You Know, The Truth Is It’s Even More Than A Talent. It’s A Calling. A Purpose. A Mission.

If the Star Wars Prequels used negative reviews in their promo photos

Why Should I Care - Billy Russo Part 24

A/N: This is a long chapter!

Warning: Unwanted touching

“It’s good to see you again Wilson.” You greeted the man.

“I’ve told you before my friends call me Willie.” He corrected you

“So we’re friends?” You gave him a questioning gaze as you stepped out of his touch. You almost forgot how imposing he was.

“I’d like to think so. I’ve always preferred your company to that of your ex’s.” He told you as he gave you a smile.

You knew Wilson Fisk could be a very dangerous man but you also knew he never took a shining to your ex, which was funny because your ex introduced you to him. You figured it was to get on Fisk’s good side but the joke was on him. Fisk still didn’t give two shits about your ex but did take an immediate liking to you.

“I think we can both agree on that.” You gave him a genuine smile.

“Well, shall we?” He asked gesturing to the door leading to the gala.

“I’ll be in a bit.” You told him. “I need a breather after that mess outside.”

“Very well. Just remember not to be a stranger.” He smiled at you before he left.

You wished you could have walked in with Wilson, it would have made you feel safer but you needed to get your head on right. Your ex was somewhere on the other side of those double doors and you were going to have to get close enough to touch him.

You almost turned to run when your phone buzzed. Taking a quick glance at it you saw it was a text from Maria.

-Hope you’re having fun.

-Kids miss you! We miss you!

She sent you an attached picture of all of them and that’s all you needed to see. It reminded you why you had to stop running.

You took a deep breath and straightened your back before you walked to the large double doors.

There were two men there opening the doors and you gave them a small nod before entering. Your eyes scanned the room looking at all the party goers until the landed on Billy.

Billy had hoped he got there before you. He set himself up by the bar, facing the doors, as he scanned the room. He didn’t spot you so he ordered a whiskey to keep up the ruse.

Once he received his drink his eyes scanned the room again as he brought his lips to his glass. His whole body stilled when he took in the sight of you.

He knew he saw you in that dress before but seeing you now took his breath away and he couldn’t help but to stare.

“That’s a nice piece of ass,” A man next to him said and Billy had to restrain himself for decking the guy.

“That’s a piece of art.” He corrected him with a sneer, still not taking his eyes off you.

You watched him as he gave you a small nod and you finally tore your eyes away. 

You had to do the daunting task of going face to face with your ex.

You took another deep breath before you set out. 

You made the small greetings when someone called out your name and did tour best to avoid getting stuck talking to someone. You wanted this night to be over quickly.

While it seemed like forever it didn’t take long to finally spot him. He was off to the side chatting up some rich older men. And if you didn’t know him better you would have found him charming and extremely good looking. But nowhere near as good looking as Billy; every bit of him was different compared to Billy.

He wore his traditional light tan suit, the same one he wore when he first took you out. He said it brought him good luck if it got a second date with you. At the time you thought the notice was cute and loved to see him wear it. Now you hated it with a passion, especially since he wore knowing he was forcing you to go with him.

His bleached blonde hair, which had once reminded you of a surfer now all it reminded you of was how it reflected how cold his heart was.

You gave a glance over to Billy in hopes to convey you’d found your mark. To your surprise, he was already staring at you. His dark eyes almost hypnotizing you but you managed to give a small motion with your head in the direction of your ex before you turned away.

When your eyes landed on him again he was already looking at you and a cocky smirk spread across his face; you wanted nothing more than to wipe it right off him but instead forced a small smile on your face.

He wasted no time, as he quickly excused himself, and made his way over to you and soon was standing inches away from you.

His hands quickly went to your hips and he held a tight hold, that you were sure was going to leave bruises. He pulled you flesh against his chest and rest his face in the crook of your neck. You noticed the two men off in the corner of the room take a few steps closer, rich boy really didn’t go anywhere without help.

“God I missed touching you.” He said as he nuzzled his nose against your skin.

You shivered from how cold his presence made you feel but unfortunately, he thought it was a different type of shiver.

