#if c!sam evil why emotional and conflicted..................

[minecraftrelatedrandomness]

okay. we are analyzing that sequence. i am only about 1/3 through the stream. god help me, i am busy today.

"5. you will learn to fight..." 

PHYSICALLY, 

c!q vs c!purpled... lava... the motivative event behind this entire "training"

SOCIALLY, 

las nevadas at its peak of 6 people

AND MENTALLY. 

c!q and c!sam vs c!dream... in the prison... hmm

you will practise 

i cannot tell who the fuck this is /gen

all aspects of WAR

IS IT JUST ME OR IS THIS WATSON FROM "THE PIT".

and MASTER them. 

c!technoblade............ in greyscale.................. :(

you are gonna be taught how to...

...BE human. 

c!tommy :(((((((

how to THINK like humans. 

c!dream standing on a stage next to c!tubbo, on a stage... this is definitely from the new l'manburg era (by c!tubbo's presidential suit and the flag) but i am not quite sure of the event, i haven't watched all the vods...

how to SPEAK like humans. 

c!tommy in front of a huge crowd. judging by the location and the clothing (thanks, c!wilbur), this would be just the manburg-pogtopia war, just after c!schlatt dies but before c!wilbur tries to you-know-what.

their anatomy. 

c!schlatt. in the camarvan in his last moments, i reckon since he is surrounded by dirt, except there is no one around him. also, bad example.

their feelings. 

c!dream in full netherite armour swinging an axe at c!tommy in full iron, eyes are greyish-blue and oak- and birch-log stockade walls... GUYS, THIS IS EXILE. THERE IS AN EXILE REFERENCE. US INNITERS CAN GO HOME AND CRY AGAIN NOW.

their emotions. 

thunder, rain, night, dark figure in front of a hill. on closer inspection, that is c!wilbur... pogtopia-era c!wilbur. uh oh.............

why they laugh. 

c!techno spawning in two withers; judging by the architecture around, this is the manburg-pogtopia war. i have extremely mixed feelings about his character but MY GOD I AM GLAD THERE ARE CLIPS OF C!TECHNO IN THIS STREAM. we shall remember him.

why they cry. 

c!ranboo... flower... c!alliumduo crumbs................. is this from... after? in early march 2021?

why they fight. 

THE L'MANBURG WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. PLEASE LET ME INTO THE CLUB SO I CAN CRY WITH YOU ALL.

what's their downfall. 

giant explosion, c!wilbur. manburg-pogtopia war. the attempted suicide by detonation. we all know that one.

what mistakes do they make. 

c!dream....? next to c!punz, c!george, and c!sapnap in full netherite... in this combination specifically, i can only think of the l'manburg war for independence.

what accomplishments do they have. 

c!sam standing in front of the prison... there is more to this scene, i know of it. is it that their accomplishments will return to bite them in the butt later down the line?

their motives. their objectives. 

LITERALLY DOOMSDAY. THE TNT RAIN FROM THE GRID. sir, in terms of doomsday motives, c!emeraldduo are lashing out with additional fuel from "anarchism", c!dream wants everyone under his control because he is a little bitch and a dipshit who sees a nation built on pacifist ideals as a threat to himself and his "god-given" authority.

what is evil. 

c!bad, c!antfrost, c!ponk, in front of the egg.

what is good. 

las nevadas... a very specific choice right there. but c!purpled is still in the lineup at the time... does this contradict rule #1?

every human is different, you're going to study every single one of them.

the entire server lineup... i wonder if one of these will turn out to be a c!drm apologist

but most importantly, the future of this country depends on the citizens of las nevadas... you. you are a citizen of las nevadas.

cut to a lot of scenes, but what i can hear is c!wilbur and his suicide speech at the end of season 1, and see c!tommy being shocked, a heck of a lot of withers (doomsday, probably), the prison, c!tubbo standing in front of c!q (the walltown conflict?)

and this "training" takes place over the course of ~90 days... about 3 months... just short of 13 weeks, around the same amount of time the "lessons" with c!charlie took up... this must be symbolic somehow.

#dream smp analysis #dream smp spoilers #las nevadas #11 september 2022 #dream smp #my post #long post #aqua live reacts #aqua analyzes c!quackity from the dsmp

[blockmengobrr]

Giving my favorite c!DSMP characters oddly specific ratings and explaining why I like their arcs — a post:

c!Sam: A once noble man becomes slowly obsessed with the concept of justice through gaining power as a prison warden, gradually destroying his relationships, becoming colder and colder as he isolates himself away from those he cares about. He tries justifying literally amputating his lover’s arm in the name of “law and order”, yet passively allows his rules to be broken in order to allow his prisoners to be tortured for selfish gains. And yet, he still believes he is a good person, trying to keep peace on the server, and puts his all into it. Overall, 8.6/10. This character makes me angry, which means he is written really well. I love the contrast between how Sam perceives himself and how his actions reveal his true colors. I want to write him a strongly worded letter and send him to the time out corner.

c!Dream: A character that started off as arguably just an antagonist but evolved to become a true villain. He seems to feel completely justified in his many abusive and harmful actions because he feels that they will ultimately help the server come together (under him, of course) and become friends. He systematically isolated and abused a teenager over the span of several months, wearing down at his sanity until he was nearly driven to suicide. (I still don’t understand how they got always with adding a plotline this dark into the block game role play, but damn it was well executed). c!Dream also attempted to cut all of his attachments, which he viewed as making him weak, yet ironically, his last remaining attachment (c!Techno) might end up being his saving grace to escape the persistent and severe torture he has endured in prison. This character also canonically homeless and writes wattpad fanfiction?? Overall, 8.9/10. A very chilling villain that I could understand sympathizing with in the first half of the story, but has since caused nearly irreparable harm. Is he redeemable? I don’t know man, don’t ask me. I just want him to get out of the torture box but also stay far, far, far away from c!Tommy and the other characters that he hurt.

