#i hope it's like ok for me to make this post as a white lady i'm just very passionate ab film history

[lesbianrobin]

Seeing as it's Black History Month, I'm gonna take a break from your regularly scheduled girlblogging to be a film nerd and beg every single person reading this post to go and watch Within Our Gates (1920).

Within Our Gates is a feature-length silent film written and directed by black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux and it is a miracle that we have it today. The film was believed to be lost for years until a SINGLE surviving print was found in Spain, translated back into English, and recut to match the original as closely as possible. (This is actually not uncommon in the realm of old film a lot of lost films get found in random closets but ANYWAY.) The film tells the story of Sylvia, a southern schoolteacher who travels up north to raise money to keep her school open. It explores how her life and family have been affected by racism, abuse, and sexual violence, as she falls in love, works to save her school, and grapples with her place as a black woman in the antebellum south. If that's not enough to get you interested, the film is also kinda batshit. There are shootouts! Affairs! Someone gets hit by a car! It's wild and dramatic and incredibly engaging.

You've heard of Birth of a Nation, right? Maybe you've even seen it. That insanely racist piece of film history premiered in 1915. Oftentimes people will defend D.W. Griffith and the film itself as being "a product of its time." Well, Within Our Gates premiered in 1920, and it is a product of its time. It depicts white mob violence against black Americans, and how that violence destroys innocent lives and rips families apart. It is written and directed by a black man. All of its lead actors are black. It is an absolutely heart-wrenching, moving, and intelligent film, produced on a shoestring budget, that explores what it meant not only to be a black American in 1920, but what it meant to be a black woman. Different characters have different approaches to coping with racism and strategies for protecting themselves. It's complicated, and upsetting, and one of the most impactful films I've ever seen.

If you can spare an hour and twenty minutes, if you happen to have access to the film through a streaming service (in addition to being FREE ON YOUTUBE, I believe it's on Amazon Prime, Paramount+, MGM+, and some Hulu plans) or an institution (you may have access to Kanopy or a similar platform via your local library or university), it's worth a watch. Play whatever music you want in the background if your version doesn't have any added! Even if you can't watch it for whatever reason, I'd encourage all of you to look into Oscar Micheaux and the history of "race films," films created outside of the Hollywood studio system by and for black Americans.

Don't buy into the false narrative that the only black representation in historical film was minstrelsy and Griffith-style garbage.

#em talks #history #film history #black history #i hope it's like ok for me to make this post as a white lady i'm just very passionate ab film history #and within our gates is an incredible film that deserves so much more noteriety than it has #i feel like people try to act like The Past was uniformly racist and that's just how things were #when the reality is that just like today people fought for their rights and made art and debated different philosophies of liberation #oh also the film can be very disturbing like many many trigger warnings for various forms of violence and assault #but that's part of what makes it so meaningful the fact that it does not shy away from reality yknow #and for 1920... god it's just so so good

[x-liv25-jamieswife]

ok I’m sorry about having you write those heartbreaking Grayson hcs, I’m gonna be honest they made me sob so hard 😭 so let’s get some happy Grayson ones (I loved that last one by the way, he’s so cute)

happy grayson head canons

of course, i have made another grayson post (some are happy, some are sad), but i'll make another one bc he's everything (it might be shorter though).also i have no idea what 'happy' head canons are so here are some that aren't sad (some funny, some happy, some embarrassing, etc). hope you like them <3. @lanterns-and-daydreams helped with some of these

he doesn't smile often, but when he does you see his little dimples (idk if this is canon but, if it isn't, i like the idea of him having dimples)

he talks to their dog, tiramisu, in a really high pitched voice

he works out religiously. he has like a schedule and everything, and he sings when he works out.

he watches my little pony as a guilty pleasure. xander knows and is using it as blackmail material.

he desperately wants a cat but doesn't want their dog to kill it.

he has an obsession with is ass. he takes pride in it being big and juicy.

he's jealous of jameson bc he's an inch taller than gray is, and he uses it against him.

he joined a yoga group without knowing it was for girls only, so now, once a week, he gossips and does yoga with these old ladies.

he loves face masks more than anything. xander and jameson have tons of pictures of him with cucumbers on his eyes and a face mask.

he doesn't like colors. if someone were to ask him what his favorite color is, he'd just say black or white or smth

he loves composing his own piano pieces and playing them to his brothers and the others.

he despises sex education with a passion. whenever he used to have those classes in school, he would blush so hard the teachers thought he was having a stroke or some shit

grayson loves poetry (ik this was mentioned in tbh, but i hc he still does it for fun to express his emotions (he didn't stop after the one year challenge))

when he was younger, he really liked snails. he used to collect some and give them a 'home' in jars he found around the mansion.

he's a sucker for matchas. he literally makes himself one every morning before he starts working. (he has a cup with cats on it that he uses every day)

he owns a human dog bed (if you don't know what it is, search it up)

he once tried to watch p*rn to see what the hype is all about, but he got so disgusted and uncomfortable he threw away his laptop.

all of the pens in his pen collection are placed side by side from smallest to biggest in his drawer.

he has the biggest walk in closet you can imagine (bigger than barbie's)

xander once bought him a skirt and dared him to go to work wearing it. pictures of it got out and his fans started calling him baby girl.

he makes playlist for his favorite book couples.

this dude cannot smirk for the life of him. he looks like a constipated sloth when he tries to.

he can do the splits perfectly.

when someone kicks him in the balls, he sounds like a dying hyena. he just wheezes for like 5 minutes straight whilst everyone just looks at him in horror. he then wobbles away.

he's a really good just dance player. he actually laughs when he plays.

grayson knows how to pole dance.

when he was younger, he was jealous that jamie had more prominent abs so he used to contour his to make them look like jamie's

when he was younger, he tried to learn how to purr. he thought it would be cool

he wanted to be like nash so bad when he was younger than he would stick a hay strand in his mouth and try to speak in a southern accent. skye was mortified.

grayson loved flower crowns. xander used to make him some and he would walk around wearing them proudly.

he wears subtle makeup sometimes (when he's in the mood) (blush, concealer, very subtle eyeliner, etc)

when he was younger, he would also try to gallop around like a horse. he would get on his hands and knees and strut around (tobias wanted to kill himself)

#the inheritance games #grayson hawthorne #jameson hawthorne #avery grambs #xander hawthorne #nash hawthorne #libby grambs #lyra kane #the grandest game

[rhoorl]

Delta Landscaping Chapter 11: Right on Target

Series Summary: In this AU, the boys of Delta Force start a new business post-Colombia. 

Series Masterlist | Chapter 11 A03 Link

Rating: Explicit (18+) No smut in this one, just some angst.

Word Count: 6.8k

Previously on As the Mule Falls: We got a heavy dose of Frankie, learning a bit about his backstory as well as the relationship between his sister, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Valeria is a detective, literally. Did you catch who her partner was? 😉 Benny signed up for a fight a little sooner than he’d like, but thanks to Will and Connor, he’s going to start training. The Neighborhood Watch learned a bit about Cousin Joel thanks to Melissa’s research. 

On this Episode: Frankie is still in Dallas, being the best uncle. We get a scene with the Pikes. Will and Katie get in their own heads. Benny and Santiago go to Melissa’s for a consultation. Connor helps scout some of Omar’s fights. There’s a Target run, literally. Will and Katie go to Target on the hunt for birthday gifts for Olivia’s boys. Will and Katie open up. (I made a little moodboard for this episode).

Chapter Warning: Difficult parent relationships. Unsupportive partners. Domestic Marcus Pike comes with his own warning. 

If you ever have questions about any of the content, please reach out. The last thing I want is for someone to have a negative reaction. Overall this is a happy, silly series but it is grounded in some reality. 

*Cue the theme music and roll opening credits*

TUESDAY

“Hey Hermano, how’s it going? How’re the kids?” 

“Oh they’re great, they’re already so big, Pope” Frankie chuckled. Santiago called to tell him that the cleaning lady needed to reschedule for later in the week. Frankie had a few moments to himself while Valeria and Alyssa got the kids ready for bed so he was happy to catch up with his friend. “Leia is so beautiful man, and Antonio is a lot of fun. Took him to his first Rangers game today.”

“Nice! He like it?”

“Loved it, especially once V told him I used to play. I bought him a baseball and we found an old glove of mine Pops kept. We’re gonna toss the ball around when he gets home from school tomorrow.”

“I’m glad you’re having a great time man, I really am.”

“Thanks, me too,” Frankie smiled to himself. “How’re things there? You behaving?”

“Funny,” Santiago rolled his eyes. “Yes. I’ve been busy, had a date last night, and may have another one tonight.”

“Nice. You been over to Benny and Will’s?” 

“No, haven’t been that way at all since you left. But I will tomorrow, Benny and I are headed over to Melissa’s.” Frankie gave a sarcastic grunt, prompting Santiago to fill in the gaps. “I texted him earlier today, by the way. We’re all good. Did you know he signed up for a fight?”

Frankie sighed, “Will told me. I wish Benny would have said something before he called Herb. That guy’s going to feed him to the damn wolves.”

“You think it’s going to be bad, huh?”

“Not if we can help it. The guy was a boxer, so not the most ideal match-up for Benny’s style, but we’ll figure it out. When I get back we have to make sure he’s sticking to his training. Hoping this compressed timeframe makes him focus.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t have a lot of time to prep, huh?”

“No, but if anyone could do it, it’s Ben. Oh shit, I gotta go. I have to read the kids their stories.”

“Tio Francisco to the rescue!” Santiago laughed. “Ok man, hey I’ll see you in a few days. Can you text me your flight stuff Thursday night? I’ll set an alarm for myself for Friday so I don’t forget.”

“Sounds good man.”

WEDNESDAY

Will shuffled into the kitchen, surprised Benny wasn’t already up making himself an egg white omelet and coffee. Another difficult night of sleep made Will extra groggy, so he grabbed one of the larger coffee mugs and brewed two K-cup pods in succession. This morning he had an early volunteer shift at the VA after switching shifts with someone the day prior. He wanted to have time to come home and get ready for whatever the evening may hold with Katie.

Although they were on a mission to buy birthday presents for Olivia’s twins, Will hoped they would have some time to hang out afterward too. He was enjoying getting to know Katie. She was funny, smart, and had a calming presence, which he didn’t realize how much he needed. It was nice to have someone other than the guys to talk to.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of heavy steps coming from down the hallway. Benny turned the corner, his red and black basketball shorts slung low on his hips. His silver pendant rested in the patch of hair on his chest, glimmering as the sunlight caught it. Will assumed Benny had a shitty night too based on the state of his brother’s hair, which was sticking up in various directions.

“Hey man,” Benny yawned as he walked towards the coffee maker. 

“‘Sup Ben.”

“You’re up early.”

“Can say the same for you,” Will leaned against the kitchen island watching as his brother grabbed some coffee creamer from the refrigerator. 

“Hmpf,” Benny scoffed. 

“Shitty night?”

“Yea. You?”

“I’ve had better,” the corner of Will’s mouth slightly went up. “What’s the plan for today?”

“Welp, I’m gonna go to the gym here soon, or go for a run, I haven’t decided, maybe both. Pope’s coming over around lunch and we’re going to Melissa’s.”

“That will be interesting,” Will chucked.

“Yeah, no shit. Anyway, we’ll see how that goes. But I was thinking of having Connor over later. Gonna start to go over some film of this Omar guy. The kid found some of this guy’s fights on YouTube.”

“Oh really? Nice, that’s good.”

“Yeah, figured we could order some pizzas or something if you want in on that.”

“Oh ah,” Will rubbed the back of his neck. “I have plans tonight.”

Benny perked right up at the sound of this, the corners of his mouth going up slowly before he was full-on grinning. “Oooo, what plans do we have tonight?” He waggled his eyebrows. 

“Nothing like that,” Will rolled his eyes. “We,” he pointed to Benny and then back to himself, “need to get a gift for the twins. Party’s on Saturday and I don’t want to scramble at the last minute. I mentioned it to Katie and she said she’d help me out.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’s going to help you out in more ways than ow-” Benny feigned an injury, even though all Will did was push him in the chest. “You can’t injure me, I need to be in fighting shape,” Benny could barely get that out without busting into a fit of laughter. 

Will tried to keep a neutral face, but he cracked a smile. “Don’t be dramatic. And I’m not trying to put any pressure on it man, she’s nice. I’ve … I dunno, I’ve liked having a friend.”

“I’m your friend,” Benny offered, giving some puppy eyes coupled with a dramatic pout. 

“You are Bean, but with her, it’s…different.”

“How different are we talking?” His eyes narrowed over his coffee cup as he took a sip.

“I’m,” Will sighed. “I’m trying to figure that out. There’s clearly something there, but I don’t know what that something is right now. I...I don’t want to mess shit up.”

“I get it, she’s special to you, I can see that,” Benny smiled. “She’s cool as shit and for what it’s worth she seems to really dig you too. She’s always all smiles when you’re around.”

Will got a distant look in his eyes, which Benny knew well. His brother was processing, trying to sort out his thoughts. 

“Look, don’t try and figure it all out on your own,” he clapped his brother’s shoulder. “Have fun. Enjoy time with your …um…friend. See what happens…”

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

__________________________

“Vic? Vic, where are you?” Marcus called out as finished buttoning up the cuffs of his dress shirt. He and his family were living in a short-term apartment the local FBI office set up as part of his relocation package. It was…cozy…to say the least and his wife, Victoria, was chomping at the bit to close on their dream home and finally move in.

He came around the corner to their kitchenette, where Victoria was busy cutting up some strawberries to top Nicolas’ stack of pancakes. The boy quietly sat at the coffee table in the living room doodling in a coloring book, while his little sister Mariella happily sat in her highchair smearing some yogurt around. Victoria looked up as she heard Marcus’ footsteps, her eyes softening at the sight of her husband.

“It’s not a big place, Marc, I can’t go far,” she laughed as Marcus came up behind her, kissing her neck. “Mmm, I like this suit. Que guapo,” she turned around in his arms, straightening his tie before resting her hands on his chest.

“You know you’re as beautiful now as when I first saw you?” He wrapped his arms around her waist, making her giggle as he kissed her.

“Ewwww no kissies!” Nicolas called over, prompting Marcus and Victoria to pull away from each other with a smirk.

“Hey! I just love your mom, Nico,” Marcus smiled over to his son. “Besides, I have some good news.” His eyebrows shot up and he was trying to suppress a big smile.

Victoria tilted her head to the side, observing her husband. He was usually chipper, especially in the mornings, but something seemed different. “Ok, shoot, what is it?” 

“Ah, I thought you’d never ask!” He put his arms on her shoulders, squaring her up to look at him. “What if I were to tell you, we’d be able to cook breakfast in our own kitchen by next week?”

There was a pause as Victoria took in what Marcus said before glee danced across her face. “Oh my gosh, are you serious?” She squeaked, throwing her arms around his neck as he lifted her off the ground.

“Just got a text from Ethan. Everything went through, the sellers are going to virtually sign. We could close as early as Monday, but since you start work next week I wanted you to tell me what you want to do.”

“Shit…I mean shoot,” her eyes cut over to Nicolas, who was in his own little world coloring a dog with a green marker. “Well, let me talk to the school and see what we can do. Vanessa is moving down this weekend, so she can at least help with the kids. I can’t believe we’re so close!”

Marcus smiled back at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Whenever you want to do it, he said he could make it happen.”

“Ooo, actually, I wonder if we can make Monday work! Tuesday is the 4th so I’ll be off and daycare is closed, we can start to move some stuff that day.”

“I think that’s a great idea, I’ll text Ethan later,” he kissed her forehead.

“Mariella!” Victoria turned around to see her baby, smearing yogurt around her high chair. Just as she was about to reach into her hair, Marcus intervened.

“Slow down there pumpkin,” he cooed. “You eat the yogurt, see,” he pantomimed eating the yogurt, which prompted a fit of giggles from Mariella. 

The ring of his phone alarm snapped Marcus back to reality. “Ugh, shoot, I have to get going.” Victoria gave him an exaggerated pout, which turned into a smile as he kissed her. “Have a good day. I love you.”

“Te amo,” she kissed him back.

____________________________

Today’s workout was a tough one for Benny evidenced by the way his shirt drenched with sweat clung to him. His muscles felt heavy, no doubt due to the quick ramp-up in activity thanks to his upcoming fight. He decided today called for some cardio and weight lifting.  

As he walked through the front door, he figured he had just enough time for a quick shower and a power nap before Santiago showed up. It was times like this he was thankful his friend was always late to everything. He decided to take a quick detour to the couch, sprawling out to stretch his muscles a bit. As he scrolled through Instagram his eyes got heavier and heavier and eventually, he closed them for just a moment. 

Pounding at his front door combined with his phone vibrating on the coffee table woke him with a bit of a startle. As if by instinct, he immediately shot up and took in his surroundings, on the defensive in case any threats were around. Realizing he was in his own home, and not in a jungle with a rifle in his hands, he blinked and slowed down his breathing. He heard his name being called and once he registered it was Santiago’s voice, he let out a breath and opened the door.

“Hey Pope,” he gave a half smile, ushering Santiago inside.

“You look like shit, you just wake up?”

“Fuck you….maybe.” He ran his fingers through his hair and his eyes narrowed. “The fuck is that?” He pointed at Santiago’s neck. “Someone give that to you or d’you get so desperate you used the vacuum cleaner, ow!”

Santiago smacked him upside the head with one hand while the other covered his neck. “First of all, fuck off. Second of all, yes someone gave it to me.”

Benny tilted his head. He couldn't help the accusatory look that swept across his face. 

“I went on a date last night, nice girl I found on an app…and before you make a smartass comment, it was a real dating app.”

Benny threw his hands in surrender, “I didn't say anything. You planning on seeing her again?” 

“I dunno we'll see.”

“Well…she certainly um…left her mark,” Benny was ready this time, blocking Santiago's arm and the two play fought for a second. 

________________________

The day was dragging on painfully slow for Katie. The start of a new month meant lots of planning meetings where people droned on and on about goals while offering the most bullshit rah-rah speeches for motivation.

She'd been texting with Megan off and on all day about random things, their usual daily stream of consciousness coupled with funny memes and gifs.

Megan: So Wine Wednesday? 🍷

Katie: Can't. I have some errands to run tonight.

Megan: Oh what's on tap? An exciting run to Target?

Katie: Damn, actually yes. Am I that predictable? I'm going to get a gift for the twins. 

Megan: Wait, I thought you already got them those Lego sets? 

Damn, she doesn't miss anything.

Katie took a deep breath before composing the next text, knowing what the response was going to be.

Katie: I did, I'm helping Will. 

She waited, no immediate quippy response. Instead, she saw the chat bubbles start and stop before she finally got a response.

Megan: Nice! What else do you have planned 👀😏

Katie: Not sure, I told him I'd help him wrap it. Figured we'd pick up dinner. Idk I haven't planned it too much.

Megan: Yes, please help him wrap it. 😆

Katie: What's that supposed to mean?

Megan: Make sure he wraps his 🍆

Katie: I'm sorry, did David steal your phone? Where is Megan and what have you done with her?

________________

“So you have any idea what she may want us to do?” Benny readjusted his baseball cap, flipping it backward as he and Santiago walked over to Melissa's.

“Just vaguely, some stuff in the backyard, I don't know the specifics.”

“Hmpf.”

“What?” Santiago countered with a pointed tone.

“Just, you're not one to jump at the chance to get your hands dirty. It's one thing to help us because we force you, but it's something else for you to do it willingly.”

“I'm trying to be nice. Besides, who knows? Could be fun…I had a lot of fun fixing up your place. It was nice for us all to…I don't know, be together again. Working on something and seeing it come together.”

This admission made Benny stop in his tracks. “Damn, Pope…that's…really nice, man. It's nice to hear you say that,” his face softened, one of the corners of his mouth curling up as he reached for Santiago's shoulder.

Santiago gave a forced smile before clearing his throat, “ok, enough with the sappy shit. Let's go.”

Santiago rang the doorbell and the door flew open a few seconds later. Melissa was all smiles, although Benny noticed her head slightly cock to the side at one point when Santiago turned his neck and his hickey was visible. 

It was a rather quick consultation. She had a blank canvas to work with in her backyard. Benny brought his notebook and quickly started to sketch a few ideas down which she loved. They went back and forth a bit, Benny drawing and erasing several times since she was a bit indecisive as to the placement of a few things. They finally landed on a couple of flower beds, some rockwork, and a few palm trees. Nothing too elaborate. They reasoned it would take a couple of weekends to do at most.

“Can I keep this Benny? I'll show Danny when he gets home this weekend and then we can start. Maybe next week?” 

“Yeah, of course, wanna take a picture of it on your phone? May be easier to have a digital copy.”

“Oh yeah, sure.” She snapped a couple of photos of the pages in his notebook. “Well, thank you boys again. I'll uh…see you around.” And with that, she politely ushered them out, closing the door a bit forcefully.

Benny waited until they were well down the block before he broke the silence. “Damn, she's maaad at you.”

“Huh?”

“Dude, she barely looked at you. It's the most she and I have ever talked. Your little friend there seemed to rattle her,” he gestured towards Santiago's neck. 

Santiago shook it off, “Nah. I think you're reading into it.” Wanting to change the subject, he quickly transitioned to asking what Benny and Will were up to this evening.

“Will's hanging with Katie and Connor is coming over to watch some fights with me. Wanna help?’

“Sure. Yeah, sounds good.”

___________________

When Will arrived back from his shift, Benny and Santiago were on the couch playing a video game. Well, Benny was playing, Santiago was cursing up a storm, annoyed that he couldn’t beat Benny. Will was a little surprised to see Santiago still there, but the two seemed to be having fun, despite Santiago’s frustration. Laughing to himself, Will went down the hall to his bedroom, deciding to check in on Frankie before he got ready.

Will: How's uncle life treating you?

