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rmoonstoner · 11 months

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Poisoned Empanadas

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Pairing:

Moon Knight (Jake Lockley) x Spider!fem!reader

Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara) x Spider!fem!reader

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18+

Warnings:

Violence, strong language, mentions of death, mentions of depression, sexual themes, warnings may change.

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Summary:

You move out of the old house at your friend's request. It's a very short chapter.

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Chapter 2 - Empanadas de Santa Rita - Chihuahua City, Mexico

A Mexican pastry served in honor of St. Rita every year on May 22. Typically they are sweet and savory at the same time, containing meats, raisins, pecans, butter, garlic and assorted spices, peas, potatoes, and sherry.

***

A few months had gone by, with absolutely no word from Jake. You weren't surprised one bit, and had already gone through the process of selling most of your things. It was the big stuff, like your living room furniture, the bedroom set, any tools you had, and other such things too big for a studio apartment that you had your eye on. You even got rid of the car for a nice fat stack of cash. It was fitting that you had sold the car to Hawkeye. He was happy, and claimed that he was going to give it to his wife.

Today you were dropping off a huge bag of clothing to a local shelter. Anything that Gwen or America didn't want, ended up here. You made the old lady's day as she went through the nice and gently used items, all of which Jake had bought for you. After the drop off, you made your way back home the easy way, by web slinging home. By the time you got back, you found Peter standing at your front door.

"Hey! Sorry, I was out dropping off some clothes. You didn't mention that you were coming by." You greeted Peter with a wave and gave him a hug.

"It's alright. I was just on my way to the Sanctum, and I wanted to know if you wanted to accompany me?" He asked with grin.

"Really? You sure you want me to come along? You did mention the doctor hates unexpected guests…" You replied. Peter could see your hesitancy and he held both hands up.

"It's totally okay with Doctor Strange. I asked first, and besides, you're friends with his daughter, so…"

"Does he know-"

"Uh…" Peter looked away sheepishly as he rubbed his neck and laughed.

"Peter! Just because he's an Avenger and the king of the wizards, you can't be telling people my secret identity!"

"I am sorry! He saw you on the roof the last few times, and he wanted to know why I hadn't introduced you to him. Then America let it slip she's your friend, and, so… He kind of figured it out. He's a genius, and has that eidetic memory."

"Oh fantastic, a real Sherlock Holmes type, eh?" You retorted, and he laughed.

"Yeah, so I am sorry…"

"It's fine. Like you said, he probably already knew. I'm not mad."

"Oh good! So, do you need to do anything before we go?"

"I just need to put the washing on the next load of donations, then grab some water."

"Cool!"

***

Once at the Sanctum, Peter introduced you to Wong. The man seemed grumpy at first, but after hearing who you were, he changed his tune rather quickly. He made you a tea while Peter left to find the doctor, and the two of you chatted about how Peter basically lived here at the Sanctum since his Aunt and Tony Stark had passed away. He asked about what you did for a living, and you shrugged. You didn't have a paying job, and you lived in your ex boyfriend's house, which you were getting ready to move out of.

Wong seemed impressed that you were taking charge and moving on with your life, which told you that Peter had been blabbing his mouth again. You would have normally been upset by this, but Peter had told you all about who Wong was, what he did, and who he worked with. He was like the other king of the wizards, and Peter claimed he was way nicer than Strange. You found that hard to believe, because both of the wizards had a reputation for being formal hard asses.

Peter ended up coming back with Doctor Strange, and the lad was just talking up a storm as the doctor nodded along while sipping from a steaming mug. The way they looked was adorable, like a son telling their dad all about their day after school, but it was Peter talking about his patrols, while the older man listened intently.

"-And then she flashed him with the lights, kicked the guy in the balls, and he fell off of the roof. I've never seen Sandman go down that fast before! She managed to get him, before he could turn into sand!"

"Oh wow, Peter. That's most impressive." The doctor winced a bit, but he was impressed all the same.

"I take it that this her?" He asked as he motioned towards you. You gave a polite smile and waved.

"Yeah, that's her! You should see her and Gwen work as a team! It's so fun! She's the one making all the weird lights at night." Peter said as he made the same hand motions you did for the lights. You laughed and looked over at the older man who was chuckling softly at Peter's energy.

"Ah, I see. Well, in that case, it's lovely to meet you, young lady. My name is Stephen, but you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Uh, yes, sir, er, uh, doctor."

"Stephen is fine. Any friends of Peter's or America's are welcome to use my first name. Unless, of course, I don't like them." He laughed and held his hand out to you. You took it gently, remembering that Peter had told you the man had delicate hands that had once been crushed.

"Okay, Stephen, it is nice to meet you too. I always wanted to see what America's and Peter's adopted dad was like."

"Oh, well, I-" Stephen seemed flustered when you said adopted dad.

"Oh, he's a good dad. Very supportive of my Spider-Man gig." Peter said as he patted Stephen's shoulder. The man beamed at the praise and kept drinking his tea. You didn't understand why he was known for being snobby, stoic, and rude.

"That's good. Peter talks about you all the time. Says you've saved the world a lot, and kept the spooky magic things at bay." You remarked, and Stephen burst out laughing.

"I suppose that's what I do. It's a new way of saying it though. Oh, I have to talk to ask Wong something. Be right back." Stephen smiled and then excused himself to go talk with Wong for a bit.

They did not come right back.

It was three hours before they did, and by then, America had come home, said hi, then left again for her studies at the Kamar-Taj. You had spent the time playing chess, and had won three to two. When Stephen and Wong came walking in, they looked frustrated. It turned out there had been one of those cosmic fluctuations, and Stephen was telling Peter and you to keep an eye out for anything weirder than normal.

You left soon after, and went back home to grab a nap before patrol later.

***

Three weeks later…

Peter and Gwen had convinced you to move out of the house Jake owned. You didn't make it easy for them either. You felt reluctant to leave that house. It had bad memories, but it also held so many good ones with Jake.

You gave the excuse that you couldn't afford to move. The house and utilities were paid for, and you didn't have a paying job to get something new. Peter shut you up so fast by having Stephen and Wong literally coming out at that exact moment and time to offer you a room next to America's and Peter's. You groaned when that happened, because who the hell says no to the Sorcerer Supreme, which was basically your friend's dad?

That gave you a free place to live, free utilities, and free food. That also offered you access to being transported anywhere in the world if you ever wished it, not that you really wanted to unless the others needed you to. You had lost the will to travel after what happened with your ex, but it was nice that the option was there. Living there would gain you security, because there were at least three sorcerers at the Sanctum at any given time, not including Doctor Strange or Wong who were fully aware of your relationship problems.

They even said they could keep Jake from coming in if you gave them some of his hair. That was easy to do, and you did it, mostly because Peter and Gwen said they'd try to kick his ass if he showed up unannounced. You weren't sure if they meant the wizards, or themselves.

Plus your friends were there…

How could you refuse?

Notes:

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Series Master List

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None for now. Again, sorry for the short chapter.

Tags:

@theaussiedragon @autismsupermusicalassassin @readingfan

#spider reader #spider man 2099 #miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x fem!reader #miguel o'hara x you #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x y/n #mcu moon knight #moon knight #jake lockley #jake lockley x reader #jake lockley x you #jake lockley x fem!reader #jake lockley x y/n

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animation-cartoon-fan-writings · 4 months

Text

A Secret Darkness

Idea by Stardust948

Part 2 Part 3

Princess Emi of the Fire Nation had always been a happy ball of sunshine. The first born child of Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara, she radiated a different type of light than the world had been seen before her birth. A happy baby, Emi began smiling and giggling at two-months-old and rarely stopped since.

For her parents, their eldest child lived up perfectly to her name, meaning “blessing”. After losing so much to the One-Hundred-Year War, both mentally and physically, Emi was the light of their whole worlds right from the moment Katara found out she was pregnant.

Zuko in particular vowed to himself the moment his daughter was born that he would protect her from all of the darkness of the world. Whether it meant spoiling her beyond belief, indulging in Emi’s every whim and dropping whatever he was doing if she as much as called for him, or instinctively picking her up and taking her away from any place or situation that could be considered even the least bit dangerous. Zuko was a protective girl dad through and through.

This protective instinct was often extended to the people Zuko was cautious of letting into his child’s life, including his own family.

Azula hadn’t been a large part of Zuko’s life following the end of the war, having been put in a psychiatric facility almost immediately following her loss during Sozin’s Comet. During the entirety of Katara’s pregnancy with Emi, the Fire Lord assumed his kids would never meet their aunt. Thankfully, his sister had recovered enough to be discharged when Katara was five-months-pregnant.

It was a long process, but Azula’s weekly therapies and regular medication really helped stabilize her mind, they eventually got to a place where Zuko was more comfortable gradually letting her back into his life. Soon enough, when Emi was three-months-old, Zuko finally introduced his new bundle of sunshine to her aunt. Since then, Azula has accepted the title of “cool aunt” and was quite good at it. She loved her niece and prayed to Agni above that she never lost that light of innocence in her eyes.

Despite having been reunited with his own mother, finding her alive with a new husband and 10-year-old daughter, Zuko hesitated on introducing her to Emi until she was around a year old. Even so, Ursa barely had a relationship with Emi, too focused on her new life and her youngest daughter Kiyi. It was that, along with other things, that led Zuko to decide to go low contact with his mom. He refused to let his daughter go through what he did and would not trust anyone with her if they were not going to be a reliable presence.

Then, there was Ozai. Zuko had been adamant from the moment he and Katara started discussing the possibility of having children that his father would not have anything to do with his kids. This was one thing that the Fire Lady had no problem with, knowing just how evil Ozai was and would always be. So, Emi grew up for the most part believing Iroh was her paternal grandfather, calling him “Papa Iroh”.

As Emi grew older and started getting more curious about the world around her, Zuko’s protective levels started going into hyperdrive. This wasn’t helped by the fact that, since having her, he and Katara had expanded their family by two, with his wife giving birth to their second daughter Kya (named after Katara’s late mother) when Emi was two, followed by their third child and first-born son Kallik just a few years later. How was he supposed to keep his eye on a rambunctious little girl, a toddler, and a newborn while simultaneously keeping up with all his duties as Fire Lord?

Unlike the Fire Lords of the past, Zuko made it clear that he and Katara would not rely on an arsenal of nannies and servants to raise their children. This meant the royal couple did the majority of the childrearing themselves. While they did have Iroh, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee living at the palace to help on occasions where both he and Katara were super busy, it wasn’t like any of them could be at multiple places at once.

Plus, Emi was starting to get really good at sneaking away undetected for long periods of time. While she thankfully never went beyond the palace grounds, it was still a frightening experience as Zuko would be frantically searching every corner of the palace and beyond for his missing daughter, only to find her hiding in some small corner of the palace library with a smile on her face, eating a freshly-stolen box of cookies from the kitchen.

While it usually wasn’t any more than that, this habit of exploring places throughout the palace that she wasn’t allowed to be in often led to some close calls. Catching her before she got too close for comfort.

Unfortunately, on one fateful day, it happened.

Emi, now six-years-old, wanted to play with mommy and daddy, but unfortunately, they were too busy. At the moment, Katara was feeding the five-month-old Kallik and Zuko was stuck in a meeting with his council, leaving Aunt Azula to at least try to keep an eye on both her and four-year-old Kya.

After several hours, Azula thought she finally got the two young princesses down for their nap. But, the minute she left the room to fetch the girls some snacks and juice, Emi woke up and escaped her Aunt’s suite to once again start exploring the unchartered places of the large Fire Nation palace.

After a while, she found herself downstairs, below the grounds of her home, down in a place she had never seen before. It was mostly dark, except for the flickering of fire light from the torch flames that lines the walls. Emi knew she should go back upstairs before someone realized she was missing, but her naivety and strong sense of curiosity got the better of her. She kept slowly walking through the narrow hall, her big golden eyes looking all around her with such wonder.

Suddenly, the little princess stumbled upon a dark cave marked off by chains and a sign that read “High Risk Prisoner, Under Strict Lockdown, No One is Permitted to go Beyond this point without the presence of authorized staff”. While most people would read that and immediately turn back, Emi didn’t really know how to read anything beyond the level of her picture books and fairy tales.

She was completely oblivious to the darkness a person could possess. She grew up believing everyone and everything was all happy and bright. That even those that were bad at first would eventually become good with just the right help and encouragement. That just a bit of kindness and forgiveness would enough for people to change. She had no idea just what she would find when she got her little body past the chains to see what was on the other side of the cave.

Emi walked slowly down the path. As she approached the end, she saw an old man behind a wall of clear metal. Who is this man?, she thought. His hair was light grey, long and disheveled. His eyes were locked to the floor, devoid of any emotion. Sitting with his back against the wall, his body crouched over like an old hermit just passing the little time he had before death finally took him. Emi kept her distance from him, but her curiosity kept her from running in the other direction.