c!Tubbo: An deeply kind and compassionate character that is forced to endure trauma and make incredibly tough decisions again and again, to the point where he cannot properly express his emotions. He finds it necessary to build up walls (literally and figuratively) and create actual nuclear weapons to experience the fleeting sense of safety and security. Despite being pushed around and being dragged into many different conflicts, he has found contentment with his friends and husband… even if they really don’t communicate their feelings nearly as much as they should. Overall, 9.1/10. I would rate him higher but I get too sad thinking about how his character just doesn’t get to deal with his emotions and traumas often. I want to wrap c!Tubbo in a blanket and give him some chamomile tea.

c!Wilbur: A once pacifistic and idealistic man gets hit with tragedy and becomes consumed by his ideals, trapped in a paranoid spiral that leads him to tragically end his life and harm those he cared about, only to come back once again to have a second chance at healing. He cares deeply about the people around him, but has difficulty trusting them and ends up being possessive over those who become close. For his entire time on the server, he has always wanted to build something that will long outlive him. Overall, 9.5/10, I’m always down for some ~~spicy~~ angst and tragedy. I also like how cc!Wilbur seems to be subverting the audience expectations around his character being “evil”. I want c!Wilbur to find peace with himself and enjoy the sunset.

c!Quackity: A confident and charismatic man, once happy and surrounded by friends, endures an abusive relationship and loses his home time after time again. He desperately desires to gain a position of power in order to feel safe and secure, something he hasn’t experienced since the beginning of the server. He is willing to do nearly anything to gain more power — he is willing to manipulate his allies, and go so far as to torture and murder his enemies to achieve his goal of safety. After gaining temporary happiness with his friends and fiancés, he gradually loses each of those relationships over time, becoming more isolated and paranoid as he shifts his focus onto building his new project… a new nation… a new vessel for power. And yet, he cares about his friends. Despite being capable of doing great harm to those around him, he is also capable of great kindness. As of this moment, however, this kindness is reserved towards very few people. Overall 10/10. I just adore this character. I want him to scam people with his casino and fuck shit up!! I also want him to just idk. Relax in a hot tub or something and reconnect with his friends. I just want to see more of him in general please,,,, cc!Quackity is such a good actor and is really convincing in his role!!!

And finally, last but certainly not least

c!Techno: Listen,,,,, I understand that there might not appear be as much depth and trauma to this character. But, have you considered that he’s funny. The deviously sarcastic energy this man radiates is very contagious, I always get a stupid evil little grin when I watch his little block character commit war crimes. He is also one of the few characters that has actually had a positive arc! He went from an isolated, mistrustful, cynical man that seemed to value violence as the highest form of communication to a confident person who has learned to understand the value of forming relationships and develop and spread his ideology through less… war-crime-y means. Watching him overcome his social anxiety just hit different, I loved watching his character develop friendships with the people around him and learning how to express his care for them. I also love watching c!Techno just be an Utter Asshole, willing to completely rock someone’s shit over what would be minor disagreements for literally anyone else. This man is just dangerously committed to his ideology and ridiculously unwavering on like all of his decisions. I want to know why his character values the things he does so much, it seems like through context clues you can tell he’s had some bad experiences in the past and I am intrigued!!! He’s just a pig with character flaws that woke up and chose violence and I love that for him. 11/10 Very funny man who does funny things, guaranteed fun POV. I want him to have a snowball fight with the Syndicate. (and also maybe learn to actually change his mind and apologize to the people he hurt? Maybe?)

Honorable mentions include: c!Tommy (love this character, very well acted, kudos to cc!Tommy! I get frustrated and also sad thinking about him tho 8.5/10). c!Slimecicle (love this character concept and just want to see more. Immortal funny slime man please I need more 8.4/10), c!Ranboo (as someone with anxiety this character is just A Mood. Like same dude lmao hope you figure out your memory and all your personal shit 8.3/10), and c!Philza (all c!Phil knows is commit crimes, love wife, and be immortal 8.2/10 love him).

I basically like all of the DSMP characters but this was just a list of my favs. Feel free to add on!

#i liked assigning aribitrary numbers to characters but don’t take this seriously. all the ccs are great and deserve love! not starting beef #dream smp analysis #long post #technoblade #wilbur soot #quackity #awsamdude #tubbo #character critical #but not really i just like their flaws #dsmp #dream smp #c!dream #c!techno #c!sam #c!tubbo #c!quackity #c!wilbur

[balillee]

my unpopular dsmp opinions, some of which genuinely should be popular

c!dream has crossed the moral event horizon and is irredeemable. once you cross that threshold, you're no longer a 'morally grey' character.

pre-recorded, heavily produced lore killed the lore. it was cool, sure, but you completely misunderstand the magic that the smp had when people watched it initially. the story is improv and that's how we like it. we can tell the cc's have lost interest in it, you can admit that to us, we'll understand, just stop lying to me.

c!dream's pov isn't necessary to understand his character or his motivations. if you've watched literally any c!primeboys stream he's basically spelled it out for you.

i don't understand how fans can dislike l'manberg or have claimed to be against it since the beginning. i honestly don't get it. what's so bad about wanting your own spot where you make your own rules and skirt accountability that has been used to technically oppress you before - and, before someone who never saw the earlier streams tries to disagree with this, the og l'manberg crew were imprisoned for shit that everyone else on the server was practically encouraged to do. also, what do you have against fun and happiness?

i think some of you forget that 'hybrids' aren't a thing, discounting c!ranboo. there's no piglin hybrids, c!techno is just a pig. there's no avian hybrids, c!phil is just a man with wings. there's no creeper hybrids, c!sam is just a creeper who's indecently exposed from the hips down. canonically there's no hybrids, and therefore no hybrid discrimination. people ran with that concept too much.

the loss and the fanon rewriting of the early lore up until pogtopia has ruined fandom perception of c!dream and the og l'manberg boys. c!tommy is more morally white than you think he is, and c!dream has always been a villain - he massacres and he kills and he destroys and he schemes and he always has broken his own rules. no wonder the boys wanted their own space after how they were treated.