“Don’t worry Baby Girl, I’ll warm you back up real quick.” He whispered just loud enough for you to hear and his hands traveled to your ass, where he gave it a quick squeeze. You gave a gasp at the sudden contact but barely had time to do anything before his hands started to circle back to your sides. His right hand gripped your hip again while his left hand continued to trail down to the slit of your dress.

“This isn’t the dress I picked out for you Baby Girl but I do love the easy access.” He said as he slides his hand under the cut and moved his fingers up your inner thigh.

You tried to push him back but his grip was too strong and his response was to bite down on the flesh of your neck.

Billy was still seated at the bar nursing his drink when you ex approached you. He noticed the drastic difference between himself and the man in front of you. The difference was night and day and he had to wonder if you would have given him a second look if your ex didn’t turn out how he did.

Would you have flirted with him the way you did if you could have that glamorous rich lifestyle? He didn’t think so. He was damaged goods and you deserved only the best in life. Things he couldn’t give you.

He was snapped from his thoughts when he saw what your ex was doing to you. His jaw tightened and his lips pursed as he was forced to sit there and watch him pull you close and roam his hands all over your body. He knew he couldn’t make a scene but he lost it when he saw him slide his hand in the slit of your dress. He gripped his glass so hard it broke. He was thankful that the room was loud enough for only two other people to pay notice, the bartender and the man who made the comment about you.

You had your eyes shut tight trying to remember how it felt when Billy had done the same but you couldn’t; it all felt wrong. You needed to stop this but he was just too damn strong. Stupid personal trainer was what you thought as you shot a quick look over to Billy to ask for help but the notion didn’t go unnoticed by your ex. His grip on your hip increased and he pulled his other hand back.

“Perhaps Drew was right in trying to collect you.” He seethed gripping your jaw tightly.

Your eyes were wide in shock for a brief moment before a glare settled in your features. “I have no idea what you’re on about?” You lied

“You don’t think I wouldn’t have my eyes on the door the whole night? I’ve seen the looks you’ve been sending pretty boy over there.” His said, his voice was growing with anger at every word.

He turned you around and pressed your back to his chest. He made sure you were facing Billy. You could see the silent rage on Billy’s face even from this far away.

“Do you think he enjoyed the show?” He whispered in your ear.

It was then that you realized he had set a trap. His location in the room and his actions before, they weren’t just to search you for a weapon but to display his claim on you in front of Billy and show you that he was steps ahead of you.

Billy noticed the look of distress on your face and moved to help you but was stopped short of taking a step forward. He felt the press of a gun’s barrel on his lower back.

You watched as Billy started to move towards you but quickly froze in his movements. “You’ve had a man on him all night.” You realized in fear.

“You always were a smart woman AJ. Just not smart enough to stay where you were supposed to.” He whispered in your ear.

“Maybe you just couldn’t handle me.” You spat back. You weren’t going to give him any satisfaction in his victory.

“And pretty boy could?” He laughed “I’ll make you a deal. Come back home with me and I’ll let this one live and leave that cute little family you’re so fond of alone." 

You knew that was a lie. You knew he would never let any man you were interested in live, especially if he found out how close you two had gotten. But you also knew Billy was trained and that was something he didn’t know. You just hope it would be enough of an advantage.

"Fine. You win. I’ll go with you. So long as you don’t kill him.” You turned your head to look him in the eyes.

“Shall we seal it with a kiss?” He asked before placing his mouth over yours. You gave no response to the kiss and it was over almost as quickly as it began.

He pulled away, still filled with rage when you didn’t return his kiss.

“Let’s go.” He ordered moving his hand to your wrist before pulling you towards the doors.

You failed to see the signal he sent his man to lead Billy out to finish him off but you already knew it would happen. This wasn’t the first time it’s happened after all. 

You were quickly rushed through the doors followed by the two men who held the door open for you, his men you realized.

He noticed the paparazzi still outside and turned to lead you out a side door of the hotel.

On your journey to the carpark, you heard one of the guy’s radio goes off. 

“Boss, it’s for you.” The guy to the left of him told him handing his radio over

“Go ahead.” He said with a grin you knew too well. 

“I got him out the back. Want me to finish him?" The man, who you assumed was the one behind Billy at the bar, asked.

"Yeah. Have fun. Radio when the job is done.” He answered.