Suddenly, the man slowly turns his head, looking right at the young princess. Emi cautiously takes a few steps forward as the man’s eyes widen. “Azula?,” the man finally speaks. The child doesn’t answer. Instead, she cocks her brow, confused as to why the man just called her by her Aunt’s name.

Emi did resemble her father a lot. She had his ember-colored eyes and midnight black hair. But, her skin tone was only one shade lighter than her mother’s natural mocha shade. Her father, in comparison, had a light ivory skin tone, just like Aunt Azula. So, Emi didn’t know how this man she had never met before could confuse her with Azula or how he knew of her aunt in the first place.

The man speaks again, louder this time, “Azula! I’m so glad you came to visit. Have you heard what your brother has been doing?”. The man knew her father. Curiosity getting the best of her, Emi decides to play along and not reveal herself to the man. “No. What?,” she asks the man. He scowls as he begins ranting, “Your good-for-nothing brother has decided to completely destroy our bloodline. Not only did he marry that retched waterbender from the south pole, but now he has gotten her pregnant. Can you believe it? The heir to the throne, without the pure ivory skin of Fire Nation royalty. It is simply an abomination!”.

Emi didn’t know what to say to all that. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Clearly he was talking about her parents, and the “abomination” he was referring to could only be her. She had never in her life heard anything like this. “Wh-why is it an abomination? I mean, how would it reflect on him as a leader?,” she inquires, hoping to find out more.

The man cackles madly, “My child, Agni above has blessed our nation to be superior to all others. The Fire Nation is the greatest nation in the world and our bloodline is the purest in the land. Your brother tainting it with some tribal whore just proves that he doesn’t care about his country.”

Emi’s heart drops hearing those words. Did he just say Aunt Azula was his child? Is this man Dad and Aunt Azula’s dad?, her mind races. But, that’s impossible. Papa Iroh is dad’s dad. He’s my grandfather. Surely, daddy would never lie to me about something like that.

“I swear, the spirits are going to burn this nation to the ground and damn us all to the pits of hell for this disrespect to Agni… Either way, thar bastard child of his will always be half-water tribe. By that alone, our family tree will be tainted with impure blood. Agni help us all that child becomes fire lord. But, I suppose you already know that, Azula.”

Emi takes one step back, growing scared of this man. He continues to rant as the child slowly walks backwards, every word he says seeping into her brain and being internalized by the young, innocent soul.

“Don’t worry, soon enough you, my golden child, will take back the throne from your traitor of a brother and his snow-eating whore of a bride. I know you, Princess Azula. My little prodigy. You were born lucky, truly gifted in your abilities as a firebender. And once you finish the job from that Agni Kai, all other nations will fall and you and I will rule as supreme leaders of the world!”

The prisoner starts laughing like a mad man and that’s when Emi couldn’t bear to hear another word. She turns around and runs out of there as fast as she could. Thankfully, the man was so wrapped up in his own laughter and delusions that he didn’t notice. His deep, evil laughter echoing off the walls as she ran back through the narrow dirt pathway.

The princess felt an ache in her stomach as she began to run up the stairs. She felt the tears picking at the corner of her eyes, threatening to fall. She held it all in as she made it up to the top of the stairs and rushed over to the family wing of the palace. Even as servants called her name as she quickly passed, she didn’t answer. Finally, she made it back to her room, going in and slamming the door shut.

She takes a few deep breathes before her lips begins to quiver and her eyes water. Emi runs over to her bed and leaps forward, landing face-down onto the mattress. The now-terrified princess buries her face in her pillow as she begins to cry.

The Fire Nation’s innocent ray of sunshine had just seen the secret darkness of the world. And things would inevitably never be the same again.

Hope you guys liked this. If you want me to continue this and write a part 2, please let me know.

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let-us-cultivate-our-garden · 11 months

Note

I say this as a salty fan and not someone trying to be hateful (if it comes off as so please delete this ask), but I don't think Dana deserves Belos. As a villain, he's just too complicated and it sucks seeing his character kinda get ruined.

Personally, I think she does better with one note / one off villains like Tibbles, the inspector from "The First Day", the elderly ladies in the Body Swap episode, the publisher demon and the merchant demon from "Sense And Insensitivity" etc.

With those characters, you can enjoy them because they are meant to be one note, but not Belos.

Honestly, I feel that a lot of the characters remain either one-note or are reduced to one-note characters and it's not just the villains. Willow and Gus barely grow outside of being Luz's friends; they do get mini-arcs of their own but for the most part, they sorta stay in the background so they don't really stand out on their own.

Poor Amity went from a stuck-up perfectionist to Luz's Girlfriend. Once she breaks away from Odalia's influence, her characterization is reduced to just Nice and Kinda Dorky. There's none of that sarcasm or ruthlessness that she had in season 1 and if you're raised by a parent like Odalia, those kinds of attitudes and beliefs don't really go away. Amity may become nicer and more well-adjusted, but her edges have been sanded off, she's just boring.

Hunter was brash and self-confident yet once we learned more about him, his original characterization was replaced with Sad Boy Who Is Also Kinda Dorky. Now, could his cockiness been a mask this whole time? Absolutely. But we don't get much of his old personality Post Heel Turn, instead the show spends an inordinate amount of time traumatizing him and giving him barely enough time to process all that.

Lilith does better in the characterization department, but we still get Cool Aunt Lilith in the end. It seems like if you're a former Bad Guy, you get turned into a dork character to signify that you're no longer a threat and on the Good Guy Team. All of these characters had their edges sanded away and now they're nerds with interests like sci-fi/fantasy or academia.

As for Belos, I feel like the writers never had a real interest in him outside of him being the main villain. But his backstory makes him a complicated character and as we see with the above examples, the writers struggled with distinguishing their characters, let alone handling a nuanced portrayal of villainy.

Sometimes characters outgrow their creators and a character like Belos needed a crew that was actually interested in him in order to bring him to his full potential.

#asks #toh critical #toh criticism #emperor belos #philip wittebane #the owl house

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3mcwriting · 1 year

Text

Any Fan's Dream, Part 2

Any Fan's Dream Masterlist

Synopsis:

When you look around and see Avengers Tower in front of you and Peter Parker beside you, you wonder how the hell you managed to get into the MCU.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Peter asked, unlocking the door to his home. He opened the door, you followed him inside.

"For the hundredth time Peter, I'm fine." you said, smiling at him to try to reassure him. "Promise. In fact, I've never been better!"

And you meant it. After all, you got to meet the Avengers and you were close to Peter Parker and you're pretty sure your heart stopped beating multiple times today out of excitement.

"You were kidnapped." Peter said, how were you this happy?

"I know!" You nodded, you got to get kidnapped by Loki! And he kissed your hand! Your hand! You remembered that people weren't supposed to be this excited after getting snatched. You tried to cover it up, and grinned when you thought of a way to distract him. "I'm just excited because I got to meet Spider-Man! He picked me up and swung me to the Tower, it was so awesome!"

You had the time of your life while swinging through the city with Peter, it was so exciting and you couldn't help but enjoy the rush. You were still unsure about whether you were dreaming or hallucinating or you actually somehow got transported to the MCU. But you had started to lean toward the latter explanation. You'd never had a dream this vivid and detailed, so either you were actually there in the apartment with Peter or you were on drugs.

"You met Spider-Man?" Peter asked, trying to look shocked.

You laughed at his bad acting, although he just assumed it was a happy laugh. "Yep! It was so cool!"

"Peter? Who is this young lady you’re standing in the dark hallway with?" a familiar woman asked, a smile on her face.

You had to clap a hand over your mouth to not scream. HOLY SHIT IT'S AUNT MAY!! You realized how weird that must've looked and forced a cough to try to explain the strange action.

"Oh uh May, this is (n/n)-I mean (y/n). (y/n), this is my Aunt May." Peter said, tripping over his words.

May's smile grew. "Ah, (n/n)? Nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you."

Peter flushed, sending her a look.

You couldn't help the laugh that escaped you, finding their relationship wholesome. "Nice to meet you too, Ms. Parker. Glad to hear that Peter talks about me as much as he talks about you."

"I like her," May laughed, "be nice to her, Peter." Peter, whose face was still red, just nodded. May let loose another laugh, but left the two of you with an, "I'm going to bed. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

You laughed at the expression on Peter's face, collapsing into breathless chuckles. He rubbed the nape of his neck, the tips of his ears red. He glanced at your expression and laughed along with you until the two of you were laying on the floor giggling like five-year-olds.

The two of you spent the next half hour laying on the floor, one of you laughing randomly and then the other giggling at the laugh that came out of nowhere. The two of you played 'would you rather?' and multiple times had to hold in laughter so you wouldn't be too loud and wake up May.

At one point, Peter's answer surprised you so much, you had to slap both hands over your mouth to keep from howling with laughter. You were focused on trying not to release the laugh and didn't notice the way your face had scrunched up like an angry chipmunk. Peter noticed and had to copy your movements so he wouldn't be the one to wake up May. And then you looked like an angry chipmunk and he looked like a constipated duck.

The two of you couldn't hold your laughter after that and you both dissolved into raucous laughter.

"May definitely heard that," Peter choked out between giggles.

You knew he hadn't said anything particularly funny, but for some reason that comment killed you and you joined him in breathless laughter.

May did wake up. She walked out of her room to find the two of you rolling around on the floor and laughing like hyenas.

Her expression of 'wtf is going on?' only caused the two of you to laugh even harder.

"I'm telling you Peter, you didn't need to walk me home." you said, which was a complete lie. You had absolutely no clue where you lived, you had just like spawned into this world and had no idea where you lived.

"It's no problem, (y/n)." He smiled at you. "You live pretty close."

The two of you continued down the hall. Peter had to grasp your wrist to keep you from walking past the apartment.

"Whoops," you laughed nervously. "Do you wanna come in?"

Peter looked shocked, "uh-into your house?"

"No, into the sewers. Yes, Peter. Into my house." you reaffirmed.

He glanced at his phone and deflated when he saw the time. "Sorry, I can't. It's late and I have to get back."

You nodded in understanding. "That's fine. Maybe another time?"

He grinned. "Sounds good."

"Bye, Peter."

"Bye, (n/n)."

The two of you stood there. Peter was waiting for you to get into your apartment then he would leave, and you were just standing there.

You remembered that you had to knock on the door. You rapped your knuckles against the off-white door, alerting your family to your presence at the door.

The two of you continued standing there staring at each other until your mom answered the door.

"Bye again, Peter."

"Bye again, (y/n)."

You closed the door behind you, following your mother-was she your mother? She looked the exact same. Well, except for the warm smile she had when she opened the door. It wasn't that your mom from back home didn't smile, just that her smiles always seemed forced. Your relationship with your parents from your world wasn't horrible, you just didn't really have a relationship. Both of them were workaholics so you barely even saw them. They weren't mean or abusive, they just weren't there.

"That Tony Stank had you at work so late-"

She said it!! She said it!!

You snorted at the name. "It's Stark, mom. Not 'Stank'."

You were surprised by how easy it was to call her 'mom', but you guessed it was the whole "you're-my-mom-but-not-really" thing.

"Stank, Stark, either way he had you home way too late. What is he doing? Child labor?" She shook her head.

You smiled. "Technically not child labor, I'm 18."

Your mom rolled her eyes. "You and your technicalities. Now, who was that young boy at the door?"

"That's Peter, he went to the same school as me."

You hoped you were right, but truthfully you had no clue how the other you and Peter had met. You could see a picture of you in a blue gown with your parents on the wall behind your mom. You assumed you had just graduated, and based on the sunny-ness outside earlier, it was either summer or just a very bright day.

Your mom raised an eyebrow at the grin on your face, but decided not to press you for it. "So, did you at least eat?"

Your stomach growled in response, answering your mother's question. You smiled at her sheepishly, and she sighed in exasperation. In your defense, you were too occupied by the fact that you were kidnapped by LOKI and you met the mfing AVENGERS so excuse your forgetfulness but goddamn you wanted to simp and fangirl over them.

"When you move out you're going to starve," your mother said. "Come on, I'll heat you up some leftovers."

After eating(which was take-out from this Thai place that was positively heavenly), you went to "your" room. It was a pretty nice room, a fluffy gray rug in the middle with a messy bed shoved into the right corner at the opposite end of the room from the entrance. A desk was against the wall to your left, and a TV was hooked on the wall across from your bed, presumably so "you" could watch TV in bed. The rest of the wall space was occupied by bookshelves and posters.

You threw yourself on "your" bed, marveling at the way the bedroom showed so much about the person that lived there. Your actual room back home was somewhat empty, your parents had never taken the time to buy you anything and you had been too busy trying to graduate high school with high marks so you could go somewhere far away for college.

You had one friend, and they were more of just a person who took the same classes as you so you helped each other out a lot. But even that was pretty impersonal, neither of you knew much about each other.

You shook thoughts about your world from your head, not wanting to dwell on your rather pathetic life back there.

"Hey! Go take a shower and go to bed!"

"Better listen to mumsy, I guess." you muttered.

