#Howard Star imagine | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

themaclean · 4 days

Note

hi i just came from ao3 and firstly, i have read ur vaultghoul fic probably 20 times already it’s just so good with spot on characterization and amazing writing, thank u so much 🙏

secondly, i was reading the comments on it and came across one abt wanting to see a pre-war au where cooper and lucy start an affair and immediately my ears perked up like 👀 all i could imagine is her being cast as his love interest, her being a big fan of his already, and them having a wedding scene where they fuck in her wedding dress after they call cut

n e way so sorry for rambling haha but unfortunately ive got the brainrot now

I MEAN HYPOTHETICALLY -- I'm mobile (and somehow wrote 2k words still wheeze) so I'll finish this when I'm on my PC but I played around with the idea a bit thanks to this ask. :)

...

Summary; Cooper Howard x Lucy MacLean, 2077 AU where Lucy and Cooper star in a movie together.

...

There's a whole host of ways that Vault-Tec could have cracked down on Cooper. Given the infringement of their security protocols and the divorce and the way they choked him out of all the good roles...

It wasn't such a far stretch that he'd have to take place in the biggest circle jerk of a film production where his super-fan shoved his daughter into a starring role using Cooper's connections.

Because, so far as the public knew, he was still a supporter of Vault-Tec and he'd do just about anything to sell that delusion.

Cooper crushed the heel of his palms against his eyes, a limp cigarette hung between his teeth.

The girl was a nightmare.

Stiff, picky, absent-minded. No emotion, either, no semblance of self-awareness. It was like some Disney Princess popped out of the cartoons in the worst way, quick to parrot the lines she was meant to say with perfect diction but nothing more than that.

And it was somehow his fucking job to coach the girl -- Lucy -- into a leading lady. The idea was that she was the daughter of the Overseer, played by her actual father, and Cooper was some vault dweller from another section.

The whole thing was convoluted. He did cowboy flicks and the sort that had a showdown at the end. This sci-fi garbage went right over his head, this future projection of the what-if. He didn't have time for the what-if.

He had a daughter he needed to vy for custody of and an expensive divorce on the horizon. And Barb had the best lawyers money could buy and he'd never thought they'd end up like this. There was no pre-nup and nothing to protect him.

And he didn't have a goddamn lighter.

"You shouldn't smoke."

Cooper near growled around the butt of his cigarette, only just keeping himself civil at the last moment. He turned towards Lucy, unable to mistake her for anyone else. There was something about her vacant, pretty face that irked him, those giant goddamn eyes.

"It's bad for you. I read an article about it."

"Maybe you'd be better off reading your lines again," Cooper said with a wave of his hand. He dug in his jacket pocket, the one he'd worn to set.

Bingo.

Lucy crossed her arms and leaned against the vault railing. It was strange to do the filming down, a hundred feet or so beneath the surface, but it made for impressive sets. They were around the corner from the rest of the camera crew and cast.

And they were alone for the first time since shooting. Most times, Cooper had a few stage hands or interns at his heel. And he didn't see Lucy around much, except for scenes. Didn't chase her down, didn't much think of her.

Except now he's aware she's still in the wedding dress she'd been in earlier. Stage blood soaked the stomach of it, thick streams of blood from where she'd been stabbed. But he'd saved her and they'd shared a chaste kiss for the camera.

And then he hadn't seen her.

"I thought you'd be a better kisser."

Cooper didn't withhold the glare, couldn't bring himself to give a fuck. "Pardon?"

"Just -- the kiss. Didn't really..." Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. "I grew up watching your movies. My dad is a big fan. I always figured you'd be a good kisser, but you aren't."

"You ain't much yourself, either," Cooper said with a raised brow. "Like a fish, sweetheart. Cold."

"I'm not a fish," she snapped back. "That's very mean. I -- I know I was mean first but I just thought you could do better."

Cooper couldn't help but laugh to himself at this miserable brat who'd sought him out to complain about an on-screen kiss. He took a long drag, his gaze slanted across the backs of his knuckles.

"You're here 'cause your daddy yanked some strings," Cooper shrugged a shoulder. "My only obligation is to make a movie for the studio. I'm not your damn boyfriend-for-hire, trying to get you off for the cameras."

Cooper was a professional and on his best behaviour -- usually. But the long days of filming for a corporation rooted in the exploitation of the country he'd fought for... That patience wore thinner with each moment he was alone with this brat.

"I'm here as an actress -- "

"You can act?" Cooper asked, mock surprise as he pressed a hand to his chest.

Lucy had the gall to look offended.

Cooper took another drag, his hip notched against the railing. "It's a movie, darling. I've been doing this shit for years. They ain't gonna let people tongue each other to high hell."

"That..."

"That is exactly how it works," Cooper said as he ashed his cigarette onto the grate beneath his feet. "It's not about you, it's about the shot."

Lucy looked at him like he'd slapped her. "I know it's about the shot."

"Could've fooled me." Cooper huffed out a breath. He'd kissed plenty of women for his films and he was a consummate professional. If the audience bought into it, that was all he needed. He didn't give a damn if his co-star got butterflies over it.

Especially not the daughter of some jackass at Vault-Tec, for a project that was nothing more than an empty propaganda piece. But he didn't have much choice.

"I'm here because it's important to my father. Vault-Tec wanted to keep as many roles as they could within the company -- "

"Nepotism."

"To promote the culture they want within the movie, which is carefully curated -- "

"Cultish."

"To their... Could you stop doing that?"

Cooper crossed his arms, his cigarette nearly finished. The vault had good enough ventilation that the smoke disappeared but the smell lingered. He pushed away from the railing, his expensive smile slack across his lips.

"I had my fill of the Vault-Tec propaganda, sweetheart. Don't make a difference if it's from a pamphlet or a pretty girl, I'm just doing what I'm being paid to."

"Wasn't it your wife -- ex-wife -- who brought you in originally?"

Cooper's neck twitched as he looked down at Lucy, as she smart-mouthed her way right into some shit she didn't know anything about. He tipped his head to the side, the annoying collar of the vault suit biting into his jawline.

"So you believed what Vault-Tec thought originally." Lucy toyed with the stain on her white dress, her fingers tugged at the frayed edge. "What changed?"

"Nothing," Cooper said, his voice flat.

Lucy met his eye, her head tilted to contrast the angle of his head. She settled a hand on the railing, uncertainty replaced her uppity edge from before. "I'm not trying to spy on you or get information. You just -- had your life together, and then you're getting divorced."

"It happens," Cooper said, aware now that she was between him and the crew. The vault split into spidery webs in all directions, though. He could leave her if he wanted. But then he'd end up who knows where, deep in the belly of this steel nest.

But they were alone, and she'd inched closer to him.

Cooper saw the leading ladies he worked with as colleagues. Sometimes they'd have to kiss or imitate gentle moments or intimacy -- but for the most part, he could compartmentalise it. But Lucy didn't act. She couldn't. She was an atrocious leading lady and she read everything as if she were saying it herself.

Like a porn actress, saying shit to get through to the action, rushing through the writing like it didn't matter.

It wasn't her fault. He had the sneaking suspicious she had no interest in acting or in this movie; that she was only doing it because her father asked her to do it. Maybe even so she could have an excuse to meet him, he realized dimly as she looked up at him with wide hazel eyes.

That separation -- of leading lady and of a romantic partner -- muddled with her. Because he didn't even like her. He didn't want to get to know her. He hated her father and he wanted nothing to do with this company.

And she was closer to him than not, and they'd kissed a handful of times, and she'd said he sucked at it.

Cooper rolled his jaw as Lucy didn't have the guts to do more than she had. Her moony eyes fixed up at him like a challenge. And then he felt his resolve snap because it wasn't like he had much to lose. This wasn't a real acting gig and she wasn't a real leading lady.

His hand snapped out, fingers and thumb dug into her cheek. He brought her close, to see what she'd do. The answer was -- not much. She didn't shout or push him away, their mouths inches apart as he hovered close to her, examining her beneath his lashes.

"Bad kisser -- that what you said?"

Lucy swallowed hard enough to nudge his hand. "Well, you were. I'm not going to lie to you to spare your ego."

Cooper made a soft sound from the back of his throat as he kissed her. The distant crack and shift of the crew as they moved their cameras from one vault room to another should be a deterent but Cooper doesn't care.

He's single, isn't he. Has been for a few months. He'd not acted on it, hadn't felt the urge to, but he's as trapped as ever in the shadow of what Barb had done to him. It's only fair he make use of that shadow to indulge, even if it's just to prove a point to this girl Lucy.

There's some inherent amusement to how she melted into the kiss. She wanted it far more than she'd let on, that soft mewing, moaning neediness as he stroked her long brown hair out of her face. He threaded his fingers softly through her hair, hand on either side of her face, fingers combing through her hair.

Her back was arched over the railing as he gave her the kiss she'd probably expected earlier, the one he wasn't about to throw out on camera. There's standards for cinema and he didn't want to waste film or time.

But then her fingers were on the zipper of the stupid fucking vault suit. He didn't stop her, even as she yanked it down and slipped her hand along his stomach.

If anything, he pushed harder against her. The fluffy white skirt of her wedding dress made it hard to get much for himself. But with a yank of her knee and the shift of her weight, he had her seated on the railing. Her shoulder caught one of the metal frames, to keep her pinned in place.

If this were any other job or any other actress, he'd give a fuck.

But it's Vault-Tec, through and through.

#anonymous #my writing #vaultghoul #answered

43 notes · View notes

itsdefinitely · 5 months

Note

Definitely, can you pretty please go into depth about the MC outfits because I would LOVE to hear that /gen

WOOHOO!! YIPPEE!! DANCING AROUND MY LITTLE CORNER FULL OF RED TAPE AND MADNESS!!

gonna start in no particular order

TINKY COSTUME my beloved and beloathed (the colors fucked me up). to be honest most of it is pretty obvious. the maze design on the sleeves and the box on the shirt is meant to represent the bastard's box, but i imagine that box glowing in the game. for important plot or something. i just want the box to glow. the pants are pretty much directly because i wanted to give the MC boots (i didn't draw shoes because hell if i was gonna design six good looking pairs of shoes) and they fit in with the pattern on the sleeves + the overall steampunk-ish vibe tinky has. the outfit itself wasn't really steampunky or yellow, but these outfits were made to compliment the lord, so rather than two engineers, it's like a mad scientist and his loyal lab rat. so something that would be easy to move around in

and now is a good a time as any to mention this. all of the outfits were made with the CoTSC designing them in mind, which is why they look all different, because i feel like the church has different views on how each lord wants to be treated. like they're pretty sure nibbly is good with things being more modern, but wiggly and pokey would be more "traditional" i guess. the church is just convinced some of them need to be held to the same standard they were given decades ago

anyway. blinky. the whole thing with the blindfold is that the CoTSC thinks you're not meant to look at blinky. blinky actually doesn't care whether you look at him or not, but there's this air of "you're not supposed to do this" when the MC tries to take the blindfold off. the eye button-thing was very fun for me to think about because i saw this button a while ago that was the pupil as the button, and i've been trying to incorporate it into something ever since. the pants are more of a stylistic choice than anything, so interpret it how you will

nibbly's costume was actually so fun for me to draw. i wanted it to look like something out of a fucked-up twisted willy wonka. the base for the top is really similar to tinky's but that's fine because they probably all steal something from the others. tinky's costume steals the specific yellow from blinky's costume, who steals the midsection part from pokey's costume, who steals the whole robe thing from wiggly's costume. also there's no cape or flowy thing for nibbly's costume because if the MC failed i don't think the CoTSC would want nibbly mad at them for having to chew extra fabric. also you need to be able to run without tripping over yourself if you try to escape him :]