Frankie sent a couple of photos. One of him and Antonio all smiles at a Rangers game wearing matching shirts and the other of him lying on the ground of Valeria’s living room with Leia crawling all over him with the biggest smile across his face.

Frankie: So fun. They're great, you'd love them.

Frankie: How's Ben?

Will: Eh, he's ok. He's been training and tonight he's going to watch some of the guy's fights 

Frankie: Benny? Watching film? Holy shit, if Coach Montoya could see him now.

Will: No shit right?

Will: Well, hey, I don't want to keep you. I'm glad you're having fun. Give the kids a kiss and tell Vale and Lys I said hi.

Once he was showered and dressed, Will walked back into the living room, a soccer game now on the TV.

“Ok, ah…don't wait up for me,” Will smirked as he grabbed the keys off the hook and checked to make sure he had his wallet and phone. 

“Oh don't worry we won't, you kids have fun tonight,” Santiago winked.

Will tried to quickly, but nonchalantly leave before his brother could make a smartass comment. Unfortunately for him, Benny was too quick and managed to make a joke about not being a fool and wrapping his tool. Will rolled his eyes and walked out the door, hand raised in the air giving his brother the finger as he closed the door.

Truth be told, it has been a while since Will had sex. He was confident in his abilities, thanks to years of practice, but Katie was different. She wasn’t some random hookup, she was someone he could see a relationship with – the problem was he wasn’t quite sure what type of relationship that would be. He pushed aside that thought and got in his Jeep for the quick drive down the block. 

When he parked, Katie was already walking out the door, ready to hop in and go. She looked effortlessly beautiful, her hair up in a ponytail with a baseball cap on. Will recognized her leggings, it seemed she had a lot of the same style just in different colors. Practical, he reasoned. She paired them with an oversized Star Wars-themed T-shirt. It was from the newer stuff Will wasn't as familiar with.

“Hey, thanks for picking me up,” she said as she climbed into the Jeep, reaching over to give him a quick hug, which he reciprocated. She breathed in his scent, which smelled like Irish Spring soap.

“Course. You're the one helping me after all,” he pulled back slightly and smiled, his hand lingering on her back just a beat before he let go and returned to face forward to put the car in reverse. “You have a good day?” He turned around looking out the rear window, one hand on the back of her headrest as he reversed out of the driveway.

“Not bad, halfway through the week so that's exciting. How about you?”

“Good, easy. Had an early volunteer shift this morning.”

“Ooo how was CVS? Pick up anything exciting?”

He laughed. “No, Mr. Andrews switched it up today and wanted to go to Walgreens.”

Katie exaggeratedly gasped, “Whaaat? No way! Look at him coming out of his shell.” She smiled as they continued their small talk on the short drive over to Target.

As they walked up to the store Will slightly turned and pointed at her shirt, “I gotta ask, who's on your shirt.”

She stopped walking. “Wait. Are you serious? I thought you were a Star Wars fan.”

Will smirked. “I am, of the original stuff. I haven't really paid attention to anything recent.”

“You don't…you haven't watched The Mandalorian? Isn't Boba Fett your favorite?” She pointed to the tattoo on Will’s forearm.

“Mandalorian…that's the one with baby Yoda right?”

Katie dramatically clutched both hands to her chest. “His name…is Grogu.”

Will laughed as he grabbed a cart, leading the way to the toy section. 

“The Mandalorian is seriously so cool, you'd love it,” she knocked her shoulder into his. “We should watch it!” She offered with a hopeful smile.

“Yeah ok, I'm willing to give it a shot since it comes so highly recommended. I trust you,” he smirked.

She gave him a quick smile and returned her gaze ahead, but he could still see her smiling out of the corner of his eye. When they reached the toy aisle, Katie went through a bunch of different options. Will was adamant about finding something different for each of the boys, figuring they each had their own distinct personalities and interests. 

Katie knew one of the boys was really into card tricks, so Will picked out a magic set. The other was obsessed with Fortnite, something Will knew absolutely nothing about. Luckily, Katie's best friend at work had a son about the same age who was equally as obsessed with it, so she knew enough to navigate the selection. She also texted Olivia to make sure the boys didn’t already have what they picked out. Will was thankful for her due diligence since they were able to make a quick swap. Apparently, David and Ty had already bought one of the items Will picked out.

The pair was efficient, a little too efficient. Will didn’t want their trip to end. He was having fun just walking up the aisles, so he suggested a loop through the store. It was surprising to him to see all the random stuff that ended up finding its way into the cart. He reasoned it had something to do with the fluorescent lights or some subliminal messaging in the soft rock playing through the store’s speakers. It gave him flashbacks to his fiance who could not be trusted inside a Target by herself for fear she'd buy the whole damn store. 

It was amusing to see how excited Katie got over the most mundane things. She smelled nearly every new scent of hand soaps and she went absolutely giddy over these fabric bird figurines donned in various themed outfits. But what Will enjoyed most was seeing her smile. Based on the limited knowledge he had about her recent past, it sounded like she hadn’t had much to smile about.

When they reached the checkout, Katie emptied the cart putting all of her stuff down followed by the birthday gifts. She slid a divider between the two sets of items.

“What’re doing?” He furrowed his brows, reaching for the divider and putting it back. 

“It's so the cashier knows whose stuff is whose silly. You really don't do a lot of shopping huh?”

Will rolled his eyes, “I know what that thing means, but no I'm taking care of it.” He started to reach for his wallet.

“What? No I…”

“I insist,” he cut her off. “This…has been a lot of fun and you saved my ass by texting Liv. Please? I want to.”

She sighed, resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to convince him. “Fine. Under two conditions.”

“Shoot,” he smirked, leaning forward onto the cart’s handles. He was amused at how quickly she folded.

“One. I get dinner. You keep that in your pants,” she motioned towards the wallet in his pocket. There were a couple of teenagers in line behind them who started giggling since all they could see was Katie pointing to Will’s pants. “Fuck,” she brought her palm to her forehead. “You know what I mean.”

“I do,” he laughed, putting his hands in his pockets. “Ok, go on, what's the second condition.”

“I get to name him Will,” she picked up one of the fabric bird figurines and held it to Will. The bird was decked out in the stars and stripes, fitting for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. 

He rolled his eyes and chuckled, “Sure, Kat.”

___________________

“Is pepperoni ok?” Benny looked between Santiago and Connor to confirm before placing his delivery order.

“Yeah that works for me,” Santiago nodded.

“Thanks, Benny,” Connor chimed in.

“‘Course. Thanks for helping me scout the competition,” he winked. 

After placing the order Benny went to the kitchen to grab a few cans of soda. He placed the assortment on the coffee table and Santiago quickly grabbed coasters for them all, knowing how annoyed Will would be by rings on his coffee table. Benny was about to sit down when he realized he had forgotten something and ran back to his room. He emerged a few moments later with his trusty notebook in his hand and a pencil.

“Ok, I'm ready now!” He plopped down on the couch.

“You're taking notes?” Santiago looked over a bit confused. 

“Yeah…you used to take notes when we'd get briefed on missions, what's so different?” Benny countered. 

“You're right Benny, sorry. So…where's this guy from?”

“Well, I looked him up and he's from Queens.” Connor offered as he queued up the first video.

At the mention, Santiago perked up, “The guy's from New York?” Connor nodded, looking at Benny confused. “What's his name again?”

“Uh, Omar Assarian.”

Benny side-eyed Santiago, “What, you know this guy?”

“No, I don't, but I may know people who do. I mean, I did grow up in New York so, I dunno let me see.” Santiago started typing away at his phone as Benny nodded to Connor to start the video. 

They intently watched the fight and then another and then another. Benny would ask Connor to pause the video every now and again so he could take some notes. He keyed Connor into some of Omar's strengths and weaknesses along the way, noting that the man had great footwork, which made sense given his boxing background.

“You think you can beat him Benny?” Santiago cut in.

“I think so. As long as I can get him to the ground and off his feet. Not really looking to get punched in the face by a boxer if I can help it.”

“I guess I never asked, do you have like a specialty or something?” Connor asked, taking a bite of his pizza. 

“I'm good at a lot of things,” Benny laughed to himself. “Uh, I started off as a wrestler, it was one of the sports I did in high school. So I'm good at submissions I guess, and grappling. I also learned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which helps with the submissions. MMA to me is like…a game of chess. I know you see all of these kicks and punches and shit, and I can do that too, but there's something about finding that…weakness in an opponent and just exploiting it. That’s what I like the most.”

________________

“There, all set,” Katie smiled as she finished curling the ribbon of the last gift she wrapped. She looked over to Will, who was sitting cross-legged next to her on the floor of her craft room. 

His eyes softened when they met hers, the corners of his mouth perking up. “Perfect. Thank you, I uh…couldn't have done it without you.” She looked down and brushed his compliment aside, starting to pick up the scraps of wrapping paper and ribbon. “Besides, if I'd gone with Ben, we'd probably still be in the toy section,” he laughed. “We would have come home with a bunch of shit. I didn't realize there were so many different kinds of Nerf guns. Lil Bean would have lost his damn mind if he had that many options as a kid.” He chuckled, relieved to see her laughing.

“Wait…Lil Bean?” She furrowed her eyebrows, clearly wanting Will to fill her in on the apparent nickname.

“Ha, yea that's what we called him growing up. Joel really is the only one who still calls him that consistently, I guess because he's the one who came up with it,” he chuckled, clearly reminiscing on some fond memories. “Benny has always been tall and lanky, like a string bean.”

“Aww…poor Benny!” She stuck out her bottom lip.

“Ha it's ok, he ended up kinda liking the name. I think if I came up with it, it wouldn't have gone over so well.” He got up offering her his hand to stand up. “But since it was Joel’s idea he ended up coming around.”

“So, you're close with your cousins then?” She asked, her hand lingering in his just a beat longer than she intended before dropping it to quickly gather up the presents.

“Uh yeah, Joel and Tommy are basically our brothers too. And then once Frankie moved down the street we were a starting five,” he laughed, following her out of the room and back to the living room.

“Where does Santiago fall in?”

“Pope? Oh, I met him during basic training. He was my battle buddy,” she gave him a confused look, “we couldn't go anywhere on base alone, we had to travel in pairs. The two of us got assigned to each other and I guess I've been stuck with him since,” he laughed.

Katie observed Will’s demeanor. He was so much more relaxed and at ease when he talked about the guys. His bright blue eyes seemed to shimmer. It was clear to her that he cherished those he held close. 

“Aw that's cute, you two make a nice pair,” she winked, sitting down on the couch. She turned on the TV and started to click buttons on the remote.

“Oh please don't tell him that,” Will groaned. 

“It's so sweet that you guys have each other.” She looked over and smiled.

Will noticed her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, it was a bit guarded, a brief wave of sadness washing over her before she pushed it away. He recognized the behavior since it was something he did too. He didn’t say anything right away, letting her navigate the menu on her screen, queuing up the show.

He cleared his throat, “You have people too, right? Megan? The rest of the neighbors?”

She looked over at him with a tight smile, “Yeah. Yeah, they’ve been great. Honestly, if I didn’t have Megan…” she trailed off, shaking her head and taking a deep breath before she looked over at him. She was met with a warmth in his eyes, something she’d grown to seek. It made her feel seen. “And at work, I have Miranda. She was my first real friend when I moved down here, you’d like her she’s awesome.”

He tentatively reached his hand to her thigh, keeping an eye on her reaction, before giving her a reassuring squeeze. “Well, you have me too…ahem, and the guys. You need anything, we’re here, y’know that right?”

She put her hand on top of his, returning the squeeze. “Yeah. Thanks, Will. I appreciate that, hasn’t always been the case.”

“Look, ah, I…if you don’t want to talk about it that’s cool, but I’m here if you do.” He rubbed the back of his neck, hoping she picked up on the subject he was referring to.

“Thanks. I won’t bore you with the story, it’s not really that exciting,” she said with a tight smile. 

“It’s your…reality. I don’t find that boring.”

She turned towards him, one knee tucked up on the couch. She took a deep breath. “Things started off well. Seb was charming and swept me off my feet,” she started to fidget looking down at her hands. “But as time went on, I felt like my interests mattered less and less. It was small comments here or there, but it eventually became more frequent…like, I don’t know…like I was annoying him with the things I got excited about…So eventually I just either stopped doing those things or I’d do them in secret.”  

“You sound a lot like Benny,” he gave a small smile once her eyes met his. “His ex was like that. It was like living with our dad again. She really wore him down.” 

“Can I ask how?” 

Will cleared his throat, turning to face Katie, their knees touching as he rested his arm on the back of the couch. “Benny’s a good man. He’s a talented kid in so many ways. Good at everything, it’s actually kind of annoying sometimes,” he chuckled. “He just…finds something and suddenly he’s great at it. Happened with baseball…wrestling…the army. He was one of the most elite snipers in the whole force. He could do all of these crazy calculations in his head in seconds and was super accurate. It’s one of the reasons his call sign was Ace.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize all of that.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t like to talk about it. Don’t ever call him Ace,” he cautioned before continuing. “We’ve ah…we’ve had to do some pretty bad stuff, stuff we aren’t always the most proud of. It’s weighed on him over the years, on all of us really…” Will trailed off, realizing he had already said more than he should have. The guys all tried to be as vague as they could when it came to their military service.

“Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to but if you do I’m here,” Katie squeezed his hand.

“Thanks, Kat,” he smiled, before continuing. “For as talented as he is athletically, he’s just as talented with creative stuff. Hell, he may be even more talented when it comes to that. In his heart, he’s an artist. He draws, sings, plays guitar. He had this dream when we were younger of being a comic book artist. He’d draw these little cartoons for me, all of these elaborate stories that somehow were all connected, I don’t know how he did it,” Will laughed. “But one day our dad found his notebook and lost his shit.”

Katie tilted her head, her forehead creasing, “why?”

Will took a deep breath, “Oh, it’s complicated. But I think at the core, our dad had this vision for Ben. Pro scouts were coming to watch him play baseball before he got to high school. Basically, our dad saw anything that wasn’t revolved around sports as a waste of time. Our dad is, uh, competitive. And he took a lot of pride in the fact that his boy was a prodigy.”

“How’d that make you feel?”

“Me?” Will was caught off guard. He’d never had anyone ask him that before. “Um, I guess…I think I felt a lot of things. A little jealous, I guess. I had to work my ass off to be halfway decent at anything and Ben didn’t even have to try it seemed. But I also wanted to protect him. I saw how excited he got when it came to stuff like drawing and music, it made him happy. Like really happy. Our mom supported him as much as she could. They had a little hiding spot where she’d stash some notebooks and colored pencils and stuff for him. But my dad found it one day and threw it all in the trash. Shit, he all but set it on fire before I stepped in. Stuff at home got kinda bad after that which is why I left the second I could. I always felt a little guilty I guess, leaving Benny there by himself.”

“Is that why he enlisted? To get out of a bad situation too?”

“I think it was kind of a fuck you to our dad. He turned down a full-ride scholarship to play baseball at Texas and a contract to play in the minors. Our dad didn’t talk to him for months. Benny would call home, and if Dad answered he’d immediately give the phone to Mom. But, eventually, Benny did what Benny does and he excelled. Once he got handpicked for Delta Force, our dad started to change his tune.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah…took years for their relationship to get to a halfway decent place. I think that’s why Benny has always had a soft spot for Joel. In many ways, Joel was more like a dad to him than ours was.”

“How about you and your dad?”

“Eh, it’s…complicated. The way he treated us…our mom, it’s…not how I’d do things, I’ll say that much.”

“Well, you are your own person,” she offered her hand again to him, rubbing circles on the back of his hand. “I can see how much you love your brother and your friends. They’re lucky to have you. You’re a good man too, Will.”

Will sat quietly for a moment, his eyes sought Katie’s. He felt a warmth cascade over him. Even though he was sharing a lot about Benny, his own past was wrapped up in so much of it. Opening up like this took months with his VA therapist, but Katie listened without judgment, and with genuine curiosity.

“Sorry, I kind of unloaded all of that,” he chuckled. “I guess it’s not really something I think about a lot.” 

“I hear you on that,” her eyebrows shot up, a sarcastic grin on her face.

“So what were the things you kept from your ex?” 

Katie was a bit caught off guard that Will turned the conversation back to her, she hoped that he’d get distracted by his own story and forget. She should have known better, Will was too considerate of a guy to dominate a conversation.

“Oh ah...I guess a lot of the little projects I came up with. I’ve always really loved interior design. That’s what I thought I wanted to go into when I was younger. I wanted to design houses that would end up in magazines, y’know?”

“What changed your mind?”

“I have the misfortune of being good at math,” her sarcastic tone made Will laugh. “When it came time to look at colleges, my parents really wanted me to pursue a business degree. I think my dad got a kick out of me potentially following in his footsteps. I know they didn’t mean it, but they kind of always made my design stuff seem like my little side hobby rather than something I could really do. Hell, I helped my mom redesign parts of our house when I was in high school.”

“What happened when you got to college?”

“I kept collecting photos and notes of design ideas. My college dorm room looked so nice, I had people coming to me to help them with theirs. I had like an unofficial side business,” she laughed. “Then when I graduated and I was off on my own I finally had a place to make how I wanted. And then I met Seb…” she trailed off, clearing her throat. “I eventually moved into his place. He was…particular about his space so I didn’t really feel like it was mine. I felt like a visitor. Which is why I was so excited when we finally started looking at houses. He told me I could do whatever I wanted.”

“So did you?”

“Ah, yes and no. I wanted him to feel comfortable in the space, so I’d ask questions here and there to gauge what he liked and didn’t like. He’d make…I don’t know, little comments about how something looked stupid or was a waste of time. He also wasn’t handy at all so I had to do it all myself. I guess I eventually stopped caring.” She looked down, fidgeting again with her hands.

“But you have this place, right?” He gave her a small smile, motioning to the space around them. “You can make this into whatever you want.”

“Yeah. It’s an overwhelming thought, but … I don’t know, exciting too.” She looked around.

“Hey, how about instead of watching this,” he motioned to the television, which had moved to a screensaver due to the lack of activity, “we talk about your ideas for the kitchen? We can come up with a plan for the projects you have in mind.”

A big smile came across Katie’s face, excited that Will was genuinely interested in hearing what grand plans she had for the space and that he was willing to help.

Next Time on As the Mule Falls: We pick up where we left off with Will and Katie. Frankie returns home to Tampa (for real this time, I need to get him back to Florida for…reasons). The Neighborhood Watch descends upon the local skating rink for a party that’s sure to be the best in the galaxy. 

A/N: Hello! Apologies for the delay in getting this chapter out! How do we feel about Katie and Will? Melissa was a bit salty about Santiago – do you think they’ll talk about it or avoid each other? 

Thank you so much for reading and supporting this story. Some of these storylines are starting to come together and I’m excited about where we’re going!

Taglist: @goodwithcheese / @gemmahale / @trulybetty / @patti7dc / @periodtsparadox / @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin / @maggiemayhemnj / @mysterious-moonstruck-musings / @avastrasposts / @meveispunk / @chaoticfestninja / @beboldbebravethings / @casa-boiardi / @katw474 / @linzels-blog / @laughing-in-th3-purple-rain / @pimosworld / @lynnchun / @anoverwhelmingdin /@lilmizmoz / @pedrit0-pascalit0 / @titlee78 / @noisynightmarepoetry / @inept-the-magnificent / @perennialdoll247 / @for-a-longlongtime / @readingiskeepingmegoing / @harriedandharassed / @musings-of-a-rose / @anavatazes / @sherala007 / @midnightraain / @partyofone3414 / @inthedarkestnight / @millennial-teenybopper / @csarab615 / @darkheartgatita / @southernboyfan / @weho2kcmo / @itspdameronthings

#delta landscaping #triple frontier fanfic #triple frontier fanfiction #triple frontier #triple frontier fic

[sebastianstanisahotmf]

Alpine- Part 1

Bucky Barnes x fem!reader x Alpine

A/N Hey guys I'm re-posting all my fics. Also all mistakes are my own and comments, likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated xoxo

Summary You and Bucky decide to get a cat.

DO NOT REPOST ON ANY OTHER APPS/SITES. THE ONLY PLACE THIS FIC IS ON IS TUMBLR.

Warnings fluff

Today was the day. You and Bucky had decided to get a cat. It didn’t take long for you two to make the decision but it was still a pretty big one since any pet is a big commitment.

“you ready doll?” Bucky asked with a grin on his face.

���let me get my phone and I’ll be ready babe.” You replied with the same excitement as Bucky.

You both had wanted a cat since the start of your relationship but had decided to wait until you moved in together to get one. Today marked 1 year of living with Bucky which seemed perfect. You both walked hand-in-hand to the nearest animal shelter. Once you got there, you went to the desk where a kind-looking woman with short red hair was typing on her computer. She was wearing jeans and a graphic t-shirt.

“Hi, me and my girlfriend are looking to adopt a cat so I was wondering if you could tell us where the cats are here.” Bucky said with a toothy grin.

The woman looked up from her computer and gave you both a smile “sounds good” the woman replied whilst looking back at her computer. “if you give me one moment I’ll get one of my colleagues to take you there.”

“thanks.” Bucky responded, squeezing your hand in excitement.

You saw a tall woman with long blonde hair and what looked like an abundance of tattoos come around the corner with a smile on her face. “hi, I’m Rebecca and I’m going to be showing you all the cats and kittens we have in the hopes that you will be able to give one a home.”

“great!” you replied excitedly.

“good, Follow me please.”

Rebecca lead you and Bucky through a few corridors before you reached a door with a cartoon drawing of a cat on it. You could also hear the meows of a few cats.

“here you are. You can look at any cats and if you want to get in with any of the cats just shout me over and I can open the door.”

“ok, thanks.” You said.

