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futureplayboibunnie · 7 months

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Heartless Pt.2

Mafia Boss! Miguel O’Hara x fem! reader

You and Miguel are married to each other…and it wasn’t because of love.

I heart slowburn x

You idled on where you could go for your honeymoon. At least Miguel gave you the twisted liberty of choosing where you could go, you didn't even care enough to want to go to nice places anymore. Why was he trying to drag this out with a honeymoon? Neither of you wanted it, yet Miguel always valued whatever his Consigliere had to say, you weren't going to take one of your few chances to argue with him over something so minuscule, you were saving your rage and confusion for the things that would matter in the future. Maybe somewhere warm, maybe Italy or France or something. You wondered what Mexico would be like since Miguel is half Mexican, you wondered if a part of his family were settled there too- you had to admit, you were curious if the apple fell far from the tree. You immediately dismissed this misplaced curiosity, you didn"t know Miguel well enough yet and he would probably have your head on a spike if you even mentioned it. Miguel's brother Gabriel came into the penthouse to pick up a few things and you told him that you wanted to go to Italy, Gabriel said he'd pass that along to Miguel's pilot.

It was getting dark out and Miguel said you'd fly out tonight but he still wasn't back. You hadn't seen Miguel since breakfast, you probably ruffled his feathers just by challenging him minutely. All you did today was get ready, did up your hair, splashed on some makeup, wear one of the dresses he gave you, and sat around. You were bored out of your mind, if this was what married life would be like, you would be very irritable and uncooperative indeed. You couldn't back out now, being bored was better than being dead.

You took this eventless time to wander around this penthouse, one of his capos told you he owned many but this was one of the nicer ones, it was quiet, serene. You spent this day with one of Miguel's lackeys stationed outside of the door and Little Miss Fuck Me Eyes, AKA the maid, but you actively avoided her.

It was a nice place to live in, expensive and clean, but it felt...empty, even with people in and outs mavbe it was just the lack of Miguel that was making you feel this way. Your heels clicked around and your eyes squinted towards Miguels study.

Should you...? You'd probably get a shot to the kneecap at least for meddling with Miguel's private affairs. Your fingers wandered to the handle tentatively, your curiosity outweighed your fear. It would be a stupid mistake, yes, but if Miguel wasn't going to be here now, he definitely wouldn't be around later, so you had time to snoop and pretend you weren't there.You opened the door and your eyes shot around, he was such a neat freak, but there were bits of paper strewn on his desk. His desk was dark oak, it was almost black, his desk chair was real black leather too, and the warm ambient lights offered some sort of atmosphere where he could work. You strolled softly behind his desk to look at the loose papers. The first one was marriage papers, the official documents to your betrothal, the other one was the NDA you signed and the last one was...an entire background check on you. You sifted through the paper and there were pictures of you walking around on the streets of New York, you clutched onto it, your eyes narrowing at the words you were reading on the page.

It had your bank details.

Your clothing measurements.

Your GPA.

The earnings of your parent's company.

Every ex-boyfriend you've ever had

The shops you go to.

Your favourite food.

Quite literally everything about you.

He ran a background check on you and had someone follow you around before you got engaged. You frowned at the paper. You set it down and sighed, taking a minute to consolidate what you had just read. Raking a hand through your hair, you walked around his desk and stole a glance at the walls- you couldnt believe you missed what he hung up on the walls. You inched forward to inspect the Renaissance paintings that covered the room, he even had a real Caravaggio, Lord knows how much it cost. Then you shifted towards a picture that wasn't a painting. It was of Miguel and his brother when they were about teenagers, embracing each other for the camera after a presumably long day of playing sports or something like that- but what really stunted you was that he was smiling. You don't think you've ever seen Miguel smile at all.

What you didn’t realise was that Miguel was at home, trying to find you in the penthouse.

He knew he was an hour late but he was held up by some important consultations. His brow raised when out of the corner of his eye, he found the door to his study open which was very odd- it was always left closed, he should probably invest in a lock. His fingers opened it up sottly and there he found you, snooping around his study like a second-rate degenerate criminal, but when he found you, you were gawking at the art on his walls. You were absorbed in the paintings, in a trance akin to that of a dream, he almost didn't want to disturb you, You were wearing a slinky black strapless dress that hugged you just right, it stopped just below the knee, your skin was glowing in the ambient light, the heels on your feet making you look taller, but not as tall as him. He liked that he had the choice to power over you.

He had the sentiment he always had when he looked at you: you looked nice.

“Enjoying your prying?” A low irritated voice husked behind you, you turned around and yelped in surprise, your chest heaved at the shock of seeing him right here, in a place you had no business being in. You were dead already. You winced when your eyes met his, he seemed amused and annoyed all at once as you gaped at him at the doorway. He was so….so…clean and smart but his sleeves were rolled up and a few buttons were undone, he ditched his tie as you saw it in his hand. You swallowed thickly.

“I'm fine.”You seemed to muster up, unsure of what else to say, You had to admit, you were a little afraid but you would rather die than show that. You weren't sure what was going to fall out of his mouth, probably a verbal tongue-lashing. “Caravaggio? His paintings are rather dark.” You couldn't help but comment on it, of course, he would have refined taste, not just in anything business-related but also something as cultural as art.

“Isn't that what's fascinating about it?” Miguel grumbled, hoping you wouldn't hear him. It was a bright, keen and astute observation. You pursed your lips and stayed silent whilst crossing your arms. “I don't want you in here.” He clipped coldly as he finally made his way to approach you, he stole a look towards his desk and found that a few papers had been messed with. So you know about it now.

“I don't want you having your capos stalk me.” You bit back shrewdly with challenging eyes and Miguel raised an eyebrow a little, just enough for you to notice from the corner of your eye. Touche, dick.

“I have to know how I'm working with.” He said so emotionless, so flatly. Like everything was about business, like neither of you was actual people with feelings.

“Well, I don't know who I'm working with, so you're not fighting fair.” You inched forward to him as you let out with a strained breath. Unfortunately for him, your statement made him think.

“You won't have to and you're right, I don't fight fair.”

“I told Gabriel I want to go to Italy, by the way.” You pivoted the subject around and Miguel was internally pleased that you did.

“Portofino is nice this time of year.” He commented briskly, again, reverting back as if you were mere acquaintances discussing destination spots and the fucking weather. It still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

You packed quickly and Miguel's driver took all your bags as you were about to head out of the front door. You weren't really paying attention as Little Miss Fuck Me Eyes was all over Miguel again, talking to him about what needed to be done the time both of you came back. You didn't know why you didn't like her, it was probably because she was so obvious about it, she was practically drooling over your husband as if you weren't here.

He was your husband. Whether you liked it or not. When she glanced over at you, you raked a tuft of hair behind your ear, your wedding ring on full display as you did so, she definitely noticed it with the way her face settled into a scowl.

It didn't take long until you were both in the back seat of Miguel's lamp-black Porsche, completely silent to the drive to the airstrip that Miguel owned. You blinked out the window, watching the bright city lights blur into colors against the dark of night, well-mannered in your straight posture and crossed legs. Miguel took a second to contemplate your presence, he almost hated how well-behaved you were. A small fraction of him wanted to see you get messy, preferably under him. He shook the defiant out of his head with a scowl, staring out of his own window in response. There was this thick tension between you, this sustaining of a non-existent friendship, trying to keep the conversation simple and polite between you and the man you barely knew anything about.

He did his research but your parents did their own- they didn't let you get involved even though you were the one they were marrying off.

It felt like forever in the car, Miguel escorted you out like a...gentleman. Watching you sway so confidently up the stairs to his private jet. He had a full view of your ass in that dress he liked, he didn't know how to feel about it so he just breathed deeply instead. Miguel followed you up, stepping into the cool, crystalized plush leather of the plane. Jesus, the amount of money he spent on this is probably uncountable, just thinking about it made your head ache. Miguel watched as you were awed at the interior, he had a slight feeling of contempt at your reaction, like you didn't think your lifestyle would change into this. He makes this kind of money every minute. He was a very wealthy man. He could afford 20 of these if he wanted to. You needed to stop being so surprised and get used to shit like this.

You thought that Miguel would probably want to sit the furthest away from you, he was distant like that but a flash of confusion covered your face when you found him sitting next to you as he did up his seatbelt.

So close.

The proximity was...different. So different.

“Good evening, Mr. O'hara.” Before you knew it a soft sensual voice in front of you pierced through your absent-minded thoughts. Oh, of course. Another insanely beautiful woman worked for him. She took out a single glass and pulled out a 100-year-old Merlot. Her perfectly tailored uniform clung to her so tightly it was like glue. Of course, he had a gorgeous flight attendant. Of course. It shouldn't bother you, but for some reason it did. “How was your night...with your friend here?” She glanced to the side at you, finally realizing that it wasn't just her and Miguel in the plane, so they couldn't exactly fuck like dogs. Her face scrunched into a condescending smile, looking you up and down. It was obvious she was defeated but she concealed it behind bright eyes. Why did every single woman who worked for him want to fuck him? It was honestly galling.

“She's my wife.” Miguel said thickly, his voice held a certain gravitas, and his tone was clipped, almost like he was annoyed. The revelation seemed to get to Little Miss Fuck Me Eyes Number 2, her face dropped and it honestly made you feel better. “And yes, we had a good night, thank you. Please get another glass for us please.” It was almost like he was politely laying into her.

“Of course, Mr O'Hara.” She smiled softly as she whisked away to get another glass.

Miguel wanted to roll his eyes. Yeah, yeah baby, keep dreaming he wanted to say. He really didn't like it when people gawked at him, especially the women who worked for him. It wasn't him who employed all these objectively beautiful women, it was Gabriel and he was extremely biased. He doesn't fuck his staff. Well, he can't because he's a married man. Married to you. A beautiful woman who he just can't figure out. Even though, he had all the info he could get about you...the way you talked to him, and the way you acted around him was confusing. You were so puzzling and he wanted to uncover the secrets that you held, how messy you could actually get behind this complacent good girl agenda.

His eyes flickered to you and it was obvious you were lost in your own little world. He looked at your lap and noticed that you weren't wearing your seatbelt, before his mind could even check it, his hands reached out for your seatbelt.

You almost jumped into your seat when you realized where his hands were, he was leaning towards you, close enough where you could fully smell his deep and rich cologne. He did your seatbelt and without hesitation, tightened it harshly with one tug, you gasped softly at the unexpected action. Woah. His hands were...big.

“Make sure you don't die a day after your wedding day.” He muttered just above a whisper. You let out a gentle cough and resumed your 'respectable' position, pretending like it didn't affect you whatsoever.

Miguel wanted you to be affected by him, maybe so he could intimidate you. But after just a short few days together and many moments of where you should be intimidated by him- you weren't. It was as refreshing as it was unsettling. He could have you affected by him in another way…maybe sexual tension would do the trick in breaking this facade you had up... He contemplated the idea but then ultimately rejected it as quickly as it came.

He can't fraternize with you.

This was merely a business transaction.

He wanted this as clean as possible.

No feelings. No fucking up.

He would never get involved. He won't do it.

He’s done too much to stop now.

taglist (giggles): @deputy-videogamer @aisyakirmann

#spiderman 2099 #miguel o’hara angst #miguel o’hara smut #miguel ohara #atsv miguel #miguel o’hara #miguel o’hara fluff #miguel o’hara x reader #across the spiderverse #miguel o'hara

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2knightt · 11 months

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Hiiii! Can you do the outsiders gang with an s/o who models I feel like that would be interesting :)

↳but i’m into it, i’m into it.₊˚✧

➬ the gang x model!fem!reader

a/n;i love famous reader so much omfg. also, i love using chase atlantic lyrics for my titles. dont chase men, chase atlantic everyone.

Johnny Cade ;

believes that you are the most BEAUTIFUL person to walk the planet.

STRONGLY BELIEVES THAT.

probably thinks you’re too good for him.

PLEASE TELL HIM HE’S ENOUGH FOR YOU.

take him too your shoots and he will be blushing the whole time.

if you wear something that’s flattering to your body shape, he will explode right then and there.

“how do i look? should i fix my hair?”

“you look perfect.”

“you think?”

“…mhm.”

the gang seen you on a magazine cover and started freaking the fuck out.

“HOLY SHIT JOHNNY ISN’T THAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND?”

“WOAHHH!”

“jesus…does she have a sister?”

“guys please stop.”

cuts out your magazine covers/photo shoot pictures and keeps them in his jean jacket pocket.

not in a weird way, just in a way that when he’s sad and you aren’t around he can remind himself on how lucky he can really be.

Dallas Winston ;

oh my god he never shuts up about how he got the hottest model ever.

“yeah she’s pretty n all but, my girlfriends a model so.”

“that’s so cool that your chick is…like that! but mines a model, so, she’s just better.”

buys steals all your magazines/any photo shoot you do.

any guy thats talks about you in way dallas doesn’t like, gets knocked out.

“i’d hit that.”

“yeah?”

“yea—”

dead./j

no but he would pull all his strength in that punch.

the gang thought he kidnapped you because no way in hell a pretty girl like you would go after dallas winston.

“y/n, blink twice if you’re kidnapped.”

“raise your hand if you need help, dude.”

“guys, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

you’re legit, all he thinks about.

he’s so whipped for a model girlfriend, if you asked him to jump he’d ask how high.

genuinely believes you’re an angel, will NOT tell you that to your face though.

Ponyboy Curtis ;

he gets so nervous around you omfg.

his palms be sweating n shit, stuttering and everything.

“he-hey y/n.”

“oh, hey pony!”

uses his favourite photo shoot of yours as a book mark. i can feel it in me bones.

he giggles and kicks his feet when he looks at that bookmark btw

draws you?? i feel like that’s his favourite pass time.

IF HE HAS TO DESCRIBE A STORY IN ENGLISH HE WRITES ABOUT HOW HE MET YOU OMFG AND THE WAY HE’D DESCRIBE YOU IN THE ESSAY??/?!:;&

he’d be so sweet with his words when he talks about you. i cant i love him so much

the gang is lowkey jealous that the youngest one out of all of them pulled a model.

“hey, don’t you model?”

“yeah!”

“what.”

“how did ponyboy get a date with you?”

“…are you guys serious? am i that ugly to you guys?”

Sodapop Curtis ;

POWER COUPLE OH MY GOD I CAN’T.

you guys walking in the street together probably makes people pass out.

literally nobody was shocked that you guys started dating.

the prettiest girl for the prettiest boy, it was bound to happen, c’mon.

he probably got into modeling because of you.

OH MY GOD IMAGINE DOING A PHOTO SHOOT WITH HIM???

he asks for his favourite picture of you two from that shoot to be printed out larger for him so he can hang it in his room.

like dallas, he will punch a guy for you.

“she’s hot.”

“she has a boyfriend.”

“so?”

call 911 cause that guys gonna need it in a minute!

showed steve a picture of you before he introduced you to the gang.

“oh my god soda. why are you dating a literal model?”

“why not?”

“but what else did i expect, you get girls daily.”

Darry Curtis ;

honestly, he couldn’t care less about what you do for work.

if it brings in money, it brings in money.

but the gang sure as hell does!

“YO ISN’T THAT Y/N L/N?!”

“THE MODEL?”

“yeah? how do you guys know her?”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW HER?”

“she’s my girlfriend, soda. that’s why i brought her here.”

“WHAT??”

i’d be lying if i said darry didn’t carry around a head shot of you in his wallet.

he doesn’t brag, but when the chance to talk about you comes, he takes the chance.

“good for her. huh? oh—my girlfriend models. pretty popular.”

when he sees a magazine with you in it for sale, darry snatches it so fast.

compliments you after he seen it.

“i like your most recent shoot, the makeup suits you.”

“you think, darry?”

Steve Randle ;

rocked the whole world when you guys started dating.

DOESN’T SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT YOU.

“that’s so tuff soda, but y/n actually said—”

“nobody cares steve.”

“shut up and let me tell you what MY GIRLFRIEND said.”

STEVE HAS A PICTURE OF YOU TAPPED ON THE INSIDE OF THE TOP OF HIS TOOL BOX.

takes you on dates 24/7 just to show you off.

sometimes he lets go of your hand to see if anyone would flirt with you so he can punch them.

gang thought he held you hostage when you started dating ngl.

“you can do so much better, y/n.”

“dallas, shut the fuck up.”

“i’m just sayin’.”

“i will knock you out.”

Two-bit Matthews ;

HE’S SO WHIPPED FOR YOU IT’S DISGUSTING.

you have him giggling n shit.

his room is filled to the brim with photos of you.

not in a weird way, he just thinks you’re drop dead gorgeous.

tells you cheesy pickup lines, all the time.

“are you from Tennessee? cause you’re the only TEN I SEE! get it?”

would start a fan club for you if you asked nice enough.

introducing you to the gang was earth shattering for them.

“how??”

“what do you mean, ‘how?’”

“how did you pull her?”

“I PULLED HER WITH MY GOOD LOOKS AND CHARM, STEVE.”

“you’re so funny, two-bit.”

“like you falling flat on your fucking face yesterday?”

“YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T TALK ABOUT THAT.”

may 24th, 2023. 11:30PM.

tag-list ;

@diorgirl444, @typereader 🧍‍♂️

#2knightt #the outsiders #the outsiders x reader #dallas winston x reader #dallas x reader #johnny cade x reader #johnny x reader #ponyboy x reader #ponyboy curtis x reader #steve randle x reader #two bit matthews x reader #two-bit x reader #sodapop curtis x reader #sodapop x reader #darry curtis x reader

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agentstarkid · 9 months

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SERENDIPITY ✦ DR3

“Serendipity is an unexpected and very lucky finding, that is, a coincidence that fills us with happiness. Serendipity in love implies the feeling that the universe conspires in our favor, bringing that special person into our lives at the right time and oh boy, did the universe send her everything she ever needed in the form of a 5'10" man with a built-in accent, a love for Tim Tams, adrenaline-fueled spirit and a smile that could light up a whole town.”

