right before his sister abruptly stomped on his foot causing him to involuntarily let go of her as he howled in pain. He was barefoot and only wearing slides so he felt all of the creases from the bottom of her shoe sink into his toes.

Sage quickly tried to gain an advantage over him with the time she had bought herself but was again pinned down ten seconds later. Now they were both angry and their tempers were no match for each other. "You wouldn't understand Sage."

"No, I don't understand because you don't tell me shit and I barely see you because you moved out and never come around except when you feel like it. Mom was right, you're selfish!"

Sergio smacked his teeth. "Man, fuck you and fuck mom. Both of y'all bitches can go choke on a dick. Y'all not the ones that gotta walk around everyday feeling like it's your fault your family's fucked up now. We used to be close and now we always fighting and I'm the one that gotta carry that burden, not y'all."

"Gio, what the fuck are you even talking about? How could it be your fault when dad was protecting you from those girl's reckless driving? And they said they found you only with a few cuts and a broken arm in the passenger seat which was a miracle considering they hit that side."

Sage couldn't even see her brother's face because her back was turned to him but if she could, she'd know that he was silently shedding a few tears. He hated to be reminded of that night but it seemed like no matter what he did, even years later it would never stop. "They weren't the ones in the wrong that night, Sage. Kaniya just didn't have her permit but her light was green."

"So their light was green. That still doesn't make everything your fault, you weren't even driving—"

"I was driving, Sage!" He snapped causing the entire house to fall into an eerie silence. Sage began to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, realizing why her brother barely liked to come around or why he rarely saw his father in the hospital unless Shamar was asleep.

He felt guilty for being the reason their dad was the way he was and he beat himself up everyday for ruining his family with just one dumb mistake he wished he could take back. Everything was starting to make sense to her. The drugs, the isolation, the constant state of anger Sergio always seemed to be in. She couldn't even say it wasn't his fault because it was. He had only just turned fifteen when it happened so she was sure he didn't have his license and he still ran a red light.

"So why'd they say they found you in the passenger seat?"

Sergio released her arms and walked away from her, running his hands over his face as he began pacing the ground. He had lived with his secret for two years and hadn't told a soul. He wanted to keep it that way because he didn't want her to look at him any differently but something in him had to let her know. "They did find me there... I knew I would never be able to get my license if I was the one responsible for the accident so I switched me and dad around before the cops could show up and when they did, I acted like I had passed out from the impact so they wouldn't suspect anything. And dad never told them nothing either."

"So you moved daddy to the driver's seat? What if he was..." She trailed off, not even wanting to think of the possibility of her father passing away. Him getting hurt was enough heartbreak for her. "You really would have just let him take the fall like that?"

Sergio didn't look at her nor did he answer verbally but that told her everything she needed to know. She shook her head as she looked at her brother, barely being able to recognize the chirpy teenager she had left in charge of helping out their parents when she first went off to college.

With tears clouding her vision, she slowly began backing out of her brother's house before turning on her heel and running out the door.

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mymarvelbunch · 6 years ago

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Be Your Own Hero - Steve Rogers x Reader

This is my first imagine, so feedback is greatly appreaciated!

Masterlist

Summary: (Y/N) has lost all her family and most friends in The Decimation (I refuse to call it The Blip). Refusing to believe their deaths are permanent, she dedicate years to find a way to reverse it. When she finally finds something that might help, she searches for the Avengers. It’s Steve Rogers x Reader, but there is also a lot of Badass!Reader. Also, Non-American!Reader. If you are American, think of a country you’d have loved to be born into :D

Warnings: for now, only a lot of sadness.

Note: Y/Co = your country. Y/Ci = your city

Steve won’t be featured in this part, only mentioned, and not in any romantic light, since the reader hasn’t met him yet.

Part One

A week after The Decimation

A huge memorial was prepared for every inhabitant of (Y/Ci) who dusted away. It was raining, as if Mother Nature was mourning with them. You stood in the far back, black umbrella open, all by yourself. There weren’t many people to keep you company. The few friends who survived had family members to stay with.

The vice-mayor (who was actually mayor now, since the old one was gone) made a heartfelt speech in honor of the fallen ones, but you barely paid any attention to it. Mentally, and in whispers, you recited the names of all the loved ones you lost: your mother, your father, your two older siblings, your sister-in-law, your only uncle and his wife, your 5-year-old cousin, your 89-year-old grandma who blissfully escaped Alzheimer’s. You had around forty friends, close and not-close, but now only twelve remained, and only two of them could be called close friends. Not to mention your college class, cut down from 48 to nine. You haven’t even counted the college staff.

It was surreal. Mass extinctions have happened before in history, but not like this. This wasn’t natural. The Avengers have called international press to explain what happened, but for most it was hard to understand.

For most. Not for you.

You searched Captain America’s video with the full, most detailed explanation and watched a dozen times, writing everything he said down. Apparently, an alien ingrained with Malthusian mentality used powerful items to wipe out half of the universe, believing that it would delay civilization’s self-destruction due to lack of resources. At one point he slipped the term ‘infinity stones’.

You haven’t had time to search about those ‘stones’ or anything else from the video (like the alien’s name, Thanos), but you fully intended to. Because there was surely a way to bring everyone back. Their deaths were result of magic (or whatever they called it), and magic can be reversed.

You refused to believe your family was lost forever.

You refused to believe that so many lives, families, hopes, dreams and achievements were gone for good.

There had to be a way out. And, while she hoped the Avengers would find a way, you decided to take matters into your own hands too. Everyone was mourning; you had the ‘advantage’ of having no one to comfort, meaning more time in your hands.

The memorial ceremony was over. After most people left (around two hours later), you walked over to where your family’s names were. “Mom, Dad”, you whispered, “I’ll do everything in my power to bring you back. I promise.”

A year later

Your graduation party was small and intimate. Your dusted classmates were properly honored, and, thanks to everyone having got closer in the following year, you all had a good time together. It was, overall, incredibly sweet.

You were now a doctor. Not so long ago, you’d be overjoyed by finally getting your medical degree. You were still happy, but the feeling was overshadowed with grief. You wish your family was there to celebrate with you.

At least your two close friends were there. They even brought their remaining parents to help cheer you up.

But now, you had a task: work to save money to keep your research.

The year had been productive, especially given the mess that was college. Thanks to Black Widow’s leaks from 2014, you progressed rapidly.

The so-called Infinity Stones had a few mentions, notably concerning the Battle of New York in 2012. The ‘Tesseract’, which seemingly fell in that category, had been mentioned in SHIELD files since the 50s; apparently, Captain America himself had come in contact with it in his war time. There is a mention of a Captain Marvel and the Tesseract in the 1995 files, but all were vague, as if SHIELD itself didn’t know who were dealing it. Probably an alien.

There was a mention of an Aether in 2013, which seemed powerful enough to be an Infinity Stone. The leaked files, obviously, ended in mid-2014, meaning there is nothing on the incident on Sokovia.

News sites and channels mentioned that the AIs created by Tony Stark had been powered by ‘an unknown object that seems to be a remain of the alien invasion of 2012’. There was no description, but there were pictures of Vision that featured a glowing yellow round-shaped thing. There was no way to be sure, but you’d guess it was also an Infinity Stone. Besides, Captain America’s announced that Vision was destroyed by Thanos right before the Decimation. Wouldn’t it be reasonable that the alien did that to steal a Stone?

Of course, you were far from being the only person researching on the Infinity Stones. In fact, so many were doing it that the Avengers (Natasha Romanov this time) had to make a press conference for a few statements:

1. There were no Infinity Stones in their possession.

2. They would not confirm nor deny whether they were ever in possession of a Stone or not.

3. As it was too dangerous, they would also not disclose information on the Stones.

It meant you had to hack into... somewhere to find more information. That held you back, since you didn’t have time to learn hacking abilities and finish college at the same.

Now that you graduated, you had more free time in your hands. You’d work few hours a week, enough to get money to survive. All your family’s inheritance belonged to you, which granted you more than enough money for you self-assigned mission.

Seating down, you opened your computer and started the next step of your research.

Early 2020

Hacking was useful, but not in the way you expected.

There was little new information concerning Thanos and the Infinity Stones. Most things you found were conspiracy theories, most of which were absurd and didn’t match the knowledge you already had.

However, Deep Web proved useful in one thing: you found out about the Mystic Arts and its Masters.

Information was vague and of questionable reliability, but you managed to gather that they possessed knowledge of many things ancient and alien. You also managed to find out their nearest temple’s location: Y/Ci! Ha! There was even an address!

It was near Valentine’s Day, meaning streets were crowded. You decided it was the best moment to search for that temple (which they called Sanctum). The best to hide, in your opinion, was in a big crowd.

Your first place of search was the given address, of course. Its street was crowded as hell, since it was a commercial one, full of shops that were perfect for buying valentine gifts. Good thing you didn’t find a boyfriend; there was no one to distract you from your goal.

(Were you obsessed? Maybe.)

The number on the address belonged to an oriental-styled house, something not really common in Y/Ci. You knocked on the door of the supposed tarot-reading house, hopeful that there was more about that place.

“Good morning, miss”, the woman who opened the door said. “Are you here for tarot reading?”

You took a deep breath and said, in a low voice, the sentence you read as being the password for entering a Sanctum: “Oh, I’d love to know if I was a Titanic victim in my past life.”

(God, it was such a ridiculous phrase. That was probably why they picked it; not even an insane person would willingly say that in a tarot house.)

The woman arched her eyebrows. You bit your lip, waiting for her to call a psychiatric ambulance, but she simply smiled. “Follow me, sister.”

You released your breath.

Next part

------

Hey, everyone! Hope you liked it! Feedback would be greatly appreciated :D

The MCU barely acknowledges the repercussion of Natasha’s leaks in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I imagine most people wouldn’t read all leaked files, but, after the Snap, many would try to find explanations in those leaks. After all, Thanos was an alien, and everyone knew SHIELD was behind the Battle of New York (among other events). I do suspect there would be little information on Captain Marvel (a codename to hide Carol Danvers’ identity), since there is nothing said about her until the after-credits scene in Infinity War, and no one aside from Nick Fury and Maria Rambeau (who is not SHIELD) really knows what happened in 1995.

I’m not sure whether the events of Thor: the Dark World would actually be on a SHIELD file, since I haven’t watched Agents of SHIELD, but I guess the more information the better! However, there is no indication in the movies that SHIELD ever came into contact with the Master of Mystic Arts, which is why the reader doesn’t find anything on them until she goes to the Deep Web to find answers.

Part Two will be set mostly in the Sanctum and focus on what the reader finds there. If you have any suggestion on what you’d like to read in this part, you’re welcome to tell. The reader won’t meet Steve until part 3, but I think she’ll meet one or two Avengers by the end of part two, so stay tuned!

Taglist is open if anyone is interested! See you next time!

#steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #Steve Rogers #captain america #infinity stones #steve rogers x y/n #y/n #imagine #marvel imagine #avengers: endgame

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cksmart-world · 5 years ago

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The completely unnecessary news analysis

by Christopher Smart

February 18, 2020

BERNIE BROS BE PISSED & WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE ERA

Supporters of Bernie Sanders are more than a little chafed at other Democrats who are taking an “anyone-but-Bernie” stance and they're letting folks know in no uncertain terms: “you A-holes.” Supporters of Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Klobachar, Warren and Biden say Bernie can't beat Trump because the Name-Caller-In-Chief will label him as a Marxist dog and scare the bejesus out of voters. Many also say Mayor Pete can't beat Trump because he's gay. Rush Limbaugh already has started in on Buttigieg for kissing his husband in public. Oh, Lordy. Evangelicals are hugging their Bibles. Elizabeth Warren has dropped in the polls, largely because she has a plan for just about everything and that's confusing to American voters who hate details. They're more into stuff like, “Make America Great Again.” Poor Joe Biden has hit the skids, too. Old Joe's jokes have gotten stale and aviator sunglasses have gone out of style. Amy Klobuchar is a good, Midwestern woman with a nice smile who knows how to milk a cow. But she's a little too nice and doesn't have the money that Michael Bloomberg has. And now we find out that the New York billionaire had the horribly racist “Stop-N-Frisk” policing policy when he was mayor of the Big Apple, so he can't get the African-American vote. And it's just been revealed that Bloomberg hates babies and puppies. But hey, don't lose hope: The staff here at Smart Bomb has come up with a bumpersticker for Dems: “Miracles Do Happen.”

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE ERA

It's been 48 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was submitted to Congress in October 1971. It passed both houses and was ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states. But it died after a decade of fierce debate. The arguments in the Beehive State were as contentious as anywhere. In the end, Utah did not ratify. Why not? What's wrong with an amendment that seeks equal rights for women and men? Our crack research team here at Smart Bomb dove into the archives to find the answers then and now:

1 – If the ERA becomes law, women will have to use urinals.

2 – If the ERA becomes law, men will have to wear bras and lipstick and fix dinner.

3 – God created special roles for men and women: men wear pants and drink beer; women wear skirts and drink tea (and don't belch).

4 – If the ERA passes, women will have to go into combat and share foxholes with horny men without condoms who are trained to kill.

5 – If the ERA is ratified, women can become president. Yikes!

6 – If the ERA becomes law, workplace sex could cease to exist.

7 – Or, it could mean that workplace sex would get out of control with women jumping men in the utility closet. OMG.

8 – If the ERA becomes a reality, young Mormon women will go on religious missions.

9 – If the ERA is ratified, women will become astronauts and orbit the Earth and feel superior to men.

10 – And the very worst part of the ERA, according to Utah Sen. Mike Lee, is that it is part of a “radical pro-abortion agenda.” Yeah, damnit, it's “an Orwellian mischaracterization of what it would do,” Lee said, because it will allow women to have abortions but not men.

HEY, ALEXA, GET OUT OF MY FACE

Your friend Alexa, who helps you play music, turn off the TV and put on the bedroom lights, may not be as warm-hearted you think. Amazon has big plans for its virtual assistant. Sooner than you think, Alexa — or one of her siblings — will be directing our lives — it’ll interpret our data and make decisions for us, according to Rohit Prasad, the scientist in charge of Alexa‘s development. George Orwell was distressed about Big Brother, but he couldn't imagine we would willingly invite him or Big Sister into our lives with such giddy anticipation. The aim is to turn Alexa into an omnipresent companion that shapes our lives. You might find yourself in an argument with Alexa on what music to play or what to watch on TV or which car to buy. Yep, it's “2001: A Space Odyssey” all over again. HAL has collected all your data and now, there is no real reason for you to exist — well wait, Alexa does want your money, but you don't have to worry your lil’ head about that, she'll tell you how to spend it.

BILL BARR: I WON'T BE BULLIED

He's a strong, independent attorney general. President Donald Trump doesn't tell him what to do (except sometimes). Sure, there was that little thing with the Mueller Report that looked to nonpartisan legal beagles like a roadmap to impeachment that Barr announced was vindication. And there is that little matter of reviewing Michael Flynn's case, where he pleaded guilty to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. And just because the attorney general determined that Roger Stone's recommended sentence was far too harsh, doesn't mean he isn't independent. The fact that Trump tweeted the same thing 12 hours earlier was just a coincidence. Bill Barr is a man of great integrity, depending, of course, on how you define it. OK, maybe critics, who say the Department of Justice is being politicized, have a point. But as President Trump insisted, he can do whatever he wants, including interceding in criminal trials, so it isn't corruption. Whether Bill Barr is an independent attorney general or not, really doesn't matter. (Well, actually it does matter but WTF.) And the president wants to know why that slut Andrew McCabe is off the hook. And why aren't James Comey, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in jail along with Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff? Where is the justice?

Post Script — That was the week that was. And man, was it strange — that is to say, about normal for the age of Trump. Still, there is no better time to be a “Hooker For Jesus.” (We are not making this up.) DOJ officials rejected grant applications from Catholic Charities and Chicanos Por La Causa. Instead, according to Reuters, it gave more than $1 million to the Lincoln Tubman Foundation and Hookers for Jesus. Don't tell the Evangelicals, they'll freak. Speaking of sinners, Jim Jordan, the rabid congressman from Ohio, is about to be caught up in a sex scandal involving his old wrestling team at Ohio State. Bummer (no pun intended). And the hits just keep coming: Michael Avenatti, who gained fame representing Stormy Daniels, was found guilty of trying to extort $25 million from Nike. But unlike Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, he can't expect a pardon from Donald Trump. Down on the southern border, those darn coyotes already have come up with a new “camouflage ladder” to smuggle people and drugs over Trump's new border wall. The contraptions, made of old, rusted construction rebar, make the climb easy and can't be detected by cameras. Meanwhile, Trump has diverted another $3.8 billion in military funds for his signature achievement. (Mexico won't pay. Duh.) There's more — Trump is dispatching border patrol agents to Sanctuary Cities to root out them horrible immigrants who are doing all our scut work. Adn last but far from least, here in Utah, state legislators are feeling oh so generous after increasing from 0 to 25 percent Salt Lake City's share of property taxes from the Inland Port. That's better than a jab with a sharp stick, but not so charitable when you consider the city should get 100 percent of taxes from its own, damn land. And so it goes.

OK, Wilson, maybe you and the band can take us out with a little something hopeful for our immigrant friends and all the Democrats and everyone else who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the age of Trump:

Well, the oppressors are trying to keep me down / Trying to drive me underground / And they think that they have got the battle won / I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they've done / 'Cause, as sure as the sun will shine / I'm gonna get my share now, what's mine / And then the harder they come / The harder they fall, one and all / Ooh, the harder they come / Harder they fall, one and all...

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marper-didnt-die-for-blecho · 7 years ago

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Diablesse Pt. 3

Read it all on AO3

People who’ve asked to be tagged: @gearstorm @a-sweet-little-fangirl @agent-wash1ngtub @protecthefuckingbees @i-only-signed-up-for-fanfiction

So this part is less action and more gay? I couldn’t help myself, but to be fair it’s not a lot. Just two girls bonding over their contempt for a third girl while climbing a filthy fire escape, how romantic <3 I mean... Gotta find those heroes somehow, right?

I broke part 3 into 2 parts, so I’ll probably post Part 4 tomorrow morning, depending on how well this part is received. Again, thank you all so much for the kind words, and I hope you enjoy!!!

Chloè would say that it smelled like teenage angst, but she has a feeling that not only has that joke already been made, but that whoever did make it didn’t deserve the satisfaction. Whatever.

“Not that I doubt that you’re honestly trying to prove your worth as a hero,” Kagami started, the two girls scanning the rooftops of Paris in search of either Ladybug (Kagami) or Chat Noir (Chloè), “but why go through all of this for Marinette?”

Chloè snapped Marinette’s bag shut. “Don’t get it twisted, Tsurugi. I still very much dislike Marinette. She’s extremely annoying and a tad bit overrated if you ask me,” Her scowl fell slightly, changing into something less... unfriendly, “but she’s helped me out in a pinch or two,” or eighty given that she was LADYBUG, “She saw something in me that not even my own parents saw, and she deserves to have someone be on her side right now, even if my version of helping is to rip that butterfly out of her tail.

“Plus: The enemy of my enemy is my... ally.” She said. Chloè and Marinette had few things in common (apparently more than she thought), and hating Rossi seemed to be the current thing at the top of that list.

Needing something to distract her from her own thoughts and feelings, she changed the subject. “But enough about that, what’s going on with you and Adrikins, hm? Is that something I should be worried about?” She didn’t think about how Adrien is in love with Ladybug who is Marinette who is in love with Adrien. She swears.

“We’re...” Kagami searched for the word, “friends. I think. I don’t really have too many, and I was pretty sure we went on what’s technically a date, but we’re friends.” Kagami steeled her face. “Besides, he has a thing for someone else, didn’t you know?” Did Chloè not know that Adrien had a crush on Marinette? Kagami had the feeling that if the blonde did know, she wouldn’t be so pressed to help.

Chloè scoffed, “Of course I knew, but come on, who doesn’t? She’s amazing. Everyone in the class has a thing for her.” She was getting whiplash from switching from Mari to Ladybug. “But it’s dangerous for them to be together, so I don’t know what’s going to happen with that.”

Poor Adrikins... He probably wished he had a miraculous so he could date Ladybug. Chloè figured that if he had one, he’d have to fight Chat Noir for her though. That’d be fun to watch, a ball of blonde hair and...

Blonde hair and green eyes...

There’s no way. There’s no way in hell that Adrien was-

“No!”

Kagami grabbed Chloè and ducked down behind a car as the both looked towards the source of the scream.

In the middle of the street, Alya was covering her ears, Demonettes flying all around her, whispering something the two girls couldn’t hear.

“It wasn’t like that!” The Ladyblogger shouted, swatting at the air, “No! I didn’t mean to!”

Chloè and Kagami locked eyes, exchanging a ‘WTF’ before Alya shouted again.

“I’m Sorry!” was the last thing Alya said before the Demonettes surrounded her entirely.

When she was visible again, Alya was now just as red as Little Devil. Her clothes had turned all black, as did the tips of her now clawed fingers. Her eyes were yellow as well, but she no longer had any pupils. Just two glowing yellow spots behind her glasses. Her horns, unlike Little Devil, were red.

Tears streamed down her face as she was overcome with grief and anger.

Chloè pulled Kagami into an alley before Alya could see them. “We need to get on the roof.” She did not want to use the dirty fire escape ladder, but she had no choice. She should’ve just went to New York. There are no akumas in New York, she’d never be forced to use her bare hands to climb such filth. “We heroes often travel by rooftop, so finding one of them will be easier up there, plus,” she looked behind them as more civilians, now demonized, began to cause havoc in their anger. “They probably won’t spare us like Little Devil did.”

Chloè gestured to the ladder, obviously wanting Kagami to go first. “As the only hero here, I need to make sure you go first.” Also there was no way she was getting her hands dirty if Tsurugi wasn’t.

“You keep using the word ‘hero,’ but you aren’t Queen Bee right now, are you?” Kagami knew Chloè was full of shit, but she still went and started to climb first.

“We don’t have time for semantics.”

“Wow, she knows what semantics means.” Ignoring Chloè’s indignant huff below her, she recalled their earlier conversation. “Also, what did you mean by what you said earlier? How special is Marinette that she can’t date Adrien?”

Chloè’s hand almost slipped off of the bar. Did Kagami know that Marinette was Ladybug? She couldn’t, or else she wouldn’t be asking about why Ladybug can’t date civilians. Unless she also knew that Chat Noir was-

No, that’s not a fact. Chat Noir was not Adrien, period. Which meant, “Wait, you think Adrien has a crush on Marinette?” Technically she was right, but? No!