It a long walk to the carpark, due to going out the side of the building, but it seemed all too quickly that the radio transmitted again confirming the kill. Billy was dead. He was dead and it was your fault. It was always your fault. All the deaths you’ve caused over the years because you were foolish enough to think you could escape this man.

And now you lost the only person you thought could help you permanently escape. You should have just left instead of trying to leave that stupid letter; then Billy would still be alive

 You felt empty as you allowed your body to be pushed into the back of a limo.

Tag List:

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“Inverness, Capital of the Highlands” by @castlesofscotland on ig .

Don’t fuck with Alfred. 

It’s fascinating, and by that I mean F***ING UNBELIEVABLE, that only now that Mick did what he did do the Legends finally realize that maybe, MAYBE, Mick also deserved to be treated like a human being!

I’ve never rooted so very much for the villains before!

reasons to love movie-Aragorn:

22) the excited, crazyass way he runs to report to Theoden that the beacons of Gondor are lit

(please feel free to add your own)

You're enablers, but apparently the way Thranduil was BUTCHERED fills me with such seething rage that I can’t contain myself once I start thinking about it. For real, they slandered him so badly I'm half convinced the movies are dwarven propaganda.

Okay so right here is a very short but AMAZING exploration of Thranduil’s character in the book, which I did not write but that profoundly impacted little kid me, and probably contributed to me loving analysis so much.

In a few words: book Thranduil is KIND, COMPASSIONATE, and WISE. And how do we know that? Because Bilbo likes him after spending weeks going around his halls. Because, and I quote:

He had taken his stand on Ravenhill among the Elves-partly because there was more chance of escape from that point, and partly (with the more Tookish part of his mind) because if he was going to be in a last desperate stand, he preferred on the whole to defend the Elvenking.

Because Thranduil is the one who makes Bilbo an Elf-friend. (Which isn’t in the movies. They stretched ONE book over like NINE HOURS and they couldn’t fit in that one scene??)

Because Thranduil's people are having parties and singing songs despite the growing shadow, and they're wearing gemstones, meaning Thranduil shares his wealth with his people.

Because there is every indication that Thranduil was a good father when looking at Legolas' character in LotR.

I mean, does this guy sound like an asshole?

"Farewell! O Elvenking!" said Gandalf. "Merry be the greenwood, while the world is yet young! And merry be all your folk!" "Farewell! O Gandalf!" said the king. "May you ever appear where you are most needed and least expected! The oftener you appear in my halls the better shall I be pleased!" "I beg of you," said Bilbo stammering and standing on one foot, "to accept this gift!" and he brought out a necklace of silver and pearls that Dain had given him at their parting. "In what way have I earned such a gift, O hobbit?" said the king. "Well, er, I thought, don't you know," said Bilbo rather confused, "that, er, some little return should be made for your, er, hospitality. I mean even a burglar has his feelings. I have drunk much of your wine and eaten much of your bread." "I will take your gift, O Bilbo the Magnificent!" said the king gravely. "And I name you elf-friend and blessed. May your shadow never grow less (or stealing would be too easy)! Farewell!" Then the elves turned towards the Forest, and Bilbo started on his long road home.

Like, he’s so nice, and honestly funny, and he's such good friends with Gandalf??

Just...

The Elvenking had received news from his own messengers and from the birds that loved his folk, and already knew much of what had happened. (...) "That will be the last we shall hear of Thorin Oakenshield, I fear," said the king. "He would have done better to have remained my guest. It is an ill wind, all the same," he added, "that blows no one any good." For he too had not forgotten the legend of the wealth of Thror. So it was that Bard's messengers found him now marching with many spearmen and bowmen; and crows were gathered thick, above him, for they thought that war was awakening again, such as had not been in those parts for a long age. But the king, when he received the prayers of Bard, had pity, for he was the lord of a good and kindly people; so turning his march, which had at first been direct towards the Mountain, he hastened now down the river to the Long Lake. (...) Their welcome was good, as may be expected, and the men and their Master were ready to make any bargain for the future in return for the Elvenking's aid. Their plans were soon made. With the women and the children, the old and the unfit, the Master remained behind; and with him were some men of crafts and many skilled elves; and they busied themselves felling trees, and collecting the timber sent down from the Forest. Then they set about raising many huts by the shore against the oncoming winter; and also under the Master's direction they began the planning of a new town, designed more fair and large even than before, but not in the same place.