✦ pairing: daniel ricciardo x famous!latina!reader

✦ type: social media au

✦ face claim: becky g

✦ warnings: female!reader, covid-19 & quarantine mentions, age gap, language.

✦ pit wall live: HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY BESTIES! 🤗💗 I've been working on this for a month, honestly I thought I was gonna finish it fast but tbh that was really naïve of me 🥴 the amount of times I ended up changing almost every little thing is insane lol but today I sat down and commited to finish and post this! this is my first ever smau or any kind of 'x reader' really, so please be kind 🤍 and of course it was going to be about the love of my life!

— oh btw, my idea is to get to present time and make it angsty so let me know what you guys think! I really hope you enjoy!

─── The Joker & The Queen (Masterlist)

JANUARY 01, 2020

yourinstagram and danielricciardo added to their stories!

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danielricciardo has followed yourinstagram!

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yourinstagram

♡ liked by anitta, danielricciardo and 6,546,214 others

yourinstagram 2019 was full of happiness, pain, healing and growth. I loved a lot, I cried a lot and I laughed a lot. I'm grateful for a lot of things in life, but I'm specially grateful for you guys ❤️🥂 I LOVE YOU! ❤️

tagged: selenagomez, fioamato, iamdannaschwarz, itsvittoriasousa

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fioamato It's out with the old and in with the new ⏭️😜

iamdannaschwarz this could be the start of something new indeed 😏🤭 yourinstagram 🙈 user yourinstagram girlieee does this mean you found your Troy Bolton tonight? 👀👀👀

iamdannaschwarz what a year it has been! Through the ups and downs you prevailed. So proud of you! Cheers, amiga! 🥂❤️

itsvittoriasousa u deserve the whole world, i wish everyone knew ur heart 🥺 love you biiiiiiig ❤️

user1 can we talk about that dress!!!! jaw dropped 🤯

user2 Mami 🔥🔥🔥

selenagomez ❤️🥂🎆

user3 danny ric you ain't slick baby we can see u 👀

user4 words on the streets that they were seen pretty close the whole night 👀

user5 girlies do we think the writing on the napkin belongs to mr. ricciardo? 🧐

user4 what about the last pic?? could it be about a nod to him???

user3 somebody call the fbi and the cia we need to decode this 🔎🔎🔎

sebastianyatra una locura de año 🚀 happy new year penguin!

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JANUARY 25, 2020

justjared

♡ 9.075 Likes

justjared New couple alert?! YN LN, 21, and Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, 30, were spotted on a walk and getting cozy during a night out in New York. More photos now on JustJared.com #YNLN #Daniel Ricciardo Photos: Backgrid

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user1: well that's a couple nobody saw coming 😶 good for them tho

user2: These pictures are so creepy as to get these they literally have to stalk these people and are probably hiding in bushes or wherever to get the shots

user3: he's a full-grown man in his 30s messing around with a teenager how shocking 🙄

user4: how is she a teenager if she's 21??? she is a consenting adult and has been for a while...make it make sense user5: it's a 9-year age gap not 25 😑 y'all should learn to mind your own fucking business

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FEBRUARY 05, 2020

danielricciardo added to their story!

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yourinstagram added to their story!

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yourinstagram

♡ liked by danielricciardo, greeicy and 7,452,325 others

yourinstagram starry nights, sunsets, little moments, deep conversations & special feelings 💖🃏

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iamdannaschwarz pov: you were there to witness the first conversation 🤣

itsvittoriasousa never knew a person could blush that hard 😂 yourintagram you are both getting blocked 🙅‍♀️

fioamato 🃏🃏🃏

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michaelitaliano and scottyjames31 have followed yourinstagram!

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MARCH 11 & 12, 2020

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yourinstagram has added to their story!

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APRIL 09, 2020

yourinstagram

♡ liked by danielricciardo, jbalvin and 5,723,498 others

yourinstagram Quarantine with an aussie boyfriend: turns out, 'G'day mate' is the only greeting you'll ever need. Who needs handshakes anyway? Also, you get to excessively use the word 'mate' without being judged. It's basically a linguistic free pass 🤷🏽‍♀️😂🇦🇺

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user: OMG OMG IT'S FUCKING HAPPENING!!!! EVERYBODY STAY CALM!!!

user: Dan-Y/N nation how we feeling today? 😍

user: wasn't she dating sebastianyatra tho?

user2: nah they've been friends for years

user3: «cristina» is lowkey about her tho 🤭 "you were 19, i was 23"?? and there's a 4 year age gap between them?? they deffff had something going on a few years back AT LEAST 👀

user2: who knows maybe they did, but they refer to each other as "like-a-brother" and "like-a-sister" so as far as we know they are only best friends 🤷🏽‍♀️

fioamato what do you say titi yourmomsinstagram does it get the seal of approval?

yourmomsinstagram 🤔🤔🤔 yourinstagram she face-timed me and told me to pass the phone so she could talk to him. They talked for an hour. They are besties now, she's just trying to play hard-to-get 🙃

danielricciardo and 5,345 other liked it

fioamato 😂😂😂

jbalvin encantado de verte feliz hermanita ❤️

danielricciardo tell your boyfriend he's really lucky 🤙🏼

yourinstagram thanks will do, mate 🤙🏼

user OMG??? you guys are so unserious 😭

user2 MOM??? DAD???

user3 danielricciardo yourinstagram i'm glowing, flourishing and thriving 🥰😭

michaelitaliano shitty accent though

yourinstagram I love my haters ❤️ you guys are my motivators ☺️ btw don't you have a kangaroo to fight?

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APRIL 29, 2020

yourinstagram

♡ liked by michaelitaliano, danielricciardo, lewishamilton and 6,498,498 others

yourinstagram Spanglish country…we’re doing it!! Watch kanebrown_music and I blend sounds, languages and dance moves in #LostInTheMiddleOfNowhere (Spanish Remix) 😜 song and video OUT NOW 🔥

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iamcardib OKAAAY MAMAAA 🧊🧊🥶

lali ALTA DIOSA 🔥

user she 👏 never 👏 misses 👏

itsvittoriasousa BRO U ABSOLUTELY ATEEE

user jaw drops to floor eyes pop out of sockets hearts out of chest 😍

danielricciardo wow caliente 🔥

user the amount of unwell I am in this exact moment

user2 daniel is right. muy caliente 🥵

user3 i'm losing my mind over 2 words + emoji okay

user4 daniel stop being a cunt and make an appearence in one of Y/N's ig lives

user5 user4 you could totally hear his voice in the last one lmao

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MAY 03, 2020

danielricciardo

♡ liked by pierregasly, jensonbutton, iamdannaschwarz and 710,610 others

danielricciardo Just a bunch of life 🤠🚜🇦🇺🇺🇸

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yourinstagram awesome taste in music mate 👍🏼

danielricciardo big fan of hers 👍🏼 love finding new underground artists ☺️ user imagine calling THE yourinstagram an "underground artist" lmaooo user2 they're both such little shits i love them your honor 😭

kristenanniebell ❤️❤️❤️

scottyjames31 I see you're in good company mate

corey_wilson goodness I miss the ranch so much

user daniel said lemme give you thirsty bitches a few droplets of water

user2 there's so much to unpack here omfg

iamdannaschwarz you're welcome 😌 also there's a no-return policy in the contract ok bye

fioamato you're welcome 😌 x2 itsvittoriasousa you're welcome 😌 x3 danielricciardo nah i think i'm gonna keep it for a long while thanks. i'll rate you guys with 5 stars 👍🏼

user3 THE LETTER ON THE LAST PHOTO ???? I'M SENDING Y'ALL MY THERAPY BILLS

user4 THE MATCHING RINGS PLEASE!!!!!!! 😭😭😭

user5 all this soft launch shit is killing me guys help somebody let them know that we already know so they can stop playing!!!

yourinstagram but where's the fun in that babes? 😌 user holy shittttt!!!! y/n ???? i- 🤯 user5 OH MY GOD!!!! HI MOTHER AJKFFLAHDASD user2 it's a fucking confirmation!!!! dan-y/n nation we got it!!! it's crumbs but we got it!!!!!

user6 we stan a suportive bf ☝️🤩

user7 999 for grammy's best album of the year ✨manifesting✨

°。°。°。°。°。°。

─── Please don't forget to reblog & comment! ♡

#daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo x you #latina!reader #famous!reader #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo social media au #daniel ricciardo instagram au #f1 x reader #f1 social media au #( agentstarkid's works )

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case-almost-closed · 4 months

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Hi. How are you ? Glad that you write for DC. not many people do 🥰❤. Can i request for Furuya? Feel free to ignore if you dont like it. But yeah. So there is this girl who is being verbally assulted/catcalled, and the guy is just being a creepy stalker literally following her (nothing serious, just wants to hook up and her number or social media), so she decided to ask for help from the first person she can find, who was Furuya walking with Conan . And she was like (can you pretend to be my husband boyfriend?). Im sure a person like him would understand the situation based on her body language alone even before she explains it, and im sure if he scans his surrounding he will even find the creepy person within secs. So yeah, Furuya being the gentleman he is, will take matters into his hands ❤🖤.

Guardian Angel

Furuya Rei x fem!Reader Words: 1.8K A/N: Thank you so much for that request, lovely idea, really. Sorry that it took a bit longer, but I was busy. It's not as good as I hoped it would be, but I still hope that it's okay.

She knew she should have listened to her friends and taken the opportunity to return with them. However, she had had so much work to do that she simply hadn't been able to afford to go home earlier, but as she walked home in the dark, the path lit only by the lanterns and billboards, she wished she had listened to them.

Although she tried to take the roads where there was a lot going on and a lot of light, it became more and more complicated as she left the heart of the city for the more secluded, quieter areas she had to cross to get home. However, it hadn't been her biggest mistake to walk home so late, but to decide that nothing bad would happen if she took the shortcut through the park.

"Come on sweetie." The man's voice behind her sounded muffled and raspy, sending an unpleasant shiver down her spine.

Of course, it must have been her luck to run into the only person who was in the park at the time, and of course he had to be the creepiest guy who could have been.

"I just want your number!" She walked on without looking back, hoping he would just stay on that bench and drink himself into a stupor. However, when she heard rustling followed by footsteps behind her, a shiver ran down her spine again and she instinctively quickened her steps, clutching her bag tightly. The footsteps behind her didn't pick up speed, but they were still too close for her liking.

"Sweetie, come on now." His words came out slurred and the thought alone made her feel nauseous. "Please...please leave me alone." Her voice was quiet and didn't sound as firm and sure as she would have liked, so she took another step faster, which elicited a laugh from the man behind her. "Don't be like that, I just want your number, nothing more!" By now she had left the park and was back on a street. Her eyes darted back and forth without moving her head much so as not to attract any more attention from him, hoping to find someone who could help her, but the streets were deserted. So she had no choice but to keep walking and hope that her pursuer would just give up at some point. Which, of course, he didn't.

She briefly toyed with the idea of turning back in the hope of getting rid of him, especially as she didn't feel comfortable with the idea of showing him where she lived, but decided against it. It probably wouldn't do her any good as she was already so far away from the busy part of town.

However, she noticed that her pursuer seemed to have slowed down a little, probably due to the alcohol disrupting his coordination, and picked up the pace again, turning the corner sharply only to almost collide with someone. She stumbled and caught herself in time on the fence of a front garden, the wood digging uncomfortably into her hand and her face contorted in pain. " My sincerest apologies, are you all right?“

Her head shot up and she saw a man and a small child in front of her, the former crouched down to be at eye level with her, looking at her with equal concern. In a matter of seconds, she took in their appearances.

The child was young, perhaps six or seven years old, had typical dark hair and wore glasses that covered half his face. The man, on the other hand, appeared to be tall, athletic and, to her fascination, had blonde hair that seemed to be natural and fell into his tanned face. He gently grabbed her elbow and helped her up, looking at her with concern. "I'm really sorry, I really should have been more careful..." She wasn't normally the kind of person to interrupt others, but she felt it was appropriate at this moment.

"Help." Her voice was no more than a whisper, a breath, and she would be surprised if he heard her, but he seemed to do just that. He furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head, which might have been cute in other circumstances, but her heart was pounding in her throat. "Excuse me, but is everything all right?"

She shook her head, which deepened the worry line on his face, and started to speak again when she heard the shuffling footsteps behind her. Her body stiffened instantly, which was noticed by the man, whose gaze shot upwards only for his expression to darken. "There you are, sweetheart..." slurred the man, whose speech was now riddled with hiccups.

She shivered slightly and turned her head so that he could hear her. "I've already said I don't want anything to do with you." "Oh come on, don't be like that. It's just your number I want. For now." With that, he laughed and stepped towards her, reaching out for her arm. Her reflexes weren't quick enough and she just managed to tear her eyes open, prepared to be grabbed by the arm, but the blond man she had bumped into seemed to have other plans. He quickly pushed himself between her and the man, gripping his wrist tightly. "And what exactly is this supposed to be?“

Her harasser stared at the blond, as if only now realising that he existed. "What do you want, you scumbag?" he blurted out, spittle spraying through the air, but she tensed up when she saw him raise his hand. The little boy next to her, however, only took her hand reassuringly and smiled knowingly. "Don't worry. Amuro-san knows what he's doing." And the little boy was right. The blond, Amuro, blocked the blow with ease, twisted the man's arm behind his back, causing him to let out a painful groan, and pressed him against the nearest wall. "I should be asking you that." Amuro's lips were set in a knowing yet grim smile, giving her goosebumps as he leant forward and pulled his arm up a little further, eliciting another groan of pain from the man. "What kind of scum do you have to be to chase after young women in the dark and molest them?“

"I only asked her for her number, not sexually harassed her!" The man's face was contorted in pain. "Besides, it's none of your business!!!" She winced at his shout and the boy pulled her back slightly so that she had enough distance between herself and the man. "It's enough to make you guilty of molestation," Amuro hissed. He glanced at her for a moment and an idea seemed to occur to him as, unbeknownst to the man, a small smile played around the corners of his mouth. "It would concern me if she were even a stranger. However, it's my business especially because she's my girlfriend. So?" As the heat shot into her face, the man blanched and began to stammer out pathetic apologies.

She could see that Amuro was far from satisfied, but he seemed to realise how uncomfortable she was, so he snorted, grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him onto the road. He stumbled and landed almost face first on the tarmac, but managed to catch himself. He took one last look at them before he took to his heels and fled. Amuro looked after him, shaking his head in disgust, before turning back to her, his expression instantly softening.

Before she was able to thank him, he smiled shyly and scratched the back of his neck. "I apologise if I went too far in calling you my girlfriend. It's just been my experience that most people are more easily put off by that sort of thing, at least in the peaceful way." She shook her head hastily, her face warm with embarrassment, and bowed to the man. "No, no, not at all. I really am incredibly grateful to you for helping me. It wasn't a matter of course." He shook his head slightly. "Which is a shame, because it should be." He eyed her intently and a shiver ran down her spine under his gaze. "Are you all right?“

Only now did she notice the slight throbbing pain in her hand and when she looked down, she realised that a splinter of wood was stuck in her palm. "Just a small splinter, nothing more. You made sure of that." Instead of reassuring him, however, her comment seemed to have sparked renewed concern in him, as he took her hand in his and inspected it without thinking about it.

"It looks big," he murmured, gently stroking the skin around it, making her feel cold and hot at the same time. "You should pull it out carefully at home and disinfect it, otherwise it could get infected. It's not a big wound, but we don't want to take any risks."

He looked up mischievously and gave her a slight wink, causing the heat to rise in her face again and she took her hand back.

A clearing of the throat sounded and she looked down at the boy, who gave Amuro a look that she couldn't interpret, but he could. "We should get going." "Sorry if I kept you," she bowed again, this time a little lighter. "Even though I'm grateful for your help, I don't want to keep you any longer." Amuro frowned, obviously not keen on the idea. "It's not a good idea to walk home alone in the dark." "It's not far now."

"Still," he replied, looking at her with a gaze that ran through her heart and soul. Beautiful, but deadly piercing, as if he knew everything about her. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to you, and I wouldn't be able to do so with a clear conscience, knowing you were wandering alone." He smiled slightly. "If you don't mind too much, I'd like to walk you home. Just to make sure the guy's really gone."

At that moment, she was grateful for the dim light, as she couldn't remember the last time she had blushed so much. "I...I really don't want to be a bother."

"Not at all." His eyes sparkled and he tilted his head. "If you don't mind: I insist." She was unable to look at him, so embarrassed was she, but nodded curtly, which elicited a pleased chuckle from him and, to her surprise, he even held out his arm for her to hook under. "Thank you very much, my lady. Lead the way."

Annoyed, Conan watched after them as the nervous woman led Amuro, who was obviously thriving in his role as hero, down the path and rolled his eyes. It was obvious that Amuro would insist on accompanying them to the front door, the courteous guy that he was. He sighed and followed them at a distance so he wouldn't have to listen to Amuro, who seemed to enjoy making the woman blush and embarrassed, charm her.

Ran would give him hell for being late home again.

#furuya rei x reader #amuro tooru x reader #bourbon x reader #furuya rei #amuro tooru #bourbon #detective conan #conan edogawa #edogawa conan #rei furuya #tooru amuro #case closed #case closed x reader #detective conan x reader

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williamaltman · 27 days

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Ok so, I've been wanting to talk about the whole episode 5 recollection thing ever since we saw it on the previous trailers, and since there were more shots of it in the new one too I'm gonna take the opportunity...

So, in all the little shots we've seen, we have Louis going at Lestat. So I'm guessing the idea is that they're gonna make the """fight""" actually more of a fight and not just Louis getting beaten.

