#This weirdness where I can watch men committing this sort of violence on each other and kinda go ‘meh’

[divinekangaroo]

Ah the obligatory bathhouse scene

[ijustwant2write]

Hold On Tight-Tommy Shelby x Sister!Reader

(GIF credit @hardytcm)

Tags: @captivatedbycillianmurphy @jenepleurepasbaby @amirahiddleston @bloodorangemoonlight

Requested by anonymous: 'Hiya love, could yo do an imagine where the reader is a Shelby sister and is closest to Tommy, like best friends and they go do some business together one day and she dies? But like grace’s death where she’s in his arms and he’s obviously really sad but she’s trying to be positive about it. ❤️'

Characters: Thomas Shelby X Reader (siblings), Arthur Shelby x Reader (siblings), John Shelby x Reader (siblings)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Swearing, guns, violence, injuries/wounds, death

(A/N: This is before John's or Grace's deaths)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Morning boys." I greeted as my three older brothers walked in.

"Alright (Y/N)." Arthur nodded, hugging me briefly before making his way to the kitchen.

John copied his actions, catching up with him as Tommy entered, hugging me that bit longer.

"You sure you want me coming with you today?" I asked him as we pulled apart.

"I'm sure. You're the one that's been researching this guy for us, you're the best person to come along."

"Flattery doesn't get you anywhere Tommy. It's not like I'm going to object. Are you wanting to leave now?"

"Not just yet. We need to go over the plan again."

"Again? Tommy-"

He raised his hand, pointing at me."We always go over the plan-"

"Three times." we said in unison.

"Right." he nodded and went to the kitchen, me shaking my head behind him.

John and Arthur had already made themselves comfortable at the table, helping themselves to the freshly boiled teapot. As I walked past John, I smacked his legs that were resting on top of my table. He flinched, almost falling off his chair as he protested, rubbing where I hit him.

"Do you forget manners everytime you step into a civilised house?" I scolded playfully.

"Civilised house? Since when have you or anyone in the family been civilised?" he chuckled.

"Well, just don't put your grubby shoes on my clean table. My house, my rules."

"Alright mum."

I only rolled my eyes at him. John and I were only a year apart, I remember all the times we bickered as children, though there was definitely a love hate relationship. I always tried to act my age unless he was around, then it all went out the window. The boys were much older than us, and didn't always want to play; seeing as we were the closest in age, we compromised on our games, but I grew up with three brothers, they were bound to be tough. It built character (as they say), though it was only after the war that I became closer to Tommy.

Arthur had always been the best big brother, always looking after and defending me. As did John and Tommy, though Arthur could sometimes have a more authoritive look about him, more intimidating. I had always looked up to him. But Tommy and I never talked much, or played games with each other. He didn't even hug me much either. I saw my three brothers be sent off to war, and like all the men that left, they came back different. And Tommy coped with it in an extremely unhealthy way.

All those nights he had nightmares, he didn't have to be screaming in his sleep or crying, I just felt that something was wrong. A weird sense of dread would fill me before going to sleep, and it would wake me up, forcing me to go check on Tommy. He would rarely talk about it, but I stayed strong beside him, refusing to leave until he fell asleep again. Of course there were the drugs, and although I tried desperately to make him stop, he never did. However, I was there on the other side. It sort of happened naturally, our relationship. Maybe it came with age, maybe he acknowledged my help. Tommy was closest to me in my opinion, and I supported him with a majority of what he did (unless he used the family, that's where I crossed the line).

"I still don't know how I feel about this Tom." Arthur said.

"If you're talking about me, which you do every time we do something like this, then you need to get over it." I gently replied as I sat beside Tommy.

"You're my little sister, (Y/N), you shouldn't be here."

He wasn't being mean. He was just concerned. I smiled at him.

"Arthur, I've been through this a million times, with and without you guys. I'll be fine, we all will."

"Just get that feeling in me stomach-"

"That's enough Arthur." Tommy interrupted, lighting up a cigarrette. We waited for him to take a drag, exhaling the smoke before he spoke."We go through the backstreets, to their storage house for their booze. That's where we said we would meet. He has his men, we have ours. Now this is strictly business, no fucking threats, no fucking fighting, no fucking shooting. Understood?"

"I still think it's too dangerous for (Y/N) to come along." Arthur added.

"She's the one that's been getting the information for us. For some reason her tactics have worked better than ours."

"Oi!" I protested.

"That wasn't meant to offend."

"I've helped plenty of times before. Believe me Arthur, I've been behind the scenes of a lot of your operations."

"You've been around Tom too long, starting to speak like him too." Arthur smirked as he sipped his tea.

I ignored him."How many of your men will be there? Our dealer usually has ten with him at all times. He's agreed to not have anymore."

"Then we'll bring fifteen, ten with us and five to hide."

"You don't trust him."

"Any man who takes ten men as protection at all times is paranoid, meaning he'll also have some hidden away."

"So much for no shoot outs." John mumbled.

"Better safe than sorry." I snapped.

"Alright." Tommy warned."We're there to make a deal, and we'll leave with one."

We climbed into Tommy's car, silent as he drove to the meeting place. As we parked up our men were already waiting, watching as us Shelby's got out and walked ahead of them.

"So you listened to me then?" I quietly said to Tommy.

"What?"

"Finn's not here, that means you listened to me."

"Yes, I suppose you were right." he smirked.

"Good, he's still too young for all this."

"Now you sound like Polly."

I always felt nervous about these things. It never got any easier for me. Of course I didn't let it show on my face, and it always shocked these men to see a woman turn up. A slight advantage sometimes, they couldn't comprehend that a woman actually had a brain.

"How's Grace?"

"You want to talk about Grace, right now?"

"Yes, why not?"

He scoffed a laugh."Nothing stops you from getting into my private life."

"It's been a while since someone has been interested in you. And you're interested in her."

"I have never said that."

"There's no need to. It's obvious."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"(Y/N), we sound like children."

I laughed it off, sticking my hands in my coat pockets as the warehouse came into sight. There were two men guarding the doors, holding their guns. We didn't falter, approaching them with confidence. I thought they would search us, but instead, one of them disappeared inside, returning a few moments later, and nodding to the other guy.

"You can go in." he said, opening the door wider.

They stayed put as we all entered, following us from behind and closing the door. As expected, our dealsman was stood there with his ten men. I knew our lot were already trying to seek out anyone hidden away, they had been warned.

"Mr Vallier." Tommy started.

"Mr Shelby." He replied."Not like you to have this many men about for a business proposition."

"And you know how many men I have?"

Vallier ignored that question."Ah, I assumed your sister would come along. I've heard some remarkable things about her."

"The sister is present, you may address her." I interrupted.

"My apologies Miss Shelby. I've heard you commit acts that no other lady has ever done before. I must say, I am impressed."

"Thank you. You flatter me Mr Vallier."

He chuckled."So, Mr Shelby, shall we begin?"

It really was a simple trading agreement. Vallier was making some of the best gin in the country, though it hadn't become famous yet. He was a powerful man, built himself up from the ground; he ran his own gang, like us, knew that alcohol was a good selling point. Tommy saw an opportunity. Get him on our side, and we have another piece of territory as well as more money flowing in. It all seemed fairly simple, Vallier was just paranoid as we expected. This was the easiest meeting we had been to, and it made me nervous. However, that feeling started to drain away as we finished. There was more of a sense of feeling left out as I didn't get to say much.

Tommy and Vallier shook hands once we were outside the warehouse, both looking somewhat smug.

"Garrison?" John leaned over to me.

"Garrison." I nodded, smiling as he swung his arm over my shoulder.

Our lot began walking away, another deal was done. It was all calm and relieved until one of Vallier's boys started shouting, blocking our path.

"YOU KILLED MY BROTHER! HE NEVER DID ANYTHING BAD IN HIS LIFE!" He screamed, aiming his gun at Tommy.

"Don't shoot!" Tommy instructed.

John held me behind him."What the fuck is he planning now?"

"Sam, get inside!" Vallier yelled.

"I'm sorry sir, but these devil's had no right killing my brother, he wasn't even involved in any business!" the boy's aim never faltered.

Before anyone could figure out what to do, someone shot their gun, but it wasn't from the boy. We all ducked, running for cover as more bullets were fired. It was an ambush, there were hidden shooters, but they weren't working for Vallier. This boy wanted revenge. I knew this was all too good to be true.

John had pulled me behind a stack of crates, but the bullets were splintering the wood. We took turns peaking out and shooting, but it was impossible to see who we were shooting at.

"GET HER OUT OF HERE!" Tommy instructed John, but we were ultimately stuck.

"If you slip past the warehouse, you can squeeze through a narrow passage, that will get you out." Vallier rushed."Dont worry, these lads will run out of ammunition soon enough!"

John and I glanced at each other, and before I knew it, he was dragging me into the open space, headed where Vallier had mentioned. The warehouse was right night to a brick wall, with a gap just big enough for me to squeeze through. John on the other hand wouldn't even be able to get a foot in.

"John!"

"You keep going (Y/N), keep hidden until you don't hear no shooting no more, yeah?"

I nodded, groaning as I pulled myself through the gap. I had to walk sideways in order to keep moving, the bricks scraping against my skin. It was starting to get claustrophobic, and I was glad to have reached the end of it. Back in the normal streets, I seemed to be in the alleyway between people's back gardens. Slowly opening a back gate, I looked around it, praying there was someplace to hide. There was a shed, but I had a risk of being seen if the owners came along. But I was a Shelby, they should know who I am and not question it if I they did find me. And I had my gun, I was safe. Luckily the door was unlocked, and I hid inside, ducking so i wasn't seen through the window.

The relentless sound of bullets richoted through the air, echoing to me. I hated not being in the fight, but there was no time to argue in a battlefield. My brother's knew what was best for me most of the time... most of the time.

It sounded like there were less bullets flying about. One last shot rang out, I waited a few minutes for anymore sounds. When nothing came, I made my way back to the alley. I still had my guard up, not that my brother's would be dead, because we were the fucking Peaky Blinders, and this wasn't our final fight.

"In the bleak midwinter..." I muttered under my breath, slowly walking.

I wanted to call out to my brother's, though that was a stupid idea, and I kept silent. The sound of a gun clicking knocked my instincts into gear, and I aimed my gun towards the sound.

"What the fuck do your think you're doing?" I snapped. It was the boy that started this all.

"You fuckers killed my brother!"

"So you think that makes it OK to kill all of us?"

"I'll shoot you!"

Before he could do so, I shot him first, hitting him square in the chest. He froze, hands dropping to his sides, gun falling to the floor before his knees buckledonto the cobbles, and his body collapsed. I wasted no time running past him, checking the coast was clear before I rounded the corner.

"(Y/N)!"

Tommy was up ahead, already running towards me. I let out a breath of relief, also running to him. For fucks sake, why couldn't things go smoothly for once? It couldn't just be a done deal. Someone was always out to kill us.

