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mentalpolaroids · 2 years

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Everything always leads back to you

[gif creds @dailystrangerthings]

Steve Harrington x female!Reader

Summary: The three times people spilled Steve’s secrets and the one time Steve did it himself

Warnings: mentions of injuries, swearing

I used some prompts from @promptplanetblr and @novelbear, shout out to them!

“Ow, fucking shit!”

(y/n) yelled from where she stood leaned against the wall rubbing her shin. Steve looked back at her and saw the now familiar pained and frustrated expression taking place in the girl’s features once again.

Steve, Robin and Nancy were helping (y/n) clean the garage of her place. She was about to buy her first car and needed to get rid of all the junk that was taking the much needed space for the vehicle’s future home. Robin agreed under the promise of free rides whenever she needed or pleased. Nancy was excited to see what antiques or old toys she could find and would constantly ask (y/n) if she could keep whatever dusty object she dug from a box, which was amusing to everyone. Add to that making fun of the Wheeler girl and her journalist instincts to ask dozens of questions about the history of said object.

And Steve… Well, Steve didn’t need a reason to say yes to anything (y/n) asked of him. He would drop whatever he was doing to rescue his best friend and spend time with her, and one of his favorite pastimes, besides staring at (y/n) like she was the greatest, most famous and appreciated art piece in a museum, was to scold her for how damn clumsy she was. Both complained, but both secretly loved it. That’s why Steve shook his head in amusement at the sight of beloved best friend in pain.

“I swear I’m gonna use this bubble wrap on you instead of the jars.”

“Look who’s talking, Harrington.” she groaned, “Are you forgetting all the times I had to patch that pretty face of yours?”

Steve smirked.

“You think I’m pretty?”

“I think you’re annoying.”

“How about bubble wrap for both and also a bit of tape to shut your traps?” Robin interfered, not really with the intention of stopping their bickering. Watching them “fight” was her favorite pastime.

“How about a bow to go with that?” Nancy held an old Christmas decoration and placed it on Steve’s hair, who quickly grabbed it and threw it at (y/n).

“Ew, cobwebs.”

At that, Steve furiously flapped his hair in panic of having a spider settling in on his head. As the girls laughed, (y/n) grabbed Steve’s hand to stop his movements and gently removed the tiny fragment of a cobweb from the strings she dreamed so many times of running her fingers through. The room seemed to grow silent for a second as Robin and Nancy observed the tender interaction between (y/n) and Steve.

“All clear, idiot.” the girl said, wagging her hands for any remains of the sticky, annoying fiber.

Steve thanked her shyly but his embarrassment didn’t die there. He turned around to go back to his previous chore but a trolley went unnoticed by his distracted stance and the boy tripped over it. The hiss that slipped through his teeth caught the girls’ attention and Robin widened her eyes realizing Steve had hit his healing broken rib against the metal.

“Wow, you okay?” (y/n) asked, concerned.

“Shit, dude, your rib!” Robin completely dismissed (y/n)’s question and the clear shut up look Steve sent her way.

After the Starcourt mall incident, Steve realized he was in worse shape than he thought when all the adrenaline vanished from his system and the excruciating pain below his chest was making it difficult to breathe properly and pretend he was okay. He still remembered the terrified look on his best friend’s face when she met him and Robin near the ambulance Steve was getting his face checked, before that, he had already asked- no, demanded, Robin to not tell (y/n) about the broken rib. She was already way too worried about the bruises covering his face, he didn’t want to send her into full panic mode if she knew those bruises felt like barely a scratch compared to the broken bone.

“Did you hurt your rib?” (y/n) asked, confused as to how he managed to hurt his rib with just a bump to the innocent trolley.

“Yes!” Robin shouted and Steve looked at her again in panic.

“No!”

“Steve!”

“Robin!” at this point, he was shooting daggers with his eyes at the short haired girl, “I’m fine!”

(y/n) looked at Nancy hoping to find some answers to whatever was going on, but when she bit her lip in nervousness (y/n) realized that there was something she was being left out of.

“What the hell is going on?” she turned to Steve, “What’s wrong with your rib?”

The look (y/n) gave Steve was stern and he knew the expiry date of keeping his broken rib a secret had come.

After a long pause, Robin couldn’t take the pressure anymore.

“He broke his rib.” Steve closed his eyes in defeat and (y/n) remained confused, “When we escaped from the Russians, they broke Steve’s ribs during one of the beatings.”

(y/n) moved her gaze to Steve, who had his fixated on the trolley, mad that the things gave him away. When the new information quicked in (y/n)’s brain, the panic she felt that night came back.

“Wait, what do you mean one of the beatings?”

Robin’s eyes widened, feeling guilty that (y/n) didn’t know Steve had gotten beaten more than once. But this time, in her defense, she wasn’t aware that (y/n) didn’t know that part of the story.

The Harrington boy rolled his eyes, done with having hope in Robin’s capacity of keeping her mouth shut, and turned to (y/n).

“Yeah, huh, so yeah, they did more than just punch me a few times but hey,” he moved his hands to hold her wrists and comfortingly moved them up until they reached her shoulders, “I’m fine now, okay? Nothing to worry about.”

(y/n) stared back at his pleading eyes and sighed at how easily he could be forgiven with just a look and a smile. Or maybe she was just too weak and too lost in the adoration she had for the boy to stay mad at him for long. It was hard to give Steve the cold shoulder when he always made her feel so warm.

“You’re the one who should be wrapped in bubble wrap.”

Everybody who knew Dustin was aware of his big mouth, but they still trusted the curly haired boy nonetheless. Especially Steve. The soft spot he grew to reserve for Dustin made it easy for him to go with whatever the boy threw his way (or, in most cases, left Steve no choice but to go with it). But, Dustin had a big mouth still, and Steve wished he would have remembered that detail before he took the Henderson kid with him to help him find (y/n)’s birthday present.

“I just don’t get why you didn’t bring Robin or Nancy or even Max to help you. ”

“You just named the three people that are constantly giving me shit about being in love with (y/n).”

“It’s not like they’re wrong.”

Steve rolled his eyes, more annoyed at Dustin being right than his actual remark.

“Not the point.” Steve continued, “I want it to look like I chose the gift myself, last year (y/n) could totally tell Nancy helped me.”

“How could she tell?”

“A pair of shoes that are exactly her style and actually fit her? No way in hell I would ever get that right.”

“Yeah, maybe you should start looking more at other parts of (y/n) instead of her as-”

“Stop it.”

“I’m just saying, if you bought her a pair of jeans I’m sure you would get it right.”

“Okay, Henderson, I get it.”

The two boys, after visiting six stores, eventually agreed on the perfect gift that both tried to convince themselves was (y/n)’s style, and only that was enough to prove it was Steve who chose it. Now they just had to wait to see if she liked it.

Two days before (y/n)’s birthday, she was with Steve and Dustin on the way to the Wheeler’s to pick up Mike. Nancy greeted them at the door and let them in before calling for her little brother the way older sisters do.

Dustin, unlike his usual unphased behavior near Nancy, took notice of her outfit and immediately turned to Steve with wide eyes, then back to analyze the girl’s shirt, (y/n) and then Steve again, who eventually took notice of Dustin’s weird manners and noticed what was getting him all worked up.

“Nancy’s shirt.” Dustin whispered, but loud enough for (y/n), who stood close to Steve, to hear.

“Shut up, dude.”

If (y/n) wasn’t so confused with whatever the two were whispering about, she wouldn’t be ignoring the slight jealousy of why Steve was now so interested in Nancy, or, more specifically, her clothes.

“Mike! For God’s sake,” Nancy sighed while whispering the last sentence, “I’m gonna go get him, just wait here guys.” she said before making her way up the stairs.

Steve and Dustin didn’t seem to acknowledge what she said as they kept bickering in hushed voices.

“What’re you idiots whispering about?” (y/n) asked, crossing her arms.

“Nothing.” both answered.

“Really, what’s wrong with Nancy’s shirt then?”

“Nothing!” Dustin fired the reply, his tone and posture showing his nervousness, “Absolutely nothing, we were just debating how it looks nothing like the present Steve got you.”

Dustin spoke fast but didn’t stutter and immediately regretted opening his mouth, just like Steve regretted ever asking his young friend to go shopping with him. The Harrington boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath hoping to keep his patience in check.