Personally, I am pleased with this, because I think it's basically the best way to deal with this whole mess. I never had an issue with Lestat and Louis "fighting". What I have issue with is how extremely violent it was, how Lestat actually seriously hurt Louis. If it had been just a punch or two (though that would already be domestic abuse) I wouldn't have been fazed, but his whole body was bruised and bleeding. There was a trail of blood when he got dragged across the street. He took months to heal. In their little "fights" (actually not sure if it's more than one) in the book, Louis was completely fine. Lestat never truly hurt him physically.

So, to sort of get into a writers mindset I guess, how could you "fix it"? Well, I don't think they could say it's a fake memory. I'm sorry but the idea that it was implanted by Armand for example is just ridiculous to me. I don't think it even makes much sense in the first place, but besides that, I hate the idea of just blaming Armand to make Lestat seem better. This black and white idea of one of them being the "bad boyfriend" and the other the "good one" that comes from both sides is NOT true to the characters imo, and I also think it's a shitty narrative to go with, storytelling wise.

Besides that, I'm not sure how else you could fully retcon it and say it was fake. I saw people theorizing that only the drop was fake, but again that seems to rely on the Armand fake memory theory, and I honestly don't think they'll retcon it since it was kinda the whole point thematically from what the writers said (that it's a parallel to Paul and that they were "very pleased with themselves" for it). And clearly the initial "fight" is not fake from the new shots we got. Obviously "Louis made it up" is not an option. I remember people talking about how it was from Claudia's POV, which I honestly don't remember whether that part was supposed to be from her diary or not, but even if that's the case the most that could do is establish that the details of the fall are messy because she wasn't there to see it, and that maybe Lestat wasn't so "triumphant" after it.

Lestat attacked Louis, just because he THOUGHT Louis wanted to leave with Claudia. He started it, which does matter imo (I don't think they can change that to it being Louis) and it was completely unequal. I know this fandom is lowkey plagued with gender role discourse, but Lestat, as a stronger vampire, has a huge advantage against Louis, akin to a man hitting his wife, but probably even bigger due to supernatural strength.

And that is to say, technically the main problems will probably still be there. Which is how it should be imo, cause after doing that they have to commit to it, at least to some extent. The idea should not be to fully exonerate Lestat, but to basically soften the blow (literally and figuratively) by adding some more nuance to it. The writers said themselves that they want Louis to be belieavable as a victim.

So, I'm guessing that what we're gonna see is Louis defending himself, getting some hits against Lestat, and that Lestat was hurt too, and maybe something new about the fall. Which honestly is gonna give me some peace of mind. I get why people don't like the idea of discrediting Louis' account of the event, and of how the fandom can turn on him if he's not some perfect victim... But there was (is) just something in me that can't fully ship Loustat as much as I did before with that having happened.

Like, for a while I have basically just chosen to ignore it as much as possible. I don't rewatch the episode, I skip it during reactions, I skip the beginning of episode 6 where we see how Louis is after. I have acknowledged it many times but more as like a meta thing that happened. I probably wouldn't say it's triggering, but it just crossed a line to me and I'm gonna welcome (almost) anything they do to make it less bad than it seemed, not because I want for Louis to come off as a liar or anything but just like... For my own relief, to kinda have a bit of weight off my shoulders when watching the show and shipping them? Obviously I don't know anything for sure and I might be wrong about some things I'm guessing, but not having it be so one-sided at least already helps a bit. (Please don't come here to say I'm a weak bitch who can't handle dark gothic romance or some bullshit like that. I've already talked about that back when the scene aired and if you think it's a simple as that you're probably just dumb and insensitive)

#interview with the vampire #iwtv #amc iwtv #loustat #louis x lestat #lestat x louis #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt #discourse #iwtv discourse

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oneatlatime · 8 months

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Return to Omashu

Fire nation priorities. Yes, there's a war to win, but first! We must make our colonies aesthetically consistent. Couple of gates, some gold trim, and some spiky bits! Can't forget the gold spiky bits!

Fulfilling the beat up Sokka quota this episode is raw sewage.

That sewer trek must have been long. They went in during the day and it's night now.

I spoke too soon! The quota is in fact filled by tribbles.

"it's so awful I'm dying." I get the feeling that Sokka has been waiting years to use that line. I love how quickly everyone in the Gaang supports each others' spontaneous plans. It's a sign of a good team if you can ream off fake names without blinking and fake the plague without being asked. They all work so well together. Zuko could take some lessons from these guys on lying.

Well this episode's going to land differently post-Covid.

Looks like Zuko Jr.'s going to be in this episode. Bummer. Although tweedledee and tweedledum are intriguing. Who'd ever think to give a teenage girl villain a pair of eighty year old poetry twins? One of the great things so far about this show is how they consistently choose to go with the most out-there option and always make it work. In a show about defeating the firelord, they chose to kill the moon for the finale. And it worked. The plot point, not the killing.

So I'm thinking that orange and yellow must be an acknowledged fashion choice among the four nations outside of an airbending context, because of the number of times fire nation guards have looked right at Aang and not seen him. Also I think his tattoos must have selective invisibility.

It's a crying shame that Hot Topic doesn't exist in the Avatar universe, because this May girl just passed their employment interview with flying colours. I'm siding with what I'm guessing is her mom on this one. Just chill for a bit.

Ok maybe don't chill for a bit. Yeah my bad. This is not a good time to chill.

Reusing the same Naruto run shot literally two seconds later.

How many projectiles can you fit in one pair of sleeves? She's got a whole armoury up there.

Seriously I know she's bored and all but no teenage girl should have access to that many weapons. If I'd had access to an armoury when I was a teenager, people absolutely would have died.

So cute. I'll take 12 please.

Every sentence that Zuko Jr. is saying to this pink girl is some kind of veiled insult or threat. I'd adopt Pink Girl's wilful obliviousness too if I had to deal with that.

Smart Bumi. He knows his people and his element. We've seen more than enough times already that something about being an earthbender makes you too stubborn to quit and unable to change plans even when your original plan is obviously not working (looking at you, Fong). So, knowing that his people are unable to change course, he prevents them from entering on to that course in the first place.

And Aang picks up on this too! Actually, since Bumi knew Aang growing up, do you think he picked up the concept of strategic retreat from airbending?

Tribbles to the rescue! Given that these are sewer dwelling creatures, this fake plague might turn real.

I love how casual Sokka is about touching other people.

Every street in Omashu seems to have a couple of bundles of twigs propped up against a wall somewhere. It's probably an animation trick to fill up the background.

Love the one guy really committing to the bit who just flops on the ground.

"Pentapox! I'm pretty sure I've heard of that." Humans are so suggestible.

I love that Flopsy remembers him. Aang's propensity to make friends wherever he goes paying off again. Also, exactly how much metal to the fire nation have access to? They're doing the floor, walls, ceilings, of the whole city. There must be some crazy budget surpluses that need using up.

This baby has an absurd throwing arm.

Machine gun Momo!

This is what happens when you don't feed your lemur AANG.

I know cartoon physics is a thing, but can this baby secretly fly or something?

Poor Momo didn't ask for any of this. Guy just wanted some berries. Now he's getting his tail pulled and bitten (hopefully no teeth yet).

Add absurd grip strength to this baby's list of other superhuman characteristics.

Baby apparently weighs quite a bit too.

Flying lemur unintentionally kidnaps baby. Did not see that coming.

Tiny nitpick: the circus master introduces Zuko jr. as "the firelord's daughter" rather than as Princess Zuko jr. Does she not have a title?

Nope. He's calling her princess now. Maybe there are a bunch of princesses in the fire nation and he was just being specific?

Thus begins the bullying of pink girl. Imagine going to school with a bunch of fire nation noble girls? There must have been casualties.

I love Sokka so much. Expert hug administrator.

"everything so clever. So tricky." Actually the avatar forgot to feed his lemur and it kind of snowballed from there. Hands down one of my favourite tropes is when one side in a conflict assumes their enemies are master manipulators, then we learn that actually they're just failing upwards through shenanigans. Love that.

Poor pink girl. The only viable strategy, both for her own safety and the safety of the whole circus, is appeasement.

"The universe is giving me strong hints that it's time for a career change." No blame cast, no fingers pointed, but also not giving Zuko jr. credit for influencing her. That's some fancy talking.

And now they're reusing the campsite shot too?

Poor Momo. That's about the face I make around babies.

I spoke too soon again. This episode's beat up Sokka quota is actually fulfilled by Katara's backhand. Because apparently it's a cardinal sin to prevent a baby from chewing on a potentially bladed weapon? Priorities girl.

Well that accidental kidnapping had some unintended positive consequences. Don't you love it when problems fix themselves?

She even paints her nails black and wears fingerless gloves. Seriously. Hot Topic. STAT.

"Well, Asula called a little louder." Hell of a lot of information in that sentence.

How long is her neck?

Ego much?

Zhao was an asshole and unpleasant, but at least he had some good banter. Zuko jr. is just mean. I hope I see less of her going forward.

Bumi! Hi Bumi! I love Bumi.

Pink girl's loyalty was tested with burning nets and released beasts. Now May's loyalty is tested with her brother's life. Zuko jr. is so good to her friends.

Why is no one able to recognise Aang? He's dressed like an airbender. The only one of those left is the avatar. It's not that hard.

Pink girl is lucky that Sokka is quite prone to friction.

More wood bundles. I guess it's for scaffolding?

Gotta give it to Zuko jr., she has excellent balance.

May has leg knives as well as arm knives?

And shirt knives. How does she not stab herself every time she sits down? And if this place is so boring, why does she feel the need to carry 8 billion knives?

Love the Appa tail slap. Underrated and underused move.

So Bumi has no spine left.

Facebending. Neat.

Neutral Jing is a neat concept, but I'll be damned if any earthbender we've seen apart from Bumi ever bothers with it.

Suddenly the 100 year gap between Aang and Bumi can no longer be ignored. Bumi is still Aang's friend, but he's got a century of learning and a city to protect. This is kind of a sad moment.

Do May and Zuko have some history? Is that's what's being implied here?

Wouldn't expect any less. I wonder how these two are going to explain the return of their son without painting the resistance in a really good light.

Zuko jr. is spelled with a Z.

Final Thoughts

Zuko Jr. gets a girl squad, the Gaang gets a reason to spend a season gallivanting all over the Earth Kingdom, and the audience gets to see Superslide part 2. A weird mix of establishing groundwork and having fun this episode.

I totally buy that the fire nation guards and governor fell for the plague thing. Anyone remember "that lemur! He's earthbending!" These guys are not smart.

The plague thing did not bother me at all. I thought it would, since the anti-science idiots in the Fortuneteller really annoyed me. I think since the fake plague was treated as a joke the whole way through, and never actually endangered anyone, it didn't bring up Covid memories.

I think Flopsy's pupils are sideways hourglasses, which contributes nicely to his uncanniness.

I think the stuffy that the baby was throwing is the same animal as the beaver bear thing at the circus.

I love Momo the machine gun. I think those are the same berries as the ones Iroh was going to double poison himself with.

Sokka getting to plan the plague and getting to save the day with boomerang was fun. That's two episodes in a row where he's been the plan guy. Katara got to use some of her new and improved waterbending as well, but she was really pushed to the background otherwise.

I think pink Girl, whose name I still haven't caught, is quite good at reading people. I caught more than one 'shallow-on-the-surface-but-actually-way-deep' statement from her. Also she can Vulcan pinch people's bending? I'm guessing it's temporary or else Katara would be really freaking out.

May was just too much. Too overdone. Yes, there are teenage girls like that, but it felt a bit on the nose. Actually, way too much on the nose. I get that she can't show any emotion in front of Zuko jr. for her own safety, but "can I offer you an egg fireflakes in this trying time?" is not exactly an appropriate response to your little brother's disappearance.

I'm still not liking Zuko jr. But I'm someone who never likes the villain anyway, at least not when our heroes are this likeable.

This episode was not easy on Aang. It was an interesting mix of bringing home the reality of the war and the reality of the time passed. Even when he seemingly got to save his friend in the end, he actually didn't because things are more complicated now. He untied the damsel from the railroad track and she tied herself right back on.

Further evidence for my 'entire fire nation is colourblind' theory this episode. Aang was not disguised apart from a hat made from a very incriminating colour. He had a giant blue stripe down the back of his head! Come on!

No Zuko this episode. He was last seen stealing a perfectly nice lady's bird horse, and it'll be a while before I forgive him for that, so good call by the writers to not have him around.

Now that I think about it, there was a lot going on this episode. Sewer break & enter, assassination attempt, fake plague, hostage exchange, water v. knife fight, fire v. air fight, vulcan pinch v. bending fight, Boomerang & bison v. knife fight, earthbending philosophy, girl squad assembly, lemur harassment, and baby restoration. This episode felt long in a good way.

How about, instead of learning the elements, Aang learns pink girl's vulcan pinch and just does that to the fire lord?

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #return to omashu #avatar the last airbender

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hezuart · 11 months

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im really glad people are finally talking about their critiques of helluva boss on youtube instead of just praising so i wanted to say thank you for being honest!! i know some people are afraid to critique the show cuz of the fanbase n that sucks :( oh btw!! what were your thoughts on Western Energy :0?

Yeah the fandom (and the critics too honestly) have all gotten really out of hand. The fandom is very very toxic.

Since I announced in my comments section that I'm probably gonna wait until the end of Helluva Boss season 2 to review the remaining episodes for it in succession, I may as well schpeel my thoughts on Western Energy. And boy howdy do I have... a lot of them ~~~

What the f_ck. WHAT did they do to my boy Striker

Striker in Harvest Moon: A secret assassin working as a farmhand who knew Stolas was going to appear conveniently in his own isolated ring of Wrath for the Harvest Moon. (where there are imps aplenty participating in the pain games; who hate the Goetia so there would be too many people to investigate for Stolas' murder so he could get off scot-free) Striker hides in a room with an angelic sniper rifle set up a street down, where he can make a quick getaway and no one will even see him. A quick, easy, clean kill.

Striker in f_cking Western Energy: CRASHES THROUGH A WINDOW OF A PUBLIC UPSTANDING CAFE WHERE OTHER GOETIA ARE DINING and starts FIRING ANGELIC BULLETS AT RANDOM; EVERYONE CAN SEE HIS FACE, THERE ARE SEVERAL WITNESSES. He even manages to capture Stolas via rope. AND THEN FUCKING DRAGS HIM VIA HORSEBACK ALL THE WAY TO THE RING OF WRATH TO TORTURE HIM BEFORE K_LLING HIM????? FUCKING EXCUSE ME? WHO IS THIS??!!! This was completely pointless. It was padding. Time wasting. In season one, Stella was pissed that Striker didn't shoot Stolas on sight. She wanted him dead and she wanted him dead NOW for cheating on her. She was ANGRY. She was out for blood.

In this episode, Striker says Stella asked him to give Stolas the "royal treatment" which goes against what she wanted in season 1. It actually goes against what she wanted at the start of this episode too! Striker literally busts into the cafe and starts firing bullets, nearly insta-killing Stolas right then and there had he not dodged. Striker tying him up and hauling him away is so illogical. It makes no sense. Stolas should have been shot dead in that alleyway. This was pathetic. At the end of the episode, there's a huge media circus for Stolas being hospitalized which is really weird because how they hell did they know? I guess Moxie and Millie called the hospital ahead of time, but I don't think the news would spread THAT fast. If anything, its ridiculous for Stolas to call Blitz and request help. Dude wtf did these two learn nothing? Stolas has gone right back to taking advantage of the situation for his fckin knight in shining armor fantasy play. and then like, after the call, Stolas is all "Oh shit, am I in danger?" LIKE HELLO? FCKING ??? YOU JSUT DODGED ANGELIC BULLETS AT THE CAFE?! YOU KNEW IT WOULD KILL YOU! BRUH?! OF COURSE YOU'RE IN DANGER YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN DANGER WHTKASFHKRDGJLlkdg Anyway, as CONSEQUENCES for Striker attacking a high-class Goetia in a public cafe with several witnesses, the news reporters should have swarmed the place. Striker's identity should have been revealed to the world as a prime suspect for the attempted murder and kidnapping of a Goetia. Stolas would be missing and Striker would be wanted. Blitz should have seen this on tv at the hospital with Loona. That would make the most sense. It would keep the drama going. The serious tone of the episode. The news station reporters wouldn't have appeared out of nowhere at the end of the episode; we would have expected them because they've been following this story all day now.

Striker getting this whole song about he's a cruel conniving almost well-known assassin with an evil lair in the mountains as though this is a folk tale song like everyone knows about him... when he was so secretive and Millie's family didn't know he was an assassin before they hired him.... and his ........... statue of himself what the actual f_ck Striker isn't Chazz. Striker is arrogant, but he's not promiscuously arrogant. He only takes pride in his farmhand work and assassin work. Not whatever the hell.... this is. This is a gross misrepresentation of his character.