My fingers outstretched towards Tommy's hand, and I almost grabbed them when an excruciating pain rippled through my back, and the another pang, and another. Everything went silent, my eyes widened in shock and the breath was all but gone from my body. The boy had shot me, somehow he wasn't dead and had shot me.

Tommy caught me before I hit the ground, and I wanted to desperately hold onto him, but I couldn't control my limbs.

"Somebody get the fucking car!" he yelled, the sound suddenly flooding back.

"T-Tommy," I shakily said, looking up at him,"h-h-hold me, please, I w-want t-to feel you."

His arms gradually gripped onto me tighter, and I showed no pain, even though it made me feel worse. It was rare to see Tommy Shelby cry, and it felt like an honour to watch them roll down and out of his crystal blue eyes.

I swallowed the taste of blood rising in my throat."Tommy, l-listen. I-I w-want you to marry that....that G-Grace."

"What? (Y/N) don't worry-"

"She challenges you, I-I l-like her. A-and h-have a nice wed... wedding."

"I will."

"C-an I have a portrait? You always s-said I-I could."

He nodded."You'll sit for that portrait yourself. You're not going anywhere."

"(Y/N), Tommy!" I could faintly hear John and Arthur.

I smiled. My older brothers were here, they were going to look after me like they always did.

"John, Arthur."

"We're here (Y/N), alright?" John cried, grabbing one of my hands.

"Fucking hell." Arthur seethed.

"I-I love you all. T-tell Finn and P-Polly...that...I love them too."

"You can't go (Y/N), you just can't." Tommy whispered.

"You'll live on Tommy. Be happy, please, f-for me."

I lavished the feeling of comfort as I felt my skin turn colder, it was harder to breathe, harder to stay awake. The pain I was in didn't matter, I had my three heroes around me, my three brothers. They say us Shelby's couldn't be killed, and I had always lived by that. However, someone had plans for me to die today, and if it meant something bigger and better for my family then so be it. I held onto my smile as much as possible, not wanting my boys to see how I was hurting. As life slowed down around me, I looked up one last time into Tommy's eyes, his beautiful blue eyes that I was envious of; they were a comfort, a piece of my brother I would keep with me forever, even if they were full of tears.

[mst3kproject]

Psycho A-Go-Go

Before he made Carnival Magic, Al Adamson made movies like this.

We open on a crotch.  A mediocre singer sings a mediocre song, while a couple of fringe-bedecked go-go dancers gyrate behind her.  This only just barely has anything to do with the plot, but we’ll be treated to a couple of recurrences of it.

When the actual movie starts, it’s with some guys in surgical scrubs committing a jewel heist.  A policeman catches up with them, and they have to stash their loot in the back of a pickup truck – before they can retrieve it, the truck’s owner returns and drives off.  This guy turns out to be Dave Clarke, husband of the singer from the opening.  He never notices his expensive cargo, but it’s found later by his six-year-old daughter Nancy, who decides it’s pirate treasure and hides it in her Christie Minstrel doll.  The thieves search Clarke’s house and when they find nothing there, they decide to pry the truth out of him by going after his wife and daughter.  If only Clarke had any truth to tell them!

You know how I’ve mentioned that all the men in these movies look exactly alike?  Psycho A-Go-Go is a particularly egregious offender.  The thieves all look alike, except for the one who gets shot, who I was prepared to refer to as Scowling Hemsworth Brother, and the guy in charge, who has inexplicably drawn a mustache and goatee on himself with a sharpie marker.  Worse, all these guys also look just like Clarke!  Why is this?  Is it the haircut?  They all have dark hair in that 60’s Man Haircut.  Eventually I figured out that one was The Rapey One and another was The One Who Kinda Looks Like Tom Hanks In Big, but by then the movie was two thirds over.  There’s also a couple of cops who were cast in the same mold.

The same thing goes on with the women in the movie. There’s an abundance of dark beehive hairdos over identical faces.  The bad guy’s moll (whose name I never caught, so I shall call her Molly), Mrs. Clarke, the murdered secretary, elevator woman, and the nightclub singer all look exactly the same… to the point where I was trying to figure out if the singer were the same person as Molly but then the movie blindsided me with the revelation that she was actually Mrs. Clarke!  I only managed to tell them apart when they were all in different rooms.

Maybe it’s the soft focus.  The whole movie is in soft focus and maybe it obscures the facial features?  It’s not very well-lit either.  There’s the inevitable shitty day-for-night, which I think just gives up at the end and decides the sun is rising, and a climactic car chase so dark all you can see are headlights, but the rest is kinda muddy too.  A lot of shots are also from across a room, and appear to just show a bunch of identical men in identical suits.  Maybe the casting director had a secret cloning lab.  I don’t know.  I just don’t know.

So much for what the movie looks like. Let’s talk about what happens in it. There’s a surprising amount that’s trying to go on in Psycho A-Go-Go.  Of course there’s the main plot where the bad guys are trying to get the diamonds back but nobody knows where they are except for Nancy, whom they never think of asking. There’s actually one nice little moment in this, when Nancy tells Rapey Guy she’ll give him her treasure if he’ll promise not to hurt her mother.  He ignores her, because he thinks a six-year-old girl’s treasure is probably just a bunch of those rings you used to get at the dentist.  He doesn’t realize his mistake until the Christie Minstrel doll is dropped and broken open during the chase, and then it’s too late. I think this is supposed to be ironic but it doesn’t quite get there.

Aside from that, there’s a number of other plotlines. Molly is supposed to be Sharpie Mustache’s girlfriend, but she’s cheating on him with Guy Who Looks Like Tom Hanks, and Sharpie Mustache gets more suspicious of and more violent towards them as the movie goes on.  Dave’s brother-in-law is one of the cops investigating the robbery, and manages to swoop in at the end to save the day.  Rapey Guy keeps wandering off to brutalize women, which is never really dealt with, and there’s also the Mute Thug who makes friends with Nancy.  All of this is cliché and none of it is really interesting.  Scenes of multiple identical guys talking are downright boring – how are we supposed to care when we can’t even tell which are the good guys and which the bad?

I will say, though, that at least Psycho-A-Go-Go sets everything up.  Hiding the diamonds in the doll never really gets the payoff it deserves, but other stuff works.  It’s a bit too much of a coincidence that Dave’s brother-in-law is the detective on the case, but it does explain how the cops knew where to go and prevents their arrival being a deus ex machina – if only all these men didn’t look alike, so we could tell which one just got shot.  The murders Rapey Guy commits are almost entirely gratuitous, but they do make us feel that Mrs. Clarke is truly in danger when he gets his hands on her.

There is a lot of brutality against women that goes on here.  Sharpie Mustache slaps Molly around a lot, and Rapey Guy just goes around committing felonies for fun.  All he needed from the office at the construction company was Dave’s name and address, but he stabbed the secretary for no reason.  She didn’t even see him there.  All he needed from the redhead was to know where Mrs. Clarke was, but he rapes and strangles her – possibly not in that order.  These two incidents are never brought up again, not even in a police context.  Nobody in the movie gives a shit about these women, and apparently Al Adamson, who also wrote the script, didn’t either.  They’re nothing to him but foreshadowing.

I think Rapey Guy may be the ‘Psycho’ referenced in the title, but if so that’s a little strange because the movie doesn’t present him as the main villain.  Sharpie Mustache is the criminal mastermind, and while we do see him losing control of his henchmen, he’s still the one who’s giving the orders.  I guess with him dead there’s nobody to rein in Rapey Guy anymore, but I don’t think he ever actually tried to.

Psycho-A-Go-Go isn’t very clear about who its hero is, either. It can’t be Dave, the man whose family is in danger, because in the fine tradition of shitty movie non-heroes, he of course doesn’t do anything.  He spends the middle part of the film tied to a chair in his own living room, and at the climax he hits his head on a rock and just lies there while his brother-in-law the cop shoots Rapey Guy instead.  So is Officer Brother-in-Law the hero?  He can’t be, because we barely see him.  He and Dave talk very briefly about the case at the nightclub, and then he goes to Dave’s house after his wife asks him to check up on the family, who aren’t answering the doorbell or phone.

I really don’t think Psycho-A-Go-Go is trying to be a movie with something to say, either.  I mean, yeah, it’s another film in which crime doesn’t pay at least partly because the criminals ultimately turn on each other, but really it’s just a lot of scenes of people being horrible in an attempt to shock and thrill the audience.  Nobody really grows.  This is the sort of movie that seems tailor-made for that hoary old arc about the man who doesn’t realize how important his family is to him until they’re in danger, but they don’t even have that.  Dave’s domestic tranquility is shattered, and then restored. I guess Molly and The Guy Who Looks Like Tom Hanks grow a little, since they decide to get out of the whole ‘crime’ thing, but in any reasonable universe they both ended up in jail.

When I compare this film to Carnival Magic, the two movies don’t have a whole lot in common.  Carnival Magic hid its dark content under a veneer of cheerful family fun, and in a way Psycho-A-Go-Go does the same thing – Dave’s happy family are blissfully unaware of the underworld they’re about to be sucked into, and the diamonds are hidden inside the apparently harmless Christie Minstrel doll.  Psycho-A-Go-Go is much more tonally consistent, since when we meet the happy family we already know that horrible things are going to happen to them, and it feels like the film-makers’ hearts were way more in it than they were in Carnival Magic.  That’s somewhat troubling when we consider the difference in content.

If you want to ask me which movie is better, I don’t know how to answer you.  Carnival Magic looks better, with a crisper picture and characters who don’t all look the same, but it’s a weird, messy, disjointed film that isn’t sure what it’s plot is.  Psycho-A-Go-Go looks like ass, and it’s also weird and messy and not sure what we’re supposed to be focused on, but everything that happens is unified by the common thread of the diamonds, and we’re not switching from domestic violence to talking monkey antics and back again.    I’d still rather watch either of them again than Cry Wilderness, but man… this one left just a bad aftertaste.  Can’t I just watch My Neighbour Totoro for the rest of my life?

[secretgamergirl]

Let’s talk about how Ranma is trans, and not as a metaphor.

Yesterday, I had a quick, joking exchange with a friend, riffing off the general premise that the protagonist of the classic manga series Ranma 1/2 is a trans girl.Today I woke up to a slew of hateful, low-effort comments (the C-word is always a weird one to throw at a trans woman), largely objecting to this premise, so, I’m going to sit down now and show my work.

I was actually going to do this either way, honestly. Reading Ranma 1/2 and indignantly shouting “in what sense is this a ‘curse!?’“ is a pretty significant touchstone for damn near every trans girl born after 1970 or so.

For those who haven’t read it, Ranma 1/2 is a manga series by Rumiko Takahashi, which ran from 1987-1996, which also spawned a hit anime series, which itself had a lot of spinoffs, a dozen or so videogames, and a recent live-action special. The original manga itself was one of the first to ever be published in the U.S., and has also seen a recent reprinting (with an effort at colorization which I can’t say looked great). The basic premise is that it’s a long-form comedy series whose title character is A- a super talented martial artist, B- dealing with the fallout of a decade and a half of Ranma’s father making promises on Ranma’s behalf (including multiple arranged marriages), and C- being one of half a dozen or so characters over the course of the series to have fallen into one of hundreds of adjacent springs which each curse whoever falls in to change back and forth between whatever drowned in them and their original form based on exposure to cold and hot water respectively (Ranma gets Hot Girl, everyone else gets some wacky animal, basically).

