#they definitely want people to root for them while watching the last season!

[tutuandscoot]

when VM triumphed at PYC do you know if Marina commented anything about it?!?? I seem to remember a photo of her hugging Scott (I don't know if Tessa too), but I'm curious if she has commented on them and their performance…

I’m not aware of anything (evidence) photos, VM saying something etc..

I mentioned a while ago, watching their SD, the camera cuts to the crowd and there’s a bunch of Canadians cheering (also Steph Lambiel I’m noticing for the first time) and Marina is sitting in the bottom corner:

I don’t want to just sound straight up negative/tin hatty, but I don’t know how else to read that reaction from her (considering the reactions of everyone around her) as anything but… not happy they skated so well.. like that doesn’t look like the reaction of someone who still cares about them (as athletes she invested 10 years of coaching into and had a huge part in their success) it looks to me like she hoped they would screw up and they didn’t so she’s pissed, and everyone else around being amazed and elated.. she’s like ‘meh.. wasn’t that good’.

My feeling on it is I think she definitely hoped PC would win.. idk for sure- I don’t know the woman, but I don’t thing she wanted, wasn’t hoping for VM to finish their career with a gold. She would know that the Shibs were skating for bronze.. but I just don’t think she would’ve been rooting for vm to win.. I think she would’ve been like GP (of PC) in the green room watching VM skate last thinking ‘shit, they didn’t mess up. Shit, Shit! They arnt screwing up’.. it’s horrible to say but it’s just the vibe I get from Marina, based on verryyyy limited info but including what VM have said about their experience with her specifically 2013-2014, how things ended. This clip above (from the olys), and also unfortunately a bit of natural human instinct that some people have to root against people you should or have in the past cared deeply for, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a bit of jealously/resentment.. the last two (really 3) olys she had at least one team fighting for gold (BA in 06 then VM, DW 🙄in 10,14) and this year the best she could get was bronze.. a bit of resentment that VM are succeeding with somebody other than her and…. sorry I’m just gonna say it bluntly.. sabotaged their chance to win in 2014.. she’s pissed they were so good and just couldn’t accept being happy for them. Again.. all this based on that 2 second clip of her in the stands… but also based on just general human psychology in these kind of situations. Could be wrong, maybe she was happy for them on some level..

The only thing that comes to mind of S hugging her is this moment from GPF the previous season:

From this fan cam video of the medal ceremony.. this clearly goes against everything I said above, but these are all just pleasantries and everyone being nice bc they are adults..

#ask #Marina is not my fave character in this story can u tell??

[sebsational-vettel]

Dear Seb ❤️

I’ve been dreading to write this ever since that summer day in late July; when I and the whole F1 community watched your video announcing your retirement. It made me cry. For the last couple of years your retirement was something I feared. Because I knew that that meant that we would lose a very special figure and driver in Formula 1. An extremely talented driver who has won 4 world championships. An outstanding achievement which only a few on this world can claim. A man whose passion for the sport reaches to infinity, on and off the track. But besides that, also a man who’s the most sincere, down to earth, and kindhearted. A man who’s genuinely good in every fiber of his body. A role model for every generation. A man with incredible work ethic, who’s always helping and caring for others and who will fight against injustice. All the stories fans and people in the paddock tell and write about you, Seb, describe what a wonderful person you are.

From the first F1 race I watched, you have stolen my heart and have been my favourite ever since. Sometimes I joke that one doesn’t choose who they support, but the driver ‘chooses’ you. And actually, this may very well be true. You have an undeniable attraction around you. Not only thanks to your raw talent - which has me in awe time and again - but also because of the person that you are. And the fact that I recognise myself in you. The way you handle things, the way you make jokes and the way you treat people. In you I see the values in life that I too have. You have been a role model for me and thanks to you I have always wanted to improve in life. Thanks to your perseverance each race weekend and the believe to never give up. You have motivated me to always try and to believe in myself. Last summer I graduated from my masters at uni. Thank you for getting me through all those years of hard work. Even though you probably don’t realise it, rooting for you has kept me going and I know that’s the case for a lot of other fans too.

I don’t know how to say goodbye. I think I still don’t realise that after today, after this last race in Abu Dhabi, you won’t be on the grid anymore. Next season, we won’t see you race in F1. It hurts to think that you won’t be there. My heart is aching and while writing this, I am tearing up again. For the umpteenth time this weekend. Because this weekend it is getting real. It feels definitive, the end of many chapters, the end of an era of a legendary driver. And I’m gonna miss you so so much.

But, I also know your reasons and I wholeheartedly support them. I wish you all the happiness in the world. To enjoy all the time with your incredible wife and kids. To have fun, explore what other things you love to do in life, to only have the obligations you set for yourself. To retire when you feel the time is right, and that is now. It is what you deserve.

God, how I have enjoyed your presence in F1... Your ecstatic cheering when taking pole or winning the race. From the ‘ring a ding a ding’s to the ‘grazie ragazzi’s. All the laughs at the press conferences and the singing on the board radios. The lion of Singapore. The king of donuts. I’m gonna miss it and I’m gonna miss you. I could go on and on and fill a book with my words for you. Only in superlatives, because that is how I will always describe you and how people will remember you. And they will, oh dear they will. Because you’re one of a kind, Seb. And I know you will never change. With tears in my eyes I tell you that I love you so much!!! Enjoy your last race! All the best for the future, champ, icon, legend!!

DANKE SEB ❤️❤️❤️

#sebastian vettel #danke seb #f1

[ceruleanwhore]

I’ve been thinking a lot about the end of Ted Lasso ever since the finale dropped and part of that is that I’m starting to really stop and think about season 3, which I didn’t have a chance to do before the finale because basically I was way behind and watched the entire last two seasons in like a week before the finale dropped to catch up just in time for the end. Because of my viewing experience and how I did rush through everything like that in order to be able to watch the finale when it aired, I didn’t really have a chance to analyse those seasons in any real capacity before that last episode dropped, which I now think contributed to my shock at how bad I felt the ending was. In retrospect, I actually think that the show was starting to go downhill even before season 3 first started and that this finale is the end result of that shift rather than it being this cheap shot out of left field that it first felt like it was.

First, there’s the matter of how they handle Nate’s fall from grace and his bit of a villain arc. While it’s not unrealistic for a guy to be unpopular and have no friends and then, when someone chooses to give him a chance because they think he’s just misunderstood, he turns out to be shitty, this doesn’t actually fit for Nate’s character or for the story in general. Nate is a kind of awkward guy who reads as neurodivergent and blossoms with the help and encouragement and validation that he first gets from Ted and then from the others and at the time they start this shift to the dark side with him, he’s actually in the middle of positive growth and is doing really well. There are other characters that they could have done this sort of arc with and had it make sense but, in the context of the story and Nate’s own character arc, it frankly just doesn’t really make sense. Combine that with some other aspects of how his character and this arc are written and it comes across like there’s maybe some bits of racism or perhaps also ableism floating around in the background there, especially when it comes to fucking Jade.

When Jade interacts with him, it definitely comes across as racist and potentially also ableist and classist, and yet her actions are never criticized and she’s actually rewarded by the narrative for some of this shit. Refusing to let Nate book that one table for no discernible reason is treated like a good thing for giving him an opportunity to learn and grow or whatever and when they’re actually dating and she goes behind his back to get him fired in order to force him into a life decision he doesn’t want to make, he never criticizes her for it and I think he even ends up thanking her. This is all coming from a show that, in the first season or two, showed us very solid, healthy relationships such as Roy and Keeley (regardless of if you ship it) and took the time to pick apart the makings of a healthy relationship and how it’s built on solid communication and mutual respect. For them to turn around and have Nate revert into this crude stereotype of a weird loser and then put him in a relationship built on disrespect and, dare I say, bigotry against him while having the audacity to present it like it’s good and healthy makes it feel like this is a different show entirely.

Going along with the idea of race, I also want to talk about Akufo. There are definitely more truly wealthy people in the show than just him and Jack, and yet I do take issue with how the only two people who are acknowledged to be billionaires, with a b, are a sapphic woman and a black man, since both are villains and both of their villainy is wholly rooted not just in money but in them being billionaires. I’ll talk more about Jack in a minute but I want to start with Akufo, because it makes me uncomfortable that they didn’t just create a villainous billionaire who happens to be a black African man but that his character is so… crude and gross and does stuff like have his assistant throw food at people who disagree with him. I mean, for fuck’s sake, throwback to when Sam turns him down and he is literally out here pantomiming taking a shit on him or whatever that was. It feels really racist and I just don’t understand for the life of me why they wouldn’t put in a white African billionaire based kind of on Elon Musk who’s out here with his fortune he built on Daddy’s blood money and then have that kind of character be doing all this crude, childish shit. It would’ve also added another layer to the conflict between him and Sam by introducing an element of racism and I just feel like it both would have actually made more sense and would have fixed the issues with the presentation of Akufo’s character.

As for Jack, the biggest issue is that we apparently can’t let a main character like Keeley be in a healthy, happy relationship that isn’t straight. It’s not that I think every lgbtq relationship in media needs to be nice and happy and healthy, but it just sits wrong with me that the only relationship that happens in the course of the show that is presented as being this unhealthy is the one sapphic romance featuring a main character. Don’t get me wrong — I love Colin and his bf, but Colin’s a side character and his bf is just a hair above being a nameless extra. Also, it bothers me to no end how they choose this relationship to point out issues with power imbalance but when Rebecca does it with Sam, she’s a girlboss who ✨slays✨ 

My other issue with the Jack situation is that, as someone else pointed out, the writers are willing to put in gay characters, but only in certain ways, and they aren’t willing to *go there* and allow existing characters to just happen to end up in lgbtq relationships with each other. Instead, it’s that we have our set, token lgbtq rep characters and they are exclusively allowed to do gay stuff with designated side characters that are invented solely for that purpose. They can invent a whole new person so Keeley can snog a girl, but they couldn’t possibly let her just do that with Rebecca, or even Sassy. Also, I was talking to my mom about Keeley and Jack’s relationship and she pointed out that while I had previously talked about how Roy and Keeley’s relationship really did a great job of showcasing the female gaze, Keeley and Jack really came across like they were written and filmed through the male gaze. In particular, she pointed out the scene when they’re in Keeley’s office and Keeley first kisses Jack and how, to my mom, that felt like the ‘girl on girl’ stuff that skeezy straight guys like to watch, and she’s right. Again, to my original point of this show going downhill, how tf did we go from a straight relationship that was the epitome of the female gaze in season 1 to a sapphic relationship that’s just more male gaze, homophobic, objectifying bullshit in season 3?