Stella in season 1 was pissed Stolas cheated on her and was so angry with rage she wanted him killed immediately. In this episode, she's like teehee yeah I hired an assassin :P like its a fcking joke? Like its a silly game to her? This wasn't a game. Andre (shortening her brother's name) talks to her about inheritance and says she will get nothing if Stolas dies; which I thought he was convincing Stella to call off the assassination because otherwise it would all go to Octavia (who apparently is of legal age to inherit everything over her mother) Because of Stella and Stolas divorced, typically, its supposed to be 50/50 regardless of inheritance of the children. Andre says Stolas' duties, possessions, and his legions will all pass to Octavia. What? Stella has never been interested in the book. Octavia is the one who seems like she was taught by her father the star spells, so yeah, probably gonna inherit the book duties. Stella apparently throws parties... she's never been seen doing actual Goetia duties though. So she probably wouldn't want his duties anyway; they'd be inconvenient for this "childish spoiled brat" Viv is ... sigh, currently trying to portray of her. Stolas already gave away most of his possessions to Blitzo 25 years ago. Granted, he probably accumulated more. But still. And legions? Excuse me? Does Stolas have an army, or are you talking about imp butlers? Those guys are cheap and aplenty. and Stella has money. She even offers Striker more money to bring Stolas back alive. As for negotiations, the only way Stella could get anything out of Stolas is if she threatened Octavia or Blitz, and I don't see her actually doing that. So I don't know wtf they think was gonna happen if Striker brought Stolas back alive. He wasn't gonna budge on shit. The Goetia inc*st is disgustingly unnecessary. Especially because Stella is treated like a dumb whining child while Andre is the one comforting and coaching her like ...... he even calls her a stupid cow....and she seems uncomfortable with his advances like what the actual hell is this. Why did we need inc*st here

Loona's voice actor lost her boyfriend to cancer... (really upsetting so sorry this happened) so Loona's voice has been missing for the past two episodes (respectfully), but you know, I actually laughed really hard at Loona this episode. It's great that she's dead quiet throughout, it wouldn't have been as funny otherwise. So hey, fun simple B plot! That being said though... while this Loona gets her shot is a funny B plot, it does not belong in this episode. We go from serious torture and fight scenes to Loona and Blitz shenanigans. The tone shifts are very wrong. This B plot should have been in a different episode. Not this one. The B plot though isn't without its nonsense, though. The lady at the desk is like "I can't read or spell" and then literally a few seconds later she CAN suddenly read. Like what? What is this dialogue? Its unfunny padding, stick to a joke. What's even more frustrating to me is that the potential social commentary is a complete miss. The hospital is in sloth and the shot wait list is 5 years. Is Viv making fun of hospitals for being slow? For why appointments have to be made several months in the future? What??? Doctors aren't lazy?! They're LITERALLY OVERWHELMED WITH CLIENTS. THEY ARE BUSTING THEIR ASSES EVERY DAY WITH PEOPLE! THEY DO NOTHING BUT WORK WORK WORK!!! Hospitals belong in the greed ring!!!!????? for the sheer ridiculous amount of charges and expenses! Especially because the medicine industry is PRIVATIZED! AND HEAVILY CAPITALIZED! Huge missed opportunity on social commentary. Disappointing.

Millie and Moxie I guess go deal with Striker because they have unfinished business which you know I guess is nice but... I feel like Blitz is usually the one to save Stolas... Moxie and Millie should have had a different set up to confront Striker, because them being put in charge defeating an assassin that almost killed not only them both but also Stolas... like why would Blitz trust them? They failed last time. He seems so unconcerned.

Also Millie puts a random hat on Moxie's head at the beginning. It's apparently a point of contention. Some random fckin guy comes up to Moxie and gets mad they're wearing the "same hat". Why the hell is the hat a point of contention?! Why isn't it just a random fashion choice for the "western energy" aesthetic the episode was going for? And Moxie actually beats the hell out of this gang?! Excuse me what? He was a damsel in distress last episode!? Moxie is a twink! It's been established he can't wrestle or fight with his fists!? Since when is he suddenly a strong badass????? What is this inconsistency!?

The tiny imp mariachi band, they're actually adorable. Love their designs despite their poor story-written Striker song. Wish I could see more of those fellas!

ALso forgot to mention, Striker has a new voice actor. Bosco does a great job. I'll miss his previous voice actor, he was so good, but you know... word is, Viv completely blew her budget on hiring him. Viv can no longer, or rather, was never really able to afford Norman Reedus. Sad to see him go, but you know... Striker isn't the same Striker from season 1 anyway. All the characters have changed in season 2. So I think its nice Norman Reedus got to voice act for the good episode time period.

Striker torturing Stolas and Stolas turning it s_xual... this is a trend Viv is doing and I don't know if she even realizes it. "Characters get tortured and make it sexual to try and weird out their captor" and "Character gets sad looking at pictures full of context that slide by the screen way too fast" are some of her favorite tropes apparently. That being said though I'm lowkey concerned. Striker breaks his fcking leg and Stolas says "Blitz is rougher in bed"? Excuse me? I know maybe there's pain play or Stolas has healing abilities and pain tolerance but like???? Is Blitz?? Fucking breaking his bones and stabbing him in bed?! JFC? What is this relationship????? I've grown very concerned. Speaking of that fav trope of Viv's, when Moxie shows up and gets choked by Striker, he smiles and says "harder" like Angel Dust did in the pilot of Hazbin. Striker recoils in disgust, LETTING HIM GO? That doesn't warrant Striker letting go?! Striker has a giant b_ner statue of himself, his entire pain game competition with Blitz- them rough housing and enjoying it-, and Stolas was talking dirty the entire time he was getting tortured. I know Moxie of all people saying this is supposed to be shocking since he's not the type to say this, but like?? Striker shouldn't have been as weirded out by this ?!

Anyway oH MY

GOD I LOVED the Millie & Moxie vs Striker fight scene holy shit its SO GOOD?! Who did the choreography?! The car flip, revealing Moxie aiming directly at Striker, Striker dodging, spinning the knife then expertly throwing it into Moxie's gun... the gun shot activating the radio in the layer, "watcha thinkin' bout now?" a perfect fitting song for the western vibe and a great beat for this fight?! Striker TAPPING HIS FOOT TO THE BEAT , AND THEN CRACKING HIS NECK WITH A DEVILISH SMIRK, PREPARING AND WAITING FOR MOXIE AND MILLIE TO MAKE THE NEXT MOVE? Spinning his dual angel GUNS?! NOW THIS IS THE STRIKER I KNOW AND LOVE! HELLO THERE SIR!

And Moxie and Millie acting like the Bonnie and Clyde duo, where Millie is the close range blades expert while Moxie is the long range gun expert, both acting as offense and defense for each other, circling around Striker , taking him on together while he takes them both on at once? Since they know he's over come them individually before, but together? Man this is.... molten gold, beautiful ...and then its ruined when the song gets changed to a crappy unfitting pop song... ..... sigh, thanks, Viv ..

Anyway back to epic fight scene... Striker shooting, back flipping away from Millie's axe... Moxie coming in for a kick and then Millie coming in to block the gun shot with her axe, protecting Moxie omygod I love this... Moxie immediately going in for the shot.... HOO THIS IS SOME GOOD SHIT

Striker's guns get cut so he grabs his lasso and slams a rock into Millie, SEPARATING the two, an excellent tactic... Striker uses his lasso and twangs off the bendy axe handle to get up onto higher ground to get the advantage- GRABBING MILLIE'S AXE WITH HIS FRICKEN TAIL??? aND HURLING IT AT HER HOLY SHIT GIRL ALMOST DIES Ey! She's not invincible, thank goodness??? Its refreshing seeing her and moxie a little bit more on par this episode. Both having weaknesses and strengths instead of Moxie always being the weak damsel in distress and Millie being the ridiculous OP wife Anyway Millie almost dies and its a wild shot, her OWN AXE almost cuts her head from her body like WOW! AND then sTRIKER AND THEN STRIEKR RRRR He snaps his fingers, sighs and tutts with disappointment, but still SMILES like a "damn it, missed... I'll get her next time" LIKE ??? THAT'S SO GOOD ?? SO IN CHARACTER? SO CHARMING? SO CHARISMATIC? I don't know why but I laughed SO HARD at Moxie screaming "YOU COWBOY PIECE OF SHIT!" It was so funny in Richard's voice, so funny and weirdly personal over cowboys lol , loved that

Striker's..... stupid ugly statue falls on him, but it's shown he's escaped.

and then Stolas is brought to the hospital; and then Moxie and Millie inform Blitz that Stolas got hurt

and the dumbest line of the episode: "He can get hurt?" YES??????????? Yes he can??? You know he can get hurt? HELLO? Why did you stop Striker???!!! Moxie knew Striker had an angelic weapon and Blitz must have been suspicious of Striker and followed him, found him ready to kill Stolas?! Even offered a deal??? A partnership to kill Stolas?! MOXIE LITERALLY STOLE STRIKER'S FCKING ANGELIC RIFLE. WHERE THE FCK DID THAT GO? DID IT BLIP OUT OF EXISTENCE? OF COURSE STOLAS CAN GET HURT SDKGJDFLKJGLDFKJLGJ BRUH

WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW This is like such a shocking moment to Blitz its so dumb of course he cant get hurt i swear to - sIGH

and then we have more nonsense. You know how everyone was complaining about Blitz and Stolas in the Seeing Star episode? Acting like nothing happened between them at Ozzies? Like they didnt have this weird break-up reality check? Guess what. It's "addressed". Off-screen. Via text messages. And double guess what? The text messages are empty. They say absolutely nothing.

Stolas is like "Hey I'm sorry if I did anything to upset you last night" Blitz: "Whatever" Stolas: *Long paragraph about how he noticed Blitz was upset* "Asmodeous can be very invasive in humor, but I thought it was pretty funny myself" NO HE FUCKING DIDNT? STOLAS WAS SO UNCOMFORTABLE??? Is this like a weird lie to cover up his discomfort or something stupid like ???? bruh??? "I enjoy being the subject of jest, you can come over and make fun of me"

Blitz: "sure" ????????????????? What is this????? They arent talking at all! It's just Stolas rambling worrisome nonsense and Blitz being emotionally stunted and not talking back! and then in seeing stars the texts are like "thanks for helping with Via! We don't have to bang. you can keep the book if you want. Or we can just hang out!" and blitz is like "whatever im busy" Blitz types "get better soon :(" to Stolas and Stolas is like "thank you, come visit me!" and Blitz doesn't respond.

Rose petals are slowly falling off in the background, as Stolas waits for a reply that never comes. He finally sets down his phone. I think this is supposed to be like weirdly symbolic, a "he loves me, he loves me not" and when all the petals are gone and Stolas puts down his phone, probably finally giving up his crush on Blitz realizing Blitz doesn't like him back and will probably give Blitz those crystals to get his book back. Blitz and Stolas' relationship has turned so sour and weird in season 2. It's such an unhealthy relationship. Like it wasn't great in season 1 either but season 2 the context makes it far worse. Blitz has been using this guy for decades and its just being romanticized.

Also tho..... Stolas is surrounded by get-well bouquets? Who sent these to him???? He has no friends! The Goetias think he's pathetic... the imps and lower class hate his ass..... like ... did weird rabid fans send them??? Where did these come from!! Anyway, if Stolas doesn't rant to the media that his own wife tried to have him killed, exposing the domestic drama going on in his home, I'm gonna throw a fit. This is his perfect opportunity to finalize his divorce. Sure, he could risk putting his "cheating" with Blitz into the spot light but like... people already know about that so ??? All the more proof to stack against Stella? That she's out for revenge? This is a scoop! Hell would be eating out of the palm of his hand! There's also weird compositing in this episode. Why are these scenes composited??????? These aren't dramatic serious scenes! This is the silly B plot!

Also the Striker statue falling... is just a flat png skdgjlfkgj whats going on with the budget of this episode

This ep was ridiculous. But Moxie and Millie vs Striker genuinely had me smiling and excited. I miss when this show actually had me interested....

#helluva boss #helluva boss critical #helluva boss western energy #ask #text post

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jinmukangwrites · 3 months

Text

Handcuffed/Manacled

Fandom: Nightwing, Batman - All Media Types

Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Tags: Self-Sacrificing Dick Grayson, Hurt Dick Grayson, Hurt Tim Drake, Tim Drake Whump, Dick Grayson Whump, Kidnapping, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Blood and Injury, Dick Grayson-centric, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Hopeful Ending, Hostage Situations, Near Death Experiences, Protective Tim Drake

Ao3

Summary: What started as a quiet night quickly turned sour when Tim's comms cut off without warning.

----

"I think I have a pimple on my chin, and I'm about to get violent about it."

Dick laughed, swinging under a fire-escape—it creaked, but he had swung under this particular fire-escape enough times to know it could hold his weight.

At the other end of the comms, Tim sounded bored. Well, he must be bored if breakouts, and not the fun jail kind, had suddenly become the topic of conversation.

"It'll get better when you're older," Dick replied, smirking to himself, his eyes scanning the regular shady alleyways of Blüdhaven as his grapple retracted, then shot off to the next practiced ledge with a jolt down his arm. It looked like it would be a quiet night tonight, not a crime worth punishing to be seen.

"I'm literally almost 20, N," Tim replied, deadpanned. "Also you can't talk. I'm pretty sure you've never had a pimple in your life."

"Not on my face, not really," Dick agreed. He could hear Tim's weight land heavily on puddled Gotham streets through the other end of the comm. Seemed like he, too, was having a slow night. "But bacne? Whoah-boy. Pretty sure I have one right below my left shoulder-blade, it's driving me nuts."

"You said it gets better when you're older."

"I'm still young."

Tim snorted. Despite the empty streets being the only one to see it, Dick grinned.

"You literally asked me what gyatt meant the other day."

"In my defense, I said I'm young, not that I'm twelve. Believe it or not, I'm also not terminally on TikTok."

Tim laughed, and Dick followed.

It wasn't often he could just hang out like this. Somebody was always busy, or somebody didn't have the social battery, or was getting over an argument, or was doing something with someone else, or there was a storm over Gotham and the connection didn't hold despite the constant fixes Barbara made to the system, bless her. Honestly, when he contacted Tim, the response "yeah I'm free" was a very pleasant surprise, especially after he'd just gotten a "not tonight" from Cassandra a few minutes before.

"So, how's it going on your end?" Dick asked. He let the swing of his grapple slow as the ground came up. He took a few running steps, carefully bending his knees, coming to a stop on solid ground as the grapple fully retracted into his escrima stick. He attached the useful weapon on his back next to its pair.

Tim sighed. "Is it bad I'm almost hoping someone's getting mugged with every empty alleyway I check?"

"Probably," Dick responded lightly, "but also, same."

"Of course I don't want anyone getting hurt, you know? But like, maybe just a little bit of threatening? Some yelling? Some asshole with too much ego needing to be knocked down a peg? I'm itching to kick someone in the face and I don't think that's something people should itch to do."

"Trust me," Dick responded, "I think I'd rather hear gimme all your money than you won the lottery right now."

Hindsight had Dick wishing he had some wood to knock on.

Tim started to ramble about how the most interesting thing he'd seen that night was a cat messing with a rat outside a doughnut shop, and Dick was strolling the quiet streets, a city away, a thirty minute drive at midnight, listening with a smile. It could have continued like this the rest of the night, and he would have been content. He would have said goodbye to Tim, stumbled into his apartment, did some stretches, ate a toaster strudel, then gone to bed happy. Bored, but happy. Glad no one needed saving, Nightwing wasn't a factor in life or death, he could rest, knowing the quiet nights were rare and precious.

Tim cut off in the middle of his ramblings, and tonight wasn't rare or precious.

"Red Robin?"

"I heard something. Just a sec."

He was whispering, voice tight, Dick could almost imagine the narrowed eyes behind white domino lenses.

Warm pressure washed over him, the physical feeling of a happy moment turning stale, starting at his ears, settling threateningly in his stomach.

Nearly a minute passed, Dick had to remind himself to breathe during it.

"Huh," Tim said, finally, voice shaken a little. "I could have sworn I-"

Static.

Dick was on the emergency channels before his heartbeat could finish its first stutter.

"Oracle," Dick said, "I've lost contact with Red Robin."

-o0o-

And that was how the nightmare started.

The last time he sped this quickly across the distance spreading between Blüdhaven and Gotham—often times too small, at times like this, too long—was when Damian had fainted at school. Nothing serious, apparently he had forgotten to eat and it was a hot day.

This was serious. Bab's was able to report Tim's vitals spiking, then slowing into unconsciousness mere seconds before any signal between Tim and the family cut off.

Every bat in the city scrambled. A fine oiled machine, like students practicing drills for school invaders; a machine that shouldn't have to be this oiled.

Dick took the west, ignoring how his ankles ached and his back ached and his jaw ached. Fingers creaked, ribs squeezed, stomach clenched. The sun would rise soon. Maybe a citizen or two would wake up for work and see a bat out and be baffled by it for a moment, then wonder if it's a sort of bunker down and call out kind of day.

He followed Tim's footsteps, checking alleyways, passing the doughnut shop with a rat corpse in the gutter, looking up at the pipes and gargoyles that had scratches from grappling hooks, some fresh, some very not.

The sun rose. It hung in the sky. It set.

Nothing.

He needed to eat. Everyone needed to eat. Damian was the only one resembling someone who could stand on their own two feet and it wasn't from a lack of caring but more from a responsible butler forcing the kid to go to school. Damian wasn't happy about that, the family had to move to a different channel while Damian argued over the comms for a solid 30 minutes.

Dick kept returning to the alleyway Tim's last location had pinged from, like if he looked again, Tim would be there that time. He was exhausted, to put it plainly. He was tired to the core, from the lack of sleep, and from once again, fearing for the life of a younger sibling. His eyes desperately wanted to close, but he knew that if he stopped looking even for a second, he'd see Jason's grave, feel Damian's blood, hear the silence coming from Stephanie's empty chair.

Not Tim. Not Tim too. Not Tim again.

Can't the universe let him catch a break? Or, at least, let it be him instead?

A grim thought. He had to keep looking.

There wasn't any sign of a struggle. No Red Robin branded weapons stuck in the brick walls, no dented dumpsters, not a single speck of blood. It was like Tim was kidnapped by the fabric of reality itself; glitched and removed, plucked out of thin air.

The irony and deja vu wasn't lost on him.

He sighed to himself, searching around the alleyway, poking at the same clueless details until maybe his fingers would leave indents in concrete.

Something blinked. Faint. Red. Rolled under a dumpster, near unnoticeable.

Dick noticed it. His blood ran cold.

