#Howard really said we support womens wrongs

[totallynotgoat]

SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIES X AND PEARL

Shoutout to Howard for still loving Pearl even after finding out about her crazy escapades while he was at war

Honestly relationship goals, I wish someone loved me like that

[sublimecatgalaxy]

Pretty Girl

Pairing: Cassie Howard x Reader

Summary: Cassie's closeted with a girlfriend. I think that's all I need to say.

Song: "Prom Queen" by Beach Bunny

Warnings: Angst, mentions of sex, happy ending.

A/n: Hi guys! I've had a few people ask me to write literally anything about Cassie so I wrote a very neutral fic that kind of steered away from any of her problem child actions. love yall!

It was safe to say that Cassie didn't want anyone to know that she had a girlfriend. Well, at least that's how it felt. She wasn't ashamed of me, just kind of hesitant to tell people that, after her years of dating men, she met a woman that made her whole world stop.

Me.

I was proud to be this girl for her, the one that made her realize that she felt differently than she did before. It definitely came as a surprise, meeting her at one of the parties at McKay's house a few years ago. And it was a bit unfortunate that we met while she was dating the jock.

They had a lot of issues. Issues that I would hear about quite frequently, in fact, every night. She'd call me, crying, angry, happy. Every emotion that one person could feel, McKay made her feel. I would hear about their dates, their sex life, their fights and their make ups.

Until one night, she just decided to be done. She seemed okay, but she finally texted me after two weeks of radio silence. She told me that, apparently, they had been broken up for about a month but she didn't know how to tell me one of the reasons that they actually split.

Then her feelings for me came out.

I was pretty shocked to say the least. She had known that I liked women for a long time, more than men. In fact, way more than men. I don't know, maybe I appreciated a woman more and felt safer with one. Cassie was wreckless though so I don't think that I could apply that logic to her. But she was my best friend. I had always loved her even though it seemed a bit stereotypical.

She didn't want to tell anyone. She didn't want any of her ex-boyfriends finding out, her sister, her mom. She wanted me to be her secret and she wanted me to be okay with it. And I was.

At first.

The first time it really struck me as hurtful was at a party when a guy asked her to dance. She looked back at me nervously, almost asking for permission. First of all, you should need zero permission to dance with someone. But she was dating me but god forbid she said she was taken. Second, she was so terrified to make up some lie to get out of dancing with him, afraid that she would make it seem like she was there with me.

The second time was when we almost got caught making out in her very non-private room by Lexi. I knew in my heart that Lexi Howard was no snitch. She would always tell me about how much of a good influence I was on her sister and I think she would be nothing but supportive. But Cassie was sure on the fact that Lexi would be a 'nosy whore'.

Her words.

So we went on, dating, being happy in secrecy. Until we weren't.

She was pretty adamant about making out with me. I mean, Cassie always got what she wanted so who was I to complain? Except this was at a party, a public party. So she had to pull me into a room, locking the door quickly before she placed her delicate lips on mine.

I kind of got turned off to the whole secrecy thing then.

I wanted her to want to kiss me in front of everyone and to not give one single shit.

I snapped and quite literally walked out. And walked home.

I wasn't mad at her, I understood that it was hard to come out, hard to tell people. I didn't really need to due to the fact that everyone around me knew I liked women. I was just obvious, I guess. And Cassie wasn't. It was hard for her as it was to convey normal emotions, let alone something of this capacity. This was a big thing and I understood it took time.

But it hurts. It hurts having to keep yourself away from the person you love, to pretend not to be yourself. To stay at arms length just incase someone got the wrong idea. I just wanted to love the crazy blonde. And I knew she loved me, she just had a funny way of showing it.

From Cass <3: baby, i'm sorry. can i come over so we can talk?

I stare at the text with a huff, my head falling back against my pillow as I contemplate my response. I didn't want to give in, I wanted her to know she hurt me. But that wasn't very mature of me, was it? Fuck.

Before I can reply, my phone buzzes again. Twice.

From Cass <3: I'm at your door.

Answer the door.

Giggling softly at her antics, my eyes rolling as I throw myself out of bed. Like I said, she gets what she wants whether I like it or not. I knew that I had to confront her. I didn't want to lose her, fuck no. I'd be her secret forever if it meant that I could be with her, hold her, kiss her. I would suffer through anything to be hers. Including suffering through a painful conversation like the one that's about to follow.

Making my way downstairs, I unlock the door with a sigh, prying the wood open to look at my girlfriend. She pouts softly, her curls framing her face as she clutches her phone to her chest.

"Hi baby." She whispers, tilting her head at me with a soft smile as I break. She knew just what to say to have me opening the door, didn't she? She steps into the house silently, her shoes being kicked off at the door as she waits politely. "Is your family home?" She asks curiously, her eyebrows ticking up as she points upstairs. I give her a small shake of my head, a beautiful smile spreading out across her lips as she nods. "Can we talk about what happened at the party?" She asks quietly, stepping towards me as I sigh, my eyes fluttering down to the ground. "Cuz, I'm gonna be honest, I've been freaking out and worrying that you were gonna dump me." She lets out a nervous laugh and I watch as tears quickly fill her eyes. She keeps up a polite facade, a small trembling smile on her lips as she waits.

"I'm not gonna break up with you, Cass, never." I whisper, my hands prying her hands away from her chest as she lets out an anxious breath, her whole body relaxing. "But yeah, we should probably talk, huh?" I offer gently, my fingers reaching up to brush some hair from her face as she blushes in the low light. She nods gently, her body inching towards mine.

"Can I have a kiss first, though?" She asks meekly, my hand cupping her cheeks with a silly smile, my lips pressing against hers in a soft, delicate kiss. She hums happily, a small sigh of relief passing her lips as I pull away. I take her hand in mine gently, knowing that I could never stay mad at her. But that doesn't mean we didn't have to talk.

I lead her upstairs silently, her hand shaking in mine as I pull her into my room, her body relaxing at the familiar environment. She carried so much anxiety in her body whenever she was worried. You could tell by the fake smile and squared shoulders whenever she was upset about something significant.

She sits down on my bed, pulling her favorite blanket over her lap as she watches me. "You don't gotta worry, bub, I'm not mad." I whisper, sitting down in front of her to take her hands in mine.

"I know you're upset, though. We've been dating for nine months and six days and no one knows about us." She whispers, validating an inner part of me as I send her a small, sheepish nod. The fact that she's so specific with the number of days we've been dating makes me want to cry. "I'm sorry that I made you feel like I was hiding you. I'm not trying to do it deliberately..." She trails off, my hand waving her concerns off as I'm already familiar with her fear.

"I know you're afraid Cassie. It's okay. You're allowed to be scared. You've never been asked to deal with something like this. It's heavy." I whisper, my fingers gently rubbing circles on the inside of her wrist as she huffs.

"I want to tell people though. I want to feel confident enough to kiss you in front of people, to tell my best friend. I just think that they would ask so many questions and bug you and never leave us alone." She whispers breathlessly as my attention shifts a bit.

"Wait, so you're not worried about the fact that you'd tell everyone that you like women. You're just afraid that they would never leave us alone?" I giggle quietly, her head bobbing as she rolls her eyes playfully.

"I mean, of course I'm worried about telling people I like women. I don't really have a label yet- I'm not really trying to find one. Which seems like the opposite of me, I know." She shakes her head with a laugh, her hair falling in her face as I watch her in awe. "I think that, like, someone like Lex or my mom, they've known us as best friends. Things will change if I tell them. Like my mom would be weird about us having sleepovers. I don't want things to change. I don't want people to ask questions. If I could just snap my fingers and have everyone know without the initial shock, I would just do it." She explains, a soft smile on her lips as she huffs.

"It's okay that you want to be private, Cass. If you would've told me that, we wouldn't be having this conversation." I giggle, reaching over to shove her as she rolls her eyes with a shrug.

"I just- I don't know how to make you feel appreciated while also, like, maintaining our privacy." She whispers, her fingers toying with mine as I grin naughtily, her eyebrows raising at my sudden mood change.

"Come here." I whisper, pulling her off the bed as she squeals, my hands pulling her into my bathroom. I keep the light off, taking her phone from her as I go into snapchat. "I know exactly how to do that while also driving people crazy." I giggle, watching as her eyes light up in the dark room.

"Really?" She asks, my hand reaching out to rest on her hip as I pull her to me, a small gasp escaping her lips. I turn her around so she's facing the mirror, my hands around her waist as I rest my chin on her shoulder. Holding the phone in front of my face with the flash on, the light shines out throughout the room as I chuckle quietly. Cassie quickly turns in my arms as I hold her against the counter, both of us looking at the provocative but private photo. You can't see my face, just the outline of my figure behind her. Typing out a quick caption, pretty girl, being my name for her, she grins wickedly. "You're so smart." She cheers quietly, taking the phone from me as she analyzes the picture. "And you can, like, tell it's a girl and not a guy right? Like this means people will know?" She asks, the grin not fading from her lips as I lean forward, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Completely, baby." I whisper, my thumb rubbing circles into her hip. She squeals quietly, her finger hovering over the send button as she takes a deep breath. This is it. Pressing send, I smile widely as I cup her cheeks, my lips pressing against hers as her phone clatters against the counter. She immediately kisses me back with another excited squeal, her body trembling happily in my grasp. She pulls away from me breathlessly as I wait for her to speak, her eyes twinkling.

"And then, as people start to like make the connection, maybe we just start telling people slowly?" She offers, my shoulders shrugging in a simple agreement, knowing that the picture was truly good enough to calm my insatiable heart. "Maybe we'd tell Rue first? Jules? They swing our way right?" My heart thumps at her phrasing, my cheeks warming. Our way. Ignoring her question, I press my lips to hers once more in a quick kiss, our laughs filling the bathroom as her phone begins to buzz rapidly.

It continued to buzz for the next two hours but let's just say Cassie was a bit preoccupied.

;)

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[afro-elf]

fine, i’ll elaborate on my thoughts about tylor sift but they will be disorganized

disclaimer: i know a few people will read this and be like “op is a hozier fan can she really talk about the cultural obsession with mediocre white art?” and the answer is yes because a) i’m black and i have an english degree so can do whatever i fucking want, b) hozier is a better artist than taylor objectively, like his mediocre tracks would be considered her great ones, and c) the comparison of taylor to hozier is part of the problem Genuinely because i don’t even think white people like half the music they listen to, they just don’t wanna be left behind, we’ll get into this later. i’m sorry to everyone who is tired of hearing about him but hozier will be returning later in this post jsfglsjlgldsjlfd

second note: read this

i don’t just dislike taylor because she’s white. i don’t dislike taylor because she’s a woman. i don’t dislike her because she writes mean and petty lyrics about past relationships and people who wronged her. i don’t dislike taylor because her public circle of friends is almost exclusively blonde white celebrities with their own laundry lists of issues that includes ryan reynolds and blake lively who are poster children for white privilege and pseudo-excellence if i’ve ever seen them. i dislike taylor because the amalgamation of all of those things is so exemplary of a huge problem i have with the music industry in general but also like american society

fuck it, numbered list!

1. taylor swift consistently releases the same mediocre album but in different colors. every album is the same lyrically and tonally. her body of work rarely goes very far above “good for taylor swift”. folklore as both title and musical aesthetic is irrelevant to the actual content of the album, which is just every taylor swift album except set to folk pop and with a bit more cussing, congrats for baby’s first swear. i’ve seen folklore compared to much better bodies of work and even propped up by stans as album of the year, a distinction that rina sawayama and chloe x halle will be battling it out for if there is any justice in the world at all. the fact that she is allowed to do this and still be considered great when this is something that even white male artists are butchered critically for... astounds me. like we all know how well received all of coldplay’s similar sounding albums are.... Come on. 

2. i don’t think taylor or her work is particularly feminist and yet for some reason every time she frowns an army of white women brings her kleenex. i’m not saying taylor’s anger has always been unjustified, but her feminism to me has always felt like “i can do whatever a man can do” feminism, which is utterly fucking useless to me as a black woman. it’s only useful to her because as a wealthy, white, straight, cis white woman her ONLY obstacle in life is her gender. and if she just didn’t have that tricky little bitch then maybe people would take her seriously. like, just think about her music video for the man... what was the thesis of that? what was the point of that? with all of her privileges she’d just be gaining a single extra privilege. she’s a blonde blue eyed thin white girl, the world kisses her feet. i have no interest in proving myself any better or any worse than white men, they are not the standard for how a person should be treated, they’re cautionary tales, and white women are too. i think taylor capitalizes off of white woman victimhood, and it’s all over her writing style. even when she’s trying to be empowered, like in mad woman for example, there is this tone to it of victimization, poking the bear, unleashing the beast if you will. she invokes the imagery of salem witches and even more boldly chooses a noose to write about in the song which is..... surely going to be a white tumblr staple for many gifsets to come but holy shit is it hollow. she also tends to come back to teenage memories in her music and she’s thirty. i don’t think about being seventeen unless i’m being held at gunpoint but she seems to think about it All The Time. and part of this is to keep herself young, at least in her music, which only further ingrains this image of fragile teeny bopper taylor into the mind of the listener, fueling her victim image. this imagery and language means nothing because the world always rallies around taylor. even when she was the butt of jokes for not being beyonce (which she is not and never can be) and writing about her exes (which she does), she was largely supported by the industry and by critics. look at how many fucking awards she has!

3. folk and indie and alternative music is in a moment of transition, where musicians of color are getting the chance to really speak about how they’ve been treated in these overwhelmingly white circles and create their own standards and their own voices. and for taylor swift to swoop in with aaron dessner and jack antonoff fantano and almost reassert that mid-2010s indie sound as The Sound of folk pop in the popular consciousness.... it makes me violent! it! makes! me! violent! 

4. back to hozier! finally, i wanna talk about white standom, fandom, bandom, and womandom. i often see these very superficial comparisons between hozier and taylor (and hozier and florence and hozier and stevie nicks and hozier and whatever other white woman in fashion) and they frustrate me for more than one reason. i know that hozier has met taylor and said she’s cool, which is nice of him and he’s a nice man, but i’m not a nice man so i’m going to just say it: none of the people who have made those posts have listened to more than four hozier songs and it shows. the reason why this matters is because these posts catch on and create an image and preconception of hozier’s music that is divorced from reality and divorced from his influences and most importantly divorced from the deliberate and reverent blackness of his musical style. hozier has his white male privilege in the industry for sure but he’s not as towering of a giant as taylor and taylor’s music is an unsalted chicken, plain oatmeal, white paint drying on a white wall, a stick of unflavored gum. her music is so white it told me that its dad is a cop. i am, as a black hozier fan, exhausted with having to share space with white women who don’t know why hozier’s music kicks me in my lungs sometimes and think that taylor mentioning a tree ONCE in her 3 minute acoustic guitar slog about whatever suburb is the same when it simply is not. i swear some of you are pretending to love taylor because your friends love her and you don’t wanna be left out of the hot new musical discourse but she’s only the hot new musical discourse CONSTANTLY because she’s a white woman, she’s almost the Perfect white woman. like if someone asked me to describe a white woman, it would be taylor swift. her position at the top of the musical pyramid among people who eclipse her musically, vocally, and lyrically is only allowed because she’s The Perfect White Woman. she’s an ideal. white girls relate to her immediately because of it and now we have this unshakable mob of unbearable white women who think that the world has wronged someone who literally wrote fanfiction about the rich oil heiress white woman who owned her rhode island mansion before her aklghlghdhlgs it drives me fucking NUTS 

anyway that’s all. if you made it this far, listen to adia victoria, kaia kater, samantha crain, valerie june, kelsey lu, corinne bailey rae, brittany howard, kimya dawson, japanese breakfast, cold specks, left at london, rhiannon giddens, aisha badru, shea diamond, nadine shah, xenia rubinos, karen o, mirel wagner.... Anyone

[jade-doodles-questionmark]

On Alexander, Angelica and Eliza

Heres some long-ass personal interpretation based on the musical that nobody following this blog signed up for lol. Not gonna be touching on history coz i’m no expert and there’re ppl way more qualified for that. and it’s good to keep things separated.

there’re obviously many similarities between the two A’s. Both are witty, outspoken, center of attention, and a bit of a flirt. To me, the most interesting trait shared by both is their awareness: They know exactly where they stand socially, and subsequently, how to play by the rules to climb up. This clear awareness is where I got the idea for the staircase drawings. “i’m a girl in a world in which my only job is to marry rich/ my father has no sons so i’m the one who has to social climb for one” is a demonstration of Angelica’s awareness, just as “As a kid in the Caribbean I wished for a war/ I knew that I was poor/ I knew it was the only way to rise up” shows Alexander’s.

it’s different for Eliza - i know as the show proceeds, she gradually becomes more ambitious and active, but in Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story, what she asks, instead of how to rise up, is: “Have I done enough?” this quiet insistence is why i always see her as someone who does things because she thinks it’s a right thing to do, no matter whether that thing in question would benefit her personally or not. sure, she gives off "cinnamon roll" vibes, but girl’s no less strong or badass than Alexander or Angelica.

More under cut coz I’m incapable of being concise:

Angelica:

what always strikes me as interesting about Angelica is the contrast of what she says vs. what she does.

In The Schuyler Sisters, the majority of her lines are about empowering women, which, I think, is where the depiction of Angelica as an angry feminist comes from in some fanfics. But in Satisfied, we see she plays squarely by the rules of patriarchy and social classes (the three fundamental truths part). 

Similarly, in TSS, she says "so men say I'm intense or I'm insane", seemingly unbothered, if not lowkey proud, by these comments, but in Satisfied, she talks about the resulting gossip if she were to marry Alexander. 

I saw a post which expressed that Angelica thinks like Alexander but acts like Burr, and I agree. She has a sharp mind and is unafraid to speak out, like Alexander, but she’s also got things to lose, like Burr. Having family responsibilities means that she does not, and cannot, act without restrictions and hesitations like Hamilton. She doesn't necessarily wait it out like Burr, but she does think things thru, because the important decisions she makes carry enough weight to not only affect the future of herself but also of her family.

