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ketso · 1 year

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Episode 48

Yoh, the work here at Keith’s office! It’s a lot! And with him still scouting a PA, I’m also that too. We had to phone mzala to come stay with us for a while so she could help us with Risuna. My mom said she’d come up, but she still has work. Mzala needs the money. Now my mom lives with Mzala’s kids while mzala is here helping us with Risuna. We work longer hours and the board meeting preps are insane. Last week, I made notes and talking points for Keith for his first board meeting, and he had their faith instantly. Now, he wants me to do that with all his meetings. People actually like me around here. I have a desk where I sit with everyone else in the open plan. But Keith obviously calls me into his office sometimes for love, hugs and sex. People say he’s more bearable when I’m here. His executives love how I manage his time and his office. So there have been no complaints about me being here. There was even a vote about me getting paid. So now, I get a nice salary shame. But I don’t want this job permanently. I don’t even want to lie. It’s a lot. And I really miss my son.

I’m at my desk right now doing some heavy admin exercise that needs to be submitted by 4pm today. I’d work in Keith’s office for peace, but he’d be undressing me by now. Our sexual appetite for each other has shot up and I don’t understand why. I once read that a couple working together is not good for marriage… but us… we’ve become closer and more sexual with each other. I keep telling him that he will impregnate me again. He just laughs and says that wouldn’t be a bad thing.

“Mrs N”, Leticia says to me.

She’s Keith’s secretary. The PA is gone. She’s someone else’s problem now. So Leticia and I now figure out a way to fill her role while recruiters look for another PA for Keith. I’m kind of the PA for now.

“Yes darling?”

“I’ve put together some brief files for Mr N for his meeting with his executives. Please give these a second pair of eyes before I take these to him?”

“Sure babe”, I say.

Keith is not nice at work. But I try not to tell him how to be a boss. He’s run a successful company before. So he clearly knows what he’s doing. But people are so scared of him. Now, I’m their vetting board. Things go through me before they go to him. And this just adds on unnecessary work for me.

I’m going through these files and putting together some corrections when some HOT lady walks right past me, headed to Keith’s office. I’m instantly intimidated. I will not lie.

“Excuse me! Can I help you?” I say.

“I’m here to see Keith.” She says.

“Do you have an appointment? Is he expecting you?” I ask.

Everyone is looking at us and the looks that they are giving us tells me that ho na le taba mo.

“I’ve heard about you… the rude PA that doesn’t even deserve to be here. You were just hired because you are a board member’s blessee. Surely, you are not expecting me to take you seriously as a human being.” This woman says.

“That would be the previous PA. She’s already moved on. I made sure of it. I am Keith’s wife, Basetsana Nkuna… and unless you want me to make sure that you move on to, you’ll tow the line a little bit.”

She stares at me in shock.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realise -

The people around us are giggling.

“I’m sure you didn’t. I wouldn’t expect you to. Now, do you have an appointment to see Keith?”

She clears her throat and says, “It can wait.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t have to. I’m sure you didn’t come all the way here in your short dress and designer heels for nothing. I’ll just let him know that you are here and have an urgent matter to discuss with him. Who are you again?”

She clears her throat, suddenly pulling down her dress and holding herself as if uncomfortable. Then she says, “Diana.”

I nod my head then head to Keith’s office.

Luckily, he’s not in a call. But he is focused on something.

“My love”, he says.

“Diana is here to see you.” I say.

He also gets uncomfortable.

“So ujola komsebetseng now?” I ask him.

“Jola? No baby. It’s nothing like that.”

“So what’s it like?” I ask him.

“Maybe we can both meet with her. You’ll understand.”

“I don’t want to be blindsided. Ke mang motho oe? And why is she coming to see you in short dresses and designer heels?”

He takes a deep breath.

“Well?”

“She’s Noria’s cousin.” He says.

My eyes!

My heart!

My disbelief!

I need to sit down.

“And you hired her?!” I ask him.

“She was already staff when I joined.” He says.

“And you didn’t tell me?!”

He’s silent. Now he has nothing to say.

I see him going to call that woman in.

They walk back in together. She sits on another vacant chair in here. Keith sits in his chair. I straighten my face and not let this woman see me sweat. She doesn’t deserve to see me worried or sweat.

“Diana, I see that you’ve met my wife.” Keith says.

“I have. And I’m sorry about the way that I spoke to you. I genuinely did not mean to disrespect you. I had no idea that you are Keith’s wife.”

I just look at her. And my look makes it very clear that we are not going to be friends.

“How can I help you, Diana?” Keith.

Diana clears her throat.

“Whatever you have to say, you can say it with my wife present. We are partners in every sense of the word.” Keith says.

Diana nods her head then says, “I have been speaking to my aunt, Ria’s mother.”

I look at her.

She looks at me.

Keith is looking at both of us.

“What does this have to do with Keith?” I ask her. Because really, why must Keith know that?

“I think it’s something that the both of you need to know.” Diana says.

I look at her.

“Ria has been kidnapped.” She says.

Heh!

“Kidnapped or she escaped from prison?” Me.

Diana takes offence then says, “my cousin could be in danger! She’s not a hardened criminal, you know! She’s been kidnapped by someone who kidnaps female prisoners for zama-zama miners to rape and sexually enslave. I know you don’t like her, but some sympathy would be nice.”

Hai khona!

“Isn’t your cousin the same person that kidnapped my son from an accident scene? The same person who’s been charged with more than five accounts of murder? That’s not a hardened criminal to you? That’s not someone who is capable of practically staging a kidnap whereas she actually escaped from prison?”

She looks at me with so much anger.

“The point is, Keith, she’s in trouble. We don’t even know if she’s dead or alive. And with her father in prison, he can’t even use his connections to try and find her or help her.”

“So what do you want Keith to do? Because my husband is not lifting a finger to help that animal!” I say.

“Keith, can we have this conversation without her?” Diana.

“Askies?! SIBITI!” Me.

Now there’s silence.

“I’m sorry this has happened to Noria, Diana. I really am. But I have to echo my wife’s question here… what do you want me to do?” Keith.

“After everything that our family has done for you, Keith? You can’t even help us when we tell you that a woman you were married to - before this black witch came along - could die in the hands of danger?!”

“Who are you calling a black witch, wena?!”

“You! You sleep with my sister’s husband, use a bastard of a child to separate them, and now you pounce around here like the queen of Sheba, sitting on your high horse and judging my cousin! Who do you think you are?!”

“Keith! Kgalemela ntja eh! Before ke mo bontsa sibunu!” I’m actually angry now.

“Keith, phone a contact or two and help us find Ria! Please! She could be anywhere! And she could be in serious danger! Anyone who can kidnap someone out of a prison without anyone seeing anything is clearly dangerous! And yes, that prison warden is now arrested, but he can’t even tell authorities where he took Ria and what happened to her! She could be trafficked for all we know. Please, Keith! This family has never asked you for anything before. This is the one thing that we are asking. We are asking for your help to find Ria. Please! Even her father is on his knees on this one, begging you. He specifically asked me to beg you himself. And you know my uncle doesn’t beg. He’s too proud. We can’t lose Ria, Keith. Aseblief.” She says.

I look at Keith.

“I need to talk to my wife, Diana.” Keith says.

“Every three seconds, a woman across the world is being trafficked or raped. Noria Nkuna - a woman you once loved and probably still love… she’s now become a statistic, Keith. There’s no time on our side. She could die. Surely, whatever hatred you feel for her doesn’t run deep enough for you to wish her death, or allow life to kill her.” Diana.

“It will be good karma for the families that have mourned their loved ones because of her. I say good riddance to bad rubbish. This will probably make the world 2% better than what it was when she was fully operational and untouchable.” I say.

I don’t know what to make of Keith’s reaction. But Diana is on her feet ready to attack me.

“Just so we are clear… if you ever put your hands on me, I’ll use the connections that you expect us to use to find your sister, to make sure that you join her at whatever rape camp that she’s at. Am I clear?” I say.

She’s instantly scared.

Even Keith is a bit…

“Le ntlwayela masepa le dushu le!” I say as I get up and leave this office.

…

I’d be lying if I said that I’m not worried about Noria. Truly. Diana is not lying when she is saying that their family did a lot for me. They did!

I didn’t exactly come from a background of unending opportunities or an education that set me up for life. When I met Noria, I was the son of a drunk man and an abused woman. They’ve both never really had formal employment, so the education that I did have is the best that my mother could do on the salary of a temp worker and sometimes donations from people who were kind enough to remember us. My father had no interest in supporting us, so one cannot even include the peanuts that he got paid in my upbringing.

Noria and her father put me through formal university education - I even did a course at Harvard University. Yes, I lived there and all with Noria. They made Keith Nkuna, the reputable CEO. I owe them a lot.

But telling this to Bassie would be pointless. When it comes to Noria, Bassie hears nothing.

And I understand Bassie’s position. Noria not only hates Bassie and is not afraid to show it, but she also kidnapped our son. I understand why Bassie doesn’t want us to have anything to do with this mess. Noria should be in prison. And if she finds the slightest way to be safe and out of prison, she could come for Bassie and me.

When I was with Noria and I knew that Bassie needed my help, I helped Bassie without Noria’s knowledge. But I don’t know if I’d get away with it if I helped Noria behind Bassie’s back. Also, it just doesn’t feel right.

“I’m going home. I want to catch Risuna before bedtime”, Bassie says, peeping through my door. I check the time. It’s 7pm.

“We drove here together though”, I say.

“I’ll request a private taxi.” She says.

“Can you give me ten minutes? I’ll leave with you.”

She nods her head then closes my door.

She’s distant. Off even. I just know that this has everything to do with Diana’s request.

I pack up my bags and shut down my system, preparing to go home.

After a few minutes, I’m ready to leave.

I leave my office.

Bassie is already waiting for me, chatting on her phone. She’s probably on the WhatsApp group with her friends where they interact and gossip everyday.

The drive home is a bit quiet. She’s still busy on the WhatsApp group.

“Your day is quite busy tomorrow. Your meeting with the supplier CEOs will only end at 8pm.” She tells me.

“Thanks for sorting that out for me.” I say.

“Ja, but I’ll use a different car tomorrow. That way, I can still make it home early. How long until they find a PA for you?” She asks me.

“You don’t want to work with me anymore?” I ask her.

“It’s not that. It’s just that… I don’t want to see the Dianas of the world coming and going as they please in your office. I don’t enjoy the humiliation”, she says.

I’m silent.

“So maybe we should just be husband and wife… nothing more than that.” She says.

“Bassie, I try my best to be a good husband to you. Where am I not doing okay?” I ask her.

“I didn’t say that you were a bad husband. Those words have never come out of my mouth. Ever!”

“Ja… it’s just the treatment that you give me. I mean, what did I do wrong today? Why am I being punished?”

“I’m just telling you that I don’t want to bump into women walking in and out of your office dressed in short dresses and heels. Being a jealous wife is not professional. So I shouldn’t put myself in those positions because I cannot help myself. Then to find out that you are working there with your ex’s relatives? I’m just not prepared for such things… especially at a work place. People don’t even look at me professionally. It’s as if people are waiting to see how long it takes for me to snap and react at the nonsense that no wife would tolerate in that setting.” She says.

I take a deep breath.

We just drive on.

We get home. She puts her bags down and makes her way to Risuna who is just laughing as he speaks to mzala while eating.

“Mzala, ujwang?” Bassie greets mzala as she picks up Risuna and smothers him with hugs and kisses.

“Ke shup mzala. Wena?”

“I’m good thanks. I just missed my little boy so much! Hello baby! Hello wena handsome one”, Bassie goes at Risuna. I watch them, falling in love with her all over again. Risuna is laughing and happy to see his mother too.

“Mzala, ushup?” Me.

“Ke shup, mzala.”

“You can knock off now. We will take it from here. Thank you for everything, mzala.” I say.

She smiles, says thank you then retires to her nanny flat.

I chill with Bassie and Risuna. He’s in his playpen. Bassie is outside of the playpen playing with him. I sit on the other side of the playpen and join in the fun.

Bassie looks at me with a smile. I smile at her too.

“We made an incredible human being, hey”, she says.

I laugh and say, “we did. We should make more.”

She just shakes her head.

“How was school, papa?” She asks Risuna.

“School is always boring. But at least I have friends now.” He says.

“Really? Who are your friends?” I ask.

“Ryan the naughty monkey. Jarred the dirty dog. Lethabo the weird one.”

And then? The adjectives?

“Risuna, why are you calling people monkeys, dogs and weird?” Bassie.

“It’s not me. It’s our teacher. She calls people these names when she shouts at them. She even calls me Risuna the thief.”

I see Bassie get angry instantly.

“You are not a thief. And don’t ever allow anyone to call you that.” I say.

“Can I tell that to my teacher?”

“Yes. In fact, I insist you tell that to your teacher!” Bassie.

“I won’t get into trouble?”

“Not with us, no.” I say.

“And I’m going to talk to your teacher and your principal tomorrow morning.” Bassie.

Okay, it’s going down at the school tomorrow. She will probably even ask for the teacher to get fired.

…

I’m living in a house that houses prostitutes. I’m not a prostitute though, thank goodness for that. I just need a hideout place. What better place to hide than a hijacked house owned by someone who’s not even legally in this country, housing people that are also not legally here and are selling sex? Plus, they have cops on payroll to not raid this place. They sell drugs and sex here.

I ended up living here because I deliberately went into Durban town and looked for a sex work kind of place. When I found it, I asked to see the owner of the house. After hassles and jumping through hoops, I finally met him. His name is Immi. I don’t know what his real name is and I frankly don’t care. I asked him if I could rent a room in his house. He asked me how I’d pay for the room. I told him I had the money. I have enough money that could pay rent for two years. He took a long stare at me then said, give me six months rent upfront then. I gave him the whole year’s rent up front. He gave me the second biggest room in this house and it has its own bathroom. He has the biggest room. I’ve never been in there, but I know that a lot of shit happens in there.

So I’m staying here until I figure out my next move. I’ve obviously hid my money. I’m living in a drug and whore house. Of course my money is not protected, especially because they know that I have it. But I try to “buy” my protection. Like I buy groceries and I cook for everyone every day. Which I don’t mind. I love cooking and I miss cooking for my family and Keith. So here, it goes a long way. When people are out during the day, I clean the house. I clean the common areas but stay out of the bedrooms. Yerrr! These people live in filth. Ha!

Then when they get to work, I lock myself up in my room. I have a TV in here. I bought it off one of Immi’s friends. He even illegally connected DSTV for me so trust me, it keeps me entertained.

Yoh, I miss Keith so much.

Also, my escape from prison is nowhere on the media. I knew they’d delay putting it out there to the public, but this is too quiet. I wonder why… are they really THAT committed to not exposing their corrupt prison official who let me out in the first place?

I’m in disbelief!

There’s a knock on my door as I’m in bed, in blankets and watching some movie.

“Natasha, it’s me.” It’s Kim. She’s one of the prostitutes that live here. And yes, I told everyone that my name is Natasha.

I get out of bed and walk to the door, I unlock my door.

My door is always locked. Always. I paid Immi to buy my own locks so that I could have my safety guaranteed. So you literally have to drill this door down to enter. Yes, I got a new door too. The men that come into this place sometimes get too lost around here. I don’t play those games.

“Hey girl”, she says as she walks in.

“Hey. You not working tonight?” I ask her.

“My last client just left. I just thought that I’d come chill up here at five star with you.”

The girls call my room five star. It’s just clean, unlike their rooms. And I stay alone, I’m not sharing with five other people like them. I kid you not… one bedroom houses six to ten girls. It’s crazy. Even I don’t know how they do the dirty with a million of them in there.

I let Kim in then lock my door.

I wound say that she’s my friend. I don’t have friends here. But of everyone in this house, she’s the one girl that I can trust.

“I want out of this prostitution life hey”, she tells me.

She must not start. I’m not here for her like that. Please! I also have my own issues.

“But I don’t have a plan. I have to send money back to Nigeria every month for my children, my sick mother and my sister. Even the peanuts I make here don’t really help me. I’ve tried to go to shops and apply for work, but they pay even less than the sex work. It’s probably because I’m a foreigner and I’m desperate because I don’t have the papers to be here. I’m easily cheap labour. The loan sharks don’t even give us money. They say we don’t have enough collateral.”

“Kim, are you asking me for money?” Because really, this PowerPoint is unnecessary.

“Eh eh! I’m just sharing now!”

I roll my eyes.

“But if you do have money, my friend -

“I don’t have money. You can see that I spent my money on my room and rent. I help you guys around here with groceries as well. And unlike you, I don’t have a job.”

“You got a blesser neh?”

“Kim, if I had a blesser, would I be living here? I mean really.”

“So where does your money come from?”

“You don’t need to know that. Ask Immi for money.” I say.

“Ah ah! Are you mad?!”

“You are bitching and moaning here! I’m coming up with solutions. I don’t hear you coming up with solutions.”

“Does Immi give you money, my friend? How much? And what do you do for him? I mean… he gives you the nicest room and you live alone in a mansion of a room.”

“Go ask him yourself.”

“You want Immi to kill me now? Eh eh eh!”

I’m tired of this girl already.

“Why don’t you open a business? Loan people like us money. No one in South Africa wants to loan us money. If you loan illegal foreigners money, you could make money.”

“I’m not going to do that because I’m not stupid. You are all undocumented. There’s a reason why even illegal financial service providers won’t touch you. And I don’t have money to hire hitmen to kill you if you refuse to pay me back.”

“Just think about it, my friend. You’ll even monopolise this thing… have an interest of your own… then while you live here, you know you have an income. Eh?! Come on now.”

I just look at her.

“I want to sleep, Kim.” I say.

“Let me sleep here with you for one night, please.”

“No! Bye!”

I don’t trust anyone here enough to share a bed with them. The hell?!

…

It’s the silence that wakes me up. You know it’s the next morning around here when there is absolute silence. The unfaithful men who paid big money to cheat on their families with the likes of Basetsana have gone back to their homes to paint the perfect family picture before the public eye. Immi has been paid his money for the night. And the ladies are fast asleep… sleeping away the secrets of most men in this country, resting so that they can wake up later today and make Immi even more money.

I stretch as I get out of bed. I make my bed, check that the only bag that I have is safely packed away. I don’t have anything in cupboards. I’m not stupid. Any day, a raid can happen here. I need to be ready to LEAVE! When I went to go buy myself some more clothes in these dodge CBD shops that sell clothes for R15 and the most expensive item is R150, I bought myself a bigger overnight bag. It’s actually a nice bag… a whole LV bag. And it’s the real deal. Sold for R150? Either these people don’t know LV, or the owner was probably mugged and the bag is literally a steal.

I finally found the time to count the money that I stole from those miners. I actually have R100k on me. I don’t understand how mere miners would have that kind of money. Maybe they are zama-zamas. But anyway, I packed the money all the way at the bottom of the bag. I put some money in the inner side pocket. That would be transport money should I need to run. Then my clothes are all on top of the money.

As soon as I’m done showering, I put my toiletries in my bag. The only things that are not in here are my wet underwear and wet face cloth.

I quickly get dressed, put my bag under the bed, then head to the kitchen. My plan is to make breakfast, but I’m distracted by seeing police vans and inyalas parking outside the gate of this house.

What if these people are here for me?

I’m instantly shaking!

I head to the bedroom and grab my bag, put my face cloth and wet underwear in there. I check the back… there are no cars or cops in there. I use the back door to leave the house. I jump the fence and find myself in a block of flats. I keep moving. None of these flats are supervised. Like zero!

I go into some Chinese shop. I buy a cheap phone nyana and pay for it. I buy airtime and data. Then, I head to a taxi rank.

“Uyaphi sisi?” A driver asks me.

Now I actually need to have a plan.

“Bloemfontein”, I say.

“Okay sisi, it’s two taxis ahead.” He says.

I walk to the taxi.

There are a few people here, but it still needs more people before it’s full.

I sit at the back, next to some woman. I’m in the middle again. Perfect.

I switch on this phone. I load the airtime and data that I bought. I put this phone on silent.

I check twitter. Maybe I’ll see what’s happening at that house.

I check what’s trending.

Nothing about that house.

Some two ladies come in with a bunch of kids, so the taxi is now full.

“Sisi, do you have R50? Ngiyashoda tu.” the lady next to me says.

“I’ll pay for you. It’s fine.” I say. I take out enough money for two people then I give it to the person in front of me.

In no time, people have paid and the taxi is moving.

Someone starts, “Did you see that the police did a raid at the prostitution houses?” Someone in the taxi says.

“About time! Yoh!”

“There’s a specific drug lord that they were looking for. Phela they raided them all at once. So many prostitutes and people found in the houses got arrested.”

“Kuyafana! They will be released in no time. Umuntu nje must just move to Tholoana Kingdom. That’s the only place where amanyala anjena don’t happen. And if they do, they make sure that the people involved are dealt with. Manje thina la… we have too many rights! And we probably have government officials that are on the payroll of these people. That’s why they are forever getting away with it!”

This conversation goes on for a while.

I decide to phone my mom while the conversation is on-going, hoping no one will pay attention to me.

“Hello? It’s Cheryl speaking.”

“Mommy. Is ek.”

She’s silent. She even sobs.

“I’ve been worried sick about you! The police say that you were kidnapped!”

“Huh?!”

“Ja. They said a prison warden who’s just been arrested for kidnapping female prisoners and feeding them to zama-zamas took you and there’s no guarantee that I’d ever get you back! Where are you?!”

I just breathe.

“Are you at least okay?”

“I’m okay, mommy. I miss Keith so badly.” I find myself saying, then I even start crying.

“Keith has moved on, Noria. And I strongly suggest that you do the same.”

“It’s so difficult, mommy. I miss him so badly.”

“Look, your father is coming out of prison soon.”

“How?”

“He has his ways and his connections. When he comes out, what’s left of our family is getting on a private plane and we are moving to the UK. Noria, come with us. Aseblief my babatjie.”

This is actually not a bad idea at all.

“Okay.” I say.

“Dankie Lord! Dankie! We leave from Cape Town. Can you get to ouma’s house by tomorrow evening? We fly out at 10pm.”

“Okay.”

“Good. Ek is lief vir jou, my babatjie.”