He could hear Alfred get on the comms, demanding everyone return home for dinner before they do Tim no good by letting exhaustion win, but he ignored it for a second as he crept to the dumpster, reaching his hand under to pull out a small device no larger than the tip of his pointer finger.

Tim's comm.

He'd checked under the dumpster before. Several times. This wasn't there before.

It had to have been returned here. Purposely.

It was blinking like it was connected to something, which was impossible because Oracle said the signal was completely disconnected, and only she could connect it back to the family again.

He took out his own comm, wiped off alleyway water from Tim's, then replaced it in his ear.

"Is anyone there?" Dick asked, not knowing if he wanted an answer.

A second passed, he felt like he'd throw up.

A shaking voice responded. "N, go to these coordinates. Come alone, or he's going to kill me."

-o0o-

Dick went alone. He was instructed to keep on the earpiece, and that the kidnapper would know if he muted to warn the others.

The coordinates lead him to no special location at all. A thirty minute walk from where Tim had initially disappeared, a nook under the freeway where flood water could drain.

Not a soul awaited him there.

A blue backpack, abandoned—no, purposely placed—awaited him there.

Nothing was good about this. Tim had sounded weak and frightened to his trained ears, brave to anyone else. Dick felt like getting stabbed would hurt less than this.

He didn't care. He didn't know what else to do.

Tim had long since stopped responding to Dick after giving the initial instructions—the comm was mostly for the kidnapper to keep Dick under control—but he didn't need instructions to know that whatever happened next involved that blue bag.

He stepped up to it, hands long past the point of shaking that they're deathly stable as he unzipped it.

A device about the size of a pen greeted him. Thin, sleek, nothing special besides the tip being a very threatening button the size of a push pin.

"Gloves off," Tim whispered. "I- Nightwing- don't do it- I'm-" he cut off with a shout. The line went silent.

Dick didn't hesitate to take his gloves off and press the button.

Two things happened. The first was quicker, while the second was more physical.

The earpiece shorted out, and anything powered on Dick's body—his removed comm, his tracker, the sensors to his vitals, even the batteries to his escrima sticks—went completely dead.

He had just a millisecond to process that before nausea washed over with a prick to his thumb.

His vision swam, and he collapsed, black consuming him before he hit the ground.

-o0o-

"Just my luck," A modulated voice said exactly as Dick found himself waking up enough to comprehend words being said to him, "I've always wanted to meet Nightwing."

His arms were behind his back, wrists locked with tight bands of cuffed metal. Gravity told him he was sitting up, spine slumped against a wall, but sharp tugs in his hair told him that a hand clutched the strands, holding his neck up. He knew before he opened his eyes that the face of the speaker would greet him.

Or well, the helmeted face. Close enough.

Dick glared through the grogginess of fading unknown drugs. His face felt numb, tongue heavy, but the movement at least assured him that there was still pressure over his eyes.

The attacker regarded him back, faceless, unmoving, as if waiting for Dick to make the first move.

Dick didn't have a lot of options in terms of first moves.

So he took the moment to get a better grasp of the situation. He had a lot of practice with this kind of situation, it didn't take long to assess himself, the villain of the week, and the surrounding room.

He, himself, was fine. A little woozy from whatever drug was shot into his system, but it was fading with only slight lingering feelings of nausea, numbness, and weakness to the extremities. His hands were pressed between his back and the wall, his shoulder blades touching the faded wallpaper, making it clear his weapons had been removed. Other places that held weapons and tools were suspiciously light.

The person in front of him had a large, muscular build, in-between the range of Jason to Slade. Tall, closer to seven feet than six, combat boots, armored fabric suit, a gun strapped to a thigh the size of a basketball. The suit was nondescript, black, with the occasional gray accent, the armored fabric mixing with armored plates where organs are concerned. The helmet was nothing more than a glorified biker-helmet that wanted to look sci-fi.

All signs pointed to human and male, though meta wasn't ruled out yet. All Dick knew for sure was that this wasn't a run of the mill criminal; maybe something closer to a bounty hunter, or assassin, or some disgruntled asshole with a vendetta and actual knowledge of how to carry that vendetta out. Truly, the Slade vibes were strong with this one.

Dick couldn't see any other weapons on the attackers body, but granted, he was sitting on his ass against a withering wallpapered wall, head held up by a fist of hair, a helmeted figure crouched down staring back.

Behind the figure, however, was where Dick's eyes settled. The room was small, a hundred square feet give or take, comprised of cement floor, walls water-rotted and peeling, a door chipped and unkept. Between Dick and the door, however, was a collapsed body, dressed in familiar colors, cape tattered and clothes twisted.

Tim.

He laid curled on his side, hair waterfalling over an exhausted face. His arms were wrenched behind his back, no doubt restrained. What made Dick's gut squirm was the trail of blood dripping down an obviously broken nose, over Tim's tight lips, down his cheeks, puddled on the ground.

Fresh.

Dick's face must have done something with that observation, because his captor chuckled and turned their visor at Tim. "Poor boy needed come company."

Even modulated, the extra words allowed Dick to pinpoint the accent as American, West Coast. Not necessarily useful information, but hey, accents sometimes identified.

Dick tore his eyes away from Tim and clenched his fists tight enough the cuffs dug into his tendons.

"What do you want, you bastard."

An amused huff. "Nothing you can give me. I have you right where I need you."

"Why here? Why us?"

"The boy happened to be the first one I saw. You happened to be the first one to find my next trap. This isn't personal, bat."

Frustration pooled. "If you think this will get you Batman, or-"

The man laughed, letting go of Dick's hair and standing up. "Batman isn't my goal. I just need you here."

This can't be good. A villain wanting to get at Batman is one thing, a villain not caring about Batman is another.

Why capture them if not to interrogate them?

The man stepped away from Dick, and Dick felt his whole body tense as he stopped above Tim's prone form. Tim swallowed, then glared up at their captor.

Then their captor, with no warning, lifted a leg and nailed Tim in the stomach.

Tim choked off a breathless scream, and Dick found himself on his feet in the next moment. His vision, however, jolted, and his legs twisted around each other, tripping him up and having him crumple disgracefully to the hard floor with an irritated growl. Damn side effects of damn drugs.

Their captor chuckled, amused, and stepped over to Dick while Tim coughed for breath. A large hand wrapped around Dick's bicep then dragged him back to the other side of the room. Instead of just leaving him there, however, his hands were pushed down to the floor and the chain between his cuffs were locked onto something solid and unmoving. Some sort of bolt.

"Don't worry, it'll be over soon," The man said, stepping away from Dick, sounding full of himself and confident. The prick. "Play nice, and you both will get out of this alive."

Then, he left, stepping over Tim and leaving out the door, a lock sounding in his wake.

"Red," Dick called, the moment they were alone. "Hey, look at me."

Tim, his expression more out of it than what Dick's seen in years, turned his face toward Dick. "N... 'm sorry."

What had that monster done to Tim?

"No sorry," Dick said, forcing his voice to remain calm as he ran another scan along Tim's body. Nothing visibly violent greeted him back, nothing but the broken nose. Perhaps everything else was hidden under his suit, and perhaps the cocktail of a weak immune system, drugs, and captivity, didn't mix well. "I'm here now. Talk to me, what happened before I got here?"

Tim took a deep breath, stealing his expression and shifting slightly. "I- not much. He kicked me around a bit, only took me out of the room once to use the bathroom—blindfolded. Then he told me to... tell you to find his trap."

"Nothing about his goals? No questions or anything?"

Tim shook his head, then winced, spitting some blood from his lips. "Nothing explicitly said. I... think he has a partner outside, and I think we're just distractions."

"For what?"

Tim shrugged with the shoulder he wasn't laying on, looking frustrated and tired. At least the more he talked, the more awake he started to look. "It's a good plan if we are just distractions. When was the last time you slept?"

Ouch.

"I don't think anyone's slept," Dick responded softly, feeling like an idiot for being so predictable. If a distraction was the goal, then them both being captured will run the whole family down to the bones, cause them to lock up inwards and assume another will be next, focus in on the areas they disappeared from.

It could leave any number of targets around Gotham completely ignored.

"At least," Tim continued, "I think he's not going to kill us when they get what they want."

No, helmets and voice modulators and blindfolded bathroom trips didn't usually predict a homicidal villain.

"And if they don't get what they want?"

A beat of silence. "When I tried to convince you to not come... he broke my nose. No hesitation."

Great.

"Alright. We either hope they get what they want and let us go..." Dick looked around the walls, a single camera blinked back, no microphone. He lowered his voice. "Or we escape."

"How?" Tim asked, his voice going unimpressed, hinting that the boy had already been trying that.

Dick slowly sat up, angling his body so it didn't look too obvious he was hiding his hands from the camera. He wrapped his fingers around his anchor to the floor, the bolt wobbled a bit.

"Bolt's loose. I'll get my hands free, then I'll get us both out of here."

Tim relaxed a bit, relief a visible wave. "Sorry, but I'm glad you're here."

"It's okay," Dick responded, throwing a reassuring smile. "I'm glad too."

He'd rather be here with Tim than back outside, not knowing.

At least here, he had a chance to protect Tim.

-o0o-

The kidnapper, which Tim and Dick had worked together to nickname "Visor", returned about two hours later. Dick couldn't help but tense when the door opened while Tim gave a hard glare from where he had worked himself up into a seated position.

"The bats are widening their search a little too close to where I don't want them," Visor said as he walked in. "I need some incentive to drive them away."

Tim stiffened, his eyes traveling over to something Visor held, previously hidden from vision but now fully in view.

Dick stiffened too.

One of his escrima sticks was held in the enemy's hand, and the reason why wasn't hard to guess.

It wouldn't be hard to lure someone away from somewhere you didn't want them to be if you plant something elsewhere that would catch attention.

"You really think Batman would fall for something as obvious as that?" Dick asked, putting bravado into his voice and succeeding in catching Visor's full attention. "He's probably already figured out that this whole kidnapping thing is a distraction, planting something like that is just going to make it obvious that there's somewhere you don't want him to be."

He wished he could see Visor's face as the large man blankly observed him for a moment, it made it all the more unnerving when Visor broke into a low chuckle. "This is what I admire about you, Nightwing," he said, a smile in his voice, bringing his hands in front of his chest and running his fingers over the stolen weapon. "And what I was most looking forward to when I found it was you who fell for my second trap."

Cold fear settled in his belly. "What?"

"Your martyrism."

Then he turned and hit Tim across the jaw with Dick's escrima, causing the younger hero to fall onto the ground with a cut off shout, the blow coming as a surprise, the thud of his shoulder hitting the cement sounded like a distant roar of thunder to Dick's suddenly ringing ears.

"Hey- HEY!" Dick snarled, he couldn't help it, if Tim was shocked by the sudden violence, then Dick was caught in the whole lightning storm. He went to his knees, straining against the cuffs and the loose anchor. "I'm talking to you!"

Visor laughed, and it dug the pit deeper. "Now this is the cherry on top."

Dick had met plenty of sadists. He'd been held hostage by many of them. And yet, they usually took the bait, they usually ignored who Dick wanted them to ignore and went after him just to wipe his arrogance off his face. Sure, it cost him a straight nose, a scar here and there, a few weeks bedrest, but it was always worth it, because it meant he was the only one who got hurt. He did his job as the first Robin. As Nightwing. As the oldest brother.

But Visor had anticipated that, and instead of taking Dick's bait, he immediately found that the exact way to hurt both hostages the most was to keep Nightwing perfectly untouched.

He hit Tim again, but Tim didn't shout. He probably figured out Visor's goal was to make this hurt for Nightwing and had decided that keeping stony and quiet and brave would hurt Dick less. Tim had been through worse, after all. They all have. A beating with a glorified stick was nothing.

Somehow, it hurt more to see Tim glance at Dick, forgiveness and bravery and determination shining through those white lenses, than it would have been to hear him scream.

Dick wanted to scream.

He met Tim's eyes, and grinded his jaw shut.

By the time Visor had a satisfactory spray of blood across the escrima stick and left, humming to himself, Dick's wrists were slick and red beneath bands of silver, the anchor looser without him even intentionally trying.

And Tim laid still on the floor.

-o0o-

Hours passed again. Tim remained unconscious for most of it, even after Dick had tried and tried again to stir him with voice alone.

He watched Tim breathe, terrified one lungful would be the last, images of corpses and funerals flashing behind his eyelids every time he blinked.

He couldn't do this again. He couldn't endure another sibling's funeral. A part of him died with every one—there couldn't be much more of him left. Them coming back to life didn't revive those parts of him. Those parts haunted him in his nightmares, and if Tim... if Tim didn't survive this one... if Tim didn't survive because some fucker knew it would hurt more to watch... those parts would drag him under, and he knew he wouldn't try to swim back up.

He worked at the bolt holding him down. Visor wouldn't have another chance to hit Tim again. When he came back in the room, Dick was going to end this.

Near the end of the third hour, Tim stirred, groaning.

Dick quickly called for his attention, and Tim, bless him, did his best to respond.

"D..ik?"

His jaw was swollen. A tooth had been spat out a blow or two before the blow that knocked him out.

Dick didn't even care about identities right now.

"Hey, hey, you're okay. I'm gonna get us out of here."

Tim took a few deep breaths through his mouth, spitting blood onto the floor, not daring to move what must be an aching body.

"... kay..."

"Just hold on a little longer. You're being so brave. Just a little longer, I promise."

Tim, half conscious, in pain, put on something that must be intended to be a brave face, but it only broke Dick's heart more. Tim lost the fight with consciousness, and fell back into what couldn't be a painless slumber.

About an hour later, Visor returned.

The anchor wasn't loose enough to escape yet, and Dick had to swallow his panic.

Even with the helmet, Visor didn't look happy.

"How did they know," he growled, striding forward and grabbing Dick by the neck. "How did you tell them."

The pressure wasn't strong enough to choke, but it was just shy of becoming so. Dick should feel afraid of that, and yet, he only felt relief that in Visor's true anger, he walked straight past Tim.

"I told you," Dick hissed, the fingers oh so close to squeezing, he could feel it inside his throat. "You're an idiot to think they wouldn't catch on."

The replying sneer was audible, physical in a twitch of fingers. "That's where you're wrong, we planned for this. I have two hostages, you're my bargaining chip for a prisoner exchange."

Dick thinned his lips to keep from vocalizing that in the end, when it came to the Batfamily, prisoner exchanges never worked in the enemy's favor.

"I just have to show them I'm serious first," Visor continued, his voice lowering to an eerie promise, like rolling fog in ancient mountains. "I only need one hostage."

The words processed milliseconds too late, Visor had shoved Dick away and had walked back toward Tim, kneeling, hands reaching towards his younger brother's neck.

Something untamable tore out of Dick's throat, taking control over his body. His heart was a beast clawing at his ribcage, panic swallowing him whole. As Visor began to choke Tim, the boy too unconscious to give more than the body's sluggish, natural reaction, Dick began to pull at his chains, at the anchor, the pain in his wrists meaning nothing to the mere feet between him, and the monster killing his little brother.

"You fucking bastard," he roared, vocal chords straining with his wrists, his own shouting thousands of miles away, drowned out with the suffocating panic and the ringing in his ears. "Touch him and I'll kill you!"

Visor ignored him. Tim was twitching, eyes opening with pain and confusion, legs jolting and arms tugging at his own handcuffs.

Seconds passed. Seconds that engrained themselves into Dick's soul like an unwanted tattoo. Finally, as Tim's face turned red under the blood smeared on his cheeks, as his eyes began to flutter back shut, the anchor fell loose.

It was as easy as breathing to contort his body in a way that allowed his wrists to pass under his legs and in front of his body. He was running the next instant, crashing into Visor, bodies colliding in shouts and struggles, shoulders hitting the cement away from Tim.

Tim erupted into very painful coughs, and Dick... Dick couldn't bring the monster back in.

His fists wanted impact. His fingers wanted pressure. His skin wanted blood that belonged to the man below him.

Visor didn't make the bloodlust easy. He put his weight into struggling. There was a reason this man was able to capture not one, but two bats within their own city. He fought back like a demon fresh out of Hell, his own blows landing with promised swelled purple bruises across his jaw, shoulders, neck, stomach. At some point, he even managed to kick Dick off with a heavy boot, knocking Dick across the small room and slamming his back into the water rotted walls. He said something, something prideful and angry and arrogant, something that turned to static to Dick's angry ears.

He went to kick Dick in the stomach before Dick could get back up, but while Visor fought like a demon out of Hell, Dick had an older devil inside of him, one that's been caged for much, much longer.

Dick will make him wish he went for the gun.

The pain meant nothing, it didn't slow him down as he scrambled to his feet and jumped onto the larger man, wrapping his legs around his torso and flipping him down onto the ground, back under Dick, at the perfect angle for Dick to bring his bound hands up and down over and over and over again until the helmet cracked, visor shattered, splinters going into bloodied hands below bloodied wrists controlled by a bloody hatred that, after this, he knew would haunt him.

Visor tried to fight back, and he tried until he couldn't. He tried until his helmet fell off and his face was exposed, cheekbones cut, nose cracked, jaw loose, eyes terrified and half-lidded and losing focus.

Dick didn't stop.

He wanted Visor dead.

He didn't stop until a body crashed into his own, arms large and strong wrapping around his waist and tearing him from Visor and pinning him down to the ground, heavy hands on his shoulder blades, pinning his bound hands between the cement and his heaving stomach. Dick struggled, brain screaming at the sudden change.

"Get Red out of here, B!" A voice shouted above him, "I got him!"

The voice was familiar. Through blurred eyes, the form that stooped down to Tim was familiar too.

Batman undid Tim's restraints and carefully lifted the limp body into his hands, eyes barely casting a second torn glance back at Dick, who was completely pinned under Jason's weight, before leaving the room.

Dick breathed. He breathed like he'd been deprived of air for hours on end, windpipe bursting open, the edges fading.

His brain caught up with him. Jason had positioned himself perfectly, almost purposely, to obscure Dick's view to Visor. He didn't release Dick, and Dick knew why.

Jason understood this anger. This fury. This rage that took everything that made you you and replaced it with something you wouldn't recognize in the mirror. He kept Dick pinned, not speaking, not accusing, not comforting, just there until Duke and Cass arrived to drag Visor out of the room, eyes very carefully avoiding Dick like if they looked, everything they thought they knew about him would be destroyed and replaced with something unstomachable.

When they left, Jason jumped off like Dick was on fire, and Dick scrambled away like he was acid.

Silence filtered between the two of them. Jason stood near the door, as if afraid Dick would bolt, but in all honesty, Dick didn't have even a fraction of the energy to do something like that, even if the anger hadn't suddenly been replaced with exhaustion and self-hatred.

"Was he breathing?"

"Tim? Or Zeek?"

Zeek. That was his name? Of course they figured that out too.

"Tim first."

"Yeah, B has him back at the cave. Alfred's got him stable."

Dick swallowed. How long had he been here? How long had Jason been here making sure Dick didn't murder someone?

"Zeek is also alive, GPD has him handcuffed to a gurney on the way to the hospital."

Dick brought his knees to his chin... and he could only bring himself to nod.

Jason approached a second later and finally got the cuffs unlocked around Dick's shredded wrists. As he bandaged them, talked to him about getting him back to the cave... Dick felt nothing.

-o0o-

"Hey."

"... Hey."

"You weren't answering your phone, so," Tim shrugged, looking all too comfortable and normal standing in the entrance doorway of Dick's apartment.

"Tim, I'm..." Dick had his hand behind his neck, wrists achy. He regretted opening the door, he thought it was the landlord or something. "You look good."

Makeup covered the bruises on his neck, that much was obvious, and Tim wore a high collar hoodie. Everything else looked about as healed as Dick's wrists.

"Yeah," Tim smiled, pushing his way inside. "A few weeks of Alfred-enforced-bedrest can do that. Finally escaped."

"Tim, now really isn't a good time," Dick said as Tim took off his shoes and raided the freezer.

"Knew you'd have some," he said victoriously, ignoring Dick and pulling out a tub of ice cream. "You always have a stash. What are you feeling? I'm feeling a Lord of the Rings marathon."

Dick sighed, and closed the door. "I don't have the extended."

"That's alright," Tim pulled two bowls out of Dick's cupboards and set the tub of ice cream on the counter to thaw. "I brought them."

"Tim, what is this?"

"I think you know," Tim said lightly. "Bruce keeps saying that space is what you need, but I think ice cream will help quicker."

"I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about."

"Liar. Well, that first bit is a lie."

"I'm dealing."

"With me, and ice cream, and Lord of the Rings."

Dick, defeated, sank into the sofa and grabbed the remote. "You're impossible."

"No, I just know you. You blame yourself for me getting hurt, and you blame yourself for not getting us out of there. I also know you want to wallow in your guilt for as long as you can, and you know the second I tell you I don't blame you, it's not your fault, you're human and you're a victim too, yes I know you still blame yourself so I'll forgive you for you, etcetera etcetera you won't be able to wallow in the guilt. Hence, the ignored phone-calls. Hence, ice cream. Lord of the Rings."

Dick sighed. "You can say that, but I still feel awful, Timbers."

"That's okay," Tim said, joining Dick on the sofa, handing him a bowl of ice cream, and pulling out the first DVD of Lord of the Rings, the extended version. "I'm here until you don't anymore. Keep in mind, I'm also feeling Pirates of the Caribbean."

That wormed a smile. It almost felt traitorously real. "And Star Wars?"

Tim stood up and went to the DVD player, opening the case.

"Star Trek too if you want."

"Thank you, Tim. And I'm sorry."

"I don't blame you, and believe it or not, it wasn't your fault."

He slid the disk in, and sat down next to Dick, leaning on Dick's shoulder with a content sigh, pulling his own ice-cream bowl up to his chin.

Dick couldn't help it. He melted, allowing Tim to get comfortable, allowing himself to get comfortable.

It felt vile to allow any kind of comfort, but Tim was right, they've had this rodeo before, and with quiet conversations during the quiet scenes, he wasn't surprised he felt a little better by the time they put in The Return of the King.

Not all the way. That would probably take a few more marathons, and maybe a hug, another bowl of ice-cream.

And for a whole night and most of the morning, the guilt went forgotten, and he knew it would be okay. He would be okay.

Because Tim was beside him. Breathing, alive, softly snoring as sunlight filtered through the window.

And that wasn't changing, not any time soon.

#nightwing #dick grayson #tim drake #red robin dc #fanfiction #dc comics #jin writes #hurt/comfort #whump

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optimistic-jaywalker · 7 days

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My cousin got killed in a car shoot out

also i dont remember the last time i sat down to eat with my family

I mean we have the big fancy table and everything, its the first thing you see when you walk through the front door

its big and dark glossy brown, can sit a solid 12 people who didnt mind pulling up swivel chairs and baby stools, that its the literally most expensive thing they bought up till now

but we never use it for the reason it was probably built for

and you know what, thats ok, its fine cus ,sometimes, people are ok eating in their rooms where no one has to look at them, cus its common knowledge that its a shameful thing

eating infront of people

or talking for too long

but again its fine, its fine

we never fit that stereotype anyway

they actually dont fit any stereotype? like in an almost weird creepy way

enough that even you've noticed

like how the walls are painted light blue

there is fucking seashell and sailor boat decor

you little brother cant understand spanish and the walls are painted seafoam blue

it really doesnt smell like someone lives in this house

the walls are painted eggshell white

and even though you wanna rip off a fucking nail and use your bloodied gross ass finger to use as a makeshift marker to graffitti the walls of your house you guess you can live with this

i mean dont be an idiot get some perspective,

our cousin was shot in a car and died in the front seat in some random street in colombia

it was gnarly

she was actually not even supposed to be killed , the gunmen got the wrong guy and she literally just happened to be there in the drivers seat, waiting for her husband

and she did nothing to deserve it or whatever you can do to get the gorey karma of being murked like that

and its sad

and you get that its sad

and you know that she was loved by people you live across the street from

and you know she looked like you the same way your other cousins look like you

and you should be sad

but you cant be

cus it happened a thousand miles south in a place you've never been

during a time you werent even alive

and all you can think about is about is

how pale your skin has gotten

how your hair is pitch black

and how you dont eat with your family anymore

#original poem #poets on tumblr #poem #poetry #latino #colombia #catholiscism #catholic #tw religious themes #religious trauma

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sophiamamamia · 2 years

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Yevhenia Serdiuk tells the story of how the residents of her village, Pidlypne in the Sumy Region, didn’t let a Russian convoy pass through the village.

It all started on February 24. My son and I packed for school, but then everyone started calling: war. I say: “What war? I need to catch a bus at 7:15.” Not even 15 minutes later, the head teacher calls: “The classes are canceled, the war has started.”

And already that night, Russians were driving through our village. They were passing through non-stop for about four days, day and night. Maybe with some one- or two-hour breaks. We’d never seen the things that were passing by us, not even in pictures. We were scared, hiding, but looking out the windows—the trees were still bare back then. We had our own chain to pass on what drove past, how many, where exactly.

And then, on the fifth day, they knocked down a power post in the village center. It fell and dragged two more posts with it. Bare wires were on the ground, and they were afraid of being electrocuted. So they drove through the church, knocked out the gate. But only armored vehicles could get through, and trucks with ammunition got stuck.

Calls went out to everyone in the village, and literally within 15 minutes, about 500 people came. People drove there from all corners, by vans, by cars, because a rumor started that we were blocking the column.

So I stand by the window watching men rushing past my yard on bikes, on mopeds, on whatever they could get. I ran there, too, in whatever I was wearing—old hat, old jacket, I put on my son’s boots. I stand at the edge of the crowd, and the guys shout at me: “Zhenia, film it on your phone, let people see that we’re not afraid, enough with the fear!”

The video is literally just a minute long, but they argued for a long time, almost half an hour: “Show us the road to Kyiv.” But I have a brother in Kyiv, his wife, my nephew, so I scream: “What Kyiv!? I’m not letting you get to my brother!”

They started yelling: “But we’re Russians, we’re normal.” There were many of them, and not like they show us on TV, dirty ones in galoshes, but properly dressed, like the military: helmets, bulletproof vests, military boots, automatic guns. And not 19-year-olds, there were older ones—as we understood, these ones had experience.

They pointed guns at people—but people weren’t afraid anymore. Adrenalin probably did its job. Only in the evening it dawned on me that anything could have happened, they could have actually shot us all.

Well, we made them turn around. And we chased them back, right up to the lake. And dogs walked with the people then. Walked and barked. They didn’t run around, didn’t run to the tanks, they walked with the people, next to their legs, and barked.

But by the time we reached it, something was already coming down the street, like an armored vehicle. And this funny Buryat crawls out of it: “Let me pass! I need to pass!” So our guys tell him “in French,” climb out now, we’re going to let you pass. Apparently he was sent for reconnaissance to check if there were people. So we figured out right away that we had to put up fortifications. We blocked all passages. We found concrete slabs, tires, the willows by the lake were picked up by a hundred men and brought there. We had such spirit, such strength—go figure where we got it from.

And then another convoy showed up from the direction of the church. I wasn’t filming anymore, I was jumping on a tank—I didn’t care. The first one driving was an armored vehicle, the second one was probably the same, or maybe a tank. They were followed by four fuel trucks and the last two tanks. People blocked everything, so we didn’t let them pass either, they turned around and drove back.

That’s how we won back our village. They drove into the fields and stayed there on the outskirts for two or three weeks, shooting at each other. There were so many of them, up to a thousand vehicles. When we posted the video online, people told us that we should have disarmed them and taken them prisoner. But these commenters don’t get that they’d have shot from the field and there would be casualties.

#ukraine #war #stand with ukrainians #stop russia #arm ukraine now

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itsgoghtime · 11 months

Text

okay so not that anybody asked for this, but here is:

Gogh watches the Rocky movies - in real time (so there are spoilers but also my live reactions which are pretty amusing so enter at your own risk)

Rocky (1976)

bruh - I’d kiss the glass where the puppies are too if it didn’t weird so many people out - they’re dang cute

Oh my gosh - the group singing on the corner is a jive

he’s walking by himself down this dingy street - what’s with his screen door lol

okay so he has an apartment - he’s not a bum in the traditional meaning of the word like they’re calling him at the beginning

opens and closes the fridge lol me too

I TALKED TO MY FISH TOOOOOO YESSSS

^soft jazz playing on record player^

Oh my gosh and “Moby Dick” is their friendddd I love that they “visit”

Talking to himself - what a vibe

OHMYGOSH HES FRIENDS WITH THE SHOP OWNERS

okay so friend was a relative term

Shell shock - what a comedian

I would walk around with a stick like that too bro - let’s be friends

Hmmmm Rocky my friend, what are you doing?

nice car, sketchy bridge - like the mafia

BRUH IS THIS AN UNDERGROUND OPERATION WHAT

Rocky NO YOU CANT BE IN THIS LIL MAFIA OP

Gazzo - I thought it was Gonzo haha

“So long, meat bag” lol

“Are you deaf?” “No I’m short” ME TOO RANDOM CITIZEN

Lol breaks the lock - I love it

IT AINT HIS LOCKER WHAT it can’t be…

“You’re a tomato. I don’t run a soup kitchen” AHAHAAAAA

this is cute - she’s shy and he’s trying so hard

how does this guy know everyone like… what the heck

“I’m 30 myself” “and you’ll end up dying alone”

“I’ll take a shot” lol bro an alcohol shot is not what he meant

What a homie - that girl is just… she’s dumb don’t listen my dude

I don’t quite know how to feel about Apollo Creed lol

Gazzo may be the mafia boss but he’s nice and creepy and okay don’t like him still

ROCKYYYYYY YUSSSS - still not sure about Apollo lol

His friend just wants a job haha

“She’s very excited” - won’t make eye contact

this whole scene talking to the door lol

awww she’s all ready to go out my HEART

haha me too Rocky - haven’t ever skated

The guy calling out the time hahaaaaa

“You like the way I skate?” GAH

“Get a job, you bum!” And you need to get out of the mafia, Rocky

“Why’d I bring it up? Cause I’m dumb, that’s why.” Literally me talking to anyone lol

okay but this man’s HAIR - geez

big bugs - that’s a nope from me

“Who you wanna call?” Ghostbusters would be my answer

Yelling out the window AHAAAAA

she’s so cute my heavens and he’s being so gentle

this kissing scene man - it’s something else

“It’s a waste of life” - I have so many thoughts on this

EEK they’re so cute together :)

HE SAYS HI TO HER ON TVVVVVV GAH

I just love them okay 🥹

I have many thoughts on the line that goes something like “you know how I said those things on tv didn’t bother me none? It did.”

Gazzo *discreetly gives this man $500* like what in the world man

BRUH BE NICE ABOUT CUFF AND LINK - although if that was a reference to “Beautiful Soup” in the Alice and Wonderland book sung by the turtle then that was kinda funny

You know what I find interesting - “yeah, I got heart but I don’t have no locker” and then this guy keeps on talking

GET HIM ROCKY, GET EM “I needed your help 10 years ago”

ewwww not the egg drinkkk geh

I understand why at 4 AM but geez that makes me tired

Paulie… he ain’t very nice but at the same time he’s a homie…?

Adrian is so patient with this man I don’t even know where to begin - she’s just wanting to do what he said he’s never had before and that’s so cute

okay as much as I didn’t like Mick, he’s growing on me a little bit - a tiny smidgen original grinch heart size bit

THE DOGGGGG

Rocky lesss gooooo - this Apollo dude really isn’t worried and he probably should be

this lil dysfunctional family - ouch

I HAVE BEEN WAITING ALL MOVIE FOR THIS SONG YESSSSSS

there’s the intrusive thought that “he’s gonna fall down those stairs” as he’s at the top during the song

okay but him worrying about his banner being wrong and the guy being like “it doesn’t really matter does it? I’m sure you’ll give us a great show” - that one hurt

they really aren’t expecting him to win

he’s so discouraged :(

YES ROCKY YESSSS

okay so maybe I forgot to write during the final fight scene - I was very upset when Creed won cause he’s too cocky for that sort of fight to be his - but Rocky and Adrian are so cute so I was less upset…?

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Rocky II:

okay the score for this movie is a bop

Creed you need to calm the heck down

EEK THEYRE GETTING MARRIED MY TWO FAVORITE PEOPLE AHHHHHH

“you’re the best thing to ever come into my crazy life” GAH

“I hope you never get tired of me.”

“Oh no, you ain’t never getting rid of me.” My goOd gRaCiOuS

also - dang there’s a lot of good kissing scenes in these movies

Rocky buying everything in sight my heavens dude

“hey, can you stand over there, I need to secretly talk with my wife” lol

my freaking heart okay I just love these two with my whole soul

*okay so I lost a good chunk of my notes for this movie because they didn’t save like I thought they did, which is quite unfortunate considering they were really good, so here’s kinda what I remember:

Lots and lots of respect for Mick - love this guy now

Apollo is a stuck up jerk and needs to freaking chill

I love that once Adrian tells him to win, he’s laser focused

that last fight was painful - Rocky really can’t see well out of that right eye but I love the moment he wins he’s like “Yo Adrian, I did it!”*

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Rocky III:

okay I was super into The A-Team when I was like… 15 so seeing Mr. T in this movie is an absolute joy

Hulk Hogan - what a homie BUT HES FREAKING HUGE

that fight was intense, man. geez, ya know?

they built Rocky a statueeeee - cute

Rocky, dude, stop training in a stupid public playhouse

Mick riding on the bike that Rocky is pulling reminds me of Yoda in Star Wars on Luke’s back heheheeeee

join the circus lol

Apollo Creed has calmed down quite a bit and I don’t hate him as much

MICK NO YOU CANT BE DOING THAT GAH

I can’t… I can’t even… Rocky loses and Mick dies I just cannot… it breaks my heart

Never thought I’d have the respect I have for Apollo but now I do

I love the reprise of Eye of the Tiger - good choice

yes on the training montage - not gonna lie, I’m afraid for this match though

my first thought when he finally passes Apollo on their sprint and jumps in the ocean was “ew, wet socks”

it’s funny when someone’s so focused on themselves and beating Rocky (Apollo in the first two, whatever his name is in this one) that they just… don’t win

made it past round 2 so that’s usually a good sign

that was the coolest comeback ever

ahaaaa - I find Apollo and Rocky’s lil fight at the end absolutely hysterical

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Rocky IV:

lost a lot of my notes for this one but here’s what I have

Here comes Apollo’s ego again heaven forbid

HE CANT DIE WHAT THE HECK

we can’t just keep killing all of Rocky’s mentors and friends geez

Rocky Jr. is absolutely adorable

THE RUSSIAN DOESNT USE STEROIDS MY A** - I absolutely hate that they lied about that and that’s why that man is unnaturally large

Again - I love the training montage - we get the arms on top of a mountain lets gooooooo

this fight is… it hurts me

OHMYGOSH YES ROCKY GET EMMMMMM

so proud of this guy

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Rocky V:

I have really appreciated that we go over the fight at the end of the previous movie in all the different films since Rocky II - it’s a nice lil recap and I like how it flows immediately into the next one without being choppy or anything

Losing all their money - geez

Mick left the boxing joint to Rocky Jr?? My heart

THIS WHOLE SCENE WITH MICKEY BREAKS MY HEART OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS HEAVENS

“You was the Angel” GAH

I love that the Italian Priest is still there “I love it when he does that” haha

Haha Paulie and the baseball batttttt

stupid stupid Tommy Gunn leaving Rocky behind

Rocky Jr - the whole angst with him feeling forgotten by Rocky breaks my heart

HOME TEAM HOME TEAM

“I loved you man, do you know that?” eek my heart

EEK THE VISION OF MICKEY - I’m not crying, you are

“Get up you son of a bitch - cause Mickey loves ya” AHHHHHH

This man has so much grit - I love the theme song good gracious

his poor family is watching oh my heart

ROCKY ROCKY ROCKY

oh my gosh the sucker punch to Duke is almost *almost* better than him beating Tommy “Sue me for what?”

