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meddling-in-horror · 8 months

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Giving Them the Moment: How Our Flag Means Death and it's Portrayal of Black Men is the Most Important Thing on Television Right Now

Note: written April 20, 2022

Media is an incredibly distinct way of communicating. It has a wide reach, and each person has their own interpretation of what they see. That’s the beauty of the medium as a whole. However, there are often downsides, especially when it pertains to the West. In the US in particular, there is a trend within popular media to lean towards propagandization. Whether it’s the idea that communism and socialism are products of the ‘Evil East’ or the lingering effects of the Motion Picture Production Code - also known as the Hays Code, the media monopolies have a firm grasp on what we as a society watch and enjoy.

When you begin to play close attention to how the media portrays Black men, this becomes abundantly clear.

It is a rare thing when we see Black men whose characters aren’t portrayed as being the object nor the perpetrators of violence. In fact, only one mainstream popular show comes to mind: The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. But even then, the given circumstances of Fresh Prince revolve around Will’s escape from the violence of the ‘urban’ inner city. This vilification of Black men dates back to the 1910s with D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, and continued into the 1930s, where Black people were often personified as the monsters, representing the ‘exciticism’ of the world beyond the West. It is the ‘exoticism’ that has played a huge part in the dehumanization of Black men as a whole. But as a Black Queer person watching Our Flag Means Death, it is breaking that mold in an incredibly important way.

The Black men in the show are allowed to have fun.

This show is breaking barriers left and right. Of the major recurring cast of 15, over half of them are people of color. It’s overt and unflinching portrayal of Queerness when so many of its older viewers - myself included - have lived through the Bury Your Gays and Dead Lesbians tropes time and time again is overwhelmingly refreshing. Nearly all characters are Queer until proven straight and represent all parts under the umbrella, including Leslie Jones’ polyamorous pirate queen and Vico Ortiz - a non-binary actor - playing a non-binary character.

But in a world where the narratives of Black men are so often framed around violence and brutality, the Black crewmates of the Queen Anne’s Revenge - Frenchie, Oluwande, and Roach - are allowed to be funny and vulnerable. Each one of them is starkly different from the other with identifiable characteristics that allow the audience to humanize them. The trio quickly became my favorites among the crew, with Roach being the stand-out amongst them. Samba Schutte’s often deadpan delivery never fails to draw a laugh from me, in particular the assertion that “meat is meat”. Frenchie, played by Joel Fry, is the quickest on the draw where his intellect is concerned, being posited in the show’s fifth episode as having had a hand in inventing the pyramid scheme while spouting the wildest of conspiracy theories and being afraid of cats (they’re witches, they steal your breath, and have knives in their feet, you know). The softness and constant vulnerability of Samson Kayo’s Oluwande may be one of the most important aspects of the show, as it establishes him as a reliable and trustworthy confidante to not just Jim, but to Rhys Darby’s Stede Bonnet as well.

They exist in their own separate spheres on the ship, going about their own separate business completely unbothered. While it is implied they lead violent lives as pirates, this violence isn’t used to define them as characters. In fact, Oluwande stated that both he and Jim engaged in piracy because they “had no choice”. The brief mention we get of Frenchie’s backstory implies that he lives a life of servitude, though whether that was as an enslaved person or a freed Black domestic worker is not mentioned. While there is little known about Roach so far, it is implied that his culinary skills are far beyond the levels of what is needed aboard a pirate ship.

The friendships and relationships they form within the crew aren’t built on violence either, but on open and honest communication. Most notably, the friendship of Frenchie and Wee John Feeny, played by Kristian Nairn. Fry and Nairn are an impeccable comic duo when their characters become ‘room people’, and the scene where they begin to design their new space is a personal highlight of the episode. Oluwande and Jim’s romance - played to perfection by Kayo and Ortiz - is one that revolves around both characters being almost devastatingly open with each other. Both actors play the emotional vulnerability of the characters well, and it is important to emphasize that it is Kayo’s Oluwande that moves to meet Jim where they are.

While the show allows all its men to show varying levels of emotional vulnerability - an exception being offered to the emotionally constipated Izzy Hands, played by Con O’Neill - there is something so special about seeing that luxury afforded to Black men. This show has, in just ten episodes, has become a game changer for the television industry. It has proved that a show with explicitly Queer characters can become a massive sleeper hit, and that sometimes the best kind of historical show is one that is historical fiction. But it has also proved that you can create a narrative with Black men that doesn’t include their stories being framed in violence or brutality, that they can be funny, charming, witty, vulnerable, intelligent, complex characters with their own narratives that serve a purpose outside of a device of exoticism. It is this rare thing that makes these characters, and indeed the show as a whole, so important to its viewers.

We deserve more vulnerability, more humor, and more humanizing content from these three men, and this show is one that is truly deserving of a glorious second season.

Sources:

Donaldson, Leigh. “When the media misrepresents Black men, the effects are felt in the real world.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/12/media-misrepresents-black-men-effects-felt-real-world.

Kumah-Abiwu, Felix. “Media Gatekeeping and Portrayal of Black Men in America.”

Opportunity Agenda. “Media Portrayals and Black Male Outcomes.”

https://www.opportunityagenda.org/explore/resources-publications/media-representation-impact-black-men/media-portrayals.

Our Flag Means Death, (2022-). HBO Max.

#not horror but its relevant #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd s2 #roach #frenchie #oluwande boodhari #david jenkins #black men in media #let black men be silly in things!!!!!!#our flag means death season 2

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iero · 2 years

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Top 5 gerard tour outfits (so far)

Ooh, another good one! I'm assuming you just meant on the 2022 tour so far? Let's see:

Nashville cheerleader outfit takes the cake by far for me. Iconic. Iconic. ICONIC. Always wish I could replay this day.

Gonna go with my other personal favorite here? Glasgow mud covered look! One of the times I will admit that Gerard looked h*t LMAO.

I think I'm gonna put Montreal Olive Garden demon waiter here. He looked absolutely terrifying, but still made it work!

Meta Man at Milton Keynes! It gave off Revenge vibes and it too was iconic!

I'm gonna put Pool Boy at the Vampire Mansion and short shorts as my fifth choice. The shirt was amazing along with the fact that was simply just the Philly show and I was supposed to be there... :(

Thank you so much anon! 😃

#answered #Anonymous

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queerregulusablack · 2 years

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About Me:

Cait, Adult

Nonbinary (She/They), Asexual, Panromantic

Currently OPEN To Receive Prompts/Snippet Requests!

WIPs:

Of Starless Skies

For a moment, Regulus felt like he was drowning all over again, all the air in the room gone; and he turned to look further along the line of teenagers, at the Dark Lord, and the boy sporting a freshly cast Dark Mark on his skin.

“Fuck.”

Life is made up of choices, good and bad and not entirely either; and in the first kind hand fate has ever dealt him, Regulus Black has been offered the chance to change one of his, with all the context needed to choose better.

Now, he just needs to figure out how to keep living after having been so prepared to die.

(StarChaser/Jegulus, Rated M, Time Travel (But Not Really) AU, 6/? chapters)

Of Starless Skies Playlist

Smoke Slow

“I’m pretty sure everyone’s awful at sixteen. It’s a right of passage, on the way to becoming a fully realised person.”