You and Bucky had been looking for about 15 minutes when you both heard a really loud meow from behind you. You both turned around and saw a pure white cat clawing at the door. You both went over to it and crouched down. The cat was still meowing and trying to get to you.

“you stay here doll and I’ll get the lady to let us in.” Bucky said before kissing your head and going over to Rebecca to ask her to open the door.

Rebecca came over with a key in her hand and unlocked the door. “here you go guys. I’ll wait outside here but if you need any help or information I’m happy to give it to you.”

“Ok. thank you so much” you responded.

Rebecca smiled in response. You and Bucky sat down on the floor and started to call the cat over. It first came over to you so you outstretched your hand so it could sniff it and decide whether it wanted to let you pet it. Once it had sniffed your hand the cat licked it and nudged your hand so you could stroke it.

“wow I’m surprised he let you do that.” Rebecca genuinely sounded surprised. “he usually doesn’t like people and other cats. That’s why he has his own space.”

The cat then went over to Bucky who had took one glove off and outstretched his flesh hand. However, the cat went to Bucky’s metal hand which was still concealed in the black leather glove.

Bucky hesitated so you leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “it’s ok babe. You’re not gonna hurt him. You’re not him anymore”

“o-ok” Bucky replied and took off the glove what was covering his metal hand.

The cat sniffed then licked Bucky’s hand before nudging it and purring loudly when Bucky started to stroke it. All of the previous doubt on Bucky’s face had dissipated and turned into awe at the white fur ball that was now playing with his metal hand.

Then, Bucky looked at you and smiled. You leaned over to press a chassed kiss on his lips.

“I think this is the one” Bucky said looking at you with hopeful eyes.

“I think it is”

Rebecca had a big grin on her face while watching yours and Bucky’s interaction with each other. “great! If you want I can get the paperwork ready and find out the price.”

“ok. Umm just one thing though. What is his name?” Bucky questioned.

“his name is Alpine but feel free to change his name of you want to. He was named by the staff here since he was brought in by a person on the street who saw him roaming around with a large wound on his back.”

You looked at Bucky and he nodded. “I think we’re gonna keep the name Alpine it suits him. And it’s very unique”

“very well then. I’ll get the paperwork while you two continue to play with Alpine.” Rebecca walked away to get the paperwork for you and Bucky to sign.

Bucky looked at you with adoration in his eyes and leaned in to kiss you again. “thank you doll. I love you so much.”

However, the moment was interrupted by Alpine who had decided he wasn’t getting enough attention so he crawled up Bucky’s metal arm and head-butted his cheek.

You looked at Bucky and you both started to laugh. “I love you too Bucky”

Taglist: @buckys-wintersoldier @nicoline1998enilocin

#Alpine series #Alpine #alpine the cat #Alpine x reader #Alpine x bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #marvel #mcu #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes x reader fluff #james bucky barnes #james bucky barnes fluff #James bucky barnes x reader fluff #The winter soldier #The winter soldier x reader

[elbarkla]

Check it out everyone, 3 years of art progress! And I wrote a guide for beginners! 😊

Hi! I’m Laura, age 31. I’ve always drawn occasionally, but never really stuck with it. Frankly it stressed me out. I’d draw for a month, then cry a bunch, then quit for a couple more years. But this time I turned it into a habit somehow. I’ve been drawing near-daily since Feb ‘21 and my life is better for it. Art’s a huge part of me now; it affects how I spend my time, how I express myself, and how I see the world. I feel like a happier, more complete human being.

So here’s what worked for me. This is a guide for hobbyists (I don’t have commercial ambitions) and it may or may not work for you. But I hope you can learn something from it regardless. Without further ado, my thesis:

 ~ Laura’s Steps for Drawing A Lot and Hopefully Getting Better ~

 1 – Manage Your Health 

Know what’s bad for your art? Depression! Glad I got around to treating mine. But for real, if you lack self-confidence you might want to check your mental health. It isn’t the sole factor but it can rapidly overtake the others. Every day I see a post like “how do I improve, every time I try to draw I’m overwhelmed with thoughts I’m bad at everything and a burden to the people around me”. That’s relatable but not a healthy way to see yourself. Low self-esteem can be treated. Please consider talking to someone - you’re a wonderful, lovable person and deserve a happy life.

Also, try to get plenty of sleep and eat regular meals; it helps with everything. Exercise is worth a shot too. Going for walks is good for your mind and body. Yes it’s boring, but boredom gives you space to imagine things.

 #2 – Make It Fun

You’re taking this too seriously. Yes, you. It’s just a hobby. Take the pressure off. Have fun.

What does that mean? It means you need to make art approachable. It has to be a comfort hobby you’re naturally drawn to. That means killing all thoughts of what you SHOULD do. If it makes you want to draw, go for it. Anime characters? Pretty ladies? Fanart? Furries? Doodles from imagination? Zentangles? Pencils? Digital? Do it. If drawing the “right way” burns you out, draw things the wrong way instead. You know who draws a lot? Children. You know who doesn’t draw super well? Children. Have that mindset. Draw like a child. Don’t compare yourself to others; just enjoy the process of creating something. You had that ability once and I know you can reacquire it.

 Intimidated by an empty sketchbook? Don’t wanna ruin a white page? That’s OK; find something you don’t mind ruining. Grab a half-used notebook and a ballpoint pen. You EXPECT those to look horrendous. If you can have fun filling that notebook, you can have fun drawing regularly, and if you draw regularly you can slowly improve your art. It happened to me. I went from rarely drawing to wanting to do it every day. I still sketch in ballpoint now; it’s fun and comfortable.

Also, if drawing’s NOT fun? That’s OK too! There’s loads of ways to express creativity; go do do one of those. For me it was The Sims 3, then knitting, then drawing. Find something accessible and build your confidence up. The world needs bonsai trees and Minecraft castles just as much as drawings. <3

#3 – Seek Instruction

You’ve made drawing a habit, congratulations! You’ve probably learned heaps already; it’s natural to work out techniques as you go. But deducing art wisdom from scratch isn’t super efficient. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when you can learn so much from others.

You can do a paid course (great way to meet people), but you don’t have to. All the information’s free on the internet! Teachers will cover the same things in different ways or from different perspectives. There’s no exclusive knowledge; the more you study, the more overlap you’ll notice. It all comes together for a more complete understanding of fundamental concepts.

Here’s some of my favourite resources (currently all available free online)(except the Winslow one which was taken down, boo):

  r/artfundamentals, ie. drawabox.com . A great starter course on how to hold a pen, draw lines, build forms and so on. You can follow structured lessons or just practice whatever you need to.

How to Draw: Drawing and Sketching Objects and Environments from Your Imagination, by Scott Robertson. This book’s the gold standard on perspective and great for technical thinkers. It gets VERY advanced but there’s basic stuff to learn from as well. If the textbook intimidates you, try this excellent video playlist by Dan Beardshaw. He walks you through the same concepts in a simple approachable manner. Vital information if you want your work to look 3D.

anything by Andrew Loomis. He’s an icon for a reason; the Loomis head is a standard art tool to this day. I also enjoy the anachronistic career advice (“all advertisers will pay for a well-drawn head” or whatever it was). Here’s the ones I’ve read and enjoyed:

Fun with a Pencil

Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth

Drawing The Head and Hands

Creative Illustration (my current fave, great for composition)

Classic Human Anatomy in Motion, by Valerie L. Winslow. Hot take – people who say “learn anatomy” to beginners are idiots. SO MANY fundamentals come before anatomy if you wanna draw good-looking characters. You’ll get better results studying proportion, form, gesture, shapes and composition first. But if/when you want to learn bones and muscles, this is the book for you! It’s probably overkill, but I loved the breakdown of facial muscles and how they create expression. Top-tier reaction image material.

Proko!! Fabulous Youtube channel. Not only is Stan a great teacher, he invites on other artists too. Just go to his search bar and plug in a keyword; you’ll always find something helpful. I recommend his channel if you want to draw humans (loads of gesture, forms, proportion, anatomy etc.), but there’s a video or two on everything. Some of my other favourite videos:

Mind-Blowing Realistic Shading Tricks. Simple effective intro to light and shadow, I still go back and learn from it.

How to Draw Dynamic Shapes – FORCE Series Part 3. So compelling I bought the book afterwards. Blew my mind, instantly improved all my shapes and in turn my composition and gesture.

Painting Skin Tones and How Light Affects Color. Marco Bucci’s a genius with colours, he explains value and saturation in such fascinating ways.

Digital Shape Carving with Scott Flanders – good companion to the shading video above, teaches dramatic silhouettes and cel-shading within a really interesting workflow.

Google. Any question. Throw it in. Someone’s made a video or reddit post about it. You’d be surprised! I swear, the number of times I’ve typed “composition tips” or “digital watercolour clip studio paint” or “how draw horse head”.

Remember, take it easy. Don’t burn yourself out. Back off if you feel the tears creeping in. Study should supplement your drawings, not replace them. If in doubt, revert to step 2 – “bad” art is better than no art.

4– Study Life

If you did step 3 you’re way ahead of me on this one. USE REFERENCES. Draw things from photos (or real life if possible). Fill your brain with visual information. Here’s a thread I made for sharing references of humans.

What if you prefer to draw from imagination? That’s fine – try a hybrid approach. Doodle whatever comes to you, then look up references and try again. For example I’ll doodle a bear, then draw from photos of bears, then doodle new bears using the things I learned. It’s fun and also a good way to test your knowledge. You may also enjoy combining different references; eg drawing animal fusions, combining poses with an outfits etc. It gets easier to do the more you practice.

Between art pieces I keep a balance between drawing from imagination, drawing from reference, following art lessons, and studying other artists. Speaking of which –

5 – Study Art

Ever heard “Don’t draw anime until you’ve learned anatomy?” or “Learn the rules before you break them?” I strongly disagree with both of those statements. Fundamentals are great but there’s never a point you stop learning them, and studying life won’t teach you how to stylise. That’s why you also need to learn from your favourite artworks. This gets easier/more efficient as you build your broader art skills, but you can learn styles at any point of your art journey (see – step 2). In fact, it makes study more enjoyable, since stylised art can look better and feel more “you”. You already know what you want to create– why not start now?

Let’s take anime as an example. That’s a huge genre with loads of variation. So, what’s your personal taste? Round and cute, or sharp and serious? Choose your favourite shows and study how they do it. Observe their lines, shapes and proportions. Then try it yourself. Make fanart. Not only is replication good art practice in general, it’ll teach you a bunch of new tricks. For original work, pull from loads of sources, the more diverse the better. Work in your love for Silver Age comics or medieval tapestries or German expressionism. The more places you learn from, the more unique and personal your style will be. Your art becomes a visual scrapbook of all the artists you love. I think that’s beautiful. <3

 6 – Find Community

Art friends! Best thing ever. You can bond over your shared obsession, commiserate over tough parts, and learn about art together. A lot of my drawings are in-jokes exchanged with my BFF. I’ve known them from childhood (lucky) but apparently adults can make friends too. Fandom spaces are great for this; many Discord channels have a dedicated artists’ zone. You can also try r/sketchdaily or challenges like Mermay/Inktober if you want a sense of community.

If you don’t have art friends (yet), that’s OK; parasocial works too! I like watching “Draw With Me” content on Youtube. It’s great to put on while you’re creating, especially when you don’t have the energy for something educational. Not only is it inspiring, you can learn tips and tricks along the way. And of course, you can never go wrong with Bob Ross.

 7 – Be Interesting

The very first step was to manage your health. In a way, we’ve looped back to the beginning.  Because no matter what you do, art begins and ends with who you are. You can practice fundamentals 12 hours a day but if you never live your life, you’ll never make interesting art. No one cares for artists whose only character trait is how hard they grind. So go be the most vibrant version of yourself. Take up weird hobbies. Make weird friends. Seek new experiences. Question the beliefs you grew up with. Read books for a while instead of drawing. Develop your principles. Embrace what makes you different. Survive the worst year of your life somehow. Learn what makes you thrive. Your art won’t be for everyone. But it WILL mean the world to some. And to me, that’s the whole point of doing this. Good luck, fellow artist. The world is your adventure yet to come. I believe in you. <3

#art progress #art tips #art tutorial #art resources #art guide #artists on tumblr #elbarklaart

[bebe-thewriter]

She's Cute   Chapter: 1

~content warning~ this is an x black reader story ofc you can read if your not black or p.o.c but keep in mind that i refuse to make it “more acommedating” for you, go find all the millions of stories with white main gyals. 

~Note~ I'm here with a little diff. So once again we have a bimbo black reader buttttt she’s still smart obvi. Also the reader gets sent to a different dimension so I hope y’all enjoy!!!!! -BeBe🧘🏾‍♀️

~pairing~ Benimaru Shinmon x black reader :) enjoy! 

“Just a little reminder ma’am, we will be closing in 5 minutes.” The librarian said in a soft tone. “Yeah ofc I’m sorry for holding you up, I know first hand about wanting to get out of work” I say with a nod.

The librarian starts to slowly look down at my books with a tilted head interest. “Spontaneous combustion huh, I remember when I was younger and it was the biggest issue at the time, not global warming, or bullying. I’m so happy the younger generation is taking an interest in our past.” The older woman says.

“Oh it’s just for a research paper, I honestly don’t see the big deal with it, seems pretty avoidable if you ask me.” I say with a shrug. “Oh really, I understand your thought process since you weren’t physically there, but maybe you’ll gain more knowledge about the subject.” She says with a smile.

“Maybe” I say, knowing damn well I just want an A in my class.

After I check out I head home to get started on my project.

“Ok y/n just start this stupid project, just write a thesis and one counter argument and then you can reward yourself with a coffee in the morning.” I say rushing up the stairs.

But suddenly I started falling backwards and then….. I black out.

(Sirens start ringing)

“Ahhh a inferno” “please step away from the train!” “SOMEBODY HELP HER”

My eyes start to slowly flicker open to the loud sound of screaming.. multiple screams. When I finally come to, I see an actual monster looking down on me with big flames coming out of it.

“Umm hey buddy, I don’t exactly know what I said or did to you but I’m sorry??” I say it . “Arghhh” it said back. “Wtf did you just say to me, I’ll actually throw hands bro” I say posting up to it. It roars again and I see my life flash before my eyes.

But before the monster could strike, I felt myself being lifted out of harm's way. “Are you ok miss, I’m sorry I’m so late.” I slowly open my eyes to a sharp smile and short black hair. “I’m ok, you came in the Knick of time. Thank you ummm-“ “ Shinra, my name is Shinra.”

Before I can reply I see 5 more people arrive on the scene and proceed to take down the flame monster. “Good job in successfully rescuing the civilian Shinra.” A man with a VERY developed body praises the young boy, who for some reason still has you scooped up in his arms.

“It’s my job as a fire soldier sir!” Your body tensed. ‘What the hell, fire soldier? This is exactly like my project topic’ you think. ‘There’s no way I’m here in the past? WTH is happening.’

“Ms. Are you ok?” The man asks. “Just like what I told Mr. Shinra I’m fine.” I say. “Just checking again! My name is Obi. Nice to meet you.” He flashes a bright smile.

“My name is y/n nice to meet you.” You reply. “I know what you experienced was incredibly scary, I hope we can repay you for getting here a little late.” He says with apologetic eyes.

You think for a second, this is a golden opportunity for your school project! “I have to pay you back... Please allow me to!” you say. The man who you've just figured out is named Obi. “Hmm.. Well, we do need some help around the base. unfortunately our whole unit is terrible at cooking haha.” Perfect, this is exactly what you wanted. 

“Yes i accept!'' I say with a big smile. “Shinra, Arthur this young lady will be bunking with you, do not make her uncomfortable in any shape or form. If she says you have harmed her in any way I will tie you upside down to a pole and use you for target practice.” a man with glasses spits. 

“YES SIR.”  “sorry miss (y/n) you can't exactly get settled in right now because we were currently going to a meeting with some newly made colleges of ours.'' Shinra explained that they fought very hard for the respect of their peers and they finally got it along with a new source of intel. 

“We're here.” I stepped out of the train to see the most beautiful town known to man, “Whoa,” I said , witnessing the beauty of the town called Asakusa It was truly magnificent. “That's what everyone says when they first see this town. It's our pride and joy!” i turn around to the voice that just spoke. It was a man no older than 35, muscular, he wore bandages around his whole body, and contained a prominent scar on the bridge of his nose.

“Im Konro, you must be new to the 8th i've never seen you before.” he says with a smile on his face. “Oh yes, yes im (Y/N) the new…. Intern” you replied slowly not knowing what your actual role is yet. You two chat some more until you realize that up close he's incredibly attractive. Like actually. You slowly start to inch closer to him, enough to feel his warmth radiating off his skin. ‘God i dont know of it because he's a fire soldier or if its the fact that he's really hot’ you think. 

Konro picks up on this and inches closer to you as well. So close that you can feel his breath on your ear. You lean forward a bit to hear what he has to say. “(Y/N) as much as i think you're a charming girl, and i absolutely love your attention on me, we can't ignore the fact that i'm a bit too old for you sweetheart, and we also just met.” he remarks stepping away from you completely to hang with Obi. due to the lack of heat you shiver a bit, when you hear, “But i have a friend who's around your age and would absolutely kill for a chance to speak with you.” he ends his sentence with a friendly smile.

“20 minutes in a new environment and you've already made a potential love interest! Damn (y/n) this must be the power of feminim people.” Maki sighs. “Oh Maki I'm sure you have people waiting for you, I mean I haven't even been here an hour and I can tell Shinra has a thing for you! Hahah '' I replied hoping to lift her spirits.

“Why the hell is it so loud?” a soft but dominant voice yells out. You turn only to be face to face with the most handsome man on earth…….. Benimaru Shinmon. You softly smiled at the man and bowed, giving him a tiny whiff of your cocoa butter lotion, And gently looked up through your long eyelashes, batting them slightly. As you raised your head you could hear Adam's apple bob just the tiniest bit, and his jaw clenched quickly. “Hi Mr. Shinmon, I've heard alot about you, I'm the 8ths new assistant (Y/n) (L/N) pleasure to make your acquaintance” you say with a soft smile. 

“Don't be too formal with me. And don't bow to me either.” he replies monotony. “Also my name is Beni so you got it.” 

“Ahh waka must have taken a liking to her, just as i said.” 

“Welcome to the 7th it's nice to have you (y/n)” walking away from the girl, she looks back at him with a small blush, ‘damn school textbooks dont dont do him justice’.”so what do you think waka, i told you she was your type” you hear konro speak from across the room, and listen intently for the reply. 

“Shes cute”

~Note~ Yoyoyoyo it's been a while, i've been writing this story for 2 months and finally got it done today! I hope yall like it. -BeBe out!

#benimaru x reader #fire force #fantasy #benimaru x black reader #fire force benimaru

[aingeal98]

I'm at the point where people not including Cass and Duke in batfam fics is not the most pressing issue to me. Like OK fine whatever enjoy your bland fanon 4 Robin shtick based entirely on tumblr posts where they all have one personality trait. At least I can mostly ignore it.

But for the love of God stop fuckin tagging Cass in batfam fics where she literally is off screen for 99% of the story. Why do you think anyone browsing the cassandra cain tag would be interested in your fic where the 4 male Robins (Duke doesn't exist in these fics for obvious reasons) all joke and do fluffy activities together and then once every few chapters you mention that Cass is away in another country. You can mention her without tagging her! I do it with batfam members all the time when they're not the main focus of my fics!

You can't even blame canon for this like Wayne Family Adventures gives you a solid basis for fluffy canon batfam and you, the so called progressive fandom, immediately rush to write out every character that isn't straight or white passing enough for you. Damian can stay since it let's you write angst about Talia being a dragon lady and Bruce saving him and Jason and sometimes even fucking Tim from Damian's evil brown side of the family I guess. Everyone else? Non existent. "I don't know that much about them" you say and then in the very next breath admit that your characterisation is based of other fics and wfa is the only comic you've read. What about wfa makes you understand the 4 boys enough to write them as the core family, but not Cass, who appears more than Dick in the webtoon. It's so transparent and I'd hate it less if it didn't stop me from enjoying what I actually like. Aka good Cass related fics. And also good Talia related fics but that's even rarer.

Like, write whatever you want I'm done hoping the fandom gets better when racist Talia fics still get thousands of kudos every week. Just keep that shit out of the tags for those of us who do actually care about these characters.

#Tired cranky haven't eaten and want to read cass fic. #So this is probably meaner than it needs to be but whatever #This is my complaining about dumb stuff blog so I will complain #dc rambles #I've yelled about this before and I don't expect anything to change but sometimes you just need to vent #Hence why this jumps from Cass to Duke to Talia lol. I'm not trying to make a coherent point I'm just very grumpy! #And racism and sexism sucks so I think it's pretty reasonable to be grumpy about that.

[bumblepony]

For a ficlet request 😊

I've been rewatching all the Tommy content from the show recently and just keep replaying this exchange in my head.

So I'd like to request an Uncle Tommy/Sarah ficlet. Canon verse or AU is up to you but bonus if it includes them somehow ganging up on or teasing Joel.

(P.S. please ignore the low quality of the last GIF. I couldn't find it anywhere on the web and making GIFs is harder than it looks)

My Wifey @ameerawrites, here is your little ficlet under the cut and cross-posted on AO3. I really hope you like it!

Let's Give 'Em Something To Talk About

"Dad," Sarah wines as she waits at the front door, shoes on feet, bag on back, lunch in hand. "We're gonna be late."

"I'm coming, can ya wait one second?" her dad calls from upstairs. Sarah sighs and rolls her eyes, looking over at her uncle Tommy, who's leaning against the wall, swinging his keys on his fingers.

Dad comes downstairs, and both Sarah and Tommy's jaws fall open in unison.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Tommy asks.

Her dad is dressed in pressed dark blue jeans, a white dress shirt, and a navy blue sports coat. His boots are polished, his hair is slicked back, and his beard and mustache are trimmed short and neat.