It’s great. You should read it. Maybe watch the anime too. Also I’m going to spoil the ever loving hell out of a point or two in writing this, but I’m mostly going to do it sequentially, and it’s not really a series about major plot twists and reveals. Except maybe the bit I’m sticking between breaks here:

Spoiler country: I’m literally planning to sit down with the whole series and go through volume by volume here, but the series very much starts in media res, and it’s important to the purpose of my thesis here to look at everything with some backstory context that doesn’t really come out until like volume 30-something.

Specifically, Ranma’s parents are horribly abusive scumbags. Both of them. You don’t have to get terribly far in for the running gag about Ranma’s father Genma being a terrible person, prone to physical abuse, subjecting his own child to intentionally traumatizing experiences, forgoing any sort of normal childhood for her (going with feminine pronouns here, try to keep up) in favor of a world-traveling regimen of martial arts training, and of course, pimping her out with arranged marriage promises to whoever he owes money or favors to.

What comes out later though is that a big motivating factor for Genma’s abusive parenting is that Ranma’s mother, Nodoka, made Genma agree to raise Ranma to be a “man among men,” to be enforced by penalty of both Genma and Ranma committing ritual suicide should he fail.

That is, unfortunately, a very relatable experience for a hell of a lot of trans girls. Personally speaking, my father adopted the philosophy very early on in my life that he would rather have a dead “son” than a living daughter, and starting when he first picked up on my obvious girliness, he also decided on pursuing a sink-or-swim course of turning me into a “manly man” by forcing me into a series of life-threatening situations to “toughen me up” and pushed me to start dating when I was something like 10 years old. My mother was a lot more low-key about it, at least I formally came out to her, but, yeah, I relate. It’s not hard to imagine very-young-Ranma doing something obviously girly to give her parents similar concerns, and her resulting preoccupation with being tough and nominally rejecting femininity as a means of playing along with her parents’ pressuring her isn’t me doing a trans reading, THAT much is directly in the text.

The rest of the backstory mostly comes out in the first few volumes. In order to man Ranma up, Genma takes her on this international training mission, engages her to both a friend, and a food vendor he can’t afford to pay. Eventually this trip takes them to the cursed springs (so they can do the whole spar while balancing on bamboo stalks thing), splash splash, he’s a panda, she’s an ideal-feminine version of herself, basically. And Ranma picks up another couple of rivals/maybe-love-interests on the way home, because Genma picks a weird time to head back to Japan and force Ranma to live with his friend and his 3 daughters and enforce an arranged marriage to one of them.

Now leaving spoiler country.

So, jumping right in from the beginning with all this in mind...

Volume 1, Chapter 1- Ranma and Genma show up at the Tendo’s with Ranma in girl mode. Not really a conscious choice here, since it’s raining that day, and Genma’s not in the mood to wait. What’s notable though is that (aside from obvious annoyance at all the the shocked poking and prodding) Ranma seems to be totally cool meeting these people in girl mode. She’s really relaxed, happy, makes quick friends with Akane, totally comfortable:

Honestly I could probably prove my whole point here just by running through the series and tallying up Ranma’s expressions, this is a pretty consistent thing.You would expect, if Ranma were actually a boy, that the idea of meeting new people while in girl mode like this would be awkward and humiliating, and feature facial expressions and body language more like the ones we see when Ranma has to explain the situation after a hot bath (during which she flat out has the thought “might as well go out like this, they’re going to find out eventually):

V1C2- One quick flashback/exposition later, Soun (Genma’s friend with the daughters), expresses his shock about the true horror. Ranma, irritated- “Whadya mean ‘true horror?’“ ... and then proceeds to actively dodge some hot water, staying in girl mode after both get splashed to demonstrate things live, and there’s a bit here where, Akane having walked in on her in the bathroom while in boy mode and both were naked (comedy manga and all), Ranma notes that it’s “no big deal for her to see a girl naked,” because she’s seen herself plenty of times, and has a quick prideful comment about her appearance in girl mode.

The rest of volume 1 is spent introducing the first of many rival/love interest characters. Nothing that really supports or hurts a trans reading unless you want to focus in on Ranma being a girl in this dream she has after getting groped by a creep, or already having spent enough off camera casual time in girl mode for Nabiki (Akane’s sister whose whole character is basically trying to turn a profit off how sexy Ranma is) to have a bunch of cute candid pictures to sell.

Most of volume 2 is spent introducing Ryoga, another rival/love interest (mainly just the former at first, but relationship webs for this series get weird quick), and a couple of other characters who feel really important but get dropped in a hurry (remember Dr. Tofu? The guy Akane starts the series off with a huge crush on? Because Takahashi forgot all about him after this). V2C9 however starts off with this:

Again, Ranma never looks this happy in boy-mode. This early on, we already see her just, voluntarily going girl mode to hang out all day, because she enjoys herself like this.

V3C10- After a volume spent on the other half of the brother-sister pair of rivals/love interests volume 1 devoted a lot of pages to (the Kunos, ultimately not real prominent characters), wherein Ranma will wear a girly leotard and compete in rhythmic-gymnastics-based combat, just won’t get caught doing so when in boy mode, Akane decides to teach her how to skate, which she insists on being in girl mode for because:

Yeah... there’s a definite pattern here. Stuff she’s too self-conscious about doing in boy mode, she’s comfortable trying when presenting as a girl, and it’s never about embarrassment, really, but not wanting to be seen as some sort of girly boy (for fear of violence). Appearing to be a girly girl is of course just fine, but only if she’s definitely going to pass. Again, very relatable. Later in the series, she doesn’t even bother trying to rationalize it like this, and pretty much just spends almost all her free time in girl mode, and gets a decidedly more feminine wardrobe. Oh and then they have a pairs-figure-skating duel with these two one-off characters, because the guy randomly gives Ranma her first kiss without her consent.

That rolls into the start of volume 4, which throws way more fuel out there for any Ranma/Ryoga shippers than I remembered, and then we get a big stretch of introducing new characters who stick around and are fairly major, including the remaining two characters of note with curses, without a lot of gender stuff coming up beyond Ranma switching modes to try and throw off rival/love interests in various ways. The next thing worth pointing out isn’t until the end of V5C8. Ranma ends up stuck in girl-mode because pressure point manipulation makes her a wimp about hot water. Having a fight scheduled as a guy though, she shows up with a bunch of cheesy magician’s tricks, before throwing off a big bulky robe and:

So... OK we dropped the premise of not wanting her manly image tainted by wearing a girly costume pretty quick. This is her own plan, this is in public, she chose this outfit herself. Again, super self-conscious any time she’s in public in boy mode, but when she’s undeniably a girl, she’s super comfortable with basically anything. Heck, that costume gets shredded like 2 pages later, and the quick bit of public nudity doesn’t even phase her. Oh and the next story arc (V5C10) has her just getting a cute swimsuit and hitting the public pool to relax. Plus some new casual clothes:

And formal wear for V5C11...

Again, there’s no subterfuge or convoluted circumstances behind these. She just had an excuse this volume to present as a girl full-time and dove right the hell in. By V5C12 she’s at the maximum possible level of confidence, wearing a tight swim-suit to the beach that advertises her trans status. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there myself:

Not a double entendre there, for what it’s worth. It’s really about watermelons.

After that there is a long long stretch of development arcs for secondary characters, the introduction of a dirty old man, and a lot of variations of Ranma and Akane’s relationship being tested with jealousy-inducing misunderstandings with the spare dozen or so love interests lying around. There’s a hell of a lot I could analyze here if I wanted to make a point about Ranma’s sexuality, but, I’m only really concerned with her being trans for this, and contrary to popular belief, whether or not she’s into guys at all has no bearing on that whatsoever. For what it’s worth though she’s totally bi and so’s Akane and you have to bend over backwards to argue otherwise for either of them.

That being said, I’m close to a quarter of a way through here, so I might as well keep going through the end of volume 10. Don’t want to make this more than a 4 part series if I go the distance with it. The next noteworthy thing we have is the introduction of Ukyo, the focal point of the more grounded queer content in the series. Let me just say first off that taken out of context this page resembles every conversation I’ve ever seen between two trans girls:

There are a LOT of angles I could come at Ukyo from. First off, she’s got a ton of trans coding. Ranma thought she was a boy when they were friends as kids (while their fathers were trying to hook them up). Everyone else also thinks she is when she’s first introduced, because... she dresses like a guy at school and wears a chest binder. She gets really angry about being misgendered by Ranma while having a revenge-fight with him (she’s the other girl Genma arranged a marriage with, for the sake of free food, which he just kinda stole, you see), plus as seen above, she has major body image issues. So, again, whole lot of trans coding (and that’s before HER rival/love interest shows up).

Regardless of that though, hey, the only actual friend Ranma ever had as a child, and who remains the healthiest relationship in her life is a girl, so, that’s something to note.

Also Ukyo is kind of the only character in the cast who isn’t a huge jerk. She patches things up with Ranma more or less immediately, and proceeds to try and untangle the absurd relationship web that’s already getting pretty damn convoluted. And I mean, good on her for trying, but here’s how that goes:

Yeah, that’s Ranma in a floral sun dress crashing a date between Akane and Ryoga. I believe this is V9C6. She gets way too into character and they end up making out, by the way. I defy anyone to find a way to rationalize this plan if Ranma were a cis dude OR was strictly into girls.

Oh and getting into V10C10, there’s this goofy plot about Akane accidentally swallowing a magic pill that makes her fall in love with the first guy she sees, and uh...

It’s been a while since I’d read this. It gets pretty damn on the nose. Anyway, the last storyline I’m getting to tonight starts with V10C16, which introduces Ukyo’s rival/love interest, Tsubasa:

Tsubasa is unambiguously, exclusively, into girls. Also unambiguously AMAB:

I’m actually not really a fan of Tsubasa. Ranma’s a really relatable trans girl with a well developed backstory, with some serious gender-based hangups that, while totally not cool, are totally rationalized by her traumatic childhood. Ukyo is a very nice girl whose friends are all trans, and it’s less clearcut whether she’s cis or trans. The page after this one it comes out that she previously attended an all-boy’s school though, which supports a trans reading. It makes a hell of a lot of sense to read her as a trans girl with supportive parents who never misgendered her, but only recently started in on HRT after entering high school, so, hey that’d make sense.

Tsubasa though... being unambiguous with all of this, so after the reveal with get a clumsy 1980s Japanese explanation, responding first to Akane shouting “cross-dresser!?” with "I am not! I’m just an ordinary boy who likes to dress up!” Again, very 80s Japan. Also between the into-girls reveal and the AMAB reveal, Ranma’s personal hang-ups lead to a single chapter of her trying to “fix” Tsubasa, encouraging dating guys. So, yeah, kind of an awkward stretch. On the upside, Ukyo already knows Tsubasa’s whole backstory, doesn’t find any of it at all odd or notable, and figured everyone else was also just cool like that. Again, Ukyo is just great. You can do a whole lot worse than using her as a model for realistic queer characters in fiction.

Also to end on a lighter note, when Tsubasa first shows up, the immediate battle for Ukyo’s affections (and yes, this IS immediately after Ranma passed on just dating Ukyo, letting Ryoga and Akane be a couple, and having relatively no drama) which takes this form of a competition to see who can sell more of Ukyo’s okonomiyaki. And, of course, this is Ranma’s strategy:

CONTINUED HERE

[master-sass-blast]

Strong as Stone --Part Thirty-Seven.

Well, hi there!

Last time, we got to see a wonderful little bit of fluff with Okoye and M’Baku as they planned for the future! How lovely!

This time, the future gets disrupted when Thanos shows up. That’s right, folks, we’re at Infinity War time!

For the record: I haven’t seen Infinity War. I don’t plan on seeing Infinity War. I don’t care about Infinity War. I’m rewriting Infinity War because I know I can do a better job than the Russo brothers did. If you don’t like any of that, I don’t care.

Anywho.

Rating: T for language and general tone of plot, given the context of what we’re dealing with.

Pairings: Okoye x M’Baku.

@skysynclair19, @the-last-hair-bender

All battles are a choice. Whenever you decide to pick up your spear and fight, you’re making the choice to do so. You always have the option to walk away, even when you think you don’t.

Every life you take is a choice. This isn’t to say that you’d be guilty of murder when committing an act of self-defense; it simply means that you must be aware of the choices you make and why you make them.

Not every choice you will make will mean a victory for you. Absolute success is a luxury none of us can afford. Sometimes, you will walk into battles you know you won’t win, but you’ll walk into them anyway because you choose to, whatever the reason may be.

Think carefully about your choices, my dears.

Okoye was a firm believer that Bast gave her followers signs for when shit was about to hit the fan. Little precursors that alluded to the larger insanities soon to follow.

N’Jadaka’s uprising and the fight for the throne? They’d had to endure a crazy car chase with Klaue in South Korea.

The embassy explosion and the Accords debacle? Countless incidents with the Avengers causing swaths of collateral casualties had predated all of that.

The incident where Dewani and Shuri rigged every single door --every. single. door--in the palace with fireworks? Full blood moon earlier that week.

So, when two Asgardian demigods, an Asian man dressed like some sort of martial arts-monk fusion, a group of aliens that included a talking raccoon and tree-thing, a guy that looked like a Las Vegas magician with a cape that could actually make him fly, and Dr. Bruce Banner showed up on the landing platform outside the palace in a swirl of light, she knew the sense of foreboding that crept up her spine was going to be valid. Bast help us.

“He’s collecting the Infinity stones, and once he has them he’ll wipe out half the universe.”

Okoye cast a subtle, doubtful glance at Ayo, grateful to see her own wariness mirrored in the eyes of her second-in-command and friend. We’ve seen a lot over the years, but this doesn’t even sound possible.

If the green-skinned woman --Gamora--that had arrived with the group was to be believed, a tyrannical alien overload named Thanos was in search of ‘magical’ stones that granted the bearer unimaginable powers, and that once he had them he’d destroy half the universe.

Because... reasons. Apparently.

“We already have two of the stones,” the raven-haired Asgardian --Loki--said, holding up a glowing blue cube that she recognized from War Dog intel reports as the infamous Tesseract with one hand while gesturing to the glowing green gem held in Dr. Strange’s --she laugh over that choice of name later--amulet.

“Three,” Thor --he was easy enough to recognize on his own from all the mass media coverage on the New York and Sokovia incidents--corrected. “Stark’s and Banner’s creation --Vision--has the Mind Stone. But there’s no guarantee that Thanos won’t be able to take them if he accrues the other three.”

“And what do you want from us?” Nakia asked.

“Thanos has access to an unstoppable army,” the bald, blue-skinned woman --Neubla--spat out. “He’ll find a way to get the other three stones, and then he’ll come to Earth with the last three.”

“Wakanda has the most advanced weaponry in the world,” Dr. Banner added. “If we’re going to have a shot at stopping Thanos, we’ll need your help.”

Okoye watched T’Challa carefully as he sat back in his throne, gears clearly working behind his eyes.

On one hand, the story seemed almost entirely implausible. ‘Magical’ stones, a madman that wanted destroy half the universe without rhyme or reason, alien armies...

On the other hand, she’d seen a lot of weird shit in her time, and the group standing in front of them had nothing to gain by lying.

T’Challa looked at Nakia, who nodded, then looked over at Okoye.

She pursed her lips, but nodded as well.

“I need to contact some people first,” T’Challa said with a resigned sigh.

The reunion between Tony Stark and Captain Rogers went about as well as Okoye could’ve expected.

T’Challa had called the renegade Avengers as soon as the Asgardians, the group of aliens --who had named themselves ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ apparently--along with Dr. Strange, Wong, and Dr. Banner were escorted from the throne room. From there, Steve had contacted Tony and told him to come to Wakanda immediately, along with Vision and whoever else was willing to help.

She still couldn’t help but smirk, just a little, as she watched Tony and Steve glare each other down. “Men.”

“Tell me about it,” Ayo muttered back as she kept a careful eye on Natasha Romanoff, alias ‘the Black Widow.’ “Give them two years and they still can’t speak five civil words to each other.”

“And yet they call women the ‘emotional ones,’” Djabi added under her breath.

“Of course we are,” Aneka whispered. “We actually interact with our emotions, instead of opting to shove them down and hide from them.”

Okoye smoothed her expression out as M’Baku and the other council members walked into the throne room, along with--

“No! No, no no! What is she doing here?”

Jhanvi grinned as Tony yelled at her. “Stark! It’s good to see you!”

“Miss Singh is working for the Wakandan Scientific Outreach program,” Shuri announced primly as she walked into the throne room, followed by Dewani and her friends. “She’s been called in to assist with weapons development and systems monitoring.”

“‘That--’” Tony pointed at Jhanvi “--is a menace--”

“We don’t have time to argue,” Thor interjected, voice heavy. “Thanos is coming. We need time to prepare.”

Okoye grimaced as the groups of former Avengers and various heroes all started arguing with each other. If this alien overlord is actually real, we are screwed.

The look on Ayo’s face told her the Commander was thinking the exact same thing.

Fortunately, between Sam and T’Challa, the two men managed to get everything calmed down enough to make working through the facts possible.

Fact: Thanos was in possession of an item called the Infinity Gauntlet, which would allow him to wield the powers of the Infinity Stones once he had them.

Fact: They currently had three of the Infinity Stones in their possession, but no one knew where the other three were or how to stop Thanos from getting his hands on them.

Fact: Thanos would, eventually, make his way to Earth to procure the last three Infinity Stones.

Fact: Thanos would bring along his army and other warriors to help him procure the last three stones.

Fact: If Thanos managed to get his hands on all six stones, it meant the end of the world.

This is insane, Okoye thought as she listened to T’Challa, Thor, Gamora, and Tony talk back and forth. This is actually insane.

She’d been taught from a young age on not to assign labels like ‘impossible’ to a situation. Every obstacle was a problem waiting to be solved, and all one had to do was find the solution. Not always easy, but not impossible.

But she’d already calculated the odds. Run through possible strategies and scenarios over and over while listening to the others assess the status quo.

They were in over their heads. Way over.

Before she had a chance to voice the obvious --that things were shaping up for a brutal fight they couldn’t win--the windows behind T’Challa’s throne started shaking.

Her spear was ready and in her hands before a flash of gold light swept over the room.

A massive, hulking, purple-skinned alien dressed in gold armor stood in the center of the room, lips curled into a smirk as he assessed them the way a boy with a magnifying glass assessed a cluster of ants.

Even if the pompous armor and physical markers hadn’t tipped her off, the way the Guardians quickly made a barrier between the newcomer and Gamora and Nebula was all the confirmation Okoye needed. So. This is Thanos.

“He’s a lot uglier than I was expecting,” Dewani stage whispered to Izgebe, who had to clap a hand over her mouth to stifle a snort.

“I take it you must be Thanos,” T’Challa said as he eyed the intruder cautiously. “And that you must have good reason to appear in my throne room without warning.”

“I am.” His voice boomed across the room, deep and full of the type of pride that often accompanied those who had made their way through life with minimal challenge to their status or way of thinking.

It made her skin crawl with unease.

“I’m here to offer you all a chance to shape destiny. To play a role in weaving of the fabric of fate.”

“You want us to help you collect the Infinity Stones,” Nakia surmised, eyes narrowed.

“I am a reasonable man,” Thanos said with a nod. “I am not a lover of violence and senseless bloodshed. If you hand over the stones already in your possession, you have my word that I will not return to Terra or unleash my armies upon you.”

“And if we don’t?” Tony asked.

“Destiny has chosen me to bring balance to the universe. No one can stop it, not even me. I will do whatever I must to complete my life’s purpose.”

“Yeah, whatever, but what gives you the right to destroy half the universe?” Dewani asked with an impertinent sneer.

“This is not about destruction. This is about balance. The universe is expanding beyond what its finite resources can sustain. Life must be culled to ensure its survival.”

“Genocide in the name of survival,” Peter Parker --a teenager that had come in with Tony that Okoye recognized as ‘Spiderman’ from T’Challa’s recounting of the airport fight after the embassy bombming--muttered. “I’ve heard that before. It didn’t wind up working.”

“Wait, pause a minute,” Dewani said, pinching the bridge of the nose. “You’re looking for the Infinity Stones, which could basically make you all powerful. Why not just... make infinite resources?”

“Solve global warming,” Peter added.

“End world hunger,” Abayomi suggested.

“Make space travel and colonization more readily accessible and affordable,” Shuri said.

“Eradicate all known diseases, disorders, and disabilities,” Izgebe spoke up.

“Create world peace,” Fukayna said.

“Guys, I got it!” Dewani said with a dramatic gasp. She pointed at Thanos. “This guy’s a moron!”

Okoye kept her eyes carefully trained on Thanos while the teenagers cackled and crowed. They were funny, yes, but anyone who was willing to make genocide his first choice wasn’t likely to be fond of being mocked.

“I mean, what kind of fucking idiot--”

“Enough!” Thanos snapped, proving her theory. “I did not come here to waste my time with children’s foolish antics.”

“And yet you wasted your time anyway,” T’Challa interjected, voice sharp and posture tense, clearly ready to jump in if the purple madman so much as looked at Shuri --or any of the other teens--wrong. “You won’t find anyone in Wakanda who would help you commit genocide.”

After a quick glance at the others, confirming that everyone else in the room was willing to side with T’Challa, Thanos let out a huff of haughty laughter. “So be it. Since I am merciful, I’ll give you three days to reconsider. If you won’t by then, I’ll just take what I need.” He tapped at a device strapped to his wrist and disappeared in another flash of gold light.

“Merciful?” Nebula spat out, seething and visibly trembling as Mantis tried to soothe her. “He cut out a part of me every time I failed, and he calls himself merciful?”

“Do you really think he’ll be back in three days?” Peter asked, a little wide-eyed from the encounter.

“There’s no way he won’t be,” Gamora said. “He needs all of the Infinity stones to execute his mission.”

“Well, in that case, we better get busy,” T’Challa said as he stood. “Thanos has given us a deadline; we need to make sure we’re ready for him when he comes back.”

Everyone divided off into teams almost immediately.

Jhanvi and Shuri immediately took off for the lab, taking Peter, Nebula, Dr. Banner, Vision, and Tony with them. “We’re going to need a mass amount of weapons,” Shuri had tossed over her shoulder as she’d darted out of the throne room. “The sooner we get started, the better!”

Dewani had also left almost immediately, heading back to the Jabari lands with Fukayna, Izgebe, and Abayomi. “I’ve got an idea, and they need you here for the bulk of the planning,” she’d said to M’Baku. “It’ll be fine; stop worrying.”

Shortly thereafter, Thor had left with Loki, the talking raccoon --Rocket, apparently--and the talking tree --which only said ‘I am Groot’ over and over--to remake his hammer that allowed him to wield lighting.

Because her day just couldn’t get any weirder.

That left the remaining Guardians, Captain Rogers and his group, Tony Stark and his friend Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes, T’Challa, M’Baku, Ayo, and herself to plan the inevitable battle.

There are too many people in this damn room, she thought with no small amount of irritation as she listened to Star Lord and Stark argue about how to handle things.

“What do they even do?” Tony snapped, gesturing at Mantis and Drax.

“Kick names, and take ass,” Mantis said, too emphatic to be sarcastic.

“Bast help us,” Ayo muttered in Wakandan as she physically braced herself against a nearby chair.

They did, eventually, manage to work out a plan. Shuri and Jhanvi would spend the next three days mass producing as many drone weapons as possible, which Jhanvi would control from the lab. Shuri had her team working on making other weapons for Captain Roger’s team to use, while Tony was working on upgrading his, Rhodes’s, and Peter’s suit.

Sam, Rhodes, Vision, and Tony would be in charge of running air defense along with Jhanvi; take out as many of Thanos’s army without ever getting close to them.

Clint, along with the Wakandan snipers, would work on the back line; take out any stragglers or those that tried to breakaway, and generally keep an eye on everyone’s back.

T’Challa’s Border Tribe army, M’Baku’s warriors, the Dora Milaje, Dr. Strange and Wong, and the other Avengers and Guardians would take on the rest of Thanos’s children and the mad Titan himself, along with whatever army members the other groups couldn’t handle.

No one was sure when Thor and Loki would return, but everyone trusted that they’d fall into place in the battle when they did.

They’d done as much as they could to prepare for the onslaught that awaited them, less than a day away. Which was precisely why Okoye was knelt in front of a statue of Bast in Birnin Zana’s main temple for the Panther goddess.

She believed in doing for herself what she could --she’d always believe it. But she wasn’t about to leave the lives of her friends, of the people she loved, in her hands alone.

Be with us, Okoye prayed, head bowed. Ensure our victory over Thanos. We’ve done all we can.

A nagging doubt in her stomach told her it wouldn’t be enough, but she knew better than to entertain that thought for too long --or at all.

She stood, blew out the candle she’d lit before starting her prayer, and walked out of the temple.

“You should be in bed.”

“I could say the same about you.”

She shared a brief, wry smile with M’Baku that faded all too quickly, wicked away by the knowledge of what was coming.

For as much as dwelling on the possibilities didn’t help, it was entirely possible that one or both of them would be dead by the end of all this.

They stared at each other for a long moment, eyes burning with dread and foreboding, and then M’Baku was crossing the space between them, crushing her against his chest, kissing her until they were both gasping.

If this is my last night alive, I’m going to enjoy it, dammit, Okoye thought as M’Baku carried her to his bed. She broke the kiss long enough, planting a hand against his chest to slow him down, to look him in the eye and whisper the words “I love you.”

M’Baku let out a soft sigh, eyes closing as he pressed his forehead against hers. “And I love you. More than anything in the world.”

There wasn’t anything else she could say to that, so she yanked him back down to her and kissed him.

[automatismoateo]

Hypocrisy: Anti-Gay Minister Murders Roommate's Girl as Revenge (A Rant) via /r/atheism

Submitted September 05, 2021 at 09:08PM by Inevitable_Discount (Via reddit https://ift.tt/3DPKy1r) Hypocrisy: Anti-Gay Minister Murders Roommate's Girl as Revenge (A Rant)

Hello all.

I'm relatively new here, and I appreciate how kind and supportive everyone here is. It's much better than a church.

Speaking of churches, I stumbled on this case this morning while watching the ID channel while cleaning the house. This case had me spellbound and I actually stopped cleaning to watch it. I wanted to share it with you guys because of how strange it all is. It shows how a man of "god" completely lost his shit and eliminated an obstacle in his obsession, all the while being a huge hypocrite in the process. It will also show why I left Christianity in the dust.

​

Buckle up. This is a long one.

In January of 2008, 21 year old college student Latrese Curtis was found dead on the side of Interstate 540 in Raleigh, NC. She was stabbed 40 times in the head, neck, chest, and stomach. Detectives first zeroed in on her hubby, Darin Curtis as a possible suspect. Darin had reported his wife missing the morning her body was found.

It was later found out that Latrese was stepping out on her hubby with a former college basketball player, Steven Randolph. Steve ostensibly didn't have a pot to piss in nor a window to throw it out of, so he met up with Robert Lee Adams Reaves in 2007. The two would run into each other at the mall and chat it up.

Reaves, who was a minister at Cedar International Fellowship in Durham, NC, offered to allow Randolph to move in with him. Randolph accepted the deal for $300 a month. Reaves was wildly anti-gay and his congregation agreed on his stance about homosexuality being a bad thing (It's not. Murdering someone is). Randolph moved in to Reaves' house that he shared with his sister.

This is where things get weird. Reaves was asking Randolph if he was a "freak" sexually and even looked at his junk when Reaves brought up the fact that he can get him in the sexual escort business. He also told Randolph that he can live rent free if Reaves was able to perform oral sex on him.

See, Reaves had a history of "mentoring" young men and then making sexual advances towards them. In fact, Reaves had a record with charges of simple assault and third degree sex charges back in the 1980s. You would think some of this information would have leaked to his "holy" congregation.

Randolph got all freaked out (and rightfully so) and asked to borrow a gun from his cousin to keep in his bedroom in case Reaves was feeling even more randy. In the preceding months, Steve's tires were slashed, and Steve's, a bit of a ladies' man, girlfriends had their tires slashed. Steve was in fact also two-timing Latrese with some other woman. That other woman had her tires slashed, Latrese had her tires slashed, and there were weird phone calls from random young men threatening the two women.

On the evening of January 30th, 2008, Latrese met up with Randolph at the shared house for a sexual liaison. After they did the deed, Latrese left and Reaves followed her. He forced her off the road, then said some shit about "Oh, pray to Jesus with me" as he got into her car. That is where he chopped her up and left her body on the side of the expressway.

The insane thing behind it is that his congregation sort of defended him, saying "Well, you're innocent until proven guilty!" Yes, I believe in due process, but not when it's super obvious who the killer is. Reaves' DNA was found all over Latrese's car. He was there. Also, his record shows he has a propensity for murder. How brainwashed do you have to be to try to defend someone who is so obviously guilty? It boggles my mind.

Reaves was convicted of Latrese's death and ended up with a life sentence.

This is why I turned my back on the whole Christianity thing. It's insane the amount of fucking ministers, pastors, priests, etc. who sit around spouting all of this anti-gay rhetoric when they are closeted themselves. It reminds me of those Republicans who run around quelling gay rights but then get caught up in a scandal where they are trying to hook up with young men/boys. Sorry to get political, but those kind of actions need to stop. And the Bible teaches them how to hate, something that contradicts the very thing that Jesus preached. I don't get it.

Is the self hate really worth it? And if you hate yourself, how can you love both Jesus and "god"?

What's even crazier is that he was a minister in a church full of people too blind to see that something about him was "off". They can supposedly predict every event leading up to the end of the world and the hell-bound fate of "non-believers", but for some reason, they had no insight or foresight to what was happening right under their fucking noses. I'm sure this minister didn't just wake up one day and say "I'm going to chop someone up". No. There had to be signs that he was "off". There are always signs like that with someone who isn't "all there". Hell, he had a record for both violence and unwanted sexual acts. He has the propensity to commit this vile act. Since he was seen as a "man of god", I'm sure the congregation turned a blind eye to those possibilities. That's why so much foolishness is accepted in the church. It's the blind leading the blind. That's why I turned my back on it.

Furthermore, I feel the most bad for Latrese's family, especially her husband. In the wake of all of this, he found out his wife was stepping out on him with some bum; a guy who could have been job hunting instead of thinking with his dick. The husband also found out that Latrese may or may not have been pregnant by said bum, and the fact that he was suspect #1 for a little bit. Then he finds out that his wife has been chopped up and left on the side of the expressway like trash. It's just a sad thing, the whole situation. That poor girl.

Sorry for the huge rant, but I was disgusted and fascinated by this entire case.

​

Sources:

https://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6098430/

https://www.wral.com/ex-pastor-convicted-in-nccu-student-s-slaying/6169842/

https://1fatalattraction.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-lethal-love-affair-robert-reaves.html

https://pimppreacher.tumblr.com/post/70045550093/the-bishop-the-beauty-the-boyfriend-when-you-and

https://shadowproof.com/2009/10/04/durham-jealous-antigay-pastors-closet-door-kicked-open-during-murder-trial/

[beyondthedreamline]

what she says: I'm fine

what she means: So it’s interesting how the fact Loki probably had to have sex with Jeff Goldblum to keep himself alive and safe was both never made textual AND used as the butt of a joke (lol pun intended), because it doesn’t matter if Loki was sort of willing and it doesn’t matter if he’s sort of evil either - how can you give consent when you fall headfirst on a planet dominated by a psychotic pervert and why is sexual violence such a fun thing when it’s about men and this is James Bond all over again and how they inserted that ‘Maybe I got fucked before, you don’t know’ line during a high tension moment leading up to torture and possibly rape because that’s what’s fashionable now, gay subtext, amirite, which I’ve got nothing against but funnily enough it never seems to lead anywhere and hey, coming back to 'Thor: Ragnarok', isn’t it neat how the sexually ambiguous, feminine-coded brother ended up as a courtesan-slash-sex slave and the painfully straight übermensch brother got sent to the arena to fight and die and yay for novel and groundbreaking storytelling, right, because this is new, how women are sold into sex and/or need to pretend to be willing sexual partners to madmen so they have a shot at escaping violence and death while men are made to fight and somehow their kind of enslavement is recognized as terrible and tragic and something they're no part of, but women, eh, who can be sure about them, and my God, Loki couldn’t have been more stereotypically gay if they’d tried, I mean, Fashion-Conscious Drama Queen Initiates A Reign of Self-Obsessed Musical Theatre and how is that okay on top of Valkyrie, a canon bisexual woman, being coded as Thor’s love interest and also - #thor ragnarok #marvel #loki laufeyson #abuse for ts #rape for ts #negativity #imo this is the other problem with representation #we get one non white director #and we want to like him #we want to think he can do no wrong #but this movie #my god #it read like fanfiction #and not in a good way #also it was probably #the most misogynistic thor movie to date #just compare it with the first thor #where women were allowed to be women #also themselves #bc one thing i don't need #is women to get drunk and belch on screen #i mean sure #sometimes women do that #but this sudden idea #that feminist movies #need to have women act like (fictional) men do #well i hate it #sorry for ranting #but i do #i'd take a thousand jane forsters @awed-frog Okay, I reblogged the original post by @awed-frog but the text came out so strangely that it’s irritating the hell out of me, so I’m making a new post in the hope Tumblr doesn’t glitch it up too. This perspective on ‘Ragnarok’ is so interesting I have to respond to it, because I had completely the opposite reaction to everything! I loved the structure and pacing and the endless supply of in-jokes (the Douglas Adams reference most of all). This is a story with distinctly Antipodean humour, which you may or may not get – I sometimes struggle with the American humour in Marvel movies, different cultures tell their jokes different ways. The emotional beats were quiet and strong, trusting in the audience to understand their significance without overstatement: Thor going through funeral rites as best he can while imprisoned, Loki’s visible distress at the idea of Thor leaving him behind. There was also finally some solid textual support for Loki being more than a villain – which, given all the things he’s done to Earth, Asgard and Thor specifically, is no mean feat. I mean, at the point when you have a character who has faked his own death TWICE while trying to commit genocide BOTH TIMES, you have to lean hard into the inherent morbid comedy of the thing to keep it all from spiralling into cartoonish ridiculousness. I like Loki, largely because Tom Hiddleston has great facial expressions that can sell inconsistent characterisation, but seriously, it takes the actual apocalypse for him to step up and be useful. ‘Ragnarok’ reminds us that while Loki loves to play the victim and the martyr, he rarely is one. Usually, he’s the opposite. Trickery and charm are his great skills and as Thor pointed out, Sakaar was the perfect environment for him to thrive. We see him chat up girls, watch fights with the Grandmaster and act as a kind of pet bounty hunter, all of which he would hardly need much coercion to do. You can definitely read sexual subtext into their interactions, but I saw no implication of Loki being any more sexually threatened by the Grandmaster than Valkyrie was – that is to say, not at all. This is the guy who was willing to shove his brother straight back into the arena if it meant getting a step up in his new life, why would he feel uncomfortable sleeping his way to the top? I love the detail of him turning his 'death' into a play because he's literally the actor, the liar, the manipulator of events. In the end, Loki is a conman, and a very talented one. I’m sad that Jane won’t be returning to the Thor franchise, because I loved her character from the start and I truly enjoyed her dynamic with Thor. Also, DARCY. I will sorely miss Darcy Lewis. The truth is, I can’t think of a really satisfactory way for their departures to be handled on-screen, because I did not want them to depart at all. I feel like it should be pointed out, though, that ‘Thor: the Dark World’ was essentially Jane and Thor’s second date, and Jane was already running low on patience with his trans-Bifrost lifestyle. He’s kind and adorable and undeniably high-maintenance. If Jane had to have an exit, I’d prefer it like this, a low-key and everyday break-up rather than some big melodramatic event for Thor to brood over and Jane to be eventually talked out of. Also, just because I love Jane doesn’t mean I can’t love Valkyrie, and vice versa. It’s not a competition, however much Marvel tried to make it one. I’m a bit uncomfortable with your tag comment about the first Thor movie, describing it as the one ‘where women were allowed to be women’, because women are all kinds of things. I think I understand what you mean, there is rather an excess of traditionally masculine misbehaviour in mainstream media, but sometimes women are angry and disillusioned and drink way too much in order to cope, and that’s a story worth telling too. Honestly, I was on board with Valkyrie’s character from the minute she fell off her spaceship. She’s not a ‘better than the boys’ stereotype, she’s an embittered alcoholic warrior who gets dragged into friendship with Thor against her better judgement, and while that friendship might eventually shift into something romantic, it wasn’t shoehorned into her arc, for which I am intensely grateful. Ragnarok is, in so many ways, a movie with its foundations in the anger of the dispossessed. There are plenty of articles written on the subject by people better qualified than me. All I can say is that, as an Australian, I live in the messy aftermath of colonialism, with the awareness that my nation as I know it was founded on a violent invasion and that its impact is still being felt today. The line ‘where do you think all of this gold came from?’ was so flawless it kind of knocked my breath away. Hela tore apart Odin’s legacy and the narrative backed her right to do so the whole time. The only way to defeat her was to acknowledge that her claim was rightful and her story was true. That’s unbelievably powerful. Emotional resonance is a weird thing. So much of what we love in a story is entirely in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps it also depends on what other narratives are around us at the time – I, for instance, am personally tired of grimdark superheroism that’s all about how we can’t trust each other. What I need right now is Thor’s relentless optimism in the face of disaster, the man who makes friends wherever he goes, the god-prince who loses everything but rescues what really matters out of the ashes. Ragnarok isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s the best I’ve seen in a very long time and talking about it has made me want to watch it all over again.

[simplyoriginalcharacters]

Acidalia Planitia, Cipher

(Her full name and title is obnoxiously long- Acidalia Planitia e Alestra Harmonia Cipher et Aquilifer- but this is a setting where every name is obnoxiously long, so it doesn’t really matter.)

Background Info: Dalia is from a society called Eleutheria, a future Earth in the middle of a 3-way Cold War between two opposing rebel movements and the old government. They’re also at war with an alien race, but explaining the specifics is just too complicated here. The important bits are that it’s definitely dystopia- genetic mods are ubiquitous in the rich but nearly impossible to attain for the poor unless they’re forcibly given by the government, and every male child is enlisted in the military at birth. Women inherit their mother’s jobs, men fight until they die. Life expectancy is low not only due to the war and frequent deaths of kids barely old enough to fight, but also the complete lack of any safety regulations anywhere, frequent gang violence, and the rebellions killing each other’s members. So, it’s not great for anyone involved.

Name: She mostly just goes by Dalia or Acidalia. In this setting, names work in a weird way- Cipher is her title and Alestra is her mother's name, and they combine to make her full name. 

Gender/Pronouns: She/her, cisgender female. 

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: I suppose if you were to get into specifics, she’d be a heteroromantic asexual, but asexuality is pretty much expected in this society, so she mostly just calls herself straight and is done with it.

Age: 20 years

Birthdate: They don’t use normal Earth time, so it’s not something I really thought about. Birthdays aren't terribly important events anyway in this world- the majority don’t even know theirs.

Occupation: As her title says, she’s a Cipher. It’s kind of like a scientist who specializes in human DNA and genetic modification- a very, very wealthy and over-glorified scientist. Because the ability to literally manipulate thousands of other’s biology at will makes people rightfully scared of you, the Ciphers are the top caste in the system and wield immense power. The position is hereditary and has existed for centuries, and Dalia’s been studying it for years. However, she’s also an important figure in a revolutionary movement- her brother, a child soldier whose existence she wasn’t supposed to know of, was the one who brought her into the whole thing by showing her the injustice of how he and others were being treated. She has since become a very important figurehead (it’s not out of the ordinary; life expectancy is just so short a 20-year-old leader is nowhere near unheard of.)

Height: Tall; the upper class mostly is due to genetic mods.

Build: Average. 

Skin Tone: Olive.

Hair: It changes pretty often- unnatural hair colors are a symbol of wealth due to, again, genetic mods. It changes from orange to turquoise (neither of which is flattering) and then, once she stops having such easy access to luxuries due to war, it turns its natural black.

Eyes: Naturally brown. They used to be pink, but she hated them and thought they were creepy. 

Identifying Marks: She always wears white (color-coded castes) and usually copious amounts of jewelry. The blue hair was a pretty big identifying mark, but otherwise she’s not particularly recognizable to outsiders who haven’t seen her face on propaganda before. She does have a long scar up her side and one in her inner thigh (she got stabbed… long story) but it’s not usually visible to anyone.

Appearance: On propoganda, she’s usually portrayed as an almost goddess-like figure, but in actuality, she’s a lot more normal. She’s still graceful and elegant- highest caste- but also a lot more unsure of herself and blunt in person. She’s beautiful by the standards of the society she lives in, but pretty in an almost fake, uncanny-valley-like way (also due to genetic mods…) and very unapproachable seeming.

Personality: She lives kind of a double life- she has to act like the stereotypical, classist Cipher society expects of her in public, but also the fiery Revolutionary leader the people under her need to see. She’s been raised to be a ruler and a leader, but has come to see her citizens as her responsibility and something akin to her children instead of a group of idiots who are below her. She’s very protective of her younger siblings- the protectiveness for her brother, a child soldier, is what drove her to join a rebellion in the first place- and very quick to blame herself for anything bad that happens to them. She’s taken the message of “a government exists to protect its people” and applied it to herself, and she would do absolutely anything for her cause. She doesn’t consider herself inherently better than the people she’s leading, but does see herself as responsible for them and making their situation better, because it’s her family that caused all this suffering in the first place- and, as a Cipher, she’s one of the only people powerful enough to make a change. However, her self-sacrificial attitude and her unapproachable appearance make it hard for her to make friends with anyone, and there’s a certain degree of disconnect between her and the rest of the Revolution.

Motivations: To fix the mess her family started centuries ago- a three-way civil war, a war with an alien species, mass poverty, et cetera. Also to protect her younger siblings. (This goes horribly wrong, but she tried.)

Current Goal: To stop mass rioting that’s broken out as the civil war came to a head.

Life Goal: To restore a democratic government to the planet, or at least set up some scenario where life is better for her people. Best Quality: Classy, elegant, smart, and a good liar. Excellent at democracy and diplomacy, and can make incredibly powerful speeches. Her words can start- or end- wars. Inspiring to many people. Also, from years of programming DNA and studying past civilizations, she has an incredibly massive knowledge of biology and history.

Worst Quality: Can be patronizing when she acts like everyone else is her responsibility to take care of. Very unapproachable and bad at having meaningful social relationships. Very guilty about her family’s past and what happened to her siblings, whom she failed to protect. (Her little sister joined an opposing movement and her brother was murdered in an attempt to help Dalia. It didn’t work out for either side.) Blames herself for everything and can be a huge drag to other people- trying to talk to someone who’s heaped all of your own  issues onto her guilt is never fun.

Fears: Not being able to protect her civilization is a main one. She’s also terrified of coming face to face with the sister who betrayed her again- not because she’s afraid of being hurt, but because she’s afraid of having to hurt her sister. There’s also a soldier called TB-2116, a leader of an opposing rebellion and eugenics movement- he’s tried to kill her, is implied to have murdered her brother, and just generally unnerves her.

Hobbies: She likes chess and fashion/hair/makeup; one of her weird skills is finding clothes that are perfect for everything.

Talents: Years of living a double life have made her an excellent liar. She also has a rather pretty voice, and can play some future form of the piano, but rarely gets the chance to. The arts are considered trashy in this society.

Group/Organizational Affiliations: “The Revolution.“ 

Family: A brother, nicknamed Tee from his serial number, whom she isn’t supposed to know about. (The sexes aren’t supposed to mix, and especially not in high society.) A sister, Aleskynn, who isn’t supposed to exist (one daughter rule) and winds up betraying her. And her mother, Alestra, a member of the opposing eugenics movement. 

Best Friends: She was pretty close to Artemis, another Revolutionary member, but Artemis died. Her best friend is Andromeda, who is also another Revolutionary around Dalia’s age. She winds up getting pretty close to an alien politician named Raeilya, and becomes sort of a mentor to Lyra, a 16-year-old Cantator (a profession comparable to “actresses” in ancient Byzantine.) 

Relationship Status: Single and pretty OK with it.

Significant Other: None, right now. Dating and just romance in general aren’t very well-known or important concepts in a society where the sexes have been forbidden to mix and intercaste relationships are looked down upon. 

Other Relationships: Friends-is with a guy named David, a Martian farmer and a Revolutionary. Somewhat close to a slew of people: Athena and Ree, two budding astronomers, Atlas, another Revolutionary, etc. Is part of an intense one-sided rivalry with Cassiopeia, a woman who is just ever-so-slightly less powerful than her, and very bloodthirsty- they used to be friends, but Cass’s increasing hatred and extremism made them break apart. Influential Memory: Watching her grandmother Harmonia’s assassination as a child. Seeing Aleskynn’s birth (well, emergence from an artificial machine, but it’s pretty much the same thing in this world.) Nearly being murdered by TB-2116.

Role Model: Eventually, her late aunt Anya. Also, the mythical Great Elders- people who were said to have saved the world and founded the society thousands of years ago. 

Crush: Not a super huge one, but she thinks David is kind of cute. He’s in a committed relationship with someone else, and has two daughters (he’s 32, but shorter expected lifespans and lack of any sex ed make for young parents) so she knows it’ll never go anywhere and isn't bothered by it. (It’s less of an actual crush and more of an instinctive attraction to practically the first decent, non-family, not far too young or old guy she meets.)

Source of Embarrassment: Her family’s history of genocide, slavery at one point (not technically slavery, but pretty much slavery) and unethical genetic mods furthering the class divide. Her orange hair and pink eyes phase. Propaganda featuring her as a kid, mostly just because it looks absolutely obnoxious and manipulative, which it is.

Source of Pride: She’s an excellent leader and she knows it. She’s incredibly good at getting people to listen to her and empathizing with people who would normally dislike her. She’s also pretty proud of her singing voice, but it’s a talent she never really gets to show (the arts is not a well-respected field, and for a politician to take up painting/singing/dancing is considered rather trashy.)

Backstory: Acidalia was born to a wealthy Cipher woman called Alestra on Mars (thus, her name- calling a girl Acidalia Planitia is like calling a baby Sydney or Paris today.) She watched her grandmother get assassinated when she was 6 years old, which was the first time she realized the extent of the “slight unrest” her mother told her about. She was taught DNA mods, as well as the art of keeping a bunch of people subdued and in constant worship of you, Big Brother style. Her sister was born when she was 7 or 8, which was when she realized her mother's hypocrisy  multiple daughters was strictly banned, yet the Ciphers could do it freely. As a young teen, she met her brother for the first time, and quickly joined the revolution, rising quickly through the ranks due to a combination of her political skills and general knowledge others didn’t have. She there herself entirely into it, working a double life until she was 20. A murder attempt by Cass, TB-2116 and Alestra (complicated reasons) started an all-out civil war, and that’s where the main story begins.

This seems really long, I hope I wasn’t too overzealous. :)

Hello! Thanks for sharing Acidalia with us! Review will be under the cut.

My first question is what point of the war are we at when Acidalia’s story starts? Because you only have a little bit of time to establish the world, I’d like if you could get us right to where your work is about to open as far as her appearance, what she’s doing, etc. You can give us a bit more lead-up in the backstory, but everywhere should be as close to what she’s going to be like at page 1 as possible.

While I like that you’ve taken a lot of consideration into how she appears to others, I don’t know what she actually looks like besides tall and olive-skinned. This would be a good time to set up what the standards of beauty are in your universe. They don’t have to be the same as the beauty conventions of our world, but in a society which seems this heavily genetically modified, I’m sure that the societal conventions of beauty have also been heavily adjusted towards one ideal!

As far as Acidalia’s personality goes, you’ve done a very good job of nailing home the idea of her as a revolution leader. However, I think that you may want to take a little bit more time to describe the personality of her as an individual, rather than as a public figure. All you’ve given me so far in terms of personality is that she is protective and unapproachable. But those are things that people from the outside looking in would probably think. How does Acidalia feel about her position? Does she feel frustrated at times? Scared? Vulnerable? What makes her happy or contented? I feel like there may be more to her than just protective and hard to read. Even when you are telling us about her qualities and goals, try and figure this out from the perspective of Acidalia, who is, I’m assuming, a relatively young woman at the top of her social caste and also the figurehead of the revolution. How does she deal with that kind of pressure from day to day?

You give a very good idea of the people she has surrounding her–but there is a bit of inconsistency here. If all men are supposed to be conscripted into service, then I’m not sure how men like David would be around for her to connect with.

As far as her backstory goes–I feel like this should be longer in comparison to the rest of her profile. From what I know of Acidalia, I’m not sure why just knowing her brother was in the military would be enough for her to run off and join the revolutionaries. Also, you never really go into how her family is directly to blame for the dystopian landscape the world is in now, or how that affects her on a day-to-day basis. If she is working so hard to fight against it, I think we need a bit more information about how the events of her backstory have actually impacted who she is as a person.

Hopefully this is helpful for you moving forward! Please let me know if you have any questions!

- Choco

[yoinkmyheart]

hidden identities [i]

hidden identities: part ii // part iii

pairing: peter parker x superhero!f!reader 

word count: 1.4k warnings: blood mention, violence, swearing, no major sm:h spoilers but it spoils the bank scene. summary: reader is one of peter’s best friends and has so far successfully hidden the fact that she’s a butt-kicking superhero by night until she finds herself fighting side-by-side with spiderman and getting a little injured.

a/n: hi! this is kinda reader-heavy in the beginning but I’m very very new to this + this is my first imagine so please bear with me here! there’s probably going to be part 2. + I’m probably going to post it maybe? i hope you enjoy!

p.s. reader has invisibility powers also i decided that the reader’s alter-ego is ‘ghost’ but feel free to substitute whatever.

You sat on a rooftop overlooking Queens. You’d already donned your black outfit and was now transformed into your alter-ego: Ghost. Your costume was simple and didn’t fully hide your face, but did it well enough that you weren’t easily recognizable. Either way, this wasn’t a massive problem as you could turn invisible at will. 

Swinging your legs backwards and forwards, you looked eagerly around to see if there was any trouble. Of course, you didn’t want there to be trouble, but it would certainly make things a little more interesting. 

As everything seemed quiet around you, you let your mind wander to lunch earlier that same day.

“It is with great sadness that I must announce that I’m not going to be able to make it to movie night tonight,” You said, taking a bite of your sandwich and resting your elbows on the table, dramatically making a frown face.

Peter looked at you with a look of disbelief, “You? Missing a movie night? Last time I tried to do that, you acted like I committed a crime!” he scoffed, laughing but didn’t seem to mind it, giving you a smile afterwards.

“Why are you ditching anyway?” Ned asked, taking a bite of his chicken nugget.

“Uh- Well- I-” You hesitated for a moment. You gulped and opened you mouth to speak before you were cut off by the school bell. Saved by the bell, you mumbled a quick goodbye before speed-walking to your next class where neither Ned or Peter were—thankfully—in.

You shook yourself out of your thoughts, It hurt you that you couldn’t tell them the real reason you had ditched. You just knew that even if they had supported the idea of you being a superhero, it meant that their safety would be breached.

Admittedly, you hadn’t wanted to skip movie night. However, you knew that criminals don’t exactly stop doing criminal things just so that you could watch a movie or two with your best buds. You couldn’t risk not going out tonight. You had felt it in your bones that something was going to happen tonight, but so far, it seemed your bones were wrong and you wasted a perfectly good night.

You were about to just give up on your ‘bone (rather than gut) feeling’ when you heard a piercing alarm go off from your right. It was a bank. Being robbed. By the Avengers?

You had willed yourself invisible and walked in through the front door unnoticed by the robbers, ready to turn yourself visible and take these assholes down.

That is, until you noticed another superhero come in quietly. It was the friendly, neighborhood, Spider-boy. Okay, whatever, Spider-man.

You watched as he silently closed the door behind him, quite carefully actually, and stood awkwardly towards the robbers. He hesitated awkwardly before he tried to figure out his stance finally situating himself against the beam.

You couldn’t help it, you rolled your eyes. Everything this dude was doing screamed awkward. You could hardly believe that this guy was the one who’s been blowing up on YouTube lately. The videos certainly made him seem… taller.

“'Sup guys. You forget your pin number?” His voice seemed familiar to you, while the “Avengers” whipped around to face Spider-man.

Where have I heard that voice before?

“Woah, you’re the Avengers! What are you guys doing here?” Your eyes widened, frozen in shock as you finally recognized whose voice this crime-fighter highly resembled.

No. That’s impossible. He’s with Ned.

You shoved the thought away as you watched the scene unfold, getting ready to finally reveal yourself. You dodged around Spider-man who was currently handling “Thor” and “Hulk” and revealed yourself in front of “Iron Man”.

You could hear Spidey making little comments to the robbers. You kept your attention on “Iron Man”. Punching him square in the face, causing a hole to appear on the mask, then swiftly kicking his legs out from under him. Spider-man finally noticed you.

“What the- Who are you and where did you come from?” He asked, causing you to turn around just as he had very forcefully kicked “Thor” into the Ad on the wall about Identity Theft. Talk about irony.

“Sorry, but i’m a little preoccupied and I don’t really have the time to formally introduce myself here, spider-dude,” you shouted over to the red and blue clad hero, whilst making a move to attack “Thor” who was slowly standing up. 

“My bad, you’re right,” He laughed, as you shoved “Thor” into his little buddy, “Hulk”, who was keeping Spider-man busy. Causing both “Thor” and “Hulk” to go down with a groan on top of each other. 

While “Thor” and Spider-man had you distracted, you hadn’t noticed “Captain” hauling up a weapon of sorts. Luckily, Spider-man had and lunged at him but was abruptly stopped with the weapon.

What the hell?! Whatever the weapon was, it had stopped Spidey mid-air.

“Woah this feels so weird,” You heard him say, his voice distorted. You ran over to “Cap”, standing by his side and tapped his shoulder.

“Now you see me,” You started, winking at the man as he turned to look at you. You felt the funny tingly feeling you always felt as you turned invisible, and you knew you were vanishing.

“Now you don’t” You finished, confusing both Spider-man and the dude wielding the weapon. Taking your shot, you elbowed the man in the face, causing him to lose balance and fling the weapon around. Which in turn, hit you right at your jaw.

Lucky shot.

You reappeared suddenly at the surprise hit and felt a cut where the weapon had collided, reaching up to touch it and feeling blood. Now, you were angry.

Your little invisibility stunt had still stunned Spidey who was regaining himself off the floor, “Woah, woah! You can turn invisible?!” Spider Man shouted in shock, the eyes of his mask widening towards you. Flickering to the cut on your jaw.

“Yeah, and you can climb walls! Can we stop with the blatantly obvious?” You snapped, having reached your last straw with these guys. You saw Spider-man put his hands up in defence.

These men were quickly pissing you off. What was with their gadgets? 

“Iron Man” however had slipped by unnoticed while you were momentarily lost in thought and firmly held the gadget in his hands, aiming it at you. Successfully in his grasp, he flung you to the ceiling and back to the floor repeatedly.

“I’m getting” SMACK CEILING.

“REALLY TIRED” SMACK FLOOR.

“of you” SMACK CEILING.

“WANNABE AVENGERS” You seethed as you hit the floor one more time, Spider-Man finally webbing the guy and the weapon, You groaned. You were a superhero but you were far from indestructible and that guy waited that long before coming to your aid?! 

“Hey! Are you oka-” Spider-man moved to help you up, but while you were both distracted, “Hulk” had gotten a different weapon in his possession and aimed it straight at you two.

“WATCH OUT!” you screamed, tackling Spider-Man to the other side of the room. You mumbled a weak sorry as you landed flush against him with a thud. Hulk didn’t seem to have known what he was doing because the weapon spun out of control and cut through the building’s walls, hitting Delmar’s Deli across the street.

DELMAR’S. DELI?!

You rushed off of Spider-Man and ran across the street, screaming for Mr. Delmar in the burning ruins and made your way towards the destruction. Spidey ran past you and leaped into the building, helping a coughing —and alive— Mr. Delmar and his cat, Murph, out of the burning building.

You heard the sirens in the distance, and you averted your attention to the now-empty bank. Having completely forgotten about the “Faux-vengers”. You reached up to touch your still-bleeding jaw, mumbling a soft curse and hearing Spidey sigh a tired, “oh, come on,” beside you.

You turned yourself invisible but quickly reappeared when Spider-Man shouted, “Hey invisible girl, wait!”

Turning to face him, he tilted his head at you, confused. You raised an eyebrow at him before giving him a wink, “My name’s Ghost. Sorry Spider-boy, as much as I’d love to stay and chat, it’s a school night.”

As you turned yourself invisible and began to walk home, you heard a shout behind you, “It’s Spider-Man!” Before hearing the familiar sounds of his web attaching on to a building as the blue and red hero disappeared out of sight.

This guy would certainly be fun to fight crimes with, and you’d secretly hoped to see him soon. Not knowing that he, too, was secretly hoping to see you soon as well.

thanks so much for reading! feedback is appreciated and encouraged x

oo

[theblackpomegranate]

In defense of FetLife

Her scream pierces the lazy, hot afternoon and my head turns towards the sound. Across the campground, I see several men and one woman take hold of a struggling woman and put a pillowcase over her head. They hoist her up between them and carry her off into the woods. With a sigh, I return to my book. That just seems like a lot of work, and it’s hot, but it’s camp and that sort of thing is to be expected.

What I’ve witnessed is not a crime but a meticulously planned BDSM scene. Negotiation has taken place, consent and limits have been discussed, and the go-ahead given by the ‘victim’. What happens in the woods depends on what those discussions have yielded and what the kidnapee wants. Will there be interrogation with hitting and slapping, or perhaps rape-play, or even some water-boarding (yep, I’ve seen it done)? That’s all up to those participating. Everyone involved has signed off to do this consensually, safely, and with safeguards in place to stop at any time should anyone feel consent and safety are being compromised. Being abducted is something I am mildly interested in, but camp is usually busy for me and I don’t have the schedule to spontaneously drop everything and be carried off.

Sexual fantasies run the gamut from light spanking to intense scenes that include…well, abduction. Certainly on that end of the spectrum we are talking about edge play and not everyone plays that way, but it does exist and that’s why we’re going to stop here and talk about a concept in BDSM called “Your kink is not my kink, but your kink is OK”. It’s this concept that my likes and wants are different, and yours might even make me uncomfortable, but I am committed to sexual freedom, and therefore “Your kink is not my kink, but your kink is OK” Another example of this is needles. I love sticking poke-y thing in people, but many people hate and that is OK. In BDSM we are all in this weird thing together and we support each other, even when it’s not “our thing”. It’s important that you get this concept, because abduction, knife-play, needles, rape-play and other forms of kink might make you queasy and uncomfortable – but adults get a say in how they conduct their sex life and that has to be OK. Sexual freedom depends on everyone getting that concept.

The next part that’s important to understand is that in many BDSM scenes, the participant known as the ‘bottom’ (or the person who is getting something inflicted on them) wants fear and pain as part of their experience. Frankly, it gets them off and makes them happy. The top is someone who is alright with inciting that pain, making bruises, doing the tying. Each person involved has to have a robust understanding of consent, what techniques in scenes are safe, and put in place some safe words so action can stop in an instant if anything gets out of hand.

To that end there is a lot of talking about sex. When we are together we talk about our fantasies, wants, desires, and people to fulfill those fantasies. But because consent is the cornerstone of BDSM we do not do this in public. We do this for non-kinksters who haven’t consented to hear about my sexual exploits. One of those places we congregate to talk, meet other people, and plan is FetLife.

Now inject to this delicate balance of consent, pain, sex, and trust someone who wants to take advantage. Let’s not kid ourselves, they are out there, and they permeate every aspect of our lives. Even in BDSM. Notice I said ‘even; not ‘especially’. In light of recent events, I am more comfortable with introducing my adult daughter to sexual freedom and BDSM than a priest. Sit with that for a moment. It is important that you realize predators are out there, and they take advantage. In the BDSM scene it can be hard to spot the criminal deviants from the deviants who understand consent and limits. And both have access to FetLife.

Fetlife bills itself as the Facebook for kinksters and that seems an apt description. You can friend people, RSVP for events, write stories or fantasies, put a list together of your likes and dislikes, and join groups that may interest you. Groups that I belong to include: Male Submissions, Baltimore Kinksters, Femmes, Leather Girls, Latex Lovers, BiSexual Women, Dommes in Maryland, and on and on. From that list, you can get an idea of what I like and where I spend most of my time and what some of my kinks are. FetLife allows me to explore these things safely before moving into the real-world experience.

Did I just call FetLife safe? Yep. And I stand by it.

Before FetLife, older kinksters tell of trying to get into the BDSM scene by looking at the back page of local and underground papers searching for the keywords that indicate there was a scene/party/kinkster on the other side of the ad. Midori likes to tell the story of ads for “Very Strict Piano Teachers” and the deeper meaning behind the ads. Can you imagine? Following the instructions of an ad, and not knowing what lay on the other side – danger or fellow kinkster who respects your boundaries. I mean, this is a person you want to tie up, and you want to tie you up – probably have sex, and do other things and you’re only way to vet this person if you are not the BDSM scene is a backpage ad.

Enter FetLife. By creating a place for us to communicate, gatherings are easy to find. But also easy to find are other people who have been to that gathering, people who know the organizer, and any problems that organizer/ venue/ event has had in the past. Want to meet a new sub, domme, play partner? You can friend them, message them, and vet them before meeting them in person. No one on FetLife is forced to be there, and, in fact, signing up for an account isn’t as easy as it used to be (it now requires an invite or a working phone number).

FetLife helps us keep our anonymity if our circumstances in our personal life dictate it. I am lucky that I can be mostly ‘out’, but there are many people (ESPECIALLY in the DC area) who need to keep their sex life far away from every aspect of their life. Most everything on Fetlife is about respect for consent and boundaries. But not everything, and we are always reminded of that when FetLife is dragged into a heinous crime.

Yingying Zhangefore, a student at the University of Illinois, was allegedly abducted and likely killed by Brendt Christensen. And Mr Christensen appears to have visited FetLife, and on of its groups called “Abduction 101”. The (now-deleted) group had threads called “Perfect abduction fantasy” and “planning a kidnapping.” In the hands of someone who understands consent and the difference between fun and fantasy, it’s niche group. In the hands of a criminal, it’s a planning tool.

Our hearts go out to Yingying Zhangefore’s family, and we cannot imagine the grief they are feeling at this time.

But I need to say something important – FetLife did not cause the death of Yingying Zhangefore.

The BDSM scene works hard to keep perpetrators out of our sphere, but we cannot stop them from creating profiles and invading our digital sphere. At the heart of this is whether or not Mr Christensen would have abducted and killed if it weren’t for FetLife. That is a philosophical question that we can ponder for ages, but I can say for sure that FetLife is not the reason this woman is dead.

There are two issues at play here; whether or not you should be held responsible for what you put on your digital footprint (yes), or you should be prosecuted for your fantasies (no). Just as many, many women have rape fantasies, many men have abduction fantasies. We need to recognize that fantasies are normal and DO NOT MAKE YOU A BAD PERSON. But when you move from the world of make-believe to real world, you can become the bad person – and you should be prosecuted for that.

Judge Barrington Parker, of the cannibal cop case, wrote in support of clearing the cannibal fantasy writing cop Valle. “Fantasizing about committing a crime, even a crime of violence against a real person whom you know, is not a crime.” We can’t prosecute what’s in people’s heads, we just can’t. Even if it’s horrible, and gross, and illegal in real life. Where we should be concerned is when a criminal adds intent. For instance, someone wrote that “Abduction 101” post – either as a fantasy or with intent to do it someone who is willing and gives consent. Mr Christensen may have used that post in his intent to abduct a unwilling person. One is not a crime, and the other is. It’s essential that we understand that.

If Mr Christensen commented or wrote posts on those sites, because of his intent, he should be held responsible for what he wrote. Not FetLife, not the other people in the group, not other people that participate in that fantasy, but Mr Christensen alone. When kinksters go on FetLife, they have no intent to inflict other people to see, participate, or condone their sexual mores, fetishes, kinks, likes, and habits. Mr Christensen did. And that doesn’t make him kinky, that makes him criminal.

Fetlife is invaluable tool for sexual freedom. One not without some issues, issues the team behind the site work diligently to resolve while keeping users, advertisers, and hosting sites happy. It’s a delicate balance that seems maddening. But a balance that works. And the next time I’m at the BDSM camp that I attend and watch an abduction scene, I will not be alarmed because I know FetLife had allowed the people involved to set safe parameters for their scene. And be thankful it exists.

The post In defense of FetLife appeared first on The Black Pomegranate.

from The Black Pomegranate http://theblackpomegranate.com/fetlife-defense/