equalorbetter

[equalorbetter]

Anyway florence pugh actually understanding and calling out all the dumb comic media outlets claiming Yelena’s the next Black Widow by pointing out, in fact, that the Widow title isn’t some super-hero mantle that gets passed on and is instead much more complicated and born out of the suffering/forced interchangeability of the girls trained in the Red Room? Iconic

[equalorbetter]

Current mood: Yelena Belova dressed up as Natasha Romanova laying in a dumpster.

[equalorbetter]

You stole me from me, Natasha.

[equalorbetter]

I love the spider mask unironically. all the other lights on the mask? what are they for? the aesthetic.

[equalorbetter]

Yelena Belova

[equalorbetter]

man remember when everyone thought dottie underwood was yelena? lmao

[equalorbetter]

“She looks just like you.” -- from X

@decommed

It’s late, but time has little to do with the exhaustion setting in-- the fine tightrope-walk exhilaration of a mission finally falling to the wayside in the wake of success.

Yelena wonders if Barnes means to say it, or if it leaves unbidden-- a transgression against his own desire for secrecy, and it causes her a slight pause as she removes her tactical belt, a sliver of a second, bypassed as if his stray admission is nothing of import.

          ( she isn’t sure if it’s born of sympathy or dismissal )

    “So I’ve been told.”

          ( “I wanted you to understand, finally, what it meant to be a spy.”

--words that fell from the lips of the woman wearing her face, as if it were a kindness, as if Yelena hadn’t already learned to be used. )

     “Penny for your thoughts, Barnes?”

[equalorbetter]

“What do I mean to you?” - from X

@roamanova

It’s a loaded question, so of course she asks it.

          ( and how to answer--? when any definitive truth is too convoluted to parse? )

Romanova has served as motivation, as influence, and Yelena isn’t young enough anymore to furiously deny it as such, or to hold herself at constant comparison. Anger has often driven them across one another’s paths (more so hers), but latent respect has stayed her hand from bloodshed (mostly). 

What’s left at its core is a tangle of disdain for her arrogance and silent admiration for her perseverance.

          ( they are the only two, after all )

     “What do you want to mean to me?”

[equalorbetter]

my  own  private  idaho  ( 1991 )  sentence  starters ↪  alter  as  you  see  fit

“i know where i am by the way the road looks.”

“i just know that i’ve been here before.”

“we’re stuck here together, you shit.”

“don’t worry; everything’s gonna be all right.”

“my dad and i don’t get along too well.”

“oh god, crying tears. hold on. here you go.”

“you know your math.”

“boy, this place is a mess.”

“this is a nice home. do you live here?”

“there are cokes in the refrigerator. help yourselves.”

“it’s normal. nothing kinky.”

“i’ve never been to a concert before, dude.”

“he thinks i’m a threat.”

“you want to be my friend?”

“why don’t you go home? go the fuck home!”

“i kind of remember you two having this real heavy, uh, thing …”

“he was fucking in love with me.”

“that’s what i thought.”

“what a dickhead. so stupid.”

“jesus, the things we’ve seen.”

“'i think that i shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree’.”

“we have heard the chimes at midnight.“

“there is no reason to know the time. we are timeless.”

“look at me now - just a little better than wicked.”

“i have a joke i want to play.”

“i was going to anyway; i was just kidding.”

“i will change when everybody expects it the least.”

“it will all be just one endless party.”

“what i’m getting at is that we’re still alive.”

“yeah well, that’s obvious, isn’t it?.”

“you sit down, you little fuck.”

“i think my arm’s broken from the fight.”

“do you think that i would kill the heir apparent?”

“fuck you.”

“you suck.”

“getting away from everything feels good.”

“wherever, whatever. have a nice day.”

“if i had a normal family and a good upbringing … then i would have been a well-adjusted person.”

“that’s all right. i don’t feel sorry for myself.”

“i’d like to talk with you.”

“i don’t feel like i can be close to you.”

“what do i mean to you?”

“i know i’m your friend. we’re good friends. and it’s good to be, you know, good friends …”

“i could love someone even if i, you know, wasn’t paid for it.”

“i love you and .. you don’t pay me.”

“i really want to kiss you, man.”

“i love you, though. you know that. i do love you.”

“just go to sleep.”

“looks like this is the end. “

“look [name]; sandwiches!”

“this happens every time we get together.”

“i want the real truth.”

“listen to me when i’m talking to you!”

“what the fuck was the name of that movie, now?”

“oh come on, man. how corny.”

“you know too much.”

“did you cut your hand?”

“i wouldn’t mind living here.”

“i just got in. could you please wait your turn?”

“could i get four orders of large french fries - extra crispy - and some coke. and that’s all.”

“she looks just like you.”

“was she your friend?”

“i’m ready to leave whenever you are.”

“maybe i’ll run into you down the road.”

“you’re not very talkative tonight, man.”

“i have waited for this day to come.”

“you’re lookin’ well. so grown up.”

“he’s either in heaven or hell now.”

“i’m a connoisseur of roads.”

[equalorbetter]

my mission in life is to completely erase yelena’s characterization in the richard k. morgan run. so this yelena doesn’t own a lingerie/porn company, she runs a private military firm, specializing in personal protection, convoy security, and tactical operations and training drills for federal agencies like S.H.I.E.L.D. 

[equalorbetter]

The confrontation 

[equalorbetter]

The Red Room was a training program in Moscow.  One of the many arms of Department X, the KGB’s experimental science division.  One of Department X’s specialties was brainwashing.  Erasing memories, implanting new ones, even turning men into programmed slaves.  They experimented with all kinds of techniques, too.  Hallucinogens, microchips, sensory deprivation. 

- Winter Soldier #7

[equalorbetter]

This was Natasha trying to save Yelena. Thing of it is, Daredevil, blondie down there sees things like you do. She thinks she’s a super hero. But Natasha, she’s the Black Widow. She’s the real deal. She knows better.

Natasha/Yelena, for shrike-attack.