Kagami paused for one second before continuing up. “Yes.” She spoke slowly, choosing her words. “Does he not? He was asking me for advice about what to do because she didn’t like him back, so I told him to change his target. I had hoped he had understood what I meant because he gave me a rose and asked me to go ice skating with him, but I was wrong because he invited her too.” She scowled. “She even had the nerve to invite another guy. She’s just playing with his affections.”

Chloè couldn’t help herself. This was too funny. Superheroes aside, this was hilarious. “I’m sorry, I promise I’m not laughing at you. If I was in your shoes, I’d have been pissed too, but I promise you that you got things backwards. Adrien does not have a crush on her.”

“I’m pretty sure he does. You just said it was obvious and that your entire class did? Who else would you be talking about?”

Technically, Marinette. “I was referring to Ladybug? Adrien has been obsessed with her since she first showed up. As for Marinette? I don’t know who that other guy was, but she’s the one who has a thing for Adrien. Since the day they met.” They were almost at the top, thank heavens. She wanted to see Kagami’s face right now, rather than her ass. “That’s something apparently all three of us have in common...”

Kagami blushed, glad that no one could see her do it. “Well, what about Lila? Doesn’t she like Adrien as well?”

“Listen, if you want me to keep the bitch turned off, I’m gonna need you to promise to never mention her again. I’m the Mayor’s daughter, and you come from old money. It would be bad for us, politically, for me to hate you over something this small.”

“Oh? You don’t already hate me for being close to Adrien?” Kagami smiled. “Besides, Rossi could also be a good ally, I mean... She does know the Prince.”

Chloè groaned. “You’re horrible. Utterly ridiculous.” Kagami laughed, making the blonde blush. She cleared her throat and look down at her hands.

Kagami hoisted herself up on to the roof. “Either way, I believe Marinette deserves an apology. I was incredibly rude to her because of all of this.”

“You were rude to her only because of how you thought she was playing with Adrien’s emotions?” Kagami turned and offered her a hand, nodding. “That’s,” Hot. Woah, what? “That’s pretty impressive.” She let Kagami pull her up.

“Also, bold of you to believe that you’re close enough to him for me to be worried. If anything, him spending time with you mean less time for him to spend with Dupain-Cheng. Time with me would be optimal, but you guys try to stab each other for fun. I think I can yield this once.”

“If he doesn’t have a crush on her, then there should be no reason for them to not spend time together.”

“Marinette is... special.” Chloè hated saying this, but Kagami had no one to tell, except Adrien but... anyways. “Everyone loves her. From randos to celebrities. Adrien’s father and my mother think she’s super talented, and she has Jagged Stone on speed dial!” Her tone grew somber. “There’s just something about her that makes everyone fall in love which means that us heroes are going to have trouble fighting her.”

“What do you mean?” Kagami had thought Chloè was a little jealous, but her last sentence made her rethink that. “No matter how important the civilian, Ladybug and Chat Noir have to defeat the akuma. I’ve no doubt that they’ve had to deal with personal friends being akumatized.”

“Again, I don’t know why, and I wish you’d stop making me say this, but she’s different. Marinette’s the only civilian to help us with an akuma. She might not know their identity, but she knows us in a way that no one else can claim.” She sighed. “This is going to be a hard fight for us.” Her and Chat Noir were screwed.

“Yeah, that’s true, but it’s nothing that we can’t handle, right?”

Both girls turned to find Chat Noir squatting on the edge of the roof, watching them.

#ml spoilers #ml salt #less salt this time about chameleon #more salt about frozer and how all of these girls seem to fight over a boy who wants none of them #miraculous ladybug #it's annoying how all of Adrien's love interests dislike each other #especially when he 'only has eyes for ladybug'#but whatever it's not my show #my writiing #diablesse

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tales-of-bristalamh · 7 years ago

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Adventure Hook: The War of Four Cities

The war of four cities was the pinnacle of the conflict for dominion over the whole of Bris’Talamh. The major contenders were the four most powerful city states at the beginning of the Age of Unity:

Talavin, The Gem City, Ruled by the Sapphire Crown

Lachavin, City of Steel, Ruled by a Coalition of Mining Corporations

Angravin, The Harvest Cradle, Ruled by the Beryl Lord

Helvin, Heart of Invention, Ruled by the Onyx Beacon

These four cities raged against one another, building armies and drawing on magics to topple not only one another, but also to bring the surrounding non-competing cities at the edges of the continent under their thumb. This war saw the first deployment of summoners and their pacts as weapons of mass warfare, and many summoners raised themselves to noble status within their respective cities through their efforts in the war.

The tide first changed halfway through the war when Angravin, the most populous of the four cities, fell to the tide of Lachavin’s legions at their gate. Spurred on by this victory, the Lachavin legions attempted to march on Talavin through the dream torn woods. They did not foresee the tactical cunning of Talavin’s then prince, Archiptera Leroy, nor did they account for the guerilla warfare that the humans and elves of Talavin would use against them in deploying illusions and the hallucinogenic plants and venomous creatures of the woods against them. By the time the Lachavin Legions arrived at the gates of Talavin, they were at a fraction of their initial strength, with no capability of laying siege to the Gem City.

Within a year of this failure, Lachavin and Angravin had laid down their arms to the Sapphire Crown, and behind them the non-competing cities of Nunkavin and Olravin bent knee. Yet the darkest days of the war were yet to come as Helvin became desperate under the pressure of the united forces of the three powerful cities and began crafting armies of magical constructs to fight back: golems.

Using magics that towed the line between the true gods and the sunder gods, the Onyx Beacon invested these iron and stone soldiers with the souls of long dead heroes and compelled them to fight back against the soldiers. The Talavin soldiers were bottlenecked, and likely would have fallen beneath the wave of sleepless soldiers had it not been for Olrathrax, the Blue Dragon of the Luthenian Peaks. Olrathrax watched over the ley lines that flowed near Helvin and found the creation of the golems by the people there disturbingly close to the necromantic energies that the sunder gods exuded. Olrathrax swept across the plains of war and crushed many of the steel and stone soldiers where they stood, opening a massive hole in the line of soldiers of Helvin and allowing the Talavin archers and Lachavin legions to push through and beat back the tides of war and capture Helvin.

With the fighting finally at an end, Helvin, Sundervin, and Mainstirvin, the last of the major cities, bent knee to the Sapphire Crown and its new Czar, Archiptera Leroy. Animosity would linger between the cities for a long time after the war ended, but none challenged the Sapphire Crown again.

War of Four Cities Adventures

Call for Aid- For low-level characters: Angravin has fallen to the legions of Lachavin, and now the town of Ilyacin needs help. The legions march north and their path will take them directly through Ilyacin, and the mayor of the town fears the consequences of such an incursion. He is calling for any and all nearby adventurers to traverse the towns dangerous sacred temple in Lake Ilya and to appeal to the lady of the lake to protect the town from the oncoming troops. The PC’s may actually be within Ilyacin or in the nearby countryside when they hear the call for aid. The Temple is beneath the lake itself and is a temple to Taika, God of Magic. The temple is a sacred test of worth and within is a Winter Eladrin Priestess who is friendly to the PC’s if they complete the challenges.

Treachery Within- For low-level characters: With Angravin now fallen the courts of Talavin scramble on how to react. Unfortunately, at the moment they have their own internal problems as Prince Archiptera Leroy has disappeared! The Czar believes the Prince to be off on a vacation to escape the war, but his closest advisor suspects treachery within the courts and is secretly hiring investigators to find the prince. The PC’s may hear about this adventure by being approached in a tavern or by courier by an agent of the advisor. The culprit is the Czar themselves under the charms of a Succubus/Incubus who has designs to put a fiendish child on the Sapphire throne, with the prince hidden away in the depths of the Sapphire court dungeons.

A Wartime Dream- For mid-level characters: The Legions of Lachavin are encroaching on Talavin, making their way through the dream torn woods. The Talavin troops are using hit-and-run tactics to chip away at the legions strength but its not enough. They need help from hands greater than mortal, as Prince Leroy considers bargaining with fey for aid in the fight. The PC’s are approached by an emissary of the court, possibly one they’ve interacted with before, with an offer of great rewards if they will journey into the feywild and appeal to the Summer Queen for aid in the fighting. This is a great hook to spin off of for a long running adventure with multiple challenges throughout the feywild to perhaps gain the Summer Queen’s favor or appeal to one of her rivals for aid.

Heart of Stone- For mid-level characters: With Lachavin defeated, Talavin turns its eyes towards Helvin and bringing about an end to this war, but whispers have reached the Sapphire court through their spies that Helvin is building a new war machine, and the newly crowned Sapphire Czar Leroy wants the plans of this machine to study for any weaknesses they might be able to exploit. The PC’s will have to infiltrate the city of Helvin without arousing suspicion and find the plans in the heart of the Helvin’s largest workshop. The plans are protected by the first of the completed war machines, a Clay Golem. The PC’s will be able to see the components of the construction of other similar Stone and Iron golems. Whether the PC’s retrieve the plans or not, the Clay Golem will alert the workshop and city to the presence of intruders before being destroyed.

Lightning’s Wrath- For high-level characters: The war goes poorly for Talavin as the Helvin golems slaughter the Talavin troops and progress across the fields of war towards the Gem City. With the fighting now resting at the base of the Luthenian Peaks, the PC’s struggle to survive, until one of them hears a whisper in their dreams, calling them into a long-hidden cave beneath the rocky crags. A palace as old as the world that also serves as a prison for Olrathrax, an Ancient Blue Dragon, who guards one of the Hallowed Wells, the entrance points through which magic flows from the divine realm by the ley lines. Olrathrax seeks release from his palace so that he might correct the abomination that is the Helvin golems.

Notes from the Creator: Adventure Hook posts are part lore, part ideas to spur on your own adventure setting. They are my little posit to get characters involved directly in the lore of the world, and maybe even change the course of events for the better, or worse. Next week we will be getting back to brew, with a new brew post for playing as a warlock with a sunderborn patron. Have a good week!

#Bris'Talamh #World Lore #lore #adventure #adventure 5e #dnd adventure #Dungeons and Dragons #dungeons and dragons 5e #Fifth Edition #dragons #story module #module #dnd #DnD 5e #5e DnD #5e #homebrew #homebrew setting #homebrew 5e

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dudebrosunited1 · 6 years ago

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What You Should Know About the Wall (1962 GDR brochure)

Newspapers, radio and television report daily about Berlin and West Berlin in many languages throughout the world. They often speak or write of a state frontier, or of a wall.

It may be very difficult for you to form a valid picture from all these reports which frequently contradict each other. We want to help you to do so.

We tried to imagine what would be the considerations of a citizen of a foreign state if he wanted to gain clarity about the problems in West Berlin. And we would like to reply to these considerations.

1st CONSIDERATION. Where, exactly, is Berlin situated?

A glance at the map suffices: Berlin lies in the middle of the German Democratic Republic, exactly 180 kilometres (112.5 miles) to the east of its western frontier. A quite normal locality for the capital of a state. Only one thing is not normal at all: that a hostile, undermining policy and disruptive acts have for years been carried on from the western part of this city against the surrounding state territory. West Berlin Mayor Willi Brandt called West Berlin a “thorn in the side of the GDR.” Would you like to have a thorn in your side? We don’t either! But Brandt even proclaims quite frankly: “We want to be the disturber of the peace.”

