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#but civilian has common sense
thepenultimateword · 2 years
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Short Prompt #6
“You be careful with that mask this time, ok?” Hero said.
Sidekick’s slight silhouette nodded in the dark.
“I’m serious. If your identity gets blown, you could be in danger, and I never want that to happen.”
“I knooow,” Sidekick hissed exasperatedly.
Hero didn’t love the tone, but they forwent the scolding and tugged at the security line of the kid’s grappling hook instead. Satisfied, they shoved open the fire escape window.
“Alright, let’s go.”
The living room light flicked on.
“Not one more step,” came a voice from behind them.
Hero spun smoothly on their heel, spreading their arms out innocently to their bed-headed partner. “Lovie~!”
‘Lovie”—Sidekick always gagged at the pet name—did not lift their glare.
“Are you seriously taking a 13 year old to a bank robbery?”
“How did—” Hero started.
“You think I’d be in a relationship with you without owning a police scanner?”
“Ah. Well, look, it’s fine. Sidekick is tough, and they’re never right at the front of a fight. And even if they were, I’m with them, so…”
This could go on for a while, so Sidekick pulled away their mask and started back to bed. Their step-parent paused their vicious scolding of Hero to remind them, not of secret identities or hand-to hand fight tactics, but to brush their their teeth and wash their face before getting in bed.
Yeah, things sure were different ever since Hero married a civilian.
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moreaugriffins · 5 months
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Every day i just want to write a post that just says "The Brigadier is so damn autistic."
but I then worry about what other people might say if I do that
but fuck it
The Brigadier is so fucking autistic, and nobody can change my mind
#classic doctor who#brigadier lethbridge stewart#'hes just like that because hes a military man' no he's like that because he's autistic and in the military. there's a difference#(please - we see so many soldiers in classic who and he's so different to them)#lack of expressions (especially s7) which caused others to comment his 'lack of emotions' in certain situations (he has commented that he#does in fact feel..)#the constant swagger stick with him (they arent common for soldiers nor officers to have.. havent been since past WW2 i believe) which he f#fiddles with and holds#stickler for the rules and hates disorder (things not being done 'right')#(thinking of the 'rules arent rules for alistair' bit from Daddy Fights Monsters)#his reaction to mushrooms in The Green Death. that's it. that's the point (he just hates mushrooms and so do i)#he's so.. military when he speaks even when speaking to civilians or when he's off duty. ik that's not much of a point but in the military#you're told exactly how to speak and interact with others and to be blunt and clear and to the point with your words. you're saying he does#find comfort in it?#and this man's strong sense of morals! my god. he can have quite black and white thinking in situations (so does 3 which would probably#explain why they butt heads often) and he is insanely stubborn#im sure i'll think of more things as time goes on but this is all i have for now#also im sorry i might be a bit tipsy when posting this but i really need courage lmao
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age-of-moonknight · 6 months
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“Deliverance,” Marvel Zombies: Black, White & Blood (Vol. 1/2023), #1.
Writer: Ashley Allen; Artist: Justin Mason; Letterer: Clayton Cowles
#Marvel#Marvel comics#Marvel Zombies: Black White & Blood#Moon Knight comics#latest release#Moon Knight#Marc Spector#Khonshu#so yeah this is yet another story that ends on the incredibly bitter note of Marc fully handing the reins over to Khonshu#(with the added bonus of being zombified and eating former comrades)#but idk this page in particular got me thinking (on multiple things) so bear with me#firstly I find it increasingly interesting how in these short stories a reoccurring theme if the creators are going for the horror angle#is Khonshu taking full control and yeah that’s terrifying considering how much of modern MK comics are about restoring autonomy#both in the literal sense (shaking off Khonshu’s influence and kicking him to the curb) and in a more ephemeral sense (proving that#while categorically neurodivergent MK’s not just «some loony» but a dependable hero in his own right#so I guess it just gets me that in this case it’s a matter of sacrifice#that Marc would give up something he fought endlessly hard for to save civilian lives (although the creators succeed in making this#still feel like not a complete victory)#the other major things for me is Khonshu’s «faith has never needed rationality» which is…something I take personal umbrage with#that’s a common understanding of the term but arguably the strongest faith is born of rationality#the idea of logically coming to the conclusion that «I have combed through everything on this Earth and determined that there are something#outside the human understanding and thus I’ll hold strong to a faith in something not of this world#the fingerprints/evidences of which are still apparent even in this world too»#thus personally I see Khonshu’s statement there as another example of his oft-used manipulation: his attempts to convince Marc that#his mind and consequently Marc himself are unreliable and useless without Khonshu’s guidance#(i.e. overbearing and uncaring control) and tbh that’s pretty horrific
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ironinkpen · 1 year
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The dynamic in Rise between the rest of the team and Leo is. so fucking funny. Because like you've got these three extremely talented individuals who all seem like perfectly reasonable people at first glance, right, but then if you squint hard enough you realize they're actually all batshit insane (affectionate) and the clown boy standing behind them is secretly their common sense.
Clown boy will occasionally put himself and the others in danger to Prove Himself or Prove Someone Wrong (see Minotaur Maze and the movie) but like otherwise... i think people forget Leo's overwhelmingly the voice of reason in most situations?
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Raph, Mikey, and Donnie are all incredibly powerful boys with very specific skill sets. They are also, as a direct result of this, the WORST decision-makers on god's green earth lmao. When presented with a problem, Raph will smash, Donnie will blow shit up, and Mikey will razzmatazz. They will all run straight toward death with the same oblivious enthusiasm of a dog about to run straight into a screen door. None of them realize this and all of them think they are Extremely Good At Problem-Solving.
And the guy cursed with the common sense to realize this is literally the LAST person anyone would expect.
When you look closely, the entirety of Rise is actually a chronicle of Leo trying to find new and creative ways to keep this team of superpowered fools alive while simultaneously white-knuckling his Cool Fun Guy persona so the others don't realize he's secretly the Boring Responsible One. Haha, you know what would be Cool and Fun, guys? Not going after the Spine Breaking Bandit lol. Getting home before the sun goes up lol. Evacuating that civilian lol. Not telling the guy dangling me off a roof "you won't, no balls" lol.
The sacred struggle of every iteration of Leonardo is thanklessly wrangling the most trigger-happy siblings in the world, and Rise Leo has not escaped it. He just does an occasional shenanigan to avoid detection and his brothers fall for it every time.
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stealingyourbones · 8 months
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Danny is technically immune to the common superhero trap of being put in a dangerous situation as their civilian identity that they could easily handle in their superhero identity but wouldn't make sense for them as civilians to know. And the way Danny is immune to it is Danny has been through so many things in Amity Park just as Fenton that he could say he got the skills from. Or if in a different situation he could just say he learned the skill by proxy, "how did he take down the kidnappers." His ex-girlfriend as well as his mother were trained martial artist. "How did he hack into the system." His best friend is a wiz at computers. "How did he catch the ghost." He grew up in a family of ghost hunters. And so on
how on earth did this man evade a gas attack AND save 16 civilians single handedly? Simple. He's had to do crowd control to protect people from his parents ghost capturing rampages.
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dcxdpdabbles · 7 months
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Cave boy Danny starts talking about one of the debates Tucker and Sam without mentioning their names when asked who the two are,Danny panics again and says that Sam is Selina since that's not that big of a jump when he starts saying her name
"One of my best friends would agree with you." Brucie suddenly speaks up one night at Dinner when Damian rants about his school not offering enough Vegetarian options. "She is an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian."