Two spies are always better than one; and thirteen years later, under the stars on the steps of the Hogwarts Entrance Hall, Remus Lupin has a conversation with the little brother of his once best friend.

(MoonSeeker/Remus x Regulus, Series, Spy!Regulus AU, 6/? works)

Another Word (And I Could Choke)

“Would you answer a question for me, James?” He asked idly, resting an arm against the back of the loveseat and pillowing his cheek on it; and James blinked back at him, before nodding uncertainly. “Has your campaign to fuck the entire Slytherin quidditch team been a pride thing, or a bet, or is it just some convoluted attempt to make Evans jealous after her continued refusal to give in to your attempts to date her?”

At the end of Regulus' Fifth Year, the Slytherin quidditch team wins the Quidditch Cup.

Ravenclaw House throws a celebration/commiseration party in their common room. Regulus celebrates with the star Gryffindor chaser he just snatched victory from.

(StarChaser/Jegulus, Series, Trans!Regulus AU, 5/? works)

Completed Fic:

And Now You’re Mine

“You’re never usually this nice to me, Reg.”

Regulus felt the blush spread across his face, and he tried not to think too hard about it when James wrapped his arms around his hips in a loose hug, and set his chin against his stomach gently.

“Yes, well. It’s almost Christmas. I’m getting into the spirit of the holiday.”

James is the ‘bad guy’ in Lily’s Hallmark movie. Regulus is the neighbour who’s been pining for a couple of months.

(StarChaser/Jegulus, Muggle AU, 2688 words, rated G)

TAFP Prompt Fills

Prompt Fills for Slytherin House for The Adult Fandom Project's 2022 Holiday Bingo Challenge.

(Assorted Pairings, Assorted AUs, 13/13 works, rated G-E)

Would You Come Be My Downfall?

“Bet you’re enjoying the quiet at least,” he offered weakly, trying to lighten the foul mood that had fallen over the compartment; and he watched Regulus’ expression crack open, shattering into something like hysterical disbelief, before he turned to look at Remus again with wide eyes.

After a moment of wordless incredulity, he replied weakly.

“Yes. Just as you have been, I’d imagine.”

Sirius Black burns two bridges in less than a year. In the aftermath - and after a winter break spent stewing in their respective miseries - Regulus Black and Remus Lupin take a kind of revenge.

(MoonSeeker/Remus x Regulus, Post Prank/Fake Dating AU, 10,824 words, rated E)

Other Links:

General Fic (Prompt fills, AU snippets)

Headcanons

Ask Replies

Regulus Inspo Playlist

#info post #Fresh new pinned post with all the important info!#I'm relearning how to use this hellsite as I come to terms with the fact most of you use it Just on mobile

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raydioactivegeorg · 8 months

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what is mcr5?

GOODNESS. ok so Basically. gosh uh

so. american rock band my chemical romance. theyve got four albums. (i brought you my bullets you brought me your love [commonly referred to as bullets,] three cheers for sweet revenge, the black parade, and danger days). there’s also conventional weapons but that one is complicated. anyway. four albums. they broke up in 2013, and got back together in 2019. they released their first new song in like 8 years in 2022 (foundations of decay). its showstopping. everyone goes crazy.

BASICALLY mcr5 is the hypothetical fifth album. i say hypothetical but in my beautiful and true mind they are recording it as i type this. or maybe theyve already recorded it. idk. we’re all going insane its been over 150 days no mcr frank is being cryptic on instagram mikey liked an mcr5 post rich g is also being cryptic they’re all in la ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN.

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movie-emersyn · 5 months

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Fast X (also known as Fast & Furious 10) is a 2023 American action film directed by Louis Leterrier from a screenplay written by Dan Mazeau and Justin Lin, both of whom also co-wrote the story with Zach Dean. It is the sequel to F9 (2021), the tenth main installment, and the eleventh installment overall in the Fast & Furious franchise. It stars Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto alongside an ensemble cast including Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Jason Momoa, and Charlize Theron. In the film, Toretto must protect his family from Dante Reyes (Momoa), who seeks revenge for his father's death and the loss of his family's fortune.

With a tenth film planned since 2014 and a two-part finale planned since October 2020, Lin was confirmed to return to direct with the main cast attached. The film's official title was revealed when principal photography began in April 2022. Lin left as director later that month citing creative differences, though he retained writing and producing credits. Leterrier was then hired as his replacement a week later and performed several uncredited rewrites to the screenplay. Longtime franchise composer Brian Tyler returned to score the film. With an estimated production budget of $340 million, Fast X would be the eighth-most expensive film ever made. Filming lasted until that August, taking place in London, Rome, Turin, other Italian cities, Lisbon, and Los Angeles.

Fast X premiered in Rome on May 12, 2023, and was released in the United States on May 19, by Universal Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its action sequences and Momoa's performance but criticism towards the writing. The film grossed $714 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2023. A sequel is in development and scheduled to be released on April 4, 2025.

#movies #cinema #fast x 2023 #fast x movie #fast x spoilers

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lemissingmask · 2 years

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[ID: Sketch of Hardison, Parker and Eliot surrounded by a lot of different pinatas. Hardison is at the back, carrying several pinatas towards the large existing pile of pinatas. Parker is amongst the pile and holding up a bright pink horse-type thing while grinning and giving Eliot a thumbs up. Eliot, who has bloody bruises all over his left side, is glaring/frowning back at her while he wraps a bandage around his left forearm. End ID]

Whumptober 2022 Day 11: Self-Done First Aid

At the start of the Gone Fishin' Job, Eliot is holding an ice pack to his left shoulder and complaining that they never have time off while Parker is taking delight in her many obtained pinatas. This is a sketch for before that, when they had just finished their previous job, and Parker and Hardison have been filling Eliot's hotel room with pinatas (since he doesn't use the bed anyway), while Eliot patches himself up.

Eliot's repeated requests that they stop piling pinatas on his bed have been interpreted as him not liking the pinatas so far, therefore Parker got him a pink and blue horse that he would like.

Stream of consciousness drabble for this below.