You sipped the beverage, praising Peter as you did so. "You're so awesome, Peter. I mean it." you said, drinking your favorite beverage.

"It really wasn't a problem," Peter protested, cheeks flushed at your constant compliments.

You knew that people probably didn't normally get this happy about a drink, but he brought you your favorite drink! Peter Parker got you your favorite drink! So you didn't really care that your praise might've seemed excessive, to you, it was the bare minimum. How else were you supposed to react? What? Say 'thank you' and leave it at that? But then you wouldn't get to see the adorable blush that was slowly turning Peter's face red. You couldn't miss the chance, that would be a crime against Marvel fans everywhere.

"So, uh, what're you gonna do at Mr. Stark's today?" Peter asked nervously, trying to get the subject off of him before he exploded.

You side-eyed Peter, knowing exactly what he was doing. You allowed it though, acknowledging that if his face got any more red it might be mistaken for a stoplight. "Building a cannon that shoots pears."

"You're-what?"

"Yeah, then I'm gonna go assault Flash with the fruits." You snickered at the thought that popped into your head of Flash trying to dodge pears.

Peter laughed. "Can you make me a cannon too?"

You turned serious. "Bold of you to assume you're worthy of the mighty pear launcher."

"My mistake, my mistake.” Peter apologized. “Might I have the honor of shooting a pear at Flash?"

You hummed, thinking about it. "I suppose."

"Thanks for walking with me, wouldn't want to be kidnapped twice in a row."

Actually if it was Loki then you probably wouldn't mind-

Peter frowned. "You shouldn't joke about that."

"I promise, Peter, I am like 99%." you assured him. "But if you really wanna help, can I have a hug?"

Peter fought to keep the frown on his face but couldn't, "I guess. After all, we're gonna go shoot Flash with pears later. You need to be at 100."

You nodded, "I know. Which is why we should hug."

He laughed and wrapped his arms around you, you returning the embrace. You didn't think you'd ever get used to that. Everyone there gave such great hugs. You did not know how you had gone this long without a hug from Peter Parker. Someone cleared their throat behind the two of you and you were about ready to beat a bitch, but you let go and-

You squealed.

You honest to god, squealed.

But who could blame you?

Wanda Maximoff was standing there, giving the two of you apologetic smiles as she tried to go through the doorway the two of you were blocking.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything, but I have to get through." Wanda apologized, stepping through the doorway.

You could only stare as she walked away, frozen while she left.

"What was that?" Tony's voice interrupted your stupor, he had just arrived in the room to take you back to his lab. "You okay, kid?"

You could only nod dumbly and follow Tony to wherever the two of you worked, waving at Peter mindlessly, mind still on the fact that YOU JUST MET WANDA MAXIMOFF AND DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!!

You were ashamed of yourself.

The two of you entered a workroom, countless screens glowing, displaying different inventions on them. You looked around in awe, you were in Tony Stark's workshop!

You remembered, "can we make a pear shooter?"

Tony shook his head. "Sorry kid. Today we're making you an iron man suit."

You screamed.

"Holy shit! What was that?!" Tony looked at you, concerned.

"ThisisamazingicandiehappyholywhattheactualfuckYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Tony could only stare at you as you hopped around, giggling like a gorilla on drugs.

"You are so amazing Mr. Iron-Man-Boss-Sir."

"Okay, I think that's enough for today." Tony dusted his hands off, "Capsicle and Triple Imposter are waiting for you. They're in the training room."

You nodded, the grin you had had been there for hours and Tony was beginning to get concerned that your face was going to freeze like that. You left the room to go to the training room then remembered-

You had no clue where the fuck the training room was.

So you wandered, seeing a lot of interesting rooms and then remembered-

"Hey, uh FRIDAY? Could you tell me where the training room is?"

"Of course, Miss (l/n). Continue going down the hall until there's another hallway, then turn right and the training room is the third door on your left."

"Thanks, FRIDAY."

"You're welcome."

You followed the directions, eventually arriving at the door FRIDAY had instructed and you pushed it open.

Your jaw dropped as you stepped into the colossal room. It was a large rectangular room, workout equipment to one side, mats to another, and a variety of different weapons on the back wall. Your eyes caught on a sword, an actual sword? Wait a minute, why is there a sword? None of them use swords. Well, Clint does but that's later. Speaking of which, where is Clint? Oh he's proba-

"You took your time getting here," Natasha was wrapping her knuckles. She was dressed in a simple tank top and leggings, classic workout attire.

"I got lost," you admitted. Natasha had cut off your train of thought, causing your mind to blank for a second.

Steve laughed. "How? You've basically lived with us since you graduated."

You took a mental note of that. "You can't say anything, you need help to unlock your phone."

Natasha laughed. "She got you there, Stevie-o."

Steve cracked a smile, not taking offense. "Alright, alright. We should begin your training now."

#mcu #marvel x reader #the avengers #avengers x reader #tony stark #clint barton #steve rodgers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #black widow x reader #natasha romanoff x reader #peter parker x reader #loki x reader #thor x reader #wanda maxmoff x y/n #any fan's dream

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thealmightyemprex · 1 month

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Sci Fi Month :I read the Canon Spider Man script by Ted Newsome and John Brancato

So for those not in the know ,in the 80's -the 90's there were several attempts at a Spider- Man movie,most of which were done by Cannon ,best known for low budget fair ,though they attempted both prestige and blockbusters .Now they went through several scripts but this is the one that got the closest to being made from what my research tells me .

So Dr Otto Octavious makes a device that shifts reality that goes wrong ,fusing him to metal appertauses and mutating a spider which bites wannabe photographer Peter Parker.As Octavious descends to murder,madness and crime ,PArker attempts to use his abilities for fame and fortune till through tragedy he learns with great power comes great responsibility

So I mostly really liked this ,this is one of the better unmade scripts Ive read .....It is a first draft so there are things that seem to ambitious and definately thing that needed to be ironed out

Peter/Spiderman himself is pretty well handled,they got the quips and cleverness and the orgin is pretty faithful to the comics ,no real notes

Doc Ock is well written ,a broody obsessive who is driven to complete his experiment at the cost of humanity .Now I liek how Ocks and Spidey orgins are intertwined ...But their is no dynamic to them :To Peter ,Ock is just a crazy guy ,to Ock ,Spidey is a mere annoyance .....And there are two perfect ways the script couldve fixed that.Simple way is instead of making Ock just annoyed with Spidey,have him monologue and really go into his God complex .In the comics Ock is VERY verbose and Spidey is infamously chatty,so really lean into adding some heroo-villain banter .Option 2 is Octavious is a professor at Peters university ......And it does nothing with that.Well how about make Otto a mentor to Peter,or the one student he likes ,hell later versions really lean into that dynamic for good effect ,it adds a sense of tragedy.Speaking of later versions ,Octavius's motive is similar to 2004's Spider Man 2 ,so am curious if they took some inspiration from this script

Harry is kind of typical 80's weird friend but the friendship feels genuine and I liked him

This Aunt May feels more modern,more of a stylish cool old lady then the doddering oldwoman about to keel over every 5 minutes from the comics

Uncle Ben is not in much of it but he is a kind if not bright guy who tries his best to show he cares about Peter

I am conflicted on Liz Allen ,I like the clever duel she has with Peter but as a love interest the film feels like it is juggling so much stuff it feels out of place ,though the last scene is swweet

Jameson is typical Jameson thogh with non nuance hes pure comic relief

As for the rest of the script the action is well described ,comedy is pretty funny,drama hits,and Ocks murder scenes are effectivel menacing .The only real oddity is some of the 80's pop culture refrences ,like David Letterman and Hulk Hogan are characters in the film

I do think if this had a bit more work it could be a good script for a film.I very much enjoyed this

@ariel-seagull-wings @piterelizabethdevries @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @princesssarisa @countesspetofi @filmcityworld1

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flesh-into--gear · 3 months

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@rozecrest this was just easier but im so glad you liked it!

honestly you can't go wrong with any of his albums.

Purgatory is hilariously strong from start to finish and has these tracks which i love (i love the whole album but, in order)

I Swear (To God)

Feathered Indians

Tattoos

Purgatory

Universal Sound

Lady May

Live at Red Barn Radio I & II in absolute entirety tbh but the usual standouts are here

Shake the Frost

Deadman's Curve

Charleston Girl

Rock Salt and Nails

Follow You To Virgie (oof, about his mom, its a hard listen some days but FUCK its good.)

Bottles and Bibles

Country Squire was a mild style change-up, a little more honky-tonk. it's got some great tracks on it but it was also a mild writing departure for him as well, focusing a little more on country tropes and a LOT more tongue in cheek (the song Ever Lovin' Hand is a masturbation joke wrapped in a song about missing the person you love a lot). probably his weakest album? but:

Creeker

House Fire

Peace of Mind

All Your'n

Long Violent History is a kinda cool album, it's all instrumentals, old school holler jams and stuff. kinda hard to get into unless you're from that kinda thing i would assume? just reminds me of when i was a kid at thanksgiving and christmas back when we still spoke to my dad's side, and he and my uncles and one of my aunts would all get together and jam on some old gospel and bluegrass tunes. everybody brought instruments.... ah well. but i digress. you can take me out of the country but ill always be a big tomboy butch who gets a little too excited around jacked up trucks of a specific set of years, or the smell of gas and oil in the morning.

Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven i admittedly completely checked out on because i was deep in covid depression throes so i can't and won't comment because it won't be an accurate representation so.

Rustin' In The Rain I still haven't taken time to fully check out, as im working through a music backlog, but.

In Your Love is an incredible song and go watch the video because it cut me deep as fuck. i know a lot of people still stuck in those mines and i have friends with family members dying today because of coal companies. and im a trans woman from backwoods VA with all my roots in Appalachia from both sides (we had a handful of bootleggers in the family, explains a lot tbh). song hit me hard, in a good way.

anyway! im sorry! thank you for listening to me ramble about an artist i really enjoy! one of these days i should really just start a podcast called "Nobody Asked" and it's just me screaming into a microphone about stuff like this!

like dave matthews! like yeah i get it "ha ha dad rock" but come on!

Live at Radio City with Tim Reynolds is a fucking MONSTER album! and dave is a good guy! or at minimum is actually worthy of supporting because the dude has been doing activist things quietly and loudly for longer than ive been alive! and their music spans so many genres!

Eh Hee

Bartender

Still Water / Don't Drink The Water (back to back! they must be listened to together! please listen to this and Bartender off Live at Radio City)

#41

Two Step

Satellite

Some Devil

Grace Is Gone

and thats not even touching a fraction of this man's catalogue, he's been making music for forty something years

ahain im sorry i just really really love music and GAH theres so many artists from my chilhood and teen years and stuff that get so undeservedly swept under a rug because... i really don't know why. i feel like a lot of artists immediately get written off because of styles or genres or whatever and thats just so unfair and upsets ke geeatly.

that's not directed at you whatsoever rozecrest to be clear lmao sorry it may have come off that way

also anyone who has an interest in bluegrass/gospel go listen to The Seldom Scene's "Old Train" and "Live at the Cellar Door" in their entirety

#music

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harleybeaumont · 2 years

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Searching For The Truth

Book - TRR AU (The Other Nevrakis)

Pairings - Drake x Lilith (OC), Liam x Riley (implied)

A/N - This fic was initiated from a writing prompt. For some reason, my mind went this direction with it, but I can’t say I’m mad about it. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I’m pretty proud of it. So thanks @choicesprompts for letting me take part in this! The bolded section at the beginning is from the prompt and the rest is mine.

A/N 2 - This is from my fic, The Other Nevrakis, set shortly after the book ends. If you haven’t read my fic, Lilith is my OC who is Olivia’s younger sister. You don’t need to have read my fic to understand this one shot.

Word Count - 4,880

Warnings - Language, blood, violence

18+ only

The cool wind pushes my hair back as I walk along the familiar path, every step taking me deeper into the past. It’s been years since I’ve been here; everything is different.

Everything is the same.

I’m not paying attention to the present as I walk, I’m too lost in memories of long ago. That’s why I don’t notice the person walking towards me until I hear a familiar voice call my name.

I freeze. It can’t be. What are the odds?

I lift my head as my eyes dart wildly around before finally landing on a face I’d recognize anywhere, even now.

“It’s you.” She says coldly.

I’m speechless. How did that old shrew manage to sneak up on me like this?

My heart pounds as I look into the pale, harsh face of the woman who resembles my father.. The father I only know from photographs. The father who I discovered never even wanted me. The father who, along with my mother, planned a coup to overthrow the royal family when I was only a toddler. The father who was arrested and mysteriously found dead days later.

I don’t know why I’m so surprised to see her. I mean, I am in the gardens of her home and I did come here with the intention to talk to her. I suppose it’s because I was hoping for more time to collect my thoughts before I spoke to her. Perhaps it’s because the last time I saw her, I was a small frightened child. Her red hair is now streaked with coarse, gray strands, and the years have only managed to make her frown even more callous and abrasive than I remember.

