#no make sam the only one who can do it since he has innate otherness | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sebbybooks · 2 years

Text

Sweetest Nightmare

Bucky Barnes x Fanfiction

“ I’ve been spending the last eight months.

Thinking all love ever does is break, burn, and end.

But on a Wednesday in a cafe, I watched it begin again.

- t.s

Bucky

I’ll be honest some nights I wish I could say I look forward to the nightmares that ultimately always pay me a visit. At least then I could say I went to sleep. If I close my eyes and hear nothing apart from my own thoughts, then I know I am in for a long night. For me silence creates this deafening noise that causes my ears to ring. I easily get overwhelmed by dead silence in the still of night.

In those moments my body goes on high alert, my heart rate and breath becomes accelerated like they are each in a race competing to see which can go the fastest. For some I know it’s the opposite, the quiet void that brings serenity and calmness most people typically crave.

I use to think of it as a tranquil experience. To be able to slowly wind down from the activity of the day, anticipating the rush of tomorrow. Only now when the sun goes down I become anxious and weary. Two things I am to constantly keep a lid on. If not those emotions forces me to hyper fixate on every normal aspect in my life I can’t seem to do right anymore. Like falling the fuck asleep.

When I realized I was just staring back into my eyelids I admitted defeat. No longer unable to do one innately mundane task I thought it was best to just keep myself occupied. Walking over to my safe I pulled out what was practically a high scale police scanner. With the swipe of the hand it provided an all access base catalog of wanted criminals for high profile cases that ran twenty four seven. Sam would most definitely blow a gasket if he knew I still had my hands on it. I can almost see it now, and the image actually makes me smile at the thought.

Technically I am not authorized to use it on my own, and even then I still would have to wait for clearance. But, when have I ever been good at following orders? Having sitting with it for a while and reading through the profiles I was convinced the information alone was good material to knock me out. Just as I was about to leave well enough alone and keep my nose clean something interesting eventually caught my eye.

Jodie

I loathe Wednesdays. I hate it with a burning passion I wish the whole day just erases itself from the weekly calendar and as a society we collectively decide to banish it. To forget its mere existence would be grand. Sincerely thoughts from a woman who’s heart that just got stomped on.

Six weeks ago I would call my declaration of hate absolutely ridiculous. Though I suppose getting dumped on a Wednesday stained itself in my world indefinitely. What is also in my world was heartbreak. Albeit, something I will never get use to, but it happens to the best of us therefor life simply has to carry on. After my boyfriend of three years decided to break up with me in the very same park he promised to propose to me my Wednesdays just have not been the same. Since then I am convinced they are jinxed.

Literally.

Every other day felt brand new like I was beginning to feel whole again. I could laugh without crying, the ache finally left my body, hell I sang Celine Dion at a karaoke bar! The lie that I had been telling people I was fine I actually was beginning to believe it to come true.

My days felt good, that was until Wednesday would roll around. In the morning I was on top of the world I didn’t think about my ex anymore. It was like it happened at the snap of the finger. Sean was starting to become a distant memory. That was until nightfall.

Oh, at night I was in fact not walking on sunshine. I would cry until I couldn’t feel air go into my lungs. The idea of eating food made me nauseated. There was this strange haze of numbness that would engulf me. It was as if my brain was programmed to punish me. I could only reminisce on the best parts of our relationship which again would reduce me to tears. For hours I would carry around this urgency to pick up my phone and call him. These breakdowns wouldn’t happen any other day except. . . you guessed it Wednesday.

I told myself tonight had to be different. I needed an escape from my own mental torment. I didn’t want to burden anyone that I knew with this problem. So I figured I do it best on my own.

Not many places were open around this hour of the night apart from a handful of establishments. I knew the second my stomach rumbled I would follow my gut, no pun intended. Not far from where I lived was a Donut shop that stayed open all hours of the day. Throwing on some jeans, and my old college sweatshirt I dressed myself in a hurry not necessarily dressing for the catwalk. I grabbed only my card holder and keys. I purposely decided to leave my phone, because my iPhone keeps recommending that I “Send message to Sean”. For the first time stepping foot outside of my townhome this night would finally be just what I needed.

Normal.

Bucky

The smell of stale sugary doughnuts and strong coffee bore into my nostrils making me curious as to how customers were lapping it up so eagerly. I sat in a booth with my back to the door near this incessant sound of a bell that hung above the door that constantly chimed indicating people were coming and going. In a few hours from now day would break, but you wouldn’t think that from the bustling clientele.

A fracture of myself found solace knowing that I wasn’t the only nocturnal person. A blessing and a curse, perfect for stakeouts in situations like this one. But sometimes it was the only time I could feel anything. Whether it was anger or sadness I naturally transported myself to exist back on my timeline almost like a daydream. Sometimes when life would show that it can be forgiving, I got to relive and be apart of my fondest memories.

I easily shake that sentiment, returning to the atmosphere around me. I remain seated in my booth planted almost like a wallflower, merely observing while trying to blend in. Honestly, I am not sure if I’m good at playing that part of civilian. I just keep hovering over my untouched cup of coffee hoping that no one recognizes me. For a second I thought a couple of the waitresses did, because they kept fighting each other over who got to come over to ask if I needed anything else.

If they didn’t I probably looked suspicious for just sitting here not even so much as taking a sip or I just looked like I didn’t know how to make a decent cup of joe. Checking the watch on my wrist as well as the one on the wall to make sure they lined up. The target in question would be in less than five hours sharp. At least supposedly, this was a shop he frequents the most around the same time four days out of the week. All I had to do was wait. I just didn’t know how much more of that damn bell I could take.

Not much was happening, just a painful yellow light lit up the joint, muddle chattering here and there and on the television ahead of me some gameshow was on. For a second there I felt like I could close my eyes just for a little while. I tested that theory out quietly asking for a tiny bit of peace. Clearly I am not yet deserving, because my ears attuned to the hell breaking loose at the register.

“If I knew how to fix it lady I would take my tech skills elsewhere. For the third time IT IS BROKEN!” Turning my head my eyes landed on a man behind the counter casting a look of exhaustion over to the petite raven haired woman standing on the opposite side of him. Normally I am one to keep my head down and mind my own business. Something about this conversation in particular just sparks my curiosity.

“Sir all I have on me are cards. Please can we just try it one more time. I swear I’m not trying to be the bane of your existence.” I could tell from the woman’s tone that she was being truthful by not wanting to be a thorn in his side. She sounded desperate for lack of better words.

“Look lady either can pay or you can’t. This here isn’t a soup kitchen, like life nothing in here is free.” He argued. For a moment she stared back at him silently I assume in disbelief. Either she was use to getting her way or she wasn’t use to assholes like Sal Beckett.

Hearing her suck in a deep breath. “You know I use to come here all the time. I know how busy this place gets, its nonstop in here. Which is great but equally tiring I am sure. So you have probably been on your feet for quite sometime, but I hope you know that this is not an excuse to be a dick to customers!” Her tone went from soft and understanding to pissed off.

From the times I have come in here this was the first time I have seen Sal become tongue tied.

“Now would you be so kind as to try it again?” I could tell this was one was feisty little thing. What I couldn’t figure anymore was who needed rescuing. I wasn’t even sure why I got up from my seat and asserted myself in the situation. Clearly she could handle her own, that is until Sal threatened to kick her out. Sighing to myself I wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad idea. As always I made the less practical decision.

Jodie

Deeply embarrassed, very much aggravated , and practically starved. I stood there feeling a combination of awkward and triumphant for at least standing my ground. I would be reading too much into it to say he had an agenda against me, because the couple before me paid with a credit card! The card reader could not have broken that fast. I was ready to say fuck it and return home when the unexpected happened.

To my surprise some guy appeared beside me sliding a twenty across the countertop. I turn my face to look at him, but he doesn’t even break eye contact with his Andrew Jackson. He only utters two words. “Problem solved.” I could barely spit out a thank you before he quickly backed away.

I was stunned by the kind gesture from this stranger and always because I am still human I couldn't help but notice that he wasn’t born he was sculpted and carved. Clearly sent down to exist amongst us mere mortals to make average looking men look inferior.

“Do you want your pastries or not?” The ass guffaws as he scoots my bag closer to me. I happily snatch up my treats giving him my best “fuck you, have a nice day smile”.

Turning around I decided that my night could either end here or I could sit inside a little longer. Relishing in my tiny victory. I walked down the aisle looking for a clean booth to sit in when I noticed I was about to pass him again.

“You know you just paid twenty bucks for three pastries?” It feels like an eternity passes without a response. “ Thank you.” I finally manage. I mean I was talking to the back of his head, I suppose the least he could do was turn around.

After a beat he finally acknowledged that I was not a figment of his imagination. “It was nothing.”

“To some people yeah, but nice people are rare nowadays.” It must have been the way I said it or the guy was batshit crazy. But that compliment earned me laughter. Walking around the other side of the seat to get a better look at him. My mom would be mortified, true crime podcast enthusiast however would be on the edge of their seat knowing that I was going up to a man I didn’t know.

“I’m sorry I seemed to have offended you?” I asked only sarcastically.

“On the contrary not at all.” He rasped out quickly. I blinked back my confusion as we give each other the strangest stare down. Though he was first to falter the longer he looked at me. I couldn’t tell he if was shy or sadthat I so much as looked at him. It was almost as if he was trying to hide his face.

I couldn’t understand why, clearly he must see his face every morning. Though I briefly played with the notion that perhaps he was just plain weird. I mean from my observations he was tending to a full cup of black coffee. He sat alone wearing a leather jacket and leather gloves I might add. Yeah, on second thought I decided to keep with the narrative that he was a red flag.

“Well okay, umm enjoy.” I motioned my hands out fumbling over what to say next when my bag toppled out of my hands. My bad luck was on a roll tonight as I watched my doughnuts land on the ground.

I bent down and retrieved two of them the other rolled past me near his boots. He looked over at me before glancing down and was visibly hesitant to retrieve it. It wasn’t like I was going to eat them, I just wasn’t one to litter. His hand hovered over my sticky pastry before sticking the tips of his finger in his mouth. Tugging at his gloved hand with his teeth he pulled it off. The way he performed such a simple act looked like sex on him. Leaning down once more I watched in disbelief as metal fingers wrapped around it.

Bucky

Trying to pass it back to her to either discard it or it dust it off for later, it’s not my business what she does with it. I’m holding it out her when I noticed her wild eyes staring at my hand.

Placing it on the saucer where my mug is I am quick to slide my glove back on. I am not even sure what reaction I would receive next. Is she terrified? Is she disgusted by who I am? Or is she going to milk the shit out this encounter? God I hope it’s one of the first two.

I’m surprised a piece of me even cares what she thinks. She’s just another pretty face in the crowd. Mentally kicking myself did I just call her pretty? And did I compare her to any other woman, because if I did which I did not, the woman before me whose huge brown eyes that were framed with long lashes fanning out from top to bottom. With a face that only shows up in your dreams. She was a knock out.

Any minute I expected her to go off like a time bomb, they always do. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably waiting for it to happen. Interestingly enough it never does.

“I’m sorry,” she says as she leans over and grabs the doughnut throwing it in her paper bag.”With a sad expression on her face. “ I just really wanted to eat that.” she pouts before laughing. For a minute I believe it’s genuine.

“Honestly?” I lean forward.

“Yeah?” Her voice is breathy.

“That looked absolutely disgusting.” I can’t even keep a straight face. “Was that sap on top?” I inquired, actually intrigued by how horrible I assumed it taste.

Her mouth parts open and I do my best not to notice that her top and bottom lips are perfectly plump. “Now you’re just throwing punches below the belt. The lemon honey doughnuts are my favorite!” She defends.

My face contorts. “That sounds diabolical.”

“Yeah well it’s not like I paid for it.” She smirks. What the hell was happening Buck? I asked myself. It almost didn’t feel real that I was having a normal conversation about something relatively simple. It felt strange really. An yet, I was trying my damnedest not to like it.

“And it was money well spent.” My mouth curved upward into a smile. I’m smiling now?

“If you say so.” Her small melodious laugh sounds every bit of like an angel singing a hymn. She’s getting ready to walk away, because what else is there to say? You’re welcome? At the same time I didn’t come here for this. I needed my focus and energy for what was to come.

She was distracting me. It was best this conversation to fizzle out, and for her to walk away. It’s not like it would eat me up for days never knowing her name. So long mystery woman. Moving those toned legs in the opposite direction, voice coming out terse. “What is your name?”

Heaven help me.

Jodie

I’m starting to believe that I am really oblivious. How did I not notice before who he was? Recalling from the moment I walked in from weary stares to starstruck glances customers have been fighting the urge to look away from him. Nope not me of course I was the one having banter about doughnuts with a reformed assassin.

“That’s classified information you never know who’s hunting you down nowadays.” I say nervously. If I could slap myself and it be normal I would, the awkwardness was rising up my body like a tide.

“Right.” He looks at me almost as if he’s trying to read me, get a sense of who I am or what the hell I am doing still talking to him. It dawns on me in that moment he is like apart of the Avengers. Gosh he probably thinks I’m going to toss my panties at him any second now. I cringe at idea that he thinks I am in awe by his presence. There’s not much that I know about him, apart from what flashes across the news.

If anything I should feel beside myself with fear to be so close to him. I had been standing there way to long at this point, yet my feet remained grounded. Strangely enough I wasn't scared, there was this seed of curiosity planted inside of me if anything. From our short lived encounter he just seemed like he wants to be left alone. An on that note the mental countdown finally went off and I finally decided to take my leave back to my place.

I nodded my head as a salute of thanks once again, “Have a good night.”

My skin pricked at the slightly husky quality to the sound of his voice when he spoke again. “Would you like to sit down?”

I blink in surprise thinking it is the lack of sleep sending false sounds to my ears. “Right here with you?” The question slipped off my tongue not sounding in a way I had intended it to.

He cast his gaze downwards and his body almost stiffens. From the look of it I either embarrassed him or offended him. “Yeah.” He says. A good yeah I hope. Without another word misspoken I slide in the booth opposite of him.

“You’re free to leave you know that right?” He says not even looking up at me as he finally takes a sip out of his coffee mug. I couldn’t help but keep my eyes glued to his movements. As a dancer teacher you can’t help but zero in on the fluid nature of bodily movements especially a bionic arm, and his are so light if that makes sense.

Setting his coffee down the two of us finally make eye contact. Feeling like I had a horn coming from my forehead I was the first to look away, considering he had just busted me for staring. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“I don’t really notice it as much anymore.” He answers cooly and I feel like an ass.

I sigh, “It’s just so big.” I felt instant regret soon as I heard how it sounded. His attention quickly snaps up to me as he remained focus on my face. I was almost certain I saw the corners of his mouth tilt up.

“Get your mind out of the gutter.” I groan, slapping both of my hands to cover my face.

“I’m not the one making comments about my girth” He says in his defense. I drop my hands to my lap and I see a slow smile slip across his face. I oddly feel giddy by my ability to make his smile appear again.

“Jodie.” I say as I toss my doughnut bag on the table, giving in.

“Jodie.” He repeats my name, but sounding out every syllable. It shouldn’t make me feel any type of way but it does.

“And what should I call you?” I fire back.

“What do you want to call me?” His eyes drop to regard me. It is hard to discern his playfulness from his serious decorum, because his stoic eye contact is unwavering. However, I do my best not to look measly underneath his intense gaze.

“James.” I say almost proudly. It felt slightly weird putting a name to his face, especially not recognizing who he was at first. He just about recoils at the sound of his name drop. I suck in my bottom lip to bite back laughter.

“You look like you just took a tequila shot.”

“Call me Bucky.” He swiftly says, face still scrunched up.

“Ok Bucky.” I do so in the same way he sounded out my name back to him. Testing it out in my mouth. Jesus, that sounded all kinds of wrong, especially because I don’t know him. An yet that makes it all the more exciting. In my wildest dreams of course.

“Can I be real with you right now Jodie?” I wish he’d stop saying my name like that. Bucky’s tone of voice was this deep, silky, husky whisper that drifted into my ears like honey. Which is now stuck. Because I’m pretty sure after today I will remember it for special purposes.

“Shoot.” I reply, squaring my shoulders to match his still posture.

Bucky smiled to himself but not the kind that indicated joy. Like he was methodically plucking the right words to say, “I’m crap with the small talk.”

Sucking in a deep breath smitten with his honesty I lean forward. “I’ve suffered with social anxiety since probably the day I was born. I’m pretty sure I was too self conscious to even cry in front the nurses.” I poke fun at myself. It becomes easier especially when running a studio full of blunt preteens six days out of the week.

“I use to be good at this.” The look in Bucky’s eyes harden. For the longest second I’m not exactly sure what he is referring to. I raise a quizzical brow.

“Talking.” His jaw tightens and I can tell he’s fighting with the urge to not let his true feelings show.

I smile at him.” You don’t suck so bad.”

“Ha!” He laughs an I can tell it’s genuine by the way he looks shocked at the sound of his own voice. The sad thing is he carefully looks around to make sure no one else did. Like he wants to remain invisible.

Turning his attention back to me his cheeks are slightly rose colored. Holy hell he’s blushing.

“Guess I’ll have to take your word for it Jodie.” He did it again and the shivers that it sent to my body traveled to perimeters that last hummed for my ex. I’m messed up for even reacting to this man I don’t even know. It’s got to be another side effect of my cursed Wednesdays.

Bucky

This is wrong.

My lungs feel like I ran to Siberia and back. I don’t get flustered. Hell I’m trained to feel to opposite. If I keep biting the inside of my jaw I am bound to bite into flesh. Something feels off and I don’t think it’s my boyish charm nor my new acquaintance Jodie. I like that name now.

No, something feels wrong. Jodie looks at me like she senses my paranoia. I see her lift her hand as if to place a calming touch on my arm, but soon rethinks it. She’s wrong if she thinks I would recoil or be angered by her touched. It’s for the better she didn’t because the second she touched me I knew I would be gone and that’s insane to say.

“I am just going to say it but that guy to my left has been throwing daggers at us with his eyes since I sat with you.” She says half jokingly, half worried. A variety of emotions flicker on Jodie’s face and I hate that I indirectly caused it.

I know not to look to where she is wanting me to. If she is right I don’t want whoever this guy is to know I’ve noticed.

“Describe him.” I tell her.

“Ummm well he’s the prick that took my order.” Jodie tells me a little more animated than before.

“Sal?” I say a little too loudly. A fucking rookie mistake, because as soon as he heard the lights in the place went completely black.

33 notes · View notes

breckstonevailskier · 2 years

Text

What if Vision was the airport battle turncoat?

The concept art for Captain America: Civil War includes one piece where Vision phases his hand through Tony's arc reactor in order to stop him from attacking Wanda, which would've alluded to a similar scene where Vision shuts down Iron Man's armor in the original Civil War comic. This seems to suggest that in earlier drafts, Vision was either part of Team Cap during the airport battle, or betrayed Team Iron Man at a key moment, similar to how Natasha uses her Widow's Bite to stun and incapacitate T'Challa so Steve and Bucky can escape on the Quinjet.

Honestly, it makes me wonder if Vision, not Natasha, should've been the member of Team Iron Man who served as a turncoat in the airport battle. Natasha's motive seems to be that she realized Tony's judgement was off, or she was always Team Cap but pretending to be for the other side because she wanted to get the lay of that side of the political landscape concerning the Accords and pass this information to Steve.

Vision, meanwhile, has a much stronger and personal motive to change sides: his feelings for Wanda. He's developed feelings for Wanda ("What is grief, if not love persevering?" 😍😭), but they're also on opposite sides of the Accords debate since he's for them and she's against them. So Vision turning on Team Iron Man because of his feelings for Wanda would be an interesting plot point that could also allow him to get onscreen the development he seems to undergo offscreen between Civil War and Infinity War.

Another reason it would make sense for Vision to be in this position is because it would make more sense for him to be stuck in the middle. Like, he makes this argument in favor of the Accords...

"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. [...] 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."

...but at the same time, he also knows that he probably has less rights than a human because he doesn't quite meet the legal standard of well...personhood. He can put on a human disguise for sure, but since he's not a natural-born human, the Accords will not be kind to him in the same way they won't be kind to the Avengers who have innate superpowers (Steve, Wanda, and Thor if he was around) as opposed to being really skilled Muggles (Clint and Natasha) or having removable suits (Tony and Rhodey). Not to mention we have proof of this thanks to WandaVision. We know in that show that the Accords outlawed sentient weapons (which is why Hayward's a criminal for trying to bring Vision "back online to life" and trying to coerce Wanda into doing it for him), and I doubt that Tyler Hayward's the only bureaucrat to see Vision as nothing more than government property.

Having him be a turncoat in the airport battle would also be consistent with Vision's character when one considers how often he lets his feelings for Wanda compromise his moral beliefs. I've seen some people posit that him shooting down Rhodey wasn't a case of his beam being off while trying to shoot Sam, but as him intentionally hurting Rhodey as retaliation for Rhodey using a sonic cannon earlier on Wanda to cause her to drop the rubble of the control tower that Vision needlessly destroyed. Not to mention that the zombie episode of What If...? had Vision feeding people to a zombified Wanda because he couldn't bear the thought of having to kill her.

So having Vision turn coat in the airport battle to help Wanda escape would also go a long way as far as him providing an olive branch to Wanda for when they start their relationship between between Civil War and Infinity War. Though obviously this would probably mean having to rewrite the final act to put Wanda in Siberia, because if Wanda still ends up in the Raft, Vision's decision is all for naught. This might be a problem since the writers clearly intended for the showdown in Siberia to be with just Tony, Steve, and Bucky. Not sure what contributions Wanda would have in Siberia, other than maybe this feeling of looking herself in the mirror when Zemo describes his motivations for revenge.

#vision #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #captain america: civil war #pro team cap #anti team iron man #anti tony stark #cacw #post cacw #wandavision

45 notes · View notes

youngbugandtonystank · 3 years

Note

what's the difference between what wanda did to those people in wandavision and what tony did with ultron?

I have so many asks about this. Hate asks, and people wondering what’s going on. This is the only one I’m answering.

Both of them are responsible for their actions. I’ve seen people try and take away either Tony’s responsibility for that or Wanda’s engagement and accountability.

In Tony’s case, the Ultron program was supposed to be a global peacekeeping program to protect the people, acting as a suit around the world to prevent events like the Battle of New York. He was doing it in the name of peace and safety. Tony was rightfully scared because he was the only one who knew what was coming. Wanda intentionally enhanced that fear in him and this drove him to create Ultron with Bruce. He has responsibility for it. Same as Bruce. He owns up to this, he took full responsibility and agreed that they needed to be regulated.

Tony Stark: A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up HYDRA... and then Ultron. My fault.

Tony Stark: 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.

Tony Stark: 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.

If people think he needs to be in jail for it, then I’m guessing the rest of the Avengers too since all of them have made mistakes and killed people too. As a matter of fact, after the events of Wandavision, I’m sure that Wanda should be in the Raft, but because she’s ‘a poor baby’ yall won’t think she deserves that.

SPOILERS

It’s a big possibility that we don’t have all the info about what happened in Wandavision but we’re going to go with what we know so far.

In Wanda’s case, she did it to appease her grief and pain, and I can understand why she would get to that point, she’s been through a lot and maybe she was about to lose her mind. Instead of recruiting Wanda after the Sokovia incident, they should’ve given this girl treatment for her mental health problems. She just lost her brother and passed through a very traumatic war zone, of course she needs assistance. Cap and Natasha were the ones responsible for her because they were training the ‘new’ avengers. Sam was with them and he used to be a counselor to veterans with PTSD. He could’ve helped Wanda with some of her traumas. As shown in the series, Wanda did the whole hex business before meeting Agatha, which means creating that little reality was all Wanda’s responsibility. Hayward and Agatha did exactly what Wanda did to Tony (and the avengers/other people) in AOU. They manipulated her and played with her emotional traumas. Hayward showed her Vision’s body parts and Agatha started to pull strings to know how Wanda did what she did and her real powers while orchestrating against her.

Both of them have made mistakes. No one is better than the other. I don’t understand why some fans want to make someone responsible more than the other or blame one character for the other. While Wanda gave Tony that vision and pushed his self-destructive side to obsess over saving the world, he did create Ultron, what Tony didn’t predict was that the robot was going to corrupt itself. Same with Wanda, while Agatha and Hayward contributed to her trauma, she held hostage and isolated 3,892 people to create her perfect reality, ripping these people away from their identities and free will to fit her own fantasy. Don’t turn this into ‘omg poor her, it’s Tony fault that she’s this way'. I can’t believe I have to repeat this but you don’t see Peter Parker obsessively looking for the person who manufactured the gun instead of the criminal who actually killed Uncle Ben. Ridiculous that I have to repeat this example.

Oh and about Vision’s body (damn yall have a gift to turn everything into Tony’s fault for some reason). I can’t believe some of you think Tony (while grieving for 5 years) would give Vision to Hayward. You’re either pulling stuff out of your asses or you didn’t pay attention to the show. Maria Rambeau founded and was the Director of S.W.O.R.D. In 2018 (when IW happened), this is where she came up with a new policy within S.W.O.R.D. to ground snapped agents in case they ever returned. Maria was diagnosed with cancer, then two years later (2020), she passed away. Then, Hayward was promoted to Director of S.W.O.R.D., in his first years (2020-2022) he refocused the organization’s work from extraterrestrial operations to robotics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, etc. There, that was the 5 years. Then in 2023 it’s when he started project Cataract, which revolved around rebuilding Vision as a sentient weapon. Tony was dead when this happened. How come yall don’t get this part? I don’t understand, do you really think his dead corpse signed some papers to give Vision to those people? LMAO

Instead of thinking Tony would give up Vision just like that, think (possibilities):

Maria was the head of S.W.O.R.D., she might have just been keeping his body safe without doing anything with him. Maybe she trusted Hayward and he, obviously, betrayed her because he’s turning her organization into something else after her death.

One of the Sokovia Accords regulations states that the use of technology to bestow individuals (the term ‘enhanced individual’ in this book is defined as any person, human or otherwise, with superhuman capabilities) with innate capabilities is strictly regulated by the government, as is the use and distribution of highly advanced technology. Vision signed those accords ('I'm saying there may be a casualty. 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’) The Avengers were no longer be a private organization and they operate under the supervision of the United Nations. This means they (UN) were the ones that referred Vision’s body to S.W.O.R.D., to a trustworthy leader, Maria.

Vision died in Wakanda, not in New York. Tony was missing for 22 days after the snap, the rest of the avengers should’ve taken responsibility for his body.

Why is it always Tony’s fault but never consider that other parties are also involved in this?

I want to address some other asks with this one. I know some of you are angry because people are starting to blame Tony all over again, so a few things to remember:

Tony did not create the Accords. The Accords were the result of all the collective actions the Avengers have done in their superhero careers. All of them have made mistakes and the collateral damage of that was taken into consideration by the government and 117 countries around the world. He signed the accords because he knew that he could amend them with the support of the rest of the avengers and he knew about Thanos (something big was coming).

Obadiah Stane (it’s so bizarre for me seeing that some people don’t know who this guy is, I’m guessing that the people who are watching Wandavision are too young to remember or didn’t watch the Iron Man movies at all which is highly probable) was the one selling weapons to the wrong people, not Tony. Obadiah was the CEO of Stark industries and became second-in-command for two decades. He grew jealous of Tony and began cooperating with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, selling them Stark Industries weapons illegally. Imagine blaming all of it on Tony when Obadiah basically murdered thousands only because he felt a little green. If someone who you trust (he had no reasons to doubt Obadiah since he was like a second father-figure for him) does something behind your back (take into consideration that people like Pepper; who was Tony’s assistant and had knowledge of all of Tony’s activities and responsibilities, Rhodey; who was the liaison between the military in the department of acquisitions and Stark Industries, and Happy Hogan; who was his personal bodyguard and Head of Security of Stark Industries, didn’t know what Stane was doing either), how are you going to know about it? Tony trusted him. And when he realized what was going on he immediately stopped all of it. He worked hard to be better and people overlook that because they want other characters to look better.

Don’t act like Tony was the only one assisting the military. All of the avengers assisted in one way or another. Natasha (who used to be an assassin) was in the Red Room, trained in the Black Widow Program in association with Leviathan and the Soviet Armed Forces, served for KGB, etc. Bruce Banner used to work for the United States government and was commissioned to create a super serum for them. Same goes with the rest, Sam, Clint, etc. Steve Rogers was a soldier lmaoooooooooooooo like, what happened to Tony with Obadiah happened to Steve with SHIELD/HYDRA in TWS. He trusted the people working in there (SHIELD), served for them, did missions for them and as soon as he found out what they were doing behind his back he turned against them.

Knowing all of this, how is Tony always the villain for yall? I’m guessing because Tony’s popularity in the MCU, but still, aren’t yall tired of not understanding the plot and having people repeat it to you constantly? Watch the movies if you want to understand the franchise, people. Stop following the crowd.

Also, Wanda is not a kid, she’s a 35 year old woman in Wandavision, she was 26 in AOU and 27 in CW. Hardly a child. Tony had almost her same age (38) when he realized Obadiah was selling illegal weaponry behind his back. The only reason people don’t fully forgive Tony is because 1. he’s a man and 2. he’s a billionaire. Even if Wanda was poor she still killed and hurt many people over the course of her life. Stop trying to make Tony the villain only to downplay Wanda’s actions.

Both have killed people, both have made mistakes. They’re both responsible for them.

#wanda maximoff #wandavision #vision #tony stark #avengers #marvel #mcu #this is the only ask I'm answering about this #exhausting

587 notes · View notes

brodependent · 3 years

Text

Sam loves Dean as much as Dean loves Sam: a meta

Much as I love reading good meta, I don’t often write meta. Thus please accept my apologies if this is mediocre, and let me start with a simple topic sentence:

Sam loves Dean as much as Dean loves Sam.

A little longer, now: Sam is even better at loving Dean than Dean is at loving Sam because of Dean’s profound and abiding love for Sam.

Confusing, right? But not really.

We all know how Dean lives and breathes SammySammySammywatchoutforSammy. It’s his defining mission, his ultimate purpose, or, as a therapist might say, his “core belief.” But sometimes I think that we allow adult!Dean too little autonomy. We assume that he can’t help himself: he’s locked into this single-minded focus, on loving and protecting the only family he has left.

That sells Dean short. (Hang in there, I promise I’ll get to Sam in a moment.)

Even people who have been forced into a certain way of life have choices. Even people who have been told who they are all their life have choices. Dean tells us, in Season 14, I’m good with who I am--and I, for one, believe him. Whether we follow canon all the way to 15x17, when Dean is finally brought back from the edge of his desire for revenge against Chuck by his love for Sam (the only thing that’s “real”), or whether we keep to season 1 when Dean said--that’s all we have...that’s all I have... and I want us to be a family again and as long as I’m around, nothing bad is gonna happen to you--Dean has always accepted his role as Sam’s big brother. Dean’s life is unabashedly Sam-centric. He’d change a lot of things, but in the end he’d change nothing, because he wouldn’t change that.

Some fans get very het up about the codependent aspect of this. Others (in my opinion, rightly) defend it. There’s scads of meta on why the Winchester dynamic IS necessary for their mythic role in the narrative, and their human role in the narrative (more importantly), so I won’t write that meta now. All I’m saying is what I think you already know: Dean lives for Sam, his baby brother, and despite the grief, the growing pains, the occasional cruelty of desperate love, Dean said it all when he told Sam (and us), Don’t you ever think that there is anything, past or present that I would put in front of you.

So where does that leave Sam, and his love for Dean? Let’s start with that line I just quoted. Building on the above, Dean’s goal in life is to give Sam a life. He wants Sam to be happy. He wants him to be free. He also wants to keep him by his side forever, to control him for safety and comfort’s sake, and sometimes those instincts of a frightened-child-turned-traumatized-man win out. Dean isn’t perfect. Dean’s full of contradictions. But time and again he goes back to stone number one: what he can do for Sam. What he can offer Sam, by being the grunt, by standing in harm’s way.

When we begin the story, Sam has succeeded in the path Dean helped carve for him. I’m not taking all the credit from Sam here, and giving it Dean: merely pointing out that Dean stepped into traditional parental roles and helped send Sam into adulthood, even though that meant Sam leaving him. We know that the night Sam left for Stanford was one of the worst of Dean’s life, but even in mid-season 1, Dean tells Sam he’s proud of him. You always know what you want. You stand up to Dad. Hell, sometimes I wish I--

(this, of course, is beautifully echoed in the series finale itself)

Dean is telling Sam what so many parents tell their children: you have gone places I never could, accomplished goals I never could, grown in grace and understanding like I never could. At least, I like to think that’s what the best parents tell their children.

To Dean, Sam is always the one with more hope. More wholeness. More options. To Sam, Dean is stone number one.

You asked how Sam loves Dean, and my answer is: just look. Look at how Sam goes out into the world young, stands up to their father, makes his own decisions, fights back against Dean’s own nihilistic narrative through their primary losses and setbacks. Dean gave Sam the safety to build a better worldview than Dean himself has, and Sam turns that right back around and tries to give it to Dean.

What do you think my job is? You’re my big brother--there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.

I can’t lose you.

You’re not a grunt, Dean, you’re a genius.

This is my life. I love it. But I can’t do it without my brother. I don’t want to do it without my brother.

I am going to save my brother. And then I’m going to kill you dead.

If you ever need to talk about anything with anybody, you got somebody right here next to you.

I believe in us.

This is just a small collection of Sam quotes showing his love for Dean. A small collection showing the persistent theme of Sam’s persistence. He knows that pushing chick-flick moments and emotional conversations can get jokes for a dime a dozen, and even the occasional punch thrown his way. He keeps at it anyway. When Sam knows Dean’s hurting, he wants to help. He’d do anything to help. He won’t sit around and see his brother turn into an embittered killer (season 2), go to hell for saving his life (season 3), take on the Trials (season 8), be irrevocably corrupted by the Mark of Cain (seasons 9-10), let him despair (seasons 11 and 13), let him sacrifice himself to an archangel’s grave (season 14), or let him lose his goodness to the whims of a vicious god (season 15). Sam fights for Dean with full use of his considerable gifts--intelligence, rationality, resourcefulness, and yes, the occasional blind rage. Sam looks to Dean, first as a leader, then as a judge, and finally as an equal. Sam has been looking up to Dean since he was four, yes, but over the course of the show he comes to look at Dean. With love, peace, understanding, humor, pain...whatever their inimitable connection requires.

The quotes I noted above also reveal Sam’s own conflicts rear up. Sam and Dean (again, in my opinion) are equally developed characters. Both have flaws and inconsistencies. Both have struggles inherent to their personalities and upbringings, distinct from those imposed on them by supernatural forces.

Sam had a glimpse of a different life, once. He had the smarts, he had the drive, he had the sheer stubbornness to live a different life than John or Azazel or hell, even Lucifer had planned for him. But also in Sam--innate in Sam--is his core of goodness and compassion and the principle of doing right, which leads him back into the life and to soul-crushing sacrifice again and again.

Sam breaks and is broken. Sam suffers and ages and spends more time in hell than even Dean, who went to protect him.

But what keeps Sam going? Dean. Dean can’t live without Sam. We know that. The flip side is that Sam doesn’t want to live without Dean. Importantly, I think, he has more choice in the matter. Dean focused his whole childhood identity on giving Sam a life that meant he had choices, even if Dean didn’t know he was doing that. Sam can move through more crowds, more roles, more relationships. He has a better education, he has a more powerful ability to intellectually reason and detach. He would have made a great lawyer. Yet he casts all this aside out of sheer willpower, choosing instead to love Dean and live with Dean through the chaos of their lives, and to go near mad when Dean is gone. Consider Sam in season 4, Sam in season 10...Sam in season 8 trying to atone for the very choice that Dean (the best part of Dean) wanted him to make, even if the real muddle of Dean’s psyche couldn’t forgive him, for a time, for making it.

All of this leads us to the finale.

You said you wish Sam had said I love you back to Dean in the finale. I argue that he did. He made his love perfectly clear to Dean in that moment by holding his hand, by looking in his eyes. He said, you can go now, when all he wanted was for Dean to stay.

The best part of Dean wanted Sam to have happiness and freedom. At the end of his life, Dean was finally able to communicate that without fear or reservation.

But the bittersweet brilliance of that moment is that Sam--the Stanford boy who went to hell and back, who saved the world, brought down one god and raised another--no longer wanted any kind of happiness or freedom that didn’t include the one person who’d been by his side all along. Dean was giving his blessing for a path that didn’t beckon Sam anymore. And yet: Sam said yes to it out of the love for Dean. Sam went out of that barn, out of the bunker, out of that day and that year and that decade and into the next and the next, out of love for Dean. Sam loved Dean by living. He loved Dean by raising another Winchester. He loved Dean by holding all their contradictions, flaws, and heroisms in his heart (in their car), until he’d done what he set out to do many times over.

Then he met Dean on a mended bridge, dressed in old clothes that said: I was happiest at the beginning. I was happiest when we could be brothers again. I took my time getting here anyway, because I know that was what you wanted. I took my time so that we could be happiest now.

If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

#my meta #meta #spn meta #the epic love story of sam and dean #sam winchester #dean winchester #spn positive #spn #supernatural #carry on #spn finale #sam loves dean as much as dean love sam #winchesters #sam n dean #sam and dean

576 notes · View notes

i-make-fun-of-spn-characters · 3 years

Note

i actually did think you didn't like sam and cas for the longest time, but it's more than your bias for dean is evident. it took awhile to see through that and understand you are coming at sam and cas out of love and in a fun way and just happen to like dean more. there are a lot of other blogs that make digs at characters (esp sam and cas) in a NOT fun way, but pretend they "love all of TFW" and that's on me for lumping you in with them.

You know Anon, back when I used to post absolutely NOTHING except for memes, and also had a Sam banner and icon, someone asked me who my favorite character was, and I made it a poll because I was curious how good of a job I was doing keeping my content even. Lo and behold—they chose in order by vote percentage:

Sam

Cas

Dean

Jack

Then as the poll has stayed up ever since, I think Dean and Cas have traded places in the voting (but by now everyone knows Dean is my favorite). But a very large percentage of people did not know Dean was my favorite starting out. I was surprised, because I do indeed love Dean very VERY much. It isn't that I don't like Sam and Cas—but to me, Dean is possibly one of the greatest characters of all time. I could not possibly put into words how much I enjoy his character and all of the reasons why he's touched my heart. There is just no one out there quite like him in my mind. I think my bias for Dean has come through more in recent times—especially since the finale, because I miss him very much and his shitty death gutted (DON'T) me.

I think watching the show, when you look at the story only through one characters' lens, it's very easy to resent the others for not being perfect friends/family/brothers. I have even seen someone voice the sentiment before, "To some degree, to love Sam is to hate Dean, and to hate Dean is to love Sam" (paraphrasing). The thing is, when you genuinely look at your favorite (whether that's Dean or Sam or Cas) and look at their motivations and feelings and actions, it's clear that they love each other very much. That's an unavoidable fact in my mind. Both the best and worst things they've done have been at least partially motivated by the love they have for one another. I cannot, ultimately, dislike Sam or Cas knowing how much Dean loves them. To hate them would be to hate a part of Dean that is innate to who he is—his love for his family—and the choices and sacrifices he has made due to that love. It would be to say that there is something broken inside him that makes him unable to make the right choices about who should and should not be in his life. It would be to say that the foundation of the show, at the center of which is Dean's heart and how people around him are pulled inside of its orbit, is something tainted and unworthy.

It would also be to say that Dean's mistakes are okay and theirs are not, because you will find countless parallel events and threads tying their different actions together in ways that are different but also are often very much the same, if you get their motivations.

I think, for every stan out there of any main character... it would be a good idea to watch through the show trying to see it through a lens besides that of your favorite. I did this with Sam, and I am currently doing a rewatch where one of the goals is to focus on Cas's point of view more. Nothing can give you greater compassion and understanding than trying to step inside someone else's shoes, and having done this is one of the primary reasons I can't bring myself to follow many SPN accounts I have come across on Tumblr, because resentment runs rampant in many places, over characters or ships, and I don't care for that negativity. It's also the primary reason I started this blog to begin with. I wanted to carve out a positive space, where I didn't completely refuse to engage with the characters flaws (god knows fandom won't shut up about them anyway), but a place where I pointed out their flaws only to say those flaws are okay, don't make any one of them more unworthy of love than any of the others. Those flaws (at least—the ones I agree exist... there's a lot of flaws attributed to Sam, Dean, and Cas that I don't agree with at all) are what makes them human (err... or angel, respectively). I am not interested in Mary Sues (and I am definitely not interested in fans who sand down characters into Mary Sues to escape any semblance of their favorite being "problematic"). Just show me why they make the choices they do, even when those choices are broken, and I'm compassionate and I'm fascinated. I dare anyone to do better than the characters did with the cards they were dealt—with the lives they lived.

I can't say I've had the same experience on Tumblr as you with blogs pretending to like Sam and Cas while having a clear bias for Dean... I've tended to see quite a lot more of the opposite or worse. There are, after all, several blogs dedicated to absolutely nothing except trying to spread outright hate for Dean, and there was a time not long ago that you could not even go in the Dean tag without seeing countless ugly posts spewing vitriol about him (that has faded significantly since the show ended). But I think we're all bound to be most wise to the bias against our favorites (hell—I have picked up on someone's dislike of Dean from a gif blog before... and it was later confirmed that I was right). This is also part of what feeds the culture of anti-ism in the fanbase. People watched these characters for 12-15 years, and they latched onto one of them, and they know that character, and in many cases find identity and comfort with that character, and they see that character accused of terrible things that really aren't accurate at all, and the kind of innate human response to that is to want to do the opposite—hate their favorite because they hate yours. I think it's clear that that isn't what we're really supposed to get out of SPN. I don't think the intended narrative is that Dean hates Cas or Sam or that Sam hates Dean or that any one of them is unworthy of love and acceptance or is perfect or is too flawed. People can choose the narratives they want, but I'll continue vehemently disagreeing with them and making fun of them with the tag #don't feed the stans after midnight.

#being serious for 5 seconds #spn finale poo poo #mail #don't feed the stans after midnight

36 notes · View notes

harley-style · 3 years

Text

DREAM SMP Swap AU

Dream = Wilbur : Dream comes into the server to help these two kids who are trying to stir shit up -- why not, right? He's got a fondness for chaos but also very protective and caring over his friends. VERY FOND OF TUBBO. To the point of.. well, brotherhood. Wilbur = Dream : He had a vision, to create a place where people could emancipate -- he's not above being the bad guy to keep that ideal in place. He's charming and self-confident and isn't afraid to use blackmail or get all up in your business. Has dirt on everyone but Dream. Constantly threatens secrets but subtle, yanno? Again, very charming, very persuasive.

Tubbo = Tommy : Still very sweet, but Big Crime often comes out to play more often than not. Also a huge trouble magnet, tried to start a...Honey smuggling empire? For some fucking reason, despite its innocent sounding plan, is a threat to Wilbur's land but no one has any idea why. Tommy = Tubbo : Tommy has an innate fucking fixation on music discs. He's got Cat and Mellohi personally. He dreams of starting up a music cafe/music area...? He and Dream get along swimmingly, Dream actually gifts Tommy a few music discs too, but also pins Tommy with the name discount Dave Strider.

Fundy = Eret : Was convinced earlier on by Wilbur to continue his 'legacy' and ideals. Fundy further grows into a neutral party, doing things only when it benefits him. Is the traitor from the first war. Eret = Fundy : Gets far too involved with stuff and the only way out is if he wiggles through the restraints on him. Yes that's metaphorical.

JSchlatt = Technoblade : Assists through uses of contracts and business deals. Like, hello, Tubbo's Honey smuggling business? He and Dream make an agreement, he supplies Dream and Tubbo with shit, and Dream does favors for Schlatt. Technoblade = Jschlatt : Anarchy lmfao. Was actually brought on by Wilbur in secret. Acted as a benefactor for Dream before turning around and causing chaos in the land Dream Tubbo and Tommy built. Blood for the blood god, only the strongest gets to the top kind of government. There's always fucking pitfights. Oops.