So as I start to consider all this kind of shit, suddenly that ending isn’t so shocking anymore. All it really was was a clearer demonstration of how this show has changed for the worse and it hit harder just because it was the finale and that was their chance to fix a bunch of stuff, but they didn’t. Ted Lasso is a show about hope and believing in everyone’s potential for good, so I think what happened is that, by virtue of the original messaging of the show itself, we all ended up hoping and believing in the show and the writers to become aware of their mistakes and fix them in time, just as their characters do, but they didn’t. 

#ted lasso #ted lasso meta #ted lasso critical #ted lasso criticism #anti ted lasso #ted lasso s3 #ted lasso season 3 #ted lasso finale

[some-teeth-in-a-trench-coat]

Hey question, how long have you been learning hebrew / what method, I've been wanting to pick it back up for a while now, but I've been having a hard time, any recomendations?

I started sometime like a year or two ago I think, but I have been very distracted and most days not really learning.

I started with Duolingo, which has since gotten worse and worse in terms of functionality tbh, but the writing system lessons are actually really useful for learning to read unfamiliar characters (in general, not just for Hebrew). If you try the regular lessons, I highly recommend checking the discussion page for nearly every sentence you come across. There will be a lot of idiots saying idiotic things as with any public, largely unmoderated forum, but there are also a lot of helpful people there, native speakers and advanced learners answering questions, providing trasliterations, and correcting the course itself when it's wrong. A few of those are mine, but unfortunately last year Duo froze the forums permanently with no forewarning, so it's no longer possible to comment or vote, but the archive is still valuable. Not all sentences have sound but this is because no good text to speech services exist for Hebrew and therefore they hired real voice actors, which means they couldn't do all the words and sentences in the entire course.

(If you're having trouble finding the "tips & notes" section, you can find its contents at https://duome.eu/tips/en/he)

As Duolingo's quality fell and I grew frustrated with the Hebrew course's idiotic priorities (e.g. learning "import" long before "bathroom" and being forced to memorize literally a hundred verbs in a row before moving on), I looked for other solutions, but it seems like most cost money.

One decent alternative I found is Clozemaster, which isn't perfect, the free version only lets you practice 30 sentences a day and the audio is pretty bad and sometimes incorrect, but the real selling point is it lets you practice words in order of how common they are which means no more waiting years to learn past tense and other things that are immensely useful but arbitrarily labeled "advanced" a lot of the time. Additionally, it lets you say "no need to practice this again, I know it already" so you can minimize the time (and your limited sentences) you waste on repeating things that don't need repeating, as well as "I don't think I'm gonna remember this just yet, please repeat it again soon" in case you're struggling with something!

Other resources I use:

Pealim.com - a Hebrew dictionary, you can search English words, Hebrew words (in any inflected form), and roots! It doesn't give you a lot of detail on the meaning, but it does explain a lot about the inflection patterns which is super useful for understanding how roots and inflections behave. Also has some articles on grammar and such, but I haven't actually read any of them...

Wiktionary.org - Wikipedia except a dictionary, search words in any language, get definitions, etymology, pronunciation, examples, usage notes, and/or translations depending on the word and the language (just like some Wikipedia articles are more informative than others). I used it a lot today to check if I was using a word correctly after looking it up on Pealim. If there isn't a lot of information in English, chances are there's more if you change the language to Hebrew, but you'll probably need help understanding it.

Friends who are fluent. A bit harder to share this one, but I want to acknowledge that this is something I have access to. My boyfriend has lived most his life in Israel so that helps.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Hebrew Dub - Yes that's right you can literally just watch ATLA in Hebrew for free without a VPN right on Nickelodeon's own site! Iirc, there are no subtitles until season 2, and only in Hebrew, but it's great practice listening and trying to understand and if you're cool and have binged the show multiple times already, that'll help provide context and make it easier to understand what they're saying. Whenever you notice a word being said a lot, try to look it up with one of the above resources! And when you're done with that, there's a lot more shows available there! Do note that some episodes are missing, the episodes aren't perfectly in order, and there is one mislabeled episode that's actually Spongebob near the end, but the real episode is also there.

Israeli/Jewish music - I've been listening to a lot of music in Hebrew and enjoying seeing how I slowly understand more and more, also has helped me understand thick Yiddish accents instead of just Academy approved Israeli Hebrew (Hebrew voice acting is incredibly restricted and idk it's weird).

I hope some of this was helpful!

בהצלחה!‏

#ask the tooth folk #emo boi #sfw #Hebrew

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - Still obsessing over Trigun and Knives specifically. Can’t believe how much I like this patronizing genocidal asshole. That’s good characterization baby.

- Lackadaisy (Webseries) - I don’t have anything interesting to say about this one, just that it was a very well made and pretty intro to what I remember being a pretty compelling web series. The designs of the cats and how much personality each exudes is incredible. 

- The Super Mario Bros Movie (Movie) - The reviews of this seem pretty mixed, but personally I liked it quite a bit. No, it’s not some mind blowing cinematic masterpiece, but for what it is, a kid friendly movie introducing the basic Mario story, it’s honestly much better than I was expecting-especially considering Illuminations previous output. You can tell it’s made by people who love the series, not only with the level of references but also in just the details of how the characters move or how the backgrounds and world are rendered. It’s quite pretty, with the character models looking adorable and the backgrounds full of color. Bowser was a standout of course, both in Jack Blacks vocal performance and the way they incorporated his mannerisms into the character model. I loved the brothers relationship and how affectionate they were with each other. It also had a few pretty solid jokes. I do wish it had been longer, as the scenes went by too fast for any emotional moment to take root, but again if you think of it as a set up of what’s bound to be a franchise of Galaxy, Luigi’s Mansion, or Odessy sequels, then it’s a pretty good “first episode” so to speak. 

- Bocchi the Rock (Anime) - My first venture into binging all the yuri-esque shows I missed from last year, Bocchi was indeed pretty solid. They made the protagonist uncomfortably relatable in her brand of social awkwardness which made for some emotional moments as well as big oof jokes. The cut away gags experimenting with different animation were fun, I did quite like the music and performances, and the character dynamics were pretty good, I’ll watch a 2nd season if it gets one. I’m not sure I’d go as far as calling it anime of the year, the ending didn’t really leave off like a complete story and plot wise it didn’t really have much going on, but as a nice slice of life comedy it’s definitely worth the watch. As a character Bocchi is great, but hopefully a s2 will explore a bit more of the other band members, who weren’t generic characters by any means but didn’t really get much screentime.

- Dr, Stone (Anime) - Hey we are back! New guy seems fun, I still adore Senku as a protagonist, and I’m interested to see how they plan to balance so many characters moving forward. Hope we see more flashbacks of the fantastic dad/son relationship, it’s honestly one of my favorites from any media I’ve seen. 

- Buddy Daddies (Anime) - While the ending surprised me in it’s conclusively (I did not expect a future epilogue to be canonized) overall I’d say it was a good decision. I’d say this was a solid C+, B-, it was good at being the cute little parenting comedy it wanted to be with some fun moments and solid animation but wasn’t particularly memorable in terms of plot or characters-like, I like all the leads, but I don’t see them topping any end of the year favorite lists. I will say that I’m surprised at how platonic they kept the fathers, I hadn’t expected them to get together but I did expect a lot more ship bait than we got. They work fine as a ship but the series really did focus a lot more on the child rearing aspects which came as a surprise considering how often marketing wants to tease mlm relationships for profit. I guess I appreciate it as I prefer giving visibility to more platonic relationships and unusual family structures to queerbaiting with no delivery but also there’s so few genuinely good mlm anime that it would’ve been nice for them to just have them be a couple. I did have a fun time with this, I’d recommend it if you are into the raising children genre. 

- Campfire Cooking in Another World (Anime) - Follow some people who had suggested this as a fun, relaxing little cooking anime and yeah, that checks out so far. Just a very cute and wholesome little feel good series about a man feeding his giant God level talking dog and baby slime child-As a domestic monster appreciator this is checking my boxes pretty well.  

- The Locked Tomb Series (Books) - Almost done with Gideon the Ninth, once again I’m really enjoying these characters and their dynamics, as well as the general space necromancy mystery plotline. I’m listening to the audiobook at the moment, but I’ll likely buy the physical copies as there are a lot of excellent quotes in here that I would like easier access to revisit. Anyway, Gideon and Harrow are the toxic co-dependent love hate lesbian ship I’ve needed in my life since my catradora hyperfixation. 

- Resident Evil 4 (Video Game) - Played till around chapter 6 so far with my friends and honestly, it’s really good. They keep all the fun stuff from the original but make it high res, I love seeing Leon and Ada and Luis and the Merchant again. It’s hard to get everyone together to play but I’m excited about getting to experience it again, got some great childhood memories of hanging with the girls and laughing at all the strange zombie noises they chose to include.

As usual I’m also keeping up with The Greatest Estate Developer, Land of the Lustrous, The Vampire Dies In No Time, and The S Classes that I raised.

Listening to: Nothing is Going Right by Meiyo, Eat Your Young by Hozier, Achilles Come Down cover by Annapantsu, Stalker’s Tango by Autoheart, Ship in a Bottle by fin, I Hate Everything But You and I’ve Always Never Believed in You from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, They’re Only Human from the Death Note Musical, Counting Bodies Like Sheep by A Perfect Circle, Kickback by Kenshi Yonezu, My Kind by Hilary Duff, Hallelujah cover by Pentatonix

#weekly roundup #My posts

[pappydaddy]

@ the Nancy anon

Nancy is a cheater lol, you people just overlook it because she finally got together with Jonathan which was the relationship most people were rooting for. When they talked to Murray Nancy referred to Steve as her boyfriend, thus the whole "We like Steve but we don't love him" speech comes from. If they were broken up she would have said so to Jonathan who also acknowledged Steve as her boyfriend at that time. Plus you could argue she emotionally cheated on Steve for a year because Nancy confessed to Jonathan she waited for him to make a move and then had the audacity to be mad when Jonathan brought up she had a bf and he was busy with Will.