“What the hell you gonna do with so many piñatas, girl?” Hardison asked, voice slightly muffled behind the pile of colourful creatures he was carrying. “I had to get one of each!” Parker replied, dumping her armful of piñatas onto Eliot’s unused hotel bed, “They had like a dozen different shapes and all different colours. You should’ve come with us!” “Yeah,” Hardison looked over at the hitter Parker’s last comment had been addressed to, “Then you could be the one carrying all these...things." "Stop dumpin' them on my bed," Eliot muttered with absolute certainty that pinatas were going to continue to fill his room until the shop they came from closed. "Don't worry, Sparky," Parker beamed, rummaging in the piles of colourful paper for something, "We got you one too!" The hitter took a long, steadying breath against the wave of something that was definitely anger and not the ache of overwhelming affection. "A horse!" Parker grinned and held up a bright pink and blue 'horse', "You like horses!" "Goes with the whole queer cowboy vibe you got going on," Hardison smirked, clearly emboldened by the protective barrier between him and the world-renowned killer. Not that it would help him in three days time when all his orange soda mysteriously found itself replaced with food-colouring laced fizzy water. Eliot growled quietly, silently plotting his revenge, and continued bandaging his wrist. Badly bruised, maybe fractured, just like his left collarbone and shoulder and half his rib cage. Not to mention the slight limp he had been trying to hide since the job finished. “How you gonna get all these back home anyway?” Hardison asked, taking up a seat in the armchair by the window. “Well, Eliot doesn’t travel with luggage,” Parker began, pacing and eating from a bag of some sort of candy she had produced from seemingly nowhere, “‘Cept for his hospital’s worth of first aid stuff.” “Which he always puts in my luggage,” Hardison nodded, and Eliot growled again, a little more muffled now he was holding the end of the bandage between his teeth. “So, Eliot will take them in his luggage. I gotta get a suitcase for them, but saw a guy on the fifth floor with a really big hard shell one that would work…” “Don’ steal other people’s suitcases Parker,” Eliot muttered, finally tying off the bandage, “That guy on the fifth floor needs the suitcase to get his stuff home.” Parker watched as Eliot pulled on a sleeveless undershirt, “If Hardison does a background check on him and he turns out to be a bad guy, can I steal it then?” “Why don’t you just break ‘em open here an’ take the candy out now?” Parker gasped at the same moment as Hardison groaned. “There’s candy in them?!” “Why would you tell her that?!” Eliot didn't bother to reply. He picked up another roll of gauze and started to deal with the worst wounds on his shoulder, smiling triumphantly to himself as he listened to Parker dragging Hardison back out to steal the candy from pinatas.

#leverage #alec hardison #parker #eliot spencer #many pinatas #cw blood #cw injury #whumptober2022 #day 11 self-done first aid #The Gone Fishin Job

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bereft-of-frogs · 1 year

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Favorite Books of 2022:

Okay here's the positivity, I've split my list into New vs Rereads.

New:

Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir - not over it, obvious answer, what more is there to say?

In the Dream House, by Carmen Maria Machado - really clever and creative memoir, I'm currently rereading Her Body and Other Parties because I just love Machado's writing so much.

This Is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone - fun fact I originally read this because I'd gotten it for my friend as a late Christmas present last year but then read it before giving it to her, so it was the only one of my top 5 that I didn't own. Until this Christmas when I got it from my brother who, and I quote, 'googled what you should read if you like that lesbian space necromancer series' which is also 100% how I picked it out for my friend and also 100% true.

The Secret History, by Donna Tartt - the seminal dark academia text, I read 300 pages in a single day and I am already planning on going as Murdered Vermont Farmer using things already found in my closet for next Halloween.

The Fifth Season, by NK Jemisin - oh my god this was so good. Both an excellent example of how good second person narration can be and how satisfying good plot twists can be. I 'guessed' this one early and was so gratified as it developed.

Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - what an unexpected delight for a book I essentially read because of BookTok drama. In case you'd already forgotten, the routine Classics vs YA drama took an unexpected turn in January when the first shot about how the booktok girlies should read Crime and Punishment was parried with 'um Crime and Punishment is a YA novel actually', and lead to 1) at least one Booktokker trying to read it and gifting us with their angry annotations like 'omg why is this book so bleak and depressing' (it's Russian Lit, there are so many memes about this) and 'um is this book really about him murdering an old lady' (yes that's the plot that's on the cover what did you think the 'crime' was), 2) a solid year of jokes, 3) me reading it sincerely and really enjoying it. So thanks booktok!

Ok, now onto the Rereads:

1. & 2. Gideon and Harrow - yup I read these both twice this year, still faves, still cry every time, not over them either.

3. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman - always a favorite.

4. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel - This one for sure hit different after COVID, but is still so, so good.

5. Lord of the Rings - I really like my new 3 in 1 copy, it’s so pretty and drives home that these are really one extended story spread across 6 volumes rather than a true trilogy, so yeah I recommend a 3-in-1 edition if you are in the market for LotR books. It does make it rather heavy to carry around, but at least it’s paperback and I found this one wasn’t too hard to physically read.

Honorable Mentions: Dracula (Dracula Daily was THE MOST fun I had all year), The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (takes place in the What We Do In the Shadows Universe you cannot take that headcanon away from me, Dracula is the #Drama, no notes, a worthy successor), The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (excellent), The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (the amount of hate this book gets on Tiktok is unnecessary and kind of toxic, imo), Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover (Stover, why are you Like This? Why?)

If anyone has StoryGraph and would like to follow me/be friends, I’m on there under bereft_of_frogs, so please feel free to friend me!

The #Salt (aka my bottom 5 books of 2022 and a little mini rant on each) under the cut:

2. Rule of Wolves, by Leigh Bardugo - Another really disappointing sequel that made me wish I’d stayed a Six of Crows duology-only girlie. Though I did really like King of Scars, specifically for the continuation of Nina becoming a necromancer and infiltrating Fjerda. That part really fell apart in this book. A lot of things fell apart. It honestly felt sort of like Bardugo just wanted to be finished with this universe? Because a lot of things were resolved in really weird ways and really quickly. It also felt like it lost some of the interesting nuance in the worldbuilding that SoC had. And of course, she really showed off how bad she is at portraying the passage of time in her writing with this one. I was given the impression by King of Scars that it was taking place months at most after the events of Crooked Kingdom, and then out of nowhere it’s actually been 2 years so Nina can totally move on! But it still never felt like it had been 2 years and I feel like the end of the grief narrative was really abrupt and I just…couldn’t get into the romance because of how rushed that resolution was. I hope she’s done with this universe, aside from whatever extra writing/retconning goes on with the TV series - or at least, I’m done with this universe aside from the TV series. In future rereads, I’ll likely stick to my unofficial trilogy of Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom/King of Scars.

3. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by VE Schwab - This book is SO HYPED and for WHAT? I’m a big fan of lyrical, plotless writing, but that means actually having lyrical writing and no plot. This book just decided to do all the plot in the last 30 pages. So it was like 70% meandering, 30% rushed weird romance plot? And I’m sorry, I will NEVER be over the ‘not like other girls’ feminism of the main character. You cannot convince me that she would not have been in favor of the French Revolution. She’s an anti-clerical feminist but as soon as the Revolution happens it’s like ‘ew those peasant women are too violent, fuck all of them, I’m getting out of here.’ It’s a prime example of the hollow historical feminist archetype that is luckily starting to get some critique, where the main character fits perfectly with modern ideas of feminism, without the author actually having to put that much thought into their actual principles and how that fits into the historical context.

4. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, by Eric LaRocca - This one was just bad. Read like a first draft. Went nowhere, said nothing.

5. Nothing But Blackened Teeth, by Cassandra Khaw - I almost put this together with the above, because I think they had similar problems. Really under-developed, but at least this one had good writing. It was beautifully written, it just…went nowhere. The characters and their relationships were really surface level, and the intriguing premise just…never really went anywhere. Both I think get more hype than warranted because they’re rather short and they have striking covers. Both I compared to short films that a young/student horror director would send around to short film circuits or use as film school theses while they were working on developing and funding the feature-length project, but unfortunately that’s just not how book publishing works so we’re not going to get to see the fully developed works.