“Why did you come back here, girl?” The severe red-head woman demands, as if I’m an unwanted guest and not her niece.

I take a steadying breath, preparing to ask what I had rehearsed in my head a hundred times before.

Lucretia has always been cold. I mean, she left Olivia and I to be raised by strangers for our entire youth after our parents passed away. She could have taken us in. Hell, any of our distant family members could have. Although, looking back I can't help but feel grateful that they didn’t. Life had been difficult growing up with Olivia, but I can't imagine Lucretia being the warm, friendly, mom-figure I always wanted.

I hold my head high when I speak, despite her penetrating gaze that leaves me feeling as if I’ve suddenly aged in reverse and once again am that trembling, intimidated girl who just wants to be loved by her aunt. “I came to ask you something.”

Lucretia cuts her eyes across the garden we’re standing in, looking toward her imposing, forbidding manor. “Come inside then.”

I follow behind her, while the frost covered leaves crunch underfoot. It’s September, although in Lythikos it feels more like January. We only have two temperatures here: cold, and fucking freezing. I always felt as if the Nevrakis heritage had something to do with that. Some ancient curse from hundreds of years ago. Maybe some old witch hexed our duchy to be as cold as our hearts. It makes sense.. the Nevrakis have never been known for anything else.

I step inside, and the temperature isn’t much warmer than the frigid outside air. I haven’t been here since I was young. I honestly never thought I would come back. Why would I want to? That question had been easy to answer up until recently.

“May I take your coat, my Lady?” A stooped, frail man asks as he approaches me.

I wrap my fur-lined garment around myself tighter. “No, thank you.” This place is an icebox, there’s no way I’m taking this coat off. The cold never used to bother me.. That is until I met someone who made me realize how much better life is when you aren’t alone. I really wish he was here to wrap his arms around me and warm me up. It still amazes me how much I changed for the better since I met him.

Lucretia clears her throat loudly and intentionally, pulling my thoughts from Drake, and bringing me back to the dusty, dank foyer I’m standing in.

“Come on, girl, we can sit in the parlor.” She turns and walks off without waiting to see if I will follow.

The entire estate is dark. Like dark, dark. It feels like something out of a horror film. I half expect Dracula to be skulking around the pitch black hallways, and once again I am very thankful that I wasn't raised here.

I follow my aunt into the parlor, which is only lit by candles and a meager fire in the hearth. What the hell is with this woman?

She sits in an antique chair and I reluctantly take a seat across from her, unable to miss the smattering of dust particles that fly into the air as I do so. There are several old paintings of past Nevrakis nobles and warriors adorning the walls. Many I’ve seen before, as they are also lining the walls of our estate. I can’t help but think of how Drake would feel if he was in here. He’d probably be telling me to get the hell out of this creepy ass house. Riley is a straight up coward and would have never even gone in. Liam.. well Liam is a bit of a wild card. I never know what to expect from him. His sense of duty and propriety would probably have him play the perfect guest, even though Lucretia's home looks like a haunted house. I cannot wait to tell them about how creepy this place looks on the inside. Maybe I should discreetly snap some pictures so they’ll actually believe me.

An elderly woman with trembling hands approaches the two of us, holding a tray with a black and gold china teapot and two cups and saucers. “Here you are, my ladies.” She bows and slips back into the shadows.

Lucretia pours her own tea first. An intentional gesture from her that says she has no respect for me whatsoever and doesn’t want me here. I’m tired of the passive aggressive bullshit. “Lucretia, I-”

“Ahem.” She clears her throat loudly. “I know why you’re here.”

“Ok.” I maintain eye contact while her red lips curl into a snarl.

“You want to know more about your parents.” She says matter of factly.

I don’t suppose it’s any surprise. There’s no other reason why I would ever want to come here or speak with her. But she is the only one who can tell me anything about them now.

I nod and pour myself some tea. “Not just that. I-”

“You want to know how they died.” She interrupts again with a smirk.

I wait to see if she has more to say, but she just raises that pointed eyebrow that looks exactly like my sister’s and continues her cold grin.

“Yes.”

Lucretia places her cup on the table and sits back crossing her legs, adjusting her velvet crimson dress over her lap. Instead of answering me, she lets out a laugh that feels as if she’s taunting me. Of course this isn’t going to be easy. I knew it wouldn't be, but I hadn’t planned on her being so damn smug.

She wants to be a bitch? Fine. I can play that game. “Look, I don’t remember anything about them, obviously, seeing as how I was practically a baby when they died. As my father’s only sister, I thought you would have obtained plenty of information about their death. But I suppose some Nevrakis are not as competent as others.”

Lucretia’s eyes narrow to slits as she glares. “You’re one to talk. Traitor.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I cross my arms, refusing to back down from the challenging look in her eyes.

She lets out a condescending laugh. “Why don’t you just head on back to the palace to your cronies? I mean, one of them is the son of the man who killed your parents.”

Well.. Constantine killed them. That’s not as much of a shock as it probably should be. “Liam has nothing to do with what his father did. He was a child when it happened.”

Lucretia rolls her eyes. “You think Constantine didn’t raise his sons to be just like him?” She scoffs, taking a sip of her tea before speaking again. “That entire family is corrupt.”

“You think that my parents planning to overthrow and murder their entire family isn’t ‘corrupt’?”

Lucretia leans forward, speaking quietly. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Enlighten me then. Please.” I scoff. “Tell me how my parents were justified in their actions of attempted treason and murder.”

“My god, Lilith. You’re in so deep with the Rys family that you are becoming one of them!”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Lucretia smirks and I can tell she knows something she’s not saying. She thinks she has the upper hand and I need her to keep talking. “Little girl, if you think I don’t have sources, then you are sorely mistaken. For instance.. I know you and your low-born lover are involved in the occasional dalliance with King Liam and Queen Riley.”

I try to mask my surprise and keep my face neutral. How the fuck does she know anything about that? Nobody knows about that. No, she doesn’t know. She’s bluffing or talking about something else. Come on, Lilith calm down. Don’t forget why you’re here. “Yes, I am friends with them, but I’m not sure what you’re trying to imply.” I try to look aloof as I sip my tea, which by the way, tastes like old potting soil.

“I wonder what the Cordonian citizens would think about their King and Queen fornicating with a commoner and a Nevrakis.”

Ah fuck, she really does know. It’s not like it’s even a daily thing that happens. Like once a month.. Maybe twice. But we have always made sure to keep things very discreet. She would have to have cameras in our bedrooms or something to know about this. “That’s ridiculous.”

She chuckles. “I agree. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

“Lucretia, I didn’t think a Nevrakis would stoop to rumors and slander.”

She leans across the table toward me again, “Liam isn’t the only one who has loyal underlings inside the palace.”

“Bullshit.”

Lucretia flips her hair behind her shoulder. “You stupid girl. You know your parents didn’t act alone. And not everyone who was involved in the coup was caught.”

I shake my head, trying to keep her talking. “I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to. It’s true whether you believe it or not.” Lucretia says with a grin.

I can’t help but laugh at her boldness. “You are a delusional old hermit! There’s no way anyone would ever bother to report to you. You’re just a washed up, has-been!”

Oh ya, she’s pissed. I see her dig her fingernails into the table as she speaks with a hiss. “I am the only real remaining Nevrakis! You are literally sleeping with the enemy!” Lucretia sighs loudly. “And your sister.. has always been too soft for Liam to handle this. Even though he clearly doesn’t want her, she just doesn’t have the stomach to accept that and do what she needs to do.”

Holy fuck. “Oh and you do? Give me a break.” I gesture around the pathetic state of her home. “Look at this dump! Do you even use electricity?! Indoor plumbing? There’s no way you could lead a coup when you refuse to even join the rest of the world in the twenty-first century!”

“I have no less than twenty-five people working for me at the palace at this very moment!” Lucretia snaps. “I could say the word and they would execute the King and Queen in a heartbeat! No questions asked!” Lucretia crossed her arms over her chest. “I have people watching you too.” Her mouth twists into a maniacal grin. ‘Even right now.”

Suddenly the room feels even darker and more haunting than before, and I’m trying not to show the trepidation that's stirring inside of me as it feels like the walls are closing in. Every instinct I have is telling me to run, but I came here for a reason. And I’m not done yet. “I don’t believe you.” I swallow down my fear to try and keep her talking. I’m not a child, and she doesn’t get to make me feel afraid anymore.

“You really are an impudent little brat. No wonder your parents never wanted you. They could tell from the get go that you were worthless. A pathetic excuse for a Nevrakis.”

“Ha! I assume you were nowhere around when they stormed the palace. If you were so involved in all this, then where the hell were you?!”

“I was the mastermind behind the attack, you dumb bitch!” Lucretia’s eyes are burning with rage. “I told them where to enter. I was the one who made sure the Nevrakis had loyal servants on the inside! Hell, I was the one who branded each of them with the Nevrakis family crest on their forearms after their initiation!” Lucretia was now standing, her piercing green eyes looking down at me like she was ready to sprout horns and breathe fire, while she continued to scream wildly at me. “Your parents were the ones who messed up and didn’t follow orders like they were supposed to! I told them to go to the children’s rooms first and take them as leverage, but they insisted on going straight to Constantine and Eleanor.”

I’m even more confused than before, but I think we’re past the point of keeping our thoughts and feelings quiet. “Take the children as leverage?”

“To get the King and Queen to surrender. Then when their guard was down, your parents would finish all of them off.”

I feel my heart drop into the bottom of my stomach. This woman is sick.. Fucking mental! “Are you serious?”

Lucretia folds her arms over her chest as she grins triumphantly. “See, this just proves that you know nothing about me. You don’t know what I am capable of.”

“Apparently you’re capable of conspiring to commit treason and murder!” I rise to my feet to match her height. She doesn’t have the upper hand any longer. “Although..” I casually turn my back on her and walk closer to the fireplace. “I still think you’re full of shit.” I can’t help the small laugh that escapes me, and I turn back around to face her. “My parents were brutal strategists with genius IQ’s. I’ve heard enough about them to know that much.” I run my finger across my lips as I taunt her further. “It doesn’t seem plausible that you would be the mastermind behind the whole thing.”

Lucretia slowly stalks over to me, grinning all the while. She grabs a candelabra from the mantle and tips it downward. I have no idea what she’s doing, but I know I can take her if she’s going to try and attack me with it. Suddenly I hear a grinding noise resonating beside the fireplace as the stones start to shift and slowly slide away, revealing a small crawl space. No fucking way. My mind is torn between the shock of what she is telling and literally showing me, and the fact that she is this stupid. Did she think this was a good place to hide something? I’m starting to think she has never seen a movie in her life. I mean, come on, the trigger for the secret passage is always in the candelabra! Could this bitch be more of a stereotypical evil spinster aunt?

Lucretia has her hands on her hips, watching me carefully. “Go on.” She gestures at the dark aperture that has just opened up. “Reach in and see for yourself.”

I take out my phone and turn on the flashlight. No fucking way I’m reaching in there blindly. When I crouch down and peer inside I see a stack of documents. I pull them out, all the while staying aware of my surroundings - Which, by the way, I can barely see in this dark, grim room.

I don’t have to look at the documents for long to recognize exactly what they are. Blueprints of the palace. Points of entry and schedules of guard changes. Notes written in detail depicting where the Nevrakis undercover agents were stationed. I try to will my heart rate to return to normal, certain that she can hear it as it pounds in my ears. When I glance back up at my aunt, she is leaning against the wall, arms crossed looking completely pleased with herself.

I flip to a page that shows Liam and Leo’s bedrooms with notes saying to take them first, and my stomach twists. “You’re sick.”

She smiles. “No. I’m a real Nevrakis. You could have been one too if your parents didn’t fail, and had been able to raise you properly. Hell, you would be a princess and your sister would be queen.”

“And what would that make you?”

“The mastermind. I may stay behind the scenes, but I pull the strings.”

I can’t help but shake my head in disgust as another thought hits me. “Liam’s mother died a few years after this..”

I don’t have to ask, and Lucretia doesn’t have to answer for me to know the truth. “Eleanor got too nosy. Too pushy. One of my idiot informants turned traitor against me and told her everything. So naturally he and Eleanor had to be dealt with.” She shrugs and looks down at her fingernails as if she just told me the most casual thing in the world.

“You killed Liam’s mother?”

“I did. Made the poison myself.”

She admitted it. She actually admitted it. My blood runs cold as I realize what this means. She has no intention of letting me leave with this information. I take a deep breath. It’s ok. I knew this was a possibility when I went down this rabbit hole. I’m prepared.

“So. Why are you telling me all of this incriminating information?”

Once again, a sinister grin pulls at her lips. “Because I know you won’t tell anyone.”

I casually reach into my pocket and feel around. I’m going to need backup very soon. I slide my fingers along the plastic until I feel the raised button, pushing it repeatedly.

“Lucretia, if you think-” I’m cut off by a cold, sharp feeling against my throat as someone holds me from behind. A knife. Someone has a fucking knife against my throat. God dammit, I let the shock of the information get the better of me and I wasn’t watching my back. Olivia would kill me herself if she knew I had gotten so sloppy.