“Yep, looks nothing like your present.” he wasn’t sure if he was giving up on trying to hide what his gift was, he just knew Dustin was no longer apt to keep his secrets.

(y/n) bit her lip to contain a laugh and was about to ask for details on said present when Nancy came down with Mike following her.

“Okay, okay, I’m ready!” Mike said, still pulling his backpack over his shoulders.

“Say hi to the others for me.” Nancy asked, referring to the rest of the party who would be meeting them at the arcade.

“Will do, and you have fun tonight.” (y/n) winked, teasing Nancy about her anniversary date with Jonathan.

“Ew.” Mike commented, understanding what (y/n) was referring to.

“Shut up, lanky Wheeler, we’re gonna be late because of you.” she attacked back.

While they made their way to the car, (y/n) stepped up to meet with its owner, Steve, and pinched his arm to get his attention.

“So, should I guess what my present is or did I already have a glimpse of it?”

“I’m gonna cave to my desires one day and kill Henderson.”

The girl laughed and laced her arm with his.

“For the record, I like it a lot.”

Never in her life had (y/n) felt so irritated with her own hair. She really underestimated the capacities of the woman explaining a supposedly easy way to style your hair and now that damn strand was testing her patience.

Nancy and Jonathan were in charge of (y/n)’s birthday party this year, it took a lot of begging and convincing from the couple, especially when Nancy mentioned a themed party, but eventually, with Steve’s push, (y/n) caved and accepted it. But now, standing in front of the mirror in Steve’s bathroom at war with her own hair, she regretted it all.

“Steve!”

“What?” the boy replied from his room.

“A little help here?”

Before he could answer, the doorbell rang.

“I’ll be right back, must be Robin.”

The girl groaned in annoyance and decided to finish the work on her outfit until Steve returned to help her.

It took a while, but eventually (y/n) heard noises coming from her best friend’s room so she assumed he was back. While Steve was gone, she was looking through the bathroom cabinets in hopes of finding anything that could help hair situation, and if there was someone who surely had something to help your hair look great, it would be none other than Steve “The Hair” Harrington. Good thing the legend was (y/n)’s best friend.

“Hey Steve, can I use your Farrah Fawcett spray?” she asked, still running her eyes through the shelves looking for the bottle. At the lack of reply, she called for him again, “Steve?”

Instead of his voice, she heard laughter, a familiar one. Robin. (y/n) ran out of the bathroom to Steve’s room and saw the owner of the laugh, plus Nancy, Jonathan and a not so happy Steve standing there, looking at her, ones in amusement, others in guilt, and a specific one in annoyance. Silence settled in between the group for a few seconds until Nancy broke it.

“Happy birthday!”

The phrase was repeated by the others and each one of them hugged (y/n). After the wave of affection, the birthday girl looked at Steve with guilty eyes.

“I’m sorry! I thought they would be waiting downstairs.”

The boy shook his head, dismissing her unnecessary apology.

“It’s fine, that secret was bound to be let out sooner or later. I just thought it would be Dustin to fuck up.”

(y/n) cringed at the fuck up, but knew he wasn’t actually mad at her. .

“Sorry,” she said again, “But can I use it? I don’t know what else to do with this.” she pointed at the loose strand hanging in front of her forehead.

“Yeah, come on,” Steve put his hands on (y/n)’s shoulders, turned her around so she was standing with her back turned to him and lightly pushed her to the bathroom, “I’ll help you.”

As they disappeared out of the room, Robin, who was finally able to contain her laughter, said.

“Save the making out for after the party!”

And the last thing Robin, Nancy and Jonathan saw before exiting the room as well was Steve’s middle finger sticking out from the bathroom.

“It’s just painful at this point, you know?”

Robin asked as both her and Steve watched (y/n) make her way to the restroom after leaving the movies. Steve, confused, turned to her.

“What are you talking about?”

The girl pointed at the spot their friend just disappeared into.

“I’m not following.” Steve added, still confused.

“(y/n), dingus!”

“What about her?”

Robin rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Are you seriously that dumb or did you just take too many hits in the head that you can’t ratiocinate properly?”

Steve’s eyebrow raised and at that point he was just wondering which one of them looked more delusional.

“Are you ever gonna tell what the hell you’re talking about?”

“You’re in love, dude!”

“Wow, wow,” he shook head, as if the movement would help the words find their place of reason in his brain, “what?”

“(y/n)! You like (y/n), and she likes you, and it’s so annoying that neither of you can see it!”

“Robin…”

“You’re in love with her!”

“No I’m not!”

Their voices had risen a bit and they were starting to get some annoyed looks from the people around them. Robin held Steve by his shoulders and shook him slightly trying to help him get to his senses and see the same picture as her.

“You’re definitely in love, all you ever talk about is her.” Robin’s voice was calmer, but her eyes held intention in her words, “You’re always looking at her, you pay the most attention to her when we’re all together, she’s the first person you share your snacks with and you even have a picture of her on your night stand!”

“How do you even notice that?”

“How do you not?”

Steve scoffed as he shook his head again. Something about Robin’s words sounded familiar, like she was describing his daydreams about his best friend. Ever since Nancy and even after all his failed dating attempts, he became closed off to the possibility of having exactly what he was looking for right in front of him. He was aware of the special feelings towards his best friend but he refused to call it love. He refused it so much that he started to believe in his own lies and now, being confronted about it made him feel like a loser, not only for making his feelings obvious to the outside but for being, once again, in open to another failed relationship.

“i’m not in love, she’s just… she’s just always on the back of my mind and… yeah, I, huh…”

Robin shook his shoulders again. One last push to align his ideas and finally come to his senses.

“Shit, okay, yeah I’m in love with (y/n).”

“Finally.” Robin cheered, and after letting go of Steve she saw the topic of conversation standing behind them, “Hey, you know what, I need to use the restroom too, be right back!”

She left and gently and not so discreetly pushed (y/n) towards Steve.

“What?” the boy asked, following his friend with his head and then he felt his heart being pulled to his back when he saw (y/n) right behind him, “Oh, shit, hey.”

(y/n) smiled, shyly but with a hint of fulfillment.

“Hey.”

Steve scratched the back of his neck having trouble looking (y/n) his best friend in the eyes, and he swore he almost forgot how to stand on his feet when she took a few steps to stand even closer to him.

(y/n) bit her lip, there was a huge smile waiting to be drawn in her face for finally hearing the words she could only dream of hearing.

“How much of that did you hear?” the boy asked, nervously.

“Enough to say that it took you long enough.”

“Huh, what now?” Steve chuckled, a nervous scoff to match his doubtful understanding of her reply.

“Did you mean it?” now it was (y/n)’s turn to become anxious, “Or did you just say it so Robin would shut up?”

“No, I meant it!” he was quick to reassure her, “I totally meant it I just… I don’t know, I…”

“Wasn’t supposed to hear it?”

“Yeah.” Steve smiled, feeling more confident at how hopeful she stared at him, “But I’m glad you did. I wasn’t being honest with myself, I didn’t want to fall in love with you so I tried to make excuses for these feelings I had but… everything just always leads back to you and I don’t think I wanna make excuses anymore.”

He could melt with the intensity of (y/n)’s stare over him, but she was in the same state as he was, a result of his confession. They stood like that for a long pack of seconds, looking dumb to those walking by, two idiots in love looking at each other, a moment straight out of one the chick flicks playing in a theater near them.

They both knew what they were waiting for, but neither of them wanted to make the first move, until (y/n) grew fed up with the tension and decided to end it. They’d been dancing around that tension for so long and if there was a time to jump into it, it was that moment.

“So,” (y/n) started, taking another step closer to Steve, “do we kiss, or…?”

Steve, still not believing that moment was actually happening, could only nod his head, and it felt like he was having an out of body experience when (y/n) touched his cheek to properly align her mouth with his and, finally, kiss. At the same time though, Steve never felt more grounded, in the right place, where he belonged and where it all made sense.

They grew more comfortable in each other, and when that comfort turned into addiction the kiss intensified. Hands held onto clothing trying to grip the skin, to be as close to each other as possible.