“Ek is lief vir jou, mommy.”

We hang up.

I wipe my tears.

They are still talking about the prostitutes and their arrest.

I take a deep breath.

I think about calling Keith. But that could be my downfall. Honestly. He could throw the cops on my scent. I just want to say goodbye. But with him, maybe I must just say goodbye in my heart.

Goodbye my Keith. I hope wherever you are, you’ve found your happiness. I’ll always love you, my Mr Nkuna.

0 notes

terrainofheartfelt · 2 years

Note

wait why do they not let opera singers start singing until they’re older???? like i kinda understand the logic with dance/sports - people’s physical abilities do tend to wain as they get older and experience more injuries (although the weigh in thing is absolutely FUCKED, especially for ballet and gymnastics), but i can’t even fathom how being older would necessarily make you a better singer. more experienced probably, but how is a singer supposed to get experience if they can’t work in the field at all before then??? aren’t there any roles for younger people in opera by virtue of the characters they’re singing for??

Hi ty for asking!

I guess I should probably start with a clarification, in opera, you can sing starting in your late teens on, but you are in training for several years, in school, in trade training programs, and so you aren’t professionally singing leading roles at the top of the marquee until your 30s at LEAST. So there’s multiple reasons for that — and bear with me because it’s been like 6 years since my pedagogy class, but the main reason one can’t typically jump from getting their bachelors straight into professional mainstage classical singing is that the voice is like, the last thing to complete aging in your body. You know how your frontal lobe doesn’t finish developing until you’re in your mid20s? It’s the same with your voice.

So your vocal folds—the bit of anatomy in your larynx where the magic happens—is legit an incredible piece of engineering, it’s folds (the colloquial term is chords, but folds is more accurate) of tissue, that, when you speak and sing, kind of…flap, oscillate together at high-frequency—that’s where the sound comes from, and with singing, it’s at a much higher intensity than speaking. And before the voice finishes aging, those folds are — for lack of a better term — soft, and pliable, and highly subject to injury.

Sidebar: That’s why if you ask any classically trained singer about those tv reality talent show children that “sing opera” they get incensed, because physiologically speaking, that kid is shredding their voice by forcing it to do something it anatomically can’t yet. It’s NOT impressive, it’s destructive.

Another sidebar: there’s a video out there somewhere of Steve Tyler from Aerosmith singing with a scope in his throat so you can see his folds vibrating and it’s fucking GNARLY. singing is intense. He’s awesome.

In your mid20s, those folds ossify into sturdier cartilage, which means the voice is hardier and has more stamina and strength.

So, knowing all that: classical singing is hard. It’s ATHLETIC. It burns calories! my old voice teacher used to say. It takes lots of breath control, lots of practice, and years building up healthy technique — technique that prevents injury and fatigue.

And, this is opera we’re talking about. There’s no amplification. No microphones. A voice has to be heard over an entire orchestra, you need training and stamina to make that happen. So it takes 4 years of training, but practically 6, bc most gigs won’t even look at you without a masters. And even then, you might be benched for awhile.

And it’s also all on a spectrum too, depending on the range and size of a voice (and different voice types are suited to different musical eras and roles) like higher, smaller voices mature in less time and are therefore hire-able in less time. Like, that post was a joke, but they were pretty accurate, dramatic baritones and basses are not taken seriously at all really until at least they’re 30s, and are probs not debuting until their 40s. Me, I’m on that end of the spectrum, my voice is low, and big. The analogy my teacher used was “Mac truck” my technique lessons were about “learning to drive the mac truck.” So I knew from the get go that it was gonna take my voice a WHILE to finish cooking. My coach told me once that one day after I turn 25, everything will magically be easier (vocal technique wise). But then I turned 25 in the middle of a pandemic and had been decidedly Not Singing for several months…so. Though, that Christmas when I had to sing in church, it felt real good. Better than I had anticipated…

Another sidebar: and singing is so so so much more personal than any other kind of music making, because you are the instrument, the instrument is in you, and it’s organic, and no other type of musician has to reckon with that kind of intimacy and change. You don’t have people sitting around waiting for their oboe to ripen. (Not to diminish the hard work instrumentalists put in like damn I wish I’d stuck it out with piano maybe I’d be happier)

So, there’s a real reason for it, but, there’s also a lot of pearl-clutching in the business about what young voices and young, dramatic voices (that’s what I have, a dramatic voice) should and shouldn’t do. And there’s several conceits of the business that are, to put it simply, absolutely fucked. Like, you do your six years of school, but if you go straight through, then you’re still 23, and unless you’re a perfect tiny Mozart soubrette, you’re not really finished cooking. The bridge between school and singing grown up lead roles is supposed to be apprenticeships, but those are so Fucked. They’ve become less about hiring quality singers and training them—hiring voices with potential and giving them lessons and concert performances and letting them learn roles without the strain of performing on a huge stage with an orchestra—and more about hiring cheap labor to round out casts by throwing them bit parts, small roles that only have a few lines here and there—those are the roles for younger people you asked about. Comprimario is the industry term. But companies are only hiring people they know they cam put on a stage immediately, there’s no interest in training anymore, so smaller voices are fine working that way, but a girl like me gets nowhere. I did an audition for a company where I’d worked before and had a great relationship with all the people, and when I walked out the door—after absolutely crushing it—one of them said “that was great. it’s a shame we have nothing to give her.” (I know this because the person they were talking to is my best friend). and that’s not even getting into the fucking extortion that is pay to sings and application fees and audition fees. One’s only hope as a young dramatic voice in the apprenticeship world, really, is to either go to Germany—where they are much less pearl clutchey about age—or land where there’s a director or conductor who cares enough about your potential to keep hiring you, even if they can’t “use” you in their season. And at this point in time, I got neither of those.

So, with all that, the question is: is opera even worth it? And tbh the pandemic answered that question for me before I could, but…fuck, somedays (like now since I’m writing this ask about it) I miss it. Like, it feels like a part of myself is missing from me. Because damn, there’s nothing like it, singing. Not even the full shebang with orchestras and costumes but just singing arias in my best friends’ living room while we’re drunk on two buck chuck…there’s nothing like it.

tldr: it’s a combination of a real, physiological reason, combined with the fact that the industry is fucked, and said industry has cards stacked against people who aren’t socio-economically capable of waiting for their voice to age.

#on today’s episode of liz was a music major and is gonna make it everyone’s problem #i hope that answers your question? I tried to paint with a broad brush but I know too much so if it got too jargony I apologize #bestie I’ll be real: it’s hard out there #i did library school to kill time and be able to sort of keep my toes in the water #and then a global pandemic happened. and all my planning flew out the window.#and…even though there’s no weighins perse. opera is hella fatphobic #personally I blame when they started streaming opera into movie theaters #which ROCKS don’t get me wrong #but now it’s like #companies are casting based on what it’ll look like onscreen. which is fucked #but yeah I’ve had conversations where directors straight up told me to my face that my size was an issue #and was why I didn’t get a role or that companies wouldn’t hire me because of it #it’s all. it’s all fucked.#and now I’m trying to redefine what I want my relationship with singing to look liek #because I miss the music. FUCK do I miss the music. but I don’t miss the psychological warfare that is the young artist industry #asks #anon

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queen-haq · 3 years

Photo

Fic: A Woman Scorned - Part 1

Pairing: Billy Russo x Reader

Words: ~2200 words.

Summary: You’ve been sleeping with Billy Russo for a few months now. Knowing his aversion to any kind of emotional commitments, you’re satisfied with your clandestine arrangement until you catch him having dinner with Dinah Madani one night. Then it finally dawns on you. It’s not that he doesn’t want to commit, he just doesn’t want to commit to *you*.

Billy may think he knows you, but he has no idea what he’s just lost...

~~~~~~

You met Billy Russo at an industry conference two years ago. While you didn’t know much about military security at that time, your specialty was online security and both of you ended up attending a lot of the same events. He was the most beautiful man you’d ever seen, magnetic and a total flirt, and it was obvious he was aware of his good looks and used it to his benefit. You didn’t sleep with him during the conference. Something told you his dance card was already full every night. So, instead, you exchanged contact information and left it at that.

A year later you were hired as a consultant for one of Anvil’s direct competitors and moved to New York City. When Billy called you to meet for drinks, you knew exactly what he was up to. You were no fool. He wanted information on your employer and thought he could charm you into spilling secrets. You told him it wouldn’t work over a second drink, and he simply laughed.

You didn’t fuck him until a month later. The official reason for the delay was conflicting schedules but mostly it was due to insecurity on your part. To the outside world you were attractive in the kind of way that snuck up on people. You weren’t the type to turn heads, like Billy was, and your fucked up childhood had ensured you didn’t let anyone in easily. It wasn’t until a pep talk from your best friend, Davina, about enjoying Billy Russo for what he was – a fun time and nothing more - did you finally decide to take the leap.

Fucking Billy had been unlike anything you’d experienced before. You’d had sex before of course, but not the kind of sex that made you lose all of your inhibitions and scream and come for hours. Billy knew how to coax you out of your shell and demand things from him you’d never even knew you wanted. You fucked him in your apartment, his penthouse, the underground parking lot, in his car and that was all within the first week. He had opened up a whole new world for you and you were willing to try anything and do anything he wanted. After that first night together, all the walls you’d built around your heart collapsed. Your best friend warned you repeatedly that great sex made people confuse lust for love, that she was worried you were falling for Billy, but you told her you were an adult and could handle yourself.

Of course that had been bullshit.

It had been been almost a year now since you and Billy were sleeping together and you had no idea where you stood with him. You didn’t even know if he was fucking other women, though a part of you suspected he was. If he was with you two nights a week that left five other nights to be with someone else. It clawed at you, knowing you weren’t enough for him. It heightened all of your insecurities, made you believe that you were worthless and ugly just like your abusive father used to scream at you. Of course you’d never tell Billy that. The minute he suspected you were getting attached to him emotionally he’d bolt, he’d already warned you of that. So you kept your thoughts to yourself and let your pain eat away at your insides when he wasn’t with you.

At least that had been the plan until you saw him on a date with Madani.

You were at a restaurant with some of your coworkers, enjoying happy hour, when you got up to use the bathroom and spotted Billy sitting in the other corner of the room. The breath rushed out of your lungs, your knees felt weak. They were enraptured with each other, legs intertwined, heads close, a true couple. You knew who she was because he’d let it slip he’d been working with Homeland on something and, you being you, you’d looked her up. Her pictures didn’t do her justice, because she was stunning. And exactly the type of woman Billy would be proud to be seen with.

After you and Billy started sleeping together, Billy rarely took you out. Sure you guys would go to some hole-in-the-wall places or fast food joints but never to fine restaurants, not like this one. You never complained because why waste time when you could be busy fucking his brains out? Except now that you saw him and Madani sitting only a few feet away from you, and he was proudly holding her hand and being openly affectionate, you realized it had all been by design. He never took you out because he was ashamed of you. If you had been prettier, thinner, sexier, taller – anything but what you already are – he’d want you as more than a fuck buddy. He’d want you as his girlfriend.

It was a bitter pill to swallow but at least now you knew the truth and that meant you were back in control of your life.

As much as it hurt, it felt good to know you were the ones making decisions about your future again and they didn’t revolve around Billy. No longer would you be obsessing over what he wanted, what he was doing, if he’d like a certain thing on you or not, if he was fucking someone else or not. You wouldn’t spend hours researching Billy like you did in the past and finding out things about him that he never knew you knew. No, now you were finally free.

And it was time to move on.

Tonight was the night of the fundraising gala. Your company had purchased a table and the CEO of your company had personally extended an invite for you to attend. Based on a conversation you had with Billy three weeks ago, you knew he would also be attending to represent Anvil. When you’d first broached the subject you’d hoped he’d asked you to attend as his date – but he hadn’t. At the time you’d reassured herself the reasons were practical. It would be weird for Billy to be sitting at a competitor’s table (if he went with you) and you would risk offending your boss if you sat at Billy’s. But now you knew the truth.

So, tonight, you were dressed to the nines in a curve-hugging gold dress with a plunging neckline which emphasized all of your assets. Your heels, which cost more than the dress itself, were over five inches high and made you feel like an Amazonian goddess when you sauntered in them.

When you walked into the ballroom with Davina in your arms that night, you felt confident in a way you hadn’t in a long time.

The thing about you that a lot of people didn’t know was that you were fucking fantastic at owning a room – despite your insecurities. You may not be beautiful but you were charming. You were really great at getting strangers to open up, people were drawn to you. It was one of the reasons your CEO promoted you so quickly after a few months. Your job, initially at least, was meant to be a technical role but when you were invited to a party with potential clients you had schmoozed them so easily they had signed the contract within the week. And then you had impressed them with your actual technical skills which only cemented their positive impression of you.

So, yeah, you were in your element and you were ready to charm.

“What table are we?” Davina asked.

“14,” you said. Of course your eyes were automatically drawn to Anvil’s table on the seating chart. 157. A safe distance from your table, which meant there was a good chance you two wouldn’t even be crossing paths in the grand ballroom. You didn’t know whether to be overjoyed or disappointed.

A while later you were circulating around the north bar, chatting up with some potential clients that your boss had wanted you to pay particular attention to when you saw Dinah Madani. She was in one of those slinky, maroon satin dresses, her hair up, and you felt that surge of jealousy go through you again. She was probably here as Billy’s guest considering this wasn’t the kind of events Homeland agents typically attended.

“Y/N!” You turned to find your boss waving you towards him.

Glad for the distraction, you picked up two glasses of champagne from a nearby server and headed towards him, handing him his drink. Your boss was chatting to a group of people you vaguely recognized, but the smile on your face stiffened when you spotted Billy amongst them.

Fuck. He looked good in a tux. His hair was slicked back, and you were struck with the sharp memory of fucking him in his car one night with your fingers roughly fisting his hair. God, you loved his hair, loved running your fingers through the silky strands.

Billy’s eyebrow quirked up when he saw you and you wondered what he thought of you so dressed up. No. It didn’t matter what he thought of you. Fuck him, you reminded yourself.

“Y/N is our new Executive Director,” your boss said, introducing you to the group. “Her division has shown a significant growth ever since she joined Valiant.”

You smiled, shaking hands with everyone. When it was Billy’s turn, you reached out to clasp his hand, not betraying any emotion even though you felt an immediate charge upon touching him. He gave you an amused smile, like he was enjoying the charade.

“Nice to meet you all,” you said. “And don’t listen to Roger. Valiant was doing fine on its own.”

“But Y/N has definitely changed the way we do some of our regular operations. I didn’t realize how archaic this industry’s systems and processes were until she came along.”

“Sounds like I may need to poach Y/N from Valiant,” Billy said with a smug smile, his eyes fixed on you.

“Anvil couldn’t afford me,” you reciprocated with equal smugness.

Roger laughed, patting your arm. “We’re not giving her up without a fight.”

“Clearly,” Billy replied.

The expression on Billy’s face was new to you, you had no idea what he was thinking but you also didn’t want to waste any more of your time obsessing over him.

Roger leaned in closer, lowering his voice so others wouldn’t hear him. “Table 35. Those were the clients I told you about.” As you glanced over to the table he mentioned, your eyes met Billy’s. He was watching you intently, still with the unreadable mask on his face.

Ignoring Billy, you flashed a confident smile up at Roger. “Don’t worry about it. It’s taken care of.”

You turned back to the group, your gaze skipping past Billy’s. “It was a pleasure to meet you all. I hope you have a great evening.” Bidding everyone goodbye, you headed to Table 35.

***

An hour later you were on the terrace, enjoying the cold, crisp New York air that rattled your bone. You were exhausted. Networking took a lot out of you and now you just wanted to go home and soak in the tub. Davina, a natural extrovert, was still in the ballroom, flirting and socializing but you needed a few minutes of privacy so you had snuck outside to compose yourself.

“Congratulations on the promotion.”

Your jaw clenched as soon as you heard Billy’s voice from behind you. You turned around to look at him as he swaggered forward, closing the distance between the two of you.

“You never told me,” he remarked.

You shrugged your shoulders. “We didn’t tell each other a lot of things.”

“I get the distinct feeling you’re pissed at me but I don’t know why. Care to fill me in?”

“What reason would I have to be pissed at you?”

“You tell me. I’ve called you-”

“You’ve never called me,” you interjected.

“Fine. Texted. Whatever.” Billy took a step closer, forcing you to look up at him. Even in your fucking stilettos, he towered over you. “You’ve been avoiding me for two weeks now. Why the ghosting?”

“I just think it’s time I move on.”

Oh, Billy didn’t like that. His eyes grew darker, so dark they were almost pitch-black. “Really? You’ve got the next one lined up already?”

As much as you wanted to believe he was jealous, you knew that wasn’t the case. “We both know you don’t give a fuck about me so drop the fake jealousy bit.” You tried to walk past him but he grabbed your arm and pulled you close. You felt his angry breath skim over your skin as he glared down at you. “Let me go, Billy.”

“Why?” he snarled. “So you can go fuck Roger?”

“You really expect me to believe you’re jealous of me seeing someone else?” you snapped back. “Or is it because it’s Roger? He’s more successful than you, he’s your competitor, his company has been taking all the contracts you’ve been fighting for and now he’s got you beat in the one area you thought you excelled at. Fucking.” You angled forward on purpose, holding his gaze. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t you go fuck Roger and leave me out of it?” You smiled up at him. “Or does Madani not let you stray?”

Understanding dawned on Billy’s face. “So that’s what this is about.”

Part Two

A/N - This is my first reader insert fic. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you’d like me to tag you, please leave a comment or DM me.

If you created this GIF, please let me know so I can give proper credit :)

#billy russo x reader #billy russo #billy russo imagine #the punisher #reader insert #ben barnes #my fics

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babyboibucky · 3 years

Text

The Match - Part 8

Pairing: CEO!Bucky x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.7k

Summary: You get a preview of what it’s like to be working with Mackenzie.

Warnings: I apologize as there is no smut in here lmfao but there is a stubborn Bucky lols

A/N: The jitters just never go away whenever I post a new part for this ajkcnjasncakjcnakj I find this part boring tbh but uhh things will start picking up again in the next part I promise

The Match Masterlist || MAIN MASTERLIST

Bucky decided to push through with his partnership with Wilson Enterprises. It was a big one, so it definitely required the entire team's effort and perseverance. Apparently, this is the company's biggest, most major project yet so this was going to look really good in your resume. It would also provide you with more credibility to further excel in your career.

Except that Bucky actually hired a marketing consultant to take over the entire project as his revenge.

"Any questions? About the project or about Kenzie?" Bucky asked, standing in front of the conference room, next to Mackenzie.

You confidently raised your hand when no one else did. Bucky tilted his head, a tiny smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. He knew you were affected, of fucking course you were!

"Yes?" he called out.

You stood up and sighed softly, "I mean this in the most respectful way, Mister Barnes." you said, emphasizing his name. "But as the head of marketing, what exactly is my role here? Given that Mackenzie was hired to spearhead the marketing aspect of this project." you said, giving Mackenzie a passive aggressive smile.

"I don't want to overstep on some boundaries here, that's why I'm asking. I just want clarity, that's all." you said.

Bucky was about to respond when Mackenzie stopped him, grabbing his arm and squeezing it before taking over the floor. You narrowed your eyes at how her slender fingers were wrapped around Bucky's arm.

"Honey..." Mackenzie started. "There's nothing to worry about, this is a collaborative work between you and I. So think of yourself as my assistant, someone to help me out with the project." she responded.

Bitch.

"I'm not an assistant, Mackenzie." you said, smiling at her.

Mackenzie laughed, "I'm sorry, my bad. I shouldn't have used that term. Oops." she said. "Although, I believe I have more experience in this area so maybe consider me a mentor?" she suggested.

Bitch!

Bucky cleared his throat, "If you have certain ideas, you can discuss it with her. She is a consultant after all. Given her impressive experience in the field, I'm sure you'll learn a thing or two from her."

The meeting was wrapped up by noon and you simply couldn't wait to get yourself out of the conference room. You didn't feel like talking to Bucky anymore in all honesty, not after what he was doing. You knew this was just to spite you, get you to cave in first and give in to him.

All the more that you wouldn't, especially not when he actually used your job against you.

Everyone started rushing out of the conference room, ready to head out for lunch. As soon as you reached the doorway, you overheard the short conversation between Bucky and Mackenzie.

"Hey Bucky, we still up for lunch?"

The bathroom was empty when you stepped inside and thank god for that because you couldn't hold back your emotions any further. Tears gathered in the corner of your eyes, not because you were hurt. Fuck no, you were angry and frustrated. So fucking angry at yourself for getting into this mess, at Bucky for being such an entitled prick, at the entire world for plotting against you.

You groaned in irritation as you wiped away your tears, sniffing as you looked at yourself in the mirror.

You worked your ass off for this job, for your position. You risked your dignity when you let Bucky fuck you. You weren't going to let someone take that away from you.

You quickly fixed yourself when the door opened, followed by the loud clacking of someone's heels.

"Omg, are you crying?" Beverly gasped, rushing over to you.

You snickered, "No." you lied, "My eyes are itchy." you huffed out before noticing that Beverly was holding a sandwich in her hand.

"Why did you bring your sandwich here?" you curiously asked.

Beverly shrugged, "The pantry's full and the other girls don't exactly seem to like me...so..."

You shook your head and sighed, "Come with me, let's have lunch out. I need to get out of this fucking place anyway."

"Yay, omg! I knew you were nice! You're like, the only girl who actually talked to me nicely." Beverly said, tagging behind you as you exited the bathroom.

"Oh, there you are!" Mark called out. "I was looking for you. Wanna grab lunch? Oh...who's this?" he asked, noticing the blonde girl trailing behind you.

"I'm Beverly! I'm Sir James' new secretary." she introduced excitedly.

You sighed, "Don't ask me why." you said when Mark turned to you with a confused look, still not sure what happened to Bucky's previous secretary.

"So, lunch out? With Bev?" you asked.

You were completely zoning out during lunch despite the ongoing conversation between Mark and Bev, something about yoga? You honestly couldn't care less, not when you were feeling so conflicted about your current situation.

Would Bucky actually go that far just to get you back? Or does he actually hate you for saying no to him and is basically using his authority to make your life a living hell?

"So I heard about the new girl." Mark said, that snapped you out of your trance.

"Huh?" you asked.

"I find it weird for Mister Barnes to hire someone when you're here." Mark pointed out. "I mean, are you okay with that or..."

You snorted, "Fuck no. Look, I'm not gonna be the bigger person here. I was offended as fuck." you admitted.

"Yeah, it's super weird because she was hired through Tinder or something. Is that even legal?" Beverly pointed out as she scrolled through her phone.

You and Mark turned to her abruptly, "Tinder? Wait, what?" you asked.

Beverly chuckled, "I heard them talking this morning and Kenzie was like, 'It's so funny that we matched on Tinder and ended up doing business there you know' and I'm like omg Sir James has Tinder and I have one too but I never saw him there, bummer."

"Motherfucker." you hissed out.

Mark made a face, "Are you okay?" he carefully asked. "You've been really tensed since last week."

Apparently, Bucky never deleted his Tinder and have been swiping right on women. And that's how he met Mackenzie who just happened to be a marketing consultant. Now you were just furious, was he fucking her too? Has he been fucking other women this entire time?

"Hey, Bev..." you said, a plan hatching inside your mind. "Can I ask you a favor?" you asked nicely.

Beverly nodded, "Um duh, you're basically my office BFF now."

"If you ever hear Mister Barnes and Mackenzie talk about hmm, I don't know...something interesting. Maybe about the project...me 'cause you know, I'm the head of marketing and Mackenzie’s in the same field...let me know, will ya?" you asked.

Mark chuckled nervously, "I don't know what's going on but isn't that an invasion of privacy?"

"She's not going to eavesdrop, Mark. She'll just...listen closely." you explained.

"Bev might get in trouble if Mister Barnes finds out." Mark warned.

You waved a hand, "She'll be fine, Mark. She's his secretary, she has to know everything. Besides, I'm not going to let her get in trouble, if she does then I'll take care of it."

Beverly squealed in delight, "Omg, you are not my office BFF. You're like my office mom! You and Mark are literally my office parents." she said, lifting her phone up in the air.

"Selfie! This one goes to the 'gram." she said, taking a quick photo of the three of you.

She then proceeded to edit the photo while you and Mark continued eating lunch.

"Bev, you should really put your phone away and eat first. We have less than half an hour left for lunch break." Mark called out.

Beverly groaned and rolled her eyes, "Way to get into the role, Mark. You're such a dad."

You snorted, "Yeah. Loosen up, daddy." you teased.

"Playing family after just one date, huh."

Bucky's presence in the same restaurant should've really intimidated you, most especially that he just witnessed you tease Mark like that. But you were too mad at him to even care, what was the point even? He didn't believe you even when you told him the truth that Mark was just a friend.

Why even try now?

"Hi Sir James." Beverly greeted happily.

"Mister Barnes." Mark acknowledged.

Bucky ignored them and kept his eyes on you. You didn't falter under his gaze and simply stared back at him with blank eyes. It's as if a staring competition took place when the both of you merely looked at each other, neither of you looking away nor attempting to do so.

"How was that date last Friday, Jim?" Bucky asked, his eyes still trained on yours.

Mark made a funny face at the name that Bucky called him but shrugged anyway. Before he could even respond, you decided to answer on his behalf. If Bucky wanted to spite you, you'd give him a taste of his own medicine.

"It was actually great. We might go on another one this Friday." you said.

"We are?" Mark asked in a whisper.

Bucky's hand landed on Mark's shoulder, "Don't count on it, Andrew. She's going to be doing a lot of work on Friday due to the project." he said through gritted teeth.

You shrugged, "Oh, but I thought Mackenzie's doing all my work?"

"I'm ready to head back, Buck."

Speak of the devil herself. Mackenzie weaved through the tables and approached Bucky, her face brightening up when she saw you, Mark and Beverly.

"Oh, hey you." she greeted you. "Look, I think we may have started off on the wrong foot earlier. I'm not here to take your job, just here to spice things up a bit. Improve your ideas, give Bucky some assistance." she chuckled, holding onto Bucky's arm yet again.

You fought back the urge to grab your glass of water and throw it at her face. As the saying goes, kill them with kindness. So you merely shrugged and extended an arm for a handshake.

"Of course. I would love to improve your ideas as well, you know. Just a healthy discourse between two marketing professionals. We good?" you said.

Mackenzie forced out a chuckle and reached for your hand, "We’re good. I look forward to working with you." she said before turning back to Bucky who was still gazing at you.

"Let's go?" she asked sweetly.

Bucky smirked at you before wrapping an arm around Mackenzie's waist, guiding her out of the restaurant the same way he did to you. You were too focused on Bucky's body language around Mackenzie that you failed to notice that Mark was watching you closely, your expressions and how you reacted towards Bucky.

"I think I know what's happening."

"You what?!"

"Shhh!" you hushed Mark and peeked out of the empty pantry to make sure the coast was clear.

Mark noticed the tension between you and Bucky and he came to a conclusion that the both of you dated at one point. He wasn't really wrong but he wasn't right either. So you decided to tell him everything, from the moment you matched with Bucky on Tinder until your last conversation with him last Saturday.

"I honestly thought you were dating, I didn't know there was sex involved. No wonder he had been calling me weird names." he said incredulously. "Was that you and Mister Barnes that Janet reported to the HR?" he asked, stifling his laughter.

You groaned, "Yes. Ugh, gave me a panic attack when I found out about that incident report." you said.

"Hey..." Mark called out. "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me this. Your secret is safe with me." he reassured.

You nodded, "I think it was about time that I told someone about us anyway. This whole situation is driving me crazy and I don't know what to do next. And I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess, I shouldn't have said that we were going out again. I don't want you or your job getting compromised because of our petty fight." you exhaled.

You had to admit, you felt so much better now after confiding with Mark. It somewhat alleviated the weight on your shoulders, knowing that there was someone aware of what you were going through. Who would've thought that this person would end up being Mark? You did have friends outside of work of course, but you felt like they all wouldn't really understand the situation.

Half would hate you for rejecting Bucky and the other half would hate you for even swiping right on him.

"Do you mind an unsolicited advice?" Mark asked.

"Not at all." you said.

"Ignore him. Don't let him or Mackenzie get to you. Do what you do best, you're great at your job and you'll be fine. That might get him to realize that you're not a prize to be won. And if he still doesn't see that, then that's his loss. You're more than just that hot marketing girl at work." Mark said.

You laughed at his last statement, "Hot marketing girl at work?" you asked, shaking your head.

"It's true. So if in any case you decide to ditch the CEO and move on, you know where to find me." he joked, throwing a wink your way.

You wanted to finish all your reports so you could focus on the huge project so you decided to work until around nine in the evening. The floor was already empty by the time you were done. Bucky seemed to be working too, given that he was still replying to e-mails at this hour. Wanting to get all the reports over with, you decided to submit it to him before going home.

During the elevator ride to Bucky’s floor, you couldn’t help but wonder whether he was alone in the office. Would Mackenzie be there with him? Even at this hour? Your grip on the folder tightened at the thought of catching them in the act.

But did you have any right to feel this way though?

Brushing off the thoughts, you exhaled loudly and prepared yourself for whatever it was you were to witness. Upon reaching the door to Bucky’s office, you slightly turned your head to listen to anything. It was quiet. No hushed whispers nor strained grunts-- they weren’t fucking, thank goodness for that.

You decided not to knock and just walk inside like you used to, reminding yourself of Mark’s advice.

Don’t let Bucky get to you.

When you saw Bucky hunched over his desk, typing away on his e-mails instead of bending a certain brunette somewhere in his office, you had to admit that you were relieved. He looked up and his eyes looked dead tired, you almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“You should really learn how to knock.” Bucky called out, slamming his laptop shut.

“Look, Bucky. I was just rushing to submit these reports so I can go home.” you explained and placed the folder on top of his desk.

Bucky frowned, “I said to call me Mister Barnes.”

You huffed out, “I honestly don’t care, Bucky. I’m not playing your damn games anymore.” you said and turned around.

A hand on your arm pulled you back, harshly turning you around to face Bucky. He was fuming, as usual. At this point, you were no longer fazed.

“You think I don’t know what you’re trying to do?” he asked.

You clenched your jaw and pulled your arm back, “I’m not doing anything. You bring in Beverly or Mackenzie or whoever it is that you have up your sleeve. I don’t fucking care. I just want to focus on work.” you said and stepped away.

“And you should too, Bucky.” you added.

“I don’t believe you.” he said.

You sighed, your shoulders dropping from exhaustion at this whole shenanigan. “I’m done, Bucky.”

And with that you turned around to exit his office, leaving Bucky unsure whether you truly meant what you said. A victorious smirk graced your lips as you walked back to the elevator.

You were far from done.

The Match Special Tags:

@marvelslag @weird-mumbling @propertyofpoeandbucky @lostinthoughtsandfeelings @mostly-marvel-musings @squishybabies @megzdoodle @suchababie @annathesillyfriend @xhollycowx @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @5-seconds-of-mendes @gogolucky13 @countonthesun @iloveshawnieboi @learisa @borikenlove @scarlet-natasha89

Everything Bucky Tag List:

@ddowii @jessou893 @stealapizzamyheart @bagelofthelord @mxnt @dontputyourfckingdrinkonmytable @jeeperky @ohladymacbeth @wildflowergubler @supraveng @twinerd14 @buckysmar @bakugouswh0r3 @sweetcoldharmony @wintersfilm @charminivy @amelia-song-pond @iamvalentinaconstanza @mcubqrnes @im-squished @tcc-gizmachine @sipsteacasually @prettyintopeerpressure @weloveyasmin @est19xxshit @bloodhon3yx @dressed-in-prada @lizette50 @thatfangirl42 @sunflowerbunny2 @unmagically @okiegirl24 @sugarpunch-princess @enlyume @vvipgotbb @slimeyderp @lyoongx @just-deka @nobody-will @jaziona92 @elisebuitron @dpaccione @suvikamahes98blr @buckybarneshairpullingkink @earthtonav @x-judyjude-x @nani-kenobi @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @belladonnabarnes @iloveangstposts @weenersoldierr @asemistablehundredyearoldman @reidbuck @lizzarooni @girlfriday007 @bonkywobble @lost-in-the-stars03 @its-yasbxtch @whoth3hellisbucky

#bbb writes #the match #bucky barnes #bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky barnes smut #bucky smut #fem!reader #sebastian stan

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dreamescapeswriting · 4 years

Text

Unconventional Love ~ OT7 [Request]

WORD COUNT: 3K

GENRE: Idol!Reader, friends to lovers, polyamorous, love, angst, soft, fluffy ending

PAIRING: OT7 X Fem!Reader

A/N: I hope this is okay and I got it right for you, I read this as not being open to other idols but close with BTS So I hope this is okay. I’m still new to Polyamorous writing so I hope this is alright for you my love

The rain was coming down harder against the window as you waited up, watching it all come down against the conservatory roof waiting for the storm to pass. You loved the rain and thunder but you could never sleep through it,

