#honestly I could go on five rants about the world building oversights

[c-e-d-dreamer]

I know I answered in that ask game about how Rhysand is a bad High Lord (aka bad at his job), but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it's just a world building oversight of SJM. It seems, to me at least, pretty clear that SJM loves to give characters tragic backstories or tragedies to overcome without fully thinking through the implications and big picture of what she's creating.

Like, you have Illyria, this brutal, sexist place. And Rhys's mother suffered there until his father swooped in and saved her, and his mother's trauma is still something he shoulders. And Cassian's mother also suffered there to the point it literally killed her and he was thrown into the snow and forced to fend for himself without a scrap of anything. And even Azriel's trauma is rooted in this terrible, awful place. And it's this big triumph that they banded together and they conquered Ramiel, that they escaped and are now living the dream in Velaris.

And that's great and beautiful... in a bubble. But Illyria is still there. It's still brutal. They overcame these tragedies but the tragedies now still exist for everyone else once you step back and look at the big picture. That's the implications created with these backstories.

It's the same for the Hewn City! You have this horrific place where Mor rarely saw sunlight because she was stuck underground. Where women are literally auctioned off into marriages where they're beaten and worse. And it's so great that Mor overcame that, that she got out and was a dreamer who escaped. But again, by creating this horrific place, it implies all those horrible things are just... Still happening. SJM gave Mor this beautiful story of rising out of that but what does that mean for all the other women?

You even see it in Velaris. SJM has Nesta in a literal rock bottom to reflect her figurative rock bottom, and isn't it so great she's able to pull herself out of that? But okay, you've now created a seedy, slums of Velaris full of sketch people and run down houses and awful taverns in order to do that...

Honestly, even Feyre's book 1 story shows this oversight. SJM gives her this tragic life and these horrible sisters and all this hardship for her to overcome. For her to find happiness and a better life and a real family in Prythian. And again, a beautiful story in a bubble. But then she brings back the sisters into the story and wonders why so many people hate them and don't care about Nesta's or Elain's own journeys.

And I know this is rambley and ranty, but the way I just want to shake SJM and her editor. Like please. I don't need crazy, intricate and detailed world building, but at least think it through a bit more.

Tragic backstories are all fun and games until you've now ended up with a High Lord who looks like he's absolutely terrible at his job and taking care of his Court...

#fandom wank Sunday I guess #I could not stop thinking about this this morning #so I had to write it all down #because it lowkey really bothers me #honestly I could go on five rants about the world building oversights #from unnamed characters to unanswered questions about Court politics to this

[thorne93]

No Matter What (Part 3)

Prompt: Imagine you’re an Avenger and you meet Bucky for the first time during Civil War

Word Count: 2630

Warning: Language, fighting, violence, angst

Notes: This will follow Cap America: Civil War…. I envisioned a younger reader who’s like 19-24 years old, btw. Thanks to my beta @like-a-bag-of-potatoes

Forever Tags: @amarvelouswritings @cocosierra94 @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @harleyquinnandscarletwitch @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @myparadise1982sand @missinstantgratification @thejulesworld @rda1989 @marvelloushamilton @munlis  @bubblyanarocks3 @thefridgeismybestie @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @hardcollectionworldtrash @igiveupicantthinkofausername @kaliforniacoastalteens @feelmyroarrrr

Sebastian Stan Tag: @nedthegay @lostinspace33 @alwayshave-faith @elleatrixlestrange @buenostardissherlock  @lenawiinchester @the-red-world-of-jess-chibi @memory-of-a-goldfish @mellsstark

Bucky Barnes: @nedthegay @lostinspace33 @alwayshave-faith @elleatrixlestrange @ultrarebelheart @lenawiinchester

No Matter What: @void-imaginations @devil-may-cry-11-blog @james-heaven-barnes @shifutheshihtzu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was only a few weeks after the problems in Africa that Tony was coming to the compound. You had met him a few times and you loved his wit, his humor, his intelligence, but sometimes he gave off a very...cocky and arrogant vibe. But you still loved to be around him.

Steve was watching more footage and coverage of the accident, as was Wanda. He paused his to go check on her while you and Vision stood in the kitchen.

“Vis, you don’t blame Wanda, do you?” you asked suddenly as you played with an apple.

“I know she didn’t mean to hurt anyone with her actions, no,” he responded as Tony walked in with someone.

“Where’s capsicle?” he asked as he looked at you two.

“I will get Captain Rogers for you,” Vision responded.

“Thank you,” Tony noted. “Y/N, this is Secretary of State. Secretary Ross. Mr. Secretary this is y/F/N, our newest recruit.”

