✨

The way I see it Bree doesn’t truly hold any negative feelings toward Vera but her frustrations were warranted. One daughter at a time for all time meant that while Vera was able to save her child (in a sense) she made her line just that- a line. The line of Vera is essentially a cord that will always snap on itself before restarting; there are no aunties, uncles, cousins, etc. The trauma Vera held being a slave is one that Bree will never understand-which she did acknowledge- but Vera didn’t have to face what her daughter, granddaughter and future ascendants had to afterwards. Because not only were they blood marked but also scions of Arthur (side note: Erebus was playing chess not checkers) which most didn’t even know about. I especially think of Jessie who tried the most to learn her powers but the fear of the Shadow man was practically debilitating. And then there’s how young a lot of them would’ve died- like we know Faye went to college and had a career so from the moment she became pregnant her life was on a time limit and she fortunately got 16 years to raise her daughter and be a wife and mother and Bree’s not having babies anytime soon on her journey to learning her powers so she’s safe but one of the ancestors didn’t even get to meet her daughter.

And as drastic as it may have seemed, Bree did exhaust all her options and the only thing left that would’ve connected her with her ancestors is their fear which would’ve hindered her especially now that she left with the Hunter-Erebus. And one of the main critics I see on Goodreads is that Bree didn’t care about her Root work or the community which is such an odd thought process, especially when she was always working with those powers just as much as Arthur’s- hell even more because it’s were her abilities as a medium and immunity to mesmer came from it’s just that her Root was only for defense making it harder for her to use. She cut her connection because there was nothing left that could be offered to her just like she cut her connection to Arthur because there was nothing left she’d get from him (besides he tricked her). I think the short stay at Volition despite how it ended was needed to truly demonstrate how much power Bree had within her from both sides of her lineage-which is really just one side because her ancestors were scions as well.

I think the best way I can think of it; Volition as a place for the descendants of the enslaved specifically root crafters was still such a separate thing from Bree’s power because we’re constantly told that blood crafted is a demonized power combine with how the Order does things with their oaths and ancestor lineages-taking/keeping instead of offering/borrowing the powers Bree had was always in some sort of contrast with other root crafters like Mariah and Patricia

Me, visibily shaking in the cinema:

Fandom: MCU Captain America

Summary: Generally, you know what you’re getting when you’re alone with Steve. This time, he moves the goalpost.

Quick facts: Romance – Steve Rogers/Reader – Nondescript Reader

Warnings: No read-more cut since this is short, fluff, a tiny bit of sap, smoochin’

Words: 508

A/N: Just a drabble. I keep trying to write kissing/romantic stuff but I keep missing the mark I want to hit. Oh well; practice makes perfect, so I’ll keep trying.

 Your back’s against the wall and Steve is standing there, looming over you. He’s breathing heavy and the air brushes over your skin like a warm, stuttered breeze. His arm is braced against the wall, bent at the elbow and blocking out everything to the side. Your other side is blocked by another wall. You’re literally cornered, by a man with shifting expressions– like he can’t seem to settle on a single feeling for more than a second. But you wait, barely breathing, yourself. You wait, but he does nothing more than inhale and exhale, and his presence feels heavier and closer without him moving at all.

“Steve?” you whisper.

And just like that, he’s unfettered by whatever was holding him back. He dives in and takes your mouth with his, awkward and desperate and all-consuming. And unyielding. Not that it’s necessary for him to be so adamant about it– he’s not the only one participating. But he is relentless. You break away for a breath and he’s back on you, becoming a part of your inhale. His hand cradles the back of your head but he is so firmly pressed against you that you can barely move. Barely.

You slide your hands to his back and dig with your nails. He arches into you and you can feel the shudder that runs through his body like it runs from him and right through you. Maybe it does and you just can’t tell where the two of you end and begin. He hoists you up by your hip and as you wrap your legs around him on instinct he slides his hands under your thighs and holds you with no effort.

Your back hits the bed and this is more familiar; ground you know how to tread. Steve presses in, still not giving an inch. But when your hands try to pull up the hem of his shirt he grabs them and pins them above your head. His fingers lace with yours and that…that’s different, again. It’s not to the point, there’s something else there.