In the distance, Robin approached her friends with an open mouth in both shock and excitement. They’re finally making out, she thought. Despite her happiness, she started to feel a bit anxious about having to interrupt their moment, especially when she saw Steve lightly push (y/n) against the wall.

“Oh shit.” Robin resumed her steps towards the couple and cleared her throat to try and get their attention. Nothing. She shook her head, amused at the scene and dying to tell the story to the others.

“Guys, hi, huh, I’m so happy for you right now, like, bonkers happy, but I still need a ride home.

#stranger things #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington fic #friends to lovers

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agbpaints · 9 months

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"Test Vehicle One to Control, ready for final checks." Colonel Kinkaid said. Despite the prototypes immense size, the Mackie's cockpit was immensely cramped for all the diagnostic equipment that had been stuffed in it, as well as the bulky interface helmet he wore. Everything hummed with the quiet vibration of the fusion engine buried in shielding a few meters below his feet.

"Control to Test Vehicle One, T-minus 30 seconds, begin final checks. Reactor online. Sensors online. Weapons online. All systems nominal." The voice of the officer in the control room responded back over the radio. "Weather forcast for Yakima Valley Proving Grounds is 21 degrees and sunny, perfect for making history. You're free to proceed to the test range, Colonel."

"Roger." Charles Kinkaid responded as he pressed forward on the foot pedals. Around him, the mech reacted- myomer bundles tensed and loosened, armor plates slid across each other, the great gyro in the mech's core joined the hum of the fusion reactor- and he felt it through the helmet as a second body. Slowly, the Mackie lifted one gargantuan foot and placed it down in front of the other. Then again and again. The mech baby's umbilicals detached and retracted as it cleared the gantry, leaving Kinkaid to walk freely. He turned and stepped out of the hanger and into the sun and history books.

#hobby #miniatures #mini painting #battletech #battlemech #mecha #mech #mech warrior #assault mech #mackie #proliferation cycle

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blood-darkened-moon · 9 months

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Some Alfred and Alexia Ashford headcanons, but not related to twincest.

Sure! And you know what? I wanted to do some general headcanons for a while anyway.

Alfred

His full name is Alfred Edward Arthur Hamish Ashford.

Alfred’s IQ as an adult is high enough to be considered a genius.

Alfred likes his coffee black with a bit of sugar. He prefers tea to coffee, though.

He’s an early bird, he likes to get up early and go to bed early. However, in reality, Alfred usually gets up early, goes to bed late, and is often somewhat sleep deprived. Sometimes, he takes a nap in his office when he is too tired.

He tried to grow a beard once, which ended after a couple of weeks with some stubbles here and there. Nothing you could consider a beard. He has very little body hair in general.

He studied business administration and graduated as the best student of the year.

He’s a walking war and military history book.

Alfred owns a massive WWI and WWII-themed collection, which includes various models and original pieces from all parties. He has collectibles from other eras too. The models are from tanks, planes, armored vehicles, ships, larger weapons, and so on. Good amounts of them are self-made scale models. Alfred is very skilled in this regard. One of his maids kind of gained a friendship status by asking him frequently about the history of his collectibles.

Alfred is a decent pianist. He never had any lessons, everything is self-taught. There is still a lot of room for improvement, though.

Alfred speaks 12 languages besides English (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, Indian, Polish, Swedish) more or less well, some even on the level of a native speaker and almost accent-free. He can’t write and read all of them, but at least he understands them and has a rather broad vocabulary and some basic grammar skills. His favorite language is Italian. Learning them resulted partially from his own interest, partially it was work-related, and partially he picked them up from the mercenaries. Learning new languages was always easy for him.

Harman cared for Alfred like his own son after Alexia went to her cryogenic sleep. Alfred appreciated his kindness even though he never saw him as a father figure. Still, he treated Harman a lot better than he treated his other employees. Harman was even allowed to criticize Alfred openly without fearing for his life.

Harman hated what kind of monster Alfred had become over the years, even though he never saw the worst of Alfred. He partially blamed himself for it.

Alfred did not immediately develop his split personality after Alexia was gone. It started when he was around 20. At first, it was less frequent and less intense, but later it happened more often. The intensity increased too. Most of the time, he was still there, more or less, even when he wasn’t in control. Later he sometimes had total blackouts for minutes to hours when he switched completely to “Alexia”. After Alexia returned and he started visiting a therapist, his condition improved significantly. He still has it occasionally, especially when he is stressed, and it will probably stay forever to some extent, but at least the blackouts are gone.

He has problems distinguishing between the real Alexia and his alter ego.

Alfred is quite popular among the UBCS soldiers. Despite the intense training, they have a rather good life on Rockfort Island because he invests a lot of money to fulfill their basic desires. (Actually, it’s not his money, it’s Umbrella’s money, Alfred is just good at bargaining.) The only requirement is that the soldiers follow his rules. And since Alfred loves collective punishments, that’s not too hard to enforce. The soldiers keep each other in check.

Alfred rarely interacts with the lower-ranking soldier unless he has to. It is below him. Some have never even seen him the entire time they were on Rockfort Island. However, he is less aloof with the higher-ranking soldiers. When he’s in a good mood, he even has a few drinks with them.

The giant worm is his pet. Umbrella had little interest in this BOW, too impractical for broader use. They said Alfred could have it if he wanted it. No one knows how Alfred tamed it, but it is friendly toward him and even follows simple orders.

And because Alfred is a sick fuck, have some darker headcanons too.

Most prisoners on Rockfort Island are there for interrogation. Once this is over, Umbrella doesn’t need them anymore. Obviously, they can’t let them go, so they often become test subjects, or the UBCS can use them for training. As long as they die, Umbrella doesn’t care too much about how it happens. This means Alfred can do whatever he wants with most of the prisoners.

Watching Alexander suffer after Alexia infected him filled Alfred with joy. He could have watched this for hours while smiling from ear to ear. At first, he thought it was because he finally got his revenge, but the warm feeling returned when a worker had a fatal accident in front of him.

He tortured and killed a couple of prisoners himself. It was messy, and he realized that he preferred watching rather than doing it. Then he started using other prisoners for it. He promised to let them go if they would do what he said. A lie, obviously, but they often fell for it. Or he paid the mercenaries. Most have little to no morals anyway, and it is easy work for good money. This went on until he found Enoch Stoker (the anatomist). The guy clearly wasn’t right in his head, but he was intelligent, well-educated, and most importantly, he did everything Alfred wanted. Not only that he enjoyed it. The two even became something like friends.

Alfred sometimes recorded everything, but these snuff movies never gave him the same satisfaction as live performances.

War isn’t the only topic he has a lot of knowledge about. He’s also an expert in historic torture methods and outdated medical procedures from all around the world. Alfred is aware that he probably can’t replicate all of them, but he can try.

He tried to get into big-game and trophy hunting. The animals in his mansion are his kills. Soon Alfred realized that animals don’t do it for him. He preferred prey that was more intelligent. Alfred has a private hunting ground on Rockfort Island. Stronger prisoners have a good chance of visiting it instead of his torture chamber. (His aim is a lot better when he has slept well.) He owns a mare, which he often rides while hunting.

Alexia

Her full name is Alexia Veronica Elisabeth Nora Ashford.

The cryogenic sleep made her age slower. Physically she’s about 20 years old, not 27. Mentally she obviously didn’t age during that time.

Due to the mutations from the virus, Alexia can lift 40 times her body weight like an ant.

The twins have a cook, but when Alexia has time for it, she likes doing it herself. It reminds her a bit of working in a lab. She always wears safety glasses while cooking, possible helpers must wear them too. Her cooking is pretty good.

She doesn’t like sweets particularly. Sometimes it’s ok, but most of the time, she requests fruits as dessert.

Caffeine junkie. She likes her coffee with milk and without sugar.

Alexia loves opera, musicals, ballet, and concerts. She’s a good singer herself.

She is a night owl. Her sleeping schedule is slightly better than her brother’s, but not by much. She often stays up way too long and regrets it in the morning.

Alexia loves invertebrates. Ants are her favorites, but she loves other ones too. She has a large room where she keeps various species of invertebrates as pets in hundreds of enclosures. Alexia also has some beehives and started making her own honey.

She has collected porcelain dolls since childhood but has never played with them. Some are very old and rare. Her first doll was a gift from her surrogate mother. Alexia only knows this because Alexander told her so.