i think ranboo oftentimes forgets his own lore. he brings stuff up that c!ranboo may have done, such as exploding the community house to frame c!tommy, holding onto Cat, and it goes absolutely nowhere. we've gotten all of these developments in his story but they have never been expanded on, and we're nowhere closer to figuring out his relationship to c!dream and what his other side is and honestly i see no hope that we'll be any closer to knowing even by the end of the year.

your characters don't all have to be morally grey for the story itself to be morally grey. this is fiction - some people can be nothing but evil and others can be nothing but good. being purely good or evil doesn't mean that you're one dimensional, either.

c!dream apologists have ruined c!dream for me. he's not a good person. how about you let me enjoy a villain for who he actually is, rather for than your percieved woobified ragdoll you pass off as c!dream.

the story was better when there was a central writer. it was brilliant back when wilbur wrote it to be that the environment drives the characters and the story, and it was really good in early s2 up until techno's execution day when it was more character driven. since then, the amount of autonomy people have over their characters without any central 'director', as it were, has been a detriment to the story overall. there needs to still be one overarching figure or director or writer.

not everyone is a main character. just because they have a pov, doesn't mean they're a main character. some characters have such little impact on the overall plot and describing everyone as a main character oversaturates the story and makes some characters seem more important than they are.

the egg lore had so much potential up until it didn't. all that built up threat that we were expecting and we still don't even know what the egg wants really other than just controlling people. does it hatch?

genuinely, if there's no major plot developments by the end of the year (and let's be honest, it's a very big possibility at this point), a few of the more prominent members of the server should do a podcast style stream talking about where the story would have gone, because at least then we would have gotten somewhat closer to a conclusion.

c!techno is a villain and an asshole and a bad person. he stops caring for people once their interests don't align with his or if they look at him funny. he makes meta-jokes about his own tyrannical and oppressive nature. stop taking that away from him. he's a bad person. cc!techno does a fabulous job portraying that in a comedic manner and the balancing of him being a deeply flawed person with deeply flawed morals and ideas with his comedically-portrayed stubbornness and lack of willingness to hear out opposing viewpoints is incredible. i want to like characters who are arseholes for the sake of being arseholes, and who refuse to take into account the hurt they've caused either out of self-righteousness or because they don't care, so let me. he's the anti-peacemaker, LET ME HIM ENJOY HIM FOR THAT!!!!

i think tommy and wilbur's way of doing lore is my favourite. relies heavily on improv, voice acting, sprite acting and facial expressions. really shows off the acting props and they pull off the emotional moments well for the insanity of the creative medium.

i'm not a fan of fan-music. i find songs about media i'm into difficult to listen to. coincidentally i'm also not a fan of shit like slam poetry or live music/musicals/pantomimes.

the death of l'manberg killed people's motivation to go on the server casually. i've talked about it more in depth before, but destroying what was a central, driving environment for the story killed momentum and motivation. imagine in an episode of she-ra, the princess alliance just nuke the freight zone and all of the members of the horde just have to deal with it. that would be shit.

until season 3 has some momentum, i'm counting the end of the smp as january 20th. that had a conclusion. season 3 has... whores, technoblade and tommyinnit. that's about it.

i wasn't a fan of the development of c!tubbo joining las nevadas. i preferred snowchester and the walled city conflict. give c!tubbo some backbone and some badassery. also tubbo where's the fucking nuke bro if you're shelving that plotline just tell us on like an alt stream what the plan was i beg

add like 2 or 3 new people to the server so that michael mcchill has someone to talk to and so that there's something always happening on the server. it gives the og's more motivation to return if things are happening in and out of canon and it'll help with momentum, and who knows? maybe they can write their own story/stories.

i really think that c!sam is an underrated character. he's multilayered, extremely interesting, and the dichotomy of his loyalty to his job and how far down the rabbithole that's taken him versus the genuine love he has for his friends that drives him to do what he does out of wanting to do right by them is brilliant. i don't talk about c!sam enough.

STOP HAVING FUCKING VILLAIN ARCS!!! I'M FUCKIN SICK OF IT!!!! i want to see more characters who see everyone else being absolute selfish, abhorrent cunts and go 'if nobody else is going to be a good person, i fucking will'. GIVE ME SOME MORAL WHITENESS!!! IT'S INTERESTING AND MORALLY GOOD CHARACTERS ARE FUN!!!

let tommyinnit build cobblestone towers. everyone bullied him too much for how ugly they were and the one he built outside of the prison looked genuinely really nice. it gives the boy something to do.

i'm a fan of the revive book and the canon lives system. don't ask me why, but i think it might just be the morbidity of it. it adds to c!dream's god complex persona, and i think the fragility of death itself is a really fun concept. not enough fan cc's have made connections with that and c!mumza, and it could make for cool fanfic.

ranboo your house is fucking ugly. it's an eyesore

c!niki, and to some extent now c!jack and c!fundy, are boring me and ruining my mood. i think c!jack is the closest to being an actually interesting sympathetic villain, mainly because nobody else seems to realise that c!niki is a villain. not a good one imo, but she's a villain. c!jack just has the problem of starting a new project over and over and over and over again and because of the slow in momentum for the primary cast, there hasn't been a lot of recent development for him.

not really a dream smp opinion, but if philza went full geordie accent, i would love it. i want him to, in canon, say shit like 'me n ye' instead of 'me and you' and use geordie dialect. i want him to be physically unintelligible because it's funny.

i don't really know what's up with c!foolish but i think he's a dumbass. he had a while to think about c!q's proposal and then changed his mind about joining the guy to admitted to letting him die just because. moron

i wish there was more c!eret lore. i wish he was an actual king with an actual kingdom and actual subjects and royal advisors. c!eret is far too fucking cool to be the king of nothing and nobody. fatten up the kingdom and the castle with people who work with c!eret, and don't just make it tyrannical and dictator-y to prove the point of the server's 'anarchists'. make it a healthy working environment, please - if you want moral greyness, have 'anarchists' who claim to care about the welfare of the server oppose a kingdom of happy people under a fair and just ruler because their ideologies clash.