pokey's costume was also really fun. obviously the grey, blue, and the cracks (it's also supoosed to be lightning!) are from his canon design, but the glasses are because i wanted something on the MC's face like the mask. it couldn't be another mask because pokey would get offended by that i think, and sunglasses are in the superstar/thespian ballpark. this costume also has the most stars on it (they go all the way around the hem of the robe) because of pokey's connection to space

finally, wiggly's costume. this is the one i think i have the most to talk about. first and foremost: there's a full black outfit under the robe. the fingerless gloves and pants are actually one jumpsuit, like president howard's suit in black friday. the collar thing is connected to the cape, which is split into six parts to be kind of like wiggly's tentacles. the fluffy collar is meant to be like the doll's fur. the whole thing is meant to keep the MC insulated, because i imagine the temperature drops whenever a lord is around, and especially when THE lord in black shows up. all of the sniggles (+ blinky) have fur, so they've probably had to adapt to the cold. now that i'm thinking about it, the CoTSC aren't that antagonistic in the costume design process. they cater to both the lords and the MC's needs, or whatever they think those needs are. like i said before, wiggly's costume is meant to be more "traditional", like the robes they wear. this costume is similar to what they'd put you in before sacrificing you

thanks for coming to my braindump

#also the full internet name made me do a double take. like. i thought i was in trouble for a second. i genuinely read it in my mom's voice #definite's ted talks #definitely an ask #the lords in black #t'noy karaxis #nibblenephim #blinklotep #pokotho #wiggog y'wrath #there's probably something i thought about while drawing but forgot to mention but whateverrrrrr it'll come back to me eventually #does this feel super pretentious to type out? yes #do i have to be neurodivergent about it or i'll die? also yes #long post

45 notes · View notes

vintagegeekculture · 9 months

Note

I started reading some of R E Howard’s books because of your blog! They’re lots of fun and I can see so many of the standard fantasy tropes forming. What are some of your favorite covers or illustrations of his work?

My favorite Conan might just be this very off model one, in the Gnome Press editions. At this point, Conan was as completely forgotten as his fellow Weird Tales character, Jules de Grandin, Occult Detective, who was the more popular character at the time. I love it because it's so off-model. Unfortunately, the Gnome Press editions went nowhere, and Conan would not be rediscovered until the paperback boom, where he was kept alive by fantasy superfans like L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter.

A friend of mine, and fellow pulp collector, asked me a really interesting question in a late night bull session: what would have happened if Robert E. Howard had lived?

As most pulp aficionados know, Howard was clinically depressed and dedicated his life to taking care of his elderly mother. When he discovered his mother was not going to live through the night, he committed suicide that very night.

We can never really know the answer, but by examining his trajectory and that of his pulp writer contemporaries, we can make a pretty educated guess.

I have some bad news for Sword and Sorcery fans: Howard had completely abandoned the Conan character for months following his death, and indeed, any kind of horror or fantasy fiction, primarily as his relationship with Weird Tales went south. For a while around his death, Howard entirely transitioned to being a Western writer, and in the general opinion of many Howard fans, his most mature and best work were not his sword and sorcery yarns, but the Westerns he wrote at the end of his life like "Vultures of Wahpeton" and "The Last Ride."

In addition, we have an example of what happened to a lot of other writers of Howard's generation, like Hugh B. Cave, another Weird Tales guy, who eventually stopped writing horror and action, and transitioned to being a Caribbean regional writer, or how Manly Wade Wellman wrote about his native Appalachia and North Carolina. Wade Wellman's old 30s characters like John Thunstone and caveman Hok the Mighty were vastly overshadowed by his regional creation of Silver John, the Appalachian balladeer.

It's very easy to imagine a scenario, then, where had Robert E. Howard lived, he became a Texas regional writer mainly known for his Westerns, where he produced his most mature work, and the fact he wrote horror and sword and sorcery is a barely remembered fact only known to the most thorough of academics, who might just chance on the name of a Harold Lamb, Talbot Mundy, and Edgar Rice Burroughs influenced set of yarns starring some guy named Conan.

#robert e. howard #pulp fiction #weird tales

113 notes · View notes

midnightbears · 5 days

Text

✿ tell 'em how the crowds went wild! tell 'em how i hope they shine!

⎯ in which you look back on how grateful you are for the opportunity bestowed upon you. aka: you joined the opla's cast!

#STARRING. iñaki godoy, mackenyu, jacob romero, taz skylar, emily rudd ft. fem!reader [elle fanning 4 faceclaim but u can imagine y/n anyway u wish!].

#TAGS. sfw, kind of context, a bit of smau but its tiny. mentions of covid just in case it's triggering?

#NOTE. pardon my rusty writing but i really wanted to get this out!!! i added an oc from one piece for the sake of the story but she's barely mentioned so uuuh yuh! timeline may be wrong but i work with what i'm given please bear with me. let me know if you would like more fics of this y/n??? ALSO IGNORE THE WATERMARKS ON THE PHOTOS I NEEDED TO MAKE THEM NEATER

In the past, if someone were to come up to you and tell you that you’d be a part of the One Piece Live Action main cast in the future, you would’ve probably laughed in their faces despite your wishful thinking.

At that time, you were content with your work, doing short theatre plays with companies or gaining minor roles in musicals. Everything changed when you landed the role for the one-woman show Fleabag for a limited time on London’s West End after the leading actress underwent emergency surgery for an appendectomy. You only acted as the sex-obsessed mess of a woman for about three weeks, but it was enough time for people to notice you, to really see you.

You believed your career had reached its pinnacle when you were cast as Katherine Howard in Six: The Musical in London. Your name had become somehow well-known in the musical theatre world, and you had a small but dedicated fan base who liked uploading edits of you being a dork during the Megasix on YouTube and TikTok.

Months later, you were bound to play as Fantine for Les Miserables when COVID abruptly struck, and you were dismayed that your job was ripped from you so abruptly. Your best friend, the sweetest person on earth, insisted on you moving in with her in fear that you’d be evicted from your apartment.

Months passed, and you eventually found a small way to help your friend pay rent by offering singing and acting lessons online to musical-aspiring teenagers. Since you had gained many followers from your earlier work on social media, it didn’t surprise you when the classes became sold out.

Your friend also convinced you to create a YouTube channel for you to upload videos of yourself (sometimes joined by her) where you watched and commented shitty movies, followed DIY tutorials just for the fun of it, performed covers of your favorite songs, and just generally vlogged your life (along with reactions to Taylor Swift’s (From The Vault) songs).

At first, you thought it was pretty stupid, but you were delightfully proved wrong when your videos harbored over 200k-300k views on a bad day, so you found no reason to stop as COVID-19 continued, growing to gain a little over five hundred thousand followers. Your reactions were often used for TikTok audios or clips, so you found your popularity growing and evolving during that year.

You believed yourself to be a general, simple woman. People liked you because you were elegant and levelheaded, although you could sometimes be chaotic. You also had a subtle sense of humor that many found charming. But mostly, you grew a steady fan base because your videos and presence comforted countless young adults and teenagers.

You were an optimist and a reassuring one, so during the times when COVID was so prominent, people sought refuge from the monstrosities of the world in your videos, where you seemed to connect with them even though you were on the other side of the screen.

However, everything changed somewhere in 2020-2021. That evening, your best friend got home from work with excitement practically oozing out of her every pore. You and your best friend were avid anime watchers and manga readers, so you couldn’t help the face you made when she told you that One Piece was getting a live-action.

Although you were skeptical, your friend practically insisted you send an audition tape. You grimaced at that. It was well-known that live anime actions were almost always corny and cringeworthy compared to the original work, and people never liked them. You had learned that much from Death Note and a couple of others. However, your best friend convinced you with this argument:

“If it’s that bad, then at least you’ll gain more followers out of the memes that people will make, and if it’s good, you’ll still get famous anyway!”

Eventually, you sent a video of you performing one of the lengthy monologues from Fleabag to your agency and simply hoped for the best. Your friend was practically rooting for you to get the role of Anastasia, one of the first integrants of the Straw Hat crew, joining before Sanji and after Usopp. You adored her as she greatly reminded you of your late mother, although you would be happy with any role.

Somewhere in November 2021, you remember a lot of screaming and crying. When you try to look back on it, all you remember is the happiness you felt when you received confirmation of the role of Anastasia. You were practically over the moon, and you and your friend celebrated inside your small apartment. You were entirely alone, just two drunk girls dancing and cheering, until one of the neighbors knocked on the ceiling with a broom.

liked by inakigo, emilyrudd and 574,949 others

yourusername actually lost for words and filled to the brim with gratitude...... i cannot express how excited i am to play my girl anastasia and bring her to life. from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has supported me. your faith in me means everything. congrats to iñaki, emily, jacob, mackenyu and taz, thank you to onepiecenetflix, thank you to my best friend for convincing me to audition for the role, and thank you, oda sensei, for putting anastasia's heart in my hands. love u all <3

view all comments

November 10, 2021

y/nsfanclub.02, AAAAAAAA SO EXCITED FOR THIS I ACTUALLY CANT BELIEVE IT

⤷ starl6ighwnb, LIKE FR IM GNAWING AT THE BARS OF MY ENCLOSURE THIS IS INSANE

user8392y3r927y, HELLO YOUR GRACE ANASTASIA

inakigo, Congrats!!!!!!!!

taz_skylar, 🔥🔥🔥

The One Piece fan base dearly loved the character of Anastasia, a well-mannered, bubbly, upbeat, fashion-loving duchess who always spoke in a Transatlantic accent but also had a quick wit and a bit of a sweet tooth. Anastasia’s dream was to become the most dangerous pirate to ever grace the seas and prove everyone who doubted her wrong.

Of course, with a big character came a big responsibility.

Sometimes, insecurity nearly got the better of you. You had to fill huge shoes, and there were many people to convince and impress. However, your love for this project was bigger than the gnawing uncertainty on the back of your neck, so you continued strongly until the end of Season One, finding comfort in your cast mates and the countless people who counted on you and, most importantly, believed in you.

Oda handpicked you, and that argument alone was enough to shoot any insecurities away.

Well, needless to say, people loved you!

Critics acclaimed your portrayal of the character, as well as the commendable chemistry you shared with the rest of the cast. The fans found it incredibly funny that your character was the complete opposite of how you actually acted in real life, and you often found yourself blissfully immersed in the fan base's love and praise.

Your channel and social media suddenly grew tenfold. Although you had stopped uploading videos every week due to the recording of season one, your followers were more than happy to wait for your return, and as one would expect, they were thrilled to have you back once you did upload a vlog explaining everything.

Over the course of the six months, you had been recording from time to time for a YouTube video in the set. Previously, you had asked the producers for permission to record some behind-the-scenes for your channel and your usual interactions with the rest of the cast with your personal Sony camera, as you felt it would be a nice way to bring the fans and the cast closer.

The producers gave the okay on the condition that you would wait until the first season aired on Netflix. You happily agreed and carefully began recording some scenes of your dressers and hairdressers as they prepared you, a few shots of your instructor showing you how you were supposed to use the guns that Anastasia employed... simple things.

Back in the day, you were still getting acquainted with the other cast members, and you didn't want to seem rude by forcibly making them appear on your videos, so you waited for a few weeks until you could properly call yourself companions. Then, you invited them to appear in the videos.

Iñaki, Taz, and Jacob liked to take advantage of the little free time they had between scenes they didn't appear in to innocently steal your camera and use it to their heart's content. One day, you got home only to find the memory card was completely full. It was an extensive video of them walking around the set, with Taz recording while Kiki and Jacob pointed out random stuff to the people who lived inside your camera, as Jacob liked to call them.