Dishonorable Mentions: Dead Space by Kali Wallace (just finished it, the flattest characters I think I’ve ever encountered in fiction), If We Were Villains by ML Rio (I had this rated higher and then I actually read The Secret History and was like…oh my God, this is so much worse, what a poor imitation), Winter’s Orbit (I feel real bad about this one but…maybe I just don’t like romance, but I could not stand how 50% of the book was just miscommunication), Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (still got 3 stars, but I think this one is just overhyped. If you want to know what reading this book is like, just watch the original trilogy, pause at any major plot point, watch the ‘are we the baddies?’ Sketch and then continue on), What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher (I also gave this one 3 stars, and I think it’s…really not that bad but I can’t stop thinking about the hubris of saying that you’re going to write a more fully fleshed out version of The Fall of the House of Usher and then add on a whole sub genre, 4 extra characters, another whole plot, and barely make it any longer)

#books #reading #my brother and his gf got me the little cat statue! and a mug that looks just like the void creature it is so excellent #thank you booktok drama for the crime and punishment rec that was truly your peak

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Observers have long compared Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia to Alexander Lukashenko’s rule in Belarus. When protests swept the latter country in 2020 (only to be forced back into submission as winter set in), many speculated that Russia might be headed down the same path. In 2022, Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the domestic repressions against anyone who dared speak out against Putin’s policies did indeed reach an unprecedented level, but it appears to be only the beginning of the Kremlin’s crackdown. At Meduza’s request, Artyom Shraibman, a Belarusian political scientist and a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, explains what Russians can expect if their country continues moving in the same direction as Belarus.

The news that politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and the fact that Alexey Navalny, by all appearances, will get a similar sentence, has left a lot of Russians bewildered and afraid. But for Belarusians, this is just one more confirmation that Belarusian comedian Slava Komissarenko was right when he told his now-classic dark joke:

It’s like our two countries are watching the same TV show, but you’re only on the third season, while we’re on the fifth. And sometimes we glance over at you guys and say: “Get ready — it’s about to get very interesting!”

It’s not just a joke. When you consider the scale and the cruelty of the repressions, Belarus has been ahead of the Putin regime at almost every stage of Lukashenko’s rule. The only exception was the brief span between 2015 and 2019 when Minsk was trying to behave better in hopes of thawing its relations with the West. But then the “equilibrium” was restored. The failed revolution in 2020 sparked repressions so harsh that it’s hard to find a parallel in the post-Stalin histories of either Russia or Belarus.

Though there’s one exception to that, too: the premeditated murders of journalists and politicians. For Belarus, that was and remains an extremely unusual measure that Minsk has taken only once: in 1999–2000, when the authorities abducted and most likely killed two Belarusian politicians, Viktor Gonchar and Yury Zakharenko, as well as journalist Dmitry Zavadsky and businessman Anatoly Krasovsky. At that time, even the official investigation found that security agents linked to Lukashenko, Viktor Sheiman and Dmitry Pavlichenko, were involved in the operation.

In Putin’s Russia, meanwhile, the murder (and attempted murder) of journalists and intelligence defectors has been a constant.

But when it comes to other repressive practices, the Belarusian security forces really are more brutal and less selective — and they seem to be a step ahead of their Russian colleagues. It’s not that there’s a specific channel through which the Belarusian authorities pass their knowledge to the Putin regime. To move on to new forms of violence and human-rights restrictions, the Russian authorities don’t need to “peek” at what the Belarusians are doing; it’s not a matter of patents or “know-how.” Every regime goes down this path at its own pace. But because Belarus started the process first, it does make sense for Russians who want to know how Putin’s regime will degrade further to look to its Western neighbor.

Torture is routine

During the country’s 2020 protests, detainees were beaten as an additional preventative measure, in case 15 days in prison proved too light a punishment to deter them from protesting again. These days, beatings and torture and more often used when people refuse to unblock their phones, or when security agents want revenge for what they see as a personal affront — for example, when a suspect is believed to have leaked officers’ personal data.

In addition to physical violence, the authorities have begun using the tactic of humiliating people on video. In June 2022, security agents forced an arrestee to use a needle and ink to remove a tattoo that included a swastika. Other activists have been forced to draw things or stick protest symbols on their faces before recording “apology” videos.

Another practice that falls under the umbrella of physical violence is the administrative detention of political prisoners. People often spend weeks at a time in extremely overcrowded cells without mattresses, showers, opportunities to walk around, or the ability to receive packages from outside (in some cases, family members are allowed to send medicine), correspond in writing, or see a lawyer. They’re awakened twice per night and the lights are left on 24 hours a day. Many have reported being subjected to cold torture (when prisoners are left in cells with no heat and their blankets are confiscated). Prisoners serving sentences on felony charges experience numerous restrictions as well, but at the moment, the authorities’ treatment of administrative prisoners appears to be significantly worse.

Everybody’s an ‘extremist’

In early May 2023, Belarusian human rights advocates have counted almost 1,500 political prisoners in the country (which has a total population of a little more than 9 million). But even this number, they’ve said, is an undercount, as many people are reluctant to report the arrests of their relatives for fear of making their situations worse.

The majority of the country’s political prisoners have been convicted for one of two reasons: either they took part in the 2020 protests, or they allegedly engaged in “defamation” and were charged with “improper expression of one’s opinion.” This includes the Belarusian Criminal Code’s articles on “insulting the president” or other officials, “fomenting hatred” against societal groups (such as security agents), and “discrediting the Republic of Belarus”.

The concept of “fomenting hatred” is interpreted extremely widely; it can apply to as little as a rude word written on social media or in a community chat group against riot police in general. Hundreds of people have been jailed for expressing happiness about the death of a KGB officer during the raid of Minsk IT worker Andrey Zeltser’s apartment in the fall of 2021 or for conveying sympathy for Zeltser, who was shot in the same incident.

Participating in a protest becomes a felony offense in Belarus if a person enters a roadway during the demonstration. The pertinent article in the Criminal Code, which prohibits “organizing, preparing, or actively participating in actions that blatantly violate the public order,” has earned the nickname “the people’s article” for the number of citizens it’s been used to sentence. Walking around Minsk or any other city during one of the country’s Sunday protest marches in 2020 was enough to land a person in jail for up to four years. To this day, the authorities have continued arresting people for allegedly participating in those marches, using photos to identify people who don’t even remember being there.

The Belarusian authorities also apply laws against “extremism” more liberally than their Russian counterparts. Almost all non-state media outlets (including Zerkalo.io, Nasha Niva, RFE/RL's Belarusian service, and Belsat), as well as many popular Telegram channels (Nexta, Belarus Golovnogo Mozga), blogs (such as those of opposition politicians Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Valery Tsepkalo), and even chat groups, including some neighborhood ones in which participants discussed protest activity, have been declared “extremist.”

Subscribing to an “extremist” channel on Telegram is a misdemeanor offense. In many cases, to uncover these violations, officers order suspects to unlock their phone before searching through their messages and attempting to restore deleted files. In 2021, one married couple spent more than 200 days in custody for news articles they sent to one another in a private chat.

Even worse is the treatment of people caught working or interacting with organizations that have been declared “extremist formations.” This category includes anybody who has provided information or even comments to independent news outlets. Leading military expert Yegor Lebedok is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for two interviews he gave to the “extremist” outlet European Radio for Belarus. The wife of well-known blogger Igor Losik (who’s currently serving a 15-year sentence) was sentenced to two years in prison for telling a story about her husband to the Poland-based independent TV channel Belsat. The couple’s four-year-old daughter now lives with her grandparents.