Alexia thought about getting into wine growing. Alfred loves wine, she loves wine, and she is generally interested in the process. So why not buy a suitable piece of land and hire some people to grow her own wine?

Alexia completed her studies mainly by distance learning. She attended the university only for exams and other events where she had to be present in person. The practical work was done in a lab in Antarctica that Alexander had built specifically for this purpose. She was still too small to work in a regular lab. After some inspections, the university allowed it. Alexia finished her Ph.D. with an A+. Her examiner didn’t go easy on her, but the defense was a breeze for Alexia regardless.

She secretly admired William Birkin. His achievements impressed her and gave her more motivation to work harder and outdo him. Alexia only met him once in person at an Umbrella intern conference shortly after she started working for them. He wasn’t very friendly, but they still debated until 4 a.m. (Alexander wasn’t with her). Both enjoyed it. Birkin would never admit it, though.

Alexia hoped Birkin would get along better with her, but she would never ingratiate herself. If he hates her, then so be it. Apparently, it doesn’t stop him from having elaborate conversations with her.

The last time she cried was when she was a baby.

She lacks a bit sense of shame. She is also uncomfortably direct in conversations, no sugarcoating, no lies to not hurt someone’s feelings.

She likes to try out new things. Even if she doesn’t like them in the end, the experience is still worth it.

Alexia has started to act more and more childish at times around people she is familiar with. As a child, she was dead serious. That’s how she was brought up, that’s what people expected of her. But now, she’s an adult, rich, and can do whatever she wants. And if necessary, Alexia can switch back to serious in a matter of seconds.

Alexia is fascinated by mundane things, like supermarkets. She never had these in Antarctica, and during the rare occasions Alexander took her somewhere else, they stayed far away from such places.

Both

Alfred was born first, Alexia 7 min later. Their birthday is the 27th of January, 1971.

Alexander took the DNA from Edward and Veronica to create the twins. That’s also where their second names are coming from.

They can read the other one so well that they can’t lie to each other. Sometimes it works for minor things, usually, it doesn’t.

Harman started his own investigations after Alexander’s disappearance. He found out what the twins did to him but never said anything. Harman thought it was unnecessarily cruel, and still, he could somewhat understand them. Despite his good intentions and all that he provided for them, Alexander was a terrible father. Harman felt sorry for the twins most of the time.

They tend to talk about other people who are right in front of them as if they are not there. They don’t mind if these people find it unpleased.

In any kind of competition, the twins never let the other win. They consider it disrespectful not to give 100%.

The twins often play chess together. When they were children, Alexia used to win all the time. Alfred improved a lot over the years, but he could never defeat her. As adults, it’s the opposite. Alexia tried many strategies, but she wasn’t able to beat Alfred once.

Alfred and Alexia started fencing as a hobby. Both are equally good. Often, they use the floret. Sometimes, they also try rapiers or sabers.

They like to travel and do sightseeing. Alexander rarely took them anywhere, and there wasn’t much to see in Antarctica.

Both work a lot. Alexia thought they could need more time to relax, so she introduced a spa day for them once a month. She also hoped that it would have a positive effect on Alfred’s mental health.

Alexia drags Alfred into everything that sparks her interest, like museums or theaters, and, to his dismay, into amusement parks, shopping malls, or supermarkets as well. Sometimes he can convince her not to go there, but not very often. If she really wants it, he gives in and accompanies her. Alfred’s worst experience so far was when Alexia dragged him into a strip club.

#resident evil #alfred ashford #alexia ashford #ashford twins #hcs #ask #🩸🌙#i always write too much i hope you don’t mind #re hcs

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ameliaisla09 · 11 months

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Why Vehicle History Check Report is Important in UK?

What is Vehicle History Report?

A vehicle history check report is a document that provides detailed information about the past of a specific vehicle. It compiles data from various sources, such as government agencies, insurance companies, auto auctions, and other sources, to provide a comprehensive overview of the vehicle's history.

Why Vehicle History Check is Important in UK?

Vehicle history reports are important in the UK for several reasons:

1. Legal Compliance: In the UK, it is a legal requirement for sellers to provide accurate information about the history of the vehicle they are selling. A vehicle history report helps sellers fulfill this obligation by providing a detailed record of the vehicle's past, including any accidents, thefts, outstanding finance, or other important information. By obtaining a vehicle history report, sellers can ensure they comply with the law and avoid potential legal issues.

2. Consumer Protection: For buyers, a vehicle history report provides important information to make an informed purchasing decision. It helps identify potential issues with the vehicle, such as undisclosed damage, outstanding finance, or mileage discrepancies. By knowing the vehicle's history, buyers can assess its condition, value, and reliability. This empowers them to negotiate a fair price and avoid buying a vehicle with hidden problems.

3. Safety and Security: A vehicle history report in the UK can reveal critical safety information, such as whether the vehicle has been involved in serious accidents or if it has been stolen. This knowledge is essential for ensuring the safety of both the buyer and other road users. Additionally, by checking for theft records, buyers can protect themselves from unknowingly purchasing a stolen vehicle, which could result in legal consequences and financial loss.

4. Financial Protection: The free vehicle history check report helps buyers verify if there is any outstanding finance or loans associated with the vehicle. This information is crucial as it ensures that the vehicle is not encumbered by financial obligations that could be transferred to the new owner. Without a history report, buyers may unknowingly acquire a vehicle with hidden financial burdens, potentially resulting in repossession or legal complications.

5. Resale Value: A comprehensive vehicle history report can increase the resale value of a vehicle. When selling a used vehicle, providing potential buyers with a transparent history report instills confidence and trust. Buyers are more likely to pay a fair price for a vehicle with a documented history, resulting in a better resale value for the seller.

What things do I have to know for a vehicle history check?

When conducting a free vehicle history check, there are several important things you should look for and consider. Here are some key elements to focus on:

Vehicle Identification Number (VIN): Obtain the VIN of the vehicle you're interested in and ensure it matches the VIN on the vehicle and in the documentation. The VIN is a unique identifier that allows you to access the vehicle's history.

Accident History: Look for any reported accidents or damage history. This information can help you assess the extent of the damage, the repairs made, and the overall condition of the vehicle. Pay attention to any major accidents that may have affected the structural integrity or safety of the vehicle.

Odometer Readings: Verify the accuracy of the recorded mileage. Look for any discrepancies or signs of potential odometer tampering, as falsely low mileage can inflate the value of the vehicle. Make sure the mileage aligns with the age and condition of the vehicle.

Service and Maintenance Records: Check if the vehicle has a comprehensive service history. Regular maintenance indicates that the previous owners took good care of the vehicle. Look for records of oil changes, inspections, and repairs. This information helps assess the overall condition and reliability of the vehicle.

Vehicle Use: Determine if the vehicle has been used for commercial purposes, such as rental or fleet use. Commercial use may indicate higher mileage or more wear and tear on the vehicle.

Theft and Recovery: Check if the vehicle has been reported stolen and subsequently recovered. This information is crucial to ensure you are not purchasing a stolen vehicle, which could lead to legal troubles and financial loss.

Outstanding Finance: Verify if there are any outstanding loans, liens, or financial obligations associated with the vehicle. Ensure that the seller has clear ownership and that there are no hidden financial burdens that could transfer to you as the new owner.

#vehicle history check #free vehicle history check #car history check

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grailfinders · 10 months

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Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #16D: Richard the Lionheart

hey, what’s up, it’s ya boy, Richard the Lionheart again. somebody wanted the Richard build but in D&D, and I thought it would be cool. not sure if/when I’ll get to the other Viewers’ Choice builds since a) I’m still catching up to NA again and b) summer is just around the corner, but it’ll probably happen eventually. if WotC doesn’t fuck up again.

anyways, Richie 2.0 is a Glory Paladin to smite at maximum speed, as well as a Swords Bard to be good at literally anything he wants to do.

check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Race and Background

as you likely remember from the pathfinder build, King Richard I is a Human, as well as a Noble. that being said there’s something funky going on in the state of France, so he’s got a Mark of Passage, giving him the standard +2 +1 stats of other races. (we’re also messing with the specifics here thanks to Tasha’s Cauldron, so that’s a +2 to Charisma and a +1 to Strength.) that means you have Courier’s Speed, a permanent +5 boost to walking, and Intuitive Motion, letting you add a d4 to any acrobatics or land vehicle check. riding skill, baby! you can also find Magical Passage once a day with a free use of Misty Step, and you gain some Spells of the Mark which you can add to your spell lists. we don’t pick any up as a bard, but feel free to prepare some using your paladin spells later! the ones you can do that with are expeditious retreat, jump, misty step, pass without trace, blink, and phantom steed.

and again, as a noble you have proficiency in History and Persuasion.