Mackenyu, being more reserved and introverted, mostly liked to act as a cameraman for you as you showed the props you used and other things, often making comments or turning the camera around whenever you referred to something.

Meanwhile, Emily had a natural knack for being in front of the camera. Whenever you asked her to join in, she effortlessly slipped into the co-host role, bantering with you and adding her own insights into the behind-the-scenes world of the show.

With the first season out of the way, you took the time to carefully pick what videos you wanted to use in the final tape, and it took you a little over a month and a half to properly edit it and turn it into a wonderful thirty-minute-long behind-the-scenes. You even sent it to the producers and your co-stars in case there was a scene they wanted deleted. Fortunately, they all gave you the okay.

You teased the video a bit on your Instagram before uploading it a few days later, and the support it received was out of this world. It gained over two million views and hundreds of thousands of likes.

You were kind of expecting this. While some BTS had already been uploaded on YouTube, yours was different because you were showing it from your perspective. The fans loved every second of it, and even started asking for a second or third part. You even saw new videos on YouTube of recompilations from your video with the titles being silly things like The One Piece Cast Being Chaotic for Seven Minutes.

At that moment, your life felt so full. You were getting contacted by industries who wanted you to appear on their videos and their stages, thousands of fans who loved you, and a feeling so peculiar that this would be eternal.

liked by taz_skylar, morganlogoff and 1,523,199 others

yourusername missing my wig and my gang hours ☹️

view all comments

November 10, 2023

morganlogoff, love love love you💗💗💗

curlikaqy, NO ONE KNOWS I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN

emilyrudd, GIRL I WANT TO SEE YOU COME BACK TO AMERICA

bookofjacob, missing your camera hours💔

#one piece #one piece live action #one piece la #opla #one piece x reader #one piece x you #one piece live action x reader #one piece live action x you #iñaki godoy #emily rudd #jacob romero gibson #jacob romero #taz skylar #mackenyu #one piece x y/n #opla x reader #opla x you #midnightbears

25 notes · View notes

qianqiancandyjar · 5 months

Text

Ninjavember 2023!

Here's completed version with a bunch of explaining below each picture! Just scroll down if you don't want to see me blabbering. (I tried to go short as much as possible)

(I have a lot of AUs and headcanons that only exist in my head and my sketchbooks. Forgive me for wanting to spill them out.)

Day 2: Randy was listening to music with earphones so he didn't know Theresa was sitting next to him. Imagine how embarrassed he would get when he knows.

Day 8: Tech-Ninja AU. It's about machinist Randy being set up by Mcfist for murdering the town hero Ninja with his invention, the Tech-Ninja armor. Then the spirit of the destroyed Nomicon travelled to his armor and become an AI, choosing him to be the next Ninja. So Randy accepted it and was determined to make up for what he caused, when nobody except Howard, the boss of Weinerman industries, trusted him.

Day 10: Apocalypse AU. It's about Randy lost the battle at the end of season 2 and became the prisoner of the Sorcerer. The Nomicon was handed to Howard before that, and they later recruited survivors to form a resistance against the Sorcerer. Then Randy was stanked, but instead of turning into a monster, he was brainwashed and given the power of creating his own red and black stank. And- You know what will happen. (Inspired by the Darkness of Randy Cunningham)

Day 13: Elemental trial AU. You can say it's my take on what will happen in season 3. The Carp god was under the cover of a random carpfish as Norisville mascot. After a series of events it was awaken and gave Randy the power of Ice Rage.

Day 14: I think there's more than just the blood of First Ninja's brothers, since nobody knows how to destank people at the beginning...

Day 17: The Warrior might have been living or sleeping there, waiting for some ninjas to wake him up or consult him about his forbidden arts. (Ha, It's kinda like Eclipsa in Star vs. the forces of Evil)

Day 18: Or it can be called the New Generation AU. In the future, Randy took the place of Messager as well as the Ninja Guardian, while Brent became the new Sword Smith and Sorceress became their main villain. I am not really good at designing OCs so there's no next ninja yet.

However, I read a fanfic of another fandom in the form of CYOA, and it gave me new idea: just let the reader be the next ninja, it will be fun, too. (Also, this AU was inspired by an RC9GN fanfic titled from the past to the future, where future Randy became Ninja Guardian. But I couldn't find it on fanfiction.net any more. Has anyone read it? I didn't dream about it, right?)

Day 19: During that time I got even crazier after I read Enter the Nomicon. It's hard to believe I had a crazy period of shipping Randicon, even for myself. Especially weird for me since I now have a completely different view about Nomicon (peek at my Yokai Ninja AU comics). Time really can change a person, wow.

Day 21: Yes, a whole page just for this headcanon. I used the screenshots in the show because it's too hard to draw. The barrier thing is kinda like the one that held Bill's power in the range of Gravity Falls.

Day 23: Danny: the Walking Air-Conditioner. Inspired by a chapter of Secret Quartet. Danny phased his hand through the scarf. Just imagine your friend put a cold hand inside your scarf in winter. *shiver*

Day 25: Besides Ninja vine ball, there are also spike ball, gas ball, sonic ball, rainbow illusion ball, tear ball and so on. I just pick the most common one from my ninja balls headcanons to put in here.

Day 27: You may see I prefer using numbers to refer episodes, because that's how I track and rewatch them. To be more specific, I list some keywords here: NomiRandy, First Ninja, Debbie, Tengu. As fellow RC9GN Fans I'm sure you get it.

Day 30: It's a half-baked AU thing. The flowers I tried to draw are rosemary?

Wow! I actually finished all the prompts! Thank you for holding the big event! @evilspiritweek

(I don't mind sharing more details about my AUs or headcanons. *wink*)

#randy cunningham 9th grade ninja #rc9gn #ninjavember 2023 #ninjavember #randy cunningham #secret trio #rc9gn first ninja #howard weinerman #theresa fowler #rc9gn sorceress #rc9gn tengu #rc9gn theresa #fan art #rc9gn nomicon #nomirandy #rc9gn au #rc9gn fanart

37 notes · View notes

sophsun1 · 2 months

Note

Hey there...Just wanted to share with you that I was streaming Desperate Housewives, just an old crazy soapy show from after QAF, and s5 straight love interest for one of the main cast---BAM. Gale Harold. I was so shocked. His energy is so different from Brian and it's just weird. They didn't give the character enough depth for Gale to work with, so far anyway, he's like Generic Hot Guy. But also, like. Brian would hate this guy lol.

I can't recommend DH as a show I think you'd be into, but...Gale Howard! So great to see him in anything!

Hey anon!

I did actually know about Gale's guest starring role in Desperate Housewives as Susan's boyfriend I think?

I had seen a few episodes back in the day, it was extremely soapy lol but it wasn't really my thing so I never followed it. I can't imagine just casually watching it and then... boom... there's Gale 😆

Yeah, it would feel weird watching him as someone else when you're experience is of him being Brian and he's known for that role. Given the type of show it was where it was beautiful women getting off with beautiful men, I'm not surprised that he was maybe playing just a pretty face (what a beautiful face it is).

I have such a low cringe threshold that I was never drawn to watching it as I imagined it would be that sort of thing. I have seen criminal minds and particles of truth the indie film he did which i enjoyed alongside other clips of shows. I know that's mostly his jam.

Also how can I forget that awful, campy, gay murder mystery he starred in where he was basically playing Brian, my god, I was dying watching it and for once was so grateful that he was barely in it. I surmised his rent was due and he needed the coin, which like I get it, I respect that.

It's a shame his tv/film work isn't that mainstream or popular as I'd love to watch him in more things.

#soph asks #queer as folk #gale harold #thanks for letting me know either way anon #the grand mystery of what gale does for work these days truly haunts me #maybe he has a sugar mama out there #😂😂😂

11 notes · View notes

themculibrary · 1 month

Text

Daniel Sousa/Daisy Johnson Masterlist

all we do is drive. (ao3) - romantashas M, 30k

Summary: Daisy has missed the open road. She used to always love taking her van out and just driving. Los Angeles was where she liked to stick around, but she would always go on these road trips just because she wanted to explore somewhere new.

She's always liked running away from things.

It was different, having someone with her.

In which Daisy Johnson helps Daniel Sousa explore the modern world by taking him on a cross-country road trip in a van. Post-Finale road trip AU with MCU tie-ins.

A Miracle Starts With a Beat of a Heart (ao3) - samanthaswishes T, 202k

Summary: The team's trip to space and the almost end of the world changed their lives in more ways than they could count. However, no one expected the change that was going to happen in Daisy's life. What if Kasius had planned on using Daisy to breed more inhumans? The team comes together to help her while Daisy finds a new kind of love. One she never could have imagined happening, but turned out to be a miracle.

Takes place from post-season 5/pre-season 6 to post-series finale.

A Week After Death (ao3) - manoutoftimeandquake T, 15k

Summary: An explosion in an alien junkyard sends Daisy, Sousa and Kora back in time to meet some people from Sousa's past.

Edge of Tonight (ao3) - Letmebecomeataboo G, 38k

Summary: 1946, New York City

Daniel Sousa is an agent, working for the SSR in New York. When the search for wanted fugitive Howard Stark comes to a stand still, a new agent named Daisy Johnson is sent from the Los Angeles office to help. Now, on top of trying to figure out where Stark is, Daniel suddenly has to fight with his feelings for the mysterious and beautiful new agent.

Field Test (ao3) - Luckyfishy E, 7k

Summary: After 7X09 in the Lighthouse but before all hell breaks loose so before the events of 7x10. Daisy and Sousa get in a workout but also work each other up ... leading to the inevitable smutty goodness.

One Year Later (ao3) - marvelsquake T, 64k

Summary: Set right after the series finale's 'one year later' part where Daisy stares into space with Sousa and Kora.

Inspired by the 'anatomy analysis' bit Jemma says to Daisy.

Orchestrating History (ao3) - TheSovereigntyofReality G, 11k

Summary: In 1955, Daniel Sousa allegedly died at HYDRA's hands and became the first fallen S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.

In truth, Coulson's team saved him and faked his death.

Due to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s policy with enhanced, they may come to regret that decision.

Reclaim (ao3) - StillTryingToWrite T, 232k

Summary: It is an instinctual reaction, at this point, wanting them to like her, to want her. It is the same feeling she used to get when she was younger, before she knew better. So if she shows the parts of herself she thinks they will like and keeps the rest buried, it is just easier for everyone that way. But she tries not to think about any of this yet. For now, she just gazes out the window, and enjoys the view, looking out at her future adventures.

-Daisy’s story following the course of the entire series. A collection of missing scenes during and between episodes, flashbacks to pre-series, and Daisy’s perspective on canon events.

religion's in your lips, the altar is my hips (ao3) - mssimmonsfitz E, 17k

Summary: Daisy and Daniel decide to...experiment.

stars that have people names (ao3) - rianparker (orphan_account) G, 1k

Summary: Stargazing isn't normally Daisy's idea of a fun date night, but there's no doubt in Daniel's mind she'll love it tonight.

Stay (ao3) - SteeleHoltingOn E, 150k

Summary: Not everyone knew she could feel heartbeats. Sousa’s sped up every time he looked her way.

His reaction wasn’t particularly unusual, and Daisy was an expert at fending off unwanted advances. But that was just it: Sousa hadn’t actually made any advances, and if he did, Daisy wasn’t sure she’d ward them off.

