#he's a criminal. it's true. he's stealing everything. taking things for himself | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

roeyliteratiforever · 8 months

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So if your looking at things from Jess' pov his mom just kicked him out to live with his uncle he barely knows, he has a lady he's just meeting for the first time talking to him about how she knows what he's going through and to him it feels condescending even if it wasn't meant that way by Lorelai. He doesn't want to be in Stars Hollow initially so he starts acting out to test how quickly he could get sent back such as stealing garden noms...etc, then he meets a girl who shares the same interests as him and the only person in town so far that doesn't automatically treat him like a preconceived opinion about him and she makes him feel comfortable so he proceed to impress his crush with writing notes in her book margins (that says I want you to know me) and pulls pranks that would make her laugh to then learn she has a boyfriend and learn that he is beloved by her mother that loathes him.

Dean does all the "perfect boyfriend things" while being a possessive, explosive, and an emotionally abusive control freak. Jess only wants to then spend more time with her, but the whole town already thinks he is trouble because of the reputation he set for himself.

He gets into a car accident with Rory and people then act like he's the spawn of Satan. He becomes so anxious and feels so bad after the accident that he leaves town because he doesn't want to cause Rory any harm or get harm from the weirdo townies. When she comes for him in New York he gets this burst of hope in him which is why he decides to move back for the possibility of being with Rory.

After Rory kissed him the first time he was so gone for her and in that moment that was all he wanted. He genuinely thought she was going to break up with Dean and choose to be with him, but when she didn't and left instead (my boy who already has deep abandonment wounds) is hurt because she didn't outright choose him and left. He then was alone without the one person in that town that he wanted to be around and so he met Shane who didn't want anything serious so it was a perfect way to try to mask his pain with her. He mysteriously gets a car, and people are going nuts thinking he stole it, and he's thinking I can't even get a second job without people thinking I'm a criminal, and I can't get a second job without people accusing me of being a drug dealer or a stripper.

Once him and Rory get together he is so happy he doesn't want to mess it up with her and he gets nervous because he wants everything to go right. She's the one he's been waiting for and now he has her. Then her ex boyfriend starts stalking and harassing him in secret and he feels like he can't do anything about it, and can't even tell his girlfriend about it because he thinks she won't believe her if he told her, so he bottles it up. When he gets attacked by the swan and she thought he got in a fight with Dean and didn't believe him it really hurt him. (I don't blame Rory for this she had no way of knowing and Dean was being manipulative with his "nice guy" and shitty behaviors but it still hurt Jess none the less.) After that he begins to put up his walls again.

When he realizes he's been messing up after not calling he then starts trying to do better and set dates and plans to be with her. All he wants to do is make her happy at this point. Then he gets the news that he's not graduating and in that moment it feels like everything everyone had always said about him came true, he felt like a failure and knowing that he wasn't going to be able to keep his promise to Rory that he would take her to prom crushed him. He wanted so badly to be there for her and do all the boyfriend things and he was so afraid of telling her he wasn't graduating and so upset he couldn't keep his promise to her. His smart girlfriend was getting into an ivy league school and he wasn't even going to graduate highschool and the thought of telling her that was horrible to him.

He could feel he was losing her and he thought once he told her that it would be over, and ended up messing things up with her anyways. He felt like he was doing her a favor by leaving because he figured she would want him gone. He didn't think she would want him to stay, even though that's all she wanted. He was battling his demons alone and was used to everyone shipping him off when he messed up that he thought he was doing her a favor by leaving after he messed up so bad.

His father that left him as a baby showed up in his life for the first time and he didn't know how to handle that. Once Luke kicked him out he ran to his dad that left him because crashing on his couch or floor was better than staying with his neglectful deadbeat mother.

He finds out his uncle was hiding his car from him and felt double betrayed he was already feeling abandoned yet again after Luke kicked him out to then find out he took something he worked so hard to get from him he was more betrayed. He comes back to Stars Hollow to get his car and everyone still wants him gone. Luke tells Jess to stay away from Rory so he proceeds trying to avoid her while he is there and he knows how badly he messed up with her and he wants to talk to her but when he sees her at the firelight festival he wants to explain to her but she is still so mad and all he could get out was that he loves her. He just wanted her to know he then leaves because he doesn't expect her to say anything he just wanted her to know. Jess is deeply hurting at this point inside and his pain is at it's peak. He just keeps digging a deeper whole and doesn't know how to fix it at this point.

Luke convinces Jess to go to his neglectful mother's wedding and goes to a bachelor party where he is assaulted by his stepdad to be at a bar and he naturally goes into defense mode. He was so used to his other abusive step dad's that he was constantly in defense mode and fought back. He goes to his mother's wedding anyways and walks her down the isle despite everything his mom put him through. Luke gives him the self help book that he had been reading, and Jess reads it and tries to better himself as well, meanwhile Lorelai scoffs to Luke about it. (I love Lorelai but that was extremely uncalled for by her and it just makes me think no matter what he does or how better he becomes he will always resent him, and it just makes no sense that she has this one sided grudge with a kid that was deeply in pain.) He makes up with Luke and thanks him for everything he did for him, and then he goes to try to apologize and tell Rory how he feels, but then he sees Dean there and he is thrown off and he just wants to make things right so in the spur of the moment he asks her to leave with him because he just wants to fix what they had. (He wasn't thinking rationally, but he meant it when he said she could count on him now and so he went out and turned his life around and made something for himself and came back to show her how much she could count him now even if it meant as a friend. He would still be there for her and he showed her that he could be the person she always knew he was. He still didn't expect anything from her he just wanted to show her his book, and let her know he couldn't have done it without her.)

He was so badly traumatized while him and Rory were together and it couldn't have possibly worked out at that time. He was battling so much pain internally, and everyone in that town was against him and actively hating him 😭 and I just feel for what he was going through, and I'm just so proud of who he turned out to be. I'm not sure what this rant was anymore but I'm just thinking about Jess' perspective and his pain right now. He was in so much pain while him and Rory were together and he didn't know how to properly express that or tell her that, and I just want to hug him and I'm so proud of him for how far he came and how much he overcame his pain and trauma and ugh I just feel so much right now. (Also I had a lot of coffee today and my autistic/ADHD brain is just going with thoughts right now.)

#gilmore girls #jess mariano #literati #rory gilmore #jess and rory #rory and jess #jess x rory #rory x jess #team jess

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sirowsky-stories · 9 months

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Part 5

Description: Pero knows what he needs to do, but knowing it doesn't help when he can't convince himself to leave while he's so confused about his own feelings.

Warnings: Pero Tovar x OFC, no reader insert, Pero's pov, conspiracy, cursing, angst, use of the word hackers, friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, secret identity, AU fic. Rating: Mature/Explicit 18+ONLY Word Count: 5700 Series Masterlist

Author's Note: This is conversation heavy. And the next one will feature a small timegap to move things along a little.

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It takes two hours to set up the computer system and connect it to the safehouse’s secure network, but once it’s done, Will goes straight to work. True to his word, he’s not here for a vacation. Rather, he seems intent on unraveling this mystery completely, starkly offended that the people behind it have managed to sneak past his defenses. Pero helps him get everything ready, but he can’t help with the search, so once the other man goes to work, he returns downstairs. Where Gillian’s waiting.

She’s leaning against the wall of the hallway that leads to the bedrooms, but when he comes down the stairs, she pushes off the exposed wood and crosses her arms over her waist.

“Who are you really?” she demands, clearly jarred by Will’s earlier comment.

He’s been waiting for this. Her natural inclination to help and care for others have kept her from prodding, and she’s seen how protective and tender he’s been towards Niki from the beginning of this mess, which has probably left her feeling largely at ease with him. But now, when there’s another source of information, when she’s no longer alone with him and technically at his mercy, she’s seemingly decided that the answers which didn’t feel important enough to ask for before, have since become necessary.

“Why don’t we take a seat. I’m gonna need some coffee for this,” he suggests, and then moves into the kitchen to start making the brew.

He can hear that she follows and sits down by the breakfast table section of the kitchen island behind him, so he starts talking while he works.

“In my late teens, I discovered that going through school being bullied or avoided by every kid I’d ever been around, had resulted in an exceptional ability to read people. I could tell from observing someone for just brief moments at a time, not just what type of character they were, but whether they had secrets, what kinds of fears plagued them, what their favorite things were, and so on. And I was bitter and angry enough, even back then, that I saw no reason to use that skill for anything helpful. So, I started my own little criminal empire instead.”

He turns around and leans against the counter once the coffee machine has started working, and when he meets her eyes, she looks only curious. Through her work, she’s had to learn to listen to people and decipher the truthfulness of what she hears, while remaining as neutral as possible herself. He knows that she’s not gonna interrupt him, and that she’ll likely only asks questions if there’s something in his story that she doesn’t understand.

“Like with most enterprises, criminal or otherwise, I started small,” he continues. “I tricked or blackmailed people out of things that were precious to them for one reason or another. Mostly money, because it was useful to me, but also because in this country that seems to be what everyone holds most dear, even those who don’t seem like they do. And in the beginning, each successful scam was such a victory that I soon started thinking about bigger things. But I also understood from the start that if I was ever gonna have a chance to stay alive in the criminal world, I’d need an alias. So, I waited until I’d managed to create a completely separate person who could take the blame for all the stealing, before I went after my first big target.”

“What do you mean by a separate person?” she asks, when he pauses to move one of the stools to the other side of the island, so that he can sit opposite her.

“Another identity, but a ghost. Someone known only by name and voice, never seen, and entirely untraceable, both in person and online. He had no history and no future, he was just a voice on the phone, making demands. I called that ghost Mr. Hood, because I only ever stole money from those who could afford it, and I never took more than a small percentage of what they really had. And if it was an item I took, it was never expensive paintings or jewelry. Instead, I would trick people out of their comfort items. Things with sentimental value, as a way of punishing them for their cruelty.”

“Their cruelty?”

“Yes. I specifically targeted people who were secretly abusive or criminal, or just mean motherfuckers who trampled all over everyone around them just because they could. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that what I did was good, but I would never have taken from someone who was just going through life doing the best they could with as much humility and compassion as they could spare, no matter how much money they had. I wanted the crooks. I wanted to punish people for their indifference and lack of appreciation for their own fortunes, not to mention the people they crushed along the way.”

He stops himself there, because he’s getting riled up thinking about this. There are so many faces in his head. People who could’ve helped so many with their riches or their influence, but instead always did the opposite. The faces of his worst bullies from childhood flood his mind, and he closes his eyes against the painful memories. The beatings and the degradation. The constant public humiliation. If just one person had told them to stop-…

“So, basically an evil Robin Hood,” Gillian suggests, interrupting his downward spiral and drawing him back to the present.

He takes a calming breath, allowing her steady voice to chase away the sounds of his own bones breaking, etched into his memory bank forever.

“Maybe not evil,” he quietly counters, not at all sure if that’s true. “But definitely dark.”

“Hm. Well, given this place, I guess you were successful?” she ponders, and he nods.

“Very. There are way too many needlessly cruel people in the world.”

“You ever kill anyone?” she wonders, but the question isn’t accusatory.

“Yes. When you take on people associated with drug cartels and mafia’s, you kinda have to be ready to spill blood to protect yourself.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… You stole money from drug cartels?” she asks with a touch of disbelief, and when he nods again, her eyebrows hit the roof. “That’s ballsy…”

“Not really. Those were the easiest paydays, because my victims had nowhere to turn. With the average rich scumbag there was always the risk that they’d involve law enforcement, which I could handle since my alias was airtight and my own identity was never at risk, but it would also mean having to abandon the mark. Whereas with cartel members, if I could find a good enough fear or damaging enough secret, I could pin a person to a wall from which they had no escape in any direction. And best of all, who’s gonna believe that person when they try to explain to their boss that they were blackmailed into stealing the money, rather than pocketing it themselves?”

“Shit. You really did have your own little empire,” she concludes, leaning back in her seat with a mildly impressed look in her eyes.

“I’m not proud of it,” he admits, before getting up and turning his back to her while he pours himself a generous cup of the now finished beverage.

“Why?” she challenges. “What happened that made you change tracks and decide to become a factory worker?”

He doesn’t remember exactly when it had happened. When he’d decided that he was done with it, but he knows the reasoning behind it. It hadn’t been obvious to him even as he’d walked away from Mr. Hood and everything he’d built. Not until years later had the reasoning finally become clear to him. But neither then nor now does he know when that seed had first been planted in his mind.

“My own reflection,” he answers, staring down into the dark liquid, looking for a strength that it can’t give him. “Over time… seeing myself in the mirror got increasingly unpleasant. And it took me a long time to understand why, but I know now that it was because of how cold and dead my eyes had become. I looked at myself and I saw someone worse than the people who had hurt me, and even though I didn’t realize it right away, it scared me so much that I couldn’t keep going.”

It’s never made him feel stupid or less of a man to admit to himself that he went too far. But it does still make him feel guilty, which is why he won’t meet her eyes to find out what she’s thinking about him right now. Part of him has always wanted to tell Niki, but then, that would’ve meant changing the dynamic of their relationship, and he’s been too scared of losing the comforting simplicity between them, to dare take that step.

“And how does William fit into all this?” Gillian finally asks, and her lack of comments or further questions about his decision to walk away, gives Pero the confidence to look up at her again.

She still just looks curious. But this is a question that he can’t answer.

“You’ll have to ask him about that. It’s not my story to tell.”

With that, he decides that their conversation is over. For now, anyway. Niki’s been alone for at least half an hour already, and while she should be out of danger, he doesn’t feel good about leaving her without supervision for very long. There’s still a risk of delayed complications or other problems emerging. He takes his coffee and heads back to the bedroom, hearing no objections from the nurse, so he assumes that she’s satisfied with his answers for the time being.

To his surprise, Niki’s awake again when he steps in, so he closes the door behind him to give them some privacy. The room is so softly lit by how the daylight is filtered through the thick and richly green vegetation outside the windows, that she looks almost as though some masterful artist had painted her into existence.

“Hey. How are you?” he asks while approaching the bed.

“Still thirsty,” she replies, so he reaches for the glass of water with the straw, still standing on a tray on top of one of the monitors beside the bed.

He raises the backrest once again, and she drinks in slow but long gulps this time, until the glass is completely empty.

“More?” he asks, but she shakes her head.

“I’m good for now. Thank you.”

He sets the glass down and then takes a seat in the chair, leaving her sitting upright for a while to let the water settle into her stomach.

“What’s happened?” she asks after a minute, and he realizes that he’s taken her hand and that he’s fighting strong emotions that are trying to claw through his chest.