This guy is A GOOD PERSON. (I am begging you to read the meta I linked, it's so good.) And do you know what we get in the movies????? DO YOU?!

This absolute garbage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCY_ctV63HU&t=170s

We get Thranduil explicitly telling Bard he didn't come to help the humans. We get Thranduil being the one who wants to attack first, when in the book he's the ONLY leader out of the four involved in the Battle of the Five Armies who said he wouldn't start a war over gold.

"Fools!" laughed Bard, "to come thus beneath the Mountain's arm! They do not understand war above ground, whatever they may know of battle in the mines. There are many of our archers and spearmen now hidden in the rocks upon their right flank. Dwarfmail may be good, but they will soon be hard put to it. Let us set on them now from both sides, before they are fully rested!" But the Elvenking said: "Long will I tarry, ere I begin this war for gold."

Seriously, he'd just come to assess the situation and maybe grab some treasure if the Dwarves were really dead, and then he changed course and stayed for his human buddies and only joined his forces to theirs because Thorin didn't want to give Bard anything despite being responsible for the town's destruction. Thranduil entered the fight to support Bard's claim, not because hE wAntEd TeH HHwHitE gEmSSS!

Ffs.

Thranduil looking down on mortals, when he's a nice dude who's friends with his human neighbors, is insulting and dumb.

Thranduil being portrayed as having zero chills, when the guy canonically wears flower crowns and berry crowns, is outrageous. ("On his head was a crown of berries and red leaves, for the autumn was come again. In the spring he wore a crown of woodland flowers.")

The movie portrayed him as some sort of First Age Noldo, when he's not, he's one of the Sindar, and his people are all Teleri wood-elves/silvans, Nandor - just singers and hunters doing their thing, not great craftspeople drunk on hubris and the shine of their own reflections.

Which brings me to Tauriel, and my utter contempt for the scene where he basically tells a mere captain/a 'lowly Silvan elf' is not good enough for his son. WHAT.

1) Tauriel does not exist in the book, and by all accounts SHE SHOULD NOT. Seriously, don't tell me she's a good enough character that she deserved to be added, her name is literally Forest Maiden, because that's the amount of creativity that went into making her. She exists to fall in love with a dude she has known for three days, even though we're never given a reason why she's not prejudiced against dwarves like the rest of her people are. What makes her so special? How come a three day fling overrides her loyalty to the king who has provided for and protected his people for centuries? Is Kili that hot? Not by Elven standards he isn't. You could argue that Aragorn and Beren instantly fell in love with Arwen and Luthien, but they were literally the two most beautiful persons to ever live, and there wasn't a millennia old blood feud between their people.

2) The mere IDEA of Thranduil regarding any Elven maiden as too low in status for Legolas is BEYOND ridiculous. Elven 'nobility' is barely a thing on account of everybody knowing each other, everybody being more or less related, Elves typically marrying for love, and the Elf 'lords' mingling with their people constantly. Sure, Elves have leaders/lords/kings, who are a bit wealthier, and generally super skilled in one or several domains, but they don't really seem to have social classes. There are no Elven barons and counts, and no Elven serfs. All the Galadhrim get to see their lady. You're either one of the leaders, or you're part of the leader's people and more or less equal to everybody else, and that's that. And YES, Sindar are still kinda higher than Nandor/Sylvans, but they're close kin (and like, most of the Galadhrim are Nandor, so it's not like they're considered trash by any means), and Thranduil would definitely look down on Noldor wayyyyy more than on his woodland kin.

3) Tauriel is a high ranking warrior, and Elves place more value on personal achievements than on parentage to determine status. Beleg is Thingol's #1 guy because he's the best archer in the world, not because of birth. Also, we don't see any court ladies, so who exactly is supposed to be good enough for Legolas?

4) Elves. marry. for love. qsdsqsdfdsqsd the IDEA that Thranduil would ever try to discourage that. I just.

5) There aren't that many Sindarin from Doriath around anymore, and Thranduil's subjects are Wood-elves, so it would make sense for his unnamed wife to be a wood-elf. We're not told that the Oropher-Thranduil-Legolas Sindarin branch is related to any other big Elven family, despite the super detailed family trees, so the most plausible thing would be that Thranduil married someone from his people and not anyone related to big Elven names. So AGAIN. The IDEA. That he would think a WARRIOR MAIDEN OF HIS OWN KINGDOM WHOM HE APPARENTLY TOOK IN AS A CHILD IS BENEATH HIS SON. Is MIND-BOGGLING.