I had mentioned in an old post that Satisfied is basically Angelica assessing cost & gain for each of the options she has, for all the parties involved. even though that song's ending has mixed feelings and it's DEFINITELY a heartbreaking song, Angelica's choice did maximize the gain for everyone at the time: She was able to maintain her bond with Alexander and married rich to ensure her material comfort. Alexander was able to marry a Schuyler and elevate his status. Eliza got the boy she loved and was happily married. She even foresaw some possible challenges the newly wed Hamiltons were likely to face (“He’ll never be satisfied”).

She knows she lives in a world of patriarchy; she isn't happy with it, but she knows how to take advantage of the system as much as she can. She knows how to be the center of attention, be charming, and appeal to ppl. She knows what kind of husband is beneficial to have. She knows how to influence politics in her own way (take a break). Part of why I found Satisfied so sad is that her mind and her heart wish for two different things. Angelica is a realist, over everything else. She can be a feminist, but definitely not an angry one.

Alexander:

I talked a bit abt him in an older post on Maria - and a lot of what I said abt Maria applies to him. If the challenge Angelica was facing is invisible societal restrictions on women, what Alexander faces is purely regarding survival. Having needed to fight and compete for resources, I imagine he's at least somewhat influenced by the philosophy of social darwinism. I also said, in the same post, that I don't think he'd be really inclined to help ppl in the same difficulty he used to be in, for the same reason. If he could make it this far with his own hard work, how would it be fair to make things easier for others now? Would those ppl even deserve their success now the bar has been lowered? It's not exactly a right way of thinking, but it's also hard to blame him. after having to compete for resource w others in order to climb up, it’s hard to change the mentality.

I've seen a music analysis (by Howard Ho on YouTube) on Hurricane, and it concludes that when Hamilton was singing that song, he wasn't exactly recalling the past - he's been mentally living in that reality and never truly left. (There's similar remarks that Hamilton's past in the Caribbean had always plagued him despite his power and position in Chernow's biography, but we're only analyzing the musical here.) He never fully turned off his survival mode.

To clarify: by survival mode, I don't literally mean he fights to survive. He didn't exactly show a strong will to survive and was quite willing to give up his life for noble causes, up until he met Eliza. What I meant is, he remembers being destitute and helpless, he remembers seeing deaths of trivial importance, so he fights to be as far away from destitution and helplessness as possible, he fights to have the opportunity to die a glorious and noble death. Because to be able to die for something matters is still a privilege. No matter how high up he rose to position, his insecurity that he may end up losing those never faded away. This raw energy, I guess, is what gradually turned the others in the musical to be more like him.

Eliza:

Eliza seems to be the one who's the most content abt their situations out of the three. After all, one of her motifs in the musical is "look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now", and the other one is “that would be enough”. 

ppl usually say Helpless and Satisfied should be listened back to back (and nothing wrong with that), but comparing these two songs, Helpless doesn’t explore as much of Eliza’s character as Satisfied does Angelica. Throughout Helpless, she’s spent most of the song narrating what happened and falling head over heels for Alexander. As for her first appearance in TSS, she doesn’t have as much of a voice and show of character in comparison to Angelica, Burr, other Peggy either. 

The first moment we truly see her thoughts is in That Would Be Enough. It’s also in this song, her two other motifs (”that would be enough” and “narrative”) are introduced. Unlike Alexander and Angelica at that point of story, she’s happy with her life, wants it to remain that way, and doesn’t ask for more. 

i dont mean she’s not ambitious like the other two - she’s driven, but by other things. she doesn’t think of legacy, material comfort, status, position, etc. as important as Angelica and Alexander, as we can see in Burn. it’s not that she doesn’t know the rules - girl’s not playing the game at all. 

unlike the two A’s, Eliza’s growth happens in the second act. Angelica’s barely in the second act, and in the same act we see Alexander’s most trusted weapon, writing, contributing to his downfall. but for Eliza, she turns from the observer in Helpless, the supporter in That Would Be Enough, to the only one on stage in Burn, and to being the center of stage in Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story. in the second act we see her going thru the series of most crushing heartaches: Reynolds Pamphlet, death of Phillip, and death of Alexander, but we also see her strength. she’s a good person, but ppl usually forget that being nice takes energy and strength too. it takes strength to support, to forgive, to mourn the passing of your loved ones, and to preserve their memories and legacy. she shines and grows after overcoming the loss and heartbreaks. Angelica says in Satisfied “she’d say 'i’m fine' but she’d be lying”, i don’t think she’s giving Eliza enough credit for her mental strength there lol. 

side note: this is where i got idea for the eliza art from a few days ago - kintsugi represents the idea that your wound becomes your history and forms part of who you are, rather than something ugly to be ashamed of. I think it fits well with Eliza’s development.

Congrats! you’ve made it till the end! don’t know why u’d do that, but thanks! 

if u’re reading this feel free to send me a simple art request to compensate the time u took reading my bullshit

[meggie-stardust]

GUNDAM WING - REWATCH - 45 - 47

You guys get a triple episode this week! You’re welcome, bitches.

45. Signs of the Final Battle

There’s that space crew working again. I hope they support the position of White Fang...

Quatre: I no longer need the ZERO system; I’ve absorbed it

Howard: You guys gotta rest, it’s happy hour somewhere *flips on Margaritaville*

Does Treize think he can win in space? Yes. Yes he does, obviously 

Can a launch be “very successful” or just successful or unsuccessful 

Oh, hey, Hilde, Whats up?? I forgot about Noin!Lite

CANS is a bit wishy washy. Oh no, don’t blow up the earth. Oh, hey we need to blow up all the gundam. Only we can have a gundam. 

Those minidisks are back. Usually I forget this was made in the 90s.

Whey would my brother start a fight when they could just talk? Relena didn’t you read the tags: Friends to enemies to lovers, slow burn, 300K, major character death

All the “girlfriends” are having a secret meeting. 

Hilde is delivering plans about a weakness in a battleship... Interesting... 

This isn’t a kids game; are you sure CANS???

Wufei is like I’m just gonna jump in for Duo here, since he sucks at Chess

Duo: Hey, Heero you wanna play 5 person chess? This is how we do it on L2

The alarm goes off and they’re all doing cool Flying V formation like the mighty ducks. 

Wow we could have had this the WHOLE TIME if they just TALKED TO EACH OTHER??? We were robbed.

I have questions about the structural integrity of a mobile suit in space. Hilde isn’t waring a space suit, and her mobile suit is compromised… Wearing a helmet seems to be an aesthetic decision only.

Can we talk about the glint in Deathscythe’s eyes? Because it’s so badass.

Duo can tell that it’s Trowa and Heero just by how they pilot… interesting… (Is my 1x2x3 shipper showing??)

It’s canon: Duo is better than Heero and Trowa combined. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like Hilde, but if the show had balls they would have killed her Rogue One style

The pilots new flight suits are A+ 

46. Milliardo’s Decision

$10 Milliardo’s decision is to put his helmet back on and become Space!Zechs

OOOH Tallgeese II has entered the battle

Treize: I built a Gundam before, but I just want to pilot the same mobile suit as my boyfriend so I also build the Tallgeese II

Oh hey, Wing keeps showing up... I wonder what’s gonna become of it this time....?

I don’t even know what what’s happening here with them all hanging out, but I am here for it. 

Trowa: be nice to women; Wufei’s flexy arm thing breaks

Duo about Heero: he makes mistakes just like the rest of us; the rest of the pilots are all silent not because they disagree, but because they are thinking of all the fucked up shit they’ve seen Heero do in the past. 

To quote Brand New/Taking Back Sunday, Heero is as subtle as a brink in the small of my back

Heero’s a little short of a storm trooper...

Either Relena is just super excited to see Heero or they are slowly reducing the oxygen in her holding cell

Hilde brought them the data, and then Heero doesn’t even leave it with the other pilots, he literally brings it back to LIBRA??? WHERE IT CAME FROM

The closed caption just said [mysterious charm] AMAZING

Zechs: Guys I have a really cool idea, but I need your help to move my desk to the observation deck for ~the aesthetic~

IDk what look Heero is going for when he’s sneaking on the libra, but it’s not half bad, and it comes with a neckerchief 

What is this amazing pose of Tallgeese II standing on the shuttle. AMAZING. Treize is such a BOSS 

Wait. Zechs was a hologram the whole time?! That’s so extra, I love it.

How are all these people magically connected. How does Une immediately wake up when Treize is about to do something crazy

Did Une just take Wing?! I have no memory of this

Zechs: CANS restrain Dorothy; CANS:  FINALLY my moment has come!

Wow I have no memory of this

Wing Gundam pushing Treize out of the way and Dorothy losing her mind

OMG IT WAS Lady Une the whole time?!

Way more badass than any of us gave her credit for. Going from being in a coma, to launching a Gundam into space, to taking the brunt of a beam canon. Lady Une is the MVP of this episode.

47. Collision in Space

Heero: I’m just gonna have a little nap right now, and then when Treize fails, I’ll go ahead and blow up the Libra

Howard: Which side should we root for guys? Whats the over under on White Fang? 

Sally: OK, we’re gonna side with Treize, ok guys? Hope you agree because this is gonna get crazy.

CANS: Why do the Gundams hate us even tho I just gave the orders to destroy them last episode?? 

Well, last episode Duo was the superior pilot. This time, not so much... 

Treize: I would thank the Gundams, but I think my silence is better, they’ll totally get what I’m going for 

Dorothy: Wait, you can’t move the libra? I have to view of the battle #priorities

Peacemillion is just the right side to fly in and destroy Libra. How convienent.

Noin folds like a lawn chair, but so does Zechs

CANS IS SUCH A BITCH

Peacemillon’s plowing into us… it’s the only thing that’s gonna plow into you

CANS: How could this happen?! 

Treize is so proud of the ships

God Relena, do we have to spell everything out for you about what’s happening right this second

Heero: I need Wing Zero. Good thing it just crashed into this ship

Trowa about Wufei fucking off: He’s fulfilling an old promise. That means Wufei and Trowa did talk when they bro’d downed at the circus

Treize: that pilot has to be that kid… play it cool. Don’t him know you remember his name.

Heero said butt

This is what I’m here for; Duo infiltrating everything. 

Trowa is the best. Just do a double spin out of the way and a bow. Ta da!

DorothyxQuatre duel. This is the only Quatre ship I’m here for. 

I was just wondering what happened to the scientists.

We built an error into the canon… interesting, where did you get that idea

Duo looks so badass threatening the scientists. More of this please. 

Epyon standing there like a Gargoyle 

Crushing blow??? GET IT???? GUys do you know what he’s gonna do next?????

Thoughts:

I am glad that @mpanighetti and I decided to do these 3 episodes as a group, and then finish out the series with the last two episodes together. 

I had very little memories of some of the details here, and I get why... honestly, these are weird kinda filler episodes. When a series is only 49 episodes, we don’t get a lot of time for nothing to happen, but the writing is getting looser at the end of the series, and if this arc had happened in the first 1/2 all of this would have probably happened in 1 episode, and instead we get 3. 

There are a lot of badass moments here: Duo, Une, Treize.... but the rest of the episodes feel a little flat... 

What I think I remember for the next episode(s):

I have so many memories of the penultimate episode (which i will make a whole post about separately) but we get an epic battle between Treize and Wufei, and I honestly forget how things fully wrap up during the last episode, so I am so excited that we’ve made it to the end. I can’t wait to write up my final thoughts and then rewatch Endless Waltz.  

[dreamsister81]

 Jeff and MI:

By age, you fit in the G.I.T generation, but you obviously are not one of them...

These facilities are a mystery to me. There they tell you only one thing: hurry up! This leads you nowhere, afterwards your own children run away from you. Through these trainings you get to know women, you get to know men, music is inoculated into people who have no feeling for it; then they can only scare other people or insult them...

I was in this terrible place too, by the way-G.I.T That was a complete waste of time, apart from the theoretical lessons and the friends that I had there. Otherwise: an absolute wrong decision.

How long have you studied there?

One year, the normal program. They give you tons of material, you have to absorb everything, you practice, you are tested and you go to the next course. An intensive support with development is simply not possible. I did so many things: theory, single string technique, jazz class, rock class, all sorts of genres. My friend John was teaching bass there, and he once said that there is not a single teacher at the institute who says to the students, "OK, you're learning all this stuff here now, you're learning how to entertain people and you're learning to learn. But do you even know that there is no one in the universe other than yourself who plays the music you play? " John left the school then. For me it was all a joke that cost me $ 3,900. People interested in music should take private lessons somewhere, start a band, do something with people who like them and have what it takes. These schools are a scene in their own right, a very small, secluded world-the music, on the other hand, is gigantic and open. If you don't notice it, you miss a lot of magic, pain, development...(thinks) and rock! Apart from Paul Gilbert, there was no one there who really rocked. Session musicians are bred there; and at the end of the year you get a piece of paper that says, "Now you have the skills to become a professional musician." Well, congratulations! And then you look for jobs and play what other people want. But that's not all the music, there's something else isn't there? Where's the music coming from? From your own head or stomach, or the concepts of the people you work for?-Gitarre & Bass, October,  1995

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I had a friend named John Humphrey. I went to this really crappy guitar school for a year, and he used to teach there, he was a bass teacher. And then he left, and we ended up being roommates later on, after I graduated. This is the kind of school where you give them a shitload of money in order to spend a year learning their curriculum.

What was it, G.I.T. (Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles)?

Yeah, it was G.I.T.. They give you their curriculum, and it's not too comprehensive, but it's just enough, and then you can [snaps his fingers] move on to the next thing. And pretty soon you have all this shit inside you and then they give you this paper that says you have what it takes to be a professional musician.

It's a rock-oriented thing, isn't it?

In the end, I think, the only true product of that kind of learning is to get you gigs on the studio circuit and to get you gigs on the session guy circuit.

So, Lee Ritenour went there or something?

G.I.T. was started by Howard Roberts, the guy who played the wah-wah guitar on the theme to Shaft. And this other guy named Pat Hayes. I don't know. It just seemed like a racket, really. John said a lot of things to me that stuck in my mind. He said that there was nobody who stopped you, sat you in a room and said, okay, we have all these artists that you're learning the licks from, you have your guitar heroes, your virtuoso lust objects. But there's nobody who can make the kind of music you can make now except for you. And you can make it now. You don't even have to know how to go fast. And that makes all the sense to me in the world. It's also kind of an unseen process, that concept, originality. It's like that in all the education systems; there's never any real...identity education, self-generative identity art sort of thing, to be yourself. If everybody in Melbourne had a Wurlitzer organ and had the passion to sing something or make something, you'd have hundreds of thousands of different styles, if they were coming exactly from only their DNA, only their makeup, and their emotional percepts, their idea about what art is. You could have way-removed genres from what is already accepted, avante-garde country-rock-punk-folk-whatever. It's unlimited. But for some reason, the conventions always take over and there's a very ready and powerful formula to step into...

Those are the type of [formula-derived] players who can say, "Well, I was listening to the radio in 1967 and I heard the guitar solo in Jimi Hendrix's 'All Along the Watchtower,' and that guitar sound, that tone, would work perfectly for this television commercial."

Yeah. See? "Stealing from the greats, that's okay." That's right. Once I stopped in [at G.I.T.] years later, when I was on tour going through L.A., just to see what it was like. They've got a completely high-tech, multi-million dollar facility...

More so than when you had been there?

Way more. When I was there, it was just a ragtag bunch of teachers, and they had all left by then. They had video facilities and a class for stage moves and all kinds of things. And I saw this guy who was working the desk, the guy who watches the door. He had a bass on, and he was practicing his Nirvana chops! He was playing "In Bloom" on his bass, way up on his chest, jazz-fusion style, to the Nirvana song. I thought, oh shit--he was practicing his grunge riffs! He was getting his grunge down! Best fucking thing you can do, if you have the interest, is go to a private teacher, go someplace, some college, and learn theory. That was something I really enjoyed, actually, something that wasn't totally pointless. Theory meaning the meaning of the musical nomenclature. I was attracted to really interesting harmonies, stuff that I would hear in Ravel, Ellington, Bartok.-Double Take, February 29, 1996

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.

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Once the site of a seakeasy and a bra factory, the 30,000-square-foot quarters were now the home of Musicians Institute, a vocational school for anyone who considered himself or herself a serious musician. With its wooden desks and chipped-tile hallways, MI resembled any other urban school, but at those desks, student guitarists and drummers studied scales and power chords in hopes of becoming the next Eddie Van Halen or Neil Peart, the flashy drummer with Rush. On their way to class each morning, flaxen-haired guitar gods in training could be spotted holding their guitars and practicing licks as they walked down Hollywood Boulevard.

Jeff had heard about Musicians Institute (and its subdivision, the Guitar Institute of Technology) while in high school and told everyone it was his one and only destination. However, potential superstardom did not run cheap. The school charged $4,000 for its one year course, and by the time Jeff Graduated from Loara High School, Mary Guibert was beginning to fall on hard financial times as she went in and out of jobs. In need of money for herself and her two sons, she prematurely broke into a $20,000 fund earmarked for Jeff, but only after he tured nineteen. Once Mary proved to the courtsthat Jeff needed it for his education, he and Mary received it a year early. In a deep irony, the father Jeff had barely met and increasingly resented would be paying his son's way through music school.

On graduation night, September 15, 1985, at the Odyssey in Granada Hills in the San Fernando Valley, Jeff, Stoll, and Marryatt closed the ceremony by playing Weather Report's "Pearl On the Half Shell."-from Dream Brother

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With its 30-odd thousand feet of floor space and row upon row of "labs", where hopeful guitar heroes could jam with such shit-hot players as Scott Henderson, LA's Musician's Institute must have seemed like nirvana for someone like Jeff Buckley, trapped as he was behind the Orange Curtain. According to his buddy Chris Dowd, that's exactly why Buckley enrolled there, arriving just before autumn, 1984, bankrolled by $4,000 that Mary managed to squeeze from a Tim Buckley trust fund.

Originally known as the Guitar Institute, which in itself says plenty, the school was opened in 1977. Drawing on the educational philosophy of journeyman guitarist Howard Roberts, it was co-founded and managed by Los Angeles music businessman Pat Hicks, "a real shyster opportunist", in the words of Tom Chang, an expat Canadian who would become very tight with Jeff Buckley during their two years at the Institute. In 1978, thr Bass Institute was opened, followed by the Percussion Institute two years later. Desppite Hicks' questionable business ethics-amongst other things, he'd hire students as cheap labour to do essential maintenance work on the building, which led to Buckley being hired as an electrician's assistant soon after graduating-he did manage to persuade well regarded players and bands to lecture, and play alongside, the hopefuls who'd enrolled there.

What Buckley lacked up in "front" he clearly made up for in ambition. That was proved, in spades, by Buckley's graduation performance which was played out on September 15, 1985, at a venue called the Odyssey in Granada Hills. While the sonic crush and enviable chops of Rush and Led Zeppelin still rocked the world of this Orange County teen, Buckley had also developed a real taste for such "noodlers" as Weather Report.

The number chosen by Buckley for graduation was their "D Flat Waltz" (not "Pearl On The Half-Shell", as documented elsewhere, which they'd performed at a previous event), a typically complicated few minutes of Weather Report neo-fusion-a "really cool piece, very involved", according to Tom Chang-and a standout from their 1983 set Domino Theory. But Buckley, accompanied by Stoll on drums and Marryatt on bass, didn't just play the piece, he also wrote the individual parts out beforehand for the band.-from A Pure Drop

MI pics by me

[just-dreaming-marvel]

AFTER HAPPILY EVER AFTER (1)

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story 

FULL STORY MASTERLIST

ENDING ONE MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Count: 2,900ish

Summary: A few years after Bailey and Steve get married, something unexpected happens.

This smell of homemade lasagna filled his nostrils as he entered the home. A smile grew on his face as he made his way to the kitchen, where his wife was working on the meal and humming to herself. He snuck up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, jumping slightly in his arms.

“Sorry,” Steve whispered, “didn’t mean to scare you.”

“That’s okay,” I responded, turning in his arms. I leaned up and pecked his lips. “I missed you today. How was Dad?” I turned around to continue working.

“I missed you too. And Tony was good. He misses you.”

I laughed. “He lives right next door and basically sees me every day. That big baby. Did you beat him though?”

“Not a chance. Golfing is definitely his thing, not mine.”

“Shame. I had a plan for you if you won.”

“Oh yeah? What was it?”

“I can’t tell you, you didn’t win.”

“I guess I’ll just have to force it out of you.” Steve began pressing kisses down my neck. “Won’t I, B?”

“Stop!” I laughed, pushing him away. “Go get cleaned up. Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Fine, fine.” Steve pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

I smiled as I continued to get dinner ready. It had been almost three years since Steve had arrived in the afterlife and we had been married. And it had been some of the best years of my life. It was nice to not have anyone trying to destroy us and we could enjoy each other and the simple life. But we all know, that our happiness could never last long. Or could it?

Steve and I ate dinner together, happily, before Steve ended up receiving his present. Which, will remain between Steve and I. It was about two months after that night, when things began to change. Steve and all the boys left for a boys weekend, in which Pepper was too relieved and worried at the same time. I was excited to have some time to myself and to spend some time with just the women in my family.

It was still morning, and I was in bed not feeling very well. Feeling my stomach suddenly in my throat, I rushed to the bathroom. Making it to the toilet just in time to empty the contents of it.

“Mrs. Rogers,” FRIDAY called. Tony had insisted on recreating the AI to help keep everyone connected. “It seems that you are not feeling well. Should I call Captain Rogers or the Boss?”

“No!” I yelled, in the midst of throwing up. “Don’t bug them. But—“ I heaved over the toilet once again. “But you can call Mom… please.”

Pepper was quick to come over, with my grandma Maria in tow.

“Bailey!” Pepper exclaimed upon seeing me leaning against the toilet.

Her and Maria knelt beside me. Maria put the backside of one of her hands on my forehead, which I hadn’t realized was sweating.

“You’re burning up, dear,” Maria stated.

“Something’s… wrong…” I mumbled.

“FRIDAY?” Pepper called.

“I’m running tests right now,” the AI responded.

“Come on,” Pepper wrapped an arm around me. “Let’s get you to the bed.”

I was weak, so Maria and Pepper had to support me the whole way to the bed. The two women grabbed water, cold wash cloths, and something for me to throw up in, if needs be. I was growing increasingly uncomfortable as the three of us waited for FRIDAY to run her needed tests. Pepper and Maria kept sharing worried looks as I would moan and groan in pain.

“We should really call the men,” Maria said. “Steve, Tony, and Howard aren’t going to be happy when they find out about her condition.”

“No!” I quickly said. “Not until FRIDAY comes back with the tests… no need to worry them if it’s nothing.”

“This isn’t going to be nothing, B,” Pepper said, wiping my forehead with a cloth.

“Just wait—“

“I have the test results back,” FRIDAY interrupted.

“And?” Pepper questioned.

“It looks like Mrs. Rogers is pregnant.”

“What?” All three women gasped.

“Bailey is pregnant and her body is not taking it well.”

“Really?” I rasped. “I couldn’t tell…”

“My advice is to get her to a medical professional as soon as possible.”

“Call the boys,” Pepper ordered, “now.”

“Hey, Pep!” Tony’s voice rang over the speaker system. “I’ve only been gone a day. You already miss me?”

“Hey, Pepper!” “Hi!” A chorus of voices sounded.

“Tony,” Pepper’s tone was solemn.

“What’s wrong, Pepper?”

“Something’s wrong?” Clint asked.

“Is Bailey okay?” Steve asked.

“We need you all to come home,” Pepper said. “Bruce?”

“Yes?” Bruce’s voice filled the women’s ears. “You have access to the tests FRIDAY ran. Read them on the way.”

“Honey,” Tony called, “what’s happening?”

“Just hurry home.”

And they all did. The other women in the family arrived at the Rogers residence before the men did, and were told of what was happening. They knew that they would need to calm the men down when they arrived, and were all prepared to do so. Bruce hurried back to my bedroom the moment they arrived. Pepper and Maria stopped the others from following, having them sit in the living room.

“I need to be with her!” Steve argued when the women told him to sit. “Bailey’s my wife!”

“And she’s my daughter!” Tony followed.

“What’s going on here, Maria?” Howard asked, getting straight to the point.

“Bailey is pregnant,” Maria answered.

“Pregnant?” Steve and Tony repeated in shock.

“Congrats punk!” Bucky smiled, smacking Steve’s back.

“Bucky,” Natasha scolded. His smile quickly faded.

“What’s wrong then?” Steve asked.

“Her body isn’t handling the pregnancy well,” Pepper stated. “FRIDAY didn’t give us anymore than that.”

“I need to be in there with her.” Steve stood up, trying to make his way over to the bedroom.

“Steve, wait,” Natasha stepped in front of him. “We need to wait until Bruce is done.”

“I can’t, Nat,” Steve’s voice broke and tears formed in his eyes. “My wife is in there, in pain, and pregnant with my child. And I don’t know what’s going on.”

Inside my bedroom, Bruce was running all shorts tests while I was going in and out of consciencenous. I kept trying to call out for Steve, but it would come out as moans and groans. Bruce was trying his best to hurry and comfort me. It took about an hour for all the tests to come back, thanks to FRIDAY. I was out, so Bruce sneaked out and went into the living room, where everyone was waiting.

“How is she?” Tony immediately asked, upon seeing Bruce enter the room.

Bruce sighed. “Her body is trying to deal with the pregnancy. It seems that whatever HYDRA had done to her, is still affecting her, though she does have a uterus now… Her body is fighting itself. I’m concerned for her, but I also think that we can save the pregnancy.”

“Really?” Steve questioned, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“Yes. If we keep her in bed for the pregnancy, I believe there is a chance.”

“Can we see her?” Tony asked.

“Yes, but not to overwhelm her, I think that Steve should go alone first.”

Steve was up and moving before Bruce could finish the sentence. He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself before entering our shared bedroom. His heart broke at the sight of me, in the middle of the bed, with sweat on my brow and clear pain on my face. Steve hurried over and carefully sat on the bed beside me. He gently brushed some hair out of my face.

“I’m here, baby,” he cooed. “I’m here.”

“Ste-ve?” I croaked, barely opening my eyes.

“I’m here, B. I’m right here.”

“The baby…”

“Is still with us. Bruce said that you’ll need to be on bed rest to give the pregnancy a chance.”

“We’re going to have a baby,” I mumbled, trying to force a smile and keep my eyes open.

“We’re going to have a baby,” Steve repeated, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I love you so much.”

“Love you, too.”

"Now you need to get some rest.”

“Dad…”

“I’ll go get him. Okay?”

I weakly nodded before Steve left the room to get Tony. Upon entering the living room, the two men made eye contact and Steve motioned with his head for Tony to come. Tony was quickly up and walking to the bedroom. As he entered and saw me on the bed, he replayed the many times he had seen me in similar positions. He thought that we were done with this, that we could finally be at peace.

“Hey, honey,” Tony smiled, sitting beside me.

“Hey, daddy,” I mumbled, trying to reciprocate the smile.

“I heard I’m going to be a grandfather.”

“Mhm.”

“And that the stubborn kid is already causing you trouble.”

“Definitely Steve and I’s kid,” I quietly joked.

Tony chuckled. “Definitely. You’re going to need to stay on bedrest and keep a low stress level if this is going to work.”

“Mhm.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to make this happen.”

“I know… you and Steve…”

“Yes,” he grabbed my hand, bring it up for a kiss. “Me and Steve.”

Tony and Pepper, though they lived next door, moved some things into the basement to be closer to me. Steve and Tony took turns watching over me, which, at times, could be a bit much. Especially as my strength came back, slowly. Bruce came by to check on me, multiple times a day. And FRIDAY also kept everyone updated.

By the time I was seven months along, I was over bedrest, even though I was still not feeling that good.

“Come on!” I exclaimed. “I just want to walk onto the deck, sit there, and watch the waves.”

“Nope,” Tony shook his head, not looking up from whatever he was working on at the desk in my bedroom. “Bedrest is bedrest. You can watch the waves from the window.”

“But it’s not the same!” I pouted. “I can’t lay in this bed for another two months!”

“If you want that baby, you’re gonna.”

“Stupid blessing,” I murmured. “When’s Steve going to be home?”

“Not until tonight. Said he had some errands to run.”

“Then can you just leave me? I haven’t had a moment alone to myself in months. Can you just go downstairs or to the garage and work on something?”

“I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I promise I won’t leave this bed! I just need some time to myself. Please, dad? Please?”

Tony sighed. “Fine.” He moved from the desk, walking over to me. “I’ll give you thirty minutes. But if I find out that you so much as had moved over in this bed, I’ll make sure that you have more babysitters quicker than you can count. Understood?”

“Yes, dad,” I smiled. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he kissed my forehead. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Me? Do something stupid? Never?”

“I’m not even going to really answer that,” he said as he left the room.

I laid there and waited for fifteen minutes. I knew that it would take that long for Tony to be fully immersed in whatever he was creating. I took a deep breath before moving over to the side of my bed. I set a hand on my belly before moving my feet to touch the ground. Slowly and carefully, I pushed myself off the bed so that I was standing up. My legs were wobbly, but it felt so good to be standing up again. Whenever I needed to use the restroom or bathe, Steve or Tony would carry me.

“Mrs. Rogers,” FRIDAY began, “you shouldn’t be out of bed.”

“I swear, FRIDAY, if you so much as tell a soul, I’ll fry your motherboard so bad that Dad won’t have a chance at getting you back.”

“Of course, Bailey.”

“Thank you,” I sighed.

I took me longer than I’d care to admit to reach the back deck. When I arrived, I let out a sigh of contentment and sat myself in a chair. The smell of the salty water filled my senses and helped calm me. I closed my eyes, relaxing, until I heard footsteps coming up the outside steps. I opened my eyes to see Howard walking up the stairs.

“I don’t think you’re suppose to be out here,” he commented, coming to sit on a chair beside me.

“I tricked Tony into giving me a few minutes to myself and then snuck out here. I can’t be in that bed anymore. I needed some fresh air.”

“Understandable. How’s my great-grandchild?”

“Stubborn.” I rubbed my round belly. “Been kicking more and more. It definitely has my natural strength. And Steve’s serum is not helping.”

“I bet. When Maria was pregnant, Tony wouldn’t stop moving either. Seems his never stopped.”

We both let out a light laugh, mine stopping short when I felt a pain. I groaned, sitting up a little.

“Are you alright?” Howard asked.

“Yeah, probably just my muscles cramping from all the unuse.” I winced as another flash of pain hit. “Maybe I should go back in and lay down.”

Howard stood up and grabbed me, helping me up. “Yeah, let’s get you—“

“No,” I gasped, feeling something run down my legs. I looked down to see blood. “No.”

“Tony!” Howard shouted. “FRIDAY, get Tony up here. And call Steve and Bruce to get here now.”

“What’s going on out here?” Tony asked. “Oh my—Bailey!” He hurried over. “What are you doing out of bed?”

“I’m so sorry, dad,” I cried. “I couldn’t lay there anymore. I needed out. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Tony set his hands on my face, forcing my teary eyes to look at him. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Did I kill my baby? Did I just kill my baby?”

“No, honey,” Tony said, as he picked me up.

“I’m going to grab somethings to help!” Howard said, rushing to grab things he believed were necessary.

“Tell Steve I’m sorry,” I continued to cry. “I was being selfish, and I’m so sorry.”

“Ssshhh,” Tony whispered, laying me down on my bed. “It’s understandable. Steve isn’t going to be angry at you. And your baby is going to be just fine. We’re all dead anyway. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Bruce and Natasha got there just in time to force me to push. The baby had to come out for both of our sakes. Steve was rushing home from wherever he was, and apparently Pepper was with him. Howard kept all the others that were gathering, in the living room, waiting for news. Tony sat behind me, holding me and telling me encouraging things, as I pushed. Bruce and Natasha were quick to take the baby into the bathroom once it was out.

“Why isn’t my baby crying?” I cried, exhaustedly. “Why isn’t it—“ My sentence was interrupted by a small cry. “Oh my!” I began to sob.

“She’s going to be okay,” Bruce said, coming out on the bathroom. “She’s going to need to be carefully monitored, but she’ll be okay.”

“She?” Tony and I whispered.

“It’s a girl,” Natasha repeated, bringing the baby out. “Would you like to hold her?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

Tony stayed behind me to hold me up, as Nat handed over my little girl. He watched the baby over my shoulder. It reminded him of when Morgan was born, and his eyes filled with tears.

“She’s beautiful,” I whispered, letting her finger grasp mine.

“Shouldn’t we be worried?” Tony asked Bruce. “She’s only 28 weeks.”

“I’m having FRIDAY run tests and monitor, but my the looks of it, she was ready to come out anyway. It must have something to do with Steve and Bailey’s combined DNA.”

“Where is she?” I heard Steve shout from the living room. His fast footsteps were heard before the door swung open. “Bailey! Are you—is the baby okay? What happened?” He froze when he finally saw what was in my arms. “Is that… is that our baby?”

“Yes,” I nodded, smiling up at him.

“Come here and take my place, Cap,” Tony said. “Before I hold my grandchild before you do.”

Steve hurried over and took Tony’s spot. Tony brought over a chair and sat beside them.

“She looks just like you,” Steve whispered in awe.

“Are you kidding?” I asked. “She looks just like you.”

“What are we going to name her? We never really talked about names.”

“Sarah. Sarah Virginia Rogers.” I looked up at Steve. “After our mothers.”

“That’s perfect.” Steve leaned down and gave me a long, loving kiss. “You did good, Bailey.”

“I did stupid,” I laughed. “But it seems like she wanted to come out anyway.”

“I love you and our little girl so much.”

“And I love you both more.”

Pepper came in just as Bruce and Natasha left. As my little girl was passed around from some, if not the most, important people in my life, I couldn’t help but smile. Because no matter what, we would always be there for each other. Until the very end.

Thank you to the anon who gave me the idea to write this! I hope people enjoy it.

[queencamden]

Do you think that the SIX fandom has become very toxic ????

That’s rather complicated. I’m not totally well-versed in fandom drama, as the major fandoms I’ve been in previously (School for Good and Evil, Six of Crows and Three Dark Crowns) are all fairly chill. However, I have noticed that it has gotten a lot less unified as time went on. I first joined around July (before I got my account, just looking at posts) and it seemed much more supportive then.

I think the fandom has just become very DIVIDED. I, like several others, have become more in the Tudorblr community than the Six fandom at this point, and because of this I’ve noticed a big divide in terms of views of historical accuracy. (That’s the lens I will be focusing on, as I don’t care much about other discourse)

The divide between history fans and Six fans (and the toxicity within fandom this leads to) can be summarized in three main points.

1. History blogs and history-loving fans don’t understand/ are weirded out by fandomey fans.

2. Fandomey fans do not bother to consider the history.

3. Both sides are very aggressive on what they think is right.

Let’s start with the history blogs

They don’t understand the fandom

I hate to say it, but we’ve become the next Hamilton fandom: most Six fans get their info only from the show, and from this have developed their own, fandomey versions of the characters. The Anne Boleyn that the Six fandom loves is not the real Anne Boleyn. The Katherine Howard the Six fandom loves is not the real Katheryn Howard. However, (I saw a post about this once) the fandom is quite good at separating the characters from the actual people. (Most of) us know that the Angry Bible Aunt, Chaotic Heely Gremlin, The Mom Friend, The Dog-Loving Badass, The Babey-Brat, and The Sleep-Deprived Academic are NOT the Six Wives of Henry VIII. Because that is how fandom works. You take the most exaggerated versions of the characters in question and work off of them. ESPECIALLY in theatre fandoms, where most fans can’t even see the whole show. I think that’s why Theatre fandoms have a reputation for being cringy. The exaggerated, fandom versions of the characters are all they know.

I think a lot of the time, more history-focused blogs don’t get that aspect of fandom. Yes, Tudorblr has its own memey versions of these people (Anne Boleyn being extra, Henry being Garfield) but the content that they make are not solely these characters- because in the end the meme versions are characters. It’s hard for history blogs to understand that the fandom versions of the characters, are NOT what the fans actually think these people were like. This can lead to mocking, and attacking Six fans for being “dumb” or “cringy”. Certain blogs that are within the fandom that like the historical figures hate on fan blogs and that is NOT OKAY. For example, I saw a post where someone was making fun of Six the Kids, because they “would never be friends in the modern day”. Yeah..... neither would the Queens. And this is explicitly set in the universe of Six. History blogs should stop being high and mighty over fandoms having fun. HOWEVER.....

Fans don’t understand the history.

This show IS about real people. Who actually existed. In real life. And Six fans who ONLY reduce them to these characters can be very frustrating for people who are interested in the real people. Because Six is so popular the ONLY versions of these people you can often find on Tumblr are the Six versions. And I get it. Really I do. I used to be one of those Six fans who called KH “Kitty” (only for clarification purposes between the Katherines but still) and made memes about Anne being a chaotic gremlin. And then I looked up the actual history and I STOPPED. Not everyone has to go that deep, of course, or stop making these memes (most of them are very funny) but it would be good to respect the historical figures. I understand that it’s hard to do that in an incorrect quote, but maybe do what @sabrianna said in an earlier post and tag the characters as, say Katharine of Aragon- Six, so as not to clog the tags of people searching for the actual historical figure.

Like I said, the problem is not with making exaggerated versions of the queens. That is part of BEING a fandom. It’s not even a problem of using the characterizations from the show (such as chaotic Boleyn) What is the problem, is that many fans DON’T care about the history, or think they know everything about it. They make roleplays, ship the queens, e.t.c. but it’s all very out of character to the real women. I said earlier that most people can differentiate between the fandom queens and the real queens and that’s true. But some fans don’t. Some fans only know the queens from the fanon and the musical and because of that we get stuff like UwU Babey Katheryn Howard or people shipping Boleyn and Aragon, which is actually kind of disrespectful to the historical figures. At best, this leads to ire and harassment from Tudorblr, at worst to actual misinformation about the queens being spread by the fandom.

Both are overly aggressive in what they think is right

This is the big one and the major component of the “toxicity” of the fandom. Six is a musical about raising your voice, so it makes sense that it’s fans would be very outspoken. But it falls into a problem when they refuse to see the queens any other way. When it gets to people harassing others for stating differing opinions just to defend YOUR interpretation of a real person who actually lived, that is wrong. Because often your interpretation is NOT right, or at least limited. For example people who view Elizabeth and Mary as a black-and-white ‘good sister, evil sister’ dichotomy, when in reality they were both just as grey and complex as anyone else. But people will straight-up harass and argue with others who are just trying to explain that Mary’s background caused a great deal of her problems, and that Elizabeth did bad things too.

There’s just a lack of LISTENING which is a problem for a fandom based on history. (I know Six isn’t historically accurate, but a lot of fans are interested in the real queens). History is subjective. In my time researching historical!Katheryn Howard my opinion on her has changed around three to four times and that’s good. You are allowed to have multiple views on a thing, and when someone is trying to explain something to you, you don’t have to dismiss it. This goes for the history fans to. When Six fans make a factually incorrect statement, many history fans tend to condescend or belittle them which, as a Six fan, does NOT make us want to learn more. Simply telling us the true, often much more interesting, situation, DOES. Also, friendly reminder, most of the Six fandom are teenagers, and from what I’ve seen of Tudorblr it’s more of a mix of teens and adults. IF YOU ARE AN ADULT, DO NOT BELITTLE TEENAGERS FOR BEING WRONG. WE ARE ALREADY INSECURE ENOUGH.

Tldr; History fans, treat Six fans with respect, and acknowledge that their fandomey queens are not the queens you know and love. Six fans, respect the queens (and the history fans), do some research, and put *Queen’s Name*- Six in the tags, so that history blogs don’t ALWAYS have to see Six content. Both groups, respect others opinions. Stop constantly trying to prove you’re right. In the case of Six fans, you’re probably not (sorry) and in the case of history fans, most of the Six fandom are new to this and still learning.

Sorry for the long post @thedeadqueensclub I meant to have this finished a while ago. I don’t really know of any other fandom drama aside from the Tudorblr Vs. Six thing, so this is all I got for fandom toxicity (though there is definitely a lot more I haven’t covered)

I really enjoyed answering this, and would love if I got more asks (though it might take some time to answer them) It’s really nice to talk to all of you!

[sweetestrequiems]

Wishing for the Normal

Summary: When Catherine Parr and Anne Boleyn go to Peaks for their open mic night to support Katherine Howard, the couple get pulled up by the young woman to sing a duet. With a giggle, she, and the three other ladies at their table cheer them on. Boleyn and Parr grab the microphones, and just hope for the best from this experience.

Character(s): Parrlyn (Anne Boleyn / Catherine Parr) Katherine Howard Jane Seymour / Catherine of Aragon (Catalina) / Anna of Cleves

A/N: Kit + Soho Cinders + Parrlyn = Ideas.

Moral of the story: don’t leave me alone to think. I will think and it will come out on paper. This is inspired by Soho Cinders’ most iconic number, “Wishing for the Normal.”  Because this takes place in the universe of Out of a Book, some of the references and places might not make sense. It will all be explained in due time. And you all can bet your little tails the whole song is written out.

This is also my apology to all of you who dealt with my total chaos earlier. I love all of you and I am so sorry you had to witness me being a huge nerd and evil gremlin.

Tag List: @bchcadcd | @watercolored-lemonade

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Thursday nights were for coffee, laughter, and open mic nights at Peaks Coffee Company.

It was a tradition, for the six ladies to go to Peaks whenever Katherine was back in town from classes. It happened to be the winter break, and the ladies were all excited to go out together. It was about 7 on the dot when the ladies got there. Catherine gently pulled on Anne’s arm, leading her to one of the cozy corners. Close enough that they could see Katherine perform whenever she decided to go up there, but far enough that the two could have a nice conversation. It was bliss for the two of them, as they thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company, even with other people around. “I always love coming here with you, Cathy,” Boleyn whispers, leaning on Parr and resting her head on Parr’s shoulder. “There’s just good memories with this place. I feel like such a saddo for saying that.”

“Don’t. And you’re no saddo! I agree, this place... it has very nice memories,” Parr chuckled. With a glance up, Parr noticed the other ladies approaching. Catalina set one of the mugs down in front of Parr, and another in front of Boleyn. Sitting up, Boleyn nodded as a thank you, a smile coming across the mellow face. Katherine sat right next to Parr, Jane was right in front of Katherine, Catalina was in front of Parr, and Cleves was in front Boleyn. “I swear, I wonder how I would live without you, Lina,” bringing the mug up to her lips, Cathy took a sip of her coffee. Catalina just shook her head, grinning. “You wouldn’t be alive at all. You would literally die from drinking nothing but coffee and not eating.”

Laughter came from Cleves and Seymour.

“Considering all she does is stay in her room, yeah. I don’t doubt it! Sie schläft auch nicht, oder?” Anna gave a cheeky smile, with Catherine’s face being so deadpan at the comment, she just chose to roll her eyes as a response. “I do sleep, thank you very much. It only takes me three hours to fall asleep because I spend two of those writing.” Catalina raised an eyebrow at the response, knowing Parr stayed up late at night unless she had to be up before 8 am. There was more laughter at the table.

“Sleeping is important,” Seymour nodded over at Katherine, “and this one could tell you all about it. You slept last night when you got home, right?” The youngest of the ladies nodded with sincerity. “Yeah! I stay up late sometimes with homework, Miss Parr. If I learned one thing about uni, it’s that balancing sleep and homework is difficult. So I definitely get why you stay up at night. I do the same thing,” Katherine allows her smile to shine, Parr letting out a bit of a laugh. “You’re not wrong. Balancing sleep and work is very difficult. Now, how long are you going to keep us waiting, star in hiding?”

That’s where the mischievous smirk came from Katherine Howard. “I’m not singing tonight, actually.”

The other five women stared at Katherine with wide eyes, in actual shock that the reason they normally came on Thursday nights was not the center of attention. Digging through the backpack she brought, the youngest of the group pulled out a binder, and handed it to Parr. A second one got pulled out, and was handed to Boleyn; the third she kept in front of her. “I’m showing off my piano skills tonight, and you two are going to sing for me while I play!”

The look on Anne Boleyn’s face was one of fear, and the one on Catherine Parr’s face was total embarrassment. The couple looked at each other, and gulped in unison. Boleyn had a blush running across her face, but more notably across her cheeks and nose. “I... Sing? You want us to sing?”

“Why not?”

Parr felt her face lose color. “I... we’re not singers, Katherine.” This was the instance where Parr reached for the coffee and began to down it like water on a hot day. Catalina raised an eyebrow, with a more confused look this time. Anna however, began to actually laugh. She knew that habit of hers all too well. Jane was looking at Katherine with furrowed eyebrows, but her face was full of confusion, much like Catalina’s. Sucking in a nervous breath, Parr stood up, setting the mug down. “Okay, Katherine. I’ll sing.”

Anne Boleyn let out a shaky sigh, but she nodded and also stood up. “I’ll do it too. What are we singing, Kat?”

Standing up, Katherine took her binder and opened it up, skipping to the keyboard up on the stage. She sat down on the chair, setting up with a little too much excitement. All she did was let her right hand play the first few measures of the song. “Wishing for the Normal from Soho Cinders! I’m sure you’ve both heard of it. You’re both English, right?” A rather awkward moment of silence, before the two women nodded. “This will be fun, come on!”

If there was one thing Katherine loved about majoring in music, it was the fact she got to play piano. She loved it. And just to make Anne and Catherine feel comfortable, she slowed down the beginning.

Raising the microphone up to be near her lips, Anne hid the nervousness with a smile. “Just imagine pouring your cornflakes, looking up and someone's there. Someone you have just spent the night with, someone’s life you're proud to share! Haven't put my face on, haven’t done my hair. Haven't had to worry, as it’s her standing there.”

The piano began to pick up a little pace. Catherine was going to match it, with a similar smile to Anne’s. “Just imagine out on the dance floor, turning ‘round and there she is. It's your lady, the one you came in with, three years on, your hand in hers. Living in a semi, maybe have a cat. Nothing that's too fancy, tell me what's wrong with that?”

Looking up from the music for a brief moment, Katherine Howard began to smile.

The couple looks at each other, the nervous smiles seeming to grow into genuine ones. The two nodded, knowing they had to sing on together. “Wishing for the normal kind of dream. Nothing too excessive or extreme. Hoping for the hum-drum, is that aiming high? Others seem to find it, tell me why on earth can't I?”

Catalina’s jaw could honestly hit the floor with how impressed she was. Anna just had a wide-eye expression that screamed her shock for her. Jane was thoroughly impressed by all of this, but mostly by Katherine’s piano playing ability. 

“Wishing for the normal kind of dream. Trouble is they're harder than they seem. Am I too ambitious? Am I out of touch? Am I wishing for too much?”

Frantically flipping the pages, both ladies chuckled while the piano kept on going behind them. Lucky Parr, she got to start off this time. “Just imagine cooking lasagna, like those adverts on TV.” And the biggest smile came out of Boleyn with this line. She just felt all warm and fuzzy from the fact she was spending time with her girlfriend. “Sitting on a fake leather sofa, babies bouncing on my knee.”

“Living within reason, loving when I can. Feeling I am someone, not some sad old lass.”

Almost instinctively, as if she knew Katherine would start playing softer, Anne made her voice softer. She could only hope Catherine would follow. The other three at the table began to smile, quietly cheering them on from their spot. “Just imagine mowing the lawn.”

And the hopes came true, because Parr did soften up her voice. “Just imagine popping some corn.”

Even Katherine Howard herself was cheering them on from the piano. She wanted to laugh, but really couldn’t, so... she did what she does best. Giggle it out.

Boleyn’s free hand reaches down for Parr’s, with the two allowing their fingers to interlock. The look on her face said it all, she was smitten by this woman in front of her. “Just imagine breakfast in bed.” “Just imagine owning a shed,” Parr let out a chuckle right after the lyrical line. She was not one to sing, but this was an exception she was happy to have made. Memories were all she wanted, and memories was what she was getting.

“Just imagine doing the school run.”

“Going for picnics.”

“Keeping a goldfish!”

A laugh from the two. They nodded again, allowing themselves to sing right on through to the end. “Wishing, wishing! Hoping for the hum-drum, is that aiming high? Others seem to find it, tell me why, why, why can’t I? Wishing for the normal kind of dream. Trouble is they’re harder than they seem.”

At this point, the table was standing up. Catalina was nodding along with Anna, but Jane? Jane was already clapping. “Go ladies!” The blonde woman giggled, happy to see some of her now closest friends so happy with each other.

“Going to a nightclub, cinemas and such,” Boleyn’s eyes finally met Parr’s. “Eating in a restaurant, happy to go dutch,” the smile on Parr’s face grew from seeing Boleyn’s smile grow as well. 

“Am I too ambitious? Am I out of touch? Am I wishing far too much?” And while the two lovebirds stared at each other, their young pianist allowed herself to continue the instrumental, even playing the accompaniment to the last few lyrics they had forgotten. Laughing, Katherine Howard stood up and started clapping. “You two sounded amazing!”

“Go Cathy!” “Way to go Anne!” “I’m proud of you, Kitty!”

The couple just kept looking at each other, with laughs eventually coming from them both. As much nerves as they had to fight, they loved every second of it. Being just a smidge taller, Catherine Parr leaned downwards to peck Anne Boleyn’s lips, but little was she expecting for Anne to actually stand on the tips of her toes to meet her halfway. “You sly little rascal you!”

“You love me.” Anne set the microphone back on the stand, before grabbing the binder off of the stand and walking herself back to the table. Parr just laughed, repeating all of Anne’s actions before sitting down next to her. Katherine Howard, however, remained on the stage and allowed herself to continue to play whatever came to her mind. For the duration of however long they would stay, there would be a newfound sort of joy in the ladies, and the soft lullaby of a piano in the background. 

[lady-plantagenet]

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 2: SOdden (or Sod ‘Em depending on your persuasion)

(Dont know how long I’ll be able to keep these puns up)

Catherine, like this woman, does not really fit into this era. But while this woman seems dropdead cool and at least looks the part, Catherine just...

To all those of you keen enough to have come back for another segment of ‘what hasn’t already been said: TSP’, as opposed to have just been scrolling when you see this - welcome back! (Scrollers you too <3)

To anyone who’s seeing this for the first time: what this is a list of observations, jokes, reactions and criticism which occur to me upon a rewatch. I wait every week until Saturday to do this so that I have had my fill of scrolling through the tag and aggregating what has already been said. I tried doing a whole spoof (here where I gave up 10% in) but tbh a) I don’t know the history well enough b) it’s more time consuming than I thought and c) this series is just not as funny or as crazy as TWQ, so it’s untenable. Having said that: This is not a hatepost. I’m not hatewatching this series and nitpicking on purpose but expressing my honest views and trying to find the good in it as well as the bad.

Without further ado...

First Scenes:

The baby cloth lifting into the ceiling of the chapel had nice ‘myth of the demon countess of Anjou (ancestress of the Plantagenets)’ vibes. I am 100% that was unintentional. I get this impression by the cringiness of the baby’s screams (what’s up with those sound effects? It sounded like a zipper).

Henry gives me such softboi vibes? It’s pleasing to me because it’s making me attracted to him as a viewer, but no good in convincing me this is Henry VIII.

I think Catherine’s exposition about how she feels is pretty ok actually, it’s fitting that she would feel anger.

CHARLES’ FATHER IS NOT MAXIMILIAN, IT’S PHILIP (or rather it was). ~~ A quick wiki search guyz, a quick wiki search. Ughh

Again with the whole everyone acting like Catherine is Queen. Can they cut it out? Also while we’re at it, what was Catherine’s attendance in councils even like?

The music was nice

Post Child announcement phase:

Oof I hate to say it but I lowkey wanted de la Pole back in this mother. Mainly because it would mean more Margaret Pole and by this point I am scared her storyline will fade in prominence now that there’s no longer a Yorkist subplot (showhorned as it was, it was the crowning glory of last season tied with Arthur x Catherine).

More x Maggie Pole and all of it over Seneca and learning :’). I already know this will be the best part of the episode.

‘We certainly know stoicism in our family’ ~ I guess she’s referring to Reggie? Because our boi Clarence was no poster boy for stoicism. Though could she be making an ironic reference to her father~?

Edmund de la Pole Debacle:

Well this convo at least passed the bechdel test.

Maggie and Edmund’s interactions here are touching. I know this plotline was rushed but I think it was just right to bring us back here for 5 min as a mournful throwback to the bygone era to which Maggie Pope belongs to and now continues to do so alone. It is emotionless and you can just feel how the York cause was hanging on by a tired old threat by that point.

Maggie Pole is becoming matronly now and I like this transition.

What bothers me about a lot of fans of Margaret Pole is that what they don’t realise is that she wasn’t all like ‘I want nothing to do with my family I’ll stay low and obscure’. While far more cautious than the likes of her ancestors, she did engage in land disputes with Henry VIII and was an outspoken supporter of Catherine and Catholic. Having her be a woman woth dubious loyalties towards the Tudors is accurate.

Scotland with Meg and Jammes:

LMFAO it’s like they read my mind when I spoke of how much I laughed when Meg was like ‘Alexander Steward you pig!1!!’ last episode.

Nice reference to Aulde Alliance

I like James.

Henry and Catherine on the balcony:

Was she commander of the forces? Was Howard appointed that? Regent she was, ok.

Charlotte Hope’s new hairstyles really suit her!

‘Will you please stop cursing’ agahsjdk ahah

No offence to women (of which I am one) but this comparison between childbirth and war is just... wrong. I know Starz think they are being smart but childbirth is far less impressive than winning or surviving a battle - comparing the two diminishes the bravery of soldiers. YET ,having said that, childbirth is necessary for our society whereas war is almost always futile and by comparing them, it wrongly represents violence as something inherently as natural to us as birth and continuing of civilisation. overall not a smart, respectful or accurate parrallel to make.

Meg and prep for invasion + Catherine in her weird armour:

So Margaret dreams that her husband is dead and bloody in her bed. Ughh show you neeed to get more creative. But I did like the whole ‘dreams are how our ancestors talk to us’ line from Angus Douglas.

Re: Meg in her beret... Why is Meg dressed like me going to the London shops in October? Digging the aesthetic but not sure about the accuracy.

Rich of Catherine to bring up Edmund.

Why is Ursula Pole crying??? What is all this to her really?

Did Howard just call the guard... sonny?? Is this some WW2 crossover?

Catherine - James and the tent parlay:

Did Catherine just insult Meg’s intelligence??

Also lmao I’m going to miss James.

Re: Howard saying ‘I’m not going to get insulted by a man wearing a dress’ .. UMMM Starz, you do know that just thirty years ago men were prancing about in dresses and leggings (essentially). From around the middle of the 14th century to the beggining of 16th century (if not earlier), Englishmen were also essentially prancing about in ‘skirts’.

Am I getting a weird cooperation-partnership vibe between Meg and James?

The Battle:

Charlotte Hope looks so good with the helmet, she’d really suit an english hood! Such a shame they won’t give her one!

Ewwww he’s eating mud, why?

Just standard battle scene. They are all the same to me no matter which movie.

Aftermath:

Jesus, I find the whole Meg crying over James IV so heartfelt ‘you arrogant bastard’ for some reason just came out so full of emotion. Can someone please explain why the hell I ship them more than Henry x Catherine?? Like how ??

Awwww Linna is sooooo adorable ughhh. Also this whole Catherine going into armour among all the women crooning over the children gives this adorable sense of Catherine boyish and bloodying herself out to protect their peace, idk. All I have to say is that these series is less eager to pitt women against each other than the previous. I think that’s a step forwards.

Also, good to see Catherine being modest about her victory so Henry can save face. Finally starting to seem like the real Catherine.

‘Go on you dog’ arghh ahah he sounds like some public school rugby lad egging his mate on.

Re: Wolsey cock-blocker; the real Catherine would know it was uncatholic to have sex when you were pregnant. Also Catherine is not technically speaking in confinement if she’s wandering about.

It’s nice to see Catherine sticking up for Howard, she at least learned to respect him during the battle.

I foresee Oviedo having enough of this Christian stuff and wanting to return to the berber domains (I suppose Spain is out of the question)

Knighting Ceremony:

Apparently Margaret Pole herself was made Countess of Salisbury during this same ceremony... right? @houseofclarence

Also Maggie Pole being like: “being a rebel is in my blood, or so they tell me”... gahhh what’s with these shows and the Clarence erasure? Can’t they make one bloody reference to her dad or grandad Warwick? Ugh. Especially with lines like this. Actually? You know what? Ignore my previous comment about the stoic remark and it being an ironic reference to Clarence. I put such subtlety above this show’s writers.

Catherine has a habit of going to the coldest places possible to lose her children...

Haha @ Henry asking Bessie Blount (of all people) where Catherine is.

Conclusion:

6/10

What I’m happiest about is that Flodden got dealt with in one episode because warrior xena Catherine is not what interests me most about this show. Having said that, it was a true shame that James IV died because his were some of the best scenes. This whole show is starting to feel so historical fantasy-ish because the aesthetics are so confused. Granted it’s still pretty (not eyesore like Reign) but it doesn’t penetrate.

I am as always invested in the Poles (and More) but am also starting to get attached to Princess Mary whose actress exudes plenty of charm. This show remains confused with its feminist message because while it shows women being proactive there is so much emphasis on babies that what remains with the mind after watching is this womanish birthdrama, as opposed to a show about struggles which affect both genders.

You might tut at me and say I’m being ridiculous and that it is historically accurate to put so much emphasis on women’s babies and I say that’s swell. I would happily watch a show where that element is strong (most pre 1995 historical dramas are like that with traditionally feminine characters and I gulp them up like sustenance), but if a show promises feminism and women-men being partners I want it to deliver that properly. As I said in my previous post, why do we keep trying to make women engage in acts like war as if such an abhorrent act is the only way to take them seriously? I await the day where cunning, rationality and cool-headedness will be the traits portrayed as feminist ones.

There is nothing else to really comment on... the only potentially deeper message in this is the gender discourse. I am unsure about the accuracy so I can’t speak of the historical value of the interpretation. But what I will say is that though I remain excited for each new episode... I’m just not as invested as I was in TWQ (rewatch every year dont @ me) or TWP despite their many flaws. Some characters pull me in eg Maggie Pole (Carmichael is a bae), Thomas More etc but not the whole cast like TWQ. Anyway... would be interesting to see if anything happens with Lina and Oviedo tommorow as their storyline is conspicuously slow.

[duchessfics]

Lovesick

(https://clqrkkent.tumblr.com/post/179164121180/billie-dean-howard-medium-to-the-stars-in)

Billie x Sick!Fem!Reader x Audrey

Requested by Anon: A Billie x reader x Audrey fic where the reader has a cold and they both have to look after them is a very cute idea for a one shot. Just saying.😁😁. btw I absolutely love your writing. There is a serious decline in the sarah paulson story industry and I appreciate that you still write the amazing way you do🙏🙏🙌😍👌♥️👋 😂

Warning(s): Mentions of vomiting, and enough fluffy sweetness to give you a cavity. ;)

Summary: You catch the cold Audrey and Billie had, and try to deal with it on your own. However, your girlfriends care for you (even if you are stubborn about being fine). And in the process you realize how nice it is to have loved ones care for you while ill.

Word Count: 3900

A/n: I know this is another Billie x Reader x Audrey fic and I promise I have other ships in the process, but I was inspired to write this as soon as it was requested. Also I did a bit from Audrey and Billie’s perspective for a little extra content. So if you are into these three I hope you enjoy! :)

Audrey was the first one to come home sick. She said there was a bug going around on the set she was working on. So Billie took care of her for the next couple days. You were out of town at this time; however, you came home to see both of your girlfriends ill. Fortunately, Audrey was on the mend, but Billie was still in the thick of this cold. So, you helped them both to recover and everything seemed to go back to normal. That is until you wake up in the middle of the night feeling horribly nauseous.

You instinctively let out a groan and clutch your stomach, but freeze up, not wanting to wake your sleeping girlfriends. Both of the blondes continue to sleep peacefully and remain curled up together, so you sneak off to the guest room, trying to deal with this yourself. If there is one thing you hate, it’s to be coddled or nursed while injured or sick. Instead, your plan of action involves hiding in some room and suffering alone until the sickness passes on. However, as you throw up the contents of your stomach in the guest bathroom, you hear the door open and Audrey gasp, “Oh my god!” Then she yells out for Billie to come in. If you could speak, you would say you’re fine, but you are a little too occupied to say anything.

By the time Billie enters the bathroom, you have stopped retching and wipe your face with a towel, conveniently using it to hide from your girlfriend’s gazes as well. However, both Audrey and Billie kneel down near you and the latter softly murmurs, “Can you look at me, babygirl?” You hesitantly pull the towel away from your face and look over to see them both watching you closely. Before anymore can be said, you rasp through your scratchy throat, “I’m fine. I-I just ate something wrong.” Both sets of brown eyes look you over, clearly seeing the same symptoms they had, and the medium says, “Let’s just take your temperature. You look a little warm.” As she finishes speaking, Audrey rests the back of her hand on your sweaty forehead and says, “Oh darling, you’re burning up.” You shake your head, too tired to say anything, but know that whatever cold they both had is what you have now. Billie stands up and walks away to get the thermometer, ignoring your silent protest.

Meanwhile Audrey remains on her knees beside you, partly to offer help and support and partly to keep you from running off and hiding somewhere. Once Billie returns, she gets to her knees again and says, “Open your mouth for me, sweetheart.” You listen and let her place the thermometer under your tongue. After a minute or so, the device beeps and Billie’s eyes widen as she looks over the results. Then she looks to you and says, “Oh no, your temp is over 100 degrees.” As if the thermometer is wrong, you shake your head and scratchily reply, “I’m fine. I can take care of it myself.” But Audrey gently shushes you, cupping your face with her hands as she murmurs, “Love, I know we haven’t been together very long, but Bill and I want to take care of you.” 

Her gentle words make you look down to the tiled floor and you give a small nod as you rasp, “Ok.” So, you allow them to help you stand and lead you to the master bedroom. Then you brush your teeth to get that abhorrent taste out of your mouth before your girlfriends guide you to lay in the bed.

A sigh leaves your lips as you lay back on the bed and Billie pulls the blanket up, tucking you in while murmuring, “Audrey, dear, can you look in the medicine cabinet for our cold medicine?” She says yes and runs off while the medium smooths back the sweaty pieces of your hair that stick to your sweaty forehead and cheeks with her thumbs. As she repeats that gentle motion, she says in a quiet voice, “We’re gonna get you better, babygirl.” Your eyes fall shut as Audrey says, “Um…we don’t have any more cold medicine. Must’ve used the last of it when we were ill.” 

That makes you open your eyes to see Billie looking back to Audrey as she asks, “You’re sure?” The actress nods, biting her lip as she looks between you both. Then she hesitantly says, “Maybe we can run out to buy some?” Billie returns her gaze to you and her warm brown eyes look you over as she remains quiet. So you take her hand and say in a soft, scratchy voice, “I’ll be alright to be alone for a bit. I didn’t get much sleep last night so I’ll probably just rest.” Billie keeps quiet, tapping her nails on the bedspread as she looks to you. After a moment, the medium says, “Well at least let me set a couple things by you in case you need something.” Then she sets your phone, a box of tissues, a glass of water, and a small trash can within reaching distance.

Once that’s all set up, both women press light kisses to your forehead, noting how fast you are warming up, and Audrey says, “If you need anything at all just text or call us.” In response, you give her the best smile you can muster. But it must look rough, based on the expressions of concern they respond with. Then Billie soothes, “We won’t be gone too long.” You nod and rasp, “I’ll be here.” They head out and while you still feel very ill, your exhaustion from a lack of sleep leads you to doze off…

 Billie and Audrey’s POV

“Billie, if you go any faster, I’m going to be sick.” Audrey warns, gripping the car handle to the point of her knuckles turning white as Billie whizzes between cars. However, after hearing her girlfriend’s warning, she slows a little and replies, “Sorry, baby. I’m just a little worried. I’ve never seen her so weak.” The actress lets out the breath she was holding as Billie goes to driving only 10 over the speed limit. Once her heart rate has slowed, Audrey murmurs, “Me too, sweetheart.” Billie pulls into the nearest drugstore and as soon as she puts the car into park, both women rush in, walking over to the medicine section. While the medium scans over the different cold medicines trying to determine what will be best for their girl, Audrey walks up and says, “I got a couple things.” and Billie looks to see.

That’s when she sees Audrey has nearly filled up a shopping cart with packs of different cough drop packs, over 5 boxes of tissues, 3 containers of Vicks VapoRub, a new thermometer, nausea medicine, nose spray, and a first aid kit. Billie giggles and looks up to Audrey with a raised eyebrow while teasing, “A couple things, honeybee?” The actress blushes and defends, “Hey, you never know what she could need!” Billie walks up to Audrey and kisses her pouty lips before soothing, “I know. And I am sure y/n will appreciate everything you chose for her.” Then the medium sets the cold medicine she decided on in the cart before removing the first aid kit and thermometer. Once she does that, Billie interlocks her arm with Audrey’s and murmurs, “Let’s get home to our girl”

Once the women return, the first thing they do is check up on you. That’s when they see you fast asleep. You don’t even twitch at the sound of Audrey accidentally dropping the bags of items. After cleaning up that pile of items, Billie and Audrey step out to the kitchen. Then Billie places her hands on her hips before saying, “We could make up some soup for her.” Audrey comes up and replies, “I appreciate your enthusiasm, darling. I really do…But are you sure you don’t want to just order some to be delivered?” Billie chuckles, looking to Audrey with a smirk on her lips as she says, “It’s just soup. How hard can it be?”

 You wake up to the fire alarm, blaring its loud tone. But in the background Audrey’s voice yells, “Bill, get some water!” along with a string of expletives. Hearing all of that makes you concerned not only for your safety, but for Billie and Audrey’s as well. So, you slowly sit up and pull the blankets off of yourself before standing up. However, you immediately lean against the bed closing your eyes to prevent the room from spinning. After a moment, your vertigo seems to stop, but you hold your pounding head with one of your hands as you stagger out to the kitchen.

Upon stepping in, you see both of your girlfriends running around the kitchen, the sink water running while they use a towel to finesse the smoke out the open window. So, you croak, “Is everything alright?” Immediately both women freeze up, looking to you, and put on over enthusiastic smiles. Audrey lets out a forced laugh and chirps, “Everything is fine, sweetheart.” Then Billie whips out the stepstool, quickly ascending to turn off the piercing alarm. Once that is off, you come a little closer and ask, “What were you doing?” This time both of them chuckle and Billie purrs, “We were just making soup. But it’s no big deal, babygirl.” Your brows furrow, trying to imagine how soup could result in this, but it’s not too surprising with these two. So, you ask, “Do you need help?” They both step around the counter towards you and Billie replies, “No. We ordered some soup to be delivered.” Then each lady takes an arm and Audrey murmurs, “Let’s get you back to bed.” and they gently tug you towards the bedroom.

However, you root yourself and whine, “Can’t I at least sit in the living room please? If I spend all day in that room, I’ll go crazy.” Audrey looks to Billie for direction and the medium says, “I suppose.” So, you let them guide you to the living room couch. Once you’re seated, Audrey brings over the tissues and trash can while Billie coaxes you to drink a full cup of water. By the time the water is finished the doorbell rings. Both women walk over to door and within minutes return with a paper bag. Billie smirks at you and murmurs, “We got your favorite.” That makes you smile; however, you fall into a coughing fit.

Immediately both of your girlfriends rush over and sit on each side of you, patting your back. After a moment, the coughing stops, but you take a tissue and blow your nose, the sound obnoxious to your ears. Once that’s in the trash you take a deep breath and rasp, “Sorry.” Audrey kisses your forehead and soothes, “You’re just fine, darling. Let’s get you some soup.” Billie pulls out the bowl of steaming soup and hands it over along with a spoon. You thank her and begin to eat your meal, the warmth soothing your sore throat. It takes a long time to finish your meal, but you feel a little less bad after eating. Audrey takes the paper bowl and spoon from you to throw away. Meanwhile Billie takes out the cold medicine she purchased.

When you look back to see her pouring some, your body stiffens up and you whimper, “I-I don’t need medicine.” Billie chuckles and looks to you while teasing, “Y/n, sweet girl, I never realized how stubborn you are.” You keep quiet, eyeing the liquid down while keeping your distance. So, she takes your hand and soothes, “This will make you feel a lot better, babygirl.” Her smile and words of encouragement lead you to take the cold medicine before using the nose spray and Vick’s VapoRub.

The taste of cherries fills your mouth as you suck on a cough drop, laying back on the couch. Once you’re comfortable Billie places a blanket over you before planting a kiss on your forehead. However, after she does, the medium says, “You’re still burning up.” So, Audrey pops up and grabs the thermometer to take your temperature again. Once it beeps, Audrey gasps, her dark eyes wide. Billie doesn’t make any noise, but her brows furrow and she bites her lip before saying, “Still at 100.” But she looks to you with a calm smile, brushing your hair out of your face while soothing, “I’m sure the medicine will help you cool off a little.” Then your girlfriends give you some space, sitting together on the nearby loveseat and turning the TV on.

You look to them and see Audrey leaning against Billie, kept close by the arm Billie has wrapped around her shoulders. Audrey looks to you, noticing your expression, and soothes, “You’ll be back to yourself soon enough, love. Then we’ll give you all the cuddles you could ever want.” Her assurance makes you smile and feel a little better. Then Billie murmurs, “If you need anything let us know.” You swallow the tiny remnant of your cough drop and thank her. At first you watch the show that’s on, but as you continue to lay on the couch, snuggled under the covers, your eyelids get heavy and you fall asleep again.

You’re drawn out of sleep by Audrey murmuring, “Y/n, darling.” The first thing you can do is groan at how sore and achy your body feels. And as you wake up, your stomach churns and you feel nauseous again. The actress gently strokes your cheek and softly says, “I’m sorry, my love. But can you wake up for me? Then I’ll let you go back to sleep after a couple things.” So, you reluctantly open your eyes to see Audrey sitting on the edge of the nearby coffee table. Audrey looks you over with her brows furrowed before turning away to pick up something. When she pulls out a plate with toast on it you let out a weak noise of protest.

Audrey gives you a pitiful look and asks, “Can you just eat a little for me, darling? You’ll feel a little better with something in your stomach, I promise.” However, you turn your face away and mumble, “I’m not hungry.” Audrey tucks some of your unruly hair behind your ear and bargains, “Just one bite for me. You’ll get your appetite back as you eat.” Then she holds up the toast to your mouth. In an effort to please her, you turn back to face her and take a small bite, earning a smile. You continue to eat the toast but feel worse after finishing the whole thing. Audrey then helps you take your medicines, soothing you with her words the whole time.

Once that’s all done, you lay back down on the couch and squeeze your eyes shut, determined to not let your unruly stomach cause you to throw up. However, Audrey says your name, making you look to her. The actress bites her lip as she looks down at you, but timidly says, “You’ve done so well, honey. But can we take you back to our bedroom?” You automatically whine and look away. However, after a moment, you realize how childish you sound and hesitantly reply, “I guess.” your stomach lurching at the thought of moving. Audrey helps you sit up on the couch and murmurs, “I’m sorry, darling. I’ll leave you alone after this.” You let out a groan as you stand up, squeezing your eyes shut as you try to control your increasing nausea. Meanwhile Audrey apologizes and helps you start to walk. You manage to walk as far as the kitchen where Billie puts away dishes. She gives you a smile, but you break out into a sprint, covering your mouth as you run to the bathroom. Luckily you make it to the toilet before expelling the contents of your stomach.

As you continue your retching, you feel someone gather your hair and hold it away from your face. You realize it’s Audrey when you hear her whimper, “I’m so sorry, y/n. I shouldn’t have pushed you to eat.” Meanwhile Billie grabs a towel for you. A couple minutes later, you quit gagging and try to take a deep breath, groaning at the acidic burning in your throat and nose. Your nose runs and tears fall out of your eyes from throwing up, but there are also tears of humiliation as well. Billie’s hand gently guides you to look at her and she begins to tenderly wipe your face with the towel as she murmurs, “Let’s get you cleaned up.” Meanwhile Audrey flushes the toilet. After your face is wiped clean, Billie encourages you to blow your nose before disposing of the towel.