It’s a simple question, but he struggles to find an answer. Too much has happened, but not really around them, just inside of him. And how is he supposed to explain that when he doesn’t even understand it himself? He runs a hand over his face in frustration. He wishes that he could hug her. That he could crawl into that bed with her and beg her to hold him, cradle him until he falls asleep, because he’s so tired.

It’s only been two days, but he’s already exhausted in mind, spirit and body. How is he supposed to protect her when he can’t even stomach two fucking days of stress without crumbling into a nervous pile of uselessness?

“Pero? Talk to me.”

Her voice is soft, but there’s fear in it, and he hates hearing that.

“Someone I know showed up here this morning,” he says, bottling up his emotions and forcing himself to stay on track. To be useful. “His name’s William and he’s the one who helped me find out who’s after you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she counters, squeezing his hand to urge him to look at her, clearly seeing right through his attempt to be stoic.

He notices that her grip is getting strong again. She’s a mechanic, her hands have been calloused and sure for as long as he’s known her. Accustomed and comfortable working with metal tools and tightly wound nuts and bolts. And when he meets her eyes, he finds them every bit as piercing but gentle as they’ve always been when directed at him.

“I don’t know what to do…” he confesses, and all at once, the emotions he just buried are overpowering him again, even worse this time.

He pulls free of her hand, even though all he wants is to hold it tighter, and drops forwards in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees and letting his head fall into his open hands while he fights against desperate sobs, only just managing to hold them back.

“I’m such a fucked up person, I don’t even have friends to ask for help! We’ve got an entire government and whole other country hunting us and the best I can do is run and hide because all I’ve got is myself,” he rambles, shaking his head between the fingers he’s digging into his scalp.

“Pero-…” she tries, but he cuts her off.

“Don’t get attached, don’t start caring, don’t let people manipulate you,” he rants, reciting the rules he’s lived by as if they’re some magical shield that’ll protect him against the pain which courses through him with each breath. “I’ve spent my whole life watching people say how much they love their friends and partners, only to use and manipulate and lie to them all the time! All the fucking time! Love isn’t real, that’s what I always believed. Because how could it be when no one… no one I ever met or observed, actually seemed to care that much about their supposed loved ones? So, why make friends when I know that they’ll only hurt me down the line? Why give a shit when no one else does?”

He pauses to wipe the tears from his eyes before they can fall. He’s not even sure why he’s crying, except for the pain. Which he also doesn’t know the real source of.

“I don’t know how people do it… how they can live so falsely and act so happy. I mean, I can’t say if I’ve ever been happy. I don’t think so. But at least I’ve never strung anyone along with promises of a great future together, only to turn around and shit on them. If that’s happiness then I don’t want it.”

He falls silent then, with a final big sigh, and leans back in his chair with his head still hanging low against his chest. Feeling defeated by the entire world, somehow.

“What do you want?” Niki asks then, and she sounds so careful.

As if the question alone has the power to break him. And given that he’s been thinking about this very thing all morning, without coming up with any answers, it doesn’t seem impossible that it might. Once again he tries to consider it. To put his life into perspective and search for the things that matter to him, along with the things that don’t. It shouldn’t be this hard to figure out, but it damned well is.

“I’ve been trying to work that out, but honestly… I still don’t know,” he admits, but it’s not good enough.

She deserves more effort than that, so he keeps talking, hoping that if he just spews out enough words, eventually the right ones will just fall out and make everything okay.

“I want you to live and be free, and I want the baby to live. I know that much. I’m just not sure why. What it means to me, you, or the baby. I don’t know if it means what you might want it to. Or if you even want me like that. We never talked about it, because it wasn’t supposed to happen, we weren’t supposed to be that to each other, but now everything’s upside down and because we never talked, we don’t know this shit, or anything about each other, and it’s all such a god damned mess.”

The words run out, so he just sits there, staring at his own hands, too cowardly to meet her gaze and find out what she thinks about what he’s saying. Not because he worries that she might not like what she hears, but because he worries that she’ll look indifferent. That he doesn’t matter to her at all. He’s never been concerned about her opinion of him before, since their relationship has never required her to like him, only trust him. Which she has.

But everything really is different now. And maybe he is too.

“Yo-…” she starts, but her voice seems to break under heavy emotions, and he can’t stop himself from looking up at her.

She looks almost heartbroken, and it sends daggers through him.

“You want the baby to live?” she continues, and she sounds so incredulous.

As though she can’t imagine that he would actually want that. Which would mean that her heartbreak is rooted in hope rather than fear. That she wants to believe that he could love their child at least, if not her.

“Yes, but…” he tries, and sees her breath hitch when he doesn’t continue.

“But, what?” she prompts, and her voice is shaking now.

“But…” he tries again, knowing what he needs to say, but afraid of what she’ll think. “Fuck. Look, I’m not a good person, I think a part of you knows that. And even though I’d like to think that I could be a worthwhile dad, I really don’t think I can.”

Never before has he worried or even cared about being judged by others. The opinions of liars and betrayers and abusers have never mattered to him, and that’s what everyone around him has always looked like to his eyes. Nikita is an exception, but only because he’s chosen not to look too closely at her. He’s never observed her. Never tried to know her, because if he’d found her to be like the rest, that would’ve ruined his ability to look at her as someone desirable.

He knows now that she has lied for large portions of her life, although as far as he’s aware, only out of patriotism and necessity, which he can accept. But he still doesn’t know what else she is or has done. If she’s like the rest overall. And he isn’t sure that he wants to know. But more than that, what plagues him is the knowledge that he’s no better than anyone of them. Equally unworthy of love since he’s never once offered his to anyone.

“So, in other words, you want me to have the baby. Alone?” she counters, and she sounds upset now, so he thinks carefully before he answers.

“I just want you to have the option. To not be forced in any direction, by anyone or for any reason, but least of all by me, because I’m not… I can’t be trusted with something like this.”

“And what if you’re the only reason that I want to make that choice at all?” she ponders, still sounding upset, but also sad.

Her words truly stun him, though. He sits frozen for a while, just staring dumbly at her, before he finds his voice.

“But… I’m an asshole.”

“Maybe, but not to me. I might not know anything about you, but I know that you’ve never treated me like a piece of meat. I know that I’ve never had to fear that you’d be offensive for no reason or pick a fight because you’ve had a bad day. You’ve always been kind to me. Even now, when that means putting your life on the line. Why would I not want to share this with you? You’re the best guy I’ve ever known.”

If that’s true, then she must’ve known only the worst of mankind, which he doesn’t quite believe. But he also wonders if her current circumstances could be tainting her perspective of him, subconsciously putting him in the place of a knight in shining armor, when he’s really as far from that as anyone could be.

“If I hadn’t thrown you out that evening, is that what you would’ve told me?” he challenges, and her expression shifts, from sadness to retrospection.

“That’s impossible to answer since it would depend entirely on what you would’ve said. If all this hadn’t happened, would you even have let me talk to you again after that evening?”

Crap. He hangs his head again, because she’s right. He probably wouldn’t have given her the light of day. More likely, he would’ve avoided her at all costs, hoping to not have to deal with the baby at all. And if that was true then, then it still is now. Just hidden behind the fear of Niki dying for no fucking reason. Except…

“…that’s not right either…” he mumbles, finishing the thought out loud.

“What’s not right?” she asks, understandably confused since she hasn’t heard his internal reasoning.

He looks up at her once more, somehow feeling like he’s seeing her for the first time all over again. Christ, she really is beautiful.

“I’m terrified of losing you,” he confesses, and sees her features instantly soften. “Not because of any need to right my wrongs against you or because I just don’t wanna lose the closest thing I have to a friend. I’m terrified because I need you. Because the thought of having to bury yo-…”

Even finishing that sentence is too painful. The words are strangled in the depths of his throat while the unwanted image of a headstone and freshly closed grave flashes before his eyes. Disturbed by the sight, he jolts to his feet and begins pacing, alternating between crossing his arms and restlessly fiddling with his shirt, or scratching his neck or running a hand through his hair, all while rambling uncontrollably.

“I never let myself go there, because no one ever means it, it’s always just empty words, so why would I be any different? Me, the guy who’s actively avoided all attachments all my life, becoming a criminal and a thief and a god damned vigilante because I just can’t trust people. So, why didn’t I see it from the start? Why the fuck didn’t I see it?! I trusted you. From day one, I trusted you. How could I not see that it was because I wanted it to mean something? Because I wanted you to be the exception… the one that might say it and mean it. Even to me.”

He stops moving. He’s right at the foot of her bed. Nikita Morse. The woman he doesn’t want to live without. The woman he dares to care about, even though he doesn’t know her. The only person in the world… that he loves. Turning slowly, he meets her gaze, and there are tears running her cheeks. Just like there had been that night, when she’d fled the anger that she had never deserved, but which she’d shouldered so gracefully all the same.

“I will,” she whispers. “When this is over, I’ll say it… and if you believe me, you say it back. Deal?”

Stepping around the foot of the bed, he goes to her side and leans over to kiss her instead of making some bland verbal promise. He’s never just kissed her before. Only while having sex, only as a gesture of passion, never to express care or affection. This feels different. Like a spark moving from his lips into his blood, where it can course through him endlessly. It feels wonderful. Until he remembers that this might not be over for a very long time, and that it might very well end with their deaths.

“You hungry?” he asks, trying to distract himself and noticing that it’s getting close to lunchtime.

His voice is thick with emotions much deeper than anything he’s ever felt, but it’s strangely not as crippling as fear or as paralyzing as lost hope. Instead, it feels empowering. Suddenly the idea that an entire government is on their tails seems less like an insurmountable obstacle and more like a climbing challenge. How the fuck does that happen?

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I’ll be constantly hungry for weeks to come yet,” she tries to joke to get the weight of the world off her chest, while wiping her tears away.

“Okay, I’ll go see what I can make for you,” he says, gently squeezing her lower arm before he leaves, hoping she’ll take it as a comforting gesture.

Returning to the kitchen, he finds Gillian in the process of finishing a chicken soup.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he offers when she looks up from stirring the pot.

“I know, but between you protecting us and keeping an eye on Nikita, and William doing his part researching the bad guys, I kinda ran out of ways to be useful.”

“Well, don’t worry, pretty soon you’re gonna be wishing you had less to do,” Pero cautions, and she stops stirring.

“What do you mean?”

She’s been around him long enough now to know that when he warns her about something, it’s generally life and death level serious.

“We can’t just sit here and wait for someone to find us. Eventually we’ll run out of food, but I suspect we’ll go crazy before that.”

“You’re leaving?” she asks, and she doesn’t sound happy about the prospect.

“We need allies. Eyes and ears outside of this place, people that can warn us if our enemy is approaching. And we can’t find any by sitting around out here,” he explains.

He can see that she realizes the truth of what he’s saying, but she seems worried about the prospect of not having him around. She takes the pot off the plate and turns off the stove before turning to face him, and by then there are tears in her eyes, which surprises him.

“You’re the only here that won’t crack under the threat of death. You can’t leave,” she pleads, but her words confuse him.

“Gillian… you’re every bit as tough as I am.”

“No,” she shakes her head firmly. “I’m not even close. I’ve been fraying at the seams ever since the hospital, I just never stopped long enough to let myself think about it. Yeah, I’m a trauma nurse and I’ve seen some bad shit in the few years I’ve been doing it, but putting myself in between patients and bullets… actually preparing to gas people to death… No. I’m not cut out for any of this.”

She’s about ready to curl into a ball and give up. He can see that in her eyes and the sudden tremors in her hands, and he doesn’t blame her one bit. Niki’s doing good, so technically there’s no need for her to stay, and he was never going to force her to, no matter what.

“Then take the truck and go back to town,” he repeats himself from the first night.

She had rejected the idea then, but he can see that it hits her differently now. That she wants to go. But she also knows herself. The tears have begun to fall, and she swipes at them with frustration as she starts rummaging through cupboards in search of a good bowl to serve the soup in. It isn’t pride or even duty that keeps her from taking him up on it. Just humanity. Just a stark unwillingness to leave them all and save herself, because that guilt would be worse than anything to her.

But the fear is still there regardless, eating away at her, leaving her nervous and angry, stealing her joy and positivity, forcing her mind into dark places that only serve to increase her anxiousness. He might not have ever wanted or sought friendship, but he knows what it looks like. And for the most part, it doesn’t seem to matter whether someone’s intentions are genuine or not, the gestures of comfort usually appear to be enough.

So, since he feels responsible for Gillian’s situation, he steps closer to her and stops her nearly frantic search, by pulling her into a hug. She’s not even shocked by it. Too desperate for the comfort it brings, she instantly abandons her efforts and lets him hold her while she allows herself to fall apart for a few moments.

He’s struck by how small she feels when she curls in on herself between his arms, trembling and sniveling. She’s such an impressive person. By his standards, at least. It seems contradictory that she should be so small when she carries such enormous things within her. But true to her character, she only allows herself a brief respite. Pulling away and resuming her task after no more than a minute.

He reaches into the correct cupboard and takes out a perfect sized bowl for a portion of soup, which he hands to her without a word. She’s looked through that cupboard in her search, but was too overwhelmed to absorb anything she saw, which is why she now feels foolish. He doesn’t tell her not to, because that won’t help. Instead, he turns to leave, giving her space to feel whatever she needs to.

“Thank you,” she says before he steps out of her view, and he stops and turns halfway to look at her.

“I owe you everything, Gillian. Don’t ever forget that I’m just a weapon. It’s you who are the hero of this story,” he says, and then turns away and heads upstairs.

The computer system takes up the entire desk, and huddled in between the screens, cables and fan-assisted operating systems and hard drives, is a deeply concentrating William. Pero has seen him work before, so the image isn’t unfamiliar to him, but the worried crease in the veteran’s forehead is something new. Which says something about how much of a mess they’re really in.

“Any updates?”

Unlike many other computer experts, Will’s time in the military has left him incapable of getting so immersed in the digital world that he loses touch with the reality around him, so it’s actually really hard to sneak up on him. He doesn’t flinch or react to Pero’s voice at all, because he’s already heard him coming up the stairs.

“Yeah, we’re definitely dealing with China. But not government. It looks more like some private radical with enough funds to finance a small war.”

“Great,” Tovar sighs and sinks into a reading chair. “That makes this so much easier.”

The sarcasm is partially lost in the fatigue, and he runs a hand over his face while he tries to think through how this information might change his course of action going forwards.

“At least it’s not another fucking country on our tails,” Garin points out, and he’s right, that would’ve been worse.

“True. But if it had been, we would’ve been able to work out the players, whereas with a private force, there’s no telling who or how many people stand between us and freedom.”

“Now you’re being offensive,” Will tuts. “I’ll have that information by the end of the day.”

“Seriously? These jackasses are dumb enough to leave a digital trail?”