Bruce blinks having never heard the term before. A quick glance around the table tells him that neither have the others. Must be slang from his universe then. "What does that mean?"
"She doesn't eat anything with a face," Brucie explains. The curve of his lips has the tiniest amount of bestowed fondness that could only come from infatuation. Oh, Brucie is sweet on the girl. Bruce feels mildly alarmed as all his kids and Alfred sits up in interest when spotting it.
Unaware of what he just unwillingly gave away Brucie continues "Not to be confused with being a vegan because she will eat bread and cheese, but not often. She gets real mad when people mislabel her."
Dick grins, leaning over his forgotten dinner to pin Brucie under an eager stare. "I bet. Mislabeling is the worst."
"It is!" Brucie agrees, seemingly satisfied that someone else feels the same. "Especially when getting her to like you is like trying to get a cat's approval. But it's totes worth it when you do. No one has your back better than her."
A....cat's loyalty? Oh no. Surely it couldn't be-?
"What's your best friend's name?" Steph speaks up asking what's on everyone's mind. They all lean in a little closer as Brucie mindlessly gathers some rice on his fork.
"Her name is Sa-" Brucie takes a bite of his rice before swallowing. It takes everything in him not to quote Alfred and scold him for speaking with his mouth full. How Brucie grew up with such manners, Bruce would never know. "Selina! Her name is Selina."
Oh.
It seemed even in another world Bruce's heart would fall into Selina Kyle's hands.
His kids all but burst into cheers. Even Jason, and that was very hard to accomplish in the last few years.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
"Of course, it's Selina! Who else could it have been?"
"I suppose Kyle is not too horrid a partner for Father."
Duke and Cass high-five while Alfred seems to be glowing in parental pride as the other kids chat about his on-and-off girlfriend again. If a civilian version of himself still fell for her, Bruce could convince his Selina to quit the crime life and be his permanently.
Brucie stares a comprehensive eye around the table, so Bruce takes pity on him.
"I have a Selina as well. My kids....enjoy her company." He says, watching blue eyes swing at him as tiny black bangs fall slightly over them. It's adorable, and he finally understands why he had so many admirers. He bets civilian Brucie breaks just as many, if not more, hearts than he did at that age. "How long have you known Selina for?"
"Um...since she moved to my school when we were ten, so about four years, give or take?" Brucie shrugs, a slight blush overtaking his face. "She's great."
Oh, Bruce bet she is.
"Wait." Tim suddenly speaks up, eyes narrow in mistrust. Bruce had noticed before that the second youngest was suspicious of their dimensional visitor. He had been meaning to pull him aside to talk about it. "You said one of your best friends. Who is the other?"
"...Ethan. My other best friend is Ethan," Brucie says after a moment. He must mean Ethan Bennett. Bruce thinks wistfully of the old days when he would play basketball with his dear friend before he was lost in Clayface.
But why did Brucie pause on Ethan's name like that? It almost seemed like he was very carefully selecting that name or was trying to control his facial reaction to it.
A familiar blush bloomed over Brucie's checks and- oh. The boy had spoken about wishing he was from a world where bisexuality was more common, didn't he?
It would make sense. It's not like Ethan hadn't crossed his mind once or twice when Bruce was a teenager, either.
Tim's eyes narrow further. "I don't believe you."
"And I believe you can't stand the sight of your reflection because you're convinced no one will ever want it either." Brucie cheerfully chirps back before closing his eyes and sighing as if tired. He slumps in his chair, leaning his head against the headrest. "Sorry, that was mean. I'm trying to be less mean."
Bruce frowns at him, aware of Tim's eyes going glossy to his right but his son doesn't seem to want to step away. All conversation stops as they glare daggers at Brucie. Dick especially seems the most upset. "That was uncool Brucie"
"Yeah, sorry force of habit. My older sister and I-"
"Your what?" Bruce cuts him off, wondering if he heard right.
"My older sister?"
"You have a sister?"
"Yeah, don't you?"
"No," Bruce whispers. "No, I don't. I'm an only child."
"Oh. I'm the second youngest. I have an older sister, an older brother, and a younger sister." Brucie turns over to Tim to offer a sincere apology that the other gracious takes, but Bruce can't hear him over the sound of blood rushing between his ears.
"Mother and Father had more children?"
"Kind of." Brucie's face twists slightly in consideration. "Tommy and Harley are adopted. They are technically cousins since they were made by my uncle Vlad. Kate.....my older sister Kate, is my aunt Alicia's bio-kid but she was raised by my parents since she was one since Aunt Alicia wasn't...in the best mental state to care for her. No hard feelings are between them."
"Tommy, as in Tommy Elliot?!" Dick gasps, springing to his feet. "He is your adoptive older brother!?"
Brucie appears startled by his reaction, but he nods all the same. Bruce feels dread sink into his stomach.
"He's evil!" Dick shouts.
"I know." Brucie shrugs, uncaring. "Tommy has some issues, and he had them since he was...fourteen, but he's not dangerous.."
"Did you all miss that he said Harley is his younger sister? Harley as in Harleen Quinzel?" Jason cuts in, twisting to pin Brucie with a hard stare. "That's her real name, isn't it?"
"Well, her real name is Harleen Wayne, but she prefers Harley," Bruice says carefully. "Why? Do you know her?"
"She's evil too!" Dick gasps. "Brucie, you're in terrible danger with those two around!"
"Nah, Kate will stop them." Brucie waves his hand. "Sides Tommy and Harley are always traveling. Neither are home much these days."
Bruce feels a headache growing behind his eyes as Dick desperately tries to explain what happens to Brucie's adoptive siblings in their world. At the same time, his counterpart argues on his sibling's behalf.
(No one knows about the electric candles disappearing from the dinner table as the house descends into madness, trying to make the dimension travel realize his danger. Even fewer are aware of Danny's silent apology to Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Dan, or Dani for butchering their names and somehow still connecting them to someone in this world.)
Master Post Link
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jewish-sideblog · 4 months
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I know for a fact that people are responding with orientalism, fetishization, and fandomization of the Israel / Palestine conflict. Because there is no way in hell that the American left would have responded the same way to October 7 happening in America.
Imagine if 364 people had been killed by AK assault rifles in a mass shooting at a music festival in America. I think the response from the American left would be much different. There would been have been universal condemnation and a push to dismantle and disarm the known hate group that planned and executed the shooting. There would have been common sense reforms planned to prevent the exact same thing from happening again.
But the mass shooting killed 364 Israelis, not 364 Americans. It was accompanied by 5000 rockets aimed at civilian targets, 775 other fatal shootings, and 247 instances of human trafficking across international borders. Torture. Mutilation. Sexual violence. Infants shot multiple times.
Somehow, that means the response from the American left has fully reversed. Many of them have, in essence, said that “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” They used the opportunity to glorify terrorists who mass-murdered civilians with the intent to commit genocide. Isn’t that what the American alt-right normally does in response to violence?
The necessary disclaimer here is that none of this should serve to justify the actions of the Israeli government. A military force that is typically known for having historically low rates of civilian death now has historically high rates— there is no excuse for that. The amount of sheer Israeli incompetence that allowed the attack to happen in the first place, and led such a disproportionate response, is nothing but a complete humanitarian failure of the Likud administration.
But I remember distinctly how many Americans glorified Hamas and called for the destruction of Jews in Israel on October 7th. During the terrorist attack. Before Israel’s military response. Clearly, no military response of any kind could have been justified by the people who usually beg for violent hate groups to get disarmed.
