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iwasneverth3re · 1 year

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Hi Li-Li! I hope you’re having an amazing day so far. 😁❤️

I have a few questions for you, and I’m sorry if these are a lot:

How did you become a simp Gun?

What song would you associate Gun with the most?

If you were given a day to hang out with Gun, what would you do if you were with him? 👀

How did drawing become a hobby for you?

As a fellow Filipino, what is your fav Filipino food?

Again, I’M SORRY THAT THIS IS A LOT OF QUESTIONS. 😭😭🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 I wish you a good morning/evening/night!! 😊🖤🖤🖤

HELLO MY DEAR CAT!!! I HOPE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A WONDERFUL DAY/EVENING/NIGHT SO FAR🩶🖤🩶🖤

Now, I apologize in advance for my responses to your questions because I DO NOT shut the fuck up sometimes so this is gonna be long *cracks knuckles* but here goes!

- "How did you become a Gun simp?" EASY. THAT MAN'S TOO FINE YOUR HONOR. Just kidding! I've answered a question similar to this before so I apologize if it may seem like I'm repeating myself! So once upon a time, there was a time where Gun wasn't my favorite character - nor was he my second or third. My favorites used to be Zack and Goo (and honestly? You can throw in Vasco as well because that dude is too good-natured). I loved Zack because of the character development he went through (I used to Hate him because of how mean he used to be to Daniel but with the power of HUMBLING and wanting to become a better person, Zack became such a likeable person). Dude's got such a big heart and he's so kind, like I love his relationship with Mira and Johan or I guess the people he cares about in general because no matter who he's up against, Zack always stands up and fights for his friends (like this guy stood up to Gun and was the only person to step up and defend Johan, like Zack is that ride or die friend that everyone needs).

Then we got someone who's the opposite of Zack and that person is THE Goo Kim. I loved Goo and the way he's so chaotic and an absolute money hungry scoundrel he is. I've always found him to be such a fun character and he made such a strong impression on me when he was first introduced! At first, we thought that Goo was just sadist that loved money but then ptj pulled a fast one by making us think that he was going to beat tf out of Vasco and Cicada's bullies for free out of the goodness of his heart but no this mfer was really like 'oh, so you hurt these kids for no reason? Perfect. Now I have a reason to beat the shit out of you and not get in too much trouble for it'.

Anyways, back to the main point, how did I become a Gun simp? Well your honor, *clears throat* I just really like how much of an awful person he is and how he's irredeemable as a person. Like this guy? This guy destroys lives for a living and unalives people as a pre-workout snack. Yet, there are moments where we are shown that he has the capacity to do 'good' (I'm using this word very loosely here). Like, for a guy that's very cutthroat, it's interesting on how he's willing to do something like not touch hostel in order to honor Olly's wish.

Gun's also unintentionally funny - like I like how goofy this man is?? Like dude, was really ready to kick a bunch of younger guys’ asses in a parking lot until Crystal stepped in and he's all like 'phew, I need to calm down. I need to take the GED test' LIKE YES WE STAN A MAN THAT VALUES HIS EDUCATION👏🏼 or how this man went to a bathhouse and chilled with a monkey in there or how he sucks at being a bodyguard LMAO. CUZ NO LIKE LETS GET INTO IT. EVERY TIME CRYSTAL IS IN DANGER, GUN'S ALWAYS LIKE 'OH, she'll be fine bc she learned for me' or 'you'll be fine because Daniel park will be there with you' LIKE IF I WAS CRYSTAL I'D BE PISSED BC IT’s LIKE YOU WERE TRYING TO THROW HANDS WITH A BUNCH OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BEFORE BUT NOW YOU WONT COME AND PROTECT ME WHEN I ACTUALLY NEED YOU??

Probably some of the things that make Jonggun so handsome to me are his eyes and his floofy hair when it's down. Like look at this handsome demon-eyed man:

AND he's got great fashion?? HELLO?? He also an interesting character to me because there are so many things about him that I'd like to know! Like what did he do to train himself to be in UI mode all the time or how is he able to control it? Why did Gun get sent to Juvie and what was he doing in South Korea? Why did Gun ally himself with Charles Choi during the time Charles was working as a janitor at his centre? I!! NEED!! TO KNOW!!

- "What song would you associate Gun with the most?" OH BOY. THERE'S SO MANY SONGS THAT I ASSOCIATE WITH THAT MAN SO ITS HARD FOR ME TO CHOOSE JUST ONE. BUUUT if I really had to choose, then I really gotta choose songs that are by the weeknd (no this is not just bc I love both men). Here's a few songs that remind me of him: Heartless, Starboy, is there someone else?, I was never there, try me, wasted times, wicked games, the party & the after party, hardest to love, too late, escape from LA, the hills, missed you. Oh and also Ghostface killers by 21 savage, Metro Boomin, and Travis scott

Here's the thing - most of these songs and its lyrics don't necessarily relate to Gun but when I listen to those songs I just think of him?? This man has truly made my rotten oml

- "If you were given a day to hang out with Gun, what would you do if you were with him?" OOF I feel like I'd be too intimidated to even look him in the eye because not only is this mfer is tall as hell (I don't believe for a second that he's only 6'3 like he's gotta be taller than that or PTJ just likes making him taller with every new appearance) he's not exactly the most friendly person. BUT if I did muster the courage to talk to this man, I'd probably take this man shopping (whether it's for myself or for him - I don't mind either way). If we went shopping for him, I'd be there to stop him buying another goddamn cheetah print shirt or that yellow striped button blouse. If not that, then I'd ask him to teach me some basic self defense moves! But I also feel like he'd be kind of mean about it. Or he'd be like, "Why can't you do this? It's easy." And I'd be like "Well Gun, some of us AREN'T prodigies and haven't been training all our lives, yknow?"

Or better yet, I'd have a movie night with him and make him watch a bunch of martial art/action movies. Each time a fight scene would come up, our convo would be like,

"Can you do that?" "Yes." "Okay, what about that one?" "Yes." "This one, too?" "Yes." "Now why does that sound like a lie?" "WHY would I be lying?" "Well Gun, you can't possibly know EVERY move I'm pointing out." "That is literally just a Brazilian kick." "Now how the hell am I supposed to know that?"

Or "can you do that?" "Yes." "Does that actually work in real life?" "IT can if your opponent is standing completely still." "...so since you're sitting completely still, can I try that move on you?" "You can if you want but I can't say for sure that it'll end well for you."

And if Gun's got some paperwork to do or smth, then I'd probably interrupt him and be like

And he'd be so annoyed with me aldjdhsgakala as he deserves.

- "How did drawing become a hobby to you?" So I actually grew up watching anime (I miss the days when they used to play sailor moon and bleach on tv). I've always loved Sailor moon's art style or Arina Tanemura's art and so when I was younger, I started to practice drawing by redrawing their art! However, after some time later, i ended up dropping art because I was unsatisfied with my art. I've always had trouble figuring out or finding my art style - which is why I'm always in awe at everyone's on here because it's like, you see their art style and you instantly know its their art. it wasn't until I joined the lookism fandom on here and became inspired to start drawing again! It's also thanks to Gun that I have all this motivation to draw because all I want to do is draw him - like it's horrible on how much this man has a chokehold on me😔😔

- "AS a fellow Filipino, what's your favorite Filipino food?" EASY PEASY. Puto (it's unhealthy on how little self-control I have around them because I'll be just popping them in my mouth), Dinuguan, palabok, polvoron (THE GOLDILOCKS BRAND IS MY CHILDHOOD), and Lumpia!!

#I'M SORRY IF EVERY THING IS SO MESSY AND JUMBLED #IM JUST SLEEP DEPRIVED AND I DIDNT EXPECT TO WRITE SO MUCH IM SO SORRY CAT #thank you for sending in your ask!!!#they werent a lot of questions at all!! i loved answering them all!!#cherishable cat🐱#li li speaks💬#li li's asks💬#thanks for the ask!

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adder24 · 1 year

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New Year's Resolutions

Summery: Letting out the old and bringing in the new year brings Daniel an unexpected visitor, someone he hadn’t seen in a very long while.

Characters: Daniel Woodman and Adder.

Tags: @the-boneyard-rider @nuggsmum @moviesaremylife @alwayscaskett810 @wholesome-dragon-lady @untilthe12ofnever @superlc529 @gracielaposts @scnewztown @bonnie131313 @nathanfillionserenfity @happiness-in-the-dark @plinkitee New years eve and most people would be out celebrating or spending time with friends and family to see in the New Year. Daniel Woodman was not most people. For a start, all of his family are no longer alive, secondly, his friends were either out celebrating or hunting the beasts of the underworld that lurked in the shadows and thirdly, Daniel would rather spend the New Years getting lost in a game, than being reminded of his existence.

That was until he remembered the time. It was a minute to midnight and there was still the matter of keeping an age old family tradition alive. Opening the door in order to let the old year out and the new year in. He didn’t really put much thought into it, nor did he really check to see if anyone was on the other side of the door, why would he? He was never expecting anyone to show up but this time it was different. The moment he threw the door open was the moment someone stood on the other side of the door,

“Hello” Came the oh so familiar english accent.

Daniel threw off his goggles and stared at the man standing before him. He had seen him before, forty five years previous, the night his family was slain. This man, was not a man, he was a reaper and he was the one who spared him from the monsters that were after him. Forty five years since he last saw him and he shows up on his door, New years eve, a minute before Midnight.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost” The man said calmly

“A ghost? Last time I saw you was when my family were laying dead in central park...Forty five years ago!” Daniel replied, voice a little high pitched than usual “Am I about to die?!”

Just as the man was about to answer, there was joyous celebrations, fireworks going off all around them and people singing very loudly. The New year had been rung in and the man couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

“Oh my timing couldn’t be anymore worse.” He chuckled before meeting Daniels gaze with his ruby red eyes. “You are not going to die Daniel, I’m not here to take you...I’m here because I should have been there for you...I saved your life, disappeared and never checked in on you. Left you to deal with your grief on your own...I’m sorry”

Daniel paused for a moment, staring at the man while he wrestled with his emotions. There was many questions racing round his head like, Why now? Why leave it this long? and Who does he think he is?

“Adder. That’s your name. I remember sitting on my bed and talking to you as if you were there, hoping you’d hear me, hoping you’d cure all my problems or save me from the bullies who made my life hell in school. I thought you was my guardian angel but you never showed and I gave up caring.”

Adder was about to give his reasons but he found the door slammed in his face.

“Yeah I deserved that” He said quietly as he hung his head, raising his hand to knock before stopping himself, taking a beat to gather his thoughts.

In the meantime Daniel was heading to the fridge to get a beer or three, no longer resisting the urge to drown his sorrows but as he turned to head back to the couch, he heard a noise and automatically pulled his gun, aiming it at the source. Standing before him was Adder, once again.

“Oh you’re not going to give up are you?” Daniel growled

“Nope. Put the gun down Daniel. We don’t need another firework tonight” Adder replied calmly.

“Forty five years!” Daniel replied as tears started to form “Forty five years of being on my own.”

“I know...so please let me explain myself” Adder replied as he placed his hands on the gun and moved it away from his head.

Daniel was reluctant to let the man talk to start with but he soon figured it was best to hear what the man had to say before putting a bullet between his eyes.

“Alright. Talk, tell me why you avoided me for forty five years” Daniel said through gritted teeth “Make it worth my while”

“You might wanna sit down, got a lot to get through Danny boy” Adder replied as he gently patted his cheek.

“Don’t you tell me what to do! But you’re right, I need to sit down but not because you told me to, I just don’t want to stand while you pour me a river” Daniel muttered “And don’t call me Danny boy!”

“Alright Woody, I won’t call you Danny boy” Adder replied sarcastically as Daniel took his seat and cracked open a bottle.

“Don’t like that either” Daniel replied

“Not a lot you do like, except the bottle, gambling and a touch of womanising.” Adder replied, smirking as Daniel looked at him with big eyes, like he had just been caught by his father watching porn.

“How did you-” “Oh... I had people keep tabs on you. May not have been present but I had people keep an eye on you. That time you was knocked out in a bar fight last month, Rusty was the one who dragged your ass to hospital and paid the bill. Orson was the one who sent the loan sharks packing when they came to trash your coffee shop and Duke was the one who dealt with those Yakuza you pissed off in a poker match. I keep tabs and this rapid decline was what made me pick up the courage to say sorry and get back in your life again. I made a promise and I have done a shit job keeping it” Adder replied “So shut up and let me explain myself”

Daniel blinked but allowed Adder to continue. Whilst Daniel was young, Adder was preoccupied with firefighting, fighting one problem after another and battling the monster that killed Daniels family but 1986 came along, Chernobyl happened and what happened there fucked Adder up for years. He spiralled, lost himself and went off the rails for a while but his unit pulled together, helped him to get his life together and heal and even though there was cracks, they bonded and grew stronger. It had taken him a while to get back on his feet again and Daniel felt that.

“So yeah...I wasn’t around....but I had a way of keeping track of you. Did you ever meet Orson?” Adder finally asked after he was done explaining himself “Same height as me, Greying black hair, stoic and sounds like he swallowed gravel”

“Does he wear a long black coat and look like he has wolf eyes?” Daniel asked

“Yes! He was the one who kept tabs on you while I was recovering, said he went to your coffee shop a lot, told me you made exceptional coffee but you was barely scraping by, your only customers being other hunters. He also wasn’t too impressed with your branding” Adder replied

“What’s wrong with my branding?” Daniel protested

“Coffee Wood? Really? Makes me think of wild frat boys and carnage. Tell you what...how about this as a way of making up for the absence. Me and my unit help you turn this coffee shop around, means I get to spend time with you, be there for you and give you my guys to help run the place” Adder offered

“And what do I get in return?” Daniel asked

“My Undivided attention” Adder replied with a smile.”Help you in whatever way I can, just don’t ask me to kill because-”

“It goes against the reaper code. I know.” Daniel replied

“Good. So do we have a deal?” Adder asked, holding out his hand

“Yeah... we got a deal” Daniel replied firmly shaking his hand.

“Excellent, first thing to do is rebrand. Say goodbye to coffee wood and get some names down on paper, I’ll get the others to do the same and we will have a vote on the best one” Adder instructed before taking a seat next to Daniel, smiling at him “Oh and...Happy New Year”

“Happy New Year...You gonna do that thing you do where you disappear into thin air now?”

“Nope. Decided I’d stay and give you company, you can teach me how to use that Play box” Adder replied as he pointed at the games console next to the TV.

“That’s a Playstation”

“Whatever...It looks fun” Adder replied as he took the controller off the table “So what’s this we are playing?”

Daniel explained the game he was playing and for a few hours the pair bonded, putting behind the past and starting again.

#Nathan Fillion #Tom Hiddleston #Fiction #Original Fiction #Original Characters #Adder #Reaper #New Years Eve #Resolutions #Gif #Gifstory

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byebyelullabye · 2 years

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Smile in Your Heart - p.p

peter parker x filipino!reader

you don't like valentine's day. peter parker changes that.

A/N: Can be read as gender neutral reader :) can be imagined with any peter parker. the gif usually depends on which British jawline is clogging my dash

Warnings: none other than cavity-inducing fluff 💖 FIRST FIC AHHH!!? Really bad writing and weird ending? angst if u squint really tight. also so many references to Filipino pop culture

Ay, shet.

Red, white, and pink invade all your senses on your commute to Midtown High. Bouquets were blocking your view everywhere you went. Every couple in the subway and hallway was holding hands. Hell, even your parents were extra lovey-dovey this morning as Yeng Constantino sweetly sang on the radio before you left for school.

Love is in the air. It's just too bad Lysol doesn't come in travel-sized cans.

You would have gladly forgotten about this dreaded consumerist holiday. You could have even gaslit yourself into thinking it's Easter if it weren't for-

"Happy Valentine's Day, y/n", a chirpy voice greets you.

There he is: Peter Parker, in all his brown-eyed glory. If it weren't for him, Valentine's Day probably wouldn't hurt this much.

He's giving you a kind smile. His boyish demeanor is endearing all the time. It's unfair. It's not his fault he's so fucking pretty. Butterflies flutter in your stomach. You've been in love with him far too long to even keep track anymore.

He first spoke to you in first grade when other kids were making fun of the way you looked and the way you spoke English. Everything about you was ridiculous to them and no matter how much you cursed in your native language, it didn't really matter if they could never understand you. Peter took your hand and promised to keep you safe as you both hid underneath the slide (considered by 5-year-olds as the most impenetrable hiding place on the playground).

Then, the bullies started hurting Peter too. Because apparently your words only added fuel to fire, you did what you had to: you took action. And threw a rock. And may have hit some kids' chin.

You and Peter Parker have been inseparable since.

Lately, though, you rarely see Peter outside of school. Weekly movie nights are either canceled or interrupted. He's always rushing somewhere when school ends and now you have to resort to texting him at ungodly hours of the night/day (if he even bothers replying). Whenever you ask him where he’s going, he either says something about an important internship or he gives you a sly grin as he does a flattering impression of you saying, “Si-kreeeeeeeeeettt…” (Secret)

You turn to him as you irritatedly wretch open your locker.

"Peter, 'Happy' and 'Valentine's' don't belong in the same sentence if you're single."

He doesn't reply but he smiles widely with his eyes crinkling, in that bright sunshine-y way that makes your heart clench, your mood lightens, and your day just a little a million times better. You can't help but smile back.

Ya got it bad.

"Do you know you have flowers in your hair?"

Before you can object, he reaches out a hand to pull out a few red rose petals and buds from your already messy hair. His face scrunches in concentration as he focuses on being gentle, knowing how you feel about people touching your hair. His hand lightly brushes against your cheek when he pulls it back. Your eyes meet.

Pakshet.

All the clever retorts die on your tongue and all you can shyly say is, "Thanks."

You tuck hair behind both your ears and hurriedly start pulling books out of your locker. Peter smirks a little and blushes, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

When you finally meet his lovely beautiful gorgeous eyes again, he asks, "Got any plans tonight?"

"Yeah, actually. A double date", You playfully quipped as you went through your bag, missing the disappointment in his eyes.

"Rea-Really?", he whispers.

"Me and my strawberry ice cream are meeting up with Kathryn and Daniel later tonight"

Relief floods his face as he sighs and leans back on the locker door next to yours.

"Oh, Liza and Enrique canceled?"

"They won't even return my calls anymore!" You whined with a grin.

In all your years of friendship, your love of cheesy Pinoy movies and TV may have rubbed off on Peter. Not that he's complaining about the presence of Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, although he's more partial to Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil. You two alternate between Star Wars (or any Sci-Fi Peter can get his hands on) and the worst of Asian telenovelas (most of which you spend hours debating about). May also watches them (though she will never admit that).

3 months earlier…

"Wait a minute, wait a minute", he says as pauses his laptop playing 'The Half Sisters'. You hum in acknowledgment.

"So, Karina had twins…

"Yes."

"...But Diana and Ashley have different fathers?!"

"...Yes?"

His hands wave like a muppet, closing and opening his mouth, hopelessly trying to make sense of the episode.

"That's!! Not?? Possible??"

"It wouldn't be if Diana and Ashley were identical but they're not so yeah, it works…" You shrug, shoving more popcorn in your mouth, trying to contain your laughter.

"But there's like a 1 in a million chance of that actually happening!"

"It's a telenovela, Peter. Anything, and I mean anything, can happen. Don't try to argue with the logic, it only hurts the brain."

"Y/NNN!"

"So, which ones are you watching this time? Can't Help Falling in Love? Crazy Beautiful You?"

Does he realize what he's saying? The fucking implications? He can't be this clueless, can he?

"I'm actually thinking, The Hows of Us...or Barcelona: A Love Untold"

He laughs before turning to you, "Fantasy double dates aside though, I gotta ask:..."

"Yes?", you replied a little too quickly.

"How did you get flowers in your hair?"

He notices you deflate.

You chuckle, "Oh, Valentine's Day decided to bitch-slap me."

His brows furrow before you clarify ashamedly, looking down at your shoes, "I got smacked by four bouquets on my way here."

He doesn't laugh or even chuckle. His honey-brown eyes find yours and his soft warm hands reach out to hold your cheeks. His thumbs are right on your cheekbones. Dizziness fills your head. He leans in closer, your foreheads touching, his longing gaze never strays from your face.

"Are you okay?", he softly asks.

Lord, kunin niyo na po ako. (Lord, take me please.)

Your mouth is dry. All you can do is nod.

"Y/n…", he softly whispers.

The bell rings. Peter Parker lets go of you and your world grows a little colder. He smiles and nods before a sea of students separates you two.

You shake your head trying to remove the memory of Peter's hands on your face before walking to your first class.

After class, you realized you never asked Peter about his Valentine plans. Partly because you couldn't bear to think he was spending it with someone who wasn't you, being all romantic and totally not platonic.

He catches you as you walk out of the gates, stopping in front of you.

"Hi", he smiles again. Your heart rate spikes. "Hello"

Before an awkward silence settles or before you lose your nerve, you ask him, "Do you have plans tonight?"

His face falls. "I actually might have that internship thing tonight."

"Oh, ok." You pause. It's better than him having a date. "Good luck with that." You smile tightly.

"Thanks", he looks at you before continuing...

"If your ice cream flakes out on you and I get done early, maybe I can join you on that double date with KathNiel?"

"Unlikely, ice cream never abandons people." He laughs at your lame joke. God, why must his laugh be perfect?

"But if the ice cream just so happens to get sick of me, and you just so happen to be free, sure. I know Kathryn and Daniel won't mind." You grin.

He looks down before staring into your eyes. "I'd never get sick of you, y/n."

You're halfway through your second movie of the night when an inconsistent tapping distracts you from Liza Soberano's rage-filled monologue. You pause it.

Spiderman is outside your window. Carrying a small reusable grocery bag.

Tangina. (Fuck)

Your phone next to you starts to ring. You hesitantly pick it up.

"You brighten my day, showing me my direction. You're coming to me, giving me inspiration" Peter's voice croons through your phone.

You look at the superhero outside your window, who is holding a phone to his ear.

You freeze. The world stops. Your brain buffers. Millions of questions spring to your mind. Spiderman rips off his mask to reveal your sweaty-haired best friend, Peter fucking Parker. Your body goes on autopilot as you put the phone down and open your window. Peter smiles as he gets into the room.

"How can I ask for more from you, my dear?", he whispers-sings.

Before he can finish the lyrics, however, you start to slap his chest repeatedly.

"PUNYETA" Slap. "KA" Slap. "GAGO!" Slap. (YOU’RE AN IDIOT!)

"Y/n! I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you yet! I had to protect you! No one else knows!" He weakly tries to defend himself. He holds your arms down in a face-to-face embrace and in your rage, you don't realize how close your faces are.

"ALAM MO ANG SARAP MONG SAMPALIN! Trying to protect me?! By leaving me hanging during our conversations? Never knowing where you're going that's so important? BEST FRIEND KITA EH! KUNG HINDI MO KAYA SABIHIN SA'KIN, EDI KANINO PA?! ALAM MO BA GAANO KAHIRAP ISIPIN NA WALA KANG TIWALA SA'KIN?! MAHAL KITA KASI, GAGO!"

(I REALLY WANT TO SLAP YOUR FACE!... YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND! IF YOU CAN’T TELL ME, WHO ELSE CAN YOU TELL?! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO THINK THAT YOU DON’T TRUST ME?! IT’S BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, ASSHOLE!)

You know Peter doesn't understand Tagalog but you can't help it when your rage takes over. Liza Soberano taught you well.

Then, silence falls. Peter lets go of you to sit on the sofa. You're still standing a few feet away from him.

"I know what you're saying", he whispers.

Shet.

"What?"

He looks up at you as you move closer, sitting near his feet.

"I know what you're saying. In Tagalog, I mean. Not everything, I’m not that good but I know some phrases. Especially that last one though…” He smiles boyishly.

God fucking damn it.

You blink several times. “How?”

“Apart from the whole Spiderman thing, which is just the internship I was talking about, I’ve been going to that Asian market you like so much. The one where you buy all your snacks. You told me once that the lady who runs it, Ate Nadine, is Filipino and so during my free time I go there and she teaches me Tagalog.”

You stay silent as you try to make sense of it all. Peter is learning Tagalog? Why? Why didn’t he go to you?

As if reading your mind, he continues. “It was supposed to be a Valentine’s Day surprise for you. That’s where I went after school, I bought these.” He opens the grocery bag, nearly forgotten on the floor, and pulls out all your favorite snacks. Dried mango, banana chips, Chuckee cartons, Chocnut, Haw-Haw, Inipit, Rebisco sandwiches in your favorite flavors…

You reply as you look at him, stunned, “You remembered.”

“Of course, I did. It’s you.”

You sit next to him, picking up and opening 2 Chuckee cartons and handing one to him.

“Why?”

"...Dahil mahal rin kita." (Because I love you too)

His pronunciation of the vowels was fairly off and his American accent was holding him back from rolling the r's, but it doesn't change the way your quickening heartbeat pounds in your ears.

Peter Parker loves you too.

He leans in, his face an inch away from your face. His eyes staring even deeper into yours.

"God, we're both idiots."

You grab his cheeks as you connect your lips to his soft ones and the world shatters. He responds instantly, closing his eyes and holding you by your waist. You can taste chocolate and toothpaste in the best weirdest way possible. Peter fills all your senses. His hands on your waist. His soft lips on yours. The warmth of his cheeks. There is too much space between the two of you as the kiss deepens.

The two of you almost forget that you need to breathe as you reluctantly pull away.

Once Peter's recovered from the kiss, the first thing he asks is, "Where are your parents?"

"Ugh, what a mood killer", you say playfully as you pull yourself into his lap and start playing with his hair. "Anyhoozle, they're having date night."

"Oh, so we have the whole house to ourselves?" He grins wickedly.

"Did you take off your shoes?"

"Always do when I'm here with you." He grins.

You pretend to think, "Wanna chaperone Liza and Enrique?"

"Oh, what happened to Kathryn and Daniel?"

"...They left when I started thinking of you."

You start assembling a little blanket pit with pillows and snacks. You sit next to Peter, who's changed his clothes, with his arms around your waist and your head on his shoulder.

"I have one question though before we restart the movie." He turns to you. You look up at him.

"Will you give me a smile in your heart?"

You kiss him. Yes

TAGLIST~

@darling-im-moonstruck (bes i need feedback pls 👉👈)

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silentlylovingyourwork · 3 years

Note

hi! i've been following your blog bc of harringrove for a while and i really resonate with your taste in fic so, since i've just recently dipped my toes in lawrusso... could you rec me a few of your fav fics for the ship? i always feel pretty overwhelmed when starting in a new fandom, so i thought i would ask. thanks in advance! 😘

Hi!!

I am honored (and terrified) to help you get ankle deep in lawrusso fics.

Under a cut because it was a lot of scrolling when I made this.

in the business of date-crashing by narcissablaxk, T, 4706 words

“Spotted: newly divorced Mr. LaRusso at Home Depot at nine a.m. on a Saturday,” the message said. The picture was blurry but there was no denying that he was looking at a picture of Daniel LaRusso, in jean shorts and a baggy flannel shirt, his hair mussed and, if he looked closely, a streak of grey by his temple.

It was a good look.

“DILF,” was all Hawk’s reply said, and then a flurry of little picture emoticons that Johnny didn’t understand.

He had to use the Google to figure out what a DILF was.

Probably the first fic I read in this fandom. It's very fun.

He's My Karate Husband by lostmagician, E, 1945 words

What the hell was going on? Was this another one of Johnny's pranks? The worst part was that Johnny seemed unfazed whenever he said it—like he was just stating the way things were.

(Or: the one where Johnny keeps calling Daniel his karate husband, and Daniel doesn't understand why)

Also a fun story.

Safe Word: Cobra Kai by Zerrah, M, 5288 words

In a bout of overprotectiveness, Daniel follows Sam to an unconventional club, and gets more than he bargained for.

One where Johnny totally knows what Daniel really wants.

Love by Amymone, G, 1165 words

Johnny just wants to tell LaRusso that he loves him. What could possibly go wrong?

It's cute.

The Last Coors Banquet in the Valley by LulaMadison, M, 29436 words

During the zombie apocalypse Johnny Lawrence searches for the last Coors Banquet in the valley, but instead he finds a 16 year old kid living alone in an abandoned apartment block. He decides to teach the kid how to be a badass Zombie killer.

(I know some people don't like major character deaths in fic, but there are no 'on screen' character deaths in this fic, although any person not listed in the tags above is assumed to be a zombie or missing. Spoiling it slightly, but any character listed in the tags above isn't going to die.

There also isn't a lot of horror in this because it's not really about Zombies, it's about finding love and family at the end of the world :-P)

A much-needed zombie au.

I Can Give It All To You, Baby by succor_punch, E, 10873 words

Daniel finds the photos. *** Whatever pervert directed this photoshoot knew what they were doing. The next pose has Johnny leaning back against a rock wall with his leg half-hitched up and he looks every inch like a prime, sex-on-a-stick alpha male. White baggy trousers that offset his tanned chest, which is... shiny. Did they fucking rub him down with oil?

It's good and also now a series.

We have been down together in my sleep by trinityofone, E, 4226 words

Listen, it wasn’t Johnny’s fault that he never realized how much he’d love getting fucked.

Lovingly what it says in the description.

Fellas, is it gay... by momma_66, T, 1933 words

To goad your karate rivial into asking you to prom and then both of your egos are too big to back out? Is it gay, fellas?

A fun take on rival daring each other to go to prom together and finding the pics +30 years later

Paler than Grass by the_sound_of_inevitability, E, 4047 words

It’s just the two of them. He told himself he didn’t need an entourage to hand over the damn form, that he was going to keep his cool.

His cool lasted all of two seconds under LaRusso’s gaze.

But then, it never lasts. Whenever he sees LaRusso it’s like an electric charge.

Inspired by the deleted scene of Daniel asking Johnny why he likes intimidation. Canon compliant... until it isn't.

What if Johnny bullying Daniel was a thing they got off to?

Tit For Tat by t_time, E, 2487 words

“I can fix the car for you, at no cost. All I need in return is a little favor.”

Johnny tensed. “What kind of favor?” He asked slowly, not sure he wanted to know.

Daniel leans forward now, smile sliding off his face. “Suck my dick, Johnny.”

In which Johnny is as broke as his car is, and Daniel wants his dick sucked. Written for a Kink Meme prompt.

A bit of a darker Daniel here.

When the Fires Burn Low by petofi, T, 7113 words

A couple years after high school ends, Johnny is lonely and touch-starved. He goes to a beach party where, deep into the night, people will start putting on a blindfold and undressing while other people touch them.

One night Johnny puts on a blindfold, not knowing that a certain karate rival is watching from the other side of the bonfire.

Poor touch-starved Johnny and a kind Daniel.

Snake pit by dedlit, E, 49098 words

Sets after season 2.

1st Arc: Daniel strikes a deal with Kreese and starts loosing control over himself...

2nd Arc: Johnny is back in town, Daniel's downward spiral continues...

3rd Arc: Daniel and Johnny recover, heal and slowly something new can start...

A much darker fic, so well written, poor Daniel, but it does work out

little larusso is a cobra by narcissablaxk, T, 3844 words

When Anthony asks Johnny to teach him some karate to take care of a bully, Johnny agrees, even if it means keeping it a secret from Daniel. That is, until he finds out who the bully is.

It's good and fun.

Bonus:

Functional Flexibility by LMT, M, 23692 words

“How about you, LaRusso?” Johnny says. “What’s *your* secret weapon? Your crane kick of sex?” Knowing that the conversation will go nowhere good, Daniel just tells him that he will never, ever find out. Even if he buys shots all night. ************************** ((After Daniel and Johnny discuss some newfangled ideas about sexuality, which were definitely not in vogue when they were kids, things get weird.))

It's not Lawrusso, but it is a fascinating look at their relationship and both Johnny and Daniel as characters.

#anonymous #asks #fic rec list #so many good fics so little time #i tried to give you a bit of variety #lawrusso #if you're looking for more specific genres let me know #also i am still trying to work out how to format these rec things #i also cannot explain why i like things beyond 'it good'#may you find something you like #you adorable human you #there a lot (a lot) more good fics out there but try these?

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icecreamkink · 3 years

Text

so i watched cobra kai all in two days and i have so many -

this show has so many cool and smart angles to it, but the same time.... its so stupid oh my god everyone is so dumb literally mr miyagi held all of the braincells in this whole universe

like i am but at the same time i am not surprised it was made like this, bc in hindsight of course there were hordes of ppl simping over johnny lawrence .... but it still amuses me that this is like... an Actual Official Thing

ok this will get long so cut it is

how much fun this cast has is super visible and i love it

i rly enjoy how the world was expanded ! i did grow up watching the karate kid movies, so watching how they progressed the world of the movies so organically was pretty cool. it rly feels like its the same universe

i fucking LOVE stories that are largely about a Thing. dancing ,skating, sports its just so thrilling to experience this all consuming relationship people can have with this type of activity? and martial arts are just that much more intense, so yeah, grown ass men kicking each other around at the lightest provocation and a war veteran caring so much abt teen karate is Ridiculous.... but i love it all because thats the intensity i find so thrilling

was kinda surprised with how much im missing mr. miyagi. first because, like everyone is so unhinged jesus christo, it just really throws into relief how much his character grounded the narrative of the movies. but also hes just a really great character

and on that note it rly Gets Me that the show itself aknowledges that and plays that into daniels angst and all the little ways they sorta weave myiagisms into the whole show........ im not getting emotional over this dumb karate dads show OK

related - i really miss hearing ‘daniel-san’ 🥺🥺

ACE DEGENERATE oh god oh no

they really went down the down and out johnny lawrence route huh. like i was always kinda bummed we see kreese choking him and then we never see him again in the movies, and while i love dumpster fire problematic trash himbo ck johnny, its like......................... actually really sad that his life turned out like this fjngn

everytime i hear ‘babes’ and ‘pussy’ i die a little inside. i know thats the point but i am a v cringe easy person, have mercy (ehe)

loved the way they are constantly drawing parallels between johnny and mr. myiagi of all people. hes the handy man of his building that has a bullied kid asking for help and eventually steps up to teach them karate, beats up a bunch of bullies for him, creates a friendship with said kid, estranged from family, drinks his sorrows away, surprisingly one of the least quick to anger characters (which says more about everyone else really but.... Well.), no schemes or ulterior motives hes just tryna vibe here.... oh and ofc magically heals miguel of is asthma apparently. the true disciple.. meanwhile daniel is his usual messy petty self even tho he wants to be mr myiagi so bad

also interesting about that is how miguels character is a parallel of both johnny and daniel at the same time

overall the parallels in ck are done really well, drawing comparisons and also subverting them constantly. theyre well thought out

THE PARALELOGRAMS

fr tho, the angle being explicitly the cycle of trauma and its effects and how trumatized adults in turn traumatize kids, maliciously or not, is so interesting

but! on the flip side of that, it feels like the writers are getting in their own way @ letting the characters grow. especially this last season. theres only so many times you can do "johnny and daniel are getting along but 5mins later they are (literally) fighting over some dumbass random issue" or "johnny puts in 20% of effort with robby and then gives up" before it gets on your nerves yknow?

i see daniel no longer talks like macchio ingested 15 shots of espresso before every take and idk how to feel about that tbh

interesting tension in daniel, as in, in tkk mr miyagi was there and daniel was frankly, kind of a lil shit, this messy petty spitfire hot tempered sassy kid,(johnny lawrence voice: just... stop being so annoying) but now hes the adult, and he wants to be mr. miyagi... but hes just not, and never will be to his very core and it shakes him and in a way hes trying to find who he is now that he sees himself in a position to be a not! cobra kai figure. i kinda really like that

plus how that relates to his cobra kai trauma. idk if the writers thought abt it Like That, i think so, but in any case, its interesting bc it seems like daniel has told everyone whod listen about johnny lawrence his Pretty Boy Karate Rival and high school and 84 cobra kai... But. no one seems to know what went on in 85 (or 86? idk) which was just so much worse

like ye og cobras were shitheads, but tkk iii is just two hours of daniel being emotionally and physically tortured.

like, the third movie is.............chaotic, to put it nicely, and many people ignore it, but the writers clearly didnt. daniels actions are, in a way, responding so much more to the events of tkk iii than to the first movie ie. johnny himself, AND. daniel doesnt rly seem to have dealt with that trauma? he never told sam? doesnt feel like hes ever told amanda? he doesnt even say terrys name out loud? freaks Out over kreese ? the way he reacts to robbys deceit? his FACE when he walks past the new "fear does not exist in this dojo" paint or kreeses photo? hmMm i sense Pain

his fashion tho........... disappointing. where are the flower shirts daniel huh we had one (1) shirt what a tragedy STOP WEARING SUITS ALL THE TIME . also the band ts/grunge bi are a look for johnny but part of me longs for the preppy lovable 80s bully chic johnny lawrence getups

weird that they never used that last moment of karate kid where johnny kinda... snaps out of his anger and hands daniel the trophy almost in tears. like “youre alright larusso, good match” “thanks a lot” that being their last direct interection seems like itd be perfect fruit for cobra kai but... they just dont. weird.

especially when, the FIRST SCENE they see each other, suposedly in 30+ years, the first thing to come out of daniels mouth is QUOTE "u still got those golden locks huh?" WHO SAYS SHIT LIKE THAT DANIEL FUCKING SAN

also amandas immediate reaction "your pretty boy rival?" like. can we talk about the fact that daniel had to have imparted to his wife the very important information that his high school bully/karate rival was like Really Cute and Fucking Hot Actually

the writers Knew exactly what they were doing and honestly.............. power to them

tkk director voice: and billy was just so cute

also I was thinking that daniel sounded strangely fond in that first scene, and i wonder if he developed a weird affection for johnny on the grounds that of all of his Karate Rivals johnny was actually the only one who didn’t actively tried to literally kill him

i was actually delightedly surprised with how great the chemistry between them is, like from the get go i am Invested. their rl friendship totally bleeds through and its fantastic

. granted, idiots enemies to lovers friends is my Thing so i am biased

johnny lawrence: i am down in the dumps, i fucked up my whole life and my sons probably, largely in light of the trauma that the father figure sensei and the philosophy of my karate inflicted on me and all my friends. u know what i should do, as a traumatized, unreliable mess of an adult? teach that same philosophy to some other kids! what could go wrong!

but really i enjoy the setup of it. i kinda like that i watched it late because, season 1 was johnny setting himself up for failure in a way and it was exciting to watch it all go to shit sjfn

Like. his heart might be in the right place, but theres just.... not a way to teach something like ‘strike hard, no mercy’ and not have it fuck up a kid

case and point: aisha, miguel and hawk become annoying as all hell over that bullshit in the end of s1, even before shit gets truly fucked up

billys subtle panicked eyes when he sees hawk and miguel fighting dirty in the all valley was SO GOOD especially in parallel with the panic that is so visible in his face in the movie when kreese tells bobby to injure daniel and in the sweep the leg scene

seen people question wether kreese should have returned and i absolutely think he needed to. johnny needed to realize that cobra kais fundamentals are flawed, at the root, beyond kreese himself being a toxic piece of shit

also who are we kidding? we are here to see the tkk characters play on new playgrounds!

i get what they're doing abt kreeses backstory, ( also. cobra kai. pq eles caem nas cobras djjs sorry) but did it need to take up that much time? feels like they couldve done it in half the run time and developed some other stories better

martin kove has such an evil eye. i love it

love that we get a good follow up to kreese breaks johnnys trophy and tries to CHOKE HIM in the parking lot, which happened in the movie and then....................... was never mentioned again

“the gang is all back together again” aaaa u piece of SHIT

also. terry silver is definetely appearing ha ha ha PAIN i cant wait

seen ppl say kreese was too much of a cartoon villain like..........................oh......... sweetie........... u dont even Know

interested how johnny will fit into that bc kreese was simping rly hard for johnny here. like i did not expect him to be so adamant to have him with cobra kai ... under his control, sure, but he really wants johnny by his side despite already having control of the dojo and how will terry silver self appointed jon kreeses forever simp going to feel abt that?

like bitchs dropping by every episode like ‘joooooohnny ..... come bacc to me joooonny......... this ur last warning! for real this time johnny! i wont say it again! watch me ! im leaving johnny! im rly leaving ! im dragging a chair” and johnny is just like. dont let the door hit ya bitch it was so funny pls

and on that subject oof, johnny! doesnt! Know! he doesnt get that side of daniels cobra kai trauma. and i kind of.............. cannot wait for ck 2021 johnny lawrence to meet terry silver like. what a shit show i need a front row seat and popcorn (imagine terry tries some greasy charm and johnny just roundhouse kicks him in the teeth bc he just doest Not Have the Patience for This. glorious)

feels like we, as a society, should acknowledge that cobra kai will never die................ bc their sense of design is just chefs kiss. their name is COBRA KAI. they have sexie sleeveless black gis. theyve sneks. colorful leather jackets with embroided naja insignia, the get ppl thru the aesthetics. evil geniuses

the flashback cuts : masterpiece behavior

the other takes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the differente angles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of the FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE CLOSE UP ON JOHNNYS FACE AT THE KICK

that scene of daniel and johnny vibing to 80s music in the car. just. oh my god. the fan wish fullfilment. no thoughts head empty.

the new characters! theyre .... good. but. idk. i really like miguel (save for the annoying phase mid s1 - end s2) and amanda, who is a damn riot and has some functioning braincells, but everyone else is

like dont get me wrong, i dont hate anyone,its not a jane and rafael from jtv situation, and i am interested and invested in their arcs, but i wouldnt say i like Like them, as in, personality wise

like, sams grappling with ptsd was rly gutting and i enjoyed that plus her slight rage issues,

which nicely parallel torys rage issues. torys background is all over the place tho so im pretty on the fence abt her so far

robby deserves better in every way, and i like how smart and cunning and surprisingly sweet he is

hawk............... is there i guess,

demetri is annoying in the best way possible,

carmen is sweet but. i just feel like her character is blunted to make the johnny relationship easier. like when shes furious with him after miguels injury but then forgives him like an episode later? and then convinces him to fight for the tournament bc she had a karate epiphany off screen even tho she was always against it? meh. feels like with the plot thiccening she was swallowed and now shes like a crutch for johnny mora than anything, which is disappointing.

aisha was cool and im kinda mad she wasnt in s3, especially bc a storyline with her tory and sam was like RIGHT THERE , but also... cant say i was super super fond of her... doesnt feel like we ever spent enough time on her

moon the bi icon,

overall its a good cast but the main draw for me remains the og cast

the tory/sam miguel/robby Thing. enjoy how theyre Narrative Foils and i like how their stories were so dramatically entangled but oh god give me a break with the teenage love square for the love of god. if u gonna put us through that at least have the decency to not make it so straight

and honestly some sam/tory miguel/robby romantic tension would even make more sense. just saying!

also im not sure how i feel abt the cobra kai: red miyagi do: blue theyre going with since some of daniels most iconic looks in tkk are also red. like it was a color they (johnny and him) sorta shared. i get it, opposite but complementary but idk... a little too fire nation and water tribe for me .

and like the cobra kai kids are so funny abt it bc their outifts grow progressively more ridiculously coordinated. its like do they group chat every morning before leaving their houses?

robby still sticks out like that tho. he went thru an athleisure/daniel san tsleeves phase and now hes back in the bandts grunge, but his color scheme doesnt fully blend with the other cobra kais. hmmmm.

LOVED LOVED LOVED both the okinawa episode and the cobra kais easy rider episode just such good good heart aching fun

bobby is an icon. he was in tkk and he is now ck hope appears more and more

tommy is like the most iconic background character. all his lines, freaking gold then and now. sigh :(

the framing in the okinawa trip was so good everything was so good

i stand by the fact that kumiko was the love interest daniel had the most chemistry with and shes is overall such a joy to watch, loved to see her again, idola, fashion icon

also tkk ii is good u guys are just mean

also really enjoyed chozens role in the episode, his evolution; i love that they introduced the pressure points (ty lee the blueprint) and! the honk + karate! cousins! absolutely iconic

when kumiko reads mr miyagis letters........ oh my god, my eyes FILLED with tears, it was so heart wrenching :(( tamlyns delivery was so emotional and lovely and its so obvious everyone involved in ck has so much love and respect for pat morita and mr miyagi as character, and i adore that it exists like this electric current through the show

when we were watching i told my sister i thought that ali would be miguels big shot surgeon and ngl i am so disappointed that didnt happen. hire me cobra kai writers

also the johnny ali daniel amanda chemistry? off the charts

AND the sassy retconning of daniel and alis breakup! LMAO ‘I HOPE U DIDNT TELL MR MIYAGI IT WAS MY FAULT’ HFDJJGNKFKSD

i am preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty sure back injuries dont work like that but oke

daniel and johnny are so good together whenever, like they never actually help the kids or get shit done and end up fighting anyway but its just so much fun when theyre hanging

JOHNNY LAWRENCE AND DANIEL LARUSSO FIGHTING TOGETHER

daniels “plan” on how to get robby to juvie was so stupid. literally were u TRYING to make him hate you. dumbass

parents at those hearing rly brave for ppl that did not do ANYTHING as their kids got involved in a karate gang war until now

“bullshit i heard u were the real bully!” i mightve screeched

this s3 ending was SO DRAMATIC omg

everyone is such a MESS go to THERAPY u unhinged motherfckers

also im sorry but uh. a richass neighborhood in california doesnt have some type of neighborhood watch? the larussos rly dont have any security at all? neighbors wont hear the sound of a damn karate brawl happening next door??? also wasnt tory all like ooo i cant go to juvie, my mom yada yada yet shes always running around town getting into fights even at the rich girls house she was kicked out of school for fighting?? ? ?? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ? girl??

stop destroying the larussos house, its so pretty :((((

sam finding her center looking at mr miyagis picture... uwu maybe

robby yelling ‘U ARE WEAAK’@ johnny \as he is easily blocking him is like.... so funny and so sad to me. sweetheart.

also i know it was meant as ‘oh johnny pushes him and HURTS HIM’ but it just looks like robby runs himself into the lockers and IM SO SORRY I FEEL SO BAD BUT IT WAS SO FUNNY

i like that he and tory are the cobra kai kids now. we need ppl we care abt there to not revert to a good vs evil schtick, and this is the most engaging it could be... tho it hurts that these kids cant catch a break

ah yes "lets bet some real shit on the result of this teen karate tournament bc that is always a great idea" is BACK

so daniel saves johnny from kreese..... maybe johnny will save him from terry 🧐

and dojos unite ohohoho. lets SEE how that’ll work out

miguels face of Despair when the ck defectors and the md kids are bickering like 'this is never gonna work' : gold

also. Johnny Lawrence is gonna learn some myiagi-do karate AHAAHSJAKDFH

ive been waiting for this moment all my lifeeee oh lawrd

final thoughts! there are def things i hope the writers will improve on the next season, but i am very excited for it either way AND i feel like it has made me enjoy the movies even more and that is a win for a reboot/sequel to me!!

#m.#did i procrastinate watching this since it came out and only watched it now bc my sister nagged me to when i said we should #watch karate kid over the holidays?#and then binged the whole thing in two days??#mayhaps and what abt it #cobra kai #the karate kid #its funn #y bc like karate kid is a Childhood movie but i wouldnt say #it was like particularly special for me?#like i wasnt in a fandom or anything #but now.#i might be invested #maybe #talvez

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the-apples-were-monitored · 4 years

Link

She tried to start a lynch mob using the old white lady trick of “two black men demanded drugs then stole my money and phone” as a cover up for murdering her son. Don’t let this slide, I’m literally begging you. Not this time.

This boy was nonverbal, so when he was heard screaming he couldn’t explain to people that his mom was trying to kill him. They only realized after she took him to another canal to drown him that she’d been trying to kill him the first time. Because you guys don’t listen to us. You don’t believe us. You believe the people who do this to us. We end up dead because many of us don’t have a voice and you won’t raise yours with us. You say “he’s in a better place” instead of making this a better place for him

(Article from 23rd May, 2020)

This happens so often. I’m lucky to be alive because I was abused horrifically by people who were trying to “cure” me. Don’t believe me that this is common?

The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (an organization I actually support, as opposed to Autism Speaks) reports that “In the past five years, over 600 people with disabilities have been murdered by their parents, relatives or caregivers.”

Earlier this year, an 8-year-old autistic boy was murdered by his father who had sole custody of him. He called the child a “piece of shit” two days before the child died in a freezing New York City garage in the dead of winter. His father said after the death that he’d been through “more stressful things”. They had home video footage of him beating his children.

His name was Thomas Valva

In 2018, a 5-year-old boy with “ fragile X syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, impulse control disorder and dysphasia” was the subject of 11 different complaints to child services because of suspected abuse, but as was true in my case no action was taken. He died of asphyxiation and a drug overdose. “Brayson suffered a broken arm, broken femur and numerous burns and bruises in the years before his death, court records state. Price withdrew Brayson from school a month later. It was October. By November, he was dead.” (Classic abuse tactic, isolating the victim.) When child services investigated her prior to the death, the mother claimed he couldn’t feel pain.

“Prior to his death, Price googled "Risperidone overdose" multiple times, according to the court transcript. Ingalls searched multiple phrases, including "beat child with fragile X abuse, I want to kill my autistic child, painful ways to die (and) most painful torture."

Ingalls told Price via text message that he hated her son, wanted to buy a ticket to see Brayson take his last breath and thought she should "kill him while he is young and do something with your life before he robs you of any chance of ever being happy or being anything other than a stay-at-home retarded caregiver,"”

really indicative of how you see us, guys

His name was Brayson Price

here we have a woman who is anonymous and said she was “overwhelmed and felt totally alone after her child was diagnosed with autism.” (Like cry me a fucking river, Karen.) Pled not guilty by insanity. She googled suicide attempts and mothers who killed autistic children in the 48 hours before she smothered her 3 year old daughter with a Minnie Mouse pillow. She was convinced the child’s form of autism was “more severe” than it was...which...okay are people who cover this story expecting me to believe it would be justified if it WAS more severe?

Her name wasn’t printed, but she’s not forgotten.

Here we have a Tennessee mother covering up her husband’s abuse and murder of her 5-year-old autistic son

His name was Joe Clyde Daniels

Think this is getting depressing? It’s state enforced

Up to 50% of people killed by police have registered disabilities

911 Can Be a Death Sentence for Blacks in a Mental Health Crisis

Last year, a non-verbal autistic man became agitated and shoved an off-duty police officer when in line for samples at Costco in California. His parents tried to apologize and explain, but the police officer fired on them 10 times - killing him and wounding his parents. No charges were pressed.

His name was Kenneth French

We have a manslaughter charge for a cop killing a 6 year old boy? At least he got 40 years for it?

His name was Jeremy Mardis

I don’t know how many times we have to tell you this before you believe us, but our lives are not worthless. Regardless of what “level of functioning” we’re at (which is already a ridiculous metric because I’m apparently considered high functioning even when I barely hold a job), we’re not burdens and we’re not inherently dangerous. People keep saying they’re in a better place now, but that’s just excusing it. Make HERE a better place! Stop letting these news stories slide! Stop spreading thinkpieces by Autism Speaks lamenting over a poor mother who has been burdened with an autistic child and saying she’s so brave to not murder her child! Hell, sometimes you guys make whole documentaries about mothers who murder autistic children SYMPATHIZING with them! And stop calling cops on autistic people having meltdowns, for fuck’s sake!

Autism isn’t something we suffer from, not inherently! We suffer from the trauma of being forced to live in a world where people abuse and kill us for being different! You keep killing us instead of listening to us! Being non-verbal should NEVER be a death sentence!

I made some posters just because I, too, sometimes need a catch phrase. Feel free to make more.

(Image: “Autism isn’t deadly, ableism is. Stop passively condoning the murder of autistic people. Hear us. Believe us.”)

(Image: “Autism shouldn’t be a death sentence. Neurodivergent children have a higher risk of being bullied and abused. Black autistic children are at a higher risk of corporal punishment at school. 50% of the victims of police shootings are neurodivergent. Hear us. Believe us.)

(Image: “Silence shouldn’t = death. Non-Verbal autistic children are routinely abused and killed by parents because nobody can hear the cries for help. Non-verbal autistic adults are shot by police because they’re assumed to be dangerous. Hear Us. Believe us.”)

Something for my non-verbal or selectively verbal peeps out there.

(Image: Non-Verbal but not silent. Some autistic people aren’t capable of verbal communication. This doesn’t make them undeserving of life or respect. Others can communicate with text or sign or are selectively verbal. It’s important to learn how to communicate with an autistic person in their specific way and to not force them to conform to yours. Practice conflict resolution. Be patient. Hear us. Believe us.)

For people like me who can speak, or for any allies who will stand with us but not talk over us:

(Image: I don’t take my voice for granted. I lift my voice for all those who can’t speak for themselves. I see you. I’m with you. I respect you. You deserve to be here. Hear us. Believe us.)

(Image: Vaccines don’t cause autism. I literally don’t know how to tell you that those findings were debunked over 2 decades ago and you’re bringing back deadly diseases. Autism won’t kill your child. Measles will. I can’t believe I still have to say this. Hear us. Believe us.)

Anyway, that’s my message. I’m sick of this. Feel free to spread this like anti-vaxxers spread measles, because people DO talk about this, but I don’t see NTS willing to do much about it usually. Unfortunately we do need you on our side to hold yourselves accountable.

And it goes without saying that even though this is an autism specific post, this post is also friendly to other types of neurodivergence. We’re all in this (risk category) together.

#abuse tw

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supernaturalmarauders · 4 years

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I’m sorry Jensen ackles x daughter reader

summary: You are jensens 15 year old daughter and your parents have been spending there time with your younger siblings. you start to become lonely and start thinking how everyone would be better off without you. Jensen and daniel get a call from your friend, raising her concern for you ,and they learn how bad your mentall health actually is.

Warnings: Possible self harm, suicidal thoughts, self hating language, attempted suicide, bullying, father jensen and mother daniel fluff.

Please if this is happening to you, or you feel like this tell someone. i know what it’s like to keep your feeling bottled up. please don’t do it. my messages are always open

xxxxxx

you were sitting on your bed staring at the phone screen. it didn’t matter how hard you tried you couldn’t tear your eyes away from it. the hurtful words made you feel something. Everyone assumed That being Y/N Ackles made your life great. and of course your dad and Daniel loved you, but they were far to busy these days for you to bother them with your problems.

Ever since you were a child it had always been you and your dad. your mum didn’t want you so when she gave birth to you, she gave you straight to your father and ran. you were always a quiet kid, never causing any problems. but that meant you learned to keep your problems to yourself. your father was far to busy with his acting to deal with your miner todler problems.

when daniel came along your father had finally found love again. being 12 years old at the time you understood that they both loved eachother. She treated you like her child, and loved you as much as a mother should. you loved daniel with all of your heart, and so did your father.

When j, Zeplin, and arrow came along you felt complete. you had always wanted younger siblings, and you finally had them. you loved them, you really did, but sometimes you wished your parents would have more time for you.

2 months ago your family moved houses and you had to start at a new school. your siblings were all to young to start school, whilst you were starting your 10th grade. being 15 was hard enough, but having to start at a whole knew school was nothing good. normally you would have no problem making friends. everyone knew the name Ackles. sometimes you wished you had actuall friends who didn’t just hang around with you for the exposure. sometimes you wished you were lucky enough to score real friends.

but this time you knew it wouldn’t be the same. you knew from day one that you were not welcome at that school. from the very start you were called horrible names, and contantly hurt, shoved, pushed, tripped, and more when you were just collecting your books. you couldn’t add on to your parents stress and you knew that your siblings were to young to understand, so you kept quiet.

sometimes you would video chat (Insert best friend name here). your best friend from your old school. she was your friend because she loved you as a person, not because of your name. but you knew better than anyone that she didn’t need your problems adding onto her stress.

xxxxxxx

“Y/N dinner” called daniel from the kitchen. you wiped you eyes and switched your phone screen off. you pulled on you’re jumper and pajama pants and went down stairs. when you arrived you saw your mother feeding arrow and your father feeding zep. Jay was sitting at the table eating her pasta and watching a barbie movie on her Ipad.

“Your dinners on the bench Y/N, help yourself” Siad your dad gesturing to the bowel of pasta left for you.

“Thanks” You said taking a small portion of pasta and sitting next to jay. once Daniel noticed the little amount of pasta on your plate she nudged your dad on the shoulder, causing him to look at your plate.

“Are you not going to eat anymore” Asked Daniel worry evident in her voice.

“Sorry mum, i’m not that hungry” you mumbled playing with your food.

“Are you not feeling well honey” asked you dad, taking his eyes of zep.

“I’m alright, just don’t have much of an appitite” you said shrugging off the matter.

Your parents looked at eachother, more worry evident on there features. truth be toold they had a reason to worry. since you moved you hadn’t been eating as much as you should be. you play basketball so you needed to maintain your body. however since moving you had dropped basketball completely. you spen’t most of your lunchbreaks in the library, where food isn’t allowed. you had lost 20 kilograms in the past 2 months, which wasn’t healthy considering you were already small for your age. Your parent’s had been noticing the weight loss, but didn’t really question it considering that they thought you were just stressed. however 2 months in and you were still showing signs.

“Y/N, can you braid my hair please” asked jay giving you puppy dog eyes. you sighed.

“Course jay” you said letting jay lead you up to her shared bedroom, leaving your bowl of food untouched.

xxxxxxxxx

“I’m worried about her” said your mum once you had left the room.

“Me two” said your dad, concern clearly evident in his voice

“You don’t think she’s anorexic do you” Asked your mum placing arrow down in the high chair.

“I don’t hink so, she would have lost more weight by now. besides she would be excercising like crazy, she doesn’t seem to leave her bed much now days” said your father placing zepline in the chair opposite arrow.

“Maybe she’s going through exams, that could be why she’s loosing all the weight” said your mum, trying to find a reason for your weight loss.

“The school wrang me yesterday”. said your dad just as he remembered.

“You’re only telling me this now, what did they say” asked your mother.

“Her lunch pass hasn’t been used in over a month. they also said that she dropped out of basketball and drama, they were worried about her” said your dad.

“Maybe we should give her some space untill she opens up” said your mum cleaning up the dishes.

“Yeah maybe”. said your dad. he knew something was wrong, but he didn’t know what.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The following day at school you kept your head down and avioded the crowds of poeple walking the halls you quickly grabbed you’re books and headed to the bathroom. shutting the stool door you pulled up your jumper revealing the many cuts and burns running up your hip, you silently let a tear fall down you’re face knowing that you were so lost. you pulled back down you’re jumper and walked over to the mirror, your appearence looked tired. your hair looked dead and your eyes had purple bags under them, your face looked deathly pale and slim, far different from the girl you used to be. you washed your face picked up your bags and hastily exsited the bathroom.

after ariving to you’re first class you found your seat in the midle of the classroom and pulled out your laptop, you stopped when you saww it. the top of it was covered in notes full of hatefull words, drawn on in permanent marker, you opemed it to see more written on you’re screen.

you let the tears full freely down your face, you didn’t know why but you started reading them.

“GO DIE, YOUR PARENT’S WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU’

“I’M SURE YOURE SIBLINGS WOULD PREFER IT IF YOU JUST LEFT”

“ YOU DIRTY PIECE OF FILTH, NO ONE LIKES YOU, JUST GO BACK TO THE HELL HOLE YOU CAME FROM’

‘ YOU FILTHY SLUT, GO SPREAD YOUR GERMS SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOUR NOT WANTED HER SO DO US ALL A FAVOUR AND DIE”

You didn’t realise untill you finsihed that the whole class was laughing at you. because it was a study period you didn’t have an assigned teacher so there was no one to tell them to stop. you packed up your stuff and headed to the library where you would signed in and set in the corner. sitting down on a bean bag you curled up and started sobbing. pulling out your phone you looked through the photos. the one of zeplin, jay, and arrow, sitting curled into you while you read to them. the one of you your dad and daniel when you won your first basketball game. the one of you and (Best friend) when you both won the science fair. the one of you and your primary school teacher when you recieved your graduation certificate. you started crying even more, knowing that things would never be the same again.

You were about to turn off your phone when you saw a call from your dad you wiped the tears from your eyes and answered it.

“Hey dad” You said as cheery as you could

“Hey bug, how are you” he said

“Fine, is everything okay” you said knowing that your dad normally didn’t call you during school hours.

“Everythings fine. me and mum are going to have to stay on set late tonight. the kids are with uncle jared. is it okay if you catch the bus home today. theres dinner in the fridge and the remote on the counter” asked your dad

“Of course” you said trying not to cry.

“okay sweetie, we’ll be home as soon as we can. i love you” said your dad hanging up the phone

“I love you to” you wispered to no one in particular.

xxxxxxxx

The bus ride home was horrible. you constantly had paper and balls thrown at you, and insults left right and centre. you packed up your stuff and headed off the bus afew stoped before your house, so you could clear your head. on the way out your bus driver grabbed your arm.

“You okay kid” he asked kindly a sad smile on his lips. you put on your fake smile a replied an “i’m fine” before exsiting the bus. you took your time getting home as you knew it would be hours before anyone else arrived. you unlocked the door and thre you backpack onto the kitchen counter, not caring that your laptop was in the bottom of the bag. you slowly made your accent up the stairs and into your room.

your room was at the end of the hallway, you parents room was the next door down and your sisters’ room was next to them, across the halls was your brothers room. you sighed and pushed open your door revealing the room that was once full of life. the walls were painted grey and all of your exam papers were lying scattered acroos the floor. your clothes lied on a pile next to the bed and your art supplies was scattered across your desk, like it was a month ago.

your bathroom looked spotless and clean, much different to your bedroom. you walked back into your bedroom and pulled up your phone, you had a binch of text messages from about 50 unknown numbers. you felt your heart finally shatter. you had never given anyone your number, and now the harrasment would never stop. you threw your phone onto your bed and slid down the wall, letting the tears fall freely. you couldn’t do it anymore. you didn’t have the energy, you just didn’t want to. it had taken everything you had to make it this far, and you just didn’t have the fight anymore, you let the rest of your tears fall before pulling yourself off your floor and sitting on the bed. feeling your phone vibrate you picked it up to see a message with a table. by closer look you saw a petition. not just any petitiion, a petition about you. the “Get Y/N Ackles to dye petition” that already contained 280 signatures,

you stared at your phones screen, emotionless. it wasn’t untill you felt the phone vibrate again that you saw an incoming call from (Your best friend) you letit ring a bit hoping it would go away, before you lost your patience and slid the answer buttin across.

“Y/N hey, hey, answer me, are you okay” asked your best friend in a panicked tone.

‘i’m sorry” you wisper into the phone.

“What are you sorry for, Y/N, tell me that your okay”. begged your best friend.

“I’m sorry but i can’t do it anymore... i love you” you say letting more tears fall down your face.

“NO Y/N stay on the line, come on , i need you, your so much stronger than this” begged (Your best friend).

“Goodbye (best friend) i love you” you say hanging up the phone and pulling yourself into the bathroom.

slowly you walk yourself into the bathroom, and drag yourself infront of the mirror.

“I’m sorry mum, dad, jj,(best friend) zeplin, arrow, but this isn’t the right place for me” you say, grabbing medication and a razor from the cupboard. wiht as much energy as you could muster you shover 2 hanfulls of pllis down your throat. after feeling your eyes drop, you dig the razor into your skin cutting the vain open and letting the blood pour freely.

“I’m sorry, i’m sorry” you say before you drift off into the land of unconciousness.

xxxxxxx

your dad had just finished filming the final sceen when he felt his phone buzz, he pulled it out but didn’t recognize the number, knowing it was probably business he answered it anyway.

“Hello, jensen ackles speaking” he said through the phone

“Mr ackels it’s (Best friend)” your father heard (best friend) through the phone. only it sounded like she was crying.

“Hey (best friend) is everything okay” asked your father genuinly worried.

“Have you been on instagram lately” she asked.

“Not lately” he said.

“Can you please have look” said (Your best friend) crying

you dad kept the call running while he opened instagram, what he saw broke his heart. he saw tones and tones of hate messages comments and posts about you. but the one thing that got to him most was a petition, saying for you to kill youself.

“(best friend name) wheres charlotte” said your father starting to tear up. he hear (Your best friend) started sobbing.

“I was on the phone to her just before, i think she’s going to commit suicide mr ackles, she hung up on me and won’t answer her phone” cried (your best friend)

your father felt stupid. how did he not notice, he let the tears flow freely.

“(Best friend) thank you so much” wispered your dad before hanging up the phone. and serching for another number

“Hey jensen” said jared through the phone

“Jared i need you to call an ambulance for our adress, Y/N is home and i got a call from her friend. you’re colser to home than we are, i think she’s going to comit suicide” said your father through the phone crying.

“Okay, i’ll head over there noe, i’ll leave the kids with gen, just go to the hospital, i’ll go in the ambulance with her” said jared hanging up the phone.

your dad walked over to your mum with tears running downhis face

“j, whats wrong” asked your mum, worried,

“It’s Y/N”

XXXXX

Your head was heavy, your throat hurt more than anything, and your body felt like it had been dumped. you could hear the beeping of a mechine and imidiately knew you were in the hospital.

“Y/N” you heard someone say from your bed.

“Dad” you said opening your eyes and adjusting to the light.

“Hey bug”. said your dad removing the mas from around your face so you could talk properly. You tried to sit but your dad pushed you back down.

“Hey don’t move, you need to rest” said your dad pushing you back down and planting a kiss on your head

“You gave us a right good scare sweetie” said your mum grabbing your hand from the other side of the bed. recalling the previous events you started sobbing.

“I’m sorry” you said your body shaking from the sobs.

“No, no, don’t appologise, we should be the ones appologising”. said your dad brushing your hair away from your face.

“but you didn’t do anything” you said.

“We wern’t the parents you needed. we should have realised something was wrong. thats our job. if (best friend) hadn’t called your dad you wouldn’t be here” said your mum kissing your palm.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. i just didn’t want to fight anymore” you said leaning into your fathers embrace.

“ I understand that Y/N, but we need you. were always here to talk. we know that you didn’t talk to us because you thought with the others it was to much. but nothings ever to much. please don’t scare us. talk to us. we are always here” said your mum jumping on the other side of the bed.

“I know” you said keeping your head down.

“ were going to work through this together, you don’t have to be strong all the time, but you need to talk to us, deal” said your dad lifting your chin up.

“Deal” You said smiling.

“Good, we love you bug” said your mum planting a kiss on your head.

“I love you both two” you said. feeling happy for the first time in months.

#jensen ackles #father x daughter #suicide #supernatural #dean #sam and dean

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Yolanda King

Yolanda Denise King (November 17, 1955 – May 15, 2007) was an African American activist and first-born child of civil rights leaders Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. She was also known for her artistic and entertainment endeavors and public speaking. Her childhood experience was greatly influenced by her father's highly public and influential activism.

She was born two weeks before Rosa Parks famously refused to give up her seat on a public transit bus in Montgomery, Alabama, she occasionally experienced threats to her life, designed to intimidate her parents, and became a secondary caregiver to her younger siblings and was bullied at school. When her father was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the 12-year-old Yolanda King was noted for her composure during the highly public funeral and mourning events. She joined her mother and siblings in marches, and she was lauded by such noted figures as Harry Belafonte, who established a trust fund for her and her siblings.

In her teenage years, she became an effective leader of her class in high school and was given attention by the magazines Jet and Ebony. Her teenage years were filled with even more tragedies, specifically the sudden death of her uncle Alfred Daniel Williams King and the murder of her grandmother, Alberta Williams King. While in high school, she gained lifelong friends. It was the first and only institution where King was not harassed or mistreated because of who her father was. However, she was still misjudged and mistrusted because of her skin color, based on perceptions founded solely upon her relationship with her father. Despite this, King managed to keep up her grades and was actively involved in high school politics, serving as class president for two years. King aroused controversy in high school for her role in a play. She was credited with having her father's sense of humor.

In the 1990s, she supported a retrial of James Earl Ray and publicly stated that she did not hate him. That decade saw King's acting career take off as she appeared in ten separate projects, including Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Our Friend, Martin (1999) and Selma, Lord, Selma (1999). By the time she was an adult, she had grown to become an active supporter for gay rights and an ally to the LGBT community, as was her mother. She was involved in a sibling feud that pitted her and her brother Dexter against their brother Martin Luther King III and sister Bernice King for the sale of the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. King served as a spokesperson for her mother during the illness that would eventually lead to her death. King outlived her mother by only 16 months, succumbing to complications related to a chronic heart condition on May 15, 2007.

Early life

Early childhood: 1955–1963

Born in Montgomery, Alabama to Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, Jr., she was only two weeks old when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus. Even in her infancy, Yolanda was faced with the threats her father was given when they extended to his family. In 1956, a number of white supremacists bombed the King household. Yolanda and her mother were not harmed. She and her mother, at the time of the bomb's detonation, were in the rear section of their home. Despite this, the front porch was damaged and glass broke in the home. She kept her father busy when walking on their home's floors. While her mother liked her name, her father had reservations about naming her "Yolanda" due to the possibility the name would be mispronounced. During the course of her lifetime, King's name was mispronounced to the point that it bothered her. King's father eventually was satisfied with the nickname "Yoki," and wished that if they had a second daughter, they would name her something simpler. The Kings would have another daughter almost eight years later named Bernice (born 1963). King recalled that her mother had been the main parent and dominant figure in their home, while her father was away often. Decision-making towards what school she would attend in first grade was done primarily by her mother, since her father expressed disinterest to her early in the decision making.

Martin Luther King III described his role as the second-born of their family as having made Yolanda jealous, and that she was always overcommitted but "still found time to get to the things that were most important to her". Her mother referred to her as being a confidant during the time following her husband's assassination. She complimented her mother on her achievements and her mother spoke of her in a positive light, as well. When asked by a young boy what she remembered most about her father, she admitted that her father was not able to spend much time with her and the rest of her family. When he did, she would play and swim with him. King cried when she found out her father had been imprisoned. Her father admitted that he had never adjusted to bringing up children under "inexplicable conditions". When she was 6 years old, she was saddened by classmates' remarks that her father was a "jailbird". An important early memory was that she wanted to go to Funtown, a local amusement park, with the rest of her class, but was barred from doing so due to her race. She did not understand, and asked her mother Coretta why she was not able to go. When she replied "Your father is going to jail so that you can go to Funtown." after numerous attempts to explain the issue to her, Yolanda finally understood. After having not seen her father for five weeks while he was in jail, she finally was able to meet with him alongside both of her brothers for less than half an hour.Her father also addressed the issue himself. He told her that there were many whites who were not racist and wanted her to go but there were many who were and did not want her to go. However, her father reassured her as she began to cry that she was "just as good" as anyone who went to Funtown and that one day in the "not too distant future" she was going to be able to go to "any town" along with "all of God's children".

Assassination of John F. Kennedy and Nobel Peace Prize: 1963–1964

On November 22, 1963, when U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, she learned of his death at school. When she returned home, she rushed to confront her mother about his death and even ignored her grandfather, Martin Luther King, Sr., to tell her mother what she had heard and that they would not get their "freedom now." Her mother tried to debunk this, insisting that they would still get it. She predicted at that time that all of the "Negro leaders" would be killed and the non-leading African-Americans would agree to segregation. Her mother started to realize that Yolanda had become more aware of the possibility that her father could be killed as well. For Christmas 1963, King and her siblings accepted a sacrificial Christmas as appealed by their parents and only received a single gift. King and her brother Martin III bragged about their selflessness at school. In 1964, upon learning her father would receive the Nobel Peace Prize, she asked her mother what her father was going to do with the money he was receiving in addition to the award. After she suggested that he would most likely give it all away, King laughed with her mother.

Enrollment at Spring Street Elementary School and last years with father: 1965–1967

King and her brother Martin Luther King III were enrolled in the fall of 1965 to Spring Street Elementary School. In 1966, she listened to a speech her father gave when he was addressing a rally. At the age of eight after writing her first play, she enrolled in the only integrated drama school of that time. The head of the school was Walt Roberts, father of the actress Julia Roberts. She began speaking at the age of ten and even filled in for her parents on occasion. Her memories of her father prompted her to state that he "believed we were all divine. I have chosen to continue to promote 'we're one, the oneness of us, and shine the spotlight,' as my father did." Coretta King wrote in her memoirs, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., that "Martin always said that Yoki came at a time in his life when he needed something to take his mind off the tremendous pressures that bore down upon him."

Father's death: 1968

On the evening of April 4, 1968, when she was 12, Yolanda returned with her mother from Easter-dress shopping when Jesse Jackson called the family and reported that her father had been shot. Soon after, she heard of the event when a news bulletin popped up while she was washing dishes. While her siblings were trying to find out what it meant, Yolanda already knew.She ran out of the room, screamed "I don't want to hear it," and prayed that he would not die. She asked her mother at this time, if she should hate the man who killed her father. Her mother told her not to, since her father would not want that. King complimented her mother as a "brave and strong lady," leading to a hug between them. Four days later, she and her brothers accompanied their mother to Memphis City Hall on her own terms, as she and her brothers had wanted to come. King flew to Memphis, Tennessee with her brothers and mother and participated in leading a march in Memphis with sanitation workers and civil rights leaders.

King was visited by Mrs. Kennedy before her father's funeral. After the funeral, she was visited by classmates from Spring Street Middle School with flowers and cards. At that time, she was also called by Andrea Young, whose own father had insisted that she should. The two were the same age. Bill Cosby flew to Atlanta after the funeral and entertained King and her siblings. King and her siblings were assured an education thanks to the help of Harry Belafonte, who set up a trust fund for them years prior to their father's death.

In regards to the possibility that her father could have been saved, King said she doubted that her father could have lived much longer given all the stress he had during his tenure as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. She did admit that, had he lived or he been listened to more, "we would be in a far better place." King openly stated years later that she did not hate James Earl Ray.

Teenage years and high school: 1968–1972

At Grady High School, King was president of her sophomore and junior class, and vice president of her senior class. She ranked in the top 10 percent of her class. She was active in student government and drama. She made lifelong friends while in the institution that would collectively be called the "Grady Girls". She was also on the student council. At that time, King still did not know what she wanted to do with her life, but acknowledged that many wanted her to be a preacher. Her inclinations were driven to be artistic, which did not suit the political aspects of her father's life. Of the King children, Yolanda was the only one to attend Grady High School, as her siblings would go to different high schools following her graduation.

During the family's interview with Mike Wallace in December 1968, Yolanda was introduced by her mother and revealed her role in keeping the family together. Being the oldest, she had to watch her three younger siblings; Martin Luther King III, Dexter King and Bernice King and referred to the three as independent when she watched them whenever their mother went out of town. Sometime after Martin Luther King's assassination, King told her mother "Mom, I'm not going to cry because my dad is not dead. He may be dead physically, and one day I am going to see him again".

On July 21, 1969, King's uncle and father's brother Alfred Daniel Williams King was found dead in the swimming pool of his home. His youngest two children, Esther and Vernon, were vacationing with King and her family in Jamaica when they heard of his death. On April 4, 1970, the second anniversary of her father's death, she and her sister Bernice attended their grandfather Martin Luther King, Sr.'s silent prayer for their father at his gravesite. The practice of going to her father's grave on the anniversary of either his birth or assassination became an annual ritual for the King family to mourn his death.

In her teenage years, King preferred to go by her nickname "Yoki." As she said during an interview, "I prefer Yoki. Maybe when I'm older I won't be able to stand Yoki, but Yolanda sounds so formal!" She felt teenagers were confused and were using drugs as a method to escape their problems.

At 15 she was subject to controversy when she appeared in the play "The Owl and the Pussycat" with a white male lead. Though her mother kept her naïve to the controversies so she could "fulfill [her] objective, which was to do the play", that did not stop her from learning of the negativity implemented from her role years later. Her grandfather Martin Luther King, Sr. initially was not going to go to her performance due to opposition by locals, but changed his mind afterward. During a Sunday visit to Church, King was forced to stand before the congregation and explain her actions. In response to her role in the play and her own response to the role, a man wrote to Jet predicting that she would marry a white person before she was eighteen. Despite statements such as these, King did not become aware of the public discomfort with her role until years later, citing her mother's involvement in her knowledge of the criticism.

When King was 16 she received attention in Jet in 1972, where she talked about what her father's famous name was doing for her life. In the interview with the magazine, She related how people expected her to be "stuck up" and referred to it as one of the "handicaps" of being Martin Luther King's child. She recalled having met a friend that was scared of being acquainted with her, because of her father's identity and expressed her thoughts in the colleges she wished to attend. King would ultimately attend Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts after graduating from high school.

King called her father's name and having to live up to it a "challenge" and recalled a friend when she first met a friend of hers, who believed she could not say anything to King but after beginning to know her, realized that she was "no worse than my other friends" and she "could say anything" to her. King also voiced her dislike of the assumption that she would behave just like her mother and father, and the difficulty of being perceived as not being someone others could talk to. When asked what kind of world she would like to live in, King said she wished "people could love everybody". Despite this wish, she acknowledged that this was of no ease and expressed happiness that her father had changed many things, and even made some people gain self-esteem.Positive reception came to this interview, and Yolanda was even called the "leader of the 16-year-olds" for her "calmness, her concern," and "her vision".

Early adulthood

College: 1972–1976

After graduating from high school, she went to Smith College. She took classes taught by Manning Marable and Johnnella Butler, and became satisfied with her choice of a college. But after finishing her sophomore year and returning home so she could work over the summer, her grandmother Alberta Williams King was killed on June 30, 1974. With her death, the only remaining members of King's father's immediate family were her grandfather Martin Luther King, Sr. and aunt Christine King Ferris. She was also subject to some harassment by her classmates, describing it as the "era when students were making demands and many black students were closer to the teachings of Malcolm X, or what they thought were his teachings." The children referred to her father as an "Uncle Tom" and she was scared that he would go down in history as such. She reflected "I had never read his works. I was just someone who loved someone, and I knew he had done great things and now people didn't appreciate it." She proceeded to read his books, and started to believe that her father had been correct all along.

When asked about what pressures emerged from being a daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., King stated that "as soon as people heard me speak, they would compare me to my father ... My siblings had the same kind of pressure. There was such a need, like they were looking for a miracle." At the time of her turmoil in college, King recalled having not known Malcolm X and "didn't understand daddy, so here I was trying to defend something I thought I knew about but really didn't." On April 4, 1975, King joined her family in placing azaleas over her father's crypt, marking the seventh anniversary of his assassination.

Immediate life after Smith College: 1976–1978

An alumna of Smith College after graduating in 1976, she was the subject of an essay among the "remarkable women" during a celebration during the college's one hundred and twenty-fifth year and she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. (the official national memorial to her father) and was founding Director of the King Center's Cultural Affairs Program. King became a human rights activist and actress. She stated in 2000 to USA Today, that her acting "allowed me to find an expression and outlet for the pain and anger I felt about losing my father,". Her mother's support helped in starting her acting career. Despite some early opposition to acting that she received during her controversial play in high school, King still tried to get roles and actively tried performing.

She served on the Partnership Council of Habitat for Humanity, was the first national Ambassador for the American Stroke Association's "Power to End Stroke" Campaign, a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a sponsor of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Human Rights Campaign, and held a lifetime membership in the NAACP. King received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, a master's degree in theater from New York University, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Marywood University. In 1978 she starred as Rosa Parks in the TV miniseries King (based on her father's life and released on DVD in 2005).

Meeting Attallah Shabazz: 1979

In 1979, Yolanda met Attallah Shabazz, the eldest daughter of Malcolm X, after arrangements had been made by Ebony Magazine to take a photograph of the two women together. Both were worried that they would not like each other due to their fathers' legacies. Instead, the two quickly found common ground in their activism and in their positive outlook towards the future of African-Americans. The two were young adults at the time and had a mutual friend who noticed they were both studying theater in New York and arranged for them to meet. A few months after King and Shabazz met, the pair decided to collaborate on a theatrical work, resulting in Stepping into Tomorrow. The play was directed towards teens and focused on the 10th year reunion of six high school friends. Stepping into Tomorrow led to the formation of Nucleus in the 1980s, a theater company which King and Shabazz founded. The theater company was based in New York City and Los Angeles and focused on addressing the issues that their fathers, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, spoke of in their lifetimes.The pair performed in around 50 cities a year and did lectures together, typically in school settings.

Adult life

King holiday, arrests, and return to Smith College: 1980–1989

When presenting herself in 1980 to the GSA staff members, she stated: "Jim Crow [segregation] is dead, but his sophisticated cousin James Crow, Esq., is very much alive. We must cease our premature celebration [about civil rights already achieved] and get back to the struggle. We cannot be satisfied with a few black faces in high places when millions of our people have been locked out." She received a standing ovation afterwards, alongside a thunderous applause. In February 1982, King was a speaker during the centennial of Anne Spencer's birth. In 1984, she was arrested in the view of her mother for having protested in front of the South African Embassy, in support of anti-apartheid views. It was the first time she had ever been arrested. On January 7, 1986, Yolanda, her brother Martin Luther King III and her sister Bernice were arrested for "disorderly conduct" by officers responding to a call from a Winn Dixie market, of which had an ongoing protest against it since September of the previous year.

She showed dissatisfaction with her "generation" on January 20, 1985, and referred to them as being "laid-back and unconcerned", and "forgetting the sacrifices that allowed them to get away with being so laid-back". That same year, she presented the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Public Service to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington during the fifth annual Ebony American Black Achievement Awards.

She celebrated her father's holiday on January 16, 1986 and attended a breakfast in Chicago with Mayor Harold Washington. She stated that her father had a "magnificent dream", but admitted that "it still is only a dream." King started Black History Month of 1986 by giving a speech in Santa Ana, which called for the study of African-American history to not "relegated to the shortest and coldest month of the year."After having been a public speaker for over twenty years, Yolanda recalled her talents having "happened very naturally growing up in a house like mine". She also found "great irony" in President Ronald Reagan having signed a bill to make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a national holiday.

She kicked off Martin Luther King, Jr. Day by starting a weeklong celebration on January 12, 1987 and talked to students about opportunities that they had at that point which their parents and grandparents did not have.On April 8, 1988, King and Shabazz were honored by Los Angeles County supervisors for their "unifying" performance and message on stage at the Los Angeles Theater Center the previous night. Their play Stepping into Tomorrow was praised by supervisors as being "entertaining and enlightening." At the time of the honor, King said that their production company had been approached by organizations seeking to arrange special staging of the play for gang members before May 1, when the show's run would end. Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said to King that he "sensed I was in the presence of a great man when I met your father."She returned to Smith College on January 26, 1989. There, she gave a speech and made references to her past difficult experiences when first coming to the college. King made it clear that while she had not been "endeared" to the institution, she was still "grateful" for her experience. She called for Americans to memorialize those who gave their lives for "the struggle for peace and justice." At this point in her life, King also served as director of cultural affairs for the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and was tasked with raising and directing funds for all artistic events.

Arizona boycott and James Earl Ray retrial: 1990–1999

On December 9, 1990, she canceled a planned appearance in a play in Tucson, Arizona and ignored a boycott going on at the time by civil rights groups and other activists for Arizona voters rejecting the proposal of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day being celebrated there. King and Shabazz had planned the play months before the voters of the state rejecting the holiday, and King prepared a statement which solidified her reasons for supporting the boycott. Despite this, Shabazz still appeared in the state and performed in the play. On January 17, 1991, Yolanda spoke before a crowd of students at Edmonds Community College, around 200 in number. She debunked complacency in having any role in progression of her father's dream. She joined her mother in placing a wreath around her father's crypt. King stressed in 1992 that love would help people make their mark on the world. That same year, she also spoke at Indiana University. In October, King gave support for a Cabrini-Green family that wants to escape the violence, and a fundraiser for their cause.

25 years after her father's assassination, she went to his gravesite. There, she joined hands with her siblings and mother along with other civil rights activists, singing We Shall Overcome. During July 1993, she agreed to speak at the Coral Springs City Centre for airfare and a fee in January 1994. She originally wanted $8,000, but was negotiated down to $6,500. During said speech, she mentioned that the fact that the poverty line in America among children had nearly tripled and urged people to "reach out" and "do what you can". In October, she uttered her belief that her father's dream of integration was not understood fully.

On February 1, 1994 King attempted to speak before a diverse class of students at North Central College. She stated, "It is entirely appropriate that you would choose to focus on multiculturalism as the opening activity of Black History Month. The only reason why Black History Month was created and still exists is because America is still struggling and trying to come to grips, come to terms with the diversity of its people." In July 1994, after seeing some photographs of her father prior to his death, Yolanda lamented that "this [had] brought back a lot of memories. It's often hard for young people to understand the fear and terror so many people felt and how bold they were to get involved in the marches. But walking through the first part of the exhibit I felt that terror." She honored her father in 1995 by performing in the Chicago Sinfonietta in the play "A Lincoln Portrait", in which she was the narrator. The "commitment" to diverse members in the audience and the play itself, was what represented the opportunities for which King fought.

In the fall of 1995, at age 39, she joined Ilyasah Shabazz and Reena Evers in saluting their mothers as they chaired an attempt at registering one million African-American women to vote in the presidential election of 1996. King joined the rest of her family in February 1997, in supporting a retrial for James Earl Ray, the man convicted of her father's murder, having realized that "without our direct involvement, the truth will never come out." In an interview with People magazine in 1999, she recalled when she first learned of her father's death and stated that "to this day, [her] heart skips a beat every time [she] hear one of those special bulletins." King appeared in the film Selma, Lord, Selma, based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches as Miss Bright. Prior to the film's release, King expressed belief in children of the time only knowing "Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, but when it is time to talk about the facts and the history, there is not a lot of knowledge. They look at me when I'm talking as if this is science fiction."

Final years: 2000–2007

King attended and spoke at the Human Rights Campaign Detroit Gala Dinner of 2000. In a twenty-four-minute-long speech, she brought up the presidential election of that year, and also quoted the words of Bobby Kennedy by recalling his line which he took from George Bernard Shaw, that of "Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?". During a presentation in May 2000, King was asked if the human race would ever become "color blind". In response, she pushed for "the goal" to be "color acceptance." Following the September 11 attacks, King spoke in North Chicago in 2002 and related that her father's wisdom during the crisis would have been of great aid to her. She mentioned the possibility that the event could have been a calling for Americans to put their loyalty towards "their race, tribe and nation", as her father once said. She, her brother Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton sang We Shall Overcome in front of "The Sphere", which stood atop the World Trade Center prior to the September 11 attacks.

In honor of her father, King promoted a show in Los Angeles entitled "Achieving the Dream" in 2001. During the play, she changed costume numerous times and adjusted her voice and body language when changing roles. King and Elodia Tate co-edited the book Open My Eyes, Open My Soul: Celebrating Our Common Humanity, published by McGraw-Hill in 2003. In January 2004, King referred to her father as a king, but not as one who "sat on a throne, but one who sat in a dark Birmingham jail." While in Dallas in March 2004, King related; "It's only in the past half-dozen years or so that I have felt comfortable in my own skin. I don't have to try and prove anything to anyone anymore." "I struggled with a lot of the legacy for a long time, probably actually into my 30s before I really made peace with it," Yolanda stated in 2005 on "Western Skies", a public radio show based in Colorado. During the fall of 2004 she played Mama in "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts at Cornell University.

Mother's death, sibling dispute and final months: 2006–2007

Coretta Scott King began to decline in health after suffering a stroke in August 2005. She also was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The four children of the civil rights activist noticed "something was happening". King was having a conversation with her mother in her home when she stopped talking. Coretta Scott King had a blood clot move from her heart and lodge in an artery in her brain. She was hospitalized on August 16, 2005, and was set to come home as well. Alongside the physician that took care of her mother, Dr. Maggie Mermin and her sister, Yolanda told the press that her mother was making progress on a daily basis and was expected to make a full recovery. She became a spokesman for the American Heart Association after her mother's stroke, promoting a campaign to raise awareness about strokes.

That year, she and her brother Dexter came to oppose their other brother and sister, Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, on the matter of selling the King Center. King and Dexter were in favor of sale, but their other siblings were not. After Coretta Scott King died on January 30 of the next year, Yolanda, like her siblings, attended her funeral. When asked about how she was faring following the death of her mother, Yolanda responded: "I connected with her spirit so strongly. I am in direct contact with her spirit, and that has given me so much peace and so much strength." She found her mother's personal papers in her home.

She preached in January 2007 to an audience in Ebenezer Baptist Church to be an oasis for peace and love, as well as to use her father's holiday as starting ground for their own interpretations of prejudice. She spoke on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2007 to attendants at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and stated: "We must keep reaching across the table and, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, feed each other,". After her hour-long presentation, she joined her sister and her aunt, Christine King Farris, in signing books. On May 12, 2007, days before her death, she spoke at St. Mary Medical Center, on the part of the American Stroke Association. It would be the last time she would speak on behalf of the association.

Death

On May 15, 2007, King stated to her brother Dexter that she was tired, though he thought nothing of it due to her "hectic" schedule. Around an hour later, King collapsed in the Santa Monica, California home of Philip Madison Jones, her brother Dexter King's best friend, and could not be revived. Her death came a year after her mother died. Her family has speculated that her death was caused by a heart condition. In the early hours of May 19, 2007, King's body was brought to Atlanta, Georgia by private plane belonging to Bishop Eddie Long. A public memorial for Yolanda King was held on May 24, 2007, at Ebenezer Baptist Church Horizon Sanctuary in Atlanta, Georgia. Many in attendance did not know her, but came out of respect for the King family's history of non-violence and social justice. King was cremated, in accordance with her wishes. She was 51. All three of her siblings lit a candle in her memory.

Bernice King said it was "very difficult standing here blessed as her one and only sister. Yolanda, from your one and only, I thank you for being a sister and for being a friend." Martin Luther King III uttered that "Yolanda is still in business. She just moved upstairs." Maya Angelou wrote a tribute to her, which was read during the memorial service. She wrote "Yolanda proved daily that it was possible to smile while wreathed in sadness. In fact, she proved that the smile was more powerful and sweeter because it had to press itself through mournfulness to be seen, force itself through cruelty to show that the light of survival shines for us all." Many former classmates of both Grady High School and Smith College attended to remember her. Raphael Warnock stated; "She dealt with the difficulty of personal pain and public responsibility and yet ... she emerged from it all victorious. Thank you for her voice."

Ideas, influence, and political stances

To the time of her death, King continued to express denial in her father's dreams and ideals being fulfilled during her lifetime. In 1993, she debunked any thought that her father's "dream" had been anything but a dream, and was quoted as saying "It's easier to build monuments than to make a better world. It seems we've stood still and in many ways gone backward since Martin Luther King Jr. was alive.", during a celebration that marked what would have been her father's sixty-fourth birthday.

Despite this, she was quoted in January 2003 of saying that she was "a 100 percent, dyed-in-the-wool, card-carrying believer in 'The Dream'. It's a dream about freedom—freedom from oppression, from exploitation, from poverty ... the dream of a nation and a world where each and every child will have the opportunity to simply be the very best that they can be." The statement was made while she was in the presence of 800 people who gathered to honor her father at the Everett Theatre. She made it clear that month that she was not trying to fill her father's footsteps, noting jokingly that "They're too big" and that she would "fall and break [her] neck". She also advocated for her father's holiday to be used as a day for helping others, and also expressed dissatisfaction on the basis of people relaxing on his day. On January 15, 1997, she spoke at Florida Memorial College and expressed what she believed her father would feel if "he knew that people were taking a day off in his memory to do nothing". She disliked cliches used to define her father and expressed this to Attallah Shabazz, and recalled having seen a play where her father was a "wimp" and carried The Bible with him everywhere.

King was an ardent activist for gay rights, as was her mother, Coretta. King protested many times over gay rights. She was among 187 people arrested during a demonstration by lesbian and gay rights activists. She stated at the Chicago's Out and Equal Workplace Summit in 2006 "If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you do not have the same rights as other Americans, you cannot marry, ... you still face discrimination in the workplace, and in our armed forces. For a nation that prides itself on liberty, justice and equality for all, this is totally unacceptable. Like her parents and siblings, King did not outright go and make any affiliation with a political party publicly. Despite this, she did voice opposition to President Ronald Reagan in his reluctance to sign Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, her father's national holiday.

Legacy

Dexter King said of his sister, "She gave me permission. She allowed me to give myself permission to be me." Jesse Jackson stated that King "lived with a lot of the trauma of our struggle. The movement was in her DNA." Joseph Lowery stated; "She was a princess and she walked and carried herself like a princess. She was a reserved and quiet person who loved acting." January 2008's issue of Ebony, her relationship with Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook was highlighted in an article written by the minister, as she dubbed her deceased longtime friend a "queen whose name was King". On May 25, 2008, her brother Martin Luther III and his wife, Arndrea, became the parents of a baby girl and named her Yolanda Renee King, after his late sister. During a 2009 reunion at her alma mater Smith College, a walk was done in her memory by fellow alumni.

Portrayals in film

Yolanda has mostly been portrayed in films that revolve around her parents.

Felecia Hunter, in the 1978 television miniseries King.

Melina Nzeza as a child and Ronda Louis-Jeune as an adult, in the 2013 television movie Betty and Coretta.

Filmography

King (1978, TV Mini-Series) as Rosa Parks

Hopscotch (1980) as Coffee Shop Manager

Death of a Prophet (1981, TV Movie) as Betty Shabazz

No Big Deal (1983, TV Movie) as Miss Karnisian's Class

Talkin' Dirty After Dark (1991) as Woman #2

America's Dream (1996, TV Series)

Fluke (1996, TV Movie) as Mrs. Crawford (segment "The Boy Who Painted Christ Black")

Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) as Reena Evers

Drive by: A Love Story (1997, Short) as Dee

Our Friend, Martin (1999, Video) as Christine King (voice)

Selma, Lord, Selma (1999, TV Series) as Miss Bright

Funny Valentines (1999) as Usher Lady #2

The Secret Path (1999, TV Movie) as Ms. Evelyn

Odessa (2000, Short) as Odessa

JAG (2000, TV Series) as Federal Judge Esther Green

Any Day Now (2001, TV Series) as Marilyn Scott

Liberty's Kids (2002, TV Series) as Elizabeth Freeman (voice)

The Still Life (2006) as Herself / Art Buyer

#11/17 #05/15

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charliejrogers · 4 years

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The Karate Kid (1984)

Being a fan of pop culture in the 2010s has meant a lot of things, but one of them has definitely being subject to boat loads of 80s nostalgia of which I have none. There was a Ghostbusters revival, a Star Wars revival, those commercials that recreated significant portions of Ferris Bueller and E.T., the very existence of Stranger Things with its infinite call-backs to E.T., Aliens, Indiana Jones, etc. But as a big-time fan of How I Met Your Mother, I was subject to endless references to 1984’s The Karate Kid. Between HIMYM and that episode of Community where they recreate the entire movie as a play, I feel like I had already seen this movie before, and frankly I wasn’t too excited. I’ve been told “wax on, wax off” so many times in my life it had practically lost all meaning. After so much build up for what seemed like a silly teen movie from 36(!) years ago, I expected to be disappointed.

I love when my expectations are wrong. This movie fucks. If I were a kid/teen in the 80s, I would absolutely be a Karate Kid fanboy. Yes, in plot it’s not too different than the first Rocky movie. A challenge is put forth to our underdog protagonist (here Daniel played by Ralph Macchio) and the movie focuses on his training alongside an old, cranky man (here Mr. Miyagi played by Pat Morita) as he gets ready for the big fight with which the movie closes.

Like Rocky, Karate Kid too focuses on issues of class. Daniel and his single mother live in a slightly dilapidated apartment complex and drive a car that often requires a (quite literal) running start. Meanwhile, seemingly the rest of the high school Daniel attends lives in mansions and attends social gatherings at the local country club. But where I felt Rocky was rather one-noted in terms of its themes, this movie isn’t simply a rich vs. poor story. Nor, like Rocky, is the final fight simply a way for the protagonist to gain glory. This is a coming-of-age tale, one in which training is less about building muscle and more about find balance (in more ways than one). And it’s a film whose script is in countless subtle ways filled to the brim with heart.

Every character is a fully rounded individual whose backstory is filled with sadness, sometimes made obvious to the audience, sometimes merely hinted at. Much has been said (sometimes comically, sometimes not) about how the film’s primary antagonist (the snobby, entitled, rich kid Johnny Lawrence played by William Zabka) is unfairly portrayed as a villain. While I find these arguments largely facetious, I admit he is far more than your average movie stereotype of a bully. He’s subtly nuanced with real motivations beyond the plot’s need to have an antagonist, especially since Daniel is far from an innocent victim and does much to provoke the conflict between himself and Johnny.

But take Daniel’s mom (played by Randee Heller). We never hear “boo” about Daniel’s father. We don’t know if the two divorced, if his father passed away, etc. What we know is that this is a woman for whom her child is her world. She will do anything to advance her station to give him a better life, but she is not embarrassed of who she is. Yet her heart breaks (and ours with her) when she sees her son’s black eye or sees him throw his broken bicycle in the dumpster. She cares so much that her son fits in and that he has friends, that she blames herself for anything that goes wrong, seemingly giving little thought to her own sacrifices, that she too moved across the country for the promise of a job in tech only to end up working as a hostess/waitress in a local restaurant. All these details are plain and out in the open, but never fully dwelled upon, which is appropriate. This movie isn’t her story. Yet these small details are crucial. They build a realistic world in which Daniel operates and heightens the drama of his situation. He’s not just fighting to get back at bullies. He’s fighting because he’s too young to fully appreciate what his Mom has done for him. He just sees that his Mom has always made him an outcast socially (it’s not the first time they’ve made a move like this), that she dropped into a new school environment, and he now turns to violence because presumably because no male figure has been there to teach him any other way.

All this makes his relationship with Mr. Miyagi so beautiful. On his sixteenth birthday, it is Mr. Miyagi that Daniel chooses to celebrate with over his own mother. Only in the 1980s could films pair teenage boys with old men with no questions asked (see: Doc Brown & Marty in Back to the Future). But the two fill a void in each other’s lives. Multiple times Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi how he learned all the various things he knows about life and karate, and every time Miyagi answers that it was from his father. Daniel replies that Miyagi’s father must have been something special, and we can just hear the pangs of regret beneath Daniel’s words that he wished he had such a man in his life. And on the converse, in that unforgettably emotional scene where a drunken Miyagi openly grieves his wife and newborn child who died in a Japanese internment camp forty years prior from likely preventable complications of childbirth, in front of Daniel, we learn how Miyagi was denied the opportunity to pass on that incredible Miyagi family wisdom to the next generation. Surrogate father gains surrogate son; what could be more beautiful?

There are other small thematic touches I enjoy. I like how the two karate trainers are symbolic of how American vets from differing eras transitioned to civilian life. The Cobra Kai dojo where the film’s antagonist Johnny trains is headed by John Kreese, a highly militant Vietnam vet who treats his dojo like training camp. Orders are barked out and push-ups expected for the slightest infraction. It is not enough to defeat the enemy: they must be destroyed, shown no mercy. This Vietnam vet never fully transitioned to civilian life. He fought in a war that America never won, and therefore never really ended. In an effort to gain control and respect he creates new enemies and uses brute strength to subjugate them.

Miyagi on the other hand has no interest in violence. He tells Daniel how he was always scared to fight, which at the time in the film seems to mean that he is scared when he has to fight out in the streets, but after we find out about his military service it instantly speaks of his time fighting the Germans in WWII. He fought and risked his life, scared that he would never again see his wife, all for a country who didn’t care about him, who let his wife and child die. He won his war, was likely celebrated as a hero, but what price glory? Victory gave him nothing, which likely informs his final advice to Daniel before he tries to return to fight Johnny despite Daniel’s broken leg. Miyagi asks Daniel what’s the point of fighting since he made his point and gained the Cobra Kai’s respect. The fact that Daniel insists on fighting goes against Miyagi’s deeply rooted life philosophy to not use karate in an aggressive manner. Yet he compromises because he loves the boy and to do otherwise would break his heart. The ritual laying on of hands is obviously little more than placebo, but it means the world to a boy who places his utmost love and faith in the man.

Probably the weakest aspect of the film is the love story but that’s not to say that Macchio and Elizabeth Shue aren’t cute and don’t share good chemistry throughout the film. They are and they do. Really it’s more just that this movie is a product of its time and largely views Shue’s Ali as an object to be “won” by either Daniel or Johnny. That said, she is a fairly strong character who is more than capable of standing up for herself, but overall doesn’t have a whole lot of personality other than having a good heart.

But a weak love story does little to drag this movie down. I’ve spoken little of the film’s cinematography but there are many beautiful and expertly crafted shots. I loved the way that the shadows of the Cobra Kai loom large behind Daniel as he hurries to ride his bike home without being pummeled at the beginning of the film. And all of the shots from the beach contain stunning shots of water and sun. But the reall winner is incredibly smartly crafted script that refuses to overplay its action. In fact, there is really little action throughout the film, which makes the ending karate tournament montage set to “You’re the Best Around” a genuinely exciting sequence. Overall, its emphasis on character-building scenes over muscle-building training sequences help this to rise above the crappy movie this could have been. I was not expecting to be brought to tears by The Karate Kid, but with one of the all-time great characters in Mr. Miyagi, it’s hard not to be won over. Don’t fear the hype, this movie really is one of the best around.

***3/4

(3 and 3/4 stars out of 4)

#the karate kid #ralph macchio #mr. miyagi #pat morita #william zabka

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jamesginortonblog · 4 years

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No one could accuse James Norton of allowing himself to be typecast. The 34-year-old has played a vicar-turned-sleuth in Grantchester, a violent rapist in Happy Valley, and the aristocratic hero of War & Peace. He’s also number three in the betting to be the new James Bond. And he’s just about to add to his library of opposites with two new roles: the staid tutor John Brooke, who marries Emma Watson’s Meg March, in the star-studded new film adaptation of Little Women; and the flamboyant real-life figure at the centre of the Profumo scandal – Stephen Ward – in BBC One’s The Trial of Christine Keeler.

“Ward was 100 per cent the fall guy,” says Norton, sporting a dark-blue crushed velvet jacket and settling in on a chaise longue in an upmarket London hotel. The actor looks every bit as debonair as you’d expect for a man playing the high-society osteopath with connections that ran from Soho to the aristocracy. “The government needed to clear their own name by tarnishing someone else’s.”

It was Ward who introduced the 46-year-old Secretary of State for War John Profumo (Ben Miles) to 19-year-old model and showgirl Christine Keeler (Sophie Cookson) at a party at Lord Astor’s country house estate of Cliveden in 1961. It led to an affair that exposed Profumo as a security threat – thanks to Keeler’s simultaneous relationship with a Russian naval attaché.

Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies (Ellie Bamber) often stayed at Ward’s London mews flat, and the 50-year-old former public schoolboy would later be prosecuted for living off immoral earnings in a dubious case of establishment revenge. The two had contributed small amounts to household expenses. Ward committed suicide after the judge’s summing up amounted to a direction to the jury to find him guilty.

Amanda Coe’s stylish, evocative drama establishes Keeler and Rice-Davies as sexually liberated young women for their time. Does Norton think they were victims? “Ward definitely used certain relationships he had with young, beautiful women to ingratiate himself with the wealthy elite,” he says. “He also groomed them to a point… but it’s too simplistic to say he was a man who groomed young women. His relationship with these young girls was often a very positive one, he would enable them, take them out of poverty.” Keeler was from a disadvantaged background and fitted the mould of the “alley cats” Ward liked to befriend. Norton gives a terrific performance as the sleazy Pygmalion.

“I really warmed to him… you fall in love with these characters, and Stephen Ward was way ahead of his time, so brave in how he lived his life and expressed himself, his sexual tastes, his flirting with cross-dressing, in a world that was still incredibly repressed.

“And the final reckoning was that Stephen Ward had somehow corrupted these Tory ministers and it was all his fault, which is absurd.”

I wonder if Norton, the son of a retired college lecturer and a mother who taught medical ethics, is as dazzled by the truly posh as Ward was.

“Wealth or class are not things that I’m particularly dazzled by,” he says. “I am by talent.” He cites Little Women director Greta Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach, who made Netflix’s Marriage Story, as an example.

Norton himself is part of a powerhouse acting couple, with British star Imogen Poots, whom he became close to when they starred together in a play in 2017. They seem very happy. “It’s good,” he says, but adds, “my personal life is very normal, I have a house in Peckham, my [parents] live in Yorkshire. There's very little glamour and scandal.”

There was a little bit of the latter when his previous girlfriend, actress Jessie Buckley, said their break-up had been “acrimonious”, but Norton is far too canny to add fuel to that particular fire.

Similarly, he won’t comment on the rumours linking him to James Bond, insisting they are “based on nothing”. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have strong opinions on the series in general.

“We all know that with James Bond, large parts of it, and all the versions of it in the past, are now antiquated and it needs to be updated,” he says. “And I think that Barbara Broccoli and the producers are very aware of that. Bringing in people like Phoebe Waller-Bridge can only help.”

Might the spy be a little too one-dimensional for someone who has taken on so many interesting parts? Daniel Craig, who is stepping aside after the latest film No Time To Die comes out in April, has often seemed unhappy with the role.

“If I was to take on a franchise,” Norton says, “I would always want to complement it with something completely different.”

He has just taken on a big HBO sci-fi series, The Nevers, he says, and is in negotiations with the BBC about doing a second series of McMafia. We chat about the fact that the first series attracted a measure of criticism, including some for his own performance as Alex Godman, the scion of a Russian mafia family drawn reluctantly into the underworld. “There was an article about the three wooden faces of James Norton,” he says with a laugh.

How did he take it?

“It’s a rite of passage that you have [bad reviews],” he replies. “Ultimately, it’s an art form which is deeply subjective and you’re never going to please everyone.” The character was intended to be “inscrutable and calcified”, he adds. Nevertheless, he admits he might play it slightly differently second time around.

“Yeah, possibly,” he says. “But, then again, you don’t want to pander to the people who didn’t like it. There's so much content out there that people who don't like it can go and find something else.”

One of the factors that Norton and director James Watkins agreed upon when sketching out Godman’s background was his public school education. Norton is a public school boy too; a former pupil of Ampleforth, the leading Catholic boarding school which was found to have covered up the sexual abuse of scores of children in a devastating report in 2018.

Norton never saw any wrongdoing during his time there, but does admit to being “quite badly bullied” and credits one of the monks - a Father Peter - with helping him get through it. “I was able to go and just talk to him and he basically became my therapist,” says Norton. “I just sort of sobbed my eyes out.”

Has it left a mark? “It probably has a bit,” he says. “It’s not defined me, but it has informed who I am. I’m hyper aware if someone is being in any way ostracised on a film set, for example.”

On Little Women, he found himself on set with some of the industry’s biggest names, including Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep and Laura Dern. The film’s a deliriously romantic and sentimental take on the novel’s sibling rivalries, but it takes its duty to Louisa May Alcott’s study of the economic subjection of women seriously. “It's important for us to go back to those punctuation marks in the struggle towards equality and recognise how far we've come, but also how we're not quite there yet,” Norton says.

He and Watson were given the task of writing their own marriage vows for the film, which he says he laboured over but arrived with them unfinished to discover that Watson had already written hers and they were beautiful. He was just young enough to read the early Harry Potter books, he notes, but has only seen a couple of the films – “Don’t tell Emma.”

He plays Chalamet’s tutor – did he fancy the 23-year-old as everyone else seems to right now? He smiles. “He’s a beguiling and bizarre, unique force of nature,” he says. Norton had been wondering about wearing a suit to today’s photoshoot, but is glad he didn’t as he’s just bumped into the younger man in a Gorillaz tee-shirt and sunglasses. “Whenever he’s around, I feel about 10 years older than I am.”

Among all its bold women, I wonder if his own character – John Brooke – is just a teeny bit dull. He laughs. “He’s a little quieter than some of the other characters, but that allowed me to just witness all these great women actors. It was incredible.”

There’s certainly nothing dull or quiet about the character he plays in the film Mr Jones, which is released in February. It’s the surprisingly little-known story of Gareth Jones, the journalist who uncovered the Holodomor – the man-made famine genocide inflicted by the Soviet Union upon Ukraine in 1932-33, which is estimated to have killed up to 7.5 million people. “He blew the whistle on the Soviet Union,” says Norton. “He was the first person to go [to Ukraine], and come back and tell the world.”

In the West, the economic crash of 1929 had led to the Great Depression. “Everyone was looking at the Soviet experiment thinking, ‘Oh, it's working’,” Norton says. “They were getting into bed with Stalin and trade deals were being made. And no one was calling them out. Until this one serious, bespectacled, earnest Welsh journalist got on a train and risked his life to blow the whistle.”

I wonder if those types of films can command a big enough audience to keep getting made? He accepts that independent cinema is in a period of shrinkage, but says, “while the audience for this type of film might not be as big as a Marvel movie, we have to protect those stories because film isn't just about escapism. It's also about education.”

#james norton #little women #the trial of christine keeler #mr jones #interviews

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miasswier · 4 years

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miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 5

5: Theatricality

Written by: Ryan Murphy Directed by: Ryan Murphy

Overall Thoughts: For a really, really long time this was my absolute favourite episode of all time. It’s still high up there, but unlike most people I actually really enjoyed the last two seasons of Glee, so this episode got bumped down a bit. Still, there is very little I don’t like about this episode. It manages to give several characters’ stories while still focusing on the main two stories of the episode. Unlike “Dream On”, I didn’t feel like I was watching a show about Finn, Rachel, Kurt, and Shelby. I felt like I was watching Glee.

What I Like:

Figgins thinking vampires are real and talking about how they need to keep vampirism out of McKinley.

Tina looking interested when Puck says “Catholic school girl”

“Happy meal, no onions. Or a chicken”

Kurt getting so excited over Lady Gaga. Oh, honey <3

“You don’t need an appointment at super-cuts. They love walk-in’s” CLAPBACK OF THE CENTURY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (this line makes me die of laughter every fucking time like oh my god Karofksy you are so genuinely stupid)

The Lady Gaga outfits!!!! Even Rachel’s original one, which I find hilarious and way more fitting for her personality than the one she gets later

“You look terrible. I look awesome”

“You want to name our daughter Jack Daniels? She’s a girl!” “Okay, fine, Jackie Daniels”

Shelby being honest with Rachel when she realized that she made a mistake by contacting her and that this wasn’t what she really wanted. I appreciate when characters can be honest when they mess up, even if it hurts them and other people.

Rachel being honest as well and admitting that she doesn’t feel that mother-daughter bond she always dreamed of with Shelby. I wish they’d gone a little deeper into this, but I’m still glad they mentioned it at all. Especially when Shelby says that it was when Rachel told her about her dad’s and how they would bring her water when she was sad. Shelby isn’t her mom, and it was silly for both of them to expect that. Rachel doesn’t have a mom – she has two dads. While I’m glad they explored the “where I come from” aspect of this, I’m also glad that they didn’t turn it into “I feel more connected to you because of biology than I do to my fathers who raised me”.

THAT WHOLE SCENE WITH KURT AND FINN AND BURT IN THE BASEMENT. There is so much I love about that scene. I could write an essay on that scene and how important it is. That scene literally defined Glee for me for so long. I’m so glad they did that scene.

Okay, I know it’s an insult and homophobic and gross but when Azimio says “being in football and being in Glee doesn’t make you versatile – it makes you bisexual” I always burst out laughing like oh my god I don’t know why I find that so funny.

Finn standing up for Kurt at the end. I will say though that, while I enjoy this, there are some things that I wish had been included as well, which I’ll talk more about later.

Artie and Mike being lil cuties and actually cheering for the girls and being super encouraging in their performance. Considering Artie was always portrayed as the most misogynistic of the guys, he actually is one of the few that openly and genuinely encourages the girls in their performances every fucking time.

Finn actually getting to react to seeing Puck and Quinn talk about the baby!!!!! That’s always been my biggest pet peeve – Finn literally thought he was going to be a father and that got ripped away from him, and he wasn’t ever shown to be angry about that. It was always just “oh boo-hoo Quinn cheated on me and Puck is my best friend woe is me” when really he should be mourning the loss of a child he thought was his, but then learnt was not. Like… I don’t know. Seeing him awkwardly look away reminds everyone that he genuinely thought that baby was his, and now he can’t go through this with Quinn. He’s obviously upset about it. Even though he’s a dink in this episode I still feel bad for him about this.

Will going to the effort to look into Lady Gaga and actually getting excited about her.

What I Don’t:

I already said this, but Finn is a dink in this episode. He’s getting bullied by Karofksy and Azimio, and instead of calling them out on being homophobic and sexist and engaging in toxic masculinity, he just falls into it. He turns that abuse onto Kurt, who he clearly thinks is the one who deserves the abuse. And like, I don’t get why he’s so freaked out around Kurt. Yeah, it’s obvious that Kurt has a crush on him, but when has he ever tried to make a blatant, obvious move (kiss him, touch him, grab him, etc)? When has he given Finn any reason to be worried about changing around him, or even just sharing a room with him? It’s homophobia and toxic masculinity at it’s finest. Add the whole “I don’t wanna do Gaga cause I’m a Man” bullshit that’s thrown into this episode and it’s just a mess. While I’m happy they had Finn stand up for Kurt at the end and wear the Lady Gaga outfit, it still took him being told by an older, straight man that he was being a piece of shit and homophobic and offensive and gross for him to realize what was happening. Plus, I don’t think they gave Finn enough of a chance to really redeem himself. I mean, come on, it’s really easy to say sorry and put on an outfit; actually changing your attitude is more of an uphill battle. I wish they’d re-visited this more at a later date (though not in the way they did in “Duets” when Kurt brings it up and it somehow turns on Kurt and makes Finn look like the victim which……. Fuck off)

Will being the one to tell Shelby what she needs to do with Rachel.

Will agreeing with Finn about how they always do what the girls want when the girls literally always get sidelined. Literally fuck off. I can’t stand this “boo hoo my masculinity is too fragile to perform a song by a theatrical woman I need to perform a manly song instead” “you’re right, I’ve been turning this Boys Club into a Girls Club. Time to take our manhood back!” Ew.

Finn, Puck and Matt not being supportive of the girls when they performed their awesome Gaga number. I feel like this show did that a lot – the guys don’t understand a performer, so they don’t encourage their teammates. Then, when they do a number, the girls are super supportive and encouraging. It’s annoying.

Okay, even though Finn is a dink in this episode, I still think that they shouldn’t have told him about moving in with Burt and Kurt like that. This decision affects him too – Carole should have sat him down and asked him what he wanted to do, and if they disagreed then figured out how they could come up with a compromise.

Also, yet another missed opportunity for bi!Finn! This whole episode could have been an awesome way to show internalized homophobia, especially with that line at the end where Finn is like “I am different”. But whatever.

“My dad’s can’t sow. I really need a mom right now” I mean, not every woman knows how to sow, Rachel. You clearly don’t know how to sow. Why would you assume that just because she’s technically a mother that Shelby knows how to sow?

Songs:

Funny Girl: While Idina Menzel sounds amazing in this, I find it boring and too long. It’s emotional because of Rachel, but whenever Rachel isn’t on screen I lose interest.

Bad Romance: An amazing number!!! I love when they do actual group numbers, where a bunch of them get solo lines. I think everyone except Rachel and Brittany sing in this one, which is amazing! Plus the costumes and the choreography is awesome! My only gripe is changing “I’m a free bitch, baby” to “I’m a freak, baby”, which I don’t understand cause they say the word “bitch” on Glee all the time (they literally sing a song titled “Bitch” like come on).

Shout It out Loud: An entertaining performance that is all too forgettable. I honestly can’t remember most of what happened in it, and I literally just watched it.

Beth: This song always brings tears to my eyes. It’s such an emotional moment, and the song is so melancholy. Plus Puck sounds amazing (and while I understand why the put Finn’s verse in there I still lowkey wish it had been a Puck solo).

Poker Face: I have never liked this version of the song, and I probably never will. I don’t think it transfers well to acoustic at all. I honestly cringe a little listening to it because the lyrics and the melody just don’t match up. I strongly dislike this song. No thanks.

Final Thoughts: While I wish they had gone further on a few elements, overall this episode is really strong. It’s funny (a lot of great one-liners), it’s emotional, and (with a few exceptions) has really good music. It’s definitely my favourite episode of season one, and I’ve watched it as a stand-alone more times than I can count. I really, really like this episode.

#ultimate glee ranking

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minicoopdetat · 4 years

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character study.

BASICS

FULL NAME: August Levi Cooper

HOW IS IT PRONOUNCED?: August like the month, Chicken Coop- ER

IS THERE A MEANING BEHIND IT?: His mom loves a good hippy-esque name and fall is her favorite time of year. Fall’s a shitty name though and her choice was between Autumn and August, depnding on gender.

NICKNAMES: Coop. Cooper. Coop deville. Coop de Tat. Mini Coop. (( all of which he came up with))

AGE: 23.

DATE OF BIRTH: April 2.

ZODIAC SIGN: Aries.

PLACE OF BIRTH: Salinas, ca.

HOMETOWN: Salinas, ca

LOCATION: Dayton, California

NATIONALITY: American.

EDUCATION LEVEL: BA in Biological Science.

OCCUPATION: Vet Tech at the local Animal Clinic

MENTAL CONDITIONS: Undiagnosed ADHD

PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENTS: None

ADDICTIONS: Sex. Sexting. Saying the work Fuck or any variation of it. Partying

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

HEIGHT: 5′10

BODY TYPE: fuckin ripped. that’s all you need to know

EYE COLOUR: Hazel

HAIR COLOUR: Brunette

HAIR STYLE Geled and combed to bedhead perfection

STYLE: varies, very party boy chic, but can clean up well if need be.

PIERCINGS: none

TATTOOS: he has seven ‘dragon balls’ in various places ( 1:inner wrist, 2: inner wrist, 3: shoulder blade, 4: hip , 5: behind his ear, 6: back of neck 7:ass); nightwing symbol (ankle); squirtle squad shades ( coming soon )

PERSONALITY

POSITIVE TRAITS: loyal. optimistic. passionate. outgoing. confident

NEGATIVE TRAITS: loud. tactless. gullible. dramatic. reckless

WHAT DO THEY CONSIDER TO BE THE BEST AND THE WORST PART OF THEIR PERSONALITY?: Best part? His confidence. It’s something he was picked at for as a kid. He was way TOO MUCH and there were times he felt bad about his high energy, but he’s grown to embrace it and wear it that EXTRANESS like a fuckin gym badge. Worst part? What do you mean worst part? It’s all great. Unless you count the part where he can get over whelmed/overstimulated. Or you know, the fact he gets conned on the regular due to his trusting nature.

ARE THEY MORE EXTROVERTED OR INTROVERTED?: Extroverted.

ANY TALENTS?: He’s a 3rd degree blackbelt and speaks Japanese. His epic pkmn battling skills.

WHAT ARE THEIR FEARS?: dying alone and forgotten. skeletons.

ANY ALLERGIES?: none

DO THEY HAVE ANY PHOBIAS?: not the universe its self, but the idea that one life is nothing but a speck, maybe tinier, in the grand scheme of things

WHAT IS THEIR SOFT SPOT?: friends & family. animals. underdogs. his ears and his collar bone.

LIST 3 PET-PEEVES THEY CAN’T STAND: shoes in the house. shoes in general. passive agressive behavior.

PAST

BEST MEMORY: When his entire family came out to his last soccer game to be his cheering section despite being ousted by the rest of the team. He sat the bench, due to the fight, but they made a big deal out of it anyway.

WORST MEMORY: His first panic attack. He was in 4th grade and being sent to the principal’s office. It was a rainy day, so they’d been stuck inside the entire time and gym wasn’t for another hour or so. It was the classic struggle for him and Ms. Donaldson. She wanted him to sit still and well-- he needed to move. In kindergarten, pacing around, wiggling, bouncing, all that might’ve been excusable cause Kindergarteners were little. They couldn’t help it. But a nine year old? She had trouble giving him the same leeway so to make an example of him, she sent him to the principal’s. Fine. He didn’t care until he got half way down the hall and suddenly it felt like his chest was on fire. It tightened and he found himself struggling to breathe, leaving him light headed and trembling. He thought he was fucking dying and it didn’t help that he could see a class coming from the computer lab. So rather than let anyone see him, he ducked into the nearest broom closet and shut the door. Didn’t help. It was small. Too small and he tried the door. It didn’t budge. He tried again. Nothing. The room felt like it was getting smaller and smaller, his chest tighter to the point he was sobbing and banging on the door. He was going to die in there. He was sure of it. And he had so much to do. He hadn’t finished the last Saga of DBZ. He needed to take his black belt test. He never even got to ask Chelsey C out to get ice cream and he was so so sure he could score at least a kiss on the cheek and he leaned against the door, fists slamming on the door one last time before it opened, and he tumbled out into the floor. The principal, along with a good chunk of the his class were standing there as he crumpled and curled into a ball. Two minutes. That’s how long he’d been gone and how long it took for him to derail the first half of his school year. He did his best to ignore the teasing and generally did a good job. It wasn’t his last incident, but it was certainly the worst.

BIGGEST SECRET: He could’ve been a dad a few years ago. It was a random hook up and he was scared shitless, but planned on stepping up to do the right thing. She had a miscarriage though and he still wonders what his life would be like if she hadn’t.

BIGGEST WISH: To live life to the fullest, help animals out and have a strong support system. Oh and to prove Carol Baskin murdered her husband.

BIGGEST FEAR: Dying without anyone truly seeing him. He’s accepted himself, mess and all. He refuses to let anyone change what makes him him and refuses to beg anyone to see past his loud obnoxious self, but sometimes it’s all so exhausting. the idea of dying, and being thought of as just another insignificant fuck boi is fucking crushing.

FIRST KISS: Chelsey C. at the park across the street from the ice cream shop.

FIRST LOVE: Samantha Ruiz.

CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND: Adam Birch. Danielle Fitzgerald

CHILDHOOD PERSONALITY: Cooper was even more loud and showy than he is now. He had the energy of five Energizer bunnies and reeked havoc on the school. He actually had a special room dedicated to him at one point that the teacher just let him get his energy out in. Most of it was positive, though there were moments he became overwhelmed, angry or distraught. At first it was seen as dramatics, but it quickly snowballed to the point his teachers were requesting medicine of some sort. His mother enrolled him in therapy and they worked on rounding out his moods. It worked well enough that he was able to get by aside from a panic attack every once and a while. Other than that, he was and still very much is a high energy guy.

ROMANCE & SEXUALITY

TURN ONS: Daddy kink. Confidence. Doe eyes. Independence. Glasses. Eye contact. Dirty Talk. Honesty. Wax play. Playful banter/teasing/laughing during sex. Having his hands restrained. Marking. Boldness. A pulse.

TURN OFFS: Bathroom play. Indifference. Judgement. Cynicism. Bullies (emotional or physical)

MISCELLANEOUS

SPEAKING VOICE CLAIM: Gregg Sulkin

SINGING VOICE CLAIM: N/A

MOTHER’S NAME: elizabeth cooper

RELATIONSHIP WITH MOTHER: His mother is his biggest supporter and he loves her to death. She was there for him when he was struggling most and let him know it was ok to be him, no matter what other people thought or felt.

FATHER’S NAME: maxwell cooper

RELATIONSHIP WITH FATHER: His relationship with his father isn’t as close as he and his mother, but they love each other and have their own way of showing it.

SIBLINGS: maxwell cooper jr (36), summer cooper (34; heartborn), dawn cooper (32), buzz cooper (30; heartborn), willow cooper (28), skye cooper (26; heartborn)

PETS: Satoshi; “foster” dog

ROLE MODELS: His parents. His brother. Joe Exotic. Goku.

FAVORITE PLACE: The animal shelter.

FAVORITE ANIMALS: White Tigers. Otters.

FAVORITE BOOKS: Most comics. The Giver.

FAVORITE MOVIES: Most of the Bond Movies. Hunger Games. Clue. Cabin in the Woods.

FAVORITE MUSIC: Anything by Usher. Childish Gambino. Doja Cat. MJ. Anything and everything really.

FAVORITE FOOD: Mexican. Steak. Crab Rangoon. THE RANGOON MOTHER.

QUIRKS

ARE THEY RIGHT OR LEFT HANDED?: Left Handed

WHAT’S A WORD THAT’S ALWAYS ON THEIR LIPS?: Fuck. DIck. Fuck Me.

WHAT LANGUAGES DO THEY SPEAK?: English and Japanese

DO THEY CURSE?: Excessively.

WHAT’S THEIR WORST HABIT(S)?: Talks about his dick too much. Clicks his tongue. Can’t sit still long periods of time. Trusts anyone and everyone.

DO THEY DRINK OR SMOKE? HOW FREQUENTLY?: Yes, but not often.

ARE THEY AN EARLY BIRD OR A NIGHT OWL?: Both. But leans toward Night Owl.

HOW TIDY IS THEIR ROOM?: Incredibly tidy as is the rest of his place.

HOW LONG TO THEY USUALLY TAKE GETTING READY?: About an hour on a good day. He’s got a routine and he doesn’t sacrifice quality for speed.

#::|| headcanon ||::#::|| character study ||::

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jacobhart · 4 years

Photo

JACOB WADE HART

ink stains, dim light, sleepless nights, worn fingers, coffee cups, cityscape, bottled anger, piano keys, empty diners, chivalry is not dead, crumpled paper, vacant but completely alive.

CHARACTER INFO

Full Name:

Jacob Wade Hart

Nickname(s):

N/A

Age:

Birthdate:

November 5, 1984 / Scorpio ☀, Taurus ☾, Aquarius ↑

Sexuality:

Heterosexual

Occupation:

Writer / Musician (mostly does plays at weddings)

Neighborhood:

Rockport

Bio:

TW: Brief mentions of violence, death

SUMMARY:

He was raised in a group home in Los Angeles and never knew his biological parents.

Jacob grew up with anger issues which he often controlled by writing. Every year he was given a composition notebook and he filled it up. He still has all of them from when he started doing it to now.

At the age of 12, Jacob was sent to Juvenile detention after defending a kid’s bully in school. After the bully made a jab at Jacob being parentless, Jacob lost control and beat him up with no intention to stop. Multiple adults had to pull him away.

The defense lawyer appointed to him while he was in juvie got his time decreased and was able to have Jacob released. They formed a bond and the lawyer and his wife decided to adopt him.

Jacob went from living in a group home to living in a lavish home in Eastcliff in the Northshore neighborhood. He gained parents and even a younger sister. Jacob lived comfortably and spent the rest of his youth in a place he was first such an outcast to. It didn’t take long for him to blend in, admittedly losing a part of himself along the way.

He attended college and in his last year had somewhat of an identity crisis. He realized he wasn’t being true to himself and decided to ditch school and use the money he had saved to travel the states.

Along the way, he met a girl in a small town named Rose. It felt like love at first sight. Jacob stopped traveling and decided to stick around while fighting for Rose’s love. They later became engaged, but before they could get married Rose became ill and eventually passed.

Jacob moved to New York and became a novel editor and ghost writer. He also performs music on the side. Though he loves New York, he was beginning to feel like a ghost slowly haunting the city. His life had become stale.

His little sister who still lived in Eastcliff recently quit her dead-end job to pursue her dreams of owning her own business. In hindsight, it was a little rash so Jacob decided to use this chance for change and move back to Eastcliff to help his little sister and his niece get on their feet while she aimed for her dreams.

Jacob is now living with his sister and niece in Rockport for six months so far, and is currently looking to move out soon. First he thought he’d go back to New York, but he’s starting to realize he actually enjoys Eastcliff.

FULL BIO:

Out of all the souls, Jacob Wade Hart had one of the toughest. Living in a bad part of Los Angeles, Jacob got thrown around between different group homes constantly. It was hard for him to ever grasp the feeling of home since he never really had one. Unlike most foster children, Jacob had no interest in why his biological parents gave him up nor to even know who they were. He saw the way the other kids were consumed by these very things, and he thought it was a waste of time and energy. In the group homes, he was known as the quiet one, a boy who asked for nothing except a composition book every year. His nose was always in those books as he wrote, or in the books he was reading. He took pleasure in the simpler things; even helping the other kids out was a part of his nature. But the kids in the house always knew not to mess with him. Perhaps it was from all the repressed feelings he kept inside, but he’d sometimes have fits of anger that were often triggered by little things. Whenever he was in junior high, Jacob was constantly either keeping to himself or just the opposite. He couldn’t deal with watching the way bullies would pick on innocent kids, and he always had something to say about it all. Whenever he broke up an unfair fight, the nuisance kid continued to spit fire but this time at Jacob. He called him about every word in the book, and all those words bounced off of him, but then one thing went straight through. The boy simply mumbled as he began to walk away, “No wonder your parents didn’t want you.” And just like that, something was triggered inside of him. Jacob turned and grabbed the kid by the shirt to pull him back, and relentlessly began to beat him to a pulp. It took two teachers to pull Jacob off of him, and the memory is still one big red hot blur to Jacob. Due to nearly killing the boy, Jacob was sent to juvenile detention center where he met his lawyer that was appointed to him. His name was Daniel Fletcher, and the man took a liking to Jacob. He saw the goodness of the boy’s heart, and didn’t see some violent machine that the authorities claimed him to be. After spending some time together, Daniel did something spontaneous – adopt Jacob.

The change of scenery was something he had to get used to. After he gave the kids his goodbyes at the group home, he packed his things and moved out to Eastcliff with his new parental guardian, residing in a lavish home in Northshore. It was a place he’d never imagined stepping foot in, and though it still didn’t feel like home, it was the closest he ever felt to it. He started high school and realized how privileged these kids were since he came from an underprivileged background. Though at first he viewed most of these people as snobs, it didn’t take him long to slowly conform to the Northshore mentality. He let go of his old habits and mannerisms that made him who he is. Perhaps he wanted so desperately to feel like he belonged or perhaps he was tired of being the boy he was. There was never really a true answer to why he began to act differently, but reality didn’t slap him until he finished his third year of college. Suffering from a slight mental breakdown and identity crisis, he decided to drop out of school and get out of California to figure out who he truly is. He gave Daniel his undying gratitude for taking him in, and in return Daniel understood completely that he needed to leave. And so he went.

Jacob didn’t settle on a certain place in the beginning. He traveled all around the states, finding places to stay and living off the money Daniel was planning on giving to him once he graduated college. He never stayed long, just liked to find inspiration in all the towns he visited. It wasn’t until he was taking a pit stop in a small town to grab a bite to eat before heading off to his new destination that things began to change for him. Sitting in a booth, he flipped through his menu then heard a voice address him. It was the waitress- blonde hair, bright lips, and the rosiest cheeks he’d ever seen. And just like that, he was a goner. Her name was Rose and everything about her matched the beauty of her name. It didn’t take long for Jacob to fall helplessly in love with this girl, and as his stay in that town turned from weeks, to months, and inevitably to years. He spent two years with the girl and fell more in love with her every day. Despite her fears of marriage due to her divorced parents, Jacob still proposed to her only for her to say no. This usually broke men, but for Jacob, he saw it as a challenge. As time passed by, he asked her over and over again for her to marry him and it soon became an inside joke between the two. Soon as it seemed like he had finally broke her down, something inside her began to break as well. The Sun quality within herself began to flicker away, along with the lungs that were engrossed with cancer. It all happened so quickly, but Jacob was in utter denial. He refused to believe that his Rose was dying, wilting to nothing, because something that beautiful could never die. He stayed by her side through it all, reassuring her the promise of another tomorrow until tomorrow didn’t come. The day Rose died, she took a part with him as well. The only person he ever loved, ever trusted, ever connected with was gone, and suddenly Jacob became nothing once more. His idea of love was tarnished, never to be messed with again

The world spins madly on, though for Jacob it never felt like it did. After some time passed, he settled down in New York and got a job as an editor. He lived a simple life, back to his somewhat quiet mannerisms, though he’s generally friendly whenever he’s not being incredibly awkward or goofy. He prefers to focus on his hobby - music. He's often considered "the wedding singer", since weddings seem to be the number one thing he always books. But at the end of the day, it is his passion. Jacob finds it harder to be close to others after the death of Rose, and is especially turned off to the idea of love. His fear gets the best of him, never wanting to have to lose someone so dear to him ever again. One day he hopes to overcome the fear and everything that holds him back, but until then he just sticks to what he knows.

Now he is finally open to some change in his life. After his sister preemptively quit her job to follow her dream of having her own business, she realized then it wasn’t the best idea when being a single mother. Jacob took this opportunity as a possibility for change. He decided to move back to his hometown of Eastcliff and help his sister get back on her feet while she pursued her own dreams.

Perhaps it wasn’t the exact change he was looking for in life, but it was the change he needed.

#eastcliff.task #about

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