The BySOL and ByHelp foundations, which were founded in 2020 to raise money to support victims of repressions, were declared “extremist” in 2021, which retroactively made every donation to the organizations a felony offense. But because the donations numbered in the tens of thousands and many of them came from IT workers who managed to flee the country, the authorities decided not to pursue charges against every offender and to exact payments from them instead. Many people whose bank cards appeared on donation records received visits from KGB officers who suggested they make “donations” to state-run charities several times larger than the payments they made to help repression victims. The agents promised not to open criminal cases against those who signed confessions, but the documents give the authorities yet another means of pressuring these people in the future.

But anti-extremism laws aren’t the Lukashenko regime’s only means of purging the country’s third-sector organizations; they’ve also had no qualms about simply dissolving them. The authorities didn’t arrive at this approach through trial and error, nor did they waste time with hybrid forms of repression such as declaring groups “foreign agents.” Instead, beginning in June 2021, after the latest round of European sanctions, security agents began liquidating hundreds of NGOs, including ones that weren’t involved in opposition politics even tangentially. The targets included environmental associations, historical societies, cultural organizations, charity foundations, organizations for disabled people, groups for Lithuanians and Poles living in Belarus, and urbanist, birdwatching, and cycling clubs. Acting on behalf of a non-registered organization is also a felony offense.

Repression, the Belarusian way

All of the repressive practices outlined above are familiar to Russians, albeit on a smaller scale, but there are a number of other methods that are frequently employed by the Lukashenko regime that aren’t yet common in Russia.

In the last few years, the Belarusian authorities have held many of its high-profile legal proceedings behind closed doors, refusing to allow even the suspects’ relatives to attend. As a result, the details of many cases, including sometimes the defendants’ names, remain publicly unknown. And in open trials, police officers serving as witnesses, who often give boilerplate testimonies about how a suspect “was walking down the street, started cursing, and resisted arrest,” are allowed to use pseudonyms and wear masks so that they can’t be identified later.

Often, the authorities try to force well-known political prisoners and opposition leaders to observe this “regime of silence,” including by disbarring and arresting their lawyers. Alexey Navalny’s regular Twitter threads, for example, wouldn’t be possible in Belarus, because his lawyers could lose their licenses or wind up in prison simply for trying to transport his political statements out of prison.

Another difference between the Belarusian and Russian systems is that the former allows the death penalty, while Russia has imposed a moratorium on the practice. In the spring of 2022, the Belarusian authorities decided to expand the set of offenses eligible for capital punishment, making it applicable to “attempted terrorist attacks.” In March 2023, “state treason” became punishable by execution as well (though the authorities have yet to use this approach).

In early 2023, Minsk decided to revive the Soviet-era practice of depriving political emigrants of citizenship obtained through birth; the law will come into effect in July. By all appearances, the government plans to apply the new law to exiled opposition leaders, who have already been sentenced in absentia to long prison terms.

In some of its less brutal forms, the Lukasheko regime’s repressions stand out for their thoroughness. For example, the Belarusian authorities now keep a registry of hundreds of thousands of citizens who either appeared on their radar for political disloyalty — by participating in protests, for example — or who simply voted for other presidential candidates in the 2020 election. Since 2021, depending on the severity of their “crimes,” these people have been systematically fired from government agencies, banks, state companies, and public organizations, including medical, educational, and cultural institutions, and banned from reapplying for public-sector jobs.

The Belarusian government has also been known to pay extra attention to members of specific ethnic groups. Immigrants from Ukraine who work in public organizations, as well as Ukrainian citizens who have lived in Belarus for years, have reported being called in by the KGB for interrogations, sometimes with polygraph tests, as the authorities seek information about Ukrainian intelligence agencies. And government employees with Polish roots who receive “Polish Cards” — documents that entitle them to certain benefits if they move to Poland — have reported being forced to relinquish the cards in order to keep their jobs.

No end in sight

It’s impossible to predict whether Russia will follow exactly the same path that Belarus has in recent years. The sudden surge of repressions in Belarus had an obvious trigger: the attempted revolution in 2020. Russia’s crackdown over the last 15 months was sparked by the invasion of Ukraine. But there’s a real risk that Russians will face a significantly more far-reaching domestic clampdown when the Kremlin realizes it’s exhausted its potential on the battlefield, and it needs somewhere to channel its frustration. It might embark, for example, on a larger-scale purge of “traitors” and “domestic enemies” who it claims are preventing the country from uniting and keeping the army from winning.

But the most important thing Belarus can teach Russia is that it can always get worse. Yesterday’s “red lines” stop working; isolated excesses become the norm. Society adapts to the regime’s cruelty, and people who immerse themselves in the news start catching themselves feeling an alarming sense of relief when somebody’s sentenced to two years in prison instead of ten.

The government itself may not understand at every specific moment whether its clampdown has internal limits, but it gradually pushes the limits of what’s permissible. Repressions are like a gas. They always expand to fill the space available — until the ruling elites or society begin to resist.

This isn’t always because a specific villain decided to turn the terror up to ten. Repression is a self-replicating machine. They create a class of beneficiaries — career security agents for whom the fight against “enemies” becomes a career elevator, a Stakhanovite competition. As soon as these incentives start to work, they no longer need a command from above to start searching for new forms of cruelty.

The human psyche clings to the familiar, even if that means informal norms of coexisting with the state. But the Belarusian experience shows us that these norms are extremely unstable when the government is plunging into the abyss of reactionism, and society is too atomized and frightened to resist. The inability to realize in time that yesterday’s taboos no longer apply has cost many Belarusians their freedom. They failed to escape the threat because they didn’t believe the threat was possible.

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twosroos · 2 years

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miss me more [ch. 1]

roos says! oh hell yes. this is like,,, a month in the making? the request was so simple, but I got way too ahead of myself, as i do. this is also the first time i'm writing a x hangman??? how dare i. anyway--

desc: after a horrible break-up, you decide to develop a new (probably unhealthy) habit. Then, you're called about attending the Navy's annual Gala... and revenge could never look as good as you did that night.

main characters: jake "hangman" seresin, natasha "phoenix" trace, bradley "rooster" bradshaw (all characters are referred to by first name)

tws: a lot of sex talk, past fwb, alcohol, cursing, physical altercations

September fifth, 2022, was the day your life went to shit. You were a lieutenant, coming home from a spontaneous second deployment where you had the absolute honor of being given a team leader role. The mission was tough, though not as challenging as the mission the other pilots in the squadron you technically 'belonged' to, the Iron Daggers. Despite belonging to the group, considering your time with them would last around two years before you moved on to another long-term deployment, you felt like an outsider. The group had its cliques, and you were not in them. Not that you particularly minded, you had never been a super social person anyways, and your boyfriend hated the men of your squadron. So, back when he controlled your life, you had no choice.

You can remember that all you wanted to do at that moment, coming home from two long deployments, was to lay down in bed with your boyfriend, Andrew, and tell him everything that had happened since you last saw him. The morning sun was still chilly enough to wear a hoodie as you drove home from where your car had sat, parked at the base, and that should have been your first warning. Hell had frozen over for your return. That was what it felt like when you had gotten home to two cars in the driveway. You naively assumed it would just be one of his friends and still happily made your way inside. The heels at the door gave you two ideas— he’s into drag (which you had been hoping for, honestly, that would’ve been awesome) or he’s cheating on you. It was sadly unsurprisingly the latter, which you found out when you saw her standing in the kitchen in your old Navy crewneck, with Andrew sliding his hands under its fabric to kiss her good morning.

That had been about fourteen hours ago.

So now, you sat outside the house in the golden hours of sunset. A half-finished Titos in hand as you watched the sun dip its way over the Pacific, just like it had been for as long as California had been above the ocean’s surface. One of the nice things about being stationed with your boyfriend was the fact that you both could pay for the rent of the house, and the past two years in it had been great. But now, because he was gone from the picture for good, you were realizing you would probably need to move back on base or to a hotel soon. Or take another deployment, and throw your stuff in storage or your sister's basement again.

Your hand slides to your face, the deck suddenly feeling claustrophobic. With little grace, you force yourself to stand and make your way inside. Once in, you realize the walls around you feel even tighter, but you stomach the uncomfortable feeling as you drop your half-empty cup in the sink and slip down the hallway to your room. The sheets are in the wash, going through what is now probably the fifth cycle, and you notice how bare your walls are without all of the easily removable pictures and decorations you had hung up with Andrew. They now sat in the trash can on the side of your house. Less to pack when you undoubtedly had to move in a few weeks. But despite that, there was still one thing you had kept from your time with him, a nightly ritual. That was the one good thing he had instilled in you. A morning and night ritual. Everything else, you just now decided, was shitty, and you would never do it again. No more late-night movies, changing to wear the dresses you knew he liked, singing each other songs while you cooked dinner, slipping away your deep red lipsticks for the softer shades you knew he died for, playing stupid games to win silly prizes you’d cherished, kissing goodnight and good morning, and dip kissing for long goodbyes or greetings after deployments. There would be no more binge-watch sessions during thunderstorms to curb your anxieties, hiding away your records in favor of letting him play his music, and especially no more slow dancing in the kitchen while baking cookies.

Your night ritual, though? You’d just have to adjust it.

Right now, you found yourself digging through your suitcase to throw on athletic wear. This had been your ritual, running to forget any sort of stray bad thought in your mind. You’d run until your legs went numb, then run back home, and it would kill you in the morning but you’d do it again the next day. You grabbed a water bottle from the bottom of your kitchen cupboard, filled it with water, and told yourself that you wouldn't run until it got dark. You slipped out the door, locking it and hiding the key in your usual hiding spot before you let your shoes start hitting the concrete after a quick stretch.

When you got home from the run with the darkness curling its cool air around you, you felt wrecked. The run itself was nice, five miles long and at the same pace. Once you find the key and shove it in the lock, you stumble inside to flick your lights on. After ordering delivery on your phone while digging out your smoothie maker, you throw in your post-workout powder with some fruits you'd found in the bottom of the freezer and some smoothie mix in the cabinet. You amble upstairs after the delivery and start the bath, letting it run while you down an entire salad. It's not too late, only about nine-ish by the time you sit down in the bath and let the warm water embrace you like a hug while you dump half a bag of Epsom salt in just praying it might help your muscles not die in the morning. You drink the rest of your smoothie, reading family updates on Facebook while your cousins text back and forth in the gossip group chat you have.

Then, your phone rings, and you notice the number is from one of the admiral's offices on base. So you answer the call as quickly as you can after fumbling a bit.

"Hello, sir?" You speak into the phone, trying to keep the splashing of the water you're into a minimum.

"This is Admiral Bates, I'm looking for Y/n L/n?"

"This is she," you smile, "How can I help you, sir?"

"I just wanted to inform you that the Navy gala will be taking place in California this year, and there will be brief awards ceremonies for both of your deployments. It will be on September thirtieth this year. We're hoping you can make it." He says and you smile,

"Of course, Admiral. I'll do everything I can to be there."

Now, most people didn’t think of the word ‘revenge’ when they thought of the Navy’s annual awards ceremony. But, you did. Taking from your callsign of 'dare devil', clear as day. The weeks leading up to the Navy gala (which was a glorified awards ceremony) had been filled with drinking, realizing how shitty Andrew was as a boyfriend, talking to your sister for hours on the phone, and running unnecessary amounts. You were in better shape than you'd been in years, and maybe running to the point of overexertion every day was extremely unhealthy, but you didn't care. On top of your workouts, this made your muscles show, and you liked the way they looked in your strappy dress

The dress code for the ball was simple, your Dress Whites (with the pants or skirt) or a white evening gown. You had chosen the latter, as most of the women you know usually did. The dress you chose was perfect in your eyes, a spaghetti strap square neckline complimented the dresses skin tight corset-boned top that flared out into a straight-lined skirt with a considerably high slit. You paired the dress with a diamond stud necklace, drop-down diamond earrings, and sparkling heels.

(And, of course, the red lipstick you had dug out of the bottom of your makeup bag.)

You looked like a movie star as you entered the ball, your newly manicured hands clutching your small white purse as you found your way to your table. Admiral Bates had told you that you'd be seated with your original squadron, most likely between Halo and Harvard, and you just hoped somehow you could squeeze in some sort of awkward conversation. Despite trying to keep a neutral look, your eyes anxiously scan for any sign of Andrew. He was Navy too, though not a pilot, and you were lucky bot your deployments had been to Fightertown around the same time. But now, knowing he was possibly here, you felt like the most unlucky person in America.

Well, excluding the girl who just spilled wine on someone's dress whites on the other side of the room.

You hear a low whistle and turn your head to see none other than Jake Seresin grinning at you. He looks just as cocky as you remember him, a glass of something dark swirling in his hand, his Navy ring shining in the low light. Your thumb absentmindedly comes to tap against your matching one. The same year and everything. From age eighteen to now, Jake Seresin had been nothing more than a royal pain in the ass, a thorn in your side, hot coals under your feet.

You wanted nothing to do with him.

"What do you want, bags?" You sneer, tilting your head with a disgusted look on your face. Internally, you know you're being cold because your heart is still aching, and his flirts might just end up with his lips on your collarbones if you're not careful. It wouldn't be the first time you'd both been in that position.

Jake gives you a sleazy grin, not easily deterred by your assertiveness, he speaks in a deep thick southern drawl, "Nothing much. Just surprised your little helicopter boyfriend let you out of the house looking as gorgeous as you do. He always hogged the view for himself."

"Andrew and I are split since he was sleeping around with civvies," You scoff, setting your bag on the seat of the chair with your nametag on it, "and besides, who says the view is for you? I thought we'd agreed after Top Gun that whatever we'd had was stamped out like cold ashes."

"I don't let go of things that easy, sugar." He grins at you, taking a long sip of his drink, and your flat neutral gaze certainly isn't making him feel anything other than awkward.

"I do." You say calmly, but before you can continue your rebuttal, Javy and Mickey appear on either side of Jake.

“Ah! Little Miss Dare Devil!” Javy grins and you laugh, walking around the table to give him and Mickey hugs. Besides Callie, they were the two you got along with the easiest. Mostly because all three of you loved video games and sci-fi.

“Hey Coyote, did you ever finish that book?” you ask and he nods, before happily launching into the details about the latest sci-fi series the three of you had read. Across the table, Natasha awes at Jake's defeat, and you get sent a decently nasty look from a few other members of your squadron. Both squadrons.

“Can't get Y/n to be swooned by your cockiness?” Bob chides, a glass of water in hand as he hands Natasha her margarita. She laughs at Jake's look of defeat for a second time and then she takes a long sip of her drink before licking the salt off her lips.

“Shut it, Statler and Waldorf.” He grunts and Natasha rolls her eyes.

“Your scowl looks more like those Muppets than we do.”

Before they can continue to make fun of Jake not being on his game, Bradley comes up behind them with a glass of draft Coors Light. He typically drinks the bottle, but here they only had drafted beer, so he had to settle for what they had.

"Is Y/n seriously at our table?" He asks, and Natasha shrugs, taking another sip.

Jake follows suit, hoping the alcohol will take off the edge of the night, "What's so bad about her, Roos?"

"She was so stuck-up during our mission. Like, sorry that your family is full of Naval Aviators and you're still a terrible pilot." He scoffs, "And then she jumps ship to be the team leader on another mission when she wasn't even picked to fly in ours, what's the deal?"

"Sounds like projection to me," Bob murmurs to Natasha and she chuckles, turning her dark-eyed gaze to where you stand with Javy and Mickey, laughing and carrying on without a care.

"You just fly too slow, Rooster. I said it once and I'll say it again." Jake gives him his signature cocky grin and Bradley glares daggers across the group. If looks could kill, he would've killed Jake a long time ago.

"Wanna know something interesting," A new voice chimes and the group turns to see Callie walking up with Reuben, Logan, and Brigham, completing the whole squadron aside from Maverick. Callie continues to talk as the boys greet each other, "Her boyfriend claims they were in an open relationship, which is a lie, she just got him early this month sleeping with civvies."

"Ain't he the one who pissed off your wizzo, Harvard?" Reuben says, turning to look at Brigham who nods.

“He’s a jackass. I never had a clue why Y/n dealt with him. He’s gonna get himself killed or thrown off a boat one of these days.” Brigham rolls his eyes, “like, for real, he got suspended a year ago for excessively flirting with a pilot on a ship to the point where she requested to change deployments.”

"Andrew Van Walsen, right?" Callie says, turning her head to where she spots him mingling in the crowd, "What's his callsign again?"

"Van Walsen's callsign is Cynic." Bradley pulls his chair out and takes a seat, "fits him."

"Very much so." Natasha rolls her eyes and plops herself down in her seat next to Bradley, Bob following suit next to her. The rest of the squadron slowly filtered in as presentations began, and you happily took your seat between Halo and Harvard just as you were told you'd be. And, though you had greeted everyone as politely as possible as soon as you sat down, you were still getting pretty nasty looks from your past teammates and elected to sit in awkward silence. After about an hour of polite clapping and half-paying attention, Maverick took the stage with Hondo.

The first half of his speech was just explaining the awards you would all be getting, plus special awards for those who had flown in the mission. You listened, and then made your way to the stage to be awarded a small patch of your squadron's name with your callsign embroidered in it. Another thing to add to your jacket and you watched as your teammates received ribbons for their uniforms and applauded happily when they were given other awards for certain things they'd done.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of short-lived conversations and drinks, ad as you swing back around to your table to grab your bag, Andrew is standing there and watching you.

"Go the hell away." You go to grab your bag and he snags it from the chair and pulls it to his chest.

"Andrew, come on!" You groan, "Are you seriously gonna be like this?"

"You're telling the whole Navy that I was cheating on you?" He growls, moving closer to you, and you stare at him and refuse to step back as he growls in your face, the smell of alcohol on his breath.

"I've told no one, you know I'm a private person." You go to grab your purse and he lifts it above your head as he shoves you back. From across the table, Jake's head perks up at the commotion.

Before they can make it there, Andrew laughs as he stares you down, "And red lipstick, Y/n? Seriously, you look disgusting in that."

"Alright," Jake says from across the table, before quickly making his way over to where you stood and reaching forward to rip your purse out of Andrew's hands.

"Hey!" Andrew says before Jake slams both hands into his chest and sends your ex-boyfriend crashing back into a table with a few wine glasses on it that beautifully splash against his uniform like an avant-garde painting.

"Don't disrespect a woman, or I'll find a way to disrespect you." Jake sneers, placing a hand on your waist as his other hand slips your purse into yours, and his fingers drag along your skin for a moment before he turns with you in his grasp and begins to leave the venue. You wait until the two of you are outside, too content in hearing Andrew's pissed-off shouts behind you before you turn to Jake with a look of anger.

"I don't need you to fight my battles, Seresin. I already told you I'm over everything that went on between us." You pull from his grasp, despite how badly you wish to keep feeling his heavy-handed presence.

"I'm not trying to fight your battle, Y/n." He says softly, eyes scanning you, "I don't trust Andrew as far as I, or even ex-pitcher Bradley, can throw him."

"Then why did you come up behind me like a fucking guard dog? That's the shit you did in college--"

"If you keep bringing up our whole college-age shit, I'm gonna start thinking you're not over it." He scowls and you snort.

"Despite being a bit cockier, you're still the same protective Jake I met when I was eighteen. It's kinda hard to forget it all." You admit, face flushed, "And you're still the best I've ever had."

"It's hard to match me," He grins, and all the anger floods out of your body because even if half the squadron didn't like you for some reason, you still had sweet Jake to help you out. You open your bag and begin to fish out your phone to call an Uber when Jake's hand returns to your waist, and in the shadows, he starts to slide it down.

"Seresin." You warn, and he grins at you, slipping a toothpick from a pack in his pocket into his mouth.

"Alright, doll, I won't do anymore..." He hums, "But, red is my favorite color and I've been told it compliments my skin."

"So you go from telling me to get over college, to trying to get me to sleep with you?" You accuse and he raises his hands in defeat, which makes you laugh because this is exactly what happened every time you two met. Even in The Hard Deck that first night. He'd used the pool stick for far too many jokes and had claimed if he got a bullseye with his eyes closed that you'd have to sleep with him. The team had thought he was joking. You knew there was a bit of seriousness to his request, but you hadn't done anything since college.

And even if you wanted to, there was a very very strict no fraternization rule and right now you couldn't afford to lose your job over something as trivial as Jake Seresin's overactive sex drive.

"I promise I'm done now," He says and you tilt your head at him with a fake annoyed look that makes him chuckle before he continues, "Just let me drive you home, Y/n. My truck's right around the corner, and I'm still a bit worried about Andrew."

"Okay, but don't ask to come in when you get to my house." You give him a soft smile, and he nods, his hand lifting back up to the small of your back as he guides you back into the crowd. You catch a sour look on Bradley's face as you pass him and Phoenix standing off to the side, and you turn your head away, deciding mentally that you didn't need his shit today. Because Jake's hold on your waist was enough to make you feel somewhat whole again after Andrew had scraped out a large section of your heart.