This is a kind of conflict many of them will never have to actually reconcile with, because the while the average American can access an automatic rifle, they can’t access a rocket launcher. Lacking insight into geopolitical history, the realities of warfare, and any actual ties to the real people being killed, they turned their slacktivism into a show. Hamas are Good Guys and Zionists are Bad Guys. And as long as it’s happening several thousand miles away, a Good Guy with a Gun becomes a perfect fantasy.
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astroboots · 11 months
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EVERY YOU EVERY ME: Issue #2
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Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x female reader
Summary: Your streak of bad luck continues as you find that the universe is not done putting you in harm's way. Luckily, you have grouchy Spider-man to save you.
Word count: 3,500 words.
Content: Slowest of the burn, near death experiences, the emotional whiplash of Miguel O'Hara being a rude bastard and a total softie.
Astroboot’s Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Spiderverse Masterlist
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According to an article that ran in the New York Times: one out of every 40 New Yorkers will have a run in with a Superhero in the time they live here.
That might not sound like much, but considering that nearly 8.5 million people live in this city, it adds up to a lot of people. In fact, most in your friends circle have their own anecdotal story to tell.
I ran into Tony Stark at the Brandy Library and he asked me for my phone number. Bit of a sleaze but he bought our whole table a round of drinks.
Captain America landed on my Fiat on Manhattan Bridge. He dented the roof, but he was very polite about it.
Daredevil was hanging out at the fire escape ladder above the Meatball shop. Gave me tips on what to order.
It's nothing short of a miracle that having lived in this city for as many years as you have that this is the first time you've had a Supes encounter.
It'll be a great story to tell at parties. You fell out of the Chrysler building and were rescued mid-air. It blows all the other stories out of the water. Though, you'll probably leave out the part where he wished he'd left you to die.
You stare blindly at your computer screen. There are endless rows of cells on your excel sheet no matter how far you scroll. Uninterrupted numbers and reference codes for insurance claims that are waiting for your attention. But the numbers and letters all blend into an indecipherable sludge soup. All you can focus on is: 'I should've let you fall.'
Heat prickles your cheek, as you replay his words in your head.
What the hell.
That was entirely unnecessary.
You didn't deserve that.
Over the course of the last 24 hours, you've played the scene on an endless loop in your head, until the memory is worn and scratched like a used up VHS tape.
Did you do something wrong? You must've. Who has ever heard of a Superhero treating a civilian in this manner? You’re just a hapless innocent bystander who fell out of a building due to a supervillain battle they started. To blame it on you and then call it a mistake. Isn't that something a supervillain would do?
Gritting your teeth, you feel yourself seething of the memory of the windows next to you breaking and shattering out of nowhere as a bird-person villain with mechanical wings tumbled past you. Next thing you knew you were tumbling out the window. 
And then he saved you.
Did he mean to save someone else? Is that why he was so annoyed? But, you didn't see any other people falling from the building on your way down.
You replay the memory. Again.
The looming silhouette of his towering frame over yours as he sneered down at you.
He looked at you like he knew you. Like you had offended him with your mere existence. But you don't understand how. You've never met him before. Never met anyone who looked even remotely like him. You would've remembered a man with red eyes, they're not exactly common. Plus, you don't think you've ever met someone quite so tall. Your neck hurt with the angle you had to crane just to look at his face.
What could you possibly have done in your lifetime to piss off a Superhero you've never met before?
For that matter what Superhero is he anyway? You think back at the dark navy suit clinging onto every inch of skin, embellished by that bright angry red in the emblem of a spider.
Spider-man... 
Except Spider-man is known to be a swell guy with a great sense of humor. Not a rude asshole.
Aren't his colors inverted too? You pull up the browser on your screen and google "spiderman outfit". There's over 800 million hits. In all of them Spiderman's suit is primarily red with blue embellishment.
Whoever the guy is, you don't think he's your friendly neighborhood Spiderman that every New Yorker knows and loves.
With a hapless sigh, you click aimlessly on your screen, trying to look busy at work for the next twenty minutes until you can go on your lunch break. You go through the motions of your soul sucking tasks. Tagging each insurance claim into one of the following categories: approved/rejected/further missing information required.
Peering over your cubicle wall to the wall of windows, you spy the section that has been zoned off since yesterday. The broken window you were knocked out of has already been replaced, but there's still shattered glass and debris nearby.
Your stomach drops, the phantom sensation of the ground beneath you giving way. For a brief second you swear you can feel the weightlessness of soaring through the skies without anything catching your fall.
You stand up from your desk, solid ground meeting the soles of your feet to remind you where you are. 
The office.
There's a monotone drone of workers all around you grumbling and sighing just as unhappily. The quiet tip-tapping of keyboards of the working masses.
Is this the life you managed to escape death for?
Is this it?
It's kind of sad isn't it? You nearly died and lived to tell the tale, only to return to a life so unremarkable your brain didn't deign it necessary to provide you with any highlights (cause there are none).
The most exciting thing that has happened to you the whole of this year was being insulted by a grumpy superhero. The most you've wanted to live was during that span of ten seconds when you were falling out of a building to your death.
You glance at your clock, still 15 minutes before noon. You log out of your desktop anyway.
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You barely make it across the street from your office. The light is green as you cross Lexington Avenue when the screeching noise of tires tears down the street and rips through your eardrums.
A yellow taxi hurtles towards you at full speed. Through the car window separating you, the cab driver is staring up at you with wide-eyed horror. In that fraction of a second before the hard metal is going to collide and shatter every bone in your body, you only have one thought: Oh god, this is going to hurt.
Life doesn't flash before your eyes. All you see is the familiar blur of shiny blue and red.
Go figure that's the only moment extraordinary enough for your brain to think it's worth replaying before you die.
There's a blunt and forceful shove to the side of your ribs. Softer than you would've imagined a two tonne vehicle slamming into you would be. It doesn't hurt. It reminds you of that time you played football with your cousin and he body slammed you to the lawn. You've heard about this phenomena, the brain will try to protect itself by going unconscious if the pain is too extreme.
But there's no bright light, when you open your eyes all you see is the familiar shiny blue fabric.
A firm weight wraps around your shoulders, and you recognize this, the feeling of being held as you're pulled into their solid chest. There's not enough time for you to look up, you're slammed onto the ground, the solid warmth wrapped around you, absorbing the fall.
The pressure wrapped around you shifts then lifts away entirely. When you open your eyes for a second time, there’s no one there holding you. 
There's no one else there with you. Just the standstill traffic of cars and pedestrians gawking at you.
A concerned woman runs over to you, bending down to help you up on your feet. "Are you okay? That car came out of nowhere."
Your legs feel unsteady, wobbling as you put weight on it to stand up. 
“I’m fine, I think,” you respond, and look down on yourself. There are no scrapes, just a bit of dust on your work-attire from traffic.
"You're so lucky, Spiderman was there to save you."
You blink up at the woman in dazed confusion and it takes your brain a few seconds to process what she's telling you.
Spider-man...
In your mind's eye the flashes of blue and a vivid red invades your vision. It wasn't just your life flashing you by. Not just a figment of your imagination.
He was here. He saved you. (Probably not) Spider-man saved you (again).
A wave of gratitude washes over you. You take back every unflattering thought you had about the man not five minutes ago. Rude? Would a rude man save you, not once but twice in one day? No, of course not, you probably just misunderstood him, or misheard. After all, if he truly regretted saving you, he wouldn't have done it a second time... right?
--
When you get back at your desk, there's a post-it tacked to your computer screen, with an angry scrawl of a handwriting.
'Look BOTH ways before crossing!!!!!'
You stare at the note, and the way the word "both" is capitalized and aggressively underlined.