"It's just a sports coat, okay? It's nothin' to make a big deal of." Her dad says, a blush creeping up his neck.

"I think it looks really nice, Dad," Sarah says, placing her lunch bag on the floor for a second before stepping forward to adjust the collar on his coat.

"What are you all dolled up for?" Tommy says, his eyes sharp.

"I'm meeting a client after I drop you off at the site. I got a change of shirt in the trailer at work, so I can change it when I get back." Her dad says, eyes shifting away from Tommy. "Let's get goin'. Don't want Sarah to be late."

"What's different about this client, you never dress up this much for any of our other clients." Tommy muses as they all leave the house and climb into his truck.

"It could be because this client's name is Tess, and she's a tall, pretty lady with long auburn hair, and she made Dad blush last week when she came to the house to drop off the blueprint from the architect," Sarah says with a nonchalant tone as she buckles her seat belt.

Dad turns around and gives her a look like, 'You traitor.' She gives him a smirk.

"Oh ho ho. Now I think I'm catchin' on. Is this the same Tess that I saw your daddy almost trip over his own damn feet when he was showing her around the construction site last week?" Tommy says, giving Dad the side-eye as he pulls out of the driveway.

"Hmm, I think it just might be," Sarah says, lips curved, and she watches Dad turn absolutely red with embarrassment.

"it ain't fuckin' like that. She's just a client, okay? I got dressed up because the meetin' is at a restaurant for brunch or somethin' like that."

"Dad, it's a date!" Sarah says, leaning forward to grab his shoulder excitedly.

"It is not a date. It's just a meetin', and sit back in your seat." Dad says as he adjusts his sports coat so it won't get wrinkled.

"Well, date or not. If for some reason you can't make it back into work today, can ya please make sure to get me back my truck by the end of the day so I can go home at least?" Tommy says, adjusting his rearview mirror so he can give Sarah a knowing look.

"It ain't like that. I will not be stayin' later, and it's not a fuckin' date." Dad says and then looks at the two of them as they exchange a look like 'sure it's not.' "Can you two cut it, please?" He asks.

Sarah smiles and pats him on the shoulder. "Okay, Dad, we'll stop. Just be careful, ok."

"Yeah, don't forget to bring protection. There's some in the glove compartment if you need it." Tommy smirks.

"Goddamn it, Tommy." Dad groans as both Sarah and Tommy break out in laughter.

---

"Hey Joel, what's up, big brother," Tommy says, balancing his cell phone on his shoulder as he struggles to measure the wood he's getting ready to cut.

"Ah, yeah, I'm gonna be a little late, but I'll be back in time to pick ya up by the end of the workday."

A smile creeps over Tommy's face, and he puts down the piece of wood and pencil so he can take his phone in hand and turn so the other guys can't hear him. "So it was a date?"

"Shut up, Tommy. I swear to god, if you say anything to Sarah about this, I am goin' to make sure she hears about why you were late to her 15th birthday party," Joel says, his voice tight.

"Jesus, don't do that," Tommy says, chuckling. "I won't say anything, I swear. I hope you had a good time, at least."

"Yeah, yeah, it's been pretty good," Joel says, and Tommy could swear he hears a feminine snort in the background. "Oh yeah, that reminds me, you're gonna have to buy more of that protection for your glove compartment, you're all out."

"Christ Joel, there were at least four of them in there, what the hell."

"Well, it was a very productive meetin'," Joel says, and this time, there's no mistaking the female laugh Tommy hears on the other end of the line.

#tlou #tlou fanfiction #joel miller #tommy miller #sarah miller #the last of us #asks #ficlets #These three are just ridiculous #I love them your honor

[deliciousartfox]

Octonauts: Demon slayer au

Story I posted on Wattpad but wanted to share on here as well so here's the story and I hope you like it :)

𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕?

"Orson," a lady called out to her son. The boy, Orson, was preparing to head down the mountain to sell coal to the village.

"Your face is all black. Come over here. Because it's risky when it snows, it's alright if you don't go," the lady said while wiping her son's face. It was near New Year, and Orson wanted to sell some coal so they could have a feast

"I'll only go sell a little bit,"

"... Thank you," The door opened from the inside, and a girl, similar to the boy in both age and appearance, spoke up.

"Brother! Are you going to the village today? Let me come too!" Before she could step out, her mother(the lady) scolded her.

" No. You are ill and are in no condition to go out with your brother."

"But I feel better now, I can -" Before she could finish, her mother cut her off.

"No, Ursa, you were vomiting 2 days ago, and just yesterday you were coughing and sneezing left and right. You are staying home with me and your siblings."

"I'll buy you candy while I'm out Ursa, so just stay home and rest okay," Orson said while trying to convince his twin sister to stay home. After some bargaining, he left saying goodbye to his sister and mother.

Life wasn't easy, but it was a blessing. But, concerning life, it is like looking at the sky. It changes and moves because there aren't times when it stays clear for a long time. There also aren't times when it snows for a long time. Thus times when happiness is broken, there is always the scent of blood.

" Well, if it isn't Orson," a woman commented. Orson was prominent in his town, along with his family. They were known for helping people, and for working hard, there is not one person who hasn't at least heard of them.

"You came down from the mountain on a day like this, good work, but you'll catch a cold like this."

"I want to buy some charcoal!"

"Thank you for fixing up my door for me!"

"I also want to buy some charcoal!"

"AHHHHHHH ORSON I'M GLAD YOU'RE HERE. CAN YOU TELL WHO BROKE THESE DISHES? PLEASE SMELL THESE!" Being a hard worker isn't the only thing Orson is known for. Orson is also known for having a strong, sensitive nose; They say he can smell anything from 20 miles away, maybe more if he pushes. Orson leans forward and takes a sniff of the broken plate.

"It smells like a cat,"

"Eh, a cat?"

"SEE I TOLD YOU IT WASN'T ME!!!!!!!!!!!"

The sun was setting, and the vibrant hues of red, orange, pink, and purple were a stage that Orson would never forget. It was getting late, and Orson needed to get home before the sun was fully set.

"HEY ORSON, ARE YOU RETURNING TO THE MOUNTAIN?" A voice shouted out

"You can't continue. It's too dangerous!"

"O-oh, it's ok, My nose can smell anything. I'll be fine -"

"I'll let you stay the night, just come,"

"But..."

"ENOUGH! The demons will appear..." And with that, Orson went inside.

"Since long ago, human-eating demons come out to hunt at night, and because of that, it's a problem to walk around at night. You'll get eaten, it's beat if you sleep here, wake up early tomorrow and return home," Orson was tucked in his futon while listening to the old man. If you were to ask Orson if he believed in demons, he would say no. Orson has ventured out during the dark and it safe to say, he has never seen a demon."

"Can the demons not enter houses?" he asked

"No, they can enter..." Orson wanted to scoff. He would have been home at this point. What difference did it make if the demon could just barge in the house?

"In that case... everyone.... would be eaten by demons..." the white-haired boy yawned before closing his eyes.

"...The Demons hunters kill the demons for us.... since long ago..."

He must be lonely, living alone since his family died. Next time, I'll invite my mother and sister along. Even though it's scary, it's okay since demons don't exist. Even though I'm certain that such man-eating monsters don't exist, our grandmother said the same thing before she passed.

The morning arrived, and Orson had just left the old man's house. The morning air was cold, but he would make sure to arrive home on time.

T̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ w̶h̶e̶n̶ h̶a̶p̶p̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶ i̶s̶ b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶, t̶h̶e̶ s̶c̶e̶n̶t̶ o̶f̶ b̶l̶o̶o̶d̶ i̶s̶ a̶l̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶.

Orson knew what to expect when he arrived home. He would see his mother awake, fixing up Breakfast, and his sister would most likely either be asleep or doing some other chores. His other siblings would also be helping around the house (except for the youngest, he could sleep all day if they let him). But what he didn't expect was for his mother and sister to be covered in blood just outside the door. His dear sister inside the arms of their mother, an image forever engraved in his head.

"WHAT THE- WHAT- HOW DID THIS HAPPEN-WHAT HAPPENED!" The scene inside was more gruesome, his 2 younger brothers, one cut in half and the other-he couldn't even recognize him; if only by his clothes, for his face was nothing but a mess of flesh and blood. Orson went and knelt in front of his mother, his shaking hands moving his mother's hair away from her face. That was until he felt something, -warmth-, not from his mother but from his twin sister. His sister was still alive, and with that, he picked her up on his back and ran back down the mountain.

Only Ursa had warmth in her body. If she sees a doctor, they might be able to save her. How did such a thing happen? A bear? Did a bear that wasn't hibernating appear? It was painful to breathe... the frozen air burned his lungs... but he knew he had to move forward... he had to move his legs faster.

They were still far from the village, he needed to go faster. He wouldn't let her die, he was going to save her no matter what.

"Your big brother will save you..." He felt Ursa shift behind him; her movement becoming more agitated before griping her brother's shoulder violently and growling loudly.

"GAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" The sudden movement caused Orson to slip off the cliff.

' SHIT ' Orson closed his eyes preparing for the worse, but the soft snow softened his fall. He lays there for a while before opening his eyes.

" ...I'm saved...the snow, I slipped and fell on snow- URSAA!" Ursa was standing there swaying side to side in her bloodied clothes.

"Ursa! Are you OK, you don't have to walk. Let me carry you down the mountain! Ursa!!!" It was Ursa, but she didn't look like her. It was her eyes, they no longer held compassion, they looked angry.

They looked hungry

She was fast. She jumped on her twin with murderous intent, the only thing stopping her from biting her brother was the axe he had on him.

"A demon!" The old man's words came to his mind at that moment. Ursa, a demon? No, that's not right, Ursa has been a human ever since she was born. But her scent was different. Orson knew, though, that Ursa didn't do anything as she had no scent of their brother's blood and was being protected by their mother.

"Oof!" Her body was getting bigger, and her strength was increasing.

"While I was sleeping comfortably, you were all suffering. You were all hurting. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

"URSA! Try your best, Ursa! Try your best to hold it off! Somehow, you turned into a demon, Pull yourself together! I believe in you, Ursa!" A drop fell on the little polar bear boy. Ursa was now crying, muffled by the axe in her mouth. Too distracted by the situation at hand, neither of the two felt the presence of the intruder.

The two of them move out of the way just in time to avoid the sword. A man in a light blue lapis haori and black uniform attacked them with a sword. He had snow-white hair and blue eyes.

"Who was that...is that a Katana? "

"... Why did you protect them?" Orson snapped out of his trance and responded in a panic.

"YOUNGER, SHE'S MY YOUNGER SISTER!" She continued to growl, arms reaching toward the armed man.

".... I'm afraid she's no longer your sister..." He raced towards them. Abnormally quickly. Orson ducked his head trying to protect his sister, but he quickly realized that she was no longer in his arms.

"GYAAAHHHHHHH!!!" His sister was held with her arms behind her by the man in blue.

"URSA!" he yelled standing up abruptly.

"Don't worry, My job is to protect you against demons. I apologize... but I will have to decapitate your sister,"

"PLEASE WAIT, URSA HASN'T KILLED ANYONE! At the location of our home, there was another scent that I never smelled before! Whatever killed everyone was probably that! Ursa is different, I don't know why she's behaving like that but-"

"It's quite simple, If an open wound is exposed to demon blood, then you become a demon. This is how man-eating people multiply"

"URSA HASN'T EATEN ANYONE!" The swordsman was shocked by how persistent the boy was. He believed him when he said that she has yet to eat anyone, but he says it like it's always going to be that way.

"She was just about to eat you,"

"THAT WRONG! YOU CAN'T KNOW FOR SURE IN MY CASE! I WON'T LET HER HURT ANYONE! I'LL TURN URSA BACK INTO HUMAN, I'LL FIND A CURE!"

"I'm sorry, but there is no cure, there is no way to turn a demon back into a human."

"THEN I'LL FIND A WAY, I'LL FIND A WAY TO CURE HER SO PLEASE DON'T KILL HER! I'LL FIND THE ONES WHO KILLED MY FAMILY, I'LL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING SO PLEASE.... PLEASE" His begging was useless. The man raised his sword toward Ursa's neck, ready to cut her head off. Everything else was taken from him, so in a last attempt, he went on his knees and truly begged.

"Please stop......whatever you do, please don't kill my sister...I beg of you..." He couldn't hold his tears anymore.

"I beg of you...."The man snapped, finally losing his patience.

"YOU CAN'T GRASP AUTHORITY OVER SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE AND DEATH." Orson raised his head abruptly with a shocked look, still covered in tears.

"DON'T GROVEL LIKE THAT AND GIVE YOUR ENEMIES A CHANCE TO KILL YOU. TAKEN AWAY? IN THAT TIME THEY WERE TAKEN AWAY, WHERE WERE YOU? CURE YOUR SISTER? TAKE REVENGE? IT'S HIGHLY RIDICULOUS! FOR THE WEAK THERE IS NO RIGHT OR OTHER CHOICES."

"ENTIRELY WITH FORCE, THE STRONG CAN MAKE OTHERS SURENDER, MAYBE THE DEMON KNOWS HOW TO CURE YOUR SISTER, BUT I DOUBT THE DEMON WILL HAVE ANY RESPECT FOR YOU. WHY DIDN'T YOU SWING YOUR AXE? WHY DID YOU SHOW ME YOUR BACK? IS IT OKAY IF I BEHEAD YOUR SISTER IN FRONT OF YOU?"

'Don't cry. Don't despair. Don't do these things now. I know that you were knocked down. Your only family left became a demon. It's painful, isn't it? You want to shout, don't you? I understand.'

'Half a day. If I had arrived half a day earlier, your family wouldn't be dead. However, time can not be reversed. Be angry. Say that it's unforgivable. A strong, pure anger. Let it become an unshakable driving force such that your limbs can't be moved.'

'Frail resolution will not save and cure your sister, it will not kill your family's enemy.'

"STOP!" It was too late. The swordsman stabbed his sister in the shoulder, earning him a painful screech from the demon girl.

"STOP!" Orson picked up a rock and flung it toward the Swordsman. Not like it would do much, as the man easily blocked the little pebble. Orson ran behind a tree, picking up another rock and throwing it at the man as he once again dodged it.

"YAAAAAAAHHH!!!" He ran up to the man with the blue haori. An attack based on emotions. But the boy can't win against an experienced swordsman. As he used the handle of the sword to knock the boy out, he fell on the snow before being fully unconscious.

"........ Where is the a-" Out of nowhere the axe came flying toward the man's face just bearly missing. Just before he hid behind the tree he threw the stone, then he threw the axe up. He hid the fact that he was unarmed with his charging posture because he knew he couldn't defeat him. He tried to bring him down after he got knocked out.

"GAAAAAHHHHH" Ursa kicked the man out of the way, making her way toward her now unconscious brother.

'Crap! He'll get eaten!' Ursa got to Orson.

'Ursa is different!'

'She doesn't eat people!' Ursa got in front of Orson in a protective stance growling at him

'A long time ago... There was a guy who said the same thing and was eaten. Demon in a "starving condition" would eat their parents or siblings. Fixing that wound would consume a lot of energy. Also, because turning into a demon requires a lot of stamina, without a doubt right now she is very hungry. She's going to want to eat anytime now but those defensive movements, it's as if she's warning me...' She lunged at him, ready to attack.

"Maybe something is different about these two"

And with just a single hit to the neck, Ursa passed out.

A mother and two brothers surrounded Orson in a pitch-black void, looking at him with sorrow.

"I'm sorry for leaving you, Orson. Take care of Ursa for us" Orson woke up gripping some cloth. The cloth ended up being Ursa's haori. She was sleeping with a bamboo muzzle in her mouth.

"Are you awake?" Orson tugged Ursa close to him in panic

" ... Go visit a man named Natquick Belov, who lives at the foot of the misty mountain. Tell him that Barnacles Belov sent you. Because it's cloudy it should be OK. Make sure the sunlight never touches your sister... And I'm sorry for my outburst, I wish you luck." He vanished too quickly for the eye to see as if he wasn't there in the first place. Leaving Orson and Ursa there all alone.

Orson went back to the house to bury his family. Orson prayed while Ursa stared off into the distance.

"Let's go" Orson grabbed his sister's hand and with one final look, they took off.

𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚐𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚑 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚛𝚞𝚗𝚜

#Octonauts #octonauts captain barnacles #captain barnacles #Ursa #Orson #Natquick #peso #kwazii #Dashi #Tweak #inkling #shellington #demonslayerau #story from wattpad

[colorcodedbeanies]

S2E2-"Grilled"

Long pause between updates there. I've backlogged a bunch of episode notes that I'll hopefully be releasing in batches.

TW: Racism, elder abuse, ableism

Ok so I took these notes a few days ago and the first thing that greets me is "car looks like its fucking the sand", with the sub point "put that in the post". I hope this provides insight into the rigorous intellectual process I work with.

The cop scene is basically an endless series of hits, enough that its difficult to not just transcribe it fully. Tuco's head is mounted on a shooting target by Hank, who talks floridly about interrogating his meth-hag girlfriend and then does a whole routine about apologizing to hr for using the word "hard-on" in the presence of ladies, which is frankly only further fuel to the fire in terms of eroticism literally being criminal in Breaking Bad. He comments on Mexico, saying to general agreement "We all know what's going on down there. We sure as hell don't want it going on up here." which is just. Very interesting considering next episode is going to open with two men illegally crossing the border. Finally, when Gomez asks him if he really thinks they'll track him down, he laughs it off, commenting that its about "keeping up appearances". If he's implying that most of the DEA's work is about the appearance of stopping bad guys and saving good guys....well! He said it not me.

Skyler is hesitant about describing Walter as depressed, especially in front of his son. Even in front of the guy who (theoretically) is trying to find him and needs information, saving the face of the middle class white patriarch takes precedence. She softens it to simple stress. This is echoed again later when Marie blurts out Hank's knowledge about the second cellphone. Sure, Hank is very possibly trying not to add more emotional strain onto his sister-in-law. But he's also denying her information (and in his mind, possibly even covering for Walt's affair). They may be more comfortable possibly letting him die than they are ruining his image as a good family man.

I didn't expect to emerge out of this as a WaltTuco truther but literally what am I meant to take from Walt momentarily imagining Tuco as Skyler appearing to him and telling him that she understands.

The yard is littered with a lot of broken toys. While I'm not super thrilled with the way this visually suggests Hector as another "broken" thing in the house, I do think it lends itself into an understanding of Tuco as ultimately, a bit of an overgrown child. I don't say that to be infantilizing. Trauma, especially as a child, can freeze up your mental development a little bit. Tuco tends to approach his circumstances with a very simply and childlike logic. His paranoia (tragically unable to ever catch the actual threats) is his special powers, his visions of the future. While talking about No-Doze and Gonzo he's clearly seeking out some absolution, insisting "I was good to him! I was good!". None of this, of course, makes Tuco any less dangerous or unstable. But he's a lot more vulnerable than Walt (or arguably, the audience) gives him credit for. He takes personal betrayals of his love aso wildly personally, and seeks escape in drugs when he fails to threaten people into staying loyal to him.

So there's a clear disability horror going on with Hector. The first level of that is inherently ableism, implying that there's something unsettling about being in the proximity of someone with an atypical body and atypical means of expression. The second level (and I believe the unintentional one) is the horror movie happening inside Hector's own perspective, seeing a threat to someone who you, in your own fucked up way, love, and being unable to effectively communicate about it because Tuco is not intuitive with how he approaches Hector's communication needs. Regardless I think it is important that treating Hector like an object fucks over everyone, Walt, Jesse, Tuco, and Hank in the next episode.

Speaking of ableism, though, in a rare Jesse L he does briefly position his life as inherently more valuable than Walt's, because Walt's going to be dead soon anyways. Notably Walt does advocate for his life in a way that he did not when chemo was on the table. Still, Jesse, there are so many better reasons Walt should kill himself for your sake.

At this point I don't even need to do analysis, I can just tell you Skyler says "Marie, you don't get hooked on pot like that" and you can put the pieces together yourself. Post-War on Drugs American normalcy challenge Any% never passed never succeeded.

So I'm not going to quibble with Walt and Jesse trying to kill Tuco, or even (for once) Hank succeeding. The guy was an active threat to all parties involved and his life is taken in self-defense. But I want to highlight this line in particular: "We tried to poison you. Because you're an insane, degenerate piece of filth, and you deserve to die." Given how Walt's historically used the term I think its fair to read "degenerate" as interchangeable with "junkie". So of all the reasons Walt has decided to highlight that Tuco might need to die here....the ones he highlights are "junkie" and "mentally ill".

Jesse kicks Tuco into a hole hope this doesn't foreshadow anything in his future.

#breaking bad #brba #analysis tag #long post #walter white #tuco salamanca #hank schrader #jesse pinkman #hector salamanca #skyler white #marie schrader #brba s2 e2 #steve gomez

[storiesbykim1997inerie]

unlikely love: Aila and Ivan

Hello! This story is the first one if my unlikely love stories. It's a fanfic about how Ivan Drago and an NYC ballet dancer (also Rocky's foster daughter,) fall in love. Just a few disclaimers, this is set in present times, mick is still alive, and Ivan doesn't kill Apollo. Since it's a love story, you can expect some sex scenes. There is also discussions about death, and a character commits suicide, so if you think you'll be triggered, please find another fanfic. Enjoy!