2nd CONSIDERATION. Did the wall fall out of the sky?

No. It was the result of developments of many years standing in West Germany and West Berlin. Let us recall preceding events: In 1948 a separate currency reform was introduced in West Germany and West Berlin - the West German reactionaries thereby split Germany and even west Berlin in to two currency areas.

The West German separatist state was founded in 1949 - Bonn thereby turned the zonal border into a state frontier.

In 1954 West Germany was included in NATO - Bonn thereby converted the state frontier into the front-line between two pact systems.

The decision on the atomic armament of the West German Bundeswehr was made in 1958 - thus, Bonn continues to aggravate the situation in Germany and Berlin. Repeatedly the annexation of the GDR is proclaimed as the official aim of Bonn policy, most recently in a statement of the Adenauer Christian Democratic Union (CDU), on 11 July 1961.

Thus did the anti-national, aggressive NATO policy create the wall which today separates the two German states and also goes through the middle of Berlin. The Bonn government and the West Berlin Senate have systematically converted West Berlin into a centre of provocation from where 90 espionage organizations, the RIAS American broadcasting station in West Berlin (Radio in American Sector) and revanchist associations organize acts of sabotage against the GDR and the other socialist countries. Through our protective measures of 13 August 1961 we have only safeguarded and strengthened that frontier which was already drawn years ago and made into a dangerous front-line by the people in Bonn and West Berlin. How high and how strongly fortified a frontier must be, depends, as is common knowledge, on the kind of relations existing between the states of each side of the frontier.

3rd CONSIDERATION. Did the wall have to come?

Yes and no. We have submitted more than one hundred proposals for understanding, on the renunciation of atomic armament, and on the withdrawal of the two German states from NATO or the Warsaw Treaty. If things had gone according to our proposals the situation in Germany would not have been aggravated and, consequently, there would have been no wall. Especially since 1958 the GDR and the Soviet Union have repeatedly told the West Berlin Senate, the Bonn government, and the western powers: Be reasonable! Let us eliminate the abnormal situation in West Berlin together. Let us start negotiations. Why did Bonn and West Berlin reject these proposals? Why did they, instead, step up agitation to an unprecedented degree before 13 August? - The wall had to come because they were bringing about the danger of a conflict. Those who do not want to hear, must feel.

4th CONSIDERATION. What did the wall prevent?

We no longer wanted to stand by passively and see how doctors, engineers, and skilled workers were induced by refined methods unworthy of the dignity of man to give up their secure existence in the GDR and work in West Germany or West Berlin. These and other manipulations cost the GDR annual losses amounting to 3.5 thousand million marks.

But we prevented something much more important with the wall - West Berlin’s becoming the starting point for a military conflict. The measures we introduced in 13 August in conjunction with the Warsaw Treaty states have cooled off a number of hotheads in Bonn and West Berlin. For the first time in German history the match which was to set fire to another war was extinguished before it had fulfilled its purpose.

5th CONSIDERATION. Was peace really threatened?

Indian journalists R. K. Karanjia shall give you the answer to the question. He published a sensational report from Berlin in the biggest Indian weekly, Blitz in which the world public is warned against the West Berlin powder-keg. K. R. Karanjia wrote:

“It (the protective wall of the GDR) served the cause of world peace since it halted the advance of the German neo-Hitlerites toward the East, forced the world to recognize the reality of the division of Germany and thus supports negotiation.” (retranslated from German)

If further evidence of the aggressive intentions of the West German government is needed it is provided by the authoritative West German employers’ newspaper, the Industriekurier, which regretfully wrote, exactly 19 days after 13 August 1961: “A reunification with the Bundeswehr marching victoriously through the Brandenburg Gate to the beating of drums - such a reunification will not take place in the foreseeable future.”

Bonn heads were really haunted by ideas of such a victorious entry. That would have meant war.

6th CONSIDERATION. Who is walled in?

According to the exceedingly intelligent explanations of the West Berlin Senate we have walled ourselves in and are living in a concentration camp. But in that case why are the gentlemen so excited? Obviously, because in reality their espionage centres, their revanchist radio stations, their fascist soldiers’ associations, their youth poisoners, and their currency racketeers have been walled in. They are excited because we have erected the wall as an antifascist, protective wall against them.

Does something not occur to you? West Berlin Mayor Brandt wails that half of the GDR, including the workers in the enterprise militia groups, is armed. What do you think of a concentration camp whose inmates have weapons in their hands?

7th CONSIDERATION. Who breaks off human contacts?

Of course, it is bitter for many Berliners not to be able to visit each other at present. But it would be more bitter if a new war were to separate them for ever. Moreover, when the GDR was forced to introduce compulsory entry permits for West Berlin citizens on 23 August in the interests of its security we at the same time offered to open up entry permit offices in municipal railway stations in West Berlin. In fact we opened them and issued the first permits. Who closed them by force? The same Senate of that Mr. Brandt who is today shedding crocodile tears about “contacts being broken”! The GDR has maintained its offer. If we had our way Berliners could visit each other despite the wall.

8th CONSIDERATION. Does the wall threaten anyone?

Bonn propaganda describes the wall as a “monstrous evidence of the aggressiveness of world communism.” Have you ever considered it to be a sign of aggressiveness when someone builds a fence around his property?

9th CONSIDERATION. Who is aggravating the situation?

The wall? It stands there quite calmly. Former French Premier Reynaud said already on 19 August 1961, according to UPI: “The sealing-off measures of the East Berlin government did not increase, but lessened, the danger of a third world war.” In reality, the situation is being aggravated by persons who play at being the strong man on our state frontier, who are turning West Berlin into a NATO base and daily inciting West Berliners against the GDR. Municipal railway cars are being destroyed, frontier guards attacked and brutally shot, tunnels dug for agents and bomb attacks made on the GDR’s frontier security installations. Does that serve relaxation? One must really ask why attacks on the GDR state frontier in West Berlin are not subject to court prosecution as in other states. The Brandt Senate even presents “its respects” to the provocateurs.

10th CONSIDERATION. Is the wall a gymnastic apparatus?

The wall is the state frontier of the German Democratic Republic. The state frontier of a sovereign state must be respected. That is so the world over. He who does not treat it with respect cannot complain if he comes to harm. West German and West Berlin politicians demand that “the wall be removed.” We are not particularly fond of walls, either. But please consider where the actual wall runs in Germany, the wall which must be pulled down in your and our interest. It is the wall which was erected because of the fateful Bonn NATO policy. On the stones of this wall stand atomic armament, entry into NATO, revanchist demands, anti-communist incitement, non-recognition of the GDR, rejection of negotiations, the front-line city of West Berlin.

So, make your contribution to the pulling down of this wall by advocating a reasonable policy of military neutrality, peaceful co-existence, normal relations between the two German states, the conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany, a demilitarized Free City of West Berlin. That is the only way to improve the situation in Berlin, to safeguard peace, a way which can, one day also lead to the reunification of Germany. The wall says to the war-mongers:

He who lives on an island should not make an enemy of the ocean.

Decide in favour of the recognition of realities. Don’t join in the row over the wall. Perhaps YOU don’t want socialism. That is your affair.

But should we not come to an agreement jointly to refrain from doing anything that leads to war and do everything that serves peace?

#socialism #gdr #great stuff

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crowkingwrites · 7 years ago

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Bang Bang!: Guilty (Ch.3)

Pairing: Ramsay Bolton X Reader

Summary: You are now a full-fledged member of the Red Kings. After your first successful mission, Domeric comes with troubling news: they’re being watched and there’s a mole among them. The Red Kings, Ramsay, and You now stand against a new enemy: Stannis Baratheon, a high ranking FBI member out to seek justice who may have his own dark secrets he’s trying to hide.

In this next part of the series, you will be tested, face old enemies, and encounter faces you’d thought you’d never see again. You thought you were safe, but the game has just begun.

Words: 2208

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14454342/chapters/33967299

Playlist: Grace for Sale – Terrance Zdunich

Stannis Baratheon had lived in the shadow of his brother, Robert, his entire life. At times, he felt proud of his older brother rising so high in the world. Stannis only thought of how bright the family legacy was. Robert had drive, aggression, and a charm that would land Robert in trouble.

Too much trouble.

Stannis sat at his older brother’s funeral. He shed no tears like his wife had. Stannis only sat there while others spoke of fond and thoughtful memories. He watched Cersei stood before everyone, crying her eyes out, while she re-told their love story for everyone—including the media—to hear. His nose wrinkled in disgust. He knew better than anyone that Cersei never loved Robert.

He watched one by one as Robert’s children placed flowers and spoke soft words over his casket. Each of their blonde heads decorated in their family sigil bothered Stannis. He had received contact from Ned Stark just a week earlier. Perhaps Ned Stark was right. Not a single dark hair on their heads. Maybe these were not Robert’s children after all.

Of course Stannis knew that both of his brothers led sinful lives. Renly led a particularly sinful and lustful life. He went out most nights, enjoying his wealth and status of his family. He also had a male lover. The words ‘homosexual’ had been thrown around before and it made Stannis sick to his stomach. To go against God and what was natural had been a betrayal to him and the rest of the family.

However, Robert was just the same. Robert’s political career had been successful in all ways but one. Robert’s friends and family always thought he would be president one day, but he never quite made it. His terrible reputation of gluttony and desire had ruined any chance of his career moving forward. Stannis remembers the scandals of women claiming their children were his.

“Oh let them,” Robert waved it all off. “A lion does not concern himself with the opinions of sheep. Right?” He laughed and nudged at Cersei who looked at him with disgust.

“He’s right,” Renly agreed. His tailor-made suit was cleaner than his brother’s. His moved around the whisky in the tumbler. “These women only want a piece of the pie. They only want money.” Stannis watched his brother, Renly, stare at a younger man for much longer than what was allowed.

Stannis knew better, but he kept silent.

Sadly, Stannis proved himself right. He watched people line up in the church and gave their sincerest apologies to Cersei and her children. The opinions of sheep could be louder than the lion’s roar. After Robert’s funeral, Stannis found himself in a shady neighborhood bar far from his luxurious home. He pulled up the collar of his jacket, hoping no one would recognize him. He sat down at a booth with a friend.

“You’re on the run I heard?” he posed a question.

“Sort of,” Ned Stark answered. “The police are still investigating Robert’s death. They believe I have something to do with it. I was the last person to see him alive.”

“Just because you’re the last person to see him alive doesn’t mean you did it,” Stannis expressed his opinion. “You’re a good man, Stark.”

“I only do what’s right,” Ned said. “That doesn’t make me a good man.”

“What can I help you with?” Stannis had been curious. When Ned Stark had first told him that they needed to meet in secret, Stannis became nervous. He never once believed that Ned Stark was responsible for his brother’s death, but Ned knew something.

“Jon Arryn, do you remember him?’ Ned began. Stannis nodded. “He had suspicions, and now I confirmed them. Joffery, Myrcella, Tommen. They are not Robert’s children. None of them are.”

“How do you know?” Stannis said in shock.

“Jon Arryn had collected DNA from all three of them. He sent it away to have it tested. I got a hold of the results and Robert is not the father,” Ned whispered in a low voice. “His wife, my sister-in-law, had reason to believe she was being chased for a reason. Now, the Lannisters are coming after me.”