That's what the other anon was talking albout, the show never addresses her mistakes. Steve still believes he was at fault for the breakup while she was out there cheating. I'm not saying he was perfect but he put in the work. He left his friends and tried to be a good person. Like they were together for a year obviously he had changed while being in the relationship. He was supportive by going to Barb's parents with her, he tried to protect Nancy by telling her to drop the investigation. She didn't understand it or rather felt misunderstood by him but he had good intentions. It's simply miscommunication there and maybe if they would have talked it out who knows but it didn't change the fact that Nancy was always into Jonathan. I mean after the party the next day Steve referred to Jonathan as Nancy's second boyfriend, so even he was aware of the tension. In my opinion they didn't break up after the argument bc Steve went to her house to talk and to apologize while she was already in bed with Jonathan. I get it it's ambiguous but if you watch closely and I have rewatched s2 more than 5 times because it's my comfort season you can tell she was a cheater. Like if the roles were reversed everyone would say oh Steve's so horrible for it how could he they never clearly broke up Nancy deserved better. For real everyone would always bring it up especially after revived Stancy content in s4. Everyone would be yelling at Nancy to not go back to him because of how he treated her in s2, again if the roles were reversed.

sidenote before i start the reply: i love all the interaction i've been getting and i also love how you guys are not attacking each other but discussing and debating in a respectful way by bringing up valid points. however, if any ask pops up being rude to other anons/posters, i will not be posting the message. i just want to make that clear before that situation arises.

i, personally, am leaning towards nancy cheating (just like i lean toward ross cheating) within the cheating or not argument just because the lines of the relationships were blurry. she also did emotionally cheat within the steve relationship. they were keeping a dead relationship alive by the time the bathroom fight happened in season 2. let's be honest, their relationship was set up to be a temporary thing anyway. steve and nancy were never meant to last past season 1, then they weren't meant to last past the bathroom fight.

i know i have said this a lot, but the dislike towards nancy is from the writers not having her grow or recognize her bad behaviours/actions. steve recognizes his and changes them in season 1 and 2, but in season 4 he doesn't seem to in favour for stancy content which is ooc. this gives us a hint that steve and nancy dating again will reverse steve's character development which will hinder any chance we get at any character development in nancy.

in favour of nancy's character, if they would stop having her torn emotionally between jonathan and steve, maybe then she'll actually have character development. i am personally in favour of her realizing she liked robin and having her character development occur from her romantic feelings for robin.

i do definitely think that the opinions of tik tok and others would change if the roles would be reversed. but, on the flip side of that, i do think there would still be a lot of fans ignoring what steve did no matter what because there will always be fans who ignore all the bad aspects of a character because they are cute, or because of their sex/gender identity, or because of any other reason.

we must remember that stancy was originally just something that stood in the way of jonathan and nancy getting together. the relationship was always supposed to be one-sided because nancy always had a thing for jonathan (which is why i assume the writers had her overlook the photos).

#pappydaddy answers anons #pappydaddy answers anon asks #pappydaddy answers asks #pappydaddy answers

[historyhermann]

Smashing Stereotypes: Valerie the Librarian in “Spidey Super Stories” [PART 2]

See part 1 here.

Valerie tells the villain, The Vanisher, he can check out books, but only with a library card, on page 4 of a Spider Super Stories issue.

In later comics, Valerie is asked patron information about who had a book, gets her name in one comic on a placard at her desk, and realizes where she is a true hero: as a librarian, helping people. This is clear in one comic where the library is a mess when she isn’t there to help out, and it is noted that her job is important. [6] That’s not something you see in depictions of librarians every day. Her last mention in the Spidey Super Stories series is a comic in which she plays a secondary role, helping a detective, in some capacity, solve a case. She isn’t even seen in a library in that issue, which is unfortunate as its her last appearance in the comic, and it would have been better for her to go out on a better note than the last issue issue she appeared within. [7]

So it makes more sense as to why she was not remembered, as Valerie does not have consistent secondary role in the comics, sometimes more in the background and other times having a more active role. At the same time, it appears, according to the Hattie Winston Wikipedia page, that Easy Reader (voiced by Morgan Freeman) was Valerie’s girlfriend in The Electric Company series, which explains their relation to each other a little more with how they interact with one another in the comics. Other sources show that Sylvia and Valerie, in the same show, are not the same, as I had previously thought. The Root said that Valerie’s actress joined the cast in the third season, playing a “groovy librarian” who sings a duet with Easy Reader in one episode while wearing sunglasses in a library for some reason. This really makes me want to watch The Electric Company, appearing in 520 episodes according to the listing on her IMDB page. [8]

There is more to Valerie the librarian than what I have previously mentioned. For one, she is the only one of Black female librarians that I have mentioned on this blog and I have found in animated shows, films, and comics that has a MLIS degree. Neither Lydia Lovely in Horrid Henry, a Black woman who is voiced by a White actress, nor Clara Rhone in Welcome to the Wayne, a Black woman voiced by Harriet D. Foy, are noted as having MLIS degrees, although it implied that both have such degrees. The same can be said about the unnamed Black male librarian in an episode of We Bare Bears. Unfortunately, some characters are not shown to have professional experience because they are in fantasy realms. This includes two gay Black men, George and Lance in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, are self-declared historians who run a family library, making them de facto librarians, while O’Bengh / Cagliostro, a Nigerian man, in an episode of What If…?. As such, Valerie is the first Black librarian, male or female, that I have found who has a MLIS degree. And that it definitely significant!

People like Valerie are not common in the librarian profession, however. Currently the profession suffers from a “persistent lack of racial and ethnic diversity that has not changed significantly over the past 15 years,” with only 9.5 percent of librarians identified as Black or African American in the year 2020. [9] Despite this lack of diversity, there have been prominent Black female librarians who have their names etched in the annals of history. For instance, Catherine A. Latimer was the first Black librarian of New York Public Library. Dorothy Porter, who led Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, challenged the Dewey Decimal System’s racial bias and created her own classification system for Black scholarship. Marjorie Adele Blackistone Bradfield was the first Black librarian of Detroit Public Library, expanding the library’s Black literature collection. Belle Da Costa Greene was the personal librarian for J.P. Morgan, curating a collection of manuscripts, art, and rare books, but controversially passed as White. Alma Smith Jacobs was the first Black librarian in Montana, spearheading the construction of a modern library for the city of Great Falls. There are many more Black female librarians beyond the five mentioned in this paragraph, as these examples only scratch the surface of Black women’s impact on librarianship over the years. [10] In fact, one of the most outspoken Black female librarians in recent years is April Hathcock, who has been very prolific, passionate, and dedicated to librarianship.Her last post on her blog, to date, explains why she is leaving the American Library Association (ALA), calling it an organization “centered on promoting the ‘neutrality’ of white supremacy and capitalism.”

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[6] Spidey Super Stories Vol 1 49, p. 17-18, 22 (the story “Fargo’s Problem”); Spidey Super Stories Vol 1 53, p. 15-20

[7] Spidey Super Stories Vol 1 57, p. 17-18 (the story “Fargo’s Brother”).

[8] See all episodes cited here in note #8.

[9] AFL-CIO Department of Professional Employees, “Library Professionals: Facts & Figures,” Fact Sheet, Jun. 10, 2021. Of course, being Black and a professional, as not stopped incidents like Stephanie Bottom, a Black female librarian in Atlanta, from being assaulted by police, who don’t care about professional credentials, seeing Black people through their racist mindsets.

[10] Evans, Rhoda. “Catherine Latimer: The New York Public Library’s First Black Librarian,” New York Public Library, Mar. 20, 2020; Nunes, Zita Christina. “Remembering the Howard University Librarian Who Decolonized the Way Books Were Catalogued,” Smithsonian magazine, Nov. 26, 2018, reprinted from Perspectives of History; Audi, Tamara. “Marjorie Bradfield: Put black history into library,” Detroit Free Press, Nov. 20, 1999; Bates, Karen Grigsby. “J.P. Morgan’s Personal Librarian Was A Black Woman. This Is Her Story,” NPR News, Jul. 4, 2021; Milner, Surya. “Honoring Montana’s first Black librarian,” High Country News, Feb. 15, 2021. Other examples of prominent Black female librarians include, as noted by Book Riot, Charlemae Rollins as head librarian at the Chicago Public Library, Clara Stanton Jones as the first Black president of the American Library Association, Eliza Atkins Gleason as the “first Black American to earn a doctorate in library science at the University of Chicago” in 1940, Sadie Peterson Delaney who was key in bibliotherapy, Annette Lewis Phinazee as the “first woman and the first Black American woman to earn a doctorate in Library Science from Columbia University,” Carla Diane Hayden as the current Librarian of Congress, Effie Lee Morris as the “first woman and first black person to serve as president of the Public Library Association,” Mollie Huston Lee as the “first black librarian in Raleigh, North Carolina,” Virginia Lacy Jones as the second black person to earn a doctorate in Library Science, Virginia Proctor Powell Florence as the “first black woman in the United States to earn a degree in library science from the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library School,” and Vivian Harsh became the “first black librarian for the Chicago Public Library where she passionately collected works by Black Americans” in February 1924.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Library Review.

#librarians #libraries #black librarians #pop culture #valerie the librarian

[demircarlson3]

Stylish And Natural Replica Clothes For All Seasons New Selections Arrivals

Though we envy the sun shades that the wealthy celebrities have perched on their heads, looking uber cool in the sizzling summer season, we regularly accept one thing a lot much less fancy. You will find plenty of G-Shock replicas right here for a minuscule share of the original value. These are on par with the unique manufacturer’s quality, fit, durability and shades of color that you will not be able to search out the difference. Kamatiti is one of our favourites for much cheaper priced Converse shoes. This web page is growing a lot and sells throughout 50 countries, changing into the necessary thing so that many young lovers of luxury merchandise can get them virtually identical at a lower cost. This platform presents you many products, from jewellery to footwear and from wallets to clothing for men, women, and kids. If you have a women’s clothes retailer, this site is what you want to get hold of one of the best guarantee of success in your business at meager prices. wikipedia clothes Well, there’s Alibaba, another online market that has roots in China. With a web-based market raking in tens of millions of customers, individuals flock to Alibaba to experience their wholesale mannequin. So it’s absolutely fantastic to buy branded replicas and you ought to have no repercussions. Watches can be one of the expensive purchases in one’s life. If you don’t need to overspend on watches and want to construct up a set of some good wanting watches, then try the best replica brands of watches from Aliexpress. The most popular in China are replica clothing, luggage, footwear, electronic products and watches. Avoiding these vendors is fairly simple – examine reviews and scores of merchandise they promote. Look for replica clothes on Alibaba.com to get as many as you want while maintaining inside your budget. A broad selection of trendy and athletic versions are available. However, it is rather troublesome to discover a foundry for brand cosmetics and do a good job in high quality management. My colleague Alice bought a duplicate of Airpods in Taobao for under 59 RMB. But it seems precisely the same as the original product, and there's no distinction in any respect from the skin. Most clothes, Handbags, shoes, watches, and jewellery folks put on usually are not legit however most people don’t discover this. They are mostly are replicas of the unique merchandise or we can also they're faux or typically they are referred to as fantasy clothes. Of course, there are additionally genuine and low cost designer clothes online. Unlike their name, Vintage Clothing offers modern informal wear that ranges from subtle to bright and catchy prints. The store’s best sellers are the slim-fit pants and Nike replicas that may give the real ones a run for the money. Using the experience they’ve gathered for the last 7 years this retailer presents quality products, nice service, and free delivery. On this platform, you can see many merchants who wholesale products primarily from Indian brands, and many of them, replica designer clothes at meager costs. This platform is well known for selling handmade merchandise, but additionally, you will find branded replica clothing wholesale. Like any e-commerce portal, DHgate, although very spectacular, does even have some unreliable sellers. We definitely don’t wish to be busting money on sellers who sell poor quality products or who do not keep up their word in terms of transport out and timelines. The above sellers have not solely been well researched however are also rated highly when it comes to feedback from actual clients who've shopped from them. It’s onerous to find something you buy off of Etsy as low quality since a lot of the clothes you’ll find is made by hand. With a giant library in replica designer inspired clothing, you should not have any problem discovering clothing you’re in search of, among different products. Most of the major global brands have their merchandise manufactured in China. The high prices that these firms sell their baggage for are as a end result of value that the brand names add, as the worth of manufacturing is simply a fraction of the sale prices. That said, sellers on DHgate have the know-how and expertise to provide the identical luggage that are bought by huge names and therefore, DHgate does have good replica baggage available. The greatest replica website is DHgate hands down, as they have replica bags, replica shoes, replica clothes and more. In addition to non-public web sites, you may also see many Chinese sellers selling replica merchandise on social platforms such as FB/Ins. They normally submit pictures of replica manufacturers on social media, after which call on you to contact them on WeChat or whatAPP to buy. But all in all, wholesale replica clothes has certain threat. Buying one hundred pc authentic designer clothes, go to Chinabrands. You can find the great fashion, trendy design designer clothing with wholesale price and likewise has no danger of promoting them to your custoemrs. It could additionally be a Chinese-based retailer, however it usually ships to European international locations. Don’t let Replica Wholesaler’s web site full you, although it seems like a pretend web site. However, when a product is bought as a replica, there are minute adjustments in design and brand names that circumvent the copyright laws which are in place to guard the large brands. Hence, the replicas available on sites corresponding to DHgate.com are sold as replicas without the purpose of cheating the shoppers. For Example, an Adidas backpack replica can be listed as “A-D-I-D-A-S backpack”. fpweb.ru replica designer clothes Most of the replicas don’t have the actual logos, however they do have the design and patterns of prime brands.

