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redrobin-detective · 3 years

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Half of

Danny Fenton was half ghost. Or something.

No one was quite sure what that meant exactly or if it was even true. A ghost in a pure white suit had announced it during an attack on the town until he was beaten and silenced by Phantom. It’s been three days since then and the nerd hasn’t been at school. Not that Dash was looking for him or anything.

Dash worried, for just a second, that something bad happened to him. The Guys in White creeps had been asking questions around school the last few days. There’d been a noticeable lack in ghost attacks around town, maybe another ghost got to him? What about his ghost obsessed parents? Surely they wouldn’t have done anything to their own kid...

“Think Danny will be in school today?” Kwan whispered nervously, leaning in close to Dash’s side. Talking too loudly about the elephant, or ghost he guesses, in the room got people very forcefully interviewed by the government.

“Why the hell would I know?” Dash grumbled, shaking his friend off to shove his hands deep into the pockets of his letterman jacket. “No one knows what’s going on, Manson and Foley haven’t shown up either.”

“I hope they’re ok,” Kwan said quietly, looking down at the floor.

“Why do you care?” Dash grumbled, harsher than he meant to.

“You and everyone ditched me for Danny when Paulina was dating him, remember? Sam and Tucker were real pals and Danny, well he’s weird but not really that bad.” Kwan said bitterly before his eyebrows twisted in confusion. “That was actually pretty out of character for Paulina to date him now that I think about it, maybe he was, like, using ghost magic to control her?”

“That’s stu-” Dash was interrupted by the usually noise of Casper High going dead silent. He and Kwan shrugged at each other. He saw Star down the hallway, staring at something. He caught her eye and mouthed What is it at her. Her eyes slid back over to the hall before mouthing Fenton back.

“Shit,” Dash couldn’t help but mutter under his breath, “Fenton’s here.” He glanced over at Kwan, trying to hide his nervousness. “Guess we’ll find out if he’s some sort of ghost freak after all.”

Kwan eyed him for a second, “you know if Danny really is half of a ghost then maybe you’ll want to quit it with the names.” The warning bell rang for first period. “You guys have homeroom together with Lancer, right? Just, I don’t know, don’t make him mad or anything.”

“Man, don’t even joke,” Dash said with a strained smile. “It’s Fenton, what’s the nerd gonna do?”

XxX

Fenton always sat in the back right of the class so seeing him there wasn’t that strange. What was strange was that he was there before the bell rang, not looking sweaty or exhausted or beaten up. Seeing him sitting there with an almost bored expression, casually leaning one arm over the back of his chair. It was eerie, seeing Fenton try to act normal. Dash felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on his head as he stiffly walked by the nerd he usually smacked when he walked by. He thought he felt Fenton’s icy eyes following him as he passed. Dash made sure he didn’t scurry like a wimp to his seat but it was a close thing.

“Class, please stop staring at Mr. Fenton and let us begin,” Lancer sighed, unsuccessfully trying to start the class.

“Do you know the ghost boy?” Paulina asked, slamming her palms on her desk and ignoring their teacher. “Because if you’ve been holding out on me-”

“I mean everyone in Amity Park knows him,” Fenton shrugged. He’d been so chill this morning, like the whole thing wasn’t bothering him. It only made Dash more antsy. He bounced his leg under the desk.

“Can you do anything cool? Like fly or shoot lasers from your eyes?” Mikey asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

“I can do lots of cool things,” Fenton sniffed. “I know a lot about the space program and local astronomy. I draw sometimes and I’m think I’m pretty good. I also have super flexible joints so I can do this.” He grinned a little as everyone squealed when he bent his thumb back so far it nearly touched his wrist. “Of course,” his grin turned into an eye roll, “no one really cares about that only my supposed superpowers.”

“What is a half of, exactly? What that ghost called you?” Dash found himself asking. He almost didn’t want to be heard but Fenton turned to look at him anyways.

“What do you think it means?” Fenton questioned back. Though he had a teasing smirk, his eyes looked dull and dead. Dash couldn’t look at them and ducked his head.

“Alright, alright, enough with the questions. The Fenton’s gave Danny a clean bill of health and allowed him to rejoin class so that’s all you kids need to know. Now, back to what we were actually talking about.” Class continued as expected but everyone still snuck glances at Fenton. He’s not sure what they were all waiting for, him to suddenly turn green or sprout horn or whatever. But Fenton just sat there, still as anything, trying to act normal and it just didn’t fit him right and it was all just. Wrong.

XxX

Dash was relieved Fenton wasn’t in his second or third period classes but they did have the same lunchtime. For the first time since he was skinny, bucktoothed 6th grader, Dash wanted to hide away and eat his lunch in private. But Fenton wasn’t the only one trying to keep up appearances.

“Alright, what has everyone got,” Paulina was whispering to the table by the time Dash was sitting down. “The day is halfway over, someone had to have seen him doing something ghostly.”

“I mean we don’t know how long he’s been like this,” Star commented, flipping her hair as pretense to sneak a glance at the loser trio near the back entrance of the cafeteria. “He could’ve been hiding his for a while.”

“Fenton’s always been weird,” Dale commented with a sneer, stabbing at his beefaroni. “Since day one, he’s been jumpy and clumsy and goes through weird mood swings.”

“Maybe he’s never been normal,” Kwan said with a little frown. Now Dash knows this wasn’t true. He was the only one at the table who’d gone to the same middle school as Fenton. The nerd had talked too much about space and was always tripping over something but he’d been like all the other annoying brats in middle school. Dale was onto something, Fenton had changed once high school hit which means whatever is up with him as been going on for a while. Years.

He suddenly felt eyes on him, a cold, crawling feeling that made his breath catch in his throat. Dash squeezed his eyes shut and breathed a silent sigh of relief as the eyes turned from him. They didn’t return but Dash found he couldn’t eat after that.

XxX

“Dude, did you hear about Fenton?” Victor said in an excited but still hushed whisper as Dash was leaving fifth period.

“No, what did he do?” Dash asked with dread.

“He had gym last period and apparently he’s been faking his loser weakness. He crawled up the rope climb like a goddamned spider monkey and then slid himself back down. Don’t know how he didn’t have intense rope burn from that. He also beat Charlie, Katie and Veronica on the sprinting portion. Must be those ghosty genes.”

“Fenton did all that?” Dash asked, he bit the inside of his cheek. Hard.

“Yeah it was crazy, I thought Tetslaf was gonna pass out,” Victor laughed. “Maybe we should get him to try out for the football team, he’d be a great running back or-”

“Come on, Vic,” Dash laughed but the sound came out wrong. “Why would we want Fenton on our team? He’s, he’s Fenton! Just a skinny, weird little wimp.” Vic side-eyed him a bit before clapping Dash on the back.

“World’s changing, Dash. First ghosts, now half ghosts, it’s all wrong but you just gotta roll with it. All I know is I have 2 years left in this hell hole before I leave this miserable place for Chicago and never look back. I recommend you do the same, after all,” Vic grinned again but it was sharper. “Fenton’s always been your personal punching bag, not every day you learn your victim has superpowers.”

“We don’t know what the hell is up with Fenton,” Dash defended. Vic just shrugged.

“Yeah but he’s always been a freak now we know he ain’t human. Who knows what else he’s hiding?” Vic said with a smug smile before wandering off, giving a halfhearted wave over his shoulder as he left.

Dash stood in the hallway, trying to get himself under control until the warning and late bell rang. Only then, when he was certain he wouldn’t run into Fenton, did he head to class.

XxX

“Should we follow him, see where he goes?” Paulina said, biting onto one of her nails in nervous excitement. Paulie was gorgeous and overall pretty cool but her thing with ghosts sometimes tired Dash out. Now more than ever.

“Come on, that’s like stalking,” Kwan scolded. “Even if that wasn’t illegal or whatever it’s just not cool. They had a rough day today, leave ‘em alone.” That icy chill returned and Dash looked out of the corner of his eye to see Fenton and his cronies walking out of the school.

Truthfully, Dash didn’t think Fenton had that bad of a day. Yeah people were asking questions but he’d side stepped them all, gave non-answers. Other people talked about Fenton’s supposed strength in gym but there’d been conflicting reports, some said he flew up the rope climb, others said he levitated doing his push ups. Dash really didn’t know what to believe. Fenton was just acting, well, like Fenton. He paused for a second, stopped walking before catching up with the group.

Maybe... maybe Dash was getting caught up over nothing. There really was no proof Fenton was this ‘half of’ other than what one dumb ghost said. He thought back to Fenton’s grin during first period; stupid nerd was probably milking his 15 minutes of fame and bully free time. His earlier fear and uncertainty burst into flames until a familiar anger was burning in his gut. Now this he knew what to do with.

“Yeah, well his day is about to get rougher,” Dash heard himself say as he stomped off to where Fenton was smiling tiredly at something Manson was saying. “Hey Fentonio! Think you’re pretty cool with every paying attention to you but I-”

Fenton gasped suddenly, like a hiccup only his breath misted out in front of him cold as a winter’s day. Dash stopped midsentence watching as Fenton’s whole face twisted. His earlier weary but tolerant annoyance that he’d been projecting all day was stripped away. He glared at Dash with an expression that was hard as ice and full of an exhaustion and bitterness he couldn’t begin to understand.

“As payment for being forcibly outed,” Fenton spoke up loudly enough that most of the school yard could hear him. “I was promised a week.” His eyes slowly but methodically scanned the crowd who had frozen in place at his authoritative tone. “Where I didn’t have to deal with ghosts, so I want to know... Who is trespassing on my haunt.”

Fenton’s mouth opened impossibly wide revealing what seemed like rows of sharped teeth. He curled his fingers into claws and, looking closer, his fingernails had indeed become real claws, as sharp and deadly as his teeth. His eyes blazed an impossible, ectoplasmic green and his dark hair developed streaks of white. He was terrifying, monstrous, but he was still Fenton. That feeling that had been eating at dash all day came back full force. Not the realization that Fenton had powers or whatever but that he had been hiding it in plain sight through ghost attacks and bullies and failing grades. This had always been Fenton, they just hadn’t seen. Until now that is.

And now the script had flipped and Dash didn’t know how this Ghost Fenton, who still was the same Fenton Dash had wedgied last Wednesday, fit. A green blob ghost materialized over by stairs, quivering and wailing in some ghost language. It turned and fled, presumably in the direction of the Fenton Portal to escape Fenton’s wrath. Fenton’s glowing eyes tracked it for a moment before he straightened up from his hunched posture and... was human again.

He brushed his hands through his black hair, lazily blinked blue eyes and, when he smiled, his teeth were normal. But Dash had seen, they all had. He’d let them see but to what end, he had no idea. Fenton turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow and another small smirk, just as tired as earlier.

“Sorry about that Dash, I take my vacation time very seriously. You were saying?” Fenton said with a smug lilt but his eyes were still dead and there was a bit of fear in them now. Despite his powers, he still gripped his backpack tightly.

“When your dumb little vacation’s up, Fentionail,” Dash said with a shaky voice. “It’s-it’s back to business, okay? Punches and wedgies and locker shoving. You,” he voice cracked a bit and he fought it down. “It’ll ramp up now that I know you can take it.” Fenton blinked, once then twice before he smiled. This time it wasn’t annoyed or scary or fearful but like the dumb grins he usually gave his dumb friends.

“Yeah okay, we’ll start back up next week. The usual time?” Dash nodded, not knowing what else to say. “Alright, see you around.” He turned to walk away before pausing and turning back. “Actually you should be careful on who you shove into lockers, it can get hard to breathe in there and not everyone can phase out of them. You never know who’ll turn up dead,” he grinned and his eyes flashed green again, “if only half.”

That said, he and his friends walked away, ignoring the stares of the entire school on them. “Oh and it’s halfa, not half of,” Fenton called out over his shoulder. “I’m not half of anything, I’m just a whole me even if the details get a bit complicated.”

“Bye Danny, see you tomorrow,” Kwan called after with a grimace. No one else said anything for a minute until Dash found the strength to move his legs from where they’d been planted. He clenched his fists to hide his shaking and continued his walk home. Everyone else slowly did the same, talking quietly among themselves.

“What the hell was that?” Dale asked in a nervous high pitched voice. “What the hell did I just see?”

“Fenton being a weirdo but that’s nothing new,” Dash shrugged with a confidence he didn’t have yet. But if Fenton could show up to school after being outed and then willingly show them his inhumanity, then Dash needed to up his game. Couldn’t let the nerd be cool or anything. “So what if he glows or whatever, he’s still Fenton. Look I gotta get home, it’s Pookie’s feeding time and he is NOT going to believe the day I had.

#danny phantom #*presses fingers to lips* this is not the story I intended to write #not entirely sure what I did intend but it wasnt this #it started out with danny being outed as half ghost with no other context and ended up like this #i'll clean and edit in the morning but for now #here's whatever the hell this is #I'll fix it in the mornign

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aestheticaxolotl · 3 years

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V.I.L.E Headcanons

- Graham “Crackle” Calloway grew up in the poorer slims of Sydnee Australia where his parents struggled on a day to day basis to provide food for their 4 kids, Graham, being the oldest son felt the absolute need to help his parents provide for his three younger siblings. Doubling down in school, and getting the best grades he could (B’s and low A’s) and then diving into work as soon as he got out. -Graham started with small odd jobs until he got a part time gig with a rather cranky old electrician who had no love for anyone in his life. But he took Graham on as an apprentice because the stupid kid wouldn’t leave him alone. To his chagrin, the kid took to the job like a house on fire. This became important when he joine V.I.L.E -Tigress came from a troubled home to say the least. Her mom was an alcoholic and her dad was a blue-collared working class man who would gamble and chase after his dreams while squandering all the families money She resented her parents for these reasons and acted out as much as she possibly could, whether by robbing small stores or beating up younger kids on the play ground

-She started out trying to make a quick buck to help her momma pay the bills, not because she was showing kindness to her mom, but because the land lord had threatened to kick them out one too many times, and kept making lewd comments and suggestions that even Tigress would not allow her mother to take.

-El Topo’s story isn’t the happiest, seeing as his mother moved into America when he was very young, unable to afford to bring her husband and son with her at the time. Of course, El Topo’s father was not keen on being left behind and took his 12 year old son, attempting to smuggle him into America. Sadly, this would not end well seeing as El Topo’s father was shot and killed, and he was placed in foster care, unable to contact his mother.

-El Topo got out of the Foster care system when he was 18 and was homeless for a long time. He lived on the streets in Georgia, the last place his mom was having known working. He did everything he could to find his mom and was devastated to learn that his mother had moved to New York, remarried and had a daughter.

-Le Chevre’s mother died giving birth to him in Paris, France. His father being left alone to raise their one and only son, they had married young and had a baby younger, leaving the young father devastated and entirely loving of his young son. Le Chevre’s young life was full of music and love. His father worked as a caretaker in a French Theater, working up with the lights and the set pieces. -Young Le Chevre wasn’t as fascinated with the acting as he was with being high up and above the actors, it gave him a feeling of power and meaning while his father proposed that he take lessons to play instruments for the plays. HE did for about a week to please his hard working father, but took the gold star in thievery. To this day he still leaves large amounts of money on his’s father’s doorsteps as thanks for such a wonderful upbriging.

-Dash Harber grew up with a love of fashion and the stylistic life of the rich and famous. His parents, both very wealthy and distant from him, showered their son with gifts and money for doing nothing but existing. His parents ended up sending him away at the age of 15 (At his request) to his aunt “Cookie Booker” so that he could have a better, proper upbringing.

-Through his ‘Aunt Cookie’, he met the Dear Countess Cleo, who he took a major liking to the Countess, having a childhood crush on her. Cleo found the young gentlemen quiet endearing and took him under her wing, giving him the life he had know that he’d desired at a very young age. This came to bit him in the but when he started working for V.I.L.E. His parent identifying him during a caper and he had to go into hiding for quite a while. (His parents minds were wiped after this incident, as far as they are concerned now, they never had kids).

-Paperstar’s mother was a prostitute in Japan, and gave birth to her from an unknown father. Paperstar was devoted to her mother, even if she was not devoted to her daughter. She was usually there when her mother brought a man home, covering her ears when ever, what her mother called ‘Business work’, started.

-Young Paperstar started stealing from the men who her mother brought home when she was seven, doing this for many years before one man noticed and turned both Paperstar and her mother into the police. This enraged her mother and she disowned Paperstar, leaving the girl alone and vengeful, only wanting to look out for herself. (She might have killed her mom too, I’m still thinking on that one)

-Mimebomb was born in Ireland with their twin brother. When they were young their parents moved them to France. This is where they saw their first ever Mime, their mother had stopped at a shop and 3 year old Mimebomb had wandered off and stopped to watched a man with paint on his face act on a street corner. They realized they were lost and the Mime just... Scooped them up to help them find their mom and twin brother. This REALLY enforced in them that Mimes weren’t scary or freaky. (Their WHOLE family disagrees to this to this day)

-Spoiler, Mimebomb grew obsessed with Mimes and this really worried their parents. They sent him to a Psychologist, one Professor Maelstrom who was doing freelance work. Maelstrom found the phenomena rather interesting and kept track of Mimebomb for a very long time, it was Maelstrom who brought Mimebomb to V.I.L.E and showed them what their true calling was.

-Boris and Vlad.... I don’t have much for them but what I do have is rather... Boris and Vlad grew up in a very unwelcoming community. Russia at the time was very hostile towards outsiders and while their parents (They are not related, family friends in my eyes) had both of them in Russia, they were still not well accepted by their community, often bullied and beaten bloody by other kids, who forced them to clean up the mess after they finished beating them.

-This horrible childhood instilled a rather off form of PTSD and OCD in both of them that leads them to see every mess that a V.I.L.E operative made was something they had to clean up. Somehow, it was their fault and they had to fix and clean and pretend nothing ever happened.

-Cookie Booker is the Aunt of Dash Haber, she ADORES her Nephew and spoiled him rotten when he was a child, basically taking him in when he asked her too. She took great care to raise him the best she could, never having been able to have children herself, an event that let to her husband leaving her and marrying another woman.

-Cookie was also the woman who introduced Countess Cleo to Professor Maelstorm, a very monumental occasion in V.I.L.E history.

-Neal the Eel was just Neal as a kid. His mom and dad were performers in a Circus, a Magician and his Assistant. He used to adore the circus and wanted to be part of it as a contortionist/escape artist. He was bullied for his hypermobility ( similar to double-jointedness, but if it is progressively more serious it can create more problems for someone.) Causing him to end up resenting his upbringing and parents.

When Neal was 16 he began to break IN to prisons and then BREAK BACK OUT with a TON of the criminals inside. This quickly put him on V.I.L.E’s radar and they decided that they really wanted to recruit him. They made the offer and he vowed that he would never be seen as a joke like he was with the circus.

-MooseBoy was not the brightest kid in school, often picked on for being slow or stupid when he was really just a friendly kid with dyslexia. He almost flunked out of school and would have if not for this dorky looking kid who called himself “Otter”. Thus, a tense and rather abusive friendship formed.

-Otterman was the only reason that Mooseboy was able to graduate Highschool. They were a team, he was the brains (Still is) and Mooseboy the brawn (Still is). HE hated the fact that he was smaller and weaker and really took it out on his partner. Their first crime together was breaking into the school and stealing the principal’s desk on a dare.

-Spinkick and his half sister Flytrap have the same father, and different mothers. Their father lived a double life with his paramours only six miles from one and other. This affair was discovered by their moms and the two women ended up murdering their children’s father and then (unironically) falling in love with each other.

-Flytrap and Spinkick’s mothers moved in and the two kids were forced to get along, they ended up really caring about each other and watching each other’s backs and defending each other in school. Their mother’s never got caught by the way, just think about that.

-The Troll never had friends as a kid and met all his good good friends online, including Player (Plot twist?). Player and Troll got along like peanut butter and jelly, becoming a tag team in learning to hack and work with the internet system. The Troll became invested in trying to figure out how to lock down security systems like banks or Jail facilities (Seeing as his father was put in jail for robbing a back and killing a man who tried to stop him).