THE ITALIAN PRIEST YES

Good gracious he gives the kid the cufflink from Mickeyyyyyy

“You’re gonna love Picasso.”

“Ah yeah, well I love almost everybody.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

hope somebody enjoyed this nonsensical rant - in conclusion, I absolutely loved these movies with my whole soul - all of it was just amazing

I will be adding some songs from the soundtrack to my playlist haha

Mickey is my favorite character (besides literally everyone else of course haha)

Favorite movie out of the five… I can’t choose one dang it - but I’ve watched the first one a few times already so I could say that one…?

they’re just… they’re so good and are turning into comfort films for me (which is good cause I needed a new set of comfort films haha)

#rocky #rocky ii #rocky iii #rocky iv #rocky v #Rocky spoilers #Gogh watches Rocky #Gogh watches things

6 notes · View notes

xxruinaxxmcu · 2 years

Text

Jack Thompson x Reader

What Lies Before Us

Masterlist (previous chapters, previous book)

Chapter 14

The one advantage of doing a job in an aera that was under a military government, and that military was American, was that at least Thompson’s clearance level made it more or less easy to get to the required documents. To the question of the Air Force’s intelligence officer as to why they needed the aerial reconnaissance pictures, he replied that they had information regarding stolen tech that was being hidden in the area. After all the stuff that was stolen from Stark, that sounded at least believable.

Taking an initial picture, he held it in front of Y/N’s face. “See these dots all across the streets?”

She nodded.

“Those are cave entrances. The ones that are hard to make out are probably the ones that were sealed up in 45.”

Y/N raised an eyebrow. If all these dots were caves, then he had not exaggerated when he referred to the place as a honeycomb. They were literally everywhere.

“So if the coordinates are correct”, Y/N said, pointing at one area of the picture, “our target should be somewhere around here. Probably one of these dots.”

The images they had covered the last four weeks, and the shots were about two to three days apart. Again, one of the advantages of it being a very well-observed area.

“My money’s on the one to the left”, Jack eventually announced, “if you compare week one to week four, it seems like the threes around the entrance were cut down. The others seem undisturbed.”

Y/N looked through the pictures herself, just to confirm. But he was right. Whilst most dots showed little to no change, this one did.

“Right”, Y/N muttered, “So, what now? Confirming by infiltration is out of the picture. Hard enough to storm a building, I’m not storming a goddamn cave. I’d say we head down there, take a look around and find a place to set up a camera, whilst we hide further away and check the monitors.” Theoretically, she also thought about going there themselves and observing it in person, but she wanted to minimise the risks involved. And the target was stationary, which made using a camera possible.

She observed Jack’s face when she suggested the next steps. He seemed to ponder for a while, clenching his jaw as he did habitually, before nodding.

“Yeah. But after taking an initial look around, we better bury one of our explosives at the entrance before starting the surveillance. If we see anything, we can use the long-distance detonator.” He was aware that this would mean they’d never find out what actually happened in the cave, but he banked on it being in the files of some of the Arena Club people back in the states. The only other option would have been to throw in poisonous gas, and he really didn’t want to take his chances on the wind blowing in the right direction. Whilst he was less hesitant about blowing up the cave in its entirety, even if people were still inside, he really didn’t want to be held responsible for accidentally killing a bunch of civilians or American servicemen. One war crime was enough for one island.

“Agreed. You ever dealt with high explosives before?”, Y/N asked. Jack gave her a funny look.

“What do you think I do in my free time?”, he asked, tilting his head.

She rolled her eyes and grinned: “I didn’t mean your free time. But anyways, I have. We had to blow up some railways and factories for sabotage. Meaning, I’ll be the one to get the explosive in position.”

Though he wasn’t really comfortable at the thought of Y/N running around with a bomb in her hand, he realised that she had – evidently – done her fair share of incredibly dangerous missions, he had just not been there to see it.

“Right.”

“Fantastic”, she said, giving him a sarcastic smile, “seems like we’ll be out of here in no time. Which is good, considering the humidity is terrible for pin-curls, it appears.” She pointed to her hair – the normally neatly curled strands of hair stubbornly falling. “I can’t get my hair to behave here, no matter what I try.”

With a smile, Jack kissed her forehead: “You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s a lie, or you’re just biased”, she retorted, “You’ve watched movies with Rita Hayworth!”

“Yes, but I’ve never seen her in person”, he shrugged, “who knows how she looks like at five o’clock in the morning?”

“Probably lacking the makeup, but I’d wager she’d still look stunning.”

“The last actress I spoke to turned out to be a maniac with space goo oozing out of her head, so I think I’ll stick with you”, he said jokingly and Y/N raised an eyebrow in sarcastic amusement.

“How very kind of you.”

Changing their clothes into something that more resembled the gear worn by the US personnel in the area, they got ready to venture out as soon as possible. Y/N took notice of the nature, which was a dense jungle in those parts that had not been levelled by artillery or aerial or naval bombardment. It looked nice, but given the warning of snakes and giant crabs, she was still rather apprehensive.

Initially, they surveyed the street by car, which meant they couldn’t stop indefinitely to take a closer look without arising suspicion. The entrance to the cave was far enough away from the street so that they hardly saw anything. Anything besides some trail that had been created by nothing but the times people having walked to and away from it.

Thompson’s eyes scanned the area from behind the wheel. Some locals walked past them, many of them with groceries in hand. Once they had seen Y/N and Jack, they would look to the ground and hurry to get away, which might have been suspicious if not for the fact that presumably they expected them to be with the army, and hence, they didn’t want to offend them or behave incorrectly.

Jack parked the car away from the presumed cave entrance, looking over to Y/N. They had prepared their cover – two biologists taking pictures and collecting samples of the local flora. Y/N had a good laugh when Jack briefed her – as the last job on earth he would and could possibly do was that of a biologist. Nevertheless, it offered an explanation for walking around with a camera. She, unfortunately, would have to pass as his assistant. In the bag she carried for him, she had different lenses, and beneath them, casually, the bomb that she would have to plant whilst he installed the camera. In total, they spent nearly five hours in the area, as to not appear to simply walk over to their desired position. That would have been highly suspicious. Rather, they slowly made their way towards the target, whilst on the way pretending to do what biologists would do.

For the first time ever, she envied Jack for his short hair, as despite having it tied up in a ponytail, she could feel the sweat in the nape of her neck as they stepped over scrubs and tree trunks towards the cave. They didn’t need to use words, when they spotted the cave entrance, which was covered up by a makeshift layer of leaves, Y/N simply looked at Jack, then they got to work. Y/N focused on burying the bomb deep enough for no one to see it, and for there to be enough soil on top of it that one could walk over it without feeling it. The bomb wasn’t sensitive to external forces, it was reinforced well-enough that a car could’ve driven over it without causing an explosion. It took some skill to position it correctly, but Y/N had enough experience to do it in under two minutes.

Jack hid the camera beneath branches and leaves, until it was nearly invisible. It was fortunate that the trees were fairly dense in the area nearby, meaning that it wasn’t that likely that the sun would hit the lens in an angle that would give its position away. They nodded to confirm the other was done, then, they continued their cover mission for another hour. Now, they were just biologists collecting stuff. Lacking a camera.

“You know what?”, Y/N huffed when they entered their car again, “I think I was unfair to L.A., at least in terms of weather.”

“You think this is bad? Wait until it rains every single day”, Jack replied with a grin and turning on the engine, “I tell you, might be great for holiday, but for digging foxholes? Absolute nightmare.”

Y/N shuddered: “But hey, we didn’t encounter snakes. I count that as a massive win.”

……….

Back in the apartment the military had assigned them, they set up the monitor to watch the scene.

“I’ll take the nightshift”, Jack offered, “I’ll wake you at five.”

“I can do the nightshift, too”, Y/N replied, “our sleep schedule is messed up from flying anyways.”

He waved his hand: “Really. I don’t mind.”

She tilted her head, intently looking at his face.

“Oh no”, he said dryly, “do I get another reading?”

“Reading?”, she asked back.

“Yeah”, he huffed, “of you reading my thoughts.”

Y/N shrugged: “I was just wondering whether you were being nice, or if you don’t like the thought of going to sleep here.”

“On Okinawa, you mean?”

She raised her eyebrows as a ‘yes’.

“Maybe”, Jack said quietly, pulling over a chair to settle in, “Maybe I just want another chance at actually doing a nightshift properly.”

Y/N sighed silently, but decided to let it go. There was no point in arguing whilst on a mission. So instead, she got ready for a few hours of sleep. The morning would come soon enough, anyways.

Surveillance sounded incredibly thrilling on paper, whilst in reality, it basically meant looking at a screen or a building for a very long time. It meant that you had to figure out a mechanism to remain focused, but not get tired easily. It gave you a lot of time to think, but you weren’t allowed to get lost in your thoughts.

Jack was delighted that the lab boys had managed to alter the lens so that he could still see what was happening, despite the lack of daylight. He had no idea how it worked, and truthfully, he did not care one bit.

He thought back to the night in spring 1945. It was L-Day plus two – two days after the invasion had begun, April 3rd. Tsuken Island was in the near the south of Okinawa prefecture, and they had made more progress in the first two days that they had anticipated. The fighting had been fierce, just two days later they would have managed to secure the entire Katsuren Peninsula. The island was under immense fire barrage, from the sea and air, and obviously from the now landed troops. Though the progress was good on paper, it was hellish for the men on the ground. They had landed in a freaking jungle, and most of the men who were here now came from rural America, more familiar with tornados than with monsoon. They had hardly slept, knowing that they had to secure the northern part of Okinawa as soon as possible to join up with the army down southeast to assist with the capture of Naha.

It had only been the third day, but Jack felt absolutely spent. Another invasion. And it would turn out to be another bloodbath. It would take 82 days to secure Okinawa. It would turn out to be 82 days in hell. And nights were terrible, anyways. The Japanese were proficient at silently infiltrating their ranks at night to ambush soldiers in their foxholes, which is why so many had forced themselves to push through with practically no sleep. Jack included. He had experienced multiple such attacks on Iwo Jima – unlike some of the other Marines and soldiers now making their way through Okinawa, he knew the enemy. After he had realised what he had done, after he had buried the flag and had gotten the praise from the men around him, which had made him sick to the stomach, he was right back in the mud. And it really turned into mud. After the initial days, the rain started to pick up. When they joined up with the southern force, the progress grinded to a halt. They hardly managed to gain an inch, and the hygienic conditions in their lines became abysmal. Not only were there the dead that could only slowly be evacuated, there was also human waste everywhere. However, what stuck with him forever was the civilians committing suicide. Mothers throwing their babies off cliffs before jumping themselves. All because of the propaganda that had been fed to them which told them that being captured by the Americans would be a fate worse than death. Hundreds of people must’ve died that way.

Iwo Jima had had one advantage. It hadn’t been populated. No civilians died there. And knowing how the Japanese treated their own citizens, it made Jack dread the next operation. Everyone was sure that the next stop would be Japan proper – they didn’t know about the atomic bomb yet. That was unknown to even high-ranking military officials. And seeing how much blood was shed over a tiny, uninhabited island, and now Okinawa, which was still tiny in comparison to mainland Japan, Jack had been convinced that America would run out of soldiers to send there before securing it. That they were spared that mission, well, it came at a great cost, too.

It was shortly after three in the morning when Jack noticed movement on the monitor. At first, he thought it was simply a wild animal or the bushes moving in the wind, but then, he saw two men carrying something to the entrance.

“What the hell”, he muttered, squinting at the screen. No, he wasn’t mistaken.

“Y/N, wake up!”, he bellowed, causing Y/N to practically jump up from the bed.

“What?”

“You recognise that?”, he asked, pointing at the screen.

She dashed over, and her jaw drop.

“That’s the goddamn gamma cannon”, Y/N said in a hollow voice.

“Either Vernon must’ve given blueprints to them, or Hugh Jones got a hold of them somehow”, Jack guessed, damning his godfather to another century in hell.

“Well, I guess that means they’re Arena Club associates”, Y/N stated, “And given that they’re collaborating with a fella who’s HYDRA, I’d say terminate ASAP.”

“You got that remote detonator?”

“You bet I do.”

Thompson gave her a quick nod. Better blow them up now where the gamma cannon hadn’t yet opened another rift, rather than having to rely on Howard Stark to help them restore the universe again.

Y/N didn’t have to search long, the device was in her purse.

“I’d say cover your ears, but I suppose we’re clear”, she said, looking at the device. It was strange. Knowing that she’d end the life of some people she hadn’t even met from relative safety. But that, 100 percent, had been a gamma cannon. She activated the device.

The blast dislodged the camera, and when it settled again, they couldn’t see the entrance. They just saw demolished nature.

“Good to know it can withstand a freaking bomb”, Jack commented cynically.

“This is rather anticlimactic”, Y/N stated, “But that cave’s collapsed now, for sure. That was enough TNT to take out an apartment block.”

Jack turned around to look at Y/N, standing there, in her dressing gown, and pin-curls in – which she still did, despite having said they wouldn’t last due to the humidity – and just started grinning.

“What is so funny?”, she questioned, “I unfortunately hadn’t had the time to get physically ready for a kill-mission!”

“You look fantastic”, he replied with a laugh, “Just… we’ve come halfway across the world, to the place I perhaps hate the most, to hunt down some Japanese allies to HYDRA, after we’ve gotten engaged like two weeks ago, my ma wants to talk to you so damn badly, and here we are, blowing up caves in the middle of the night whilst you found the time to pin-curl your hair. I think we give Peggy and Daniel a run for their money in terms of strange relationship.”

“Oh honey”, she said sarcastically with a grin before bending down to kiss him, “We’ve never done normal.”

……………...

They drove to the position that had just blown up, where the military was already on scene.

“What the hell happened?”, Jack asked the lieutenant in charge.

“Hell do I know”, the man shrugged, “Looks like they stepped on a mine. Or a bomb went off from the war.”

“Anyone injured?”

“Hard to say”, the lieutenant used a flashlight to illuminate the area that had formerly been the entrance to the cave, “there’s at least two feet of rubble burying anything. Looks like it hit a cave, though. A shame it only went off now, I’m sure that bastard could’ve been more useful in 45.”

“Yeah”, Jack said with a humourless grin, “I agree.”

“You were there?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you, Agent Thompson.”

Jack looked at the lieutenant, confused. What did he thank him for? “For being on Okinawa then?”, he asked irritated, “I just did what needed to be done. We all did.”

“Sir!”, a soldier yelled from a few yards away, “We found human remains!”

To call them ‘humans’ would’ve been an overstatement, as it was hard to make out what exactly they were. It was the number of hands that they could identify that made them realise that they had discovered two casualties. Nothing else was identifiable – age, height, nationality – they were blown into bits.

“What the hell were they doing in a cave, in the middle of the night?”, the lieutenant asked, frowning, “soldier, step away! What the hell is that?”

He pointed to a piece of metal that reflected his flashlight.

Carefully, Thompson, L/N, and a handful of soldiers got off the debris burying the item. Y/N looked up at Thompson, who was himself looking at her.

The gamma cannon.

“What the hell?”

“Lieutenant”, Jack said, leading the man away from the group so that not every soldier could eavesdrop, “that thing is a highly volatile machinery that can manipulate molecules. It was first invented by Howard Stark to aid the SSR with a domestic threat a few months ago. If those men got their hands on the blueprints, I’d say we can all be damn grateful that they were blown to Judgement Day.”

The lieutenant looked at him visibly taken aback by the story: “Agent, you’re telling me some down-the-street Japs got their hands on blueprints by Howard Stark without any American office noticing it??”

“We are currently looking into multiple such cases, unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately?”, the lieutenant snorted, “Sir, we’re fucked if the reds get their hands on these weapons!”

Jack nodded: “Believe me, lieutenant, that’s what the SSR, the FBI and the CIA are working on to prevent. Keep this low-profile, though. Best our enemies don’t know about this incident.”

“You bet.”

“And if you find anyone alive in there”, Jack pointed to the cave with his chin, “do yourself a favour and shoot. To kill. They ain’t civilians.”

“I can’t just kill people, we’re not at war-“

“Oh, we are”, Jack interjected, staring down the lieutenant in front of him, “I’ll contact your supervisors. This is an order straight from DC.”

Y/N had watched the interaction from afar, knowing that the military was arguably even more male-dominated than the SSR and her presence would only have been seen as intrusive. After they had secured the remnants of the gamma cannon, Y/N and Jack removed themselves from the area, heading back to their apartment.

“The goddamn gamma cannon”, Y/N said in the car, “would you have believed it?”

“Honestly, why is Stark’s security so freaking bad? His butler could do a better job protecting these items!”, Jack lamented frustratedly, “And why do we always end up running around the face of the earth to collect them again?”

“Because… we’re paid for it?”

“Severely underpaid if you ask me”, he snorted, making a turn.

Y/N tilted her head, thinking. “What strikes me as unusual is that the only one who was around the cannon closely enough when Samberly worked on it, was Vernon. Why would Vernon pass this on to Jones or someone else in that club? I thought he wanted zero matter to go away.”

“Do I look like I understood that old muckety-muck?”, he asked, raising an eyebrow and causing Y/N to laugh at his choice of words.