“Not an obvious one, no. But they’re using a cleverly concealed chatroom, masquerading as a social media DM thread, to communicate, and once I break the encryption, we’ll know everything they’re doing. I should even be able to backtrace their locations and set up a real-time tracking system. It’s our homegrown jackasses that are proving to be a bigger issue.”

“How come?”

“Well… I suspect it’s the abundance of resources. Satellites and drone surveillance, probably an entire farm of hackers all focusing their efforts on us, not to mention thousands of boots on the ground to run down all leads and eliminate false trails.”

“Right,” Pero grumbles, already feeling defeated.

“Hey,” William calls his attention, looking up from the screens and meeting his eyes as he continues. “Don’t give up yet. We might not have an army, but that doesn’t mean we’re not dangerous. They’re already scared of us, and we can use that.”

“Yeah, I know. I just also know that this isn’t gonna end without bloodshed, one way or another.”

“Probably not. So, what’s your plan? Cause I know you’re cooking up something, your head’s far too big to not have turned and looked all this over a dozen times already.”

“More like a hundred,” Pero corrects. “But I keep coming back to one inescapable fact: we need better numbers. Allies.”

“Okay, so how are you gonna find some?”

“Doing what I always do. I’m gonna make them an offer they can’t refuse.”

Will doesn’t look particularly happy about that, but then, he’s been at the receiving end of that offer, and it didn’t work out so well for him.

“Don’t you mean threaten them?” he says quietly, and while there’s a hint of defiance in his eyes, he looks mostly scared. “Cause I can promise you, that’s how it feels.”

But Tovar isn’t offended or rattled by that statement. The veteran is probably correct, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’d gotten himself into the shit that had followed, after Pero’s threat.

“Yeah, that’s the point. If you hadn’t been a selfish bastard who cared more about the one percent of your money that I took, your fiancé would’ve been alive today,” he coldly replies, because he’s tired of Will’s endless attempts to make him feel guilty about their past. “And the really sad part about all this is that I already know I’m not gonna have any trouble finding skeletons I can use under the rocks that our intended assassins are sitting on, because that’s the fucking norm. But hey, why don’t I ask them nicely? Maybe they’ll agree not to kill us out of the goodness of their hearts.”

-=¤=-=¤=-=¤=-=¤=-=¤=-=¤=-

Part 6

Thank you for reading, and remember: I have no taglist anymore. Follow @sirowsky-stories and turn on notifications for updates on my writing :)

#pero tovar fanfiction #pero tovar x original female character #pero tovar x ofc #modern!pero #modern!au #the great wall fanfiction #the great wall au #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal character fanfiction #sirowsky stories #pedrostories

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lady-zoras-artroom · 7 months

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[Update Note: Concept has changed, but enjoy what I've made!]

Okay!!! I got Lupin OCs!!! Here's one!

Be for warned, Long Post!

Yes, her name is spelled that way and she changed it to be so! Her actual name is Bonnie Anne (Some last name that relates her to an Infamous Arms Dealer in the black market).

Her whole deal is that, she was at one of Lupin's Heists, a big party where all the Fat Cats are gathered to do business and exchanges the Goods.

When she first saw Lupin making his getaway (goods in hand), she immediately crushes on him!

Her story is a work in progress, and so is her color pallet, but the jist is that, she is trying to discorver True Happiness and to keep far away from her father as much as possible. So when she saw Lupin III himself, she felt something! Not sure what it was, but because of this feeling she devises a plan to capture Lupin - wanting to meet him in person!

Because of Lupin's Successful Heist, she takes the opportunity to steal some money and make a getway of her own with her personal body guard/best friend, Galsan (Nicknamed "Terra").

Now on the run and hiding from her father, she calculates and plans the perfect scheme taking note of the heist she witnessed.

She changes her name slightly to be what it is now and with her trusted connections, she was able to set up a temporary base of operations. It would also be the stage of where she will set the trap for Lupin!

Plan: Challenge Lupin III to steal a lost treasure hidden within the confinds of a tower!

The goal: Entice and Steal Lupin's heart!

Bonnie conducts research by contacting Zenigata as he is the only one rich with Knowledge about the Lupin Gang! Of course, she isn't going to let the Inspector succeed in capturing the infamous theif, but makes him thinks so!

Everything that Zenigata had on the group as well as Fujiko was all she needed! Learning about them esspecially Lupin excited her!

I say the time frame took perhaps almost a year to set up as the setting needed to be as believable as possible! Bonnie then has a stand-in (who is male) to announce the creation of the tower and the prize waiting inside! Make him seem like he's the mastermind when he isn't that way Lupin is more interested!

Details: The Tower is built like a gauntlet. The lower levels are available to the public as a museum for the "Lost Treasure". The treasure is displayed in a bullet proof casing for the public to see. Then when the museum closes, it is elevated to the top of the tower under very heavy security and protection!

Now, I'm not sure what Lupin will do as I do not know how to write spy/theif action stories, I can think up concepts. But I do know he not only does succeed, but gets an unexpected surprise!

Plot twist, the treasure was agreed to be faked by Zenigata and Bonnie, but in actuality, it was real and Bonnie is "wearing" it (she hid it between her boobs [and it was on purpose])!

Bonnie used her connections to get the real thing and makes an offer to him!

Offers in order:

- Let her become part of the Lupin Gang! She will supply them with needed necessities through her trusted connections (though she does have a budget)

- Become her boyfriend! She wants to see who Lupin is in person! Though she was told by Zenigata how shameful and criminal Lupin is, weridly enough that only interested her further.

- I kid you not, this is what she wants: Have Lupin sleep with her! Like no shame whatsoever! She's 28 btw, she's just short, like 5'3 and just as horny!

If anything, Lupin meets his match here - both in terms of skill and romance! I'm thinking their relationship does start off as a mutual agreement. Lupin gets to experience what it's like to be genuinely liked or crushed on as Bonnie would be holding his cheeks and just gushing about how cute and handsome he is! He's still after the treasure of course, but Bonnie will make sure it's a challenge for him! Teasing him, playing around, making him chase her and stuff. She's got tricks up her dress, let me tell ya!

What I want to do basically is like, build up their relationship as I do wanna ship them! OCxCanon is valid and I will die on that hill. I want them to have depth and go into detail about what kind of relationship the two want. I esspecially wanna go over what exactly Lupin and Fujiko's relationship is. How long are they gonna keep playing these games with each other? Will Bonnie understand what it's like to have a relationship? The sacrifices and dedication it takes to maintain one?

Yeah, I wanna explore all that. This is just for fun! Anyway, I'll work on her pallet and share Galsan's stuff!

#artists on tumblr #fan art #lupin the third #lupin the 3rd #lupin iii #lupin iii oc #zsocs #oc x canon

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nitrateglow · 11 months

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RIP Alan Arkin

I just learned Alan Arkin passed away yesterday. He lived a long life (89 years) and had a fantastic career, remaining pretty busy until the end. He is one of few actors I would watch in absolutely anything because he had a tendency to elevate any material he was in. A film could be mediocre, but Arkin certainly never was.

What endears Arkin so much to me? Two things come to mind.

First, he was incredibly versatile. I know that is a common platitude to give an actor, but Arkin truly disappeared into his roles in the way few actors actually do. It’s hard to believe the panicked, uptight Sheldon Kornplett is played by the same actor as the borderline insane but affectionate Abraham Rodrieguez, or that the delusional intellectual Simon Mendelssohn is the same guy as the lonely and sensitive but guarded John Singer. He did everything to make each character distinct and he succeeded.

Second, there’s the way Arkin never approached roles the way you would expect. My favorite example of this is in how he played the murderous Harry Roat Jr. in Wait Until Dark. The director and crew expected a typical growling heavy performance (physically sturdier actors George C. Scott and Rod Steiger were originally offered the part), so they were baffled by Arkin’s choice to make the character seem laidback and even goofy at times. But these qualities only serve as a great contrast to the character’s true sadism and aggression. When he unexpectedly pulls a knife on his underlings or shouts at a defiant Audrey Hepburn in rage, you realize all those beatnik vibes were a facade. Arkin’s risktaking resulted in a movie villain for the ages.

The same applies to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter: most actors might have drenched John Singer in sentimental yearning, but Arkin makes him a bit cold, even with the people he befriends. This doesn’t take away from the character’s compassion for others or his love for his fellow deaf-mute friend-- it only makes him more complicated and his ultimate fate all the more tragic. He’s not a “saintly disabled person” stereotype. He has flaws and the fatal one comes from all the walls he puts up around himself. If Harry Roat Jr. scares the shit out of me, Singer breaks my damn heart.

I even admire Arkin in movies that were not as wholly successful, or at least are not seen as such. Deadhead Miles is a big favorite of mine, where he plays a mischievous, hilarious criminal who sounds like a Texan Kermit the Frog and steals a big rig. Inspector Clouseau might not be as fabulous as the Pink Panther films with Peter Sellers, but Arkin brought his own unique touches to the character and was not satisfied to simply ape his predecessor in the same role. The Magician of Lublin is a bit of an Oscar-baity drag, but Arkin’s performance as the arrogant but existentially unfulfilled Yasha was great-- he’s unlikable and at times awful, but very, very human. And then there’s that masterclass in bad taste and car crashes, Freebie and the Bean, where Arkin and James Caan were one of the most iconic comedy duos of all time.

Oh, and how could I forget Bud in The Santa Clause 3? That movie sucks but Arkin’s deadpan “WOWs” when he learns Tim Allen is Santa is so fucking bizarre that I have to at least watch that scene come Christmas time.

I could go on forever (I somehow did not mention Catch-22 and should be ashamed of myself for that-- such an underrated movie and Arkin is the best thing in it), and not just about movies. Arkin was also a singer, musician, children’s book author, theater and film director, memoirist, and teacher. Any biography of the man would be bursting with his creative endeavors. From the interviews I’ve perused, Arkin was truly passionate about his projects and always wanted to push himself.

Dammit, I just love this guy. He was and is a true treasure, and I’m grateful he got to live a long, active life.

Rest in peace and thank you for everything.

#alan arkin #rip #thoughts

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boldlyanxious · 1 year

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Robinhood

reposted from ao3. Was supposed to be a one shot but as it neared 20k I broke it into chapters

Masterlist

Chapter 1

She had a plan.

There was a way to get out of this situation with no one being hurt. At least not any more than they already were. Too many were suffering in their attempts to protect her secret. She wasn’t sure she had earned that. True, she was using what she had to help those in need but she was hiding her true self and not standing up to those in power to actually make things better. She wasn’t sure that she could but now, Lord Gabriel had found out and he intended to stop her.

She couldn’t face him but hopefully she could find someone who would stand up to him. He had positioned himself as her helper and protector but so many others were left suffering. She couldn’t just watch it happen.

That is why she had devised a plan to sneak out. But that would take time. There were still too many things not in place. Tonight would not be a good night for that.

But the circumstances demanded that she do something.

They were coming for her. They claimed it was for her own protection but they only wished to control her. With her parents gone and all the others on the run, she would have to solve this herself. She regretted denying the supplies to those in need, but it was the best thing she could come up with on short notice. She would try to still give them as much as she could by taking up the smallest space possible.

She heard the steps coming as she shoved the blankets into a cupboard. It was either that or the food. Hopefully she was guessing right in the food being the more urgent need. She pulled the lid down just before the guards entered in search of her. She could hear her lady's maid being threatened. There was a slap when she froze instead of answering their questions immediately.

“She was in the garden,” Alya said. “She always wanders in the garden after breakfast. Every day.”

Lady Marinette bit her lip to keep from yelling out for them to stop as she could hear them still being rough with her. It would not help for her to show herself now. Alya would be treated the same and Marinette would be trapped, unable to get away.

—

“Lord Jason,” the man said, with a mock bow. “It's so good to see you finally fulfilling your purpose.”

When he was young, his adoptive father had been proud to give him his name and Jason had considered it a badge of honor but most of the other nobles had deemed him unworthy. They said he would put a stain on the Wayne name. Perhaps he had been, but the stain from the Agreste was far worse. He had called himself Robin when he left. He had left to find out who he actually was. It wasn’t until he came back that he learned about himself.

His father and brothers were gone, banished by the criminals who had taken over. They may be noble by birth but that didn’t give them the right to lord themselves over all the rest. He would put a stop to it. He wasn’t the only one. He had heard many whispers about a Ladybug who would show up in the desperate towns with food and supplies. She would arrive and hand everything out and be gone without any of the nobles discovering her.

He raised a knife to the man’s throat. “I hate to disappoint,” he said simply.

He wouldn’t be able to convince the man that what he was doing was right even if he wanted to. But he really didn’t care. He would do anything to stop the corruption that had infested Gotham and that included blocking all the trade lines. All the food was redistributed and the money went to those who were hit hardest by the current state of things. Stealing a few trinkets from Agreste’s son didn’t bother him in the slightest. It actually pleased him quite a bit.

Adrien was sent on his way after being deprived of all their opulent valuables as well as the many trunks of food and blankets they were hoarding. They didn’t harm him or even take all his money, just the jewels and supplies.

The crew quickly set about getting the loot to the storage. They were excited to be able to head to a nearby village tomorrow to pass out the food. They had recently been hit by the thugs working for Lord Agreste and would definitely need some help. He hefted the trunk onto the shelf with a loud sound followed by a small grunt. He looked around and no one else was in there with him right now. No one was visible. But the trunk he had just put away had definitely made a sound.

—

Adrien had helped her hide. He was the only reason she had been able to keep giving as long as she had. He had warned her where the guards were going and which places would be safe. He always told her where his father’s men had been and then he warned her when he found out she was in danger. He didn’t know details of her other plans to escape. Everytime she mentioned wanting to leave, he just got quiet.

That was probably for the best. He had difficulty when it came to choosing anything over pleasing his father. She knew he didn’t want her to leave but when he found out that his father had discovered her Ladybug secret, he told her right away. The method was not ideal, but he visited her nearly every day so it looked perfectly normal. The guards would never suspect that he was hiding her.

They had been friends since childhood and it was one of the few times he had been able to stand up to his father. Gabriel had always been cold, but since the death of his wife Emeilie he had become someone entirely different. She and Adrien had bonded even more after the accident. They had been with them but had not been harmed. Her parents had died immediately but Emelie had hung on through the night before she succumbed to her injuries. After the accident, Marinette had stayed with the Agreste’s for a few months but eventually she returned home. Her people still needed her even if she was still grieving. They would mourn with her as she had through all their hardships.

The trunk she had hidden in was very cramped. She had left one blanket along the bottom to cushion it, but that had been a mistake. It had bunched up under her with all the shuffling and was not just in the way. She could feel every shift and she was certain she was covered with bruises. But that was not her immediate concern when the crate was opened. She was supposed to be relieved when it opened because that would mean safety. But she wasn’t sure that was what she found because she recognized the man standing there.