Rude.
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The universe is out to kill you. You're sure of it.
They say that death comes in threes after all. So no one can blame you for being a little bit on the edge after you've gone two for two within the time span of 24 hours.
You stay away from windows in tall buildings. You look both ways, twice, before crossing the street. You try to go straight home from work the minute you clock out from work, turning down any and all initiations with friends to go out after out of precaution. It's just not worth the risk.
And for a while it seems to work. For a while, there are no more incidents. A week goes by and your nerves start to settle and you are lulled into a temporary sense of security before it all goes to shits.
A ceramic flower pot on a windowsill tumbling off the sixth floor of a brown house by Chelsea that would have dropped on your head and split your skull if someone hadn't bumped into you from behind that you weren’t able to catch sight of.
A piece of scaffolding that comes loose and falls from a construction site in West Village as you happened to walk past, and would have been crushed under if you weren’t tackled away at the last second by someone who fled the scene before you could thank them.
A hot dog cart runs amok, hurtling downhill towards you between 184th and 190th street in Manhattan when the cart suddenly out of nowhere, against the very laws of physics like it’s being pulled by an invisible force and changes direction mere inches in front of you, hurtling through the air and crashing into the windows of a bodega instead.
Each and every incident leaves you with an ever growing sense of paranoia that this cannot be explained away by being merely pure bad luck. There are cosmic forces at force that clearly want you dead.
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On Thursday, there are leftover cupcakes from a client conference. Mary, the secretary in your team, boxes up four of them for you and tells you to take them with you, because, "you've had a rough week, toots."
It’s not a flattering assessment of you, but when you see your own reflection in the mirrors of the office toilets, you can’t help but think it’s an accurate one. You look rough. Eyes bloodshot with deep furrowed lines underneath. Your face is gaunter than you remember seeing it too. 
You take the cupcakes. 
It's the first good thing that has happened to you all week, and as small of a comfort it is, you take it as a win.
You eye the box from your desk the rest of the day, squirreled away in your tiny cubicle. You are determined not to eat one while at work. Because you'll be damned if Matt from accounting catches a whiff of your cupcakes and asks you to share one with him. You want to properly savor them in the comfort of your home at the end of the day.
But as often is the case when you have something to look forward to, the seconds, minutes and hours tick away with a reluctant drag as if time itself knew you wanted the day to end faster and decided it'd be fun to flip yet another cosmic middle finger in your direction. 
When it's finally time to end work, you get off your chair so forcefully it knocks it to the floor. You are practically jogging through the lanes of cubicles to get to the elevator, and nearly smack the security guard on the other side with how hard you swing open the front door. 
It's pouring outside, which, of course it is. You take off your jacket and cover your cupcake box with it, because you're not going to let the universe ruin the one good thing you've got going for you this week, as you run towards the station.
The moment you step into the damp and sticky station any remaining sense of joy in you evaporates. There's a hoard of tourists swarming the subway paying no attention to their surroundings. Tourists wearing their caps and backpacks and wheelies knocking over a 'Caution Wet Floor ' sign as they gather in a throng in front of the subway map, blocking the way as you hear the train approach.
It's not that big of a deal. A train comes every two to five minutes, and if you miss this one, you'll just get on the next one. It's not the end of the world. Logically, you know that. Emotionally and spiritually however, the world around you has just taken a little bit too much from you for you to concede to this minor little loss.
You are going to make this goddamned train.
Taking a determined step forward, you shoulder and push your way through the throng of people to fight your way to the front of the track.
You push a little too hard. Your feet skid across the slippery tiles, leg buckling from your own weight and you lose control, tumbling forward.
In your peripheral view there's a blinding light approaching. There's wind beating the sides of your face, and you can hear the screeching metal of the train right next to you. Your foot drops into empty space and you are falling into the tracks. 
Oh god why...
Why?
You just want to live.
The cupcake box flies out of your grip, splattered somewhere across the front pane of the train. There's a hard tug on your shirt as an invisible force you cannot see yanks you back, hard.
Your head whips back and for a fraction of a second, there are crimson eyes staring back down at you, you blink and then it's gone.
You land on your ass with a bruising force to your tailbone with a bone-breaking thud. The subway whizzes by with a demonic roar past you, inches from where you're sprawled on your ass on the dirty tiles of the subway station.
In front of your feet, there's a long streak of white frosting trailing down from your feet to the tracks of what looks like a crime scene.
Maybe it's the stress. Maybe you've just had a bad night of sleep (after many successive bad nights with little to no sleep). But something in you breaks at the sight of the frosting smeared across the dirty subway tiles.
Your eyes sting with exhaustion. Chest drawing in tight with a crumbling ache that makes you want to curl up on the cold tiles. You're just so tired.
There are people around you staring at you. No one in their right mind who lives in New York would sit on the floor of the subway.
But your legs are heavy and numb. You can’t move from the spot. Everything tastes like bile. You try to swallow and force it back down but it's no use, your throat has swollen shut. Your cheeks run wet and you press your palms to your eyes to make it stop but that only seems to make it worse. Snot runs down your nose and drips down your wrist. You're crying and you don't know how to stop.
Is this the rest of your life?
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In the morning, you wake in your bed with a sore ache that gnaws at your bones. Swollen eyes and a soreness that scratches the lining of your throat.
Your back hurts, and as you try to turn to your side to get out of bed a sharp pain surges up along your entire spine.
Fuck.
It's too bright. The sunlight is offensive. It stings your eyes and makes you sick to your stomach. You only have vague memories of how you made it back home. Feet shuffling through the subway in a daze like the walking dead.
God is that what you are? A dead man woman walking?
You crane your head and catch a glimpse of your clock on the bedside table. 9.13 You're late for work. But that's mind as well, you don't have it in you to make it in.
What's the point anyhow? You hate that place.
Besides, if the subway on the way over doesn't finish off the job this time around, then eventually a taxi will. Failing that the universe is probably going to send over a ninja assassin rat from the subway to come after your life.
There's a soft breeze coming in from the open window that grazes the back of your neck and you turn your head towards it. All you can see from your window is the brick wall of the neighboring building. Even though your apartment is on the sixth floor, you can't see a speck of the New York skyline.
Still the breeze is nice, though you don't remember opening the window last night. You never usually do. It is silly and paranoid. No human robber could possibly climb up your six storey building just to climb into your window and rob you. If they could, they’d find that there isn’t much to rob in your apartment, the most valuable thing you own is a complete Le Creuset Cookware set. 
Your eyes glaze over your work tote bag on the floor next to the window, drifting upwards and spot the pink box sat on the window sill and you stop. 
You didn’t put that there. 
You sit upright in your bed, setting your feet to the floor and force yourself to leave your bed as you pad over to the open window.
It's a fancy looking thing. Baby pink, and chiffon ribbon on its side. Wrapping your pinkie around it, you tug it loose. You perch your thumb against the corner of the lid when you stop.
It's not another one of the universe's assassination attempts is it? You're not going to open it to find a bomb ticking down are you?
You hesitate for another moment, taking a deep calming breath before you gather the courage to finally lift the lid. Inside, there is a gorgeous display of cupcakes adorned with white and pink frosting, topped with strawberries, chocolate shavings and on two of them there's mini macarons.
Way fancier than the day old Costco cupcakes you'd lost yesterday.
Picking up one, you take a bite. The frosting is light and zesty. The refreshing lemon melts on the tip of your tongue as the buttery cream floods your mouth with the rich flavor. It's the best thing you've ever tasted.
Lifting the box, you check the sides of it to see if there's any note left behind, but there's none.