You choked on your spit as you realized who was standing in the room. Immediately you stood up straight, adjusted your hair, and shook his hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, sir,” you said.

“And you,” he responded with a grin.

Finally, Steve and Wanda and the rest of the team joined you, taking some of the heat off of you. The Secretary and Tony said they wanted to speak to all of you. You converged in the conference room and Secretary Ross began to talk.

“Five years ago... I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass... I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us... protected us, risked your lives... but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some... who would prefer the word ‘vigilantes’.”

Natasha asked, “And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?”

“How about "dangerous"?” he retorted and you automatically blanched. How were you dangerous? You weren’t dangerous. Rumlow. Ultron. Double agents - they were dangerous. Not the Avengers. You were the only hope against the dangers. “What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals... who routinely ignore sovereign borders... and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?”

Again, your anger flared. You did care. All of you did. How could he say you didn’t seem concerned?

He shuffled through footage on the screen of different accounts where the Avengers had destroyed cities. Until Steve told him to turn it off.

“For the past four years you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution,” Secretary Ross stated as he placed a thick booklet on the table. “The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries... it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary.”

You could feel yourself getting worked up. This was bullshit. Who had the right to just order you all around? The world owed you an unpayable debt yet they wanted to chain all of you and control you? That doesn’t add up. Either they trusted you to save their lives or they didn’t.

After a tense and quiet moment, Steve said, “The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that.”

You nodded in agreement.

Ross demanded, “Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes... you can bet there'd be consequences.”

“Okay, wait, time out,” you said, holding your hand in the air. “We didn’t ‘misplace’ Thor and Dr. Banner. Thor went home, to Asgard. You get that, right? That Thor doesn’t live here. And the only times he has come here is to help us fight. Dr. Banner? He was out in the middle of nowhere before you all pulled him back in. He lived without any incidents for years, he can do it again. I read the file.”

“Be that as it may, the world no longer sees the Avengers as a team of heroes anymore. But there is a possible solution here. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground.”

“So, there are contingencies,” Rhodey confirmed.

Secretary Ross answered, “Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords. Talk it over.”

Nat asked, “And if we come to a decision you don't like?”

“Then you retire.”

You sat back and bit your cheek to keep from going off. This was stupid. This was beyond idiotic.

All of you got up to sort your own thoughts, grab water, take a breather, go to the bathroom, then you regrouped in the living space.

Sam and Rhodey had started to talk and they were already getting into a heated debate.

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor which is one more than you have,” Rhodey noted to Sam.

“So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?” Sam asked.

“A 117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, ‘No, that's cool. We got it.’”

“Just because the whole world wants us to sign it doesn’t mean we should,” you argued. “Sam’s right. Where does it stop? So they control us, then what? Will we be tagged and numbered? What if they only let those without powers operate, so Vision, Wanda, and I are benched?”

“That’s not what would happen,” Rhodey argued.

“Oh yeah? Bet you thought SHIELD would never get compromised either,” you spat.

Vision suddenly spoke up, “I have an equation.”

Sam sarcastically remarked, “Oh, this will clear it up.”

“In the 8 years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.”

“Are you saying it's our fault?” Steve questioned, a little bit of defense coming into his voice.

“I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight... Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.”

“Boom,” Rhodey said as if that just put an end to all discussion.

“What?” you challenged. “Vision, I get what you’re saying. I’m not arguing that by us existing it makes anything better. But do you honestly think that if we all retired or if we all were never even born, that we wouldn’t have the same problems? Loki? He would’ve still come to rule Earth. Rumlow would still be an evil dick. So taking us out of the equation or putting chains on us won’t make anything better.”

“Tony. You're being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal,” Nat noted after your rant.

Steve informed, “It's because he's already made up his mind.”

Tony got up as he said, “Boy, you know me so well. Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?” Tony put his phone on the counter and flipped up an image.  “Oh, that's Charles Spencer by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul... before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.” For a moment, everyone was quiet in thought as they listened to him. “He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass. There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.”

Steve said, “Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up.”

“Who said we're giving up?”

“We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames.”

“I'm sorry. Steve. That... That is dangerously arrogant,” Rhodey argued

“Arrogant? Arrogant?” you mocked, furious. “How is it arrogant to say that we need to own up for our own shit? If we fuck up, it’s on us. How is stating that the UN takes blame or responsibility any better?”

“Because, Y/N, this is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA.”

“I don’t give a fuck if it’s the Keebler Elves,” you argued. “It’s still people. People that can be corrupt. People that will start war. What if one country needs us and we can’t go because the 116 countries say no? What if one country doesn’t want our help but the other’s think we should go and we walk into a god damn fire fight?”