Ability Scores

Richie’s so dang persuasive his soldiers follow his orders in the afterlife, so Charisma has to be high on his priorities. after that is Strength. it’s hard to cut rocks in half without it. unless you’re playing a monk, which we’re not. though that does mean Dexterity is next. I know it’s not “really” needed for speed, but it’ll keep you from tripping, which is pretty dang important when you’re moving twice as fast as everyone else. Constitution comes next. from what I’ve heard Richard’s not unusually tough, but he is a melee fighter, so keeping this stat positive will help immensely. that means your Wisdom isn’t great. that and we’re dumping Intelligence. sorry, we needed everything else more.

Class Levels

1. Paladin 1: starting as a paladin gives you plenty of cool toys to play with, like your new proficiencies in Wisdom and Charisma saves, plus Athletics and Religion.

you can also use a divine sense to detect celestials, fiends, and undead nearby! it’ll tell you the type but not their identity, so i guess its kindof a servant senser? you can also lay on hands as an action, patching up your allies with but a touch! this recharages on a long rest, and it’ll only give you five times your level in hp per day. you can even spend 5 points to heal a poison or disease! we’ll get you some magic resistance later, but this is pretty good for a start.

2. paladin 2: second level paladins can get a fighting style of their choosing, and we’re pickin up interception! now if, say, a big chunk of ceiling is about to hit somebody you can react and use your sword to reduce the damage they take by 1d10 plus your proficiency bonus! you can’t use this on yourself, but you’re a cool dude, right?

you can also cast spells now! you can use your charisma to cast ‘em, and you can swap ‘em out each long rest when you’re bored! that also means we don’t have to go too in-depth about which ones to pick, but I’d definitely grab Compelled Duel or Searing Smite if you have a chance. the former essentially codifies a duel between you and another servant, while the latter is a damage over time kind of smite.

speaking of, you can use Divine Smites now. they’re not spells, but using one will eat up a spell slot, and deal radiant damage based on the level of slot spent. just stick one onto one of your weapon attacks and you’re good! you can use this with just about any melee weapon, so… yeah, noble phantasm 1 achieved.

3. Paladin 3: but that’s just one phantasm, we still have another one to get, plus your other skills! to help with that lightning speed, we need to dive into the Glory oath. this grants you Divine Health, giving you immunity to disease, as well as two ways to Channel Divinity once a short rest. you can either become a Peerless Athlete for advantage on your athletics and acrobatics checks, your carrying capacity is doubled, and you can jump ten feet further! alternatively, you can turn a divine smite into an Inspiring Smite, spending your bonus action after smiting to give temporary HP to nearby creatures.

you also gain access to Oath Spells, a special subset of spells that you can always have prepared without counting towards your limit, even if paladins couldn’t get these spells normally- sort of like your mark spells. right now, you have Guiding Bolt, which deals damage and gives the next attack on your target advantage, and Heroism, which emboldens creatures while giving them temporary HP each turn.

4. Paladin 4: fourth level paladins get an Ability Score Improvement like any other class, so now you can even out your Strength and Charisma scores. only even numbers really count in D&D, so that’s two half-price +1 bonuses to the relevant stuff strength and charisma do. which is a lot on a paladin.

5. Paladin 5: for example, your strength can be used even more now that you have an Extra Attack each attack action, and your charisma helps out a ton with your new second level spells! you get enhance ability for free, giving you advantage on one kind of ability check for a minute, or you can use Magic Weapon to give your stick a little boost. I’d also recommend you pick up Protection from Poison for more magic resistance. everybody knows poisons are magic. or is that friendship?

6. Bard 1: speaking of magic, let’s swap over to bard real quick for more spell slots! you get another list of spells you can cast. you have to mash your classes together to figure out how many slots you have at any given time, so check out your PHB for that. bards get their spells hard-coded in and can only swap them when they level up, so we’ll go into more detail here.

for cantrips, grab Blade Ward for a chance to go on the defensive and take half damage from physical attacks for a round. it’s not usually the smartest move to make, but at least it’s better than True Strike! yeah, we’re not here for much magic, we’re just using bard for extra physicality, a sentence I am sure has never been said before.

that being said, some spells are pretty nice. Animal Friendship will further improve your riding skill, and Feather Fall can keep you from taking fall damage after your Jump and Peerless Athlete-boosted jump launches you 50 feet straight up in the air. Command will help you keep ahead of your knights, which I swear are coming eventually, and Disguise Self will help you blend in with the human populace. I assume this is the kind of thing that happens in other fate works, right?

you also get proficiency in Animal Handling for multiclassing, and you can give allies Bardic Inspiration as a bonus action Charisma Modifier times per day, letting them add a d6 to a check, save, or attack roll of their choice in the next minute.

7. Bard 2: a second level bard is a Jack of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to any check you make that doesn’t already add it, like your initiative. see, you’re faster already! this and Enhance Ability also covers your “good at literally everything” skill. you’re not the best in the party, but you’ll always be ready to give it the old college try.

you also get the song of rest, giving your party more HP when they heal up on short rests! yay, unexplained healing!

you’re also even faster with your new spell this level, Longstrider. speed, you are speed.

8. Bard 3: at third level you can give everything the ol’ college try thanks to attending the college of Swords. with it, you can now cast bard spells through your sword, and you get the Dueling fighting style for an extra 2 damage with one-handed weapons.

more importantly, you can now spend inspiration to make Blade Flourishes in one of three flavors once per turn. a Defensive Flourish deals the inspiration in extra damage and adds it to your AC for a round, a Slashing Flourish deals the inspiration in extra damage to your target and any other creature you choose next to you, and the Mobile Flourish deals extra damage and pushes the target away, giving you a chance to react and get back into range. also, even if you don’t use a flourish your speed will still go up by 10’ when you take the attack action.

you also gain Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency bonus with Religion and Athletics checks. and you gain second level bard spells now, like Borrowed Knowledge, allowing you to have full proficiency in any skill you wish for an hour.

9. Bard 4: fourth level bards get an Ability Score Improvement like any other class, but we’re going to cash this one in for a feat. the Crusher feat can add a point to your Constitution, as well as greatly improve your unarmed attacks and any other bludgeoning weapons you choose. once a turn you can push a creature you hit with a bludgeoning attack five fee, and when you score a critical hit, attacks targeting that creature get advantage for a round. it’s not quite the unarmed fighting style, but it’ll definitely make your boxing skills more noteworthy.

you can also make a Light with the cantrip of the same name for a shiny sword, and you can make a Kinetic Jaunt with a spell slot, adding to your speed, preventing anyone from attacking you opportunistically, and letting you pass through people as long as you don’t end your turn inside of them.

10. Bard 5: the fifth level of bard is the best level of bard, because you’re now a Font of Inspiration, so your inspiration dice recharge on short rests instead of just long ones. on top of that, your inspiration dice are now d8s instead of d6s, and you learn third level spells!

spells like Intellect Fortress, which will give you advantage on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saves to supercharge your magic resistance! just ignore that next level it’s fine just focus on the cool spell.

11. Paladin 6: six level paladins get an Aura of Protection, adding your charisma modifier to all your saves, supercharging your magic resistance! just ignore that last level it’s fine just focus on the cool feature of your class.

12. Paladin 7: that’s not the only aura of coolness you’ve got though! as a seventh level glory paladin, your Aura of Alacrity gives you another 10’ boost in speed to you and anyone standing within five feet of you.

13. Paladin 8: use this ASI to bump up your Strength. I don’t have anything witty for this level, you just hit better now.

14. Paladin 9: ninth level paladins get the vaunted “third level spells”! the most important one here is your oath spell Haste, which can double your speed and give you an extra action each turn for dashing or attacking once. whichever you pick you’ll speed up at least a little bit thanks to your flourishes! you also get Protection from Energy for damage resistance, or Crusader’s Mantle to turn all your knights into paladins. I swear they’re on their way just hold on a sec.