Gladis Bakery. It's from a bakery you've never heard of before. When you google the name the place is outside of New Jersey, 58 minutes away and you would need to take a subway then switch to a tram.
There's no note attached, but you don't need one. The list of candidates who would be physically able to climb up six floors up the bricks of your apartment building to leave cupcakes on your window isn’t a long one. 
Something warm blooms in your chest at the thought, and your fingers linger on the top of the box, savoring the taste of lemon and sugar still lingering on your tongue.
You put your head out the window, not sure what you're expecting to find but find yourself disappointed all the same when there's nothing there. No people in the quiet street below, and nothing unusual above.
"Thank you for uhm... saving me,” you say into the silence with nothing but the traffic noise below to answer you. 
 “And the cupcakes," you add. 
There's no reply. 
~ To be continued.
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I don’t have a tag list but please follow me on astroboots-writes and turn on notifications to be notified when I post something new!
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unreliablesnake · 6 months
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I want you, but… [Ghost x reader (platonic)]
Summary: Ghost doesn’t like to see you date someone else. But when he has the chance to get what he wants, his common sense wins.
Note: We’re all sad bitches in this house (that’s me, I’m the sad bitch) so no happy ending. Ghost, I love you, but you’re an idiot. / If you want to know when I post new stuff, follow @unreliablesnakefics and hit the get notifications button.
Part 2
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Ghost usually isn’t the jealous type, but with you it takes very little to lose his cool. You’ve never been together, he knew he had no right to be mad at guys who flirted with you, he had no right to be angry with you for letting them, but it still happened sometimes.
One of the new doctors at base who treated your wound was really nice to you. Ghost was there, he volunteered to escort you to sick bay, making sure you didn’t collapse on the way, and when he saw the way the doc was looking at you, the kind, humorous way he was talking to you, he immediately knew what this was all about.
You didn’t seem to mind the attention, in fact you encouraged him by keeping up the playful conversation despite being in pain. Ghost took a hesitant step forward, planning to ask how you were, if he could bring you something, anything that could break the spell you were under, but he changed his mind last minute. He should keep his distance, he had no right to stand in the way.
He had been more irritated lately as he had been before. Johnny’s usual jokes simply went over his head, he didn’t even feel like being around others. You and that doctor got pretty close, pretty fast, and there was nothing he could do to stop this relationship from blooming.
Ghost picked up women for one night only, trying to forget you at least until he was fucking someone else, but all he could think about was you. Your smile, your laugh, your stupid sense of humor. He missed you, especially when you were both back home and there was no way for him to reach you.
All he could do was stalk you on social media. You barely posted photos of yourself, but when he saw a picture of you and–based on the size of the hand–a man clinking glasses at a bar probably, his heart sank. You were happy with someone else, feeling so confident about the relationship that you were ready to share it with your family and friends.
But then he checked the caption. “Sometimes ‘let’s stay friends’ isn’t an empty promise.”
He sat up in bed and reread the sentence. Did this mean you broke up? Hope filled his heart at the thought, even though he wasn’t sure how this could help him. He was your superior, the two of you getting together would cause a scandal for sure. Price wouldn’t be happy, the others might begin to believe he would play favorites with you, so everything pointed in the direction that you could never be together.
A few weeks later you were back on a mission together, and Ghost didn’t really know what to do. He was nervous around you, always carefully thinking about what to say before opening his mouth.
One evening Soap pulled out a bottle of booze from his bag, inviting the core team for a drink to relax a little. That one bottle turned into two, then three, the number growing because you were having fun together and apparently everyone brought something to drink just in case.
“So what’s with you and that doctor?” Gaz asked out of nowhere, almost causing the lieutenant to choke on his drink.
His eyes were glued to you, and your eyes traveled from one person to another until they locked with his amber ones. “It didn’t work out,” you admitted before turning to Gaz again. “Also, he’s going back to a civilian hospital. Less stress, he said. But I’m not sad or anything.”
“He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on,” Soap noted casually as he raised his glass.
Around one in the morning Price told everyone to go to sleep, saying they all needed some rest to sober up. While Price, Soap and Gaz left, you stayed behind with Ghost, your hands folded behind your back as you watched him with an anxious smile. The lieutenant didn’t really know what to say to you, so he decided to remain silent.
Even though he turned his back to you, he could still feel your gaze on him. “What is it?” he asked when he turned around to face you.
You inhaled then exhaled slowly in an attempt to calm yourself. But then you took a hesitant step towards him and said, “Are you happy that I broke up with him?”
“Why would I be happy?”
“You liked the photo I posted weeks ago. You know, the one about let’s stay friends. Also, there’s another thing,” you began, but you stopped talking. Ghost raised an eyebrow, waiting for you to continue. “Peter told me something that made me think. He said you were giving him death glares ever since he first talked to me in your presence after I got hurt on the field.”
Fuck, he had noticed. It’s not like he tried to hide it, but he sure wasn’t expecting the doctor to pay so much attention to him. What was he supposed to say? That yeah, well, I’m sorry, but he wasn’t good enough for you? In the end he let out a long sigh and put a hand on the back of his neck.
“I hope he didn’t break up with you because of that,” he noted quietly.
You raised an eyebrow at this in question. “What makes you think he was the one who broke up with me? Maybe it was me who let him go.”
“Did you?” You nodded. “Why?”
“Maybe there’s a big, scary guy I would rather spend my time with,” you replied with a playful smile.
Ghost wanted to kiss you so badly it hurt, but he kept his urges under control. When he stepped a little closer to you, you did the same, and eventually you closed the gap between you. He reached out to push a stray strand of hair behind your ear, watching as your breath caught in your throat from surprise.
After gulping loudly, you reached out to take his hand. “Was he right? Do you like me, lieutenant?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m your higher-up, it wouldn’t work anyway. Go to sleep,” he told you, even though this was killing him.
He could see the signs. He could pinpoint the exact moment your heart shattered into pieces because of his response. Biting on your lower lip to stop yourself from crying, you nodded and left him standing there, making him hate himself more than ever before.
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hadesoftheladies · 9 months
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friendly reminder that men together perfectly fit the definition of a terrorist group
"Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of intentional violence and fear to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war against non-combatants (mostly civilians and neutral military personnel)." 
men are not a neutral group, not politically, not positionally or economically--they actively participate in violence as intimidation against innocent women and children (and even other men) to advance and maintain patriarchy. misogyny is an ideology and a practice. it is a belief system with a long, old history of books, sermons, articles, and propaganda art pieces. it has its philosophers, its academics, and its politicians. you do not have to look far to be buried alive by examples.
men torture women for being women. men create stereotypes and archetypes in books and movies to convince men and children of their otherness. their inhumaness. "see?" the male politician say, behind a pulpit, at a conference, in the boardrooms, "she doesn't feel pain. she is made to be penetrated. she exists to supply offspring. she is made to be owned. it is an economic necessity that women and girls are made available to the man for sex. it is a human right."
"see?" the male artist/propagandist says. "the woman is hysterical, emotional, crazy, romantic. a woman is soft and must be soft. a woman is fuckable and must be fuckable. a woman is sex and must be used for it. her beauty is our intellectual property. as men we must claim it, display it, define it--and we can. we have."
"see?" the religious man says from his pedestal. "the woman is a whore. easily tricked and deceived. untrustworthy. she cannot be an authority. only a mother. only a servant. a woman who denies her meekness is diseased and to be burned. it is not wrong to own slaves. it is not wrong to own wives. god is in our image."