“Do you need a place to hide?” Stannis offered.

“No,” Ned shook his head. “Thank you for your generosity, but no. I am not afraid of lions. I need something else. Your recent promotion in the FBI could help us. Cersei and her family plan to put Joffery in power. Where he can change and do what he likes and it will provide more power and wealth to the Lannisters. They would be able to abuse that power in any way they want to.”

“I understand,” Stannis nodded, realizing how grave it would be if his nephew ever held a position of power. “What do you need me to do? Open an investigation against them?”

“Anything to stop Joffery from holding a position in office,” Ned explained. “If he gets the votes to become mayor in New York City, it’s over. The Lannisters will be protected and they can do anything they want. They could ruin one of the greatest cities in America. The people are at risk.”

Stannis did the best he could in his position. They were channels he had to go through, paperwork that needed to be finished. But it was too late. An assistant laid down the newspaper for him in the morning.

NED STARK FOUND DEAD

It hit him much harder than he expected. Stannis felt his heart sink in his stomach. He watched his daughters mourn over his grave. He had heard of Arya’s disappearance shortly after. He was scared for Sansa’s safety. This was his fault. He didn’t act quickly enough.

Stannis slipped into a deep depression like stones falling into the bottom of the ocean. It weighed heavier and heavier each day. Stannis would never take it out on his wife or daughter. He was a loyal, family man. However, liquor bottles started to pile up in the garbage more than usual. He stopped attending church with his family. What was the point of believing in a God that allowed awful things like this to happen?

“How much have you drank?” Davos said to him. Stannis only grunted an answer. The bottle in his hand was running low. Davos shook his head. “You need to stop this. This isn’t you. What happened to Robert and Ned is not your fault.”

Davos was right. What happened wasn’t his fault, but he still felt responsible.

“You’re unfit to work,” Davos sighed. “HR is forcing my hand on this. They want me to take over while you heal. Everyone wants you to find help. By god, you need help.”

Stannis Baratheon wasn’t the type of man to ask for help. He wasn’t the type of man to plead and beg, but he found himself sitting in a room with a therapist across from him. He felt agitated. The withdrawal of alcohol finally hit him. The blinds were drawn, the light was dim, and even though the room provided a safe and open space mentally, Stannis felt no relief.

“Tell me about your family,” she said.

“What about them?” he asked, irritated.

“Your older brother passed recently, how did you feel about that?”

“I felt nothing,” Stannis admitted. It felt harsh to say, but it was true. “I knew his sins would catch up to him. He dug his own grave.”

“What about your daughter? Tell me about her.” Truthfully, Stannis loved Shireen. He wanted nothing more but be a good father to children. He wanted to pass on his own morals and values to his own children. He wanted to raise good people.

“Shireen is kind,” was all he could manage to say. After spending most of his life focused on nothing but his career, Stannis knew next to nothing about the daughter he claimed to love.

“Your wife?”

Stannis had truly loved his wife. But after years of disappointment, spending nights at work, drinking himself into a depression, he believed his marriage was only for show. They had been partners only in name. Stannis didn’t believe in divorce. He married in the eyes of God, and he intended to keep it that way.

At the end of session, the therapist made an appointment for the following week around the same time. She handed him a card to call in case there was a problem. Red letters stood out against the white background.

“Melissa?”

“Melissandre,” she repeated. “Melissa was a school nickname.” Her long red hair complimented her white blouse. A cross necklace sat just on top of her cleavage. Stannis stared at it for longer than he would like to admit.

“I look forward to seeing you next week,” he nodded and went off. Things would get better. He would change. He would be a better person. Stannis planned to be a better father, a better husband, and a better friend.

Until the Red Wedding happened.

Once again, Stannis watched the chaos unfold before him. He looked over Catelyn’s body before any other CSI agent could touch her. He saw the large opening at her neck. Blood had pooled where she laid. Her red hair stuck to her face and the ground. Her eyes were half open, looking to the wall. One hand she held a rosary wrapped around her hand. The other hand she held a bloodied knife. She looked more like a martyred saint than a dead mother.

“They did the counting,” Davos said, walking up to him. “Over thirty people had died here. Still more people gravely injured in the hospital.” Davos shoved his hand sin his pockets and sighed.

“She was a good woman, you know,” Stannis said, still looking over Catelyn. “An exceptional mother. A religious and loving person.”

“Shame,” Davos sighed matching Stannis’ frown.

“Any leads to what happened or who did this?”

“A couple. Some leading to the Lannisters, of course, but no hard evidence,” Davos walked away from Catelyn’s body as photographers started to come in and take pictures of the massacre. “We will have to control the media. There’s a lot here that normal people can’t find out.”

Stannis nodded and looked over more of the dead that laid across the reception area. His eyes caught hold of many friends of the Tullys, Starks, and Freys.

“This is the underbelly at work,” Stannis said after several moments of silence. Confused, Davos looked over to him.

“The underbelly?”

“Yes,” Stannis answered. “It is a slang term, but it works. The underbelly is the mafias, the crime gangs, the drug cartels, and the filth of this country that is hidden from the good citizen’s eye. They lie, steal, and kill without anyone seeing. They are close to power. They have wealth. They are not the poor or the homeless. They are your rich friends, your senators, your artists, and they hide it well.”

“Are you saying someone or a group of people did this? Someone planned to kill off this many people? Kill off Catelyn and Robb Stark?”

“Yes and more,” Stannis exited the reception hall and returned outside to the blaring sun overhead. “The Starks are a good family, but they were deep in something that they couldn’t handle.” Davos had hard time keeping up with Stannis’ quick pace.

“The Starks knew something? What? Were they involved with drugs?” Davos asked, trying to get as much information as he could.

“They knew about Cersei and her children. They were going against them. History is a good teacher, Davos. No one survives going against the Lannisters,” Stannis got into his car and drove off. He would catch them now. The Lannisters and their empire would fall, and he would br crowned a hero for it all.

From another building, Roose Bolton watched Stannis leave. He looked over the FBI agents and large police force surrounding and blocking off the area. Media and news trucks started to show up and set up space to report on the devastating event.

Roose dialed a number on a burner phone. He waited a few moments before he heard a hello.

“They’re unto us,” he said. “You told me you would cover this up.”

“I will,” the voice answered back. “The news and media need to report something. Soon, I will be able to feed them the story I have planned. Sit back, relax. Your name will never be mentioned.”

“And the payment?”

“Tonight. Be patient. You’ve done a good job, Roose. Spend it however you wish.”

“And Winterfell?”

“Will be yours soon. You will have my support to get what you want. Our alliance is strong and untouchable. Let this wash over and we can work together to secure this country.” Roose hung up the burner phone and laid it on the ground. He shot it twice with a shotgun and left the area. He did have many plans for the millions he would earn for the massacre, but first he and the rest of his men would celebrate.

“Petyr,” Roose smiled, speaking on his personal phone. “I expect everything will be ready for tomorrow?”

“Yes,” his slimy voice confirmed. “My pretty birds are very excited to meet red kings.”

Taglist: @angelicshinigami @sugarwastaken @carilov09 @disneyprincessbuffyannesummers @i-theredqueen @sleepylunarwolf @trashpandabarnes

#ramsay bolton #ramsay snow #ramsay bolton modern au #ramsay x reader #ramsay bolton x reader #ramsay bolton/reader #bang bang!#bang bang guilty #bbg #game of thrones #got #got fanfic #ramsay bolton imagine #game of thrones imagine

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nightmareonfilmstreet · 7 years ago

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THE FRIGHTENERS is Peter Jackson’s Missing Link

One of the conceits of Ghostbusters is that some people consider them frauds. In both films, there’s a human villain, a government administrator in both cases, that thinks the Ghostbusters are con men; filling the public’s head with concerns of spooks and then charging the suckers to “get rid of them.” In The Frighteners, Frank Bannister is a con man ripping people off for “eradicating” spectral activity, but that’s not to say that the ghosts aren’t real, they’re just in on the con.

The Frighteners was released on July 19, 1996, and while it was not a success at the box office, it has developed a devoted cult following. Of course, some of that might have to do with the appreciation of the work of Peter Jackson by the broader audience. It was after he finished this movie that Jackson, and many of the same members of the film crew, took up the challenge of a little project called The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Back in 1996 though, Jackson was merely known for a few, small gross out horror films like Meet the Feebles, and his critically acclaimed drama Heavenly Creatures. After that success, Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh pitched a projected about a town haunted by the Grim Reaper, and the huckster exorcist that knows all the ghost stories are real. This would become The Frighteners.

youtube

Jackson and Walsh were lucky enough to find a patron that believed in their pitch, Robert Zemeckis. It was Zemeckis’ intention to take the idea, and turn it into a Tales from the Crypt spin-off movie that he would direct, but he ended up liking the finished script so much that he agree to let Jackson direct it as a standalone story. Universal Pictures financed and distributed the movie, and gave Zemeckis and Jackson rare creative control, including final cut.

It was also the Zemeckis connection that allowed Jackson to cast his first choice for Bannister, Michael J. Fox. Although not necessarily as bankable as he was in the 80s, Fox was still steadily employed, and perhaps in the midst of a bit of a career resurgence. It was later that same year when Fox returned to TV and starred in a new successful sitcom called Spin City in which he played the put upon deputy mayor of New York. It was while he was shooting Spin City that Fox announced that he had Parkinson’s, and to date, The Frighteners is Fox’s final leading role in a film.

It could be argued though that the real star of The Frighteners though, was its visual effects. Weta Digital, now at the forefront of computer effects technology, was just three years old at the time, but it carried the heavy load of the film’s complex visuals effects, including characters that were all or partially CG. These include “The Judge” played by John Astin, an Old West hanging judge with a loose jaw and a skeletal torso. While The Judge is partially CG, the Grim Reaper figure was all computer generated, and it doesn’t quite stand out by 2018 standards.

That Reaper figure is not the actual spectre of death, but the film’s villain Johnny Bartlett played by Jake Busey. Barlett was a spree killer put to death decades earlier, but even in the afterlife he was obsessed with ratcheting up his “score”. Through the course of the film, it’s revealed that the ghostly Bartlett had killed Bannister wife after the two were in a car accident, the originating event of Frank’s psychic ability’s and Johnny Bartlett’s first post-death murder.

Now Johnny Bartlett the character is inspired by real-life spree killer Charles Starkweather. Starkweather killed his way though Nebraska and Wyoming over a two month period in December 1957 and January 1958, and was arrested after murdering 12 people. During a one week period in January, Starkweather killed 11 people, and it was during this period we has in the company of his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. Fugate served 17 years in prison after a jury found testimony that alleged she was a hostage of Starkweather to not be credible.

This dynamic comes into play in The Frighteners too. Like Starkweather, Bartlett had an accomplice in a teenage girl named Patricia Bradley, who was more than a little than just okay with being romantic with a psychopath. The adult Patricia is played by Dee Wallace Stone, who Jackson cast because he liked the idea of hiring the mom from E.T. as a way to surprise the audience about Patricia’s allegiance.

Trini Alvarado, then perhaps best known for playing Meg in Little Women, and the Re-Animator himself, Jeffrey Combs, round out the main cast. Alvarado plays Dr. Lucy Lynskey, a doctor who’s husband is killed by ghost Bartlett, and becomes Frank’s sidekick and love interest. Combs is FBI Agent Dammers, which sounds a lot like “Dahmer”, an expert in cults and the paranormal who suspects Frank is the real killer and only pretending to see ghosts.