She scoffed at the idea that so many of the people considered Robin Hood a hero. She knew he was doing things that benefited them; she was as well. But she was certain that he was doing it for a purpose of his own. She had known Jason most of her life. Selflessness was not a trait he had ever possessed. He was one of the three families once considered to be the caretakers of this region. But his family left in disgrace after the death of her parents. There were questions asked about what had happened to make the carriage veer off and not stop. The questions were unanswered when they fled rather than responding.

Jason had escaped the fate of being banished because he had been traveling at the time of the accident. Gabriel Agreste had pointed the finger at the Waynes after the accident and their response was to flee. Jason had been away before this had happened and avoided banishment but he had returned and the people immediately flocked to him. But he had brought anything but peace to the region already suffering after having lost so much. With the shift in power, Gabriel had become the only dominant power in the region. Marinette was unable to stand against him as Lady Marinette. She had created Ladybug to give them help and support. There was no one else to fill the void left by the Waynes so Gabriel took the power.

Marinette often wished she knew what her parents would do in the situation. The changes had happened so quickly and she was still young then. Gabriel had been so kind in offering to help her manage for the past few years. But one day when she looked beyond those she saw regularly she realized they were failing. They were her responsibility and she didn’t know how to help them. Gabriel sneered at her explanation of the problem and said they had all they deserved. They could work harder and get what they needed. She disagreed but she was still inexperienced in how to run the entire estate on her own. Whenever she tried to make a change, he fought her on it until she made adjustments to do it his way.

—

“Well, if it isn’t the little princess running from her failed kingdom,” Jason said when he opened the chest to find Lady Marinette.

She eyed him warily without responding. She was looking for a way to escape but he wouldn’t allow that. She had already been making off with a huge supply of food for herself. He figured it would be a good idea for her to see how the rest of them lived. She finished looking around and seemed to realize that there would be no way for her to get out of the trunk and past him so she opened her mouth to plead with him. He didn’t give her the opportunity. He grabbed her by the arms and hauled her out of the space.

She barely had her feet under her before he pulled her along, causing her to race to keep up or risk being dragged. A crowd had gathered cheering the haul they had just managed to secure with no risk to themselves. Jason moved swiftly to the center of the crowd and deposited Lady Marinette on the ground before them.

“We not only gained supplies but a chance to further teach those in charge about how we live under their boot,” he glared down at her on the ground before him. “She was trying to escape with all the food she could collect and a sack full of jewels.”

He pulled out the bag of jewels she had on her and dumped it over her while the crowd was muttering. He was surprised that they did not all sound as angry as he felt at her obvious wealth. He agreed with what he heard about her clothing. It definitely was not what he would expect from someone of her station, but he had seen the carriage that went by with the one who was aiding her in running away. They pulled out many crates of food along with the trunk she had hidden herself in. Looking down at her, she definitely looked broken but she pushed herself up from where she had been laid out on the ground and looked up at him defiantly.

He remembered her from when she was young. She was a few years younger than him so when he came to live at the Wayne estate he hadn’t been very interested in the same things. But he remembered her bright smile. She would follow him and his brothers around, trying to do the same things as them but she would often get left behind. Whether they did it on purpose to not have to be around a little girl or whether she got distracted by finding a field of flowers, the result was the same. Even if she was eager to follow after them and do the same activities, she would end up turning back when she lost sight of them.

It was one day when they returned back far too late and Bruce had chided them since they had company for dinner. It was nearly dark and they were in dirty clothes from the sports of the day. They were headed up to clean up for the delayed dinner when her parents asked after her. She had followed them, but they had long since ditched her for their own interests. They had been closer to the woods on the property and further from the house than they had abandoned her in the past but none of them thought that she wouldn’t make it back on her own. She had always returned long before them in the past.

They rushed back out with lanterns to search for her, concerned about why she hadn’t returned. Jason had been the one to find her. She was further in the woods but caught on the thicket. Her hair had fallen down and her dress was torn. Tear streaks went down her face making bright paths through the dirt that had covered it. It was bright in the light of his lantern. But no matter how cold and scared she may have been, she looked up at him with defiance.

“Here, let me help you,” he said as he approached her.

“I don’t need any help from you. I would hate to be a nuisance.”

Her voice wobbled a bit but her chin stuck out firmly. Jason remembered as they ditched her earlier they had laughed and he had said that very thing about her. He would never have said it to her but she had apparently heard him anyway. She pulled back and looked away from him but he just stepped closer and worked on detangling her from the snared branches.

The defiant look on her face when she refused to accept his help even though she was clearly unable to get herself free was the same look she was giving him now. Many of the others had treated him differently because he had been born low class. That was the day she changed. She never tried running after them again. She avoided them and hid in the gardens or stayed inside. He felt guilty every time he saw her look out longingly at the unexplored area before she went into the gardens alone. She looked every bit the young lady she was born to be now. But he suddenly felt as he had that day, as if he had wronged her.

taglist

#jasonette #Robinhood au #maribat #boldlyanxious #this was supposed to be an accidental kidnapping prompt for Christmas gift

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tootern2345 · 5 months

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Wanting to expand my palettes of taste regarding the international animation scene and decided to take a gander at a previous studio that I’ve watched before. Yugoslavia/Croatia’s very own, Zagreb Film! The cartoon I watched and will be reviewing is 1958’s Concerto for Submachine Gun (original title: Koncert za mašinsku pušku). This review is mainly fact but it contains some opinion. So watch the cartoon for yourself and see what you think of it! This cartoon is a pretty neat one and it’s a hallmark in international animation so yeah lmao.

The short starts off with a little jazz interluded number about a big, bustling city with cars on every street. The most important of all is the mayor’s car. Who is seen riding around with his protectors as he makes the guards at the bank pose for a picture. He completes his grand driving around the city as he comes back home as it turns out that the happy, white little mayor is all a facade, a mask, a latex suit if you will. The guy is actually a disgruntled, black with tuxedo wearing criminal mastermind who is unhappy with the fact he pursues some whimsical facade. As he opens a closet fulled with people, he reveals his master plan…. To rob the bank! He can’t do it by himself since it’s guarded so he hires a bunch of henchmen to do it for him as we then go to the most memorable sequence of the short. The battle! It’s criminal henchmen against the bank guards against the cops in a wonderfully timed & scored sequence that truly lives up to this film’s title. After the shootout takes place. The other henchmen & most of the cops are dead as the surviving henchman realizes he didn’t get any dough. Which gratefully upsets the mastermind as he grows a tail and shows utter discomfort for our henchman. However, the mastermind doesn’t give up too easily as he goes ahead and comes up with another plan that involves another bunch of rich fat cats and a sculpture to do the trick. After that, the henchman goes underground to steal the money that’s in the bank vault as the remaining guards try to stop him. Alas, everything goes to shit as the henchman & mastermind get away with the crime.. or do they? The mastermind, showing his true colors, steals the money all to himself and only leaves a measly 1,000 dinars for the henchman and the other guys to fight over as the mastermind literally orchestrates the fight, leaving nothing in the end

The short is pretty nicely designed and nicely scored as well. It has a central theme & motive (greed, revenge, & deceit) and Zlatko Grgic alongside the rest of the animators here give the limited, UPA-esque designs here some great movement. I also love how screen credits for the tenor sax (performed by Ozren Depolo) and drums (performed by Petar Spasov) exist!

The only issue I have with it isn’t an actual issue, more of a nitpick but there’s a brief scene or two in which the animation checker didn’t check everything before the camera operator shot (exposed) the film as the henchman’s tie disappears for a few frames in some of the toon. Idk, just some stupid thing I notice in cartoons lol. Oh well, it’s still a great short anyhow!

I rate it a 10/10! A classic short. One that should be seen by people all around the world. A maverick for the Zagreb Film studio and what their artists was inspired to during these times

Credit goes to the Zagreb Film channel itself for the screengrabs and the clip you see here! It explains why the quality is so amazing!!! Though, some audio issues are present with the film

Directed by Dusan Vukotić for Zagreb Film. Zagreb, Yugoslavia (present day Croatia)

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ultrxmxrine · 5 months

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What was it like for the sirens on their lonely rock, watching everyone who tried to love them drown?

charles melton, 240, genderfluid, he/him — did you see elzaren reed walking down main street ? the tabloids say that the siren is known to be captivating and extravagant, but who knows if that’s true. the spy seems to fit the vibe of a half empty bottle of wine, flirty smile across the bar, a longing for a home you never had

𐫱 General information 𐫱 ⊹ Full name: Elzaren Reed ⊹ Nickname: Elzi ⊹ Age: 240 years old ⊹ Species: Siren ⊹ Birthday: on the highest tide during a full moon on November 9th, 1783. ⊹ Zodiac sign: Scorpio ⊹ Gender: Genderfluid ⊹ Pronouns: Mostly he/him, but he is fine with any pronouns ⊹ Sexuality: Homosexual ⊹ Occupation: Spy ⊹ Religion: He prays to Marina, but he has never told anyone how important she is to him.

𐫱 Appearance 𐫱 ⊹ Faceclaim: Charles Melton ⊹ Height: 6'1 ⊹ Build: Lean but muscular ⊹ Hair: Black but when in the ocean it almost looks blueish. ⊹ eye colour: Dark brown ⊹ Piercing: In both ears he has three in his lobe and then a helix. At some point he had a nose piercing, but he recently took it out and in the 90's he had a belly button piercing. ⊹ Tattoo: He has a faded tattoo on his cheeks that from a distance only look like freckles, but it's actually runic inscription in honor of Marina. He then has multiple other tattoos that he has collected throughout his life. ⊹ Scars: He has a scar on his side and neck after getting stuck in a fishing net as a child.

𐫱 Personality traits 𐫱 ⊹ Positive traits: Independent, loyal, intelligent, protective ⊹ Negative traits: Cynical, eccentric, extravagant, impulsive, dramatic ⊹ Likes: beautiful clothes, a relaxing day, a glass of wine and good food, the sound of the waves. ⊹ Dislikes: Ignorant people, bad fashion style, DIY projects (forced to make things? No thank you!, bugs ⊹ Favourite song: California Dreamin' by the mamas & papas and Oui Oui Marie by Chelsea Wolfe ⊹ Fears: That in the end he will lose everyone he cares about and end up all alone.

𐫱 History 𐫱

TW: Death

Ꮺ During the high tide 240 years ago, Elzaren was born into an affluent family of sirens. He was the youngest son and the light of his parents' life. They adored him and gave him everything he wanted; everyone knew him and his family, and they knew he would grow up to become just like his father. Someone who used his wealth to take care of the people in need. However, his family's unwavering trust would be the thing that doomed them in the end.

Ꮺ When Elzaren was ten, his oldest brother met a woman on land. She was picture perfect, everything he had ever wanted. Despite their friends warning his family, pleading with them not to trust the humans, they welcomed her with open arms. His brother told her everything about his family; more importantly, he told her about their riches and where to find them.

Ꮺ It shouldn't have come as a surprise when, one night, her family arrived on boats to steal their wealth. They hunted his family down and took everything they owned. In the chaos of that night, Elzaren got caught in their fishing net, where he was stuck thrashing around, trying to escape to help his family, but he was stuck having to watch it happen without being able to do anything.

Ꮺ Still, to this day, Elzaren has no idea how he escaped. One moment, he was in the fishing net screaming as it cut into his skin, and the next, he woke up at the bottom of the ocean, hurt but alive.

Ꮺ After this incident, his family name was ruined. They were now known as the fools who trusted humans and let the humans ruin them. Elzaren was left with nothing. That didn't stop him; he was determined to make something out of himself.

Ꮺ As he grew older, he realized he had the talent to get people to trust him. He would gather information for gangs and other criminals by flirting with and charming their enemies, and sometimes, he would even lure them into the ocean with him.

Ꮺ It didn't take long before the royal family noticed him and offered him a job. For a while he refused, but his vision of a better life pushed him to accept the job. Now, after working as a spy for about 200 years, he is incredibly talented, but he still refuses the offer of becoming the spymaster for the royal family. He had the skill to do it, but he wouldn't have been able to deal with other people.

𐫱 Headcanons 𐫱

Ꮺ He is very eccentric and definitely not everyone's cup of tea. He can be overly dramatic and very flirtatious. However, it's all an act. This persona he has created has been the shield that he has built from a young age.

Ꮺ The truth is, he is very distrustful of everyone. He assumes people will betray him for selfish reasons; therefore, he uses that as a justification if he decides to betray others. However, he is loyal to the people he cares about and wouldn't betray them. (he's just a dumbass lbr).

Ꮺ He always thinks of himself like the dark stormy ocean that will pull people down to their deaths.

Ꮺ On the more positive side, his best friends are the gossip crabs, who tell him everything that is happening around the island, but how accurate their intel is, is debatable.

𐫱 Wanted Connections 𐫱

Ꮺ Someone he hooked up with for intel: There could have been some hard feelings about this afterward, or maybe not? It could be interesting.

Ꮺ Childhood best friends: Someone who knew him before the fall of his family and someone.

Ꮺ Someone he grew up with: He could have moved in with their family and stayed with them until he was old enough to be on his own.

Ꮺ Someone he used to work with: Another spy? Someone who helped him or needed help? One of the criminals or someone from the royal family?

Ꮺ Best friends / Frenemies / Enemies / FWB

#𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝓈𝑜𝓃𝑔: intro #chq.intro #Let's try this again #I couldn't be bothered to edit it tho

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detectiveichijouji · 9 months

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Case 13 - A Cat and Rat game

[AO3 version]

Maybe because of that night, things sounded weird to the group. Ken was the kind to be skeptical and way more rational than Daisuke (who’s skeptical but pretty emotional) so he sat on his desktop chair and thought about what was said.

“Arsenemon told me. Really, he just let us do it because… He didn’t want to see that Bakumon suffer like that.”

Despite everything, Ichijouji Ken wasn’t the type to get fired up with a ‘criminal’ as Daisuke and he would rather have some rivalry with Arsenemon in the same way as a detective and phantom thief have. But… This was still intriguing to him…

Yet he had witnessed this happening before -- The time Kitagawa Kentarou was stealing armor and equipment from other digimon… And the time a Meicoomon was trying to follow in his footsteps. The fact he managed to have a talk with Daisuke, who’s so determined and passionate about trying to catch him… Is no surprise.

The surprise was why Daisuke himself. Ok, Ken is aware Daisuke is the kind to give others a second chance when there’s room for improvement and redemption, but… So far all Daisuke had babbled about Arsenemon was actually assumptions and weird theories…

“Why would he suddenly… Ask directly a question to Arsenemon out of a sudden?”

Ken was sure sooner or later they would end up asking the right questions to Arsenemon, but Daisuke did it first and without their presence… Also why would Arsenemon let them have a piece…? Wouldn't it be more logical to make a trade, help the Bakumon and in return take the piece from Daisuke?

“... Something is off,” Ken concluded.

“Ken-chan?” Wormmon looked at him from the bed. The digimon was reading an old manga about phantom thieves up there, “Do you think that Daisuke-san was the real one?”

“... What do you mean?” Ken looked back at Wormmon, “V-mon would’ve suspected that as well, don’t you agree?”

“Yes, but… Arsenemon had pretended to be you once and Daisuke-san and V-mon didn’t notice…”

“... Ok, you got me there. But he was with us until we left to take the train back home. Hikari-san lives in the same apartment complex as Daisuke, and Tailmon is smart enough to know the difference between Daisuke and someone pretending to be him.”

“But you deceived them when you met them in this world when you were the Kaiser, right?”

“Yes, but they didn’t realize it was me this whole time, even when I was… Dropping all the hints…”

“I… I also name dropped you once when fighting Tailmon…”

“But we were complete strangers back in time” he sighed, “I do think we talked to the real Daisuke and V-mon, though they weren’t… Too invested in capturing Arsenemon now.”

“True…”

“I’ll make some tea, can I offer a cup for your reading?”

“Yes, I’d like my favorite if possible.”

Ken laughed innocently, “Yes, sir.”

“So uhh… I think I have to thank Noel for the tip.”

Hikari and Takeru were leaving the class with Daisuke the next day, heading to their usual spot to check if more people or digimon needed their help. But this made both kids and their digimon curious.

“What tip?” Takeru asked for them all.

“Noel said that it’s odd that a bad digimon wouldn’t want world domination,” V-mon commented, “We only know that Arsenemon is after those fragments, but not his real objective.”

“Hmm…?” Tailmon raised an eyebrow.

“I… I don’t know anymore” Daisuke sighed, “The stuff Arsenemon stole and were mistaken with the fragments were sent back to their owners later, And he helped us to deal with the fake Arsenemon-cat and now with a rampaging Bakumon…”

“You mean… You don’t feel the motivation to keep chasing him like before?” Hikari frowned.

“Of course I want to catch him!” Daisuke snorted, “But, I don’t understand what he meant by not believing him if he told us what he planned to do with the Digimental pieces…”

“... Do you want to investigate that? I mean, Arsenemon’s motives?” Patamon asked.

“That’s impossible… we know he only appears at night and when he sends a calling card…”

“That’s a phantom thief etiquette” V-mon shrugged.

“... That’s it!”

“???” They all looked at Daisuke, clueless.

“I mean, we don’t catch a phantom thief by thinking like a detective! You catch a phantom thief by thinking like a phantom thief!”

“Does it even make sense?” V-mon and Patamon looked at each other.

“You’re not pretending to turn into one, right?” Tailmon said with an annoying voice, “You would get in real trouble if you do that.”

“O-of course I’m not doing it! I mean, we just imagine what we would do if we were.”

“Ah! The ‘imagining scenarios’ thing??” V-mon gasped, “But Daisuke, you’re bad at this game. You don’t think.”

“H-hey of COURSE I think!!” he grabbed V-mon and put it under his arm, “I’ll meet y’all later, go without me!!” and he ran down the street.

“W-wait where are you going--” Hikari asked, but he was too far away from them at this point.

“Sometimes I worry how Daisuke-kun would be if it weren't for us…” Takeru blinked, and the other three sighed.

An hour later…

“...” Miyako, Hawkmon, Iori and Armadimon were staring at whatever Daisuke and V-mon were wearing. Yes. he went this far.

Armadimon glanced at Takeru, Patamon, Hikari and Tailmon: “What are they doing, dagya?” There was a certain annoyance in his tone though…

“They’re trying to think like phantom thieves,” the four said, awkwardly and shrugging.

Daisuke and V-mon were wearing tuxedos, those carnival masks and top hats, with Daisuke having the goggles on the hat, and capes. The others had no idea what would the outfits help them with the imagination, but maybe that’s because Daisuke comes from a family where being overly dramatic is in their lineage (after all both Daisuke and his sister Jun have inherited their mother’s dramatic fangirl genes) -- But none of the four (and their mons) would dare to interfere, unless they put themselves in danger.

“... Daisuke I think this is not useful” Ken, however, had no problem in calling him out.

“There’s no Daisuke here! Just… Uhh…”

“Goggle Kid and Saint V!” V-mon shouted, doing a swirl with his cape.

“Yeah!! That! I’m Goggle Kid now!”

“Is this a ripoff of Kaitou K--/Saint T--” Armadimon and Hawkmon had their mouth/beak covered by Iori and Miyako.

“I think you don’t need to go this far” Ken shook his head, “Nevertheless, what comes next?”

“We uh… Would send a calling card about a piece,” then he just handed Ken a fake card made by V-mon, with a ‘V’ mark on the back, “Now you know mr. Detective what we’re up to!”

“It says ‘30% discount steak bowl coupon’ here” Wormmon read the paper and squinted his eyes at the ‘phantom thieves’ in front of them.

“That’s it, we’re stealing a steak bowl,” Daisuke nodded sagely, “Now try to catch us.”

“Ok then…” Wormmon used Sticky Net on both Daisuke and V-mon, but they dodged.

“YOU DIDN’T LET US TRY TO ESCAPE FIRST!! 💢💢💢” Both shouted.

“... You two didn’t say to wai--”They ran away. The rest of the group sighed, “This won’t end well… 💧”

Daisuke Armor evolved V-mon into Lighdramon outside the karaoke bar’s building, and fled. The others came after him, possibly expecting things to get bad. Maybe his encounter with Arsenemon messed up his head??

But then… Ken remembered of an important detail:

“So, Arsenemon casted a spell on you?” “Yeah sorta, but it didn’t last for much time…”

He gulped, maybe Daisuke was still under Arsenemon’s control…!!?

“Ok we have to stop those idiots before they get in real trouble,” Miyako growled, "Let's see this steak bowl ticket again.”

“It’s at the end of the street,” Takeru read the ticket, “The shop belongs to a schoolmate’s family…”

“Tominaga-kun’s family, right?” Hikari looked at the coupon.

“We must go after them,” Iori said and everyone nodded.

On their way to catch Daisuke and V-mon, Amardimon bumped into Noel and both sat falling on the floor.

“Ouch…” / ”O-ow…”

“A I’m sorry!!” Hikari and the others stopped behind Armadimon, and she gasped, “Huh, Noel-kun?”

“A-ah…?” Noel blushed, ashamed, “I’m sorry!! I… I didn’t want to bump into y-you…”

“No no, I’m the one who’s sorry, dagya!” Armadimon babbled, “I didn’t look where I was going…!!”

“Noel-kun,” Takeru helped him to get up, and then asked, “Have you seen Daisuke-kun and V-mon?”

“M-Motomiya-san…?” He took a moment to think, then he pointed behind him with his opposite hand, “I saw him… riding on Lighdramon this way.”

“Thank you!” Miyako smiled, and then the group went in that direction.

“... What is happening here?” Noel tilted his head.

Soleil and Lune were passing by when they saw Daisuke on Lighdramon running through the street. With some annoyance, Soleil commented with her and their digimon:

“What is that buffoon doing this time…”

“I sense something strange coming from him,” Lune sighed, “Well, it’s none of our business. His friends can handle it.”

“Should we do something, Youta?” Coronamon asked.

“Nah, it’s what Lune said… We let the famous group handle it themselves.”

Then they see the rest of the 02 group coming and passing by them as well.

“You sure we shouldn’t do something?” Lunamon asked this time.

“Absolutely” the two kids replied in unison.

Lighdramon suddenly stopped and turned back; he and Daisuke saw the group coming in their direction. They seemed bored already?!

“Y’know you could have caught us already if you had used your digimon evolution, right?”

“I think using the digimon in the crowd would’ve been a bad idea,” Iori replied, gesturing to the people around them.

“... Ah, true true…”

“Can you simply give up on this ridiculous idea!?” Miyako hissed, “Or do you want us to use brute force instead!?”

“Yeah! So I can find a way to catch Arsenemon with no mistakes!!”

“You just gave him ideas,” Patamon said with a shrug.

“I know why you’re acting like this Daisuke,” Ken glanced at the other, and with a serious tone he continued, “You’re still under Arsenemon’s control.”

“Eh?!” they all (Daisuke and Lighdramon included) exclaimed and looked at Ken.

“How-- How can that BE possible!?” Daisuke babbled, “I’m not! I just--”

“Is this like a vampire or werewolf bite, dagya?” Armadimon asked.

“He didn’t even bite me!!”

“Not literally, dagya… 💧”

Someone approached them and hid behind in an alley nearby their discussion. It was… Noel?

“Why do ya think I’m being controlled by Arsenemon, man!? I’m not! I’m doing it to learn how to think like him and then catch him all at once!!”

He can’t be kidding…!! -- Noel thought; he had a grimace on his face. Has he made things worse?? By trying to make Daisuke not assume things about Arsenemon without solid proof??

“That’s the only logical explanation for your actions” Ken kept his serious tone, “So…”

“So…??” The rest of the 02 group repeated.

“Pucchiemon, NOW!”

Suddenly Pucchiemon appeared behind Lighdramon, out of the blue. None of them knew how it happened, or when Ken Armor evolved Wormmon before. Daisuke and Lighdramon had no chance to escape now!!

“HEARTNER BEAM!!”

“WH-- ACK!!”

Pucchiemon’s soft light hit Daisuke and Lighdramon for a moment… And then the fairy-like digimon just hit them in the head with his hands. Lighdramon devolved into V-mon by the hit -- K.O.!!

“Case closed,” Ken smirked, triumphantly. Until a black card with a golden cat paw flew on his face. He took it off and looked at it, “Huh??”

“A Calling Card!?” They all (minus Dai-Vee, they’re dizzy) exclaimed.

The fancy card said…

No, I’m not controlling your friend. He’s doing it of his own free will 😐

“W-WHAT!?” the group gasped “ARSENEMON WASN’T CONTROLLING THEM!?”

“... Makes sense,” Tailmon nodded sagely, “He had done strange things before, like that idea of turning into a villain named Daisuke Kaiser.”

“True/Fair/Alright” they agreed.

“Motomiya-san…!!” They heard Noel’s voice and the boy approaching. He was a little breathless, maybe he ran after them this whole time??

“Noel?” Daisuke and V-mon blinked, and then Noel stood in front of them.

“I’m… I don’t know what you were doing, but…I’m sorry!” and he bowed his head.

“Huh?” they all didn’t get it.

“A-ah, that’s right!” Daisuke blinked, “You helped me to understand Arsenemon a little better, Noel.”

“D-did I…?/Did he??” Noel and the group exclaimed.

“Yeah! When you said villains usually want world domination and power hunger… I was able to notice Arsenemon wasn’t after the pieces because of himself. He’s after something else with those!”

“Is he??” They also said it together.

“He helped the digimon before, so it doesn’t mean he’s evil right? And he helped us before, so… Thank you, Noel.”

“Well” Ken started, “It makes sense, and the stuff he stole and weren’t real Digimental pieces he returned them back, didn’t he?”

“Hmm… Right,” Takeru nodded.

“But we still have to catch him first and discover what his goal’s purpose is,” Miyako added, “So you shouldn’t let your guard down.”

“Yeah we won’t give up here” Daisuke smirked, “We gotta get faster and smarter to catch a sneaky cat-like digimon!”

They all laughed, but then Hikari looked around and… Noel wasn’t there anymore.

“Huh? Where’s Noel-kun?”

“Maybe he felt we were ignoring him and he left” V-mon frowned, “I didn’t mean to…”

Steps away from them, Noel walked into an alley… Where Espimon was, waiting for someone. What business would Espimon have with him??

#02 team digimon case files #young prince detective ichijouji ken

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harleybeaumont · 2 years

Text

Unintentional

Chapter 6 - Realization

Book: The Royal Romance AU

Synopsis- Since childhood, Liam has held a terrible secret that even he doesn't know about. As the years go by, he suspects more and more that there is something wrong with him. Can he put his life together and find happiness?

A/N- The first 4 chapters will have the feel of a one-shot, as each one is a glimpse into Liam’s past. But as the story goes on, they will all tie together.

A/N 2- This story is a bit different than what I usually write.. Ok a LOT different. Some terrible things have happened during Liam's life.. But the story isn’t without humor or joy. I swear it’s not all bad! The characters are still canon in the sense of their whole overall personalities, but of course there are several changes to fit the story.

Series Warnings- oh so many: language, drinking, violence, sexual assault, abuse, murder, homophobia, bullying, mentions of suicide.. Also there will be some lemons in later chapters.

Word count- 2,400

18+ only

Catch up here.

Chapter 6 - Realization

Once the police finished taking statements and extensively questioning everyone, Liam relaxed slightly.. But only slightly. The man had broken into Bertrand’s study through the window, attempting to steal a large amount of cash and obviously whatever else he could find. The man was armed and honestly could have killed all of them if he wanted to. Liam had apparently beaten the intruder so badly, several bones in his face were fractured. But the man was alive.. Thanks to Maxwell.

Liam was absolutely horrified by what happened, but the police were calling him a hero. They said he saved his friends lives from a dangerous criminal. Maybe that was true, but all Liam could think of was that he finally received the confirmation he had been dreading for the past twenty years.

Hana and Grace went home, and Riley went upstairs attempting to relax with her go-to feel better movie, Legally Blonde. Bertrand was busy rummaging through his study, checking if anything was missing, and Liam, Drake, and Maxwell were in the kitchen sitting around the table.

Drake and Maxwell were badly shaken up, but it was nothing compared to the turmoil that Liam was experiencing. He nearly killed a man. He came-to in the process of beating him to death. He was a murderer.. The thought was all too much and Liam stood abruptly, needing to get out of there quickly to be alone and think.. Or maybe to vomit.

“Where are you going?” Max asked.

Liam paused, not looking back at either of them. “I need to be alone.”

“But.. don’t you want to talk about it?” Maxwell asked sadly.

That was the absolute last thing Liam wanted to do. He didn’t want people to find out what was wrong with him. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Li, I know that you’re shaken up by this, but it’s not going to go away just by ignoring it.” Drake was being surprisingly insightful.

“You have no idea..” Liam blew out a breath. “Nevermind.. You wouldn’t understand.”

“What?” Drake asked as they stood up making their way over to Liam, who continued walking away. “What wouldn't we understand?”

“There are things you just don't know about me.”

Drake was taken aback. He and Liam had always told each other everything. “What the hell are you talking about? I’ve known you for forever!”

Liam laughed humorlessly, “Nobody knows me.. Hell, I don't even know myself.” Max and Drake gaped at him, as Liam stormed out the front door.