the server needs more characters who oppose anarchy in more peaceful ways, or passively wish for systems to be a part of. i think a chaos vs order conflict ending only in mutual understanding where everyone understands that they should just leave each other alone would slot nicely into the story that's been created so far.

you need to have watched all of the previous arcs to understand the story. i've seen people argue that they don't need to know about earlier lore to understand the prison, but that's the equivalent of only watching the final season of pretty little liars and expecting to understand the context of what's going on.

some characters aren't that morally grey. some characters, take c!tommy for example, are definitely on the whiter side for the morality scale, he's just an asshole. he's abrasive and rude and a dickhead but he also doesn't agree with terrorism, he's patriotic, he strives for a better world, he's apologetic, but he's also a fucking BITCH.

you can add onto this if you want, but not if you're a c!dream apologist. nobody likes your opinions

#dream smp #dsmp #esclaposhitpost

[dreamteamspace]

“[... ]Those that treat me with injustice, [...] I will repay a thousand times (over)”

-Technoblade, as we were reminded by the new bangin’ sad-ist animatic

Can we just talk about this line? Because I really feel like it displays a key part of Technoblade’s character that gives him a lot of depth.

The line? Awesome. Cool. Badass. Makes you terrified, and in good right, because we all know Technoblade is really good at what he does. People who sympathize with c!Techno and watch his POV also get the satisfaction of seeing the pain that c!Techno endured as something he WILL pay back.

It makes him sound strong. Powerful.

And it’s an awesome line!

BUT.

If everyone acted like that? The world would go to hell.

Think about it. Person A treats person B injustly, for whatever reason. Maybe on purpose. Maybe on accident. Maybe they misunderstood something. Maybe they didn’t have all the facts, or were acting irrationally, or just coping really badly with their own emotions. Maybe there was a misunderstanding.

So Person B is hurt, and by this philosophy, goes on to pay it back, much greater than before. Person A, if following the same philosophy, pays it back AGAIN, without having understood that what they did was wrong and why, they just pay back.

Boom. We have a war, or at least an eternally spanning conflict in which each side is consistently trying to destroy the other with more and more cruel methods every time. Sounds like a lot of wars on a certain mncraft server, cough cough

What this also causes is that people tread around c!Technoblade like on eggshells, afraid of irking him on accident despite not intending to, causing them not to trust him, causing Technoblade to feel “betrayed” in one long, vicious cycle.

Who learns out of this? Absolutely nobody. The only thing that happens is c!Techno lives in isolation, everyone is terrified of him and there’s a chunk error in the middle of the server. Meanwhile, c!Techno seemingly does need/want connections to people, that are now difficult for him to get, especially since they’re all too afraid of accidentally making him feel wronged.

It also makes me think about how much of a parallel c!Tommy is in this sense, considering his entire thing is that he isn’t afraid to lose. He loses, over and over, and he’s ready and willing to lose.

There was another good post abt this somewhere, but the point is that he lost the discs, he lost his home, he lost allies. But he isn’t afraid to apologize, to push through his trauma and reflect on how he acted in the past.

He definitly still lashes out and acts badly from time to time, especially when his trauma comes to the surface and he gets defensive. And this happens not because he’s evil, or because he likes hurting people, but because he’s just... scared. Traumatized. Lashing out, when not meaning to.

He’s willing to apologize later, and is shown to be some of the very few people who apologize to anybody in the dsmp. So despite his many mistakes - and the enemies he’s made - c!Tommy still has more friends than he realizes, people that care for him and want to protect him. C!Quackity, c!Sam, c!Tubbo, c!Ranboo, etc.

This clashes directly with c!Techno and his philosophy, however. C!Techno does NOT forgive. He does not apologize, and he sees himself in the right, and he does not accept people lashing out for whatever reason. He does not want nor feel the need to understand why c!Tommy does what he does if it hurts him, because he’s focused on enforcing his own form of justice and paying him back with more pain than was caused to him.

(This, as we saw, resulted in a chunk error.)

So from a character perspective, c!Techno and c!Tommy fundamentally clash in their most base ideologies. So c!Techno is richer, and stronger, and more powerful, and c!Tommy has been exiled, and beat, and is constantly stolen from.

But where c!Techno is alone with allies that fear him,

c!Tommy is surrounded by friends, and he just has yet to see it.

#dream smp #dsmp #dream smp analysis #technoblade #tommyinnit #c!Tommy #dreamsmp #dreamteamspace speaks #c!Techno critical #just in case #cause some techno viewers can be uh. intense #disclaimer: i dont think c!Techno is a bad character i think hes interesting #i just dont think hes perfect. like no character is. and i personally dont agree w his philosophy

[wearethewinx]

fate episode 4 spoilers below

i DO like the idea of testing areas for magical residue. its something i incorporate into my own au. but why can this little test immediately identify callums death but not the kind of magic that killed him or who did it. isnt that incon-convenient

OH GOD IS THAT LUNA? NO

shut up terra

LET AISHA BE HER OWN PERSON. GOD

WHY HAS A HIGHSCHOOL BEEN SKYS HOME HIS ENTIRE LIFE. HES. A. P R I N C E

god this arc for riven isnt a bad idea its actually solid in theory. too bad they wrote him to be a fuckin predator

at least sam is appreciative of musas boundaries

god these episodes are so fucking LONG

bloom its just a fucking room. chill

OH DONT TALK TO ME ABOUT INTENT BRIAN DONT EVEN SAY THE WORD. I ACTUALLY PRACTICE WITCHCRAFT

lol wow luna is. fucking evil

i doooont like how beatrix is written or acted but shes the only one who ever does anything interesting so