It's been a long day. We have three days till our swan lake performance, so rehearsals have been brutal. I'm playing black and white swan, so it's extra exhausting. My calves are still burning from those 32 fouttes. My feet hurt more than normal, and I can't imagine all the new blisters I have. I through my ballet bag on the ground, peel off my sweaty leotard, and jump into the shower. The hot water couldn't have felt better. My muscles begin to relax. There is no better feeling than that after a long day of practice. I know that's all part if being a ballerina, but I wouldn't have it any another way. Every little girl dreams of being a ballerina at some point, but I never stopped dreaming. Even when my mom died and I moved in with Rocky, I'd echappe down alleys, spin through the streets, and even kept up with classes. But it was Tatyana, the shopkeeper, (and former Bolshoi dancer,) that took my dreams to the next level. I had gotten a job at her stand, out of border and to get sway from the strange men that watched me practice every day. We were having a particularly slow day that day, and she gave me a break. My ballet class had posted a flyer that said they were holding auditions for Clara for the Philadelphia ballet theater. I really wanted to be Clara, so I went into the alley by her shop, put on my Pointe shoes, warmed up, and got to work. A few minutes later, she came into the alley, and asked what I was doing. "Practicing for my Clara audition." "Well, I hope you don't have your heart set on getting it." "What am I doing wrong?" "Well, those pirouettes need work, and someone higher extensions would give the whole thing a face-lift. And don't get me started on your face." And that's how it started. Her training me in the alley. Eventually, she got a job at the studio where I danced, and when I made into NYC ballet, she became a ballet mistress there. And she still works one on one with me. I could stand in that shower daydreaming for longer, but I almost fall. The soap has rinsed off my body, and us making its way to the drain. And leaving a very slippery trail behind it. That's enough shower for today. I get out, dry myself, and put on clean sweatpants. I walk to my couch and, well, try to put on an episode of keeping up with the Kardashians. I despise Kim as a parent, but that show is mind numbing, in a good way. I don't want to think today. But before I even get to Hulu, my phone buzzes. It's my best friend, Bella. She has to remind me what happened today. "Are you OK, considering eveything?" It's nice she's checking in, but I don't want to be reminded of him. Well, I am, but reminded of what happened to him today. "Bella, I'd rather not talk about it." That was a little harsh, but I click send before I can think twice. She doesn't say anything back. Good. I just want to watch my show. But before I can get to Hulu, something much more interesting catches my eye. ABC News is on, probably from when I was getting ready this morning. It's too quiet here, ever since he left, so the TV is on all day to fill the silence. I don't even like news, but I just want to hear someone's voice. I need to get out there again. I hate being alone, but all I want is him. Well, supposedly, until now. The screen changes from the regular lady to a high tech room, well a high tech gym. But it's not the gym that catches my attention, but the people in it. A man with a Russian accent is in there, talking about heavyweight psi's, but I'm not paying attention to him. Slightly in front of me, is a tall, muscular man, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He's staring blankly ahead. But there's something odd about him. A lot of the guys in my ballet classes are muscular, but they don't make me feel this way. I want this guy to come to America. I want to meet him. That blank face is just a guise boxers use to look tough. I want to know him.

#ivan drago #rocky balboa #ballet #love #forbidden romance #russia

[criminalhobbit]

People I'd like to get to know

Thank you to @luv-not-hate for tagging me in this! I'm not used to posting anything on here but this seems fun :).

Last song: Lady Writer by the Dire Straits. It has a KILLER guitar solo that isn't as well-known as the one in Sultans of Swings and I'm absolutely living for it.

Favorite color: There aren't that many colours that I don't like! I tend to go for deep blue, but forest green is a close second. Pink is just about the only colour I'm not a fan of.

Last movie/TV show: I recently finished Bodies on Netflix, and it was...ok. Not a bad show, just not as good as it could have been in my opinion. Now if you're looking for a mind blowing time travelling show of amazing quality, I HIGHLY recommend Dark on Netflix!

Sweet/spicy/savory?: YES/ Yes / Yes. I LOVE anything sweet! Baking is a hobby of mine so you'll often find me in the kitchen making banana bread or brownies when I should really be doing something else. It's my way of procrastinating. I like spicy food! I like to think that I can handle it pretty well? At least as well as a white person can handle it ;). As for savoury, who doesn't like savoury food?

Relationship status: Single, and perfectly happy. While I do find the idea of partnership appealing, I don't crave it or need it to be happy. I've got friends and family and I am quite pleased with my situation.

Last thing I googled: How chocolate was brought into the French court during the 16th-17th history. I'm a sucker for history and always looking for fun party facts :). If you were interested, it was through King Louis XIV's wife, Maria Theresa of Spain, who loved hot chocolate and made it popular in France :).

Current obsession: I sold my soul to Larian. I'm deep in Baldur's Gate III these days (though who isn't??) and loving every second of it. It really reminds me of Dragon Age Origin in the best of ways. I love how you can gather allies and get them to play a meaningful part of how your story will end, as it did for the DA:O ending. I haven't finished the game yet but I'm in Act 3! My other obsession is the Legend of Drizzt series. I've been playing DnD since I was 17 and I've recently made the switch from player to DM, and so I picked up the Drizzt series as a way to familiarize myself with the lore of DnD. So far I'm on book 5 (of like 40??) and adoring it!

Here's hoping the following folks enjoy these questions as much as I enjoy sharing. Please include me in the mention so I can receive notices of your response if you decide to play.

@americankimchi @azdesertwillow @miraamell @saltybiowarefantears

[thesugarclubs-blog]

The Set Up - Bucky Barnes x OC

warnings:  None, pure Bucky fluff

word count: 5.0k

WP: https://www.wattpad.com/1251057732-the-set-up-olivia

Masterlist

“Sarah, are you sure this is a good idea?” 

Olivia gnawed on the inside of her cheek, phone pressed to her ear as she stood outside the restaurant trying not to stare a hole into the back of the broad-shouldered man waiting for her. He looks good, really good. Dressed in all black, prosthetic fingers glinting slightly under the twinkle lights as he tapped them on the table nervously. As her eyes drifted along the table she saw a bouquet of daisies, pink, red, and white, waiting for her arrival. 

“Of course it is Liv! Why are you so nervous? You’re the one who asked me, I thought you said he was cute.” 

She rolled her eyes at Sarah’s teasing tone on the other end. 

“I know what I said. I just- what if he doesn’t think I am?” Her question came out a whisper. This is her first date in a while, and although she looked forward to it, her insecurities had been flooding her mind since she woke up this morning. 

“Olivia, you look stunning, and Bucky is a sweetheart. I promise everything is going to go well.”

“Ok ok. All right, well, I’ll keep you posted. I don't wanna keep him waiting.” 

They said their goodbyes and Olivia slipped her phone back into her clutch as she took a deep breath to walk inside.

She watched as Bucky’s head tilted as she opened the door to the restaurant. His posture remained tense as his shoulders pinned back and his hand clutched his water glass.

“Bucky?” she called lightly from behind him, and he took a deep breath, picking up the bouquet as he stood.

Olivia stopped in front of him, eyes lingering on the bouquet before looking up at his beautiful, piercing blue eyes. 

A smile was plastered on her lips. 

“ Hi.” She chuckled nervously before pointing at the flowers, “are these for me?”

"Yeah," he looked down at the flowers, his brows furrowed, and nodded nervously, "I hope you like daisies."

 Olivia fumbled them in her hand as she took them, almost dropping them to the floor, "I'm so sorry, I'm a little nervous."

He chuckled. "That makes two of us. Come, sit. I don't bite." he said with a smile on his plump lips as he pulled out a chair for her.

Olivia's eyes went wide and she giggled, her cheeks flushed as Bucky gently pushed her chair in, his hand lingering for just a moment on her shoulder and she felt butterflies flood her stomach. "Wow, I've never had a man actually pull my chair out for me before," she giggled as he sat back down across from her, "When Sarah said you were a gentleman, she wasn't lying."

Bucky's cheeks were tinged pink when she looked up at him as he turned to sit opposite her. He was smiling adorably at her as he said, " Well, my Ma raised me to always treat a lady the right way."

A beat of silence sat between them, not awkward but Olivia could tell they were both trying to think of something to say. “Sorry,” Bucky started, “I, uh… it’s been a while since I dated. Not for Sam’s lack of trying when it came to setting me up but I trust Sarah a little more and… shit, don’t tell Sam I said that.” He rambled.

Olivia let out a soft laugh as she reached her hand out slowly and placed it atop his. "It's ok, your secrets are safe with me. It's been some time for me as well. But hey, at least we're here... baby steps, yeah?"

She noticed his eyes crinkling as he smiled, her heart fluttering as he flipped his hand over, taking hers gently. 

“Thanks, doll- sorry, Olivia,” he corrected, cheeks a little pink again.

She bit her lip and looked down at her lap, feeling her face flushing for the given nickname.

A waiter stopped at their table and handed them two menus with a soft smile. 

“Welcome to Upper Deck, take a look at the menu and let me know when you’re ready to order.”  He left them alone again, Bucky’s hand still holding hers.

Olivia smiled up at the waiter before glancing back at Bucky, goosebumps rising on the back of her neck, realizing how much she missed something as simple as holding hands, loving the way the warmth of his hand felt against hers. 

"What looks good to you?" She asked, looking down at the menu trying to hide her obvious attraction to the man in front of her.

"Hmmm." His crystal blue eyes scanned the pages of the menu. She admired the way his brows furrowed and the subtle lick over his bottom lip. And the way his sharp jaw moved when he talked.

He glanced back up at her, catching her staring at him, and smirked. Olivia immediately began to blush and a glint of mischief sparkled in his eyes and he bit his lip, taking a breath to steady himself. "I'm sorry, I-- have to ask - would it be too forward to say you?" He asked with a cocky grin as her heart thumped and she burst into giggles as her cheeks turned flaming red.

Her eyes widened at his sudden change, she bit her lip as a blush heated her face and down her neck as Olivia stammered, fumbling to answer the handsome man in front of her. "Uh.. Maybe if you play your cards right, you might get to have a taste?." She tried to sound sexy as she gathered herself.

It was Bucky’s turn for the wide eyes, his finger coming up to loosen the collar of his shirt. “Oh, wow. Doll, I… I don’t know how it works nowadays but… we’re both talking about kissing, right?”

Olivia brought her hand up to her face as she let out a nervous laugh, she's sure her face is beet red by now. "Oh God." she breathed. "Yes, yes. I- God, I'm just so nervous. I'm so sorry, that was um- yeah."

“I wanna say ‘don’t be nervous’ but then I’d be a hypocrite,” Bucky replied, making Olivia glance up at him. She took a deep breath as she forced herself to meet his eyes, finding them warm and kind if a little nervous.

She swore she could get lost in his eyes for hours, a thing she didn’t mind doing, but she reminded herself what she needed to focus on, for the moment. Their eyes scanned the menu again before she looked up at him again with a smile. “ I think I’ve decided, have you?” Bucky nodded and raised his prosthetic hand, two shiny fingers beckoned to the waiter to come closer.

Olivia shyly tucked a dark tendril of hair behind her ear as she closed the menu, retreating her hand from his to take a sip of water as the waiter headed in their direction. She could feel Bucky's eyes trailing over her features as if he was trying his hardest to remember every small line and freckle that adorned her face so he wouldn't forget.

As Olivia told the waiter what she wanted, Bucky's hand wandered back to hers, taking her delicate fingers and lacing them with his, caressing the soft skin on the back of her hand with his calloused thumb.

Bucky gave his order and Olivia could barely hear his voice because all she kept thinking about was how gorgeous and charming this guy was. As the waiter walked away, taking down their food and drink orders, Bucky glanced at her and cleared his throat, the flush in his cheeks matching hers. 

"You know, when Sarah wanted to set this whole thing up, I almost said no, but I'm really glad I told myself to shut the hell up and take a risk. For once..."

“To be honest when I asked her to set this up I was a little tipsy. I mentioned to her how I saw you at the last neighborhood party she threw” Liv confessed feeling a little embarrassed telling him the truth, but something about the way he was looking at her while she was talking told her that she wouldn’t judge her for that.

"Oh, I remember that party. Sam was very amused that he got me to attempt to sing karaoke." He smiled at Liv shyly while shaking his head as she laughed remembering his rendition of Hungry Eyes that day.

“I seem to remember you hitting all the right notes.” Olivia grinned, “you’re a far braver soul than me, anyway.” Bucky caught her eye then, and she couldn’t help but note the hint of sadness in the blues of his irises.

Her smile faltered a bit, he might have walked into this date only knowing her name but she knew of his life, of course. Olivia felt a bit of regret for her choice of words, the last thing she wanted was to upset him but he is brave, in every sense of the word.

“Ah, I’m nothin’ special,” Bucky muttered, voice low. Olivia tightened her hold on his hand, opening her mouth to speak when the waiter walked up with their drinks.

She thanked the waiter and took a sip, noticing how Bucky seemed in deep thoughts as he only looked at his drink, twirling the straw between two fingers. She took a deep breath, if he only knew…“ Don’t say that, you really are something special and brave to so many people, you’ve helped and saved many lives. The world needs someone like you, Bucky. “ She smiled softly, noticing the glossy coating on his eyes.

Olivia could tell his mind was taking him further and further away from her, even after her words. She squeezed his hand softly once more, tilting her head down to try and catch his gaze. "Hey," She started softly, "come back to me?"

"I'm here, sugar." he looked at her with a shy smile decorating his lips. Olivia reached out to him tentatively, touching her thumb to his cheek, caressing the softness of his stubble.

She smiled softly and bit her lip as he leaned into her touch, his cheeks hot against her skin. Olivia laughed, her throat tight with nervousness and emotion. 

"I know this isn't easy for you, so would it help to say that I asked Sarah about you because I thought you were special, and a great singer? You should take more compliments. Sarah said that too," she whispered.

He let out a low chuckle and cracked the widest smile. 

“I feel like I’m at a disadvantage here. You seem to know a bit about me but I know absolutely nothing about you” he replied

Olivia bit her lip shyly, his eyes were boring into hers above the rim of his glass as he took a sip of his drink.

"I'm not really that interesting, to be honest with you. I'm as plain as they come." She replied with a shrug, her eyes cast low as their food arrived at their table

“I highly doubt that, sweetheart.” Bucky replied, almost instantly, “in fact, I have a feeling you’re hiding a world of wonder underneath that beautiful smile of yours. Let me in?” 

His words left Olivia speechless, fork halfway to her mouth as she realized Bucky Barnes really was something else.

She brought her fork back down to her plate and let out a breath. 

"You are quite the charmer, Barnes. How can I say no to those eyes and that smile of yours?" she smiled as her eyes locked with his, a slight flush settling in on his cheeks.

He huffed out a laugh. “Haven’t been called a charmer in a long time. But don’t think you’ve gotten out of talking about yourself,”he grinned, leaning forwards slightly across the table.

She chuckled and shook her head, lifting her fork to take a bit before resting her head on her palm.

“ Okay, fine. When I’m not on a date with a really handsome and sweet gentleman, I’m working as an elementary school teacher. I also love to cook, my dad taught me very well since he was a chef.  “ Bucky smiled softly and reached out a hand, a thumb swept over the corner of her lips.

She froze for a moment under his touch, her eyes meeting his, the candle light between them causing them to glow. Bucky's hand lingered for a moment, something sparking between them before he dropped his hand again, picking up his fork and taking a bite of his own. 

"I'm a terrible cook, don't tell Sam I admitted that though." He said with a chuckle.

Olivia touched her hand to her heart. "I won't tell a soul." 

That earned her another chuckle that made her melt inside. "For two people who haven't dated in what feels like decades, this has been going pretty well." Olivia said.

"For me, it has been a couple decades, sugar." Bucky laughed a husky laugh.

"Right," she laughed. "I forgot. Don't hold it against me."

Bucky grinned, nervously chewing his lip as a silence fell over the table. Olivia took another bite of her food and swallowed, her stomach fluttering so much that it was actually hard to eat. 

"You know, if-- if you want, I could teach you how to cook sometime? We could make dinner together?" The question just tumbled out of her mouth and then she felt awkward already pushing a second date, but she really liked him.

“Are you asking me out on a second date even before we are finished with dinner?” Bucky smiled. Olivia couldn’t help looking down at her plate and smiling, it was so easy and natural talking to Bucky. She made a mental note to thank Sarah again for organizing this date.

Coyly looking from beneath her lashes, "I'm merely offering my teaching and my cooking skills to help you, Sarge." 

She answered him as she took another bite of her food to distract her from her thumping heart as he smirked at her, blue eyes shining in the dim light.

Bucky raised an eyebrow, the smirk widening into a devilish grin as he dared to stretch his leg out under the table to brush her foot with his.

“You’re treading on dangerous ground now, doll. Calling me Sarge was always saved for second dates back in the day, I’d say you’re pushing your luck.”

"Oh? Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait until that cooking lesson to see, hm?" Olivia threw him a wink over her glass as she took a sip of her wine. 

"Why don't we get to know each other a little better before then? Hit me with your next question, Barnes."

“You say you’re an elementary school teacher? Tell me, what’s the craziest thing a kid has said to get out of homework.” 

Olivia laughed lightly, thinking through some of the things her students had tried.

“Oh, believe me when I say that my students always manage to come up with new excuses. Just this week, one boy told me that every pencil was broken at home. “ 

Olivia chuckled from the memory, making Bucky follow shortly after. 

“Sounds…believable, I guess?. “ Eyes narrowed as he tilted his head, a wide smile appeared on his lips.

She laughed, reaching for her drink and taking a sip with a nod, "Well, I suppose its better than 'My dog ate my homework.'" 

Olivia glanced up at her place, noticing he was still looking at her with his head tilted, a playful look in his eyes. She could feel the blush creep up on her cheeks again under the intensity of his gaze.

"What?" She whispered, biting her bottom lip.

"This might be a bit forward but I love the sound of your voice, sugar." he rasped. 

That made her blush so hard it felt like her cheeks were on fire.Her insides turned into a puddle and rendered her completely speechless. "Barnes." she breathed. 

"What ? Isn't this how you court a nice and beautiful lady ?" he grinned cheekily.

"Partially, yes," she laughed as she rested her hand on her chin, lips pressed to her knuckles, as she blushed harder.  "Thank you, by the way, I mean, I'm no karaoke star like the guy sitting in front of me, but I think I sound pretty good."

Bucky burst out laughing, his nose scrunching up as Olivia giggled along with him, the nervous tension between them dissipating into something much more comfortable.

"Well, tell me more. What is your favorite thing to cook? What music do you listen to, Doll? I wanna know you." Bucky asked as he waved the waiter over to them so they could order something sweet for dessert. He was entranced by her.

"Dishes I love are too many, I eat anything and everything. As for music, I'm a sucker for Elvis Presly." Olivia replied, leaning her head on her palm as she gazed dreamily at him. A smile gracing both their faces.

They ordered their dessert to share. Olivia left the task up to Bucky and couldn't help but laugh as he kept asking the waiter to list them off because he couldn't choose. He ended up ordering chocolate cake and an assortment of sorbets. 

"There now we have our own little dessert sampler," he said with a grin.

“A man who gets extra dessert is a man after my heart,” Olivia teased, catching Bucky’s happy grin and smiling with him.

Bucky looked down and fiddled with the sleeve on his arm, he seemed all nervous again all of a sudden, a bashful smile was set on his face 

“ While we wait, is there anything more you’d like to know about me? “ Olivia asked softly.

She smiled when he glanced up at her, suddenly her stomach fluttered with butterflies and the bustling sound of the restaurant seemed to disappear from around them. All she was focused on was him, and the way his eyes crinkled when he was thinking about something, or how the left corner of his mouth always seemed to turn up slightly when he was about to say something flirty. 

Bucky's lips parted, his tongue darting out over his bottom lip before he smiled again, "I wanna know everything."

"Everything?" She laughed. "Gonna take a long time for everything."

Bucky shrugged, took a bite of the chocolate cake, and Olivia's stomach did more backflips. Suddenly, there was a crack of thunder outside and the lights in the restaurant flickered. Everyone looked up and all she could hear was the sound of rain hitting the window. Bucky flinched and she reached across the table. 

"It's okay. It's just thunder. Hear that? It's passing now."

He nodded, embarrassed, and Olivia brushed her thumb against the back of his metal hand. She didn't even realize she grabbed it - it was just instinctual to reach out and comfort him.

"Okay, you wanna know something about me?" She asks and Bucky's eyes lit up like fireworks, thankful for the distraction. "I've never danced with a cute guy in the rain and I'd really like to do that. Would you do that with me?"

Grateful for Olivia's calming presence, her soft grip on his metal hand sending signals to his nervous system registering the touch, but not actually feeling it made him put his flesh hand atop of hers just to feel more of her warmth. 

"It would be my honour, Doll." He breathed softly to her. The frightening claps of thunder long forgotten, a background noise compared to his racing heartbeat as she smiled up brilliantly at him. 

"The honour is all mine, Mr. Barnes." Olivia smiled softly, hands clammy and heart hammering away as they prepared to leave the restaurant.

When they stood, she subtly brushed her hands on her dress and reached for Bucky's hand. While they walked towards the door she traced circles on the back of his hand to keep him grounded. Bucky looked down at her and gave her a small smile, she returned it and mouthed "you okay?"

He nodded, staring out into the pouring rain. 

“I’m right here Bucky, I’m not going anywhere” Olivia said, grasping his hand tighter as they stepped outside, immediately drenched.

She gasped from the cold rain, rumbling from the distance could be heard. Looking up at Bucky who was already looking at her with widened eyes, she reached for his other hand. 

“ Hey, hey, it’s okay. Nothing’s going to happen to you…almost gone now. “ 

She stroked the back of his hands with the thumbs and as gently as she could, she placed his hands at her sides, slowly taking the first steps to sway them side to side.

Olivia ran her hands up his dampening jacket to the back of his neck, linking her fingers together, bringing them a smidge closer. The rain started to collect in her hair and his as she looked up at him, little droplets began to drip down her face. 

"See? This isn't so bad." She smiled, feeling his grip on her waist tighten for a moment.

She could tell that he was doing his best to keep his composure. Olivia stared up at him as his hand slid across to her lower back. He moved her a little closer to him and took a deep breath as she put her hand on his chest. 