15. Paladin 10: our final level of paladin comes with a final aura, the Aura of Courage, which prevents you or nearby allies from being frightened. it’s not that flashy, but it’s wayyyy better than bard’s next level.

16. Bard 6: speak of the devil, it’s bard’s next level! Countercharm takes an action to use and is pretty much a worse Aura of Courage, and Extra Attack doesn’t stack.

at least you can speak in Tongues now?

17. Bard 7: at seventh level you can use fourth level spells, finally giving you your first knight, the Phantasmal Killer! …which isn’t a creature, so it can’t have the crusader’s mantle on it. darn. still, it’s kind of a summon. we’ll work on getting something more corporeal.

18. Bard 8: at level eight you get one last ASI, so grab the Resilient feat to round out your Constitution and give you proficiency in constitution saves. it sucks to drop concentration on summons, and a +12 will go a long way towards helping with that.

you also have a Freedom of Movement now, which will help you speed your way out of any difficult terrain or getting chained up.

19. Bard 9: at ninth level you get a better song of rest, yes, but you also get fifth level spells! with Planar Binding you can keep your summons on this plane of existence for a full day rather than just an hour or so with concentration. it’s really expensive, but you’re a) a 19th level adventurer, and b) you can upcast it up to seventh level right now for a month-long knighthood. now we just need to get the summons…

20. Bard 10: at tenth level bards can get those summons thanks to knowing Magical Secrets, giving you two spells from any spell list. Conjure Woodland Beings will allow you to summon a mob of fae creatures at a time, while Summon Celestial gives you one glowy paladin to pal around with.

while we’re on the topic of spells, you get one last cantrip like Message to speak with your Master in silence.

your Bardic Inspiration dice increase one last time to d10s, and you get another round of Expertise in Animal Handling and History.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

given enough time you can just. have a private army of celestials and fey now. they probably won’t be thrilled to work for you, but that’s when the charisma comes into play. go forth, abuse the action economy as you see fit!

you’re also just. stupidly fast. your base speed is 55’, and with haste you can get up to 110 feet normally, or 130’ if you attack someone with two actions. monks wish they were you. and you can mobile flourish to add another 130’ onto your movement speed for no goddamn reason.

your saves are ridiculous, with a +4 bonus to everything and possibly advantage on your one weak save by using Intellect Fortress, magic just kind of doesn’t work on you that well.

Cons:

your friends are expensive, needing 1,000 gp per binding. plus you don’t actually get them until level 20, by which point they’re not useful for much more than guard duty in your private castle.

no matter how fast you go, you’re still a saber, so you can’t do much at range. the second an enemy learns how to fly it’s over for you.

you don’t need that much speed. it’s a nice flex, but I doubt your DM’s going to include that many situations where being able to go across the map and back in a single turn is super useful.

#fgo #fate grand order #D&D 5e #DND #Richard I #Paladin #Bard

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vehiclehistory · 2 years

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Vehicle Check, Check Any UK Vehicle History Instantly

Get a free car history check Free Initial Report Instant Report Online Rated Excellent. Check if the car is on finance, damaged or stolen

#free car history check #vehicle history check #car check

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october-writes · 7 months

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‘Did you say something to him?’ Ada demanded, her face feeling hot.

Her words sounded hollow as if someone else was speaking them.

Your move.

‘Is there something I can help you with?’ Jon asked, puckering his lips expectantly like she was a student bothering him outside his office hours with inane questions about an assignment.

‘Perez. Did you say something to Lieutenant Perez?’

‘Who?’

So we’re playing that game, huh?

She simply stared at Jon, letting him waste her time for dramatic effect. He was trying to goad her into an argument and she felt herself skidding towards one like a car on wet gravel.

‘Oh! You mean the teenager with the greasy hair who thinks he’s here to flirt with the scientists?’ Jon replied and clapped his hands together as if suddenly remembering, ‘Yeah, that’s right! I reminded him that Umbrella doesn’t pay him to distract my science team.’

Ada scoffed at him as the blood rushed to her face, ‘You have a problem with fraternisation all of a sudden? I must have missed that memo. May I have a copy? It’d make an interesting read.’

‘I have a problem with fraternisation if it’s getting in the way of the work,’ he replied slowly as if she was a moron and he wasn’t the world’s most brazen hypocrite, ‘His gossip has already helped you waste a half-hour giving Delta an unnecessary check up.’

She exhaled a humourless laugh. Her hands shook.

‘Fine,’ she replied huskily, ‘And what about my free time? Are you worried about how I spend that?’

‘Not in the slightest.’

‘Good to know,’ she spun on her heel and marched back to the Land Rover, mud splashing the front of her boots, ‘Hello Chase.’

The younger man blinked at her sudden appearance in front of him, ‘Hey! I uh-’

‘Would you like to take me to lunch when we’re back on the rig?’

Chase turned beetroot-red as the two other officers beside him started to chuckle and elbow each other knowingly.

‘Uh... I... Yes? Yeah, that’d be great! I’d love you, ah I mean I’d love to!’ Chase stammered, ‘Thank you?’

Ada shot Chase a tight smile even as she felt her adrenaline levels crash, taking her irresistible lust for rebellion down with it, ‘You’re welcome.’

The other officers laughed and whooped. One of them whistled as she beat a fast exit.

She climbed into one of the empty Land Rovers and fought against the urge to bury her head in her hands.

Checkmate.

Damn it.

Jon shouldn’t be able to push her buttons like this anymore. He shouldn’t even be able to reach them, she’d put so much space between herself and their old relationship. Yet, here she was letting him light the blue touch paper and set off the worst side of her like a firework.

She’d thought that leaving him and rebuffing his advances would have been enough. But his effect on her was more insidious than she’d realised. It was like trying to disentangle herself from barbed wire. The harder she pulled away, the deeper it cut.

Ada caught sight of her reflection in the vehicle’s side mirror. Felicia was right about her eyebrows giving her away. She’d have to work on that too.

For the first time, she thought about resigning from her role with Umbrella. She hated even thinking about running away, but she couldn’t work with Jon without wanting to kill the man. He wasn’t willing to leave her be and she’d be damned if she let him tug at her strings like she was still his personal plaything.

But where would she go? Her aunt and uncle had hardly responded to her letters over the past year. She had some savings from her salary, but with no college degree, few references and a spotty work history, she’d get an entry-level job at best with her current resume.

And then there was Delta. She looked over at him where he sat obediently in the back of the other Land Rover. All thoughts of leaving drifted away to haunt the back of her mind.

No, she couldn’t imagine not seeing this project through.

---

Read the rest on AO3

#fic: pandora #ada wong #resident evil fanfiction #aeon #leon x ada #ada x leon #llf comment project

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swoopysoupy · 8 months

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so i had an illegal stop / discrimination incident with the police (due to my partner being trans and our local PD having a history of transphobia) so i wanted to provide some tips / things we should have done! keep in mind this may not be accurate for your state/locality and this advice is US specific.

1. do Not exit your vehicle unless they say they “need” or you “must” exit! if they ask if you “can” exit or if you “will” exit then you do not have to.

2. they cannot search you unless they are given reason to. they must tell you why and have substantial reason to

3. ask if you are being detained! and why! ask if you are free to leave! leave if you are!!

4. GET THEIR NAME AND BADGE NUMBER!

5. body cam footage can be acquired through an open records request. many PDs have implemented body cams- check if yours has and what rules they have for when they must be recording

6. have a voice recorder/dash cam or start recording on your phone just in case! you never know when you will need this footage. in my state I don’t have to inform people of recording them but in some states you do so be sure to check your state laws.

7. if their vehicle blocks you from leaving - this is an illegal stop. For example, my partner and i were parked in a parking lot and surround by cars on all three sides and the officer’s car blocked the backside of the car so we could not escape

8. roll down your window when asked but you do not have to open your door (may be obvious but i made this mistake)

9. Check to see if their lights are on! If their vehicle lights are on and they haven’t told you you have done anything illegal - also an illegal stop.

10. check the time at the start of the interaction and at the end of the interaction! and state the time and date and location in any video you do!