Your voice sounds even rougher than usual as you say, “I’m sorry. I’m making you treat me like a child or weakling.” They both shush you and Audrey soothes, “You’re absolutely no trouble to us sweetheart. And you’re definitely not weak.” Then her hand comes up to rub your back as she continues, “Your whole body is working to fight this off. Billie and I are just helping it along a little bit.” You look up to your other girlfriend and she gives you a warm smile with a wink.

Then Billie asks, “Do you feel a little better now?” By now you’re able to fully swallow and you reply, “Yeah.” Then Audrey murmurs from behind you, “Would you like to have a bath drawn? Maybe get cleaned off a bit?” The idea of washing off the different smells and sweat on you sounds appealing so you look back to her and rasp, “That would be nice.” So, the actress stands up and walks over to the large bathtub and turns on the tap. Then Billie helps you stand up and says, “I’m guessing you’d like to brush your teeth.” That makes you smile and croak, “Yes. If not for my sake than for yours.” The medium smiles back and sets out the toothpaste while you pull out your toothbrush. Then she keeps close, holding the hand that doesn’t hold your toothbrush.

After thoroughly cleaning your mouth, Billie helps you out of your clothes. Even though you’re sweaty, your body shivers in the cold and you cross your arms for some warmth. By now the tub is filled so you step into the bath and take a seat, letting out a sigh as the warm water soothes your sore muscles. The bathtub feels so empty with only you in it. But you are surprised when Audrey enters the bath. That makes you look back to see Billie undressing as well. 

You look between them and protest, “You don’t have to come in. I-I don’t want you to get sick.” Audrey’s hands come up to cup your face and she soothes, “Darling, we’ve both already been through this bug. And we want to be here for you.” Then she pecks your nose and continues with a smile, “Now if you try to protest our help again, I’ll have to insist on showering you with kisses.” That makes you smile and Billie sinks into the water as she purrs, “I’ll help you out with that, Audrey.” Then she gives you a wink, making you bite your lip as your cheeks warm.

Once they’re both settled, you rasp, “I just want to thank you both for taking care of me.” You look down and mutter, “I know I haven’t been the best patient today. I’m just…used to taking care of myself.” After apologizing, you venture to look up and Audrey pulls you into a warm hug, rubbing your back as she murmurs, “Oh you’re very welcome, love.” Then the actress backs up and asks, “How about Bill and I clean you up, so you don’t overwork yourself?” Your knee jerk reaction is to deny the offer. But after thinking about it, that would be nice. So, you hesitantly reply, “T-That would be nice.” In response, Audrey holds you close to her chest, encouraging you to wrap your arms around her slender middle and lean into her chest as Billie gently washes and conditions your hair. The way her acrylic nails lightly scratch your scalp makes you feel so relaxed.

Once that’s done, Audrey picks up the bar of soap and begins to wash your body. Her touch is gentle and intimate, but her face shows no signs of suggesting something more which you are grateful. It’s not that you don’t enjoy that, but the idea of having sex while feeling like a semi-truck ran you over is not appealing. After setting the soap aside and making sure to rinse any remaining suds away with the water, Billie guides you to lean into her front before murmuring, “Now we can just relax.” Her nails massage your scalp like earlier, making you feel tingly all over as your eyes struggle to stay open. In your relaxed state, you effortlessly melt into the medium’s chest, the warm water keeping you cozy.

Audrey comes up to sit beside Billie and asks, “Still feeling alright, darling?” Both of your girlfriends frown at your silence, however, when Billie tucks your hair away from your face, she sees your eyes are closed. She lets out a soft chuckle and says, “She fell asleep.” The actress peeks over to see and murmurs, “Poor thing. Hopefully she’s gotten through the worst of it.” Billie moves her hand to rub your back as she replies, “I would guess she has. Both of us only had it like this for a day.” Audrey hums in agreement, smoothing your hair down with her hand.

Billie and Audrey continue to let you rest until the water is no longer warm and all of you now have pruney fingers and toes. Billie shifts to sitting up while murmuring your name, pulling you out of your sleepy state. You take a deep breath and sit up, shivering as you realize how much the water has cooled. Both of your girlfriends smile at you and you drowsily ask, “How long was I asleep?” Billie kisses your cheek before replying, “Not that long.” Then Audrey rises out of the water while saying, “I’ll help you out.” You are too tired to protest and take her hands, glad she can compensate for your weakened legs.

Once out of the bath, you dry yourself off and put on the cozy flannel pajamas they picked out for you. Audrey and Billie also dry off and change, letting you brush your hair since it tends to be tangled and difficult to manage. Finally, the knots seem to be brushed out, so you head to the bedroom where Billie has you drink a glass of water before laying down.

For tonight you are the one in the middle with Audrey on your right side and Billie on your left. Once you're settled, Audrey curls into your chest and you use one arm to hold her close. Billie lays on her side so she faces you and nuzzles her face into the bend of your neck, placing her arms around both you and Audrey. Within minutes, you fall asleep once more, already feeling a little better with both of your lovers around you.

Tagged: @marilynroselleprentiss​, @saviorinsilk​, @chokemepaulson​, @versonstar​, @lush-les-lady​, @cordwliagoode​, @psychobitchtess​, @midnight-lestrange​, @mysweetdelia​, @venablesbitch​

Let me know if you would like to be tagged in later works!

[sammybuckyy]

IRON MAN ONE COMMENTS

Iron man one notes

Tony:

- Sexist

- Arrogant

- He doesn’t respect others but especially the lead driver.

- Assumes people aren’t allowed to talk before assuming they wouldn’t want to talk to him.

- Instantly the privileged person

- He alienates the people and someone sticks up for them and he alienates her.

So far unlikeable character established (1:46) into the movie

- The scene was a little self aware but now they’re all like is it true this accomplishment thingy.

- People around him admiring him having a lot sex with women...

- Terrence Howard likes Tony

- BY THIS POINT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO LIKE AND BE ROOTING FOR TONY

No one calls Tony out!! How are we supposed to like him?!

There is an extremely prestigious award he decides to gamble instead. Why do girls throw themselves at him?

The one person who calls him out for his bullshit SLEEPS with him (WTF)

The angle they’re going for is: he is a douchebag but *smooth*

Maybe this is a Social Commentary about how the wealthy only surround themselves with people who validate their opinions?

He has no respect for the woman who called him out.

People let him get away with not respecting anything.

Pepper is condescending and judgy 

The double standard Pepper has!!! (ughhh I really wanted to like Pepper)

Allow me to explain: Pepper was being super condescending and having no respect for this woman, and meanwhile practically warships Tony doing everything for him, and protecting him when he treats her horribly. The woman didn’t do anything wrong. She was just a woman who was wearing less clothes and who had a one night stand. and Tony literally had the one night stand with her. DOUBLE STANDARD!!!

Pepper implying “Oh I hate you!! you had sex with Tony Stark you gold digger”

PEPPER LITERALLY SAID: “I do everything and anything tony stark requires”. (in a cold condescending tone)

And we’re supposed to be rooting for Pepper now.

#Pepper is not like other girls

Pepper is doing all the work but she is also validating Tony. 

The girl wearing the masculine outfit is the one we’re supposed to be respecting. <— THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

Tony is a lazy playboy?

TONY SAID “I don’t like it when you have plans” ITS HER BIRTHDAY (11:57) he didn’t know her birthday 

He’s all annoying and she’s all like smiling ‘oh Tony’!!

 Pepper likes Tony BEFORE HIS REDEMPTION ARC?!? ← (afterwards note: I realize that Tony may not have had a full redemption arc, I’d just assumed he did, a lot of things were unclear)

This means their relationship does NOT work!!!!!

The world revolves around Tony, that’s what he thinks and the world is proving that to be true -.-

Terrence Howard said “you don’t respect yourself so you don’t respect me?” <— Tony doesn’t respect himself? I- THIS MOVIE IS CONFUSING ME SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME TONY’S CHARACTER

Terrence Howards is calling him out (confusedly), good for him. And obviously Tony is changing the subject and stuff 

So the NEXT person who calls Tony out also gets wooed by Tony and is drinking← I think is to be “humorous.” 

Takeaways from this:

Everyone deep down is who Tony wants them to be!! 

People who try to call out Tony for his bullshit are actually stupid :)

This is a funny joke because Tony is always right

This is a funny joke because people who say Tony isn’t always right, are wrong :)

Making Terrence Howard’s lower than Tony to be like anyone who insults Tony is not as good as Tony. (14:09 approx)

Maybe he’s lacking in the common sense 20:16.

Maybe he is supposed to be brave and good?

Maybe no one has told him what to do so he doesn’t understand this concept.

We are obviously supposed to feel sympathy for him.

There are so many other people who are more extreme than Tony which makes the audience supposed to root for him, cause at least he isn’t “evil”. 

Having Arabs make Tony make weapons invalidated the American mass murderer thing.

American military is the greatest thing ever, the Arabs are bad, how dare they use our weapons.

You can’t just give a pep talk and after words play cool pay off music, and have them organize we’re never gonna make it out- we are gonna make it out.

They are your loyal customers sir 23:35

So many foreign antagonists. Ugh 

Are you gonna tell me the plan

MORAL OF STORY: Everyone is incompetent excempt for Tony Stark (26:22)

Oh no this guy is evil monologuing about how he wants to take America’s power omg horrors

Tony is willing to advocate for human  31:00

TONY REFUSING TO BUILD WEAPONS:

I don’t think this was a development for Tony that he refused to build the weapons. 

Because they never established Tony being self preservative. He does seem like a good assistant so maybe it isn’t character development. This is supposed to be selfless. 

“I’m a macho man who steps in to save my underlings.” Is more of the vibe it gives off

33:17 perfectly shaved beard lol

33- Stark always telling the incompetent underlings what to do.

37:05 furthering the idea that everyone is stupid except Tony and Tony is so much more cooler and power fuller than others

You realize scientist guy had a dead family Iron Man doesn’t listen to people do this why do we find out now? 38:12

39- cool cinematography 

Intended reaction from audience- wow so badass so funny everyone is so incompetent compared to thee Tony Stark (all hail)

Justification FOR TONY STARK BRUTALLY MURDERING A BUNCH OF DEFENSELESS PEOPLE- anger from a dead friend?? But the “my turn” line was so like a JOKE

40:34 made Tony an unsmooth landing!! Yayyyyyyy

“Not bad” is what he says! HE IS APATHETIC

We don’t get to see his reaction to grief 

I just kinda feel like he is back... but like not changed.

He is back- using his social power to make everyone sit down, “we sit down because we’re all the same” vibes

He’s like wow my weapons are being used by non Americans- the injustice!!! These weapons are actually killing AMERICANS! (National anthem plays in background)

He is like- damn you guys for not noticing what an asshole I was (45:32)

Tony: I have changed I am leaving thousands of people unemployed :) (45:45)

He thinks he knows best, he is arrogant and egocentric. He doesn’t listen to anyone’s opinions.

PEPPER obviously uncomfortable with doing Tony heart surgery don’t make people do stuff they aren’t comfortable with!!!! (especially people who are going to be love interests!!!)

Pepper is also ~incompetent~ Tony blamed her for not being able to do something- SHE LIITERALLY SAID SHE COULDN’T!!!!

1:03 “further Jarvis” (flying into the sky too high)- Tony is doing reckless endangerment?

Overworking? -porque

1:05 To Why does Pepper like Tony? Has Tony been anything other than lazy?

People do NOT need to tell Tony that he is good, they need to tell Tony that he sucks.

The story is like “don’t hate yourself Tony” and Tony had never shown any signs of this.

Pepper SO FRIECKEN OBSESSED AND SUPPORTING HIM AND FOLLOWING HIM. Pepper is a stupid love interest. (I’m sorry I really wanted to like her but I hate her character so much for this story)

Pepper is nothing but a love interest. She should have pushed Tony to be a better person. The only people Tony kept in his life are the ones that boosted his own ego. (back to the social commentary I’m SURE Marvel intended)

This movie could have benefitted from enemies to lovers trope.

1:05 no consequences for intending to obliterate everyone

Yas Jarvis-love you vision!!!

-.- everyone in love with Tony -.- (1:08 girls squealing)

1:09 Tony makes her dance and she looks uncomfortable REALLY TONY?!??

“I could fire you”-Tony Stark to his love interest

He forces her to do things and he is her boss. And then she laughs -.-

1:15 he didn’t want refugees to get hurt? He wants to help people now, what was his turning point? What was the moment when he decided to help people? THIS IS A CONFUSING MOVIE

He was locked out and he is my company!! So not actually character development.

Why did Tony Stark start caring about innocent people?

- because the tv was explaining it and he was all like I shall help now

- The time in Afghanistan 

- No impact?

- Let’s stop doing weapons to protect the innocent people? 

- Because he gained empathy, but that contradicts

- Okay strong black and white morality 

- America good every other country bad.

- He had complete apathy because he deemed everyone bad but then he deems some people innocent 

The people he deems good he also deems incompetent. 

1:21 Tony’s not telling the war machine that they shouldn’t kill him because he is Iron Man.

Is Tony not happy? Why is a smart dude like himself be so stupid?

1:25 another classic joke of Tony knowing best and Terrence Howards being wrong 

OKAY THATS ALL I GOT SRY I DIDN’T FINISH I WAS BORED DURING THE CLIMAX

[survivorparr]

the sun and her moon, pt 5/8 (Get Down)

aka The Six Cast said Gay Rights Today and I Felt That

Ex Wives/No Way | DLUH | Heart of Stone | Haus of Holbein

(about the soundtrack title fic concept)

tw: throwing up (it’s brief, but after the third • )

•

To a casual observer, it would have appeared that nothing had changed. Catherine and Anne still sat together in the van, took all their meals together, and laughed at things that nobody else found funny.

But to anyone who’d been watching closely, it was clear that something was... different. One set of shared headphones became two separate pairs. Jane shelved the English-French dictionary she’d thought she’d be needing to manage Anne in two languages.

Luckily for Anne and Cath, someone had been watching closely.

“Alright, Queens! We’ve roughly 25 minutes before Cathy gets back from bible study and Anne finally wakes up. I call this emergency meeting to order,” declared Kat.

“Judging by the present company, I’m guessing this is... what have you been calling them? Parrlyn-related?” Aragon continued folding everyone’s dry laundry as she spoke. The warm, clean fabric and the precision and routine of folding calmed and comforted her (and she figured she’d be needing as much of that as she could get during Howard’s meeting).

“It is. Come on, Catherine, surely even you can admit by now that there’s something between them. Anne hasn’t bothered messing with you in over a week,” Kat leveled.

“Now that you mention-”

“-the vibe in the house has been kinda-”

“-some peace and freakin’ quiet-”

“Anywho! What’s Newton’s first law of motion?” Kat asked.

“wHY on Ear-”

“-object at rest will stay at rest until acted on by another force”.

“Very good, Cleves! I propose we give this particular ‘object at rest’ a little push, hmm?”

“What have you got in mind, love?” Jane inquired.

“A night out. We haven’t had a proper one in ages, plus, it’s nearly Cleves’s birthday and we have to celebrate!”

Cleves shot Kat an appreciative smile from where she was perched on the arm of the sofa. She was quick to hype up her friends, but surprisingly shy about asking them to do anything for her in return - even going out for her own birthday.

“Music, a crowded pub, dancing, booze... it’s all the ingredients we need to give those two the push they need”.

Nods and murmurs of approval were seen and heard all around.

“Alright then - a night out it is!” Aragon grinned. “But if anyone thinks this means I’m suddenly going to braid Boleyn’s hair...”

•

“Pleeeeease, Aragon? You’re so good at it, and Jane is busy curling Kat’s. Pretty pretty pleeeease? Por favoooor, con una cereza encima?”

“oKAY, I will curl your hair IF you stop butchering my native language. I told you, the idioms don’t translate...”

“Gladly”. Anne flashed a devious grin and plugged her curling iron into the nearest outlet. Aragon patted her comforter, motioning for Anne to sit down.

The two women sat in an uneasy silence, until-

“Catherine?”

“Mm?”

“Do you believe in life outside of earth?”

“Do I - no, Anne, I do not believe in life outside of Earth. I mean, never say never or whatever, but I think the conditions are highly improbable”.

“Oh. Right. Catherine?”

“Boleyn, I swear-”

“-have you ever been in love?”

“Have I WHAT?” Aragon nearly keeled over.

“Do I smell smoke?!” Cleves burst into the room. She slowly took in the sight of Aragon standing over Anne with a steaming hot curler. “Right... Carry on then”.

“Wait! Anna! We... could use a little help. She’s got a lot of... hair, and I’m out. of. my. depth”. 

“Say no more! Anna of Cleves is here to assist with all your- Boleyn, you look dreadful. I mean, you look lovely, but you look dreadful. What’s got you down?”

Anne was silent for a moment, eyes glued to the floor, lips pursed as if she were physically holding the words she couldn’t say in her mouth. Her chin quivered ever so slightly.

“I— I think I messed up, you guys”.

“Messed up how, babes?” Cleves put a comforting hand on Anne’s shoulder.

“I’ve went and... caught proper feelings for someone”.

“You’re allowed to have feelings. We know you’re often reduced to the comic relief, but-”

“That’s not it, Catherine, it’s... it’s that I’ve fallen for the absolute wrong person.”

The declaration hung heavy in the air. Aragon released another perfectly curled ringlet from the iron.

“Anne. No matter who it is, we’re going to support you. You and... whoever it is”, Cleves assured her.

“You don’t understand, though. I really couldn’t have chosen worse - I could ruin everything good in my life, and for what? I bet they wouldn’t even like me back if they knew, which they can’t, because GOD it would be a mess. Honestly, Aragon, you especially would be appal-“

“Boleyn. Look at me. We are all behind you, all the way, no matter who it is. Me, Anna, Kitty, Jane... Cath... There’s nothing you could do that would ever change that, do you hear me?”

Anne turned to face Aragon, eyes full of gratitude. “Th- thank you, Catherine. Thanks, Cleves”.

“Don’t mention it. Now, these curls are looking pretty fire if I do say so myself, so why don’t you touch up your makeup and we’ll go do some dancing?”