"see?" the academic man says during his lecture. "history is man's invention. the suffering of women is an evolutionary fact, and is not truly suffering, for it is natural. it is her destiny. the male body is excellence. the male body is default humanity. what is his body, what he needs, is what she needs, for she is a weaker version of him."
and our brothers listen, and our fathers learned. and it showed up in our homes. the propaganda showed up on our dinner tables, in car drives. each new century, each new generation of men, pick up the movement and carry on the march. it was burning women at the stake, now it is using their faces to torture them with deepfake porn. it evolves, but not on its own. not mysteriously or "naturally" but because people, men, keep fighting to maintain the status quo.
it is active. it is a deliberate and strategic movement. it is violent. it is hatred. it is PURPOSEFUL. it is there to convince any man of conscience that what patriarchy does, what it stands for, is not morally wrong. it needs to be done. it's the natural order of things. women are half-way people, and so they deserve half-way rights. women are chattel, and so they should be well kept. they are not being unreasonable. it is the world. it is the truth. it's not politics, it's common sense.
don't fall for propaganda. take their hate seriously. because they mean to ensure the subjugation of women. they believe in it and will do the worst things possible to maintain the regime. it IS a regime. it IS REAL. do not gaslight yourselves or let others gaslight you. this is not politically neutral, it is not culturally benign, it is not destiny, it is not "healthy/normal" human behavior. it is a regime that has to repurpose itself and its propaganda to stay afloat. it must keep recruiting.
please don't fall for the "women can be just as bad/not all men" propaganda. men as a group are not a neutral political party. RESIST.
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trans-girl-nausicaa · 13 days
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Gee I wonder how common private gun ownership was right before the Russian revolution? Oh wait it was actually common and civilians could easily buy firearms. Here’s a print ad from the time:
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Historically, many revolutions and civil wars involved the use of privately owned firearms. A really common pattern that you see going back hundreds of years is that at the outbreak of conflicts, civilians would form militias, arm themselves with whatever they could get their hands on, storm government armories, and then steal everything not nailed down.
During the Yugoslav civil war, the UN enacted an arms embargo on all sides of the war from Sept 1991 through the end of the war. The VRS split off from the JNA, so they just took those weapons with them. However, the ARBiH had to acquire weapons from a lot of different sources, such as:
Stolen from JNA barracks
Stolen from Yugoslav police
Taken out of museums (Yes, really. They were literally using vintage captured MG42s from WWII)
Handmade (!) (Yes, really. I saw handmade guns that were used in the war on display in a museum in Sarajevo)
Smuggled in by Pakistani Intelligence Services (Specifically anti-tank missiles)
Picture: A group of ARBiH soldiers at the Old Bridge in Mostar, June 1992. The man on the far right is carrying a Winchester Model 70 (captured from a Serb, who purchased it in Montana)
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Picture: Two ARBiH soldiers, the one on the right is carrying an MG42.
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Another conflict (or, more accurately, long series of conflicts) that we can also look to is the American Indian Wars. Native American combatants used a variety of weapons, but the weapons that they prized most highly were contemporary repeating rifles. Famously, repeating rifles such as the Henry lever-action rifle were contributing factors to the victory of Lakota and Cheyenne forces at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. (Native Americans had been purchasing guns for hunting and combat for over a hundred years at that point. One of the earliest accounts of such a purchase was in 1750 where French traders traded flintlock muskets for horses from Wichitas and Comanches.)
Picture: The Apache military leader Geronimo, on right, accompanied by three younger warriors, 1886.
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Let’s take another, ongoing example: The Myanmar civil war (2021- present, as of April 2024).
Fighters in the coalition of anti-junta forces use a wide variety of small arms, but most relevant for this post is the manufacturing and use of the FGC-9, a 9mm carbine compatible with Glock magazines.
(Side note: FGC stands for Fuck Gun Control.)
The FGC-9 design uses a combination of 3D-printed parts and easily-manufactured pressure-bearing metal parts.
Picture: a People’s Defense Force soldier carrying an FGC-9.
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If you genuinely believe that there will be a revolution or civil war in your country in the future, then logically it is 100% reasonable to buy and train with guns right now.
If you genuinely believe that there will be a revolution or civil war in your country in the future, it makes absolutely no sense to hand-wave that away with “one day when the exact right circumstances emerge for a proletarian mass movement to Do Revolution, only then will we acquire even one single firearm. I’m just going to assume there won’t be massive obstacles such as arms embargoes, government crackdowns, or supply-chain issues that could completely stymie our ability to do that.”
If you genuinely believe that there will be a revolution or civil war in your country in the future wouldn’t it be better for the people on your side to already have some level of training & skill with firearms?
If you live in a country where the right wing has spent decades buying guns and salivating over the idea of starting a civil war and killing left-wingers and minorities, do you think it is a good idea to discourage left-wingers and minorities from buying guns?
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Forming the Pack - Part 1
Autumn Embers Master List
Pheromones aren’t everything, of course, but you’ll get more cohesive group dynamics if everyone has scents that go together. Scent blockers and diffusers are everywhere in common spaces, so it’s not like people who’s scents don’t mesh can’t be around each other. Lots of people with subtler or hard to pin down scents only go au naturel on special occasions with family and their special someone.
Of course, the military is a whole other beast.
Almost every person serving active duty is an alpha, which lends itself to clashes. And alphas, who already tend to have stronger scents, put out even more aggressive pheromones in close proximity with one another. Industrial strength scent diffusers can only do so much. It results in proximity packs forming, alphas who are scent compatible spending more time with each other.
The 141 doesn’t form because of scent compatibility. When Price finds Simon and forms the task force, he doesn’t much care about what they each smell like. Their scents being on wildly different parts of the spectrum is better than if they were too close, Price reasons. His gear smells a bit spicy, Simon’s always has an earthy undertone. It’s easy to avoid squabbling, and only made easier by the way Simon readily assumes his position as John’s second. No muss, no fuss.
The first year passes. It’s hard work, but Simon makes it undeniably simpler. The Ghost has a presence that demands deference from the temporary members of the task force. And because Ghost follows his captain, that deference extends to Price. The two times someone had tried to upset the balance, Simon had reacted with such swift ferocity that Price hadn’t known there was a problem before it was resolved with a neck under a boot.
“Stand down, Ghost,” Price says around his cigar, the third time.
“'S soon as he acknowledges his superiors, Skipper,” Ghost rumbles, staring down at the sergeant who’s face is going an interesting shade of purple with shame and a lack of oxygen. “Yield, corporal.” The sergeant frantically taps Ghost’s boot. Ghost gives him just enough room to heave a breath, and snarls down, “Yield to the Captain.”
“Captain, I yield,” the young man gasps.
“You ever flout orders again, I’ll kill you myself,” Ghost growls.
After that, the mission had gone smoothly.
Days later, it’s just the two of them again, walking home from the pub. It’s a nice enough night for it, and they’re both too jumpy to call a car. Simon follows without comment, just lights a cigarette and falls into John’s wake, like always.
Four blocks from the base, Simon says, “Gotta piss.”
John snorts. “What, you didn’t go before we left? Hold it.”
“Alright,” Simon drawls. Without breaking stride, he lights another cigarette.
Of course, within another block, John becomes too aware of his own bladder. If Simon hadn’t said anything, he could probably have made it. Annoyed, he steps into an alley and behind a dumpster. His nose does not appreciate the assault on his senses, but he’s a soldier, he’s smelled worse. Simon stands guard at mouth of the alley as he does his business.
When he emerges, he tips his head. “Goin’?”
Simon quirks an eyebrow and exhales a cloud of smoke. “Am I?”