He was glad they didn’t try to follow him. He needed to be alone. Liam’s heart sank as he realized he would always be alone. He couldn't trust himself around anyone. He was a monster.

Liam stayed outside alone on a bench in the garden for hours until the sun shone high in the sky. He was hollow inside. Empty. Broken.

Eventually he heard footsteps coming up behind him and he considered running.

“Liam..” Maxwell put a hesitant hand on his shoulder. “Can we.. talk now?”

Liam tensed then dropped his elbows to his thighs, putting his head in his hands. He couldn't look at him. Liam sighed deeply. “What’s there to talk about?”

Drake scoffed. “The fact that you overpowered a man who had a gun and possibly saved all of our lives.”

“Don’t say that like it’s a good thing.”

Max and Drake frowned at each other in confusion. Maxwell sat next to Liam, putting an arm around him. “Liam, I’ve never seen you like this. We’re friends. You can tell us anything.. Whatever is on your mind.”

Liam turned to Maxwell with tears in his eyes. “Max.. tell me what you saw. From start to finish. Every detail.”

“Why?” Max frowned sadly. “You want to relive it again?”

“Please.”

Max nodded. “Ok.”

4:10 a.m.

Maxwell awoke to a loud crash coming from the back of the house. His blood ran cold as he glanced around. What the hell was that? He nudged Liam, who had fallen asleep next to him on the couch during the movie. “Liam!” He whispered loudly. “Wake up, I think someone’s in the house! I heard a noise!”

Liam groaned and rolled over onto his side, and Max shook him. “Liam.. we need to call the cops! I seriously think someone broke in!”

Liam shot up from the couch and began making his way to the back of the house following the sound of another loud crash. Max called out after him quietly, “Liam, what the hell? Don’t go in there.. we need to call the cops!”

Liam was on a mission as he made his way toward Bertrand’s study. Maxwell ran after him, trying to keep quiet, terrified to see what he was planning to do. Liam threw the door open and a man was standing before him wearing a ski mask, one hand holding a gun, and the other stuffing cash into an open duffel bag on the desk.

Maxwell felt his heart drop as the man pointed a gun at Liam. Liam charged at the man full-force, knocking him down to the floor with a crash. The burglar tried to fight Liam, but Liam was unhinged, repeatedly punching him in the face. Maxwell screamed for Liam to stop, certain that the mad was dead. When Liam raised his fist to deliver the final blow, Maxwell once again screamed for him to stop. Liam’s whole body jerked and he gasped as he seemed to come back to himself.

The next thing Maxwell knew, Liam was crawling backwards away from the man, as if he didn’t even know what he had done.

Liam nodded, emotionless and hollow as a puppet as Max finished telling him the details of what happened. “That’s it then. I’m a murderer.”

“Liam.. don’t say that.” Drake sat next to him, his forehead wrinkling with worry.

“Drake. You don't know that half of it.” Liam closed his eyes in pain. “The reason I asked Max for details is.. because I don't remember a single thing.”

“Maybe you just blocked it out because it was traumatizing.” Max said softly.

“If only that was it.” Liam shook his head. “But, this isn't the first time this has happened.”

Drake and Maxwell exchanged a worried glance and Liam debated whether or not to tell them. It was a terrible burden that he didn't want to unload onto anyone. But they were his best friends.. Maybe they would understand. And he was so, so tired of keeping this secret to himself.

Liam swallowed hard, his chest tightening. “This is the fifth time this has happened.. that I know of.” God, he hadn't even thought of that before. What if this had happened several times and he only knew about those few because he woke up in a strange place? File that crisis away for later, he told himself. One thing at a time. Liam took a deep breath and told them everything.

Liam watched their faces go from disbelief to horror. Drake stood up pacing, and Maxwell was frozen in place sitting next to Liam.

“What-” Drake started, but paused. “How-” He sighed and shook his head. “I don't understand.”

“Welcome to my life.” Liam shrugged.

“Why didn't you tell us sooner?” Drake asked. “Like.. maybe the first time you suspected.”

“Are you kidding?! How do you tell someone something like that?” Liam wasn’t trying to get defensive, but couldn’t help it. “Hey remember that random person who treated us like crap? Oh, well I murdered them.. But get this! I don't remember any of it!”

“Right.” Drake nodded sadly. “You’re right. Sorry.”

Liam glanced at Maxwell out of the corner of his eye. He was expressionless, staring at the ground.

“Max? You haven't said anything.” Liam couldn't hide the hurt in his voice. “If you want me to leave and never talk to you again.. I will. I promise.” Liam tried to swallow down the lump in his throat as he choked up. “And.. I totally understand if that’s your choice. That goes for both of you.” Liam glanced over to Drake, as tears filled his eyes.

Maxwell sighed sadly and slid an arm around Liams waist, resting his head against his shoulder. “Don’t ever say that again.”

“Max.. I deserve to be in prison.”

“No you don’t.”

“I’ve killed people! Four that I know of!”

Liam closed his eyes tightly, as tears threatened to fall. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a sob. Finally admitting to himself and to his two best friends what he had done, had left him emotionally and physically drained. He couldn't have spoken if he wanted to. What more was there to say at this point?

Max pulled Liam closer to him, so that his face was pushed into Maxwell’s chest, letting Liam soak his shirt in his tears. Liam barely felt a few different hands on his back, rubbing soothingly as he continued to sob. After a few moments, Liam pulled back, wiping his hands down his face. He was a hysterical mess.

Liam felt arms wrap around him from behind and a soft kiss was placed to his cheek. “Liam, I’m so sorry.. I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through this” He froze as he realized it was Riley. Shit, she had heard everything. Now three people knew about the atrocious things he had done.

Liam stared at the ground, an occasional sniffle the only sound he could make. Max spoke softly to Drake and Riley. “Could you guys give us a minute?”

Drake nodded and Riley patted Maxwell’s back as they made their way toward the house. Once they were out of sight, Maxwell touched Liam’s cheek, turning his head to face him.

“Liam. Please look at me.”

Liam pushed out a long breath before turning slightly to face Maxwell.

Max gave him the saddest, most beautiful smile he had ever seen and it made Liam’s eyes well up with tears all over again. Liam sniffed, wiping a stray tear from his cheek. “I.. don't..”

“You don’t have to say anything. Just listen, ok?”

Liam nodded, biting his cheek.

“I don't know exactly what is going on. But, I know that we're going to fix it.”

“You can’t-” Liam started to speak but Max held up a hand, cutting him off.

“Just listen.” Max smiled sadly. “We’re going to figure out what is going on.. and we are going to fix it. Me, Drake, and Riley. We're all on your side. We love you, Liam.”

Liam bit his bottom lip and looked away again. How could Maxwell even say that to him after knowing the things he had done?

“Why?”

Max blinked in surprise. “Why what?”

“Why do you all love me? I don’t deserve it.”

Maxwell brushed Liam’s hair from his forehead tenderly. “You are amazing, Liam. You’re kind, and generous, and sweet, and fun to be around. Whatever has happened, isn't you. It isn't Liam.”

Liam choked out another sob. He hadn't cried this much in his entire life. Maxwell gently placed a hand on either side of Liam’s face, looking into his eyes. His thumbs tenderly swiped the fresh tears from his cheeks and Max smiled. Liam’s heart fluttered as he stared into the deep blue eyes that always left him feeling safe and comforted.. They felt like home. Before he knew what he was doing, Liam leaned forward, eyes sliding shut as he reached a hand up to cradle the back of Maxwell’s head, threading his fingers through his soft brown hair at the nape of his neck. Max moved forward, meeting him halfway and it was like sparks of electricity flew as their lips touched. Liam was suddenly fifteen years old again, bashful and excited to kiss the boy with the freckles and crooked smile.

After a momentary soft kiss, the two pulled back with a satisfied sigh. Liam couldn't believe how right it felt to kiss Maxwell again after all those years, and he already felt empty without his lips nearby. Liam surged forward, causing Maxwell to let out a small whimper as the two moved their lips insistently together, unable to get close enough. Hands were everywhere as the two moaned into each other’s mouth, savoring one anothers taste. Liam had never had a kiss that felt like this before and it caused his heart to ache. He knew he didn't deserve it.. He didn't deserve affection and happiness.

Maxwell was breathing heavily as he looked at him in amazement. “Liam.” He spoke softly, like he was afraid Liam would run away once he realized this had actually happened.

Liam licked his lips, savoring the taste of Maxwell for a moment longer. “I should..” Liam looked down sadly, trying to catch his breath. “Maybe I should go.”

“Don’t.” Max grabbed his hand gently. “Please don’t.” Liam stared down at Maxwell’s hand resting in his own. He traced his fingertips over the rings Max wore. How were his hands so beautiful? Liam wondered if this gorgeous man knew that he was the only thing keeping him tethered to Earth at this moment.. The only thing keeping him from collapsing into himself. Liam brought Maxwell’s hand up to his lips, kissing him softly on his knuckles.

Max smiled sweetly and pulled Liam to his feet. “Come on. Let’s go inside and figure this out.”

“How?” Liam asked.

“We’re going to scour the internet. We can go to the library and research. We’ll be proper detectives!” Max winked. “I have a cute little fedora I can put on, like Dick Tracy.”

Liam let out a small chuckle. “That does sound cute.”

Max rubbed his thumb over Liam's knuckles and gave him a sad smile, while Liam continued. “It’s just that I’ve been dreading this my whole life. I never looked into it because.. I don't think I can-” Liam choked up. “I don’t think I can take knowing.”

Max leaned forward hugging him tightly. “You won't be alone. Whatever it is.. We’ll deal with it together, yeah?”

Liam sighed heavily. “Ok.”

Liam and Maxwell slowly made their way back into the Beaumont’s estate side by side. Once Max opened the doors, Riley ran out into the foyer to meet them, wide eyed. “You guys have got to come in here! I think we’ve already figured it out!”

#trr fanfic #the royal romance #choices fanfic #liam rys #drake walker #maxwell beaumont #drake x riley #liam x maxwell #unintentional

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miredinmiddleearth · 2 years

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Rings of Power, Ep. 3 Review

*Detailed rant ahead*

The madness continues. Buckle up. Here are my thoughts for episode three.

1. Good grief, Galadriel’s hair only gets worse. It’s like they’re mocking me.

2. It’s weirdly jarring to see Galadriel eager for food. So non elf-like. This is the same race that nibbles lembas, yes?

Absolutely nothing separates the men from the elves in this show. In appearance, in mannerisms, or in wisdom, and that’s just criminally lazy.

3. Elendil!!! I could listen to this man talk all episode. Just scrap everything else. Sit this guy down and have him read The Silmarillion.

4. Numenor is really awesome. See? I can give compliments.

5. Oh BOY that council room scene. Whole section just for that:

ONE: I am so lost why an entire government would put everything on hold to interrogate two castaways.

TWO: The scene where Galadriel introduces herself fills me with RAGE. Throughout the episode, Galadriel keeps talking about how impressive she is and how much more she knows than anyone else. NONE of her actions speak to this, and in a person of true nobility, actions are EVERYTHING.

Compare to how Aragorn gets introduced. He NEVER introduces himself, not even as Strider. Others say his name, and awe follows. Heck, same with movie Galadriel. Her name is whispered with reverence and myth whirls around her like mist. But RoP Galadriel? Apparently the woman thousands of years older than literally everybody in the room has to list her resume in the clunkiest way possible (again, defining her own importance in relation to MEN). When I tell you how poorly this show is written, this is what I mean. Compare it to anything competent, and it falls ridiculously short.

THREE: I hope Halbrand is Sauron, because I do like the way they are setting him up as a charmer and potential manipulator. Though it’s annoying he has to be a voice of reason when two women apparently can’t talk things out rationally.

FOUR: “I would sooner knee-cap a stallion.” What does that mean?!?!?!

FIVE: Umm, what self-respecting military man as smart as Elendil would let himself be hugged by a random guy he picked up on the open water? And Halbrand is going to steal and return the dagger in front of all those people?!

SIX: Why is Galadriel always in a rush? In a time of relative peace, she can’t even wait three days?! When are elves ever in a rush to do anything?!

SEVEN: STOP GIVING GALADRIEL A ROMANCE WITH HALBRAND

6. The scene that introduces Isildur does absolutely nothing but show us Isildur knows how to pull a rope.

7. Elendil’s voice is still beautiful.

8. “The sea is always right.” A motto that’s setting up for when Numenor gets swallowed into the sea, I assume. My problem is, it just sounds dumb.

9. Water drinking scene takes sooooooooo long.

10. Oh no. Don’t kill THAT elf who I only just remembered we’ve actually met before. And he gets a choir to sing him into death? What about this feels earned?!

11. WHY DOES GALADRIEL TALK LIKE AN ANGSTY TEENAGER?! WHY DOES A MORTAL MAN HAVE INFINITELY MORE GRAVITAS AND WISDOM THAN HER?! I don’t know if the actress just can’t do passionate without sounding like a YA heroine or if it’s the writing. I think it’s both.

Regardless, I love Elendil and I want to punch Galadriel in the face.

12. Where did Halbrand get money? I do like how they are setting up his character.

13. Halbrand fight scene is brutal.

14. The mark of Sauron is idiotic. Drawing a rough sketch of Mordor on random objects? What the freak is the point?

15. Cotton clumps in the Harfoots’ hair? Weird choice.

16. The stupid “past is dead” line from the trailer is even dumber in the show. They’ve established Elendil as a man who values and honors the past. He knows how to speak Elven, he is an elf-friend, and he speaks up for old traditions. Then they give him this line? Writers, do you not see the contradiction in this?!

17. One: Impressive statue for a prison. Two: How is Galadriel allowed to wander down into the prison?

18. They better be setting Halbrand up to be Sauron, because if they’re trying to make him into this made-up knockoff Aragorn type, I am NOT here for it.

19. Seriously, I do not understand Harfoot culture. They are all about community and sticking together. But they are also about if someone falls behind, screw them. They fall behind and we leave them. WHAT ABOUT THIS MAKES SENSE?! A guy has a hurt ankle. No one can help him? No one bands together to assist? This is so infuriatingly nonsensical, I’m going to go mad.

20. Oh no. Don’t kill THAT elf whose name I never learned. (Side note: warg CGI was rough)

Okay, I am more intrigued. I have trouble looking away from this car crash. I’m curious what they’re going to do with Halbrand and this shadowy elf figure, and it might be enough to keep me going. Unless they return to more boring stuff.

#rings of power #rings of power review #lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #jrr tolkien #the ring speaks #anti rings of power

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turtlethon · 1 year

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Turtlethon Extra Slices: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) (part 2 of 3)

This is the second part of a special retrospective Turtlethon entry examining the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The first part can be read here.