"Something on your mind?" You jumped when you heard Jin's voice come from behind you and you hummed at him, looking over your shoulder to see him standing there with a cup of hot chocolate and a small plate filled with biscuits.

"No...J-Just hate sleeping with the rain," You admitted as he walked over and sat down beside you on the small conservatory sofa, pulling your head to lay on his shoulder before he gave you a soft kiss.

"You should have woken me up, I would have come to sit with you." He admitted as he looked up at the roof watching the droplets roll down the screen as you tried to relax beside him.

"You could always think about something else," He whispered as he tried to get you to calm down, he could feel just how fast your heart was racing and he knew it wasn't just because he was in the room that it was happening.

"How about the time I read your journal?" He suggested making you shudder at the thought of it, it had been the best and worst day of your life when that happened.

"You're lucky I even forgave you..." You admitted as you looked up at him through your eyelashes.

Never in a million years would you have thought you would be able to attend a premiere for a drama that your best friends had been cast in. Out of all of them, you thought Jin would have been the one that acted the most but a casting director decided to hire each of the boys to play a role in his drama. As you thought of what to write in your small journal you clicked the pen obnoxiously, staring up at the ceiling as if there were words written up there that was going to help you.

"Isn't it us that's supposed to be nervous?" You jumped up when you felt Jin's hand on your elbow and felt his breath on your neck. You thought you'd been left in your dressing room alone, you slammed your journal shut and smiled up at him. Nervously trying to act as though you weren't just writing in your journal since you knew how nosey each of the boys was when it came to you.

"What's this?" He smirked trying to take the purple book away from you but you sat on top of it on the dressing table and started giggling as he waited for you to move. Staring at you as you shook your head at him, about ready to tell him to go away when he spoke first,

"Don't be a child and show me-" He stopped talking when the door to your dressing room opened and Namjoon was standing there, struggling to do up the bow tie he was wearing. All of you were supposed to be getting ready to go outside for photographs but it looked like you and Namjoon were the ones running late.

"Y/n...Please," He huffed out defeatedly as he let go of the bow tie and dropped it so it was hanging around his neck limply, he knew you were the only one that knew how to tie them properly. You slowly slid down from the dressing table and slapped Jin's hand away from the journal playfully, picking it up and taking it over to your bag. Slipping it inside so you knew where it was at all times and didn't have to worry about the boys seeing what was inside of it.

"Why don't you get the stylists to do it?" You complained as you squinted to see the bow tie, struggling just as much as Namjoon was to do it up.

"They aren't as nice to me as you are," He commented sarcastically as you tapped the back of his head for being snarky with you. You and the BTS boys had been close since you signed onto BigHit three years ago, signing on to be one of the first foreign idols and actresses that they wanted working for them.

"There. Now, are we all ready?" You questioned, looking over your shoulder at Jin who was sitting on the dressing table where you had been sitting previously.

"I think so, are you? I know you hate interviews," Jin mentioned as he watched Namjoon leaving the room to go and get the other boys but Jin wasn't lying. Interviews weren't exactly your speciality since you tended to be a little more closed off from everyone around you. The boys had noticed a lot in the last year that whenever you had to do an interview alone you would be more closed off from everyone. You wouldn't speak much or you would come off as held back from everyone. Although people admired you and looked up to you, you would sometimes come across as shy and didn't want their attention.

"I don't hate them-" You tried to defend yourself but Jungkook had caught what you were talking about and interrupted you.

"Yes, Noona, you do. The last time you did an interview you ended up crying that night and telling us you never wanted to do it again," Jungkook reminded you as he walked into your changing room, giving you flashbacks to the last time you gave a live interview.

"Let's just go," You mumbled not wanting to talk about it with them right now, instead you pushed them all out of the room and hoped that the night would pass by faster if you got it over and done with. As you were walking out, you didn't notice Jin slip your journal out of your bag and into his overnight one that the stylists would take to your hotel rooms tonight.

It wasn't as though you hated giving interviews it was just that you hated the idea of being vulnerable with that many people, there were only so many people you felt like you could be truly yourself with. Those people happened to be the boys and your journal, no one else understood you the way that they did which was why you always came across as more open with them than anybody else. The premier hadn't gone as badly as you thought it would have done, you managed to stick beside the boys for most of the night. Giving occasional comments in their interviews rather than giving one on your own.

"Did you notice anything off with Noona tonight?" You froze outside of Jungkook's room when you heard Jimin speaking with Jungkook about you. The door was left wide open since you were supposed to be joining them for a small movie and some room-service before bed.

"What do you mean?" You heard Jungkook question back, you waited for one of them to speak again but neither of them did. You just heard another sigh come from inside of the room, and you knew who it was.

"What is it Jin-Hyung?" Jungkook questioned, you stared down at the floor not knowing if you should have been listening to the conversation or not but it was about you...So why shouldn't you have been listening?

"She's not being off...It's just how she is. Haven't you ever notice how closed off she is to everyone else?" He looked at the two younger members not knowing if he should tell them what he'd found in your journal. When he started reading he figured it would just contain some secrets about your singing and acting but what he found was much more interesting and he was unsure how he felt about it.

"Well...That's because she thinks of us like her brothers," As Jimin spoke he sounded upset about it which made your heart sink, that wasn't how you viewed the boys at all but you could never tell them how you really felt about them. It would be too weird for them to know the truth so playing the part as a sister seemed better than losing them altogether.

"I wouldn't say brothers," Jin mumbled, your heart began to thump against your chest as the small statement. He couldn't know how you truly felt about them all.

"What do you mean? She loves us like we're all related." Jungkook chuckled as he turned to his Hyung waiting for some kind of evidence and Jin nodded. He'd been thinking about this all night since opening your journal and finding out the truth. Now that he knew the information it felt wrong not to tell the boys about it so they could decide what to do.

"She's in love with us...A-and I don't mean like a fan loves us, I mean IN LOVE." He said as he put a dramatic emphasis on IN LOVE, your hand hit your chest as though they were going to hear your heartbeat and now you were outside their room. Sprinting in the direction of your room you locked yourself inside wondering how Jin had found out about it, tearing open your bag to see that your journal was missing.

"With all of us?" Jimin questioned with a hopeful tone as he looked at Jin, Jin's face didn't look as bright as happy and both Jungkook and Jimin's did at the moment.

"Like how we see her...Right?" Jimin asked again as he switched between looking at Jin and Jungkook waiting for some kind of answer but they weren't giving him one. Jin was staring at the floor as he overthought every little detail and Jungkook was trying not to scream out like a child. All of them had been crushing on you since you signed with the company but none of them made a move since they all liked you and decided friendship was better than making a girl choose between them all.

"How do you know this though...Did she tell me?" Jungkook finally broke his silence as he looked at Jin but as he did Namjoon walked into the room and wondered what was happening. Asking them to explain from the very beginning what was going on to each of the boys.

After about two hours of sitting in your room, you finally built up the courage to confront Jin about taking your journal from you. You figured you could play it off as not knowing he'd read it and then that would be it but as you stared at the door to Jin's hotel room the more you began to talk yourself out of it. Jin had to have been in his room since Jungkook text you telling you that he was going to have an early night instead of your movie night and you agreed.

"I can just get it back tomorrow," You mumbled to yourself as you turned to walk away but something inside of you made you turn back to the door and storm your way inside. Yelling out in a rage as you walked into the room,

"Jin! This is a total invasion of privacy and I want my-" You stopped speaking when you saw the boys all sitting there, staring at you with the journal in the middle of the bed.

"What are you doing? Taking it in turns to read bits out of it?!" You cried out tears streaming down your face, now too annoyed to even think of letting them get away with reading it, you snatched it away from the bed and stared at the journal instead of at them.

"We didn't-" Yoongi wasn't even going to try and lie for everyone else, they'd all read some parts of it. Mostly the parts where you'd been descriptive about being in love with each of them. All of their faces were red as they turned to look at you wondering what you were going to do now that they knew.

"Did you think it was funny? Oh, I get it," You laughed sarcastically as you threw the journal back down onto the bed,

"I bet you all thought it would be fun to see that I have feelings, that I express myself somewhere other than with you? Was that it?" Namjoon went to say something but Jin held his hand up to his own mouth telling him to be quiet. They wanted you to at least get out all of your rage before they admitted the truth to you.

"I bet you all find it hilarious right, that I love seven guys all at once?" They stayed silent, staring down at their hands as you questioned them but you wanted their answers. You wanted to know why they felt the need to read something that was so personal to you,

"Let's all laugh at y/n while she's feeling down about herself, she never opens up to anyone else except us so let's just betray her trust? God! Don't you ever wonder why I only talk to you guys? Why I don't have any other friends...Because-" You scoffed again at the thought of it and rolled your eyes,

"I trusted you enough to open up and let my guard down with you and it all blew up in my face didn't it?" It was a rhetorical question so you just pushed the book closer to them.

"Did you all get a good laugh out of it? Because you can keep it," You turned to leave the room and that was when the boys broke their silence. Hoseok reached out to take your hand in his and Taehyung's broken voice filled the air,

"We feel the same way." He told you as they all waited for your reaction, they'd done nothing but speak about it since finding out that you loved them back. Deciding that if you really wanted to that they would be more than willing to talk it out and try a relationship with you like that.

"What are you talking about?" You sniffled, looking from your hand with Hoseok's to his face. His eyes were bloodshot since he'd cried through most of your rant and he gave your hand a small squeeze,

"We feel the same way about you..." Hoseok whispered waiting for you to catch up but you frowned shaking your head at the thought of it.

"But you all- You can't all-" You didn't even know what you were trying to say, you were trying to search for answers in your head but it felt as though you were in a whole mess and fog. The thought of all of them loving your back had never occurred to you, you didn't even know what to do with this information now that you had it.

"What am I supposed to do with that? Feel less upset that you read my journal?" The boys shook their head and turned to Namjoon who was the level headed one out of them all, they knew that he would be the best to describe what they had in mind out of them all.

"We've all felt the same way for you since you came to Bighit...We made an agreement never to approach you unless you approached one of us first...But since we know you like all of us...Maybe we could give that a go?" You tried to process what Namjoon was saying to you, telling you that they would all date you at the same time?

"We would all be dating each other?" You frowned looking from Namjoon to the others who all quickly began shaking their heads.

"We would date you...You would date...Us," Yoongi explained as he pointed to all of them singularly trying to read your facial expression which was a mixture of confusion and anger, still angry with them for reading it in the first place.

"Why would you want that?" You looked over at each of their faces and none of them had an answer except for Jungkook who wanted to make light of the situation,

"One guy for every day of the week Noona." You groaned at his attempt at a joke and Namjoon hit him over the head with a pillow turning to you.

"Think about it..." He suggested, not wanting you to say no straight away without thinking about it or going over in your head what this could all mean for you all.

"I don't need to think about it..." He froze as he heard the words leave your mouth and you looked at them again, flicking from each face until you landed back on Namjoon.

"I-I would be comfortable with it but...But I'm still mad at you all for reading my journal," You mumbled as you sat down beside Hoseok staring at the journal. Feeling less upset that they had opened it and a little happier that they had, since if they'd never read it none of this would be happening right now.

Jin chuckled to himself as you were out cold on his shoulder, Yoongi had come down not long after you passed out into the story of your relationship and saw you and Jin together.

"You spend your night together trying to make her sick?" He asked sarcastically as Jin picked you up from the chair and began carrying you up towards his room,

"She hates sleeping in the rain, I found her down there when I got up for a drink," Jin whispered as he laid you down in the bed, watching as you turned and clutching into the sheets with a small smile on your face, enjoying whatever dream you were having.

"She's cute when she dreams, her nose does that little twitch thing." Yoongi smiled brightly as he watched you not wanting to take his eyes off you for even a second but wishing Jin goodnight and leaving eventually. Though it wasn't the most conventional relationship and it was hidden from everyone around you the relationship worked and you all enjoyed the way your life was together and had done for the last four years of your lives.

Tagline: @lyoongx @mitzwinchester @fan-ati--c @rjsmochii @kneel-begyourpardon @taestannie @innersooya @sw33tnight @sweeneyblue1 @jin-from-the-block @acciocriativity @that-anxious-bisexual

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you-can-call-me-wanda · 3 years

Text

Fake Dating

Pairing: Nikki Sixx x Reader

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for reading :)

When you first started dating Nikki Sixx, it was all for the money.

Now dating someone for money may sound cruel and awful to most, but in your case, it was a little different. Dating Nikki was literally your job.

You had been reached out to by Nikki’s management close to eight months ago and were offered the job of becoming his fake partner. Mötley Crüe had gotten into some sort of scandal once again that had the public upset and protesting their work. It really wasn’t anything that bad that the band had been up to, just their typical hotel shenanigans, but it happened right before their new album release and their label was desperate to change the opinions of any upset mothers to try and increase album sales.

So, they had reached out to you. Why? Because you were exactly what they needed to get the public back on the side of Mötley Crüe. You were a small-time actor and pretty much universally liked. Having gotten most of your fame from starring in a recent and popular children’s movie, you were recognizable to children and parents alike. You were relatively new to professional acting, so there was no sort of rumors or nasty gossip associated with your name. Not to mention, you were young and beautiful and, even better, had no criminal record. You perfect for the role of Nikki Sixx’s significant other.

You were hesitant to accept of course. Sure, you had heard rumors of celebrities with fake or hired partners before, but never had you been asked to be in on one of those schemes. It felt wrong, to be lying to so many people, but the pay was too good for you turn down. You were in between gigs at the moment, having had no job offers since your big movie role. Maybe it was wrong to have ever accepted, but you had, and there was definitely no turning back now.

To everyone’s surprise and Mötley Crüe management’s absolute glee, the tabloids and press was obsessed with your and Nikki’s relationship. After just one “date” out with Nikki, a no-expenses lunch courtesy of Elektra Records and lots of well-timed hand holding and pecks on the cheek, paparazzi photos of the two of you could be seen on virtually every teen gossip magazine’s cover. When people mentioned Mötley Crüe now, they were talking about you and Nikki, not the fact that they got banned from the Hilton or destroyed over fourteen thousand dollars’ worth of property at their last hotel stay on tour.

Like you were, Nikki had been hesitant to play along with this fake relationship. It was weird and the whole thing was uncomfortable in the beginning. You were a complete stranger to him and now he was expected to kiss you in public and take you out on dates? It was awkward to say the least. But over time, the two of you warmed up to each other and your roles. With every staged date, you two got closer and closer and got to know each other more and more. Things got easier, and you actually began to enjoy the company that Nikki provided when you saw him, and the two of you even began to hang out sometimes even when it wasn’t scheduled by corporate.

“Hey (Y/N)!”

You turned around where you stood to see Nikki and his best friend and bandmate, Tommy, running towards you.

“Hey,” you said, smiling widely at the two boys. “You guys ready for your big show?”

Today was the last night of Mötley Crüe’s tour and it was the biggest show yet. You had been invited by management since the show was to be filmed with some backstage footage as well. And since Nikki was your fake boyfriend, it only made sense for you to be there with him.

“Hell yeah!” Tommy cheered, twirling his drumsticks in his hands. “Tonight is going to be killer! You’re gonna be watching from side stage, right?”

“Of course I will,” you said. “You know how much I love seeing you guys play.”

And it was true. The best part about your newest acting role besides getting to hang out with Nikki, was watching his band perform on stage.

“That’s why you’re the best,” Tommy said, ruffling a hand through your hand and bounding off down the hall on the venue excitedly. “I’m going to go warm up!” he called over his shoulder. “Don’t chicken out on me Sixx!”

You turned back to Nikki with a confused smile.

“That boy is all kinds of weird,” you laughed.

“Tell me about it,” Nikki said with an eye roll.

“What does he mean about chickening about?” you asked. “You nervous for the show or something?”

Nikki had never seemed nervous before a performance before. He was normally excited, but maybe since this was his biggest gig yet, the stage fright was getting to him. You examined him carefully. He did look a little nervous. He was tapping his fingers to an irregular rhythm against his leather-clad thigh and biting his lip just slightly.

Nikki sighed through his nose and attempted to look non-chalant. The real reason he was so nervous was because tonight was the night he had decided would be the time when finally he told you that he loved you. He had stupidly mentioned it to Tommy who in turn had told Mick and Vince and half the crew. Now, almost thirty people had wagered money on whether he would actually go through with it or not. Somehow, thankfully, you had been left blissfully in the dark to all of this.

“No,” Nikki said. “I’m not nervous. It’s nothing really. Just Tommy being dumb like always.”

“Oh, okay,” you responded. “As long as you’re okay. By the way, Mick said you wanted to talk to me earlier.”

Nikki cursed under his breath. Of course, Mick would intervene. He had bet a hefty amount of cash on Nikki being brave enough to confess his feelings to you.

“He did? Oh, well, it’s really nothing important. It can wait until later,” he said, swallowing thickly.

In reality, Nikki was genuinely terrified to tell you that he loved and ask you out. Normally, he was confident in matters like this, but with you, he felt like he was diving headfirst into the unknown. He felt a connection with you, and he was sure that his feelings for you were true, but he had no idea if you felt the same. In any other situation, he could probably figure out if someone were interested in him based on how they interacted, but with you that was near impossible. You were literally being paid to date him. How was he to discern between your acting and what you really thought? For all he knew, you could hate his guts and just be putting on a show to keep getting your monthly check.

And if he told you that he loved you, and you didn’t feel the same, he wouldn’t know what to do. Not only would he be heartbroken, but he wouldn’t be able to hide from you. You would still be invited to events and he would still have to pretend to be your boyfriend. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than having to kiss you knowing that you didn’t and had never had any feelings for him.

“Are you sure?” you asked. “There’s plenty of time to talk now. You’re not on for another hour at least.”

“I just uh, I just- I don’t know,” Nikki stammered.

“Sixx,” you said with a laugh. “Just tell me.” You placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You’re my fake boyfriend, remember? I love you,” you joked.

Your words pained Nikki because he knew you were only teasing.

��Do you really though?” Nikki asked quietly, finally finding the strength to make his move.

The smile slipped off your face.

“What?”

“Do you actually love me?” Nikki repeated louder, looking up at you. “Do you really love me?”

You were caught off guard to say the least. That was not what you had been expecting Nikki to ask you. Did you love him? Of course you did, but why was he asking? Had he figured out that you were secretly harboring feelings for him, the boy you were supposed to be fake dating? Had he realized that your acting was getting to be too realistic, that you couldn’t possibly be faking this well?

“Why are you asking me that?” you said, avoiding answering his question.

“Just answer me,” Nikki said. His eyes searched yours for an answer.

You could feel your heart hammering away in your chest. Did he know? You were panicking, trying to think of something to say. Should you deny any feelings you had for him? It would be unprofessional to admit that somewhere along the line, you had begun to really love him.

“(Y/N),” Nikki said, realizing you weren’t going to answer him. “(Y/N), I don’t want to be your fake boyfriend anymore.”

You felt like he had punched you in the gut. All the air left you lungs. So, this was it. He had figured you out and was ending things. He didn’t want to see you anymore now that he knew.

“You- what?” you asked, unable to hide the disappointment in your voice. “Why?”

“I don’t want to be your fake boyfriend anymore because I want to be your real boyfriend (Y/N),” Nikki said. His eyes turned downcast, too nervous to look at you. “I don’t know when it happened (Y/N), but I’ve fallen for you. You’re just- you’re everything I’ve ever wanted. You’re smart and witty and fun. You can make me laugh and get me out of a bad mood. You know how to party, but you also can just sit and have an honest conversation with me. I love you and I want this to be real, what’s going on between us.”

You were speechless yet again. You gazed at him in awe, shocked by what he had just admitted.

Nikki took your surprised silence as rejection and his shoulders sagged visibly.

“Are you mad at me?” he asked eventually, daring to look up at you now.

“I, uh- I mean, no. I’m just surprised is all,” you managed to spit out. “You really mean all that?”

Nikki merely nodded.

“Nikki, I- oh my god. I love you too,” you said, finally finding the words you wanted to say back to him.

Nikki looked skeptically hopeful.

“You do?” he asked hesitantly. “You really mean that?”

“Nikki,” you started, breaking out into a grin. “I have loved you for months now. I thought you could never feel the same, so I didn’t say anything. I thought you would hate me if I told you.”

“I could never hate you,” Nikki said, lips curling up to match yours. “God (Y/N), I really love you. Can I- will you- would you be alright if we started dating for real now?” he asked. “No more staged dates or kisses. Just you and me actually doing this.”

You nodded excitedly.

“Yes,” you agreed quickly. “Yes, I would like nothing better Nikki.”

Nikki let out a relieved laugh and quickly threw his arms around you in a tight embrace.

“Can I ask you one last thing?” he said, as you hugged him back.

“Of course,” you said, pulling back to look at him.

“Can I kiss you now? For real this time?”

#nikki sixx #nikki sixx x reader #nikki sixx imagine #motley crue x reader #motley crue imagine #motley crue #wanda writes

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undead-moth · 3 years

Text

Kill Floor Analysis

Something occurred to me the other day when I was thinking about the kill floor scene again and I’ve been trying to put it into words.

I believe that Booker believed that The Guard wouldn’t be harmed or held hostage when he made the deal with Copley. That doesn’t mean he’s not guilty of betraying the others or that he doesn’t deserve his 100 year exile. He is and he does. But the point is, my perception was that Booker is still a good person. He did something bad, but he isn’t a bad person.

But the thing is, when he made the agreement with Copley, he obviously agreed to give Copley proof of their immortality, hence the mission in Sudan and the kill floor scene. He knew going in that there were no girls to save, and more importantly for the point I’m making, he knew there’d be people there to ambush them, right? And he knew those people would kill the four of them and get footage of it for Copley, right? But he must have also known that when the four of them revived, that they’d kill everyone in that room…

And because of the rest of the film, we know the men in that room are working for a corrupt pharmaceutical company and willing to kill four random people just because their boss tells them to, and so we know they are bad people who deserve to die. But Booker? He had to have believed that these men were hired by Copley to retrieve the evidence that Booker willingly offered, and that they were hired to kill the Guard which Booker readily agreed to - so there is no reason for Booker to believe these men are bad, or at least not worse than he is.

So how does Booker justify killing them when he revives? Obviously, in order to keep up his charade, he had to or the others would be suspicious. Logically, this is why he kills them. But morally, how did he make that choice?

It really challenges my perception of Booker tbh. Obviously, Booker isn’t the only one with innocent blood on his hands. Nicky killed truly innocent people in the Crusades, after all. But Booker has been part of the Guard for 200 some years now and he knows what they stand for. He has already been purposefully fighting for good for centuries and yet he killed the ambushers.

It makes me wonder a lot about how immortality itself would mess with The Guard’s minds. You kill so many people for so many years, and yet you personally can’t die. How long does it take for death to be truly meaningless to you? How quickly does the bar lower for what qualifies someone to be deserving of death? How do you reconcile being part of a group of immortals who fights for good and yet kills so frequently? How do you decide that even if someone deserves to die, that you have the right to kill them?

And then I think about Andy, who was worshipped as a God and how people are nothing to a God, and I think about in the comics when Quynh resurfaces and believes their purpose is to make humanity suffer, and I think about Tales Through Time 3, in which Nicky decides to not only end the life of the serial killer he’s after, but everyone who played even the smallest role in permitting the killer to get away with it and now Booker, who killed the very people he agreed to let kill him…and I think that this must be an everyday burden on every member of The Guard. It is an everyday test and every day they have to consciously choose to use their immortality for good.

And of course, because they’re human, they can’t always do that. Sometimes they kill someone who didn’t deserve to die. Maybe because they were going to expose The Guard. Maybe because it was convenient. Maybe because they assumed the worst in them. Maybe because they missed their shot. Maybe because they were just an asshole (which reminds me when, back when the movie had just come out, people joked that Joe or Nicky killed every homophobe they came across).

And then they have to live with it. They have to feel it. For…millennia.

Honestly I think eventually the question, “Why us?” really would drive them mad.

#the old guard #Booker #Joe x Nicky #andromache the scythian #the old guard: tales through time #TOG meta #my posts

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princecharmingmendes · 3 years

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Heart by Heart | Chapter IV | Raul Mendes

*secret agent AU*

Y/N and Raul have been friends ever since they could remember. And falling in love with your best friend can be pretty tricky and messy 99% of the times, add that to the fact they're constantly risking their lives side by side on the field since they're both secret agents, and the best team that's ever existed. Perfect recipe for disaster.

Hi, this is the fourth chapter, you can find the first one here. This one's a bit shorter but I still hope you like it anyway. Please read the warnings on this one, if you don't feel comfortable with the contents listed on the "warnings" section, please read something else, there are a lot of other works on my masterlist and on the "fic rec" hashtag on my blog. Please give me some feedback and I hope you guys like. Happy Reading!

previous chapter | masterpost | next chapter

*Word Count: 2.9K+.

*Warnings: cursing, jealousy, mentions of weapons (barely any), slight angst (if you squint).

Please don’t read it if any of this subjects make you uncomfortable, feel free to check my masterlist for other writings.

*Posted: July 22nd, 2021.

-*-

Raul was fucked.

He learned that ages ago, but every passing day, it just seemed to get more and more fucked.

Y/N was the most beautiful girl he’s ever laid eyes on, he knew that the day he met her all those years ago, while she was still a kid like him. And as the time went on, she proved him wrong every single day, every time he looked at her, in his eyes, Y/N surpassed her own beauty and taking her own title as the pretties one. Raul knew he was a goner the first time he made her laugh, truly laugh, throwing her head back as she almost lost her breath, he knew he would have to do it all over again for the rest of his life just to hear the most beautiful melody ever created.

And maybe he was a fool, and obvious one for not even holding back whenever she was hurt or needed him. He would give Y/N anything in the world and he could be pretty reckless about it. Sure, Raul was capable of keeping it to himself all these years, even from his spy family and her, but Peter was slowly catching onto it and he knew it. There was a reason why Peter wasn’t a field agent and his not so subtle approaches only proved that right. But he honestly didn’t care, as long as he got to have her as his best friend and best girl, he didn’t give a fuck about what the rest of the world thought. He only cared about Y/N.

So watching her progress on the ring (hell, having his ass kicked by her was probably the best thing that’s ever happened to him), watching Y/N taking part of such an important role as to plan the mission that would take down one of the biggest criminals on the world left him so proud. He couldn’t even describe it. Watching her sleep peacefully among his bedding, the glimmer of pure and utter happiness whenever she watched one of the marvel movies or ate her favorite cake made butterflies go wild in his stomach.

And as Aaliyah would say, he was probably a simp for her. As sappy as that sounded, it was probably true.

“Still with me, champ?” Y/N’s voice ringed on his coms.

Raul had to hold back a smile as Jack smirked at him on their watching point across the street “Always, doll, see anything?”

“Not really” she muttered annoyedly “think the package is late”

“Oh, sorry the bad guy didn’t show up on the perfect time according to your planner”

“Fuck you, darling, before I forget”

Raul huffed a chuckle as he changed channels on the surveillance system she hacked the night prior.

He was with Jack sitting on his apartment watching Y/N from the perfect window. The initial plan was pretty simple, Y/N would be dressed in casual common clothes, going through her computer on Genoff’s favorite coffee shop, to possibly catch him after coming back, so he could be used to some of their faces on his absence justifying new people around. Her undercover role was as a graphic designer that pretty much had a home office, which would justify her always being around that area. Tommy was the local barista trainee, summer job to pay for his scholarship, and this way he could hear some stuff and also be ready to jump and protect whoever was undercover there that day.

Celine was working on the front desk on Geonoff’s cover up business building, she was replacing the other girl that just left due to maternity leave, so it wouldn’t look suspicious at all. James got the work as an executive driver on a company that often was hired to transport Geonoff himself and his people, and Raul would also be on home office as a free lancer photographer, he’d be in an untitled relationship with Y/N which would be a good cover for them always being out and about together.

They would all be living in the same neighborhood, Peter and Celine would be living in the same apartment complex, which was just next doors to the one Jack, Y/N and Raul were placed. This way it would still be safe and pretty low profile enough to not draw curious eyes. And since the mission didn’t exactly have a precise deadline, they didn’t have a precise date to actually leave, so their flat was poorly furnished and decorated, filled with the ultimate basic things they could need in a month period. And of course, heavily armed in every corner and drawer anyone could think about.

“He just left his car two blocks away, think he might be just a bit behind your schedule, Y/N” Jack called from his place behind the screens she had set up the night before “Tommy, grab the cash register as soon as you can”

“Yes sir” Tom mumbled under his breath.

Raul inched a bit closer to the window on a spot no one could see him from bellow, watching as Geonoff himself entered the shop with two other man right behind him. Probably security team. He had to hold back his breath once he noticed the way the man had his eyes fixated right on Y/N’s table, before quietly muttering something to the other with him.

“Hm, excuse me miss?” a deep slightly hoarse voice caught her attention from the fake project displayed on her computer screen, Y/N looked up to find Geonoff right next to her booth.

“Oh hi”

“Why is he talking to her? He wasn’t supposed to just approach her!” Raul practically growled to Jack as the other just shrugged in response “fuck”

“Dude, calm down, Tom is literally just across the bar and she’s a fucking spy, chill, she knows how to handle this” Jack said shoving Raul’s shoulder playfully, to which he just rolled his eyes huffing in annoyance.

“I know, I know that”

Jack arched his eyebrow at him, a knowing smirk playing on his lips “Is this your way of admitting you love her?”

“Shut up and pay attention to their conversation, you idiot” Raul said pushing his friend off of his sit.

“I'm sorry, I just had to ask, I haven’t such a pretty girl like you around in a while, are you new in town, darling?” Geonoff asked leaning his hip against the sit across from Y/N.

“Oh no, not new in town” she responded with a giggle, trying to ease the nerves and slight nausea from talking to him and his half attempt of flirting “I moved to this neighborhood last month though, used to leave on the other side of the town”

“Oh, was it for work? How are you liking this place so far?”

“It’s nice, I thought it was going to be quieter but it doesn’t really bother me” she said with a soft smile on her features “I moved here because I work from home, so I needed to get out of my last place cause my roommate was not exactly quiet, and my boyfriend said there was an available apartment on his floor, so it just seemed like a great opportunity”

Raul’s heart raced a bit more on his chest when she referred to him as ‘boyfriend’, which was completely stupid. Y/N was his best friend and this was only for a cover. But sometimes his feelings got the best of him.

“Boyfriend? Is he here?”

“Oh no, I think he’s at work now, he’s a photographer”

“It makes sense, he has the prettiest muse at home” he added with a wink, which made Y/N’s stomach twirl in her tummy, this man is absolutely gross and she just wants to find a way out of this conversation “is he joining you today or should I keep you company?”

“Tell him I’m on my way, sweetheart, don’t want this man any closer to you” Raul said through coms, Jack already grabbing his backpack with the material they had separated to be Raul’s cover as he threw a denim jacket and a pair of glasses.

Y/N gave Geonoff a gentle smile as she shrugged before adding “he told me he’d be coming here, something about the cupcakes being the best he’s ever had”

“Oh shut up, this is the worst excuse to get me to buy you cupcake ever” Raul muttered through coms as he jogged across the street and Y/N had to cough to hid a little giggle that threatened to escape at her best friend’s comment.

“Yeah, they’re really good, I think you’d like the chocolate one”

“Okay, thank you for the tip” she said, quickly noticing the mop of curls clumsy coming into the shop, a big grin blossoming on her lips as she waved at the heaving figure of her best friend “oh, there he is!”

Raul’s eyes found hers and he could only smile, forgetting only momentarily that one of the most wanted man in the country was just beside her, he shook his head to gain a bit more focus as he shortened the distance between them with every step “hi baby”

Y/N got up from her sit and was quick to throw her arms around his neck, as he did the same with her waist, planting a kiss to the crown of her head “Hi, honey this is… Oh my, just realized I never caught your name, I’m sorry, that was so rude”

“Geonoff, darling” he said with a smug smile on his lips, probably waiting some sort of reaction and proud of it.

And to Raul’s amusement, Y/N didn’t move a single muscle, didn’t give a single reaction, only offering a polite smile “Oh, nice name, I’m Y/N and this is my boyfriend, Raul”

“Beautiful name, suits such a gorgeous girl like you” he said, eyes on Raul waiting for some sort of response.

“Oh yeah, she doesn’t like it but I’ve always found it beautiful” he said softly.

��Well, I’ll leave you guys alone now, nice meeting the two of you” Geonoff said as his guards approached him with a paper bag “and Y/N, let me know if you need anything, I’m always around”

“Thank you” she said before pulling Raul to sit by her side on the booth as Geonoff walked out of the little shop “how was your day, honey?”

“Good, angel, got a couple of photos I think you’d like to see whenever we get home” he said throwing his arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

“You two are gross to watch” Jack grumbled through the coms making them both laugh.

Y/N turned her head to face him “you wanna go home to show me or you want to grab a cup of coffee first?”

“I think I want a bit of coffee, but we can order it to go, yeah?”

“Sure, whatever you want” Y/N said before sliding off the booth and pulling him with her, before stuffing her computer on her little backpack, which Raul promptly took from her.

“Come on, baby, can’t wait to lay down a bit” he ushered her to the register, where Tom waited patiently for them “hello there, I’d like an espresso please”

“Sure, anything else?” Tommy asked as he clicked on the little screen.

“Do you want anything, baby?”

“A red velvet cupcake to go, please”

Tom nodded looking a little nervous before speaking up “the other man with the security guards left this note and cupcake for you, ma’am” he then grabbed the little pastry and a fancy business card alongside it.

“Oh, I- are you sure it was for me?” she asked in disbelief as Raul tightened his arm around her.

Tom only nodded in response “positive, do you still want the red velvet one?”

“I- yes, please” Y/N let out before almost chocking on air, gently grabbing the card that contained the business information from his company (that she already had) and a little handwritten phrase next to a phone number, the note read ‘if you’re ever looking for a real man, let me know’.

“Someone’s got a crush on you” Raul teased trying to mask the anger bubbling up on his throat, but he knew she saw right through his facade. After all, Y/N knew him better than anyone else.

“Well, I feel bad for him, because I’m already taken, yeah?” she giggled at herself, lightly poking his chest to try and loosen his nerves a bit.

“Yeah, since I have you, know that I’m never letting you go” Raul pressed a kiss to her head huffing a small chuckle.

“Here it is, sir” Tom cut Raul out before handing him the paper bag, and he placed the money on Tom’s hand.

Raul offered a smile as he lead Y/N back to their place “Thank you, take care, kid”

As they were crossing the street, Y/N dropped the cupcake from Geonoff on the sidewalk, making it look like an accident as she cried out an ‘oh no, I can’t believe I dropped it!’ before tossing it on the bin. On the elevator to their apartment, Raul still seemed tense and too quiet for his normal self, but Y/N decided to drop it, maybe give him some time to deal with today.

Just as they opened the door, Jack was quick to pull them inside, grabbing the card from Y/N’s hand and tossing it into a special bag and running downstairs, probably to deliver it to a team so they could take it to the lab to run some tests. Celine was stretched on the couch, a knowing look in her eyes as she signaled for them to join her. Raul went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water in complete silence as Y/N sank down on the soft cushions with Celine.

“What’s wrong with him?” she muttered quietly, since there were no walls separating the rooms on this flat, only the bedroom and bathroom and Raul was standing pretty close.

Y/N sighed with a shrug “No clue, maybe just didn’t expect the interaction to go like that, I don’t know”

“By the way, you did great, he even got interested in you”

“Ew, no need to remind me, seriously that man is just gross, there’s something about him that’s just creepy, and I’m not even bringing up his criminal record” Y/N added grabbing a bottle water that Raul tossed at her after she nodded at him.

Celine nodded in understanding “Don't blame you, I think I would’ve punched him five seconds into talking”

“You wouldn’t last a single second with him talking” Jack said as he closed the door behind him.

Y/N and Celine laughed as Raul joined them on the couch, sitting on the armrest right behind Y/N as she leaned her weight on him. He threw an arm around her.

“I think we should order a pizza and have some beer, yeah? This was a successful day, Tom’s gonna be here any minute now and Raul didn’t die out of jealousy in 24h, only reasons to celebrate!”

“Don’t start celebrating now, Jack, he might combust at any second now” Celine said with a laugh and Y/N giggled shaking her head, looking up at him only to see his serious expression and a light pink tinting his cheeks.

“So, pizza and beer it is?” Jack asked pulling his phone.

“I think it’s a great idea” Tom said as he climbed through the back window.

“Okay, Jack, order the pizzas and grab us the beer” Y/N decided and Jack stared at her in shock.

“Why me?!”

“So you can do something useful for once instead of gossiping” Raul said playfully and Y/N smiled at that as Jack feigned hurt with a dramatic gasp.

“Well, there’s that and the fact that this genius idea belongs to you, doesn’t it?” Y/N asked

Jack stared at her and nodded “Well yeah but-“

“Then make it happen, darling” Y/N only threw a wink at him and he shook his head, but grabbing his phone to start ordering.

“Hey Tom, can I see the piece you brought back?” Celine asked without moving from her place on the couch.

Y/N took the opportunity to properly face Raul since the others were seemingly busy, so she cupped his face gently bringing his attention down at her “are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course I am, doll” he said turning his face to place a kiss at the palm of her hand before looking back at her.

“Are you sure? You didn’t seem fine five minutes ago”

“I just didn’t think he’d take such an interest on you so soon, I mean, you’re insanely gorgeous so it was obvious he was going to notice you, I guess I was just unconsciously hoping he wouldn’t” Raul sighed leaning his head against her hand and she let it slide on his face until she was able to curl her fingers on his hair “it’s stupid, I’m sorry, I was just being stupid yeah? Let’s focus on something else and relax”

“Are you sure?” she asked tugging on his hair a bit as he closed his eyes, nodding his head softly and she sighed “okay”

-*-

*Please reblog or like this post if you liked it so I’ll know.

*I’m sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.

*Please do not repost this without giving me the credit, this is a completely original piece and I do not give permission to copy this!

*Hope you guys enjoyed it!

*xoxo

-🌙

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nothingunrealistic · 3 years

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review roundup: billions 6x08 “the big ugly”

an episode with a compelling taylor plotline! but at what cost!

New York Times: ‘Billions’ Season 6, Episode 8 Recap: Games Over

“What’s the only thing worse than not getting what you want?” Chuck Rhoades asks.

“Getting what you want but having it ripped from your hands,” replies his lieutenant, Dave Mahar.

Chuck laughs. “It’s like I hired my own twin.”

these are the opening lines of this recap. we’ll get back to this later.

Wendy has seemed a little lost this season, as the end of her personal and professional relationship with Bobby Axelrod left her at loose ends, narratively speaking; I’m hoping that watching her dreams once again go up in smoke at Chuck’s hands will bring renewed fire to the character.

going by the press photos, episode summaries, and 6x09 trailer, i wouldn’t expect wendy to get up to much of anything until 6x10. (of course, it could be that she’s quite active in 6x09 and whatever she’s doing is too huge a spoiler to even glimpse.) taylor seems to have usurped her role as the third lead, which i won’t complain about!

Taylor Mason is also back-footed in this episode, but deliberately so. When Prince directs his employees to free up capital in order to pursue big new plays, Taylor feels squeezed out by the hot shot new recruit Philip, who has out wunderkinded the firm’s former wunderkind. So Taylor goes all in on a — you’ll pardon the pun — fly-by-night hypersonic airline start-up that promises to get players and fans to the Games in record time.

WHY TRY? I KNOW WHY! THIS FEELING INSIDE ME SAYS IT’S TIME I WAS GONE! CLEAR HEAD NEW LIFE AHEAD! IT’S TIME I WAS KING NOW NOT JUST ONE MORE PAWN! FLY BY NIGHT AWAY FROM HERE! CHANGE MY LIFE AGAIN! FLY BY NIGHT GOODBYE MY DEAR! MY SHIP ISN’T COMING AND I JUST CAN’T PRETEND!

in other news: weird to describe the company as “hypersonic” when that’s the company’s name. it’s not wrong, but it’s confusing. (also i’m confiscating the word “wunderkind” from sean. enough already!)

But Taylor’s Jiminy Cricket, Rian, smells a rat. When she warns Taylor that it’s too big a play, she is summarily rebuffed.

i’m also confiscating the phrase “Jiminy Cricket” from sean with reference to rian. she wasn’t even the voice of ethics or morality here, she was the voice of “please don’t throw away money on a bad play just because you want to win a slapfight with a guy who insists he’s not even fighting you.”

And here comes the part where Wags — that’s right, Wags — winds up being the voice of reason.

we can’t believe it either, sean!

Wags’s advice to Rian: Go to Taylor and speak up about her findings regarding the airline, which reveal that its science is entirely bogus, even dangerous. Rian’s advice to Wags: Don’t keep secrets from the woman you love, and divest yourself of the secret suite.

appreciating the paraphrasing of rian’s advice, in conjunction with the phrasing of the story she told to back it up, that suggests she kept secrets from a woman she loved. she never said otherwise!

Rian saves Taylor’s bacon — the cratering of New York City’s Olympic bid provides the perfect cover for divesting, and Philip even helps — while Wags earns major Brownie points in his relationship. You’re left wondering why more characters on “Billions” don’t simply cooperate. Can’t we all be gold medalists in this game we call life?

you sound like prince! (not derogatory, necessarily. he did insist back in 6x03 that he prefers to collaborate when he can rather than going straight to competition.)

“This doesn’t have to be a competition,” Philip tells Taylor at the tail end of a lengthy metaphor involving Evel Knievel’s ill-fated attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon. This is the kind of thing people who do believe it has to be a competition say to people they think they’re beating.

what did you just say, man? (i for one genuinely believe philip didn’t have Beat Taylor At Their Own Game as a goal here. not in the short term, anyway.)

When dealing with the Olympics honcho Katerina Brett (Jennifer Roszell), Chuck embarks on a lengthy analogy involving “high-grading” bears, which before hibernation eat only the choicest parts of the salmon they catch, leaving the rest to rot. To Chuck, billionaires like Prince are the bears, and we civilians are the salmon. I’m not quite sure what that makes Chuck.

we were just discussing the baffling nature of this analogy yesterday! why are billionaires inherently different from ordinary citizens? doesn’t that undermine the point that they don’t deserve the outsized power and influence they have? why is it normal and in line with nature for them to devour citizens up to a point, as it is with bears and salmon, and only unnatural when they get picky about it? if society is the river, doesn’t that mean billionaires exist outside of society except when they’re hungry? what is chuck in this analogy?

This episode leans hard on Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind,” first for Mike and, later, for Chuck — the sound of winning (or at least thinking so) in New York City.

you can’t just say this without mentioning that prince referenced it in 6x04! (incidentally, 6x04 and 6x08 are the two episodes of this season written by brian koppelman & david levien & lio sigerson. keeping the setup and payoff in-house.)

Vulture: Billions Recap: American Dream

A recap for “The Big Ugly” almost feels redundant considering Chuck Rhoades and Dave Mahar sum up the episode themselves:

Chuck: “What’s the only thing worse than not getting what you want?” Dave: “Getting something that you want and then having it ripped from your hands.”

these are the opening lines of this recap. it’s like vulture hired sean’s own twin! (and the chuck & prince plotline this episode did almost feel redundant with the trailer, especially these lines, giving away that chuck would manage to pull the olympic bid from prince, and with my total lack of interest in how exactly he’d manage that.)

Yep, Mike Prince’s American Dream of presiding over the first-ever New York City Olympics was snatched away tonight, with Chuck orchestrating one single, brutal betrayal. This was one scheme where I was heavily leaning toward Team Chuck because Prince’s pretentious behavior as some newly anointed Olympics god was really getting on my nerves. That and it was immensely satisfying to watch Andy bail on her controlling husband the second the Games relocated to Los Angeles.

get his ass!

The first hint that Prince cared less about New York hosting the Games and more about putting himself on a pedestal was the revelation that he was training to do the original Olympic Marathon route — solo.

that wasn’t the first hint. not even close. the first hint was half a season ago.

Meanwhile, there’s an interesting storyline building between Taylor and MPC’s new golden boy, Philip, with Rian taking a central role as the voice of reason. Taylor is building a relationship with the CEO of a new high-tech passenger airline called “Hypersonic,” and they want to secure it as the official airline of the Olympics. Prince tries passing it off to Philip, much to Taylor’s chagrin. Philip, taking the “keep your enemies closer” approach, declines Prince’s command.

again, i don’t think philip considers taylor an enemy or even a rival at this point. he’s taking the “don’t jump to making enemies of anyone and everyone who isn’t giving you exactly what you want” approach. (whereas taylor is taking the inverse approach of “jump to making an enemy of the guy who gave you what you wanted if you think he shouldn’t even have had it to give to you.”)

But considering Taylor is already operating from a disadvantage, with Prince clearly preferring Philip over them and their season-long drive to score big wins no matter the cost, it doesn’t take much to predict this Hypersonic deal is headed for disaster.

yeah, you really only needed to read the episode summary for that.

Following one meeting with its CEO, Taylor is all in on making Hypersonic the official Olympics airline. Rian, however, tells them to slow their roll because she can’t verify Hypersonic’s tech claims. Once again, Taylor refuses to listen to the facts, caring for nothing except beating Philip and coming out on top. Not helping matters is Philip, who echoes Rian’s concerns and warns Taylor that they will hurt everyone at the company if this deal fails.

what else is philip supposed to do? pull some reverse psychology maneuver on taylor to make them think they’d be beating him by dropping hypersonic? drag wendy away from the crucial task of doodling hearts all over megan rapinoe’s headshots so she can tell taylor they’re acting like axe and need to cut it out?

Speaking of Rian, she and Wags get to share a fun little subplot that’s a huge break from the rest of the heavy narrative.

🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

Wags is understanding but firmly tells Rian she must have the courage to tell Taylor the deal is toxic.

*violin riff*

Back at the Taylor Mason Carbon offices, Rian confronts Taylor and holds firm with them about Hypersonic. She shows Taylor the evidence proving that Hypersonic’s current tech and aviation physiology causes pulmonary hypertension and embolisms. In short, investing in the company is a death sentence for MPC.

Then, a miracle happens.

oh we love an artfully placed paragraph break!

Wags and Scooter crash Prince’s pre-lovemaking sesh with Andy to turn on the news, where Dave is presiding over a press conference: The New York AG’s office is officially accusing Prince and his Olympic bid team of bribery.

i never want to read the phrase “pre-lovemaking sesh” again. sorry for making you all read it twice in a row.

Taylor and Rian, on the other hand, could not be more thrilled. Now Mase Carb can withdraw from the Hypersonic deal because it’s no longer the official airline of the Olympics. Philip, however, is also privy to the truth, and while he offers himself as an extra pair of hands — unloading shares, getting coffee, I’m not so sure Taylor and Rian should trust him.

[always sunny theme] Taylor Teams Up With Philip

(also: if only there were some other mase carb employee taylor could have called in as an extra pair of hands to help with dumping hypersonic. too bad rian’s their only named employee and they have no choice but to accept philip’s assistance. so sad!)

In typical Billions fashion, no one really “won” this time around.

i was about to say “untrue! philip won!”, but his big win on self-driving cars depended on the olympics happening in nyc, so he might be losing on that front. guess we’ll see.

Condola Rashad’s absence in this episode is a curiosity. Was Kate Sacker ostensibly getting started on her congressional campaign, as promised by Mike Prince once they won the Olympic bid? Now that New York has lost the Games, what happens with that subplot?

important questions! she’ll be in 6x09, unless the promo photos are lying to us again, so we should find out. i’d guess she’s part of prince’s brain trust and helping hatch a plan to turn the tables.

Entertainment Weekly: Billions recap: Prince's beloved Olympics bid goes up in smoke

Billions isn't exactly the most subtle show on TV. In fact, that's why I, and many of us, love it so much. What Billions understands is that you can get a lot of mileage out of quick dialogue, high drama, and more than a few scenery-chewing performances, even if you're getting a lot of the same plot mechanics from one episode to the next.

kyle didn’t get the memo for how everyone was opening their recaps this week!

In essence, Chuck is pretty sure Prince managed to snag the games through some illegal bribing, but he can't prove it.

as opposed to that legal bribing we all love so much.

While the people at Michael Prince Capital are focused on the games — Wendy (Maggie Siff) is working with soccer star Megan Rapinoe to get an "Athlete Performance" program off the ground, and Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) is taking a massive position in an airline company in an attempt to one-up Phillip, securing them as an official sponsor before, later in the episode, things go south — Chuck is working his usual magic.

not how you spell philip’s name! there should only be one L, so you’d better go ahead and take the other one.

It's interesting that the show ditches the Olympics bid so quickly after building up to the decisive moment in last week's episode. It doesn't feel like we have much time to sit with Prince getting what he wants only to have it pulled away.

that’s how billions usually goes, though — a plot introduced early on gets wrapped up midseason, and the rest of the season goes off in a different direction. see: chuck’s prosecution of axe in season 1; axe’s investment in sandicot and attempt to hire wendy back in season 2; the ice juice case in season 3; taylor’s project with douglas in season 4; axe’s attempt to secure a federal bank charter in season 5.

Losing the bid actually works out for Taylor, who got in over their head with the Hypersonic position and nearly lost the company a lot of money. Now they can dump the shares at a much smaller loss and not incur the wrath of Prince.

this description of taylor’s investment in hypersonic weirdly writes around the actual problem with hypersonic — it’s not just that they got in over their head, it’s that the company’s product is dangerous!