#replica clothes #replica designer clothes #replica chanel clothes

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About "Them's the Break's, Kid" from The Owl House

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

You know, it's always great when a series has not just one but two cute relationships to root for. Not only that but two relationships on opposite sides of the spectrum. Because while we have Luz and Amity as the young couple and the realistic portrayal of two girls going through their first relationship, we also have Eda and Raine as the older couple with the dramatic showing of a broken relationship trying to get back to where it started. And while I'm definitely a Lumity fan (you all know this by now), I can't help but give Raeda its dues. I mean, for f**k's sake, I made an entire AU where they stayed together. That should tell you how much I care about these two.

And now, we get an entire episode dedicated to them! More specifically, an episode about how they met. Which is undoubtedly going to be cute to watch...or heartbreaking. I'm not sure because I wrote this intro last night in preparation for today's episode. And it seems plausible given how this is the sadder half of Season Two (and holy s**t, does it show). But I'm sure my heart won't be too shattered this week. Right future me?

Oh, yeah, no worries. This episode is adorable.

Sounds great! Now, let's find out together how heartbreaking or adorable "Them's the Breaks, Kid" really is!

Spoilers ahead.

WHAT I LIKED

Luz Making New Glyphs: This is neat. Now, Luz has some new glyphs, now mastering both water and air. All she needs is an Earth glyph, and she might as well be the Avatar!

(There, I made a Last Airbender reference. Do I get my cookie this time?!)

Jokes aside, this moment is a bit undercut by the fact that the main reason why Luz is doing this is to distract herself again. Don't get me wrong, I like seeing Luz add more to her arsenal, but I'm not loving this little habit she's forming by doing work to avoid problems. It tells me that she learned nothing from "Reaching Out." But I'm alright with it. I mean, I'm not ok with my favorite character inadvertently making life hard on herself, but I like seeing more flaws in Luz. A character who is perfect in every way is also uninteresting. So, while I'm sure that Luz throwing herself into work will absolutely backfire, at least it'll be an entertaining character conflict, albeit a heartbreaking one.

(Also, are we just going to breeze past the fact that Luz has a petrification spell now? Because I mean...I think we now know how Belos will die.)

Why Eda Tells the Story of How She Met Raine: THIS HOUSE STANS EDA BEING A GOOD MOM!

Seriously, Eda wanting to tell a story she knows Luz will love just so she won't feel sad anymore is all kinds of sweet. It's still not a healthy solution to let Luz distract herself from her issues rather than confront them, but it shows how much Eda cares for her by doing something Eda knows will put Luz in a better mood. It's wholesome found-family moments like this that I live for, and I can't help but gush at the cuteness of it all.

Eda and Lilith: The same goes for wholesome sibling moments.

Yet, this scene with Eda and Lilith has a heartbreaking tint. Because, well...we know how this ends. We know that these cute sisterly moments fade away due to a mistake that Lilith will regret for the rest of her life. And, the worst part is, you see how that will start. Like the way Lilith gets insecure about Eda being overly correct about a question or the different reasons that they get excited about being in the Emperor's Coven. Lilith focused more on power and status, while Eda was all about the chaos. This proves that their disconnect wasn't sudden, nor was Lilith's betrayal. There are hints through Eda and Lilith's interactions that prove the day of their duel was only inevitable, making this scene all the more bittersweet. Because as cute as it is, it was only the precursor of something tragic to come, showing that their darkest days are just ahead of them.

Principal Faust: Or their darkest days are just a few minutes from now.

Here's something about Principal Faust: I hate him and everything he represents. He's everything I feared Bump would be as a cartoonishly evil principal who cares more about control rather than his students. And yet...he's in the "liked" section. Why? Well, for one, his design is wicked. Seriously, as twisted as this man is, at least he looks cool.

As for the real reason, it's because Faust's actions make me love Principal Bump even more.

Principal Bump: It warms my frickin' heart knowing that Bump always cared about his students, even if troublemakers like Eda were around. His ideal is that no one is beyond redemption, and the lengths he goes through to give everyone the benefit of the doubt just gives me more reasons to love the man! He genuinely cares about students, to the point where he'd confront a coven head that's ten times more powerful than him because he knows it's unfair to rip away someone's reward that they've earned fair and square. That and all the child-endangerment that Terra put the students through. It's everything a person could ask for in a principal. Not a tyrant, but a reasonable caretaker who actually likes children. It's just a better, well-rounded character compared to someone like Faust.

Terra Snapdragon (Spelt it right this time…): But, as much as I adore a responsible caretaker, there's something to appreciate about someone so maniacal. I think I said Terra Snapdragon is the type of person who would kill you nicely. Now, I'm convinced she would straight up mangle your body but have a warm, motherly smile when doing it. Seriously, though, this woman's insane, and I'm all for it. She's terrifying but entertainingly so. Where a villain like Belos makes me quiver in my boots when he shows up, Terra is more or less on the same line as a Batman villain. And, no, it's not because she has the same powers as Poison Ivy. It's because her personality is so strong that I'd have a blast watching her, even if it is doing something dastardly. Of course, if she'd exist in real life, I'd certainly head for the hills. But, because this is a work of fiction, I'll enjoy the crazy lady who lets children fight each other over ribbons for all she's worth.

(Also, it's probably a mistake on the character designers' part to make her look hot when she was young. Doesn't this series have enough milfs for creepy men on the internet to drool over?!)

Although as entertaining as Terra is, she's not the standout star of this episode.

Eda and Raine:  Oh, how perfect these two were in this.

If you didn't understand why these two were perfect in "Eda's Requiem," you'll get it here. Eda and Raine are like partners in crime, with both working well together in both sync and in harmony. What's even better is that you get why Eda falls for Raine. While Eda can be all for chaos, Raine leans more toward controlled chaos, knowing how to let Eda run loose without getting in trouble. And if Raine being an evil genius isn't enough to make Eda fall for them, everything else about Raine will. The way that they're a skilled and powerful witch can match Eda's level is great, but how they offered Eda advice and tried to calm her down from her anxieties shows a person as compassionate as they are devious. But that's why we know Eda fell for Raine. On the other end, we understand that Eda brings fun to Raine's life, making them laugh and think of neat tricks they wouldn't have thought of before. You see how both get something out of their relationship, leading to some interactions that are best described as cute, wholesome, cute, funny, cute, cute, and cute.

"You said cute, like, five times."

BECAUSE THEY'RE CUTE!

However, this is Season 2B. So, not everything has to stay wholesome. Where's that anxiety?

Covens Vs Wilds: Ah. There it is.

As far as I can tell, this game is like "Cowboys and Indians," but worse. Way, way, way, way, way, way, way worse. Because Covens vs. Wilds sounds like a game designed for fear-mongering, and it feels...icky that there's a children's game about some witches running to avoid getting caught by the more powerful ones chasing after them. It's pretty sick and twisted, showing the dark side of the Emperor's Coven through the lens of what could be an innocent children's game. The innocence only ends when you think about it longer than a second.

As for the game itself, it's pretty intense. The second the game starts, everyone goes into Hunger Games mode, attacking one another and giving people barely enough time to catch their breath. Although, I guess a good thing that came from this is that it did let us see a powerful Eda again, which honestly felt jarring given how powerless she's been this season. So, it's nice to see a return to form again.

Terra Preventing Eda’s Expulsion: It's also nice how everything works out in the end.

I guess if there's one thing to complain about "Them's The Breaks, Kid," it would be that it tries to have big stakes even though we all know how it will end. Eda won't get expelled, won't hurt Raine, nor will Terra actually kill them both. Still, I'll give the episode credit: The fact that I knew the ending didn't bother me. Heck, at one point, I forgot I was watching a flashback due to getting sucked into the drama and adorableness. It's why I felt relieved that Terra gave Eda a solution to her problem. I was so invested in the story that I didn't care if I knew it would all work out. It was still fun to see how.

Raine Starting Eda’s Apple Blood Addiction: And it's funny to see how Eda got her Apple Blood addiction. But, yeah, it's also sweet watching these two bond over good/awful juice, and taking turns to lovingly stare at each other is such a solid note to end on. Couldn't ask for a better way to finish off such a cute and wholesome--

Raine Changing Terra’s Tea with the Whistle: …What?

Raine is Working with Darius?: What?

The Day of Unity Involves a Draining Spell: What?!

The Door is Being Moved!: WHAT?!

Raine Not Wanting to get Eda Involved so She Wouldn’t be in Danger: WHA–Ok…That is a lot. This is the literal last minute, and the writers threw so much at us...and I love it. I love that the writers managed to make a wholesome episode about how Eda and Raine met, but they kept the plot going with all these major reveals that still work with the episode's context. It's not like in Amphibia, where the ending stings feel like they could go anywhere. Episodes like "Anne Vs. Wild," "Lost in Newtopia," and "Froggy Little Christmas" end with scenes that don't really match with what happens before them, and it just feels like the writers wanted to insert these in the season but weren't sure how. Now here, in "Them's the Breaks, Kid," the ending works. It takes knowledge that the episode foreshadowed and, because everything was Raine-heavy anyway, ending with a reveal of what they've been doing the whole time just felt right. It's another perfect end to another perfect episode.

WHAT I DISLIKED

No, again, this episode is perfect. I might hate Faust, and adding stakes doesn't make sense for a flashback, but I don't care. Those are nitpicks compared to everything else done right.

IN CONCLUSION

"Them's the Breaks, Kid" is another A+. The Raeda moments are amazing, the insights into these characters are better, and the story's pretty solid. I was already a Raeda shipper before this, but after? Let's just say that, now more than ever, I'm hoping for the best for these two and that nothing can break them apart.

#the owl house #the owl house reviews #the owl house spoilers #eda clawthorne #raine whispers #raeda #principal bump #lilith clawthorne #principal faust #terra snapdragon #what i thought about

[donutloverxo]

A Royal Scandal 3

Modern Royal King!Steve au

(Image from Pinterest)

cowritten with @lizzygal​

Note - There will be no taglists for this. You can subscribe to the  ao3 story to receive updates!

Please note that my stories are not to be stolen or reposted on any other site. Reblogs are welcome. This blog and this story is 18+. Do not read, follow or interact if you are not 18+.

Summary - Modern ruler, His Majesty King Steven G Rogers, is on a quest to make his long term secret relationship the real thing. He is a man in love and wants his lover and partner to be his queen.

Warnings - Smut (m/f), dub con/non con, sex tape, scandals, mentions of past domestic abuse, soft dark Steve, possessive Steve, spanking, power imbalance, mentions of previous domestic abuse, somnophilia.

Pairing - King!Steve x reader

Word count - 7k

Story masterlist

Sometimes Steven forgot that you weren’t that much younger than him. He forgot about a lot of things when it was only the two of you. You did that to him. You made him forget things that everyone else reminded him of constantly, intentional and not.

Early that morning was no different.

Long before his alarm went off, Steve found himself on his side watching you sleep. Feeling in every way equal to you, like there was not this huge ocean of things that he did not have in common with you, opposed to what the two of you shared.

Obviously, he was the son of kings and tyrants while you were the daughter of immigrants and a blue-collar family. You’d grown up in a house full of love and kindness and acceptance, he had not. You’d ended your teenage years going to college and then travelling and ending up here, where you chose to stay and work and travel and live a life that Steve could only dream of, his own had never been his own and never would be.

You had dreams and hopes, little things like aspirations. He didn’t.

Steve’s life was dictated by things like duty and obligations, expectations. Yours was not.

Maybe that was why he’d been so drawn to you?

Compared to all the royals around Europe and titled individuals, politicians, even old families, none of them interested him even a fraction of the amount that you interested him. To Steve you were exotic. You were a fascinating creature who might as well have come from Mars.

He couldn’t even say what it was or why.

For so long it had felt right to be alone. Considering the blood of monsters ran through his veins, Steve had been uninterested in any sort of companionship more than a brief encounter at a private location.

For Christ’s sake, he refused to sleep in the bedroom that his father had slept in.

Upon assuming the throne, he’d selected to take up older quarters in an unused part of the palace living complex. As if to ensure he was as far away from the rooms that his father and grandfather and great-grandfather had slept. Choosing to sleep in a bed untainted by any of those men, stored from when his land was ruled by an emperor. Hoping with the hopes of a young king that it would save him from their madness.

Beside him, you slept so peacefully, trustingly.

Steve had never brought anyone into his private apartment. Nor had his bed seen any carnal action since it’d gone into storage. Until you. He’d simply never been so inclined.

A rough sound from the growth on his cheek rubbing against his pillow. A pleasant reminder of that night that felt so long ago, yet also like only yesterday.

He’d had a beard back then he remembered.

A full bushy one.

One that had made you laugh softly at, roll your eyes and still manage to pull off an acceptable bow when you greeted him that late night.

“They beat Canada then Your Majesty?” You had inquired with good nature, setting down a whole stack of papers and folders onto the very modern conference table in a big room that could fit two dozen, more if the people were standing.

He’d beamed.

Steve remembered he’d been in a particularly good mood that night. Even if he was working late on the education push into the outer regions of his kingdom. A good amount was still very rural, many simple villages that lived as they had fifty or more years ago. Many parts of his kingdom were still deeply rooted in the past.

“Indeed. Eleven to four.”

He was beaming. Beaming! You were pretty sure you could see molars. It made you shake your head and begin to sort out all your work into piles to go over. Not that you’d ever admit to secretly being caught up in the hype of the team being so close to gold at the Winter Olympics. “So then the beard stays?”

“You of all people,” he admonished, coming over to help you. Picking up the well-marked up maps you’d spent hours annotating.

Making you roll your eyes.

On he went though, obviously needing to drive home the seriousness of this matter. “The beard stays until we win gold. Next we play Norway. I don’t think it needs to be said that we cannot risk it.”

He was serious. Really serious. If that full glorious beard was any indication.

More focused on the organizing task yourself.

Sorting your work by region, pile by pile, each had taken much work and effort and negotiation, endless phone calls and trips and emails to each area to get them to work not only with you, but one another. It was like herding cats. It had taken you months to get this all sorted out for Steve to see. His ideas weren’t even ready to be implemented. This was just the pre-gaming, the leadup, the work in preparation. You weren’t even on Step One. You were on Step Zero.

“Now that I know, I’ll be sure to grow a beard next Winter Olympics.”

And then you were rewarded with a rich hearty laugh from your king.

Well not your king, as you weren’t a citizen of this country. But you still liked to think of him as your king.

Watching you sleep was something he’d never tire of. Never get enough of. It was a luxury that he didn’t realize he wanted day in out.

The ability to wake up with you tangled up in blankets. Curled back against his front. Hogging pillows as you did. Allowing Steve to run his fingers up and down your bare thigh, along the curves of your body. Letting him lean forward to press his lips to your shoulder and see the peaceful rest of your face in his slowly lightening bedroom. Every last inch of you here for him.

Hungry.

That was what it was, he was hungry for you. Like a big bear that woke from hibernation after a long winter. At times he felt such a way. Never having felt this way about anyone prior.

In his own time, he slipped his fingers down along the round of your ass underneath the flesh of your hip. Warm. Soft. Smooth. Neither of you had left the bed since the late night bath in his tub.

Further down Steve allowed his fingers to trail.

Memorizing every last second to get him through his day. From how you felt pressed against the front of him, how your back moved against his chest with every steady breath you took. The way your legs tangled in his buttery sheets with his own, how the soft cheeks of your bottom pressed against his alert groin.

Most definitely though, how your skin tasted and felt beneath his mouth. Smelling like yourself from all your favorite bath products kept in his bathroom.

You’d smelled so good that night too.

You always smelled good.

It was something that he had noticed but hadn’t given any real thought to.

It seemed to be a mix of perfume and body lotion or cream. Cause Steve found the flowery smell would linger after you walked by in the way that perfume did, infusing the air and making his brain scream out that you were near. But also, when you shook his hand, it always had that sweet fresh clean smell afterwards.

Now, whenever Steve smelled it, all he could think about was you.

Those smells danced around him. Making the late hour bearable. Making the fact that the offices were empty but for the two of you, when you both should have been home in bed, not matter.

“Ok…” you were talking to him, pointing out places on the massive map that was his nation. Arms crossed. Legs spread. Standing beside you as you informed him with tones that indicated your happiness, your displeasure as well as your utter irritation. “…so I managed to get in touch with every Education Department in all nine of your territories.”

Though you were not looking at him, Steve nodded, laser focused on this project he’d tasked you with months ago.

“All of the department heads are on board with your desired overhaul to completely modernize the entire system. Unfortunately, they told me that I had to call all the district heads for all forty-six provinces to get their agreed participation too.”

Your tone went from pleased with yourself then skeptical and then annoyed.

You turned your head to look at him. “Which is what I spent the last three months doing. It was something of a thing.”

Steve could only imagine.

He was quiet though so you could go on. More than pleased with how well you worked in this position. He’d originally been skeptical with your being a foreigner. How dedicated would you be to a job in a country that was not your own? One hundred percent as it turned out.

Your hands flattened out dramatically on the table. Outrage surged from you. “I’m still waiting on two appointees because their predecessors apparently died during harvest season and no one could be bothered to replace the position. I literally had to fly out to the outer reaches of civilization to find this out. Cause all the government offices are closed during harvest season, fyi. But they’re literally filling the positions now.”

Such was the challenge of having a large kingdom with one foot in the future and one in the past. Such things led to the difficultly of keeping a Chief of Staff.

Steve’s previous Chief of Staff had come highly recommended and lasted a little over a month.

Whether it was from a lack of dedication, the obvious frustrations of the job or maybe he simply had not wanted to jump on a plane and fly six hours then ride by car five hours to remote areas in order to complete his work. Steve could not be sure. All he knew for sure was he’d keep you as long as humanly possible.

In his eyes, you were a saint.

“What’s with the question mark?”

Making you look to see which question mark you’d marked on the map full of stickers and marks and tabs. Hours had been spent working on the damn thing.

Seeing which question mark in question made your nose scrunch. “Oh…them, they refuse to even answer my calls until they are allowed to take their traditional name for their province. Which is way above my pay grade. Someone else is going to have to deal with them. I tried.”

Ah, Steve nodded, that was far from surprising. The far outer regions were notoriously independent or rebellious, depending on your stance.

He would deal with them accordingly. Not how his father did, but in his own way.

Steve’s attention was drawn to two nearby provinces. Each had a frowny face sticker. Without asking, he merely pointed.

A noise of pure disgusted frustration came from deep in your throat. Making you stand and look to him, brandishing your hands in all directions. “I tried my best with them. I really did. Both of those provinces absolutely refuse to take part in anything if the other is involved. Apparently, they’re still salty at one another over something that happened in fourteen-seventy-three and refer to me as the foreign she-devil. So…good luck with them Your Majesty.”

Soundly you slept.

Comfortable. Safe. At peace.

Making him feel like a true man. A provider able to care for you, protect you, satisfy you. As if he were stripped down to what nature intended. Instead of what society had dictated for you both.

Reaching down to that heavenly place between the V in your thighs, Steve pushed his fingers further to find your softness slippery, your skin slick with viscous arousal. In pushing his finger up further, running it around the edge of your slit to where the gateway to your body was hidden, he found you heavily aroused. Coating his fingers with a thick fluid that promised you would be able to take him now. Oozing into the cervices between his fingers and smearing thickly down his palm and over the back of his hand.