He smiled as he took her left hand and linked his fingers with hers. Naturally, she put her other hand on his shoulder and they began to slowly sway in the rain. 

"Not bad at all with the right partner," he breathed.

Nodding once, Olivia allowed herself to relax in his arms as he led them in their silent dance, she began softly humming the tune to Can't Help Falling in Love as she looked up in Bucky's eyes. 

Raindrops caught on his lashes before he blinked them away. He leaned in, foreheads touching as he listened to her humming as the distance between them became smaller and their hearts beat as one.

Bucky brought his left hand up from her waist to cup her cheek. The cold temperature of his hand and the rain did nothing to dwindle the heat that coursed through her body as his eyes bored into hers. She felt her heart practically leap out of her chest as he nudged her nose lightly with his. 

"I- I really wanna kiss you, Olivia. Can I, please?" he whispered.

Her heart soared with his question, so honest but respectful. 

“Yes, please,” she breathed barely getting it all out before his lips were on hers. They were soft, practically caressing her upper lip before drawing back only to press against her lips fully. Olivia gasped and his tongue darted in before pulling back.

"Sorry...was that too much?" Bucky whispered as he looked down at her,  both of them breathless as the rain soaked their faces and clothes. His thumb brushed over her bottom lip, their chests heaved against each other and as he went to take a step back from her when she didn't answer, she grasped onto his jacket, stopping him and pulling him back to her. 

"Just kiss me again, Bucky." She breathed.

He kissed her forehead and laughed before grasping her chin gently as her hands linked around the back of his neck.

"Okay, doll," he whispered, and Olivia felt his lips glide over hers. He deepened the kiss and the rain got more intense as it pelted against the pavement, but it didn't matter - all she cared about was his mouth against hers.

A low moan sounded in the back of her throat when he deepened the kiss, sliding a hand up from her waist, up her back to tangle in the hairs on the nape of her neck to pull her closer to him. 

The sound only making him kiss her more, barely giving Olivia the chance to breathe when his tongue slid into her mouth, softly and intimately caressing hers.

"Bucky.." She managed to whisper when his mouth left hers to kiss her cheek.

Bucky cupped her face in his hands and pressed another wet kiss to her lips. He let out a soft chuckle as he pulled back. Olivia looked in his eyes and felt nothing but love seeping from them, he seemed at peace, content. 

"Thank you for allowing me this dance sweetheart."

Olivia smiled softly, playing with the wet hair at the back of his neck. 

“I’d dance with you anytime Bucky,” she replied, leaning on her toes and kissing his cheek.

As she came back down to her feet, he smiled at her, trailing his fingers along the side of her cheek towards her hairline to push the wet hair stuck to her skin, back behind her ear, sending a shiver up her spine. 

"M'gonna have to take you up on that, Darlin'." He said before pressing his lips to hers once more and pulling away. Olivia's heart hammered in her chest. Everything this man did made her feel on edge, but in the best way possible. Bucky took her hand into his, pulling her knuckles against his lips and planting small kisses against them. 

"I don't want this to end, sweetheart, but we're both soaked and I don't want you catchin' a cold. Would it be okay if I walked you home?" He asked with a flicker of concern in his eyes.

"Okay," she whispered, a little disappointed, but he's right. "I could stay out in the rain with you for hours, but I'd love it if you walked me home."

Bucky laughed and wound an arm around her waist as he let her lead the way to her apartment. It wasn't far, maybe a ten minute walk.

"I'll tell you what, our next date will be indoors. We can dance, and I can kiss for as long as we both want."

Her stomach filled with butterflies again and she leaned up to kiss his jawline. Bucky bit his lip, unable to help himself and dipped his head to give her another soft peck on the lips as water poured off of the both of them.

He kept her close to him as they walked, his hand threaded through hers while sparks flared between their connected hands all the way to her door step. 

Bucky didn't feel like letting go, and neither did she. So, Olivia ended up fumbling for her keys single handedly in her purse. Her eyes flitted to Bucky as she unlocked her door and turned fully to face him, biting her lip to fight the gleeful smile threatening to escape her as he looked at her with his clear sky blue eyes glittering.

"When can I see you again? If- if you want to of course." Bucky asked somewhat nervously as he ran a cold  metal finger down her cheek while doubts started to creep back in his mind.

Olivia couldn't contain her smile any longer as she reached up to run her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. She came up onto her tip toes and pulled him down a bit to meet halfway in a kiss. She could keep kissing him forever if he let her. As she came slowly back down to her feet, he took her bottom lip between his teeth tugging on it lightly. 

"Of course I want to, I would love that." she breathed against his lips, "Would it be a little much if I said I'd love to see you again tomorrow?"

“Not too much for me doll,” Bucky assured her, sliding his hand across her face, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear as he cupped her cheek. 

“Thank God,” Olivia breathed as he pressed his lips back against hers, tongues sliding together.

Bucky's prosthetic hand rested on her hip, steadying her as he walked them backwards and to the side, pressing her back against the door. She gasped against his mouth as he did so, causing them both to giggle before both of his hands cupped her cheeks, deepening the kiss as if this was the last time he'd be able to kiss her even though they'd just promised tomorrow. Her hands grasped at his shirt, trying to pull him impossibly closer to her. Olivia's stomach knotted, feeling the weight of him against her and realizing just how large his frame felt against hers which only made her feel that much safer with him.

She felt Bucky's tongue slide against hers and he gently sucked on her bottom lip before releasing it with a soft pop, both of them breathing hard. Olivia grabbed the collar of his shirt and played with it, feeling the chain from his dog tags against her skin.

"Just a warning. If you're gonna give me those cooking lessons tomorrow, I'm a lousy student," he breathed as he kissed her again. "Probably just gonna do this most of the night." 

She giggled.

"That's okay. I'm a good teacher."

"Good kisser, too," he murmured, kissing her lips over and over again until they were both giggling.

"I'm gonna-" He started but went back to kissing her, "I'm gonna go now." He breathed against her lips once he pulled himself off them. 

Nodding, Olivia, as if attracted to his lips by magnets, kissed him again before sighing softly, "Ye- Yes. You should go." Licking her lips before he attached their lips back. 

"Goodnight." Bucky whispered, his eyes boring into hers and rendering her speechless. 

"Goodnight, Bucky." She swallowed. They were both breathing heavily, not moving.

Bucky couldn't resist stealing one more kiss, her taste already addicting to him. Slotting his lips against Olivia's once more. The movement was soft and sweet, before he pulled away and started to walk backwards, biting his lip as he saluted her and turned to leave as she went inside her home.

She closed the door and leaned her back against it, willing her heart to slow down as she thought of Bucky Barnes and his kisses.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes oneshot #bucky barnes x oc #bucky barnes x fluff #fluff #blind date #first date #marvel oneshot #marvel one shot #marvel imagine #tfatws #marvelous

[nowen422]

Nowen talkin bout bleach

Bleach TYBW E 21: Ichigo Clowning on the Ladies

Apologies for the lateness of this, I didn’t get to watch the episode until 2:30 today cause some stuff happened. Still, it was a great episode that checked a lot of boxes  for the series so far. It was a good transition from a very big and major fight sequence within the story. It’s served as a very good demonstration on how powerful the protagonist has become. And it serves as a good introduction into the next part of the story. Which will start to get a little screwy. I don’t wanna make any major predictions, but I think the second core is going to end with a really big death. If you’ve read the manga, you know what’s coming. If you haven’t, I will say that it has been hinted at very heavily so far. But beyond that, I only have two questions. One, are they going to do that scene where Yoruichi shows up in a certain way? (I hope not) And two, WHEN WILL Ichibe BLINK FOR GOD’S SAKE!?!!?!

Shinigami death count: 16

Quincy death count: 14

Number of fiveways (four v1 fights) Ichigo has been in: 3 (2 canon and 1 non canon, our boy gets around)

Spoilers below

Things I liked:

I’m going to get this out-of-the-way first, if anyone has been reading these posts, y’all know I don’t like the Bambi‘s. They feel very forced in a lot of ways, but this episode I feel justifies them much better than the source material. I know that bleach has a long history of having wacky characters in the middle of a serious setting, and these ladies are no exception to the rule. But for some reason, the characters never appealed to me. They have interesting abilities, interesting looks, but overall nothing to write home about. This episode really made me start to feel interested in them as characters. It even gave me a favorite (Liltotto). I’ll talk more about the things that I like from them further in, but I wanted to put here that this episode made me actually care about characters that I haven’t really ever liked. Kudos.

After seeing them in most of the episodes throughout the core, we finally get to see the Bambi’s abilities and they look awesome. They especially did a good job with Liltotto’s glutton, the way her jaws stretched was very unsettling. And I didn’t expect Candice’s lightning to be blue but still neat.

When Ichigo descends from on high, everyone immediately looks up to the heavens as he drops in. This boy is really taking the Messiah metaphor very far. 

New version of number one! It’s awesome and if anyone put it on YouTube, I’m definitely going to put it on a playlist

We get another use of Sklaveri in the series! I think it really answers the question of what the ability was supposed to do. From what I am guessing, based on looks, it absorbs a massive amount of reishi so the user can power up their holy form. The only reason Quilge looked the way he did was because he absorbed reishi from something that was toxic to himself. Overall a great way to answer questions that I’m sure people had for years of why didn’t the Quincies do this during the series and only do it once.

When we get to see Ichigo’s outfit, I had already had this thought before, but my eyes were drawn to that white skirt around his waist, in a way it’s similar to the shoulder cape that his dad has when Isshin fights Aizen. It’s an almost Captain style coat. Which if I’m going to be honest is a major flex. Senjumaru throwing a shade from up high.

It’s silly, but I do like the magical girl style transformations.

I think the hyper violence against Gisele really works to show “this lady is not OK.” End it really drives home the zombie influence with her.  I can’t wait to see how they handle the rest of her abilities later on.

Renji!

I don’t think we got to see all the sternritter wing styles, and the fact that we get to see so many is really fun.

Chad! Love his outfit!!

 Orihime and Chad showing up right at that minute to see Uryu rising up with his new boss, he’s going to make for a very interesting conversation piece next episode. I think that was excellently done. 

Things I didn’t like:

I hate to say this, but I will say that Kenpachi’s voice actor is doing the best he can with the style of Kenpachi’s voice. There’s only so much you can do with a very guttural tone. But considering the emotional deliveries that we’ve seen so far, I kind of feel that the line about Yachiru was a little lackluster. I may be completely misinterpreting it though.

 I didn’t expect Giselle’s ability to be explain so quickly, especially considering the foreshadowing they did with Bambietta and Toshiro. But it makes sense considering they had to show things off for these guys to be scary for the audience.

They changed Ichiko’s line a little bit. In the original material he said “I’m here to save you” But here it says “I’m here to help you“. I’m sure I just read a different translation, but it’s a little strange.

The dramatic reveal ofYwach’s plan of hijacking the staircase Ichigo used to get down to the soul society kind of felt like an after note. It’s setting the stage for the next part, but overall if they ended on just the beam going up, I feel that would have done a bit more. But then again, they have a lot of chapters to cover, so yeah, do what you Gotta do. 

That cannot be it for Ichigo and Uryu’s big dramatic bro confrontation. They have to at least fight at some point during the next few episodes. 

I have never really understood Orihime’s outfit in the final arc. Chad, I can kind of understand because of the way his powers work (he’s proud of his skin, so he uses that to activate his fullbring). But it feels very fanservicey animated right now. Her abilities look good, especially considering we haven’t seen them since the first episode and second episode really, but I still don’t like the outfit. And this last thing isn’t really a complaint just an observation, she gets a lot of battle skirts to wear in the series. Granted, it’s only like two, but it’s a little strange that it’s happened twice. 

And with that, we have the bad guys, taking an elevator to heaven, the biggest gun taken somewhat out of the fight, and one friendship that is in dire need of a couples counseling session. Here’s hoping that in the next episode the royal guard actually does their job. Chances are they won’t though.

#Nowen talkin bout bleach #bleach #bleach tybw

[papirouge]

Lol the stories about the child sacrifice and abortion parallels plus the boy wanting and mutilating himself to be an animatronic as a trans allegory are pretty based and at least the last one seems quite likely to be based on that if the original creator was the one who came up with the idea. how in hell did people even find out he was a registered republican voter? how do you even register yourself as a voter for a particular party?? in my country, things don't work like that so I'm lost. your vote is completely confidencial so it shouldn't be possible for anyone to know such info unless someone close to him decided to spill the beans.

I think i've heard before something about the creator of fnaf being cancelled but for some reason I had the idea it was for being christian, perhaps i'm confusing him with another game creator...

like i said i only play minecraft and pokeymon, but notch, the creator of minecraft, has also had his heated gamer moments too. he said trans women aren't women, he said people who didnt believe in a straight pride parade deserved to be shot, said feminism was a social disease and called a feminist a cunt, said there was nothing wrong about white pride (then later kinda recanted by saying something like "I didnt know there were only some groups allowed to feel proud of who they are"), and something else about not giving in to mentall illness in reference to transgenderism, though later kinda apologized saying he didnt understand trans identities very well. obviously, references to his name got erased in many products and even the game itself, only visible once after you beat the ender dragon, and microsoft banned him from their events ever since.

pokemon creators havent had these type of controversies which i attribute to having a better pr team and not growing up alongside social media and decide it's a great idea to post any thought that passes through their head. theyve had some though, like with jynx believed to be a racial stereotype (supposedly though she's based on ganguro fashion and the "fat lady" of an opera) so her skin was changed from black to purple. interestingly, ludicolo is a very obvious mexican stereotype yet nobody cares lol.

i do think its kinda funny when these authors get cancelled but they stil keep them/their product around to milk it to death.

and I might or might not watch the video. ive watched some youtube essays before but never that long, so we'll see...

I mean only mentally ill people like me would be dedicated to watch a 9 hours lore video essay, so I don't blame you anon lol

I am too very confused about the registred political alignement thing but I gues that's yet another dystopian US lunacy. In my country this stuff doesn't exist neither. I heard some celebrities/influencer get flack for being Republican (Jaclyn Hill comes to mind) but I have no idea how people/haters manage to get this information. I guess they are available on public record or stuff like that.

Since FNAF has a VERY dedicated fandom, I am not surprised some fans went as far as to sleuth this info out.

That minecraft guy sounds like a legit asshole though and he deserved to be canceled idc I HATE when people make foul out of themselves for the whole world to see, and then act shook when people don't want to have anything to do with them anymore. I hope he didn't have the audacity to whine about "Mh fReeDoM oF sPeeCh" because dude was apparently saying it was ok to kill people for having disagreeing opinions🙃

On the opposite, Scott Cawthon is SUPER lowkey & private and never explicitely said anything rude or insulting. People just started hating him for being Republican and allegedly Christian (which I think nobody found actual evidence of)

And animatronic aren't allegory of trans people, it was only the B-7 story of a boy butchering himself as one. The whole FNAF story is Scott Cawthon creation. He just co-writes the book with a female author, but only him creates the lore. Animatronics are regular robot who are possessed by the spirit of dead children.

I didn't know they changed Jynx color 'o' I never thought anything about this design - I felt like she didn't even have skin, but but more like a void lmao (like these spectre type pokemon)

I roll my eyes at article defending this design à la "oooh but Sugiomori didn't want to offend anyone uwu" ok but Pokémon is now a game with an INTERNATIONAL audience. If Nintendo wants to keep making bucks out of their game, they have to adapt themselves to foreign audience. This sort of "purity complex" when it comes from japanese cultural assets coming into the West is insufferable. No culture is immune to criticism.

Ganguro started around 1996 which is the year when the first Pokémon game came out...so I highly doubt Sugimori would be already aware of this trend during the game development. Japan already had a weird thing with dark/black skin, so Jynx simply might be yet another design celebrating this brand of "quirkiness".

#answered #gaming

[sassyduckqueen]

Miraculous: Rise of Anatis 73

Hi! I'm alive! Sorry for not posting much at the moment. It's the summer holidays over here so I'm working a lot at the moment and I'm also in the process of getting a new laptop. Currently this one is been held alive by a hair tie. I tried glue but the hair tie works better. Anyway, here's a new chapter for you. I am putting a trigger warning because there is hints of racism in this regarding the character Rolland. I've tried to write it to a minimum but the reason why is because I hate that he's so petty in this episode over bread so I've hinted that the real issue he had was with Sabine. The reason for the ending is because Tom has a big heart but I didn't want Rolland's actions to go unpunished either. Anyway, hope you enjoy and keep reading. For those who like to ask the next chapter is Party Crasher! I'm looking very forward to writing that one.

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Chapter Seventy-Three: Bakerix

Anatis closed his eyes as he sat at the very top of the Eiffel tower, waiting for Lady Noir. He had sent out a message for her to meet him there but he didn't know how he was going to talk to her. He was planning to tell her about Lady Blanche as he knew it was time to talk to her but the thought terrified him on so many levels. What if she became her because he told her? What if she didn't believe him? Or even laughed at him? He frowned and moved so he was hugging his legs as he waited. Recently he felt more alone then ever. Sure, he had his family, Lady Noir and his past lives but he also couldn't be fully open with any of them. His past lives were exactly that... the past. His family couldn't know he was Anatis and he could only tell Lady Noir so much. He wouldn't be able to tell her that Lady Blanche knew his real name. In fact, he really couldn't tell her anything. The worst part about this was he hated keeping secrets and lying to people. He had to pretend that he wasn't Anatis to his family and to Marinette. Marinette was particularly hard because he wished to tell her but he couldn't because that was the trigger. The only thing that seemed to have settled his mind recently was that one day he would tell someone and that one day, Hawkmoth would be defeated and he would finally be honest with the people he loved. Though whether that was before the first or second Hawkmoth he didn't know. He didn't want the second Hawkmoth to come into existence but he hoped that if and when they did, he had built enough trust to tell his family and team who he was without fearing that they would be akumatized. He let out a sigh and rested his chin against his arms as he saw Lady Noir bouncing towards him. She landed on the tower and frowned as she looked at him.

 "Annie, you ok?" She asked, concern in her voice. He didn't answer. She frowned and moved to sit next to him. "I got your message... whatever it is, I'm here and I'm listening..."

 He remained silence for a second, not trusting his voice or himself as he feared he might cry but her words were reassuring.

 "... I need to tell you something..." He replied, his voice slightly rough. She gave him a worried look but patiently waited for him to speak. "About what happened on the day I gave you the anti-akuma charm,"

 "I did wonder when you were going to tell me about it," She replied, looking at him. "Annie, just what exactly happened?"

 "You know we have the different codes for the different level of threat," He muttered, making her nod. "I found a new code... Code White..."

 "Code White?"

 "Yeah, it's on the same level as a Code Black," He replied, making her frown at how serious it was. "As you know Code Black is if I get akumatized and you know I've made plans in case that ever happens but I was an idiot,"

 "Hey, don't say that," She scolded, frowning but he gave her a look as if to say 'I am'. "You're not an idiot,"

 "I am, Lady Noir," He replied, looking towards the sky. "Because I should have thought about it but it never occurred to me to make a back up plan for if you got akumatized,"

 "Me?" She questioned, frowning. "But I haven't... or at least not recently and I wasn't even Lady Noir then and-"

 "I don't mean then, Kitten," He stated, looking over at her. "Code White is you akumatized as Lady Noir. Like I said, I should have a plan for it but I never thought that you would ever get akumatized so I never really made a back up plan for if you did,"

 "Can I ask why you thought that I wouldn't get akumatized?" She asked, not in an insulted way. She wasn't insulted but she was curious. She knew Anatis made plans. He was smart and after heroes day, he had been working on plans in case the team was ever comprised again. She had believed she was part of that but if what he was saying then he might not have included her. "Did you not include a plan for me?"

 "I did but not as detailed," He replied, reassuring her a little. "The reason why it never occurred to me is because you're the strongest person I know. You never give up. Your faith in me has never faltered, even when it should and you carry this team. There's been so many times where I would have lost or given up but haven't because you were there and caught me so to speak so somewhere in the back of my mind, I came to believe that you would never be akumatized because you would never break... but I was wrong. I forgot that you're human under the mask and I... I'm so sorry, Lady Noir. I f-failed to protect you and I drove you to be akumatized. It's m-my f-fault-"

 Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he began to cry. He curled up in on himself, hugging his knees as he shook, breaking Lady Noir's heart. She didn't say anything but simply wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her.

 "Let it out, Anatis," She whispered in a gentle tone, running her fingers through her as he wrapped his arms around her torso and cried for all the pain he had witnessed and losses that had been suffered. That timeline may have gone but he still felt the pain of loss that his other self had experienced. Gradually, he calmed down and simply rested his head against her collarbone as she watched the skies. By some miracle, no akumas had come but she would destroy any that would. Glancing down, she continued to run her fingers through his hair as he hugged her. "You know I'm flattered that you think of me so highly,"

 "B-But I forgot-"

 "No buts, Mister," She stated, causing him to go quiet. "You say you forgot I'm human underneath the mask right? Well, I don't believe that for one second. I don't think you ever thought I was some super human because you have always made sure I was ok. You've never once made me feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders or that I'm overwhelmed. You treat me as your equal and have always made me feel important. You respect me and my words so trust me when I say, if I ever got akumatized, it wasn't because you drove me to it. I can guarantee that the only reason why I would ever become an akuma is to protect you,"

 "L-Lady Noir..." He whispered.

 "Well, you and my boyfriend because I would obviously protect him too," She replied as he carefully sat up and wiped his eyes. "My point, Annie, is you would never be the cause... but I gotta ask. Why are you acting like I've been akumatized? As far as I know I haven't... well, expect that one time before I was Lady Noir but other then that..."

 "It's complicated," He replied, frowning. "Remember the day I gave you that charm?"

 "Yeah," She replied, tapping it. "I always carry it with me but... how did you get it? You explained how you made them through your power up but we never faced an akuma that day..."