#these could vary state by state and locality so keep that in mind!#police #us police #tw police #feel free to correct me if i am wrong about some of these but this was advice we got from lawyers and social workers when reporting #i will update the post if i need to if i am wrong about anything

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reasoningdaily · 8 months

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Late one night several years ago, I got out of my car on a dark midtown Atlanta street when a man standing fifteen feet away pointed a gun at me and threatened to “blow my head off.” I’d been parked outside my new apartment in a racially mixed but mostly white neighborhood that I didn’t consider a high-crime area. As the man repeated the threat, I suppressed my first instinct to run and fearfully raised my hands in helpless submission. I begged the man not to shoot me, repeating over and over again, “It’s all right, it’s okay.”

The man was a uniformed police officer. As a criminal defense attorney, I knew that my survival required careful, strategic thinking. I had to stay calm. I’d just returned home from my law office in a car filled with legal papers, but I knew the officer holding the gun had not stopped me because he thought I was a young professional. Since I was a young, bearded black man dressed casually in jeans, most people would not assume I was a lawyer with a Harvard Law School degree. To the officer threatening to shoot me I looked like someone dangerous and guilty.

I had been sitting in my beat-up Honda Civic for over a quarter of an hour listening to music that could not be heard outside the vehicle. There was a Sly and the Family Stone retrospective playing on a local radio station that had so engaged me I couldn’t turn the radio off. It had been a long day at work. A neighbor must have been alarmed by the sight of a black man sitting in his car and called the police. My getting out of my car to explain to the police officer that this was my home and nothing criminal was taking place prompted him to pull his weapon.

Having drawn his weapon, the officer and his partner justified their threat of lethal force by dramatizing their fears and suspicions about me. They threw me on the back of my car, searched it illegally, and kept me on the street for fifteen humiliating minutes while neighbors gathered to view the dangerous criminal in their midst. When no crime was discovered and nothing incriminating turned up in a computerized background check on me, I was told by the two officers to consider myself lucky. While this was said as a taunt, they were right: I was lucky.

People of color in the United States, particularly young black men, are often assumed to be guilty and dangerous. In too many situations, black men are considered offenders incapable of being victims themselves. As a consequence of this country’s failure to address effectively its legacy of racial inequality, this presumption of guilt and the history that created it have significantly shaped every institution in American society, especially our criminal justice system.

At the Civil War’s end, black autonomy expanded but white supremacy remained deeply rooted. States began to look to the criminal justice system to construct policies and strategies to maintain the subordination of African-Americans. Convict leasing, the practice of “selling” the labor of state and local prisoners to private interests for state profit, used the criminal justice system to take away their political rights. State legislatures passed the Black Codes, which created new criminal offenses such as “vagrancy” and “loitering” and led to the mass arrest of black people. Then, relying on language in the Thirteenth Amendment that prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude “except as punishment for crime,” lawmakers authorized white-controlled governments to exploit the labor of African-Americans in private lease contracts or on state-owned farms.1 The legal scholar Jennifer Rae Taylor has observed:

While a black prisoner was a rarity during the slavery era (when slave masters were individually empowered to administer “discipline” to their human property), the solution to the free black population had become criminalization. In turn, the most common fate facing black convicts was to be sold into forced labor for the profit of the state.

Beginning as early as 1866 in states like Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia, convict leasing spread throughout the South and continued through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Leased black convicts faced deplorable, unsafe working conditions and brutal violence when they attempted to resist or escape bondage. An 1887 report by the Hinds County, Mississippi, grand jury recorded that six months after 204 convicts were leased to a man named McDonald, twenty were dead, nineteen had escaped, and twenty-three had been returned to the penitentiary disabled, ill, and near death. The penitentiary hospital was filled with sick and dying black men whose bodies bore “marks of the most inhuman and brutal treatment…so poor and emaciated that their bones almost come through the skin.”2

The explicit use of race to codify different kinds of offenses and punishments was challenged as unconstitutional, and criminal statutes were modified to avoid direct racial references, but the enforcement of the law didn’t change. Black people were routinely charged with a wide range of “offenses,” some of which whites were never charged with. African-Americans endured these challenges and humiliations and continued to rise up from slavery by seeking education and working hard under difficult conditions, but their refusal to act like slaves seemed only to provoke and agitate their white neighbors. This tension led to an era of lynching and violence that traumatized black people for decades.

Between the Civil War and World War II, thousands of African-Americans were lynched in the United States. Lynchings were brutal public murders that were tolerated by state and federal officials. These racially motivated acts, meant to bypass legal institutions in order to intimidate entire populations, became a form of terrorism. Lynching had a profound effect on race relations in the United States and defined the geographic, political, social, and economic conditions of African-Americans in ways that are still evident today.

Of the hundreds of black people lynched after being accused of rape and murder, very few were legally convicted of a crime, and many were demonstrably innocent. In 1918, for example, after a white woman was raped in Lewiston, North Carolina, a black suspect named Peter Bazemore was lynched by a mob before an investigation revealed that the real perpetrator had been a white man wearing blackface makeup.3 Hundreds more black people were lynched based on accusations of far less serious crimes, like arson, robbery, nonsexual assault, and vagrancy, many of which would not have been punishable by death even if the defendants had been convicted in a court of law. In addition, African-Americans were frequently lynched for not conforming to social customs or racial expectations, such as speaking to white people with less respect or formality than observers believed due.4

Many African-Americans were lynched not because they had been accused of committing a crime or social infraction, but simply because they were black and present when the preferred party could not be located. In 1901, Ballie Crutchfield’s brother allegedly found a lost wallet containing $120 and kept the money. He was arrested and about to be lynched by a mob in Smith County, Tennessee, when, at the last moment, he was able to break free and escape. Thwarted in their attempt to kill him, the mob turned their attention to his sister and lynched her instead, though she was not even alleged to have been involved in the theft.

New research continues to reveal the extent of lynching in America. The extraordinary documentation compiled by Professor Monroe Work (1866–1945) at Tuskegee University has been an invaluable historical resource for scholars, as has the joint work of sociologists Stewart Tolnay and E.M. Beck. These two sources are widely viewed as the most comprehensive collections of data on the subject in America. They have uncovered over three thousand instances of lynching between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and 1950 in the twelve states that had the most lynchings: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

Recently, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) in Montgomery, Alabama—of which I am the founder and executive director—spent five years and hundreds of hours reviewing this research and other documentation, including local newspapers, historical archives, court records, interviews, and reports in African-American newspapers. Our research documented more than four thousand racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 in those twelve states, eight hundred more than had been previously reported. We distinguished “racial terror lynchings” from hangings or mob violence that followed some sort of criminal trial or were committed against nonminorities. However heinous, this second category of killings was a crude form of punishment. By contrast, racial terror lynchings were directed specifically at black people, with little bearing on an actual crime; the aim was to maintain white supremacy and political and economic racial subordination.

We also distinguished terror lynchings from other racial violence and hate crimes that were prosecuted as criminal acts, although prosecution for hate crimes committed against black people was rare before World War II. The lynchings we documented were acts of terrorism because they were murders carried out with impunity—sometimes in broad daylight, as Sherrilyn Ifill explains in her important book on the subject, On the Courthouse Lawn (2007)—whose perpetrators were never held accountable. These killings were not examples of “frontier justice,” because they generally took place in communities where there was a functioning criminal justice system that was deemed too good for African-Americans. Some “public spectacle lynchings” were even attended by the entire local white population and conducted as celebratory acts of racial control and domination.

Records show that racial terror lynchings from Reconstruction until World War II had six particularly common motivations: (1) a wildly distorted fear of interracial sex; (2) as a response to casual social transgressions; (3) after allegations of serious violent crime; (4) as public spectacle, which could be precipitated by any of the allegations named above; (5) as terroristic violence against the African-American population as a whole; and (6) as retribution for sharecroppers, ministers, and other community leaders who resisted mistreatment—the last becoming common between 1915 and 1945.

Our research confirmed that many victims of terror lynchings were murdered without being accused of any crime; they were killed for minor social transgressions or for asserting basic rights. Our conversations with survivors of lynchings also confirmed how directly lynching and racial terror motivated the forced migration of millions of black Americans out of the South. Thousands of people fled north for fear that a social misstep in an encounter with a white person might provoke a mob to show up and take their lives. Parents and spouses suffered what they characterized as “near-lynchings” and sent their loved ones away in frantic, desperate acts of protection.

