#as in No Risk They’re Gonna Come Out and all the invested money goes to shit

[supermantv]

daxton + first date after getting back together

Their first date after getting back together is technically at the Winter Dance, and while it had been overall pleasant, there were still the minor bumps (the major glaring one being that Paxton had nearly ran his girlfriend over with his car) that prevented the date from retaining a sense of utter bliss that Paxton was still seeking. He adores her, loves being around her, thinks she is the most exciting person that he has ever met, but there is no denying that Devi is an absolute hurricane. He loves that too, and he’s starting to understand that moments of complete peace will be hard-earned, but entirely worth it. He’s also hoping that these moments of peace become more and more common, with a smoother path paved to achieve them each time. 

They’re in his garage when he decides to broach the subject, a random slasher film playing on the screen that neither of the two are really invested in. Devi lays between his legs, her own feet dangling over the edge of the couch as she rests her head on the hard planes of his stomach. She traces unrefined patterns into the exposed skin above the waistband of his jeans where his shirt has ridden up, and Paxton knows that if she keeps this up, there’s a very high possibility he will actually be driven insane, so to prevent this, he shifts into a sitting position, forcing Devi to move with him.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, and it’s hard not to get distracted when his eyes follow the movement of her hands, shifting to smooth out her skirt, because it’s yellow and pink, and cute, and short, and it very much suits her. 

“Um.” Paxton clears his throat and flicks his eyes away and Devi must see something in his actions to tip her off to the situation because she actually laughs. Loud and unapologetic and Paxton feels the tip of his ears beginning to burn but he’s smiling. “Shut up,” he grumbles without a trace of any real aggravation, lobbing a pillow at her head. She catches it easily and hugs it to her chest. 

“Okay, okay,” Devi says and she quiets down but her eyes are twinkling. “What’s up?” 

“I was just gonna ask what you wanted to do for our first date on Saturday.”

“First date?” Devi asks bemusedly. 

“Yeah, y’know, first date since getting back together,” Paxton clarifies, but Devi still looks confused. 

“Wasn’t that at the dance?”

“Yeah, about that,” he starts, drawing back his shoulders and filling his voice with enough mock authority that Devi guffaws under her breath. “I’d like to put in a formal request right now for a do over.”

“Why?” Devi asks, taking this chance to throw the pillow back at him. It bounces harmlessly off his face where it slides into his lap, and he cries out from the shock of the hit rather than the pain. Devi ignores him. “I had a good time. Did you not have a good time?”

“I had a great time,” Paxton reassures her and his heart just about melts when she beams at him. “But I very nearly ran you over with my car at the beginning of the night.”

“After that!”

“After that you threatened to kill the DJ.”

“He deserved it,” Devi grumbles and the same murderous scowl she’d worn that night resurfaces. “But those were minor issues anyway.”

“I’m not sure vehicular manslaughter or attempted homicide are minor issues,” he jokes and his girlfriend rolls her eyes before he becomes serious again. “Really though. I just want to go on one perfect first date with you. No Trent or Marcus, and no narrowly avoided death.”

Devi wrinkles her nose. “Perfect is a tall order.”

“Third time’s the charm,” he says, but Devi’s doubtful expression doesn’t waver, so he relents. “Okay then, not a perfect first date. A first date where everything goes according to plan.”

“That’s more realistic,” Devi says, but she sounds and looks unconvinced by his words. “But still.”

“Don't worry,” Paxton says, leaning forward to rub his thumb tenderly across her cheek. She relaxes into his touch and he grins. “I'll prove you wrong.”

“I sure hope so,” Devi sighs, and no more is said on the subject for the night because then she's grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and yanking him into her. 

But of course, Devi was right to be skeptical, because as Paxton is starting to learn, it is impossible for things to go according to plan when they're involved. 

He’d called that very same night to make reservations at a semi-fancy Italian restaurant across town, and was promptly told they didn't do reservations, which as Paxton figured was even better, because if a restaurant didn't do reservations, that had to mean there was always available seating, right? He asks his mom to teach him how to iron on Thursday, and by the time Saturday night rolls around, he feels relaxed and ready, so assured that nothing could possibly go wrong. He lays the bouquet of flowers he'd bought for Devi gingerly in the passenger seat and whistles to himself as he starts the car. 

Except his car won't start. Why won't his car start?

And from then on, things only spiral out of control further. Paxton texts Devi asking if she can just walk to his house and he'll order an Uber to take them to the restaurant from there. Except when he checks his bank account, he cringes at the lack of money, failing to realize earlier how long it'd been since his last paycheck from his summer job. He wouldn't have even been able to pay the bill for their food, much less order a $15 Uber now. And really, he's not above begging his parents or sister for money, but his parents aren't home, gone on a weekend camping trip in the wilderness where they most likely don't get cell service. And Becca is working on a new assignment for school, her door locked with very clear instructions for Paxton not to interrupt her. He doesn't want to risk becoming a murder victim before his third first date with his girlfriend. 

So, when Devi arrives at his house and the front door swings open to reveal her visibly frazzled boyfriend explaining to her that he's going to be cooking for her tonight instead of going out, she smiles sweetly and nods her head in understanding. Paxton wonders briefly if she had seen it in his face, how close he is to snapping, because he’d been expecting maybe a little push back, a slight protest. He knows his girlfriend isn't renowned for her accommodating nature, but he thinks she's trying to be in this moment, for his sake, and he's grateful and questioning how he could have gotten so lucky. It makes him want to cradle her in his arms and kiss her senseless, but he can't because he needs to figure out what he's going to feed her. 

Paxton leads Devi to the living room and leaves her with a peck on her forehead and the TV remote before rushing back to the kitchen. And this is where the next problem presents itself, because Paxton doesn't know how to cook. 

At best, he can scramble an egg and microwave a hot pocket. Both of which he thinks Devi would not appreciate. So, Paxton grabs two packages of ramen from the cabinet and drops the noodles into a pot of boiling water. He thinks he can spruce it up with an onion, trying to recall all the tips and tricks he'd seen on the Food Network, but as he's cutting it his eyes begin to sting and he can't see all that well because he's blinking back tears and he's starting to feel like a contestant on Chopped when he slices his finger with the knife. He winces at the initial pain, but the cut is shallow, and it would be fine but now his blood is all over the cutting board and the onion and there goes that idea. 

Paxton is praying that it can't get any worst from here, because if one more thing goes wrong he's not sure he'll be able to keep it together. 

He turns off the stove and removes the pot from the heat, pouring the noodles carefully into two separate bowls. It's certainly not Michelin star worthy, but Paxton promised Devi dinner and it's better than nothing. 

But it's as if he’d been a war criminal or a serial killer in his last life, and the universe is determined to punish him, because Devi is sitting at the dining room table waiting for him, and all Paxton has to do is take three moderately sized steps to make it to the make it to her. But his foot gets caught on the corner of a rug and he staggers forward, the noodles and bowls flying out of his hands and straight onto Devi. The broth stains and drenches her dress and the noodles coat her from her hair down to her shoes, but she's still sitting, as if she hadn't processed what had just happened. 

“Shit,” Paxton swears, crouching next to her and flicking noodles off her thighs. “Are you okay? Any burns?” 

“I'm fine,” she says, glancing down at him, and her eyes are a little wide and her chin wobbles slightly, and he feels his heart drop into his chest because she's about to cry-.

The sound of her laugh startles him and his head snaps up, thinking she might've cracked before he had.

“What?” he asks, concerned. 

“I tried to tell you,” she says, but she doesn't look upset. Noodles cling to her cheeks but her smile stretches the entire length of her face. She doesn't even sound like she's gloating, even though she had been right, and as a result of his unwillingness to listen she was now wearing their dinner. 

Paxton’s fingers curl around the hem of her dress, causing broth to seep down his fist. “I wanted to make this perfect for you.”

“And it was,” Devi insists, hands coming up to cup his face. 

“Devi,” he grimaces. “You don't have to lie.”

“I'm not!” she objects. “It was perfectly us. And I like that.”

Paxton lifts a brow. “You like being covered in soggy ramen noodles.”

“You're deliberately missing the point,” Devi rolls her eyes and pinches his cheek. “I like being with you, even if the day is a complete disaster, I'll be happy because I was spending time with you. And, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a bit of a disaster magnet.” 

“I think it's cute,” Paxton murmurs demurely. 

“See,” Devi says. “You know what I'm talking about, and you agree.” 

“The noodles don't help though.”

Devi makes a face. “No they do not.” 

And while Devi is taking a shower in his bathroom and Paxton is laying in bed, thrumming his fingers against his stomach, he thinks about what she had said about this date being perfectly them. He smiles to himself.

#daxton #nhie #brrrr.. see.. he cooked her dinner! :) #paxton is a chef!! #world renowned!!! #h.l. writes

[canonicallysoulmates]

Walker 1.06

This was….okay. I liked it more than I thought I would...

Let’s just get into it.

This is the first episode where there is no case. Sorta. Kind of. The focus of this week is that it’s the one year anniversary of Emily’s death so the case elements are about her murder and it’s a part of the episode but it’s not a focus.

The episode is like divided into three groups of characters, everything they’re doing comes back to Emily’s death but each group is doing their own thing: there’s Liam and Captain James, Cordell, Micki, Trey and Micki’s mom (yes, Micki’s mom), and the final group is the grandparents, the kids, and Stella’s wannabe boyfriend.

So, I’m gonna follow that same format and go group by group and at the end put it all together.

First up is Cordell, Micki, Trey and Micki’s mom.

Walker is in trouble, because if you remember in the first episode he punched a guy who spit in his face and mentioned Emily so now Walker could lose his job due to unwarranted use of excessive force. Cordell is taking things calmly because while it’s not right things always tend to fall in favor of the cop (in this case ranger) but Micki is worried because his cowboy ways is costing the department a lot of money and he could lose his job. She’s even more worried when out of the blue her merciless shark of a psychiatrist mom shows up and it’s revealed she’s gonna be the one to do Cordell’s psych evaluation.

While that’s going on, it’s the day of the anniversary of Emily’s death and Cordell received a call from Geri letting him know she plans to sell the bar cause she thinks its time to move on and she’s been made an offer by a developer. I don’t really care for that set, they have not done enough to make it important to the audience but for Cordell it’s a big deal since that was Emily’s favorite place and it’s where the two of them and Hoyt and Geri used to hang out. So, he dumps the plans he had made with his kids to go camping in honor his wife’s memory since that’s something she loved to do, except not really but she was quirky and said things like “not all things have to be good to be good” something she apparently said all the time and yet her kids didn’t know- that character is such a fucking Mary Sue but I’m getting off track, point is he comes up with some bs and stalls the deal Geri was making with a developer and decides he’s gonna fix up the bar himself. Oh, yeah, the night before a section of the bar collapsed so a lot of the episode has him trying to fix it.

And that’s where Micki trying to be a good friend and partner finds him and tries to warn him and prep him for her mom who if you haven’t guessed she doesn’t have the best relationship with; she’s worried that her mom is gonna use him to teach her a lesson, she knows her mom is not gonna go easy on him, that she’ll make him look guilty and is gonna suggest they take his badge.

Cordell is a stubborn fool who’s dealing with his own personal shit and ends up stapling a nail unto his hand with the nail gun he was using. Not gonna lie that was funny af 😂 And then because he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, and he doesn’t wanna risk losing the bar, he decides that removing the nail himself is a better option than going to the ER, so with Trey’s instructions and Micki’s help he gets the nail out; he is so lucky he didn’t damage a nerve or make things worse. And luckily for him, Micki’s dating an army medic so Trey goes to check up on him and bandage him up. Trey who brought along Micki’s mom, Adriana.

Her and Cordell don’t exactly start off on the right foot on account of Cordell going on the defensive as soon as he meets the woman.

Defensive, by the way, is pretty much Walker’s middle name in this episode: he snaps at Trey who was patching him up, he yells at Micki, who was just trying to be a good friend and help him not just with her mom but with fixing up the bar, more than once; he is filled with anger and grief and is just a ticking bomb and it all comes to head when all the work he and Micki had done collapses again and makes an even bigger mess. 

And that was where the show made a big mistake, because we know Cordell has a lot of bottled up anger that has been building inside him and he’s been letting out in short bursts- it’s why he’s in trouble and has to go through evaluation because his anger got the best of him! And it’s a big focus of this episode with him he letting his temper get the best of him a couple of times so there’s all this build up but there’s no payoff.

After all of their hard work collapses, Cordell snaps and he grabs a chair and he smashes it to the ground but Micki stops him from destroying anything else. And I get it, they don’t wanna keep destroying the bar and he’d probably feel really shitty if he did but he needed to have that breakdown, the show needed him to have that breakdown. He needs to let out all that anger he has build up and sometimes the only way to do that is to scream and break things and have a physical release of everything that’s inside you. And it’s a shame that the show pulled back from showing us the full extend of Cordell’s grief and anger, that they didn’t let the scene play out.

On the other side of town we have what’s gonna be our group two: the grandparents, the kids and Stellla’s wannabe boyfriend, Trevor aka the dude she met at the stables where she’s doing her community service.

As I had said, the kiddos and their papa were supposed to go camping in honor of their mom but he bailed to go and try to fix the bar, so the kids decide they’re gonna go anyways on their own but since they can’t drive Stella decides she’s gonna kill two birds with one stone: honor her mom, and more importantly get some time with the boy she likes. So she contacts Trevor to give them a ride but turns out the grandparents are tagging along on the camping trip something Stella is not happy about cause you know she was hoping to get that alone time.

Anyways, she has a little back and forth with her grandma and in the end they end up taking the dude along with them in the camping trip. 

While that’s going on we go to our group three: Liam and Captain James. They have the most interesting part of the episode, and the “case related” portion of it. Sadly, they don’t have nearly enough time dedicated to what they were doing, and this isn’t really a focus of the episode it’s just part of it; as you know, they are re-investigating Emily’s case and it’s a good thing too cause apparently they did a shit investigation the first time around.

They go to the prison to talk to the man who confessed to Emily’s murder but shocker he ain’t gonna tell them shit, so they decide to go to Hoyt who is in the same prison with a nice little deal, they’re gonna put him in the same cell as the guy to get info, in exchange Hoyt can get a reduced sentence.

In just two hours, that fucker manages to give info that leads Liam and James to a major breakthrough. Sherlock Homes, doesn’t work this fast! That was way too easy, too fast, too clean cut- too plot convenient, show seriously. 

So what was the major breakthrough? Can’t tell you that yet.

Back to Cordell, after his almost breakdown and a conversation with Micki where he admits he’s pissed and tells her he’s gonna plead guilty, he calls up his dad and asks for him to turn back around and bring the kids to the bar. Since the bar was Emily’s favorite place, that’s where he and the kids are going to camp in honor of her memory. The next morning Geri shows up to tell them the guy who is buying the place is gonna tear it all down and use the lot to build some condos but Cordell and the kids come to the conclusion that was seen coming from a mile away and is impressive it took them this long to get to: that they should buy the bar. So, Geri sells it to them and they’re gonna fix it up with Emily’s life insurance money. I’m sure I’m supposed to find this a really nice moment but as I said, they have not done enough to make the audience be invested in this bar, and I’m sorry but the fact that it was his place to hang out with the wife is not enough to make me care about it.

Anyways, Micki returns home after her conversation with Cordell, where she admitted that she’s avoiding her mother cause she doesn’t wanna accept that her mom may be right about her, to find her mom cooking with Trey who she seems to get along with and honestly why wouldn’t she the man is a dream son-in-law. Side note: the man speaks Spanish so he has officially moved up even higher on the hotness scale 🔥

The episode wraps up with three major reveals- well, two major reveals and one sorta expected one.

The first one comes curtesy of the info Hoyt provided Liam and James. He told them about the dude’s niece and their shared love of art which seems insignificant but it’s what leads James to find out the girl owns a small gallery that is somehow making big money. The gallery has someone making repeat purchases, with money coming from a bank in Austin that started two days after Emily’s murder. And from whom is the money coming from? Straw Ring, LLP which is the LLP Geri used for the bar. So, she had something to do with Emily’s death.  

Honestly, to me this reveal wasn’t that surprising cause she always seemed like she was hiding something about that day. 

However, the other two shockers from the end did surprise me. 

The second reveal is that there’s a warrant for Micki’s mom and they arrest her!

And last but certainly not least, it turns out, Stella’s wanna be boyfriend: Trevor, is Clint’s - the leader of the team that Cordell ran with back when he was undercover as Duke - son! And he recognized Cordell from a picture of his dad’s and went and told him! I knew that boy was trouble! Out of the three, this was the thing that shocked me the most and left me literally screaming.

And that was the epi!

Like I said at the beginning, I liked this episode more than I thought I would; I was actually sort of expecting this to be the first episode I didn’t like because all of the focus was on the wife arc but it actually had some aspects and scenes I really enjoyed.  

No surprise to anyone that among the things I loved are the Cordell and Micki scenes, y’all know I love that relationship and how they’re helping each other become better people and deal with things. Trey is always great, I’m so happy we got to see him interact with Cordell I hope that’s something we see more of, the parts that were about the mystery and case of Emily’s murder were surprisingly some of my favorite, up till this point I hadn’t cared much for the mystery. The kids for once weren’t annoying which is an appreciated miracle. Not sure how I feel yet about Mama Ramirez. The ending with all the reveals was imo the best part of the episode.

So, there were definitely parts that I really liked and enjoyed, however, as a whole this ain’t my favorite epi so far. Which is why, even though there are things that I really like I think it’s just an okay episode. 

I wish they had used the time they had better like I wish that instead of doing two flashbacks and a hallucination that they had done just one of the two and used that time for Liam and James investigation, or used that time to give us that Cordell breakdown.

And since I mentioned the flashbacks and hallucination let’s talk about them real quick; in terms of editing and placement the flashbacks in this epi were integrated pretty well and they technically served a purpose in the story because through the flashbacks we learn about Walker’s emotional connection to a specific decoration in the bar, a boars head he was gifted by his wife. Thing is though...it is as emotionally bland as a stale cracker. I'm not entirely sure what the point is of the wife flashbacks, I assume it's to...help you understand and connect with Cordell and learn about his marriage and stuff but honestly they're the worst part of the show; they're not used to their full potential, they're badly acted, they don’t really contribute to character development and they don't have the emotional weight the show thinks it does.

It would have been more impactful if they had turned the boars head into its own little mystery of why it means so much to him even though he doesn’t really like it, and then at the end when the kids are sleeping instead of seeing her he had sunk into the his memories of when she got him that thing and that’s when we get the flashback. And only one, no need to divide it into two.

The show wants the focus, at least of this season, to be the family and how they're dealing with the loss of someone so important in their life, this was the episode to show that they could deliver something meaningful when it comes to that but it didn't really do that; I felt bad for Walker, I'm rooting for him but at no point in this episode did I feel like crying with him or for him, and I think that may be why I'm not crazy about this episode because it didn't hit any emotional notes even though it was supposed to be an emotionally heavy episode.