Her heartbeat, it seemed, liked to match tempo with his.

want you (to unravel me) (ao3) - IzzieBee M, 21k

Summary: Daisy never wanted to be rescued, by anyone. She never wanted to owe someone that debt, but especially not to a handsome WWII Vet, traveling through time. Daniel, who was brave and decent, and kind of funny, and who she could easily depend on, which was way too dangerous to consider.

Daisy really wasn't ready for Daniel Sousa.

Where I Need To Be (ao3) - JennaGreen T, 180k

Summary: This is set from Episode 7x03 onwards and follows the story of Daisy Johnson and Daniel Sousa, and how their relationship has been developing throughout this amazing season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.! This story mostly follows canon but is interspersed with missing moments between Daisy and Sousa that I imagine could have happened off-screen.

Your Heartbeat On The Highline(Once In Twenty Lifetimes) (ao3) - doctorsimmonswilson T, 40k

Summary: He’s a man out of time and she’s an orphaned superhero. They’ve just got to figure out what to do next, after the mission is over.

[aka Daisy and Daniel’s story post finale]

you've got that power (over me). (ao3) - romantashas M, 71k

Summary: "It's you," Daniel whispers. He's in awe, looking at Quake. She steps back away from him. "Let me help you," he says, reaching out toward her injured arm slowly.

Daniel only gets a moment more to admire her glowing eyes and her purple hair before she turns and runs away, her hand slipping out of his.

In which the superheroes of the Marvelverse actually try to keep their identities a secret and Daniel Sousa is determined to figure out who is behind the mysterious Quake mask. Superhero AU with MCU tie-ins.

#themuclibrary #mcu #marvel #masterlists #daniel sousa #daisy johnson #dousy #dousy masterlist #f/m

18 notes · View notes

butterdoggo13 · 2 days

Text

--Notes: This is a M!ReaderXCooper Howard drabble. You are a Soldier in this scenario. This is my starter for more kinkier junk on the way. Its my first time doing this so....yeh.

--Tags before reading:Bottom!Cooper, Prewar, Human Cooper, Top!M!Reader

--Unfortunately I won't be doing Bottom M!Reader. Sorry.

But for those who like this. Enjoy!

Summary: Cooper is down after the divorce. He spots you heading into the bar. He's interested.

----------------------------------------------

Divorce was the last option Cooper had imagined.

He nibbled at his lower lip. Nursing on the remnants of his whiskey.

He noticed the few stragglers lingering at the bar.

Some older men who spoke loudly and some others who spoke silently about the tensions with the war.

He pressed his dried lips the cold glass and his sullen eyes drifted towards a man who silently walked in through the door.

He gave the fresh-out-of-war look. Handsome, tired....lonely.

Cooper was just as lonely.

The washed up superstar stood slowly and slid next to the Soldier.

"Drink?"

The Soldier grazed his eyes over the Star as he sat up straight in his chair and waved the bar tender over.

Cooper gave a grin. Resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

"Have one with me? I can see we're both down on our luck. Lonely as hell and tired of the shit going down."

Cooper drank the shot in one gulp and looked the Soldier in the eyes again.

The Moviestar leaned into the others ear and gave a low hum.

"Care to join me elsewhere, Sugar? I would mind the company."

Cooper ran his hand up The Soldiers chest. Slightly playing with the medals that decorated the other mans lapels.

The soldier looked him down silently and took Cooper's hand in his. He paid the tab and both the men slunk into the night

The Movie star gripped the soldiers arm closely. The heat making Cooper press his cold cheek to the others shoulder.

Divorce was the last option Cooper wanted but maybe it was for the best.......

----------------------------------------------

Notes: More to come.

Kinky suggestions for Bottom Cooper are appreciated.

Anything on the table.

I'm especially into the Omegaverse. Breeding and anything slick and messy. Wink wonk

For those who were cheering me on. Bless yall.

#cooper howard #M!Reader X Cooper howard #preward cooper howard #fallout the series #fallout the ghoul #fallout

17 notes · View notes

electronickingdomfox · 2 months

Text

TOS comics ranking

At this point, I've read all the TOS comics out there (or almost), so this is my personal veredict, from best series to worst:

DC comics

The best by a long shot imo. Also the longest running series. Set mostly after The Search for Spock (vol. 1) and The Final Frontier (vol. 2). The following are my favorites.

From Volume 1:

-The Mirror Universe saga (issues 9-16) by Mike W. Barr: It becomes a bit of "star wars, phaser pew pew" in the second half, but still pretty entertaining.

-The first Annual, also by Barr.

-Double Blind and The Last Word (issues 24-25 and 28) by Diane Duane: The first one is hilarious, while the second is pretty moving and spones-coded.

-The Paradise Lost saga (issues 43-45) by Michael Carlin: A payback for The Apple episode.

-The Dante's Inferno/Death of James Kirk saga (issues 48-55) by Peter David.

From Volume 2:

-The Trial of James T. Kirk saga (issues 1-12) by Peter David: The humor is overdone at times, but this author brings a unique freshness and originality to the series. The trial itself is absolutely hilarious, specially when the gangsters from A Piece of the Action show up as surprise witnesses.

-Once a Hero (issue 19) by Peter David: Kirk has to conduct a memorial for the redshirt that just died protecting him, and he finds out he doesn't know anything about the man. Brutal, honest, and has one of Jim's best speeches ever.

-The Class Reunion saga (issues 25-28), The Tabukan Syndrome (issues 35-40), A Little Adventure (issues 42-43) and the Time Crime saga (issues 53-57), all by Howard Weinstein.

-The Alone (issues 62-63) by Kevin Ryan.

2. Wildstorm

Only two TOS comics from this publisher (actually a branch of DC if I'm not mistaken): All of Me and Enter the Wolves. Both are pretty good.

3. IDW

I haven't read all of them, since some series focus on characters I don't care much about, like Gary Seven or Number One. From those I've read, the ones I liked the most were New Visions (made with photo montages from the series), Hell's Mirror and Mirror Images (both set, of course, in the mirror universe), Echoes (set in the TMP era) and The Primate Directive (a crossover with Planet of the Apes).

4. The Tokyopop mangas

There are three volumes. Some stories are fine, others are meh! Perhaps the second volume was the best.

5. The UK comics

Do they have a lot to do with TOS? No. The authors were not really familiar with the series. But they're bizarre, fun and have pretty art.

6. The newspaper comics

Some of the first story arcs were quite good, though it lost quality over time, specially in the art department. Set in the TMP era.

7. Marvel second series

Consisting of the Unlimited and Untold Voyages series, as well as a mirror universe one-shot and a crossover with X-Men. Rather generic. Haven't read the Early Voyages series, focused on Pike.

8. Marvel first series

These are quite bad. Set in TMP era.

9. Gold Key comics

Some stories are imaginative, but they could be about any characters instead of Star Trek and it'd be the same. This is a problem with the UK comics as well, but somehow I enjoyed the others much more.

#star trek tos #star trek comics #reference

15 notes · View notes

infernalodie · 2 years

Note

have you ever listened to that one lana del rey song with The Weeknd? it’s call star girl interlude. (this isn’t part of the imagine, just thought about sharing this song with someone 🤷)

anyways- i was wondering if you’d be up for an imagine with cassie howard x male!perez!reader where the reader and cassie have been dating after she ended things with mckay. the reader has been in love with cassie ever since first meeting her when he went to pick up maddy at cheer practice and offered her a ride home. since he’s maddy’s older brother, he’s close to the friend group and therefore is protective of the girls (especially rue, since he, lexi, and her have been friends since pre-school). he was also the one to help calm maddy when she didn’t want to cooperate with the detectives when they found out about her bruises, and the reader had been livid finding out that nate jacobs had laid his hands on his sister, which sent him a flurry of emotions and almost killing nate until maddy had to physically hold him back. its their graduation ceremony for their last year and they’re celebrating it together with a party at the Howard household. the reader is trying to convince cassie and the girls to tag along in his and maddy’s yearly trip to Vegas? (or wherever you prefer for a summer trip)

also- hope you’re doing alright, mate. moving around is hard. it’ll get better :)

I just listened to that and oh my god...horny vibes asf lol!

𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 || 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝

"𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘔𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦"

Inspo: Daniel Caesar - Get You Justin Bieber - 2 Much

Pairing: Cassie Howard x Male!Perez!reader

Summary: You had always had a large influence in Cassie’s life and many others. Yet, you never expected a single thing in return besides her love.

Warnings: Smut, fluff, and a bit of angst

Words 2673

DNI IF YOU’RE YOUNGER THAN 18!

The midnight air was filled with pure excitement from fellow kids seeking to further their night of bliss. After all, it was the graduation party and everyone was searching to enjoy this little break of time and space from all the drama that seemed to infest East Highland. This was everyone’s chance to truly let go and be free from everything, and that didn’t happen much in not just East Highland, but Highland as a whole.

You. You were all Cassie had on her mind the moment she stepped into the Perez household. Her sense was amplified by 10 with the most manageable thoughts of you that weren’t related to sex. And when she saw you sitting in the corner of the house, arms wrapped protectively around Rue and Lexi’s shoulders, who were laughing at the hushed whispers you spouted as you pointed at a few partygoers, likely making fun of the poor souls, she felt her excitement sprout from the dirt that had accumulated over the brief days of not seeing you.

That’s the type of effect you had on her. For small breaks in time and days, she feels lost without you, no way-finder to guide her to the lifeline you provided her every single day.

“Maddy, I don’t have time for this!” You whined. “I have to grab us food for tonight. I don’t want to have mom nagging me about being late for this shit.”

You were seated on the hood of your car, rubbing your eyes from the exhaustion and lack of sleep of studying. One of the biggest downfalls in your opinion when it came to school. Doing all the tedious tasks that were asked? Fine. But staying up past 3 AM to get ready for a test? Oh, you would rather have Maddy patronize you with all her make-up and outfits.

Your sister, who was standing beside you, rolled her eyes. “Relax, alright?” She said. “The food isn’t running. And we might need to grab more. My friend is staying over for the night.”

Her smart comment made you roll your eyes. She always had a tendency of being a smartass when it wasn’t exactly needed in a conversation. When you were about to question her on her last statement, Maddy lifted her head and her lips formed into a grin. “Cassie!”

Turning your head, your lips parted at the beautiful blonde making her way over. Cassie? You swear you have heard that name around school and from the multiple phone calls you have heard your sister have in the late hours of the night. At the time, there was no putting a name to a face as the school had been kicking your ass.

But now, Cassie, this beautiful blonde with the most beautiful smile had finally been given to you. Leaving you breathless as Maddy and she ran to one another and hugged.

There was no way for you to stop staring a bit longer than appropriate. Could anyone blame you when such a beautiful girl suddenly appeared? She something close to an angel coming down to earth to bless you and your fellow despicable race with the gifts she would give to the world. Her voice, her beautiful blue eyes, long luscious blonde hair that glowed under the sunset, and that smile that you had a suspicion was more than anything remotely close to innocent.

They made their way over with Cassie’s baby blues connected with yours. Lips twitched into a smile as you stood up from the hood of your car. Offering a smile as your sister and the blonde devil stopped short of a few feet from you.

“Y/n, this is Cassie.” Maddy’s greeting was replaced with you holding out your hand for the blonde.

“Pleasure to meet you, Cassie,” you said. “I’m Maddy’s brother. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Cassie took your hand, shaking it with that beaming smile of hers. “I know who you are,” she announced. “Lexi’s my sister. She talks a lot about you.”

“Your sister is Lexi?” You asked, lips forming a smile of disbelief. “You two don’t look at all similar. Still beautiful though.”