Price hums, takes in Simon’s relaxed posture. Without the skull covered balaclava, he’s softer. Not civilian soft - he’s still almost 2 meters of alpha, hardened by military training and torture. But where most military As balk at taking orders when they’re not in the field, Simon looks for ways to let Price lead.
Simon will do what ever John tells him. It’s a realization that probably shouldn’t thrill him the way it does.
John waves him into the alley. “Be quick about it.”
Without comment, Simon hands his half-finished cigarette over and steps into the alley. John contemplates it as Simon does his business. He prefers cigars, but he takes a drag and tells himself it’s just to keep it lit.
But when Simon re-emerges, John doesn’t hand it back. And Simon doesn’t ask.
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panakina · 1 month
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Here's what I think would fix Jason in comics. He needs like, two guys in crime alley who he always checks up on. It's not a big deal, neither of them are anyone important, just rando civilians, but whenever he's in town or there's a big disaster, he goes and checks on them. Say one's a teen who emancipated himself from a bad home situation but doesn't have a lot of common sense and is still figuring out how to live on their own. They kind of look up to him and are embarrassed about it. The other is an elderly woman whose entire family Gotham has taken from her, with several medical conditions, and who is unrelentingly mean to him, but silently worries. they must always be checked on. There is no theoretical 'they're better off without me'.
Just some consistent connections to the actual area he's supposed to care about, who ground him in the mundane world. People who genuinely need his help outside of his hero persona, and who care about him for who he is now.
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abbyromanoff · 8 months
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I don't if you'll do this request but I wanna request for Fan!Wanda x Singer!Reader (Reader has the music of Elvis Presley) Wanda meets Reader for the first time and they instantly click
I CAN’T HELP FALLING IN LOVE
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PAIRINGS: Wanda Maximoff x reader
WORD COUNT: 1631
WARNINGS: fluff, fan!Wanda, singer!R, literally nothing but sweet fluff sooooo :)
NO ONE IS PERMITTED TO STEAL, COPY, OR REBLOG MY WORK AS THEIR OWN!!
Wanda looked at her empty bank account with a frown on her face, she had paid so much to try and get tickets to your concert that she forgot to have common sense. But this was an exception, you were her idol, the person she’d been dreaming of meeting for years. She had posters of you in her room, even, and now she was going to be meeting you. After the concert she’d be able to take a photo with the person she’s been obsessing over for years, this was worth the missed bills.
She entered the building after hours of waiting and took her spot near the front row, admiring the platform that would soon be holding you. Jitters of excitement coursed through her as a smile was plastered on her lips, she had never been so happy.
Shouts of your name could be heard across the entire stadium yet she was the loudest, she couldn’t care less if she’d lose her voice the next day. She blushed from your radiant smile alone and held onto the bars tightly as people tried getting as close to the front, nearly squishing her in. She was trying to enjoy this, but the pain in her stomach from the railing was not making it easy.
“Hey! Can everyone please take a few steps back from the front?” You asked when your song came to an end, the rasp in your voice sending many into spirals. They listened and Wanda was nothing but grateful, especially when she noticed your eyes on hers for a brief moment.
“Thank you, thank you!” The show continued like normal, but Wanda couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear when watching the way your lips moved so well. She wondered what they’d feel like against hers.
“Thank you for coming everybody! I can’t wait to meet some of y’all, and for the rest of you, have an amazing night!” You were rushed off the stage by your managers and you instantly chugged down the extra water they offered you. While you loved your fans more than anything, it was so tiring and exhausting sometimes. But you wouldn’t trade this for the world, it was your dream since childhood and now you’re here, singing your heart out in front of thousands of people.
“Okay, everyone please calm down, you’ll all get a chance to see them.” The young lady spoke, trying her best to gather the crowd but failing to be heard. You picked at the skin of your nails anxiously and bit your lip, trying to gather yourself before they all started filing through. That didn’t last very long.
Most of the people who saw you were trying their best to talk to you or were crying their eyes out, you helped them as much as possible and gave them a small hug before taking a photo and signing their item of choice.
Once the wave ended, you took a deep breath before they got ready for the next. And it continued that way until nearly two full hours passed. It was close to midnight and while you felt horrible for the people who had to wait so long to see their favorite artist, all you wanted to do was go home.
Wanda, on the other hand, was shaking with joy when she was next in line, her gaze being able to land on your figure with how close she was. You said your goodbyes to the young gentleman in front of you and turned to look at her, eyes widening slightly in result. She was beautiful, you’ve never seen such a woman.
“Uh, hi, it’s wonderful to meet you.” You shook her hand and, even if she was the one meant to be filled with nerves, somehow you were even worse. It wasn’t often you got to meet someone who held such power over you as a normal civilian.
“Hi, Ms- uhm, Y/N.” You chuckled as your hand stayed in hers, only when you realized did you pull away hesitantly.
“Alright, can we get this going? There’s a line of people out there.” You nodded and wrapped your arm around her, pulling her close and smiling as she hugged your waist. A blush was adorning your cheeks along with hers, and when she pulled away, she grabbed something from the back of her pocket and you thought she was going to ask you for an autograph but instead it was a small bracelet. You looked down at the object with a grin, only to notice she was being directed to leave.
“Wait!” She turned around and so did the groups of workers. “Uh, would you be willing to wait for me? This group will be done in about five minutes. Obviously, only if you want to, of course.”
“Yes!” She must’ve cringed at her eagerness and cleared her throat before retrying. “I mean- that would be great, I’ll meet you in the back?”
“Yeah, right behind the curtain and I’ll be there.” She nodded and was then brought to the spot you requested, happiness being evident in your expression for the rest of the few minutes.
Before the next wave could come in, you went to where the brunette was waiting and greeted her with a hug this time, letting yourself linger a moment too long and only pulling away so you could properly see her.
“I’m sorry, I don’t usually do this. I just saw you in the front row and thought you were absolutely beautiful and then you came in and I didn’t want to let you walk away without saying something.” She lowered her head in embarrassment when she was beaming in excitement, not only did she get to meet you but here you were standing right in front of her complimenting her beauty.
“Would it be okay if I got your number? Or I could give you mine, t-that would be okay too. That is if you want to-“ Noticing her rapid nod was the only answer you needed and wanted. You let out a relieved sigh and took out your phone where you accessed your keypad before handing it over. She shakily typed, making sure to read the numbers over and over in case it was wrong.
“There, you can text me after the meet and greet or whenever really, I don’t mind.” She chuckled anxiously and, before you could say anything else, workers were trying to usher you back inside.
“Well, I’ll text you then.” She leaned forward, pressing her lips onto your cheek and leaving with a small wave, trying her best to keep her composure and not completely freak out. The rest of the night she was stuck on your mind as you were hers. She stared at the poster in her room where you sang a sweet melody into the mic, not only did she get to hear it in person but there’s a chance she could again, this time with only you.
Suddenly, her phone rang and she was greeted with an unknown number, but she knew it was you.
“Hey, I know I said I would text but- I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to hear your voice again.”
“It’s okay, I’m actually glad you called, I’ve been thinking about you.” She heard shuffling on the other side along with the beeping of an open car door.
“Oh yeah?” She giggled quietly, trying not to wake up her sleeping parents in the next room.
“Well, would it be weird for me to say I’ve been thinking about you too?” Her heart skipped a beat as one side of her wanted to scream in joy, while the other part of her knew that would most likely blow her chance with you.
“What were you thinking about?”
“Just how nice it would be to take you on a date sometime.” She was silent for a moment before she spoke up, the anxiety inside of you growing and growing in hopes of receiving the answer you want.