There wasn't that impactful moment you know? That moment where you see the full extent of what a character is going through, this episode needed that and there was build up to it but with no payoff. (Which let me tell you is also a damm shame cause we know how amazing Jared is in emotional scenes and how much he shines in them.)

All that being said - and goodness gracious this post got long time to wrap it up - while overall I consider it just an okay episode there were a lot of good things about it enough for me to still like the episode, and to become really excited for what future episodes hold and see how things develop. 

#this took me forever to write! i hope it makes sense i re-read this damn thing so many times while editing i don't even know anymore 😅 #walker #walker 1.06 #walker spoilers #mine #opinion on walker

[umbraja]

Body Hair Positivity: Good or Gross?

It’s been a trend lately to embrace a more diverse image of beauty. Freckles and muffin tops, dark skin and curly hair, scars, tattoos, unusual proportions, crooked teeth, pretty much anything is supposed to be accepted under the banner of Body Positivity. 

But what about body hair?

And I’m not just talking about armpits or legs. I also mean unusual body hair. The kind people don’t talk about. The kind women aren’t “supposed” to have: chest hair, happy trails, beards, back hair. The kind that doctors call hirsutism and is often associated with hormonal imbalances from things like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Cushing Syndrome, medication side effects, menopause, or even just genetics. It affects somewhere between 5%-10% of women depending on the region surveyed but may be higher as it can often go undiagnosed.

It’s not like we’re taught how healthy body hair should look.

Humans have been removing body hair since before recorded history. Archaeologists have found evidence of early humans using clam shells and shark teeth to remove body hair. Ancient Egyptians are well known for their full body waxes. Ancient Greeks considered it “uncivilized” for a woman to have pubic hair. Roman boys celebrated their entry into manhood with a mandatory first shave. And medieval European Ladies plucked daily to remove all hair from their brows, temples, and neck - some even plucked their eyelashes. The “New World” was no stranger to body hair removal either. Thomas Jefferson, and many others, wrote of some Native Americans’ depilatory obsession.

“With [Native Americans] it is disgraceful to be hairy on the body. They say it likens them to hogs. They therefore pluck the hair as fast as it appears.” - Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia

In the non-native US, body hair removal wasn’t really a big thing until the 20th century when we did a complete 180 on the subject. Before that Puritan values made sure that most body hair was covered by clothing so few bothered to remove it since no one was gonna see what was under all that cloth. Now recent studies say that 93 to 99 percent of American women regularly remove their body hair, making it one of our most widely practiced beauty norms. Girls as young as 10 are pressured into shaving, waxing, plucking, threading, anything to remove errant hairs as soon as they start to sprout. Refusal to do so leaves us open to bullying, both on the playground and in the office. Visible body hair can cost a woman jobs, promotions, and relationships so most of us remove it, no matter the cost. Which one study worked out to be more than $10,000 over the course of her life for the average American woman who shaves. If she waxes instead the bill goes over $23,000.

So what happened?

“Where eighteenth-century naturalists and explorers considered hair-free skin to be the strange obsession of indigenous peoples, Cold War-era commentators blithely described visible body hair on women as evidence of a filthy, ‘foreign’ lack of hygiene.” - Rebecca Herzig, Plucked, a History of Hair Removal

The driving forces behind hair removal in America are the same three that cause most of the nation’s problems: greed, sexism, and racism. Let’s go in chronological order. 

As the “Age of Enlightenment” began to secularize European politics, Imperialists needed a new excuse to justify their expansion into non-European territory. Naturalists like the still famous Charles Darwin handed them pseudoscience. It’s debatable whether or not these naturalists intended their work to be used as the foundation for white supremacist ideology that still plagues us today but there’s no question about how racists interpreted it. They saw evolution as a line that went from ape through colored people and ends at Aryan. Real science tells us that’s not at all correct and if anyone is closer to cave man it’s white people who often have Neanderthal in their DNA. But they didn’t have genetic sequencers back then so they used physical traits to “prove” it instead. Part of this was a gross mischaracterization that body hair could be used to determine a person’s place within the line of human evolution. They claimed people with coarse, dark hair were closer to apes and those with thin, light hair were more evolved. Guess who picked up on that concept in the 20th century.

Darwin further complicated matters in his attempt to explain why some white people were hairier than some indigenous populations by associating hairiness with evolutionary backsliding and mental illness.  

“[Hairiness in Europeans] is due to partial reversion; for characters which have been at some former period long inherited are always apt to return. We have seen that idiots are often very hairy, and they are apt to revert in other characters to a lower animal type.” - Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man

Other scientists and even medical experts of the time ran with this idea and before long the educated elite considered hairiness (along with other non-Aryan traits) to be a symptom of disease, insanity, and criminal violence. The uneducated masses were more familiar with freak show displays of unusually hairy people as “missing links” to our primate ancestors. Both cases considered having body hair to be a very bad thing. They’re also very bad science and not at all true.

Despite these very strong, racist feelings about body hair, it still wasn’t common for American women to remove it beyond the upper lip, neck, jaw, or between the eyebrows. Most women don’t have much hair there and those that did rarely had time or money to invest in removing it. Also they wouldn’t be caught dead admitting they had to so historical records might not be accurate about how many women actually plucked. For the first half of American history peach fuzz and other light hair was seen as normal and clothes covered the rest. But the 20th century not only saw women wearing less cloth and showing more skin it also saw them calling for gender equality. Critics of women’s liberation often accused suffragettes of sexual inversion - aka acting too much like men, which they saw as an abhorrent threat. To really drive this point home they often depicted women’s rights activists as being hairy, thus politicizing our pits. Pair this with the “hygiene” movement’s embrace of already mentioned racist views on body hair and you have a recipe for weaponized shame.

“Self-consciousness brings timidity, restrained action and awkwardness. The use of Del-a-tone relieves the mind from anxious watchfulness of movement.” - 1919 Del-a-tone depilatory advertisement

Enter Capitalism. Producers of hair removal products wanted to up sales so they did the exact same thing that was done with every other beauty product on the market - shame women into buying their stuff. It’s debatable if this was motivated purely by greed, in an attempt to reach an untapped market, or if the resulting gender oppression was intentional but men were spared of this aggressive shaming (until recently at least). Women, on the other hand, were flooded with advertisements for body hair removal products. From the first “razor for women” in 1915 to 21st century laser hair removal ads, women are constantly being reminded of our body hair. It doesn’t take a genius seeing ads that call smooth skin “attractive” or “sanitary” to extrapolate the opposite - that body hair is ugly, and dirty. A series of ads for Del-a-tone depilatory products even called it “necessary” for sleeveless fashion and suggests that not using their product will lead to social anxiety. Pair that with only ever using shaved models in all of fashion advertising and you send a pretty clear message: female body hair is something to be ashamed of. Advertising works. Now most American women actually feel gross if they’ve missed a shave, despite body hair being perfectly natural and not at all dirty. This disgust is so strong it has even bled over into an aversion toward male body hair which has seen a sharp decline in popularity since the shaggy chested disco days. Now men are being inundated with “manscaping” advertisements and expectations of manicured if not completely removed body hair.

So that’s the background but where’s this going?

While female body hair removal is firmly ingrained in western beauty standards, a new generation of women are rebelling against those ideals - body hair included. Recent studies have shown a shift in body hair trends among young women. Only 77% percent of women 16 to 24 reported regularly shaving their pits in 2016 and 85% shaved their legs, down from 95% and 92% respectively just two years prior. Since then we’ve started to see models, celebrities, and everyday women with unshaven pits and hairy legs. Body positivity campaigns have even gotten a few advertisers to include body hair in their ads. Now you can see razors actually shaving hair from women’s bodies instead of inexplicably running over baby smooth skin. 

Women have always told ourselves that hair removal is a choice but we’ve never before been encouraged to choose not doing it. Instead we’ve been brainwashed to think it’s dirty and disgusting and that no one will accept us for being hairy. Today’s young woman is actually presented with a choice, “to shave or not to shave” and a lot of them are choosing not to. Which is great news for people like me who have hirsutism and are sick of being shamed for how nature made us. 

But we’ve still got a very long way to go before I can be confident that my neck beard won’t hold me back both socially and professionally. A lot of the women who have publicly displayed body hair in recent years have come under attack by people calling them various shades of “gross” and some have even been sent death threats. It’s one thing for a rich and famous Hollywood movie star to take that kind of risk but for an autistic office worker living in a conservative backwater that’s a whole different game.

Whatever your thoughts and feelings on body hair, America still hasn’t escaped the shame of the last hundred years. Women are still very much judged for being hairy. A lot of people still think it’s gross. I’m not one of them but I’m full of unpopular opinions.

#body hair #body posititivity #history

[mysterioh]

The Ignorant Beauty and The Beast of New York - Ch. 12

PAIRING: MOB!STEVE ROGERS X READER

SYNOPSIS: Y/N is an exhausted bio major. Steve is danger with a capital DANGER. She thinks he’s a sarcastic prick with an impressive knowledge of art history. He thinks she’s cute even if she’s only running on one brain cell. All he wants is a single date, but she’s adamant upon denying.

A/N: For some reason my taglist didn’t work last time. Some people didn’t get a noti so make sure you read ch. 11. Link in masterlist!! 

Masterlist

Best Excercise For The Heart? Getting Chased by Mob. 

Peter's heart was beating on another plane of existence.

His palms were sweaty and stomach just a bit queasy. He knew he shouldn't have had such a big breakfast, but it's not like May would let him leave the house without at least three pancakes shoved into his mouth.

Bucky greets Peter by slapping his hand over his shoulder making him jump in surprise.

"Woah, chill out kid," Bucky said with a chuckle.

"Sorry," he shook his head. "I'm just a little nervous."

"I got ya," Bucky replied. "Listen there's nothing to it, you just gotta sit there. The boss is gonna do all the talking. He just wants us there for backup. Natasha can’t make it so you’re gonna take her spot."

"But why does he want me there?" Peter asked curiously, "I'm still new and–"

"The big guy thinks you've got a lot of potential," Bucky explained and Peter's eyes grow wide in shock. The mob king thought he had potential? He smiles in hiding, trying to not let it get to him. Too late. Head full. Pride skyrocketing.

"Truth is, I don't see it," Bucky stated flatly, "but he's weird like that."

"Thanks, you're so nice," Peter replied, mildly sarcastic, but Bucky lets it go just this once. He shakes him with another pat on the back.

"Come on, get in," he pushes him into the office.

Peter takes a seat next to Sam who gives him a friendly smirk. At least he thinks it's friendly. He really can't tell with those two.

Steve enters the room and Peter sits straight up. The kingpin smiles warmly. “You brought the kid.”

“You told us to,” Bucky replied.

“Right,” Steve said as if he forgot. “How’s it goin’ kid? You and your girl doin’ alright?”

“Yes Sir!” he replied quickly. Steve Rogers remembers that he has a girlfriend. Wow, what a nice guy.

“Now listen here,” Sam brought him back to earth. “When the guy comes don’t get all bouncy. Just chill out and relax.”

“Uh-huh,” he nodded.

“And don’t go blabbing random stuff, ya hear?” Bucky reminded him.

“I don’t do that!” he retorted.

“Only talk when spoken too, but never answer if you don’t know what to say,” Sam instructed. “Never show someone else that you’re unsure. Always be confident even when you’re not.”

“Talk but don’t talk,” Peter repeated. “Be confident even when you’re not. That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It makes perfect sense,” Bucky retorted. “You’re just stupid.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Don’t mess this up, kid or your ass is grass,” Sam warned, earning a loud, guttural groan from Peter.

Steve chuckled. “Listen, Pete, just go with your gut, ya hear? Just go with what you know, alright?”

“Yes, Sir!” He nodded like a child.

A knock came at the door and opened.

“Mr. Rogers,” the secretary popped her head through the door. “Mr. Rumlow is here.”

“Let him in,” Steve waved towards him. She opens the door wider and Brock Rumlow enters. Peter observes him. A scar running across his left cheek with beady black eyes that just screamed sneaky. Not even a word and the boy already knew he couldn’t be trusted.

"Mr. Rogers," Rumlow greeted, extending his hand.  

"Mr. Rumlow," Steve shook his hand, "Just call me Steve."

"So the rumors are true, you're an easy man to talk to."

"I just hate the formality and if we can," Steve stated, "let's finish this quick."

"Of course, I know you're a busy man." Rumlow smiles, taking a seat in front of him. "What I'm here for. What I want from you is help," he said. "I need money, investment money. I need three million dollars in cash," he explained further.

Peter's eyes widened. He spoke as if it was a small amount and Steve looked at him with utter nonchalance as if he's just asking for spare change.

"And what else?" Steve question, hooking his leg over the other, tapping the ash off of his cigarette.

"I need connections and you have very powerful friends," Rumlow continued. "I need those politicians you keep in your back pocket."

"And what's in it for us?"

"Forty percent," Rumlow stated. "And by the end of the year you'll be raking in around eight to ten million," he estimated.

"And the Lucchese?"

Rumlow chuckles. "I'll take care of them from my own share."

Steve ponders on the information for a bit. His expression was hard to read, leaving the rest in the room waiting in anticipation of his decision. He sat relaxed in his chair, not slumped, but confident and nonchalant.

"So, I get forty percent for finance, political influence, and legal protection?" He points out, extending his fingers as the list goes.

"That's right." Rumlow nodded.

"Why me though?" Steve questioned with a shake of the hand. "Why do I deserve all this generosity?"

Rumlow scoffs. "If three to four million is a small price for you, kingpin, then cheers to you."

Steve's eyes look at him sharply, then he smiles. To Peter, it's more dangerous than friendly.

"I've heard you're a businessman," Steve reminded him, burning out his cigarette in an ashtray. "A serious man needed to be treated with respect."

Rumlow's cocky smile falls and twists into a subtle scowl.

"The thing is I've been looking into this new drug you're proposing. This is nasty stuff worse than any other drug on the market as of now," Steve criticized and Rumlow wasn't pleased.

"Now let's just say this stuff hits it big. Bigger than crack and weed, which it probably will," he stood up and paced the office. "Those crackheads will take anything that gets 'em off for a good ten minutes. But let's just say hypothetically, it gets stuck in the hands of a policeman or even worse—a kid, and he gets caught smoking or even worse dead with that crap. That causes a major issue for me," he points at himself while standing in front of Rumlow.

Rumlow looks up at him and it's like he already knows the answer.

"Yeah, I've got a lot of friends, but I don't think the mayor would be so friendly if he knew I was caught up in this stuff," Steve remarked. "That thing you got is nasty."

"Mr. Rogers," he retorted firmly.

"Listen, I don't care what a man does for a living," Steve cut him off. "I mean look at me. But your business is a bit dangerous."

"If you're worried about your investment. The Lucchese will take care of it." Rumlow assured.

Steve shakes his head with a laugh. The Lucchese were going to insure him? What was he some second rate gangster?

"My answer is final, Mr. Rumlow. It's a no." Steve stated firmly. "Good luck with your business. I know you'll do very well and I wish you all the best. As best as your interests don't conflict with mine." He wished him with a warning in his tone.

Rumlow stands up with a scornful smile. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Rogers," he shook his hand. "I appreciate it."

"No problem," Steve said, placing his hand over their hands and giving it a final good shake. "Buck, please see Mr. Rumlow to the door."

"No, no," he replied. "That won't be necessary. I can find it myself," he nods and leaves the room. “Not like I found much help here anyway.”

"Hey, Pete," Steve said, he points his head towards the door, "follow him out from a distance."

Peter nodded, dashing for the door.

"You think we did the right thing?" Bucky asked, leaning against the desk.

"We can't risk our connections, Buck," Steve said, lighting another stick. "Besides, me? Insured by the Lucchese? Get the fuck outta here," Steve remarked, a chuckle coloring his words making the two erupt in laughter, filling the room with a lighter air.

"You know you don't have to walk me to the bus stop anymore." You said, walking out of the restaurant. "It's only a block away."

A sudden blow of wind rushes past, making you snuggle into the wool scarf wrapped around your neck. You dig your hands deeper into your pockets and look over at Steve to find him unphased by the freezing temperatures of January. Freak.

"I take my job as your bodyguard very seriously." He replied.

"You're not my bodyguard. I don't need a man to protect me." You retorted defiantly.

"Woah there, Susan B. Anthony," Steve put his hands up in surrender, "I was just saying. Don't get all feminist on me."

"And what's wrong with being feminist?" You jabbed.

"Nothing. I love women. All of them. They're amazing. Absolutely wonderful," he complimented. "But not in a creepy way. More of a respectful and cool kinda way."

"Just stop talking, you're making my head spin," you sighed, shaking your head.

"You're so dramatic," he nudged you with his shoulder.

"You're the dramatic one," you pointed out.

"Am not," he retorted.

"Are you joking me right now?" You asked incredulously. "Oh heavens no, she doesn't speak the language of arts whatever shall I do?" You acted breathlessly desperate. Steve rolled his eyes and kept walking.

"How can someone be so simpleminded? I guess I'll just die right here." You fainted against his shoulder with your hand on your forehead and a dramatic sigh.

He pushes you off of him, secretly liking how open you're being with him.

"Ha ha ha, you're hilarious," Steve deadpanned.

"Thanks, I know," you replied boastfully.  He snorts, looking away so you wouldn't see him smiling.

He failed. It was hard to miss that pretty smile of his. I didn't mean that. It was a completely objective observation.

Even if you told him not to walk you to the bus stop, you had to admit you enjoyed his company. Your cold cheeks were brushed with a numbing red, but the rest of you was warm. You didn't say a word the rest of the way there, just listened and watched.

You quietly listened to the distant drone of traffic, watched the lights of houses flip on and off. Cool steam rose from the sewer holes and swept along the asphalt of the street. There's not a soul in sight and what sane person would want to be out on a cold night like this? Your footsteps grew gradually slower not really in a hurry to get anywhere. Like they're trying to make the journey last as long as it can.

You don't know why, but the air feels tense. Heavy with something you can't really find a name for, but something you knew all too well. You pull your sweaty hands out of your pockets, stretching them to get some air through the cracks.

Steve watches his footsteps and how they're in sync with yours. He feels more at peace here with you than he's felt in the past week. You're like a remedy to all his problems.

When he's with you, the pressures of the mob slowly fade away. The burden of working over a hundred men and maintaining his power disappears for just a moment of time. When he's with you, he's not the kingpin, he's just Steve. Just a normal guy. You've never really seen him as anything else and he hopes it'll stay like that forever.

"That's strange," you said, checking your phone for the time while approaching the bus stop. "The bus is usually here by now."

"Maybe it's just a few minutes late?"

"Maybe."

The two of you waited for the bus patiently. Ten minutes had passed and the bus was nowhere to be seen. You looked from side to side to check the street and your eyes fell onto the car standing right across you. It was black with tinted windows. You recalled seeing the same exact car outside the restaurant and that part of your brain stuffed with crime shows is finally starting to crank its gears.

The car was off and there was a good chance that no one was inside, but you were never one to believe in coincidences.

"Steve," you said making sure not to look at the car again.

"Yeah?" He asked and from his face, you think he's already noticed.

"I might be crazy but I feel like I've seen the car across the street," you said, calmly. "At the restaurant."

"So have I," he nodded with a smile as if he's just having a casual conversation.

"Then what do we do?" You asked, shrugging.

"Let's just walk," he replied, pulling you along with him.

You walked down the sidewalk side by side and while your expression was calm, your insides were a frantic mess.

The quick rhythmic beat of your steps against the cracked sidewalks wasn't the only thing breaking the deafening silence of the street as the sound of car doors slamming and burly footsteps shuffled behind you slowly.

Your fingers intertwined with Steve's instinctively and he squeezes your hand tight. You look at him, heart thumping and thoughts racing.

"Hey, baby, don't worry, I got you." He gave you an amused smile, masking his own fear.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, or the second, or the third. It's happened many times just not with an innocent civilian by his side. He had a knack for being a bit reckless but with you here he couldn't take that risk. Your safety was his top priority.

You pouted with a huff. "Don't call me, baby," you warned, your strides growing wider to match his.

"At the corner, we make a run for it," he ordered.

You nodded, taking silent, deep breaths to calm your speeding heart. You didn't dare to take a look behind in fear of what you'd see. Not like you needed to see anything. The sound of their footsteps was enough to know that something was wrong, slow and anxiously needy. Each step towards the end of the street gets heavier. The ones behind getting dangerously closer.

Steve pulls on your hand as he makes a sharp turn at the bend, dragging you behind him like a kite in the wind. You don't even know how you're keeping up with him at this point. It's just one foot in front of the other powered by an extraordinary rush of adrenaline.

You can hear the baying howls of the men behind you, ordering you to stop as if you're actually going to do that.

Steve's death grip on your hand is the only thing that keeps you anchored to the real world. Your thoughts are blank and all you can think of how you're possibly going to get out of this.

There are two of you against at least five of them.

Scratch that. More like one and a half against five.

You're screwed. This was where you died and you didn't even get to graduate from college yet.

Steve takes a sharp left at the corner and squeezes you into a tight alleyway between two buildings.

You put your hand over your mouth, muffling the sound of your breathing. Heavy footsteps draw nearer and continue past the alleyway until they fade into the distance. Your hand drops to your side allowing you to take free breaths of fresh air.

"You okay?" Steve asked, catching his own breath.

You look up at him and nodded. "Yeah."

The alleyway was narrow, very narrow, and the two of you were pressed against each other with only enough wiggle room for one to move.

Steve's cheeks redden by the way your body is pressed against his in all the right places. Sure he's imagined it before, but not exactly like this.  He looks at everything but you, so he doesn’t lose himself.

He's not alone in his embarrassment as you start to heat up despite the frigid temperatures of a midwinter's night.

"D-do you–um–do you think they're gone?" You whispered.

He shrugs unknowingly. You squeeze past him just enough to stick your head out. You look to the left then to right.

"I think the coast is clear," you said, getting out of the tight spot. Steve follows suit and pats the dust off his clothes.

"Well that was something," he chuckles nervously.

You place your hands on your hips with a judgemental look. "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

Steve scratches the back of his head sheepishly.

In the distance, the shrill screeching of wheels blares in the night with a blinding light coming in your direction.

You should run, but your legs feel like mush and getting caught sounded better than running right now. Steve covers you with himself as the car slows just in front of you.

The window rolls down to reveal a cheeky Bucky.

Steve groans for the whole neighborhood to hear. "For fuck's sake, Buck, you scared the shit out of me."

You peek out from behind him to find Bucky. His eyes meet yours and he smirks devilishly.

"Sorry, big boss, been lookin' everywhere for you," he gets out of the car with a chuckle. "And of course I'd find you canoodling with ya girl."

"I am no one's girl," you stated firmly, jumping out from behind.

"Right. We're not there yet," Bucky replied and Steve might just snap his neck if he keeps talking. "Anyways my name's Bucky, I'm an old friend of Stevie's. Nice to finally meet ya," he extends his hand. You shake it warily. "That's Sam," he points at the man standing against the car behind him and I guess you already know Pete."

"Hi, Y/N!" Peter waves, falling out of the back window with a gummy smile on his face.

You gasp at the sight of the curly-haired boy. You run up to him at the window.

"Peter! What are you doing here?" You questioned. "Do you know what time it is? Go home to your girlfriend!"

"I wish." Peter sighed sadly, arms dangling out of the car. "But I can't, I'm on night duty."

"Listen," Bucky directed towards Steve, "we got some trouble down at the dock in the Bronx. We think it's Rumlow."

Steve mutters a curse underneath his breath.  

"I guess he's the same bastard that tried to kill me like five minutes ago," he cursed. "Can't take no for an answer."

"Who's Rumlow? And why is he trying to kill you?" You asked, eyes solely on Steve, questioning his every gesture.

Steve sighed, not really wanting you to get involved in all of this. He knew it'd happen someday, but not this fast.

"I think it's best if we not talk about this out in the open," Sam advised. "So get in the car."

"Best idea you've had all day, Sammy," Bucky noted opening his door.

"Shut up."

Peter opens the door and scoots over to let you in and you have no choice but to go in. After what just happened, there's no way you're walking home alone.

Steve sits right next to you and closes the door behind him, signaling Sam to drive. It's kind of awkward being stuck in a car with a bunch of mobsters, but beggars can't be choosers. At least you know they won't kill you.

"Nat's already at the house," Bucky told Steve. "She's the one who found out about the whole mixup in the Bronx."

Steve nodded with a cautious look in his eye. Bucky knew exactly what he was saying without him even saying a word.

"Not in front of her."

"So where exactly are we going?" You asked.

"My place," Steve replied.

Your heart skipped a beat at the thought.

"If it's not a problem can you just drop me home?"

"I could but then I'd be worried about you all night," Steve said and it goes straight to the tips of your ears. It shouldn't have. The three snickered at Steve, but he ignored them. "Stay over my place for the night?"

“What? No, I can’t.” you denied. "I don’t even think they saw me,” you noted. “So it’ll be fine.”

“You sure about that sis?" Sam asked with a chuckle. "The mob ain’t as simple as it sounds. They’re probably already trying to figure out who you are.”

“Stop scaring her," Steve warned.

“I’m not scared.” you retorted. “I just don’t wanna intrude.”

“Or get involved," Bucky added.

“Maybe that too. So just drop me off please? I’ve got class in the morning.”

“Sorry, I can’t let that happen," Steve shakes his head in denial. "After what happened tonight who knows what’s gonna happen? I mean they could be trailing us for all we know. You really want those goons knowing where you live?”

“No," you whispered. You didn't think about it like that.

“Then just for tonight, okay?" He places his hand on top of yours and it feels nice, but not enough for you to accept. "I’ll drop you off first thing in the morning.”

“Don’t worry,” Bucky turned towards you from the front. “Stevie’s got a really nice place. With big fancy iron gates and a giant fountain. Never-ending fridge. The whole shebang."

Steve rolls his eyes. Sometimes he questioned why he even knew Bucky.  

"Besides you'll love Lucky," Sam pointed out.

You furrowed your brows in confusion. "Lucky? Who's Lucky?"

"It's the boss's dog," Peter answered.

Your jaw goes slack in shock. "YOU HAVE A DOG?"

"Yeah," he said nonchalantly.

"WHAT KIND?" You questioned shaking his arm violently, "HOW OLD?"

"It's a Samoyed and two." He replied, pushed up against the door by the way you're bouncing on the seat.

"Okay let's go to your place," you agreed. Steve chuckles with a shake of the head. "Hey, Sam right?"

"Yeah?"

"No offense man, but can you drive any faster?" You questioned.

"I don't want a speeding ticket," Sam confessed.

You look at him incredulously.

"The Brooklyn Mob is just a bunch of twinks," you jeered.

"Hey!" Steve exclaimed.

"And you're the biggest one."

TAGLIST: @ashwarren32​ @chuckennuggets1213​ @captainchrisstan​ @rootcrop​ @savedbystark​ @siriusement​ @little-dark-empress​ @great-goddess-of-sin​ @scuzmunkie​ @achishisha​ @calwitch​ @thirstybunz​ @littlebees-things​ @booktease21​ @rinkashirikitateku​ @voltage-my2dlove​ @boxofteenageideas​ @imsonick​

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers #mob!steve #mob!steve rogers x reader #mobster steve rogers x reader #mob!steve rogers x you #mob au #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers fluff

[melodiouswhite]

Classic literature vine compilation - others, pt. 02

Victor Frankenstein: I'm not going to conversate with you. I'm not going to invest time-

Frankenstein's Creature: I think it's "converse".

Victor: Huh?

Creature: Just say "talk".

---

Victor Frankenstein: Everytime I go out there, I feel I do my best, but they don't!

Dr. Henry Jekyll: Let me ask you a very fair question: What do you do successfully?

Dr. Jekyll: Quickly.

Victor: …

---

Dr. Faust: Boys, what do you want to eat?

Edward Hyde: ThE SoUlS oF tHe InNoCeNt.

Frankenstein's Creature: A bagel.

Hyde: NO!!!

Creature: Two bagels.

---

Victor Frankenstein: Dr. Jekyll, are you talking to yourself?

Dr. Henry Jekyll: *sighs* Yes, it's the only way I can have an intelligent conversation.

Victor: … :(

---

Dr. Henry Jekyll: You overrated twink!

Victor Frankenstein: I'm not a twink! I'm a twunk!

Dr. Faust: *off-screen* OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS, DID YOU HEAR THAT?! THE SQUIRT THINKS HE'S A TWUNK!!!

*laughter in the background*

Dr. Jekyll: *grins* You were saying?

Victor: … I hate you all.

---

Victor Frankenstein: I did a bad thing.

Dr. Faust: Does it affect me in any way?

Victor: … No?

Dr. Faust: ThEn SuFfEr In SiLeNcE.

---

*Victor Frankenstein, Edward Hyde and Dr. Faust, in prison for alleged male prostitution.*

Victor: Nicolas! Thank God, you're here!

Nicolas Flamel: Arrested for male prostitution, I can't believe it!

Dr. Faust: Nicolas, we're innocent!

Nicolas Flamel: I know that, I can't believe those dumb Bobbies would think anyone would pay money to sleep with you!

Hyde: Oh, actually-

Victor & Dr. Faust: *cover his mouth* Shhhh!

---

Dr. Faust in 1541: So I succeeded in making myself immortal, but I can't let anyone know, because they're already hunting me down like a heretic, so I'll blow up a hotel and fake my death.

People, after finding a grievously mutilated flesh Dummie, following the explosion: Oh, the Devil finally collected him!

Dr. Faust, from a hidden spot: … Well, it worked. -_-

---

Dr. Faust, after watching Goethe's play about him: Wtf did I just watch?! This is so wildly inaccurate, I can't even-

---

Dr. Faust: I'll have you know, that I'm a sweet treat!

Nicolas & Perenelle Flamel: …

Dr. Faust: I'm a fucking delight to be around, okay?!

---

Dr. Faust: He, Victor!

Victor Frankenstein: Yeah?

Dr. Faust: Just a teeny question!

Victor: Sure, what is it?

Dr. Faust: I need an assistant. Someone who's intelligent, has a modicum of pragmatism and ISN'T Nicolas.

Victor: *excited* Oh, I'd be happy to-

Dr. Faust: Can I have that homunculus of yours?

Victor: *crestfallen* Oh … sure.

Dr. Faust: YES!!!

---

Frankenstein's Creature: *tells Dr. Faust his story*

Dr. Faust: *inhales slowly*

Dr. Faust, to Victor Frankenstein: Victor … you're one piece of shit.

Victor: Wut.

---

Dr. Faust, to Dr. Henry Jekyll: So you actually finished school and have several doctorates and other degrees in many different fields?

Dr. Jekyll: Yes?

Dr. Faust: You're a rigorous note-taker?

Dr. Jekyll: Yes.

Dr. Faust: And you don't shy away from risks to self to obtain greater knowledge?

Dr. Jekyll: No!

Dr. Faust, to Victor Frankenstein: You're dead to me, kid. Dr. Jekyll is my new scientific partner.

Victor: D:<

Dr. Jekyll: … *overwhelmed* Thank you.

---

Dr. Faust: Bro!

Frankenstein's Creature: *waving a handless arm* Yo!

Dr. Faust: What the fuck?

Frankenstein's Creature: Oh, I didn't tell you, I lost a hand!

Dr. Faust: What do you mean, you just lost a hand?!

---

Victor Frankenstein: Hey, Johann!

Dr. Faust: Hm?

Victor: You seem to be very fascinated in my creature-

Dr. Faust: Well, duh! He's an artificially created human, of course I'm fascinated! Every alchemist would be thrilled to have a real homunculus around!

Victor: But since you like mine so much … why did you never make one yourself?

Dr. Faust: *considers* ... Well, I have thought about it, but the only valid reason for me to make one would be the wish to have a companion, or a friend.

Victor: But you have friends.

Dr. Faust: Exactly. Besides *glares at Victor* Why would I create an artificial life, when I can just adopt a child?

Victor: … You're still sour about what he told you, aren't you?

Dr. Faust: Yes, actually. What exactly did you expect someone composed of rotting flesh, body parts and even muscles taken from different people to look like?!

---

Dr. Faust: *reads his way through Dr. Henry Jekyll's notes* Hmm … interesting. Not bad, I'm impressed.

Dr. Jekyll: *excited* Really?!

Dr. Faust: Really. Your notes are very detailed and make it easy for me to understand what exactly you do. You got a some things wrong about human nature, though.

Dr. Jekyll: *awkwardly* I know … those old notes embarrass me, actually.

Dr. Faust: Well, you know how the saying goes: errare humanum est. And taking notes helps to self-reflect. Besides *grins* you're only fifty years old and you're not Luise either.

Dr. Jekyll: …

Dr. Faust: … I did it again, didn't I?

Dr. Jekyll: Did what?

Dr. Faust: Be condescending. Sorry, I didn't mean to. It just happens sometimes.

Dr. Jekyll: It's fine. ^^

---

Dr. Faust: Okay, so I am Dr. Faust himself, but what about it? I'm not that great, Frankenstein should have realised that by now! So why is he always in my face?!

Perenelle Flamel: Victor? He loves you!

Dr. Faust: Wut.

Perenelle: *sighs* Jean … he has a crush on you.

Dr. Faust: Okay, wtf, wtf, wtf, hell to the no!

Perenelle: What's wrong-

Dr. Faust: Apart from the fact that I'm incapable of being in love? I don't like that kid at all! I've never even treated him well, what the heck!

Perenelle: Jean, calm down!

Dr. Faust: I do not like this! Hm. Looks like I have to be more of an arsehole to him to get rid of his puppy love-

Perenelle: *picks up a broom* I DON'T THINK SO!!!

---

Frankenstein's Creature: Verily I say unto thee: lay thine eyes upon the field in which my fucks are grown. And behold that it is barren. Mood 24/7.

---

Evil scientists: We did some scientific research with this girl-

Victor Frankenstein: You screwed up a perfectly good child, that's what you did! Look at her, she's crippled and traumatised for life!

10yo Luise: Q_Q

---

Dr. Faust: For the first time in my life, I feel over 200!

Nicolas Flamel: You know why that is, mon chér?

Dr. Faust: Why?

Nicolas: *deadpan* Because you're over 400.

---

Victor Frankenstein: Johann, can I borrow your golden-framed glasses, your gold watch and your golden chain?

Dr. Faust: *suspiciously* Are you planning to come back?

---

Dr. Faust, about Victor Frankenstein: Why did I agree to take that brat as my apprentice?

Perenelle Flamel: Because you two 'ad a one-night-stand.

Dr. Faust: …

The Flamels: …

Dr. Faust: *sighs* Why did I ever let that happen?

Nicolas Flamel: Because you two got drunk.

Dr. Faust: Why am I even discussing this with you two?!

The Flamels: *shrug* Beats the 'ell out of us.

---

Victor Frankenstein: I was never once robbed or murdered, when I lived with Elizabeth!

Dr. Faust: … Look, you could just as easily have been murdered, living with Elizabeth!

Frankenstein's Creature: I'm surprised he wasn't murdered BY Elizabeth!

Victor, the Flamels and Dr. Faust: …

---

Victor Frankenstein, to Nicolas Flamel and Dr. Faust: What do you think goes better with my waistcoat? The watch or the chain?

Dr. Faust: The watch.

Nicolas: *shakes his head* An amateur's mistake. Can't you see that the chain of the watch accentuates 'is emaciated posture?

Dr. Faust: Well, that may be, but the silver chain draws attention to his nonexistent shoulders!

Nicolas: Yes, but the watch leads the eye even lower - to that 'uge spare tire! Jutting out over those broad birthing 'ips!

Victor: *deadpan* Why don't I just wear a sign that says: "Too ugly to live"?

Nicolas: Fine. But what are you going to 'ang it from, the chain or the watch?

Victor: NEITHER, I'M GOING TO SPRAY-PAINT IT ON MY HUMP!

---

Victor Frankenstein, to the Flamels: Tell me, why do you have no children?

Nicolas & Perenelle Flamel: *burst into tears*

Dr. Faust: *death-glares at Victor*

Victor: Oh crap, I'm sorry!

---

Dr. Faust: Ooo, they make me so mad, I'm gonna fly to Antarctica and shoot a penguin! *runs off* They're so stupid, they're so stupid!

Victor Frankenstein: *silently contemplates wtf Johann was drinking earlier*

---

Victor Frankenstein: *first time drunk* Hey, betcha I can hit this note? Ü

Frankenstein's Creature: Nonono, please don't-

Victor: *shrieks badly*

Perenelle Flamel's wine glass: *shatters*

#The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde #Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde #Dr. Jekyll #henry jekyll #Mr. Hyde #edward hyde #frankenstein #frankensteins creature #victor frankenstein #dr faustus #johann georg faust #oc #perenelle flamel #nicolas flamel #crossover

[businessbusy-love]

Reason why you need to manufacture your products yourself

we're going to discuss why you need to manufacture your products yourself now I know I've been talking a lot about manufacturing in the previous videos any advantages of how much money you can make by yourself and that you don't need anybody else in this day and age but Want to go into a little detail here so let's say you do have a simple plastic product that you want to make you don't make it yourself what you do is you design it yourself and then you farm out all the injection molding processes you're not going to bring in some giant injection molding machine to get start edit's a waste of time you don't have the space. You have to know the business current affairs to be success.

Those machinesare really expensive they take a lot of skill to run you need to make the moldsand it goes on and on and on the electric bill the employees you don'twant all that you're an inventor looking to make good money in the simplest waypossible I call people lazy for coming up with their ideas and then not doingaging with them other than trying to sell them to other people but the reality of it is we also don't want to work too hard either we want to work efficiently for the maximum amount of money and we do that by manufacturingthem ourselves think about this even a 30 $40 item through business news. 

If you can make $10 on eachitem after you've shipped it out the door to your distributor reseller oreven retail imagine how much money you can make simply just selling you know to300 units to 300 units at a $10 profit each is two to three thousand dollarsfor very little effort if all you're doing is slapping labels on and you needa bedroom or a basement or a garage somewhere just to store a few of them asthey arrive from whoever's manufacturing them for you this is a win win it shouldbe a dream come true for you guys. 

It's the way I started when I first started Iwas making a hundred pieces out of aluminum at a time I had a bunch oflittle aluminum parts I would have a made at the machine shop take them overto the anodized pick him up from there bring him homeand my wife and I would sit at a table in my garage and we'd put them togetherit really it was just a weekend and part time job but here's a thing about whenyou price your products correctly now those products of mine were sellingfor two three four hundred dollars apiecethey took me about 10 15 minutes to assemble but I was doubling triplingquadrupling what it was actually costing me to make them so when I was sellingthem at a few hundred dollars and only selling twenty thirty of them a week Iwas making thousands of dollars I mean literally out the gate. 

I started makingfifty a hundred thousand dollars with my first it was one product that I didn'tspun off to two products to raise the revenue a little bit more that went tothree then went to four five six products and then that was it and I didthat for god I think five six seven years by the time I was done with thatsimple product that only cost me a few thousand dollars for that initial run ofa hundred pieces I made close to a million dollars in the life of that oneseries of product that was it that was a five year run and a million dollars overfive years is pretty darn good when you consider. 

I was working fulltime in the movie industry and then coming home and just doing that as aside thing instead of watching TV those products they took me two days to makein my garage the original prototypes and then a fewhours to drill out the parts and also go over to the machine shop and talk withthem but once the machine shop had it in her hands they did all the workit was easy it was just me picking up the parts when they were done takingthem to the anodized ER waiting a few days getting the colored parts back andyou've seen anodizing in the previous videos I talked about it but you cangoogle it or look here on YouTube if you're not sure what I mean it's ahardening colouring process that they use onaluminum and some other materials it's actually a ceramic coating which isinteresting in fact aluminum becomes non conductive after you anodized it whichis really interesting because of the coating it's a process that you justdrop the parts off you wait you wait for them to be done you pick them up youtake everything home you buy your screws whatever else you need you keep them inbags on a shelf and you assemble them as you go it's kind of a no-brainer but nowyou can control your destiny with your products and here's the other thing weneed to talk about this. 

And I'm not gonna go just pro-america here I'm gonnatalk about America and I'm gonna talk about Europe and I'm even gonna talk tomy Indian friends because I seem to have a lot of like 5% of the people on hereare from India and I know they're coming from croire and that's one of the othervideos that I showed you on how you can use Quora to attract video views so Iknow that about 5% is Indian you guys have the opportunity in India with allyour little manufacturing facilities around you to make anything you wantcheaply and then put them on eBay and sell them worldwide and then us inAmerica forget about what they have available to them we have everythingavailable to us in every state I will be surprised if you guys in any state inthe United States cannot find a machine shop and an anodized er I guarantee youcan find both and if you need screws and all that other stuff you order it onlineit's you know that everything's right there it comes in the mail here. 

If Iorder from McMaster Claire in the morning my screws are here within fourhours so you have no excuse in America everything is available to you in aninstant it's really convenient and great for you to grow your business now allyou need is a small space in your apartment or house realistically couldbe a closet I mean my wife you know she didn't mind the garage but as thebusiness started to grow it took over the house so she would complain aboutthat but so I did have to move beyond thehouse pretty quickly but it was easy for years just to stock boxes on the shelvesand ship them after about five years of doing that I was looking for the biggeryou know the bigger revenue and that's when I came up with the product attractstick the last one I was talking about was hobby camp and that's no longeraround so I really didn't mention it but track stick you can go to the websitewhen I started thinking about track stick it was a couple years after 9/11and I knew there was some concern in the world about terrorism so that's whatgave me the idea for track stick it was a product that I designed completelyhands-off when I made track stick I knew I wanted it to be big and there wereonly two ways I could do that one way would have been to invest in equipmentlike you see here but this isn't even really high speed equipment this is justfor me to do small batch runs when we're talking high speed thousands of boardsyou need much bigger pick-and-place machines and I didn't want to get intoall that I'm in California I didn't want the rent the electricity to theemployees all the insurance all the retirement expenses the medical and itgoes on and on and on I was young I was like got 32 years old. 

I wanted to stillbe able to have fun travel the world it's what you want to do it's up to youif you want that responsibility I know a lot of guys that just drive off of thatI didn't want that I didn't want the risk of going out of business I didn'twant the risk of not being able to pay the rent those types of things but Icould tell you one thing I learned if you do it you will figure out a way topay the bills no matter how much more they are than the bills you have nowit's an amazing thing I've been saying I'm worried about the rent or themortgages or all the other costs for 20 years now I haven't gone bankrupt yetin fact I've done quite well I may not have you know the huge facilities likeyou see on some of these youtube channels with the manufacturing but mostof them aren't in California where real estate is really expensive and there area few like one of the guys I love is Titan C&C look him up he talks aboutmanufacturing in in America I could not take the pressureof his responsibilities he's actually talked about how he's going bankrupt afew time his credit is bad he's nearly lost his businesses I I would I wouldlose my hair that. 

I love it would all turn gray first and that's not what I'mlooking to do it's up to you if you have the money if you have the balls to beable to put up with that go for it I don't have it and I'm not ashamed toadmit that I don't have that kind of risk taking ability I tend to just do itlittle baby steps at the time and as I make profits pay my taxes that's anotherthing when you make money taxes are coming so don't forget that I can't tellyou how many Kickstarter projects I've seen go under not because they didn'tship a product but because of the taxes you and you're an inventor you're abusinessman too this is another thing we will talk about it in the future but notonly are there responsibilities for bills the taxes can be hugeand in California believe me they come knocking they come looking for youso you need to think about that that as you become successful you are a targetfor the taxman so prepare for it and these are the realities of manufacturingand it's really not manufacturing we're talking about in most cases here we'retalking about micro manufacturing we're talking about 100 200 500 pieces at atime we're talking about not big investments for you guys I know theprices if you do all aluminum products if you do injection molded parts you canmany times get in depending on your product to three to five thousanddollars at the most for your first product I think that's a good risktolerance and then as you grow you take on a little more maybe a fifteenthousand dollar product here's another hint so my most successful products andthis has been pretty consistent I have products that have cost meanywhere from $2,000 to make up to a quarter of a millionand I will tell you a little secret my most successful products this is true mymost successful products have cost me anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000 to makenow I have made hundreds of thousands of dollars in mistakes along the way takingthose $3,000 products to market I don't have to make those mistakes anymore butI did in the beginning I mean my track stick technically cost me less than$10,000 to invent but I blew twenty thousand dollars of my own money makingmy first mold that was useless because I wound up hiring people that had nevermade molds before and they were like two thousand miles away and here's thekicker so I blew twenty thousand dollars on that mold and I was so upset about itand I started googling there was a mold maker within walking distance of myhouse in California then. 

I wound up hiring and I think he did my first moldit was about 15,000 I told him I went broke for 20 grand could he please makemy next fold for 15 and I promised that I would give him more business which Idid I made about 10 molds with the guy it was just incredible the learningexperience and how much I could have saved if I knew ahead of time but that'slife and that's why we talked about you need to get out there and you need tostart talking to these people and learning the processes so you don't makethe same mistakes that I made in the beginning and if you are learningsomething from these videos I hope you're subscribing you're leavingcomments below you're giving me a thumbs up because I want to help I also want togrow this channel and you know I want to be here for you guys because it'sexciting as you guys are making things and talking to me it really encouragesme to keep going even when I have such a low view countright now thanks to YouTube and its new algorithms but we'll getthat if you just keep on leaving me comments so that I know were punchingthrough the slow views I don't care how many people are viewing this what I careabout is that the ones that are viewing this channel are learning something andimplementing it that's what you need to do because if you just start doing somemicro manufacturing invest a few thousand maybe and I know this in Indiayou guys are probably investing a few hundred the equivalent of a few hundreddollars with your friends and they're making you product so anybody can dothis in America it's gonna cost us a little more because we do have differentlaws and restrictions that don't allow us to be that cheap Europe the same wayEurope's going to be a little more expensive for manufacturing than inAmerica and definitely more than it's gonna cost in Asia but it doesn't matterit depends on what your interests are where you want to make your productswhat your commitment is I am like 100 percent make it in America butunfortunately in California because of all the environmental laws and all theother restrictions most of the time I get prices that are three times the costof what they are to make in Asia so you know if they can't compete you can'tjust say oh okay. 

I'll pay three times more that three timesrepresents the entire cost of my product which means that they've raised theprice by three times at the same C shops my retail is going to double my cost tothe distributors is probably going to triple I'm gonna price myself right outof the market so when it comes to manufacturing you'regonna have to pick all different places if you know something's cheap to makearound the corner do it around the corner don't send it to Asia you know doit locally but at the same time if you're good if you have a part that'smachined and let's say it'll cost you 75 dollars to make in the US but China willsell to you for $30 a piece in a quantity of 100 where do you think youhave to go you're going to have to go to Asia toChina and I'm going to mention Titan C&C again because I'm watching his videosthis guy gets me pumped up I mean he's different he's differentjust like I'm different big guy big strong guy I'll put a link down belowand he he's a genius I know a genius when I see one this guy's so smart andthe way he looks he may not even realize how smart he is because he talks aboutmachining like I've never heard it talked about before and I know machinisthe has beautiful shops Titan C&C has shops that you could eat off the floorseverything is pristine when I look at his machines they shine there's no chipsthere's no oil they're beautiful and it's not because he's not using them andthey're brand new this guy loves what he's doing and he's pumping me upbecause I gotta say he's making stuff in the US I'm saying make stuff in the USwe're both doing it and you can too and if you're in Asia make it in Asia ifyou're in Europe make it in Europe make your commitment to the people around youthat's all that's important it's not about nationalism it's aboutmanufacturing because manufacturing is what made America great we all need tomanufacture if we want to see our countries do well so look at Titan andwhat he says the only way that America is going to compete in the world is ifthe machines make the parts quicker we already know that especially inCalifornia labor is expensive and the liability that goes with itit is prohibitive for companies. 

it does create a burden for companies so what hesays is you hire less people but you make the machines run quicker you buynewer machines you program so they're fastyou make efficient ways to manufacture so you can get more product out the doornow I should listen to this advice because the stuff that I run on thesemachines many times gets back ordered by days by weeks it's frustrating for mebecause I can never predict the amount of sales that I'm going to get and nomatter what I put on the Shelf it seems to sell out so you can actually and thisis a weird thing about business even though my profits on purpose are high Ican actually put myself out of business by making too much product yes I knowthat people are going to buy it but at what cost to me in terms of stocking iton the shelves Titan talked about this too we're a company said we need to stopour orders but he kept going and these were expensive millions of dollars inparts it was actually a hundred million dollar contract you can look at hisvideo he just said you know what they're gonna come back and they're gonna ordermore so I'll just start keep making them for weeks maybe months he went on and hemade all these parts they never came back for them so when you do this yougot to watch how many you put on yourself manufacturing is a game youjuggle how many do I make versus how many I think are going to sell not howmany are actually selling because remember there's a delay after orderparts from Asia I order parts from down the street they all take time to come inthen there's processes like anodizing painting whatever processes you add tothat they all take time and god forbid one of those manufacturers get busybecause then the time that you normally get them in becomes longer so when itcomes to manufacturing start thinking of a plan because that's how you're gonnamake your money you.

If you need many business blogs like this then you can visit VISHLOGIC BUSINESS.

#business #business guide #bussiness news #vishlogic

[ortegatrash]

The Farm Sucks

Name: Léon Bellandini | Puppet: Simba | Villain name: Pride

Daring/arrogant/fighter/lots of contacts/gang leader.

Warnings: Mentions of animal cruelty/death, mistaken for suicidal, implied past sexual abuse and general abuse, memory problems

You were always a bit more defiant than the rest.

It got you punished, and you reveled in it. Because any attention was good. Because it stopped them treating you like you were nothing to them, you would rather being scorned and hated than to be nothing. They were everything, they were your world because you had nothing else and you wanted so badly just to matter.

Every time you tried to escape, they would take you and wash you down with a hose. They took pleasure in forcibly shaving your head and branding you where people couldn't see, like livestock. To prevent lice, they said. There's a patch at the back of your head that doesn't grow hair anymore because of the way they hurt you for their amusement.

A toy isn't satisfying if you can't get emotionally invested in it, after all.

You hate them for everything they've done to you, all the ways they used you and took joy in your suffering. You're never going to be a nobody again.

To complete your transformation you had enlisted Ortega's help in picking out a wardrobe. It meant enduring his delighted teasing and questioning about if there was someone in your life you wanted to impress but you think it was worth it. If he's going to be vain, you might as well take advantage of his expertise.

You're gonna dress well and look good in it, dammit.

And look good you do. Even Ortega was impressed, you certainly have cleaned up nicely since you started working out again and taking care of your appearance. Sharp tailored suits and tasteful, bold signet rings, just the tiniest hint of something a little wicked and dark lurking under the surface.

Now you look like someone worthy of respect. Someone dangerous. Someone who has the money and power to make life very difficult for people who dare crosses you.

Maybe it's a little over the top, but you even got a nice throne gilded with gold leaf put into your base to lounge upon. What's the use of having everything if you can't indulge?

Besides. All the gold and velvet makes your inner child happy.

You certainly look the part of a mob boss by now with treasure hoard of jewellery and enough jewelled rings on your fingers for your minions to kiss they can choose from every colour of the rainbow.

You've got decades of being a tool to overcompensate for and really indulge your vanity. Growing your hair long in a middle finger to The Farm- no more uniform military cuts for you, no exposed barcode on the back of your head.

No more denial of your individuality.

---

It's not all easy. Los Diablos is built on suffering and you refuse to be the victim any longer.

If they won't fight fair, why should you?

...It shouldn’t bother you. Doesn’t, really. They mean nothing to you, these people. They exist only to be something to envy - didn’t someone say once that ignorance was bliss?

It must be nice to be so thoughtless and empty-headed that you can’t see the poison that runs through the city. It’s in the streets, the very veins of Los Diablos - this whole filthy place is sick.

The footbridge creaks as you step upon the rusted metal panels, otherwise deserted. Humans like mindless ants swarm the trains below, a steady flow, a pattern that goes unbroken and unquestioned.

It makes you snort.

How easy it would be to crush them all, just like the ants they look like.

How easy it would be to find someone unscrupulous enough to rig up a bomb with your contacts. How easy it would be to talk your way into restricted areas and plant them all under their very feet.

You’ve had enough experience to know that while explosions and destruction are amazing and fun in the moment, somehow the victory feels hollow. Because it doesn’t matter in the end. There’s just no real point in the short-term serotonin rush that comes with petty destruction, especially if no one of actual worth is watching.

Besides, you...you have standards. You’ll only kill those who get in the way, not innocent civilians.

There’s a strange feeling of dread when you think about it. Making your first kill. Makes you hold your breath as you lean against the shaky railing and watch the giant metal murder machines go by underneath you. Or, well, trains, but they could run someone down just as well as you could just because someone got in the way.

And yet. And yet all you want to do is ravage the world that fucked you so hard.

Who knew it would be so hard to remain cool and collected with power when all you want to do is bring the city to ruin and delight in its ashes?

To see them bow and cower before you as you take over this hellhole?

Fuck, that’s a sexy thought.

“Hey, you doing alright, man?”

You’re startled out of your thoughts. Who?

A man stares at you, dark hand extended out and barely visible in the fading light. He’s treating you like a stray cat that he doesn’t want to scare off.

Oh.

He thinks...he thinks you’re going to jump.

The sigh that escapes you doesn’t fail to catch his attention. “I know life can be hard, but this isn’t-”

It’d be so much easier if he weren’t trying to help. That’s why you swallow your annoyance and impatience and paste on a charming smile. It’s almost reflexive by now to twist his confusion and concern into remembering he was going to be late for his train, why did he just stop just now?

You watch the man sprint down the stairs and miss it by seconds, cursing his inattention. Something in you drives you to reach across mentally, to push that frustration aside. Push it into awe and surprised appreciation at the setting sun behind you, it’s been so long since he stopped to appreciate the world, he knows how it feels to feel hopeless and alone, that’s why he stopped to help-

Help who?

-A silhouette bathed in red, gazing down at the tracks below-

No! you frown and push harder, concentrating on a proper distraction. Fix this problem you just created for yourself. Send out your senses - who could you use? Hm, there’s a young lady by the ticket machine, failed her nursing exam and doesn’t know how to break it to her family. Yes, strengthen that thread - what is she going to do with herself, they’re going to be so disappointed in her. If only she had someone to talk to, a friendly ear, someone who didn’t know her, wouldn’t judge.

Tears, she visibly droops and starts trembling. There’s no one else around except the retiree who’s fallen asleep and the cleaner who’s already disillusioned enough with life that he would just tell her to suck it up.

Yes, that’s right. Sob loud enough for him to hear. He blinks, suddenly taking notice of the girl behind him and losing hold of the muddled confusion that he’d just forgotten something.

There’s something very satisfying in being able to do something like this, you think, watching the girl break down in tears as the man comforts her. As they both are strengthened ultimately by the interaction despite the circumstances that brought them together. The way she tearfully leaves her number in the phone of the blushing man.

It’s all played out just like you imagined.

How...predictable.

---

4am is perhaps more familiar to you than 4pm.

The world is quiet. A still moment in black and white, just like out of those film noir clips.

You breathe in the smoke and imagine your life was as romantic as the films made it out to be.

You have the tailored suits. The tattoos on your knuckles, the underlings to do your every command.

They don't talk about the messiness of seeing life leaving the world in your hands, evaporating like the heat of a cooling body in the snow. A morbid picture, painted in red.

They don't talk about the distasteful things, like evacuating their bowels, the frightening things people will stoop to when brought to their lowest. When you see what people are when you strip away the veneer of civilisation from them and you're left only with a terrified beast.

The way their bodies jerk to the ground reminds you of it, sometimes.

Snowball, you called her. You'd been curious, wary of her at first. Her twitchy nose and soft ears fascinated you but the handlers were watching and you didn't want to risk messing up so soon after last time.

Your mission was to take care of her. A trial bodyguard mission for a defect-filled asset that wasn't much of an asset at all. They were starting to get impatient with you, you know - it was a thin line between daring enough to get away with it and ending up being made 'redundant'.

So you just stood there. Stared at her, munching contently at her carrot.

"It's not going to bite you." The new handler is different from the others. You call her Red for her hair, it's not like they ever identify themselves to you. She doesn't scream at your uselessness when you don't react to their satisfaction, she doesn't get distracted by a colleague and leave you abandoned in a dark room for nine hours because she forgot to put you away.

You still hesitate - does she want an answer? Does she want you to take the initiative? Does she just want you to follow only her stated orders, is this just a test?

You can't tell and that frustrates you.

Reading their minds is forbidden unless expressly stated, but she's tapping her pen impatiently like she's expecting you to draw the real orders from her  brain.

What to do. What to do?

Remain obedient and only react to what she commands you to do? Or make a move, taking the guess that it's what she actually wants from you? It's a gamble on what will get you punished.

...To hell with it. You don't care anymore.

Wordlessly, you step over to the rabbit and kneel down.

Looking back up at her gives you no clues - no changes in expression that would reveal approval or disapproval. That...you're probably okay for now, it seems.

Probably.

Her fur is so incredibly soft under your hand. It feels like you could break her if you accidentally mishandled her.

It's the first thing you ever have for yourself and you love this little creature that is so dependent on you and looks up at you with such dark, trusting eyes.

---

Red encourages you to get familiar with the clients.

So you make sure to practice her orders. And, well, if you spend more time than you need brushing her fur and calming her when she's stressed, that's confidential information between you and your 'client', isn't it?

---

The newest training mission briefing reads as follows:

Your client is revealed to be a mole working for the enemy. Dispatch of them personally.

You're punished severely for acting out and getting caught in the middle of the night sneaking out of the facilities, but Snowball gets  safely past the fence once you distract the dogs into attacking you instead of her.

---

For your disobedience, you're made to dispose of newborn rabbits while they watch.

---

They punish you for sobbing afterwards.

---

They also punish you for assaulting  Red for putting you through that.

---

The dogs always get you when you run. You're not as fast as a rabbit.

---

You lose track of the punishments.

---

Sometimes you forget. You can't help it, they teach you lessons and you keep forgetting and they just get so angry at you

It's better than the darkness

It's better when they're mad, because it's better than being forgotten

You hate being forgotten and you hate forgetting, one day you are going to forget yourself and that's the worst thing of all

You don't even know why they're angry with you but you wake up one day with dried blood on your hands and that handler that touched you never appears again

Red is so pleased with you  though that it doesn't matter. "That's right, little one, you are mine," she tells you. "No one else will ever touch you in my care."

No one else.

---

She makes sure of it.

---

They keep teaching you lessons for all your disobedience and you, you keep on doing it all over again

---

Red's not so new a handler anymore, but they never give you their names. Why would they introduce themselves to a thing?

She's still just Red. She says she loves you and asks you to say it back.

It feels weird on your lips.

---

She gives you a kiss on the forehead for following orders  and being good for once.

You despise her. You love her. She's the first one who ever cared about you as a person - even if only to be cruel to you.

---

You're not a rabbit. You can't run.

No. You are a lion, you will be the one others run from.

Red's the first one you ever kill, you let her live up to the name you gave her and she is just as red on the inside as on the outside

And you cry, cry, and keep on crying because you're so relieved and so heartbroken and you will never understand why you still love her. You don't even know her real name.

"I didn't mean to," you whisper into your pillow, because without her you're so lonely.

But you do. You did. You still do, because you hated her as much as you adored her.

---

You let yourself forget. Let yourself smile, smirk, put all your ruthlessness and charm that they taught you to good work.

You don't want to remember and yet. You still don't want to forget.

---

Your past seems to be catching up to you these days. This time you won't ever be so weak as you once were. They broke you, reforged you, made you into a weapon of their choosing.

And now that very weapon will be turned back on them.

"So. Pride. You are newest rising star in town, I hear."

You let yourself paste on a serene, pleasant smile. "Oh? Have people been talking about me?" you inquire. That's good to know, it pays to know your position within underground circles so you know where you stand. Where you can bargain from. "Why, I'm flattered."

His own answering grin is too cruel, too rough, unrefined. Not as proficient in the whole act of it like you are. "They also mentioned you were a vain narcissist who talks too much."

Your mood shifts to irritated annoyance internally; your face is placid. Friendly. It wouldn't do to show any weakness to a potential enemy. "How strange," you murmur. "Perhaps they have me confused with someone else."

"Yeah, I don't think so, buddy." And now to the threatening tone already. How predictable. "You see, we wanted to give you a little welcome, from us locals here. Want us to be good neighbours, yeah?"

Your noncommittal noise encourages the guy to continue. "Just wanted to let you know that we're the ones in charge of this good ol' neighbourhood here, but we're a little old and traditional. Don't want anything shake up what's nice and settled."

"I see."

Because you do. They're warning you not to mess up the status quo.

Too bad you were always a rebel. "Was there anything else you needed, or were you just going to drone on about your Master's stale old knitting club?" You drone out the words, bored of this already.

The smile he returns to you is a little stiff. "Look. We were hoping you were going to join our... Homeowners Association. You'd have to contribute a small monthly fee, but I assure you it'd be worth it. To keep our front gardens lookin' all pretty, see."

"Not really," you tell him, because this little game of coded words and phrases is beginning to bore you.

There's something of a twitch in his eye when you glance over, but the man actually tries to just pretend you didn't say anything and continues. "Right, so, as our newest member of our little association-"

"I didn't say I was joining."

That truly takes him off guard. "I- What?" he blinks. "Mr Pride," he begins, and you have to laugh at the way they haven't even been able to find out your actual name. "You agreed that by moving into this neighbourhood that you would join the , erm, housing association. It's not optional."

"I did no such thing."

You actually manage to break the man's composure. "You do realise if you don't go along with this, there will be consequences?" he hisses.

"I'm not stupid," you tut, peering at your manicured nails. "I'm aware. I just don't care."

The man ends up leaving with a thunderous look on his face as you greet Ortega. A genuine smile to match Ortega's wave.

"What's that? Are you actually talking to people other than me now?" he teases.

"Just a business associate. He kept trying to sell me a scam."  You frown a little. "But that doesn't matter. Let's go have lunch, shall we?"

---

They make good on their word.

You aren't going to roll over and show them your belly like their pet dog. Let them think you're nothing but an arrogant little upstart. Let them think they can put you down on their command. Just because you’ve never killed someone personally doesn’t mean you’re not a threat to contend with.

They see the man at the top with the smart suits and the rumble of purred threats, deep and low. The King of the Lions, Pride.

They won't be suspecting the panther stalking the shadows.

---

Simba isn't loud or boastful or broken like Léon is. Not so angry, not so easy to fall to passion.

Simba watches. Simba is patient. Once he's got a target in his sight, he never stops hunting it.

Your mind is quieter when you are Simba, and so are you. You don't need to keep talking to drown out the thoughts in your head.

Silence suits Simba. He doesn't need words to assemble his sniper rifle, his dark skin blending in with the shadows. Doesn't need feelings to peer down the sights and wait for your moment.

Now the only question is, is Simba the puppet here or Léon?

Because you're not sure if you know anymore. You're starting to become unsure of who you really are. In the end...are you nothing more than what you made you?

You really don't know. But Simba doesn't care. All he needs to do, is, well, his job.

A man walks in front of your vision and seals his fate.

You fire.

---

It wasn't supposed to be like this. She wasn't supposed to be visiting her boyfriend.

---

There is a distant gunshot ringing in your ears but you are the one holding the still-smoking pistol.

Which would be all good and well if you could remember why you're here. You try and keep the confusion from appearing on your face as you take in the scene in front of you.

A neat little bullet hole straight to the heart. The woman is scrambling wide-eyed  as she attempts to plug the hole. Unable to comprehend what's just happened.

With the amount of blood pooling, it'd be over soon enough from blood loss. But you're not cruel and because of that, you aim your gun once again at her head. At her frozen face, mouth wide open to beg-

And fire.

She falls to the ground like a rag doll.

You don't even know who she is. Was. But you must have shot her for a reason, right?

Couldn't let her suffer. Had to finish the job. You don't feel any hatred for this woman, she must have just gotten in the way. Somehow the blood on your hands doesn't look real when you're wearing your puppet. Simba's hands are darker, more delicate, more slender than yours. Shake less.

Sometimes it bothers you, these little gaps in time. You keep coming back to awareness like this and it's starting to get a little frightening.

You're not supposed to be the one losing control.

It makes your head hurt. You've fought so hard to be something, be a person and then…

You can't even remember half of the things that made you, well, you. You have emotions and fragments and half-remembered bits stripped of their context. A man without a past, like you were plonked down in the world one day half formed.

A puzzle with all the most important pieces missing.

But for now, you have a mess to clean up. Dirty work for a dirty man like you, but Simba doesn't hesitate like Léon does.  Doesn't mind the blood crusting under those ragged fingernails, so unlike your own polished, clean hands.

---

You keep waking up in a sweat. Terrified and with no idea why.

.

..

There is-

There is blood under your carefully manicured fingernails.

---

The dog park is quiet this early in the morning. Just stare down at your book. Headphones on. Classic 'don't disturb me' look.

It's been ten minutes, you should probably turn the page.

The dogs keep away from you. Maybe they notice your heart rate spiking when they come near. You're not...you're not afraid of them anymore. It's fine.

It has to be. Just...just take in their pure thoughts. There are no dogs, just thoughts, just-

Your first thought is that you're being attacked when you feel something make rough bodily contact with your knee and your body just reacts.

Spoon gives a surprised whimper as your foot makes impact, you’re just trying to stem the panic. It's okay, it's just Spoon, he's not the giant German Shepherds that haunt you.

"Spoon!" Chen barks out, alarmed, a little bit angry. You're not usually this jumpy, you're not usually this bad, you should have seen him coming.

This is too raw to be able to show your face to Chen. That's why you leap up and back off. "Leave me alone, Chen!" you shout, and you hate that you can't control the way you genuinely sound terrified. The unusualness of it makes even Chen frown and look slightly taken aback.

"Léon, what was that just there?"

This is no time to have a panic attack. This is no time to break down. "Just leave me alone, Chen!" you shout. "Stay away from me, keep him away from me!"

You don't turn around to look if he actually does as you ask. You're just trying desperately to flee, over and over and over again, just waiting for the teeth to grab on and bite harshly down on you.

---

You're still waiting for those jaws a few hours later.

---

It's better when they hate you. It's better because you can hate them back, you can lash out and hurt them because you hurt and you just want it to go away

That's why you push them away, because they care. You keep on hurting the people you care about and you're too proud to say you're sorry.

Ortega with his worried eyes and questions left on the tip of his tongue.

Herald, little fly-boy, oh-so-trusting and oh-so-oblivious.

Your crew, your little family you've built up all on your own.

Smirk. Tease. Twist them around your fingers and move them as your pawns. That's how you keep from getting hurt.

You will never, ever, let someone control like that again. Not unless you had planned for them to, not unless you could trust and predict them.

...Stop thinking about Ortega. Stop thinking about how betrayed he'll look if he ever finds out. Stop thinking about how it should serve him right for betraying you and leaving you to die.

Stop thinking about how everything Daniel knows about you is a lie. That you only agreed to train him for your own ulterior motives before he wormed his way into your heart.

Stop thinking about Anathema and the disappointed look on what was left of Themmy's face after…

No.

No, don't.

---

Anathema’s stupid, dumb face won’t leave you alone. Not in your waking hours, not in the silent hours.

Fuck. Fuck’s sake, Themmy. Will you go away if I go and visit you?

No answer. You don’t know what you expected.

---

Anathema’s grave is well tended. The flowers are still fresh.

Your grave is next to his, you know. Your name looks so solemn engraved in such a sober, formal font. Like you were some sort of honoured pillar of the community instead of awkward smiles and messy emotions that spilt out everywhere. Before even those attempts at smiles faded away and all you were left with were the sharp edges that cut into other people’s skin.

The rush of fury at all, all, all this - whatever this is - drives you over the edge. There’s a certain satisfaction in stomping over to your grave and kicking over the flowers. Crushing them underneath your feet.

The same way they crushed you. The same way your bones were crushed on impact.

You’re only vaguely aware of a sense of unease as you pant, too out of it all to focus. There shouldn’t be anyone here to notice you making a scene, what does it matter that you lost your temper?

The mangles mess of stems and petals feel like your life. Something about about it makes you stare. Pause.

Lilies. Your scowl fades away into a genuine frown. Who…?

Ortega knows you’re alive.

That just begs the question, a painful realisation on the tip of your tongue. Who could hav-

-Someone is watching.

Someone is watching you.

The flash of alarm and shock screaming through your brain is the only warning you get.

They knew you were coming-

---

…

….

…..

Anyone watching Simba sleeping wouldn’t notice anything amiss to signify his awakening, no change in breathing pattern, no facial twitches to give him away. For all intents and purposes still all but dead to the world.

The sound of the magpies fighting again outside is too familiar - you recognise them. Feed them on occasion, it gives Simba a reason to be sitting around outside watching the world.

So. Unmoved from his apartment then. Unless they’d gone to the trouble of kidnapping the exact same birds, you recognise their own distinct bird calls by now. The one with croak you named Harry. Harry is currently arguing with his rival, Barry, and isn’t as distressed as a bird would be if someone had indeed taken him from his home by force.

Your breathing is steady, keeping your ears peeled for any signs of an intruder. Letting Simba ‘wake up’ naturally like any other day.

...Good enough.

Fling the bedsheets aside and walk to the window, to the blackout curtains. Stop for a moment to observe. No visible threats - but that doesn’t mean anything in this day and age.

The skies are too blue, it makes Simba’s forehead crinkle. Take in the position of the sun, consider the implications of it all.

This can’t be allowed to let stand, after all.

No one will ever get the best of you again.

#fallen hero rebirth #fallen hero retribution #spoilers #fanfic #Léon Bellandini (OC) #character study #fic #Pride (OC) #mob boss #what are titles pffft #FH:rebirth #fh:retribution

[beingallelite]

"They need to stop this match. Seriously. Or someone's going to die."

The fans sitting directly behind me at All Elite Wrestling's All Out last month in Chicago were worried about Nick Jackson. The younger of the two Jackson brothers who make up the iconic Young Bucks tag team, Nick is the daredevil of the team: a high-flying wild man who seemingly knows no fear.

But everyone in the audience felt it for him during the "Escalera De La Muerte" match with the Lucha Bros—especially as he tumbled from atop a ladder all the way to the floor where he missed all but a piece of the two tables that were supposed to break his fall. It was the highlight-reel spot in a spectacle that was immediately ensconced in wrestling legend, one of the most incredible stunt shows the sport has seen.

"We probably almost went too far," Nick admits in an exclusive interview. "There was a point where I almost died when the ladder was tossed and I clipped the top rope with my feet and went through the table. And one minute later, Matt landed awkwardly on his side when Penta pushed the ladder. Those two things weren't supposed to go down that way, but when they did go completely wrong, that's when I was thinking 'I hope fans are not thinking this is too much.'

"...I think it was my idea to end the feud with a ladder match. We just didn't know what we were going to name it at the time. (AEW owner) Tony (Khan) loved the idea to do a ladder match at the end. We knew if we had a ladder match with these guys it would be nuts because we've had ladder matches before but we'd never had a ladder match with two of the craziest wrestlers in the business today.

"We knew if we got them in a ladder match, it would probably make history. And here we are now."

Before Nick even began his frantic, foolish and utterly spectacular fall, his brother Matt knew something had gone horribly wrong.

"Immediately, I knew that there was going to be an issue," Matt says. "Nick was supposed to be climbing a 10-foot ladder, but the Luchas had by mistake taken out the 8-foot ladder. From the rehearsal we knew it was gonna take a 10-foot. When I saw Nick climbing the 8-footer, I thought 'He's not gonna make it. I don't even know why he's trying, he's not gonna make it.'

"I'm on the floor panicked but what do you do? I figured he's gonna have to climb to the very, very top rung, which he pretty much did. He was on the second to last. I was concerned, but I thought to myself as long as he can make one of the tables he'll be OK and it can help break his fall.

"I saw him up there, and as he was falling, my heart almost stopped. I was watching my little brother just almost die right there in the match."

It was a frightening moment. But despite the pleas of some in our section, the match continued. Matt still had some high-risk, high-impact spots of his own to close the bout and knew his brother, despite being banged up, was going to be OK.

"We always give each other a look to kind of talk to each other," Matt says. "We've been doing this long enough now we can talk to each other without actually speaking to each other. I can just look at his eyes. I saw his eyes and he gave me the look like 'I'm OK.'

"We have such good referees at AEW who we trust with our lives. Rick Knox has been reffing our matches our entire career, so he's been with us throughout these types of matches. He communicated with Nick right away and then he came and told me that he was OK. It is like a game of Telephone. We're all talking without talking. There's this secret society stuff going on and nobody realizes it."

While the fan-favorite Young Bucks lost the match, no one in the audience could be too upset. They were, it seemed, just happy that everyone survived the carnage.

Because of their popular YouTube series, Being The Elite, the Bucks seem less like distant and unapproachable celebrity athletes and more like close friends you simply haven't met yet. It's a unique relationship that gives fans a cheering interest in the match that feels different to anything else in wrestling.

"I feel like when we get hurt, or almost get hurt, they are so emotionally invested it's like watching their friend almost die," Matt says. "The crowd would go to a hushed silence after some of those bad falls because they really care about us.

"This is one of the few matches of my career, that I can remember, where fans were literally begging me to never do one again. When the fans are saying that, it really hits home for me. Maybe we have pushed the boundaries a little too far. We had guardian angels watching over us that night."

Tag team action, though perhaps action not quite this risky, will be a staple of AEW programming. The division has been dormant in the American mainstream for decades, with even title matches serving as little more than pre-show fodder on WWE's top shows.

The Bucks, executives as well as wrestlers for the new promotion, are uniquely situated to serve as their own proof of concept, demonstrating to any skeptics that tag team wrestling can mean money in contemporary wrestling.

"For some reason, whatever it is, Vince McMahon just doesn't like tag team wrestling," Nick says. "And for 20 years now, he's controlled the mainstream market in wrestling. It's become a lost art form because of that. I think we're gonna change that come October 2 because we have the best tag teams in wrestling. We're gonna focus on it more so than anything you've seen in 20 years. Don't be surprised if a tag team match is the main event on TV multiple times a year."

Wearing the dual hat as executive and wrestler hasn't always been easy for others who have attempted to pull it off over the years. In the case of AEW, all four executive vice presidents (the Bucks, Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega) are among the most popular acts in the company. That means they'll be putting themselves into prominent positions on the card, something that might not sit well with other wrestlers and a subsection of hypercritical fans.

"There's a fine line, but when it's all said and done, Tony is the last call to order," Nick says. "He has final say on everything. There have been two times now where Matt and I have actually said 'OK, we want to lose tonight' and it gets to Tony and he goes, 'Nope, you guys are winning.' We tried to dispute and we've failed both times. Of course, fans aren't going to see that and will probably think I'm even lying by saying it, but it's the truth."

While Matt agrees it's a tricky situation, he believes it's manageable if they keep the same ethos and philosophies that have guided them to this point.

"I never even wanted to tell people I was an EVP and it just kind of got out," he says. "There are other EVPs who love that. They want to talk about it. That's fine, but Nick and I have always been the type of people who say, 'No, I'm always a wrestler first and I want people to think of me as a wrestler.'

"We always just want to be one of the boys. It's tricky territory. They are going to say, 'Well, they're booking it. Of course, they're gonna go over.' Then there's the argument they are the popular act everyone wants to see so, of course, they should win.

"I don't think we should overthink it. A big reason we did this was to shine a spotlight on talent that isn't as well-known, and Nick and I are very unselfish in that way. We really want to get other people over.

"We don't have to win every match. We've been losing most of our career, people don't realize. We probably don't have a winning record if you looked at it. It's not that important to us, but we should keep ourselves to a point where we don't look overly weak. It's very, very tricky, and you know what? We are never going to be able to keep everybody happy."

By next week at this time, the inaugural episode of AEW Dynamite will be done. What the promotion is, and what it should be, will be widely debated for weeks and probably years to come. But the Jacksons know from experience what they don't want it to be if they want to see success.

"You have to be different," Nick says. "You can't try to be them. The one thing TNA did wrong was try to be a lesser version of them. We can't be them because we're not competing with them. We have to be different and we have to listen to the fans."

For Matt, it's all about serving the audience that helped get them here. AEW talks about fans as family and intends to build a show wrestling fans can love, not one they watch begrudgingly hoping this is the week when things turn around.

"They feel like they're so neglected," Matt says. "The things that they want, they just don't get. What we learned early on when we did our first show, All In, was we built this entire show and gave the fans the finishes they wanted, and they came out of that show feeling so good.

"Some of the things they expected, but we learned that it's OK sometimes if they expect something and they want something, you just give it to them. It's what a really good television show is. You build to this climax and you're thinking in the back of your head, 'Man, when they get to the season finale, they have to do it this way,' and then just imagine actually doing that.

"Aesthetically, we have to look, we have to smell, we have to sound different. If you're flipping through the channels on Wednesday night, you have to know within one second from looking at one frame of our show, 'Oh, that's AEW.'"

While no one can say for sure yet what AEW Dynamite will look like, The Young Bucks are willing to share what it won't be. As much of their success as they owe to Being The Elite, they have no intention of trying to duplicate their YouTube phenomenon on mainstream television. Instead, it will morph into a companion piece for the actual show, continuing to develop characters and bringing the audience closer to the performers as people.

"We're going to keep those things separate, and I kind of like that," Matt says. "I think BTE should live on YouTube. It can be the TV-MA version of our show. You can watch SCU do a PG-13 rant on the Turner program, and you can watch Frankie (Kazarian) drop 12 f-bombs on Being The Elite.

"As for the Road To program, I would love it if we kept a lot of that stuff and put it on the television show because that's a great way to develop characters and tell their stories. I think our television show will look like a lot of the stuff on Road To."

By Wednesday, the guessing games can finally come to an end. After months of buildup, AEW will finally have arrived on national television. Stay tuned to this space for weekly coverage and more exclusive interviews and content.

Hard Times Promo of the Week

The wrestlers of WWE and AEW spent months building a bridge of good will, agreeing almost to a person that a second major wrestling promotion could only benefit the talent.

The rise of AEW and NXT gives prospective wrestlers two more places to ply their trade and creates dozens of full-time jobs in a business that had been shrinking for decades.

Well, Kenny Omega took a flamethrower to that bridge last week, dismissing NXT wrestlers as little more than preliminary fodder still in the developmental stage of their careers. This week, just in case, he firebombed what was left of the relationship between the two groups in an incredible promo on Being The Elite.

Omega, sitting in front of a giant blowup poster of his Pro Wrestling Illustrated cover, ostensibly apologized for his previous comments. But then, thinking the camera was off in an ode to The Simpsons' "Gabbo" episode, proceeded to give "those SOBs" the business. In particular, he targeted NXT preliminary wrestler Dominik Dijakovic in an in-character rant.

Here's the money segment:

"He's not even used. OK? But I can see him. Donovon D--khead. Right? Sitting there, 'Now Triple H will push me. I'm gonna get the TV time now! I'm gonna stand up for the team.'

"I speak a promo in character, OK? Is he mad that I said bad things about Jon Moxley? No. How many fans do you think came to me and said, 'Kenny, not cool, bro! You really want to hurt Jon Moxley? You're not sympathetic to his injury?' How many people do you think f--king said that?

"No, its these children. It's these people that barely have a grasp on the English language and they're tweeting at me saying, ‘How dare you say that these guys are developmental talent! They're not developmental and they're better than you actually. They did more for the business than you!'

"OK. You want f--king reality? You know how many match-of-the-year awards I have? You know how many records I f--king broke? I shattered. And no one is ever gonna rebreak them.

"People in Japan are still trying on a daily basis to be the next Kenny Omega. They're trying so hard."

Three-Count: Looking Ahead

AEW Dynamite (October 2, TNT)

Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara: Cody is one of the biggest stars in wrestling. If he doesn't beat Guevara, an athletic high-spot artist with a relatively low national profile, I'll be shocked.

The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho and two mystery partners: The Elite had an excellent six-man tag match at Fyter Fest against the Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid. While the match itself will no doubt be fantastic, the air of mystery here recalls the spirit of the Monday Night Wars. Who will be in Jericho's corner? We'll have to wait and see.

Nyla Rose vs. Riho (AEW Women's Championship): The AEW executive team has high hopes for the women's division. While there has been some solid action so far, nothing has truly stood out—in part because the AEW cards have been filled with incredible matches and spectacles. Perhaps this will be the bout that makes the world take note?

#the young bucks #nick jackson #matt jackson #kenny omega #all elite wrestling #aew #aew on tnt #article #bleacher report #posted on: 9.26.19

[kiss-my-freckle]

Katarina & Ilya

Histories.

Not one alternate history, but two. Simple math. Because one fake identity can’t protect two people. 

Katarina: Don’t you understand? He was my asset. I’d been siphoning intel off of him for years. You don’t think we had plans in place to destroy him if he ever found out that he was sleeping with the enemy? Money in secret accounts. Paper trails of payoffs. Passports in safety-deposit boxes - evidence that I didn’t steal his secrets, but that he shared them with me. Ilya: Alternate history.

I believe this was their reason for introducing the crossword puzzle before they actually introduced Ilya Koslov. Because he has an alternate history as well, but they left his out of the episode so they could focus on Katarina’s rebirth. 

Katarina is Ilya (Thanks, George)

Suitcase parallels gif set. Rassvet parallels gif set. 

Red would already know “Katarina’s” location if she were his imposter creation, especially a hire like Vanessa Cruz. 

Red’s emotional investment. You can tell this is someone he loves and cares for, and has for a long time. 

An imposter creation wouldn’t be in danger. Whether she were wearing a Sinclair-created face or using Katarina’s identity, discontinued use would be a simple solution. This is someone Red had to travel to Paris for. 

Despite her being wanted by two powerful countries, no one has been able to locate her in the 30 years she’s been missing. This leads me to believe she’ll be someone who hasn’t been actively using Katarina’s identity. 

Paper trails. The passports. The travel. This would be Ilya. He’s the one who did Katarina’s passports and paperwork, and likely did Virginia’s as well. I believe he has a specific signature, a way of doing things - to the point it would get noticed by those who know this. I believe that’s how The Stranger was able to locate her so quickly. 

Ilya: Good luck, Anna Croft. Katarina: Money in secret accounts, paper trails of payoffs. Passports in safety-deposit boxes. Katarina: You’re gonna take the ferry to New London, and then you’ll take the bus to Boston. Katarina: Ilya liquidated his bank account to access cash. It’s in this suitcase, and it’s enough to go wherever you want. There are documents in there - a passport, a Social Security card - everything you’ll need. Katarina: For this to work, we’d need passports, cash, access, time. Ilya is likely the one who set up the p,o, box for Dom and Virginia.  Ressler: I don’t understand. The letter was sent to a woman. Jake: Well, the box is registered to a Tracey Ivers, but that’s the guy who picked it up.

The way Red and The Stranger refer to "Katarina.”

When Red spoke of them searching for her, he only referred to “Katarina.” 

Red: They’re actively looking for Katarina.

Not “They’re actively looking for her.”

Red: If Moscow is looking for Katarina -

Not “If Moscow is looking for her -

When The Stranger spoke of Katarina, he only referred to “her.”

The Stranger: I found her.

Not “I found Katarina.”

The Stranger: It’s her. I’m telling you, Raymond. Paper trails. The passports. The travel. It’s her.

Not “It’s Katarina. I’m telling you, Raymond. Paper trails. The passports. The travel. It’s Katarina.

The Stranger refers to Red as Raymond, Liz as Masha, but Oleander as Dom. Red refers to Agnes as “Masha’s daughter.” 

The Stranger seems to know Red’s real identity as well as Katarina’s. 

The Stranger has the kind of access to track and locate “this woman.”

The Stranger understates -

Red: If Moscow is looking for Katarina - if Agent Ressler’s inquiry has reignited their search - The Stranger: Then I know that could be bad.

It could be more than bad. And if The Stranger knew how bad, he wouldn’t have to ask if Red were sure about this. 

The Stranger: Raymond, are you sure about this? If you’re not sure - Red: I’m sure. 

I believe the writers are purposefully misleading, hoping we’ll believe The Stranger is Ilya. Pushing it too much for my taste.

Their trust & childhood friendship -

Rassvet (6x19): Alone in a foreign country after a mission goes catastrophically wrong, Katarina Rostova goes on the run to avoid the forces trying to hunt her down. Out of options, she seeks the only person she trusts: a man who has vowed to always protect her.

Ilya: Well, we pledged our lives to each other. Katarina: When we were 6. Ilya: And a promise is a promise.

Stranger: Have I ever let you down? Red: Once. When we were children. Stranger: You wouldn’t give back the truck. I’ll get this done. Red: You’re always so optimistic. Stranger: I thought that’s why you loved me. Red: I love you because I can trust you.

The overall feel of their relationship comes off different. 

Red knowing “Katarina’s” status. Canon and dialogues. 

Because everyone likes to scream “canon!” Red doesn’t lie to Liz.

Red knew the woman was alive. If he truly believed "Katarina" was dead, then he wouldn't have bothered to search for her. He would've continued thinking her dead and considered the Russians’ search for her to be a complete waste of time. The moment he found out diplomatic plates were looking for intel, he set up a meeting with his friend. Had he simply assumed her dead, he would've had things in place that made it possible to actively search for her for the past 30 years, yet he only cared to look for her when he found out the Russians were.

Proof that he knew she was alive -

Red: I want this done before Masha’s daughter comes home.

He wasn’t talking about the meeting in Paris, he was talking about his friend locating her. So Red knew and felt he could depend on his friend getting this done. If he truly believed her dead, again - wouldn’t have bothered. 

More proof that he knew she was alive -

Liz: You put Agnes at risk. Red: Agnes was never at risk.

Red would NEVER put Agnes at risk. 

“If MY Katarina was still here, she would have let me know.” - Dom, 6x19

Red’s “Oh, my God.“ when looking at the photo of “Katarina” falls parallel to Naomi’s facial response to seeing “Red” in S2. Not the kind of response from someone who supposedly believed her dead. He continues looking at the photo. 

The Townsend Directive.

Why I believe it has nothing to do with the President's conspiracy or Red's criminal empire, and everything to do with Red himself - with who he is. 

The President’s conspiracy literally started at the start of the season, so it lasted as long as most their story arcs do. Dr. Hans Koehler was killed by The Corsican after having facial surgery to infiltrate the U.N. and plant one of Max’s bombs. They’re not going to drag this conspiracy out another season. JB himself stated that the President's conspiracy is "Not what you expect." Because it had nothing to do with the fate of the country and everything to do with Diaz’s reputation. 

The writers confirmed its conclusion in interview. Two examples -

The season has involved watching the plot of the president (guest star Benito Martinez), a plot where the president plans to assassinate himself and nobody knows why. “We finally get to put that story to bed tonight, in what I think is a really surprising and unexpected way,” executive producer John Eisendrath exclusively tells Parade.com. “This is a blockbuster finish!” (Link)

"I think what we have coming up in tonight's episode is the resolution to a season-long conspiracy," Bokenkamp said. "This all started with our first episode of the season, with a bombing at the U.N. and a cover-up, and it has led us to this episode, where we are presented with the question of 'why would the president of the United States be part of and support a plot to assassinate the president of the United States?' So we've got great stakes. Our Task Force has been arrested, Anna McMahon is in charge, it's a big episode, it's a lot of fun, and I think it ultimately has a really surprising and satisfying answer." (Link)

Nor do I believe this is specific to Red’s criminal empire. He dealt with his employees when he got out of prison. 

I believe it’s more specific to Red and his true identity.  Leslie Townsend's Story, Hidden in Plain Sight. 

In episode 18, Dembe walked away from Red.

Red: Where are you going? Dembe: I’ve followed your path long enough. It’s time I follow my own.

In episode 20, Ressler informed Liz.

Ressler: A couple of weeks ago, I got the drop on some KGB mook who had heard that I was looking into Katarina. Wanted to know what kind of leads I had.

In episode 21, Liz informed Red.

Red: Your mother can’t hurt you. Liz: Because she’s dead? The Russians don’t seem to think so. When Ressler was trying to help me find out who you were, he went looking for her and was confronted by the KGB about what he found out. 

In episode 22, Dembe returned.

Where in episode 22 did Dembe return? Let’s look at the timeline. Red asked Ressler about the Russians Liz mentioned in episode 21. Almost immediately, he set up a meeting with The Stranger because of the diplomatic plates. As I mentioned above, Red didn’t say the Russians were actively looking for this specific woman, he said they were looking for “Katarina.” He also didn’t refer to this specific woman as “Katarina.” He simply said he wanted “this” done. The Stranger replied in kind. “I’ll get this done.” So he needed to locate this specific woman before Agnes got home. This being what led to the Townsend Directive and Dembe’s return. 

Red: So, are you back? Does this mean I’m forgiven? Dembe: The Townsend Directive. Our friend in Miami says it’s in play. Red: Is that why you’re here? Dembe: He says it’s very important.

Dembe basically telling Red just as Red told Liz -

Liz: So where does that leave us? Red: With a case. Until it’s solved, our conflict can wait.

Red: It’s critical. But not as critical as knowing why you’re here.

Red confirming it’s critical because Dembe has been gone since 6x18, but he wants to know where they stand and he’s not willing to wait for that answer. 

Dembe: I said I needed to follow my own path. I did. It led me back to you.

"You" being a gender-neutral pronoun. That's like Jennifer saying "you" when Red told her the CIA and the KGB were hunting one individual. We’ve heard much of Katarina throughout the season. From the very beginning during Red’s trial. Discussions about her between Red and Liz and the danger she poses to Agnes. Red’s conversations with Dom as he sought advice on Dembe. And in 6x19 with DomTimeStories. The one scene that stuck out to me was Dembe’s with Liz in General Shiro’s episode.

Liz: He said I reminded him of my mother. That’s what he said when I asked him why he gave us this case. Dembe: He’s right. You remind me of her too.

I believe Dembe was referring to Katarina. “It led me back to you.” Take this to the end scene with imposter Katarina. I bring this up because Katarina is someone Dembe loves, you can tell by his face. I do believe Dembe went to Paris with Red. “And we need to be someplace.” It’s one thing for Red to take a meeting alone while Dembe watches from a car down the street, and quite another to venture another country without backup. One can’t be sure, but it’s possible Dembe was resting comfortably in the back of the van that took Red. 

Putting on a show. 

It’s of no coincidence that Dembe returns just as Red is about to meet up with “Katarina” in Paris. And yet - we don’t see Dembe at all. Now, many questioning if Dembe is currently siding with the real Katarina because they don’t want her to be an imposter. Well, she is. Not once did Red or The Stranger refer to her as Katarina. In fact, this scene is the only time she’s referred to as such, and Red was the one who made the reference. 

What does Red do? He calls out Katarina. I’m sure that pulled their watchers to the window. What I couldn’t figure out while considering this scene, is why the Russians would remain perched rather than attempting to arrest her. She’s walking down the street alone. Not only at the start of the scene, but after the van leaves with Red. Quite calm, while seemingly being watched. But is she being watched by the Russians? So I went back to Ressler being watched by the Russians. 

Notice the man refers to Dom as Katarina’s father rather than Oleander. 

Shadow: My superiors. They want to know why you’re interested in Katarina Rostova’s father.

And he warns Ressler. Shadow: We’ll be watching, Agent Ressler. 

These aren’t shadows. If they were, they’d have been following “Katarina” as they were following Ressler. They remained perched in the window as if not knowing who they were watching. Regular citizens to act as witnesses like that homeless girl Jennifer paid off. “You’ll never believe what I saw outside my window! This blonde woman named Katarina injected and kidnapped some man in a hat.” Now you have a witness stating such a thing, and able to give a descriptions of both. The woman, purposefully making her injection needle visible to their audience. Now the Russians have a solid lead. Katarina is in Paris and she just kidnapped RR. 

Remember Liz on her phone, and Ross faking her kidnapping? Much like the kids in The Third Estate. Now the opposite side because they need evidence opposite the Seaduke evidence. "Katarina" stages her torture and death. Leaves the real Katarina's DNA behind.

“Are they watching?”

Think of Sutton Ross and Liz in the S5 finale. And as I already pointed out in another post, Red proved in an open courtroom that Katarina framed him for treason. So within a single episode, this friend of Red’s supposedly finds the one woman two powerful countries hasn’t been able to locate in the past 30 years, and we're to fall for it along with this scene? ahahahaha

Many thanks to my fellow Rederina theorists on fb.  I’ll edit to add as new stuff arises. 

#Rederina #Roslov #The Blacklist

[kingofthereunitedkingdom]

All right my dudes, let’s talk about this Amazon LOTR series. (Aka, the two cents that no one asked for ever. Seriously, all opinions are valid, I’m not here to fight, this is just what I think. Anyways.) Please read til the end.

I for one was initially very very upset. Because I don’t trust Amazon, okay? Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy was a once in a lifetime miracle. Him and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens poured their heart and souls into making the best possible adaptation of Tolkien’s masterpiece that they could. Everyone on that production, from Weta to the stunt people to the cast to Howard Shore were committed to bringing Tolkien’s vision to life. Was it perfect? No. Was it as close to perfect as we’re gonna get? Yes! There’s a reason it got all the Oscars. People who think that Peter Jackson’s LOTR wasn’t faithful enough are so deluded that it boggles my mind. It’s like people think he could just snap his fingers and turn the book page by page into exactly what you envisioned in your head when you read it. Modern day filmmaking has so many constrictions it’s not even funny. Producers, lawyers, marketers, auditors, people giving the project money who in return are in it for the money. And these are the people that Jackson had to work with in order to get the film made on the scale it was, rather than a home movie shot on a camcorder in his backyard. With this in mind, it’s a miracle that the films were as amazing as they were. You should actually all go watch the behind the scenes appendices footage on the extended edition DVDs. If you can’t get your hands on the DVDs, a lot of it is actually up on YouTube. The part where they talk about the process of converting book to script is very fascinating and explains a lot. Tolkien did not write these books with a movie in mind. The pacing is a screenwriter’s nightmare, he spends a lot of time on details we don’t necessarily need, and the time frame is positively loopy. You say Frodo was thirty three when he received the ring and fifty when he left the Shire, I say did we need to see Frodo moping around in the Shire for seventeen years? You say that the Fellowship’s travels were rushed, I ask if anyone ever wished they could spend a month in Lothlorien while absolutely nothing happens except resting and crying about Gandalf? I love the books, I truly do. But even I admit that a shot-for-shot adaptation would be awkward and at times difficult to watch.

Now, as for the show in question, do I think that Amazon read the Silmarillion and said ‘wow, let’s spend billions of dollars to make a faithful and heartfelt adaptation!’? Um, no. Somebody in a highrise read that Game of Thrones was ending and realized that now there’s gonna be an open market for that genre of show. Now, who else can think of a series that checks the boxes of fantasy, long and complicated af, pre-existing fan base, and minimal barriers when it comes to obtaining rights? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Tolkien is the million dollar answer (or billion, in Amazon’s case). What gives me hope is (now this might be hearsay, don’t take my word for it because I cannot confirm) that apparently they only have the rights to events that take place before The Hobbit and LOTR. Which is essentially just the Silmarillion and/or the appendices. Now, this could be interesting. The Silmarillion doesn’t have a screen adaptation, so whatever they did would be groundbreaking. There would be nothing to compare it to. But what I’m afraid of is that Amazon would be afraid of it. The Silmarillion is a lot to chew. It’s wordy, the characters would be hard to adapt on screen, and it would be really hard to market it because the concept of the Silmarillion has (unfortunately, but truthfully) long been associated with ultimate geekdom.

This is why Amazon is probably going to pick the lower-hanging fruit and reinvent popular characters we already love. I’ve been hearing a lot about how they’re doing it as a young Aragorn prequel. Which, for surface level selfish reasons depresses the heck out of me because Viggo Mortensen is and always will be my Aragorn. If this was happening years ago and they got Viggo to be the character again in a TV show, I’d be all for it. But unfortunately Viggo cannot age in reverse and if they were gonna use him they’d have to use a shit-ton of CGI a la Carrie Fisher in Rogue One which… *shudders* *war flashbacks*. But then again, Viggo has aged remarkably well. Did you see Captain Fantastic? Maybe with some heavy makeup and nice camera angles- Ah, it’s all just a pipe dream anyways. As long as they don’t bring back Stuart Townsend. Cue more shuddering. But I wish Amazon would understand that they’re investing their money in the wrong horse! We don’t want to see Aragorn reinvented! We’re happy with what we have!

Think about it realistically for a minute, in the hypothetical event that this is a young Aragorn TV show. Amazon is a studio giant, trying to establish themselves among other streaming services known for their original TV shows such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc. We, as Tolkien fans, understand that Aragorn’s history prior to the events of LOTR is pretty straightforward. He grows up in Rivendell, is informed that he’s Isildur’s heir, goes into the wild to become a Ranger, fights for Rohan, fights for Gondor, falls in love with Arwen, etc. There’s a sixty year block of time between his childhood in Rivendell and the War of the Ring. That can’t possibly all be covered in one show, as hard as they try. They won’t be able to resolve his storyline, because his storyline and character arc get resolved during the War of the Ring. They would have to establish the fact that he’s the heir to the throne of Gondor, establish the fact that he’s conflicted about his destiny, establish the fact that he goes into self-inflicted exile as a Ranger, and then end the show without ever showing the resolution that he eventually does reclaim his throne and his destiny. Unless they were to just bite the bullet and remake the original trilogy. And then there’s the matter of a love interest. Arwen is his first and only love. Their courtship is fast-paced and they go long blocks of time without seeing each other. Noooot very marketable for a mainstream audience. So how are they gonna spice it up? Give Aragorn another love interest? That would literally completely ruin his character. How about no. Make it seem like a lot more happened between Arwen and Aragorn before the War of the Ring? I mean maybe, but how!? They still wouldn’t be able to complete a story arc, because the meat of the changes in their relationship take place during the original trilogy: Him lowkey wanting her to go to Valar and not die for him, her refusing because she believes in their love, their ultimately getting married and her being crowned Queen of Gondor. Again, you can’t give us any of that without remaking the original trilogy! Cue all the annoyed Aragorn faces.

So, that was a lot of negativity. Maybe this is too little too late, but: I remain hopeful. All is not lost. There is still some good in this world, Mr. Frodo! And maybe Amazon will prove me wrong. There may yet be light at the end of this tunnel. We may yet prevail, and get a thoughtful, heartfelt adaptation. Because done right, we could all use with some fresh LOTR content so we can stop rewatching the original trilogy. Tolkien wrote a lot, and the current screen adaptations have barely scratched the surface. As a fandom (and I most definitely include myself in this), we get very protective over our material. I think this is because we are one of the rare few whose material has remained untarnished and stayed behind the line of corporate greed and terrible adaptations (The Hobbit trilogy walked that line like a tight rope but even it managed to escape the true jaws of the beast.) Maybe, just maybe, this Amazon series can be a chance for us all to take a risk. Because if it pays off, you can all call me a fool of a Took and we can grab popcorn and watch a kickass LOTR TV show. And what would be more awesome than that?

So, in conclusion, I have a lot of feelings about this Amazon show. If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. We’ve got a wild ride ahead.

#lord of the rings #amazon lotr #amazon lord of the rings #opinion piece #lotr tag

[yoolee]

If lee wrote otome | #2 - Boss

The Heroine (MC)

CEO MC: Never gets enough sleep, which makes her sarcastic but is also semi her own fault given the amount of caffeine she consumes. Sort of obsessive about long-term planning, unwaveringly believes that a company’s value comes from its employees and will choose them over shareholder dividends every time. Determined to run an ethical company even if it means it’s not the most profitable company. Super duper Type A – aggressive and fearless because she has to be. Sometimes really just wants a cupcake in her hand and a cat in her lap, but then she’s bored and goes back to business planning. Creative risk-taker, decent negotiator. Smart enough to know where she needs help and hire people who can do the things she can’t (or, more to the point, doesn’t want to do). Gets back up every time. Will definitely fight you. Might feel bad about it later but only if someone reminds her it happened.

Love Interests

The BARISTA: Peppy, optimist (or so MC thinks) but it turns out they actually switch up their personality depending on who they’re serving (sometimes they are the chill, hipster philosopher, sometimes they are the rude New York get-it-done eye roller, etc.) actually somewhere in the middle of it all – but really IS an optimist despite themselves. Kind of slippery and hard to pin down. Big family, used to being what their other siblings/parents need from them. Fairly certain CEO MC is headed for an early heart attack with the amount of espresso she imbibes. Probably an author. Maybe an ex-broadway personjust because. IDK.

The PR LAWYER: Worked-three-jobs-put-self-through-college story. Patience, tact, good at calming people down. Detail oriented, a little fussy about appearances. Perennially exasperated by CEO (Please don’t promise to have a cure for cancer In the next three years with no data to back it up. No, you can’t punch the reporter for being a dick. Look, I know you WANT to donate 100% of proceeds to charity but please pick a friendlier one than ‘punch reporters in the face foundation’ that’s not gonna fly) never gets enough sleep. Has a key to MC’s house so they can come yell at her for making their life difficult at whatever hour of the night she insists on doing so. Is on MC’s speed-dial, which means they also get called to DD, though they’d rather not.

FLAKY MODEL(s?): Trust fund kid? Pretty face? Floats through life? The sort of person who will get on the wrong subway train and then just ride it all day people-watching never mind that they had an appointment six hours ago. Pose with a boa constrictor? Sure, as long as it’s being treated humanely. Tarantula on the face? Awwww, it’s fuzzyyyyy. No filter, no worries. Probably drags CEO MC along on a Caribbean shoot and PR Lawyer has to call and yell because that does not look good, okay? And poor MC is like, I thought we were getting a drink and model is like WE ARE we are getting tropical coconut water from the SOURCE here oh wait I don’t know how to drink out of a coconut…who knows why they are attracted to CEO MC, probably because she’s there and sticks around and no one else does. Human puppy dog.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD: young hotshot venture capitalist, thinks CEO MC is a bleeding heart (your employees do not need that many sick days, lost productivity blah blah blah why do we need a daycare onsite that’s a waste of shareholder money), kind of a math whiz, naturally lucky, doesn’t get along with family (gambling problem in the fam – which manifests in him in investment risks and unresolved issues) butts heads constantly with MC, frequently tries to get her fired – in part because his attempts to do so get her fired up and she does great things, which ultimately is better for the company than when she’s just doing her normal ‘good’ job. She is going to be royally ticked when she figures that out. Manipulative, but relatively benign under it all. The sort of person who smirks instead of smiles. All the time.

CHEF FROM HER FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Also a CEO though on smaller scale, because, running a restaurant IS running a business. Probably under the impression CEO MC is actually like, a graduate student with no money because she tends to get takeout at weird hours. Gruff, grumpy, abrupt, but heart of gold. Basically—will grumble about you coming in late but will add extra veggies to your pasta because you’re looking a little pale and need the nutrients and if you call them on it will snarl that they had to be used up they were going bad and he wasn’t going to waste extra, expensive, PROTEIN on you. (MC asks them out and then realizes the only nice restaurant she knows is the one the chef owns)

PRESCHOOL TEACHER: JUST A DECENTLY NICE PERSON. Checks in to make sure MC has eaten regularly, staying hydrated, needs anything fixed around the house (she can do her own plumbing but doesn’t like the electrical and hey it’s nice to have company). Good with kids. Maybe divorced and wanted them but ex-spouse didn’t? idk. Calm, not easily ruffled, sweet as pie, except when he’s playing video games and suddenly MC understands how he can get through the day without any aggression – he unleashes it on fictional zombies. Blissfully normal, all things considered.

PERSONAL TRAINER: “fine, whatever, EAT THE DANG CHEESE if you’re just going to ignore my nutritional advice we’re doing ten more reps” athletic, happiest when DOING versus saying or reading or sitting. Not as impulsive as you’d guess at first glance, because they tend to use working out as a meditative time to make decisions. Didn’t finish college because they realized they just didn’t enjoy it, but they did enjoy working with student athletes, which is how they got into training. Enviably fit. Wants to expand the gym so wheedles business advice out of MC in exchange for not harassing her about her tendency to drink coffee instead of water (she insists it has water IN it, it should count) not particularly intimidated by her, which is a pleasant change of pace.

Supporting Cast (non LIs)

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Keeps MC sane, has her back, schedules everything. Good at details, even better at smiling at angry people and making them not-angry through sheer force of sunny personality (actually a ruse, MC is convinced she’s actually the most delightfully evil person ever, but like some kind of fairy tale where when you acknowledge the thing it goes away, refuses to ever dive into figuring out). Older than the MC because we need to stop making middle aged women invisible in stories?? Sometimes has to remind MC of how much she does by holding silent protests (in part why MC thinks she is secretly a supervillain in the making) which are always, always successful.

PARENT COMPANY ADMIN ASSISTANT: Bane of MC’s existence. Smarmy, smily pain in the tush.

CFO: We have put in an official request with the company credit card management to start declining purchases at that coffee shop you go to, no this is not negotiable, it’s not in the budget anymore drink so darn water woman. Completely willing to go toe-to-toe with MC, meetings often involve a lot of yelling, but they’re always productive and no hard feelings.

CIO: Serpent-y, but not in a bad way. Just a very cool-tempered person, very contained, very guarded, very introverted. Never happy when she has to do presentations, so super willing to share knowledge with MC so she does it instead (she is not a great teacher, kind of judgey and shows her frustration when MC doesn’t ‘get’ it right away, but very brilliant, and there’s no malice in the judgement, just no filter). Extremely logic-oriented and process-oriented over people-oriented. Picks up and assess tech very quickly, and good at finding affordable, fast solutions.

RANDOM MARKETING EMPLOYEE:  Set up to be a villain but is actually like gung-ho on MC’s side. Literally an ex pageant queen, went to college on scholarship from it. Out of the workforce for awhile as a stay at home mom when her kids were young, but picks up the new trends fast. Now a single mother, so will literally fight the chairman if he tries to take away the company daycare. Some days uses the ‘people see a pretty face and assume no brain’ to her advantage, some days it wears her out. Unofficially drinking buddy with MC, even though they both feel weird about it given the fact MC is technically boss’s boss’s boss.

BARTENDER: also an ex-girlfriend maybe? Current best friend? Who she turns to when the barista cuts her off from coffee and the chef’s restaurant is already closed. Sharp-tongued, bristly, generally disgusted with MC’s six inch heels and slacks in her leather-jacket, cigar smoke bar. Like lady, you’re lost. Probably on the mob payroll at some point in her life.

ROUTE PLOTS:

(Chairman route?) MERGER – company has just bought another company, which is a major risk move for CEO (can only be one, so do you keep the old one on as a VP? Do you let them go? Will they be bitter/try to sabotage you?) you have to fend off internal sabotage, get everything running smoothly without either company falling apart in the process.  

(PR Lawyer route?) Parent company did something massively shady and it’s tainting your company’s name too, so you have to scrounge to avoid having to fire half your employees and keep the company alive.

(Model route?) New product launch – hence why models are entering the picture. It’s a new business venture in the sense it’s targeted at a completely new audience your company hasn’t catered to before.

(Personal Trainer route?) Company is in its infancy, hugely risky time, and you’re doing everything you can to ensure it’s a success  (maybe including putting your own salary back into it, which means you can’t afford PT so they agree to work with you as long as you give them business advice)

FROM @han-pan- they keep trying to buy new retail space for the gym and MC keeps buying it instead because it’s SUCH GOOD PROPERTY and they sort of exasperatedly are like ugh fine whatever you owe me since you keep swiping prime spots out from under my nose

See the rest here

#if lee wrote otome

[ifleewroteotome]

#4 - Boss!

Context: Sarcastic, ambitious, slightly aggressive, creative and caffeine-addicted CEO manages her business and falls in love, featuring:

Heroine: Risk-taker, smart enough to hire people to do the things she can’t (or doesn’t want to do), gets sh-- done and done well. Drinks too much coffee and does not know what work-life-balance is.

Barista: Peppy, optimistic, concerned for CEO’s general health and well-being. Chameleon.

PR Lawyer: Not paid nearly enough. Perennially exasperated. All to often CEO’s DD. Responsible.

Chairman of the board: hotshot venture capitalist with an attitude. Super alike to CEO which is why they bang heads a lot. Never smiles--just smirks. A lot.

Flaky model: Hired to promote new product, floating breezily through life like the blessed flower child they are. 

Chef: Grump with a heart of gold, has CEO’s takeout order ready (with extra veggies because girl, vitamins)

Preschool teacher neighbor: Actual hufflepuff, single parent, has the work-life balance stuff figured out.

Personal trainer: Doer of things. Does not judge. 

Supporting cast!: Possibly-evil-but-also-awesome administrative assistant, smarmy parent company vultures, cool-tempered CIO, quick-tempered CFO, ex-beauty pageant marketing employee/ally, ex-girlfriend bartender

The Heroine (MC)

CEO MC: Never gets enough sleep, which makes her sarcastic but is also semi her own fault given the amount of caffeine she consumes. Sort of obsessive about long-term planning, unwaveringly believes that a company’s value comes from its employees and will choose them over shareholder dividends every time. Determined to run an ethical company even if it means it’s not the most profitable company. Super duper Type A – aggressive and fearless because she has to be. Sometimes really just wants a cupcake in her hand and a cat in her lap, but then she’s bored and goes back to business planning. Creative risk-taker, decent negotiator. Smart enough to know where she needs help and hire people who can do the things she can’t (or, more to the point, doesn’t want to do). Gets back up every time. Will definitely fight you. Might feel bad about it later but only if someone reminds her it happened.

Love Interests

The BARISTA: Peppy, optimist (or so MC thinks) but it turns out they actually switch up their personality depending on who they’re serving (sometimes they are the chill, hipster philosopher, sometimes they are the rude New York get-it-done eye roller, etc.) actually somewhere in the middle of it all – but really IS an optimist despite themselves. Kind of slippery and hard to pin down. Big family, used to being what their other siblings/parents need from them. Fairly certain CEO MC is headed for an early heart attack with the amount of espresso she imbibes. Probably an author. Maybe an ex-broadway personjust because. IDK.

The PR LAWYER: Worked-three-jobs-put-self-through-college story. Patience, tact, good at calming people down. Detail oriented, a little fussy about appearances. Perennially exasperated by CEO (Please don’t promise to have a cure for cancer In the next three years with no data to back it up. No, you can’t punch the reporter for being a dick. Look, I know you WANT to donate 100% of proceeds to charity but please pick a friendlier one than ‘punch reporters in the face foundation’ that’s not gonna fly) never gets enough sleep. Has a key to MC’s house so they can come yell at her for making their life difficult at whatever hour of the night she insists on doing so. Is on MC’s speed-dial, which means they also get called to DD, though they’d rather not.

FLAKY MODEL(s?): Trust fund kid? Pretty face? Floats through life? The sort of person who will get on the wrong subway train and then just ride it all day people-watching never mind that they had an appointment six hours ago. Pose with a boa constrictor? Sure, as long as it’s being treated humanely. Tarantula on the face? Awwww, it’s fuzzyyyyy. No filter, no worries. Probably drags CEO MC along on a Caribbean shoot and PR Lawyer has to call and yell because that does not look good, okay? And poor MC is like, I thought we were getting a drink and model is like WE ARE we are getting tropical coconut water from the SOURCE here oh wait I don’t know how to drink out of a coconut…who knows why they are attracted to CEO MC, probably because she’s there and sticks around and no one else does. Human puppy dog.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD: young hotshot venture capitalist, thinks CEO MC is a bleeding heart (your employees do not need that many sick days, lost productivity blah blah blah why do we need a daycare onsite that’s a waste of shareholder money), kind of a math whiz, naturally lucky, doesn’t get along with family (gambling problem in the fam – which manifests in him in investment risks and unresolved issues) butts heads constantly with MC, frequently tries to get her fired – in part because his attempts to do so get her fired up and she does great things, which ultimately is better for the company than when she’s just doing her normal ‘good’ job. She is going to be royally ticked when she figures that out. Manipulative, but relatively benign under it all. The sort of person who smirks instead of smiles. All the time.

CHEF FROM HER FAVORITE RESTAURANT: Also a CEO though on smaller scale, because, running a restaurant IS running a business. Probably under the impression CEO MC is actually like, a graduate student with no money because she tends to get takeout at weird hours. Gruff, grumpy, abrupt, but heart of gold. Basically—will grumble about you coming in late but will add extra veggies to your pasta because you’re looking a little pale and need the nutrients and if you call them on it will snarl that they had to be used up they were going bad and he wasn’t going to waste extra, expensive, PROTEIN on you. (MC asks them out and then realizes the only nice restaurant she knows is the one the chef owns)

PRESCHOOL TEACHER: JUST A DECENTLY NICE PERSON. Checks in to make sure MC has eaten regularly, staying hydrated, needs anything fixed around the house (she can do her own plumbing but doesn’t like the electrical and hey it’s nice to have company). Good with kids. Maybe divorced and wanted them but ex-spouse didn’t? idk. Calm, not easily ruffled, sweet as pie, except when he’s playing video games and suddenly MC understands how he can get through the day without any aggression – he unleashes it on fictional zombies. Blissfully normal, all things considered.

PERSONAL TRAINER: “fine, whatever, EAT THE DANG CHEESE if you’re just going to ignore my nutritional advice we’re doing ten more reps” athletic, happiest when DOING versus saying or reading or sitting. Not as impulsive as you’d guess at first glance, because they tend to use working out as a meditative time to make decisions. Didn’t finish college because they realized they just didn’t enjoy it, but they did enjoy working with student athletes, which is how they got into training. Enviably fit. Wants to expand the gym so wheedles business advice out of MC in exchange for not harassing her about her tendency to drink coffee instead of water (she insists it has water IN it, it should count) not particularly intimidated by her, which is a pleasant change of pace.

Supporting Cast (non LIs)

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Keeps MC sane, has her back, schedules everything. Good at details, even better at smiling at angry people and making them not-angry through sheer force of sunny personality (actually a ruse, MC is convinced she’s actually the most delightfully evil person ever, but like some kind of fairy tale where when you acknowledge the thing it goes away, refuses to ever dive into figuring out). Older than the MC because we need to stop making middle aged women invisible in stories?? Sometimes has to remind MC of how much she does by holding silent protests (in part why MC thinks she is secretly a supervillain in the making) which are always, always successful.

PARENT COMPANY ADMIN ASSISTANT: Bane of MC’s existence. Smarmy, smily pain in the tush.

CFO: We have put in an official request with the company credit card management to start declining purchases at that coffee shop you go to, no this is not negotiable, it’s not in the budget anymore drink so darn water woman. Completely willing to go toe-to-toe with MC, meetings often involve a lot of yelling, but they’re always productive and no hard feelings.

CIO: Serpent-y, but not in a bad way. Just a very cool-tempered person, very contained, very guarded, very introverted. Never happy when she has to do presentations, so super willing to share knowledge with MC so she does it instead (she is not a great teacher, kind of judgey and shows her frustration when MC doesn’t ‘get’ it right away, but very brilliant, and there’s no malice in the judgement, just no filter). Extremely logic-oriented and process-oriented over people-oriented. Picks up and assess tech very quickly, and good at finding affordable, fast solutions.

RANDOM MARKETING EMPLOYEE: Set up to be a villain but is actually like gung-ho on MC’s side. Literally an ex pageant queen, went to college on scholarship from it. Out of the workforce for awhile as a stay at home mom when her kids were young, but picks up the new trends fast. Now a single mother, so will literally fight the chairman if he tries to take away the company daycare. Some days uses the ‘people see a pretty face and assume no brain’ to her advantage, some days it wears her out. Unofficially drinking buddy with MC, even though they both feel weird about it given the fact MC is technically boss’s boss’s boss.

BARTENDER: also an ex-girlfriend maybe? Current best friend? Who she turns to when the barista cuts her off from coffee and the chef’s restaurant is already closed. Sharp-tongued, bristly, generally disgusted with MC’s six inch heels and slacks in her leather-jacket, cigar smoke bar. Like lady, you’re lost. Probably on the mob payroll at some point in her life.

ROUTE PLOTS:

(Chairman route?) MERGER – company has just bought another company, which is a major risk move for CEO (can only be one, so do you keep the old one on as a VP? Do you let them go? Will they be bitter/try to sabotage you?) you have to fend off internal sabotage, get everything running smoothly without either company falling apart in the process.  

(PR Lawyer route?) Parent company did something massively shady and it’s tainting your company’s name too, so you have to scrounge to avoid having to fire half your employees and keep the company alive.

(Model route?) New product launch – hence why models are entering the picture. It’s a new business venture in the sense it’s targeted at a completely new audience your company hasn’t catered to before.

(Personal Trainer route?) Company is in its infancy, hugely risky time, and you’re doing everything you can to ensure it’s a success  (maybe including putting your own salary back into it, which means you can’t afford PT so they agree to work with you as long as you give them business advice)

FROM @han-pan- they keep trying to buy new retail space for the gym and MC keeps buying it instead because it’s SUCH GOOD PROPERTY and they sort of exasperatedly are like ugh fine whatever you owe me since you keep swiping prime spots out from under my nose

See the rest here

#otome #otome plot #otome overview #otome summary #overview #plot #summary #4 #boss

[thelouisianauproar]

The Louisiana Uproar - Chapter 2

Summary: The war with the Haitian Mob ends. The collective of River Row, Irish, and Black Mob takes a risk---at Sal Marcano’s request. 

It took about a month for me to finish the organizing phase, it took less than two weeks to actually create the report. The report consisted of previous data, current profits, and the best way I could see Vito’s team make a profit from Union dues.

“I’m gonna need some time to go over, all of this.” “Take your time. I’m gonna get out of here at a decent hour.” “Look at you, kid.” He smiles. “Hot date?” “Don’t be silly, Sammy’s son is coming home from Vietnam. They are throwing a party for him.”

“Hmmm. Have fun.” “Thanks.” I press my index finger on his desk. “You can always let me know if you have other jobs for me.”  A smile slowly forms on his face. “Something tells me...I know where I can find you.” He gives me a single nod. “Thanks for this.” “I hope it’s helpful.”

I took a cab to the bar.

“Dottie. You made it.” Sammy walks up to me with a drink in his hand.

“Sammy, thank you for the invite.” We embrace in a hug. “So, where’s this boy of yours?” Sammy has had such nice things to say about his war hero of a “son”.

“Ah, Ellis is on his way to get him.” Sammy says. “Get a drink.” For the next hour, I am chatting with some old friends.

“Look who I found pan-handling!” Ellis called out. The room is nearly quiet when we realize that the young man has arrived. It doesn’t take long until everyone bursts into celebration. “Welcome home, son.” Sammy looks so proud of him.

The night progresses with drinking, and dancing. It’s just what I needed after working on those reports for Vito.

“May I take a seat here?” I ask pulling the bar stool. “You don’t have to ask.” The big man comments, with a wink.

“Welcome back. I’m Dottie.” I extend my hand. He looks at my hand before shaking it. “Lincoln.” I feel someone’s arm go around me. I look over to the right to see Ellis. “I see you met the beautiful, Dottie.” “I just did.” I smile as I receive another drink. I make a face as I take it in.

“Dottie’s been managing the money that’s coming in.” “So, this was the woman you were mentioning.” Lincoln gives me a head nod. “I was expecting you be older. The way Ellis was going on about you.”

As the night continues, so does the party. I feel myself stumble into a bigger body. “Oh, Sorry!” I look up. Lincoln’s hands find my shoulders. “Where ya going?”

“I’m drunk as a skunk.” We laugh together. “I was gonna get a ride out of here.”

“Stay.” His hands are still on my shoulders. “It’s fine.” I look past him with my bright smile. “What’s going on here?” Sammy asks patting Lincoln’s back. “Dottie’s drunk. Figured she wouldn’t mind taking my room. I’ll take the basement.” “That’s very nice of you.” I say and Lincoln turns his face back to me. “It’s settled, then.” No, no it wasn’t, but I guess it is now.

---

The next morning, I woke up to see a church truck in front of the bar.

“What’s going on?” I put my hand on Ellis’ shoulder.

“He went and paid for that food.” Ellis is steaming. I specifically spoke to Sammy and Ellis about this, we can’t afford it.

“Fuck.” Ellis looks over at me. I see Sammy heading back inside. “Ellis.” I warn him. “Remember-” He moves past me. He’s headed for his father. When I turn around, I see Lincoln. “Morning.”

“What’s going on?” He looks at me, expectantly. I don’t have enough time to explain this. I gesture to where Ellis was headed.

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just listened to Dottie.” “What mess?” Lincoln pipes up. I appear at the doorway next to Lincoln. Sammy puts on a friendly face. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” He says. “I have it under control.”

“Under control?” Ellis starts. “You need to open your eyes, old man-” “Boy, I’m not warning you again about that mouth.” “Fine! Have it your way, old man.” Ellis says while storming out. Lincoln starts to go after him. It’s about time I head home.

“I got it.” I put my hands up. “I’ll ask him for a ride.” “Thank you, Dottie.”

---

“Dottie, there’s a man at the door for you.” Kathy, my roommate teases. “You didn’t tell us that we’d have company.” I’m instantly worried. “It’s past 9:30 at night. Did he give a name?” “Lincoln.” “Oh, thanks.” I let out a breath. I adjust myself before stepping out of my front porch. “Lincoln, I’d invite you in but my roommates aren’t decent.” “It’s fine. Look, I took care of the problem.” “What?” He leans in like I should know what that means. I do. He means the Haitians. I step closer.

“How?” “Well, me and Ellis…” He pauses.“That’s another conversation. Listen-” “Who else? Did we lose anyone?” “No, we didn’t.”  It’s taking awhile for me to piece the details together. Lincoln is trying to tell me that he single handedly took down the Haitians?

“You’re saying you ransacked the Haitians?” I whisper.

“For all intents and purposes, yes.” “Goodnight.” I can’t believe that. I refuse to believe it. “Dottie.” “You clearly need some rest, Mr. Clay.” If he is the way he says he is. He could break down my door. I don’t care. He has just come to my home, late at night, and lied to me about something that is important. I wonder if ‘Nam scrambled his brain.

---

“Hi there.” I hear a man say. “Where ya at, Paul?” I ask while still working through my papers. Paul was one of the nice white men. Vito hired him to keep me safe. He hangs out, always a small distance from my desk.

“Haitians got wiped out the other night.” “By who?” “Who knows? I guess Marcano’s boys?” That can’t be Lincoln. “So they’re...wiped out?” “I mean, a chunk of them were at the camp.” He pauses.“Man…” “Including their leader?” Baka is his name.

“Yeah, him too.” “Fuck.” I let out a breath. I feel horrified, yet, I’m relieved. Lincoln’s story checks out. After he leaves, I grab my phone.

“Ellis?”

“Hey Dottie.” He says teasing me. “Could you come get me? I get off work at 5:30.”

“Hi.” I greet him when he opens the passenger door for me.

“Everything alright? You sound like you were in a rush.” “It’s fine. I just-” I pause, I’m trying to gather my thoughts. “The Haitians-” “Oh lawd, the Haitians!” Ellis seems so excited.

“Is it true?” “Oh, it’s damn true.” He nods to me. “Soldier Boy ran through their camp in the Hollow. Killed damn near everyone.” “Oh my god.” I put my hand on my heart as Ellis pulls off. He gives me a double take. “Dot, you don’t have to feel remorse for people like them. They were stealing from the Hollow.” “Shhh. No, Ellis. I don’t.” I truly do not care if every Haitian mob member is dead. “Your brother...he came by my apartment the other night. He told me it was handled. I didn’t believe him. I’m afraid I owe him an apology.”

Ellis dropped me off at Sammy’s bar. He said that is where he last saw Lincoln.

“Mr. Clay.” I say watching him walks toward me and then past me.

“Dottie. I was just leaving.” “Could I borrow you for a moment?”

“Certainly.” “We didn’t have the best interaction and-” He stops me. “It’s okay.” “Solid, man.” “What’s going to be important is how you think that money comes back in.” “Yes, you are correct.” “Yeah.” He pats my shoulder, before leaving.

---

“You wanted to see me?” I peek my head through the door.

“I let Sammy know that I need you for a job.” He stands. “He’s in.” “Okay.” I take a seat with him.

“I need you to find a way to set away this amount of money from the port.” He gives me a card. My heart drops. “I got something that can give you a return on investment.”

‘That’s embezzlement.” “I realize that.” Why does this amuse him? “You asked me to let you know when I have another project.” He knocks on the desk, lightly. “I need you on this.”

I feel a pit in my stomach. I don’t commit the crimes, I never have. This isn’t how I imagine my career going.

“Dottie?” Vito interrupts my thoughts. He lets out a sigh and puts his hands on my shoulders. “You wanna be like Derazio? You gotta do the tough jobs...stick your neck out.” He says. “Otherwise, kid, you’re walking in circles. You wanna walk in circles?” “Of course not.”

“You with me on this?” He leans his head down to me, just as I bring mine to look at him. “I can have it on Thursday.” “That will work.” “But first, I need to know what I stand to gain.” Vito chuckles. “If Rick notices, I will go to jail. How do I explain that?” “Believe me, I know it’s not easy. The reward will be sweet.” He says. “This could take our business to the next level, kid.” He says. “I got plans.”

---

After I took the job, I stayed in Vito’s office for many nights. He made a little desk for me, by the door of his office. The jokes about me and him having an affair are endless. It doesn’t matter to us, we would share stories and drinks. We spoke about the money---he needs it for a robbery. The star of the show is, of course, Lincoln Clay. It made me feel closer to him, but it didn’t rest my mind on the job.

“Hi there.” I greet the man who comes into Vito’s office.

“Giorgi Marcano is here for a meeting with the boss.” “Vito isn’t back, yet.”

“I’m aware. Giorgi would still like to come up and wait for him.” I don’t know about that. This is still Vito’s office. I don’t want anyone in here without his permission. I stare at the man. He goes to leave but I walk closer to the door. However, if I come out---he may think something is going on. The Marcanos never did like Vito much.

I start checking Vito’s desk for anything that should be hidden. I don’t have much time so I hide everything and take a seat at my desk. It’s not long before Giorgi joins me.

“Hi there.” I  stand.

“Hello.”

“Vito isn’t in at the moment.” I say. “Could I get you some coffee?” “That would be...great. Thank you.” He nods.

When I return, he’s sitting in front of the desk. “Thank you.” He says, “I’ve been trying to think about where I know you.”

“Oh?” That’s just great. “You hang out with Sammy’s crew.” I just give a polite smile. He pulls out his cigarettes. “Smoke?” “Sure. Thank you.” I take one and put it in my mouth. He lights it for me. “Say, what are you doing over here? I hear the black mob is in some trouble.” “I..” How do I shut this conversation down? “I was sure someone updated you. We have fixed the problems that were following us. We’re expecting the money to be flowing again.” “I did hear that.” He chuckles. “A professional, I like that.” He pauses. “So I’m going to assume that you’re in River Row because you’re working your way up.”

“I am working.” I want distance. I walk back to my desk.

“You just let me know when you’re interested in working for the Marcano’s.” What? “Really?” I pause. “Sure. We could use more hard working women such as yourself.” He looks around. “What do you do around here?” I’m not gonna do that again.

“Giorgi.” Vito says at the door. Finally. “Dot. Why don’t you go downstairs and get lunch?”

I already have, but I figure he’s excusing me from the room. I had to have waited thirty minutes to an hour for Giorgi to leave. “Vito.” I say standing by the door. He gestures for me to take my seat again. “Do you think he knows that I’m in on it?” “I didn’t tell him. Did you?”

“I didn’t.” There is a silence between us. “Are you alright, Vito?”

“I’m fine.” He says. “Where did you hide my papers?” I go into the cabinet to find them and I put them back on his desk. “I didn’t need you to do that...but ya done good, doing that.”

“He knows who I am, you know.” I say. “He mentioned that he’d seen me around with the black mob.” “Dottie.” Vito starts. “It is very hard to forget a face like the one you’ve got.”

“He asked if I wanted to work for the Marcano’s.” “I heard that---He’s blowing hot air.”

“I figured.” I walk close to him and lean against his side of the desk. “Is everything in place?” His hand finds my hip.It makes my heart jump but I don’t move. “Yeah, it is.”

“I’ll make you a drink.”

---

The night of the job, I came straight to Vito’s office. It was Mardi gras, my roommates were out partying. I was alone, drinking, with my boss and waiting to hear if I’m rich.

“Hello.” He answers the phone. In that moment, I put my hands on his hips from behind him. My heart is racing, but the conversation looks pleasant. “By god, we did it!” “Yes!” He turns to face me. We share a hug and he lifts me off my feet.

“Kid, this is a big fucking deal.”

“I can’t believe they pulled it off!” My hands find his shoulders. It takes me a moment to realize that his arms are around my waist. There is a pause and he lets go. “Do me a favor, would ya?”

“Sure.”

“When you get that money make sure you don’t buy anything crazy.” He says, “It might be tempting to go over the top.”That’s making it obvious. No expensive shit.”

“Nothing.”

Once our conversation moves outside, we’re leaned against the railing before the water.

A thought makes him chuckle. “What are you gonna do with that money?” “Start my own business.” “Yeah?” “I was thinking of buying that old whorehouse not far from here. It’s been vacant. I think I could make it a boarding house.” I shrug.

“Not bad.” “Maybe I’ll start kicking up to you in River Row.” He doesn’t react. “Launder your money.” I sound so innocent when I say it, in my lowest voice.

“Maybe.”

We watched the fireworks burst over the water of River Row. That’s right. It’s Mardi Gras, everyone is lighting fireworks. It’s a beautiful night.

“Sky’s the limit.”

“Yes.” I bump him his arm, playfully.

---

We woke the next morning, by the phone.

“Yeah. Hello?”The conversation sounds like it’s getting progressively worse. I haven’t opened my eyes, yet, and I feel anxious. “If you come at me with that, Nero, you better be damn sure. Alright.”

“What?”

“I got something to tell ya.”

My heart drops and I fall into my chair. He got around his desk and sat next to me. I rub his lap and he holds my hand.

“Hey, a fire broke out at Sammy’s bar.”

“What?”

“I’m so sorry, kid.” Vito kisses my hand. I can’t look at him. It feels as if I’ve lost control of my body. I’m shaking, my lips quiver, I can’t see through my tears. “Sammy, Ellis, Lincoln, and some other kid got killed.”

#mafia 3 #vito scaletta #sal marcano #fanfic #lincoln clay #giorgi marcano #john donovan #mafia 2 #the louisiana uproar #blaxploitationwriting #strong female lead #strong female character #strong female #feministfiction #feministmafia