That had been the first time you ever saw Cassie. But it sure as hell wouldn’t be too long later that day when you would see her again.

Birds could be heard tweeting just beyond the walls of the Perez household. The faintest sound of a movie being played on the TV and casting light towards the shadows that invaded each corner of the living room to the kitchen.

Maddy sleeping soundlessly on the couch, unknown to the soft slapping of skin clapping together just beyond the couch and in the dark kitchen. Cassie was bent over the island, tears springing from her eyes, fingers interlocked with yours as your body shadowed over her. Her head craned to the side just enough to allow her lips to connect with yours. The kiss was heated, full of need.

In no way, had she expected to be bent over a counter with her best friend's hot brother fucking her senselessly. But she couldn’t find the tiniest bit to care about the complications of such. The way your tender hands rubbed her back as your hips slammed against her ass, creating ripples on her skin, she was lost in the bliss. Feeling each punch of your cock against her cervix causes her head to go lightheaded.

And the way your tongue tasted of her arousal, she was addicted. Needing even more than what she was already exposed to. The way you had gazed down at her with such lust had her folding to her knees, metaphorically and literally. She couldn’t get enough of everything you had to offer her.

You parted just a breath away, hips rolling into her ass and causing the girl’s eyes to flutter with a whimper falling from her lips. You watched with a smirk, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

“I knew you weren’t innocent, angel.”

Since then, Cassie knew there had been something between you two. Maybe not at first, but as time went on, she showed up more, something had developed. A friendship most likely as she now called and texted you quite a bit during her free time with school. It’d been your last year and she was more than keen to spend every moment she could with you.

But as fate liked to play its little game, you had been pulled into the chaos that revolved around Maddy’s relationship with Nate. From the start, you had hated the kid the moment you met him, and you were sure the feelings had been mutual. And as much as you hated it, you didn’t step into it considering this was your sister’s relationship. It hadn’t been your place to speak on such a thing when it came to someone as snappy and rude as Maddy.

It was only after you and Cassie got together, that you found out how much bullshit Nate had done to your sister. Now, you had suspected something going on when Maddy showed up at home with bruises around her neck. You questioned her on it, and at the time, she denied it being anything. But when your parents called you to the police station to calm her down, she confessed it had been Nate.

Of course, you were insistent on saying something to the police and getting justice, but she begged you not to. So, her being your little sister, the girl you could never deny, you left it alone. Decided to instead, just be there for her with Cassie coming around to help take both of your minds off the piece of shit that didn’t live that far from your home. Maddy may not be weak or helpless, but you always protected your sister. You never let someone get away with treating her like shit or laying an unwarranted finger on her.

And in many cases, when you went to parties with Maddy and Cassie, both girls had to restrain you from doing anything. Practically dragging you to the other side of the party where the rest of the girls would come and keep you company. They all knew of your protectiveness over Maddy as it travelled to them as well. Having, in many situations, beat guys to a bloody mess when they hurt or said some douchebag comments towards any of them.

But Nate wasn’t just any other type of douchebag. He was a monster. A despicable excuse of what could be considered a human being. He shared the same oxygen as you and you wanted to change that.

The front door to McKay’s house opened, revealing Cassie with a ton of kids partying in the background. But the blonde was greeted by you and some of your other friends, who she had met before. They were all trouble, including you. Each of them had been some of your friends since grade school and they all had grown up in the slums of Highland. All of them had something in common with one another. So, the sight of them wearing tracksuits with their hands behind their backs, she could only guess that your presence came with chaos.

“Y/n, what’s up?” She asked as you cupped her cheek.

“Head home, Cass,” Was all you told her before moving past her and stepping further into the house. “All you little ass kids need to get the fuck home now!”

You pulled out a pistol with Joey and Clay pulling out their own. But the sight of the weapons had kids scrambling and quickly searching for the nearest escape. “Get your asses moving!” Clay barked at some kids that sprinted past him.

Rounding a corner, you came face to face with Rue, Jules, Lexi, and Kat. “I’m going to need you all to hand over any drugs or alcohol in your possession,” you quipped.

“What the hell are you doing here, Y/n?” Lexi asked and gasped at you waving your pistol.

“Gonna have a nice chat with our little friend, Nate,” you told her before turning to Joey. “Joey, get them out of here and into my car.”

The four yelled, protesting for you to reconsider, but you didn’t listen. Moving up the stairs where you could hear the faintest sound of moans and grunts. You knew Nate was here as it had been the reason Maddy decided not to show up tonight. So, you considered this moment to get some payback.

Turning down the hall, stepping closer towards the sounds of pleasure, you smirked. “The po-po’s is here!” You imitated in an extremely high tone, earning a quiet snicker from Clay. “Y’all better run, man! These white cops are crazy! They just shot Carl and they ain’t stoppin’, man!”

Once you arrived at the door, you kicked it open to reveal a frantic Nate Jacobs and a random blonde you didn’t care to know or get to know. When Nate saw you with a gun, he started rushing towards the window, which you were quick to start.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going, white boy?” You grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed his face into the window. Cracking it as you grabbed him and tossed him to the ground.

“Time for you to get dressed and get the fuck out, sweetheart.” Clay tossed the girl her clothes, which she took gladly and took off out of the room.

You grabbed Nate and tossed him into a nearby chair. “You know why I’m here?” You asked. “And I suggest you answer correctly or else I am going to shoot your tiny dick off, Nate.”

Nate winced, touching his forehead that had a fresh new cu. Blood dripped into his eyes, only furthering his deliriousness with him murmuring incoherent words. Having had enough, you smacked his cheek. “I’m not gonna ask again, Nate.”

“You’re here because I threatened her,” Nate groaned. “I put a gun to her head.”

“Correct,” you acknowledged. “Now, I’m giving you this one warning once. Stay the fuck away from my sister, my friend, and anyone else affiliated with me or else I will kill your parents and post all the videos of your daddy fucking guys, alright? I have no problem going to the police and telling them you’ve been blackmailing Jules and has child porn, ‘kay?”

He groaned but nodded nonetheless. Making you sigh and turn to Clay, which he understood and turned his back to you. Giving you direct access to the backpack that you unzipped. “Now, Nate,” you grumbled. “Knife, wrench, or blowtorch?”

The boy frowned, looking up at you in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Pulling out the items you had previously listed off, you grinned at the boy. “Choose the punishment or Clay and I will beat the living fuck out of you.”

No one has ever dared to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing when it came to you, your friends, and Maddy. Especially when they found out Nate had severe burns across his chest and legs, hospitalizing him. But everyone knew Nate deserved it, even if you might’ve gone overboard with your message.

But as twisted as it may seem, Cassie loved you for it. Willing to put your life on the line for the ones you love. And all you ever asked for in return was their love and compassion to be in your life.

Maddy, who rose from her chair, snapped her fingers and slowly got everyone’s attention. You lifted your head to find Cassie having started to make her way over, but stopped short when Maddy sought everyone.

“Now, we’ve all graduated and we don’t have to deal with the bullshit of school,” Maddy started. “Y/n and I didn’t just invite all of you over for no reason.” Maddy motioned to you with an eager smile. “Would you like to tell them?”

With a sigh, you moved away from Rue and Lexi, quickly pulling Cassie into your arms with your front pressed against her back. The action caused Cassie to grin widely, tilting her head to look up at you, meeting your beautiful smile.

“Well, Maddy and I are going to Vegas and we were wondering if all of you would come along?”

The question had a few of them murmuring, some joyous with the idea and others hesitant. “I would be paying for all the tickets with Maddy paying for the food and transportation,” you reassured. “All you would have to do is just come and have fun.”

Hearing that was enough for everyone to quickly agree in extremes. Leaving you to look down at Cassie as she turned in your hold. “Do you think this is a good idea?” She asked. “You’re gonna be broke at the end of this.”

You shrugged dismissively. “As long as I get to be with you, I’ll be happy.”

Cassie smiled, leaning up to give you a short and delicate kiss. “As long as you fuck me in front of the view of the city, I’ll be glad.”

A mischievous grin formed on your lips as you felt the twitch in your pants. “Be careful of what you ask for, baby.”

“Y/n!” Cassie’s face was pressed to the window, displaying the whole view of Vegas below. It was so fucking nice.

But she couldn’t think much about it, turning her head to watch you grip her hips and fuck the life out of her. Gasp’s tumbling between her bruised lips with your head resting against her shoulder. The warmth of your body with her cold one was the perfect mixture to haze over your thoughts. Her walls clamping around you repeatedly, how deep you were inside her, it was all too good to ignore.

An arm wrapped around Cassie’s stomach and pulled her to have her back pressed against your sweaty front. Hot pants fell from both your lips as chuckled. “How did I get you?”

#cassie howard #euphoria #maddy perez #euphoria hbo #euphoria imagine #cassie howard x male!reader #cassie howard x reader #cassie howard fanfiction #sydney sweeney #cassie howard x male!perez!reader #euphoria x male!reader #cassie howard x male perez reader #cassie howard fluff #maddy perez fluff #cassie howard smut

713 notes · View notes

this-daydream-is-dangerous-13 · 8 months

Text

Daylight MV by Harry Styles - why was it not the unreleased Two Ghosts MV 2.0? A timeline.

This video, released on July 19, 2023, is jam packed with Blondie and Haylor references. I think it was almost the sister project to the never released Two Ghosts MV…until it wasn’t. And I have an idea as to why.

Don’t believe me that it’s Haylor AF? Go read this amazing summary by @womanexile at whose request I am writing this timeline.

As we know, Harry was filming the video on and around May 10 and 11, 2022, based in articles and pap/drone photos from the time, like this Daily Mail article:

Let’s review the timeline:

April 22, 2022 - Harry performs at Coachella weekend 2 in Indio, CA.

April 26, 2022 - OW is onstage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas when she is served custody papers. H is not there.

But where is H? According to the article - circus training!

Late April/early May - Harry starts training in Kent, England with family-owned Sanctus Circus.

From the article:

“A source told [the publication]: Harry has spent weeks being taught circus skills for this video — he wanted it to be a real spectacle.

'It is probably his most expensive video yet because as well as all the rehearsals, it was a huge set with loads of extras and really extravagant costumes'.

The source revealed to the publication that the singer pushed himself to the limit in order to perform the stunts. Adding: 'It's been a real undertaking and the finished product will prove why he's one of the biggest pop stars in the world.' “

So late April - May 11 - circus stuff. Which is part time and on-and-off, I imagine. Then filming. And this was an UNDERTAKING that would have required a lot of planning.

He even arranged to have live animals, as outlined here in an article with the horse and parrot handlers:

Some take aways:

- he was supposed to the riding *the WHITE horse*. And when that didn’t work, he ensured the white horse remained in the shot.

- they only had a short time to teach him with the animals, but he listened and did exactly what they said.

- the legendary Styles charm extends to grumpy parrots named Poppleguy. “He's a little bit picky and he went straight on Harry Styles' shoulder, the sign of a good vibe," [his owner] said.”

Who can resist this man?!

But he HAS to know that he’ll get questions about the song title, since it shares a name with a song by Blondie. And he gets photographed making this video - articles about it start appearing May 12, 2022.

So what does he do next? Creates a smoke screen! Good thing two of his best friends—Ben Winston and James Corden—run a late night show known for outrageous bits with musicians. And he has a long history of doing crazy things with them, so no one will bat an eye.

He heads off to NYC for Harry’s House promo and ONO, but first — he has a DUPLICATE video to shoot.

And it’s hilarious, watching him shock and delight a quartet of Brooklyn residents and their friends:

youtube

And look at the clapperboard to date it:

Bottom right - MAY 17/22.