Unable to help himself, he brought his hand out from between your legs in order to look at your arousal. Merely the sight made his balls clench in eager anticipation. Tasting the bodily excretions had his hips moving against yours on their own.

A noise came from you. Though you were far from waking. Always one to enjoy your sleep.

On his tongue you were heady, ripe. Tasting like sin. Steve licked his fingers. Eyes closed so he could savor the taste, how you clung to his tongue and were thick, like a burst of brandy swirling with his saliva.

Awakened now from his deep sleep. Ravenous like a beast of the forest. He pressed a lingering kiss to your shoulder. Making you mumble. Making you wiggle in your sleep, causing you to reach your arm out for a pillow to pull close. Hooking your leg up higher too. Becoming more comfortable in the bed in addition to opening yourself up more to your king. As if your body had connected to his on a level your mind was unaware and encouraged him to take you.

Down he peered. Strands of hair fell across his forehead at the harsh angle. A soft lightening of the sun through drapes he never closed last night allowed the sight of moisture. Folds of bare skin sheened up at him. Tempting him with that webbing of goo that promised him you were ready.

Taking himself in hand, he caught sight of your name curled over his side. Reminding him of your absolute possession over him. Sending his hand low to pull his foreskin back in order to feed this hunger of you that consumed him.

Your signature was all swoops and swirls.

Recognizable above anyone else’s writing he came across on a daily basis.

All over paper and on the maps. In little corners. Highlighted. In different color pens. On stickie notes. Written on napkins or on the back of random pieces of paper.

At the time, he’d had no idea how far gone he really was.

Not even when he watched you take note after note with a purple inked pen, your hand flowing across paper like a swimmer cutting through the water. Taking down his every word, every command.

A incredibly distinctive feeling of being full woke you up from your glorious sleep, in a very singular sort of way that could be from only one thing. Only one thing on earth felt like that when waking you up.

Pulling you out of a warm blissful sleep only to wake you with the exquisite feeling of being stretched open, pushed into, filled up. Making your fingers clench bedding or pillows or whatever they could grab.

A low breathy moan came from you in the time between you were woken and awake, your face burrowing in a pillow was followed by a soft profanity. Weight slowly covered you. Weight pinned you down to the bed a little at a time. Skin and sheets and soft dustings of hair rubbed against you.

Only when you had fully woken did you feel pubes brush against your cheeks. A light tap of scrotum bumped you too.

Long arms wrapped around you. Wet lips mouthed along the curve of your neck.

This was a far superior way to wake up. Compared to your apartment, in bed alone, to your neighbors loud shrilling alarm clock through your paper-thin wall.

Groaning out at the feel of His Majesty’s cock stuffed safely up in your secret garden. You found yourself whining at Steve at whatever time it was in the early morning. “…fuuuuck…what’d I say about doing that…” A swivel, nay, a swivel with a pop of his pelvis followed, making you see stars, gasp deeply as if you’d been stabbed in the lungs and then add on for God and Country. “…My King…shit, My King…oh shit, My King.”

Though it may have been said in jest, his tone was hot enough to scald. “If memory serves me correctly…” another deep push of thick hips shoved you forward into the pillows. “…you say, not in my ass unless I’m awake.”

Stars.

So many bright and colorful stars.

Mmm.

Yes, that was something you had told him on many occasions and it still held very true. If Steve was going to put anything in your ass, forget that thing he claimed was a dick, you needed to be fully awake so you could both physically and emotionally prepare yourself.

Nothing at all could have prepared you for the drastic turn your life was about to take that night.

Nothing.

Everything had been so normal. It was so regular. Like many a long night working late hours at the palace before. Hours had been spent going over all your hard work contacting each and every head in each education department per province, as well as per territory. In addition to the national department of education, preparing to prep them for what the king wanted.

Like any other late night, Steve helped you put all of your paperwork back in the correct order you had it in. Like every other time, he requested a palace car take you to your apartment. Granted the apartment you shared with your best friend was walking distance away. It was late and simply not safe and you found were touched that Steve would think about your well-being.

For a king, he wasn’t that bad. When it was the two of you anyway.

Looks aside, which he had in spades, he could be very funny in a sarcastic sort of way. He was very well read and intelligent, quick on his feet. Although people seemed to think of him a certain type of way based on his father and his own kingship at a young age, when he really was his own person.

You’d noticed he had a definite interest in the classical masters and had on rare occasion seen him sketch out something on a flight or during a less than stimulating event. He had an artistic ability that would never come to anything due to his role.

His strong sense of duty paired with a disgusting moral obligation pretty much guaranteed his life would be spent in service to his country. Period.

You could see why people thought he was hot. The man had been blessed by the genetic gods. Plus he was a king. Who didn’t grow up dreaming about being a princess? Or think about a literal Prince Charming from fairy tales?

Having now had the benefit of working in a real life palace. You knew the realities of that fantasy.

You had two pages of notes that could attest to the reality of your childhood Disney Princess movies.

Reality was always so different.

Not for the first time, you found yourself repeating yourself. “…and let me say one more time. Thank you so much for talking with my parents. I know it was only ten minutes, but, I know how busy you are and it just completely topped off their visit. My mother has been telling everyone about how she met the king. You even have my father cheering for the hockey team.”

A smile came over Steve’s face that was real.

It wasn’t one of his practiced smiles. It was an actual smile. You could tell because it reached his eyes.

“Well,” Steve answered you with a shrug, sounding genuinely pleased even if he also sounded tired and like he wanted nothing more than to go off to his living quarters in the palace and crash into bed, before he had to get up to start a new day. Helping you stack the last of your papers up. “Anything to convert a soul to hockey. Technically, it is his team too.” And because he could not help himself, Steve added on, “Even if his grandparents fled from here for a cushy life in the west.”

Up your hand flew to your chest.

Your jaw dropped in mock pain. “Ouch, Sir! That one was painful.”

His smile grew at your over-the-top reaction.

Still though, he dipped his head and you noticed there was a little blush on his cheeks above where that magnificent beard grew. Chagrined, he quickly followed up with, “I apologize. That was a cheap shot.”

In a physical sort of way that his people were known to interact, personal space be damned, Steve reached over to touch your arm apologetically. Not something he did frequently. Although he had done it a handful of times. The press of his mouth to your cheek was new. The little kiss was brand new. Steve’s lips were gentle on your skin. His beard tickled your face.

Never in your life had your heart pounded as violently in your chest as it did at that gesture. Quickly, your head turned. Though you did not move back or say anything. Instead, you found yourself staring at Steve. Looking into those pools of blue that were looking at you with the same amount of surprise that you felt. His lips were right there, right there.

Blood roared in your ears, your heart pounded faster and faster and faster.

He kissed you.

Did he really though?

Was it a kiss or was it a kiss?

For a moment in time, you leaned in. Leaned closer. Leaned till you almost touched him because that was what your body wanted to do. Until you remembered that Steve was a king. A KING. Remembering that made your head command your body to lean backwards a bit. Allowing you to see that he had leant in to meet you.

He’d leaned closer to kiss you.

What were you doing? What in the hell were you doing? You had no business doing this, no business at all messing around with Steve.

Fingers moved along your arm, tracing up the back of it softly. That simple touch made goosebumps break out over your skin. It made your breath hitch. Your hands began to shake so you grabbed the fabric of your skirt.

However, you made no move to step away from Steve. Nor did he make any sort of move to step away from you.

Another attempt at a kiss was not made.

Fingers touched your face instead. Steve was close enough to you that you felt his legs brush yours. You felt his breath against your face. Fingertips ran across the swell of your cheekbone, down over your lips, tracing the bridge of your nose in what felt like a desire to memorize your face.

Steve was gentle. His fingertips felt like feathers on your skin. He made you shake like a leaf in terror because you wanted him to touch you more. You wanted to be touched. You wanted to feel his hands on you and the soft glide of his thumb along the line of your jaw was painfully insufficient.

Without thinking, you reached up with your hands until you remembered that he was the king.

Were you allowed to touch the king? You weren’t sure. He was touching you and it was fabulous but were you allowed to do the same? You wanted to. You so deeply wanted to. You just were not sure what was allowed in this situation. It had not exactly been covered in the Royal Protocol Guidebook you had.

Then came Steve’s voice. Harsh. Gravelly. Desperate.

“Touch me. It’s ok. I want you to.”

For only a heartbeat or two you remained still, observing him, making sure. Only after that did you reach up with your hands to cover his wrists. Rub along the fabric of his button-up shirt. In doing so, you not only felt the strength in his well-muscled wrists, or how warm the silky fabric was, but, you could feel him tremble. He was shaking about as much as you were.

A rush of air surged from his lungs as if you had burnt him.

Curious, you turned your head so you could place a single kiss on the inside of his hand touching your face, right at the base of his thumb. In doing so, you ripped a noise from deep within him. A noise that was both pained while also infused with wanting.

“This is ok?”

“Yes,” he croaked out, as if he were terrified you would stop.

Never would you have ever imagined he would be so responsive. Almost touch starved it felt.

Sometimes, Steve still felt as if he were a little touch starved to you. Sometimes it felt like he’d gone his entire life without having that physical connection between two people. As complicated of a man as he was with as complicated of a life as he had, you at times forgot that he was still a human being with human being needs that were essential to thriving.

And it wasn’t like you were complaining.

Far from it.

Not after the orgasm you just had, not from on top of him either. Lounged across the front of him. Loose limbed. Languid down to your marrow. Peppering the damp skin of his neck with slow wet kisses and scrapes of teeth. Long drags of your tongue collected drops of salt that tasted of him. Lazily. Heart to heart. Stomach to stomach.

There really were worse ways to wake up.

Like, for instance, in your apartment taking cold showers cause the building’s water heater was ancient. That wasn’t fun at all and usually had you shivering and hurrying through an icy shower. Straight up not a good time.

This? This was soooo much better.

Feeling Steve’s long legs wrapped up in your own, paired with his softening member filling you by virtue of sheer size not letting himself just pop out…this was a much better way to wake up. Far superior in every way.

Not that you were willing to waste precious time like this luxuriating in post-coital bliss. No, no. A burning question was hot on your mind that kept popping up after last night. After all, you were a modern woman and this was a serious relationship. You had every right to ask this question at any time you wanted. Even now. As your boyfriend, the king, fondled your breasts in his hands with such intensity that you would have thought he’d just broken out of Alcatraz after a decade of no nookie. Not that you were in the least bit complaining. Not one bit.

“Am I going to have to quit my job?”

It was something of a concern.

You loved your job. You loved working with Steve. You loved your life as it was and a big part of you suspected becoming queen would mean big changes.