“Y/N’s right,” Steve said. “It’s run by people and people with agendas and agendas change.”

“That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing,” Tony added.

“Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. Just like Y/N said. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.”

You nodded to him, proud and happy that he took your side and backed you up.

“If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty,” Tony said and you let that sink in. Maybe he was right. Maybe it would be better to go quietly now than it would be later with a fight. But it still didn’t feel right getting strong armed into this.

“You’re saying they’ll come for me,” Wanda said.

“We would protect you,” Vision assured.

Nat concurred, “Maybe Tony's right. If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off…”

Sam demanded, “Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?”

“I'm just... reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back.”

You realized she was right. You knew how this would look to the outside world. That the Avengers didn’t want to be controlled. What are they so afraid of? You could hear and see the headlines now. But what did they know? They weren’t the ones risking their lives. The ones saying “Yes, go ahead and shackle us like criminals”. It wasn’t the whole picture. It wasn’t just about saying no, it was about the fact that you all were losing a right.

“Focus up. I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?” Tony asked.

“Oh, I want to take it back now,” Nat said, shaking her head.

“No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed - I win.”

“No, Tony, not case closed,” you argued, getting so frustrated it was hurting your head. “How is it any better if the UN is in control of us? What? Are we just going to be extra careful not to kill people? How is this any better?” you asked. You could not fathom how giving the UN control over you all made anyone any more safer than they were. How Nat and Tony and the rest of them didn’t see that was beyond your comprehension.

“I have to go,” Steve suddenly said as he tossed the Accords onto the table and headed downstairs. All of you looked around the room at each other with confused looks.

“I, uh, I’ll go check on him,” you said as you got up and followed him. you saw him leaning against the bottom of the stair rail, his head bowed as his hand hid his face. “Steve?” you gently said. “You okay?”

He looked up at you, his eyes glassy. “It’s Peggy,” he answered.

Instantly, you knew. You’d only known everyone on the team for a year, but you had a way of reading people. Besides,  you and Steve were best friends.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Steve.” You immediately pulled him into a hug, his massive form overtaking yours as he gripped you and you heard and felt him start to cry. You held him a long time, rubbing your arms on his back soothingly as he gripped you tight. You weren’t going to quiet him, tell him it would be okay. You knew that sort of pain and you knew the generic shit never consoled anyone, so you didn’t say anything.

After a few minutes, he said he wanted to be alone in his room. You nodded and said you would tell the others.

You came back upstairs and everyone looked to you for an answer as to why Steve left abruptly.

“Peggy passed away,” you informed.

A murmurs of shocks, gasps, and soft curses floated around the room at the tragic news.

“Talk about timing,” Sam said.

After that, everyone went around the room, signing the Accords if they so chose. The only people left were you, Sam, Wanda, and Steve.

“I can’t sign that. Not unless Steve does,” you informed emphatically.

“Jesus Christ, kid. He isn’t your father,” Tony barked. “You don’t have to say and do everything he does.”

You flinched at his anger. “It’s not like that. I just don’t feel right signing something he doesn’t agree with. He’s been around longer than all of us. He’s wiser. If he feels it’s not right in his heart to sign this, then I gotta back that up. He would do the same for me.”

“I can’t believe this. This is unbelievable,” Tony said, clearly angry. “I don’t have time for this. Nat, Vision, work on the rest of them,” Tony ordered before he left.

“Y/N,” Nat started, looking at you.

“No, Nat. I’m not fucking signing that thing,” you insisted. “If they want to come for us, fine. Let them. It will show the world who the real danger is, the real threat.”

You got up and went downstairs to Steve’s room.

“Hey,” you said softly as you entered. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to bother you. I just wanted to see if you needed anything or anyone?”

He looked up from his bed where he was staring at his phone. He gave you a gentle half smile. “You could never bother me, Y/N. I’m okay though,” he informed.

“You sure?”

“Well...I knew this would come,” he said. “It’s not like she was going to be around forever.”

You gave a slight nod as you stepped farther into the room. “Do you want someone to come with you to the services?” you asked.

After a moment of thought, he answered, “Yeah. I think I’d appreciate that.”

You nodded and smiled. “Anything for you. I’ll see if Sam wants to come and we’ll join you,” you informed in a soothing tone.

“You’re too good to me,” Steve said with a small laugh.

“I only repay the kindness you continue to show me,” you informed with a shrug. “I can never repay you for what you’ve done for me, Steve. the least I can do is be with you in your time of need.”

#no matter what #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky fic #bucky barnes #steve rogers #captain america