“Stop it,” he says and starts kissing all along your jaw, from one side to the other. “You always do this.”

“Don’t you like it?” you ask in a daze. This is different. This is…tender.

“Of course I like it,” he says and keeps kissing your skin. “I like it. But I love you.”

You don’t know what to do. He kisses your neck over and over, whispering, “I love you,” in between every single kiss, and sometimes muffling it with a kiss. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know what to do. You only know what is true. What is right.

“I love you too.”

The pain that Nick, the Oath, and Lord Davis have inflicted upon Sel makes any healthy romantic relationship between Nick and Sel improbable. Selwyn says it himself: “There’s so much baggage between Nicholas and me, there was never going to be room for anything else to grow.”

Throughout the entirety of Legendborn, Nick never once shows any care or affection for Selwyn, the boy he was raised alongside. He punches him, alienates him in front of their friends, and takes advantage of the fact that Selwyn was forced to swear an Oath that Nick had the luxury of being able to walk away from. Instead of finding kinship with Sel, Nick just does his best to ignore him. 

I cannot think of a single instance in the entire book where Nick expresses care, concern, admiration or any positive emotion towards Selwyn. Can you?

Once Sel realizes that Bree isn’t Shadowborn, the two of them are able to develop a positive relationship. Bree has the empathy and wisdom to look past Sel’s previous cruel treatment of her and recognize it as a symptom of the terror and abuse he faces (Yes, the Oath Sel is under is abuse). 

Nick has none of that empathy towards Selwyn. He doesn’t have Bree’s wisdom to accept that Selwyn made a mistake when convinced she was a Shadowborn. Nick doesn’t accept the possibility that Selwyn could be a positive influence on anyone. 

“Did Sel get to you again?”

“Not like that”, I say vaguely. “He…gave me some combat tips yesterday.

“What?” Nick’s jaw clenches. I ordered him to stay away, not to look at you, not to talk to you–” 

“It’s fine.” I squeeze his arm. “It was good. He genuinely helped.”

He looks skeptical, but some of the tension leaves his shoulders. “Still, Rule Three is in full effect.”

It would be incredibly, incredibly toxic for a polyamorous relationship wherein Nick and Selwyn are coupled, not only because of the power imbalance, but because Nick has never given any indication that he loves or cares for Selwyn. It would be wrong to trap Sel in a relationship where he is not loved. And Sel doesn’t love Nick either. 

so sel purposefully uses the bond between him and nick and exploits it. he purposefully feels bloodlust toward bree and wants to kill her so much that nick will feel it too. sel of course wants this, so nick can be the one to kill her, getting rid of the apparent “hero act front” of nobility puts (nick puts up no front, he’s just a good person). but y’all are mad that nick punched sel for not only exploiting his power as appointed in charge after lord davis left to target bree but also abusing the bond between him and nick to make nick have thoughts of killing bree. that is absolutely sick and vile. i don’t care if sel feels bad at the end. that’s an absolutely awful thing to do. the power imbalance YOU speak of does not exist in the way you think it does. sel can abuse the oath just as much, and has done so with malicious intent. he does not deserve better anything. HE was at fault. if anything, bree and nick are who deserve better.

“no care and empathy toward sel” when all of bloodmarked nick puts his trust in sel. y’all made this all up! i also think it’s very weird that no one wants to point out sel’s implicit bias accusing the only Black person in the lodge of being a demon with no substantial evidence whatsoever. just a “feeling.” the disregard toward Black characters is blatant and discomforting.

and finally, on the point of nick’s “good guy act” snapping upon the reveal of bree being the true Scion of Arthur which i saw in some comments. nick never wanted to be king. he never wanted to world to need a king because that would mean that the shadowborn have risen. if y’all actually paid attention to the book besides your dark-haired brooding emo boy you would’ve caught that. why in the world would he be mad at bree? well, guess what. y’all were wrong as hell. again, paying attention to the book and actually reading it beyond focusing on a white man will do wonders. nick is in full support of bree as king, as anybody with sense would’ve expected.

“Gina’s character was ruined.” and all that’s happened is she’s accepted that S1 her wasn’t a bad person and that ambition, confidence and knowing your worth isn’t a bad thing. She made a choice good for her by breaking up with Elton when he wasn’t giving her what she needed and she made the choice to kiss the boy she’s always liked A MONTH LATER.