Not that you lifted your head from his neck, or ceased your trek down towards his collarbone. Trail of your kisses never slowing or stopping. No hint of any sort of disruption came. Not for a moment or two. Not till your ravenous boyfriend squeezed your breasts possessively. Thumbed your nipples and finally opened his eyes, as if it were the biggest chore on earth.

His voice was rough. His tone felt like hot gooey honey that just got everywhere. “No…not yet…”

Leading you to make a noise. A pop followed when your mouth left the dark spot you’d been sucking on nearly at his collarbone. What with your name already etched on him. What else could you leave in a display of ownership over him? “Nothing else to add My King?” For added emphasis, perhaps you gave you vaginal muscles a clench knowing what that did to him.

A grunt came from beneath you.

Wrapped up in yours, Steve’s legs clenched in response to what you did. White teeth sank into his upper lip and you absolutely thrived at the sight and feel of him arching up against you, shifting around beneath you at the way your body squeezed him.

Those hands left your breasts only to reach down, run over your waist as they had so many times before, leading you to grab them. Snatch then right up. Press them down into the mattress over Steve’s head. Since the man was far larger than you, this sent you leaning downwards and ever closer to his face. “Steve? I asked you a question.”

How easy it would have been for him to get free. Yet, he seemed content where he found himself. Still wedged within you. Warm in bed. Body a sea of a complex cocktail of chemicals after physically releasing into you. A far better way to wake up than alone in a massive bed. Or worse, to his mother jabbing at him to urgently tell him something that was not urgent at all.

Feeling your breasts press against his chest. Lightly brushing over his skin, your nipples little points that sparked a definite interest in his dick.

God did he want you to be his queen.

“Not yet,” Steve ground out, nearly close to being overwhelmed by you. Each and every word was enunciated to utter perfection, as if it took all of his concentration and effort to get them out. “I’ll have the palace leave your name out of the official statement today. We can go slow. Ease you into things…ease you out of your job…” and to reward him for such a thoughtful statement, you clenched around him once more.

However, it seemed, there was more and even though his eyes rolled up into his head at the feel of your core squeezing his not entirely soft organ, he pushed on with the determination of his ancestors. Grunting. Arching back into the bed as the pillows had all wound up on the floor. Perfect teeth clenched together. “M-my people…will…love you…too.”

So, it was entirely possible, that you were feeling all kinds of powerful watching him writhe beneath you. Knowing exactly what sort of repercussions this could have to your morning. Which was still progressing on time. It was entirely possible that you may have intentionally pushed your own pelvis against his to reseat yourself.

“Oh yeah? How can you be so sure? You saw what happened with those two over in England. And that prince isn’t even next in line to the throne.”

Perhaps it was the seriousness of the direction in which your conversation had taken, Steve remained beneath you. Taking no action, even though you could quite literally feel his dick grow more interested in what your hips were doing.

A panted out, “…fuck…” escaped from him, before he opened his eyes to look at you seriously, if not also a little heatedly. “Quit obsessing over them. The King of Jordan married for love. Queen Rania was a commoner. If you must, focus on them.”

Sudden movement found you falling off Steve and onto the bed, shoved onto your back and in a flash, he was on top of you again. Over you. Hovering. Though he’d escaped out of your body, you could feel the king’s most delicious semi, slick from your previous copulation, squish between you both.

Admitting on an exhale, “Forgot about them.”

“Everyone does.” He agreed, surveying down, taking in the sight of you. “My country appreciates you. They’re fond of you. You’re in all the papers and they’ve given you a nickname.”

And that. That. Nearly killed the mood.

It sent your eyebrows together dubiously so.

Everytime you were in the press it was when your skirt had been blown up on a windy day, or if you’d accidentally gotten food on your shirt. Or that time a baby goat pooped on your shoes. Or when you’d tripped and fallen off a dock into a lake. Who could forget that time you’d accidentally called the Prime Minister of Canada a ‘moose fucking cannibal’ when you’d still been getting the hang of the language, your first year on the job?

You’d been affectionately dubbed, ‘the King’s Foreign Devil’ and it had stuck.

Hell, you still got asked about your thoughts on the Canadian Prime Minister whenever a member of the press was around.

“Most the time, you have a higher approval rating than I do,” he added. Much to the consternation of Maria Hill in PR. “Trust me. There is nothing my country loves more than a hard-working loyal servant of the people who talks shit about western leaders.”

Mood totally killed, you seethed and not for the first time, “That was an accident! I was trying to call him Canada’s Disney Prince.”

***

The note had been hand delivered to the palace and was now crumbled into a ball in the Queen Mother’s bedroom as she stormed off, once more, that early morning in a fury of rose satin and silk. Her perfume clouded around her, drifting behind her, much like the wake of a boat cutting through the water.

Thick carpets silenced her heels. Doors opened for her as she neared them, allowing her to not need to slow her step even for a second. Not a single moment wasted as she made her way through the private living quarters of the palace.

Down hallways and around corners, over to the rooms that her grown son had selected as his own.

It would have been so much easier if he would have just taken the rooms that his father had lived in.

Although, with the horrific memories attached to those rooms, how could she blame him when he elected not to? She had her own private rooms. The dead kings rooms were locked up tight and still not used. Abandoned like so much he’d done, started and accomplished in his life.

Upon coming to her only child’s rooms, those doors were held open for her and on she pressed on. Sailing through his rooms, one after another, until she got closer to his bedroom and could hear his shower which was the direction she headed.

A brief glance was made at the mess that was his bed.

A roll of her eyes was followed by a shake of her head.

Some things males never grew out of it seemed.

“Steven!” She called out in warning, should he be in the bathroom about to come out in the nude. Which was the last thing she wanted to see.

Not only was his bed a mess but his clothes from yesterday were all over the floor.

She had every intention of telling him that he needed to straighten up this mess before the cleaning staff came in his room. The last thing she wanted was for them to think he was messy and then tell their families and friends when they went home that the king had a messy bedroom and word would get out that her son was a slob. Ugh. No. She’d make sure that he straightened up.

Speaking of the devil.

As his shower ran, Steve peered out of the bathroom with a wet head. A midnight blue towel was wrapped around his waist. A toothbrush was in his hand. To Sarah, it was very clear that her grown son had not shaved yet either.

Seeing him in such a state that morning along with his messy room and the fact the shower was going wasting water. It did not make her mood any more agreeable.

Though her son was taller than her and considerably more muscular, she never feared him.

She knew he would never hurt her like his father had so many times. Towards the end, Steve had even defended her from his father’s physical attacks. Those days. They had been dark. Horrible. Terrible. When she noticed that her husband had begun to carry a knife to protect himself from his son. Well. What was she supposed to do?

Attacking her was one thing. Being violent towards her was one thing. There were some things that she learned to tolerate. It was unescapable. Their son though. To take a knife to their son? Her son? Sarah would never allow such a thing.

She was queen at the time.

It was not so difficult to get the drug that she put in her husband’s evening nightcap. She’d used all of it. Thrown the vial away the next day when she went to rouse the king as she did every morning, only to find him dead in his chair. Fireplace having long gone out. Slumped down. Cold. The coroner had said it was a heart attack. Exactly as she’d been told the drug would work. He’d been buried with no one the wiser. Not even Steve.

“Yes mother?”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “You are not growing another beard. Last time you looked like some man that lives up in the mountains in a tiny shack.”

Just as her own father once did, Steve’s eyebrows rose in surprise and question.

No. That was not why she was here.

Sarah had a higher calling that morning and straightening her slim shoulders, she so informed him. “Hope and Janet are here in the city. They’ve come for a surprise visit and will arrive at the palace within the hour.”

Steve’s eyes narrowed at her in response to her information.

It was horrifying. It was outrageous. It was not what he wanted to hear that morning one bit. Not at all. Not one single bit.

Hope and Janet?

Those were two names he never wanted to hear with the additional words being, ‘on their way’. No. Just no.

All he could say that was remotely civil, after what the then Princess Hope van Dyne had done, came out in something of a tone. “I don’t want to see either of them. If you want to see them, that’s your choice. Keep them away from me.”

Considering what the now Duchess Hope had spewed to every reporter, journalist and whomever with a platform…Sarah was a little surprised that Steve was being so kind.

She’d expected a bit more of a reaction from her son.

Could she be holding a bigger grudge against her one-time closest friend’s daughter? After what had happened, Queen Janet van Dyne had become somewhat distant. Which was not surprising. Hope had not broken the engagement gracefully. Nor had she been anything less than opinionated afterwards.

“I suspect she is in trouble,” Sarah confessed. “Why else would they come here? Considering everything that Hope has said over the years.”

Steam continued to seep through the cracked door.

Sarah was about to say something about the shower. Steve was wasting a considerable amount of hot water. She herself was leading the Go Green Initiative in the country and as she stated constantly, it all began at home.

“Mother, don’t take this the wrong way, but, I wouldn’t shit in Hope’s mouth if she was starving.”

Ah.

Perhaps she’d been too quick to judge Steve’s current opinion on the wayward duchess?

Pondering his statement, Sarah found herself looking for any way to come back with a counter when she noticed that the shower turned off. Which was odd. Shower’s didn’t turn themselves off.

What was even more peculiar, Steve reached back behind himself to shut his bathroom door.

It clicked.

Like a light going off.

How could she not have noticed? How could it not have been obvious?

Blue eyes that were a little softer than her son’s narrowed. “You aren’t alone.”

Silence.

Quiet.

Her pink lips opened in surprised. A question hovered on her tongue.

“No mother.”

“But…”

“Mother,” he implored as only a son could. “Not now. She would not want the first time she officially meets you to be when you’re dressed for the day and she is not.”

And though her son’s words were true. They were right. They were exactly what she would have wanted him to say and because she had raised him well, she was even proud that he had made such a quick decision. It wasn’t fair.

Sarah wanted to find out who you were. She wanted to meet the woman that her son was involved with. Was that so wrong? Sarah wanted to meet the woman that her son was considering marrying. There was so much she wanted to say to you, so much to teach you, so much she wanted to learn about you. Perhaps her desperation showed because her son reached out to place a hand on her elbow.

“If you can chase Hope and Janet away, we could have lunch together. The three of us. If not, dinner? Or even tomorrow. I’m not doing anything with Hope under this roof. Not after she referred to our country as a third world plus hellhole full of war criminals and superstitious backwoods heathens.”

Ah, so he did remember.

Those words had been seared into her memory as well. Sometimes Sarah wondered, as Steve had never really given much indication that he cared one way or the other what Hope had said. It was only after she began to speak unflatteringly about their people that he grew irritated, much like herself.

Although, what irritated Sarah more, was the quiet that came from the royal house of van Dyne and Pym a few countries over. Never once had Janet spoke up. Never had Janet said anything about her daughters outrageous remarks or behavior. Nor had she apologized.