•

For such a tiny person, Katherine Howard sure had a lot of vomit in her. Jane was in the bar restroom with her, holding her hair, while Aragon and Cleves were taking a break from the dance floor to challenge (see: destroy) the reigning cup pong champions.

This left Cathy and Anne standing in a corner near the bar, nursing drinks.

“Some night out this is, eh?”

“What’s that?”

“Oh no, I just meant, you know, us standing here, watching all the fun...” Cathy trailed off.

“Oh, I s’pose you’re right - sorry, I’m not in much of a partying mood tonight. I didn’t want to bail on Cleves, though”.

“Oh”.

Anne noted Cathy’s slight frown.

“Not that I don’t want to be here! Here is good, you’re good, you’re - you’re great and I... have had too many gins and not enough food today. I’m sorry, Cathy”.

Parr smiled warmly. “Hey, you don’t need to be sorry. Everyone has off days. Just... if anything was wrong, you would tell me, right?”

Anne’s heart sank. “Of course I would”. The lie pulsed through her whole body. “Thanks, Cathy.”

Anne looked down at the still-almost-full cup in her hand. After a second’s contemplation, she tilted her head back and downed the whole glass. 

“God, I love this song. I think I’m gonna go dance. Do you want to come with?”

Parr blinked rapidly, confused by the abrupt shift in Anne’s demeanor. “Yeah, I’ll come,” she answered warily. She kept her eyes trained on the flashes of green weaving through the crowd until she and Anne were in the middle of the crowded dance floor.

By the time Cathy caught up, Anne was already on another planet, eyes closed, jumping and flailing to the music. She stood and watched for a second, wondering how it felt to be that free, that confident.

“Are you going to dance, Parr?”

Cathy looked around nervously to see if she was within the sightline of any of the other queens. Seeing that she wasn’t, she let out a long exhale, piled her hair on top of her head and secured it, and then began bouncing to the beat.

Suddenly, Anne’s hands were on her shoulders. It wasn’t uncommon for the two of them to dance like that in a Megasix, but in this new context, it made Cath’s heart flutter involuntarily. God, how she wanted Anne to pull her closer... She quickly put it out of her head, and focused on responding to Anne’s movements with her own. Everywhere Anne was, Cathy was too. Their bodies intertwined, rising and falling together on the dance floor.

Anne felt her hands move down towards Cathy’s waist, bringing their swaying hips closer together. She couldn’t think straight - she couldn’t think of anything at all except how much she wished Parr could be hers in that moment.

Anne’s hands on her hips stirred something in Cathy, and every reservation that had been holding her back disappeared. Heart racing, she looked into Anne’s eyes, then glanced quickly at her lips.

Then-

“Guys? Kat’s doing a little better for the mo’, so we were thinking we’d get her home in case she gets sick again later. Ready to go?”

Just like that, Cleves had broken the spell.

•

All the way home, Cathy had stared intently at the ground, feeling Anne’s hot gaze on the back of her neck from the backseat of the cab. As she got into bed, her mind raced. How could she have lost control like that? Would Anne ever speak to her again? The thought of having her secret exposed made Cathy sick. The thought of Anne not returning her feelings made her sicker.

Ever the pragmatist, Cathy stared up at the ceiling and began to think of things she could do to fix the situation. She’d come up with a good explanation for the staring, for starters - tell Anne that she had an eyelash on her cheek or something.

Yes, that’s good, she thought. I should go do it now before she goes to sleep.

Wow, give the girl some space. You’ve just gone full-on freaky on her, she doesn’t want to see you now.

On the other hand, if you apologize now, maybe she’ll forget the whole thing by morning...

Cath cast off her covers and rolled out of bed. Filled with a new determination, she strode across her bedroom to the door. She pulled it open, and-

“Anne? Why aren’t you-“

Cathy stumbled backwards into her room from the sudden force of Anne’s hands desperately pulling at her face, her lips meeting Cathy’s own roughly. The door swung shut behind them.

•

Tags:  @mimymomo @gayboleynz @supernova-nightmare@allthequeensdeservedmore@demidoubter @alexs-galaxies @sweet-sappphic @sarahzarahh @musical93 (i lov u ALL sm) (if you’d like to be tagged or if you’d like to stop being tagged, please let me know <3 )

[cblgblog]

Some anti Steggy anon was bitching over Peggy’s “I just wanted a second chance at keeping him safe” line in AC. >> I was the one who said that, I didn't know it was an Agent Carter line, I tried to watch the show, but as I didn't see woc women, it was white feminist, I stopped watching. Either way, a woman's role is not to keep a man safe. It's a series written by men, right? The same men who killed Nat because she didn't have a family, so she wasn't worthy, right? =>

=>? I don’t blame Peggy, but people who write women the wrong way. Like the scene where she shoots at Steve, where these men show that we women are not in control of our emotions. You never see a man lose control. People can support Peggy, but at the same time see flaws in her writer’s writing, as with male characters as well.

I’m gonna respectfully disagree with most of this. Except for the last line, which I agree with, supporting a character doesn’t mean ignoring flaws in writing. 

It’s fine that you didn’t watch Agent Carter, but no, the show was not written by men. It was created by the same men who wrote First Avenger, yes, they wrote the pilot. But the showrunners were women. Those men wrote 1 episode. That’s it. The rest of the show, including that line, was overseen by women.

Also, no, the same men who killed Nat because she didn’t have a family…? No. The bullshit stuff about Nat not a full person because she can’t get pregnant was written by Joss Whedon. The other movies she appeared in after that were written by, yes, the First Avenger writers, and the writers of the Agent Carter pilot. Joss Whedon’s Nat stuff, her view of herself as a monster because she can’t have kids, the romance with Banner? None of that has been touched since 2015. The writers and directors of the later movies have almost completely ignored it. So no, all this stuff isn’t being written by the same men.

Nat’s death was garbage. I hate it. They’ve justified it by saying her character arc was over, which is bullshit, but not by saying anything about her not having kids. I honestly don’t think anyone pays much attention to those aspects of Whedon’s characterization. Does that make her death okay? Nope, still hate it. But it is bullshit in a different way than Whedon’s Nat is bullshit. Different types of gross.

As for the line, have you actually seen the bit in question? How far did you get in the show? No, it is not the woman’s role in a narrative to keep a man safe. But that’s not even what Peggy was talking about, really? Steve is already dead (she thinks) when she says that line. She’s talking about his blood, and not wanting it to fall into the wrong hands/be used to hurt others. She loved him, he’s dead, she thinks, and this is the last thing she thinks she can do for him.

It’s not inherently anti-feminist for Peggy to love or miss a man. That doesn’t inherently weaken her character. She wants to protect everyone she loves, as shown throughout the series, men and women alike. Her caring for a man, and wanting to protect the last part of him (and the world by extension because of how dangerous that blood is) isn’t anti-feminist just because Steve’s a man.

IMDB tells me that episode was indeed written by a man. But again, the show was overseen by female showrunners, so they had the chance to cut that line if they chose.

That scene where Peggy shoots at Steve never bothered me? Yeah, she showed a temper there. At least somewhat justifiably, because she thought Steve was different than “all the rest” of the soldiers, and in that moment, she thought he’d lied. She thought she was wrong. She lost her temper. Why is that an awful thing? It shows she has flawed moments, it makes her more human, in my opinion. 

Also, you never see a man lose control? What about the Hulk? That’s literally his deal. Steve snaps a log in half in front of Tony because Tony unknowingly quoted Peggy’s words from Steve’s nightmare sequence. In Agent Carter season 2, Daniel finds out Peggy’s in trouble and wastes time smashing things and throwing his crutch around instead of, I don’t know, getting right to the job of trying to rescue her. Drax almost gets his teammates killed by Thanos in Infinity War because he’s so desperate to get revenge for his family. Peter Quill loses them their chance to get the Gauntlet in the same movie, because he freaks out over Gamora’s death. Those are off the top of my head, there are plenty more just in the MCU, never mind other films.

Men are shown losing control all the time, in the MCU and elsewhere. Peggy had a moment of controlled anger (she knows damn well how fast Steve is/how good Howard’s tech is, and even if she had shot him somehow, she knows Steve has a healing factor). She has like, ten seconds of anger and then calmly walks away. With all the man tantrums we have to see in the MCU and other movies, what is wrong with seeing ten seconds of a woman getting pissed too? Is she supposed to be in perfect control of her emotions all the time because she’s a woman? That sentiment is more anti-feminist to me than letting Peggy be a flawed human being with a moment of controlled anger.

It you hate the Endgame ending and what men did with it, cool, okay. But recognize that the men you’re talking about had virtually nothing to do with the show beyond the first episode, and definitely nothing to do with that line. And that not every bad character move you perceive was thought up by a man. Women can write women just as terribly as men can, as evidenced by season 2 of Agent Carter. 

[yourdeepestfathoms]

and then you became the moon (part 1)

you’ve heard of the fics about how the queens met and got close now get ready for: that but with the ladies in waiting and it’s mainly about Bessie and Maggie

this fic is heavily based on some amazing headcanons by @the-k-howard-look which i absolutely LOVE! seriously they are so freaking cute and i love reading over a lot, so i had to do something with them!

TW: None, I believe, but let me know if there are any

------------

It was raining.

Four women sat in a back room of a theater on that fateful day, staring at each other in silence. It was a little awkward to say the least, but, eventually, one of them spoke up.

   “Well, I guess I’ll take one for the team,” She said, “I’m Maria de Salinas. I was Catherine of Aragon’s lady in waiting.”

The most noticeable thing about her was her curly, frizzy hair, but also her kind eyes, which were similar to that of a gentle doe gazing at you from the forest. Out of all of them, she was definitely the most laid back and calm one.

   “Maria,” The woman to her left said, “Yes, you’re not exactly hard to forget. Especially with that mane.”

Maria grinned at her.

   “Good to see you too, Bess.”

The woman had her arms crossed over her chest and sat up straight, holding herself in a defensive posture in a way. Her build was similar to a bear’s, but she had the eyes of a harpy eagle and the hands of a wolf.

   “Elizabeth Blount,” She introduced herself, “But I prefer to go by Bessie. I was a lady in waiting to several queens.”

   “Oh yeah, I remember you!” The blonde across from her pipes up. She’s not as relaxed as Maria, but is definitely more loosened up than the other two. However, she looked well built and strong. “I don’t think we talked much, though. Anyway, I’m Joan Meutas, but I think my name is sometimes Jane? It’s Joan, though. Jane Seymour was my mistress.”

   “Joan, Jane,” Maria shrugged, “They’re easy to mix up.”

Joan laughed a little, already matching well with Maria’s carefree, friendly demeanor.

   “Yeah. It’s strange.”

Maria nodded and then looked to the last of the group.

She was young, no more than seventeen at best, and was awfully scrawny. Her brown hair was a mess upon her head, she was very pale, except for the dark red flush on her cheeks, and she was shivering, but her pale blue eyes still remained very beautiful, despite how glassy they looked.

   “Oh. I’m Margaret Lee. You can just call me Maggie.” She said and her voice is very hoarse.

Bessie perks a little upon hearing her name, which makes Maria glance at her, but she settles quickly.

   “Are you okay?” Joan asks the youngest, slight worry glinting in her eyes.

   “Yeah,” Maggie replied swiftly, “Just a little cold, that’s all.”

   “It has been raining for awhile.” Maria nodded.

A few moments later, a woman enters, introducing herself as Sasha. She began to explain the show, telling the four of them about how they were going to be the band for the queens.

   “Can’t wait to stand in the background!” Maria said and Joan snorted.

Although actually being able to perform would be fun, the group accepted that they were just going to be the ones who played the music. At least they were being paid.

Over the next few days, basic rundowns were gone through, and it wasn’t long before the sheet music for the first song was given. However, something else was happening.

The youngest of the group, Maggie, was definitely getting sicker. She came in looking more and more feverish as each day passed. It was worrying, of course, but Bessie seemed to be the most concerned. A strange maternal feeling kept welling up inside of her each time she saw the girl. Perhaps it was because she had died giving birth to her daughter, who was also named Margaret.

Maybe...

No.

No, Margaret Lee was not her Margaret. She was just missing her baby, which was also weird because she had seven kids, so you would think she would get tired of holding a screaming bundle that looked like a wrinkly tomato.

But something about Margaret...

The name was special, at least to Bessie. It had been suggested to her by Lady Anna of Cleves, who she had been working under while pregnant. The two of them mused about baby Margaret without even knowing if she WOULD be a girl. Although, Anna knew for a fact that she would be, though.

And she had been right.

Unfortunately, she never got to meet baby Margaret, like Bessie, who only held on long enough to name the infant.

What if this was her second chance at being there for her Margaret?

No! No. No, that was just absurd.

However, her motherly instincts continued to flare, especially when she noticed Maggie starting to sway during rehearsals.

   “Margaret!”

Strong arms wrapped around Maggie’s waist when she started to collapse. Her eyes pop open wide and she staggered, trying to push away.

   “Easy. I’ve got you.”

Bessie lowered the two of them to the ground. Maggie presses up against the wall, her cheeks burning in embarrassment. Or maybe that was just the flush from her fever.

   “Sorry,” Maggie whispered, “I just-”

   “No need to apologize, love,” Bessie assured her, “You really shouldn’t be here if you’re sick, though.”

   “No, I’m fine. Really.”

   “Have you taken any medicine?”

Maggie opened her mouth and then closed it. Bessie frowned.

   “Maggie?”

   “Can’t afford it.” Maggie mumbled, bowing her head in shame, “I can barely make rent, so I can’t waste any money on anything else.”

   “Oh, love...”

Maggie shook her head. She pushed herself up to her feet, wobbling a little, but uses the wall for support. Bessie stands quickly, hands hovering out a little, ready to catch the girl in case she fell again.

   “How about to stay with me tonight?”

Maggie froze. She looked at Bessie with wide eyes.

   “What?”

   “Come stay with my at my flat.” Bessie said, “I have medicine.”

   “Bessie, I can’t do that.” Maggie stammered.

   “I insist.” Bessie pressed, “Please, hun, you need time to recover. You’ll only get worse if you don’t take anything. Let me help you.”

Maggie opened her mouth, then shut it. Her hazy mind toiled over what was just presented to her. The codependent part of her couldn’t help but be filled with a sense of need, thinking that this woman really wanted to be around her. The other part, though, was screaming at her to say no. Intruding on Bessie’s home was rude. However, her need to be cared for by someone was much greater than the fear, so she agreed.

It was settled, then. After rehearsals ended, Bessie drove herself and Maggie to her flat. When they got there, Maggie was barely awake in the passenger seat, leaning her head on the seat belt. She was so dazed and out-of-it that she didn’t even hear the driver’s side door closing or her own opening.

Bessie looked down at the girl with a soft smile. She hated to have to disturb her, especially when she looked so peaceful (or as peaceful as one could get when ill), but they had to get inside before the drizzle outside picked up.

   “Maggie, love,” Bessie said softly, lightly pressing on her shoulder to rouse her, “We’re here.”

Maggie’s pale blue eyes fluttered open and she stared at Bessie for a moment before mumbling something incomprehensible and unbuckling her seat belt. Bessie helped her out of the car and up to the flat. The bassist absolutely would have carried the girl, she didn’t look heavy at all and Bessie wasn’t weak by any means, but she felt that that might have been overstepping the boundary. So, instead, she just kept one arm around Maggie’s shoulders for support.

   “Are you okay with animals?” Bessie asked while getting her keys out. She noticed Maggie tense up and frowned. “What’s wrong, love? Are you going to be sick?”

  “Dogs?” Maggie squeaked out.

Bessie furrowed her eyebrows before realizing what the girl meant.

   “Oh, no. I don’t have dogs. Just a cat.”

Maggie relaxed and nodded.

   “Not a fan of dogs, I take it?”

The girl nods again.

Bessie hummed, keeping that in mind.

She opens the door and guides Maggie into her apartment, where they are greeted by a meow from the living room.

   “That old lady is Reefer,” Bessie said, nodding at the tortoiseshell cat. “She’s friendly.”

A small smile twitched on Maggie’s lips when she held out her hand to the cat, who nuzzles her fingers as a hello.

   “She’s pretty,” Maggie murmured.

Bessie smiled a little before pointing out the bathroom and spare bedroom. While doing so, she noticed Maggie struggling to simply follow along with what she was saying. The poor girl needed medicine and she needed it now.

   “Alright, hun,” Bessie set a hand on Maggie’s shoulder when she started to sway, “Let’s get some medicine in you and then you can get changed and take a shower. How does that sound?”

Maggie nodded feebly and Bessie eased her into sitting on the couch while she went to get the medicine. She ended up hunching over, holding her pounding head in both hands. Bessie frowned when she saw this while walking back over.

   “Here, love,” Bessie said softly, holding out a small medicine cup full of a thick scarlet liquid. She chuckled lightly when she saw the bitter face Maggie made. “It’ll help you, I promise.”

Maggie had no other choice but to down the liquid, which left a disgusting taste in her mouth. She shook her head, deciding that she hated medicine, but loved Bessie’s presence and care, so she would deal with it.

After taking a few other things (Bessie was tempted to give her everything she had for an illness, but didn’t want to accidentally overdose the poor thing), Bessie helped Maggie to her feet and guided her over to the bathroom to clean off and get changed into some clothes she was letting her borrow.

After Bessie went back to the kitchen to start dinner, Maggie slipped behind the curtain and stood under the water for a moment. Finally, she moved again, reaching for a bottle of soap and slathering some against her body and-

   “Wait.”

She still had her clothes on. Those had to come off. Of course.

She awkwardly loitered for a second, making sure the soap got out of the fabric of her shirt before stepping onto the floor mat. How delirious and stupid was she? Bathing with her clothes on? Who did that?

Taking off her clothes took great effort, as her limbs seemed to be made of lead. She discarded them in the sink, shuffled back into the shower, and almost immediately spits out the water that beats into her face. Blindly, like she has never bathed before, she paws around for a safe spot from the onslaught.

Normally, a hot shower would be relaxing, but when sick and feverish, it was like a torture segment. Instead of cleaning her, it was scraping her skin off entirely. Claws of fire latch onto frayed edges and tore down, tunneling down into her very core.

Maggie wasn’t going to let herself be defeated by a damn bath. She had the overwhelming urge to punch the spigot, but that probably wouldn’t do much for her. It was made of metal, after all.