There are a lot of players on this complex stage that Jackson set. Chi McBride and Jim Fyfe play two of Frank’s ghostly partners, Julianna McCarthy plays Patricia Bradley’s paranoid mother, and R. Lee Emery appears as, what’s essentially, the ghost of this drill sergeant character from Full Metal Jacket. The setting is the town of Fairwater, Jackson’s native New Zealand dressed up to look like a quaint sea-side town in either New England of the Pacific Northwest.

As to the play itself, it’s clear that Jackson pulled influences from Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice. At its heart is the idea that death is not a transformative experience, but just another condition of life where people become more of what they are. After he dies, Lucy’s husband Ray continues to jog and be considered about his physical health even though he’s an intangible spectral blob of ectoplasm. In other words, you can’t change who you are even after you’re dead.

There’s also a bit of Stephen King and Twin Peaks in The Frighteners. It’s the small town tableau where everybody knows each other, and knows about the strange goings-on, but at some level refuses to accept it. And considering that New Zealand was still an unknown element to a lot of North American moviegoers, so the real life locale accentuates the fantasy in a way.

Indeed, The Frighteners laid the ground work for Jackson’s journey to Middle Earth in many ways: shooting New Zealand, and mixing practical effects with computer generated imagery. In hindsight, The Frighteners might be seen as a dress rehearsal for The Lord of the Rings, a chance for Jackson to stretch his skills and prove he was ready to tackle the complex technical requirements of the trilogy. That’s not to say that Jackson wasn’t talented enough to pull off LOTR without the work on The Frighteners, but it was mentioned in many reviews for The Frighteners that the effects work overwhelmed the story.

On the other hand, Jackson’s career path might explain the success of The Lord of the Rings. In an era when a director is plucked from the indie oeuvre and given a $200 million budget, said director either rises to the challenge or buckles under the weight of the size and scope. Could Jackson bear the weight of LOTR easier having made The Frighteners?

Looking back at The Frighteners it’s easy to see why critics would get the impression that it’s more interested in the technical. Have said that, what’s working in the film’s favour is that The Frighteners is chock full of ideas, and is capable of navigating a wide spectrum of tones from camp to thrills. The film also reminds us of the inherent charm of Michael J. Fox, even when he’s trying to play someone unlikable on the surface.

It also marks a passing of sorts. Horror sometimes seems like the game for the younger directors, a chance for them to show their proficiency in the language of cinema. After The Frighteners, Jackson worked on the blockbuster scale with a King Kong remake, and The Hobbit trilogy, with only a break in between for the smaller Lovely Bones adaptation. Jackson’s not shown much of sign that he’s interested in going back to splatter shock and gallows humour. It seems that time has passed.

The Frighteners though stands at a fascinating intersection in terms of its director’s resume, and being the rare horror comedy that slips through the studio machine. It’s interesting to note that The Frighteners was released on the same day that the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta began, so as soon it opened, The Frighteners was buried under the anticipation and expectation of something decidedly more upbeat. The makes The Frighteners, in the end, ripe for rediscovery.

The post THE FRIGHTENERS is Peter Jackson’s Missing Link appeared first on Nightmare on Film Street - Horror Movie Podcast, News and Reviews.

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jbuffyangel · 8 years ago

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Family: Arrow 6x07 Review (Thanksgiving)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family. We get an extra treat tonight because Arrow is on! I watched with my 14 year old nephew. He's hardcore about Arrow and believes Olicity is the only acceptable ship - I feel good about the future.

"Thanksgiving" explores all aspects of family within Team Arrow. There’s love, partnership, having each other’s back and putting relationships above all else. There’s also disagreements and pain, but it leads to truth. In the end, the family comes together to celebrate a miracle and one another.

Let’s dig in...

Olicity and William

We kick things off right - with an Olicity scene. William and Oliver are busy accepting food donations and the Queen of DCTV is fending off a reporter.

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Overprotective William may be even cuter than overprotective Oliver.

Telling that reporter The Flash is more her type is the biggest lie Felicity Smoak has ever told. A+ cover skills girl.

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No. Overprotective Oliver is still cuter. Well, it's hot. Hot plus cute equals a combination that can't be topped. Sorry William. I appreciate you joining the "Protective Felicity Smoak At All Costs" club though.

Felicity's little head tilt onto Oliver's shoulder while is Protective Husband mode is activated makes me want to throw glitter everywhere.

Source: amanitacaplan

So I'm gonna throw glitter everywhere.

This is 100% the scene where Emily pinched Stephen's butt and they absolutely used that take. No one can tell me different. Don't @ me. (X)

William: Did Oliver save you?

Felicity: He is heroic that way.

Oliver: She was doing just fine on her own.

That's it. That's the show. Any questions? No? Good.

Source: felicitysmoakdaily

I know I should be listening to Lance and Dinah talk about important mayoral duties, but mostly I am just watching Felicity link her arm through William's and those two smiling at each other. It's giving me flashes to William's wedding day. Felicity & Oliver walking William down the aisle. Excuse me... I need a minute.

What I love about Oliver's speech is he includes Felicity and William as an extention of himself.

Source: felicityssoliver

This is a family, these three people, and they are functioning both privately and publicly as one. In a way this in the Queen family debut (minus the white cotillion dresses). Felicity's face is lit up like Christmas as Oliver is speaking. She is so proud of her man. So happy to be part of this family.

As with anything on Arrow, blissful happiness and peace are but a fleeting moment. Just as Oliver is about to unveil the newly remodeled precinct, Agent Watson shows up and arrests Oliver for being the Green Arrow.

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CAMERAS AND ALL. IN FRONT OF WILLIAM. Stone cold, lady.

William calls Oliver "Dad" as he is being hauled away in hand cuffs.

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As my nephew correctly pointed out, this is the first time we've heard William call Oliver "Dad." William's pointed "Oliver" in the premiere meant Oliver had to earn the moniker. Being a father is more than genetics. So... has Oliver earned it? Yes, of course. He gave up being the Green Arrow to be more present to his son. That very sacrifice is one of the reasons why William began trusting Oliver more. So, it's a heartbreaking connective thread that the first time William calls Oliver "Dad" he's arrested for being the Green Arrow.

So, why does William choose this moment? It's less of a choice and more instinctual. William is a little boy and he's scared. Fear makes us vulnerable. We reach for protection and security when we are afraid. We want reassurance from the people in our lives that make us feel safe. That is who Oliver is to William. He is home base, security and safety. Oliver Queen is Dad and he’s exactly who William needs reassurance from. There are often moments in life, no matter how old we are, when fear and vulnerability makes us reach for our parents. We just want our mom and dad to make everything better. That's the eternal magic of parents. We believe they can make it all go away.

Source: felicitysmoakdaily

Oliver promises William that everything will be fine. Felicity has a protective and reassuring arm around William. I do take issue with the idea that Oliver in prison (or dead because of the Green Arrow) would leave William as an orphan. Yes, his biological parents would be dead. That technically leaves William as an orphan. I always imagine orphans like Oliver Twist - alone and fending for themselve. William will never be alone as long as he has Felicity. He will always have someone to take care of him - who will love William as her own. This is why it is spectacularly important to legalize this relationship and get some documentation up in here.

As Oliver is hauled away, William clenches his fists just like his father does when he is angry, worried or stressed. So, let's just run down the list:

William looks like Oliver.

He is Smoaked like all of us, but particularly his father.

William is overly protective when it comes to Felicity

He does the hand clenching thing.

William can cook

Is this Oliver Queen's genetic spawn or what? Give him a bow & arrow and let's see what he can do.

Source: olivergifs

Oliver is FURIOUS Agent Watson arrested him in front of William. It was a harsh move, but she's not looking to make friends with you Queen. She wants to rattle you. Personally, I am enjoying Agent Watson. It's been awhile since law enforcement was a legitimate threat to Oliver and it's nice getting back to our roots. She runs down the list of all the times Oliver fooled the city into believing someone else (Roy Harper or John Diggle) is the Green Arrow. Girl has it on lock and she does it by using basic logic. It's so refreshing to see on my television screen.

Oliver: Agent Watson, when I get out of here, and I will, I’m going to sue you for malicious prosecution.

So, now Oliver is ready to lawyer up for William? Where was this attitude in Season 4 big fella? We could have saved everyone a lot of headaches and heartache if you just hauled Samantha into court. Custody is a thing, buddy.

William is scared and mildly miffed because he believes Oliver broke his promise.

He didn't kiddo, but there doesn't seem to be a statue of limitations on vigilanting - particularly murder.

Source: olivergifs

Oliver reassures his son once more and then sends him home... to Felicity (and Raisa).

Home = Felicity. Facts only.

Arrow is exploring the concept of a team within a team. We saw this last week with Lyla and Diggle's and now we are seeing it with Oliver and Felicity. The first person Diggle confessed to wasn't Oliver, Felicity or anyone else on Team Arrow. John confessed to Lyla because his marriage supersedes any relationship he has on Team Arrow - including Oliver and Felicity.

This seems like one of those things where we could just say "Well duh." Of course, Diggle prioritizes his marriage with Lyla. Yeah, except that's not as common as you think and it's not as easy as you'd imagine. Also, it's important to build moments like this. We have to witness Diggle choosing Lyla and vice versus to solidify the relationship. These moments are what make a fictional couple real.

How Oliver and Felicity function as a couple within Team Arrow has always been more than just ferns, pep talks and making adorable bag lunches. There are a many relationships within Team Arrow and those relationships can often conflict. So, the question is - what relationship gets prioritized?

Oliver and Felicity's relationship is superseding all of their other relationships on the team to a degree we haven't seen on Arrow. Rather than tip around their vigilanting life (Season 4) or tip around their feelings for one another (Season 5), Olicity is meeting both head on. There is conflict within the team, but Oliver and Felicity prioritize their relationship and one other above all else.

Source: oliverxfelicity

Felicity uses her start up money to bail Oliver out of jail. Oliver is obviously uncomfortable with Felicity using that money, but it's either that or get comfy in that prison cell. Not surprisingly, Oliver's objections fall on deaf ears. Felicity is ride or die. This is what she's doing with her money. Oliver has also learned nobody “let’s” Felicity do anything. This is her choice. Oliver would do the same for her, so he stops objecting. See? Isn’t this nice when we respect a woman’s agency Oliver?

(The problem is - it's not just Felicity's money. It's Curtis' too and she doesn't consult him about the decision, but more on that later).

Source: westallenolicitygifs

Oliver is determined to not make Felicity a FBI target more than she already is, but Felicity is prepared to do whatever it takes to clear Oliver of these charges. Oliver and Felicity are determined to put the other first. The entire episode is an ebb and flow of selfless love. Even when they don’t agree, they are loving one another with everything they have.

John asks Felicity to keep quiet about his injury after she finds out. John's logic sounds reasonable. The rest of Team Arrow kept it secret from Felicity until finally they were forced to tell her what's going on. So, will Felicity keep it from Oliver?

There are no more secrets between them. No more lies. John being injured and compromised out in the field is absolutely something Oliver needs to know. If Felicity didn't tell him it would absolutely hurt their relationship. It may feel like a betrayal to John, whose friendship is incredibly important to Felicity, but her relationship with Oliver matters more.