Knowing her son, Sarah knew that he would never court anyone who was not kind or compassionate. Steve would never pick a Hope as his queen.

Up came a hand that bore a lovely ring decorated with fresh water pearls from their own waters. “I’ll have them gone before lunch and then we will all sit down together so I can finally meet her.”

#steve rogers x reader #chris evans x reader #steve x reader #captain america x reader #steve rogers x you #marvel x reader #avengers x reader #chris evans x you #chris evans x y/n

[bigfan-fanfic]

Spooky Season Special: Until Dawn (Male!Reader x Chris)

Prologue: Bystander

-One Year Ago-

Let's just say, you had been shocked when Beth Washington winked at you and slipped a sparkly envelope into your hand. Hannah had gotten overzealous with the glitter glue again, and it was a wild mess that had held your invitation to Blackwood Pines for the annual winter getaway party weekend hosted by the Washington siblings.

Mike and Emily had grinned when you told them, which was gratifying. To tell the truth, you had never felt like anything more than a satellite to the group. They all seemed so tight with each other, and all you really knew were Mike and Em. Mike because he'd been your best friend since you were toddlers, and Em since she was Mike's girlfriend and you both shared multiple advanced courses. Even despite him being athletic and your typical big man on campus, Mike had been at your side for years, even when your interests diverged. You even helped make posters for his class president campaign in your spare time, which he joked made you responsible for his victory.

But still, you never really considered yourself part of that group until Beth handed you the invitation. You had only really hung out with the group on occasion, but you knew what it was really about.

Damn Mike. He had told Beth about your crush on Chris. He or Emily had. And now they were going to play matchmaker. You weren't about to let that happen, but you figured this was your ticket to making more friends and hanging out with Mike more. ...And Chris.

And really, partying with the Washingtons was fun. Who gets to go up to a HUGE lodge in the mountains only accessible by cable car? Even the vaguely sinister sensation of being trapped couldn't undo your feeling that you were now part of an exclusive gang. You ended up on the cable car with Ashley and Sam, who immediately drew you into a conversation (Sam protested playfully when Ashley turned the conversation to a book she was reading about ghosts) and the fun began.

There was the requisite teasing of Sam as she went upstairs to take a luxurious bath in the Washingtons' simply enormous tub in the master bathroom ("Try not to use all the hot water this time, Sam!" from Beth and a "Hardy-har" from Sam as a retort.)

It started out simple enough. Hannah and Matt brought down some board games from a closet and you all began playing. At one point someone suggested Jenga and everyone held their breath as you watched the tower wobble...

Don't Move. .. . .. . .. . .. .... .. ..... ... .. .... .. .. .. .... .. . . . .

...and you finally breathed again when it was certain the tower wouldn't collapse. And then, of course, Josh and Chris arrived on Emily's turn, and she promptly knocked over the wooden blocks. She complained a little, but clearly was happy the group was all together.

Chris and Josh promptly forced open the liquor cabinet and led a toast to old friends, and lifted a glass to you and added "and to new friends!" Beth, ever-responsible, gave a disapproving look at her older brother and passed around cream sodas instead. But really, only you, Sam, and Beth chose to remain sober. Chris and Josh started a drinking game by singing the Pokerap from the Pokemon anime and drinking whenever they got the words wrong, and quickly started devolving into drunken messes. Mike and Emily started making out, and Sam was catching up with Ashley and Matt - Jessica was talking to Hannah.

Beth invited you up to her room to watch Pride and Prejudice on the new TV she had gotten in there, but really, it was just a pretext. You knew it the moment the movie started playing and Beth looked over at you. "So... Chris, huh?"

Secretive - "What about him?" Exasperated - "Ugh, Mike told you?"

Beth grinned apologetically. "Emily, actually. But don't worry, I won't blab. I think it's cute. And hey, I'm here for you."

You smiled a little. It might actually be good to have more friends you can talk to about this. When you told Mike you liked boys, and that you liked Chis, he had teased you about having a hunk of prime beef in front of you - himself - and you chose the nerd anyway. Beth, at least, seemed less likely to ridicule you.

"It doesn't matter, though." you had groaned. "He's got a crush on Ashley."

"So?" Beth asked. "Josh once had a crush on Britney Spears at the same time he discovered Leo DiCaprio. People can have multiple crushes. And I'm pretty sure Chris doesn't just like you because you can beat him at Street Fighter."

"Fine, you may have a point. But I'm not gonna make any moves tonight! Looks like Chris is on a one-way trip to Hangover City."

She smiled wryly. "Ugh. Guess I have to make hangover cures in the morning. If you and Sam are the only other sober ones, wanna help? We can make vegan pancakes just the three of us!"

You grinned. "That actually sounds really fun."

"Great!"

You watched the rest of the movie, and finally decided it was time to check on the others, realizing you hadn't heard much during your little party.

"Guys?" Beth called, a little confused when no one answered. The two of you wandered down, only to find Chris and Josh, slumped over the kitchen island, a few empty bottles of liquor between them. Beth gave a chuckle that became a sigh. You remember this part so much more clearly.

Beth looked out the window, and frowned. "There's someone out there! I thought Mom and Dad said it would be just us this weekend."

"Maybe it's the trees? They're pretty creepy at night." you suggested, not wanting the creepy idea of someone else being on the mountain to take root.

She looked away, unsure, then glanced at the bottles.

"Ugh... Once again, big brother, you've outdone us all." Beth said, her eyes roving over the bottle-covered table. She picked up a piece of paper and read it, wincing. "This is - what has my naïve sister gotten herself into now?"

You take the paper, only really having time to read the words "Hannah" and "Mike xoxo" before someone went running by, sobbing. Beth went charging after them...

Wake Chris Follow Beth

...but you quickly tried shoving Chris to wake him up. But even with you yelling in his ear, he was dead to the world. You ran out after Beth, only to run right into Matt's back.

"You know, Mike, I think you're the last person she wants to see right now." Sam was saying.

"What the hell is going on?" you asked, looking from face to face. Emily disgusted, Sam worried, Mike and Jessica looking uneasy... "Where's Beth? And Hannah?"

"Hannah overreacted to this prank we pulled," Ashley frowned. "And Beth ran after her."

"What do you think, Y/N? Should we go looking for them?" Mike wondered.

Concerned - "Beth said someone else was out there..." Responsible - "We should get help..."

"They say you really shouldn't split up in a snowstorm. Beth's smart. I'm sure she'll bring Hannah back. But just in case, let's call the ranger station?" you said. You remember the group all nodding, more at ease now that there was a plan. Emily went to call, while Mike and Matt tried to wake up Chris and Josh, and you tried to get what happened out of Jessica and Ashley, because Sam refused to talk to any of them.

A horrible prank... and two deaths. For a whole year, the idea that maybe, if you had made some other choice, you could have prevented it, consumed you. Maybe if you had chased after Hannah more quickly you could've stopped her, or maybe at least convinced Beth not to run and to call the ranger station instead... maybe at least one of the twins would still be alive.

Things only got worse after the trip. You thought it might bring you more friends, but the group fractured down the middle. Eventually Em and Mike broke up, making it really awkward to choose between them. Sam had distanced herself from the others, angry at them for the prank, and you hadn't heard from her for months. And Chris... you two had gotten a little closer, but really this tragedy had struck all of you and changed everything.

You hadn't known Josh that well, so it was surprising that he asked you to come back up to the lodge. And although it might be weird, definitely uncomfortable... you find yourself on a bus, headed right back up to Mount Washington.

With no idea of what the night will hold...

#until dawn #until dawn x reader #chris hartley x reader #chris hartley x male reader #until dawn fic

[thetaoofbetty]

Not an insider, but I’d like to offer this suggestion why RAS is pushing Jabitha. Firstly, completely clueless that the fans don’t ENJOY the break unless there is active pining and angst. He’s attempted to prolong the ships because he wants to also prolong the show. RAS has his mitts in so many ovens, he doesn’t recognize how he’s driving people off. (Part 2 of ask coming, I’m sorry)…

i don't actually know if you meant this for me specifically, anon, tbh. i am aware there are people who think he's overtly pushing this ship or that ship for this season but as someone who's been around for a good while now (as in since 2017 and stopped lurking in 2018), roberto is really just being himself to me.

this is the same man that told b/a fans to tune in for 1x13 to see more b/archie. and then they watched this after betty and jughead said their first i love yous:

(gonna take the fact that babe, can i call? by the hunna came on my playlist when typing this as a sign, ha)

ras has always been in the moment, vague, and slightly trolly. all at once. that he's "rooting for j/abitha" doesn't surprise me. it's been his answer for more than one ship, the man has his canned answers and he uses them. that he's deflecting questions by bringing it back to something else that's currently part of the story also doesn't surprise me.

also that people are surprised that people who are into b/a are asking him about b/a or j/t is like...okay. what did they expect from them?

expecting him to spoil things when he's only talking a few eps ahead isn't really his style from my memory of his interviews. you can, as always, read between the lines for him because he's usually pretty careful with his exact language and in the end, you can be right or wrong based on your bias and opinion and he can be technically right or wrong based on whatever definition you applied to what he said.

see: the whole AU thing. now, is it an AU depending on your definition of it? yes. could it be that it's not an AU to him because he thinks of an alternate universe as a totally separate thing outside of how his story for this event connects to riverdale? sure. is he wrong or right? depends on your personal thoughts on how that works.

i do think that because he's never really had to talk much about other ships outside of the core 4 and c/honi with occasional b/a talking points, people are giving his words more weight than before. but why? he's not really saying much different than he would say for any other ship currently onscreen.

which is my last point. the ships onscreen are currently happening. i write fic that maybe 3 people read and i still don't give away what's happening in later chapters to anyone who asks just because they want to know.

i think people might be giving him too much credit for his motivations on the low level interviews he probably does in any given week. he overstates and undersells. he always has. and when j/t is over, he'll have a totally different answer for whoever asks. when archie isn't dead, his answer about b/a might change. he's going to say something different about each ship in each phase they're in.

and sure, i can be wrong and he can have totally different motivations but as someone who interviews people regularly and asks the same questions over and over again and almost always gets the most predictable answers because everyone knows what they're supposed to say, his talking points always ring the same to me even if his words change, tbh.

this is why i've always been a big advocate of watching what they're putting on the screen instead of assuming that interviews are giving anyone any real information. look at how click-baity and out of context that "bughead is dead" article was. they're not in it for any sort of integrity (see also: the screener with no shame posting a kneeling man emoji knowing what it would imply), they're in it for engagement and getting people mad has always worked better for clicks than making anyone happy.

but if you didn't hear or see any of that and just watched that last episode? you watched a totally different story happening.

#besos! #anonymous #ras #for your tags #rd negativity #i guess??? #anti j*bitha #anti b*rchie #for the mentions