April is taken back to her home by the Turtles, situated above an antiques store which she inherited. The team are keen to come in after she lets slip that she has frozen pizza in the kitchen, and a friendship is soon formed as she warms to their antics. Returning home, the brothers are thrilled at how everything turned out, but their elation turns to horror as they find their own home ransacked, Raphael screaming in anguish at the discovery that Splinter has been kidnapped. The group soon return to April, tearful and defeated.

The next morning, Charles drops in on April, his son in tow, having received a call from Chief Sterns about Danny’s exploits the previous night. Under continued pressure from both Sterns and the mayor he again encourages her to back off in her investigations, under the pretence that this is for her safety; throughout their conversation the Turtles use the art of invisibility to hide their presence from April’s boss, and while Danny briefly spots Michaelangelo’s reflection in a mirror, when he turns around, a stuffed toy occupies the same spot.

While presumably driving him to school, Charles scolds Danny for his recent behaviour, questioning why he needs to steal when they’re not short on money. Danny can’t provide any real justification for his actions and, at an opportune moment, escapes from the car into a nearby subway.

In the hideout of the delinquent youths, where the music of MC Hammer plays and the Pepsi pours freely (the local Wilmington bottler was clearly exceptionally generous in providing pallets of soda that appear throughout this movie), we see not only the boys behind this crime wave hanging out, but also a training exercise taking place. Tatsu (Toshishiro Obata / Michael McConnohie), a fearsome ninja warrior, spars with a youth before exploiting his willingness to bow, kicking him to the floor. The session soon ends, with the sound of a gong summoning everyone in attendance for the arrival of their master.

The first appearance of Shredder (James Saito / David McCharen) is a grand cinematic spectacle, and easily one of the most impressive pieces of filmmaking on display in the entire production. Seen first in shadows, then followed from above, the camera spins around the villain to take in his helmet in detail before Tatsu steps in to unroll his cape, revealing his spiked shoulder blades. A ceremony follows in which Shredder recognises one of the boys as an official Foot Clan ninja. He goes on to address his army of youths, reminding them that only those who display effort, discipline and loyalty are worthy of wearing the dragon doji. As he reiterates his bond with the hoodlums, declaring himself to be their father, a tracking shot reveals that Splinter is being held in chains nearby. Shredder speaks of the threat posed by the Turtles and how it must be extinguished, leading to the emergence of Danny from the crowd.

April makes a further appearance on the news, talking to a co-host about her discussions with immigrants of Japanese ancestry. In those conversations, she was told how the current crime wave resembles the actions of the Foot, a band of notorious criminals who were once active in their old homeland. Charles watches this with concern and is soon the recipient of a phone call from a furious Sterns, who can be heard yelling “I thought we had a deal!” Without revealing their true identities April makes a point of thanking her rescuers on air, in particular Raphael. This leads to some teasing from the other Turtles, the group watching as they continue to hide out in her home.

Things become heated as Raphael is keen to strike back and rescue Splinter as soon as possible, Leonardo insisting that they hold back to allow April’s investigations to provide them with a lead. Seeing a row brewing, Donnie and Mikey quietly escape to the kitchen. Leonardo scolds Raphael for his attitude problems, leading the hot-headed Turtle to storm out.

Raphael is performing ninja moves on the roof when he’s spotted by Casey Jones, who’s intercepting radio transmissions from atop a neighbouring building nearby. More concerningly, a group of Foot ninjas have also picked up on Raph’s presence and soon begin to surround him.

April returns from work and is keen to show the Turtles around the antiques store; in what could be considered a throwaway line but one that ties back to the themes of the film, she concedes to her new friends that keeping the business going as a loss-making venture as a way of maintaining her connection to her late father is perhaps foolish, but Donatello assures her it isn’t. The Turtles goof around with the items on display before returning upstairs, unaware that above them Raphael has found himself overwhelmed by Shredder’s army of ninjas. Finally, Raph is hurled through the glass roof of the apartment as the Foot knock down every available entrance to surround April and the other Turtles. An extended sequence follows – excised in the UK versions of the film upon its initial release, both in the cinema and on home video – where Michaelangelo spots that one of the ninjas is “a fellow chucker”, each then attempting to one-up the other in a demonstration of their abilities in using nunchucks – before a full battle involving everyone breaks out.

More than any other scene, the fight that follows is perhaps the best encapsulation of what the movie is trying to be in terms of presentation, a raucous brawl incorporating both martial arts moves and slapstick. The Foot warriors use axes to swing at the Turtles with wild abandon, missing our heroes each time and providing ample room for one-liners, but gradually destroying the floor as they do so. By the time Donatello expresses his concerns about even more members of the gang being packed into the crumbling building, it’s too late – the floor collapses beneath them, dumping everyone in the antiques store below. Before the Turtles and April have even had a chance to recover, they’re confronted by Tatsu, who sends still more minions after them.

April tends to an unconscious Raphael as the other Turtles struggle to put up a fight, now wildly outnumbered. An unlikely ally emerges in the form of Casey Jones, who after taking a moment to express his immediate attraction to April soon joins the fight. Another errant swing from a Foot ninja’s axe leads to the severing of a cable and an electrical fire, which quickly spreads. April and the Turtles escape outside through a hidden hatch, while Casey stays behind to hold off the ninjas; in doing so, he happens to overhear an incoming answering machine message from Charles, who has caved to the pressures placed upon him and reluctantly made the decision to fire April. With the police now on their way, Tatsu orders his men to retreat as our heroes escape in an old VW camper van. Danny is seen watching from a distance as the building becomes engulfed in flames.

Shredder learns of the night’s events and is furious, demanding information from Splinter about the identities of the Turtles and the secrets behind their fighting skills. Upon receiving no answer, he tells the rat that he will continue to hang there until he dies. On his way out, he visually expresses his disapproval with Tatsu’s performance; after Shredder leaves, Tatsu in turn takes out his frustrations on the underlings in a nearby locker room, leaving one of them bloodied and beaten; Danny again is present for this and gets a close-up view of what being a member of Shredder’s “family” can entail. He goes on to discover the captured Splinter, who through everything remains kind and receptive, even to a member of Shredder’s gang, and offers to listen to his problems. When Danny insists that his own dad has little regard for him or his well-being, Splinter refutes this, telling him that “all fathers... care for their sons”.

Our heroes retreat to the countryside and an abandoned farmhouse where April’s family once resided; in what might be considered a subversion of expectations Casey finds himself unable to repair the camper that brought them there, and so it won’t be modified into the Turtle Van, the film instead going in a different direction. Casey off-handedly reveals hearing the answerphone message from Charles during their escape, but his lack of tact in breaking the news leads to a row; Donnie and Mikey remark on the clear romantic tension between the two of them after both storm out.

In the days that follow, April chronicles the progress of her new friends through art and in writing as they begin the process of healing after their humbling defeat at the hands of the Foot. Donatello engages in light-hearted joshing with Casey as the two work together to try and revive an old pick-up truck; Leonardo maintains a vigil over a still-unconscious Raphael, who has been placed in a bathtub as part of the healing process; Michaelangelo is... also here, but curiously absent from April’s musings, and she continues to grow closer to (and bicker with) Casey over time. Eventually Raph wakes up, and in a brief but heartfelt scene, Leonardo eagerly hugs his brother, apologising for their row days earlier. More time passes and the Turtles continue to recuperate, training again as a reunited group but still haunted by the loss of Splinter.

Tatsu provides Shredder with an update on the status of his criminal empire; as the scene opens, we see that even cases of Archie comics are considered fair game for the Foot. We learn that in addition to the Turtles, Danny has also dropped off the radar, and Splinter refuses to provide any further information. Tatsu asks Shredder why the Turtles are of such concern. In his response, we get the first hint that perhaps Shredder, too, is haunted by past events, as the description given to him of the fighting style used by the Turtles reminds him of events that occurred years earlier.

Leonardo is meditating outside and momentarily establishes a connection with Splinter, drawing upon the same vaguely mystical psychic bond with the Turtles that the team’s sensei occasionally utilises in the cartoon. Now convinced his master is still alive, Leo has the whole team join him in a meditative ritual around a campfire that night. The flames turn blue as the image of Splinter appears to the Turtles, informing them that they’ve reached the final and most important lesson of their ninja training: “that ultimate mastery comes not of the body, but of the mind”. He encourages the Turtles to look out for each other and closes by reminding them that he loves them. The group is visibly moved by the experience, with Michaelangelo being particularly tearful; my reading on this is that it’s intended to reflect him being the most reluctant to address the prospect of a life without Splinter earlier in the film.

The next morning, the Turtles return to the farmhouse, meeting up with April and Casey. Leonardo closes the door on the second act of the film with a single, decisive line: “It’s time to go back.”

Continued in part 3!

#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #TMNT #TMNT 1990 #Ninja Turtles #Steve Barron #1990 #Film #Turtlethon #90s films #1990s movies #1990s films

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entoman-created-by-the-tallgreys · 2 years

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👮🏻‍♂️🚔👮🏻‍♀️ Laws and Morals 😇/😈

Do not confuse the two.

. . .

Walls are not the same thing as moles if having an animal in your house with the legal you'd be a criminal and having more than one child to make it is illegal you be a criminal criminal has been propagated or propagandized, as to break the law would be immoral when that is not true morals and laws are not the same thing.

. . .

Laws are just a fancy word for rules and cops it's just a fancy word for self entitled Asshole.

. . .

If you want a job being a bully hurting people and acting like you're more Superior to everybody else get to get the job of a cop being a police officer has tricked so many people so many poor dumb souls in the thinking that they're doing good when really there just Enforcing rules !

. . .

Other Soul would you want power over other people get the job of being an officer or FBI so they can have a 40 or least have the state get their back up and authority so they can be a little dick and go around and hurt people in the name of rules.

. . .

If you want to feel like you're a mad man who has no limit on what he can do go join the FBI or the CIA or a DEA these people like to think that they're above everything in existence if it is the ultimate ego High !

. . .

Same thing for being a military General on the problem with men and I am a man is that a stupid man will chase false power.

. . .

All men are trying to build himself up like King Kong but at the end of day a lot of men are really stupid just because they have a fancy name and a fancy job doesn't mean they have a fancy mind.

. . .

I really hate the authority figures in a country they really put the Cunt in Cuntry.

. . .

These people like to think that they're smarter stronger better these people are ruled by their ego and many of them also just don't care what they just want the money to come on and they don't care who they got to hurt.

. . .

So I really hate when people try to try to frame criminals as bad people that's really really just like very sheepish and stupid of you you really like to suck that government propaganda cock don't you, Ya Fyk'n Idiot !

. . .

Cops also turn on each other it's rare But, it happens, police department will go to war and I mean literally to war over to other police department do they figure out they have more money.

. . .

Have you drive around with a lot of money that your car cops are allowed to take it all there's just a lot of steal it and I mean literally just steal your money as long as they have a good excuse and excuses and investigation but they can do an investigation for with an unlimited time and never report back and never end the investigation never conclude anything it's been on the money and don't have to care.

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qu-film-history-to-1968 · 7 months

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Italian Neorealism & Post-War Hollywood Realism

Jack Gatta

This week I watched the Italian Neorealism Film Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948), a film that takes place in post-war Italy and highlights the struggles of living during such time. It was a heartwarming story about Antonio Ricci who struggles to find a job and support his family. After finally landing a gig that requires having a bike, he makes sacrifices to acquire one only for it to be stolen. This film is a commentary on the hardships that befell the working-class people following the war in Italy. By having a criminal thwart Antonio Ricci’s plan, we see someone hit rock bottom and almost find himself becoming a criminal, but he holds back. It’s a message that tells us how struggle can make someone do things they normally wouldn’t to survive. This quote from our reading sums this up, “Predictably, criminals produced counterfeit rationing coupons, which they sold to gas stations and drivers. The OPA estimated fake coupons accounted for 5% of gasoline sales in the country. Criminals also stole vast amounts of coupons.” People would react to this by immediately thinking about how awful criminals are. And while what they are doing is not right, there can be an explanation. This quote relates to what was happening in America during the war, but that doesn’t mean the same principles can’t find themselves in different places. As we see the story evolve and Antonio Ricci slowly becomes more hopeless at the thought of losing his job, we understand why he might steal someone else’s bike. It’s wonderful storytelling and completely relates to the reading we had about rationing. There’s a sense of care and passion coming from both sides in terms of rationing and wanting to support a family. Naturally, some of these goals conflict with each other and this film tells an emotional story about a parent and child bond.

I also watched the Post-War Hollywood Realism Film Call Northside 777 (Hathaway, 1948). This film follows James Stewart as P.J. McNeal, a journalist, who takes up an ad in a paper to prove a man’s innocence. By the end of the film, he does so and gets the man out of prison. It’s a triumphant crime story that highlights the culture and demands of post-war Hollywood. The movie is based on true events which, following the war, were in high demand by consumers. As news and television began depicting events right in the living room, people became interested in having films do the same. What makes this story stand out? Journalism. The idea is that everything is not as it seems and that the police did cover something up during the trial. The public may find themselves not trusting or being curious about the government. Possibly even acting against it. A quote from the reading shows this by saying, “OPA officials acknowledged they were at the mercy of the good will of the consumer: ‘Our rationing system can be made to work with simplicity and fairness if all Americans everywhere will cooperate and use their ration stamps properly. They can cheat — it is always possible to cheat on any set of rules.’” The film does not directly relate to this quote about rationing during the war, but the idea of cheating the rules is done by a lot of people during this time, even the police. The ideas of Italian Neorealism and Post-War Hollywood Realism share the idea of highlighting real issues. People became less interested in escapism and more in struggle. Where they differ are ideas but all in all, they share the same purpose. Showing the audience's struggle and making social stances on true events.

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davinc20 · 2 years

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Desperate, "brother bully" ate his words and became fat. Live broadcast bragging about eating meat and sucking marrow Happy coins are poisonous. It's the best policy for "disciple" to wipe his eyes and cover his purse tightly

The Pax case exposed guowengui's true colors. When the wheels of the law rolled over his head, paying back the money was his only choice. A few days ago, the embattled hundreds of millions of "negative" Weng guowengui announced that he would go to a mysterious place without signals, so he would not broadcast live for a month. A liar is a liar after all. Every punctuation from his mouth emits the smell of a lie, which starts a clown like performance in front of the camera. In the live broadcast on the 4th, it was announced that the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates officially took Xi'an coin as the national reserve currency, and Xi'an coin immediately reached US $100000 each. Xi'an coin really rose to the moon, and one coin is worth one country. Plague turtle repeated the same old tune and continued to use Zhumadian marketing method to encourage ants to buy money. With happy money, luxury cars, planes and beautiful women are not dreams. After a wild boast, the plague Turtle was proved to be poor and crazy. His bloodthirsty nature was fully demonstrated.