“You wanna take me on a date?”
“Why not? You’re simply the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever had the blessing of laying my eyes on and I can already tell you have the kindest soul known to mad-kind, I guess I just want to learn more about you.” You must’ve had experience with dating as you nearly knocked her off her feet. If you asked her to marry her at this exact moment, she would’ve said yes.
“Then I guess I can’t say no to that, now can I?”
“I guess not. How about this Friday night, you busy?” The decision-making went on for only a few minutes as she internally canceled any plans she may have for the next year if it meant she got to spend the evening with you.
“I can give you my address and you can stop by, but I get if that sounds a little creepy for a first date.”
“No, no, that’s fine! Yeah, just send me the info and I’ll be there.” She bit her lip nervously until she saw the text from you, writing down and memorizing the apartment number multiple times.
“Alright, I’ll be there, 8 PM sharp.” You said your goodbyes after nearly half an hour of talking, but you didn’t want to stop yet. You wanted to keep going, to create small conversations again and again if it meant hearing her voice. No one had ever had such a pull on you before, what was so different about her?
Meanwhile, Wanda was already planning her outfit for the upcoming event, scurrying through each dress or jumpsuit to try and figure out what would impress you the most. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight.
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darkcircles4lyfe · 2 months
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To Build Something Else
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Whenever I read a fanfiction that takes place in the future where the hero kids continue their schooling as normal and emerge as pro heroes into the existing system, I always kinda view it as like, “AU where things weren’t as bad” or “AU where everyone is still pretending that this is the way things should be” or “AU where good and evil are morally uncomplicated.” I’m not trying to call anybody out—I’ll still read and enjoy these sometimes—but that’s how I’ve always looked at it. I’m starting to notice other people feeling it too. I’ve read fics where they point out how redundant and unfair it is to go back to being students after saving the world (remember how many pros straight up quit and left a bunch of kids to keep fighting?). I’ve seen people acknowledge how trauma will affect their ability to keep going. Perhaps the trickiest thing to wrap our heads around is how the villains will fit into it all if not through death, punishment, or imprisonment. What about all the other trappings of society? The heavily regulated quirk use, the government-funded pros aiding police control and contributing to cover-ups that maintain the illusion of peace. Hero idolization, quirk counseling, civilian helplessness. Judging a person’s worth or character based on their quirk…
It would sound too obvious and cheesy to simply point out that society isn’t “just the way things are,” that change is possible. We all know this, and yet we struggle to pinpoint exactly where to aim our sights, find the source, make any meaningful progress. The other day I read some articles from my university’s student newspaper around 1970, and it made me feel sick wondering if progress is really an illusion. Fact is, it’s easy to intellectually deconstruct society, but very difficult to imagine how to build something else.
In this fictional world, heroes have offered a mythical vision of safety and triumph. When All Might arrived, everything was going to be okay. But let’s not forget how this story began: with a moment where All Might paused, like a bystander, and in his place, a desperate civilian kid hurtled forward without any common sense. If you ask me, it wasn’t that Izuku was so good and pure and selfless, it was that he disregarded everything.
And so the person who “saves the world” (if we can even reduce it to such a concept) is not the person who puts everyone at ease and makes crowds cheer. It’s the person who makes everyone hold their breath, with a feeling in the air like the pressure changed, and it smells like rain. It is natural to be worried about the future. It’s honest. It means you can see what’s really going on. Hero society has never felt this exposed, but the people are held back from the edge of despair because there is also so much potential brewing. Electricity about to strike. The world will NOT go back to the way it was, no matter what. That much is certain. But what if we still live to see the dawn? What then? What if one person’s courage to break the mold makes all the difference?
I’m not just talking about Izuku, you know. I’m talking about Horikoshi.
To an extent, I’ve given up on predicting how exactly things will play out, because if nothing else, I can tell he’s planning something big—so big, I can’t quite picture it. I’m watching and waiting for the one person who can. I just know where he’s coming from. I think about how he’s never come this far before because his other stories were snuffed out. I know he used to struggle to see the future of his career. I relate to his stubbornly rebellious resolve to do what he wants anyway. To keep dreaming. I know that emotional sincerity is his specialty. And now he’s even directly breaking the fourth wall, having characters talk about what’s supposed to happen in comic books. Gradually, almost imperceptibly at first, we’ve been shown how something else can happen. He’s not done yet.
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brighteuphony · 2 months
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I LOVE your Sakura AU, thank you so much for making it 🥹
Even though her ending is supposed to be “good”, I always thought that canon didn’t do her justice and threw any character development she had out of the window so she can be with Sasuke
I SO wanted her to finally move on and just let go
And I don’t have anything against Sasusaku
But I think it’d be much more beautiful if Sakura long let go of her feelings by the time Sasuke came to his senses and they developed their relationship TOGETHER from the START
And, once again, your work is AMAZING and I can’t wait for next pieces ❤️
Btw, can I ask a question?) Will we see Naruto’s and Sasuke’s reaction to her condition (maybe flashback to before she left the village?), if not, can you please tell me a bit about it? I can’t imagine them to ignore her after the incident, especially considering that they are at fault as usual
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Thank you so much for the kind words! I've also never been a fan of how Sakura ended up. I have no beef with SasuSaku, but my biggest issue was that we never saw Sasuke try to make up/connect with Sakura in the same way we saw him do with Naruto, so their romance in Boruto just felt so...abrupt?
As for what happens to Sakura and her friends....
Sasuke was essentially put on probation/jailed, but broke out and defected to Otogakure as canon. This devastates Sakura, as she's both in deep denial about his contribution to her injuries and also the fact that she basically threw herself in there for nothing. Kakashi shuts down completely. It's a nightmare replay of his own past, including the female team-mate being horrifically injured by the chidori. The guilt of everything is eating him alive so he basically withdraws into himself and uses her demotion to civilian status as a way to trick himself into thinking that if he just 'rips off the bandaid' and cut ties, she'll be able to move on more easily.
Naruto is the only person who is really able/willing to face justice. After the incident, he was basically also put on probation/awaiting trial but busted himself out to join Jiraya.
So for context, Sakura got clapped hard by the Rasengan/Chidori combo (hearing gone, nerve damage, eyes shot etc) and basically had to be put in a coma to try and stop the damage from getting worse, but unfortunately none of the medics in Konoha had the ability to reverse anything but the most superficial damage. So Naruto joined Jiraya in an attempt to find and bring the only person in the world who could give Sakura a sliver of hope.
I felt like this worked well with canon and the desperation to get Tsunade to be hokage and Naruto basically begged her on his hands and knees to help Sakura. Tsunade made it there in the nick of time managed to save everything but her eyes.
But Sakura's life has fallen apart, her career is over, her parents dead from Konoha Crush and her eyes gone...and Naruto is the most convenient and available person to take out all her rage on, so...while he deserves a lot of that rage..she is essentially punching down on who she perceives to be the cause of all her problems.
Lee is in the same boat as her, but while he tries very hard to be there for her, Sakura can't stand to be with him right now, as it just makes the reality of life hit that much worse- especially when she finds out there's a surgery that might give him a better chance than she'll ever have.
And Ino visits often at first, but then it's awkward...and painful as the weeks go by. They have lunch and gossip but at some point, there's not much a shinobi and civilian have in common, especially after the shortage of manpower post Konoha-crush has Ino entrenched in the shinobi life more than ever before.
I hope this answered some stuff! Thank you so much for the questions and the interest! I love Sakura and I just wanna give her the development and power she deserves!!
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