(Though I'd have some more things to say about Tauriel, and how shoehorning her in as the cliché 'badass gal that does everything like the dudes,' and hinting that Legolas' mother was the same - and it getting no raised eyebrows from anyone - kinda flies in the face of the cultures Tolkien established, and the very protective mindset of the LotR men - but this post is getting too long. ALSO! Legolas and Gimli's friendship was significant because it was the first positive bond between an Elf - especially one from the people of Doriath - and a Dwarf in FOREVER. You don't get to tell me that ACSHUALLY, an Elf almost got it on with a Dwarf not a century ago. Seriously, Elves going for mortal partners generally only happens with humans that either have Elven blood or Elven characteristics, or were raised by Elves, or all three! AND I also detest the hints of Galadriel/Gandalf and am ready to throws hands over them! ... I'm getting so off tracks.)

So yeah, it's just all preposterous, as is Thranduil being a complete d*ck to Thorin when in the books he's only really pissed that the Dwarves kept making a nuisance of themselves in his kingdom and won't tell him what they're doing there. Thranduil DOESN'T HATE THORIN.

And Thranduil being ready to commit Kinslaying for next to no reason?? KINSLAYING?? Elf-on-Elf murder?? THE ONE THING EVERYBODY - ESPECIALLY SINDAR - DESPISES THE NOLDOR FOR DOING???? The movies had Thranduil threaten to kill one of his OWN PEOPLE for hitting a nerve (and committing treason twice, but who cares? not the writers) when by all accounts he should sooner kill HIMSELF than ever do anything like that given the history of his people?!? Wtffff.

And FINALLY,

... the fact that they made Thranduil obsessed with some random white gems, that he'd go to war over them, that his entire feud with Thorin's family was started over them...

AND THAT THEY CUT THE SCENE WHERE IT'S FINALLY EXPLAINED THAT THEY WERE HIS DEAD WIFE'S JEWELS (=> meaning that the dwarves really did steal them, like it's hinted at in the first movie's intro but left ambiguous).

https://youtu.be/H1589qbXUGo

HOW DO YOU EVEN STRIP A CHARACTER OF EVERYTHING THAT MAKES HIM WHO HE IS, RECREATE HIM AS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING HE WAS, HAVE HIS CHARACTERIZATION REVOLVE AROUND SUCH A CRUCIAL PIECE OF INFORMATION, AND THEN CUT OUT THE ONE THING NOW CENTRAL TO HIM OUT OF THE BLOATED MESS OF A MOVIE THAT IS BOTFA. THE HOBBIT TRILOGY IS SO POINTLESSLY LONG AND YOU INVENTED HALF A DOZEN MAIN CHARACTERS BUT YOU COULDN'T FIT IN THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT THE MAJOR PLAYER THAT YOU BUILT UP AS A BIG ANTAGONIST???

Like "yeah, we're gonna make Thranduil a bit of an ass because of the tragic past we invented for him" - "oops, we cut out half of the tragic past thing" - "yeah, we just made Thranduil an ass." "Oh no, he's not just a greedy b*tch, he's a complex character! ... If you watch the interviews and the cutscenes of the extended version."

Ugh.

(Exasperation warning for that last vid: a captain commits treasons and threatens her king for wanting to pull out of the battle that's decimating their people. Then the king all but pisses on the Silmarillion. Uuuuugh.)

(The magic fake skin/eye is also weird.)

(These movies are a mess.) . . .

But we got elk-riding, dual-wielding Thranduil out of it all, which was pretty epic I guess?

Rhys Ifans as a pirate

Tristan…. I think I love you. Is this love, Tristan? I never imagined I’d know it for myself. My heart… It feels like my chest can barely contain it. Like it’s trying to escape because it doesn’t belong to me any more. It belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I’d wish for nothing in exchange - no gifts. No goods. No demonstrations of devotion. Nothing but knowing you loved me too. Just your heart, in exchange for mine.

STARDUST 2007 | Dir: Matthew Vaughn

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements