#miss marieanne

[bedlamsbard]

POV

Natasha POV of the opening scene of Of Home Near! (Original version here.) About 1.1K below the break.

*****

Sometimes Natasha thought that Howard Stark just liked looking at Steve.

She had seen Tony watch Pepper when he thought no one else was looking, and there was a little of that in the way Howard watched Steve, his chin propped on one hand and his eyes going soft and pleased.  Part of it might have been only that Howard had missed his best friend while Steve had been presumed dead and was more than a little afraid that Steve would vanish if he looked away, but if there was one thing other than how to kill people Natasha knew, it was how to read men.

She couldn’t exactly blame Howard for it.  She liked looking at Steve too, and she was the one who was in his bed every night.  She had the right to look, which was still a fairly novel sensation for her.

By the time they had been there for a week, everyone in the SSR was getting fairly stir-crazy due to the lockdown Howard had imposed.  As far as Natasha could tell, no one was actively opposed to it; despite Howard’s attempts to spread a more mundane version of the story, rumors of Captain America’s dramatic return had spread and at this stage in the war everyone in the SSR was paranoid enough to understand the reasons for the lockdown.  It just didn’t mean they enjoyed it.  It also meant that they were running short-handed since Howard had instituted the lockdown in the middle of the night, when most of the SSR’s personnel had already gone home.

They were in Howard’s office, Natasha watching Howard watch Steve and wondering if Steve had any idea that Howard Stark was in love with him, when she heard the sudden silence in the lab outside.  Steve cocked his head to one side, listening, then suddenly went white.  Natasha looked at him in concern, then turned as the door opened behind them.

“Stark, you are aware there’s still a war on, aren’t you?  We can’t drop everything to hop across the Channel just on your say-so.”

The speaker was a tall army officer with a weathered face, wearing a colonel’s insignia and SSR pins.  There was a woman with him, mouth painted red and brown hair perfectly coiffed, and four years ago Natasha had seen both of their portraits flanking Howard Stark’s in an old SHIELD building in New Jersey not long before Hydra had blown it to hell.

Howard’s gaze flickered quickly to Steve’s still face before he straightened up. “I didn’t think this one could wait,” he said.  “And you took your time coming back; I called you a week ago.”

“Because there’s still a war on,” the woman said.  Steve shut his eyes at the sound of her voice, breathing hard, and Natasha closed her hands into fists.  She might be sleeping with him now, might have his name and his borrowed ring on her finger, but she was under no illusions about where she ranked on a scale that included Peggy Carter.  “Well, what is it?”

Howard looked at Steve again instead of responding.  Steve breathed in deeply, then opened his eyes and turned around.  “Peggy,” he said, then swallowed hard and added, “Sir,” to Chester Phillips.

Phillips blinked once, clearly startled, and said, “Rogers.”

Peggy didn’t say anything at all.  She just walked forward until she could put her arms around Steve.  Natasha bit the inside of her cheek as Steve hugged her back, his whole body briefly going slack with relief, like he had gotten something back that he had never expected to have again.  Which he had.

When Peggy finally pulled back, she reached up for him, and this time Natasha looked away, belatedly aware of Howard Stark’s sharp gaze tracking the motion.

Steve said, “Peggy, wait – wait –” and Natasha looked back, startled.

Peggy seized his left hand, staring at the ring on his finger, and said, “You –!”  Then she punched him in the face.

Steve staggered backwards and almost fell.  Natasha and Howard caught him to steady him as he got his feet under him again, staring at Peggy with huge, hurt eyes.

“Well,” Howard said, releasing him once he was sure that Natasha had a good grip on Steve’s other arm, “at least she didn’t shoot you this time.”

“Thanks, Howard,” Steve said, touching his jaw gingerly. “That really makes me feel better.”  He was trembling a little under Natasha’s hands, but his voice was even.  Since she had seen him take a punch from a god without flinching, she suspect his reaction was more surprise than anything else.

Peggy shot Natasha a hard look that both took in the ring on her left hand and quite obviously found her wanting.  Natasha met her gaze calmly, not willing to let herself waver and undermine Steve.

“Glad to see you’re in fine form, Rogers,” Colonel Phillips said, turning to shut the door on the audience they had acquired in the lab.  He looked at Natasha and added, “Is this the lucky lady?”

“Natasha Rogers, Colonel Phillips, Agent Carter.”  She let go of Steve and offered the colonel her hand.  His grip was firm and dry; she saw him register her pistol calluses and nod a little, giving Steve a contemplative look that was probably at least as much evaluating his taste in women as gauging anything about Natasha.

Natasha felt the pistol calluses on Peggy Carter’s palm and fingers as the other woman squeezed her hand a little too hard, her expression suggesting that she would have liked to rip Natasha’s throat out with her teeth.  Her gaze tracked the scar at Natasha’s hairline from the Battle of New York as well as the way Natasha shifted her weight after Peggy released her, one professional’s quick evaluation of another.  She didn’t look at Steve, whose expression was miserable.

Howard and Phillips were both looking back and forth between Steve, Peggy, and Natasha like spectators at a three-way tennis match.  Natasha let out her breath, then took Steve’s hand in hers, folding her fingers around his and squeezing a little to reassure him.

She had only been thinking about how Steve might react to Peggy Carter.  It had never occurred to her to worry about how Peggy Carter might react to him.  Or to Natasha, for that matter.

“You were able to bail out?” Phillips asked Steve.

Steve took a deep breath. “Not exactly,” he said. “I didn’t walk away from the crash, either.”  He glanced at Natasha, who nodded a little in response to his unspoken question, then took another deep breath and looked back at Phillips.  “I’m Steve Rogers, but I’m not your Steve Rogers – I mean, I am, I’m just not from 1945.  Nat and I are from 2018.”

#miss marieanne #bedlam replies #meme response #of home near #cut scenes and concept writing #home behind the scenes #iw time travel concept

[peterxwade24]

BWYD Chapter 27

The House

Adrien looked into Marinette’s eyes, green searching blue, and relaxed when he saw nothing but understanding. He smiled, his eyes lighting up with glee.

Marinette’s smile, although sad, was nonetheless real. Her hand drifted down to the tattoo on her abdomen and her smile shrank. “I know what it’s like, not having a mom I mean. My Ubaba’s finacée is more of an Aunt to my siblings and I than a mom, especially because she’s friends with Bud and Lou first.” She looked up into his green eyes, green eyes that reminded her of her little big brother, and her smile fell from her face. “My birth parents died in a fire that took our bakery with them. I was really young, I barely remember them, but I do know that they loved me. My Maman was gluten intolerant, and my Papa was a baker. They used to make everything with rice flour, and I do mean everything. We’d make dumplings using rice flour and they just added an extra layer of crunch when we fried them. I’ll make some dumplings some time, and I’ll bring you some to school.”

Adrien nodded and wrapped a supportive arm around Marinette’s shoulders and led her back to the chairs, where Colin unceremoniously swept her off her feet and dumped her into Alix’s lap, causing both girls to blush.

“Oops.” Colin called before turning back to Damian and smiling. “So, what do you think?”

“It’s kinda creepy but kinda cool. Like Pennyworth.”

“Just call him Grandpa Alfred.” Marinette rolled her eyes, standing beside Alix’s chair with her face just a few shades lighter than her half-jacket. “You’re not eleven anymore. You don’t have to behave like you’re fresh off the boat anymore.” Marinette turned and sat down in her chair.

Alix shot a look at Adrien, as the only two who weren’t privy to Damian’s background, before looking back at the three siblings. “Fresh off the boat?”

Damian shot a glare at Marinette, the glare cold and pointed. “My father learned about me after my mother lured him onto a boat. She left me with him.” He turned to look at Alix, his glare lessening as he looked into her blue eyes. “I was ‘fresh off the boat’ when I met his four older sons.”

Marinette smiled at her brother, taking the necessary steps to be able to wrap her arms around her brother. “You’re going to have to get used to having them around. They’re part of the team now.”

Colin let out a laugh. “I think we can get used to working with these two. They’ll be a lot easier to be around than your siblings.”

---

Marinette led the team back up the stairs and smiled at the sight of the study. She turned to look at her brothers and her smile spread to their faces. “Does this take you back?”

Damian rolled his eyes and watched as his little sister waltzed over to sit in one of the chairs. “Pennyworth would love this house.”

Colin smiled and leaned against the desk, watching as Alix slipped between the other boys to perch herself on the ottoman in front of Marinette’s chair. “Alfred would love this house, but it’s Marinette’s. So, she gets to decide who has access.”

Adrien sighed and sat down in the other chair. He looked at the four other heroes and he couldn’t believe that this was his life now. “I don’t know who ‘Pennyworth’ is, but this is serious stuff. This is Order business, and should remain within the Order.” Adrien missed the look Marinette shot her brothers and the look they shot her back, but Alix didn’t. “And don’t go thinking that this isn’t the Order, you have to train us.”

Marinette frowned and looked at Alix. “What do you think?”

“Marieanne left the house to you. You get to decide who can be in the house.” Alix looked at Marinette and placed her hand atop Marinette’s. “Don’t let them tell you what to do.”

Marinette nodded and looked at the four other teen heroes. “Damian? Colin? Should I tell them?” She looked at her older brothers with an unsure expression.

Damian smiled at his sister as he walked across the room. He settled into the chair beside her, pulling her into his side, and rested his head on top of her’s. “You should.”

Marinette looked at Adrien, a small smile on her face, and shrugged. “I received my Miraculous the day your mother and you took me to Master Fu’s massage parlor. When my family and I returned to Gotham, I had to tell them that I had my Miraculous. The only one who wasn’t immediately against it, was Damian. He told me the family secret and accepted me when the rest of the family was upset.” She leaned against her brother, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that before.”

Adrien looked into Marinette’s sapphire eyes and looked for any sign of deceit. “Okay.”

Marinette nodded and smiled. “Who wants to go back to our apartment and eat xiaolongbao?”

---

The five teen heroes sat in the living room of the Wayne family apartment, a steamer of xiaolongbao in front of each of them. They were doing their homework when Duke and Dick, followed by Steph, Babs, and Cass walked in.

“And where have you five been all afternoon?” Dick asked, an eyebrow raising at the teens.

“Ice cream then we came back here.” Colin shrugged, popping a xiaolongbao into his mouth.

Adrien and Alix waved at the five older Wayne children before they, too, ate a xiaolongbao. The five teens continued doing their homework, bouncing ideas off of one another.

Dick and Babs leaned against the kitchen counters and shared a look.

“Is it always like this?” Babs asked, her eyes skipping from teen to teen. “Always so full of action?”

Dick shook his head, following her line of sight. “It’s usually less action packed than this.” He shrugged and ate a few xiaolongbao. “But, things are different every day here in Paris.”

@dast218 @toodaloo-kangaroo @amayakans @crazylittlemunchkin @marinettepotterandplagg 

#maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #ml crossover #mlb crossover #bruce wayne's youngest daughter

[kolvakreates]

Last Night...

Last night I ran around Walmart, searching for bottles and coats. Last night the power went out while I shopped. Last night I was handed a baby girl, my little Marie Ann. Last night I held her twin brother, not Konrad. But maybe John? Last night I wondered how I ended up in this dilemma. Last night I wondered why I hadn't gotten a baby shower. Last night I had 300 dollars to last for two months. Last night, I had nothing for my twins. I grabbed books and clothes and blankets and binkies. I stressed over every thing my twins could need. Last night I had only carseats. They slept in the car while I shopped. I knew they were hungry as I checked every tag. I knew. I wasnt prepared. Last night this was only a dream. Last night, my brain worked it's way. Last night I held my future twins in my arm. But too early. Too scared. Too late. My dreams have often been crazy. My dreams are hardly this real. What's harder, in fact. The reality that, my twins. Are only too real. In my dream I woke up. In a new house, a new home. My mother was there, A friend (Who incidentally Has 10 year old twins.) I looked at the Wii U. And laughed softly. Everest sat eating breakfast. Aspen was chatting away. I went on a drive. I barely survived. My brakes, we're faulty and slow. Last night I was a hero. Last night I fought like a champ. I flew besides Wonder Woman. I fought along Robin. I had only that chance. Soon the hero's were captured. The kids were all that was left. We snuck till our numbers were low. Too few. Few left. Last night I had dreams. Last night some were wild, some real. It's odd to think, the reality of some, and the adventure of others. I miss the twins I never birthed. I'm anxious about the new home I've never had. I'm paranoid of my brakes, though they've proven fine. I ache for adventure I never had. Isn't it odd that dreams could be a prediction, a fear, a story. Connected and long. I still feel them strong. Because last night. I slept through my story.

#what #dream #poetry? #last night #help #I mean... #it's a poor condensation of my dream #I miss my twins #MarieAnn #mybabies #cars #what the fuck #heros #twins #babies #walmart #hmmmm

[adamantinetower]

More fe3h college AU except the college is a great books school like mine

- Edelgard, Dimitri, Claude, Hubert, Dedue, and Hilda are all RAs. Somehow

- the church is the administration (Rhea is in charge of student housing and Seteth is assistant dean. Who is dean? Doesnt matter.)

- Bernadetta cries on the inside when shes asked to demonstrate a proposition in math

- Ignatz and Petra are, like, some of the only ones good at greek.

- Sylvain is on the croquet team

- Lindhardt once fell asleep while watching the pendulum swing and missed freshman lab

- caspar always goes out for intramurals

- marieanne and mercedes are on the waltz committee

- all the professors are now tutors. Thats what we got instead of professors here. Jeralt is the newest

- byleth is a senior resident

- Edelgard has to make sure bernadetta goes to freshman chorus

- Bernadetta leaves halfway thru chorus anyways

- listen i'm still on my first play through (BE Woo) so idk a whole lot abt the entire cast but last year when an advisory was given not to go into the river bc it was dangerously cold some freshman got drunk and jumped into the river and idk who in the cast would do that but Caspar is probably one of them

- Ashe is one of the archons for storytellers club! He bakes cookies for the club :)

- Felix is the guy in the fencing club that knocks on members doors on saturday mornings at 8 to get them up for practice

- dimitri and edelgard were in the same seminar sophomore year and in some of the bible seminars they nearly threw hands

- Claude is an RA on a freshman hall and his residents love him. A chill dude.

This ended up being more specifically my college than any general great books school but u kno what? I want to see my college experiences in college AUs to! And i'm the person who has to make it happen

#fe3h #fire emblem 3 houses #fire emblem #college au

[yhwhrulz]

[bedlamsbard]

#makes me want to work on the deaging story

👀

Wanda accidentally fucks up real bad (post-AoU, pre-CACW) and now the Avengers and Bucky Barnes and the Red Room are all frantically chasing a teenaged Black Widow who's got a very confused Steve Rogers in tow (because the last time he checked it was 1936 and also he got de-aged but not de-serumed). Clint, the only Avenger who actually dealt up close and personal with Red Room Natasha and has any idea what the Widows are capable of, is going to have a heart attack. Natasha very belatedly realizes that trying to check in with the Red Room might not have been the best idea. Steve is In Love. Bucky thought his life was weird already. Tony was trying to retire.

#miss marieanne #bedlam replies #adventures in accountability

[bedlamsbard]

what are your thoughts on Daredevil?

I watched S1 when it first aired back in 2015, didn't watch more than the first episode (?) of S2, or any of S3 or any of the other Netflix shows except for The Defenders, which I watched all of right when it aired. I've been doing the world's slowest rewatch of S1 for the past couple of months because I don't remember what happens at all, but it's not catching me enough that I feel like I need to binge it, and I'll usually click over to the open tab and then decide to watch something else instead of the next episode. So I guess my thoughts are that it's fine and the fight scenes are great (I am a fight scenes gal, I'm the one person in the fandom who's like 'I don't think there are enough fight scenes in Marvel movies/shows'), but nothing in it hits the right combination of buttons in my brain to really have A Reaction. Charlie Cox is great! I'm happy to see him back in the MCU! But I don't have any real emotional attachment to the show or the character.

(Honestly, I think the problem is partially that it's a little too deliberate and not quite flashy enough for me, and I don't think that's a 2024 problem because I think many of the D+ shows move too fast, since I felt the same way back when the show originally aired.)

#miss marieanne #bedlam replies

[bedlamsbard]

🌟 for The Horizon Line

Oooh, let's do one of the Endgame prologue flashbacks from Chapter 6! Mostly because this is a scene I really like and it's not one that people tend to comment on.

Then

This is one of the chapters that has an alternating "then-now" structure, and it's the first of two (the other one is 16) to flip very quickly. This is the second of three flashback sequences in Horizon that come directly out of the Endgame prologue (a.k.a. the 2018 part of Endgame, not the 2023 part). I do a fair amount of rewriting canon scenes; it's always an interesting experience. I get to know that scene really well and I tend to find out how difficult it is to translate between mediums.

“Oh no,” Rocket said.

Steve stared down at the gauntlet with his expression gone completely blank – not even horror, just a kind of flat incomprehension that any of this was happening. Natasha heard the faint sound she made only after she had made it, a faint stunned gasp like a wounded animal, and even then was wondering who it had come from before she felt the ache in her own throat.

Steve's behavior in this scene and throughout Endgame is really interesting, because especially in the 2018 scenes he's very blank. And Chris Evans is generally pretty expression (so much of Steve's excellent Avengers characterization is carried out through microexpressions rather than what Steve's actually saying), so his blankness in this sequence is interesting. One of the things I have to do when I'm rewriting a canon sequence is basically add in the character interpretation that may or may not be there onscreen.

The Infinity Stones weren’t there. Nothing was there, just empty, blackened hollows where Natasha still remembered the Stones gleaming the last time she had seen Thanos, energy running in multi-colored rivulets up his arm before he had snapped his fingers.

“Where are they?” Steve said, his voice so toneless that it was nearly a statement

The only response was a low groan, until Carol tightened her grip on Thanos’s throat and hissed, “Answer the question.”

“The universe required correction,” Thanos said, his voice coming out in harsh gasps of pain. “After that, the Stones served no purpose beyond temptation.”

“You murdered trillions!” Bruce said, and shoved him with both hands. The Hulkbuster’s strength threw him backwards, making Carol lose her grip and knocking Rhodey out of the way.

Thanos pushed himself up onto his remaining elbow and said, “You should be grateful.”

This sequence is directly out of canon, dialogue and action. Also Thanos's dialogue is a nightmare to write, especially pulling it straight from canon -- I noticed this when I was writing the Thor flashbacks in Morning too. He doesn't have a very natural cadence, and it makes hard to put into prose vs. onscreen.

Bruce lunged for him again, but Loki’s hand closed on his wrist, his heels digging divots into the floor as Bruce strained against him; the Hulkbuster might be able to beat the crap out of the Hulk, but apparently couldn’t move an Asgardian who had decided not to be moved. Loki released Bruce a moment later and put the blade of his polearm under Thanos’s chin. “Be careful,” he said softly, “not to speak of gratitude again.”

The scene diverges here with Loki's involvement. In canon Bruce keeps beating up Thanos until Natasha asks about the Stones.

Note that the Hulkbuster is not at the Hulk's strength, at least going up against an Asgardian.

Natasha walked around Bruce’s massive form so that she could see Thanos, resisting the urge to start screaming and not stop, but there was an unfamiliar tremor in her voice as she forced herself to say, “Where are the Stones?”

Pulling character interpretations from what's onscreen again; Nat's less blank than Steve is. She's also trembling in that scene, which is a detail I like.

“Gone,” Thanos said. From his expression, he had no idea who she was. “Reduced to atoms.”

Does Thanos actually know who Natasha is? Open question, never confirmed one way or another by canon; canon really only identifies that he knows who Tony is and not any of the other Avengers.

“You used them two days ago!” Bruce said.

“I used the Stones to destroy the Stones,” Thanos said, and gestured at the damaged gauntlet, ignoring the way the razor-sharp blade of Loki’s polearm opened a thin line on the underside of his chin. “It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am –”

“If you say ‘inevitable,’ I will cleave your head from your body,” Loki said.

Canon divergence: in canon Thanos finishes his line, here Loki interrupts him.

“We have to tear this place apart,” Rhodey said, his voice shaking. “He has to be lying –”

“My father is many things,” Nebula said. “A liar is not one of them.” She flicked a look at Loki anyway, as if asking for confirmation, and he gave her the tiniest headshake in response. God of lies, Natasha remembered, very distantly; maybe it meant something other than just another title. It didn’t seem very important right now.

Loki and Nebula have an interesting relationship and this hints at some of the places it's been in the past. Loki, walking lie detector.

Thanos looked from one of them to the other, as if seeing Loki for the first time, and made an expression that wasn’t quite a smile. “My daughter,” he said to Nebula, and then, to Loki, “My son.”

Divergence. In canon he says, "Ah. Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Thor kills Thanos immediately after his addresses Nebula in canon.

“My parents were Odin and Frigga of Asgard,” Loki said, soft and dangerous. “I’d think you’d remember it, since a son of Odin was what you decided you wanted more than another child of yours.”

Loki, who just lost his entire family, is having none of this. I don't think all of Loki's backstory with Thanos has come out in any of my Yonderverse writing, but it is revealed in Morning, and I use the same backstory between universes. Loki started as part of the Black Order, one of the Children of Thanos, during a period of time when he wasn't using his own name (Nebula uses his Black Order name in the Horizon 3 flashback), but when Thanos found out that he was Odin's son he decided Loki was more useful as a way to get into the Nine Realms to get the Tesseract (with the later intention of getting the Reality Stone).

This time Thanos’s expression was definitely a smile. “And where did it bring you? Back to me.”

This line is from 2014 Thanos in Endgame, not 2023 Thanos. 2014 Thanos uses it in Yonder 4, too. (I do think Thanos's dialogue is pretty overwrought, but sometimes it works.)

“To kill you,” Loki said bluntly. “I don’t care about the Stones. I don’t have anyone to bring back. You made certain of that before the culling.”

Loki straight-up is just here for the murder because as far as he knows all of Asgard is dead. As is revealed later on in the scene, he has no way of knowing that any of the Asgardians made it off the Statesman and has been operating on the assumption they didn't. He also doesn't really care about the Snap at all because he doesn't have anyone left to lose.

“Wait – wait, Loki, hang on –” Bruce said hastily. “You don’t know that he’s not lying, the Stones have to be here –”

“No,” Nebula said. “All my life, my father has only ever wanted one thing, and having achieved it –”

“They are beyond the reach of any living thing,” Thanos said. “As they should be. The work is done,” he repeated. “And it cannot be undone.”

This is added dialogue for this scene and isn't from the original canon scene, since Thanos is dead by this point in the canonical scene.

“Loki, get out of the way,” Steve said abruptly.

They all turned to look at him, startled; even Loki’s gaze flickered away from Thanos for an instant. Steve stripped his shields off and dropped them to the floor with a clatter as he took a step forwards, his fists clenched.

This is actually my favorite part of this sequence -- Steve planning to beat Thanos to death with his bare hands. I give Steve a lot more sharp edges than I think most writers do and I am here for his violent tendencies, which are pretty consistent throughout the MCU; it's really just Endgame where it's not there, because he's so muted throughout the film. (I read Endgame!Steve as being very, very depressed, though functional, which I think I've talked about somewhere.) It was important to me that it was his bare hands too, which is why he takes off the Wakandan shields for it.

Loki raised his free hand, green-gold glimmering on his fingertips. “No,” he said. “Your right to vengeance is not greater than mine.”

Loki about to get into it with Steve over who has a better right to beat Thanos to death.

“You should be grateful to me, Asgardian,” Thanos said. “Is this not what you wanted? Is kingship not what you claimed when the Chitauri’s claws were at your throat? The rightful king of Asgard, king once more?”

Hints of Loki's backstory with Thanos and the Chitauri here, touching on whatever happened immediately prior to The Avengers and calling back to Loki's conversations with The Other there.

Loki looked back at him and put his head a little to the side, his teeth showing like a wolf’s. “You murdered my brother,” he said. “You slaughtered my people. You scoured Asgard root and stem from the branches of the World Tree and you speak to me of kingship? King of ashes and atoms, shattered bone and spilled blood, spread out across the stars where you hunted us? I would kill you for Thor alone, but the blood-debt you owe my people can never be paid in full.”

"Ashes and atoms" is a callback to what Loki says during the coronation sequence in Chapter 1: "Asgard is ashes and atoms."

“I took only what I was owed,” Thanos said. “You should never have tried to keep the Tesseract from me.”

“I owed you nothing then and I owe you nothing now,” Loki said, “save a death that will be far quicker than those you gave my brother and my people. And when I’m done, may the spirits of all Asgard stand forth to rip you to shreds on your passage through the great void of Ginnungagap.”

Yonderverse Loki gets very formal and traditional about Asgard in a way that most of my other Lokis don't, because his whole thing is that there was literally nothing left, and he has to be all of Asgard and the Asgardian royal family. Without him the Asgardians likely wouldn't have survived as Asgardians and he's extremely cognizant of that in a way that Thor isn't in the main line canon -- probably because Thor has never really had to think very hard about his own identity and what's important to him as an Asgardian, and Loki has. Thor doesn't have to decide whether or not to be an Asgardian and Loki does.

"I owed you nothing then and I owe you nothing now" is an echo of something Loki says to Proxima Midnight in Yonder 5: "I owe the Chitauri nothing and I owe you less."

“‘All’ Asgard?” Thanos echoed him, and smiled, the scarring on the left side of his face making the expression even more dreadful than it might have been normally. “I destroyed only those who came between me and what was rightfully mine. I am not unkind, my son. Those that fled rather than fight a losing battle, I allowed to escape.”

Until now Loki didn't know that the other Asgardians had survived. Endgame never addresses how Thor finds out or what his reaction is, but it's pretty vital for how Yonderverse Loki is, so it has to be on the page.

Loki’s eyes went huge.

“Oh, god, they’re alive,” Bruce said, sounding stunned. “Oh, god – the Asgardians in the escape pods – the Valkyrie and all the others, all the kids –”

Bruce didn't know either, of course -- remember that he was on the Statesman too.

Loki dropped his polearm and lunged forward, twisting his fists in the front of the Titan’s shirt. “Where are they?” he shouted. “Where are my people?”

First sign that Loki might have something to live for other than vengeance because at this point he really didn't believe that he did.

This sequence is interspersed with the Atlanta operation in the present day -- the last operation the Avengers did as a team and the first operation they're doing as a team post-Snap. I actually do write these as they appear in the chapter, which is to say that I alternate between writing the flashback sequence and the present-day sequence, rather than writing all of one and all of the other and then stitching them together. For me, this makes the transitions between past and present really snappy and lets them flow thematically from one to the other -- the next scene after this is Natasha going after what she believes is Clint (Sir Not Appearing In This Story), and reveal of the Hulk-Widow that closes out that scene leads directly into Loki's shock about the surviving Asgardians that opens the next.

One thing I struggle with in rewrites of canon scenes is that very often the ones I'm rewriting are big multi-character scenes where a lot of the characters are simply not doing anything most of the time and this is one of them. Despite being a Natasha POV scene, she really doesn't have any input past the opening, which does stand out to me on reread. She's also not doing anything in the canon scene. (And I'd bet there's a high chance that when they filmed the scene, all of the actors were not there and it's just stitched together because Endgame did a lot of that.) It's one of those places where I can either add in the character having more interaction in that scene, which I do back in the Chapter 3 flashback with Tony's arrival, because Natasha doesn't say anything in that scene in Endgame but does have dialogue in my version or just live with it and hope it doesn't show too much.

#miss marieanne #bedlam replies #meme response #horizon behind the scenes #the horizon line #roleswap endgame au concept