 "... I did..." He replied, making her frown. "I faced you as an akuma,"

 "Me? As... an akuma?" She asked a little shocked. "B-But I don't remember-"

 "It was a different timeline," He replied, making her blink before she went quiet and waited for him to tell the story. "It was the day that I was going to tell someone who I was. I was on my way to tell them and Bunnyx turned up, panicked. She explained that something really bad in the near future had happened and that she had tracked it's origins to that day. We went into her burrow to talk and worked out that it must be my plan to tell someone but we weren't sure if it was because I told them or because I didn't so she took me to the future where the event had occurred and told me to defeat the akuma while she tried to find out exactly what had caused it. That future... it was... awful..."

 "What had happened?"

 "Paris had been wiped out by the akuma,"

 "By me..." Lady Noir answered, causing Anatis to nod. "How-"

 "I don't know exactly how but from what I gathered and remembered, that version of you tried to resist been akumatized and when she couldn't, she tried to use her new abilities on herself but it... it didn't work," He explained, making her frown. "The power backfired and killed everyone in Paris before destroying the moon and flooding the city. I don't know if the rest of the world was affected but judging by the fact that only she was around... I think it was..."

 "The end of the world..." Lady Noir replied, making him nod. "..How did I get akumatized?"

 "Y-You took the akuma for me..." He admitted, making her look at him. "Hawkmoth was aiming for me. Somehow he had found my identity... you knew it too in that world but Su Han and him. I think they tried to use it against us but when the akuma came for me, you... you took it instead... I should have-"

 "Hey, Annie, listen to me?" She stated as his tears began to fall again. She carefully cupped his face so he was looking at her. "This wasn't your fault. I know in this other timeline you would have fought to save me and to save everyone so whatever happened was beyond our control,"

 "B-But I-"

 "The only ones to blame are Hawkmoth and Su Han," She declared, making him look at her. For a moment, he studied her features, looking for something. A lie maybe? Or traces of blame? But he found nothing but reassurance and love in her eyes. "So please... don't blame yourself,"

 "I'll try not to," He replied, reaching to wipe his eyes. Lady Noir gently let him of his face before opening her arms again. He settled against her in a hug as he wrapped his arms around her as she began to stroke his hair again. He closed his eyes as she began to hum a tune he recognized as one of Kitty Section's songs, causing him to relax. For a good few peaceful moments, they stayed like that til his brain decided to remind him that right now they were extremely close and more importantly, she had a boyfriend. Sure, he had a girlfriend but one, he generally saw Lady Noir as his best friend, two she didn't know as it would cause her to work out his identity and three, he would never cheat on Marinette. He loved her way too much but he also happened to be what you might call a contact kind of person. He always had been. He loved hugs and often would place his hand on people's shoulders or pat people's head. It was how he showed affection but right now, his brain decided to make him worry. What if he unintentionally made Lady Noir uncomfortable? What if she got upset? Or her boyfriend got upset with her because of it? Which was impossible since she hadn't told him her identity or at least, he thought she hadn't but what if she had and simply kept it from him? What if she thought that he liked her as more then friends now and he had unintentionally lead her on? Would she be mad at him? A blush came on his face as he held up his hands, trying to think what to say. "I- um-"

 "Annie, you ok?"

 "I'm so sorry!" He gasped, making her raise an eyebrow. "I didn't mean to just dump this all on you and hug you! Please don't hate me!"

 "Whoa, Annie, calm down!" She gasped as he put his hands together and bowed to her as he apologized. 

 "B-But I probably made you uncomfortable and then there's your boyfriend. What if he gets jealous?" He gasped, looking at her with a serious expression but she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.

 "Firstly, you didn't make me uncomfortable. You were upset and needed hugs. Besides, we're best friends right? I'm allowed to hug you," She replied, mentally reassuring him that he hadn't caused her to think he was romantically into her. "Secondly, my boyfriend doesn't know I'm Lady Noir. We have to keep it a secret remember? But even if he did, I can assure you he is not the jealous type. Anyway, I offered the hug. If I didn't feel comfortable with that, I wouldn't do it. I know my boundaries,"

 "Good," He nodded as he swallowed. Now he felt embarrassed about freaking out on her. "I'm sorry. I guess my mind isn't exactly in a good place right now,"

 "Nothing to be sorry about," She reassured, making him look at her. "You're allowed to feel and have bad days. I know it's hard in this city but I will destroy any akuma that tries to get to you,"

 I will destroy your despair so your hope can shine bright...

 "Huh?" He asked, glancing around. Lady Noir rose an eyebrow as he frowned. "Did you hear that?"

 "Hear what?" Lady Noir asked, a little confused as Anatis frowned. "Annie?"

 "It sounded like you," He replied, looking at her. "But it sounded like an echo,"

 "How strange?" She muttered, pulling a thinking face. "Maybe it's an akuma?"

 "There's no akuma alert," He answered, making her nod. That was true. "Besides, it wasn't threatening. It just said 'I will destroy your despair so your hope shines bright'..."

 "Maybe it's another riddle from Feng?" She suggested, making him pull a face. She giggled a little. "You really don't like them do you?"

 "It's not that I don't enjoy riddles," He sighed, making her raise an eyebrow. "It's that he uses them at the worst time. I know he can't just tell me and has to leave clues but could he not leave clues in the form of riddles?"

 "He just loves teasing you," She replied, leaning against him. "Besides, puzzles and riddles keep your mind sharp. After all, your lucky charm is a puzzle,"

 "I guess that's true," He replied, resting his head on top of hers. "Thank you for listening to me today. I feel a lot better then I did,"

 "I'm always going to be here when you need me," She replied, smiling. "... Thank you for sharing it with me,"

 ~Marinette's Room, The Next Day~

 "Don't be bemused, it's just the news," Nadja Chamuck stated as she looked at the camera from Marinette's computer. She usually had the news on in the background when she was creating just in case of any akumas or if her phone was unavailable. Currently, it was on the other side of the room on charge. She was sat in her chair knitting away as she made her papa a new sweater. It was something she did for him every year and those she wished she could do more, she knew he would like it. "The Mayor of Paris will be unveiling the latest model of the Startrain today right here at the Gard Du Nord train station. Not only does this ultramodern train beat it's predecessor's speeds by travelling at record speed between Paris and the UK but it also has the latest technology built into it including an advanced air cooling and heating system and anti-akuma technology. The system will capture any butterflies that find their way on top the train before scanning it to determine if it's a true akuma. If it isn't the butterfly will be released and if it is, it will be placed in a secure and isolated location on the train before alerting the akuma app. It also has impenetrable panic rooms in case of the unlikely event of an akuma attacking the train itself,"

 "Huh, that's impressive," Plagg stated before bursting into laughter. Marinette looked up at him. "I'm sorry but anti-akuma technology. Oh, this could go so wrong. We all know that it's only Anatis' charms that are able to repel them,"

 "To be fair, Plagg, this says that it captures them," She points out, making him laugh more. "What now?"

 "Akumas can go through anything!" He replied, making her frown. "That's part of the reason that makes them so dangerous,"

 "Well, at least they're trying to make it easier on us," She replied as he flew over to his bed. "Annie needs a break after what he went through... even though I know it doesn't work like that,"

 "Yeah but don't worry," Plagg replied, rolling onto his back. "Tikki looks after her bugs as I look after my kittens,"

 "Maybe we could bake them some more cookies?" She suggested, thinking as she continued to knit. She smiled a little as Plagg purred and continued to watch the new reporter but her mind did drift to Anatis. Sure, he was strong but to see him that way last night actually scared her. What if he got akumatized? How was she suppose to fight against her best friend? She frowned as she continued knitting and decided the best thing to do was to get the earrings off him. If she got them, she could transform into Ladybug and have a chance to save him. She would save him if it came down to it. She would never give up. However before she could think more of the subject, a loud thump got her attention. It sounded like it came from her balcony but it was too heavy to be Anatis. Also it was the middle of the day. Anatis only turned up in the evenings so who was this and why were they here? The sound of heavy footsteps recaptured her attention, causing her to panic as they moved towards the skylight. A shadow appeared there, causing her to jump up. Plagg quickly hid, glaring at the newcomer as the skylight was yanked open. A strange person jumped into her room, causing her to stare as he blocked the exit to the rest of the apartment and blocked off Plagg. The person in front of her looked like a terrible mix up between Megamind, some poor surfer dude and David Bowie. He wore a green shirt that seemed to had abs drawn into it and had an extremely low v-neck. As if that wasn't bad enough, it had a cape attached to it with some Dracula collar and a couple of cheap looking spikes on the shoulder pads. Yes, shoulder pads. His pants were similar to David Bowie with the stripes but they were green and yellow in color. For some reason, this fashion disaster decided to wear bright yellow platform boots. His mask was green in design with two yellow 'fangs' and his eyes were framed in the thickest eyeliner she had ever seen. For some reason, his lips were painted black and he wore gloves that looked like they were made out of crocodile skin. His eyes also resembled crocodile's. The only thing that seemed remotely alright was his hair which was styled like a surfer but it just looked wrong with the whole outfit.

 "Um... what- I mean who are you?" She asked, glancing up and down. Around his neck and hanging out in full view was a necklace that resembled a fang. It was divided in five section, similar to the fox miraculous. The weirdo flicked his hair and glared down at her.

 "I'm the supervillain Killer Croc!" He declared, sticking out his tongue and holding out his hand in a horns sign. Clearly, he was trying to look cool but it did not work. "And you're gonna take me to your pathetic boyfriend,"

 So he had beef with Luka huh? 

 "And why would I do that?"

 "So I can punish him for putting dad... I mean Mr Roth... in prison,"

 "You do know it was a jury who decided his sentence right?" She replied, making him frown for a second but a second was all she needed. Before he could even react, she had shoved him down and raced up the stairs and out of the skylight. She hid behind the brick wall and held her breathe as she hoped he was as dumb as he seemed. He had already given away his identity to her but there was a chance he might not be that dumb. She held her breathe as he came back out but seemed to glance around.

 "Damn it!" He growled before rushing over to the edge. "How did she get away so quickly?!"

 Marinette had to hold back laughter as he climbed over the edge and jumped off, heading into the city to find her. Seriously, he thought she had jumped off and left. Shaking her head, she moved out of her hiding place and headed back down into her room. Plagg flew over to her.

 "Are you ok?" He asked, causing her to nod. "Should we transform and go after him?"

 "Let's just get out of here first. In case, he comes back," She replied, getting a nod of him before he hid in her purse. She wasn't sure if Killer Croc would realize that she had given him the slip and she didn't want him to catch her transforming. There was no way to know if he was working with Hawkmoth. She headed downstairs and past her mother who was on the phone and none the less wiser of what just occurred.

 "Oh, come now," She sighed, making Marinette stop and frown. "It really is a shame, Roland. It's your son's 40th birthday and I know- hello?"

 She sighed and put down the phone, turning around.

 "Oh, Marinette. Are you off out?" She asked but her eyes were glazed with tears. Marinette frowned and hesitated to leave. Killer Croc hadn't returned but she needed to track him down. However, her mother was upset but it was clear who she had been on the phone with. Roland was Marinette's paternal grandfather but she had never met him. He wanted nothing to do with the family but she wasn't sure why. Sometimes, she wandered why her mother and father even tried with him.

 "Yeah, I need to get some more yarn for Papa's jumper," She smiled, making her mother nod and smile in return before she turned and headed to the door. She stopped and looked at her mother. "Don't worry too much about Roland, Mama. He's just a bitter old man who has made his choices,"

 "I know, sweetheart," She smiled sadly. "But I just thought I'd try. He matters to your father,"

 "Yeah..." Marinette replied before shaking her head and leaving. She took out her phone and went on the news sites but nothing on Killer Croc other then the odd sighting. For someone who claims to be a 'supervillain', he sure as hell wasn't acting like it. Still, she had to do something. He might not be destroying anything right now but that doesn't mean he'll keep to that plus she knew who he was after. Ducking down into an alleyway, she transformed into Lady Noir and took to the rooftops. It didn't take her long to get to the Seine but it seemed Killer Croc wasn't there yet. She let out a sigh of relief and bounced towards the Liberty. Luka was sat outside, playing his guitar when she got there but she caused him to jump when she landed on the deck. 

 "Lady Noir?" He questioned, glancing at her. "Is everything ok?"

 "I need you to come with me," She stated, making him frown but he walked over to her never the less. "There's an- are you ok?"

 Looking closely at him, she could see that his eyes were redder then usual and he looked more tired then usual too. She frowned and stepped closer, taking in his features more. A small blush appeared on his cheeks but he looked pale and his eyes also had some dark circles around them.

 "Are you ill?" She asked, concern in her voice but he shook his head. "Luka?"

 "Not ill, Lady Noir," He mumbled, glancing down. "Just tired and not sleeping well again,"

 "It is because of the trial?" She asked without thinking. Panic quickly rushed over her but he didn't question it.

 "I guess," He replied, frowning. "It was... weird seeing Issac again and then Mr Roth tried to kill me. I know he was an akuma but I'm seriously getting tired of people trying to kill me, Lady Noir. Is that why you're here? Someone is out to get me again?"

 "Well... yes..." She admitted, feeling bad for him. "But he's not the brightest spark in the darkness so I doubt he'll actually succeed,"

 "That's weirdly-"

 "Ah, there you are!" The annoying voice of Killer Croc stated, making Lady Noir groan as he pointed to them. "Finally, I have found you, Couffaine! I can finally have my vengeance against you!"

 "... who are you?" Luka asked, glancing at the villain. "And why do you look like a radioactive David Bowie?"

 "I'm Killer Croc, yo!" He declared, sticking out his tongue and holding up the horns symbol with his hands again. "And you're dead!"

 "... Isn't Killer Croc owned by DC comics?" Luka asked, crossing his arms. Lady Noir took the chance to move behind the villain, who didn't seem to even pay her attention. It cost him though because she used her baton to hit him then jumped down and scoped up Luka, jumping off with him. He held onto her as she brought him across the rooftops before she landed on the ground, near a number of houses. She gently put him down and glanced around. "Lady Noir?"

 "Ok, it looks like we've lost him for now but we need to find a place to hide you that he would never suspect to look in," She replied, glancing around. She noticed a smaller looking house with a metal fence around it. She frowned as she watched a sales man walk up to it and ring a bell. A small pipe suddenly opened up, making the sales man jump a little.

 "What do you want?!" An unfriendly voice stated, making her and the sales man frown.

 "Hi, I'm here on behalf of-"

 "No!" The voice declared. "Go away!"

 "But sir-" The sales man started but the pipe's little door closed, showing the conversation had ended. The sales man sighed and walked away, heading to the next house. Lady Noir, on the other hand, smirked. There was no way that Killer Croc would think to even look there. It looked unfriendly and even better, the owner was unfriendly. She walked over and ran the bell, causing the little pipe to open again.

 "What do you want?!" The unfriendly voice declared.

 "Hello, sir. I'm Lady Noir and I need you to-"

 "No," It declared, making her frown. "Go away!"

 "But sir, I need your help!" She gasped before the little pipe closed. "I know it's really odd but I have a civilian here who is in danger but I can't fight the villain while I'm trying to protect him. If you could just shelter him until I've dealt with the villain-"

 "A superhero asking for help from a civilian?! That is not how it's done!" The unfriendly voice declared, making Lady Noir frown. "Do your job properly and go away!"

 "But-" She gasped but the little door closed, making her frown. "What a rude... person!"

 She turned to Luka, who gave her a sympathetic look.

 "I'm sorry. We'll jus- watch out!" She gasped, pushing him out of the way as Killer Croc tried hit Luka. Luka landed against the gate, which opened as Lady Noir bounced back and began to fight Killer Croc, who was giving it as good as he got. Surprisingly, he was giving her a run for her money. "Luka! Run!"

 Luka quickly got up as Killer Croc slammed her into the ground and activated his power, causing her to be trapped in the ground. He turned on his heel and stalked over to Luka, who backed up against the door, causing it to open and him to fall into the house and over a bag of flour. He wasn't sure why it was there but he quickly ripped it open and grabbed a handful as Killer Croc stalked over before throwing it in his eyes, causing the villain to yell out. Apparently, that got the attention of the owner because he rushed out and began to hit Killer Croc with his rolling pin. Seeing his chance, Luka got up and rushed past them, heading towards Lady Noir.

 "Don't!" She gasped, sinking a little deeper as he stopped. "His power has turned the ground around me into quicksand!"

 "I'll get help!" He declared, getting a nod of her before he jumped up and ran as fast as he could. He took a turn into the alleyway, causing Tikki to fly out. "Lady Noir needs our help, Tikki,"

 "That villain isn't an akuma," She stated, making him look at her. "He's wearing a miraculous. I'm pretty certain of it,"

 "Alright," He nodded before swiping his earrings. "Tikki! Spots on!!"

 He transformed and jumped up, swing to the scene. Lady Noir was almost submerged completely but Killer Croc was still getting beaten by the owner of the house. Seeing his chance, Anatis threw his yoyo and wrapped it around the villain, pulling him from the pin before slamming him into the ground, dazing him. He jumped down and threw up his yoyo.

 "Lucky charm!" He called but before he could catch it, Killer Croc suddenly tackled him. The two of them fell into the wall of the old man's house, breaking it before Anatis kicked him off. Killer Croc swung at him again but Anatis grabbed his arm and twisted it before throwing him over his shoulder and into the house, breaking a wall. The old man gasped in shock as Killer Croc got up.

 "Oh you're so dead, bugboy!" He declared as Anatis raced towards the lucky charm, which was a net gun. "Quagmire!"

 He jumped up, holding his club up as Anatis pointed the net gun at him and fired it, causing Killer Croc to be pulled backwards and land on the ground. His club also landed next to him, activating his power on the ground. He gasped as he began to sink, causing him to panic.

 "Hey! Get me out of this!!" He declared as Anatis threw up the lucky charm and called on the cure, fixing everything and freeing both Lady Noir and Killer Croc. Seeing his chance, Killer Croc tried to escape but Anatis was faster. He threw his yoyo and trapped him before pulling him over to him. "Hey you can't do this!"

 "Killer Croc, I, Anatis, hereby strip you of your miraculous," He declared before grabbing the fang necklace and taking it off. Killer Croc turned back into XY as Lady Noir walked over.

 "Hey! That's mine!" He declared, making Anatis narrow his eyes but he placed the miraculous in his yoyo before turning to Lady Noir. "You ok, Kitten?"

 "I'm fine," She smiled, making him smile back. "The police are on their way. Is Luka ok?"

 "He is," He replied as they heard the sirens in the background. He turned to the old man who was staring at the scene. "Sorry for the disturbance, Sir,"

 For a second, the man was silent before he turned to Anatis.

 "Sorry for the disturbance?!" He declared, angrily. "You're suppose to be a hero but you cause ruckus and break my fence and house then have the nerve to fix it with that witchcraft and only say 'sorry'! Well, that's not how it's done! You're suppose to do your job properly! Not break anything and if you do, you're meant to fix it yourself! Not rely on some weird voodoo to do so for you!"

 "Um... that's my power?" Anatis replied as the police finally came to the scene. The old man left out an annoyed huff as Anatis glanced away. "Sorry, Sir but I have to talk to the police. Besides, at least you don't have to pay for a new wall or repairs on your house right?"

 "That is not how it's done!" The old man screamed, making Anatis frown and cross his arms. "Things are meant to be fixed by builders! That's the proper way-"

 "If you say so," Anatis replied, turning on his heel and walk away but apparently that's not the reaction the old man wanted.

 "Don't you dare walk away from me when I am not done talking to you!" He replied, grabbing Anatis' arm.

 "Let go of my arm, sir,"

 "You disrespectful youth!" He shouted, rising his voice and tightening his grip. "That's not how-"

 "I don't care how it's done to you! You don't get to put your hands on me without my permission!" Anatis shouted, surprising everyone and yanking his arm free. "If you can't accept that I do things differently to how it 'should' be done then that's on you! Now excuse me while I go and bring the police up to date,"

 He turned and walked on his heel but the old man tutted.

 "Clearly, you've never been taught manners," He muttered, rolling his eyes. "If you were my lad, you would have been beaten for talking to me like that-"

 "That explains why you're a lonely old man with no family then," Anatis stated, making everyone look at him. "If I was your kid, I would have cut you off without hesitation,"

 "Why you!" The old man declared as Anatis turned on his heel and took out his yoyo, throwing it up and swinging off, followed by Lady Noir as XY was loaded into a police car. That didn't stop him shouting about how he will get his vengeance but given how incompetent he was with a miraculous, Anatis and Lady Noir weren't too worried about him. Landing on the roof, Anatis let out a sigh as Lady Noir landed next to him.

 "Are you ok?" She asked, walking over to him. He turned to her and nodded.

 "I'm alright," He replied but he looked like he hadn't slept much recently. However, she decided not to push it.

 "Well, you know I'm here for you and you can talk to me right?"

 "I know, Kitten," He smiled in a genuine way. "I'm just lacking on sleep at the moment but I'll try and get some rest in. I have no prior commitments this afternoon,"

 "Nap time then?" She asked, grinning. He smiled back and nodded. "What about the miraculous we claimed?"

 "Well, currently it's safe in my yoyo but I'll need to question it's kwami," He replied, frowning. "I hope they can tell us how they got into XY's hands,"

 "Right," She nodded, stretching. "Well, I'm gonna go check on Luka and make sure he's ok. You go get some much earnt rest,"

 "Sounds good to me," He replied, swinging off. Lady Noir smiled before bouncing off to the Seine. It didn't take her long to get there but when she did, she found the deck empty. Feeling a little bit worried, she made her way down to the inner boat and looked around until she came to Luka's room. She lightly knocked on the door but got no reply.