You prayed your heart wouldn't use Jake as a rebound to fix the hole that would inevitably tear its way back into your skin, like a worm eating an apple.

#jake seresin #jake hangman seresin #jake hangman x reader #jake seresin x you #jake seresin x y/n #hangman x reader #top gun: maverick #top gun maverick #top gun fanfiction #jake seresin fanfiction #jake seresin fic #hangman seresin x reader #hangman top gun

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hellsgayngels · 2 years

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ARTFIGHT TIME LETS FUCKING GO!!!!!!!

[image ID: The Art Fight 2022 Team Bloom profile card template. In the top left corner is a drawing of me, a white person with black hair and freckles, from the chest up, holding a rose in my teeth and surrounded by a wreath of more roses. In four out of the five Featured Character slots, from left to right, are drawings of my OCs, Mikhael, Torah, and Nazir, who are demons, and Razorgear, who is a Transformer. The fifth slot has a drawing of a rose.

The text on top reads:

User: jackstrade

I attack... any cool designs! mostly human(oid), anthro, and simple mech

/end text

As indicated by the checked boxes, I do Friendly Fire and Revenge.

end image ID]

#will reblog with a link to my profile!!#artfight 2022 #artfight #artfight team bloom #art by me

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kxtklutz · 2 years

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Yes I will be putting my feelings on the internet and I don’t care. I’m going to be making a personal journal to keep track of my mood and behaviors. Really it’s for me, but interact if you want I don’t care.

Aug 10, 2022

Today was the fifth day of school, pretty chill. I’m a sophomore this year woop woop. So far school has been boring and I really miss Alex. I wish everyone from last year was still here, miss all my seniors. It’s okay because Alex is my best friend so he’ll always be around. I still have Trey, but it’s his last year, but then I still have Anna, Colton, and Scotty!

I decided to finally delete TikTok along with facebook and every now and then I’ll delete Instagram lol. None of that matters. I see myself getting sucked in the hole of social media and I hate it. That’s not what I want. I want to work on my films and write and be creative. I’m not going to suppress my creativity. I need to work on my Youtube channel and focus on school along with focusing on my passions and bettering my skills. I’m ready to focus, I’m ready to be serious. Oh and I deleted Twitter cause thats just a seis pool for propaganda and pxrn. So yeah, I’m going to still work on Youtube 100% because right now I still have ideas. I’ve been taking a break from writing cause school, but I’m going to find my flow to balance everything out eventually.

So yeah I deleted some socials and honestly I’m feeling like I’m an annoyance, like a burden, which isn’t new, but honestly I feel like if I just remove social media from my life it’s a step closer to be more confident. It’s more internal issues than external, the problem is me so I feel like without social media it takes away so much procrastination and loss of focus so I don’t end up feeling like shit for not doing anything all day.

This weekend I’m going to finally play some tennis again, I know it’s been awhile so I’m probably going to play like shit, but I’m going to try and remember everything Alex taught me.

Also I think about Alex’s words a lot. He’s great.

#Spotify #gothic #goth #diary #journal #gore lover

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mitchbeck · 4 months

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#AHL #AmericanHockeyLeague #BridgeportIslanders #HartfordWhalers #HartfordWolfPack #LouisDomingue #NewYorkRangers #OakViewGroup #XLCenter

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sbknews · 6 months

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Masia seals the Championship with a win as the gloves come off in Qatar

The 2023 FIM Moto3™ World Championship has been decided in dramatic fashion after an action-packed Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar saw Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) fight his way to victory in one of the most eventful races of the season. The Spaniard did not have it easy by any means as rookie sensation David Alonso (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) was snapping at his heels on the final lap, but the Colombian couldn't quite find a way through and neither could Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who came third the hard way: fighting his way through the pack after a jump start for the Turk saw him serve a double Long Lap penalty. The race made some headlines for a number of moves in the title battle, however... Tensions were high as the Moto3™ riders lined up on the grid ahead of the first match point of 2022. The pressure was weighing down on the shoulders of Masia as he prepared for his first chance to become a World Champion, and with Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) six places ahead on the grid, The lights went out and it was Öncü took the holeshot but an obvious jump start for the Turk would come back to haunt him later on. The elbows were firmly out on the first lap as Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) led across the line the first time around. The Spaniard had Öncü, Sasaki, Alonso, and Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets -MSI) for company. Öncü was then awarded a double long lap penalty for that Jump Start, serving his first straight away as he dropped down the order. But he would be back. Meanwhile, Masia was on a charge from 10th place on the grid and put himself well within the mix. The chaos continued to unfold as positions were swapping and changing from corner to corner. A harsh move came from Masia early on as he forced himself and Sasaki wide, with both losing out but the latter most definitely more. It was deja vu with 10 laps remaining as Masia made the same move again on Sasaki as he tried to stuff it up the inside but sent the pair of them wide once again as they dropped down the order to fifth and seventh. For that, the #5 got a conduct warning too. Still, it didn’t take long for the pair to climb their way back to the front before Sasaki reaped his revenge and pushed Masia wide to line up behind the now-leading Holgado. As the laps ticked the bar-bashing continued as Holgado, Masia, Sasaki, and Alonso swapped and changed positions. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) and Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) joined the party ahead of the final six laps with 15 bikes still in contention for victory.

Masia hit the front with four laps to go as Sasaki made sure to put himself just behind the Spaniard. They came across the line one lap later and Sasaki made his move with Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) now up into the top three. It didn't last long for Sasaki as the Japanese rider got swallowed up by the chasing pack and dropped like a stone down to eighth, however. It went from bad for worse for Sasaki then, with as the front five broke away with the number 71 stuck battling with Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing), Masia's teammate, with Masia still leading the way. The final lap came around and Öncü was the rider on the march, joining the top three with Alonso and Rossi still in podium contention. No one could touch Masia on the final lap though, with the Leopard rider sealing it with a win as Sasaki tried everything he could to recover positions. Then, a big moment halted his progress to P6 and that was that: Masia was crowned the 2023 FIM Moto3™ World Champion. Alonso tried everything he could to get the better of the Leopard machine ahead of him, but it wasn't meant to be for the Colombian as he was forced to settle for second ahead of Öncü. Despite his efforts in the latter stages, Rossi just missed out on a podium position as he came across the line just behind Öncu in P4. Over a second further back was Vicente Perez (BOE Motorsports) who got the better of Sasaki following the Japanese rider's last-lap moment. Matteo Bertelle (Rivacold Snipers Team) was also in that battle and took seventh, with the Italian leading Kaito Toba (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Holgado, and Veijer across the line with the Dutchman rounding out the top 10. Romano Fenati (Rivacold Snipers Team) finished 1.5s further back in 11th with Muñoz, Joel Kelso (CFMoto Racing PruestelGP), Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) and Ivan Ortola rounding out the top 15, the latter after a double long lap too. With the title decided the Moto3™ season now heads to the final round of the 2023 season in Valencia. The Circuit Ricardo Tormo always throws up a barnstormer, so make sure you don't miss a beat from the Gran Premi Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana with the action set to kick off in just one week's time! For more Moto3 info checkout our dedicated Moto3 News page Or visit the official MotoGP website motogp.com Read the full article

#Doha #Dunlop #Moto3 #Moto32023 #QatarGP #Tissot

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