-This took Player aback and he began to back away from his friendship with The Troll. This didn’t matter to The Troll, he managed to shut down the security system where his father was being kept. This ends sadly due to the fact that his father doesn’t escape, but ends up dying in the break out. This caused him to draw back from people and remain in his room for a very long time.

Thanks for reading my ramble about V.I.L.E Operatives, I’ll be posting one for the Faculty soon!

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mythrilhusk · 3 years

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Korosensei Never Dies -Chapter 9

Words: 2,140 Ao3 Version Chapter 8 (Last)

TW: threats of violence, heavy (but short) discussions of death/murder

Quackity scowls blearily at the returning heroes. He and the other Ducklings were up the whole damn night trying to work out infiltration plans after Bad gave them the location of the laboratory and then peaced out with his team of scammers. Bad won't be returning again, but thanks to him, the Ducklings missed the whole rescue mission.

It's summer vacation, so everyone ought to be home anyway, but Philza promised to teach them fighting, and by the goddamned stars, Quackity is determined to make the old man follow through.

Philza steps tiredly into the classroom. His bloodshot, baggy eyes go wide in surprise as he sees all the students gathered there. Quackity salutes him with a smirk. Ranboo hides in the shadows of the door, watching Phil with worried sulkiness.

"Kids, I need a favor." Philza collapses into a chair, hiding his face. "I know you want him dead. But- please. Wait a bit." He hesitates and then continues in a ragged voice, "Purpled hit him with a neutralizing agent. He- he can die, again. I'm begging you all, please don't tell anyone or try to kill him until our time is up."

"Why should we??" Quackity demands, realizing immediately with a confusing mixture of delight and horror that Technoblade has been rendered vulnerable. Does this mean their plan to sneak into the lab is pointless now? "I don't know." Philza hiccups. He's crying. The tears burn a hole through Quackity's delight. "I don't know, dammit. Please, just wait to kill him at the end of the year. No, better, kill both of us then, I've done the same terrible things as he has! I should be punished too, goddammit, why is he the one to suffer for both our crimes??"

"I'll wait." Quackity leans back. "I'll fucking wait till time's up, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up my revenge."

"I'll wait too!" Tommy cries. "I'm the fucking king of procrastination!"

Sapnap and the Ducklings follow Quackity's example. The others follow Tommy's example. Together, the class proclaims their willingness to postpone Techno's death.

Philza rubs his eyes and takes the handkerchief Tommy stole from Wilbur to offer him. "Thank you, kids."

"We still get fighting lessons, right?" Quackity asks with a scowl.

"Yes, of course you do. You've all earned them." Philza smiles tremulously. "Ranboo, Techno, you can come out."

Ranboo steps into the light, blatantly normal-seeming, so unlike the nightmare Tommy and Charlie described. He hovers beside Technoblade as the former terrorist limps through the room to reach his desk. He seems so small and frail without the mutation-induced strength. He looks so weak. Quackity could put a bullet through his head right now and he wouldn't be able to dodge or absorb it.

But Quackity sees Philza watching Techno with worried, fond eyes. He thinks of Sapnap. Of Techno eating the goddamn grenade to save Sapnap.

Quackity decides he can wait. If he kills Technoblade right away, after all, Philza won't give anybody fighting lessons.

And if Philza doesn't give them fighting lessons, then who the fuck is going to wreak vengeance on whatever motherfucking scientists created the mutants?

++++

Niki and Jack watch through binoculars as their enemies spar with each other in the clearing outside the remote school building designated for Class 3-E. "Dang." Jack says. "They're not bad."

"They can't fight a bomb." Niki grins.

"Much less ten." Jack matches Niki's toothy smile.

"Did you get the supplies?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good work, Jack." Niki drops lightly from the tree. "We can proceed with the operation Smithereens in a week."

"Awesome." Jack chuckles darkly. "Do we really want to give them that much time, though?"

"We need to get them acclimated to the bait, first." Niki taps her fingers to her lips. "This will go wonderfully, Jack, don't worry. That loser class won't be a threat much longer."

++++

"Sir, Purpled is dead." HBomb reports, wincing nervously in apprehension.

"The fuck he is, I told that bitch to get me Technoblade, and by god, he'd better do it!" Schlatt tips a whiskey bottle into his mouth, gulping the burning liquid down. He lowers it and peers at HBomb. "Unless somebody fucked up again."

"He must have, sir." HBomb grasps the lifeline eagerly. "The neutralizing agent was nowhere near his body."

"What?" Schlatt says calmly, his tone barely warning of the torrent of rage he's about to unleash upon the poor unwitting HBomb. "Where the fuck is it, then?"

"Our clean-up team found the crushed casing nearby!" HBomb continues to dig his grave. "So-"

"So he found it, and destroyed it." Schlatt snarls.

HBomb nods quickly. "Y-yes, but-"

"Do you know how long it took to make enough neutralizer for one dart??"

"Months, sir, but-"

"And you're telling me Purpled fucked up badly enough that somehow that goddamn mutant knew about the dart and destroyed it."

"Well- see, we have reason to believe Dream is involved!"

"Damn it!" Schlatt bellows and smashes the whiskey bottle on the table. His hand starts to bleed and sting from the shards. "HBomb." He growls, trying to pretend he's still in control; he needs to still be in control. "Why the fuck is that motherfucking spider involved?? I gave him a mutant already, why the hell does he want to steal mine??"

"I thought you'd want his help!" HBomb squeals. "So I let him know we're trying to hunt Technoblade down!"

"Fuck this, fuck you, you motherfucking imbecile, you complete and utter moron, why the fUCK WOULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS??" Schlatt roars.

HBomb cowers, hiding ineffectively behind his broom. "I- I'm sorry, sir, but I thought-"

"Well, there's the fucking problem, yeah, bitch?? You thought. I do the thinking here." Schlatt reaches for his gun. "You want to know what I'm thinking, HBomb? Do you want to know what I'm thinking of, right fucking now??"

"Pl-please-" HBomb whimpers, staring into the barrel as it aims between his eyes.

"I'm thinking you're fucking useless to me, HBomb. And you know what happens to useless whiny bitches like you, right?"

"Please don't kill me!" HBomb sobs.

"Ahh, whatever." Schlatt lowers the gun, too furious to admit he can't bring himself to actually pull the trigger and become a murderer. "Leave my sight and don't fucking show your ugly mug for a week."

HBomb scurries away, leaving Schlatt to bind his bloody hand, alone in the sterile laboratory.

++++

Getting beaten up would have been bearable. Being bullied mercilessly would have been completely deserved. But being completely and utterly ignored for days on end breaks Eret like a goddamn crusher.

The more he thinks back on her actions, the guiltier she feels. During the sparring classes, they copy Philza's moves alone, behind everyone else working with partners. When the class decides to camp in the forest for the rest of summer vacation, Eret sets up his tent several meters away from the rest. She stands back and watches their former friends banter and laugh as they raise their own tents.

"Hey."

Eret almost jumps at the low voice of Ranboo addressing her. Turning, he faces the mutant, clenching her hands to hide the trembling. "Yeah?"

Ranboo steps up next to them, gazing into the smoking campfire amidst the scattered tents. "Why are you scared of me?"

"You- you already know why." Eret stares at his hands. Out, out, damned spot.

"Um. I don't really remember, but yeah, okay." Ranboo sighs. "I- I don't think I'm sorry."

"Neither am I, apparently." Bitterly laughing, Eret grips her chest as the sharp pain of grief blossoms.

"I think you are."

"What do you know??" Eret lashes out, shoving Ranboo. "If everything had gone according to plan, it would all be fine!"

"But you still wouldn't have any friends." Ranboo replies calmly.

It hurts that he's right. Eret knows he's right. They turn away, hunched and close to tears. "Why am I scared of you?" She mutters in a low, desperate voice. "Because I know. I saw what you are. I know you- you killed Purpled."

Ranboo frowns. "Techno killed him." He says it so casually. Techno. As though the bastard wasn't a mass-murderer and terrorist, bestowing violence in the name of anarchy and blood. "What do you think I am?"

"A monster." Eret snaps, rounding on Ranboo, who backpedals with surprised fear in his eyes. "You're a monster. You might not remember. Your friends might pretend to forget. But I know."

Ranboo gathers his composure and stands his ground, forcing Eret back a step. "If I'm a monster, and I protected my friends... what does that make you?" He turns on his heel and storms away into the trees.

Shattered and lost, Eret can only watch him disappear.

++++

Karl slips a briefcase under the table to his contact, who takes it and gives it a little shake. His contact then slides a folder over the table. Karl snatches it and stuffs it in his backpack. The two remain in silence for a moment longer. Karl leaves first.

Once out of the main school's cafe, he runs all the way through the woods to the Ducklings' treehouse. Echoing footsteps crack twigs behind him as he reaches the gang's base.

"Hey, what's that?" Fundy doesn't even bother trying to hide anymore as Karl climbs into the treehouse.

Karl pulls the ladder up. "None of your business."

"C'mon, we're in the same class!"

"You're not a Duckling."

"I can help!! Pleassse?" Fundy begs.

"Who the fuck is bugging you, Karl??" Quackity sticks his head out the window. "Fundy?? Get the hell outta here."

"That was HBomb you were talking to!" Fundy cries desperately. Karl groans and hides his face in his hoodie. "I know that guy! I used to work for him!"

"Where?" Quackity asks.

"Some laboratory in the capital!" Fundy cries. "I was shadowing him for a potential internship!"

"Let the ladder down." Quackity orders. Karl sighs as he obeys.

"Fine, but I don't trust you."

"You don't have to." Fundy gives a smug smile as he leaps up the ladder.

Karl enters the treehouse and sets the blueprints down on the table. Sapnap and Foolish stop painting Connor's hair and gather around with Quackity and Fundy.

The laboratory blueprints spread across the table, promising revenge. Karl looks up and sees the hungry fire in Quackity's eyes. He looks to the side and meets the molten steel in Sapnap's gaze.

Quackity draws his dagger and sets the point on the blueprints. "Whoever the fuck's been experimenting on people, let's fucking find them and end their pathetic lives."

++++

Technoblade slashes the saplings with a rapier, taking out his frustrated fury on the innocent young trees, ignoring the twinges of pain. He shouldn't be this weak.

Even before Schlatt started experimenting on him, he was stronger than this. He was powerful. The best fighter, the best tactician, the best at strategy. Now his body is frail and hurts merely to move.

He tries to snarl, but his breath catches in his throat, fear slithering roots into his chest. Irrational. He's being irrational. Technoblade isn't afraid of anything.

Except perhaps the pale blue of scrubs, the glint of scalpels, the searing agony- No! Technoblade scowls and tries to shove the flashes of terror and hunger and bitter, helpless rage away.

Philza approaches him with a cup of tea. Technoblade flinches away, unable to look at the man he failed, the friend he abandoned. "Techno?" Philza sets the tea down on a fallen tree and presses a hand to Technoblade's shoulder.

"Who am I, Phil?" Technoblade begs. Weak. The old Technoblade would never beg, would never cry.

"You're my friend." Philza answers.

"Why aren't I dead?"

"The kids agreed to keep it a secret and wait until the year is up."

"Phil. It's not going to last forever, Phil, you need to kill me soon. I can feel the damn resonancy in my chest. I don't know how long you have, but you need to kill me before I destroy the world."

"Techno." Philza's voice shakes. "No. Techno, we'll find something."

"Find what?? It hurts, Phil. It hurts to move, it hurts to talk... I've killed so many people, Phil, I deserve this, I deserve to die! Kill me, please. The kids are too innocent. They don't need to be turned into murderers like me." He thinks of Quackity, the blazing fire. He thinks of Ranboo, the gentle nightmare. Of Tommy, the merciless sunshine. Each and every student. They deserve better.

"Technoblade." Philza grips Techno's chin and brushes back his hair. "I deserve death as much as you. But I'm going to keep living. There's still people we need to kill, Techno, there's still governments to dismantle! We can't end now! We'll find a cure. A real cure. I promise."

"I don't want you to die."

"Ditto, mate." Philza embraces Techno gently. Techno wraps his arms around his friend, afraid to let go.

#tw violence #tw threats #tw discussions of death #technoblade #ranboo #quackity #philza #niki nihachu #jack manifold #jschlatt #hbomb #karl jacobs #fundy #fanfiction #not rpf #no ship #dream smp au #dream smp

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realchemistry · 4 years

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Jamie Johnson BAFTA Q&A Full transcript

14:02:35 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Good evening, everyone and welcome to this special BAFTA event as part of Pride Month. I'm Alex Kay-Jelski. I'm the editor in chief of the athletic and I'm going to be moderating a discussion of Jamie Johnson, Tackling Issues Head On.

14:03:09 I'm sure you have seen the incredible episodes that have been airing recently and before we have a great discussion with your panelists. I have bits of housekeeping. Live captioning is available if needed on this, click the option at the bottom of your Zoom panel. Also, we will be taking questions later, because we want to answer your big queries, but to do that, use the Q&A button at the bottom. We will not see you on the chat function.

14:03:44 I will give you a five minute warning to get the questions in and we will get in as many as we can in the next hour. So here we are, Jamie Johnson, what an incredible, incredible few episodes as we saw Dillon comes to terms or start to terms with his sexuality and being gay and coming out in a time of him being a starring footballer and how difficult that was for hill.

14:04:17 I think in a world where a lot of people feel comfortable going to football grounds, not like anyone is allowed at football grounds right now, unfortunately. With people coming to terms with who they are, trying to speak to their family about it, trying to speak to their friends about it. Really moving, fantastic drama.

14:04:39 We're going to talk to the key people and try to explain why it is so important and what effect it had and will continue to have. So I will stop prattling on because you are probably bored of hearing from me because there are far more interesting people to hear from.

14:04:58 We have Shaun Duggan the lead writer on Jamie Johnson. He has been BAFTA nominated alongside of Jimmy from the accused and he is famous for righting the lesbian kiss in brook side. I'm old enough to remember that.

14:05:33 Next, we have actors Laquarn Lewis and Patrick Ward, so hello to you two. We have Cheryl Taylor. Cheryl is the head of content of BBC Children and she commissioned Jamie Johnson and all of the BBC content, that is hard to say when you say it quickly for television and online.

14:06:03 For now, we have Hugo Scheckter who is the head of Player Care of West Ham United. Later, we have an extra because we're going to be joined by the executive producer Anita Burgess who produces Jamie Johnson for BBC. Lots of people with lots of things to say. We should get started, shouldn't we?

14:06:32 I'm going to talk to Shaun first, because I think you're the best persons to answer this question. Jamie Johnson has always been a huge success, we're in series five now, great ratings, lots of interest, telling really, really important stories that reflect sort of the lives of children and teenagers. Why do you think the show has been so popular and why does it engage this audience so well?

14:07:07 >> Shaun Duggan: I think for what you have said and from the outset, we wanted to tell a show that felt very real and reflect the lives of our young audience and not patronize or condescend them. My background is working on soap operas and other stuff and this was rarely the first big show I worked on in children's drama.

14:07:40 I have to say, I didn't approach it any differently. I approached it in the same way as I would an adult drama. Obviously, there are things you have to be careful of in terms of language, but in terms of thinking of challenge in story, thinking about what reflects the young audience as lives, what is important to them and just in terms and I'm sure we'll talk more later about how the whole Dillon story came about.

14:08:08 If I could say from a personal experience, when I was younger, I could I've with the show because I'm football mad, working-class background, I remember my dad carrying me over the turnstiles and slipping the man some cash and all I wanted to do was play football in the street and that is why I was obsessed with going to every game I could.

14:08:39 Then I got to about 11 and things changed because suddenly all I play football with didn't want to be my friend anymore and people started saying I was gay, queer, in the 80'S, I did not know what these things were. It I just knew I was something bad and something to be ashamed of and things got worse where I was not welcome to play football anymore.

14:09:14 People turned their backs on me and all through senior school, for me personally, I had a hellish experience. I left school without any qualifications and not just talking verbal bullying, I'm talking getting beaten up most days, so school became about survival. I couldn't turn to the teachers. You were not allowed to talk about gay issue, I couldn't go home and tell my own family.

14:10:04 They were homophobic, not homophobic in a bad way, but we didn't know and I know firsthand how isolating and lonely, you know that is to be a young, gay person. I know things have changed to a degree, but in terms of education these things aren't talked enough within school, so to get this opportunity to tell a story like this in children's drama, I have to say a massive thank you to Cheryl and everyone at CBBC. If they don't support it and go along with it, then it wouldn't happen.

14:10:31 I have to say I found it very emotional seeing these stories going out on screen last week, not only that but everything around it, the support on news, the presenters after they talked to the audience and it is OK to be yourself and it made me proud to be a part of it and how far we have come.

14:10:46 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Do you think producing a show like this plays a role a little bit, a small role in helping the next generation of kids who are growing up, teenagers who are coming to terms with who they are, they don't have to go through what you have gone through.

14:11:24 >> Shaun Duggan: Absolutely, it is all cliche really, but if people say, if we telling this story, we can help one person not to feel -- let them know they are not on their own it is really worth doing. You mentioned at the intro, I did the lesbian kiss, which is almost 30 years ago now, but to this day, people who are in their 50s or whatever will approach me and when I meet them and you can tell people are in isolated communities with a traditional family.

14:11:34 The impact of seeing that story line on screen and making it feel less alone and that is so powerful.

14:11:54 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Cheryl, does the BBC have a role to play in that sense in trying to reassure people like this program does and let them know they are not alone? How important is it when you're choosing which programs to put on air does that come into play?

14:12:31 >> Cheryl Taylor: Thanks, Alex. It is really important to us. Obviously, as a public service board, we are there to inform and to entertain and I think we want the children who are watching our shows to feel good about themselves and feel informed. I think it is key. It sets us apart from other broadcasters and listening to Shaun there, such a powerful story that he has told, not just on Jamie Johnson, but to us here this evening.

14:13:02 I think, I don't know how old Shaun is, but he looks younger than someone who wrote brookside 30 years ago. When I was the age of Patrick and Laquarn, I would not have had any role models and it is fantastic that people are able to write these important stories and we very much want to reflect them.

14:13:31 I have to point out it takes a special kind of writer and special performer to achieve what Jamie Johnson has achieved and the whole production team as well. A lot of people have talked about authenticity at the moment and to hear Shaun talk about the story that has woven into a football series.

14:14:06 Jamie Johnson has been around for a long time and to artfully weave that story, in a sense, I don't think any of the fans or viewers would have felt in a sense they were being preached at or lectured, which I think is amazing. I think Patrick has taken us through Dillon's journey in a way that Shaun has given us the story, a coming of age story, someone finding his identity and that is something all kids will be going through. They will all be looking for signals and for help.

14:14:42 It is hard being a kid and hard growing up, so you know, absolutely, I think the BBC is the platform for this type of story, but fair play to these guys. They told it beautifully. I was seeing the comments on Patrick and Laquarn's Insta and there are people saying this is amazing and this is great to seeing this happen. People have written, what an amazing episode of Jamie Johnson. It is such a valuable series.

14:14:49 I'm grateful to Shaun and all of the team for telling the story so beautifully.

14:15:12 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Shaun, how do you write for a teenage and child audience? How do you get insides of the heads of teenagers and people of that age and make it relevant to them? As been mentioned in this call already, you are not a teenager anymore.

14:15:44 >> Shaun Duggan: No, but I thank Cheryl for the comments they am older than you might realize. I have lots of nieces, nephew, firstly, we have all been teenagers so I have been there. But I have nieces and nephews and so many of my friends' children love Jamie Johnson. In the past, for example, I tried to incorporate stories being relevant.

14:15:58 We had Dillon being diabetic in an earlier series because my friend's daughter was diagnosed with type I diabetes and that is where the idea came from, so you draw from all of those experiences.

14:16:10 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Patrick, do you remember the day they came to you with the idea of this story line and how did that feel? It is quite a responsibility, I guess.

14:16:41 >> Patrick Ward: Sure, I do remember the day, actually, before every series, I would meet with Shaun and Anita and talk about the next year and this idea was brought forward. To be honest, while a lot of people may see it as being a surprise, when you look back over Dillon's journey, it made a lot of sense and as playing Dillon, it felt organic and needed in society as well.

14:16:56 Yeah, definitely, I think that is really important as well, I have younger brothers and sisters who fancy the star and to see their response and other people, it has been brilliant.