When things go wrong, there will be demons. As a "red handed criminal", guowengui still owes 60billion yuan to the Dalian court. Being repatriated has become the biggest nightmare, and "political asylum" has become his lifelong wish. Therefore, he does not hesitate to do everything he can to kneel and lick his foreign father. At the forefront of the storm, he boasted that China had opened "a door" for him. It is really a fool's dream, but it is hard to believe. Guowengui's peephoscope was punctured. He was carrying a US SEC fine of more than 80 million on his shoulder. In addition, he interfered in the election and played with the judiciary. Each of them was a major crime of putting the bottom of the prison through, and he owed the UAE $3billion. At this time, the three sovereign countries make use of their garbage like coins as national reserves, boasting and drawing big cakes. It is really taking the intelligence quotient of ants as dry food. From the beginning to the end, no sovereign country has ever issued a financial license for its "Xi'an Stock Exchange". As for the "Xi'an gold link", it is nonsense. It is all the "Xi'an prosperity" dreamed up by the plague turtle. It can be seen that guowengui is on his way to ruin. He doesn't hesitate to take risks in order to cheat money.

The virtual currency really gives the plague turtle a taste of sweetness. Even if the SEC chases the poor, it will never give up this swindle project that brings the fastest money. In the live broadcast, it is full of tricks to sell happy coins. Still remember that the listing of "Xi coin" was less than a full month. Guowengui acted wisely and made Xi coin think that the operation was "straight ahead", which was intended to attract more new ants. As a result, he lifted a rock and hit himself in the foot. In the face of guozhanyou's voice of cashing in wave by wave, it was difficult to see the group, and it was difficult to cheat people. He directed and performed a play of "pseudo smashing the plate", and forced "locking the coin" to make all believers cry without tears. It is the basic principle of virtual currency to buy and sell. However, happy money can only be bought in and not sold out, just like money. The demonstration that it is equal to junk money has also exposed the Ponzi scheme. Xia Chunfeng, a big investor in Xiguo, had no worries about food and clothing. As a result, he made friends carelessly and mistakenly got on a pirate ship. Finally, he ended up with his wife and children separated and living on the streets. However, the person reduced to such a tragedy is only the tip of the iceberg. Some ants have not made a lot of money in the past few years, nor have they realized their wealth freedom. They feel their empty pockets and wake up. They join the ranks of pot Smashers to ask for investment money. However, guowengui still hides his ears and steals the bell to boast about happy money in the live broadcast room. The old dog can not play a new trick. It cuts leeks in a different way just to repay the fine. It can make the American judiciary free and continue its life of surviving and fleeing. However, some big ants of the Guo Gang, like the plague turtle, are shameless villains with no bottom line. They are well aware of the hi coin scam. However, there is no moral bottom line. In the live broadcast room, he sings with "brother bully". This is to help Zhou do evil with the dirty mentality of dying together, so that the essence of the cult can be seen at a glance.

It's too clever to do all the tricks, but you've missed Qingqing's life. Guowengui tried to get away with bankruptcy. However, the bankruptcy Bureau has begun to search its assets around the world. Once there was a mountain of evidence to show off their wealth. In this way, malicious bankruptcy is absurd, and prison is inevitable. Guowengui claimed that not broadcasting live for a month was nothing more than discussing countermeasures with lawyers. However, many evils have long been heinous, and no one can save "leader Guo". It is clear that only when real money and silver are paid in a hurry for a fine, can they get a chance to breathe. They simply break the pot, run to the end, and tell a big lie to deceive the ant powder of instant noodles. Xi coin is a poisonous food produced by guowengui's black workshop. It looks beautiful in color, smell and taste, but it actually kills you. Spring returns to the earth, and everything recovers. Those "beggars' sect disciples" who are still sleeping should wake up with the wind, recognize the essence of the fraud of Xi coin, and it is the best policy to hold tight their purse and leave. Don't trip over the same stone twice, make wedding clothes for others, lose their future, confuse their minds, and miss their whole life.

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songmingisthighs · 3 years

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[12.43] mafia!seonghwa × reader

⇀ convinced his partner is trying to steal him away from you, you tried conveying your feelings to him. But he didn't believe you, he thought you're just simply jealous.

⇁ tw : mafia life, jealousy, angst, death

⇁ disclaimer : the author does not support any and all criminal/illegal acts. the narrative written in this story is purely fiction out of the author’s imagination. the things written here does not portray real mafia life nor is the author aware of how the mafia life is like. the author is a hermit loser.

Clad in his couture suit, Seonghwa walked into the party venue with you in his arms. You were wearing a beautiful, glimmering Indigo dress that accentuates your curves, earrings that provide shine to your face, and heels that seem to heighten your class.

Despite all that, you had a forced smile on your face as you just had an argument with Seonghwa in his car merely minutes prior.

He is well aware of your apprehension towards his current partner in crime, a female that done the title of a seductress in the organization both for her role and her daily behaviour. You can't even lie and say that she looks like an inside-out, bloated cow because she's beyond perfect. To make things worse, you heard that the reason why she was partnered with Seonghwa was that she and he look good together.

At first, it was harmless observation over the two, wanting to see their chemistry and whether or not what people said was true. But when you see that even outside of their mission she'd flirt and cling onto him, you feel threatened. Naturally, you told Seonghwa about this but he only brushed your feelings off, convincing himself and you that it's merely childish jealousy.

The issue was never addressed and it accumulates to the point that it became the bane of most of your arguments. So he decided to just avoid talking about anything that relates to his partner in any way.

This is why when he accidentally let it slip that she'd be at the party back in the car, you were slightly furious at him for not giving you a heads up.

So here you are, standing by the champagne tower as Seonghwa made his rounds alone only to be joined by his 'partner' when he talked to their ally.

Your hand was clenching the flute so hard, it was threatening to break any second.

"Whoah, never seen you so tense," a voice called out, breaking your focus of glaring at Seonghwa and her. You look towards the source of the voice only to be greeted with Wooyoung's teasing smirk.

You rolled your eyes at him but smiled at his teasing jab, "hi Woo," you greeted, letting him pull you into a deep hug that lasted a while.

"Givenchy," he stated after taking a whiff at your neck, "man has taste," he pulled away to properly take your attire in, going as far as twirling you playfully which made you giggle. The people around looked at you two with a smile, probably thinking about how cute you two looked together. Which didn't go unnoticed by Seonghwa who is now zeroing his vision in on you and Wooyoung as the girl next to him clung on his arm tightly, seemingly pretending like they're together.

"Where's Seonghwa hyung?" Wooyoung asked after he stopped twirling you, grabbing a flute of champagne instead. You rolled your eyes at the reminder and simply nod your head towards where Seonghwa and his partner stood before sipping the champagne.

Wooyoung cringed at the sight of the girl throwing herself onto a taken man but what bothered him was the fact that Seonghwa seemed to not be affected by it.

"How stupid is your boyfriend to still insist that your intuition is nothing more than jealousy? I mean seriously! She's embarrassing herself!" he groaned, knowing full well what's going on between you and Seonghwa.

You were glad that you're not the only one who realized, despite the person who shared your sentiment is not your boyfriend.

But before you can answer, loud gunshots shocked everyone and suddenly chaos broke.

Wooyoung immediately pushed you behind him as he produces a gun from inside his suit. He turned to you briefly to hurry you out, "go out now, run and don't look back, take the stairs by the balcony and get out of here as quickly as you can and do not try to hide," he said before rushing towards the sound of the gunshot before you could say anything else.

People were pushing you left and right, trying to escape the hall and so were you. But you can't find it in yourself to run just yet, you look around the crowd of people, trying to find Seonghwa.

Soon enough, your eyes met his.

"Seonghwa!" you called out, pushing your way to get to him as he was trying to get to you. But then another voice calling his name broke his attention away from you.

Seonghwa looked towards the source of the voice only to find his partner by the tables, her dress stuck between two tables and for some reason she didn't seem to be able to pull herself out.

If you weren't in such a panicked state, you'd roll your eyes and call her out on her bullshit.

Your eyes flit between her and Seonghwa as Seonghwa's flit between you and her. You were hoping that he'd ignore her and run to you instead so you both could go to safety.

But your heart broke when he shot you an apologetic look, mouthing out 'sorry' before running to help his partner.

You can actually feel your heart shatter seeing that in a dire situation, he had chosen the girl that you had explicitly told him you don't trust, that you think she has it in her to steal him away from you. But he didn't seem to care.

Slowly, your feet began moving on their own. You couldn't even register where your feet are dragging you to. But as you reach the door towards the balcony, you look back to the sight of Seonghwa holding his partner closely before going where the other members of his organization are going.

And that was the last time you had seen each other for the night.

The shoot out went for quite a while. Apparently, a rival organization caught wind of the party and decided to use this opportunity to infiltrate the mansion to steal something. Their plans were foiled and that's when all hell broke loose.

When Seonghwa and the others managed to kill and capture their rivals, things began to finally wind down. Most people had already fled the scene, being part of the criminal world surely gave them the knowledge of what to do when a shoot out happens.

There were some guests left, those who hid behind tables or were unable to escape due to fear, and sadly, those who were caught in the crosshairs.

Seonghwa sighed at the sight in front of him, bodies lying on the ground, some belonging to their rival, some were members of his organization, and some were the unfortunate guests.

He looked around to see the lower-ranking workers carrying bodies on a stretcher with a white cloth covering everything. His eyebrows furrowed at the sight, no matter how long he's been involved in the mafia life, he couldn't seem to shake his sadness away when seeing innocent victims.

As he looked around, he saw Wooyoung walking back to the hall where the party was held merely an hour ago. "Wooyoung!" Seonghwa called, running towards the guy to catch up to him. Wooyoung stopped in his tracks and looked back, waiting for Seonghwa, "Hey, what's up?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Have you seen (Y/N)? The last time I saw her was when I went to help my partner a-" "you helped your partner instead of making sure (Y/N) was okay?" Wooyoung cut him off, an incredulous look on his face. Seonghwa was caught off-guard at the tone his friend used at him, "yeah? She was stuck and needed my help, I couldn't just-" "she's a member of a fucking mafia, she kills people for a living and on a daily basis, you really think she couldn't have gotten herself unstuck?" Wooyoung scoffed.

Seonghwa only stared at Wooyoung with a confused expression, not knowing how to answer him nor how to defend his choice in the predicament after Wooyoung explained the situation his way.

Rolling his eyes, Wooyoung nodded towards the door by the table that once had the champagne tower, "Last time I saw her, I told her to run and get the hell out of here," he said simply. Seonghwa muttered a small 'thanks' to him and was about to run to look for you when Wooyoung put a hand on his shoulder, "Just so you know, what you did will change things forever between you two, you got a heck load of making up to do," he said simply before continuing his previous path.

He realized that Wooyoung was right. So he immediately set off to find you, wherever you are.

His instinct told him that you're still around, considering his car is still in the parking lot and that you hadn't known anyone else in the party, he deducted that it wouldn't be possible for you to have gone back.

Even so, you were nowhere to be found. He tried looking everywhere inside the mansion and outside in the garden, but there were no signs of you, not even when he asked the other guests and members of the organization that were still around.

He stepped out to the grand front entrance and look around but only seeing people carrying the bodies of the deceased. He was starting to get worried.

"Seonghwa!" a feminine voice called.

He snaps his head, hoping to see you, but only to be greeted by the sight of his partner jogging towards him. For the first time ever, he rolled his eyes at her and went back to trying to locate you.

She, on the other hand, didn't seem to get the hint as she suddenly hugged one of his arms, "Hey, I was looking everywhere for you, I was worried," she said, pouting at him.

Seonghwa tried to pry his arm off of hers, but she held tight. Wooyoung was right, she's beyond capable of getting herself unstuck, so why did he went to help her instead of you?

"I don't have time for this, I'm looking for my girlfriend," he said gruffly, still trying to push her off as his eyes trail on the people around.

"Oh, come on, I'm sure she's perfectly fine somewhere, maybe even with Wooyoung," she said ignorantly.

At the insinuation that you'd be with Wooyoung, Seonghwa snap his head towards her and was about to say something when suddenly the sight of your dress caught his eyes.

He'd recognize the sparkly indigo dress that he had personally picked for you from miles away. For a second, he forgot about his partner and was about to run towards you.

But his steps halted at the scene in front of him.

Seonghwa hadn't processed that the piece of your dress that he saw was from underneath a cloth that covered your whole body that's rested on a stretcher.

He could feel his heart stopped, his head spinning, and his breath hitching. He was trying to convince himself that you're okay, that you're simply unconscious and is resting, waiting to be taken to the hospital to be treated.

When he realized that a couple of workers were about to carry you away, he sprinted and yelled for them to stop.

As soon as he arrived by your side, his trembling hands held on the piece of dress that peeked out. Again, he tried convincing himself that everything's okay, that maybe this is not you. Slowly, he pulled the cloth back a little to expose your hand. The ring that he had bought you to commemorate your 2nd anniversary brought dread to him for the first time ever. He used to love seeing it on your finger, showing people that you're taken, but not this time.

Bracing himself, he pulled the rest of the cloth off of you. "Oh no," he choked out and finally broke down when he saw your pale, lifeless face. The same face that greeted him every morning and accompanied him every night, the same face that would scrunch up whilst cleaning his wound when he came back home from a mission. The same face that dropped in disappointment when he decided to go after the other girl in her last moments.

He can't believe your last memory of him was him turning his back on you, his last conversation with you was when he called your feelings childish and uncalled for, that the last time he held your beating heart was when he pushed you away so he could talk to people he didn't even care for.

All he could do now is held onto you as he cried, hand going over the wound that ultimately ended your life. Several bullet holes littered your body, but he seems to be focused on the one that's directly on your heart. He thought about how much pain your heart must've born, how much the pain he inflicted on you must've hurt much more than the bullet that struck through. He thought about how he should've gone to you to ensure your safety.

Seonghwa, the usually reserved and collected man, didn't even care about the attention he drew. People around were looking at him with much pity, those who knew him wanted to comfort him but didn't know how to, even Wooyoung can't help but shed his pettiness over his older friend when seeing him wailing over his loss.

But Seonghwa didn't care.

How could he?

When the only important person in his life was ripped away from him before he could make amends.

Without thinking twice, he stood up and carried you off the stretcher. The workers that were supposed to take care of the deceased stood silent and unsure, yet they didn't stop Seonghwa even when he began to carry you towards his car.

"Don't worry, I'm taking you home so you can rest," he said with tears still streaming down his face. He looked down at your face, he could fool himself and say that you're only sleeping, that tomorrow things will be better. Yeah, for now, he can do that.

Once he put you on the front seat securely and went over to the driver's seat, he leaned down and press a kiss to your forehead lovingly, "I'm never gonna leave you anymore," he said before turning the car engine on and drove off.

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