Perhaps in Season 5, Felicity would have made a different choice. We know in Season 4 Oliver did. However, both characters have learned from those mistakes and we are witnessing a more honest approach to their relationship. They aren't hiding from the things that complicate it, but facing them head on. Their relationship comes first. This is marriage. And that's why they are ready for it.

"Thanksgiving" ends with Thea waking from her coma.

Source: amanitacaplan

I’ve never identified with Oliver more. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH THEA!

Oliver wraps his arms around Felicity and William, his sister recuperating in bed and John Diggle at his side.

This is the family Oliver has built. This is the family he fights for. He may have returned from Lian Yu to become the hood; he may be the Green Arrow, but this is the family Oliver survived for. This is living. For a man who doesn't fear death, that is something to be truly thankful for.

Source: gothsmoak

Oliver and Diggle

I think the most important "team within a team" on Arrow (after Oliver and Felicity) is Oliver and Diggle.

This is where Team Arrow started. These men are brothers. They are family. The problem is we don't always get along with our family. Sometimes we fight. Sometimes the truth is painful.

This confrontation between Oliver and Diggle is a long time coming, maybe even years. The fact that it is honest and needed doesn't make it any less heartbreaking to watch.

John Diggle has been doing some very un-Diggle like things. He's lied to his wife, his team... and his brother. Oliver and John's friendship has been set in stone for nearly five years: John knows what is right and Oliver eventually listens to him.

It's a format that's worked well for them - until it doesn't. The problem is, if Oliver always depends on John to be the moral compass then he never forms a moral compass of his own. If Diggle always has to toe the line, then he's never allowed to make mistakes. This ultimately creates a pressure cooker situation, one neither may be fully aware of until it blows.

And boy does it blow. Scenes like this, when Oliver, Felicity and Johnconfront one another, are rare on Arrow. It becomes very easy to glaze over the emotional side of things because Original Team Arrow is so busy saving the city. However, that doesn't negate the necessity. This is what makes the scenes so juicy when emotions and secrets are confronted. The backbone of this show is built on Oliver, Felicity and Diggle's relationships. When one of the "team within a team" falters - the whole foundation shakes.

Felicity is obviously hurt and angry Diggle kept a secret like this from her, but to her credit, she is only compassionate on the phone with him. Her empathy will always be her superpower.

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

Felicity does her very best to convince John to be honest with Oliver. I don't envy Felicity when she is in these positions. Oliver and Diggle can be very stubborn and when they are at odds it's like brokering peace between warring nations. When Felicity's pleas fall on deaf ears, she takes matters into her own hands and tells Oliver what is going on. She's right. This is something Oliver needs to know and John is wrong for lying to him.

Oliver. Is. Mad. And with good reason. First and foremost, John is Oliver's brother. If he's hurt, if he's in pain, Oliver wants to know. He wants to help. Second, there is no way Oliver would risk Diggle's life, or the lives of the team, by putting him in the field. Third, drug use?

The sacred tenant of Arrow is both Oliver Queen and John Diggle's bodies are temples. They are to be treated as such.

Stephen Amell tweeted this line out several weeks ago and it did not disappoint.

Source: olivergifs

GUT PUNCH.

Oliver and Diggle have disagreed. They've been angry with one another, but most of the time that's Oliver's fault. This is entirely new territory for Oliver. He's never been disappointed in John because Diggle has never done anything disappointing.

But that's the problem with this relationship. There's no room for error for John. The expectation to always be dependable, to always be right, to always put others first is what led to this situation to begin with. It's why John was able to rationalize lying. Oliver, Felicity, the team and the city are more important. They come first. John Diggle always puts himself last. The lies were for the greater good and that is how even Yoda falls off the moral high ground.

John, however, is not in the mood for Oliver's righteous indignation.

Dude, really? YOU KINAPPED MY WIFE AND KID FOR THE "GREATER GOOD" OR DID YOU FORGET?

Oliver has made more than his fair share of mistakes. He made tough calls time and again while wearing the hood. They were calls Diggle disagreed with, but they were ultimately Oliver's decisions because he wears the hood. That's the job.

A job Oliver gave up and handed to Diggle. It's easy to judge when standing on the side lines. When the lives of the city and the team are no longer on your shoulders.

Oliver bites back, rather quickly I might add, that John doesn't get to claim the moral high ground. This is why I've been saying this fight may have been years coming. Diggle has always pushed Oliver to be better. He's always been the moral authority in Oliver's life. As much as Oliver needed someone like that, it can also create a push/pull effect. Diggle has to be beyond reproach. Otherwise, Oliver can snap his fingers and say, "HA! You aren't any better than me!" which is kind of what he did here.

Oliver is also right. Diggle doesn't get to claim the moral high ground. Not this time. This time... Oliver has it. It's a strange place for both of these men to be.

Diggle believes his only responsibility was to the team - to those whose lives he put in danger. That doesn't apply to Oliver. This has nothing to do with him. Oliver is no longer on the team. That was HIS choice, so Diggle doesn't owe Oliver any explanations. Eh... works in theory John, but I'm not really buying.

Diggle would have told Felicity if this was true. Yes, Felicity was spending time with Oliver and William when Diggle confessed to the team, but that was a week ago. Diggle couldn't have squeezed in a second with Felicity and let her know he's been injecting an illegal steroid? Sure he could have, but he didn't.

Felicity is obviously stung she's finding out second hand. This is OTA. They are the core. They may not say it out loud, but that relationship supersedes the relationships with the new team members.

That's why Diggle couldn't tell Felicity the truth. He could confess to Lyla, who is his home. He could confess to the newbies because there isn't as much history there.

However, telling Felicity and Oliver is more difficult because Diggle is embarrassed. He can't stand the thought of disappointing the two people who have always depended on him. A lot of John's self worth is built upon being the rock for everyone he loves. He's failed this time. Confessing to Felicity and Oliver is putting up a mirror John isn't quite prepared to face. Sometimes telling the people closest to you is harder. It makes it real. It's not just about admitting the truth to Oliver and Felicity. It's about admitting the truth to himself.

So, Oliver's "I've never been disappointed" is soul crushing to Diggle. That's exactly the response he feared. Furthermore, Oliver can't be more disappointed in Diggle than Diggle is with himself. So, he responds to that hurt with anger. I'll see your "disappointment" and raise you a "Go to hell."

Diggle: I don't owe you a damn thing.

SHOTS FIRED! Oh man y'all. THIS IS PAINFUL. MY CHILDREN ARE FIGHTING. Oliver's reaction?

This relationship hasn't been one sided. Oliver has been a brother to Diggle just as much as Diggle has been one to him. Oliver has pulled John from the darkness too. He gave Diggle a purpose in life and means to do real good. The beauty of this friendship is these men saved each other.

Oliver: For the sake of our friendship I hope that's withdrawal talking.

What Oliver is failing to see is confessing to him is the most difficult for John. Diggle thrives on being needed. His life's blood is being the "go to guy." More so with Oliver than anyone else. So, how does John Diggle tell Oliver Queen he failed at being the Green Arrow?

John tells Oliver the truth and it's a long time coming.

He puts Oliver above everyone and everything - including his own health. John feels like he can't make mistakes because he's always cleaning up after Oliver. John has built his life around supporting Oliver Queen and the pressure is breaking him. He can never put himself first because Oliver has claimed that position. Or rather Diggle has allowed him to. The fate of the friggin city now rests on it for god sake. Oliver is furious Diggle is trying to blame him, but he's not. He's simply stating out loud how their friendship has worked for the last six years.

It's painful for Oliver to hear, but it doesn't make it any less true. As good as Oliver is, he can also be little narcissistic. That said, Oliver has his own truth for Diggle. He thought John could be a better hero because he always believed Diggle was the better man. Oliver may have been the Green Arrow, but John Diggle was his hero. The fall off the pedestal may be painful for John, but it's crushing for Oliver. So, he bites back with an equally crushing comment.

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This is everything Diggle has feared the moment he put on the hood. It's why he lied. Yet, here we are.

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Both men are right. Both are wrong. It's why the scene is so intense. This is the richness a six year relationship can deliver.

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We know the foundation of Oliver's world is shaking because he goes to see Thea. He tearfully pleads with her to wake up. Oliver is reaching for a familial relationship he is sure of because another has imploded. He doesn't know where to turn because he can't ask the man who always has the answers for him. And Oliver can't ask Thea how to fix it.

However, this isn't Season 1-5. Oliver doesn't need Thea or Diggle to tell him how to fix it. He already knows how to fix it because this boy is raised. Felicity, Diggle and Thea have given him all the tools necessary. Now, Oliver has to put them to use. If Oliver is truly meant to be a superhero, what better place to start than with the man who set him on that path in the first place?

Source: legends-of-today

Oliver apologizes FIRST.

Felicity would be proud.

Perhaps Oliver has a clearer view of Diggle's perspective on the moral high ground. Perhaps Oliver remembers he's been wrong more than right. Perhaps he realizes the moral high ground doesn't matter as much as his friendship with John. Whatever it is, Oliver recognizes his myopic view on "taking on the hood" and admits he didn't properly consider everything he was asking Diggle to do.

And just like that these men remember they are family. Oliver is incredibly thankful, as is William, that Diggle is the Green Arrow. Unfortunately, the nerve damage has spread to Diggle's back. The damage is permanent because of his steroid use. If he continues out in the field he could end up paralyzed.

Uhhh... but Curtis and Felicity could put in the microchip if that happens. See? Problem fixed. No? Is that wrong?

Oliver is heartbroken Diggle went to these lengths for him, but John admits it wasn't all for Oliver. Diggle finally tells the truth. Something Lyla (and I) have long suspected. The lengths Diggle went to, the lies he told, weren't for Oliver. John did this for himself.

What comes next is some screwy logic, but we'll work our way through it. Diggle tells Oliver the "perfect life" the Dominators created for him last year was being the Green Arrow. Oliver giving the hood to Diggle wasn't selfish. It was an honor. John wants to be the Green Arrow. He just never knew it.

Time for a reality check. Listen boys, that "perfect life" the Dominators created wasn't perfect. They took bits and pieces of your subconscious and created the ILLUSION of perfection. In the immortal words of Cher from Clueless, " No, she's a full-on Monet.... It's like a painting, see? From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess.” Dominator dream world is a full-on Monet.

Also, it was OLIVER'S "What if?" not John's.

We know next to nothing about John and Felicity's life in the Dominator's dream world. Felicity had Smoak Technologies and was engaged to Ray Palmer. Diggle was the Green Arrow... and that's about the it. Somehow I think their dream world runs a little deeper than that. We're saying Felicity's dream man is Ray Palmer? Come on now.

He's de facto fiancé. It's what life would be like if Oliver Queen was removed from the equation, but that doesn't automatically equal a perfect reality. Far from it.

John has absolutely no idea what led him to become the Green Arrow. People don't normally start wearing masks for kicks and giggles, Diggle. Exhibit A:

Where was Lyla or JJ? Or better yet SARA? John certainly wouldn't sacrifice his wife and child to be the Green Arrow.

The same could be said for Sara Lance. Her sister was alive, but we know nothing else about her life. I'm sure Sara was thrilled about Laurel being alive, but she is not the be all and end all of her world.