“Ricky is so different this season.” Yeah, it’s called being happy babe, we haven’t seen true happiness from him since the show started. He’s actually fun and focussing on helping his friends and having a great time.

“Rina came out of nowhere.” And it’s the ship that’s been set up since S1 ep 5 - S3 ep 8. Like, it’s always been coming, you simply chose to ignore that your ship was a plot device☹️

“I hope Gina’s miserable next season.” Why are you wishing sadness on a black woman? Why don’t you want her happy? What do you have against black girls thriving and being loved?😕

Ain’t no assassination happen, y’all just wanted Gina to stay in an unhappy relationship because Eej was your favourite character and not for HER happiness and y’all wanted Ricky to stay miserable like in S1 and 2 so he can’t grow enough to be ready to be with the girl he likes

hi there, yeah it's no problem i can explain a bit. to the best of my ability anyway.

nick and bree is what a lot of readers call 'insta-love' and while that may be, a lot of black girls including myself whilst reading saw no problem with that. the reason being is that whenever black girls/women are in romantic relationships in media, there's always this element of struggle love or that the relationship has to be hard and trying to make it worth it.

that's something we as black women have grown up seeing, and it's quite damaging especially in the context of how we're treated in society. fiction affects reality and when you are raised constantly seeing girls who look like you suffer in love, and 9/10 times given the short end of the stick, it does things to you.

there's none of that with nick and bree. nick is completely and unequivocally devoted to bree. he spent the majority of the book uplifting her, being her safe space, and defended her at all times. he validated her feelings and gave her space when she needed it, and he was also just all around the perfect partner to her.

it annoys me when i see so many white girls call their relationship boring, or that god forbid he's toxic because he wants to keep her away from sel, or because he hit sel. sel, who you know terrorised her for like half the book. also, even after their 'truce' still told bree that he'd kill her if he thought she wasn't who she claimed to be. how dare nick defend his girlfriend 😱

also as an aside, the fact that sel immediately thought bree to be a demon when the lodge is full of white people, and logically speaking he should've had no suspicions about her in the first place, is for no other reason than implicit bias but lemme digress.

what i hear when they say this shit is that black girls need to be in relationships where we have to fight. what i hear is that we don't deserve to be protected.

even tracy deonn the author herself stated that the her black readers understood breenick differently to her nonblack (specifically white) readers. black girls deserve to grow up and see themselves loved on in media, and loved on without having to 'earn' it.

I had to stop watching the show after episode 3 because I could tell the bullshit road they were going down. But I caught up for the finale and honestly, I really wish I didn't.

It's not even Portwell's break up that has me mad. I always said that if they broke up I could handle it as long as it wasn't for the sole purpose of a Rina get together.

Welp

And even though I don't like Rina as a pair, that's not even why I hated this season. I genuinely think I would have been ok with Rina if they hadn't used EJ and his entire character growth as a stepping stool to lead to Rina. They took everything good about him and made it into something bad when all he ever wanted was a summer with the girl he loved at his second home. And then the play got thrown into his lap, and even then he wanted it to be perfect for Gina so she could shine and to also impress his dad, and at the end of the day Gina left him for a boy who stole his first gf and his dad couldn't even be proud of him. And even then he still called Ricky a brother and handled it so well. He deserved so much better than that, SO MUCH BETTER.

And then for them to make it seem like what Portwell has was never even real or genuine? BULLSHIT!

And then to make Gina the one to bare her soul out to Ricky AGAIN? Gina deserved to be the one on the receiving end of a heartfelt speech from Ricky if you were gonna make them happen. Gina has been putting herself out there for him over and over again, he should have been the one to confess to her. She deserved that (even if I'm a little salty with her right now)

Honestly season 3 was just one disappointment after another. I genuinely don't think I'm going to watch season 4, who knows.

I still love the cast though, especially Sofia, Matt, Josh, and Dara. So this page will be to support them. And I'll still post about Portwell goodness because they still have my heart and I'm going to pretend like season 3 never happened.

The reasoning behind the Gina confession and I think it makes sense. Tim gets Gina’s character.