'aster dell' huh

look heres the thing about stella. writing characters who act THIS horrible and self destructive is only sympathetic if you spend real time on their emotions and motivations. one scene of stellas mom being a bitch to her isnt enough to make me sad for her. i need to feel like shes at least a little conflicted about how unequivocally evil shes being

i like that the ruins of aster dell look like thousand year old wind-beaten archeological digs rather than the scene of a recent nuclear strike

oh so bloom is finally growing a braincell is she?

lol nice work teach. thats exactly how you make a student trust you. attack them without explanation and keep them completely in the dark

love that they recognize stellas designer luggage from 30 paces. finally a moment that feels like og winx

'sometimes a soldier just has to take orders' i dont like daddy silva anymore. he is no longer foxy

dowling if u could possibly act more intentionally shady? like just a LITTLE shadier would be perfect

whats even going on anymore

#netwinx #winx club #spoilers

[labyrinthof-fan-fiction]

I’m Glad There is You

Bucky x fem!Reader

Summary: Bucky has to go to an event at the museum honoring the Captain America crew. As he is the only one still on the record as being alive of the original group he is an honored guest, he brings you as his date. Post Endgame. Sam is Captain now.

A/N: ANOTHER INSPIRED BY VIC DAMONE’S ALBUM THAT TOWERING FEELING AREN’T Y’ALL SHOCKED?!?!?! In all seriousness though I’m obsessed with older music right now and keep relating it to fiCs so this is what happens. I needed a happy Bucky fic after writing so much angst so this is what I came up with. So Sinatra also sang this so, there’s that, but we’re going to give love to Vic’s ‘I’m Glad There is You.’

Vic Damone Facts: He was drafted and served in the army from 1951-1953. His father played guitar and mother played the piano. He recorded around 2,500 songs over the course of 54 years.

Warnings: Mentions of trauma, character deaths.

Word Count: 3,183

Disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, The Avengers, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, ‘I’m Glad There is You.”

“Doll, you ready?” Bucky’s voice rang out through your shared apartment.

“Almost!” You called out, closing the clasps on your earrings. You ran your hands down your dress, pressing out a stubborn wrinkle that had appeared when you were putting the finishing touches to your makeup. You slipped on your heels, which you knew you were going to regret later tonight, but that was a problem for future Y/N. You exited your bed room to see Bucky pacing by the door. “Buck?” You asked.

He turned and his eyes widened at the sight of you. “Doll, you look beautiful.” He said, closing the gap between the two of you to wrap his arms around your waist and press a quick kiss to your forehead. You sensed something off with him, based on the erratic rhythm of his heartbeat and the emotional waves you could feel flying off him.

You smiled up at him, “Thank you, are you okay?” You asked, concerned that this event would bring up feelings that he had been processing for a while.

“I’m good.” He answered quickly. “Just nervous, I feel like I shouldn’t be a part of this. The Winter Soldier shouldn’t be the same place as Captain America.”

You cut him off, “You have every right to be there, as a Howling Commando, as Steve Roger’s best friend, and as one of the hero’s who saved the universe from a raging purple lunatic. Besides, we can’t miss an event that has free food.”

He chuckled. “I guess you’re right.”

“I know I am.” You winked, turning to the door. “Sam’s here.”

Bucky sighed, “Here we go.” He offered his arm to you as you made your way to the door. He opened the door before Sam had the chance to knock.

“I hate when you two do that, damn.” He grumbled, he stood before the two of you in a black tuxedo.

“Someday you’ll sneak up on us.” You said with a wink.

“Not likely.” Bucky muttered.

A limo was parked in front of your apartment building. You raised your eyebrows at Sam. “Don’t look at me. Pepper insisted that we take a limo and I wasn’t going to argue with her.”

You nodded, it had been almost a year post Thanos. Pepper was strong, but no one wanted to argue with her after losing Tony. Perhaps they had given her maybe too much power over their existence. But her husband had sacrificed himself for the entire universe. So she could take all the time she needed to heal.

Sam slid in first, followed by you, then Bucky. You sat sandwiched between the two men, who had come to some as semblance of friendship in the time since Sam was given the shield. You knew Bucky was not jealous of Sam by any means, he did not want any part of being Captain America. Helping Sam, that he could do. In some odd ways he seemed to believe it atoned for his sins as the Winter Soldier. You leant back in your seat, the limo filled with silence, which was rare for these two. You wondered what the deal was.

Bucky shifted so his hip was no longer against his, he mentally smacked himself as you gave him an odd look. It wasn’t like him to pull away from any kind of contact, he glanced up and Sam smirked at him. What he would give to be able to throttle him……. But that was not going to be the focus of his night, you were. The velvet box in his pocket grounding him. He watched you settle into conversation with Sam and remained silent.

He had met you during the time of conflict between Tony and Steve. You had pulled him back when Steve and Tony were at each other’s throats. You had pushed him behind you when they got closer. He was confused, to say the least, first that someone would protect him, and that person would be human. At least, that was what he had thought you where when he first met you. After being in Wakanda, he realized that you weren’t entirely a human. You had telepathic abilities, which was why you had been there when they took him out of the cryostasis.

You had been able to sense the links in his brain that had been set up by Hydra. Your abilities to sense helped the Wakandan team to begin working on his mind. You stayed with him through his recovery, often showing up to his hut in the middle of the night when he was pulled back into his memories, back to the Soldier. One night would remain in his memories eternally.

He was taken back to the night that he was deep in a Soldier nightmare. The nightmare of the Starks. He was slipping, he could feel the Soldier clawing at the door he had slammed shut and locked. No, no, not again. He was thrust into the past against his will.

“Barnes?” You had felt a shift in him, back into the Soldier. You entered his hut cautiously. He didn’t answer, you could feel the energy swirling around him, darkness swallowing the light. You stopped outside his bedroom door, you had always felt apprehension at passing through his room, but you couldn’t let that stop you. You pushed into his room, he was in the center of the bed, covers thrown to the side. His hand wrapped tightly in the sheets. Sweat coated his body, his dark hair sticking to his forehead.

“NO!” He screamed, your heart breaking at his voice.

You wasted no more time staring at him, “Barnes,” You murmured, sitting on the edge of the bed, next to his hand. You reached out with your mind. “Come back, Barnes.”

You were thrown into his mind, feeling his panic, his shame. The Soldier turned to you, as he often did, you could feel the snarl it gave. James began to calm to ground himself, reaching out to your energy, retreating from the Soldier. You felt the Soldier return to his locked door.

His eyes opened and they took in the woman sitting on the edge of his bed. “Y/N.” He whispered, his hand reaching out and grasping yours. His fingers threaded through yours, this was the first thing he always did when he was pulled out of his Soldier nightmares. He craved contact and you wouldn’t deny him that.

“Welcome back, Barnes.” You said, brushing your thumb against the back of his hand. “Where did you go?”

“The 90s, the Starks.” He turned away from you, “I should have let Tony kill me.”

You removed your hand from his and reached out, placing your hand on his face and turning his eyes back to yours. “It wasn’t you, it was the Soldier. It was what they created.” You murmured, stroking his cheek. His hand reached up and he pushed your hand away.

“But he is a part of me, and I couldn’t stop him.” Tears collected in his grey eyes.

“It takes time to fight your inner demons. And yours were supercharged and given the chance to run your life. Having demons doesn’t make you inherently evil.” You stated, moving further onto his bed, placing your hands on either side of his face. “In the heart of it all you are a good man.”

He let out a sob, “I….”

“Do not even start that bullshit with me. I have looked inside of you, you know what I’ve seen? A man who will go to the ends of the world to protect those he loves. A man who gives so much more than he gets. A man who survived hell and came back up.” You snarled, E/C eyes unmoving as you stared into his. “You are a damn good man and I wish you could see yourself through my eyes.”

His arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you against his bare chest, he burrowed his face into your hair. This was something unspoken between the two of you. The contact, the feelings. But he always pushed you away. If there was one person in the universe he could not afford to hurt it was you. “Please don’t go.” He begged.

“I’m not going anywhere.” You murmured, reaching out with your mind to soothe him. You felt his heartbeat slow and his breathing turn to soft snores. Your pulse synced with his as his hand made its way up to your back.

This is where you had found yourself most nights. Wrapped in his arms listening to the sound of his slumber, using your abilities to guard him from the Soldier. Bucky’s subconscious mind was more susceptible to allowing a takeover. If your telepathy could bring him enough peace to get sleep.

Multiple times through this Shuri had found you wrapped up with Bucky, “You two should just move in together.” She said after she walked in on you wrapped up together in bed after the Stark nightmare.

James’ face turned bright red as he looked at you. Expecting you to fight Shuri on this.

“You know, it might not be such a bad idea. Then I wouldn’t have to do battle with the goats at two o’clock in the morning.” You said, pulling yourself out of his arm and sitting upright on the edge of the bed.

“So it’s settled, we’ll move Y/N’s stuff in today.” Shuri giggled, skipping out of the room.

“You don’t have to do this.” James said.

“When are you going to get this through your head, I want to.” You answered, resting your hand on his cheek. Barnes remained silent on this, you could see the wheels turning in his mind. “Now I have to go get my things, because once Shuri has an idea in her head there is no stopping her, roomie.”

He groaned, knowing you were right. “I’ll start making room for you.” Running his hand through his hair, he sat up. “And you can call me Bucky. People who live together don’t have formalities, doll.”

And that was the moment that you both silently recognized that there was something more than friendship between you.

It was comfortable, living with you. You opened his eyes to everything he had missed from the decades in Soldier Mode. Films, books, and music. No matter how much you introduced him to modern music, he still clung to the styles of the past. On multiple occasions he had pulled you into the yard to dance with him under the stars. Those were his favorite moments with you, just swaying to the music, his past would drift away. Holding you he could feel hope for his future. Peace in his present.

“Buck, baby?” Your voice pulled him from his memories.

“Yeah, doll?” He asked, rubbing his eyes with his flesh hand.

“You ready?” You asked, nodding to the limo’s door. Sam had stepped out, he hadn’t even noticed.

His metal hand wrapped around yours, “I’m ready.”

You entered the museum hand in hand. Nodding to Sam as you passed, a smirk on his face. The museum was filled with people in formal wear. Music floated in from the hall, World War II regalia littering the walls.

Pepper caught sight of the two of you and closed the distance. “James, we’ll have you open the gala with a dance. As the only living original member it’s a great press moment.” She turned on her heel, you and Bucky following her. When you made it to the hall you were impressed. They had opened the center up to allow for a large dance hall. You glanced around the room, highly doubting that you had seen this much red, white, and blue ever in your lifetime.

“Goddamn.” Bucky murmured behind you.

“Pep doesn’t hold back.” You whispered. Taking in the room, a band was set up on stage.

Nervous energy swirled around Bucky, you tightened your grip on his hand, “I’m okay, I promise.” He glanced up at the band, “I’ll be right back.” He made his way over to the singer and shook the man’s hand.

Confusion flooded your system. Bucky, approaching someone, without prompting? Sam came up on your left. “Look at our baby, off on his own. It brings a tear to my eye.”

You reached out and smacked his chest. “Asshole.” You muttered.

“That’s Captain Asshole, thank you very much.”

You rolled your eyes, keeping watch over Bucky, who was smiling and joking with the singer of the band. He was comfortable, you could sense it, even though there was a tinge of nervousness in his system. The Soldier had stayed deep inside him for so long, but old habits died hard and you always kept a tether to Bucky, monitoring. When Bucky had realized this you had expected him to be mad, maybe an outburst of the Soldier, but that never happened. He wrapped you in his arms and thanked you, for protecting him, for backing him up.

Bucky turned back to you and waved, you gave a small wave back to him. “Awwww, you and Frosty, so cute.” A voice came from behind you.

“Shuri! What are you doing here?” You asked giving the young woman a quick hug.

“You think I wouldn’t come to Pepper’s fundraiser?” She answered. You glanced around, realizing that a majority of the Avengers were here. Bruce in the corner, Clint and his wife at the appetizers table, Peter dancing around the room armed with his cell phone. It was odd, you had all been together multiple times since Tony’s funeral. But usually that was for meetings on the state of the world.

Pepper walked up to the microphone on stage, Bucky turning away from the singer to stand next to her. You had to marvel at him, there had been a time when he couldn’t even see Pepper without going into full fight or flight mode. Seeing him standing tall on stage reminded you of how many battles he had won. “Good Evening.” Pepper began, causing the crowd to grow silent. “I would like to thank you all for being here tonight. The preservation of history has always been a passion for Stark Enterprise. Tony would have been so glad to see all of you here. This expansion of the Captain America exhibit will be dedicated to Howard Stark.” She paused and took a breath. Bucky tensed beside her, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “So open your checkbooks, sign on those dotted lines, and remember, donations make great tax write offs.” The crowd chuckled. “To open our gala tonight, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes will open the dance floor.”

“And that’s my cue.” The singer said from the other side of the stage. As Bucky made his way off the stage to you. He held out his hand and you placed yours in his, letting him pull you onto the dance floor. “Sergeant Barnes requested this song for tonight, so here’s hoping I do it justice.”

Bucky pulled you into him, one hand placing yours on his shoulder, then moving to your waist. You rested your head on his shoulder. “So you requested a song for tonight?”

“I did.” He answered. “And that’s only the beginning of the surprises tonight.” His hand tracing circles on your back and the singer began his tune.

“In this world of ordinary people,

Extraordinary people.

I'm glad there is you.”

You breathed in as you listened to the singer’s lyrics, Bucky’s grip tightening on your mid-section, bringing you closer to him. You heard his voice softly singing along with the singer. He had sung a few times before while you were dancing, but you could feel his intent rolling out of him in waves. Your telepathic connection filled with love.

“In this world of over-rated pleasures,

Of under-rated treasures,

I'm so glad there is you.”

“I’m so glad.” He whispered into your hair. “God, doll, you’re the best thing to happen to me.”

“I live to love, I love to live with you beside me,

This role so new, I'll muddle through with you to guide me.”

He guided you around the dance floor, you could feel the eyes of the whole room on the two of you, but you only focused on Bucky. Memories of your days teaching Bucky about technology in Wakanda came up to the surface. You chuckled as you remembered one that ended in a smashed computer and an irate Shuri.

“In this world where many, many play at love,

And hardly any stay in love,

I'm glad there is you.”

“I love you.” He whispered into your hair. His grip loosening as he spun you out then pulled you back against his chest. You looked up into his blue eyes.

“I love you too.”

“In this world where many, many play at love,

And hardly any stay in love,

I'm glad there is you.”

“Which is why I need to do this.” He pulled away from you, nervous energy spiking.

“Buck….”

“It’s okay, doll.” He murmured. Reaching into his pocket and kneeling down onto one knee. The music dimming into a quiet instrumental. “Y/N. I’ve loved you since the first time we met. You have helped me piece myself back into my old self. Teaching me all about the present. So….. Y/F/N, will you marry me?” He opened the box, showing a simple, but beautiful, diamond ring.

“Hmmmm…. That’s a tough one.” You murmured, a small flash of panic racing through his eyes. “Yes, I will marry you.” You answered, bending down and placing a kiss to his lips. He pulled away, a wide smile on his face. He took your hand and slipped the ring on your finger before pulling you back into his chest. The crowd erupted into cheers.

You buried your face in his chest. As you heard Sam yell out, “About damn time!”

You felt Bucky chuckle and the singer’s voice broke through the crowd.

“More than ever, I'm glad there is you.”

Bucky repeated the words into your hair as he rested his head on top of yours. The nervous energy you had sensed from him all night and you felt yourself wrapped in the energy that was just purely Bucky. You noticed Bucky stiffen.

“Babe….?” You asked.

“He came.” He whispered, you glanced up at his face and followed his eyes to the elderly man in the corner of the room. A smile graced the man’s face and he nodded to the two of you. “Steve.”

You looked up at your fiancé. “Go on.” You said, pushing him towards his best friend. You felt tears in your eyes as the men embraced.

“Barnes is a lucky man.” You heard Pepper’s voice behind you.

“No, I’m the lucky one.” You murmured, watching the men looking around the room. Reminiscing no doubt, to the naked eye, it probably looked like a grandson and grandfather. But you knew, it was best friends who finally got their moment to celebrate their victories.

#james bucky barnes #james bucky buchanan barnes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #winter soldier imagine #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x fem!reader

[roxannepolice]

What would happen in the manicheic story version of the trilogy? Where would that go?

Short answer: read Reysabella’s soliloquy in the last fb scene in Jedi the Last.

Alright, now long answer.

First of all, here’s a thing: any epic story in which one can pinpoint (or it is handed on a silver platter) a difference between hero(es) and villain(s) is a story about that difference and not about struggle between good and evil, with all the nuances serving the purpose of further underlining how very important that one difference is. What I would say makes a story manicheic or not isn’t necessarily that it has or not moral relativism (as in, there’s no difference between good and evil/they’re only constructs meant to control the masses, basically go read Nietzsche only don’t forget syphilis affects the brain) but rather that instead of showing the reality of the heaviness of struggle taking place in each individual soul, it gives one side of a very worldly conflict some inherent difference from the other one.

Before delving into Star Wars, I would compare (without necessarily giving any esthetic/intelectual/dramatic judgments) The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter: LOTR is a story about struggle between good and evil, HP is a story about love being the difference between good and evil. Again, I don’t think anyone would say LOTR doesn’t clearly differentiate between heroes and villains - it does. But that being said, it also gives us noble people falling on our eyes

powerful sages acknowledging their tempation

characters in fact very similar to the hero failing

and finally, the hero’s eventual near failure.

LOTR acknowledges the reality of struggle, in fact it gives us a hint that characters that do not fall manage to do that either thanks to the wisdom they’ve achieved over the ages (this factor being the reason why Saruman is totally badass but not really sympathetic like Boromir or Smeagol, like - he should have known better) or… thanks to recognizing themselves in the ones that have fallen. Frodo and Aragorn feel genuine compassion towards Smeagol and Boromir - they can imagine themselves stumbling in their footsteps, in a way they can be grateful that they received such a firm warning at their expense. And still - LOTR isn’t even preaching that compassion is somehow inherently tied to good, we have very good characters (Sam) not being instinctively compassionate towards everyone and Frodo himself has to grow in order to find pity for Smeagol - the story acknowledes that compassion isn’t something people just have or not, it’s something we achieve through experience.

One could argue that LOTR is a story that juxtaposes power and civilization with simple life and nature but even that doesn’t really hold - simple, humble life may make the inner struggle easier, but a) it doesn’t make one immune to it (again, Frodo almost failed at desroying the ring), b) doesn’t make power something inherently evil, since even the three elven rings are rings of power and c) the same applies to civilization, as both dwarves and people are valued exacly for their achievements in this sphere - Treebeard isn’t there to tell us don’t cut not one tree or kill one animal, I dgaf about your need for a house and food only don’t treat nature as if it was nothing but a resource for you that you can exploit how much you like. Oh, an obviously it doesn’t say violence is always wrong and peace at all costs is always right, since two of the main characters are having a contest which one of them kills more orcs.

In summary, LOTR says yes, there is a very real difference between good and evil - but it is not in our power to pinpoint that difference; if we could the struggle wouldn’t be real. Maybe the difference exists in the realm in which our great but limited conceptual thinking is simply powerless. It’s in fact a very humble and unpleasant message we get from LOTR.

Now, let’s take a look at HP. First of all, for what is essentially a coming of age story with magic in it, HP is waaaay above average in terms of moral grayness. We have a mentor figure who f*cked up in life

a heartbreaking redemption arc

and characters who get plain lost

not to mention loads of ciritcal attitude towards authority. That being said, this story has, or actually hands on a silver platter, the difference between the main villain and the main hero - love. And it’s a beautiful, great and deep message. But compared to LOTR, it is a simplification. This is the story we want to hear, because we want to hear that so long as you don’t … you’ll end up fine.

So what about Star Wars? OT and, for what it can be judged considering we knew  the outcome, PT are definitely closer to the LOTR-type story. We have mentors acknowledging how difficult the struggle is (even if they actually go overboard in the other direction - jedi of old would ban themselves from everything that could remotely lead them to the dark side, which was utterly stupid but it was acknowledging the reality of the struggle), political conflict that won’t get resolved through rightness of the cause itself (rebellion by the time we meet it is a 20 year old conspiratory organisation involving senators and high rank militants; oh and about visuals - Hux’s SKB scene reeks of Riefenstahl? yeah, the medal ceremony in ANH isn’t free of that esthetic either - which isn’t a way of saying rebels are actually more nazi than we thought? only Leni Riefenstahl was a damn good movie maker, like it or not) and the hero whose triumph lies in dramatically recognizing the real opponent is in himself, simultaneously rejecting everything that his mentors were telling him to do. Hell, RotS actually has a there are heroes on both sides line in the opening crawl.

And ST? Weeeeellll….. it could just go HP on us, in fact I’m pretty sure that’s what much of the audience wants, probably because many of us are the HP generation - and HP sends a much more flattering message. On the one hand we have a stormtrooper becoming one of the main heroes - but this only sounds gray but is actually much less morally challenging than it seems - bad guy becoming good (before he’s ever done anything that would actually make him a bad guy in the first place, I might add) reaffirms how right the right side is, as opposed to good guy becoming bad reminding us it is not so obvious. On the other hand we have a scavenger woman with no formal training (yeah, this trilogy is telling us we don’t need teachers, just be kind and necessary knowledge will be awarded to you!) who had any right to become evil but didn’t juxtaposed with a formally trained prince who had all the environment to be good but became evil; good, brave, guys we feel absolutely not worried about when there’s a few dozen of them left, with only like 3? having proper miliatry and political experience, but they’re in the right so they gonna win; an evil organization that became evil, rouse from the dark side, when everything was perfect; bad guys using overflowing amounts of violence while good guys only when absolutely necessary.

There’s one thing I’m pretty sure of at this point - this trilogy won’t have an individual redemption. That would basically make it dramatically redundant, with plot going from point A (destroyed empire, one guy redeemed) to point A (destroyed empire, one guy redeemed). The fact that they made FO direct heirs of the empire can mean two things - either OTrio didn’t deal with the empire as they should have or the writers are beyond lazy. Assuming it’s the former, we’re either heading for a reintegraton of many of fo members into the galaxy or setting an abslutely uncrossable difference between the two sides of the conflict with annihilation of the wrong side. Basically speaking - any story in which you can pinpoint an inherent differnce between Rey and Kylo Ben will be about that difference and not connection between them. So after 2 hours of pewpewpew Resistance will vanquish FO by the sheer power of how right they are and Rey, rousseanian wild child, will rebuild jedi that will just be better than the old ones because she’s incapable of making the same mistakes as old jedi and either kill Kylo Ben in a situation of absolute necessity stemming from his evilness or forgive him because that sends a more flattering better message.

boring, I know but making it interesting is absolutely unonceivable for a good deal of audience

Any last bit of analytical thinking is telling me we’re heading for coniunctio oppositorum. Tears in my childhood’s icon’s eyes as he talks of his perfect student saving immaculate good guys while opposing his evil nephew not killing him only because he’s too good for that badly want to tell my emotions otherwise. And I can’t stand it when my brain hemispheres are conflicted.

#episode ix speculation #star wars #reylo #cultural ramblings