All of a sudden, her knees gave in and she snapped out of her reverie when she collapsed to the floor. She reached up to try and regain some mobility, but only succeeded in knocking over every single soap bottle onto herself when her hand slipped on the bar.

Maggie: 0. Shower: 1.

Exhaustion seemed to be bred into her bones. It keeps her from sitting upright and she spends multiple long minutes just lying face-down on the floor, face smothered against puddles of water. She rasps and coughs, rolling heavily onto her side and pulling her legs in close. She pressed her burning forehead against her knees and shivered, despite the temperature of the water.

Resting her eyes for a moment wouldn’t hurt anyone.....

Water bills were a thing, though. And this wasn’t even her house.

Sighing heavily, Maggie pushed herself onto her knees and grabbed a rag to start wiping herself off. She douses her hair in shampoo and uses her nails to scrub the brown locks free from sweat. She repeats this process at least three times before finally twisting the faucet handle. The torrent of liquid fire sputters to a halt.

Lavender-scented steam billowed outward as the shower curtain was yanked open. Maggie paws around for a towel and swathes it around herself. She takes to drying her hair by shaking her head around wildly like a wet dog. Her entire body disagreed with this method, as it made her feel even more woozy, but she didn’t care.

Once she was finished wrestling with her clothes, Maggie sluggishly dragged herself out of the bathroom, still shivering. Bessie peeks out of the kitchen and then hurried over to her.

   “I’m making dinner right now,” She tells her, “Do you want to take a nap while you wait?”

Maggie nodded and Bessie helped her to the extra room, but that’s the last thing she remembered, because she eventually woke up to the sound of music.

Prying open her heavy eyelids, Maggie rolled over and nearly fell right out of the bed, but managed to catch herself before she could smack against the ground. She peeked out of the bedroom and saw Bessie sitting in the living room, strumming at a shiny black and white bass. The hum of the instrument sent vibrations up through Maggie’s body, even at the distance she was standing at. It sounded so beautiful and she couldn’t help but be drawn to it.

Bessie jumped when she noticed the girl slowly approaching her. She halted in her playing and set her bass aside to go check on Maggie.

   “You’re still really hot,” Bessie murmured when she felt Maggie’s forehead, “Is everything okay, sweetheart?”

   “Your playing was really pretty.” Maggie said, her words slurring together.

   “Oh. Thank you.” Bessie said, “Did I wake you?”

   “Pretty...” Maggie just mumbled again. She teeters forward and Bessie quickly catches her. The bassist adjusts her hold, noticing whited out scars running up Maggie’s arms when she does so, but ignores those for now.

   “Okay, love, let’s get you back in bed. You don’t seem to have the energy to eat right now, huh?”

   “Wait-” Maggie’s eyes open quickly. “No. Wanna stay with you.”

   “But-”

   “Please?”

Bessie couldn’t say no to those big blue eyes that gazed up at her, so she agreed and, instead, made Maggie sit down on the couch. The girl curled up against her instantly and those motherly instincts came rushing back. Pushing the boundaries a little, she wrapped an arm around Maggie and pulled her close.

The way the girl snuggled up against her nearly sent Bessie into another plane of existence. There was just something about her that Bessie couldn’t explain, but she wanted to hold her and take care of her like a mother would. She was sure this was just from her missing her baby, and Maggie’s affection towards a woman she’s only known for a week is definitely from her fever, but she liked to think there was some kind of spark between them, even if it was an absurd thought.

Bessie knew, deep down, she shouldn’t get close to Maggie like this, but she couldn’t stop herself when she leaned down and gently kissed the top of the girl’s head.

The sigh of contentment made her heart flutter and she decided to ignore the thoughts saying she shouldn’t do this.

She had her little Margaret back in her arms and she wasn’t going to give that up.

[theavaevans]

The Announcement

INVOLVED: Ava M. Evans, Samuel Evans, Blue Evans, Siena Evans, Phoenix Evans, and Luca Evans TIME FRAME: Wednesday, February 5, 2020 LOCATION: Evans’ Home; Seattle, Washington SUMMARY: Ava and Samuel finally reveal the big news to their children and are met with mixed emotions.

Blue plopped down on the couch with her phone in hand, texting with Ariel. She hated these family meetings. She truly didn’t understand why her parents called one, twice a month. They were always over the stupidest things, none of which ever really involved her.

Phoenix rested on the loveseat, her legs over the arm of one side of the chair, her back pressed against the other arm as she re-read Stop Telling Women to Smile by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, really dissecting it this second time around.

Luca sat on the floor in front of the couch, he sat there unmoving as he blinked slowly. He didn’t know what this was about but he guessed they never did. Hopefully no family drama would come from this one unlike the last one.

Siena sat on the couch Indian style and she rested her head in her hands, elbow pressed into her leg as she waited. Pulling her hoodie down off her head she revealed her bald head once more. She knew everyone had mixed feelings about and she didn’t know what possessed her but she loved the confidence it gave her everyday she stepped out the door.

Samuel moved for the couch and sat down before his children, licking his lips he waited with them. For this, he’d let his wife take the lead and run with it, he was not sure what it would lead to. Sitting them in his gym attire, he’d planned to go however plans changed. So sitting back he slid his hands into his hoodie pocket looking to their middle daughter with a sigh. All her beautiful hair was gown, and at what cost?

Ava flushed the toilet and pulled herself up from the floor carefully as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Quickly she moved for the sink, rinsing her mouth out with water before she brushed her teeth. She couldn’t go without doing so, even though she knew her family was waiting on her. Tapping her toothbrush on the side of the sink, she let all the water drop from it before placing it back in the holder and moved to exit the bathroom, rubbing her stomach gently. She moved down stairs and sat beside her husband, looking around at their children before she looked at him. Taking a breath, she began, “your father and I called this family meeting because we have something very important to share with you…”

As his wife finally surfaced Samuel looked her over, damn he hated not being there every single time she needed him to be. However, he rested his arm on the back of the chair looking at her as she spoke and he rubbed her shoulder gently. He was here to support, speak when needed, and make sure their children were informed.

Luca sat there, hands in his lap and as his mother sat down he looked at her blinking slowly. He was so not on her run right now, she’d hurt his feelings for the last time. No longer his mother’s baby boy, he was a young man he didn’t need her comfort anymore. He’d run to his daddy instead. As she spoke he continued to look at her with an unreadable expression.

Siena sat there and she shifted on the couch and looked to her mother as she finally sat down before them. As she began speaking she looked to Blue and Phoenix nevermind what everyone mood was right now, it sounded serious.

Phoenix slowly lowered her book as their mother finally appeared and began speaking to them. She looked over at Siena and Blue, then down at Luca as she nodded slowly. What could she possibly be about to tell them?

Blue looked up from her phone, gazing between her parents as Ava began to speak.

“This affects everyone,” Ava said softly, looking each one of them in their eyes. “It’s going to change things drastically in this house and everyone needs to be prepared,” she said thoughtfully before she grew quiet. She looked at her husband, leaning into him slightly. “In about 9 months, you all can expect to have two more siblings,” she said out-right. “I’m about 6 or 7 weeks pregnant with twins,” she explained to them all.

Luca continued to sit there and as his mother gave details he continued to look. He looked to his father for a moment before going back to her. Upon her announcement, he didn’t flinch or make a sound. He could have imagined this, his mother had gotten sick in front of him that much he remembered. And then their parents had shared a few words, that much he witnessed without them knowing. Luca stood up from his spot on the floor and said “good” before he walked off quietly, walking away from them all as he moved back up the stairs to his room, unaffected.

Siena listened as her heart actually started to race because she could have only hoped nothing too serious or even deadly at this point was happening. As her mother went on and dropped a huge bomb like this on them her eyebrows rose slowly. “Twins?” she asked as if she didn’t already hear her mother a second ago. “Mom?!” She said in shock, her mother was older than she was when she had Luca and Blue was going to leave for school. She was next and then Phoenix. What were they going to do? As Luca got up and walked away she looked to him shocked as well, the usually bubbly and happy kids were literally not himself anymore.

Blue sat there, slowly placing her phone in her lap as her mother began to speak. Clearly whatever it was, was extremely serious by her tone and she needed to pay attention. As Ava announced that she was pregnant with twins, her mouth dropped. “What?” she said out loud, baffled. Twins? That wasn’t one, but two babies. Her neck jerked back as she thought about it. “What?” she said again from pure shock as she tried to come to terms with it in her mind. As Luca got up and walked out, Blue watched the back of his head still really unable to speak.

Phoenix looked to her parents, then to her siblings, then back to her parents. As their mother told them all that she was pregnant, she accidentally dropped her book off her lap as she sat up straight in the chair. “Pregnant?!” she questioned. Her mind ran a mile a minute before she said, “but… you’re old…” Looking at Luca as he got up and walked away, her eyebrows rose to her hairline. Something was seriously wrong with that boy. Looking back to her parents, Phoenix continued. “I mean… is it safe for you and the babies?” she asked.

Ava grew quiet, giving all of their children time to process what she had just told them and she gazed, looking around at all of their faces as they went over it in their heads. As Luca spoke, then got up to leave, Ava frowned. “Luca, honey,” she said gently, but the boy was gone anyway. She sighed deeply before she looked to Blue, Siena, and Phoenix. “Twins,” she said looking to Siena as she confirmed. She looked at Blue, watching the girl’s face of shock before she looked to Phoenix and she frowned even deeper. She was not old. “Yes, I’m fine, the babies will be fine,” she said to clarify. “I am a bit older to be having children, especially twins, however, I’m healthy and I’ll be okay, we’ll be okay,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ll be on top of it all and monitor myself along the way,” she said as she looked around at her girls. “How do you all feel?” she asked them.

Samuel watched their children and he exhaled slowly as he rubbed his wife’s arm supportively. When Luca got up to leave Samuel watched the young boy, something was bothering his son and he’d have to figure that out a little later. As his daughters began to react to the news, much like he did really. All over the place and insultingly, he tucked his lips away for a moment before he said. “Your mother and I spoke on this ourselves. And with her doctor during our first appointment. Everyone is going to work extra hard to make sure everything is just fine with all three of them” he said touching his wife’s leg. “It was unexpected, but you mother and I are content” he said. “Everything will be fine.”

Luca moved to his bedroom and he closed the door and he climbed into his bed with a book to read. He had heard his mother call out for him, but he chose to ignore her. To ignore them as he moved back to what he enjoyed right now, books.

Siena looked to her mother and then to her father, she watched Blue and then she watched Phoenix. Unsure of what to say she sat there for a long moment, she didn’t know how to place her thoughts into actual words right now. She in her opinion was nervous about all of this, no matter what her parents had to say. “Nervous” she said to them both as she stuck her hand out as if that should be the obvious answer for everyone. “There is a lot of stuff happening out here in the world today, and medically they can’t stop it” she said seriously. “Women are like not having easy pregnancies and stuff” she told them “look at Beyonce!” she stressed “and she was like, younger than you are right now mom” she told her with wide eyes.

Blue looked to her father as he spoke up and she blinked slowly, still trying to digest it all. “Okay…” she said as her mind processed slowly. “Uh, what’s the plan?” she asked. “I mean… you know Ariel and I applied to Spelman and Howard,” she said. “That’s far away,” she said feeling like now she had to stay here. She was the oldest in the family. It was her responsibility to step up and do things when her parents couldn’t. She could still leave and let it all fall on Siena, but she wouldn’t. She loved her family too much to just leave them high and dry. Her parents were almost 50, they were going to need help. “W-what is going to happen?”

Looking between her parents, Phoenix nodded slowly, trying to take it all in. “But what if they turn out like Luca?” she asked softly, not wanting to be the one to bring up the elephant that just stomped out of the room but she had to. Statistically, the twins were at a higher risk to be born with some type of illness due to Ava’s age and weight, plus there’s already a family history of illness. “I mean… it’s a possibility,” she said before she went on, “and at your ages, it’s going to be harder to handle, especially with two,” she said thoughtfully.

Ava looked to her husband as he spoke and she nodded slowly. “Yes, we’ve got it all under control. Plus you forget, I’m a doctor,” she said chuckling. “I think I’ll be okay,” she said honestly. Turning to Siena, Ava said, “baby girl, I’ll be fine,” she said once more. “Beyonce had preeclampsia and something else going on with her,” she explained. “Yes, I am at risk for it, but I’ll be okay,” she told her sweetly. “Like I said, we’re going to monitor me very closely along the way and take it all step by step.” Next, she looked to Blue. “This isn’t going to hinder you from going away to school,” she said honestly. “Go,” she said sweetly. “Get that HBCU education and experience, I want you to,” she said lovingly before she looked at Phoenix with a sigh. “Honey, I have no control over whether or not these babies will have some type of illness or not, just like I had no control over Luca and his condition,” she said with a sigh. “I just have to take it all in spades and deal with it as it unfolds,” she said to everyone. “And just like with Luca, nothing will ever take away the love that I will have for these babies, just as nothing will ever take away my love for you girls.”

Samuel looked to them as they all spoke their minds and he nodded his head. He looked at their faces before he landed on Phoenix and he was reminded why he liked for her to keep her mouth closed. He said nothing to any of them however, he was little bothered by that comment as he looked to them still allowing his wife to go on with her statements.

Siena looked to Blue as she mentioned school and she took her all in, rubbing her hands against her nearly bald head she looked to her young sister shocked by her words actually. It came off a bit rude, and insensitive to their mother and brother not to mention Luca had feelings to. “He has feelings Phoenix, you speak on his as if he’s mentally retarded. The boy could be in college right now if he could sustain myself” she said as she shifted on the couch. “That babies won’t be mentally retarded I am sure and even if they are, we can’t just like not love them” she added. “However” she pointed out “I don’t intend on living without my fucking mother” she said outright.

Blue looked to Phoenix, her eyes going wide. “Hey,” she said quickly. “Phoenix, please think before you speak,” she said. “Yes, everyone knows Luca has a condition but he’s fine, he can still function and is a normal kid and has the possibility of growing out of it,” she said honestly. Everyone knew Luca was her favorite, so she felt some type of away about the comments.

Phoenix looked to her sisters. “I wasn’t saying it to be mean, I was just stating the facts,” she said honestly. “It’s a fact, the twins could also have something and being that mom and dad are older, it won’t be as easy to deal with, if they do, as it was with Luca, especially with their being two of them...,” she said looking around at everyone. Of the bunch, she was the analytical one, she thought things through and looked at things from every angle. It was just truly a possibility. “I’m just trying to understand…” she said.

Ava’s neck jerked back fiercely. “Siena!” she said raising her voice, which was rare. “I know you better go wash your mouth out with soap, using that type of language in my house,” she said shaking her head. “You know better,” she said. “Me being pregnant doesn’t mean you can speak any ol’ type of way,” she said sternly before she looked to Phoenix. She knew that the girl wasn’t trying to be rude or mean about her little brother, she knew that Phoenix loved her little brother. “Sweetheart, there’s always going to be a possibility of something. Like I said, it’s out of my hands and if it turns out, then’ll we’ll do whatever is needed but let’s not think about it right now,” she said. “As of right now, they’re both healthy, I am healthy, and we’ve got zero worries,” she said. “We just wanted to let you all know so that you can get used to the idea and be prepared for two more babies in the household. “It’ll be an adjustment and take some getting used to,” she said, “now, yes, your father and I are getting older and we could use the help but we’re not going to force anything into you all. We would appreciate it, but at the end of the day it’s not your responsibility,” she said. “You just need to be mindful that there will be babies in the house, so watch noise levels and keep hazardous things away from them, off of the floors, and if possible always wash your hands before handling them.”

Samuel watched as the girls brickered back and forth and he looked to his wife before Siena flew out the mouth with some choice words. Samuel titled his head at her and said “don’t ever let me hear you say that again Siena” he said without much conviction because honestly raising his voice or even getting angry wasn’t his thing. He was already quiet so him falling silent wasn’t a shocker, however him having to speak should, be at any point of time. “Your mother is fine, the babies are fine, we are fine” he told them all. “We don’t have to fight or argue over this” he said seriously “it is a choice of which your mother and I get to make only” he added. “If we felt that this wasn’t something we would want to pursue we would have done what two adults needed to do” he said. “Babies are nothing short of miracles” he told them “that’s what we thought of each of you, no exception to Luca…”

Siena looked to her baby sister and then to her mother as she hung her for the statement she made. “I’m sorry” she said covering her face a bit with the sleeve of her hoodie. “It won’t happen again” she said truthfully, she didn’t know what came over her either, she just had so much going on right now. So much hurt in different places, she couldn’t possibly afford to lose anything else she’d already lost herself. As her father spoke up as well, she dropped her hand leaning back against the couch and she folded her arms as she listened. “Sorry” she said apologizing for not only herself but her siblings “you are right we shouldn’t be fighting over something like this” she told them.

Blue looked over at Siena as she hid behind her jacket and she reached over, rubbing her sister’s back gently. Looking over to Phoenix she nodded slowly, understanding what she meant and where she was coming from after she explained herself. As their parents spoke, she let out a sigh. She needed to step up, “I can… I can take a year off before I go to college, to help out around the house,” she said quietly, looking down at the floor, her wavy hair covering her face.

Phoenix, looking at her sisters, then at her parents as they spoke and she shifted on the seat, shocked by Blue’s statement. She really always thought that Blue hated them all but maybe she was just putting on a show that entire time. Licking her lips, she looked to her parents as they spoke and she nodded more. So, she had nothing to worry about. Everything would be fine. “Okay…” she said, trying to wrap her head around it all. “I love you guys too,” she said looking to her parents, then to her sister.

Ava gazed at Samuel, then at their children and she was shocked by Blue. “We couldn’t ask you to do that Blue,” she said honestly. “You’ve been trying to get out of this house forever,” she said, “now you want to stay?” she asked shocked. “You and Ariel have a plan, stick with that,” she said before she looked to Siena and she sighed out, their baby girl was just going through so much. Turning her eyes to Phoenix, she said, “I love you too baby girl, all of you,” she said looking at her children before she looked up at the ceiling towards Luca’s room.

Samuel looked to their three children before he looked to his wife nodding his head at her words, before she looked to them again.