The next morning, May 18, he is on air with Howard Stern who immediately brings up Blondie (look at H’s usual TS grin!!). And watch him evade:

“You’re reading too much into it…I know you’d like me to tell you ‘you’re spot on’ but…yeah, you’re not.”

But you know who thinks Howard actually is Spot On? Harry’s Mom!!

The Late Late Daylight video airs on May 26/27, 2022 (depending on your time zone). And here is Anne’s IG story when she watches it:

And then - Harry keeps the circus video in his pocket. For FIFTEEN MONTHS. And makes and releases other videos.

There’s background speculation that the still images captured (Birdrry) might be for a Daydreaming or Grapejuice or other video, despite the bird. After all - we already have a Daylight MV!

And then, on July 18th, 2023 at his penultimate HSLOT concert in Lisbon, Harry has the bird image shown on the screen as he finishes singing Daylight.

After the concert, we learn that the video will drop in July 19th at 5pm UK, 12 pm Eastern.

And while the As It Was video promo stated: “It’s just us”, this one proclaims “It’s just a video, just for you.”

Which naturally leads us to this parallel:

And it is followed by the 10-minute 2nd encore piano ballad at the final HSLOT concert on July 22, introduced in Italian by saying “I wrote this for you, just for tonight.”

**My theory - its release is another in a long line of grand gestures designed to remind and assure Blondie of his ongoing, perpetual love and devotion.**

30 notes · View notes

thegeminisage · 4 days

Text

i guess it star trek update time. last night we watched ds9's "armageddon game" and tng's "sub rosa."

armageddon game (ds9):

this one was so fun and evil. i LOVE when obrien and julian are besties and yes they fought once but they were besties in most of this

NIGHTMARE scenario for keiko. im glad they actually put her in this instead of it happening offscreen but im sad there was no reunion :(

keiko realizing the recording had been tampered with bc of the coffee thing and then finding out that wasnt true is actually lowkey terrifying. they came THIS CLOSE. what a twist ending

quark's toast was like...strangely sweet. good for him.

i cant believe DAX was gonna keep julians journals instead of sending them back to his parents?? i also cant believe julian kept a diary for years and then decided to hand all of his diaries to his crush lol like he is insane

julian foot fetish also. don't think i forgot. i didn't. what a loser <3

these aliens being so committed to peace they'll kill people is actually kind of funny. you missed the point by lightyears

i liked how serious sisko was in this episode. he was wearing his very very very serious face. he was not fucking around. i also liked that he believed keiko INSTANTLY. on tng picard would have offered 1000000 other reasons why keiko was out of her mind bc in fairness she does sound fucking nuts but sisko believed her right away and immediately started an investigation because he trusts his people and also by extension their spouses. ugh i love him SO MUCH sisko for PRESIDENT

sub rosa (tng):

wow. wow wow wow wow wow

where do i even. BEGIN. with sub rosa

so, i knew there was a sex ghost in this episode and i was sort of aware that the sex ghost fucked or wanted to fuck beverly. but i had NO IDEA what i was truly in for

firstly, let's get this out of the way, this is a FAMILY SEX GHOST. "all the howard women have green eyes" "nana was over 100 and had a lover!" can you IMAGINE having like a family vibrator. the same vibrator your grandma used. getting off to her erotic diary entries. getting off, i repeat, to your grandma's stories about your grandma HAVING SEX with the SAME SEX GHOST who is chatting you up. beverly is INSANE

deanna took all this with so much good sportsmanship. first of all, i'm so thrilled that they're the kind of girlfriends who can share their wet dreams with one another in GRAPHIC detail. secondly, her fucking face journeys when beverly was talking about this shit in ten forward I REPEAT IN PUBLIC SHE WAS LIKE YEAH I WAS GETTING OFF TO MY GRANDMA'S DIARY

picard SOOOO put off that beverly would leave his ass to fuck a 30yo with long hair. JUSTICE! who's skipping breakfast now bitch. run around on her one more time i fucjing dare you. you WILL respect the woman you impregnated with the affair baby

speaking of affair babies, when beverly was like yeah all my family members have green eyes except mom and me i was like......is SHE the affair baby? sadly, no. but i know she had one

beverly looked the most beautiful she's ever been by the way. real bodice ripper shit. picard you blew it so bad

speaking of bodice ripper, there is a version of this where it's very serious and an allegory for abuse and the sex was dubiously consensual etc etc etc. this has happened to deanna so many times and it was so icky because it was obviously a male fantasy which objectified her. fortunately i don't think anyone can be expected to take a story seriously when it involves your grandma's sex ghost so i was perfectly happy to have a good time

WHEN THEY EXHUJED THE BODY. BY SIMPLY BEAMING IT OUT OF THE GROUND.

nana who looked not even a little bit dead sitting up in her coffin bc she was possessed and zapping the daylights out of geordi and data. PLEASE.

also, sorry, i nearly forgot, but picard walking in on her while she was quite literally fucking the sex ghost. ohhhh i KNOW he was sick

OH YEAH AND. the gravestones saying vader and mcfly. set designers i love you forever

anyway, hands down the funniest and perhaps my favorite tng episode of all time. that was the first real laugh i've had in almost a week

TONIGHT: ds9's "whispers" and tng's "lower decks."

#personal #star trek blogging #ds9 lb #tng lb

7 notes · View notes

blackswaneuroparedux · 1 year

Photo

Hell, I suppose if you stick around long enough they have to say something nice about you.

- Ava Gardner, Ava: My Story

Ava Gardner was a hard-drinking, wisecracking, libidinous vamp, a liberated woman before it was even invented.

It's an extraordinary life of an extraordinary woman. She swore like a drunken sailor, slept with anything that moved, drove Frank Sinatra to such heights of passion and torment that he attempted suicide, and entirely failed to care what anybody thought of her.

Ava Gardner was an actress who starred in some good films and some not very good films; but more than that she was the great iconic beauty of her day. She wafted around the screen and was featured on the front covers of magazines looking untouchable in pearls and mink. And yet she behaved like a man or, at least, like a certain kind of man - one with pots of cash, a taste for hard liquor and a higher-than-average libido.

She was, in essence, a liberated woman, a good two decades before women's liberation was invented. Her success and status made it possible for her to make the kind of choices - and mistakes - that other women couldn't. And, even now, there's really nobody who can match her combination of carnality, glamour and a potty-mouth.

Sixty years on, people claim that Sex and the City's Samantha Jones is the figment of a gay, male scriptwriter's imagination, but compare it to this story from Murray Garrett, a press photographer, recounting a backstage photo-call: 'This one idiot guy ... says to her, "Hey Ava, Sinatra's career is over, he can't sing any more ... what do you see in this guy? He's just a 119-pound has-been." And Ava says, very demurely, no venom, just very cool, in the most perfect ladylike diction, "Well I'll tell you - 19 pounds is cock."'

She married three times - to Mickey Rooney (a serial cheater), the musician Artie Shaw (who belittled her) and finally and most tumultuously to Frank Sinatra. She lured him away from his wife, sinking his career in the process, married him, divorced him, but never got over him. Nor he her. It was a life-long relationship between two people who loved each other but couldn't be together. Their rows, she said, 'started on the way to the bidet'.

Instead, Gardner had affairs. They litter her life. She slept with David Niven, Robert Mitchum, John F Kennedy. She had flings with Spanish bullfighters and Mexican beach boys and rejected Howard Hughes, the multi-millionaire aviator and womaniser.

What made Gardner who she was? It's the great, unanswered question of her life and career. There is nothing in the early years to suggest her character to come. Not the tomboyish childhood spent with her family among the ordinary rural poor of north Carolina; nor the moment when an MGM studio exec spotted her portrait in the window of a photographer's shop; nor even when she married Mickey Rooney, the studio's biggest star.

It is as if her character wasn't so much revealed over time, as forged in the furnaces of Hollywood's industrial complex.There are countless testimonies from other Hollywood stars to Gardner's beauty, but almost no sense of her as a person. She gradually turns from object to subject, her beauty her defining characteristic and the key to her power and freedom but also, as her favourite director, John Huston, says, a curse from the gods. 'Ava,' he said, 'has well and truly paid for her beauty.'

Her high spirits descend into alcoholic abuse; her wanton behaviour into episodes such as the one when she is banned from the Ritz in Madrid for urinating in the lobby; when she moves to live out her days in the relative anonymity of a London flat it is with a sinking heart that you realise that the woman who charmed Ernest Hemingway and Robert Graves should become so isolated.

She made some truly terrible choices, including turning down the role of Mrs Robinson in The Graduate and ending her days making schlock TV. She was careless of her art, under-confident about her talent and tended to be taken at her own measure. But ultimately, it's besides the point. Gardner's genius was not her work, but, as her own autobiographical book proves, her life.

#gardner #ava gardner #quote #actress #hollywood #golden age #beauty #film #cinema #movies #diva #sex siren #sex appeal #femme fatale #culture

83 notes · View notes

polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup · 10 months

Note

don't wait for tumblr to give u more tags. go off about tony and steve and zola pls i am humbly requesting

As a part of my ongoing war on my ask box this is a very old post regarding a tumblr tag essay i made forever ago. i half answered this ask when it came in and then forgot to finish. without further ado:

Anon is talking about this post about Steve and Tony’s relationship. I HIGHLY recommend the original post it's great but i copied the original tags essay below since it's been so long since the ask arrived.

#I feel like anyone who writes Tony stark for marvel should have to go watch bojack horseman first as like a mandatory assignment#because that show understood the premise of Tony stark better than any MCU writer ever has and it wasn’t even writing for tony stark#in sum bojack horseman follows the titular bojack who is a washed up 90s sitcom television star#bojack himself is extremely self destructive and the show follows him as his selfish and egotistical tendencies erode at his relationships#However bojack himself is an extremely sympathetic character. his harmful acts are all tied very directly to the trauma of his life#he’s a survivor of generational abuse whose own substance abuse problems stem from the fact that he was in such a neglectful environment#that he had started drinking at an INCREDIBLY young age got himself sober only to relapse due to a spiked drink after fame

#this sympathic is increased by the fact that he does geninuinely love and care for his friends and often goes to extreme lengths to show it#but what the show understands that MCU writers dont is that his tragic past doesn’t excuse the harm or pain he causes and the show goes to#LABORIOUS extents to emphasize the consequences and suffering his actions cause in his attempt towards making amends#it is FASINCATING to me that MCU just fails to grasp this because it’s really the core of Tony’s character. his story is one of redemption#and regret. but what it never seemed to get is that requires recognition of wrongs and change and his relationship with steve is a prime ex.#when they meet tony is 40+ and Steve is 23-25. steve has been awake from world war 2 for less than 2 weeks everyone he loves is dead and hes#visibly haunted by his time in the ice. his ptsd flashbacks to crashing the plane is how his character is introduced. Tony spends the time

#calling him ‘capsicle’ and talking about how much he can’t stand steve. the narrative plays it off as a gaff of little consequence but#practically speaking that’s INSANE. like can you imagine you’re a traumatized war vet who got out of a coma 2 months ago and woke up to#discover everyone you ever loved is dead and this stranger twice your age at your new work nicknames you coma boy and hates your guts bc of#his daddy issues? like Tony in avengers is borderline cruel but the narrative and the fandom never acknowledge it. it’s like removing the#laugh track on a scene from one of those old sitcoms and realizing how mean it is. and while we can fully acknowledge that Howard hurt Tony#that doesn’t make it Steve’s fault and doesn’t give Tony the license to take it out on him. like at the end of the day your healing is your#responsibility and the MCU fails to grasp that with Tony. honestly it does a disservice to the depth of his character b/c Tony should have#already grown past this by the time of Avengers. he had already gone through iron man 2 and grappled somewhat with his relationship w howard#while that doesn’t mean he’s healed yet it does mean that his character needs to learn to grow past it or he risks stagnation. mcu just#happily embraced stagnation and it made the character worse for it. Theres a scene in the comics where Tony is the first to reach out to#Steve post ice. he takes him to the air&space museum and welcomes him to the future. THATS the growth we want. Bc fundamentally even if we

#sympathize for Tony’s abuse by Howard lashing out at someone who was functionally dead at the time of ur dads mistakes is a very juvenile#mindset. /growth/ is deciding to be better than the person who hurt you and the MCUs obsession with blaming Steve for howard cut that off#CW would have been SO MUCH MORE COMPELLING if Tony had formed a relationship with Steve bc Steve would be torn between past and present but#instead Tony is saying how much he hated Steve during the fucking movie and Steve’s taking it with grace. like you’re 50 man you gotta work#past this at some point. out of tags but I have Opinions about Tony and actually zola too but we won’t get there give me more tags tumblr

Fundamentally, my issue with Tony and how he's written for the MCU is that he has the potential for one of greatest redemption arcs ever and the writers are fucking allergic to giving it to him, and his dynamic with Steve is a a prime example of it. How poorly Steve's relationship with Tony was mishandled is a pretty perfect case study as to how Tony as a character was mishandled as a whole.