The decline of lynching in America coincided with the increased use of capital punishment often following accelerated, unreliable legal processes in state courts. By the end of the 1930s, court-ordered executions outpaced lynchings in the former slave states for the first time. Two thirds of those executed that decade were black, and the trend continued: as African-Americans fell to just 22 percent of the southern population between 1910 and 1950, they constituted 75 percent of those executed.

Probably the most famous attempted “legal lynching” is the case of the “Scottsboro Boys,” nine young African-Americans charged with raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. During the trial, white mobs outside the courtroom demanded the teens’ executions. Represented by incompetent lawyers, the nine were convicted by all-white, all-male juries within two days, and all but the youngest were sentenced to death. When the NAACP and others launched a national movement to challenge the cursory proceedings, the legal scholar Stephen Bright has written, “the [white] people of Scottsboro did not understand the reaction. After all, they did not lynch the accused; they gave them a trial.”5 In reality, many defendants of the era learned that the prospect of being executed rather than lynched did little to introduce fairness into the outcome.

Though northern states had abolished public executions by 1850, some in the South maintained the practice until 1938. The spectacles were more often intended to deter mob lynchings than crimes. Following Will Mack’s execution by public hanging in Brandon, Mississippi, in 1909, the Brandon News reasoned:

Public hangings are wrong, but under the circumstances, the quiet acquiescence of the people to submit to a legal trial, and their good behavior throughout, left no alternative to the board of supervisors but to grant the almost universal demand for a public execution.

Even in southern states that had outlawed public hangings much earlier, mobs often successfully demanded them.

In Sumterville, Florida, in 1902, a black man named Henry Wilson was convicted of murder in a trial that lasted just two hours and forty minutes. To mollify the mob of armed whites that filled the courtroom, the judge promised a death sentence that would be carried out by public hanging—despite state law prohibiting public executions. Even so, when the execution was set for a later date, the enraged mob threatened, “We’ll hang him before sundown, governor or no governor.” In response, Florida officials moved up the date, authorized Wilson to be hanged before the jeering mob, and congratulated themselves on having “avoided” a lynching.

‘The migration gained in momentum’; painting by Jacob Lawrence from his Migration series, 1940–1941. Credit: Museum of Modern Art, New York/© 2017 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund (LDF) began what would become a multidecade litigation strategy to challenge the American death penalty—which was used most actively in the South—as racially biased and unconstitutional. It won in Furman v. Georgia in 1972, when the Supreme Court struck down Georgia’s death penalty statute, holding that capital punishment still too closely resembled “self-help, vigilante justice, and lynch law” and “if any basis can be discerned for the selection of these few to be sentenced to die, it is the constitutionally impermissible basis of race.”

Southern opponents of the decision immediately decried it and set to writing new laws authorizing the death penalty. Following Furman, Mississippi Senator James O. Eastland accused the Court of “legislating” and “destroying our system of government,” while Georgia’s white supremacist lieutenant governor, Lester Maddox, called the decision “a license for anarchy, rape, and murder.” In December 1972, Florida became the first state after Furman to enact a new death penalty statute, and within two years, thirty-five states had followed suit. Proponents of Georgia’s new death penalty bill unapologetically borrowed the rhetoric of lynching, insisting, as Maddox put it:

There should be more hangings. Put more nooses on the gallows. We’ve got to make it safe on the street again…. It wouldn’t be too bad to hang some on the court house square, and let those who would plunder and destroy see.

State representative Guy Hill of Atlanta proposed a bill that would require death by hanging to take place “at or near the courthouse in the county in which the crime was committed.” Georgia state representative James H. “Sloppy” Floyd remarked, “If people commit these crimes, they ought to burn.” In 1976, in Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court upheld Georgia’s new statute and thus reinstated the American death penalty, capitulating to the claim that legal executions were needed to prevent vigilante mob violence.

The new death penalty statutes continued to result in racial imbalance, and constitutional challenges persisted. In the 1987 case of McCleskey v. Kemp, the Supreme Court considered statistical evidence demonstrating that Georgia officials were more than four times as likely to impose a death sentence for the killing of a white person than a black person. Accepting the data as accurate, the Court conceded that racial disparities in sentencing “are an inevitable part of our criminal justice system” and upheld Warren McCleskey’s death sentence because he had failed to identify “a constitutionally significant risk of racial bias” in his case.

Today, large racial disparities continue in capital sentencing. African-Americans make up less than 13 percent of the national population, but nearly 42 percent of those currently on death row and 34 percent of those executed since 1976. In 96 percent of states where researchers have examined the relationship between race and the death penalty, results reveal a pattern of discrimination based on the race of the victim, the race of the defendant, or both. Meanwhile, in capital trials today the accused is often the only person of color in the courtroom and illegal racial discrimination in jury selection continues to be widespread. In Houston County, Alabama, prosecutors have excluded 80 percent of qualified African-Americans from serving as jurors in death penalty cases.

More than eight in ten American lynchings between 1889 and 1918 occurred in the South, and more than eight in ten of the more than 1,400 legal executions carried out in this country since 1976 have been in the South, where the legacy of the nation’s embrace of slavery lingers. Today death sentences are disproportionately meted out to African-Americans accused of crimes against white victims; efforts to combat racial bias and create federal protection against it in death penalty cases remain thwarted by the familiar rhetoric of states’ rights. Regional data demonstrate that the modern American death penalty has its origins in racial terror and is, in the words of Bright, the legal scholar, “a direct descendant of lynching.”

In the face of this national ignominy, there is still an astonishing failure to acknowledge, discuss, or address the history of lynching. Many of the communities where lynchings took place have gone to great lengths to erect markers and memorials to the Civil War, to the Confederacy, and to events and incidents in which local power was violently reclaimed by white people. These communities celebrate and honor the architects of racial subordination and political leaders known for their defense of white supremacy. But in these same communities there are very few, if any, significant monuments or memorials that address the history and legacy of the struggle for racial equality and of lynching in particular. Many people who live in these places today have no awareness that race relations in their histories included terror and lynching. As Ifill has argued, the absence of memorials to lynching has deepened the injury to African-Americans and left the rest of the nation ignorant of this central part of our history.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguably the signal legal achievement of the civil rights movement, contained provisions designed to eliminate discrimination in voting, education, and employment, but did not address racial bias in criminal justice. Though it was the most insidious engine of the subordination of black people throughout the era of racial terror and its aftermath, the criminal justice system remains the institution in American life least affected by the civil rights movement. Mass incarceration in America today stands as a continuation of past abuses, still limiting opportunities for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

We can’t change our past, but we can acknowledge it and better shape our future. The United States is not the only country with a violent history of oppression. Many nations have been burdened by legacies of racial domination, foreign occupation, or tribal conflict resulting in pervasive human rights abuses or genocide. The commitment to truth and reconciliation in South Africa was critical to that nation’s recovery. Rwanda has embraced transitional justice to heal and move forward. Today in Germany, besides a number of large memorials to the Holocaust, visitors encounter markers and stones at the homes of Jewish families who were taken to the concentration camps. But in America, we barely acknowledge the history and legacy of slavery, we have done nothing to recognize the era of lynching, and only in the last few years have a few monuments to the Confederacy been removed in the South.

The crucial question concerning capital punishment is not whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit but rather whether we deserve to kill. Given the racial disparities that still exist in this country, we should eliminate the death penalty and expressly identify our history of lynching as a basis for its abolition. Confronting implicit bias in police departments should be seen as essential in twenty-first-century policing.

What threatened to kill me on the streets of Atlanta when I was a young attorney wasn’t just a misguided police officer with a gun, it was the force of America’s history of racial injustice and the presumption of guilt it created. In America, no child should be born with a presumption of guilt, burdened with expectations of failure and dangerousness because of the color of her or his skin or a parent’s poverty. Black people in this nation should be afforded the same protection, safety, and opportunity to thrive as anyone else. But that won’t happen until we look squarely at our history and commit to engaging the past that continues to haunt us.

Bryan Stevenson is the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and the author of “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.” This essay is drawn from the collection “Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment,” edited and with an introduction by Angela J. Davis, which will be published in July by Pantheon. 

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