“No, and I think that’s also a good thing”, Y/N replied with a grin. She saw from the corner of her eyes that Jack was supressing a yawn. Though the sun was up by this point, that didn’t change the fact that unlike her, he hadn’t slept for a single hour since coming to Japan. “Alright, when we’re back, I’ll do the paperwork”, she announced, referring to the documents and reports that would have to be written to wrap up their mission, “and you get some sleep.”

“I can-“

“No.”

“You didn’t even hear what I was about to say!”, he complained.

“Don’t have to”, Y/N shrugged, “This isn’t a negotiation. And before we’re going on our journey back, I want this paperwork to be done and you to sleep.”

Jack sighed. “Yes, mother.”

“Your mother would agree with me, and you know that.”

He scoffed: “That doesn’t mean you have a point, though. Ma would want to agree with you just because she adores you. I mean, she probably would’ve put that ring on your finger for me if I hadn’t managed to do it before you see her the next time.”

Y/N laughed: “Well, now she won’t have to do that. Which reminds me, we will have to squeeze in a visit between now and hunting down every last Arena Club member.”

………..

They returned to their apartment at around 8:30. At 13:00, Jack woke up from his nap, joining Y/N at the desk.

“You’re already done”, he realised when she handed him a stack of papers.

“It was blissfully quiet”, she said with a smile, “and it wasn’t that much.”

He sat down, flipping through the pages. Now, the next target were the members back in America.

“Jack”, Y/N said, her mood visibly darkened.

“Hm?”, he looked up, realising that something was headed their way. Something he didn’t yet know about.

“Before we left”, Y/N began, “Sousa called. We were in the office, and afterwards, surrounded by people we didn’t know. I didn’t want to have it affect our mission, as it has no effect on it. But now I need to tell you.” She didn’t give him time to say anything before continuing: “The L.A. office caught a lead regarding Keller’s whereabouts. They sent four agents to arrest him. Apparently was supposed to be an easy task. Three of the men are dead. The fourth is missing. So is Keller.” She watched his eyes, which darkened, and his jaw tightened.

“HYDRA.”

“We must assume that the SSR itself has been compromised. Whether it was just this one agent or multiple, I have no idea.”

“It’s a cancer”, he said darkly, yet surprisingly calmly. “Sometimes, the only way to kill it, is for the host to die.”

Y/N stared at him in shock: “What are you saying?”

“If the SSR is compromised, it has to be reorganised.”

Y/N leaned back in her chair: “You want to reorganise the SSR?”

“No”, Jack shook his head, “That’s beyond my level. That would be Colonel Phillips’ job. He’s still the director. I’ll send word to him when we’re back.”

“We might lose our jobs if the entire branch is restructured.”

Jack gave her a curious look: “You say that because you think that’s what I’m concerned with?” Before she could answer, he added: “You know, all screwups aside, we were decent at our jobs. Who knows, even if the SSR doesn’t give us a job, we might find one within the FBI or the CIA.”

Y/N silently nodded. Perhaps, he was right. Perhaps, there was a new era ahead of them.

“I will inform Sousa when we’re back”, she said quietly, looking outside the window, watching the dense forest outside swaying in the wind. It still struck her as odd – staying in such a tropical landscape just didn’t seem right for what they had just done. For what Thompson had done here years ago. It looked more like a place for a beach vacation, rather than a bloody battlefield. “Seems like we can go back. And this time, we had no losses. No complications.”

“Yeah.”

There was a moment of silence between them. “There’s just one thing I have to get, first.”

Y/N looked up, whipping her head around. “Jack-“

He raised his hand to interrupt her. “I can’t keep it here. I should be back by tomorrow, we can fly back then.”

“Jack Thompson”, Y/N said slowly, standing up to stand right in front of him, lowering herself down to the desk he was sitting at to be on eye-level with him. He expected her to tell him to just leave it, that there were certain things one keeps buried. But she didn’t. “Like hell you are going there by yourself. I couldn’t be here in 1945, but I sure as hell will be here with you, now.”

……..

Approaching the island by boat, Y/N saw the coastline approaching through her binoculars.

“That’s Tsuken Island?”, she asked, looking over to Jack.

“Not much left after we were done with it.”

“It’s… it looks like it was firebombed!”, Y/N pointed out. Jack raised an eyebrow.

“In many ways, it was.”

The island was tiny – just over 2 kilometres in length and over 1 kilometre in width. Only in the north one could see a couple of palm trees, the centre section of the island was completely burnt to the ground. Craters scarred the earth, and the only semblance of life was another military base in the island’s south.

“You know where we have to walk? There are hardly any landmarks to orient us from”, Y/N pointed out when they left the boat.

“I know. We had to know the coordinates from our camps.”

Of course they did. Y/N clenched her jaw. She wished there was a way for her to know what Jack was going through right now, but he had closed off. As he had for the initial months they spent working together after the war. There was nothing in his eyes or on his face. He looked like the poster-soldier, steely eyed and tough, solely focused on his mission.

They walked for what felt like ages, but really, it probably was just under half an hour. They reached a field that was in an area that was relatively well-protected, and ideally suited for a makeshift camp site. He didn’t have to say that they were here, she knew it. Jack’s eyes scanned the area. To the side of the field, there were a few tree trunks that had survived the war, and the weather. Jack walked towards them, bent down, and started to search the soil beneath them with his hands. Y/N simply stood back and watched him. It didn’t take long. The flag wasn’t buried six feet underground, it was covered by maybe two inches of soil.

Holding it in his hands, Jack could only stare at the piece of cloth. That cloth had haunted him for years.

He didn’t cry. He didn’t even feel sad holding it, after all, it wasn’t like he had ever forgotten it. It didn’t bring back any memories he didn’t already have on repeat in his brain.

No, there was almost a certain solace in holding it.

“I’m sorry”, he said, quietly, he wasn’t even sure Y/N could hear it, “You weren’t meant to die that day. I’m sorry I made the wrong call that day.”

He folded the flag neatly, folding it small enough for him to be able to put it in his pocket. Then, he stood up and turned to Y/N. “Come on. Let’s start a fire.”

Quietly, the two of them assembled enough wood to ignite a small fire. Jack watched the flames, thinking about their faces. He hadn’t been able to figure out their names, they had no name tags on them. They remained nameless, but their faces would forever be with him.

Then, he pulled out the folded flag.

“Rest easy.”

Y/N watched him throw the flag into the flame, catching fire instantly. “Rest in peace. At last, it did arrive in Japan, too.”

Without another word, she took his hand as they watched the flag turn to dust. When it had gone, Jack finally looked up. Looked at Y/N. They had been to hell in their own ways. She in Europe, he in the Pacific. They had killed people in front of each other, they had killed for the other. They had come face to face with their darkest past in front of the other. She had followed him to his own personal hell.

“Why are you crying now?”

Was he- he was. He shook his head aggressively, really not wanting to cry right now and rubbed his tears away with the back of his hand.

“Nothing”, he said and cleared his throat, “Just. Thank you.”

She smiled. “Always.”

A/N: One more history lesson about the Pacific War, and the final stage of World War Two, which is often neglected by simply jumping to the result of the atomic bombs. It’s crazy to think none of the soldiers had an idea that they WOULDN’T be asked to invade Japan proper. From their testimonies it becomes clear: They were certain that this would have been a suicide mission. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and as always, I ask for nothing but a little comment or something that stood out in the chapter! It really helps any creator out there, let me tell you! Also, I hope you enjoy the little story arc with Jack’s reckoning with his own past. First the Navy Cross, now the flag. The two reminders of his most severe mistake.

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#jack thompson #jack thompson imagine #agent jack thompson #jack thompson x reader #agent jack thompson x reader #agent carter #marvel's agent carter #marvel #mcu

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talkintomytv · 2 years

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I was fine with everything Jen had to say. Great at controlling her anger because she has to do it every day. Awesome! That makes total sense. I'm sure a lot of ladies out there can tic off every scenario she spoke of as if it were a god damn checklist. I know I can. But when she started saying she's great at controlling her anger because she has to do it infinitely more than Bruce that's where she lost me. I dunno. Maybe I'm just biased because Hulk/Bruce are one of my faves and he's been backburned for so long but it just came off to me like all her lousy experiences gave her license to dismiss everything Bruce has to endure because he's a guy which was totally lame.

Maybe she doesn't fully know about it. Bruce is a very bottled-up sort a fella after all so perhaps he just didn't share everything but we've been with Bruce for so long and seen him go through so much and then along comes this new character who just "lol Nahs," at all of it and acts like it was only ever that hard for him because he's never had to do anything as a woman. Aw, man. No. Boo.

That line of dialogue broke the narrative for me because controlling the anger inside to contain a being of limitless rage is literally Bruce's whole story mechanic.

Under the cut is just a list of all the scenarios Jen shared and how they compare to what Bruce has been through. Please nobody Hulk-out. I'm probably just comparing apples to oranges here but it was a lot of fun to think about. I mostly made this for myself.

Jen: Catcalled in the streets.

Bruce: Hunted by governments and forced into hiding because they want to use his body as a military resource against his will.

Jen: Talked down to by incompetent men in her own area of expertise.

Bruce: Tries to explain to trigger-happy militants all the time, scientifically, why the hulk is too dangerous to tamper with and gets shot with actual bullets because of it.

(Or, kind of like when you're a Doctor who specializes in radiation trying to explain to your Lawyer cousin how to protect others from your radioactivity and they dismiss everything like your mansplaining.)

Jen: If she doesn't control her anger she will get called emotional or difficult.

Bruce: If he can't control his emotions he loses every facet of his being and no amount of life experience no matter who you are can help you if you aren't even conscious. Has killed and injured many people because of this and is treated like a 10-ton nuclear warhead instead of a person.

Jen: Is worried that if she talks back she might literally get murdered.

Bruce: Has witnessed the actual murder of his mother at the hand of a violent man, his father, who also targeted Bruce with physical violence.

Jen:...

Bruce: Everyone that came into his life and started treating him like a person again has either left or died.

Jen...

Bruce: The guilt of hurting people, loss of control over his own body, and the loneliness and the isolation he's had to endure, brought him so low that he bit the bullet.

I could go on. Bruce has gone through all of these hardships and all it ever did was make him kind. He isn't just some other ignorant dick head. He's god damn sweetheart and should be granted honorary membership into the sisterhood.

#she hulk #bruce banner #marvel #hulk

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percontaion-points · 2 years

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OVE chapters 45-47, Epilogue

The following book review contains violence & gang activity. Reader discretion is advised.

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 45

“Cai Junli.”

Juliette closed her eyes. The use of her birth name had the opposite effect that her mother had likely intended. Lady Cai wanted her to realize the severity of the situation; instead, Juliette felt as if her mother were addressing someone else, some false manifestation of the girl she was supposed to be. All this time, her parents had let her be Juliette—let her be wild, impulsive. Now they wanted the unknown daughter again, but Juliette only knew how to be Juliette.

They sent her to America for years and years, and then they’re surprised that she’s a western girl with western ideals.

“Communists who threaten the fabric of society,” her mother replied, her tone grave.

It’s not that I disagree with her about it. But the problem is that she talks about destroying society, yet they actively gave orders to literally murder thousands of people in the streets.

“At this point I don’t even know if Dimitri is still intent on taking the White Flowers. With just about every gangster either dead or imprisoned or having fled the city, he’s far more concerned with building a base of power among the Communists.”

“Then why did he take Roma? If not to end the Montagov line—”

“It’s symbolic, I suspect. Kill the gangsters. Kill the imperialists. Kill foreign influence in the city.”

It’s fucking hilarious that he’s talking about “foreign influence” when Demetri is equally as foreign as the influences he wants gone from the city.

When Benedikt turned around, his hair was ruffling in the wind, expression earnest and in such resemblance to Roma that it hurt her chest to look at him. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 45 summary: Now back home, Juliette calls her parents out on not giving a shit about the plague, on not giving a shit about how average citizens are shot down in the streets, on how her father would so cruelly issue orders to have the White Flowers gunned down the same way… And for what? Some blood feud that literally nobody fucking remembers how it even got started? And when her father says that they went wrong in “raising” her (which is a fucking joke because she was more raised by first Chinese nannies and then American teachers than her actual parents), she calls them out on that, too.

Lord then demands that Juliette tell her mother what she did to Tyler. Juliette confesses about how she picked Roma over her shitfuck cousin, and although she feels guilty over hiding it, she continues to feel no shame in having actually murdered Tyler and those two goons. Lord tells her that since she’s choosing the white flowers, then she can go and “die among them”. Juliette begs her mother to tell her why they hate the white flowers so much, but Lady literally has no answers… Probably because she doesn’t know. Her mother then disowns her, too.

Juliette takes a moment to drive for her shitfuck parents, but then tells herself to pull herself together. She knows that she can escape, but wonders what the point would be when she’s certain Roma is dead already. She then pulls out a goddamned grenade, because yeah. We’ve come to this already.

As she pulls the pin out, Ben shows up on her balcony. Cause I guess it wouldn’t be Romeo and Juliette without a balcony scene. Despite it not making sense how he got in… Or the fact that it’s not Roma. Anyway, he convinces her she should use the grenade not to blow up her shitfuck family, but to focus on the monsters instead. Which is fair, because that’s honestly the more pressing concern. Juliette then puts the grenade BACK where she’d gotten it, and starts to get changed (it was pouring out, and she’s still quite wet). As she takes her clothes off, a random pill from Lourens falls out from her pocket.

Chapter 46

“I ruined us all for a love not true,” Rosalind whispered. “At the very least, I can still save you.”

Chapter 46 summary: As Juliette and Ben go to where they’d stashed Rose, they talk about their plan. They know Demetri wants to haul Marshall, Roma, and Alisa in front of a crowd to murder them. And it’s likely that he’ll also have his monsters in their human-personas scattered around for protection. If they can force the monsters to transform, then the people gathered will panic. In the chaos, they can rescue their friends.

They tell Rose that they’ll free her for everything she knows. At this point, I guess being left with her own thoughts as well as the news of the slaughter that happened is enough to convince her that she should simply tell them everything. Which isn’t much. She says that Demetri found the host bugs, and she provided the Frenchmen. She also says that it’s ethanol that triggers the transformation. They wonder where they’re going to find any in a city that’s been so badly looted, but Juliette reminds them that there’s also ethanol in gasoline. Rose hesitates when Juliette tells her to flee the city, but eventually goes.

Rose then randomly goes to find her sister. Which IDK how she happened upon where Celia was, but whatever.She helps Celia walk away from the slaughter.

Chapter 47

Behind them, with gasoline drenched into every square inch of the pavement, the explosion rang so loud and hot that all of Shanghai rocked with the blow.

Chapter 47 summary: Juliette and Ben steal a firetruck. Which is honestly a brilliant idea for spraying the crowds down. On the way over, Juliette explains that nobody gives a shit about some random “Korean” man, or Roma’s 12 year old sister. She’ll exchange herself for Marshall and Alisa, since she’s somebody that Demetri would be interested in.

Juliette walks through the crowd and is instantly recognized in her signature flapper dress. Ben meanwhile redies the hose, and listens as Juliette announces herself to Demetri. Demetri naturally suspects a trick. Juliette convinces Roma to let her do this. In this, she “kisses” him, but this is a ruse to push the pill Lourens had given her into his mouth; it’s the vaccine. Finally Demetri agrees to the entire thing, if only because he’s tired of listening to her rattle on. As they untie Marshall and Alisa, Roma begs Marshall to take Alisa away from there. They run, and meet up with Ben.

Demetri makes a sweeping villain speech, in which he basically announces that he does have a cure for the plague… but only for those who he seems worthy. Ben then starts to spray the crowds down, and the monsters transform and release the insects. Juliette and Roma get free, and Demetri wonders where he’d gone wrong in his stupid plan.

But as Juliette and Roma stand among the chaos, they know that the city would never be free if they ran now. So they decide that they need to kill Demetri to end this once and for all. This involves lighting the vaccination on fire. Which I’m not sure that I follow, but sure.

Ben barely manages to drive a car away from the square as the entire thing explodes.

Epilogue

And she hurries forward, away from the canal, returning to Shanghai once more.

Epilogue summary: It’s been a year since the explosion. In the time since then, Alisa forged a marriage certificate for Roma and Juliette, since she’d overheard their vows to each other. She sent it to the presses, which set the city into an uproar. After all, if Juliette and Roma were so willing to ignore the feud, why should the citizens live in fear of it? After that, the gangs started to fall apart.

They had a double funeral for Juliette and Roma, their graves right next to each other. But the graves are empty, with them never having found a body. Alisa was insanely upset over the sight of the headstones with their names on it, and started screaming that they weren’t dead, they’d never found a body. But officials say that the fire burned too hot and too fast, and destroyed everything but the monsters… who had much thicker skin.

After that, the nationalists ran the white flowers out from their home. Ben and Marshall were okay, since they were adults, but worried about Alisa. She meanwhile became a communist spy. (Zero mention of her father, but hey. He literally never had a name, so I’m not sure if I care.) She’s also working alongside Celia. Rose has been working with the nationalists, although I’m not sure if she’s a spy or not.

Celia and Alisa go out to the countryside to fold fake money for the dead in some Chinese tradition. As they start to return back home, Alisa thinks about how war is coming, and how unavoidable it is. But she also thinks about how she’s working to keep it back by keeping the memory of Roma and Juliette alive.

#These Violent Delights series #Our Violent Ends #chapter 45 #Chapter 46 #chapter 47 #epilogue #Juliette Cai #shitty parents are shitty #shitty people doing shitty things #what the hell is wrong with people #do as i say not as i do #Ben Montagov #Roma Montagov #Alisa Montagova #Marshal Seo #Rosalind Cai #Kathleen Cai #Demetri Montagov #I would ask where the editor was but I think we all know there was none

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