As stated in the Tumblr Tags Essay above, by the time Steve came on the scene, Tony should have already grown past his hate for Steve. To be clear, that is not saying he should have gotten over Howard or any harm that he suffered as a result of his. Howard was his parent who was, to some degree, at least emotionally neglectful, if not abusive. Healing and learning helping coping mechanisms does not demand you forgive your abuser.

But Steve was never his abuser. He's a 20-something year old guy who has been trapped in a block of ice for Tony's entire life and who woke up two weeks ago to find out that everyone he ever loved is dead or suffering from alzheimer's and that his sacrifice was for nothing because he was just told the thing he drove a fucking plane into the fucking arctic over is Back Again Because We Learned Nothing.

And the thing is that the realization that "This man can hold literally no complicity in my abuser because he was frozen in the Arctic Circle the entire time" requires a level of emotional maturity you generally achieve at the age of thirteen or so. Tony is fucking fifty. Mentally, he's over twice Steve's age. At absolute best, the way Tony treats Steve from the outset is immature and more accurately it's downright cruel. Voluntarily killing himself by driving a plane into ice only to wake up and discover that he has lost everyone he ever loved is undoubtedly one of the most traumatic things that has ever happened to steve, and he just woke up from it. He is two weeks out from this. He's actively having flashbacks of what happened right before Tony starts cracking jokes about it. It'd be like if Steve walked up to Tony right after he got back from Afghanistan and called him Waterboarding Boy and everyone treated it like it was a cutesy character trait.

That's one of the most egregious parts of how Tony's character is written--things that are objectively things that need to be addressed in his character arc area treated like acceptable and borderline justified quirks in his personality. Tony's relationship with his father is one of the cornerstones of his backstory and who he became. While he doesn't have to forgive his father on the road to recovery, he does have to realize when he's using it as an excuse to hurt others and stop it.

That's also something he never does, and one of the reasons why i think that the writers for him need to watch Bojack horseman. In the same movie he's claiming to that he was Steve's friend, he's still saying to his face how much he fucking hated him over things that happened when Steve was supposed to have martyred himself to save the world.

There's multiple parts of Tony's character that could have formed the basis of an amazing character arc if he grew and improved from them, but the narrative refused to even recognize them as problems, let alone have him overcome them, and his relationship with Steve is a perfect example of it. The writer's refusal to recognize that brings down the quality of his entire arc and cheapens him as a character.

If Tony had been allowed to recognize that Steve was not to blame for his father, accepted it, and given a man half his age who just lost everything a lifeline, that would have shown an amazing amount of growth. Instead, they left him as immature and cruel. It's a shame and an insult to the potential of his character, and it's a mistake that they repeat again and again. Tony was supposed to be completely against developing weapons for others, but he canonically helped build a major part of Project Insight. Tony's entire stance in Civil War was meant to show that he had accepted that he made mistakes and that he needed to be held accountable for his actions, but then he went and unilaterally built EDITH, whose existence violates multiple international treaties including the Accords and had so few safety precautions that a teenaged boy was able to accidentally call out a missile strike on his teenaged classmate. He's in a movie where he's driven by his guilt for causing the death of someone's college-aged son, and in that same movie he blackmails a high-school-aged boy to join in on a fight he knows nothing about, that goes directly against his interests, and could get him killed even if he was certain that Team Cap wouldn't use lethal force. Rhodey got paralyzed from the waist down from friendly fire. Tony had a moment in the same fight where he had reason to fear that Peter had been injured if not killed.

Ultimately, Tony's entire character is built on a foundation of repentance and growth. That's why he has so much potential and why he's so compelling. The fact that his writers were unable to recognize when he even needed to repent, let alone allow him to grow, was honestly insulting to what he could have been.

Zola:

The reference to Zola is actually more of a response to fandom’s response to Zola as a whole than the actual specific person who made the comment.

Overall, the majority of fandom response that I've seen just seemed to be sort of besides the point? The thing about Armin Zola working for SHIELD is that I personally have only seen discussion about this in context of talking about how Peggy and Howard are Bad or talking about how steve would feel betrayed when he discovered it. To be honest most of the discourse I’ve seen has just been about hating Peggy Carter and using this as a sledgehammer in that discussion.

It’s not that I disagree with that reading of it—like, I do think Steve felt betrayed by the realization that Zola was recruited in the end, and I think it’s bad to have recruited literal Nazis—but I do think that fandom elevated the most tangential point of it to the detriment of its entire narrative purpose. I've only ever personally seen it used in character discourse and shipping wars--which like, anyone can draw on any plot point they so choose while participating in fandom. But Zola's recruitment was the thematic core of Winter Soldier, and it always seemed kinda weird to me that it was treated as a personal defect in Howard and Peggy when it was the entire argument of the movie and one of the best social commentaries that the MCU ever made.

Zola gives what I think is one of the better MCU villain speeches in the bunker about how Hydra recovered after the war. He states that they realized that taking the freedom of the world by force only galvanised people against them. It led to their own downfall. But he explains that Hydra realized that the people of the world would freely give away their own rights and freedoms if you made them comfortable. If you say you’re doing it for their own safety and comfort, then they’ll effectively look the other way while Hydra seizes control of the world. And that entire monologue is bolstered by the fact that that is exactly what happened in Zola’s case.

Zola was brought into SHIELD as a part of operation paperclip. Operation Paperclip was a post-war initiative by the United States government to recruit key Nazi scientists into United States scientific development. This entire initiative was brought about in response to the Cold War arm’s race and it was justified on the basis of dire national security need. Both America and the Soviet Union were EXTREMELY CONCERNED about losing the cold war. As a result, they were willing to take pretty much any strategic advantage they could, including After, President Truman, who gave the final go-ahead for the initiative, said that "this had to be done and was done."

Even after it became public knowledge, it was defended as more of a necessary evil and the cost of the practicalities of governance than a world power welcoming war criminals with open arms. Multiple participants have been linked to human experimentation, slave labor factories, etc, though none were ever formally found guilty of anything--which may be because the US aggressively whitewashed their pasts and then went so far as to help relocate one of the members of the initiative to Argentina.

This was, again, all a part of the Cold War arms race with the USSR--who had an identical program going at the same time, Operation Osoaviakhim.

En arguendo, let's just assume that all of this was done with the best possible intentions and execution. The nominal rationale was the Cold War. While analyzing the Red Scare and the entire Cold War period would take way too long, I think a solid premise we can agree on is that nuclear war is bad. It would have been disastrous for anyone alive if the Cold War had escalated, and recruiting top scientists from the Nazi regime 1) kept the USSR from doing it instead, which they were actively doing, and 2) helped prevent strategic advantage in one country or another that may have led to an escalation. Now, I'm not a historian, and all of these premises can naturally be debated, but these were the like, best faith premises that world leaders had at the time. If you want a nuclear deterrent, you need the biggest stick.

The thing is that, if you assume these premises as genuine for the sake of the argument, the absolute best this leaves you with is doing a very bad thing for a very important government purpose. You're supposedly preventing nuclear war, but you're doing so at the cost of justice for all the people who suffered at the hands of these people, and the risk of future harm that they may cause.

Which, thematically, is the core of the Winter Soldier.

I've usually seen Zola's recruitment discussed in terms of Peggy or Howard making the decision to let him in, when in reality, they probably didn't make the call themselves so much as become complicit in it later. Zola was captured and recruited right at the end of CA:FA (he later clocks this at 1945) but Peggy and Howard didn't even have an organization at that point, let alone the power to recruit a head Nazi scientist. This was two decades before SHIELD was ever founded, and if we take the Agent Carter series as binding canon, at the time of Zola's transition into American government would, Peggy had so little sway that she couldn't even get anyone to listen to her, let alone recruit a nazi scientist, and Howard was potentially on the run and definitely not involved in any formal governmental decision making. Even if you assume that they were somehow in charge of a government agency at the time of Zola's recruitment, the actual recruitment and function of Operation Paperclip was conducted by independent agencies (Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency and the Counterintelligence Corps) that Peggy and Howard weren't a part of, and the person who made the call for Operation Paperclip itself was The Literal President Of The United States. Whatever way you cut it, Peggy and Howard probably had nothing to do with Zola's initial recruitment--what most likely happened was that two decades passed (the time between Zola's recruitment and SHIELD's founding) and when resources were being allocated some big-shot in the overseeing body was like Yeah You Do Weird Stuff? We Got A Guy Who's Been Doing Weird Stuff For Us For Like Twenty Years and then when Peggy and Howard saw him they were like Oh Its This Motherfucker.

To be clear, this is not at all to absolve howard and peggy for working with a guy they knew did literal human experimentation because he did it on one of their best friends. But this is to more clearly reframe it from Decision They Personally Made to The Ways Being At A Certain Level Of Government Makes You Complicit With Horrible Things, which perfectly encapsulates the heart of the movie.

At the open of the movie, Steve is visibly on a fucking ledge with SHIELD. Fuck, Fury and Nat spend most of the opening trying to keep him from flying the coop. And it's because Steve for the very first time has to grapple with the consequences of being an active participant in a governmental body.

Straight up--Steve spent the entire war going AWOL. His entire military career was spent doing what he wanted and flipping his superior officers the bird. The man was a terrible fucking soldier but by the time anyone figured it out they had already given him a comic book and the Medal of Honor and the man could bench press a tank it was simply too late. Then, he got encased in ice for 70 years, woke up, had two weeks of fun future integration activities like Not Getting Therapy For His Problems and Looking At Pictures Of His Dead Friends, got tapped in because they fucked up with the exact thing he lost everything to stop, immediately went AWOL again, almost died again, went on a roadtrip of self discovery, and at some point between then and CAWS started working as one of the main STRIKE members of SHIELD. This is likely his first time having to ever deal with the realities of being a hand of the government.

One of the most insidious things about high-level government work is there's rarely some Main Guy sitting behind a desk signing Evil Decrees and responsible for everything. Power is allocated and things get messy very quickly.