—

I had to stop watching the show after episode 3 because I could tell the bullshit road they were going down. But I caught up for the finale and honestly, I really wish I didn't.

It's not even Portwell's break up that has me mad. I always said that if they broke up I could handle it as long as it wasn't for the sole purpose of a Rina get together.

Welp

And even though I don't like Rina as a pair, that's not even why I hated this season. I genuinely think I would have been ok with Rina if they hadn't used EJ and his entire character growth as a stepping stool to lead to Rina. They took everything good about him and made it into something bad when all he ever wanted was a summer with the girl he loved at his second home. And then the play got thrown into his lap, and even then he wanted it to be perfect for Gina so she could shine and to also impress his dad, and at the end of the day Gina left him for a boy who stole his first gf and his dad couldn't even be proud of him. And even then he still called Ricky a brother and handled it so well. He deserved so much better than that, SO MUCH BETTER.

And then for them to make it seem like what Portwell has was never even real or genuine? BULLSHIT!

And then to make Gina the one to bare her soul out to Ricky AGAIN? Gina deserved to be the one on the receiving end of a heartfelt speech from Ricky if you were gonna make them happen. Gina has been putting herself out there for him over and over again, he should have been the one to confess to her. She deserved that (even if I'm a little salty with her right now)

Honestly season 3 was just one disappointment after another. I genuinely don't think I'm going to watch season 4, who knows.

I still love the cast though, especially Sofia, Matt, Josh, and Dara. So this page will be to support them. And I'll still post about Portwell goodness because they still have my heart and I'm going to pretend like season 3 never happened.

What deep and genuine connection did Portwell have when they themselves popped out of nowhere in season 2? I’ll leave the lack of chemistry between the characters out for a moment. It was clear from season 2a that Rina was being set up for the next season, but nobody wanted to listen. All of the clues were right there. It was clear as day that Portwell was going to be part of that storyline. Gina says herself that she doesn’t always make the right choice the first time (or something like that it’s acc been awhile since I watched season 1 & 2) but that she keeps on pushing. The fact of the matter is, Gina and EJ are going in completely different directions. And while yes, EJ meant well, it was very unfair to expect her to place herself on the back burner as this “maybe” and wait for him. And Ricky wasn’t “stealing” anybody this time and that’s because he had growth to. The way Ricky selflessly cared for Gina from afar I think needs to be talked about. Look at the difference between how he acted for Nini and how he acted with Gina. With Nini, it was ploy after ploy to get her back. With Gina, he LITERALLY helped her set up a date for her and EJ. He selflessly fell for her from afar and let her be happy. So (???) And in that same scene after Ricky helped Gina plan a date for her and EJ, EJ could not even humour Gina for a MOMENT about being her date to the dance. Shut it down immediately. (???) Like I’m quite curious to know what exactly do y’all not like about Rina when Ricky has always stepped up when Gina needed it, he was the only one to truly try and get to know her as more than this “mean girl” who wanted the lead, and consistently does what he can to make her happy even if it means putting his feelings aside. Again, selfless. You do not see the same with Portwell. What deep connection when their first few interactions was them ploying?

Even the play that they chose, Frozen, was a big ass clue that Rina was going to happen. Anna thinks that she’s in love with Hans but she doesn’t really know him. Meanwhile she really ends up building a connection with Kristoff. Everything was all there, it’s not Tim’s fault y’all didn’t see it until it was right in your faces. All the clues were placed from season 1 and 2.

I’m not gonna get into the fact that a lot of people only shipped Portwell because it kept Gina out of the way for Rini. I’m also not gonna get into the fact that a lot of people only tolerated Gina because of this. But like y’all come on. It sucks that your ship broke up but to write off the whole season as a disappointment simply because your ship didn’t happen when we got Maddox and Jet, Ashlyn coming out, some dope ass songs, Kourtney and Gina FINALLY getting leads, Corbin Bleu cameos, like…? Based on the reactions I’ve seen on twitter, Youtube etc…, this was the best season, and with the plans for season 4 it looks even better. Sorry fam, but that’s just the way television works. The writing was there and the clues were there.

꧁⭑⭒ happy birthday, steve ⭑⭒꧂