Lucretia pushes off the wall she had been leaning against and makes her way over to me with a foul grin. “I told you, little girl. You’re. Not. Telling. Anyone.” She makes sure to emphasize each word as she gets closer and closer to my face.

The knife digs into my flesh slightly, but I don’t struggle. I know better. I can get out of this and take down her and whoever the fuck is holding a knife to my throat. But what I don’t know is how many other people are hiding in the shadows of this room at this very moment.

I feel buzzing in my pocket and grin.

Lucretia is just a breath away from me at this point, and I can see the fire in her eyes. “And why are you smiling, Lilith?”

“Because you’re a dead woman.”

Without another word I slam my head backwards, crashing into the forehead of the person holding the knife to my throat. The knife clatters to the floor and I wrench the man's arm backward before slamming his head into the stone hearth with a sharp crack. He goes down easily. Lucretia hasn’t moved, and through the firelight I can see a bead of sweat start to form on her brow. Lucretia looks toward the shadows in the corner of the room and jerks her head at me.

“Take her out.”

Before anything else happens, the doors to Lucretia’s manor are thrown open and windows shatter as armed guards burst into the parlor where we are currently standing. Flashlights are streaming in and the sound of boots and shouting can be heard echoing from every room.

Lucretia is breathing heavily as she realizes what's happening. “You did this?!” Her rage and panic is music to my ears.

“Now who has the upper hand, bitch?”

I hear fighting all around me in the room, which is now illuminated, and I see half a dozen of Lucretia’s henchmen struggling against the armed palace guards. Lucretia turns and starts to run out of the room. Oh hell no. I grab the other candelabra from the mantle, hoping that it's real and not some other mechanism for a secret passageway. I only have a moment to look at what I’m holding, and oh my god, there’s a dagger sticking out of the bottom. Jesus, this woman is extra. I hurl it at her with precision, and it sharply lands in her shoulder. She goes down to the floor with an ear piercing scream as the blade sinks into her flesh, and blood begins to pour from the wound, the same shade of red as her dress. In seconds, the guards have my aunt restrained and are leading her and dozens of her lackeys out of the estate. A commander and medic are at my side checking me over to see if I’m ok. I show them where the documents are. All I want to do is get the hell out of here. Some investigators help me remove the concealed wires and bullet proof vest I’m wearing and I feel like I can breathe a bit easier.

As I make my way outside, sirens fill the air and guards, police, and investigators are everywhere. But there’s only one person I want to see.

“Baby!” I hear that familiar voice call out as he makes his way through the throng of people toward me.

I’m strong. I’m independent. I don’t need anyone.. Except him. My stoic facade breaks as his strong arms wrap around me holding me tight. I relax completely into his touch, allowing myself to just be loved. It took a long time to come to terms with the fact, but I know he’s got me. And I am never letting him go.

Drake steps back to examine me. His eyes wander frantically over my face as his hands are cupping my cheeks. “Are you ok? Did you get hurt?”

I can't help but smile. “I’m fine.”

He tilts my head to the side and gasps when he sees my neck. “Oh my god, Lil! You’re bleeding!”

“Am I?” I don’t feel like I am. I touch my neck, and a small drop of blood coats my index finger. “Drake.. This is a tiny little scrat-”

“We need a doctor over here! Someone fucking get over here and help her! She’s bleeding!”

I can't help but laugh and I know there’s no point in trying to stop him from fussing over me. My god he is the best. A doctor cleans the scratch and places a small bandage over the cut. Drake pulls me to his chest once more. “Come here.”

I want to tease him for being so protective, but I just can't. No one ever cared for me the way he does. And damn it, I love it.

Liam purposely makes his way over to the two of us, concern written across his face. “Lilith, are you ok?”

Drake whirls on him. “I told you this was a bad idea! Your guards were listening the whole time! They should have gone in sooner! She could have gotten killed!”

Liam opens his mouth to speak, but I grab Drake’s arm, turning him around to face me. “Hey. This was my idea, remember?”

“Ya, but..”

“No buts. I wanted to do this, Drake. You know that. Don’t take it out on Liam.”

Drake sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, as Liam places a hand on either of our shoulders. “I really am sorry, both of you. Lilith you were so brave. And Drake.. I can't imagine the fear you must have been-”

“Ya, you can’t imagine it!” Drake interrupts, jabbing a finger into Liam’s chest. “You wanna send Riley into a house of fucking murderers and see how it feels?”

“Drake!” I cry out in shock. I’ve never seen him this angry at Liam before. Although I know it’s not Liam he’s upset with. It’s the situation.

Liam doesn’t say a word. He only stares at the ground, ashamed.

“Drake Walker!” I put my hands on either side of his face but he refuses to look in my eyes. “We had a plan. Everything worked out fine. Lucretia not only confessed, she showed me hard evidence! And now that we know who the traitors are, we can ensure the palace is safe!”

Liam spoke up softly. “Thanks to Lucretia branding them all with the Nevrakis crest on their arms, we can weed them out pretty easily. The guards are doing that at this very moment.”

Drake still refuses to meet my eyes, but I can tell he knows it was the right thing to do. “Drake. Baby..” I’m still softly holding his face in my hands, when I feel his envelope mine.

“I just-” His voice cracks and when he finally meets my eyes, I can see his are rimmed red and shimmering with tears. “I just can't bear to lose you, Lil. It would kill me.”

My heart shatters into a million pieces and I throw my arms around him. I hold him tightly as I feel his body shudder with quiet sobs. I can sense Liam has walked away to give us some privacy, and the two of us hold each other as if we’re afraid to let go. Sirens still ring out around us and people are running about, but the two of us at this moment are the only ones who matter. I can’t help the tears that begin to fall as I feel the deep love and affection he has for me. This man is crying for me. Because he was worried about me. If that’s not love then I don’t know what is.

“Hey.” I pull back and gently wipe his tears with my thumbs. “I love you. So much. I’m sorry I scared you.”

Drake takes a deep breath before speaking. “Lilith, you mean everything to me. I’m sorry I lashed out.. I know it was part of the plan. I just.. When we heard what was happening, and the guards said you pushed the panic button.. My heart just stopped. All I could think was that I might never see you again.”

I hate that I made him feel that way. It hurts my heart more than anything.“Oh, Drake.” I rise on my toes and give him a soft kiss. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll never go undercover and infiltrate an evil family member’s home ever again.”

A laugh bursts out of him and it warms my heart. I can’t help but join him.

“God, I hope not.”

We smile at each other for a moment, and he takes my hand in his. “Guess I should apologize to Liam.” He says quietly.

I bump his shoulder with mine. “For sure. But, I know he understands.” I know Liam and Drake didn’t hear exactly what Lucretia had said to me, and Liam is going to be grieving the loss of his mother all over again when he learns that my aunt was the one who killed her. I can’t help but feel guilt and shame deep within me knowing the Nevrakis were responsible for even more terrible shit. But.. Lucretia will be in prison for life. Olivia and I are the only remaining Nevrakis nobles now. We pave the future of our bloodline. And while it’s taken Olivia a while to come around, she’s finally starting to accept that we are better than our ancestors.

We are the Nevrakis. And this is a new era.

#the other nevrakis #the royal romance #trr fanfic #lilith nevrakis #drake x oc #liam rys #nevrakis #choices fanfic #choices prompts #the royal romance fanfic

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allthewritem0ves · 2 months

Text

Happy Birthday, Looka (and Guy too)

Up until four years ago, Guy wouldn’t have considered himself lucky to have his birthday on Valentine’s Day. Now that he has a soulmate to share that day with, it really boosted the magic of the holiday.

“Morning, honey!”

Guy opened his eyes and saw his wife Michellee only inches in front of him.

“Happy birthday!”

“Thank you, babe!” He kisses her. They press their foreheads together for a long time, gravity pulling one of Michellee’s hair curlers out.

“Uh-oh!”

Guy chuckled. “It’s okay.”

“Anyhow, the kids and I have a whole lot planned for you today!”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah!” Then she pushes herself up. “Come on! Let’s go wake them up!”

The parents first entered Guy Jr.’s room and slightly shook him, whispering, “Wake up, son. It’s Daddy’s birthday.”

The boy just groaned slightly, unwilling to wake up. Michellee then began tickling him. “Mommy, stop!”, he said laughing.

“Good morning, Junior. There something you want to say to Daddy?”

The small one leapt up and hugged his father. “Happy birthday, Daddy!”

Guy smiled and returned the hug. “Thank you, Junior.”

“Sissy has to say it too!”

“You’re right. Let’s go wake her right now.”

——

Little did the others know, E.B. was already bright and early. As it so happened, today was her boyfriend Looka’s birthday too.

First thing she did: called him up.

“Happy birthday, Looka!”

“E.B.! Thank you!”

“So…what’s going on in Ookia?”

“The usual: nothing anymore.”

“Well, how’s Sonja?”

“She’s good too!”

“Got anything planned for your big day?”

“Just the same old thing. A giant dinner with Mom and Dad, although Aunt Rona and Sonja will be there too this year.”

E.B. nodded; although that was the first time she heard the Dookess be referred to by her first name. “Well, it’s my stepdad’s birthday today too, so I’ll be doing whatever with him.”

“Cool. Hope you have fun!”

Just as he said, Guy, Michellee and Junior burst into E.B.’s bedroom.

“Wake up, Sissy!” He made sure she was up by jumping on her bed.

“Junior! Don’t do that!” The boy just giggled.

“But it’s Daddy’s birthday! You gotta say something!”

“You’re right.” She gets up and walks over to Guy. “Happy birthday, Dad”, she says as she hugs him.

——

The first thing that happened: Michellee and E.B. helped make a large breakfast for Guy. Junior still wasn’t quite ready to help them out; the poor kid was upset when his mom told him he needed to wait just a little bit longer. Nonetheless, he eagerly waited while sitting on his dad’s lap.

“Daddy! I made you a card! I wanna show you now!”

“Sorry, son. You gotta wait a little longer. Then you’ll be able to do it with Mommy and E.B.”

“But I wanna be first!”

“You just gotta wait till breakfast, okay?”

“Ugh. First, Mommy says I can’t help, and now you’re saying I can’t show you my card!”

“Oh no, Junior! Mommy just wants you to be safe. There’s a bunch of things in the kitchen that you can’t mess with.”

“But Sissy-”

“Is much older than you.”

Junior slumped his back onto Guy’s stomach, arms folded in anger.

“Come on, son! Don’t be that way! Someday you’ll be able to do something in the kitchen. It takes a little patience.”

——

At the same time, E.B. had just taken up another phone call from Looka.

“Elanabeth!”

“Just a sec, Mom.”

“Don’t ’just a sec’ me, young lady.” She snatches E.B.’s phone out of her hand.

“Hey!”

Michellee presses the hang up button and places the phone face down.

“Come on, Mom! It’s Looka’s birthday too!”

“Be that as it may, it’s still your father’s birthday and you should still help make it a good one.”

“But Mom-”

“No buts. Looka can wait till after breakfast.”

E.B. sighed. At least it was only for the four of them; any more and breakfast would go on for an eternity…

——

Which, of course, it did.

Everyone else stopped by to wish Guy a happy birthday: Sam, Gluntz and Molly. Pam, Grinch and Jenny. Jack, James, Melanie, Terry and Mikaela.

With it also being Valentine’s Day, everyone else who had a significant other seemed to have been showing their holiday spirit as well. In the cases of Gluntz and Melanie, the blue they usually wear was replaced with something fuschia or purple; the former wearing a fuschia tee and the latter in a purple turtleneck.

After their personal celebrations of Valentine’s Day, they made sure to come see Guy on his big day.

As usual, the little ones hung out together under E.B.’s watchful eye. Since three of them could walk, it was a bit harder to keep them in order.

——

Meanwhile, in Ookia…

Looka walked out of his bedroom, head hung in sadness.

Sonja took notice of him and asked, “What’s wrong, Looka?”

“I just tried to call E.B. again and she hung up out of nowhere.”

Sonja looked down. “Well…maybe something came up? I’m sure she meant no harm. Come on; you got a birthday to celebrate!”

Looka was happily greeted by the royal faculty and his family. A very large banquet was laid out for his birthday.

Benicio and Zinnia seemed to have grown to like him. It may have seemed like a tall order to finally put their prejudice of Yooks aside after having it their entire lives, but they learned to. Now the former chauffeurs both royal children around if they please and the latter acts as both of their tutor.

——

While Glurfsburg was approaching sunset, it was still bright and sunny in Ookia. Everyone there was still having fun and making sure Guy had the best day ever.

As everyone’s visit was coming to a close, Guy said to them all: “I wanted to thank you all for coming. It really means a whole lot every time I see you. No matter how many times we do it, it feels so elevating to spend a day together. You’re all family as far as I’m concerned.”

There was collective agreement with everyone; all smiles and “aww”’s. Molly even jumped from her father’s lap and hugged Guy.

…

At his own banquet, Looka received gifts from everyone there. The whole thing was capped off with a toast from his father.

“I wish my beloved son a very happy birthday and many many more. For the past two years, I’ve always been proud of him for helping bridge Ookia back to its former glory and I love him for it. There are many other things I can thank him for, but above all, I thank him for being the best son anyone could wish for. Happy birthday, Looka!”

“Thanks, Dad!”

——

Everyone else was beginning to leave. It took some time to get Junior and Molly to stop hugging and more time to get them to stop crying.

That little display reminded E.B. of something. Now that the house was clear again and the celebrations seemed to be over, she prepared to call Looka back.

“E.B.!”

She groaned, but when she saw who called her name, she regretted it instantly.

“Sorry, Dad.”

“I know you want to talk to Looka, so I’ll try to be brief. I just wanted to let you know that I’m grateful that you’re my daughter. I love you no matter what.”

As they hugged, E.B. felt a twinge of guilt.

“I love you too, Dad.” A single tear fell down her cheek. “It’s just you and Looka have the same birthday and I want to make sure he’s doing well too.”

“That’s great that you are. It’s always important to make sure the ones you love are happy.”

“But I’m not gonna put him ahead of you again. I don’t want to repeat all that again.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t.”

——

After the banquet, Looka returned to his room just as his phone was ringing.

“E.B.?”

“Hi, Looka.”

“Oh! Mr. Am-I! How’s things?”

“They’re going good, kid. Happy birthday!”

“Thanks. How’d you know?”

“E.B. told me. Plus, it’s my birthday too.”

“Really? That’s awesome!”

“Yep. Well, anyhow, I just wanted to say happy birthday myself. I’ll let you talk to E.B. now.”

“Thank you, sir. Happy birthday to you too!” There was silence for a moment before E.B took the phone back. “E.B., is that you?”

“Yes! Did you have a good birthday?”

“I sure did!”

“Good. I’m happy for you. I love you!”

“I love you too!”

#green eggs and ham #fanfic #guy am i #looka #eb #michellee #guy jr #sam i am #pam i am #gluntz #the grinch #oc

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pagan-stitches · 1 year

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Hagging Out: Veneration

Great-Grandma Hazel has been on my mind a lot this Thanksgiving weekend. We used her china at Mom’s dinner and while tracking down the pattern to answer a question from @hrusewif I started looking for an old photo of my great grandparent’s wedding and stumbled on her recipe for poppy seed torte. So I decided that since she seemed to be reaching out to me I’d spend some quality time with Great-Gran. I went ahead and made the poppy seed torte and after lighting a candle and some incense I moved into the other room and had a cozy, informal sit down with her over a cup of tea (this time for real the very last teaspoonful of Russian caravan, I actually threw the packaging away this morning) in one of her old china cups (pattern: Homer Laughlin “ferndale”), and a slice of the torte.

Transcript from an article I wrote over a decade ago:

John Marlow and Hazel Caldie Marlow on their Wedding Day in 1912

After I got off the phone with Mom and then my maternal grandmother ("Granny") this Mother's Day morning, I was thinking about food--as you know I often do. Go figure! Several years ago I was reading a book about ethnic food traditions in America and the foods we inherit through our mothers. I remember quizzing Mom and Granny to death on the foods that they both grew up on. I have tons of notes somewhere that I took, probably buried with my genealogy stuff that is a come and go hobby, but some of the things I remember them talking about was the huge gardens (Granny was raising twelve kids on Grandpa's small salary) and all the potatoes down in the cellar, about night-time smelt runs, and kolaches, the Friday fish fries at Grandpa Thibodeau's ice cream parlour, and my mom's paternal Grandma Hazel Marlow's frosting--which was evidently something amazing.

Great-Grandpa Thibodeau's ice cream parlour (in an earlier incarnation as a "confectionary store") in Ashland, WI. Pictured are his brother William and sister Gertrude, circa 1910. My Granny, Lorraine Thibodeau Marlow, grew up in the above apartment.

You may have gathered from the above description that my Mother's family is not from the South! Mom is mostly descended from French Canadians who immigrated to Wisconsin at the turn of the century. Except that my Great-Grandfather married a half Scottish lady (the other half, of course, was Canadian French), Hazel Caldie, whose grandfather Thomas Caldie had hacked their farm out of the wilderness in 1862 near what would become Stiles, Wisconsin.

The extended Marlow family sometime in the twenties, probably on the farm (I think outside Denmark, Wisconsin). Grandma Hazel Caldie Marlow is circled, one of my great uncles is directly below her, the man above her is my Great-Grandpa John Marlow, and on his lap is another of my great uncles (my Grandpa wasn't born yet). I believe the rather stern looking lady in the top row center is my great-great Grandma Marlow (doesn't she just look like the matriarch of a farm family?), and the graying gentleman with the moustache and white shirt to the left is my great-great Grandpa Marlow.

I never did get the frosting recipe, but Mom managed to track down some of Grandma Hazel's other recipes from my Great Aunt Bev, who still had an old recipe box of Grandma Hazel's. My Aunt Mary requested this recipe, which she had childhood memories of:

Grandma Hazel’s Poppy Seed Torte

Ingredients:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup poppy seed

1/2 cup sugar

6Tbls. flour

Dash of salt

2 cups milk

3 egg yolks

1t vanilla

3 egg whites

6 TB sugar

Directions:

Mix crumbs sugar & butter. Reserve 1/2 cup for topping.

Mix poppy seed, sugar, flour, salt & 1/2 cup milk to smooth paste.

Scald 1 1/2 cups milk, add the flour mixture slowly.

Boil 5 minutes (turn the heat down if necessary)

Beat egg yolks & vanilla, add slowly to custard white stirring rapidly & cook five more minutes.

Cool.

Put the mixture of crumbs, brown sugar & butter in pyrex pan. Pour custard over. Beat egg whites stiff , add 6Tbls. sugar, beat until thick & holds peaks.

Put over top and sprinkle with crumbs. Bake 15 minutes at 325 degrees.

Like most of the family recipes from Wisconsin, this is not Scottish, or French Candadian, but Eastern European! Which, I always find rather amusing, since it is actually on my Dad's side of the family (Nebraskan pioneers) that I'm descended in part from Moravia (the Tesars, Yuraceks, and Ludvics).

One of my favorite pics of my great grandparents--what are they smiling about?

Great Grandma with one of my mom’s 8 brothers.

End Transcript

Doing research this morning I realized that what we thought was an Eastern European recipe is actually German, however it is very much a regional Midwest, especially Wisconsin, traditional favorite.

I’ve been told I look a lot like my Great-Grandma. She, my mom, and I are tall ladies and all exactly the same height!

I really enjoyed going down this rabbit hole of memories and spending some time with my Great-Gran. Thanks for hosting @graveyarddirt I know I’m early, but I wanted to get it all down while it was fresh.

#Hazel Caldie Marlow #poppy seed torte #hagging out #hagging out november 2022 #ancestor veneration

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linktheacehero · 1 year

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Let everyone hear about GRANDMA 😈 (dot)

And also Zelink Villain arc I too am very excited for this one

HJDFKSHJDKS

Grandma is def gonna be a running joke sdkfs.

So Duet of Time (Dot) is a roleplay with me and heaven (number 3 out of four?? how many do we have lmao) and its basically a corpse bride au where-

Tp Zelda wanders upon Hero Shade's (Oot Linkor as we call him bone grandpa) grave a few days before she marries tp Link and practices her vows. Shade wakes up believing its his Zelda because the vows she said were a promise he and his Zelda did before he died (he also needs glasses cause he's 8ft tall and tp zelda is 6ft and Spirit(oot zelda/ spirit grandma) was also 8ft and how he confused them idk)

ANYWAY, he and Zelda go to a in between realm that he thinks is the Spirit Realm but its not where Zelda is like "im not your Zelda, Hero of Time" and he's like "wdym of course you are" (he just wants his zelda back okay, its been 300 years since he's seen her). In the meantime Spirit wakes up and discovers that Shade has pulled a grave mistake(pun intended) and goes to tp Link for help. And to explain the grandma joke its that Link believes he's the descnedant of oot zelink because he's heard as a kid all these stories of how they were so in love, etc.. so when he sees Spirit he's like "Grandma!" but she's like "oh sweet summer child" and learns that he's just Shade's desendant which means his ship never got married and decides to pull an irl fix it fic lmao.

The Hero of Time found himself circling in his his grave for the umpteenth time since his supposed regrets had eased. Although he was able to live in the Spirit Realm, his soul could not simply just leave the mortal plane, not until she came.

Zelda. His dearest princess who he vowed to forever stand by, even after death claimed him. He could remember the agony and sorrow that wore on her soul when she buried him beneath the tree of his former guardian, the regrets that weighed heavy upon them. They both had yearned for a happy life, a life to spend together until death came and they could be spirits living in the afterlife for eternity. But destiny seemed to be cruel to those who are goddess blessed.

Since that day he uttered a promise for her, that he would not leave until she came for him. That he was forever bound to her, that his devotion and love was stronger than death and their cursed destiny itself. Then, the ancient hero felt a presence come closer to his resting place. A very familiar presence. Could it be? Was it possible that his waiting was finally over?

May I always be by your side to alleviate your burdens.

If he had lungs, Link's breath would have hitched. It was her promise, the very same she had whispered when he returned from Termina and wept in her arms. It was her.

Our love is stronger than death itself.

With the ring falling perfectly onto his finger, Link tethered his spirit to his old body. He arose from the earth, leaves, dirt and plants wrapped around his golden armor. The cool crisp night air blew through his bones, the moonlight hit the back of helmet shadowing the person before him. He looked down to her, his glowing eye softening at who he saw.

"Dearest."

AS FOR VILLIAN ARC

i answered one here! But i will add more hehehe

brainrot ideas for it

Link decides to defy the King's orders about something war related which marks him as like traitor but Zelda will still stay by her beloved's side even as the kingdom turns on him

The King forcing Zelda to marry Tyrsus (aka arrogant prince) and is also preassured by her aunt, Lady Selin (the bitch)

Link and Zelda day by day having to struggle with controlling their emotions (which means also a struggle for Link to keep down Fierce Deity's power and Zelda Hylia's power) and just decide to snap

#ask game #wips #zelink villian arc #duet of time #DoT #zelink #oot zelink #thanks for the ask!#tp zelink #asks

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popculturebuffet · 1 year

Text

Into The Spider-Verse: Spider-Man, Miles Morales (Ultimate Fallout #4, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #1-5)

Hello all you happy wallcrawlers! It's time to once again swing into the Spider-Verse as we cover the various people who've worn the mask across the merry marvel multiverse, all building to a look at Into The Spider-Verse in time for it's sequel.

So naturally after looking at the humble origins of the first spidey as he battled with loneliness, fame, dead uncles and of course Crackers and Milk, it's only fair we look at the actual protaganist of the film, the ultimate spider-man, the one the only Miles Morales!

To properly get into Miles and his origins in the comics though we have to talk about the world he was created for: The Ultimate Universe. The Ultimate Universe was the idea of then editor Bill Jemas, who felt Marvel's massive continuity could be daunting to the new readers the company badly needed after the comics crash and marvel's subsquent bankruptcy.

So he tapped writer Brian Micheal Bendis. Starting with Spidey.. honestly makes perfect sense to me, as while a major part of the marvel universe, his corner is diverse and unique enough to carry itself and to see if this could work, something EIC Joe Quesada had doubts about, doubts he somehow didn't have later for the character when he decided "Huh you know I don't like his marriage because my ship didn't win, maybe I should just have satan break it up eh?", born of a previous attempt, not helped by Bendis famous love of using decompressed storytelling, i.e. spreading a story out over several issues instead of packing it into one or two barring big sagas.

Despite these doubts from Quesada and from Artist Mark Bagely.. the book was a MASSIVE hit. It likely helped Ultimate's stripped down back to basics peter was a RELIEF after the complex shenanignas of the clone saga nad after. It was just what people loved: a down on his luck kid dealing with usual life struggles while also having to fight crime on top of that. It had a bunch of nice updates too that would become a staple of adaptations from here on out: Harry Osborn being a close friend from the start, MJ being a high school friend of peters, and Aunt May being a cool old lady instead of on the precipice of death, something that would carry over. This success helped revitalize the main spider-man with JMS' fantastic run.. that granted petered out into Sins Past and One MOre Day, but both are stories for another day.

Ultimate Spider-Man was such a hit the universe naturally expanded.. and that became a problem. See Bendis' ultimate spider-man really nailed the idea of the ultimate universe, a clean slate allowing the writers to really play around with things, while not threatning the main universe. Death was permenant, the stakes were high and it allowed new fans a godo start. Sure it buitl up it's own complex story, but with graphic novels plentefiul, it was easy to keep up. I read a good chunk of it in my teens and loved it and it seems to mostly still hold up.

The problem is out of the three spinoffs only one really got what you could do with the concept, Ultimate Fantastic Four, which simply made the team all teens connected to a fancy think tank while keeping the tight knit "family of choice" dynamic and adventure, simply in a more grounded context.

The other two were by mark millar

I'm not a fan of his, and these books are a large reason why. Ultimate X-Men is a mixed bag, having good ideas, such as a teenage storm and nightcrawler ala evolution along with a gay colossus, and the more military costumes ala new x-men, and is a book i'd love to review sometime now i'm more deeply entreinched in x-men, especially since I read that as a teen too, on the wohle it's got a LOT of edgelord in it's dna, with Jean sleeping with a 40 something year old wolverine, Wolverine trying to murder cyclops to get to jean, and Magneto being simply a racist dickhead. It has great parts and Brian K Vaughn's run after Millar's is even better, but it's just a bit too edgy for it's own good.

Ultimates however…

Ultimates is fucking awful. The designs and art are top notch, Thor , Cap , Hawkeye and Nick Fury all got their MCU designs here, but the actual story is a bunch of edgelord bullshit. IT's clear Millar at least had SOME respect for the x-men, but he hated the avengers and it shows: Tony is constantly drunk, Thor is a new agey asshole, Hawkeye and Black Widow are black ops murderers, and grossly the scarlet witch and quicksilver are mostly defiend by being a couple.

He also pissed me off personally as a fan of the ant family by making Jan an airhead, and making Hank's abuse and inferiority complex his entire character instead of the worst moment of life and his greatest flaw respectively, and had him ATTEMPT TO MURDER JAN. As you can probably guess i'll also have to tackle this at some point, and I wouldn't be suprised if one of my patrons inflicted this on me at some point via comission. Oh and of course we have Captain America, whose a racist sexist jingoistc asshole because Millar REALLY hates the character and considered the idealistic depecition of him being a progressive "unrelaistic. " It's bad and we'll get to it.

This edgelord apporach to these books worked at first as early 2000's audeinces ate that shit up, but eventually it reached it's apex, ironically after Millar had left. He was replaced by Jeph LOeb, who I don't care for as much these days but HAS made good stories. His ultimate work.. seems to be truly awful, with the confusing mess that was ultimates 3 and the utter nightmare that was ultimatium.

Ultimatium was a crossover event.. that started the universes march to death. Granted it took a while for it to kick in, but this crossover wrecked it so throughly it never really recovered> It was an edgelord mess where magneto killed most of new york, blob ATE the wasp on panel, and dozens upon dozens of characters died, with the x-men and ff utterly decimated and scattered as a result.

It killed Charles Xavier and Magneto which COULD'VE been intresting.. but in practice it just lead to more mediocre stories, a status quo no one liked, and exttra super duper mutant prejudice that was somehow legally legislated.

So why hash all of this out. It's simple, while the Ultimate Universe was in it's slow years long death spiral that would cumilate in the universe being wiped out in secret wars, though it may be making a comeback with Ultimate Invasion, there was one part of it that caught massive attention, did great sales and was critically loved. Just as he was the one to jumpstart the universe, Spider-Man was likely what kept it alive as long as it did, only the costume, and the person inside it both changed.

Miles came from editor axel alonso floating around the idea of a black spider-man in the ultimate universe shortly after Barack Obama won presdiency, though they decided not to introduce him post ultimatium as planned to give them time to work out the story for this. Bendis was further inspired by Donald Glover showing up in spider-man pajamas during the first episode of season 2 of community, a nod to Glover trying out for Amazing Spider-Man and somehow not getting the part. Glover would continue to be an influence on the character, and got to voice him in Ultimate Spider-Man and play his uncle aaron in Spider-Man Homecoming. Artist Sarah Pichelli designed his now iconic costume, smartly giving him the awesome looking black and red look, with the two color sbecome a staple of any version of miles costume while also serving as a nice nod to spider-man's orignal colors.

So now we have the behind the scenes stuff out of the way how did a 13 year old, yes really, from Brooklyn become the Ultimate Spider-Man? What happened to the previous one? And will anyone actually accept miles in the role? All valid questions, so swing with me under the cut as here comes a spider-man.

So naturally for Miles to take over… Peter Parker had to go. In this universe he was still a teen as like most comics despite a decade and change worth of continuity at this point, time moved slowly. But his life was going pretty well: he finally got back with Mary Jane Watson after a long time hinting towards it, Gwen Stacey, his friend and live in roomate, long story, forgave him, and after ultimatium new york loved the hell out of him.

So naturally this being spider-man, this coudlnt' last and soon his precious little life.. came to a tragic and epic end. This Peter was the character who really made Bendis' career, for better and for worse, so if he was going to die, Bendis was going to have him go down epically.

Like in our universe Peter's worst foe was the Green Goblin, only here he was more of a monster man and less a creepy guy in a suit, but no less psychotic or obessive, having attempted to kill MJ, actually killed his own son and peter's best friend, and in general been the worst. So wanting to kill peter once and for all, on his sixteenth birthday he broke out of jail, took the sinister six with him, and went on a rampage, heading straight for peter's loved ones. Peter went to intercept but had to stop the punisher from shooting captain america as a war between Frank's avengers and Captain America's ultimates, which was a thing that happened but I don't care enough to find out why. I have limits.

So while nursing a bullet wound, peter stared down his foes, with aunt may assiting by fucking shooting electro, putting him in a coma and as a result casuing his powers to go hawywire and narrow the fight down to just peter and Gobby. Sadly while Peter won… an explosion and his wounds from botht he fight and the bullet meant he didn't survivie it, but he got to go down defeating his greatest foe, saving those he loved like he coudln't save ben and in the arms of the girl he loved most.

So as a result the ultimate world was left a world without spider-man, and the ultimates themselves shook, paticuarlly cap who, as is his nature, was a massive dick to peter right before peter took a bullet for him. But it wouldn't be too long…

Miles was first intorduced at the tailend of ultimate fallout, a mini dealing with the fall out of this and setting up the three comics for the ultimate comics relaunch: ultimates by jonathan fucking hickman, which would end up vitally important ot his future works, x-men by nick spender and later sexual harassment brian wood and this very comic.

Miles part of it is very brief but well done: post peters death he shows up in the costume, battles d-list villian in any univers kangaroo, and admits the costume probbaly is in poor taste while taking it off to reveal a fairly young kid. and that spider-man is black. Which naturally isn't the shocker it should be after years of the character being rightfully promoted to hell and back.. nor was it then as it got revealed in the press ahead of time and was a big deal and put a LOT of expectation on the book.T here was also of course stupid racist idiot backlash about WEH THEY MADE SPIDER-MAN BLACK and your standard "people dont' get there's multiple versoins of this caharacter' misreporting, but it's best to plug your ear. My faviorite part of this coverage is that when I was binging it a while back, the comic strip baldo naturally comented on there being a prominent latino spider-man (again but we'll forgive cantu and costelanos for not knowing 2099 existed)

Tia Carmen being judgemental aside, it showed just how big a deal it was and thankfully the book was high quality enough to match thehype. So now we finally come to ultimate comics spider-man itself.

We open issue 1 with Norman Osborn citing the myth of arachne a while ago, back when he was a respectiable industrialist. This is how ULtimate Spider-Man #1 started though it almost feels like Bendis parodying himself as this time the guy listneing to osborn is bored and then thrown off when Norman threatens to kil lhim if he tells anyone this is how spider-man got his powers. Classic norman.

Anyways they do manage to make a new spider using peter's blood, as in this universe the oz serum was used on the spider, and then on norman himself instead of radioactivity and such. One of the spiders gets loose though with no one noticin

We cut to.. some time later as the Prowler, a masked thief in purple, breaks into Ozcorp.

Yeah it took a bit of googling to answer all of this, as I was confused both by Ozcorp still being around even after it's CEO publicly turned into a monster man and killed a bunch of his own employees, and by the spider somehow being ALIVE.

The former..was shockingly easy. It's nightmarishly hard, nay impossible to peg most comic universes into hard and fast years, with character ages being "whatever we need" and holidays being thrown around, not to mention countless time skips for story reasons to start off a run (Both Spider-Man and Fantastic Four just did this for their latest volumes). At this point i've just given up and say "it takes place because shut up" Granted I still peg peter parker as over 30 as anyone should, same with the original x-men and co, but that's not really the takeaway. So while a lot of stories have happened probably not a lot of time has passed.

Adding to that spiders live up to two years average according to a quick google and can live up to 20 in captivity… and of course this is a genetically altereted super spider, so in hindsgith I have to ask myself why that was one of my questoins to begin with.

Finally as for Ozcorp it's SOMEHOW still running. I mean a ceo's bad behavior not tankin ga company isn't unheard of: Papa Johns fired their racist as hell ceo and are doing just fine, and Tesla somehow manages to function despite it's ceo being Elon Musk. Really the questions I have say mroe about me than they do abotu the actual writing of htis comic.

Point is Prowler steals some neat stuff and accidently takes the spider with him. As for who he is.. well under the mask we'll naturally meet. As for overal the Prowler is new to this universe but is an old foe turned friend of spidey's in the main universe. Inventor Hobie Brown created a super villian persona in order to commit a crime, then return the money as himself to get funding. He fought spider-man about once, but the two became friends and Hobie wore the costume on and off. Prowler is also specail to mne as I had a guide to spider-man as a kid and the costume, backstory and intresting status as a former villian when most of spidey's foes really .. dont' stay reformed for long, comic books and all, have made him a faviorite of mine, and I ended up loving this version even more.

We then cut to our hero, Miles Morales, a kid about to enter middle school… and having to rely on pure chance to get into a good one. Miles is going with his parents, Jefferson and Rio to a charter school raffle something I still can't honestly belivie is a thing. A charter school is a fancy, private style school outside of the regular school system, that will have raffle for those in poorer areas and thus a child's future can literally be determined by a plastic ball. America everybody!

I love the choice by bendis to do this: Peter got to go to a pretty nice school simply by luck and where his grandma was, if a public one. For Miles to have a better chance.. he has to simply rely on luck and HOPE he gets it, and even fi he does.. it's at the expense of other kids who didn't quite make it.

You'll also have likely noticed the "Enter middle school part", especially if your more familiar with into the spider-verse, where he's 17 (even older than his 616 self), or most adaptations where he's a year or two older , usually to match peter. Yeah Bendis decided to further crank things up by making Miles way younger, forcing a child into this. I'm entirely used to this as most cartoons use 13 as the default age for their heroes, but it , like the ultimate universe did at it's best, uses htis realistically: this is a child thrown into this. Peter was only slightly older.. and the comic pulled zero punches showing how much this fucked with him. And now we'r ethrowing a younger chlid into an ultimate universe.. that's frankly only gotten worse; at this same time the goverments being torn down, more on that if I ever do any of the followup arcs, mutants are hunted and thrown into camps that are somehow legal, and new york just got flooded b y magneto 6 months ago. And i'ts only going to get somehow WORSE from there. A child is going to have to face all this.. and starts having to just wait for pure luck to get school.

While fate isn't on Miles side in inevetibly throwing him up against super villians, a collapsing us goverment and the end of the fucking world, TWICE, it is in getting into the Brooklyn Visions Academy. What I like is that artist Sarah Pichelli takes time to focus on two kids who DIDN'T get in and miles face after. It's simple but i'ts the clear guilt of a child who simply feels bad his getting a nice school means other kids didn't. HIs parents try to ease his guilt, but he ends up instead going later that day to visit his uncle Aaron. Uncle aaron.. both has solid advice.. and looks like this

Yup for whatever reason they decided to base Aaron on Snoop Dogg, and I for one loved his duet with kirby so i'm entirely for this

So i'm fully on board with this. Naturally Aaron is the prowler, and while he swipes whatever he stole from a curious miles, the spider bites his nephew, causing him to pass out. Naturally Aaron calls his brother.. who then accuses him of drugging his own nephew, yells at him, and is generally a dick, especially since while he told him to "stay away from my family".. MIles came here of his own free will and is ONLY here because Jefferson didn't tell Miles WHY he dosen't like his brother anymore. This naturally causes the small child to flee…., and to find out something new about himself.

Next issue Miles discovers he can also jump good and zap people, doing so when some idiots try to rob him.. but we also get a sense of WHY unlike both Peters, who were naturally excited to have dope new powers, Miles.. is fucking terrified. He thinks he's a mutant, and while we know he isn't, I was NOT joking about the camps thing. Since Magneto destroyed new yorks mutants are turbo hated and feared and if you've watched or read ANYTHING x-men related, you know the regular hated and feared is bad enough.

Miles goes to one of the best parts of this book and his best friend Ganke, a loveable chubby lego loving lad. It's a funny sequence at first as miles tries to do the invsiblity thing but instead looks like he's about to take a dump (Ganke's words) and then displays his other power by destroying.. something Ganke had been hard at work on with Ganke begging him not to try it again on something that took him three weeks.

Ganke thinks the powers are dope.. and is the rational one here, realizing that mutant powers wouldn't manifest overnight, and that he got bit by a spider with the bite suddenly disappering. They don't have time to figure things out as Jefferson tries to prove to his son he's a calm reatoinsal indivdual.. by barking at him to come with him and then asking him this

While Jefferson.. has good reasons… what I like about this is while he is sympathetic, something bad could've happened to miles.. and nearly DID had he not found out he has spider powers.. Jefferson is also an asshole, often far too stern and gruff at this point for his own good. It takes him a minute to get why maybe accusing his brother of hurting him, yelling at his son, then yelling at his son AGAIN and yanking him out of somehwere he feels safe might be rattling, and as we'll learn right after this.. Jefferson is a racist towards mutants, blaming them for things. What makes it work though is that he's complicated… his reason for being so hard on aaron.. is that both of them used to be criminals, which gives nice weight ot what Aaron said earlier: NEITHER of them want Miles to end up like them and to have a better life, not having to steal and do worse just to get by. The diffrence is Aaron stayed in the game while Rio convinced Jefferson to turn his life around. Granted his whole understandable speech about "You shoudl feel you can open up to me" gets ruined by his bigoted statments towards the all new all ultimate x-men a second later I hinted at, but it still shows Jefferson is'nt just an asshole or in the case of pre-character development 616 aunt may, an obstacle just so Miles can't easily reveal his identity. Instead Miles has good reason as his dad hates superheroes and may not have a heart attack but as we've seen can be quick to rash decisions. He'd come around eventually but to a 13 year old kid already scared at what he's becoming, this may not be something he wants to risk dealing with.

At any rate the next night Ganke texts miles with a bunch of message board bits that can basically be summed up as "Your a spider-man, spider-man, genetically altered spider-man" and a bit of celing crawling confirms this to Miles horror. Onto issue 3 as Miles naturally goes to Ganke again and I like the continuing contrast, likely mirroring the two types of reader this would hit: Ganke sees the escapism element and the awesome: MIles has fucking spider-man powers and now can be a spider-man. This is so cool! Miles… is the more realistic reaction, not wanting to throw himself in danger. Ganke also easily figures out that the spider was an experiment: miles mentioned numbers, normal spiders dont' have that, case closed. While Ganke is clearly operating off of a 13 year old nerd's perspective, he's not exactly wrong. He's also got a howard the duck shirt, which adds nothing to anything, I just think it's neat.

Ganke also convinces miles to go visit Aaron. Miles is reluctant given well.. everything that just happened yesterday, but Ganke has a point: he's the only one who'd know what the hell is going on and might be able to help them, sketchy or not. Naturally though after brothegeddon, Aaron has bugged out, pun not intended, as he had other buisness to attend to...

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So Miles is on his own in figuring this out and finding a way to try his powers out

Cue plot convience as a fire has broken out and Miles charges in there to help… and once again we get a nicely realistic reaction: While Ganke is , like us an observer and sees what miles did as cool.. Miles is still a 13 year old that just charged into a burning buildling so while he did good and saved some people… he also is scared out of his mind, seeing the current spider-man as having action as his reward and loving it , not getting that peter was also scared out of his mind, but hey , that's part of why you wear the mask. He cries and decides not to do it and Ganke reluctantly agrees. It shows not EVERYONE would be super hyped to do this and not everyone has to: at the time there is STILL a spider-man. Ther'es no reason for miles to use these. .yet.

Our heroes get moved in, as naturally Ganke is Miles roomate along with Judge. He's mostly around to make hiding Miles identity difficult. He's alright. He likes legos. At any rate we get a nice montage of Miles having nice classes and being encouraged to read… before a not so nice nightmare of electro killing him…. and this turns out ot be prophetic as news of peter being shot has hit.. and his death is in progress.

Taking a moment between issues , i'd like to take a moment ot discuss how much I love the pacing here. While decompressed storytelling can be bad, there have been event comics that coudl've easily been a few issues shorter and didn't need tie in one shots and shit, this comic shows why when Bendis or others using it are at their best, it works well. We're three issues in and HAVNE'T seen miles really be spider-man yet. We saw it in ultimate fallout, but that was a jump foward and maybe a few pages, pages many readres probaly don't see. Yet everything here is important: it defines who miles his, who his family is, lets us meet hima nd get to know him as a shy, inquisitive, smart young man whose DEEPLY terrified of what he's been thrown into. Some comics would try to jam in flash fowards as him as a hero to get more action in.. but Bendis gets that's not really wha'ts important. It's awesome and the superhero stuff matters, it's why the comics called ultimate comics spider-man and not ultimate comics: miles morales, but who this character is, why he's doing this and why he does things matter> He's a kind, empathetic boy unsure of his place in the world. It's the key to a good superhero comic: you have to care about the hero or heroes at the core as a person, or it just dosen't work. And this.. this works.

So next issue, Miles has Ganke cover for him to go see what's going on and arrives just as Peter smashes norman's head in and collapses, being happy he could save those he loved as htey all sob. Miles saw peter's death and it was likely planned by Bendis he'd been there the whole time, but it's a nicely done retcon, if you can even call it that, as MIles is angeld off camera and the only thing we see from him is asking Gwen who he was.

And the next day… Miles blames himself. In a nice twist of fate… Peter is his uncle ben and his reasons for not having acted are way more undrestandable.. but it's understandable why Miles feels this way: he could've done something, he coudl've helped. Ganke does help again though.. this time not with wide eyed fanboying but again showing that while Miles is emotonally and empathetic and thus blames this on himself, Ganke his logical and thus uses the logic to help miles; He could've helped.. or he could've died too. He did get these powers for a reason.. but it wasn't to pitch in not knowing his powers and to die… but that with Peter gone… Miles can take up the mantle. It dosen't come off as wide eyed as before either but just one friend helping another realize both what he can do with his powers.. and that this death isn't his fault. Peter died a hero.. and while Miles could easily share the same fate he can also do what was right.

Miles isn't convinced though and they go to peter's funeral the next day. We do get a nice moment with Gwen Stacey. In this continuity Gwen was a close friend of peters, being his best friend besides MJ. They dated very breifly in the previous volume.. but it was clear Peter was still hunt up on MJ and only lasted to just before his death, and was never really something fans liked. Still she was close to him, a major supporting character.. and will continue to be here eventually. Not during this arc, she and Aunt Man, her legal guardian and surrgoate mom hence why the romance thing also felt kind of eugh, are going off to france for a bit to mourna nd do some work for tony stark (his mentorship of peter, while breifer and less involved, was taken from this universe), Miles does have a question: Why did he do it? and her answer.. is one of my faviorite moments int he book:

It sums up Spider-Man perfectly: He does it because something that wasn't his fault he still felt responsible for, it's the right thing to do and the mask is both because he wants to protect those close to him.. and because it looks fucking cool. As are you gwen, as are you.

That night Ganke brings Miles something from home: his halloween costume from last year.. the bombastic bag man@!

No of course it's spidey and this leads into the scene we saw earlier, miles first outing where he does beat the kangaroo if barely.. but everyone thinks him doing this is in bad taste. Aftewords Miles is understandably freaked given being told your disrepsecting the dead man your TRYING to honor isn't a great start, and the boys discover they can't lock the room as it isn't policy and the dorm guy's a real dick about it. Like.. did you tell them this at orentation? and if so WHY did you put locks on the rooms? I mean I get it if a shooter comes in or something but why not have electronic locks then. Also why would Miles being seen be an issue just say he was doing some cosplay, most people arne't going to connect the dots. What i'm saying is this scene, while necessary to set up the unique challenges miles has, is very dumb.

MIles decides to try again the next night though, and we get a nice bit of internal monologuin as he enjoys this… right before a bad case of boot to the head

It's obviously spider-sense. This isn't Funky Winkerbean.. but whose boot it is… isn't good for Miles

Okay so while the comic itself dosen't explain it, i'll explain who Spider-Woman is. In the Main Timeline it's.. a lot to unpack: She's a private eye whose dad experimented on her. It's a very long story ill get into more another time, possibly next year when we do this all again for Beyond the Spider-Verse with the spider-men and women from Across. I love her and her solo series which is on my very giant to do list.

This Jessica Drew has the same name.. but is actually a clone of peter complete with memories but as a woman, woh works closely with shield and has joined the ultimates. I don't know much about her, just that she saw peter like a brother for understandable reasons.. and that she's naturlaly very pissed at the small child wearing his costume without realizing it's a small child. So we've come to our final issue for today, and the confrontation.. goes how you'd expect. Jessica demands to know who Miles is… Miles not knowing there was a spider-woman or WHY she's taken this personally refuses, and it's a comedy of errors as she webs him up , he tries to go to the cops and she takes him to the Triskeleion, headquarters of the Ultimates and finds himself in a cell.. and in front of the ultimates, or at least Nick Fury, Jessica, Iron Man and Hawkeye. Cap is missing and that's a good thing. We'll deal with him, much like gwen, if we pick this up again another day.

For now Nick questoins what he actually DID, while Tony finds out he's enhanced to everyon'es shocked.. and Clint rightly points out Jessica could've asked him instead of laying in screaming. While it's understandable why she opened the coversation with boot to the head… it also meant MIles tried to you know run and get the police instead of actually talk to her. Nick Fury shoes everyone out. Nick is a bit more of a bastard here, and given 616 Nick Fury (the older one not the one resembling this nick whose that nick's son because comics everybody) tried to buy out Tony Stark's company to force him to make weapons again and once lead a bunch of heroes on an unsanctioned black ops mission he didn't tell them was unsanoctioned, that's a low bar to clear but manipulating other universers and basically telling Peter "When your 18 your ass belongs to me" before easing up into "Okay we'll just train you and stuff), he clears it.

He's more sympathetic here, clearly having grown a bit and thus is gentle with miles. While he's frustrated with miels just kind of nervously spouting off whatever, the humor in this book is really good and makes me question why Bendis is so awful at it not long after this, he's gentle asking if his parents want to let him know, letting him know he knows aaron was the one who gave him the spider.. and it turns out while Jefferson coudl've handled things better… yeah Aaron is an fbi wanted criminal not just a small time one so.. good call on keeping his son away. Or trying to anyway. Nick understands though: With great power comes great repsonsiblity. He also gets i'ts you know a child.

But naturally things can't go easy as Electro is under sedation..a nd the nurse gave him 10cc's instead ofa 100 meaning he's awake and pissed and starts rampaging through the triskelion, easily taking out iron man and hawkeye since… well Tony's suit runs on energy and Tony gets super cocky when facing electro instead of you know.. .readying a countermeasure, while Hawkeye.. didn't think to go get any arrows or equipment. EARTH'S MIGHTEST HEROES PEOPLE.

Jessica does slightly better but still gets jobbed out and Nick Fury, no matter the universe.. is still nick fucking fury and tries shooting him. It dosne't exactly work.. but ti's clear he's more trying to distract the guy and get his people clear than actually win. Unfortunately their in the chill of the night at the scene of a crime.. and while he may not be in a streak of light.. he's certainly arrived just in time

While obviously Miles isn't really on the skill level to beat electro normally, the combination of Electro thinking h'es peter and having a breakdown over it and a Venom Blast, the electricty thing hinted at earlier, powered punch get him weak enough for Nick Fury to play count the bullets with him. Electro is down and the next day Nick Fury says they'll talk.. and MIles finds out what that means that very conversatoin as jessica shows up with a new costume for him.

It's a nice parting and with that Miles now has his iconic costume, his one shot… and as Ganke puts it as his friend swings off having finally achieved his destiny

As you could probably guess I fucking love this arc and this run on the character in general. But this story well sets up who miles is, what the stakes are him for, stealthy sets up the big bad and miles first real threat for the next arc, and is an expertly crafted story about honroing legacy. While Into the Spider-Verse's story is mostly it's own, a LOT of the dna of who miles is was there at the start. As i've hinted at I do not like Brian Micheal Bendis, his writing took a hit and it was while writing several properties I loved with no regard for how to actually do that and he's only recently thankfully stepped away from the big two. But while he was there I can't deny he created two of the best spider-man runs of all time, one total if you count both spidey tenures together, and one of the best additions to spider-man period. Part of spidey's popularity is anyone could be behind the mask.. but this story made it a glorious reality, creating a spider-man just as compelling as one with a long storied history and tons of adaptations in 5 issues.

Will I return to Miles Story? Will you guys someday see what's up with his uncle, the country disolve, venom cost miles greatly, the rise of a new group of ultimates and so much more? Probably. When I can't say, that's up to either you guys to comission or me to fit into my schedule once this arc is done. But after reading this I was reminded how great this run was and how it deserved to be shared with webslingers all across the spider-verse

Next Time, we tackle our tritagaonist of this film series, as we look into the punkstastic origin of Spider-Woman, aka Spider-Gwen! Oddly not spider-punk, totally diffrent person we'll get to in that sequel I mentioned. Thanks for reading true beliviers.

#into the spider verse #miles morales #spider-man #marvel comics #brian michael bendis #ultimate comics

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