 "Luka? It's Lady Noir," She stated, carefully opening the door. "Are you-"

 She cut off mid sentence as she looked over at Luka. He was curled up on his bed, breathing in lightly as he slept. She carefully moved in and grabbed a blanket before putting it over him and smiling then she turned on her heel and left, happy that he was ok. She left the Liberty, closing the door behind her and bounced back into the city before returning to her balcony and headed back into her room, detransforming. She took out her phone and quickly sent him a text but didn't expect anything back as she settled down to work on her papa's jumper again.

 ~Hawkmoth's Lair~

 "Hmm, I can smell the bread that's been baked with flames of fury!" Hawkmoth declared as his window opened and the butterflies fluttered around him. "Dealing with changes and new things is scary but it's the perfect recipe for my akumas,"

 He held out his hand, causing one of the butterflies to land it before he covered it and charged it up with his dark energy.

 "Fly away my little akuma and evilize him!" He declared as he let it go. It fluttered up and through the window before heading towards the old man's house as he roughly kneed some bread.

 "Stupid heroes fixing things with magic!" He muttered, shaking his head. "That's not how it's done! Just like with bread, you don't change the recipe!"

 He growled as he kneed it again.

 "Just like my stupid son!" He growled again, adding some flour to the dough from his little tin. He failed to notice the akuma as it edged closer to him. "Had to insist on changing the family recipe just to please his new wife! Well, that's not how it's done by the Dupains! We are the proud descendants of Loafamix and we do things properly!"

 "I couldn't agree more," Hawkmoth stated in his mind as the akuma possessed the tin. "Bakerix, I am Hawkmoth and I see you're hungry for power. Well, I'm giving you the ability to serve punishments to anyone who doesn't do things like they should be done!"

 "Oh but of course, Hawkmoth!" He declared, smirking. "Would you like a butter croissant or a baguette with that?"

 "Ah, I will politely decline," Hawkmoth replied before smirking. "But in return, I would like the miraculous of Anatis and Lady Noir. Two offenders who don't know how it's done so show them,"

 "You can count on me, Hawkmoth!" He replied, allowing the purple smog to overtake him.

 ~Meanwhile at The Dupain-Cheng Home~

 "Happy birthday, Papa," Marinette smiled, giving Tom the finished sweater. He smiled as he took it from her and went to thank her but a knock on the door interrupted them. Sabine frowned as they weren't expecting anyone else. Gina was already there but hope swelled in her chest a little as maybe Rolland had decided to come by but before anyone could answer the door, it was broken down and a weird bread like monster stormed in. Tom jumped up in front of his family but the bread monster hit him aside with ease. Marinette rushed over. "Papa!"

 "A child speaking without permission!" The bread monster growled, glaring at her. "That's not how it's done! Children should be seen and not heard!"

 "Don't you dare talk to my daughter like that, Rolland!" Sabine called out, stopping him from advancing on Marinette as she tried to help up her father. 

 "There is no Rolland!" He declared, stalking towards her. "I am Bakerix and anyone who doesn't do things the way they should be done will be served my indomitable Wrath! Soon Paris will look like it did before the modern world took over but as tradition, I will first deal with you, Sabine!"

 "And what do you have against me?!" Sabine demanded, hoping to keep his attention on her. Marinette realized what she was do so she helped up her father and they made their way carefully to the door as Marinette quickly took out her phone and accessed the akuma app, sending out an alarm. "Are you still mad about my rice flour suggestion?!"

 "Rice flour does not belong in bread!" He growled, taking out a flask and drinking from it. It caused him to balloon out, making him stronger. "But that wasn't just the case! You seduced and poisoned my son's mind, making him do things that he would never normally do!"

 "I encouraged him to stand up to you!" Sabine shouted back, making Bakerix growl. "You were the problem, Rolland! Constantly belittling Tom and Gina! That's why they left you! Yes, I got him to change the recipe but we all know that's not even why you're mad! I know about the talk you had with him before our wedding! Tom told me everything. About how you called me degrading names and threatened to disown him if he married me and all because I'm Chinese! Well, I'm not apologizing for who I am or for loving Tom! So what if we what you call an interracial marriage? I l-"

 "But that's not how it's done!" Bakerix growled, slamming his fists down on the counter before pointing at Sabine. "My son was not suppose to marry a ch-"

 Before he could continue, a yoyo hit him square in the face.

 "And that's enough racism for the day!" Anatis declared, spinning his yoyo round. Bakerix glared at him then towards the rest of the family. Tom was glaring at him while holding Marinette and Sabine looked ready to fight him. He huffed his chest out and jumped out of the window, causing Anatis to turn to the family. "Is everyone ok?"

 "We're fine, Anatis," Sabine replied, turning to him. "I'm just sorry you have to deal with him,"

 "You know him?" He asked, frowning. "Actually, why was he targeting you?"

 "He's my father," Tom stated, standing up. "We fell out over a decade ago because he didn't agree with me marrying Sabine. He always blamed the fact that we changed the family recipe for bread but we all knew deep down it wasn't really that,"

 "I'm sorry that you have to deal with that," Anatis replied, frowning a little more. "But I also think it's his loss. If he can't get past his own views then that's on him,"

 "Thank you, Anatis,"

 "No worries, Mrs Cheng," He smiled, saluting them. "If you excuse me, I have a grumpy akuma to deal with,"

 He turned to the hole in the wall that Bakerix made and swung out of there. Marinette slowly got up and cleared her throat.

 "Mama, Papa, can I be excused?" She asked, playing with her hands. The two of them looked at her. "It's just... I need to..."

 "it's ok, darling," Sabine replied, looking down. "We should have told you why Rolland wants nothing to do with us but we understand it's a lot to take in so we'll talk about it later,"

 "R-Right," She nodded, heading upstairs and into her room. She let out a sigh as Plagg flew out.

 "So your grandpa is kind of nasty?"

 "It seems so," She replied before holding out her hand. "But that doesn't mean I'm gonna let Anatis deal with him alone! Plagg, claws out!"

 With that, she transformed into Lady Noir and headed into the city.

 ~Meanwhile~

 Bakerix jumped through the air and slammed into the ground, causing a bus that was heading towards him to hit it's breaks as he turned around. Anatis wasn't far behind but he was more distracted by the fact that the bus didn't make a single noise. Last time he had rode the bus it had been noisy. It was one of the reasons why he didn't like it but in his eyes, that's how it was meant to be. He stormed up to it and glared at the terrified driver.

 "Why isn't this bus making any noise?!" He demanded. It should be noisy.

 "W-well, it's a modern bus," The driver answered, making Bakerix growl deeply. He really hated the modern world. "It runs on electricity,"

 "An electric bus?!" He gasped, shocked and annoyed. "That's not how it's done! Buses make noise! They run on gas and spew out stinky black smoke! Away with modern buses!!"

 He grabbed the bus and lifted it in the air, throwing it away as Anatis swung towards the scene. He threw his yoyo and created a net that caught the bus, saving everyone on there. Bakerix glared at him as he landed on the rooftops.

 "Modern buses are much better then the previous ones," He stated, crossing his arms. "They lower our carbon footprints and run much smoother,"

 "But that's not how it's done!" 

 "That's too bad!" Lady Noir replied, jumping down and landing next to Anatis. Bakerix stared at her in shock. "What's the matter, bread man?! Cat got your tongue?!"

 "What's with this?!" He declared, glaring at her. "There's a super cat girl in Paris now?!"

 "Yep!" Lady Noir declared, grinning. "Girl and superhero! You've gotta get with the times, old man!"

 "That's not how it's done!" He declared, waving his arms. "It's down to the police or the army to carry out law enforcement! Not you!"

 "And how do you propose the army or the police deal with people like you?" Anatis pointed out but apparently that was the wrong thing to say as Bakerix jumped up and brought his arms down. The two heroes jumped out of the way and charged at him, causing him to try and block them as they fought. Getting annoyed, he picked up a car.

 "I'm going to rid Paris of all of this modern nonsense!" He declared, lifting it over his head. "Starting with you!"

 He threw it towards Anatis and Lady Noir, causing the two of them to jump out of the way again.

 "Funny because I'm not actually that modern!" Anatis declared, charging at him and kicking at him. "My miraculous comes from ancient time for one thing!"

 "Not to mention how old your soul is, Annie!" Lady Noir added in as she swiped her leg against Bakerix's, causing him to fall. However he jumped back up and charged at her.

 "Well, we didn't have superheroes in my youth!" He declared, trying to punch Lady Noir as she blocked and fought back. Seeing his chance, Anatis threw his yoyo but Bakerix blocked it with his arm. "There will be no superheroes in my Paris!!"

 He yanked his arm and swung round, causing Anatis to be pulled off his feet before he threw him farther into the city. Lady Noir instantly jumped onto the roof and ran after him, sighing in relief as she saw he had landed in a tree. She jumped down and stretched out her baton for him to grab. He took it and she helped him down.

 "Are you ok?" She asked, concerned as Anatis dusted leaves off himself.

 "I'm fine," He replied, taking a couple out of his hair.

 "He really doesn't like the modern world,"

 "It doesn't just seem to be the modern world," Anatis replied, taking out his yoyo. "It's anything that doesn't align with his viewpoint,"

 He typed something and opened the ladyblog, clicking on the video that Alya was live streaming.

 "What are you doing?!" Bakerix's voice echoed.

 "Um filming you," 

 "Ah! Telephones are for telephoning people! Not for filming! That is not how it's done!" He declared, snatching Alya's phone. Lady Noir frowned as they heard Alya shout about censorship before Bakerix muttered something about the good old days but then they heard him gasp in shock again. "Oh?! Oh! An Egyptian Pyramid in the King's Court?!"

 "He's at the Louvre!" Lady Noir gasped, causing Anatis to nod before he closed his yoyo and threw it. The two of them raced across the rooftops and jumped down as Bakerix charged towards the Louvre with his fist in the air.

 "That's not how it's done!" He screamed, ready to smash it but Anatis and Lady Noir blocked his attack, causing him to fall. "You two again?!"

 "Are you done with your tantrum yet?!" Anatis declared, clearly annoyed.

 "Oh I'm just beginning!" Bakerix growled in reply, taking out his flask and drink a green liquid from it. His muscles blew up again, making Lady Noir and Anatis look at him in shock.

 "We need to destroy that flask!" Lady Noir gasped as she got into a fighting stance.

 "Agreed," Anatis replied. "That's probably where his akuma is too!"

 "You're out of your league!" He declared, ripping the glass pyramid. They both gasped as he lifted it over his head. "You don't have enough experience!"

 He slammed it over them, trapping them into there before laughing and jumping away. 

 "Oh no, we're trapped," Lady Noir replied sarcastically, causing Anatis to snigger before she looked at him. "He's probably gonna go after that new startrain. It's the most modern thing in Paris right now,"

 "Makes sense," Anatis replied, frowning. "We better go stop him,"

 "Oh but how are we going to get out?" She asked, making him smirk again and glance at the manhole. "Ah our trusty escape route,"

 "Gotta love the sewers," He replied, opening it and climbing in. Lady Noir followed. The two of them walked through the sewers as Anatis fully got her to speed about Bakerix and how he went after the Dupain-Cheng family. "So not only does he hate modern life but-"

 "He's racist too," She frowned. Even though she had experienced it firsthand, it still hurt. "I don't get it. Mrs Cheng is one of the loveliest people there is. How can he hate her just because she's from a different country?"

 "I don't know, Kitten," He sighed, shaking his head. "I can't comprehend my mind around it,"

 "Me neither, Annie," Lady Noir sighed. "Poor Marinette though. She's never known her grandpa because of his own ignorance,"

 "Honestly, I think it's probably better that way," He replied as they came to an area with a fan and an air current. Anatis nodded to it as it was too loud to speak or hear each other but Lady Noir got what he meant. They both dived into the air current and rode it up to a metal grate. They clinged onto it and crawled across it likes spiders before breaking through the exit, bringing them right outside of the train station as people screamed and ran out. They ran inside just as Bakerix began to lift the train. Anatis jumped up and landed on the train as Lady Noir rushed to get the passengers off. "Be reasonable now, Bakerix. There are innocent people on this train,"

 "Well then they better get off as it's on it's way to the wrecking yard!" Bakerix declared, lifting it up but still struggling. He let out and drunk his elixir, making him stronger before throwing the train into the wall. Anatis jumped off and landed next to Lady Noir as Bakerix ripped off a metal pole and charged at them. Lady Noir blocked it with her baton as Anatis threw up his yoyo.

 "Prosperity!" He declared, hoping to get a shield or a sword as the yoyo glowed and transformed. However, it turned into two cheering pompoms. Anatis rose an eyebrow as he caught them. "... not what I was hoping for to be honest,"

 "Gah! A boy doing cheer-leading!" Bakerix growled, pushing Lady Noir back as she tried her best to hold him back with her baton but her feet were slowly sliding. It was clear he was too strong for her. However, his comment resonated with Anatis, causing him to realize why he got the pompoms. Just like the lucky charm, this was a hint. "That's not how it's done!"

 "Actually," Anatis grinned as he looked at the pompoms. "This is exactly how it's done,"

 "Eh?!" Bakerix replied as Anatis held up the pompoms, causing the spots on his outfit to glow as well as the actual pompoms themselves. "Stop that!"

 "Ovation!" He declared, causing the pompoms to burst into a swamp of ladybugs similar to his miraculous cure before they swarmed around Lady Noir as Anatis caught his yoyo. To Bakerix's surprise, not only did she stop sliding but she was able to actual push him back, causing him to stumble before she punched him sending him flying.

 "Whoa!" She grinned, flexing her muscles a little. "Looks like your cheer worked wonders on me,"

 "But it won't last forever," Anatis replied, holding out his yoyo. "I think it's time for a lucky charm!"

 He threw his yoyo up into the air and summoned a bottle of ketchup as he transformed into his power up outfit, causing Lady Noir to raise an eyebrow.

 "I don't think our friend is going take too kindly to that,"

 "Just what I'm counting on," He grinned, looking around as several things lit up. "Care to entertain him while I make him the least traditional sandwich ever,"

 "Oh no! A boy making a sandwich? That's not how it's done!" Lady Noir mocked, making Anatis grin before jumping up and punch the ground, causing Bakerix to jump back as she charged at him. Meanwhile, Anatis rushed over to the cafe store and grabbed a bunch of random ingredients.

 "Some super sour gummies, a bag of sweet onion crisps and some processed cheese," He declared, getting Bakerix's attention. "All put inbetween two factory made slices of white bread. Yummy,"

 "I'm not falling for your tricks!"

 "Really? Better use my secret ingredient then," He grinned, taking out the ketchup and putting it in the sandwich. "Tomatoes in a bottle. Convince and modern. What's even better is now my sandwich will taste like pizza,"

 He went to go take a bite but apparently that was enough for Bakerix.

 "That's not how transitional sandwiches are done!" He declared, running towards him. Anatis turned on his heel and made a break for outside, causing Bakerix and Lady Noir to follow. Lady Noir easily over took Bakerix and caught up to Anatis. Seeing the grate they came through, he pointed to it.

 "Lady Noir, do your thing!" He declared as they both dived over it.

 "Cataclysm!" She declared, slamming her hand down and jumping towards Anatis as the metal rushed. Bakerix jumped towards them and landed on the grate but his weight and the rust caused it to break, sending him plummeting downwards. He was only kept afloat by the air current. 

 "That's not how it's done!" He declared as the two heroes looked in. He growled and took out his flask but the liquid was blown away from the air. Lady Noir extended her baton and used it to hit the flask out of his hand, causing Anatis to catch it and slam it into the ground, breaking it and releasing the akuma. He caught it in his yoyo then freed it once it was purified before picking up the ketchup bottle.

 "Miraculous Ladybugs!" He declared, throwing it up into the air and releasing the cure as Lady Noir felt her strength go back to normal. The cure fixed everything and transported Bakerix in front of them before he turned back to the old man they had met earlier in the day. "You!"

 "Huh?" He asked, looking around. "Where am I?"

 "You were akumatized but-"

 "Akumatized?!" He declared, getting up. "Well, maybe that wouldn't have happened if you had listened to me in the first place! That's not-"

 "Who cares if that's not how it's done?!" Lady Noir declared, shocking both of them before she stormed right up to Rolland. "You are a stupid ignorant old man who is so stuck in his own way that you can't even see what you've lost or what you're losing! Did you even know you have a granddaughter?! Did you ever think about your son's feelings when you decided to disown him because he decided to try something new? Or how about when you called his wife degrading names huh?! Did you even see Mrs Cheng as a human being? Or did you just decide that your way was the only way?!"

 "How dare you-"

 "No! How dare you!" She declared as Anatis crossed his arms. "You are ignorant and racist and that has no place in the modern world! So what if your son married someone from a different country?! He is happy and so what if he changed the recipe?! That's how people learn and evolve! We change and grow! It's our nature as humans and it's the way of the world! There is nothing wrong with tradition but if you can't move with the times then you're gonna be left behind so do us all a favor and take your head out of your ass because if you don't, it will be too late!"

 "The cat is right, Rolland," Anatis replied, making him look at him. "Your future is a bleak and lonely one. Come on, Kitten. Let's go,"

 "Right!" She declared, turning on her heel.

 "Wait!" Rolland called out, causing them to stop. "Do I really have a granddaughter?"

 "Yes," Anatis replied. "And she's a wonderful person,"

 "But... how do I even try to make things right?"

 "I don't know but I think a good place is to start by apologizing to your son," Anatis stated. "But don't expect him to accept it. You've hurt him a lot and he has every right to be angry with you,"

 "Yes... I know," He replied, looking down. Anatis frowned but held out his yoyo and tapped it, causing it to open before he pulled out a charm. This one looked like a cinnamon roll with cream colored dots on it. He walked over and knelt down. 

 "Here," He replied, placing it in his hand. "This is a magic charm that will protect you from Hawkmoth and his akumas. Not very traditional but it works. Think you can accept that?"

 "Yes, I can,"

 ~Later that Day~

 "Happy birthday, Papa!" Marinette declared as they brought out a cake for him. However, the door bell rang, causing them all to look towards it. Rolland stood there, holding a box in his hands as he looked down nervously. Sabine had a cold look on her face and Gina was surprised. Marinette crossed her arm as Tom looked at him like he had seen a ghost.

 "Dad?" He asked in a quiet voice. "I... I didn't think I'd see you again..."

 "I... I know..." Rolland replied, looking down. "Let's just say I had a much needed wake up call and I'm here... not just to give you this but also to give you an apology. Both you and Sabine. I was horrible towards both of you and I was... racist... I know back in my day it was the way of the world but that doesn't excuse my behaviour... I am so sorry, Tommy. You don't have to forgive me or accept me back in your life-"

 "Dad," Tom replied, walking over to him before pulling him into a bear hug before letting go. "I can't say I forgive you straight away but I am willing to give you a second chance if you really mean it,"

 "I do, Tommy," He gasped before turning to Sabine. "I am so sorry for judging you, Sabine and Gina... I did you wrong too,"

 "You damn right you did!" Gina declared, crossing her arms. "But I'm glad someone knocked some sense into you,"

 "I am the same as Tom, Rolland," Sabine replied. "I can't forgive you. Not now but if you really have changed then prove it to me,"

 "Of course," Rolland replied, smiling properly for the first time in a long time before his eyes settled on Marinette. "This must be my granddaughter,"

 "Yes, this is Marinette," Tom replied proudly. "Marinette, this is your grandfather Rolland,"

 "It's nice to finally meet you," Marinette smiled but there was something hidden beneath her smile. A warning saying if Rolland hurt her family ever again, no one would ever find the body. Rolland gulped but nodded. In an odd way, she reminded him of the cat hero he had met early but he shrugged it off. There was no way that Lady Noir and Marinette were one in the same person. Marinette, however, couldn't help but smile as she saw Anatis' charm attached to his belt. Maybe he could learn to be better then he was.

 ~La Santé Prison~

 "Anatis, thank you for coming," The warden stated, causing Anatis to frown but nod as they walked through. "We had him in a secure cell with no other cellmates so we have no idea how it happened,"

 "What happened?" Anatis asked as they passed through another door way. As far as he knew, XY was been held here as he awaited charges of terrorism. The warder however remained quiet. "Warder? Did something happen?"

 "I think it's best for me to show you the footage," He replied as they came into the office. Anatis rose an eyebrow but sat down in front of the screen. It showed XY in his cell with a clear attitude but then the footage flickered and suddenly he was pinned up against the wall by one of the guards, screaming like there was no tomorrow as a number of guards and inmates walked in. Anatis frowned as he watched as someone dressed as a monk came in, causing XY to scream even more then the screen flicked again, returning it to an almost empty cell as only XY was in it but he was staring into space. "None of the guards or inmates remember going in or out of the cell,"

 "... is he still here?" Anatis asked, getting up. The warden nodded. "I wish to see him,"

 "Right this way," He replied, walking out. Anatis followed him to the cell where XY was held. The warden unlocked it, allowing Anatis to step in but XY didn't react. He didn't even blink or look towards Anatis. He just stared at the wall. 

 "XY?" He asked. Nothing. "Xavier? Can you hear me?"

 Nothing again. Frowning even more, Anatis stepped over and knelt in front of him. He should have reacted by now but the only thing he seemed to be doing was breathing. Frowning, Anatis carefully listened but to his horror, he was only met with white noise instead of a song, causing him to step back in shock.

 "Anatis?" The Warder asked. "Is he?"

 "He's alive," Anatis declared, looking over. "But his soul is gone,"

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Next Chapter: Coming Soon

#Rise of Anatis #luka couffaine #Ladybug!Luka Couffaine / Anatis #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #tom dupain #sabine cheng #rolland dupain #Bakerix #Crocodile Xavier- Yeves Roth / Killer Croc #Crocodile miraculous #Villain XY #New powers #lukanoire #Lukanette #pro lukamari #pro lukanette #lukanette endgame #lady Blanche #hurt luka #sad luka