This was an extraordinarily Oliver focused dream because he had a lesson to learn. He is the one who was living life in the past. The lesson the dream world taught Oliver is the illusion of happiness is no comparison for what is real and true- even if that reality is painful.

The Dominators did pull from everyone's subconscious, however. There are bits of truth in those dreams. There had to be because that's what made it so tempting to stay.

"He lies with the truth." - Cordelia Chase, Angel

The truth is Oliver wants his parents to be alive. He wants to settle down, get married and raise a family. Oliver wants to define himself, outside of his father. That doesn't mean the Dominators fulfilled those truths with all the right people in all the right ways. Especially when the lie with the wrong person is built upon the real memories of the right person. It's one of the reasons Oliver was able to walk away.

WRONG

RIGHT

YES

It's the same with Diggle. The underlining truth isn't necessarily that Diggle wants to be Green Arrow.

“You know what the difference is between you and me? I want to be the guy. You want to be the guy the guy counts on.” President Bartlet, The West Wing

John Diggle is the guy the guy counts on. He's been content with that role for six years and it's a vitally important one. The team, and the Green Arrow, cannot be without him.

Let's not forget Spartan is no slouch. Diggle can, and has, inspired people as Spartan. He saved the city as much as the Green Arrow. So, is this just about a wardrobe change?

No, the truth is John wants to be "the guy." The Green Arrow is team leader even when the team functions as a democracy. As long as Oliver was on the team that would never be John. After the mind numbing fear faded, Diggle wanted to be the one making the calls. John wants to lead. He wanted his moment in the sun. It's a natural and very human reaction after spending six years in Oliver Queen's shadow.

Even Diggle's job as security for the mayor revolves around Oliver. Perhaps Diggle is just looking for a way to define himself beyond Oliver Queen the same way Oliver was looking for a way to define himself beyond his father. However, there's lots of ways to fulfill that need than wearing the hood. In fact, one could argue wearing the hood only connects Diggle MORE to Oliver Queen. John isn't defining himself beyond Oliver. He's trying to BE Oliver.

I don't believe John was secretly discontent all these years. Maybe the Dominator dream simply revealed he was ready for more responsibility. However, even that is a slippery slope. Yes, John felt the added weight upon his shoulders when he first took on the mantle. He even required a pep talk from Oliver. Does it mean John has felt the full weight of responsibility the Green Arrow carries? No. His losses have been... manageable.

As heroic as the Green Arrow is, there is a darker side to this hood. There’s sacrifice and loss. Maybe once John experiences that as the Green Arrow it won’t be as appealing. Maybe that won’t even be necessary. Time will tell.

John is absolutely going through something and maybe it's simply a case of "the grass is greener on the other side." Pun intended. Right now John believes it is. He still wants to be the Green Arrow despite his injury.

The agreement between the men is Oliver will put the hood back on in the short term. Once Felicity and Curtis find a way to fix Diggle then Oliver will hand it over again. This is how Oliver rationalizes lying to his son about going out into the field again.

There goes that moral high ground Oliver. It was nice while it lasted.

Lying to William is a colossal mistake. Somehow I don't think it would be too difficult to explain to William that John is hurt and Oliver needs to be the Green Arrow for the interim.

If William is angry or upset with Oliver's decision he has a right to those feelings. The point is to work through them together just like Oliver has done with Diggle. But why would he remember the very lesson he just learned for more than five minutes? That's no fun! Of course, Oliver has to screw this up before he gets it right. Please marry Felicity as quickly as possible. You need her help desperately with raising this child, Oliver.

Perhaps Oliver lied because, deep down, he knows this isn't temporary. What if Diggle's nerve damage can't be cured? Both men have to acknowledge that is a possibility.

"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't... and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you." Peter Parker, Spiderman: Homecoming

Everyone on Team Arrow has chosen this life - except for William. He's had it thrust upon him. I do believe Arrow is moving William towards a moment when he realizes the gifts his father has. Responsibility comes with those gifts. There is a certain amount of culpability in not helping when you can. Arrow has gone to lengths to point out the areas in which William is similar to his father. However, the biggest similarity is still coming. William will tell Oliver to be the Green Arrow because he knows it's the right thing to do.

Of course, the Green Arrow has to live beyond Oliver Queen or else he hasn't created much of a legacy. John Diggle is absolutely a capable Green Arrow. However, I don't believe he'll be wearing the hood again.

There's a beautiful shot of Diggle between the Spartan and Green Arrow suits. He's split between the two identities, uncertain which one fulfills him more. Hopefully John's trajectory will make him realize how important Spartan is.

The question of how John defines himself beyond Oliver Queen is one I am hoping the writers continue to explore through this season. Oliver and Diggle are brothers. They will always be family. They will always have each other's back. However, it's no different than Felicity and her company. John Diggle needs something that's just his too.

Felicity and Curtis

Oliver and Diggle aren't the only "team within a team" facing dramatic tension this week. Curtis and Felicity aren't very happy with one another and it reveals the seams in this partnership.

Felicity is upset Curtis didn't check with her before he injected their proprietary tech into Diggle. Curtis feels justified in doing so because Felicity never checked with him about the name or their company or the tech they would be making. It is after all HIS technology. Felicity feels they work independently and that's what makes them a great team. They don't need to check in with one another over every little detail. However, there seems to be some grey area on what details they do need to check in about.

Not unlike Oliver and Diggle, both Curtis and Felicity are right and wrong. They manage to get through the weekly threat before apologizing to one another. However, Curtis doesn't look to pleased to hear Felicity has "one more thing" she didn’t check with him on. We don't get to see his reaction to Felicity bailing out her boyfriend with their start up cash. The only threat to that money is if Oliver skips town and he’s not going to do that. So, hopefully Curtis is as willing to help out Oliver as Felicity is.

I am a little... I don't know what I am. Yes I do. I’m annoyed.

Curtis has a legitimate beef with Felicity. I won't argue that. I also recognize as Felicity Smoak goes, so goes my nation. That said, this fight does bring my issues with Curtis to the forefront.

Curtis' integration into the team has been the weakest and it's often to the detriment to Felicity's character. There were so many times last season when Curtis "mansplained" something to Felicity or she suddenly required Curtis' help with a hack she could have done in her sleep the previous seasons. There were even times Felicity acted completely out of character either by ignoring or not caring about important details, just so Curtis could be the "smart" hero and save the day. My personal fave was when Curtis lectured Felicity ( a victim of gun violence) about gun violence.

This went on all season last year and it made me dislike a character that I'd previously been pretty fond of. Season 6 has been better. Arrow has been dividing Curtis and Felicity's talents into separate spheres. Felicity is the hacker and Curtis is the inventor. These were always the spheres the characters should have been in. Curtis stepping all over Felicity to make himself relevant was completely unnecessary last year.

It's difficult to believe the Arrow writers didn't hear out complaints with lines like these:

Curtis: Can you come back and do this? Because you’re like way better at this than I am.

Arrow has even gone to great lengths to show Felicity is the alpha in Helix Dynamics. She is the Jobs to Curtis' Wozniak. She’s the leader.

We can't go ONE EPISODE with Curtis feeling slighted, ONE EPISODE where he feels like Felicity stepped on him, ONE EPISODE where she takes imitative and doesn't consult with him, without ending with Felicity apologizing to him. Meanwhile, Felicity is still waiting for an apology for all his behavior last season.

Hell, we're still waiting for Arrow to RECOGNIZE the misogynistic behavior. Felicity was never allowed to defend herself, push back on Curtis or express even the slightest bit of displeasure anytime he walked all over her. But Curtis is upset about the company name! Better devote 10 minutes of the episode to it! Felicity better apologize!

Give me a fucking break. Somehow if Curtis was the alpha in the company I don't think these conversations would be happening. Yes, they are partners, but as we've seen with Team Arrow there's always someone making the tough calls. There's always a leader even in the most democratic of partnership. Arrow has been pretty clear that person for Helix Dynamics is Felicity. So, stop making her apologize for it.

Quentin Lance

This week on "As The Lances Turn" Quentin decides he's done with his doppelganger daughter. Or is he? Dun dun DUNNN!!! *cue dramatic soap opera music*

Lord, I cannot tell you how much I don't care about this storyline. One week Quentin wants to redeem BS. The next week he wants to put a bullet in her. Only to regret not putting a bullet in her the following episode.

We are officially at character whiplash stage. Every time he's on screen I ask, "Which Quentin are we getting this week?" It's not unlike when L*urel was on the show. It's like the inconsistent LL writing has spread to Quentin like a disease. WE MUST SAVE HIM FANDOM. WE'RE LOSING HIM.

For the record Quentin:

BS is not LL

You do not need to redeem her just because she looks like LL. My husband's cousin just married Candice Accola’s look-alike. Did I ask her for an autograph, her perspective on Caroline Forbes, or what it's like to film with Paul Wesley? NO! THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!

All of those murders are on BS. END. OF. DISCUSSION.

There's a nice little scene between Lance and Dinah where she admits she let her boyfriend go because she wants to see the good in him. Julianna Harkvay and Paul Blackthorne do their best with what they are given. My problem is not with the acting, but with the writing. We are seven episodes in and Quentin has had the same conversation with anyone he's shared a scene with anytime he's on the damn show. Either get him a new storyline or move it along with this one.

It's difficult to move the BS redemption storyline along because that would requires BS to be on the show. Seriously, they put her in the EPISODE DESCRIPTION and I think she clocked 3 minutes of actual screen time. And those three minutes weren't much. BS is nothing more than Cayden James’ hired thug.

But sure, Arrow is itching to redeem her.

Stray Thoughts

Billy Joel needs new people who listen to the mayor when he says there is a viable threat.

Oliver's growly voice is my sexual identity.

Really hope the discussion between Oliver and William isn't recorded, because the kid totally outed his dad as the Green Arrow. LEARN SOME COVERT SKILLS KIDDO.

Diggle gives a very Green Arrow speech. I was all inspired and motivated. So, I got up and went to the fridge for more stuffing. Inspiration and motivation look different on everyone.

Can a needle penetrate muscles this size? Source: fellicityqueen

Diggle has a sexy scar on his shoulder. I feel like a scar is a pre-requisite to wearing the Green Arrow suit.

Was that Moira's attorney?

"I will distract myself by clearing your good name." It’s so beautiful how far Oliver and Quentin’s relationship has come.

Rene is becoming the One-Liner King:

“I'm going to work on algorithm over there after I figure out what an algorithm is."

“I happen to like a wide variety of music and "The Stranger" is a treasured piece of rock and roll history.

“I wanted to see Billy Joel.” Same Rene.

Auntie Thea = Jen pile of mush. Source: gothsmoak

My childhood: a summary. Source: gothsmoak

Does Arrow realizes babies come in another gender? This gender is called FEMALE. What's with all the sons?

Alright, but who's Cayden James' son?

Felicity issuing orders. YASSS!!!!!

Felicity voting #TeamDinah is the kind of female solidarity I like on my TV screen.

Of course Oliver had to make an entrance. Good to have him back in the suit. Source: olivergifs

Agent Watson double dared Oliver to reveal his identity. Get ready for a Tony Stark moment by the end of the season!

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 6x07 episode gifs credited.

#arrow #olicity #john diggle #oliver and diggle #arrow 6x07 #queen family #william clayton #arrow reviews #season 6 episode review #season 6 episode reviews #anti black siren #anti laurel lance

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