14:17:20 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: How many barriers do you think there are to breakdown? For example, hopefully, this makes a lot of people feel more comfortable and better about themselves, but realistically, when you went and told your friends about this twist in Dillon's character, were you nervous about the response that you would get? Has that been positive?

14:17:42 >> Patrick Ward: I suppose you are nervous, for me especially with negative feedback, it is more kind of, like what Shaun was talk about earlier, it shows that it is perform that we're doing this story line. When you see negative feedback, which is not a lot of it to be fair, most of it is positive, but I think it is important.

14:18:03 People around me responded very well and my family was very supportive and is very forward thinking. I was proud to be doing it and I didn't care what other people had to say about it negative thinking, because I'm honored to be a part of it.

14:18:13 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Laquarn, how did you feel that? Do you think Jamie Johnson has a unique way of telling a story like this?

14:18:45 >> Laquarn Lewis: Yeah, I think it is unique in terms of the way he told the story, because any story can educate people on coming out and finding your own sexuality, but Jamie Johnson has done this through an industry which seems to be gay in football, especially and they tackled this on one of their main characters and followed the journey of his homophobic past with himself, his younger brother and dad.

14:19:16 He was only sharing the homophobic because that is what he was used to around his family and maybe his football team, you know, so the fact he had to hold it in for so long and hide who he is because of his passion for football. Jamie Johnson told an amazing story and did an amazing job of getting it across and you can be who you want to be no matter what your dreams are.

14:19:49 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: I think it is great that he was not playing into people's stereotypes as well. Some people like to think what they know what a gay person looks like, talks like, walks like, right, Dillon did not fit the stereotypes. Hugo, I don't know if you had the same thing, but when I came out, a lot of people were like, oh, we didn't see that coming necessarily, which is fine but you wish they had known it was coming because it was less of a surprise.

14:20:06 I think the fact that Dillon was not what some people would expect is a great thing for the audience because it makes them think about their own assumptions and prejudices, if you don't mind.

14:20:31 >> Shaun Duggan: I hope you don't mind me jumping, in but it made the story more interesting. The audience had these expectations of Dillon that someone like him wouldn't be gay, so therefore, that makes it more challenging.

14:20:48 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Yeah, absolutely. Did you, Patrick, Laquarn get involved in the story line or were you good boys and did what you were told?

14:21:07 >> Patrick Ward: Well, we rehearsed beforehand, actually in this house, in the next room. Laquarn came with someone we have known for a long time and rehearsed this kind of thing. I think it is very important as well.

14:21:42 >> Laquarn Lewis: He made us do games where we had to get to know each other really well before we shoot the scenes, so the story that we were telling was truthful. We had to do this one task and we had to look at each other and we couldn't smile and we had to keep pushing each other. He did so many games to get us on to a level where our relationship outside of acting could really like grow for our onset acting and I think that helped a lot.

14:22:10 >> Patrick Ward: I was going to say it is interesting because if you look at Dillon when he meets Elliot, it is like when he first sees him. It is like there is something that goes on insides of his brain. He doesn't understand what it is, but there is something and it is new and it happens very quickly, so I think it is important that me and Laquarn were able to understand each other as people and actors beforehand, definitely.

14:22:28 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Absolutely. We touched on this is a little, Cheryl, but outside of this show, generally, do you feel the BBC has a responsibility to put forward stories that represent underrepresented parts of audiences?

14:23:08 >> Cheryl Taylor: Yes, I was just thinking there when Shaun was talking about Patrick having diabetes just using Jamie Johnson as an example and this is one example of one of many, many dramas that we do. The different storylines that people judge as mainly football drama. We covered Jamie's family and kids looking after sick parents, so young carers, we had the homophobia, we had bullying. Just in that one series, you have a set of writers and producers and commissioners

14:23:50 Who intend to broaden the scope to be as inclusive and relevant as many kids as possible. Someone was talking about we know a lot of girls watch Jamie Johnson as well, so across the piece, it is important that all of our brands have a broad appeal. I think, I know I sound like I'm heaping praise on these wonderful creators but because I think they deserve it in this one drama. Secret life of boys, all of these shows on the surface, you can say this is a comedy, this is a drama.

14:24:19 Under beneath of that, every episode addresses these issues and reflects many of the audience's lives as many as possible and giving them tools and strategies to manage their own lives. I do think suggest a scale and a specialty skill and I don't think anyone watching the show would argue that they have done it incredibly well. It is very important.

14:24:44 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: That is it, isn't it? We can talk about sport and football and LBGTQ relationships in a minute, but Jamie Johnson, this story line is a show about football largely, but the story line is not about football. You can be any young more than or older person who doesn't have the courage to come out or the opportunity to come out and see that.

14:24:59 Hopefully, be confident and inspired by it. This is not about football, right, either of you, this is show to reach out to a much, much wider audience.

14:25:27 >> Cheryl Taylor: As I say it is about identities, rites of passage, coming of age and the journey that Dillon goes on, especially the extraordinary scene with his dad, for any kid, you know who is thinking about a difficult conversation that they might want to have, that would have been key. That would have been crucial and the fact that he goes to speak to Jamie. He reaches out to his friends and gets advice.

14:25:51 That is where the beauty of having Elliot there who has gone through this before, who has to some degree come to terms with his identity and that gives lots of information, lots of hope, useful take out for kids who are watching and feeling uncertainty about their own identity.

14:26:23 >> Shaun Duggan: I think that is, if you don't mind me jumping in again, really important because we established in the story that Dillon's family is homophobic. We ran a story where his little brother was kicked out of the club about making homophobic comments about Ruby's foster parents. We have time to establish that, but it felt important when we brought in Elliot's character that he was coming in from a different place.

14:26:37 He was comfortable in who he was. He says on screen that he had been brought up with gay people, so they had different experiences, but learned from each other's experiences.

14:27:03 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Also for parents, too, right? This is not an easy conversation and not always an expected conversation for parents as well. I think is very hard to know sometimes how to react and how not to react and everyone wants to say they want to be understanding with their children, but some parents may get shocked and surprised and don't react in the most helpful ways.

14:27:13 With that scene in particular with Dillon and his dad is a good thing to pin up on the wall, and go, whatever you do, don't do that.

14:27:39 >> Shaun Duggan: Again, in terms of that is such a powerful scene, very difficult to watch and all of the actors played it so brilliant, but there is quite a pit of the series to go, so although Dillon's dad reacted veried badly, he will have his own journey to go on through the rest of the series.

14:28:18 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Hugo, you sat there patiently and calmly and nodding in the right places, so now you get to talk. Hugo works in west ham. He is in the dressing room with players. He is helping them out. He used to work at Southampton, so he works at various football clubs. He understands football. He is a gay man in football. What did you think watching this and do you think football is a different place than other parts of society?

14:28:56 >> Hugo Scheckter: First of all, it struck me how powerful it was and it was jarring from a kids' TV show. I'm not someone who watched Jamie Johnson on a regular basis before, I don't know if I'm supposed to say that. This was my first expectation of the show, watching cartoons with my nephew. Did not know what to expect, but I thought, wow, this is hard hitting and I was jarred by the whole Dillon and his father's scene.

14:29:24 I think it was absolutely fantastic to highlight that. In terms of football, I think it's a different environment in a lot of ways, but negative and positive. I think a lot of people see football as this horrible, you know, macho, alpha-male environment. The changing room is one of the most diverse groups of people you can meet.

14:30:08 We've got on the team, for example, a guy from the republic of Congress go who is friends with a Scottish guy and a Hawaiian guy and you probably don't see that in society on a general basis. I think seeing the role molls come -- models coming out, but you're seeing it in the lockdown, but allies and I think people have spoken openly and eloquently about the importance of the rainbow campaign or openly gay players or role models.

14:30:42 For me, I was in the closet and I came out about two or three years into Southampton. My job is to look after players and the families and I was trying to get the players to trust me without sharing all of myself. Once I did, the relationship was so much closer and even today at lunch, I had a player ask me about my coming out and how I realized and he talked about how he would react if his kids came out.

14:31:14 That is a conversation that you would not expect to be in a changing room or a club and the amount of discussions we had about LBGTQ issues or trans issues, I'm not shaggymane expert, but I'm a resource and I think it is hugely encouraging and it means they are inquisitive people. I think they get a bad rap and I'm 100% sure who came out would be fully accepted in the change room.

14:31:44 Players want you to be a good person and a good player and if you can 10 us stay in the league or other teams' cases, higher up in the league, that is all that matters. It does not matter who you are or what you do in your free time, what religion you are or sexual orientation, it does not matter as long as you're a good person or a good player. I think football gets a worse rap than it deserves at times.

14:32:22 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: I would counter it to be the awkward person to say going to football is the only place I would not hold my husband's hand in public. It is one thing to know what it is like in the dressing room and that is fascinating, it is another thing to walk into a football stadium and the atmosphere and the words that you hear there, whether it is racist stuff, homophobic stuff, football as a sport has a long, long way to go percent. Sports has a long way to go. There are not out

14:32:59 Is not a great place. You say it was Dillon's line in the episode, there is no out -- no out footballer in this country, how can I sort of come out and be successful and that is the crux of that is a big part of the episode, isn't it? It is a really complex question because the worst thing that can happen people endlessly talking about it and the witchhunt of we need gay footballs. Who is the gay footballer?

14:33:14 I think the narrative needs to be a welcoming environment so people feel comfortable and that may take another generation's time.

14:33:53 >> Hugo Scheckter: There are gay women footballers in the west ham. You know what, yeah, I can talk to my experience in the changing room. To be honest, I go to every game we play and I don't hear the negativity. I think there is a lot of discussion in football about this banter and from an outsider's point of view, especially in the change room, it can be seen as negative. The way I felt was the players did not joke about anything, whether it was my sexuality or whatever else,

14:34:20 My hair, my weight, or whatever it is, that means they accept me. If it is like, don't talk about gay stuff that is like they don't accept me. I had players saying can I make a gay joke to you and I say as long as you make it to my face and prepare for me to come back at you and I think that is a little bit of a difference in football environment where other industries it would not be acceptable.

14:34:46 At the end of the day, we are focused of doing one thing, which is winning matches and we have a match tomorrow. We're all focused on that we're not worried about what everyone is doing around that. We're worried about everything is doing everything they can to beat Chelsea or get a point at this point, but it is important that we work together for that one goal.

14:35:06 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Just a quick, not warning as such, advisory, that we will probably start the questions in a few minutes. I can see there are few in there. If you want to ask these lovely, almost interesting people questions, make sure you get them so we can make you as happy as possible.

14:35:18 What is acting like in comparison, Laquarn, Patrick, do you feel that is a welcoming environment for people to be themselves?

14:35:54 >> Laquarn Lewis: Well, I feel like it. Yeah, there is, but there is a lot of discrimination in the acting industry, it is not just football. I feel like, especially with type casting that is very hard in the industry, because if you act or look a certain way then it is most likely you're going to get put for this same character over and over again. It is good to just play something different to yourself and get that opportunity.

14:36:07 It is getting better in the industry, but like I said, I'm happy to play whatever, especially this role right here, because I'm helping so many people, so I'm -- thank you, yeah.

14:36:13 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Have you had people get in touch with you to say it has helped?

14:36:17 >> Laquarn Lewis: You can do this one, Patrick.

14:36:49 >> Patrick Ward: Yeah, yeah, definitely, it has been mostly positive and that is the benefit thing for me is seeing people with a message saying this has helped me come to terms with this or this helped me speak about this and that is all we're trying to achieve and just I'm proud watching the episode because everyone did such a good job. It has been fantastic and see how people have responded in a good way.

14:36:57 There has been some negativity, but a lot of people have taken it positive.

14:37:18 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: One person who is in a great position to explain a little bit more about the reception that this story line has got is Anita. So Anita Burgess, for those who were not here at the beginning of the conversation, Anita. Hello, Anita. Good evening. Nice to see you.

14:37:21 >> Anita Burgess: Hello. Nice to see you, too.

14:37:35 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Anita is the executive producer of the show. You must be absolutely fantastic the repping you have had, I would love to hear from your perspective.

14:38:11 >> Anita Burgess: It has been amazing actually. I'm known as someone who cries a lot and the reception has made me cry a lot even for me. It has been overwhelming. I think as Patrick was saying largely positive. I mean almost entirely positive, the 1% have their other views and that is there and that has to be acknowledged, but I found, I think as what was said, the most moving ones are the positive ones.

14:38:39 People feel for the first time there is something on screen that they recognize themselves in and it helps them and the complements about how the story has been handled and us not talking down to people, that sense of what we're trying to do is empower and educate and get the word out there to help people who are already in this position.

14:38:53 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: How would you not talk down to people? What are things that you can do so it does not come across as patronizing? What are things in your head as a producer to say don't do this?

14:39:30 >> Anita Burgess: We are mindful of the audience and the age they are, so you explain things and make it clear to not -- what you're trying to do is use language that they would understand, but not treat them kind of too young. I think the simplicity of the story comes from truth. It comes from Shaun's experiences.

14:39:44 Making sure the research is as thorough as possible, so we are representing the truth as much as we can, I think it is about that, so don't talk down is just be honest and clear as best we can.

14:40:10 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: That is brilliant. I think it is time we put you to the sharks and answer some questions, really. There are quite a few of them. I'm going to try to do something if I press a button, they might come up on the screen. I'm going to apologize in advance if I get that wrong and someone will tell me if I'm doing this wrong.

14:40:42 So Dillon's storyline has been gripping, someone says. Beautifully written and amazingly active. Lots of compliments. This is best directed to you, Cheryl, of CBC producing a series with younger audiences where being LBGTQ plus being the center of the show? Can you, not target, but get this message to a younger audience?

14:41:13 >> Cheryl Taylor: Thank you for the question. As I was saying earlier, obviously CBC is the preschool channel and we have 6-12, to some degree we're limited to the type of lens we can put on sexuality, obviously, and as I mentioned earlier, a lot around your identity is something that we can explore. It has to be done in a certain way, because we have quite a wide age group.

14:41:47 I think the way this story is played out from 9-12 and above has been perfect, so depending on how someone wrote a story and type of character that they highlighted, I think anything is possible. Our central messages are about tolerance and inclusion and that people should feel OK about being themselves and I think you can get those messages across in many, many different ways, as to say for preschool age.

14:41:54 It would depend on the type of character and how they were portrayed, but essentially, yes, absolutely.

14:41:59 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Since you're talking, you can answer the next question.

14:42:00 >> Cheryl Taylor: Go.

14:42:22 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Shaun might have an opinion as well. How long did it take to develop the idea and were you nervous about it? The person here, he says he produced when Andrew Hayden Smith came out and people were nervous that people like parents would complain. Were you aware of that or, no, we're doing the right thing?

14:42:51 >> Cheryl Taylor: I wasn't nervous, actually, that is partly to do with the team. Again as I mentioned this there are a lot of tricky storylines in Jamie Johnson and our other dramas. Anita, Shaun, everyone is very, very experienced and I knew they would handle it really well and similarly, the commissioning editor, Amy and her team would have explained the storylines with Anita.

14:43:25 That is one part of it and going back to Patrick, Patrick is such a key, key character in Jamie Johnson and he has taken on so many different things, so right from the beginning. I remember Anita telling me Patrick embraced the idea because he felt it was so important. Genuinely, we knew the team, there might have been a few more question marks, but with this team we did not have any anxiety.

14:44:06 Anita and Amy in presentation and talked to the press and introducing it and Patrick introduced it and pushing to news rounds and also on social media kind of making sure there were links there to child life or the other kids that might be watching who were worried and going through new experiences. Across the piece, everyone was so empathetic that it might be a troublesome story line, and they did brilliant work to make sure it was embedded in the right way.

14:44:23 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Brilliant. Shaun, this one is for you. This person is called anonymous attendee, who I don't think is their real name, how important is it for LBGTQ stories to have a happy ending?

14:44:46 >> Shaun Duggan: Incredibly important, as far as I'm concerned. In the past, we have seen so many examples, you know, where there is a tragic ending and to be honest because that is reflected reality, because it has been in the past incredibly hard to be gay in this country. It was only in the 1960's, it was legal to be gay.

14:45:11 In the 80'S, we had the AIDS epidemic and you couldn't discuss being gay in school, so it is only in the past 20 or so years, we have been on this incredible journey and we are in a position now where we can tell these positive stories that reflect real people's lives.

14:45:31 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: I think when you grow up a gay teenager there is a lot of feeling that you won't have all of the things that people laid out for other people. I grew up thinking I'm not going to get married and not have kids and I'm going to be unhappy. Having hope.

14:46:11 >> Shaun Duggan: For me being able to tell it, I talked about being bullied at school. I was 21 before I came out. That ad less scents that most people have, I didn't have. It was stolen from me. It gives me so much hope that young people have the confidence to talk sexuality and build on those.

14:46:45 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: I'm being asked by Christopher, how have your peers responded to you playing this role? Obviously, Laquarn, you mentioned discrimination in industry. Have actors been supportive in what you have done? Lincoln people around me like my friends and family and people who watch have really supported me and and there is nothing far from like myself. Elliot is just like myself.

14:47:19 >> Laquarn Lewis: I -- so my friends have always been supportive, but I chose to wait until I left secondary school to tell them what my sexuality was, because I knew in secondary schools, if you are different in any way shape or form whether that is sexuality, disability, you will be brutalized and it is a horrible thing. I already knew I was going to wait until then. I was worried about my friends and what they would think as well.

14:47:46 When I told them, I have never seen such amazing support of people and doing this right now in the show, they have picked me up so much. They said the bravery it takes to be able to be open about your sexuality and then do this and silt just amazing and I thank everyone around me really.

14:47:51 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Patrick, anything to add or is that an impossible act to follow?

14:48:22 >> Patrick Ward: That is summed up perfectly. A different thing for me, this story line, but everybody around me has been very supportive. There are people I know, to be fair, from school or who you see out who haven't -- made comments, but as a reality, for me, you have conversations about this and able to express and I think it has been already.

14:48:43 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Someone sells asking, when you're doing a story line like this, are you given any help or claiming in terms or warnings about how to deal with the response afterwards on social media? It is hard to know what things are going to be like, right?

14:49:12 >> Laquarn Lewis: Yeah, we have had Zoom sessions with Anita and Shaun and BBC, everyone involved in making Jamie Johnson and particularly, this storyline, they have given us guidelines and a draft response to people who are giving us hate and BBC says we don't respond to this. We have been helped really well.

14:49:50 >> Patrick Ward: I think that is spot on that it has been interesting that I have been doing this for quite a while and I remember being 12 and in a room and talking about social media before I had ever been on TV and people saying, this is -- you're going to have this kind of response and this kind of thing and I remember being mind blown. It now a part of reality on how to respond with these things. I have a strict code of conduct with my social media and mostly what we have had ha fantast

14:50:26 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: There is one question that has been asked more than anything else, so we're going to save it to the end. We're going to go to a tough one and Shaun and Anita, you are probably best place to ask this. Someone said a line that jumped out to me, I think this is in the scene with Dillon and his dad, you are gay or you're not. Should we be telling people that identities aren't binary?

14:50:52 >> Shaun Duggan: I think with that line, you're writing truthfully from Dillon's dad's perspective. He hasn't got this great understand on of the subject and it is the kind of thing that he might say and not everyone is 100% gay. A lot of people are, a lot of people aren't, a lot of people in the middle.

14:51:32 Dillon is actually trying to tell his dad the truth and his dad is making it as difficult as possible for him, so I think I would rather focus on the positive message and the scenes that we have between Dillon and Elliot, where there was so much positive materials spoken about rather than focusing on Dillon's dad, who at this stage is homophobic and ignorant and a bigot, really.

14:52:05 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: This question is from a teacher and she says if she teaches things about homophobia or transgender issues, she gets parents saying she is trying to make them that way and we hear this quite a lot, right? If you tell people about transgender people, you're going to make them transgender. She is asking, have you had any of that or generally people been a lot lovier?

14:52:38 >> Shaun Duggan: If I could just say from my perspective on that, again, talking about what I was saying earlier, from being born to 12-13, I did not see any gay representation on TV I did not know what gay people were. I still became gay. If you go on that lodge you can, I should be an heterosexual, because I should have been inspired by boys and girls, but I wasn't. I still became gay.

14:52:54 You have to be careful when you have the debates, don't you of just having an open mind. At the end of the day, you know instinctively what you are from an a young age.

14:53:23 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Begs the question, if I watch enough "Game of Thrones" will by a weird person and run around with a spear in my hand? Not sure how that works. This question is for Cheryl from Miriam. She says in children's media, it can be hard to get certain things to air. With this story line, you had to tweak it or limit it in order for it to get to that stage or were you allowed to be fairly free with it?

14:53:57 >> Cheryl Taylor: Thanks for your question, Miriam. I think that goes back to the one we answered earlier, which was, I think the teams, s Anita and Amy and Shaun were looking at getting the story across in an age appropriate way. We is 6-12, so we need to make sure it is age appropriate.

14:54:38 Generally, there are some things I get exercised about, along with Katherine McAllister and I think pat and Laquarn was mentioning and we talked to her if we worried about a story line. Because this one, series five, coming from Shaun's personal experience and a specialty team, I didn't have any concerns about that.

14:55:12 >> Anita Burgess: Can I jump in as well, because I think it is important that people can understand how the producer coming to the BBC with this story, it wasn't something that we thought oh, we're not going to be able to do that. We knew the team would be very willing to talk to us and they did and we had a very in-depth discussion all the way along the line, they were incrediblably supportive of making sure this is age appropriate and the clarity was there, but the truth was there.

14:55:31 I think all credit it to the BBC if there is a perception that there is something you can't do there, that is not the case. There is always a conversation to be had there and they have been enormously supported right from the start.

14:55:50 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Hugo, young footballers coming through as teenagers, do they get a good education in being open minded? I can't remember how much they are in school and how much they are not at school. How do young sports people get taught how to be open minder?

14:56:17 >> Hugo Scheckter: I don't think we teach them to be open minded, I think we teach them a variety of life skills that leads them to being open minds, which was the idea. They are meeting people that they would not have met through their normal lives and I think that is a positive experience, but we also make sure everything we are doing that is appropriate and talk about the social media guidelines that the actors go through.

14:56:43 We go through the same thing, not only in the things they put out, but what they receive and we have had a number of issues with various comments getting to our players and having to deal with that. I think you can't maybe teach -- you can teach open mindness, but that is not our goal. Our goal is to make well-rounded people who are also excellent footballers.

14:57:06 We haven't seen issues in the any of the clubs I worked with where players are not accepting each other or having problems with each other it. Tends to be they competed on a position, where two goalkeepers competing for one position, but not the personality of the major clashes that happens at younger ages.

14:57:25 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: I reckon apart from the one person who is asking if they can play football with Patrick, we have time for two more questions. Laquarn, Patrick, what have you learned from filming these scenes?

14:57:49 >> Patrick Ward: I think a lot. These are the scenes I was looking forward to the most. When you get the scripts, especially the ones, obviously we rehearsed a lot, but I learned a lot as an actor and I am not able to prescription it very well because it is an organic process and try to embed yourself into it.

14:58:01 I like to think of it being modern and I think you learn a lot from this kind of thing, especially as a new actor.

14:58:04 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Laquarn, over to you.

14:58:40 >> Laquarn Lewis: I think it is -- it shows a way of how somebody can cope with coming out and how they deal with telling people and stuff and what I have learned from filming this and getting out there to people is, it doesn't have to be someone on the screen. You can be the person in real life to support your friend. All it takes you to ask them if they are OK and they might all of a sudden tell you that or anything.

14:58:55 If you just support people around you then you know it is something to help them that little bit more to be themselves.

14:59:11 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: So the last question of the night, the question that everyone is asking in this Q&A and we have to ask wow getting in trouble, is Elliot coming back? Who is answering that question?

14:59:28 >> Anita Burgess: I guess that is me, isn't it? We're hopeful. Things are in the process at the moment. Things aren't completely finished yet, but we're hopeful to find a way of continuing it somehow.

14:59:33 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: Laquarn, you're in luck. It is a night to celebrate.

14:59:35 >> Anita Burgess: He might not want to.

14:59:37 >> Laquarn Lewis: I would. I would.

15:00:14 >> Alex Kay-Jelski: There you go. It is a job acceptance live on air. Thank you so much all of you for your time, your questions, your excellent answers. I have enjoyed it and I hope you have as well. There are a lot of people struggling out there, as well, if you know them, I recommend the charities, it takes so much work to help people in relation to storylines like this, absolutely massive.

#Jamie Johnson #Patrick Ward #Laquarn Lewis #Dillon Simmonds #Elliot #Anita Burgess #Shaun Duggan #BAFTA #transcript #they'll probably upload the whole thing but just in case #this is the official transcript and it has some mistakes #I fixed some I caught but...

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jjba-hell · 4 years

Text

Don’t Pass Me By

Honestly I could give a whole speech about how far I’ve wandered from canon with this guy but I mean the prompt IS AU- so I mean... my canon now, right?

This is a fluffy mess with a slight surprise twist at the end- by far a piece I enjoyed writing without being crazy about the results so well and truly- good luck.

This is a twist on the whole college AU. Ghia is a bit younger, had pitch black curls before acquiring his stand and a tiny bit more mellow (and taller but I’m not opening that discussion).

Triggers? Other than some financial insecurity on reader’s behalf, anxiety-inducing info near the end, possible bullying and Ghiaccio’s signature loud mouth this is an EXTREMELY fluffy piece...

Tags for @giogio-gucci-gangstar, @lasquadraweek2020

3,5 K words, Gender Neutral reader

“My thighs are on fire! Can I please take a break?” You whined as you skid in wide circles around the centre of the ice with the momentum you had built up a few seconds before.

“I thought you were athletic. Your time is still too slow.” Ghiacchio called back from the rink edge behind you.

Doubling over your own legs with a groan you moved back to the starting point.

“Still don’t get how you can get fast enough to spin around the air three times but can’t make a good lap.” He grumbled before signalling for you to start.

You knew the position you were in was strange- were you really selling your time and training for the sake of a university scholarship? Yes. Could you only HOPE it was worth it? Also, yes. But you had your reasons.

By the suggestion of your scholarship manager- you had to come under the tutelage of Ghiacchio, an ex-ice hockey star that wasn’t handling rehabilitation very well.

You weren’t exactly sure what you were getting yourself into when you walked into that practice session but one warning stuck out above the rest- “His temper is a bit overactive.”

You had figured this out pretty soon when you first met Ghiacchio- you were walking through the bleachers as the team was mid-practice, more specifically a mock game, with Ghiacchio standing on the side-lines, drumming his fingers on the open edge of the rink.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were itching to be on the ice.” You spoke when you finally finished coming down the bleachers and stood beside him.

He looked down at you with a scowl that would have scared you, if you hadn’t seen worse. You didn’t pay it any mind as you watched the game unfold in front of you.

The players skating by closest to you and Ghiacchio were on their way to the opposite goal when someone’s stick slid in front of the carrier’s skates and caused a trip. You only knew from having to sit down and watch hockey games with your dad back home, that it was a foul. But you figured if you were going to at least pique his interest in training you, you needed to start somewhere. So, you called it.

“Foul!” Which seemed to get him to divide his attention between you and the game in front of you. The whistle blew.

“What the hell are you-“ Ghiaccio started, but instead you decided to explain to the coach was you’d seen.

“That was an intended trip, penalty to the reds.”

The team stopped to look at you, some of them smiling stupidly with their mouth guards like they were trying to get your attention- couldn’t have been because you knew how to play their game, right? Sure you didn’t look the part but they couldn’t just assume.

The coach skid by on the ice between you and the team and blew the whistle again. “They’re right. Get in formation for a penalty.”

The team collectively groaned as they moved away from you and to the goal for a penalty shot.

“Ah, just the person I wanted to see. Ghiacchio, this is Y/n L/n, they need some hockey coaching.” The coach gestured to you, letting you wave in a mock friendly manner.

Ghiacchio angrily turned to his coach. “Do they even skate?”

“You know you could just ask me yourself.” You interjected. You turned around to lean with your back against the rink, looking at Ghiacchio who was facing forward. He scowled down at you- somewhat taller than you but not by much with the tightest curls you’d ever seen on a guy.

“Can you even skate?” he practically spat in your direction.

“I can but only figure skate. That’s why I need you to coach me.”

Ghiacchio grunted. “Why now?”

The coach chipped in this time. “It doesn’t matter, Ghia. At least teach a new player to get on the ice since you’re too scared to get back on.”

You winced, that was harsh, even for a coach. Ghiacchio’s scowl became darker, he opened his mouth to say something, but the coach stopped him again.

“That’s not a request. Your scholarship is already in hot water with the board.”

The anger seemed to steep even more over Ghiacchio’s face- radiating heat you could feel through the air conditioning in the rink and turning red over his face.

He reached his hand up and beckoned the coach closer- it took you a moment to realize what he was going to do- so instead of letting it all unfold, the second Ghiaccio’s hand grabbed the front of the coach’s jacket, you grabbed hold of the hand that he had balled up in a fist at his side.

“Ghia, come on you don’t wanna do that.”

He whipped himself out of your grip and let go of the coach. “Don’t tell me what I don’t wanna do!” He yelled right in your face which you didn’t really take personal, not even letting you say anything else as he was already on his way up the stairs to the exit before you could do anything else. “You wanna get the shit beaten out of you so bad, be at rink 4C, tonight at 8.” He shouted back as he walked out the door.

You looked back at the coach and the rest of the team who stood in shock, still at their previous positions. “Am I gonna get the shit beaten out of me?” You asked and it seemed to bring a laugh out of everyone.

“Just be on the ice and he’ll be too scared to go after you.” One of the team members called out and let the others laugh.

The coach sent them to drills as he spoke to you one more time. “They’re not kidding. He won’t lift a hand to anyone he doesn’t know but you should still steer clear- he’s got one hell of a temper on him.”

You nodded and thanked the coach for the opportunity before heading off to get some homework done before what you could only assume was gonna be a no-show from Ghiacchio so with your skates tucked away in your duffel bag, over your shoulder and a pack of cigarettes in your jacket pocket you head down the courtyard stairs towards the back entrance of rink 4C- where you were instructed by the coach to wait to be unlocked.

You were surprised to find Ghiacchio already there, the door to the rink open and beating you to lighting a cigarette to decompress after a long day.

“You’re early.” Was all he said with an annoyed frown. Straight off the bat you were grateful he wasn’t already shouting at you.

“Gee, I wonder why.” You grumbled back as you closed the door and lit your own cigarette.

Ghiacchio straightened and walked over to you. “You probably got those dainty skates, don’t you?”

You pinched your cigarette between your lips as you opened your bag to let him see- it only made sense to cooperate with him to keep up this strange peace you thought you’d have to earn but surprisingly, he gently brought your skate out of the bag to scrutinize them, cigarette poised between his teeth.

“Average shoe size but slightly more narrow than I expected- you’re probably gonna end up having to add padding to compensate for that.” The phrase was said with no angry undertone, so you assumed his anger was directed more at the coach when you tried to talk to him at the rink before. “I’m guessing you know from personal experience?” you asked- perhaps too sweetly.

He nodded as he removed his cigarette from his lips. “The fucks that make our skates think we’re built like oxen.”

You took a drag of your cigarette and then asked. “I’m speaking out of inexperience here, but don’t you need to be able to take a body slam?”

He frowned down at you. “What do you think all the padding is for? Speed is more useful anyway- trying to push your opponents out of the way is stupid- the game suddenly turns into a wrestling match on ice.”

You shrugged at that. “I’ll take your word for it.” You knew you were not much of strategist anyway.

You bent down and killed the cigarette on the pavement and then proceeded to throw it away in the trash. “I’m guessing there are some spare skates I can try on?”

Ghiacchio nodded as he followed your example then stepped inside. “You can warm up in your own skates first.”

You didn’t really argue that. Some of your own skate fittings were after practice so the swelling from the exercise was considered. You had snuck up to the booth to slip in your mix to play over the speakers- admittedly you’d never gotten opportunity to have a rink to yourself despite your rank in the figure skating team. You were always practicing with your Walkman in your pocket and headphones over your ears.

So, to be skating on your own with just your music blasting without the pressure of competition on your shoulder was refreshing. Ghiacchio stood at the skater’s entrance with a pair of skates hanging from his shoulder. Your first skating instructor would have had a stroke at anyone waiting for you outside of the rink but Ghiacchio didn’t say anything- letting you finish your warm up and then gliding over to Ghiacchio who directed you to the bench where you sat down and untied your boot.

At the appearance of your socks or rather- the lightweight tights- made him frown.

“How old are those shoes?” He pointed at your skates.

“About 5 years, why?”

Ghiacchio sighed as he started undoing the laces on the new boots. “Because those socks are not gonna survive these-“

“I brought another pair.” You reached over to your bag beside you to pull out some fluffy socks- mismatched of course.

Ghiacchio’s gaze was focused somewhere else, his jaw set in an obviously angry glare at the floor.

“I’m sorry for interrupting you.” You tried to smooth things over with your heartbeat clambering into your ears.

In your nervousness you unraveled the socks to reveal their mismatched beauty even more. Ghiacchio’s gaze fell on your hands and you could swear a small smile cracked his scowling demeanor. “Those’ll work better.”

You smiled with him as you pulled them over your first pair.

He knelt down and helped you slip your foot into the new boot- something you were definitely not expecting. Was it weird? To feel special to have him tying your boot like this? Too Cinderella-y?

Getting up felt wrong- you had your balance but true to Ghiacchio’s guess your feet WERE too narrow for the boot but with no space behind your ankle or in front of your toes.

He seemed to understand as you sat back down on the bench and without another word he sat cross-legged in front of you pulling out some tape and thick plastic padding. Holding your booted foot across his knee he asked you- “So where would you say the loose fit is the worst?”

You pointed out to the sides of the ball of your foot. It was a quick fix and watching him peel the boot open to expertly insert the padding and then re-lace the boot was almost therapeutic to watch. The second fit was nearly perfect save for side of your bridge which you deemed you’d fix later but he stopped his work. “Still not right?” he asked. Were you breathing too much into it or was that some crazy intuition?

“Just the bridge needs a bit more on the outside.”

Without even complaining, he added the padding to both boots and helped you lace up again. “Perfect.”

“Good. Now get on the ice, you’re gonna need to adjust.”

He was right of course- it seemed simple at first. Moving around and skating around was easy enough but your first turn was met with a chin on the ice.

“Those blades don’t do that.” Was all he said as you got up with a groan.

You took a few laps, feeling like a new born deer every time you tried to make a turn- eventually figuring out how to make a proper straight lap.

You started taking a few laps with Ghiacchio holding the stopwatch until a groundskeeper waved the two of you to wrap it up.

Taking off your skates with a hiss at the scrapes from the inside of the boot you looked at Ghiacchio who was studying your new wounds under the socks with disinterest.

“They just need to be broken in.” You said as you slipped on the blade protectors onto your new skates.

Ghiacchio only nodded, seeming tired as you made your way out of the building towards the campus dorms in silence until it seemed like he couldn’t hold it any longer. “No jokes, why do you want to join the ice hockey team anyway? Aren’t you successful enough in figure skating?”

You could swear your heart skip a beat at his interest in you. It’s not exactly like high school where everyone’s accomplishments are shared with the rest of the school. He probably had to go ask around to figure out who you were. “I’m starting a post-graduate course, but my sponsors aren’t THAT generous.”

“Geez, you have sponsors?”

“Just like your teams do, except you know- your sponsors cover for gear and mine pays for my gear and hostel and class expenses.”

Ghiacchio turned to look at you with a confused scowl, standing stock still under a street lamp. “I said no jokes.”

You stopped and looked back at him, with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not. My parents didn’t have money to send me here, the university wanted me but even with scholarship my parents didn’t want to spend anything on me.”

Ghiacchio let a flicker of sadness over his eyes. “That’s bad.”

“It’s not that bad- my job covers anything else I want.”

Giving a loud, drawn out groan he started walking again- “Fuck! Classes, a job AND two sports. You must be insane.”

“Ah come on its not that bad. I actually enjoy being on the ice- it gives me some time to do as I please.”

He scoffed at that. “Naïve.”

“And when did you start playing?”

“Since high school, as a matter of fact.”

“Got you beat- I started in elementary school.”

You arrived at the dormitory courtyard and stopped at the centrepiece. “Yeah well you didn’t have to get your kneecaps removed because of an accident.”

You were about to tell him you were sorry about his injury, but he had turned around and walked away- unbothered and with just a simple. “Sleep well- same time tomorrow.”

So, you kept up the routine- figure skating in the morning, classes, homework and then laps. Countless laps under Ghiacchio’s supervision.

Until one day you angrily stomped your way off the ice and sat down with a groan.

“Get back on.” Was all you got as he closed in on you from the opposite side of the rink.

You laughed up at the ceiling as you panted for your breath back.

“Why don’t you teach me, by demonstration, how to reach that speed?”

“I don’t skate anymore.” He growled back.

You picked your head up to look at him, “So you’re retired from your glory days?”

“Yeah! So?”

“So! How about you stop hiding how badly you want to get on the ice and just get on?”

“I don’t want to get back on the ice.” He hissed back through gritted teeth.

“Oh please, I could see through that lie from day one. You miss it! You miss putting on your boots and fixing up the padding, you miss working on your turns, you miss the bit of excitement you feel when you hop over someone’s stick. And you know how I can tell? Because you’re trying to make me like it too.”

He looked over you, leaning in low to be face to face with you. “I hate skating- nothing you say is going to change that.”

“You don’t hate it- why else would you be at a rink with me every day. You don’t hate skating, Ghia- you hate running laps until you throw up, you hate games, you hate the pressure, you hate the scrapes you get into. And I can prove it.”

“How?”

You started undoing the laces on your boots. “Put some skates on and just- just glide with me.”

His angry scowl softened quickly- watching in almost confusion as you replaced your skates.

“Come on, I know you still bring your skates to practice.”

With a resistant huff he sat down and started putting his skates on. You didn’t wait up, hopping onto the ice with a happy sigh.

You could admit that your new training regime wasn’t really easy on your body- you felt tense after training with Ghiacchio and joining with your soon-to-be team showed you how unnecessarily he pushed you to be the best.

He stood at the precipice with his skates, one foot on the edge and the other still on the ground- looking awfully unsure.

“Stop worrying! If I can figure out how to skate on those horrendous things in a week- you can at least try to get back on.” You called back, turning around and waiting, watching as he took one step onto the ice and pushed himself forward gently. You moved forward to skate alongside him- running your hand along the rim of the rink while he took it closer to the inside.

“You know I’ve never seen you show off your speciality.” He spun around, leaning back to glide backwards.

“You never asked.”

“Teach me something then.”

Stopping a little way just to slow down you continued to speak. “A spin is pretty basic but not as easy as it looks.”

You built up some speed and moved to the center of the rink, you set your foot at the angle and twirled calmly- fixing Ghiacchio as your spotting point.

“What are you doing with your head?”

“Spotting.” Is all you said before kicking your other foot out and stopping. “So you don’t get dizzy.”

Moving back to Ghiacchio who was moving towards you, he laughed- something you’d never heard. “Yeah I don’t think so.”

Then he did something you couldn’t quite believe. His hand latched around your wrist and for a moment you thought you’d lead but he was the one that took you for a lap around the rink. You had decided not to say anything- you knew how much it took simply for him to be on the ice. So you waited until he popped the question.

“So you’re telling me, in all your years on ice, you’ve never been injured?”

“Oh I’ve had a few injuries. Worst was also a pretty big knee injury, then it was an ankle twist but that was because my skates were too big, then a blade gave out mid performance once and slung itself into my arm.”

Ghiacchio hissed, entwining his hand with yours. “And who pushed you back on the ice?”

“Myself. You may call me naive but skating is all I’ve ever had.”

By then you two were just gliding- you backwards and him forward. His face fell- his other hand found yours. “What about home? Family? You said you had parents.”

You smiled through swallowing the lump in your throat. “Yeah but I mean life stays stressful, doesn’t it?”

Ghiacchio slowed you down, his hand tugging you back to a slow stop. He seemed to survey your face with a stern sadness in his eyes. “I won’t force you to tell me. But your silence says allot.”

He let go of your hand and was about to go but you held onto his other. It hurt that he had wormed his way into you so quickly- you weren’t sure if you wanted to go there but...it hurt more to let him go. “Don’t- don’t go.” There was a tense moment of silence as he gazed down between your hands. So you sought to fill it. “Wanna go out for coffee? Saturday morning? I have off from work.”

He laughed softly. “Don’t take off from Figure practice for me.”

It hurt so bad to watch him move off, running a hand through his tight dark curls as he walked back off the ice.

Life took a sudden turn, overwhelmingly quick- Ghiacchio didn’t show up at practice anymore, but coach had told you he “finally got over himself” and was back on the ice again and the board had informed you your sponsors had a sudden change of heart and would be sponsoring your course fully.

The next time you had seen Ghiacchio you had hardly recognized him, sitting at the campus diner with a blonde friend of his. His own hair however was dyed a powder blue.

“Ghia?” You frowned down at him, confused. “I haven’t seen you in a long time. How is everything.”

Beside him his friend smiled at you with hooded eyes. “Ghiacchio, you never introduced me to your friend.”

“Keep your lecherous thoughts off them, Melone.” He warned his friend before looking up at you. “I actually came to talk to you about something. You think you can give me a minute?”

You called one of your co-workers over to help Melone as you snuck around back with Ghiacchio.

“I’m sorry I disappeared. But I do want to give this one more shot.” His hands reached for yours, stepping closer to lean down to bring your faces together. “Only if you’re willing.”

“I’m willing,” you smiled as you wrapped your arms around him. “Only if I can get an apology kiss.”

He complied with a soft laugh- the minty taste of his mouth making your head spin and your heart do a flip in its chest.

If only it had been so simple. If only you didn’t share your pasts and found out that he had orchestrated your exemption from the ice hockey team- your sponsors increase in allowance. You wish you didn’t know how much contact he had in the mafia because now you had one too many things on your plate- a target on your back being one of them.

#JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken #jojo part 5 #jojo golden wind #la squadra #lasquadraweek2020 #ghiaccio #ghiaccio x reader

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alarriefantasy · 4 years

Note

do u have some fic in which either harry or louis is bullied and any self harm fics other than the ones u have already recommended on the blog? and can u pls recommend some dub con or non con fics as well

Hey there, darling! I updated my fic rec lists below for you! And I will make a bullied fic rec list for you here! Also, in case you want more Self-Harm fics, here is an AO3 link for that tag, sorted by kudos, for fics that have been posted in the past year! Link Here Happy Reading!

Dub-Con / Non-Con Fic Rec

Self-Harm Fic Rec

Bullied Fic Rec

Bullied Harry

Football Stars and Flower Crowns by tickleyourprostate

Words: 1k

Louis is the star footie player and Harry is just a peaceful flower child who enjoys making flower crowns. Harry usually gets picked on by the other football players, but Louis is the only nice one to him and sticks up for him. They make flower crowns together :)

Imagine That by orphan_account

Words: 4k

Harry's the weird kid at school without any friends. Louis' kind of in love with him.

Cautiously, Lightly by Star55

Words: 6k

Bitch. Fake. Attention whore. Slut. The words stand out on the bright screen of her phone and Harry can feel the tears pricking the backs of her eyes as she reads them over and over again, the words imprinting themselves into her brain, leaving a more than just a surface scratch each time. She knows it’s stupid to. To let these words get to her. Normally she would just ignore them but she had just posted a song lyric tweet and these were the instantaneous responses she got. It happens every time without fail.

Tell me I'm a screwed up mess by nancy01

Words: 11k

High-school Au where Harry is a sophomore and Louis is a senior. Harry is shy, quiet, nerdy and gets bullied a lot. Louis is very popular, captain of the schools soccer team and doesn't know Harry gets bullied.

Color Him Wonderful by HunterMay18

Words: 15k

or the one where Harry is a blind painter, and Louis is his beautiful sweet husband who works with disabled kids everyday.

Blood Stream ~Larry Stylinson AU~ by LarryShipperForLife

Words: 28k

Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles are best friends. One is loved, but doesn't love. The other loves, but isn't loved. Harry loves Louis, but the feelings aren't returned.

Everyone who meets Louis falls in love with him, no way around it. His charming, beautiful personality makes it impossible not to love him. Even with his addiction to drugs and selling them, people still love him.

Harry is in uni and is bullied. Harry loves everyone, whether they hurt him or not he believes everyone is good inside. No one loves the boy who only gives out his love, well he doesn't think so at least.

The Ending is Always Better Than the Beginning (and Things Always Turn Out Better in the End) by orphan_account

Words: 44k

Harry comes out and it doesn't go so well, he endures a month of harsh bulling and neglect from his mother before he can't take it any more and decides to kill himself. As a last resort he turns to Google and that's how he comes across this gay teen help website that has an anonymous chat. He meets Louis and Louis, in a fit of worry for Harry's safety demands to meet up. Harry agrees, he's desperate and clings to Louis for support and comfort. Things quickly go in an unexpected direction.

Bullied Louis

Why Don't We Fly Away Together? by CarlyLovesLarry

Words: 3k

Nothing at this God forsaken school could make Louis happy. Not the teachers, the classes, the students. Everyone seemed to not care about him. Except for his best friend, Harry, who was just his best friend and nothing more. Right?

or where Louis gets bullied and beaten up at school and Harry takes care of him

Knitting Together by hunnybunny

Words: 4k

Louis can't talk to people. Besides his family and Zayn he hasn't spoken to anyone in a long time until a curly-haired awkward man gets involved. Maybe Louis has finally found his voice and it's thanks to Harry.

Protect My Heart by Hazzalovescarrots

Words: 24k

Louis Tomlinson was bullied in school for being gay, by the popular gang in school. The worst ones are Alex Greenleaf and Sam Jetty. Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik try to stay out of it. But when his mother gets a job offer in Doncaster, away from the drama in Cheshire, he is given a fresh start. It's temporary and they have to move back in a year but a lot changes in that year. Louis gains a new attitude and a new style. When he returns to Cheshire High School, he causes more drama than he did before. Larry, implied Ziall and Liam has Danielle.

You're Mine by aace1234

Words: 59k

Louis lives with his four older brothers in London, his parents died when he was 8.

Edward and Harry Styles are a couple and very close family friends of the Tomlinson's.

Things happen and Edward and Harry want Louis, Harry's work becomes personal and Louis needs all the boys to protect him.

Breathe Me by eternalxrry

Words: 68k

Omega Louis thinks he's worthless, after being told thousands of times a day, he finally starts to believe the bullies. But no one is there to protect him, until Harry and his pack move to Louis' hometown. Will Harry protect Louis? Or is it all too good to be true.

It's Safer In The Dark by aace1234

Words: 79k

Louis Tomlinson is a 17 year old High School student who is constantly bullied. He is raised by his four older brothers and keeps them in the dark about his school life.

Harry Styles is a 20 year old who is repeating his Senior year of High school. He is extremely popular and is best friends with Louis older brother Niall.

Louis has a major crush on Harry. Does Harry feel the same way? Will Harry find out about what Louis is going through at school?

Manchester by aace1234

Words: 82k

Louis Tomlimson had his life planned out at 16, he was a football prodigy and was on top of the world, until it all came crashing down in the space of a few hours.

Who will pick up the pieces of Louis crushed heart and soul, who will be there for Louis when he needs it the most.

Harry and Edward Styles are top ER Doctors, they have had their eyes on Louis for a while, what happenes when Louis needs help and they are the only ones who can?

Character death in first chapter, not Louis, Harry or Edward but just a warning, I can't say to much I don't want to give away the story.

♡ credit to the owner of the manip

♡ past themed recs here

#ask

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cladnplaid · 3 years

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OKAY GUYS, I’ve had all weekend to think this though so here is my essay on the Ahsoka’s lEkKuS & mOnTrAls Debate

I’m not here to cause waves, just here to point a view things out. I have a few points I would like to make about the costumes choices that they went with for Ahsoka’s character design in the latest episode of The Mandalorian because to be honest, I’m just really tired of seeing everyone here being so damn picky.

There could be a few different reasons as to why the Mandalorian team changed the look of Ahsoka “headdress” (ie. Lekkus and Montrals), one of them mainly being for practicality and stunt work. Also it could be that the team was wanting to stick to practical effects instead of CGI as much as possible like they have been for the entire series.

But you have all heard those arguments already so here’s a hot take on another reason:

It's a marketing thing.

She already has new toys and collectables (A FORCE FX LIGHTSABER!) scheduled to come out right off the back of the series ending of The Clone Wars as well as her new appearance in The Mandalorian. They had to make her appeal to the new fans of the TCW/Mandalorian/Star Wars so they kept a similar silhouette that's easily marketable and recognizable.

Star Wars has gained a HUGE amount of popularity from new fans over the past 5 years due to the Sequel Trilogy (mainly it has grown in 2019-2020). I would say Episodes VII, VIII, & IX had the same effect to new Star Wars fans as the musical, Hamilton, had with the general public; it got you interested in a thing so you went and researched what is was based off of to see what it’s all about. Simple, right?

Except we have a huge factor that was added to this Hyper-fixation-like equation.

New Media Thing + Stress + Quarantine = BOREDOM which then = Escapism through Hyper-fixation

At the end of 2019, as Covid started to rear it annoying head, right at the launch of Disney+, right as The Rise of Skywalker was released digitally early, right as The Mandalorian was gaining traction, right as Jedi Fallen Order came out (the first single-player Star Wars adventure game since The Force Unleashed in 2008), AND people were forced to stay home until further noticed.

If you were on TikTok in the beginning of 2020 because you were bored due to quarantine, you, like me, witnessed a whole lot of people CONSUMED all Star Wars content by the droves because for the first time, everything Star Wars was readily available on a brand new streaming service, Disney+, that was easily affordable (or free to Verizon Customers) and your casual friend who only watched the Sequel Trilogy now has access to the whole Saga and more.

In 2020, The Clone Wars series is ranked 3rd most watched on Disney+, being beaten by The Simpsons at #2 and (unsurprisingly) The Mandalorian at #1 (Rebels ranted #11 on this list) After those kinds of numbers, it’s safe to say that Ahsoka’s most familiar and most popular look/style would be from The Clone Wars series.

Now on to the more practical side as to why I think they went with the “shorter Lekkus & Montrals”

As an amateur costume designer/cosplayer, I can say without a doubt it's challenging to even WALK in something as cumbersome as her “headpiece” would be if they made it as large as it appears in Rebels, let alone attempt stunts in it. Just ask any Hatsune Miku cosplayer and they will tell you that wig is a nightmare and you don’t even want to THINK about dancing in it.

Take for example, David Prowess' stunts in the iconic Vader suit in the Original Trilogy. I know canonically, that suit is supposed to be restrictive and hard to move in but that doesn't mean you have to make it actually hard to move in for the stuntmen/actor. I wouldn’t really know if there is much you can do to make The Suit more flexible, so I applaud Prowess’ work because I can’t even comprehend how he would be able to move, let alone SEE in that thing, especially in the brilliantly choreographed duel in Empire Strikes Back.

Now with some costumes, You can cheat and make it a lot easier to move in while keeping its integrity. For example, ol' Luke Skywalker at the end of The Force Awakens, his cloak was clearly stitched to his tabards/tunic because a cloak like that is heavy so it can easily slip off in the wind or when you de-hood yourself. To solve this problem, they "fudged" it by stitching it to his tunic. Simple and easy to hide (which they did not do well, I’m afraid)

Also before you come at me with the whole “BuT sHaKk Ti iN II & III” spiel, keep in mind in The Attack of the Clones, the characters like Kit Fisto, Lumimara, and Shakk Ti all had costumes with “headdresses”, all had MINIMAL screen time and were hardly shown fighting in they're costumes. I haven't seen the movie in a while but I would hazard a guess that if they are shown fighting, it’s very brief or it's heavily CGIed which is the path that The Mandalorian crew doesn't want to go down. I would say almost all the aliens in the show are entirely practical effects, aside from Grogu in a couple of instances which is astounding compared to the Sequel Trilogy’s heavy uses of CGI aliens (except for Force Ghost Yoda, they did right making him a little puppet again. That made the 10-year-old in me so happy)

I guess the point I’m trying to make is just PLEASE stop being so damn picky! We have something REALLY good here with The Mandalorian and if you just look back in recent history, “fans” bullying the creators and cast of Star Wars can have damaging effects to the series and the people in general. To name a few examples:

People complained about not wanting the film Solo, so the Kenobi Film was canceled. Two points on that, the film was released at a bad time and now we are getting a Kenobi show, so that’s a bright side

“Fans” bullied Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico in The Last Jedi) and she now has no online presence.

“Fans” complained about the PLOT of The Last Jedi so they tried to undo it all the with fluster cluck that was The Rise of Skywalker, ruining established character arcs for Finn, Kylo Ren, Rey, Rose, Poe, etc (but also idk why Abrams and Johnson didn’t share both their visions of the series bUT WHATEVER, I’m not here to debate the Sequel Trilogy)

Let’s go back further, “Fans” bullied Hayden Christensen to the point where he hardly acted in anything where he should have been getting jobs left and right after the success of Revenge of the Sith, but nooOOOoo, he was tOo WhIneY. Homeboy strait up went and had to to try farm-living to get away from the “fans”

AND DON’T GET ME STARTED on Jake Lloyd, who was literally TEN YEARS OLD in The Phantom Menace, who left his acting career because of bullies in school and constant hounding from the press.That kid’s life was ruined by bullies.

In closing, to all the purists, the gate-keeping jerk-wads, and the basement dwelling “fans” who turn their noses up at anything that came out after 1983, you can take Kylo Ren’s absurd lightsaber and shove it where the sun don’t shine.

Stop ruining Star Wars for the Fans who actually enjoy it and are having fun. GOSH

#the mandalorian #ahsoka tano #ahsoka tano live action #star wars #mandalorian #the jedi #me just ranting passionately about costume design and yelling at bullies and babies #rambles #sw #this is NOT me @ any of my mutuals or irl friends. it's me @ the trolls and b*tchy fans who won't stop whining

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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The Real Martial Arts Behind Cobra Kai and The Karate Kid

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

When The Karate Kid premiered in 1984, new students rushed to enroll in Karate Dojos across the nation. However, for anyone aspiring to learn the true ways of Miyagi-Do—or Cobra Kai as the case may be—Dojos weren’t propounding deck sanding and fence painting as part of their curriculum. There are many different styles of Karate. Fans wondered which style Daniel and Johnny were really doing. Now that Netflix has picked up Cobra Kai from YouTube Red, a whole new crop of fans has discovered the show and the question has come up again: What type of Karate do they practice at Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai? The truth is it might not even be Karate.

In any movie or series, the filmmakers and showrunners aren’t beholden to a specific style. They are telling a story, not making a documentary. With most productions, a hodge-podge of movie-fu makes for better action than authentic martial arts. When The Karate Kid began production, Ralph Macchio (Daniel), William Zabka (Johnny), and Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) didn’t know any martial arts. Zabka had some background in wrestling but that was it. Like David Carradine in ‘70s TV show Kung Fu, they earned their roles with their acting skills, not their martial arts proficiency. In many ways, it’s Daniel’s inexperience and awkwardness with Karate that helps to sell the story.

Only three of the original actors had studied martial arts prior to filming. Ron Thomas practiced Jujitsu, which had little application for his role as Cobra Kai’s Bobby in the film. Martin Kove (Kreese) studied Karate under the famous Grandmaster Takayuki Kubota. Kubota was a noted celebrity trainer who cultivated many famous students including James Caan, Robert Conrad, Ron Ely, George Kennedy, Sam Peckinpah, Hilary Swank (who starred as The Next Karate Kid) to name a few.

He created his own style of Karate called Gosuku-Ryu. Gosuku means “hard fast.” Ryu literally means “flow” but is a suffix commonly used in Karate to denote a specific system or style. What’s more, Kubota patented a self-defense weapon, a rod-shaped keychain fob the size of a sharpie. He named it the Kubotan after himself, and it is still widely used by Police and Enforcement today. However, beyond training Kove, Kubota had little influence on The Karate Kid. In action films, actors play roles that require them to portray themselves as masters of different styles than they practice in real life.

Cobra Kai – Strike Hard, Strike Fast, No Mercy

The martial arts depicted in The Karate Kid must be attributed to Grandmaster Pat E. Johnson. He was the martial arts choreographer for the original films and played the Referee. Johnson is a student of Chuck Norris and captained Norris’ Black Belt Competition team to win 33-consecutive national and international championships. And despite not disqualifying Daniel’s illegal winning crane kick, Johnson is a highly respected martial arts referee. Beyond The Karate Kid, he worked on other films including Enter the Dragon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Mortal Kombat. Johnson and Norris practice Tang Soo Do, a Korean martial art, but this is where translation of the terminology gets complicated.

Tang Soo Do means “Way of the Tang Hand.” Do means “the Way,” same character as the Dao in Chinese. It’s the same word in Korean and Japanese and serves as a suffix for many martial arts like Karate-Do, Judo, and Taekwondo. Soo literally means “hand.” Tang refers to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) indicating the Chinese origins of the art. According to legend, all Asian martial arts trace back to China’s Shaolin Temple, the legendary cradle of Kung Fu. For simplicity, many English translators shortened “Way of the Tang Hand” to “Way of the Chinese Hand.” It’s a respectful nod to that origin tale.

Korean and Japanese characters are derived from Chinese too. Translate the characters for Tang Soo Do into Japanese and it is Karate-Do. However in 1935, Japan changed the character for Kara (or Tang) to a homophonic character that means “empty” in order to distinguish its martial art from China. To complicate matters even more, Tang Soo Do was commonly dubbed “Korean Karate” in the United States. Nevertheless, Tang Soo Do and Karate are distinct disciplines.

Cobra Kai is the name of the school, not the style. The Kai in Cobra Kai literally means “assembly” or “meeting” and within the Karate vernacular, it’s a suffix that denotes an organization or group. Cobra is just a name, the school mascot. While there are many snake styles of martial arts, particularly in Kung Fu, the Cobra is seldom commonly specified in Asian systems. More often, it is seen in American school logos, like the symbol of William’s Kenpo Karate Dojo in Enter the Dragon. There’s a nod to Kung Fu legend in the name. The rival of Snake Kung Fu is Crane style. In the Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith redux of The Karate Kid, the snake comes into play.

Given Johnson’s choreography Tang Soo Do influences Cobra Kai more than Karate. Throughout the series, there are subtle clues alluding to this. From the first film to Cobra Kai, when Johnny spars, he deploys a lot of high kicks characteristic of Korean martial arts. After the first film, Zabka continued to study Tang Soo Do with Johnson for many years so it is his foundation style. Another big tell is in The Karate Kid Part III. When Kreese’s comrade Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) visits Miyagi’s Dojo to lie about Kreese’s death, he couches it in an apology from their mutual South Korean master. In real life, Griffith is a black belt in Kenpo Karate and Taekwondo. Cobra Kai perpetuated the Tang Soo Do influence very subtly in Season 1. In episode 7, Johnny barks out a command that sounds like “jun be” which means “get ready” in Korean.

There’s some historical validity to Kreese teaching “Korean Karate.” Much of Tang Soo Do came to the U.S. via military veterans that served in Korea. Both Johnson and Norris first learned their martial art while stationed there. This makes a lot of sense for Kreese’s character. The photo of Kreese in military uniform that hung in Cobra Kai declares him as the U.S. Army 1970-72 Karate Champion and Silver is his old Army buddy.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Miyagi-Do – Karate Here. Karate Not Here.

But what about Miyagi-Do? What style teaches “wax on wax off?” Since Pat Morita wasn’t a martial artist, his body double was a distinguished Karate master named Fumio Demura. Demura espouses Shito-Ryu Karate, but that’s not evident in the movies. It is implied that Miyagi teaches a style of Karate called Goju-Ryu. Goju means “hard soft” (the Go is the same character as in Gosuku-Ryu and the Ju is the same as in Judo – “the Soft Way”). Although never overtly stated, there are many subtle references throughout the films and series.

In The Karate Kid Part II, Miyagi and Daniel visit Miyagi’s hometown in Okinawa. In the family dojo, Miyagi tells Daniel of the founder of Miyagi-Do, an ancestor of Mr. Miyagi who ended up in China by accident after getting drunk and falling asleep in his fishing boat in 1625. He returned to Okinawa 10 years later with a Chinese wife, two kids, and the basis for Miyagi-Do. This artistic liberty is a mishmash of Goju-Ryu history. Grandmaster Higaonna Kanryo (1853–1916) was an Okinawan martial artist and translator who spent many years studying martial arts in China, including Crane style. His top student, another native Okinawan, followed in his footsteps to train in China too. That student was another Miyagi – Grandmaster Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953), the founder of Goju-Ryu.

Two more Goju-Ryu Easter eggs imply that it is the inspiration for Miyagi-Do. In The Karate Kid Part II, a Goju-Ryu patch can be clearly seen on Chozen’s (Yuji Okumoto) gi. The Goju-Ryu symbol is a golden upraised fist, often with the characters for Karate written underneath and it is unmistakable. Chozen was trained by his uncle Sato (Danny Kamekona), a fellow student under Miyagi’s father (Charlie Tanimoto) so they all practice the same style.

Another major tell lies in the Kata that Miyagi teaches Daniel in The Karate Kid Part III. It is based on Seiunchin, an original Goju-Ryu Kata created by Higaonna Kanryo and passed down to Chojun Miyagi. This is the same Kata that Daniel recites in Cobra Kai and teaches to his students, including his daughter Samantha (Mary Mouser) and Johnny’s son Robby (Tanner Buchanan). Real Goju-Ryu practitioners often comment that it is a weak rendition of Seiunchin, but again, it’s just a show, not a documentary.

The original writer of The Karate Kid, Robert Mark Kamen, claims that the idea of the story was loosely autobiographical. He says he was beaten up by bullies after the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. That experience led him to start martial arts. His first instructor was too violent and vengeful, so he began studying Goju-Ryu. Kamen says Miyagi was based on Grandmaster Meitoku Yagi (1912-2003), a direct disciple of Miyagi and a National Living Treasure of Japan.

The Crane Kick

Daniel’s All-Valley victory move isn’t from Goju-Ryu. It was made up for the film. However, the same one-legged posture exists within Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. The pose was featured on the cover of a Kung Fu book originally published in 1984, the same year that The Karate Kid premiered. Northern Sil Lum: Moi Fah No. 7 by Kwon W. Lam and Ted Mancuso is now out-of-print (Sil Lum is the Cantonese pronunciation of Shaolin). In the book, it’s not called a Crane technique. The actual name is “Lift stance, Black Crow splits wings.”

When this book was published, there was a lot of debate about which came first within the martial arts community. The Karate Kid released in theaters on June 22, 1984. Since the book came out earlier that year, and given movie production and post-production time, the Crane kick scenes were probably filmed before the book was published. Most likely, it was an auspicious coincidence.

The creation of the Crane Kick is colloquially attributed to Darry Vidal, although he has said that it was Kamen who initially described the move. Vidal was the stunt double for Miyagi in the beach Crane Kick scene and played the last semi-finalist to face Johnny before Daniel. He was an up-and-coming martial artist when the movie was shot and still teaches Karate at his school in California.

What Style is Season 3?

Despite these authentic underpinnings, the hard truth is that the martial arts have never been that good throughout the Karate Kid franchise. The unusual training methods are absurd and there’s no way an 18-and-under tournament like the All Valley Karate Championships would be held without safety gear. It’s movie fiction. While the fight scenes were dramatic, the technical skills displayed have been mediocre for such an iconic martial arts franchise.

This all changed with the Cobra Kai season 2 finale. The final fight was applauded by fans of the genre as an outstanding piece of fight choreography, worthy of the brand. It included an outstanding long take—the hallmark of good fight scenes—that was technically sophisticated, complex in its composition and cinematography. From a martial standpoint, this was the crowning achievement for the entire franchise. The stunt coordinators for Cobra Kai are Jahnel Curfman, a former gymnast and dancer turned stuntwoman, and Hiro Koda, a decorated Karate champion and longtime stuntman. Both are signed on for Season 3.

Many martial artists began their martial journey because they were inspired by The Karate Kid. For them, that movie was life changing. These devotees are eager to see if Curfman and Koda can sustain that high level of fight choreography for Cobra Kai Season 3. And if the writers can continue to follow through on the authenticity of the martial arts backstories, that will be even better.

As Mr. Miyagi would say, “Banzai!”

Season 1 and 2 of Cobra Kai are now available on Netflix. Cobra Kai Season 3 premieres on Netflix in 2021.

The post The Real Martial Arts Behind Cobra Kai and The Karate Kid appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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gigilalaka · 4 years

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Meta Knight HCs part 4

I can fianlly write this one down! Good god, this was a long time coming. Its mostly going be about Meta’s childhood, skills and other small things. Its a sort one, but that all the time I have for now.

Edit: I’ve added a bit more since I won’t be able to make any more HCs for a while. My work has gone from 7 hours to 10-15 hours work thanks to the covid-19 virus. I work at a cleaning and house help place, where we help with laundry, house cleaning, shopping ect, for the handicaped and ill. So thanks to the virus, we become very busy with deliverys to all the places that needs all the help they can get. Hope everyone are haveing a good week/month.

-When Coldswager, Estella and Kickcrack found out about Meta’s real age of 1775,his been at the sickbay for 16 years and both Coldswager and Estella was very concerns about why Meta’s body seems to have bad reactions with a lot of the medicien that was given to him, instead of being somewhere between 3000-5000 years old as his hight, weight and body structure said, the three of them did not believe it at first. It took another 10 trys with the same end results for them to believe it. Arthur was far from happy when he got told of Meta’s true age.

-When Dragato, Nonsurat and Falspar was told that their new little bro to be was infact still a toddler/baby, they could not quiet believe it. It did not help that Meta’s body was physically 3-5 years old. Though they learned over the years that Meta was indeed bearly 2000 years old.

-Theres a high age diffrent between Meta and his brothers. Meta’s age when Kirby meets him is 50 268 years old. His big brothers age are as followed: Dragato’s is 76 279, Nonsurat’s being 65 893 and Falspar’s being 58 785.

-Meta dose not start speaking untill he is 3207 years old, simply thanks to the fact that he did not know that he had the ability to and had learned from his time at the lab that being silent is worth its weight in gold if he wanted to not get eaten or beaten to death. Though he’d would have problemly start speaking sooner had he know how his dad and brothers react to it. He almost got crushed by a hug from Estella when Dragato asked Meta who she was, and got ‘mom esta’. Safe to say she was very happy.

-Meta is smaller than most puff children his age, and along with his blindness, trust issues, truma and fear that he got turing his first 1759 years of life, it became hard for him to be with other children his age without getting in some sort of problem, trouble or misunderstanding. He also became a prime target for bullys and the like. This has been one of the many reasons why Meta is so anti-sosial, though the pain of his friends dying in the war is the biggest reason of them all.

-Meta would spend most of his time playing with Falspar becuse of said bullying and the fact that Falspar was still a child and thuse had more freetime than the rest of the familiy. Meta also played a lot with Nonsurat and Dragato when they where not busy with training or study. When Galacta became friends with Meta things got a little easier for him to make friends.

-Becuse of Meta’s poor health, the puff had to eat a special diet for the next 10 000 pluss years or so. He only got things like junk food, cakes, sweet and fancy food on either his birthday or holidays. Now as a adult he can eat whatever he wants, but he still eats healthy meals most of the time.

-The first time Meta ever got to taste something sweet was when Dragato shared some of his favoritt snacks, strawberries dipped in chocolate and baked apples with honey, and the purple puff swear to this day that fireworks was danceing in his little bros eyes when the dark blue puff got to eat them.

-Meta when he was still a child and small, ended up with two habits that would only show when he was with his family. One being that he would fall alseep on their heads, after a while and out like a light, whenever he ended up on there. None of them mind it. The other one being that he would only accept anything that had something about food from them. He had a major trusts issues when it comes to food thanks his living conditions back at the lab and him being blind did not help at all.

-Meta is a terrible cook. He can not cook something without a cookbook and someone to help him, and unless you like to eat brunt ash or some sickly grayish soup, flaming water, want your kitchen to brun to the ground or expolde it is not the best idea to ask him to make dinner.

-His is however smashing at bakeing, pastry, candy makeing and other sweet desserts as well as makeing the best tea or coffe. Had he not been warborn, he’d be famous for it around the galaxy and make tons of money. His Milk tea jam, honey salted chocolate candy, special lollipops and special mixed coffeblends are to die for.

-Meta has taught both Tiff and Tuff self defense as well as hidden knife and throwing technique a few decade after NME’s defeat, when all the other villains started to invade Popstar at Lady Like and Sir Ebrum request. Both Tiff and Tuff sees Meta as their honorary wired/cool/smart uncle.

-Meta knows how to swear in eight diffrent languages and can out swear Dark Meta Knight and Dark Galacta Knight at the same time with or without curse words with flying colours. Though the only time anyone hear him swear like that his when you have ROYALLY PISSED HIM OFF HIS ROCKER AND ASKED FOR MOTHER DEATH! He swear most of the time in his head though.

-Meta’s relationshipe with Knuckle Joe and Sirica has over the centuries gone from awkward and tense to familiy friends. Both hunters sees Meta now as their uncle and would often ask Meta about their parents and what the three star warriors would do together when not in battle. They where supriest when they learned that the old warrior had a husband that got seal away 21 203 years ago and both felt bad for the puff.

-Meta and Dark Meta as a very intreresting, distructive, annoying and bad relationshipe. The two of them have a hard time not trying to either maim, kill or get on the others nerv. Both has a burning hatred for the other, and there are very few things the two of them are willing to agree, share or help on with the other. However, the both of them are very happy to team up when their husbands decides to destroy eachother and the univers with them though. Both of them hates it when its happends.

-Meta is someone that even the best of psychiatrist would find as a struggeling nightmare to help. The old warrior has had so many trumas, mental breakdowns, seen enough shit to last a few lifetimes and more that many of them are amazed how he is still as some sanity left. Some would say that the puffs psychic is a utter mystery for their profession.

#meta knight #hc

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alternate-pokemon-next-gen · 4 years

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Alternate Next Gen (Main Cast): Lapis Waterflower

Lapis is the daughter of Lana and Misty. Like both of her mothers, Lapis loves Water-type Pokemon and loved being with them ever since she was little and due to watching a lot of Misty’s Pokemon battles she decided that she wanted to be the next Gym Leader of Cerulean city as such she trains hard to be the next gym leader. She also joins her cousins with their water shows when she isn’t training her team. Much like Misty, Lapis is a sweet girl and she loves Water type Pokemon and like Lana, Lapis will often make outrageous jokes about how she met Lugia or fished up a Kyogre, she’ll often try to keep the joke running before she says that she’s kidding. Lapis had inherited Misty’s temper and she inherited Lana’s icy glare when angry, making Lapis a rather scary person when she’s angry. Lapis enjoys fishing and is an expert at fishing, she also enjoys making her own lures much like Misty does. Lapis is a very strong swimmer, being able to swim for a long time and being able to hold her breath under water longer than any one else. Lapis cares about all of her Pokemon, always praising them when they do something good and encouraging them when they need it most. Lapis can be rather shy when she meets someone for the first time, but after warming up to them for a while she can be a lot more energetic and lively around them.

Lapis has a Key stone attached to a hair tie. She also received a Z-Ring from Lana on her tenth birthday.

Her Pokemon:

Togepi- Togepi hatched from an egg that Lapis received from her grandparents. As Togepi is still young, she gets upset when she’s not near Lapis and will often cry when she doesn’t see Lapis or if she isn’t in Lapis’ arms. When she isn’t crying about not being near Lapis, Togepi is a cheerful baby Pokemon. She loves having fun with the other baby Pokemon that Lapis’ cousins have and they in turn like playing with her. She also loves playing in water so long as she has a flotation tube around her. Togepi, Pichu, Mantyke and Azurill are known to be the mascots and stars of many of the water shows the cousins create together and she enjoys taking part in the water shows as she gets to be with her friends and her surrogate mother. Togepi often grants Lapis and her cousins good luck and she shares the joy she gathers with them before and after a show, especially when she’s in a very good mood. Togepi is very friendly towards other Pokemon, she’ll often make friends with other Pokemon and will be upset if she has to say goodbye to them it’s due to this that Pichu, Azurill and Mantyke have to cheer her up, which always works. Togepi has a special bond with Gale’s Pichu, Rosemary’s Azurill and Brook’s Mantyke, the four of them see each other as siblings despite none of them being the same species or sharing parents.

Caught in a Friend Ball.

Ability is Serene Grace.

Moves are Morning Sun, Metronome, Extrasensory and Dazzling Gleam. Locked moves are Ancient Power, Draining Kiss, Swift, Water Pulse, Wish and Mystical Fire.

Wartotle- Wartortle was given to Lapis by Professor Oak when he was a Squirtle, she had picked him to be her starter Pokemon. As a Squirtle, Wartortle was insecure due to the constant bullying of his siblings at the Squirtle breeding facility because he was seen as weaker than the rest of them, it also didn’t help that he went a long time without getting picked as other trainers would pick Bulbasaur or Charmander. He has promised himself that if he didn’t get picked this time, he would run away from the lab and live in the wild so when Lapis had picked him as her starter he couldn't help but cry in happiness and relief at the fact he was finally picked. After he was taken in by Lapis he started to train as hard as he could so he wouldn’t disappoint his new trainer to avoid being released or given back to the lab. During a badge evaluation test, he had evolved into Wartortle and was extremely proud of himself for his evolution. When he evolved, he lost his insecure nature and became more proud and confident in himself. He does get embarrassed if someone praises him for a good battle or if he does good in a water show, to the point he can’t help but blush when he gets praised. Wartortle has a brotherly bond with Brook’s Dewott and Gale’s Prinplup though all three of them often fight for Rosemary’s Brionne’s affections. He eagerly waits the day he can evolve into Blastoise so he can Mega Evolve.

Given in a Pokeball.

Ability is Torrent.

Moves are Water Pulse, Aqua Tail, Shell Smash, Skull Bash, Aqua Jet, Aqua Ring, Ice Punch, Dragon Pulse, Mega Punch and Aura Sphere.

Golduck- Lapis had caught Golduck while she was on a fishing trip with her family, she had reeled in Golduck much to her family’s surprise. Wanting to battle the one who fished him up, he engaged Lapis in a battle with her Wartortle. After being beaten, he accepted Lapis as his trainer much to Lapis’ surprise but she accepted nonetheless. Golduck is a mature and intelligent Pokemon, he’s able to talk to Lapis through telepathy and fully respects her for her battle style due to how she was able to beat him with another Water-type, which is why he wanted to join her team. When he witnessed Lapis and her cousins performing in a water show, he was confused at first but after participating in one he found some enjoyment in it and was happy to participate along with his teammates. Golduck enjoys swimming with Lapis when he gets the chance to, he also enjoys training with his teammates and her cousin’s Pokemon when they need some training. He always trains himself to strengthen his Psychic attacks.

Caught in a Lure Ball.

Ability is Swift Swim.

Moves are Psychic, Hydro Pump, Zen Headbutt, Surf, Psyshock, Scald, Calm Mind, Future Sight, Aerial Ace and Rain Dance.

Lapras- Lapras had from an egg that Lana’s ride Lapras had laid, she had grown to like Lapis the most out of all of the cousins so Lapis had caught her and added her to the team. While Lapras may be young, she’s still interested in battling and is happy to train up to battle for Lapis. Lapras is kindhearted and gentle, she also likes to help her trainer and her trainer’s cousins with anything they might need and she has fun participating with the water shows the four of them come up with. Lapras can still be a little shy when meeting new people but she has warmed up to Lapis’ family and is just fine when around them, she’s still getting to know other humans but she’s taking baby steps. She also enjoys playing with the baby Pokemon, acting as if she’s their big sister and she has no trouble giving them rides on her back since not all of them can swim like she can, she had fun finding ways to play with them. Lapras mostly battles to make her mother and trainer proud of her and she gets very excited when Lapis and Lana’s Lapras praise her when she’s training or in practice battles.

Caught in a Dive Ball.

Ability is Hydration.

Held Item is Mystic Water.

Moves are Rain Dance, Ice Beam, Surf, Water Pulse, Frost Breath, Thunder, Psychic, Sparkling Aria, Sheer Cold and Dive.

Seadra- Seadra was caught when he was a Horsea while Lapis was fishing, due to Horsea needing a body of water to train and battle in, he was made right at home in Lapis’ care. As a Horsea, he was very shy and didn’t enjoy being near other Pokemon that were bigger than him as such he would mostly stick around by himself or be near the baby Pokemon of the gym since they were around the same size as him. After evolving, he lost his shy nature and became a lot more braver and fierce. Seadra also enjoyed battling and would spend his time training on his own, he later got to know his team and the other Pokemon in the gym which allowed him to get used to training with others by his side but he still prefers to be on his own. He enjoys being near Lapis but he isn’t fond of the water shows her and her cousins put on from time to time and doesn’t participate in them, preferring to continue training. Lapis and her cousins don’t mind as they don’t to force any of their Pokemon to participate if they don’t want to.

Caught in a Lure Ball.

Ability is Sniper.

Moves are Agility, Dragon Pulse, Bubble Beam, Muddy Water, Flash Cannon, Dragon Dance, Aurora Beam, Octazooka, Whirlpool and Icy Wind.

Politoed- Lapis had fished up her Politoed when he was a Poliwag. When he was a Poliwag, he always knew that he wanted to evolve into a Politoed as he always admired how they were good at singing and wanted to sing like them. Lapis knew that so she had gotten a King’s Rock for when he was ready to become a Politoed. After he had evolved into Poliwhirl, he had started training even harder to become ready to evolve into Politoed. Once Lapis decided he was ready, she gave him the King’s Rock and had him evolve again. After becoming a Politoed, he had enjoyed using his voice to intimidate his opponents or just using his voice while battling. Politoed also enjoys participating in the water shows, mostly by using his voice to create sound effects to sound like there's a monster during certain stories and he always gets excited when he hears comments about how others were surprised or scared when they heard his cry. Despite his deep voice, he’s very friendly and jolly and he does apologize if he scares someone in the audience, which makes everyone grateful and they find him cute.

Caught in a Lure Ball.

Ability is Water Absorb.

Moves are Bounce, Perish Song, Hydro Pump, Surf, Hyper Voice, Hypnosis, Ice Beam, Metronome, Scald and Earth Power.

#Pokemon #Next Gen #Pokemon Next Gen #Lapis Waterflower #WaterWarriorShipping #Main Cast #Fan Kids #Pokemon Fan Kids

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rivalsofnycupdates · 4 years

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“Pain is only bearable if we know it will end, not if we deny it exists.”

■ ABOUT. ■

name: Thomas Rexton age: thirty-six occupation: debt collector gender: cis-male pronouns: he/him sexuality: homosexual

■ HISTORY. ■ tw: abuse, tw: bullying

Growing up Thomas didn’t have an easy childhood, through the majority of his schooling he had been bullied by the same group of kids. Thomas didn’t always have this physique, he was a small and fragile kid in elementary school. The bullying caused him to be very insecure with himself and his image at a very young age. One summer he had a serious growth spurt and thought perhaps his height would serve as enough change in his image for the boys in his class to no longer bully him. Though his height didn’t change anything, it somehow made things worse. His father tried to encourage and convince him that he was the bigger man by not fighting back. As a kid, he didn’t want to be confrontational, though the continuous bullying made following his father’s advice harder and harder. As the bullying continued, Thomas started to get more aggressive. He didn’t want them looking or talking about him anymore. He started a fight one day that he lost almost immediately. His loss only fueled the fire.

When he was in high school, he started to pay more attention to his physique, wanting to add muscle to his body, more than anything. As his physique grew a little bigger, he became a little more aggressive and confrontational. If anyone were to look at him a certain way, his initial reaction was to throw a punch. There were some who wanted to fight him, and it would often result in Thomas being pulled away by teachers and handed a 2-day suspension. Some may think that Thomas’s ability to fight off his bullies would have made him a happier teen, though they’d be wrong. Since every time he came home with another black eye, or suspension slip, it was met with another look of disappointment from his father. In high school, Thomas started carried pent up anger, he hated his school life, when trying to protect himself, his father would yell at him for fighting. He felt as if he’d been between a rock and a hard place, without any sign of escape.

Halfway through his junior year, things were starting to look up. The football coach had suggested he try out for the team. Thomas was against the idea at first, since the boys who used to bully him were star players on the team. He eventually tried out and made the team. Sharing the team, was a challenge at first, and didn’t go without a few fistfights. Though after a few weeks, Thomas started to get along with the boys who used to be his enemies. His classmates around him had started to get to know him and become people he could actually call friends. For the remainder of high school, Thomas was able to grow as a person without needing to feel like he should be on constant defence. Though if it wasn’t one struggle it was another. Thomas struggled with coming out of the closet, he was so scared of what his teammates or his friends would say. The last thing he wanted was for his world to return to what it was. Thankfully his secret boyfriend went to another school and understood why he wasn’t invited to social gatherings.

When a few of his classmates caught him kissing his boyfriend in senior year at a diner late at night. His close friends on the team were nothing more than supportive and more importantly, they were the ones starting fights with those who weren’t supportive of him. One day he noticed that his boyfriend getting teased, which pissed him off for so many reasons. Of course, Thomas resorted to his method of fighting and knocked the guy's teeth out. This moved caused his boyfriend to dump him, with the excuse that Thomas had anger issues, which wasn’t far at all from the truth. His anger got him into many troubles throughout his life. It’s what landed him in prison for a few years. Someone from his boyfriend’s place of work continuously picked on him for being gay, his boyfriend was great at looking the other way. A skill Thomas had struggled with since he was a teenager. Of course, during social occasions, Thomas tried his best to deal with this bully sophisticatedly, one night he couldn’t take it anymore. He snapped and knocked a few of the bully’s teeth out.

Thomas didn’t think he’d get more than public disturbance charges, though four days after the incident the police arrested him on the suspicion of murdering his boyfriend’s bully. His mind went blank with shock, after many protests he couldn’t get answers. He’d found out that he’d been pinned for this murder due to his history with authority and the hatred between the two. After a trial in front of a full jury, he was wrongfully convicted as a guilty man and went to jail for life.

■ WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON? ■

After three years in jail, he couldn’t do it anymore. He’d been beaten up and practically left for dead several times. Three years of trying to stay strong, for his boyfriend and the daughter they’d adopted. He couldn’t do it, so he’d smuggled in a belt with the in jail currency and attempted to end his life. His cellmate Marco Santos arrived just in time and saved his life. After that moment, his cellmate a member of the Quantum of Devils recruited him with the rest of the arrested members. After gaining some more muscle in prison he became really mean. When he got out of prison, all the work he’d invested in himself in hopes of being a good citizen was out the door.

■ KEEP THIS AWAY FROM YOUR ENEMIES ■

Thomas wasn’t always open with his sexuality, he had a boyfriend whom he loved very much and while he didn’t keep him a secret by any means, he didn’t exploit his sexuality either. Since leaving the prison walls, he tried to go back to the man he loved. Though he couldn't shake the anger, and his layers of defence. Only five days out of prison did he start a fight with a guy in front of his boyfriend and daughter. From that day on, his boyfriend kicked him out and got custody of their daughter. Thomas hit a new level of low when the love of his life kicked him out of the house. He thought about the last time he’d been this low and Marco was there to safe him. Instead of taking his own life, he found his old cellmate and joined the work of the Quantum of Devils and currently holds the position of Debt Collector

■ RELATIONSHIPS. ■

■ Iain Carmichael: Iain was the love of his life and the person he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. He has many regrets when it comes to his anger issues, though his biggest regret was allowing it to lose the best thing in his life.

■ Miguel Fuentes: Thomas and Miguel often worked together considering they were two of the few debt collectors.

■ CONNECTIONS. ■

■ Marco Santos > Jail cellmate

■ Isaac Abrigo > Friend

■ Waylon Rushton > Hooked up once or a few times

■ Jamie Gomez > The bartender he often rants to.

Thomas Rexton is an OPEN character and is portrayed by Ricky Whittle who’s FC IS SEMI-NEGOTIABLE.

#rp #bio rp #crime rp #new rp #semi appless rp #all #men #open #openm #semi negotiable fc #thomasrexton #devils

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hazyheel · 5 years

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WWE Monday Night Raw 8/12/19 Review

Seth Rollins Promo: He came out in normal clothes, which immediately worried me. He talked about how he wasn’t sure if he would win at summerslam, and he put Lesnar over a bit. He talked about how the crowd fueled him through the match. He only won with the love from the crowd, which sounds corny but it was a pretty good line in my opinion. AJ Styles then came out to interrupt, with the OC in tow. They congratulated Rollins on winning his match, and threw his hat in the ring for title contention. He challenged Rollins to a match tonight, to prove that he is a better champion. Rollins told him that all his respect for Styles is gone. He then accepted the challenge. Styles then extended a hand for a shake. Rollins refused, and Styles called him scared as he let the ring. Tensions were high.

Grade: C+. Started out pretty good, but I felt that Styles didn’t really make sense to throw his hat in the ring. He has his own thing in the midcard. If you want him to go in the main event, then give him a real reason. He should be allowed to compete in the midcard. If you want him to move up, then he can win a multi man match for #1 contendership while still being the champion, and then lose the belt. There are better ways to emphasize your top stars that to screw over the midcard.

Street Profits Backstage: They put the show over, but Dawkins was tired and dehydrated. Sami Zayn then came up to give advice. He told them that the crowd will suck the soul right out of them. He said that everyone flames out, and the fans don’t care anymore. He started to talk about Samoa Joe as an example, but Joe was behind him. Joe then challenged him to a match, and I think Joe turned face. He shoved Zayn into the crates and walked away.

Before we came back, they talked about how the King of the Ring is back for 2019. That’s actually pretty exciting, but I don’t know what the stakes are. I will make a separate post for predictions and my thoughts on the tournament at large, so watch out for that.

Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe: I am pretty confused about Joe’s character at the moment, but maybe this match will help me with that. Zayn attacked before the bell, and Joe totally destroyed him after that. He put him on the mat with some power moves and strikes before choking him out for the win.

Then he got on the mic. He talked about how he was still pissed about how people accused him of attacking Roman. He said that he won’t forgive anyone in the crowd for all the hate.

Grade: B-. Inoffensive squash, and they clarified that he is still a heel. Double wammy.

Dolph Ziggler vs. the Miz: Miz was wearing a new shirt, saying Toronto is Awesome, which is a nice babyface touch. Ziggler came out in normal clothes. I think he had a Kabuki Warriors shirt on, but I don’t really know. Ziggler then got on the mic and called Miz a coward. He complained about how wasn’t cleared to compete. He said that Miz screwed Miz. After saying that it was too bad that he wouldn’t have the match, he beat the crap out of him. He beat him down as they cut to commercial.

When we came back, they were in the middle of the match. Ziggler was competing in jeans, so there was that. Right when we came back, Miz started to take the advantage. As Miz was delivering Yes Kicks to Ziggler, Graves compared him to a man who can walk away from a horrific car accident, which was so weird. Ziggler then nailed a Zig Zag, but Miz somehow kicked out. It seems like they are moving that down to a signature rather than a finisher. Ziggler then went for a superkick, but Miz caught his leg and put Ziggler in the figure four and won the match.

Afterwards, Ziggler got on the mic and said that he was a coward. He told Miz to finish him off, and as he was talking, Miz nailed a Skull Crushing Finale.

Grade: C+. A watered down and less awesome version of what happened at Summerslam with Goldberg. Ziggler’s new “I have more pride than is good for me” gimmick is going to get old, unless it was legends kicking his ass on pay per view. But the match was okay, although I know they can do much better.

Becky Lynch Interview: Becky immediately grabbed the mic and talked about how she wanted her next challenger. She said that she just beat Nattie, but she isn’t going to rest. She wants to kick the next person’s ass.

Elias Concert: He talked about how he knows someone will interrupt him, and he wants them to come out right now. That way it is right out of the way. He counted down a couple times, but no one came out. “I’m begging you, please don’t change the channel,”- Corey Graves. Nice call. Then Ricochet came out with a mic right as he was about to start. They both called each other lame, and Elias challenged Ricochet to a match.

We went right from that into Ricochet vs. Elias, where they started out with a quick pace. They delivered a lot of high impact moves right away, but then they went back into rest holds. At one point, the two botched some sort of move, and the crowd seemed to turn against it quick. Ricochet then threw Elias out of the ring, but when he went for a suicide dive, Elias dodged and Ricochet landed right on his back. The two then battled in the ring, and Ricochet won with a sunset flip into a pinning predicament. Elias had his shoulder up, but the ref called for the bell anyway.

Grade: D+. Jeez this was rough. Two botches and a horrific bump. This was a very unpolished match that did not showcase the strengths of either guy. They are much better than this.

Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio, 2 out of 3 falls: the match started right away, with a stiff shot from Andrade. He went for a powerbomb, but Mysterio countered to set up the 619, but Zelina Vega tripped him up on the outside. Andrade then rolled him up, and Vega held his feet on the ropes to win the first fall.

They started the second fall, and Mysterio quickly gave Andrade a rana to the outside, which looked pretty rough. Mysterio then continued the offense, hitting a slingshot powerbomb which looked like he planted Andrade on his head. Once again when Mysterio went for a 619, Vega distracted him and he didn’t get it. But after a third set up, he nailed the 619. Still, Andrade got his knees up and hit the hammerlock DDT for the win.

Grade: C+. Another fine match. I liked that Andrade got a 2-0 victory, way to put over new talent. I don’t know what they will do with that, but it was a huge victory. Good on them, but not their best match.

Steve Austin interview: Austin talked about how Rollins had a whole bunch of heart to get his win at Summerslam. He put Rollins over. Then he put over his own show. Shameless plug here.

Rey Mysterio Interview: He talked about how frustrated he was losing two falls in a row. He seemed like he was about to cry, and muttered about his family. Interesting, not sure where this is going at all.

Street Profits Backstage Again: Montez Ford told Mysterio to keep his head up, and gave him some encouragement. Ford then woke Dawkins up, and hyped up the Women’s Tag Team Championship match, and Cedric Alexander vs. Drew McIntyre. But Dawkins was too thirsty to help him, so Ford walked away. Funny, but they need to do something soon.

Drew McIntyre interview: he talked about how he was going to end Alexander, and their rivalry in the match. He called Alexander’s run a fairytale. He said that he was going to cave his skull in and end the rivalry once and for all.

Cedric Alexander vs. Drew McIntyre: the two started right away with some nice striking, and Alexander flying right away. He nailed McIntyre with a tope con hilo, but McIntyre fought back into it. While Alexander was up on the top rope, McIntyre grabbed him in a crucifix, and then gave him a high angle buckle bomb that looked hard to take. McIntyre took control from there, absolutely tossing Cedric all around the ring. At one point, the two were on the top rope, and McIntyre nailed Alexander with a sidewalk slam off the top for a near fall. The two started to fight on the outside, where Alexander pushed Mcintyre into the post, and then hit the lumbar check on the outside. The two were nearly counted out, but Alexander slid back in and attempted a suicide dive. But McIntyre caught him out of the dive and gave him a rough belly to belly onto the ring steps. The two then fought back into the ring, again on the top rope, but this time Alexander delivered a top rope spanish fly for a near fall. That brought the crowd alive, Mcintyre went for the inverted Alabama Slam, but Cedric countered into a rollup. McIntyre kicked out, and the two ran the ropes, only for McIntyre to decimate Alexander with a Claymore for the win.

Grade: B+. Really good stuff between these two. They showcased a great clash of styles match, as well as showing McIntyre’s agility as they did so. Cedric sold just as well as he always does, and was a really good underdog here. He was smart enough to get the advantage several times, and he knew what he had to do to win. Any of those rollups could have been it, and Cedric knew that. McIntyre was a great bully here, and actually seemed to respect Alexander a bit. Really good stuff between these guys, I knew that they could put something like this together. Match of the night.

The OC Backstage: the group were talking about how Rollins beat the odds when he beat Brock Lesnar at Summerslam. Gallows and Anderson then said that not even Styles could do that, to which Styles responded that he only had one chance to beat him. Then he just talked about how he would win the champion vs. champion match later on.

No Way Jose vs. Robert Roode: a bit of an odd match. I’m not really sure why they are having it. The two started with a lock up, before Roode pushed Jose back into the corner and wailed on him with strikes and kicks. Jose was being beaten for most of the match, before Roode won with a Glorious DDT.

Grade: B-. Inoffensive squash. Cool to see some underutilized stars get TV time.

Paul Heyman Interview: Heyman talked about how Lesnar is not allowed any rematches against Rollins. He was so pissed off that he couldn’t even get the words out. Then he walked back into Lesnar’s locker room. Interesting.

The Lucha House Party vs. The Revival: This was an incredibly fast paced match right from the start. The Revival gained the advantage after forcing Lince Durado to the mat, but as they were fighting, R-Truth and the 24/7 guys ran down to the ring. The bell rang, and the Lucha House Party started to dive onto everyone around ringside. The Revival hit Truth with a Hart Attack, and pinned him together to become co-champions. However, Kalisto then ran in and hit a Salida del Sol on Dawson, only for Wilder to break it up. Carmella then pulled a half conscious Truth onto Dawson to win the belt back, and the two ran away. Backstage, Carmella and Truth were celebrating when Elias walked up and smashed Truth in the back with his guitar, and stole the championship in the process.

Grade: C+. I was actually into having co-champions for a while, but it is clear that Truth is their guy for this belt. Anyway, this was fine. Nothing too exciting.

Natalya promo: Nattie came out with her arm in a sling, which was a nice touch. Still selling a beating from a night ago is pretty smart. The crowd was chanting “you tapped out.” She said that although she lost, she won’t take back anything that she said. She wants to fight Becky Lynch again, but she will earn it before she does. Then she talked about her dad, Jim Neidhart, but as she started to talk, Sasha fucking Banks returned to interrupt. She seemed pretty genuinely happy to be back, and she gave Nattie a hug, but then sucker punched her and tore off a purple wig that she had on. She started to beat the crap out of Natalya, even tearing off her sling. The crowd was absolutely loving it, and everyone remembered how great of a heel Banks is. She even grabbed a chair, but as she was about to use it, Becky Lynch ran out for the save. The two brawled in the middle of the ring, with Banks coming out on top. She wailed on Lynch with the chair, and it looked incredibly painful. Eventually, some refs came by and broke everything up, but the damage was done. Looks like we have a challenger for the Raw Women’s Championship, and someone who can actually win it at that.

Grade: B+. What a return! I have wanted heel Sasha for years, although I always wanted her to turn on Bayley. This is perfect though. A brutal assault to bring back one of the best heels in the women’s division. Welcome back Banks, thank you for saving the women’s division and keeping things interesting.

Viking Raiders Squash: before the match, the Viking Raiders cut a promo about how they will destroy anyone in their way, and the tag division will kneel before them. Naturally, the Raiders messed up the poor jobbers. At one point, Erik gave one jobber a huge uranagi onto the back of the other. The two were about to win at one point, but Erik pulled his shoulders off the mat, and they gave him the Viking Experience for the win.

Grade: B-. Always entertaining squash.

Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss Interview: The two talked about their upcoming title defense against The Kabuki Warriors. They were actually being really nice to each other, so I guess Bliss has turned face. I don’t know where this is going, but they better hate each other eventually.

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. the Kabuki Warriors for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: So, then during this match, Corey Graves was talking about how much he loves Bliss and Cross now, so I have no idea if they are face or heel. The Kabuki warriors had the advantage early on, running roughshod over the champions and completely annihilating them. The heels didn’t really get the advantage back until Bliss got a blind tag on Cross. At one point, Nikki was about to be hit by the Insane Elbow, but Cross rolled to the outside. Sane nailed her with a crossbody to the outside. Sane then rolled her back in for the Insane elbow, but Bliss broke it up. Asuka then tried to take out Bliss, but Bliss ducked a kick that landed on the ringpost, taking Asuka out. In the finish, Cross nailed Sane with a swinging neckbreaker and then Bliss finished it off with Twisted Bliss.

Grade: B-. This was a fine match, nothing too special. I hope that the Kabuki Warriors actually get some TV time, because they are a great team that deserve some more time. Bliss and Cross look strong, so that is good. These titles will need a lot of help to be built back up to the level they were once at, but they can do it with some time and patience.

AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins: Rollins still had heavily taped ribs, but Rollins actually assaulted Styles’ ribs to start the match off. Early on in the match, Rollins opted to take out the rest of the OC on the outside, but that distraction only allowed Styles to attack the ribs more. At one point, Styles even went for the Styles clash on the apron, but Rollins slipped out and swept Style’s leg out from under him. When the two got back in the ring, they started to transition into heavy hitting strikes. At one point, Rollins tried for a reverse superplex, but AJ pushed him off. He then tried for a phenomenal forearm, but Rollins ducked it and nailed a superkick. He then went for the frog splash, but Anderson distracted the ref while Gallows pushed Rollins off the top rope. The two were then banned from ringside, but they just ran in and caused a disqualification instead. Ricochet then ran out to Rollins’ aid, but it didn’t help him much. The OC was about to give Rollins a Styles Clash from the middle rope when Braun Strowman ran out and decimated all of the heels, giving Styles a spinning powerslam, followed by a running powerslam. After the OC retreated, Strowman grabbed Rollins’ Universal Championship and handed it to him, but not before eyeing it a bit. The faces then stood tall together to close out the show.

Grade: B. A pretty good match with a fun brawl to close everything out, plus Braun Strowman looked pretty strong in the process. This was a good look at what the top of the card on Raw should be. Get the US championship out of the mix, and these four guys could easily carry the show a bit. Give some lower down guys the US Championship, like maybe Cedric Alexander. Throw Bray Wyatt and Drew McIntyre in towards the top, and you have yourself a strong main event scene. This final stretch gives me some hope that maybe we will have some improvements on WWE going forward. Things seem to be looking up.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: Alexander vs. McIntyre; banks return; main event

Cons: ricochet vs. elias

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sugarbubbleslove · 6 years

Text

Persona 5 (again)

1 - I could kiss Ryuji - I got the ability to insta-kill enemies by ambushing them (thank you Ryuji!)

2 - this game is really shitty toward Ryuji. Where was my option to step in when Ryuji tells the boys its’ fine to hit him?! Seriously? What kind of friend lets a friend get beaten up? I mean, I had issue with it before but I think being away from the game and starting it fresh it’s really dawning on me that Ryuji gets treated like crap.

This boy was the one who got his leg broken by a teacher, as well as bullied and harassed by said teacher - who spread lies about a student, and apparently everyone thought the teacher was telling the truth when they probably knew Ryuji longer than the teacher? (I could be wrong here).

Yet - everyone else on the track team got it worse than him. Really? Are you sure about that little boys? I seem to see that you guys are running just fine while the Star Track Runner has problems.

And they get to punch him? Seriously - shouldn’t it be the other way around? One of the boys opened their mouth about Ryuji’s parents to the crappy teacher, who then used it against Ryuji and broke the boy’s leg in punishment.

Seriously - I wanna say thank goodness for Ren - but then again, he let his own best friend get beaten up by a bunch of little kids.

Seriously - thank you Atlus for giving me this adorkable idiot who does everything with a big heart, but at the same time - fuck you for not giving me the option to actually step in and protect Ryuji.

If Ren can step in between two complete strangers to protect a woman he doesn’t know from being harassed - he will damn well step in between people to protect his best friend. Don’t give me that ‘Comedian’ shit.

#So I might be on a little rant right now #ryuji sakamoto #he deserves better #and I am so damn tempted #to write a fix it scene #and have Ren actually step in #and protect his best friend #Persona 5

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upsmymindwanderedagain · 6 years

Text

Story of The Ice Wolf

PART 5

OTHER PARTS:

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4.1 PART 4.2 PART 6

WARNINGS: mentions of grief, torture (inflicted on reader), blood.

By the way this chapter is almost 5K.

Hey fellas! as I stated last chapter, there’s more story coming, we will see a little more of backstory of the reader and the twins. Now regarding this background, as I mentioned beforehand, in this story the twins Wanda and Pietro are not portrayed as we typically see them in other stories or even the MCU, sure they have the essence and personality (I hope) but this story is not flowers and sunshine, just have that in mind while reading. If something makes you feel uncomfortable or just something doesn’t feel right for you, send me a message and we can chat it out.

As always typos and errors are my bad, sorry.

"We will keep the details of the mission and what happened behind closed doors. The official statement is that Y/N and Bucky are on an undercover mission. We can't let the truth be known, not until we have an answer solid enough to reassure people peace of mind" Maria takes over "We will have a private ceremony..." "No" Tony interrupts Hill. "Bucky and Y/N were not that kind of believers" If you want to do one is up to you, but I'm sure that where ever they are they will laugh at us". "Stark is right, drink it off don't cry it out" Her best life counseling, even Barnes agreed on that one, May says. Everyone chuckles lightly. "Let's drink it off in their memory".

----

The pressure on your brain slowly pulls you out of the dark oblivion, your body feels trapped, something cold kisses your exposed skin, your brain begins to register the pain of your joints. A disgustingly familiar Russian voice starts to beckon you. "Ice Wolf, open your eyes asset". "Ice Wolf" There's no third call. A surge of electrical discharge shakes you to the core, making you open your eyes as you scream in agony. As your body rides the aftershocks, a hand grips forcibly your hair lifting your head. "Captain is good to have you again on our ranks" he says in Russian. You sneer a dry "Fuck you Yuri". His open hand slaps you hard and unforgivingly, making you spit blood as your face is turned to the right "That's no way of talking to your handler asset". Your voice is a gruff hiss "You are not my handler sergeant" you are quick to spit blood and drool straight to his face. You try to launch yourself at him, but you are clasped to a metal wall, the wall mounted handcuffs give you no space to move, you trash with all your strength but the burn in your veins tells you that is in vain, the flesh in your joints and neck end up raw and bleeding. He only stares blankly at your before letting out a mocking boisterous laugh "I want you to meet your new handler and team mates before we make you forget them" he calls them to come in. A tall bulky Russian man comes in followed by two girls, one has dark mist swirling around her hands her face is stern and uninterested, the second one has a smirk on her face and archangel wings (Anika?). "Captain Ice Wolf a 'honor' seeing you again" he says sarcasm heavy on his voice. "Go to hell Salarov" you voice is harsh and hateful. "Allow us to greet you properly" he lifts a syringe full of a nerve wrecking familiar dark liquid, he jabs the needle in your neck, the dark liquid starts making your veins feel even more on fire, you don't scream instead you set your jaw and groan in pain, the veins and tendons on your neck bulge under the strain. When the initial burn starts to wear off you notice the sinister smile on the men faces, Yuri hands Salarov bright almost white branding iron shaped with Hydras symbol. The dark serum is awfully painful on its own, but is meant to weaken you and make every single wound unbearable while you are able to withstand deadly wounds, making it hard for you to die still there’s a breaking point in that. The Salarov juggles with the metal branding mockingly, with no warning he jabs the metal on the old scared flesh on your chest re-doing the branding, you can’t hold back this time you scream in agony, muscles tensing up in pain. ---

Six months have passed since the day Bucky and you made the ultimate sacrifice, and Wanda still can wrap her thoughts around the fact that you are no longer there.

She is on a constant limbo of sadness, bitterness and anger, she is angry at Fury for making the call, she is angry at you for doing such a stupid thing, she is bitter because the four of you saw the clues and still walked in, and she is sad, that deep hollowing sadness that not even revenge call fill up.

She is curled up in the sofa of your shared loft, she is wearing one of your leather jackets that still smell like you, she eyes at the guitar resting on the wall that one was yours, cup of tea in her hand, she knows better than get smashed in the middle of the day.

She is not fool or naive, since the first time they saw you bloodied, beaten, tumbling into the warehouse you all used to call home after their parents were killed, they realized that death was a stalking companion. They understood how possible it was that you might not come home again or even them, the sokovian streets were a mess.

That's why after a lot shouting and fighting they convinced you to let them fight too and get involved in all the not so legal things you did to get money, sure you put rules and you were taking the worst part of the burden and responsibility, but not all anymore.

Since the day they found you bloody beaten, they took you in. Their parents knew nothing about you. You said you were seven, but you looked at least two years older, you were bigger and way stronger than the other kids. The lack of your papers and the thin financial situation of they were in resulted in you not being able to go to the school (besides you got expulsed before getting in for beating down a group of kids making fun of the twins in the school yard). Wanda can't hold back her jiggle at that memory.

Instead their mama taught you everything at home, how to read, numbers, equations, you learnt English from her and Spanish from an ex-CIA neighbor, Grace she was a hacker so she taught you how mend around technology and you avidly learnt, somedays she took you outskirts to shoot but you already knew your way around weapons, she used to call you 'lil Sokovian devil' some time later she nick named you "Sokovian Ghost" due to your hacking skills and your tendency to lurk in the shadows gathering intel.

She smiles at the good memories coming to her head. You were family even before you were her lover, always taking care of them and even helping others.

While their parents were still alive, the three were trouble always on the run, you taught them how fight to defend themselves, their parents learnt that fact when the twins got suspended for kicking their bullies asses. You were so excited and proud of them that you fist bumped them in front of the director of the school, he yelled at you for encouraging them and you simply stared at him and shrug it off. Their parents couldn't hold back their laughter at you not giving fucks about it, if something the week they got suspended you taught them grappling.

When things got rough you stayed strong, even though your adoptive parents home was available after their deaths, the three of you slept most of the time in a warehouse or in Grace's place to avoid social services, she didn't mind, those were the days that you all eat better, specially you (you avoided meals to buy them treats but they didn't knew).

Tears start gathering in her eyes, they knew the risks of their lifestyle, they spent 4 years in the streets making jobs for drug dealers and informants. Later at the age of 17 you 18 behind Hydra's back the three of you took over the Sokovian illegal affairs from weapon traffic to drug dealing that's how you meet Zemo and his unit then partnering up with him, he was the official face you three were the master minds and the ones doing the extra dirty work, the streets were less messy and now it was yours.

She misses the constant presence that you were in her life, you were fiercely protective of her you even killed on spot stupid guys cat hollering at her (mostly in your Hydra days). But you also made her feel strong and confident on her own, you never down talk her or keep her from doing things and missions.

Pietro, Wanda alongside Natasha they have become ruthless and merciless in the missions, to the point of plain slaughters, resulting in awful scolding’s from the star spangled cap and lectures from Fury, Hill is in the middle, she doesn't scold them, she is more empathic but always reminds them that they are better than that.

She plainly misses you, the hard-cold facade you built around you to show the world was that, a facade a mask. Pietro and her knew the real you, the caring person that loved cuddles a fluff ball with her, you loved sneaking out just the three of you, sometimes Loki will tag along even Zrinka and Costel when they visited, you all went outskirts to make bonfires and drink off the night while playing guitars like the small rock band trio that you were.

She misses how at her comeback from missions you always had something prepared to make her feel at home helping her wash away the mission followed by cuddles and a glass of wine, other times if she wasn't too tired or hurt you'd take her to extravagant dinners or you'll make a homemade meal, you didn't best her at cooking but you were far, far better than Pietro, he is a lost cause, even their mama recognized that when they were little.

Sometimes when she is trying to relax at the bathtub after a mission her minds tricks her, sometimes she foolishly think that you will walk in the bathroom to lift her in your arms to take her to your shared bed. Her heart breaks again when the truth seeps back in her mind.

She misses the sex because it never was plain sex, the two of you were vanilla in that aspect of your intimacy, the tough life and the scars you both have is the testimony of you not liking kinky hardcore things. You were gentle and caring with an edge of roughness is she asked you to be, but you were a dork as much as smooth, charming talker you were you always made her laugh in glee.

She shamelessly used her powers to spice things up though, but that was as kinky as you two went, she ghostly caressed your skin with her powers, red energy dancing on your skin, shivers of pleasure trailing along the places she touched or holding off your hands with her powers as she made you come undone under her ministrations.

You were always teasing her of how the sweetest and most innocent looking of the trio was the kinkiest dipshit, regardless you adored her always looking at her like a lovesick puppy.

She can see how much Pietro misses you, you were his sistra in every sense of the word, for him you were that immoveable force strong, confident and caring. You helped him get a hold of his powers and break barriers, go beyond his limits just like you did with her, during this process you even end up hurt but you always brushed it off telling them how someday they might save you with their powers.

Pietro was fiercely protective of both of you, but he always respected your rank and dynamic, however in the moments you faltered or just needed a break he was there to support you, and take over the lead until you were back on your feet.

He admired you, he wished that someday he could be as strong as you. They saw you being tortured in Hydra's grasp how they piece you back together with steel with no regard of your mental state or body. They went through the training with you, however Hydra's trainers always pushed you to breaking points to make you the finest weapon. Still you swallowed your revenge feelings and worked for them, never losing the soft caring side reserved only for them.

You fulfilled your promise, you got them out of Hydra to a better life, that's the life you've been having this past five plus years. Pietro always pictured you on it, he was thinking on marrying his girlfriend Zrinka but he couldn't bear the thought of you not being there, not when even their parents wouldn't be there. Wanda was his only family left, sure Zrinka and Costel are family but the bonds and the experiences you've been through together makes it impossible that someone will fill the void that your absence has left.

Wanda was always teasing you at how now that you were Avengers it was more plausible that you two would end up in jail due to your shenanigans. Pietro being the flirty shit he is, loved going to bars and strip clubs to wreak havoc and you were always with him, even she would tag along just for the fun of it and get you worked up.

Most of the time only you and Pietro would go to street racing, she was wishing you two would end up caught up by the police so she could witness Tony and Steve making an excuse to bail you out, you never fell in jail.

Clint now more than before has been acting like a father figure for them, he is making sure that they don't do reckless things, making sure they eat properly and trying his best to cheer them up in his Clint fashion way, but is hard because not only the twins are hurting, Nat is hurting too she is closed off and distant, even when she partners up with the twins the rest of the time she keeps to herself.

Tony and Steve are still a little uneasy on how to approach the three of them, Tony is blaming himself and his ego, Steve is just lost he puts on his strong face but behind closed doors he is not better than Pietro, Bucky was his only family left, he lost the only person that know him before all this mess, he lost a brother too. Besides he respected you, even when the two of you had a rough start, he admired you just like he admires Natasha, it breaks his heart knowing that a wrong call did this much damage.

Tony, the billionaire is trying his best he even tries to cheer up Pietro buying him a new car, but the silver haired man, politely refused telling him the story of how the first car he ever had is a Dodge Challenger RT 73, you had it restored and tuned for him, three weeks later he crashed the right side during a street race. when he told you just laugh it up telling him that you bet Wanda a week until he crashed it, and you lost the bet and regarding the car it was now his problem to have it repaired, pretty much was a 'work your ass off to pay the repairs' with a pat of his back. Tony laugh wholeheartedly at the story, you indeed were something.

The next days (months?) are a complete blur you can hear yourself scream, other times you hear Bucky scream in agony, that's the only way you both know you are still alive. Both are being beaten to make you comply obedience (They'll need more than that). They refused to wip you both, they now know that Wanda will be able to snap you out of it. Even though you are being beaten to unconsciousness on daily basis, you learn two things, the one with the archangel wings code name is 'Dark Angel' (so original, and is indeed Anika) she can blast you with energy spheres. The other girl is called Dark Mist she can play with your mind and hurl you round with her telekinesis like a ragdoll, both of them can knock your ass out. The next time you regain consciousness you are strapped to a metal chair, Salarov and his two companions enter the lab room, he has a spider like dispositive on his hand. "Time to obey asset" there’s other two soldats that you know well, after some wrestle they forcibly shove a mouthguard on you. You are not stupid, you know what is about to happen, the scientist fiddle with the equipment setting it up, they lower the head piece in place, you try with all your strength to scape, but is in vein, Salarov only laughs at you “Do it” the scientist turns the machine on. You can feel the electricity swimming in your head, the pressure on your brain makes your sight fill with black dots, then it becomes white, the mouthguard can’t stop the agony screams and grunts, the other soldiers stand unfaced at your suffering.

They repeat the process at least a couple of times at the end your jaw is locked close like a Rottweiler, they pry out the mouthguard leaving you panting like a wounded animal. Your head feels crushed, pain is all you can register, you can hear Russian voices around you, several heartbeats (or is just yours?) you sight is blurry, but slowly it clears out. When Salarov ugly mug comes in sight you growl at him, you don’t know how you end up there, but in the back of your mind you know that Bucky is somewhere near.

The soldiers unclasp the handcuffs, but your body feels out cold, they haul you off the seat to toss you to the cold unforgiving floor. Your body is so heavy and beaten that falls like a sack. The sergeant nods at the soldats who land hard merciless kicks at your midriff, you growl and fumble in pain. After tasting a couple of boots, they forcibly make you kneel, your body hunches to the front, a dark oblivion is tempting you to surrender. The Mist traps you in place her energy makes your skin shiver in disgust. Salarov crunches before you he makes the spider like dispositive pierce your scalp, skull and the metal plate on the right side, you feel tentacles swimming beneath your skin running down your neck, a new burn runs through your veins.

(I can only hope that Bucky is dead to avoid being through this). "Status report soldat". "FUCK YOU" you venomously grunt spatting blood at him. He forcibly wipes out the blood off his face. "Increase the poison". You hiss in pain as your voice starts to falter, sight getting even blurrier. "Status report soldat" "F-FUCK YOU" your words are slurred but not less despiteful. "More" he grunts. You can’t voice a thing, your body shakes but you refuse to comply. They up the dose more, you can feel your thoughts drifting away, mind starting to blank even the pain starts to shut off. "Status report soldat" he angrily request. You voice is cold, emotionless, void of any human trait, after all the screaming in agony your voice is husky "Ready to comply" you mind is blank you don't longer feel or think, your stare is stern cold and unforgiving. "Code name" he request the glee in his voice is clear. "Ice Wolf" a kick of a boot sole your left cheek snap your face to the right, but you are unfaced staring blankly at the unknown. "Wrong, code name: asset 1. Repeat code name soldat" "Asset 1".

---

The soldats drag you to other lab room, where the doctors patch you up, before they store you, they show you some pictures requesting you to tell the names of the people framed, in the beginning you can name them all, but after awful discharges on your head you start forgetting the man with a slug smirk and dark brown eyes, the one with blue eyes an a shield, a redhead with green eyes, the man with metal arm, the one with the patch, a stern woman with blue eyes, an Asian woman with confident stance…every single one of them get lost in a void, the last ones you forget is a grey haired man with piercing blue eyes and a brunette woman with bright green eyes, they are replaced with enemies, a group call avengers they are targets to be eliminated given the order by your handler. The last thing you register is cold, is almost like a déjà vu, cold…cold until everything shuts off.

--- It's been two plus years since that mission, the avengers have taken down a several of Hydra's bases and hideouts. But despite all this effort a new Hydra unit has appeared three soldiers and two enhanced, they've been responsible of assassinations of important politicians some ex-Hydra high ranks and even done some terrorist attacks, their moves are always deadly precise and organized, the avengers have encountered them a several times. The only intel they have is that the leader is called the Dark Tiger, his fighting style and armor like T'achalla's of course in no way as advanced as the king’s. He is always flanked by two soldiers (suspected super soldiers) they are always acting like shields to him, the intel says that this two are new advanced versions of the Ice Wolf and Winter Soldier (mocking the fallen ones with the names). The first enhanced posse’s electricity generation and telekinesis her code name Dark Mist, the other one poses archangel wings, can create energy blasts and has teletransportation, code name Dark Angel. The last members of this team are two 4’0 tall black wolves, one of them has bionic front limbs with long sharp claws the second one has bionic back limbs and bionic front paws they are always close to the Dark Wolf and the Dark Soldier. --- [Avengers Compound]

The avengers are gathered in the kitchen and dining table, some of them eating others talking. Wanda is currently talking with Natasha. As the news are playing in the background. *Breaking news, the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D's last failure*. The avengers pay no mind, since the Hydra mew group showed up some TV hosts have taken as their mission to talking crap about them. *... Well Charles, guess what we have here, you know about the rumors of the Wolf and the Winter Soldier, the Avengers said that the 'former' Hydra soldiers are on an undercover mission. Well unless this mission involves going to hell with no ticket back..." Everyone halted what they were doing. Steve turns up the volume. Wanda's eyes turn red in anger while Natasha schools her features. *An anonymous source has leaked footage of a carnage almost two years ago...* The video shows footage of the fight *As you all can see the almighty heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D agents had their asses busted, but hold on, the best part is coming...* All the avengers stop what they are doing to look the news, they make their way to living space. "...The Wolf and the Winter Soldier were the chosen bait, they stayed back and end up blown to pieces, the last thing you see is Thor and Vision recovering some of their weapons and their masks all the items bloodied and beaten. And we are not done yet, this anonymous source was kind enough to reveal that our ‘beloved’ Wolf was in no way a hero, she was a high ranked Hydra member, high in the command chain, Y/N was a captain known as the Ice Wolf. Responsible for this* A large file package is shown. *She did all this with no brain washing or mind control, she was a mercenary, a cold blood mons...* the sound is turn off. Nat tries to calm down Wanda who right now is livid and crying. Pietro goes to them to engulf them on a big protective hug, his voice is full of anger “I’ll be right back, I’m going to kill him”, when he tries to rush out of the door Clint halts him with a hand on his chest “Hold your horses speedster, think before you do” Pietro groans in annoyance and goes back to his twin holding her close and kissing the crown of her head. "F.R.I.D.A.Y trace the source and shut down the news broadcast, erase everything available on the red". Rushing heel clicks can be hear nearing, Pepper comes running "Tony turn off... Guys... I'm sorry". A hologram is displayed in the middle of the coffee table. *Stark we need to do damage control*. "I'm on it, F.R.I.D.A.Y is taking down everything" Tony says jaw set and voice stern. *Call a press conference, Rogers take care of that mess. Be prepared for an attack, Hydra is making a move* the dark skin man says his voice hinted in anger. --- [Hydra base] --- *Message delivered sir, the avengers are calling a press conference*. *Tiger, ready your unit, you are crashing their conference, make sure is a big play, don't kill them yet*. *Yes, sir*.

The bulky Russian man walks to the living room of the safehouse "Company we have a mis... Mist where the fuck is Angel?!".

"She is playing with her sex toys".

[Angel's room]

I can hear a female voice chatting, her voice is quite lively and lately is the only thing that's reminds me I'm alive, most of the time I just feel pain and my body moving, others I just feel an overwhelming cold, on the best days I get glimpses of what Hydra wills me to do. Never in my twelve years serving them I felt like an asset, now I'm just that, and seems that Bucky couldn't avoid this fate again.

"What ya think Bucky, should I pretend is you this time or Wolfy?" She gets close to me.

My voice is barely a broken whisper "Last time... Was Buck".

"Oh?" she tilts her head "Hey Wolfy did I lowered the poison that much?" she only jiggles.

Our bodies are slumped against the wall, handcuffs keep the arms above our heads, the ankles are shackled too, collar and chain included.

She gets close to straddle my lap and lean in to whisper in my ear "As soon as they find out about you I'll help them get you back... Now behave he is coming" she presses a button of the controller.

I feel the burn in my veins increasing, slowly my mind drifts away.

She fakes kissing your neck as the door is slammed open.

"Angel! stop fucking them, we have a mission".

She groans in annoyance "Fine" pressing another button the shackles are open.

"Soldats! Gear up" he shouts, voice full of anger. Methodically like robots, both of you get up and walk out of the room following orders.

They wip you both before heading to the mission.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, as I said buckle up and twist your undies.

I might post another chapter this week, since my holydays end this week.

PART 6

#wanda maximoff x reader #scarlet witch x reader #pietro maximoff x reader #quick silver x reader #avengers x reader #shield x reader #story of the ice wolf #part 5

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