Take Ghost for example. One of SHIELD'S Main Guys falls out with another Guy, smears his name, which makes the Ex-Guy so desperate that he takes unnecessary risks in his experiments that predictably blow up in his face and leads to his young daughter having a debilitating power that results in her uncontrollably phasing through objects. Another Guy tries to do the right thing and help her, but Other Main Guys think "This kid would make a GREAT assassin" and leverage a cure for her debilitating health condition into turning her into a forced operative. This health condition starts to kill her, but the Main Guys were so happy with their new forced assassin that they never looked for a cure to begin with and was going to use her until she died. She goes rather reasonably goes AWOL, and in her attempts to cure herself, she's willing to do just about anything to get cured, and including contemplating kidnapping Scott's daughter as an option.

Steve obviously wasn't called in to help with that (he was AWOL himself at that point) but assume he was--he would only get pulled into this mess at the very end when all the damage is done and there's a highly unstable assassin kidnapping little girls. SHIELD was at fault for every horrible thing that happened to this person. He has a strong sense of justice, and he'd likely to be furious to find out that SHIELD took an orphanged child and abused their incredibly painful and terminal medical condition, which was indirectly caused by them, in order to force them into becoming a highly skilled operative.

But there isn't just one person that he'd be able to find and blame for what happened with this--culpability was stretched out over Multiple Main Guys who made bad decisions, a lot of Lower Guys who built the suit, trained her, handled her in the field, and experimented on her to learn her limits, many of whom likely didn't even work for the organization any more.

Who do you go after for that? The Main Guy who smeared her dad? But he didn't have anything to do with the assassin business or the actual accident. The Main Guys who made the calls for the assassination thing? Better candidates, but is it that simple? What about the guys who just get orders every day and have no decision making authority, who were handed a little girl who was vulnerable and in pain and told to train her to kill? What about the ones making a child-sized tactical suit with no details about what was going on but who had reason enough to suspect it wasn't all good? They were just following orders, but so were Nazis working the camps.

How do you go after people for that? Fire them? It's been decades. Most are probably retired. And that's a pretty lame punishment for what they did. He doesn't make the calls for legal action, they definitely have qualified immunity for their decisions, and there's a whole host of problems with proving anything.

But, on the flip side, what does he do about Ghost? what happened to her is terrible, but if she had kidnapped Cassie Lang, he couldn't exactly sit on his hands and let it happen no matter the justification. There's a very good chance he has to stop her and become another link in a chain of what's been a lifetime of abuse. Things get messy when you're just a cog in the machine of a sprawling agency that has a lot of power to abuse.

While we don't know what Steve's been doing while he worked for SHIELD, we do know that it pissed him off to high heavens. The very first thing we see him doing for SHIELD is recapturing the off-course Lemurian Star from pirates, and he is the exact opposite of a dutiful soldier during it. He doesn't just salute and follow his orders without question--one of the first lines of his mouth is calling them out for lying about the ship being in those waters because it was off-course. He's like "Oh, so it's not off course, it's trespassing" to which Nat says "I'm sure they had a good reason" and Steve replies "I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor."

He's saving the hostages, and then all of a sudden he finds Natasha in the control room downloading the drive and realizes that this was about SHIELD's data to begin with but no one clued him in on that fact. He's pissed because the hostages could have died, which is a fact he immediately goes after Fury about.

There is so much character jammed into those few minutes of screen time. This is visibly an old argument--at one point, Fury says to him "It's damn near getting past time for you to get with the program, Cap" to which Steve tells him not to hold his breath. Steve doesn't like or approve of a lot of SHIELD's actions, but he's called in after all the bad things they did went to shit. Like, what's he going to do--say, sorry, the Lemurian Star was obviously Up To Some Shit that I don't want to be a part of, RIP to the hostages but I'm just going to let them get shot in the head? He's the janitor and he's sick of getting called into SHIELD fucking something up through their own immoral actions and calling him to pull their ass out of the fire. He spends the entire first half of the movie on the verge of flying the coop entirely, and Nat and Fury visibly know it and are trying to get him off the ledge in every interaction they have on screen with him--which directly contributes to the fact that Steve doesn't trust either of them for the first half of the movie.

It also is likely the motivator behind why he does ultimately trust Sam. Steve spends the first half of the movie getting Managed. He's increasingly pissed and distrustful of SHIELD and its agents, and he's got good reason to be--Nat and Fury hide things from him and keep trying to persuade him to stick with the program (to be clear Nat's (and to a somewhat lesser extent Fury's) own actions and whether any culpability for things like project insight could possibly be imputed to her has to be analyzed under an entirely different lens due to the difference in her personal history and character type, but this is already way too long to tackle that here. this isn't actually meant to assign blame to her, but more to analyze the likely results on steve). Fury takes him for a tour of his Fascist Death Machine and tells him that's what the world needs. The neighbor he was growing increasingly intimate with was a SHIELD agent who lied to him about her name and the fact that she was spying on him. At the end of the day, the majority of the of the early movie is spent with his desires and principles are treated as secondary and unwanted complications to the fact that they really need him to keep throwing that shield on SHIELD's behalf (whether this is actually what nat and fury specifically are trying to do is, again, a separate analysis we don't have time for, this is just to go to how it likely affects and appears to Steve).

Sam, meanwhile, is beautiful and charming is the only one who openly expresses a genuine concern for Steve as a person and not steve as a solider. Sam spends the entire first half of the movie reaching out to someone in a position he's been in himself and trying to get him help. his entire first meeting with Steve is defined by him trying to help a fellow Vet recover from war. he tries to gauge where Steve's at with the future, invites him to the VA, and packages it in a easily-seen-through excuse that gives them both plausible deniability--Steve can come by and get the help he needs not as Captain America The Man The Myth The Legend Who Is Really Fucking Struggling, but as Steve the guy helping Sam impress the girl at the front desk.

When he comes to the VA, Sam has the direct opposite response that everyone else in the movie has to Steve questioning his place in SHIELD and in government work--he's like "Quit. Quit now. Be free and beautiful like me. become an ultimate fighter or whatever the fuck you want." He doesn't give two shits about what the world will do without Captain America keeping it safe--he just cares about what Steve needs.

This all goes to a greater analysis about how Sam is beautiful and charming the perfect parallel to Steve, the only one who could possibly have taken up his shield, and actually wrong in that line he says about how he does what Steve does but slower because he consistently decides to do the right thing before Steve is another analysis that would go too far off the point to get into. The point being is that Sam exists in the narrative as the direct opposite and alternative to the reality fury and nat offers Steve. Steve spends the beginning of the movie with Nat and Fury seemingly sacrificing the means for the end, but there's Sam, beautiful and charming someone who made the same decision he's now faced with, being like "fuck it. sometimes you have to walk."

Steve's entire struggle about his position with SHIELD reaches its climax when he first finds out the truth of Project Insight.

For the avoidance of any doubt, SHIELD secretly being infiltrated by HYDRA has no effect on how wrong Project Insight was from the start--it just emphasized how horrifically wrong it could go. But "Space Super Death Weapon That Can Immediately Kill Dangers To National Security" is a bad idea no matter who is in charge of it. First off, Steve is right--punishment follows the crime. No government has a crystal fucking ball and anyone who justifies things on the basis of "taking out threats ahead of time" is talking out their ass. to be clear, i'm not saying you need to wait for someone to be on a plane and flying at the twin towers to stop a terrorist attack--in law, we have a designated level of "closeness" that lets us say "yeah you were totally actually doing what we don't want you doing" at which point you can charge them with attempt, and often a lot of the earlier steps leading up to the Big Harmful Thing are actual crimes you can intervene with.

Project Insight was the flagship of of a "quantum surge in threat analysis." It did exactly what it was designed to do: it took out threats before they became threats. The only difference between SHIELD being at the helm and HYDRA is who gets defined as a threat. HYDRA would have defined that as anyone from a high school valedictorian in Iowa to Stephen Strange, but it's not any better if SHIELD's defining that as some random kid in Afghanistan who shows whatever traits show a risk for one day becoming a combatant.

And yet, steve's the only one in the movie who says this. We don't actually know how much Nat knows about Project insight itself, but Fury is fully aware and a participant in it, and Tony Stark apparently took one look at the thing and said "your engines are shit. i'll improve them." Steve takes one look at them and calls it fascist bullshit.

At the end of the day, you can never justify shit like this under the assumption that the people controlling it will use it for the best, because you cannot trust the people controlling it. Yeah, Project Insight was probably pitched with being used against the worst threats. Dangers to public safety, terrorists, that kind of thing. Do you want to know who else was considered a danger to public safety? MLK, who the FBI fucking murdered. The people who define threats to national security are the ones who have the same incentive to maintain the status quo in an unjust world. Even if we assume Project Insight was made to stop the next 9/11, we also have to assume that at least some of the strikes it would have carried out under not-HYDRA control would have been for the wrong reasons.

What the fuck does all of this this have to do with Zola?

Operation Paperclip and Peggy and Howard's decisions within it directly mirrors Project Insight and Fury's decisions within it, directly mirrors Steve's journey and central conflict over the course of the film, and directly contrasts with the alternative Sam poses within it.

CA:WS at its thematic core, says that initiatives that sacrifice justice for claims of national security and public safety are exactly what robs us of our rights and freedoms and ultimately endangers us all. It's not even subtle--Zola says it out loud in his evil villain speech. but operating at a high level in a government agency puts you in a position where you're meant to make that decision again and again, even if we assume you have the best of intentions.

Peggy and Howard were people who believed that they had to make the hard decisions to save the world. They were handed a decision where perception of culpability was obscured by how distributed out the blame was, and the direct public benefit to national security was posed to be overwhelmingly good. It leads to SHIELD's infiltration. Project Insight went through on the exact same reasoning. Fury, Maria Hill, possibly Nat, and Tony (off-screen) all do the exact same thing and justify the means by the end, and it leads to the helicarriers being made.

Steve spends the movie being told, explicitly, to "get with the program" and start making the same decisions. His central conflict is being someone on the inside of this club, being told that he needs to start understand what keeping the world safe demands, and his journey leads to him refusing to do it. The climax of the movie is a character so minor that we never learn his name refusing to launch the helicarriers with a gun pointed at his head, even though the complicity he carried in it would have been just as attenuated as Steve's was as SHIELD's janitor. And all throughout it, there's Sam, someone who left the military explicitly because he couldn't follow the rules he was being given anymore.

Peggy and Howard's decision to go along with Zola in Operation Paperclip is a direct parallel of the decisions Fury made with Project Insight and the decisions Steve ultimately refuses to make himself. Making Peggy and Howard complicit in what let in Arnim Zola encapsulates the entire core argument of CA:WS and it's so weird to me that I've only ever seen it discussed in shipping wars and discourse as to whether a Character Is Bad.

Peggy and Howard, ultimately, were members of a governmental task force who made the Hard Decisions for The Public Good. As an inherent part of that role, they did bad things. Unjust things. They undoubtedly saved the world multiple times over as a part of their tenure as the head of SHIELD, but it would be absolute naivety to assume that anyone in that position didn't become complicit in terrible fucking things. It's the direct product of their positions in the government, and it's exactly what leads to Steve's position in Civil War. it is absolutely bonkers to me how people watched Winter Solider and then reacted to Steve's opposition to the Accords like Local Imperialist Military Boy Refuses To Listen To Anyone Else. Steve just had a masterclass in how people in the government make decisions that sacrifice justice up to and including people he once trusted with his life. Of course he didn't fucking trust General Human Experimentation And I Consider Bruce Banner The Property Of The United States Military with his every action as Captain America. He had just learned that he couldn't even trust Peggy and Howard with it.

#this became very long #and you know what #if i want to say the same thing in the tags of some unsuspecting person's post then that's my right #more tags when #more tags NOW

22 notes · View notes