Prince has been winning all season long. He had to lose at some point. That time has come, and I'm very curious to see how this changes the character and what it might mean for the rest of the season.

you know what they say! the loser now will be later to win! for the times they are a-changin’!

#billions #6x08 #review roundup #postscript: none of these recaps mentioned the b&w photos of chuck mingling with constituents. we all just decided to ignore that

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Justice League: In Blackest Night Review: A Case Study in Why John Stewart is Awesome

Hello my Green Lantern Corps and happy black history month! And happy 40th Anniversary Year to John Stewart. And let’s get this out of the way now not the one replaced by trevor noah who handed Tucker Carlson his ass on television and got his show canceled, please do it again John i’d be greatful, and has a weird obession with how Pizza should be. No i’m of course talking about the Green Lantern, the third from earth and the second to headline the book itself, John Stewart. But to me.. he was my first Green Lantern and one that gave me a deep and abiding love of the Corps since all thanks to this very episode. It’s thanks to John I’m the green lantern loving nerd I am today and without him I probably wouldn’t of found Guy, Jessica, Simon, Alan, and Kyle not to mention got into the varoius other corps. It’s thanks to this episode I wanted to seek out these wonderful characters eventaully and in part why I got into JLI, one of my faviorite teams, among many ohter great things and books.

So quite obviously both this episode, which I haven’t seen in probably a decade, and John have a great place in my heart. And thus it warms said heart to FINALLY see John getting the recogntion he deserves: he’s going to be one of the starring roles in the upcoming HBO Max series, he was on Scott Snyder’s justice league, and he’s now going to be headlniing the main Green Lantern book going forward under writer Geoffry Throne, who like me was VERY sick of the Hal Jordan show the Green Lantern franchise could become at times, and also like me gave out about it a LOT. The fact DC hired him despite a very public and easily accesable record of him slagging of their use of Hal instead of him ESPECAILLY in the new 52 reboot aka why Cyborg is in the Justice League movie as Geoff kinda shoved hal in there despite John being a more sensible pick and doing so not only shoving the Martain Manhunter, who this show also gave me a deep lasting love for, out of the team but forcing Cyborg onto the team despite fitting with the titans better and, AGAIN there being a black green lantern and given the New 52 kept the history of there being multiple lanterns, no reason Hal could’ve been SECOND instead other than DanDiDio’s bitchy habit of EVERYTHING WAS BETTER ON MY EARTH that poisoined the company for a good decade before recently.

And yes I felt the need to rant about that, yes Green Lantern the animated series is still good mind you, I just got tired of bland white guy over “Really awesome, really layred especailly thanks to this series black guy”, “stubborn asshole white guy whose hilarious and has a heart underneath the layers of douchebag”, “creative and imaginative white guy who has as personality and really uses the ring in fun ways”, and more recently “A muslim superhero struggling with his past who’se also really energetic and fun and has an intresting family life” and “Latnix superheroine who struggles with anxiety and actually struggles with constructs and once she gets past that has very unique ones”. In other words, yeah I’m bitter because everyone else was more intresting than Hal, and it’s only in recent years with Jessica gaining promience and John regaining it that DC’s finally broke out of that and is actually using the intresting ones, and again without John I wouldn’t be a fan, so they had no real excuse to barely use him outside of the comics if at at all after a while.

So yeah as you can tell by that rant and by how specific it got for each lantern, this is one of my faviorite franchises, as said this episode is responsible and so for Black History Month I felt i’d be a huge mistake on my part if I DIDN’T cover my boy John and this episode and see how it held up. The fact it’s his 40th anniversary wasn’t something I was aware of, but now I am, expect more Johncentric episodes from Justice League sprinkled throughout the year to celebrate one of my first and possibly best GL.

Naturally before we get to the episode we have to get to the series itself. The series was launched as Batman Beyond was winding down. Bruce Timm wanted to keep the crew together, something I could empathize with since Owen Dennis and JG Quintel have ran into that same problem lately, with most of their crews drifting off during the gaps in production and Owen desperate to get the show renewed before he lost everybody. A good crew isn’t had to find in animation but KEEPING them for multiple shows or seasons can be. And there was one project the fans wanted more than anything: The Justice League. After all BOTH Batman and Superman had had tons of guest stars, especailly the latter, with Batman having Zantana show up and Superman having the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Aquaman all show up. There were seeds there.. but Timm was relcutant as he had trouble ballancing 2 or 3 heroes in a fight scene, wanting to keep them al lin focus so fans didn’t wonder where they were and they didnt’ have to cut back and forth, the idea of juggling 7 was daunting. So as Beyond was finishing production a few things happened: The first is that they did the episode The Call, focusing on a future version of the League, and while only a two parter, it showed Timm his crew might be able to juggle a team of heroes after all, and second was the pitches Timm made BEFORE justice league. Since Kids WB had been hteir partner for a while now they tried pitching both a batman anime, he did not provide many details, and in his own words a “Kidified” justice league, basically the justice leagued mashed with the titans including a female version of cyborg. It was the latter pitch, which was rejected by Kids WB, that finally convinced Timm they could do this, but if they did it couldn’t be half assed or having compromises. it had to be what it SHOULD be. So they went to somewhere new, if in the same family and asked cartoon network, who said...

And here we are. They took their time to work out the characters, apparently taking a lot of delbiration, mostly on which GL to go with, and if they were going to do a hawk wether to go for hawkman or hawkgirl. In the end the roster was the iconic big 7 one, in large part thanks to Grant Morrison taking that concept and reviving it in his run on the team, but shaking it up slightly: Barry was naturally replaced with Wally West flash as he was THE flash in the comics, gave a slightly younger member for the others to play off of, and was more popular.. something Dan DiDio plugged his ears and went LALALALALALAL about for a decade before FINALLY leaving the company so he could stop screwing with a character he hated for reasons that can be summed up as ‘MY FLASH IS BETTER. YOU’LL LIKE MY FLASH.. YOU’LL SEE I JUST HAVE TO MAKE THE OTHER ONE A MASS MURDERER.. THAT’LL SHOW YOU FOR NOT LIKING WHAT I LIKE”... I still have maybe a smidge of lingering issues over how wally was treated the last few years after his return. I do not apologize for htem or for doing a little dance when I found out Didio was gone.

Point is it wasn’t the only subsitution as Hal Jordan was replaced by John, obviously and rather than use Aquaman, they went with Hawkgirl, though Arthur still got an episode focusing on him fairly early into the series which has the iconic moment of him cutting his hand off to save his son. I dare you to find something more badass. Bruce both liked her deisgn better and felt it helped with the gender ballance.

So with all that set and with some growing pains to get through they had their show so join me under the cut to see how it turned out. Spoilers: It good.

We open INNNNNN SPACCCEEEEEEE, as a coaltion of neat looking aliens wants justice and has gone to a space court lead by three weird alien faces, likely inspiried by the kryptoian tribunal in the donnerverse superman movies, with their prosecutor sending a group of mysterious robots known as the Manhunters to go fetch the accused for a trial: John Stewart. Given he’s voiced by Kurtwood “Red Forman” Smith, i’m very surpised he didn’t order them to also put their foots up his ass. Maybe he’s saving it for the trial.

After the titles we cut to John himself whose in shades and trenchant for reasons.. I mean it looks neat, but he’s in his old neighborhood not hunting down his exes killer or trying to hide the fact he’s a ninja turtle. Why is he all disguised. I mean sure WE know people are coming from him and given what he thinks he did he knows.. but he has no intention of running from what he did. It’s just a weird stylistic choice. That said we do get a cool sequence when while casually walking he notices a robbery, and stops it simply by first stopping the wheel then levitating the car.. and while he does get a little showy shaking the guy upside down to return the money.. it’s all very controlled. It shows off how John works. While we’ve seen him at work as Green Lantern before this this small sequence says volumes about john in the span of a few minutes, showing that shilw he HAS immense power, he only uses the amount he needs, knows when to hold back, and only shows off a tiny bit, and even then he’s likely still keeping the theif absolutely safe. It also provides excellent foreshadowing for later as to why the League takes his side even when he refuses to defend himself, as it shows that John really is a professional true and true.

He runs by a basketball court and fails to make a basket when throwing a ball back to a kid before meeting his old gym teacher, who turns out to be the kids uncle or something like that, and invites John to join them as they go to the barber shop. The kid wants John’s haircut, his granpa says the usual and i’m wondering why as John’s haircut isn’t that radical: it’s a miltiary style cut, belying the fact that for this series, while it dosen’t come up in the plot here, John was a former marine instead of an architect. Honestly.. this wasn’t a bad change, giving us the deciated and measured john we know, to the point the comics gladly retconned it in. Not that it’s really a huge deal given it meelrly adds shades to the guy and dosen’t prevent him from being an architect. It just adds lairs by giving a reaosn he’s so focused and driven. He had it drilled into him and carried it with him.

Meanwhile on the watchtower The Flash clumisly tries to get to know Hawkgirl better and maunver into asking her out, though it’s clear sh’es not intrested. Still even if he can’t help flirting, and it sometimes gets creepily obnoxious, it’s still better than I expected remembering this running subplot, as he DOES try to get to know her and what she does in her off time, even if it’s to set up asking her out, and is trying to ask her out instead of just hitting on her or doing anything far more creeptacular. It’s still not great mind you and hasn’t aged well at all.. but for the time it’s not TERRIBLE and again it goes away pretty quickly in favor of the much more intresting John and Shierya relationship.

Flash accidently shoots himself in the foot.. conversationally though given how Wally is at this point in the series I wouldn’t be suprised, by asking the Martian Manhunter, who gives Hakwgirl an easy exit if he’s ever felt alone.. you know the guy whose entire race including his wife and child died horribly. He quickly apologizes though and John understands he just stuck his foot in his mouth at lighting speed. And it’s not the MOST insensitive he’s been about Jonn’s dead wife.

But things are soon interupted as Jonn notes “We have an incursion!”

But the Avengers are dealing with all of that so they can instead focus on the Manhunters shooting toward earth. I really like this as the primary reason Batman set up this station was to monitor for alien threats, it just because the Leagues base because superman had the idea to stay as a team and it was a good un, and given earth JUST had an invasion, as this likely isn’t too long after that given it’s only the second set of episodes, it’s understandable they’d be on high alert.

So our heroes move to intercept. As the first episode after the pilot this one also sets up a recurring part of the show and a necessary one: only a handful of Leaguers would feature in each two-parter, as the episodes for the first two seasons were essentially one hourlong story split into two episodes. The only exceptions were the three part premire, the three part finales for each season, and the sole solo episode comfort and joy which is fucking awesome and my faviorite christmas episode period. But even with the extended run time the crew simply felt i’td be unwiedly to juggle 7 characters eveyr episode, feeling it’d eventually get to original series star trek leevels of having one just manning a console or something. So rather than try and cram them all into every episode, they choose who they needed and gave valid excuses for the rest when necessary. In this case Batman and Wonder Woman have solo missions their busy with , as does Superman whose adressing an earthquake. Our heroes try talking to the Manhunters.. who refuse to talk to them and then also say their coming for John, and aren’t explaning why. So naturally a brawl breaks out as the League SHOCKINGLY dosen’t want their friend who as far as they know has done nothing wrong taken by a brutish paramilitary force who won’t actual talk to the citzens their policing or try and be coporative. More on this in a second. The fight itself is pretty awesome as our heroes fight as evenly as they can.. but it’s clear their outgunned outplanned outnumbered and outmanned, as while their you know the justice league and do their best and Jonn is in Superman’s weight class the battle makes it VERY clear their barely holding in there and that the blast from the manhunters rods are just too potent for them to stand up against.

But help and hope arrives and things get a bit less lopsided when Superman shows up! Unfortunately it’s season 1 superman, and something a lot of fans noticed but I as a kid didn’t and the crew themslves did not until it was too late to course correct for the season, was that Superman came off as a bit of a wimp in this series. See they had the good intention of having him struck down to show a threat’s serious, something TV Tropes calls the “The Worf effect” after the fact that Worf on Star Trek TNG would get knocked on his ass a lot for the same reason, but it has the side effect of making a character look like their made of paper mache if done too often. To the crew’s credit they realized this and not only made sure this didn’t happen as much in season 2, but dedicated the first episode of Season 2, twilight, to showing Superman as a badass by having him try and cave Darkseid’s skull in. Granted they overcompensated in places in that episode, but that’s a story for another day. Point is he had a habit of getting knocked around and it varied between really effective and overselling it. Here it works as the manhunters had already knocked Jonn around a bit, knocking him into some poor kid’s apartment whose really wondering what the fuck just happened too much to enjoy meeting the martian manhunter, so him not being too on top of them simply sells this threat is equal, and possibly past the League.

Meanwhile John is talking to his former teacher who says the kid reminds him of John... it’s not only a nice bit of depth to show the restrained John used to be a bit of a hellraiser before the Marines.. but also shows John’s guilt as he hopes not.. but before he can unload, he notices the fight and suits up to his old mentors shock and the kids joy, I mean I would too if a guy suddenly because a green lantern in front of me, and dashes off.. to surrender and break up the fight, handing over his ring and going with them and telling the League not to interfere. Their response can be summed up thusly.

To John, he’s peacefully surrendering for a crime he comitted to a bruitsh and unfair police force but one who is duly deputized and as an officer himself, for the unaware the Green Lanterns are space cops and given the reason rightfuly reconing on the police I will certainly be discussing this as we go, is trying to coparate and prevent any collateral. While LIKELY Bruce pays for any that happens, as beneath his batdick demanour at times he’s a very good man and if he has the pockets for a space station, space craft, commuincators and all the good stuff a superhero team has on hand, he probably has a dedicated fund set up to paying for collateral since insurance might not cover it, and not only that would likely give any impacted extra to do any upgrades they coudln’t before because he’s a philanorphist .. one who dresses up like a bat to punch people in the face, but that itself is still philathophy in a way.

But to the League? Their friend was taken by a bunch of shady paramilitary robots who didn’t bother talking to them, is trying to keep them out of it and for all they know only surrendered to prevent a fight, and even if he had valid reasons, as his friends-ish and teammates, they have a right to answers. So while John sits in his cell completlating his apparent crimes.. the JL have taken off in the Javelin, the spaceship I mentioned batman funding. And of course Batman has both spaceship money and had a design for one so ready it likely took a month at most for him to get it up and running, if not less, and only didn’t have one in the batcave because he hadn’t neededed it yet and likely didn’t want to embezle more money than he has to from his company. Jonn uses the stars John saw, say that three times fast I dare you, to find a location and our heroes head there. Our heroes arrive.. and are attacked by the local security despite Superman geninely trying to hail them, the Javelin not firing back and our heros only going out to intercpet personally so they don’t die, and even then making careful certainty not to attack. So we get another thrilling battle, with our three flying heroes all pitching in, and the flash realizing he dosen’t know how to fly the thing and me cursing out bruce in my head for you know, not either forcing flash to learn the stuff, or having the forsight to put a manual on board for any members who forgot something, aka so when Wally inteivibly goofs off and eats candy instead of reading it the first time, he can speed read it and at least retain it long enough to land the thing in a crisis. If it were anyone else i’d be understanding but this is the guy who again, either had spaceship plans lying around or could get one together in the span of a month or so and while not thinking of the ship in terms of a team, still also paid for and likely created the commuincators they used, so he’d know his team well enough to know he needs this.

My nitpicking aside, our heroes land, make quick work of the locals, and then crash in on John’s trial after he’s escorted in, passing his fellow lanterns who rightfully treat him with disdain.. but for the wrong reasons as we’ll see. John gives groaning “oh no” , like he’s embarassed. When REALLY..

Seriously John, again you were as far as they knew kidnapped, and the way the manhunters acted, they had no reason to think they were legitamate, and you didn’t take five minutes to tell them, “They have every reason to be takning me” or “I blew up a planet I deserve this” . They still would’ve came mind you, they just might of realized this wasn’t a traditional rescue mission and actually tried to use some subtly. You also COULD have told the manhunters they might show up so the security wouldn’t attack them. They probably woudln’t o LISTEND or attacked themselves, so i’ts a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation, but you still did absolutely nothing. It’s the one mistep with John here and even then it has the justification of his self loathing at the moment being so high, he assumed they’d rightfully write him off without question.. not to mention given the team is mostly white guys, two aliens and a princess who woudln’t know better, he probably assumed like most white dumbasses they’d assume the police were correct and not give him the benifit of a doubt. To their credit, especially since you know one of them’s superman and the other one’s a professional dumbass, they didn’t think that for a second. Some would not be such a good person.

But Prosecutor Forman and the big giant heads aren’t much better than the manhunters, so Prosecutor Forman sends some orange guys to put foots up their asses.. and since unlike the manhunters their just... some ambigiously gendered aliens with no powers, they go down quick and before the manhunters enter, superman RIGHTFULLY calls them out, as he points out they just wanted to know what the hell was going on, didn’t throw the first punch, and have been under attack since, and the heads admit this IS a public trial, and they kinda overreacted so as long as the superfriends don’t do any other antics and watch like anyone else, their good. Superman has his team play it safe for now as they really don’t know what’s going on and given they could only stalemate the manhunters on even footing, they know they can’t take them on their home turf.

The trial is soon underway, and Prosecutor Forman calls the witnsees.. Kanjar Ro, also voiced by Smith. This is neat little bit as Ro was one of the first foes the League fought in the comics, a space pirate, and while he originally was just going to be some random asshole, someone brought up the idea of him being Ro and the crew really loved it. It’s a nice nod to the comics and honestly if you have a vast superhero universe with decades of continuity to draw from for your show, why NOT make the secondary villian of the episode be someone from the comics.

Ro is, like the comics, a pirate and seemingly came forward because what John did was so bad even he can’t stomach it and has to say something. So we FINALLY find out what John did.. well okay the audience as a whole does I remember this from being a kid. He and Ro had a routine cop and robber interaction, Ro was smuggling shit, and John was doing his job as GL of Sector 2814 and stopping him and cut out his engine.. but seemingly said engine drifted off, and destroyed a planet as result via chain reaction, and thus the debris right outside the planet John’s being tried on are apparently thsoe of the planet he accidently killed. The court takes a break and while the League, understandably, assume that the obviously shady man was lying John ends part one by confirming that no he did it. And this is why I put a pin in things... because the episode being about a space cop being arrested by worse space cops and dealing with his friends in the badge turning on him while some of his other friends try to prove he’s innocent, and the man in question being an african american... tackles some very loaded issues that, givent he writer and most of the staff, Dwayne McDuffie accepted, were very much white, i’m thinking they just kind of fell backward into and it only came out as good as it did either do to McDuffie or just blind luck that it didn’t turn out entirely awful in hindsight.

And if anyone is complaning: “Wait you dont’ need to get political leave politics out of this”.. please leave my fucking blog. For one, the recknoing with the police was long overdue, I feel ashamed for not having it sink in how fundementally broken the police were and not realizing it for my whole fucking life, I knew some cops were bad but I hadn’t realized the institution was inherently racist and bad and feel so much deep and lasting shame for that, and for another again it’s a story that at it’s core is a black police officer being arrested for doing something wrong, taking full responsiblity for his actions like a police officer SHOULD, and having friends of his try and prove he didn’t really do it, while his fellow officers, rather than find the act itself abohhrent, come out as either being loyal to john no matter what (kilowog) because fellow officer, or assholes who ONLY are upset because it makes them look bad, and are ONLY distancing themselves because of that, and not because you know JOHN MAY OF CAUSED A GENOCIDE BY INCOMPETNECE. So yeah, i’m not ignoring the real world implications, I couldn’t and wouldn’t if I wanted to, and i feel if done right ANY medium, animation, comics, what have you, for kids or not, can tackle such issues and should be able to.

So i’m not ignoring the elephant in the room, and as we get into part 2 we get the good and bad of this in full: Superman feels something’s off about this whole thing, a hunch admitely but given an engine falling in a crater seems a bit too convinent, he has a right to investigate and takes MM to do so, while he leaves Flash and Hakwgirl to stall. Both take diffrent approaches: Flash signs on as GL’s lawyer.. and it’s an awesome scene as we find out, in your standard evil lawyer joke, that the tribunal of faces solved this by simply having the lawyer share the punishment.. but it also shows Flash’s loyalty and faith that his friend did not do this and something worse is at work, as he still agrees after learning he’ll probably die if his other friends don’t fix this.

And now we have full context i can get into where this episode really does the issue justice for the most part: John is presented as the model of both what the GL Corps and what police should be: He’s professional, uses minimal force despite having a weapon that can do anything, and when he THINKS he did something horrible, he dosen’t run from his crime: the most he does is go back home to see it once last time, simply waiting for someone to come and get him for what it did wether it be his own brothers in arms or as we saw the manhunters and he doesn’t defend himself because he dosen’t feel he should as he screwed up, got an entire planet killed, and rightly thinks he should pay for it. He’s likely, as a black man in the early 2000′s, been falsely accused, pulueld over and fucked over by police and seen people in his community he knewe and care about die because of shit like this so when given the chance to take responsibility, even from a clearly broken system, he does. Because in the same situation a lot of officers back at home would not and would walk away clean and that’s not who John Stewart is, how he was raised, or what he or the corps stands for.

But the episode gets to have it’s cake and eat it too, as the League does belivie John didn’t do this on purpose.. and the blind faith they especially superman did come off as wince inducing.. until I realized it’s not because of some “brotherhood of the badge” bullshit.. but because it’s Superman. He belivies in the good of most people. In this very series despite Lex Luthor having tried to kill him dozens of times at this point, he STILL shows the guy empathy when he finds out Lex is dying of cancer. Lex spits at the notion of course and dosen’t take it seroiusly.. but Superman is just that good a person, so if he has a hunch somethings’ wrong.. it probably is. And even if he and Jonn found nothing... it’s the right thing to do. A crime should ALWAYS be properly investigated to make sure someone dosen’t hang for something they did not do. This is what I meant by have it’s cake and eat it too: the episode tackles police brutality.. but the accused is also the victim, and it thus tackles the unfairness in the us courts, how black people are often assumed guilty when that’s horribly racist and biased as fuck and how Police are assumed correct. Our heroes are assuming john is right based on optisim but are not wrong for wanting him to at LEAST get a fair trial and full investigation that clearly was not done. It also covers, again probably intetioanlly, how some are often not able to get proper representatin, with this court outright getting rid of it, which is wrong and bad, and the flash being the best John can do and not very good at it, mostly stalling for time. It shows the system’s brokena nd soemtimes you have to directly fight iht and can’t just take it , and even if your convinced your guilty and want to rightfuly take the blame for something your sure you did... you still deserve a fair trial and a compitent one.

It’s not all good: as said the gl’s are portrayed as bad for not wanting anything to do with john, and in order to make them unsympathetic they care more about their rep than the fact a friend may of comited genocide and kilowog showing up and providing character witness is seen as a good thing, even if he provides no actual character evidence other than “Johnny’s a good guy” and that’s not ideal. It’s not perfect and again it was writtne by an old white guy so of course it isn’t but the fact it gets so much right the more you dig in despitei t’s awwkardness and being written and aired 20 years ago... that is nothing to sneeze at.

We have more to dig into here too with the manhunters but first moreof the plot: While the other stuff mentioned happens, Superman and Jonn investigate as said.. and we find out WHY superman was supscious: while it was part hunch.. he did in fact have valid reason to suspect something was off, and as we saw actually heard the case against his friend first, and only went against it because the evidence was off.. in that the MOON of the planet is still there and should’ve flown off. He and Jonn soon find a MASSIVE device that John identifies as a bigger version of a toy he had as a kid, something that created images... and again shows whya PROPER investigation was needed. Had the court actually looked into it instead of presuming John guilty, they would’ve found this thing too. Naturally though Kanjar Ro has followed them and wants to kill them.. but with her subplot wrapped up Hawkgirl went to seei f they needed backup, stealing one of the guard ships which given they attacked people on ap lanet iwth a PUBLIC TRIAL going on without haling them yeah don’t blame her, and kicks his ass. Our heroes find out the truth as I mentioned earlier: Ro was paid to lie and be in on things for an assload of money.. byt he Manhutners.. who at the moment are plotting to strike while Oa, the home of the green lanterns is weak, as the Guardians who created them and monitor them mostly left to go to the trial.

As we catch up with them, THe guardians speak on each lantern being trusted with the ring and given little oversight.. because they pick wisely. The prosecutor just wants John to hang, calls for a sentence, which is death and John and Flash nearly die, in case you thought I was pulling those parallels out of my ass. But Superman rushes in, and in a small, subtle gag he and Jonn do so thorugh a small pain of glass put over where they enterted last time, fight off security and save them, and before prosecutor foot in the ass can harumph about it more.. Superman claims jonn’s innocent..a nd has Shiera smash the generator, showing he indeed is, getting John aquitted. John also attacks Ro, who they brought along as a witness, rightfully so, but the League get him to stop as they don’t have time for that: the Guardians are strangely leaving after that, the manhunters are clearly doing something given their asbent, so John retakes his ring, restored to who he was now knowing he truly WAS innocent and was simply set up.. and he wants to find out why.

We soon get the why as the Guardians explain the manhunters after the League won’t let them just.. brush by after they aburbtly tried to leave. They AREN’T behind the current attack.. but did create them, feeling robots would be better policeman. They were wrong, with the manhunters lacking empathy, being far too military in their job, and generally not being up for it so they simply gave them smaller jobs as bounty hunters, court balifs that sort of thing ans assumed they were fine because they didn’t say anything. As John puts it perfectly “Not outloud. “ And this itself is the other thing that makes the episode work as an allegory, if a very unteitonal one: The Manhunters are the police as they are now, violent brutes with way too much power, no restraint in using it and no ounce of mercy or sympathy for those they protect. And the Guardians rightfully removed this system, and replaced it with the corps. And while the Corps STILL have a lot of leway and power, being free to investigate on their own provided OA dosen’t call them to do someting specific, and given a ring that can do anything within corps guidelines, which basically means “don’t kill” and “don’t be a dick with it”, the guardians still watch them, do not interfere in trials and choose very wisely. not only that ther’es only one officer per sector, each sector being galaxies wide.. but that’s because that’s only what’s NEEDED. One Lantern with the power to take on entire fleets if needed, which is a fair amount of power given the scope of the job, and come in as requested by the people themselves, honestly isn’t a bad system. Granted the corps is wonky from time to time in the comics as are the guaridans depending on the writer, but at it’s core the corps really sounds like a more responsible versoin of the police: given just the gear necessary, the men necessary, and only called in when truly needed or if they spot a crime in process. THat’s what the people protecting us should be like and that’s why this episode still works.

Obviously though I was aware of none of this as a kid, and the real reason I loved this episode is this climax. The League arrives on Oa just in time to provide backup. Presumibly the guardians there and incoming with the league simply dont have the power to spare to call for reinforcments. Which is weird but fair enough drama wise and our heroes storm the planet , with the corpsmen from before all showing up to pitch in. But John gets there too late as the head manhunter drains the central power battery, the source of the lantern’s powers, and declares I AM THE POWER, refusing to accept he’s out of date.

And this, folks is the moment that made me love the lanterns for life. John is outgunned, the wise old wrinkled blue men who gave him his powers drained of there, starring down a massive monster planning to subjigate the universe... and he does not blink. See lanterns are picked for their willpower, their abliity to stare down things like this, and fight anyway, their very rings controlled by this, by their own force of personhood. It’s another reason besides logistics why theires only one per sector: it’s that hard to find one. Earth is so remarkable because , even if it’s simply so we could have more stars in the books over time in real world, we produced not ONE person capable of this.. but 7.. Alan Scott whose not in the corps but whose powers stll work on will and could probably use a regular corps ring very much included. John was chosen because he simply won’t give up. He gave up before.. but it was the right thing to do and ultimately biding his timea nd accepting his trial.. gave his friends time to aquit him and prove he was framed.

But now is not the time to back down.. now’s the time to stand.. so how does John win? By USING his will, by using the reason he was chosen coupled with ihs own personal dedication and concentration, he grabs his ring as it floats toward the guy, takes it back.. and starts reciting the lantern oath. And since the Manhunter is indeed “The power”.. it means he too can be controlled like any lantern energy. and thus with every bit of willpower he has, struggling all the while but not moving a damn inch, John recites his oath and shoves the monster that framed him, and the power he stole, back into the battery, all while saying an oath so badass it has been etched into my head since thanks to this episode. Say it with me now..

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night No Evil Shall Escape My Sight Let Those Who Worship Evil’s Might BEWARE MY POWER, GREEN LANTERN’S LIGHT!

And the credit goes to phil lamarr, who delivers the oath with all the gravitas and awesomeness it’s first delivery in this continuty it deserves. It was this that made me a lifelong fan: one man with the power of anytihng using PURE MENTAL STRENGTH AND DETERMiINATION TO SHOVE AN EVIL ENERGY BEING IN A GIANT LANTERN WHILE RECITING A BADASS AND AWE INSPIRING OATH. And if that dosen’t sell you on the Green Lantern’s being awesome I can’t help you and don’t know why your here.

So wrapup time: The Guardians genuinely thank john, saying they choose well, and John brushes off his fellows corpspersons as they should’ve belivied him and thanks the League for having faith in him even when he didn’t. And while the former part has some.. bad implications we’ve gotten into already, I also can’t entirely blame him given they did it not because he might’ve killed someone but again, because

Precisley. So our heroes prepare to head home, cue the credits.

Final Thoughts:

So how does this episode hold up 20 years later? As should be obvious, damn well. It’s a good introduction for the corps, if showing them to be kinda assholes in places, and a good spotlight episdoe for John showing who he is what he stands for and again how TRULY MONUMENTALLY BADASS the man is. And lest you think the comics versoin is any LESS badass, he once got into a sniper duel in with Bedovian, a member of the Sinestro Corps and a crab person.. who was as I forgot till looking it up, THREE SECTORS, which i’ll remind you can comprise entire galaxies, away, with a ring made sniper rifle. In one shot no less. Point is even with some.. wonkier aspects, and ones that aren’t intetnional, it still works and is a shockingly relevant episode 19 years later and the fight scenes, as are standard for the series, are overwhelmingly awesome. Check this one out, and the series as a whole. With its great animation, character work and general badassery this one’s worth a few watches. And obviously given my love of this seires, and it’s 20th anniversay next year, and my love of John, check back here for more John-centric episodes throughout the year as we celebrate the guy. And I will also celebrate the green lantern NAMED guy eventually too, and jessica.. and all of them ebcause I love them all. Yes.. even Hal. As for which John episode i’m doing next? Easy, one that intorduces me to a character I love who dosen’t get used near enough, Metamorphisis. The when I can’t say QUITE yet as my March schedule is full and most of my ongoing projects are on the backburner so I can tackle two arcs of ducktales, which coincidentally happened to be in time for the finale. That wasn’t planned AT ALL mind you, it just ended up working out really well that way. For now though tommorow I begin my coverage of the final 4 episodes of ducktales with “Beaks in the Shell” and later this week finish up black history month with blacksad, continue my Lena retrospective with a money shark and some pr work, cover the second season of close enough, celebrate Tex Avery’s birthday and also celebrate the new Tom and Jerry movie.. with the OLD tom and jerry movie. Until then, see you next rainbow.

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nyxravessnow · 4 years

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Rambly Patalliro stage review

Stage Patalliro 2021 Foggy London Airport Arc Review

Today I finally managed to see the delays of the first and last day of the new 2021 Patalliro stage.

Overall, I will rate this show as a 9 out of 10.

I don't know if I'm giddy just because I watched the show today and have been really looking forward to it, and especially since I didn't enjoy the last 2.5D show I was looking forward to I might be projecting a bit onto this show. But I did enjoy every second of this show and can’t wait to buy the dvd.

While there were things, I was very nervous about for this show, I was also very excited as a lot of actors I really love are in the show.

I just wanna say anything I say about negative fan reaction is of course not most fans. Most fans stayed quiet and just did what they wanted, I’m just talking about a few fans whose comments I have seen floating about.

I was very nervous about the hostility to the new cast which I felt was unwarranted. Obviously, this wasn’t from most fans but was just from a very small amount of them. Hostility to the company and how they handled the graduation of the previous cost and the handling of the bringing in of the new cast is completely justified. However, this new cast is full of people who truly love the show and were very excited to be in it and no one had seen them on stage as those characters and so I feel like hostility towards them was undue.

The main reason this made me nervous was that I was worried if the show was bad the director and the company would not be the ones blamed but the actors who merely were doing their best in roles they were cast in.

I am so glad to say that I believe the show was fantastic. I believe that they lived up to the legacy of the previous cast and have started a good new tradition for their next shows and any cast that follows them.

One thing that really shocked me but also spoke to me about how this show most likely wouldn’t have happened without a new cast, was Kato Ryo Crying out of happiness on the final day of the show. Kato Ryo is known for never breaking character and not breaking down on stage which shows how much this show means to him. He was truly happy to be on the stage performing as Patalliro again, and it did seem as if he had also bonded to this new cast as Dai instantly went to give him a hug which he returned. He spoke about how it was amazing they could make it to the final performance as he didn’t think they’d even make it to a first one. I believe it is not too far-fetched to say that he might be referring to the fact that Nelke and the 2.5d association mostly likely said that they would not continue the show with Tsune onboard. As before Kato Ryo said he would only continue the show if the cast didn’t change and that seemed like a serious change.

I have seen comments that Maaya-sensei didn’t like the new cast and that he was completely unaware of the change in casting which I would be very surprised by. 2.5d shows have to sign off for new shows with the creator of the original and also you could see that Maaya-sensei’s family had bonded the new cast greatly. Giving the show a standing ovation and kept waving to the cast on the final night.

I know the re cast is a very difficult topic for people who likes the old cast and don't want to see a new cost, for people who liked the old cast and are willing to see the new cast, for people who didn't see much of the old cast but excited for the new cast or for people who like the new actors coming in and so getting into Patalliro for the first time.

I believe that as long as you are not attacking anyone your thoughts and feelings are completely valid and if you only liked the show for the previous cast then you have every right to just ignore the new shows and just watch the three amazing instalments from the old cast. You are valid and I hope you have a lovely day/week and hope that this awful situation (covid and the such) isn’t being too bad to you.

In my opinion if this show was the result of the recast, and that if it hadn't happened we wouldn't have gotten another show, then I'm very glad it happened because I think this show was excellent and another fantastic instalment under the name of Patalliro stage. Under the cut I will include a spoilered review of the stage but before then I just wanted to say some of my basic thoughts for anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled for what is in the show.

Acting: All the acting was fantastic. There wasn't a single actor who I wasn't entranced by and I was enthralled and engaged the entire show. I think every actor performed their roles perfectly and to the best of their abilities.

Singing: Obviously the big stand out for singing in this show was the transgender actress Nakamura Ataru as she was hired for her singing voice, her being a professional singer. However, I think everybody performed extremely well. I continue to be a little frustrated with the use of recorded singing for everybody except for Ataru, as I believe the music they have on it is too loud and it makes it harder to hear a lot of the singers and I also feel it's not necessary to record the songs as all of them are professional actors who can definitely sing on stage. That being said, I fell in love with every single song in the show and thought they were all amazing.

Directing: I think a lot of very very wise decisions were made about this show. I was worried this show would either reflect too much on the previous cast or just not mention them at all and pretend it didn't happen. Luckily the stage did neither. I will get into more specifics and my spoiler review, but I think they handled it very well with having stuff for new fans, old fans and fans who would be irritated by seeing knew actors continue on jokes that previous actors started. In regards to other sides of the directing, I believe it was same as always, very good for the type of show it is. The comedy was very good but due to only having seen two shows I can't say how much was the directing and how much were the actors just being funny, because this is a very funny cast.

Casting: I believe every actor in this stage was perfect for their roles. This may be a controversial opinion but after seeing Dai and Yuuya act opposite each other I am very glad that Sana wasn’t brought back. They couldn't continue to have Tsune in the show as 2.5D does not have the kind of reputation yet where they can have an actor who has committed crimes in their shows and back him for if he ever did something again then it could do a lot of damage to the industry. Nelke and the 2.5d association are companies and in order to keep putting on shows and paying actors and all the staff they need money. And to have money, they need a clean reputation, at least while it’s still relatively low in popularity. I do not wish Tsune ill at all, I think he is an excellent actor, and I really hope that he does continue acting but I completely understand why he was not cast in this show again and why that led to a recast of most of the cast. I think that Sana was excellent as Maraich in every way he embodied the character. But having been in quite a few previous shows together Yuuya and Dai already had excellent chemistry, and I think it would have been quite odd to see Sana as Maraich acting opposite a different Bancoran. I can't imagine any actor having better chemistry with Dai’s Maraich than Yuuya’s Bancoran and visa versa. And I really hope that with the end of lockdown and quarantine, and everything calming down a lot in terms of physical contact on stages they will be able to show the bond between their Maraich and Bancoran even more. (They didn’t actually kiss, converse to what I’ve seen some people reporting about how Nelke wanted to pretend everything was fine by making them kiss.)

Well enough on them, the Tamanegi. I think all of them were completely perfect for their roles and they all handled it with enough seriousness to make the comedy different enough from the past cast and therefore make it their own but also for it to actually be funny. I cannot wait to see this group in more shows together and see how much funnier they can become. My only slight complaint, and it is very slight, is that one of the Tamanegi is 19 years old, therefore underage, and it made me slightly uncomfortable when he took his shirt off. as I am now an adult watching the show. Having not been an adult when I watched the previous two, I do rather approach it with different eyes and that was something that I wasn't very comfortable with but I do understand that everybody isn't me and it would have been a bit strange if only one of them didn't take their top off.

Other cast members included Damian, the Maaya man and Ataru the ‘singing princess’. Again, all three of them were amazing, I was especially impressed with Shouta as Damien as I believe he carriage the emotion that came with that role excellently. Knowing what kind of personality Shouta has off stage, it still makes it slightly weird for me to see him playing less-good characters but I cannot fault his acting. I will cover the other two cast members in my spoiler review.

Anything else: I think the staging was excellent, prop work was very good and they obviously worked very hard on this show.

That will do it for my spoiler free review underneath I will get into a lot more detail on things that I liked, disliked or just wanted to comment on.

If you're stopping reading here thank you very much for reading and I really recommend if you weren't sure about this cast and weren’t sure how much they'd put into these roles and how much they would love them I can assure you that these roles have been trusted to people who really love this show and are working very hard. If you are considering getting the DVD but aren’t sure, I really recommend that you do get it if you like Patalliro and don’t just want to see only the old cast.

If you have any more specific questions about the show, I will be happy to answer them so just drop me an ask.

Spoilers under cut (Warning, it is very long)

God, where to even begin. This show was so good. They combined old stage Patalliro, with new directing, a new cast, and a really interesting arc. I'm going to separate my review into story, acting, singing/songs and directing, as well as mentioning some extra stuff that I might think of at the end.

I will illustrate bits I’m saying with pics but pics cannot do this show justice. And I’ve bolded where I begin each section so it’s more easy to find.

So first, the story. As someone who doesn't know the exact intricacies of this arc, I do know roughly what happens I just couldn't remember all the specifics, I think the show was set out in a very non confusing way compared to other Patalliro content. They did make the story a lot more linear and wasn’t showing stuff that happened at the same time as other things too much which can sometimes hurt my brain. Even with all the flashbacks and flashforwards I felt it was really easy to keep track of what was happening when. The story had a very clear and defined beginning, middle and end, and I just thought it was very well done.

Acting, with occasional dips into directing and story when appropriate. As I said before the acting was amazing. I had chills, the entire scene with Damien, Maraich and Bancoran. I think they balanced the comedy and tension very well and didn’t try to undercut all the serious scenes with comedy which is my main complaint with a lot of gag manga/anime/stages. Except during Maraich’s more emotional song where one of the Tamanegi was still wearing bdsm gear which I thought was a bit hmmm. I’m not rly gonna cover Kato Ryo bc he just is Patalliro at this point.

Maraich and Bancoran, despite having very few scenes actually talking to each other, had undeniable chemistry. Dai and Yuuya, sold me on them being a couple immediately with the way they looked at each other and how they held each other. Their final scene before the end together where Maraich lay in a hospital bed and Bancoran was clutching his hand gave me so many emotions (First night he held his hand and final night he kissed him). I was 100% sold on how much they cared about each other, even if they might fight a lot in the end no one will ever love the other more than they do, and I think that that is what makes this couple so special. They have a true unconditional love for each other and they would, quite literally in Maraich’s case, throw themselves on a bomb for the other one.

Bancoran. I think Yuuya played Bancoran so well. You could see the character maturing before your eyes as we moved from 15 years previously to 12 years previously, to 10 and onwards until the normal time. And you could see the vulnerability he had with Damien and how that was still there but how he truly loved Maraich and that the vulnerability he has with Maraich is different. While Damien didn’t tend to let his guard down around Bancoran, his relationship with Maraich is a lot more give and take and I think he played all of that expertly. I know how much Bancoran cares about Maraich is a lot more vague in the original but I think that was partly as a product of its time and they somewhat had to make some humour out of these two men being in a relationship without flat out making fun of that aspect. So, I am very happy that the stage lets these character’s be in love and despite everything, truly show that they care about each other. Also, he did make me cry a few times when he saw Damien broken, Maraich with Damien as his heart broke seeing that happen to the man he loved but also breaking for the trust he put in a man he had once loved as well in the final scenes where he has clearly decided to kill Damien but is still holding onto a feint hope that maybe, he is not completely lost.

Mariach. Wow, just wow. He was not super present in the beginning, but he was the standout in the show in my opinion. His Maraich was so so different to Sana-chan’s Maraich and yet he was absolutely true to Maraich. He approached Mariach from a very different angle and I am so glad we are lucky enough to get both of them playing Maraich. He seems a lot more mature, like he has definitely been with Bancoran longer. He gives him more trust and isn’t as quick to be jealous as well as very quickly understanding Damien and how important he is to Bancoran, asking Patalliro not to tell him anything until they were sure which is different to how he acted about Bjorn/Andersen in the last show, they are different situations but I do think it represents character growth. He was a lot more aggressive in his fighting and anger though, as shown by his heavy metal solo as opposed to the softer ones of Sana’s. Despite all that he still was clearly in love with Bancoran and still showed his cute side. As well as expressing more deeply about his love for Bancoran with one of the Tamanegi but more on that in the Tamanegi’s bit. The scene with Damien was done so well by everyone involved. They clearly condemned Damien’s actions, showed how disgusting what he did was and created incredible pathos for Maraich while also showing Maraich somewhat unaware of what had happened and during the sex scene with Maraich and Damien, Dai showed Maraich’s desperation to hold on Bancoran and love Bancoran, so well, and it broke my heart.

Damien. I don’t remember too much of Damien from the original but Shouta played him excellently. He showed the progression of this man who loved Bancoran to a man who was willing to throw him away and murder him so well and it was believable despite not seeing almost anything except his interactions with Bancoran or Bancoran/Maraich’s feelings about him. When he held Bancoran at the end, asking why he was fighting so much and why he wanted Damien to kill him, despite Damien obviously being the villain you couldn’t help but feel sympathy for this man despite everything he’d done. (Also I think there is meant to be a parallel between him holding Maraich and him holding Bancoran)

The Maaya man. I thought the actor himself was very good, but I am a bit confused about why he was in the stage. All the Tamanegi played multiple roles, changing costume, and there is only one of him, so I am not too sure what the benefit from having a single Maaya man was but it’s a very small complaint and mainly about logistics rather than show quality. Especially as it certainly didn’t take away anything from the show having him there.

Nakamura Ataru – The singing Princess. Oh. My. Lord. Her voice was phenomenal, and she was gorgeous in every single outfit she was in, reaffirming to me that I am very pan (Not just attracted to the men in the play but also this gorgeous woman. I am not saying I am pan because she is trans). What was a surprise to me is that she was genuinely really funny. In the scenes where she was meant to be funny, I laughed a lot and she definitely has expert comedic timing.

The Tamanegi. I am going to separate a few of them who were reasonably important and group the rest in together.

So, the ones who did not play major roles in the show were: Emoto Koki, Ookubo Tatsuki, Sagawa Daiki and Hoshi Gouki. They were all very good, played their parts well and I don’t think they could have done better. It was very interesting to see Koki in a bdsm outfit but besides that there wasn’t anything super memorable about these actors’ parts.

Harashina Motohisa. Motohisa played the Black Tamanegi and served as somewhat of a leader for the Tamanegi in their scenes. Given that he was the only 2nd season Tenimyu actor in the cast and was the first name in the list of Tamanegi this was pretty much the role I expected him to play. He was very good, and his high voice was super adorable to hear after not hearing it much from his roles.

Okuda Yumeto. It was very surprising for me to see that Yumeto was the Tamanegi who travelled back into the past with Patalliro to see Bancoran’s past. Not only is he the youngest of the Tamanegi but he was also last on the list of Tamanegi names, I might be putting too much onto that list, but I did think it was gonna be kinda going from highest ranked to lowest and from most importance in the show to lowest. I was kinda right and wrong about that as the four most important were the two first names and two of the three last names. He did get to sing a little in the Bancoran and Damien jazz sex song, more on that later, and I thought what he did was good.

Nakata Ryouta. (Yes I am saving Tsukasa for last bc I love him). Out of the four he had the smallest role but still had a solo bit in their trio song (trio is the name for a song where 3 people harmonise and have solo bits if you didn’t know, bc lol I didn’t) and was somewhat important to Maraich. I thought he was very good despite it being his first stage show and he had a lovely voice. He and Tsukasa made such a cute couple.

Taguchi Tsukasa. Warning, he is my favourite actor, and I am extremely biased. He was the best actor in the show, no question.

Joking, he didn’t have too much to do so obviously he didn’t shine more than Dai-chan, Yuuya or Shouta for example. He had two scenes with Maraich and while he didn’t do much in the stage overall it was clear how much of an impact his character, Tamanegi no.35, made on Maraich. He confessed to Maraich his love for his fellow Tamanegi, no.19, and spoke of their love and how special they were to each other which was never ridiculed or made fun of but was an exceedingly human moment and as a lgbt person it really touched me. He saw the love Maraich had for Bancoran and he and 19 did everything they could to help him. Without them, Bancoran and maybe Maraich as well, would most likely be dead as they picked Maraich up and brought him to Bancoran as well as getting Plasma X’s armour to protect him. Maraich, so far in the stages, hasn’t really had a friend. He always has just had Patalliro, shown by Patalliro being called in the 2nd stage to help them with their argument despite Maraich not liking Patalliro that much and this Tamanegi offered help to Maraich without judgement, just empathy, and I thought that was really special. I know, due to the nature of this being based on a gag manga and knowing Patalliro, that in the next stage they will likely not get another scene together but I can hope as their second scene with 19, 35 and Maraich might be my favourite scene in all of Patalliro content.

I know Tsukasa is a massive Patalliro fan, in a live he said he went to the previous show between 4-6 times and I have rarely seen him smile as much as he did in the finale of this show. It obviously meant so much to him to be in a show he loved and I’m incredibly happy for him.

Singing/songs.

There were 9/11 songs in this show. (9 if you don’t count Cock robin and Foggy London Airport which Ataru only sang a little of on stage but is an album exclusive)

These were:

1. Wow Patalliro

2. I can’t see your

3. Maybe we could meet again? – Mata Aeru Kashira

4. Foggy London Airport

5. Sexy dudes!

6. To leak out – Moreru

7. Kiss me Bancoran

8. Cock Robin

9. Don’t overlook me – Misugosenai

10. My special person - Tokubetsu na hito

11. Forever Patalliro ~ Grand Finale

1. Wow Patalliro

This opening song was such a bop and I don’t think I will ever get it out of my head. It was very different to the previous first songs, much higher tempo and energy which I think was interesting as this show felt slower than the previous two shows which I thought was interesting. Shouta, Damien’s actor, was having so much fun dancing around in the bg and it was adorable.

2. I can’t see your

God Ataru’s voice. Her voice was gorgeous in this song. This was my favourite of the 3/4 songs she sang and this is from a person who doesn’t usually like ballads. The contrast between the fast pace of the first song and the slow pace of the 2nd song was so well done. And it was such a good song to have the cast list play during as kinda a more formal opening as the first scene doesn’t do much except to show that Bancoran is acting strange and so isn’t super related to the rest of the stage.

3. Maybe we could meet again? – Mata Aeru Kashira

I love the club singer vibe of this song and Maraich was so cute with Ban clapping along in the back. It was a nice soft scene before all the angst and trauma in the rest of the scene and it was really nice to see them on a date together.

4. Foggy London Airport

Don’t have many thoughts as I didn’t really hear much of this song, about 2 lines, but I’m sure it’s amazing if Ataru is singing it.

5. Sexy dudes!

I love all the Tamanegi songs so much and I rly liked how different this one sounded, much like all the songs in this show, I like how the Tamanegi are built up in this song to seem so good then they having the dumbest dance ever, it was amazing and the final day with all of them stripping killed me. Of laughter bc of Daiki wearing a shirt that made it seem like he had abs and of other things bc of Tsukasa stripping. (I think Daiki might not have been comfortable showing his fully chest so I’m glad they allowed him to just wear a pretend ab shirt)

6. To leak out – Moreru

I never imagined a sex scene in Patalliro would be shown by a woman dressed like a bush singing a jazz song as screens showed the characters sex faces as they were on a spinning bed or doing poses but here we are. The song itself was very good and I think it worked weirdly well representing what happened.

7. Kiss me Bancoran

God all the songs in this stage were just so good. Another absolute banger. Yuuya’s voice as Bancoran is divine and the choreography and everything work so well for this song. I also think he looks super pretty in his past Ban outfit and love that the song was done in that.

8. Cock Robin

Pretty much as normal. Maraich’s little leg lift is so cute

9. Don’t overlook me – Misugosenai

This was not what I expected from a Maraich solo in any way shape or form. But it works so well?? Maraich screaming into the mic as Bancoran plays the guitar and the Tamanegi do back up dance is just phenomenal, Dai’s voice works for the song so well and him pretending to be Damien and Bancoran and impersonating their voices as they had sex was hilarious, omg. This song was the song we didn’t want but we needed so much. By far and away my fav song in the show. I have listened to it so many times already and I am never gonna get bored of it.

10. My special person - Tokubetsu na hito

A trio song between Maraich, 19 and 35 about what you do when with the person you love the most and what you would do for the one you love the most, with the other Tamanegi as back up singers. Despite looking a bit silly with Koki in his bdsm gear in the bg, the emotion was there, and the three actors are such good singers. /not at all biased. Honestly, I died when I heard Tsukasa start to sing. I didn’t expect him to get a solo bit in this show and I was so happy that he did.

11. Forever Patalliro ~ Grand Finale

I rly like the new ending song. It’s upbeat and fast like the first song and has a different feel to the previous cast. I’m kinda glad that the final bit with the circle head things that look like the headframes from the manga was the only song they kept. They’re showing that they are moving on from the previous cast without erasing what they did.

Overall, I think this show has my favourite soundtrack. In the past two shows and the film there were a couple songs I didn’t love but in this one I loved all the songs!

Directing

Like I said before I think there were a lot of good calls in the direction. They had I think two or three references to Stardust, I think this was to partly reassure fans that they weren’t completely resetting the world and that this was a continuation and from what I remember maybe four or five recurring things.

1. Patalliro at the start being asked who he is, this definitely makes sense tho and I’m super glad they didn’t change it

2. Maraich’s legs shaking when Ban looked at him with his beam. I kinda liked though how they even changed the beam for Yuuya. Tsune’s was a contant beam whereas Yuuya’s beam is more short bursts. (in terms out sound and the projection of the beam light)

3. Patalliro recreating the most tragic scene from the play again at the end. I was a little unsure about them keeping this at first as it felt like a joke of the old cast but it was mainly something Kato Ryo did and he is still here to continue his joke so it makes sense to keep it. Also, in the finale he gave Damien. Maraich and Bancoran characters from tv to impersonate while doing their lines which made the scene very funny.

4. The final bit after the finale song with the head frames but I think it would be weird to remove this song in retrospect bc it is the song that mainly relates back to the manga. Also, they did change what the head boarders look like.

5. And obviously the two mangaka that are referenced in all the stages are still there bc that is something that came from the original. (Micchan sensei and the shojo mangaka one)

Except for that stuff, from what I can remember, mostly everything was new jokes which I rly liked. That they’re making new stuff for the new cast.

That’s it!

I still have so many other thoughts but the best thing I can say at this point is pls watch the stage! It is just as faithful as it was with the original cast and the quality has not dipped at all.

Thank you for reading my rly rambly thoughts and I’m sorry it trailed off at the end, it is quite late now.

I hope it inspired you to look into getting a DVD or CD or supporting the stage in some other way.

Have a good day/week/month/year/life!

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toaarcan · 4 years

Text

Ken Penders doesn’t *want* to make The Lara-Su Chronicles.

So Penders has been stupid on Twitter again. Normally not worth talking about unless what he’s saying is especially heinous or stupid, but this time it was followed reasonably closely by Matt McMuscles posting an episode of What Happened? about Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

youtube

Unlike most discussions about Sonic Chronicles sucking, this video included a segment voiced by SomecallmeJohnny talking about Ken Penders’ role in the game never being continued and all of its ideas being dropped from SEGA’s canon.

Naturally, the comments contain plenty of people talking about how the game was what got Penders angry enough to finally kill the Archie Sonic comic by collapsing the house of cards of incompetence that Archie had built for him to topple.

But I think there’s a misconception here. Because I don’t think Penders wanted Archie Sonic to die.

No, Penders didn’t want to kill Archie Sonic. Why on Earth would he want to kill something he wanted to be the head writer of?

Penders knew that he’d contributed an enormous amount of the lore of Archie Sonic. Not just characters, but settings, concepts, ideas, the whole world was largely defined by him. Other writers were certainly better, but they were playing in the house that Penders built. It was rotten and riddled with woodworm, but he made it.

Just like Ian Flynn, whose dedication to this comic allowed it to stumble on while bleeding out, and enjoy a quasi-resurrection under IDW, Penders has an undeniable passion for Archie Sonic, and refused to let go of it.

Yes, it’s a version of Sonic warped by Penders’ own ego, incompetence, confusing political views, ego, lack of self awareness, ego, absence of talent, sexism, ego, enormous daddy issues and of course, ego. But it’s passion nonetheless. It would be admirable if that dedication didn’t just kill it for everyone else, but, y’know, points where they’re due.

I think Penders believed that if he gained ownership of all those characters and concepts, they’d have no choice but to hire him back. The Archie Sonic universe couldn’t exist without what he had made, and if they wanted to continue in that form, they’d need to give him a seat at the table.

When he issued his statement on the restrictions he was placing on further use of his ideas by Archie, I don’t think he was making intentionally unreasonable demands. I don’t think he wanted to be a third executive that Ian had to please, after SEGA and Archie themselves. He wanted to supplant Ian entirely. He wanted Ian’s job.

Why else would he talk so much about what he’d do if given the job again? Why else would he keep posting about things he wanted to do with Archie but never got the chance to? Why else would he not involve anybody else, like Scott Fulop, say, until after the reboot had happened and he already had what he wanted?

That’s the smoking gun, for me. If this was really about giving back authors what they were owed by the evil company that had been making money off their hard work, he would’ve done much better as just one writer among many, all aiming for the same goal.

Fulop’s later litigation, which probably finished Archie off, proves that, at the very least, Penders was able to get others to take up his cause. At most, that other writers had genuine grievances with Archie’s actions.

So why did he wait? Why make himself the sole enemy of the very fandom he’d be intending to sell his own comic to?

Because The Lara-Su Chronicles was never the goal.

He wanted to be in control of Archie Sonic, and if he’d achieved that, Fulop taking ownership of Mogul and everything else he did wouldn’t have helped Penders. It would’ve outright hindered him, taking away things that he would’ve wanted access to in his new role as head writer. He knew he was integral to the continued survival of the original Archie universe, and he was expecting that to give him power over the comic. He wasn’t expecting Archie to turn around and delete everything not made by SEGA, DIC, or one of their then-current employees.

He thought they needed him to survive. And then they found a way to do it without him. And that pissed him off something fierce. And when the reboot of Archie tanked after three short years, of course he celebrated. Because as far as he could see, they’d refused to do things his way, and perished. They had rejected him, and failed without him.

And that’s why he turned his sights on IDW as soon as they got the license with Ian at the helm. Because he cannot stand not being the man at the helm of the Sonic comics. It’s got to be him, it can only be Ken Penders.

That’s why he posted his own idea for what he’d do with IDW, and it mainly consists of trying to turn IDW entirely into a revival of Archie.

And that’s why The Lara-Su Chronicles has never materialised. Because he didn’t want to make it. He still doesn’t. He wants to be writing Archie Sonic. And that’s why his lore for Lara-Su is a confusing mess of concepts stolen blatantly from SEGA and Archie. Why he’s had the legal rights to do whatever he wants with those characters for almost seven years, and has done nothing.

He’s made one page. And it was posted online a few months after the lawsuit ended, and since then, nothing.

It’s almost tragic, really. He had a genuine passion for this work, but because of his own ego, he couldn’t allow it to survive without him. And so he killed it, and now all he can do is sit about online and hope against all sanity that it will one day return to him. And only to him.

#Ken Penders #Sonic the Hedgehog #Archie Comics #Archie Sonic #Sonic #Ian Flynn #Wha Happun #What Happened?#The Lara-Su Chronicles #Scott Fulop #Matt McMuscles #SomecallmeJohnny

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hellyeahheroes · 4 years

Link

Harvey Richards and Lateef Ade "L.A." Williams have a lot in common. They both grew up reading comics with aspirations to work in the industry one day. They both ultimately nabbed roles on the editorial staff of DC Comics in the 1990s.

And they are both Black men who say they never achieved their full potential at DC Comics because of their race.

There are differences in their stories — notably, the time periods. Williams exited his role as an assistant editor in 2000 after six years without a promotion, while Richards spent 22 years at the comics giant with just one promotion before he was fired in December 2019.

But the similarities that cut across those two decades are striking and speak to how little has changed for Black editorial staffers at DC Comics and in the comics industry at large.

Richards was the only Black staffer in the main DC editorial department at the time of his exit in 2019, which included about 15 people, he said. He added that DC had since hired a Black assistant editor. DC declined to comment on personnel matters.

DC, which is home to Batman, Superman, and other iconic characters, is much larger than its comics editorial department, with around 200 employees on the publishing side. But the small team of editors shape the comics and characters that inspire lucrative movies, video games, TV shows, and merchandise.

"You need [Black] editors to help nurture talent to foster diverse characters," Richards said.

Besides being the only Black editorial staffer at the time of his exit, Richards felt stymied in his own career, he said. In his 22 years at the company, he was only promoted once. He began as an assistant editor and 12 years later, in 2009, he was promoted to associate editor.

L.A. Williams can relate.

"My personality and work style is different than Harvey's, who is different from every other name I could rattle off," Williams said. "But no matter how different our work styles or personalities are, the reality is that every one of our stories ended up the same. When it keeps happening year after year, person after person, you have to ask yourself what all of these people have in common."

A Latinx former assistant editor, who exited in 1999 after five years without a promotion, shared similar concerns with Business Insider about a lack of a career path forward at DC and a sense that her work was undervalued.

The stories of these three former DC editors are also similar to that of Charles Beacham, a former Marvel editor who spoke with Business Insider in July. Beacham was one of two Black editorial staffers Marvel had employed in the last five years and quit in 2017 because he felt his voice wasn't heard.

For Richards, there were many instances during his time at DC when he felt he was treated unfairly. He recalled specific instances with Paul Levitz, the DC publisher at the time, like when Levitz told Richards he had "grammar problems," and when Levitz told him "some people think you deserve this" when Richards won an award. Richards was never promoted while Levitz was publisher and president.

Williams also described a confrontation with Levitz, in which Levitz told Williams that he would never be promoted as long as he was publisher.

In response to a request for comment, Levitz said: "I'm not going to comment on decades old incidents. I'm proud of the increasing diversity at DC in my time as an executive there, and while we didn't achieve an ideal balance, I think much changed for the better."

Since Richards' departure, DC has taken some steps to promote diversity and inclusion.

Two women — Marie Javins and Michele Wells — were named interim editors-in-chief after recent layoffs. DC recently hired former Activision Blizzard exec Daniel Cherry, who is Black, as its new senior vice president and general manager, overseeing marketing, sales, and more for the company.

DC is also reviving Milestone, a division of DC that focused on Black characters like Static Shock and was founded in 1993 by four Black men. It ceased operations in 1997 but will return in February.

But for Richards and Williams, it's essential to have Black voices on the editorial front to help inspire change and champion a diverse set of voices and characters.

For Williams, comics were his life. He had written his senior thesis in Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts on the history of Black characters in superhero comics.

So when he got a job at DC Comics in 1994, it was a dream come true. But he faced roadblocks that previewed Richards' own experiences in the coming years.

Williams, 51, recalled an instance in 2000 when some assistant editors were given a monthly comic to edit on their own by then-executive-editor Mike Carlin, who is now a DC Entertainment creative director. Williams said the assistant editors of color were set up to fail and given comics that were doomed from the start.

But Williams turned his assigned book, "Impulse," starring a Flash sidekick that had been hurting in sales, into a success.

Carlin wasn't happy. Williams said Carlin cursed him out for getting veteran comics creator Walt Simonson to draw two issues of the comic, and "wasting his time on Impulse when he should be drawing other characters like Superman."

Carlin did not return a request for comment. DC declined to provide a comment on his behalf.

That sense of not being valued even when he succeeded was a hallmark of Williams' time at DC, he said.

After a white associate editor was fired, Carlin offered Williams to take over that editor's books, which included one of DC's best-selling comics at the time, "Wonder Woman."

Williams remembered vividly what Carlin told him: "I've had my doubts about you, but you've delivered. Everything is always on time, it sells, and critics like it."

"I thanked him for my promotion," Williams said. "And he interrupted me and said it didn't come with a promotion. I feel so stupid now, but at the time I was so confused and asked why it wouldn't come with a promotion."

More than two decades later, Williams said the answer was obvious to him.

Williams' DC career ended just as Richards' was just getting started.

Richards, 48, moved from Akron, Ohio, to New York City in 1995 and began his comics career with an internship at the original Milestone, which then shut down in 1997. His Milestone connections eventually led him to DC, where he started in the mailroom and then became an assistant editor.

"I was living my dream at this point," Richards said.

In 2001, after four years as an assistant editor, Richards was offered the chance to work on the Superman titles. It wouldn't have been a promotion, but a chance to prove himself (the chain generally went like this: assistant editor, associate editor, editor, group editor, and executive editor).

But Richards was given what he said was the "unusual" task to write about what he "could bring to the Superman books." Paul Levitz, then the EVP and publisher of DC, told Richards he had "grammar problems" after he completed the assignment, Richards said.

"After that, Levitz made up his mind about me," Richards said. "I felt he already had because most people are promoted after four years. But after that, it was over, even if I got a good review or worked on good projects or got company awards for going above and beyond."

Richards won two such awards, called "Carrots," which were given by DC's parent company, Warner Bros. After he won the second time, Levitz handed it to him and said "some people think you deserve this," Richards said.

Richards was finally promoted to associate editor in 2009, 12 years after he was hired, when Diane Nelson took over as president of DC Entertainment.

Richards' time at DC came to an end in December.

He had been put on zero-tolerance probation in August of last year. The document Richards provided Business Insider outlined "poor time management skills and an inability to meet deadlines." Richards said he was being overworked.

The day after he returned to the office from Thanksgiving break last year, he was let go with a six-month severance and told he "no longer fit company standards."

He's still looking for work while honing his digital art skills. He said a potential employer asked him why he was only promoted once in all that time at DC.

"It wasn't because of my work performance," Richards said. "I feel like they blacklisted me."

19 years earlier, Williams had left DC with similar sentiments.

After a confrontation over Williams using the likeness of the Alabama governor in an issue of "Impulse," Williams said Levitz told him: "As long as I am publisher of DC Comics, you will never be promoted. You're welcome to stay here in the role of assistant editor for as long as you like."

Williams thought the timing of the dispute — shortly after he had filed a racial-discrimination complaint with human resources against Carlin — was suspect. He quit shortly after.

"I naively thought that as long as I do good work, the comics sell, and the critics like them, I'm going to do well," he said. "As a Black man in America, I knew I wouldn't be able to make as many mistakes as others. But I thought the solution was, work harder and do better."

Their experiences highlight why editors of color are so important, Richards said. They can help "realize a creator's vision" and promote more diversity in comics. He lamented that he never got that opportunity. And Black editors in senior positions could provide a source of support for ones in assistant or associate roles, he said.

"Ideas came down, they didn't go up," he said. "And I didn't have anyone above me advocating for me."

He hopes the recent shakeup at DC affords marginalized groups more opportunities and he sees more women in comics than ever before. Jessica Chen, who is Asian American, was promoted from associate editor to editor last year, for example. But Richards also noted there is still a lack of Black women in the industry.

"Change is going to come," he said. "It has to."

A harrowing look into DC’s history of racism which, among other things, made Lateef Williams, an editor who helped Impulse book avoid cancellation, to quit.

-Admin

#DC #Racism

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akampana · 3 years

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Would loooove to see the ozytoria art you made, and also your thoughts on them for the ask game !

Hello Anon, thank you for the ask! I made this a few months back for a draft I scrapped. It must have worked as a catalyst since Ozy came home during the white day event.

Hahahaha hope you like it anyway. :)

What made you ship it?

You know what, I really do hate to say this but it's GilArt's fault.

By now, I think you all know about my boundless love for Saber. Ozy, however, I was first interested in because of Prototype and then when I saw the art I was like. Oh. Oh no.

So, little old me researched literally every crumb there was to Ozy, found out he's quite similar to Gil, but tan different enough, especially concerning his boundless love for his wife Nefertari (and his other wives, good on you for being generous, Ozy!). And then I got interested.

I ended up drafting a really old like years old smut-ish angst fic involving Arturia and Ozy, in which they were both using each other as replacements. You know, for Gil and Nefertari. I'll put an excerpt right below the cut. (The excerpt is not NSFW it just made the ask long. )

And that's where it started. More below.

“You broke our agreement,” she hissed from under him, words cold and accusing.

“How dare you?” she whispered, “When I am not her...”

She turned to face him, wiping away his kiss with the back of her hand. “...And you are not him?”

In her mind, superimposed on Ozymandias, was a different face. One with fairer skin and hair. One with piercing blood eyes, and an arrogant curve of lip. One less gentle. One less kind. And she supposed right now, her lover saw her as his wife. With darker hair, with olive skin, with chocolate eyes and a soft smile. Arturia was everything but.

“You are not mine, King of Kings...and I am not yours.”

Ozymandias caressed her cheek with a heavy hand, exhaustion settling over him.

He found he no longer craved the tanned skin of his wife, nor the gentler gaze of her eyes. He still loved Nefertari. He always would. That was one thing that would never change. But every night he spent with this blonde woman, he was beginning to see her for her own beauty, not the qualities she shared with Nefertari.

He was falling for Arturia.

And he was tired of pretending.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

That they've both been married before. I've alluded to this briefly on the last ask, but I frequently hc them together acknowledging their marriage with other people. Nefertari is a huge part of Ozy's life and character after all, and though Guin isn't very much mentioned in Fate, she did play a significant role in Arturia's life. One of Saber's happiest days was their wedding day.

So if we put Ozyturia in conjunction with OzyxNefertari and Arturia/Guinevere or even Arturia/Gil, the dynamic we get is Widower x Widow/Divorcee, with the former missing love and the latter dismissing it.

Plus, it's not like they won't catch each other's interest in Chaldea, for example:

He's met Arthur and Lartoria both. Meeting Arturia, he supposes the gods must be trying to tell him something.

By his dialogue Ozymandias has a thing for people who have the disposition of a king, like, oh you know, the King of Knights. :D

On Arturia's part, his general aura would initially drive her to stay away, due to certain similarities with another king. Slowly, however, she'd learn he's different.

Ozymandias has...a certain wistful aura about him, and unlike the other Servants who usually hang around her post-Rayshift, Ozymandias just...disappears.

She thought herself to be rather reserved, but she then realizes she never sees the pharaoh with the other Servants, and only rarely with Nitocris. At least she has her Table and the company of her former Grail War enemies. In comparison, she and even Gilgamesh are more social.

Then, one day, he's finally coaxed out of his hole due to Master's efforts (interlude 1), and Arturia's curious enough to ask him about it.

Delighted to have a new audience, and a kingly one, no less, he retells the poems about his wife that he's only graced Master and Nitocris with.

"HM! That you have listened to my wondrous tale of my queen for these plentiful hours intrigues me, King of Knights. While I am cognizant of my own talent, that your attention hasn't lapsed once is commendable in itself."

Arturia doesn't even realize that so much time has passed, she just found herself so lost in how much love this Egyptian King had for his wife. She laments two things: that she doesn't know if she can say the same of Guinevere, and that she knows no one is ever going to say such wonderful things of herself.

I will again be bringing up that Arturia's a competitive, sore loser, and Ozy has an ego bigger than Jupiter, and I love that dynamic. While that sounds like another ship, there is a difference:

Despite his massive ego, Ozy is far more generous with his appreciation and hasn't too sharp a tongue. What that means is, Arturia is going to be persistently annoyed by his hubris, and yet also commended on her best qualities.

She can definitely learn from him to be prouder of her achievements, even if that lesson must be frequently beaten into her head by hearing "Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" over and over.

Their tangle with equality. Ozy does see himself as above everyone else as the pharoah, the god king, but in his eyes, everyone else is equal in service to him. This is why Arturia's Round Table intrigues him so much, because it applies the same principle. A circular table, so none sits at a position inferior or superior to the other, not even the king. While he certainly wouldn't equate himself to his people, that she can do so and still be revered by her followers is astounding to him.

SUN AND MOON SUN AND MOON SUN AND MOON SUN AND MOON

Ozymandias has a thing for eyes. It's rather subtle but it's there, based on his dialogue and interlude. I wonder what he'd see, faced with her brilliant, haunting emeralds.

AHOGE BUDDIES!!!! :D

I hc that she likes his voice. Even the Dajaku Dajaku. Why? Idk it's cute. Has she mumbled it to herself in battle before? Yes. Gawain thought he was having a stroke.

The MODERN AU POTENTIAL OH MY GOD CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE?

We have Ozy, a brilliant loner architect who lost the love of his life and company heiress Arturia, a recent divorcee who needs to build a new house for herself after moving out of the place she used to share with her partner. She remembers the Egyptian from the construction of one of her most successful branches, and hires his talent to help her.

He has to talk to her to understand her concept for the new place, finding out things he didn't know about the rather serious president. She's a foodie, she cares not for extravagance, and she's easily riled up by teasing. Slowly, he begins to find comfort in her presence, even when he knows all their meetings are professional.

She is forced to remove herself from overwork to spend time with him, and at first, she can't understand how anyone could stand being around someone so boastful. But, he proves his skill time and time again, delivering exactly what she was envisioning. In listening to his stories during coffee breaks, she gets charmed by his life and wishes her marriage could have been as happy as his was. :">

When the constructions end, they...well I'll leave that to your imagination hehe

Is there an unpopular opinion you have about your ship?

I know that Ozy and Nefertari are the main ship for this guy or actually, it might be Gil lol and I love their relationship as well and ship them to the heavens, it's so wholesome, but I don't think that he was married in life should be a barrier for shipping. Even if Ozy's love is particularly highlighted compared to the others. A lot of Servants had past loves and a lot lived whole lives, that doesn't stop them from possibly finding new connections. all ships are valid wheeee

Again, thank you very much for the ask! Hope you enjoyed reading through this one. :)

#akampana asks #ozymandias #arturia pendragon #artoria pendragon #rider #saber #ozyturia #ozytoria #arturia #artoria #i think i have too many saber ships #but then again #will there truly ever be too many saber ships?#haahhahahaha #fate #fgo #fate grand order

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