Philza = Callahan : Largely uninvolved in the events, mostly just there to supervise Wilbur, Tommy and Techno. Duh. Callahan = Philza : Has personal history with Dream, tries to convince him not to do the thing that could hurt everyone else. Minimally succeeds.

Alyssa = Niki : Ready to defend her home and her family. Niki = Alyssa : Neutral, but ready to back Wilbur up if need be.

Sapnap = Bad : Arsonist, goes around and burns shit whenever he wants to. His base is a Nether inspired fortress. Also, he has to deal with a Nether problem in reference to the Red Vine problem from the original SMP. Hotlands? LMFAO Bad = Sapnap : Helps when asked. Started out on Wilbur's side, as a favor, but slowly shifts neutral due to the conflict between factions.

Karl = Skeppy : Gets held hostage? That's what preoccupies Sapnap's time. He suddenly disappeears or gets trapped in a cell. Skeppy = Karl : Runs around doing supply runs. Gets his friends into various stints to try and settle the conflict through friendly rivalry and competition. It doesn't always work.

George = Ranboo : Unlike original Ranboo, George is highly unsympathetic and needs concrete fucking facts before he acts, and that kind of backfires on him in the end. As a favor to Dream (how many favors is Dream involved in honestly) he runs messages back and forth from Tubbo to Tommy. Ranboo = George : Largely uninvolved in the conflict, like Niki, but unlike OG George, is not absent. He's just there to assist. One of the most innocent and purest people on the SMP, knows when to keep his head down. When his house burns down, he doesn't really believe its Tubbo who did it -- he knows the kid has been framed because he'd been WITH him at the time, but Wilbur pressures him to admit it.

Quackity = Punz : Wilbur's loyal paid henchman. Quackity will cause shit for the appropriate price, he's not exceptionally picky. That stunt he did as Mexican Dream was great and everyone in L'Manberg loved it. Punz = Quackity : One of the best fighters under Techno. Has more morals, but keeps them secretly. Very good at hiding his true intentions/feelings.

(sorry about the other characters not being on here, i dont know them enough to make swaps, or dont know who they'd make a good swap with. Swap who you wanna swap though! i'd like to hear your take on this matter! HEADCANONS ACCEPTED TOO AT THIS POINT EVERYTHING HERE IS FROM WHAT I REMEMBER AND MY HEADCANONS)

PLOT

-Wilbur starts the SMP with Niki, slowly invites others like Ranboo, Tommy, and Tubbo.

-Tubbo expresses a desire to Fuck Shit Up and Tommy says they can get Dream, he's an expert at getting away.

-Dream is extremely protective of them both. Tubbo more than Tommy but that's fine because Tommy is largely independent.

-Tubbo gets in the weirdest shit but Tommy can roll with the punches really quickly.

-Wilbur gets tired of their crap and burns down Tubbo's establishment. It's like the Disc Wars except it's the Great Honey War. Bee War? Basically he's tired of Tubbo hogging all the Honey related expenditures.

-Dream gets the idea to make a honey smuggling empire, as a joke, but Tubbo is Big Crime and he's going with it. Tommy just wants chaos, and he was getting bored tbh.

-Eventually the Honey thing turns into Resource management, so Tubbo Dream and Tommy have a hold on all major supplies

-Shit happens and Dream, Tubbo, Tommy, Eret, Sam, Fundy and Alyssa establish an independent nation. Dunno what to call it bc the server is called the L'manberg SMP so....

-The fight for indepencence still happens. Instead of 'Green boy' Wilbur is named 'E-boy'. Dream still says "WE HAVE NO MERCY FOR YOU" when Wil calls for a ceasefire negotiation, but Wilbur does threaten the nation saying "If there is no white flag by tomorrow, then you can kiss your sorry little arses good bye. That's my final warning."

-Turns out Fundy's been secretly funneling information to Wilbur in exchange for the safety of his friends, and also because Wilbur's his dad....uhm. Also! He and Dream are circling each other and others are like "OH MY GOD YOU GUYS ARE DEAD RINGERS FOR QUEERPLATONIC MATES JUST MARRY ALREADY" bc I like FundyWasTaken but others might not and its okay, we'll label it as platonic, but can be read otherwise depending on your tastes. But for this, it's very close platonic.

-Wilbur goads Tommy into a fight, as brothers do, but Tubbo steps in and Wilbur fucking jumps at the chance.

-This is the start of Dream's descent into madness. No one fucking threatens or pulls one of his friends like that. Denied. It's still subtle though, so he's okay for now.

-Tubbo and Wilbur face off. When Tubbo pulls back bc he genuinely doesn't want to hurt anyone, Wilbur takes the chance and beats him.

-Tubbo, however, makes a deal. Let their nation stand on its own, and he'll give up the Resource Empire he started. Wilbur accepts, with the condition that they unify their alliance with a...marriage? So basically, political marriage between Wilbur's heir, Fundy, and Dream, the leader of the revolution.

-YEAH I WENT THERE THIS IS VALID

-They're strained at first, but Dream and Fundy slowly mend their relationship post-betrayal.

-Fast forward a few months later. The Nation doesn't really have a leader, as per the agreement, but it does have a representative. All decisions are made via majority votes, and that decision is voiced by the rep and sub-rep, Dream and Tubbo respectively. Tommy's just there to have a good time and causes chaos as per usual.

-Enter Technoblade. He's been called in by Wilbur to...ah. Dismantle a little...nation. Sounds right up his alley. But he asks Wilbur to wait and see what happens.

-Tommy and Dream get the idea to hold a tournament to celebrate their independence, an all out brawl for everyone to kick back and relieve stress. There. That's where Techno comes in.

-He gets Punz to join him after like, being paid (ofc) and they fucking dominate the tournament. Dream's about to congratulate them but Techno turns the fuck around and declares his right to rule the nation. If anyone wants to fight him for the title, they're welcome to try.

-Dream loses another life to Techno trying and failing to fight it. He and a few others lost their first life sometime elsewhere? I guess? Probably by being blown up by Wilbur, idk.

-Tubbo and Dream are chased out by people who reluctantly follow Techno's orders, and Tommy, torn between his friends and his brothers, stays behind. Oh jeezus.

-Since Techno is a fighting GOD, no one's able to usurp him to make things turn back to normal. But Dream is smart, and knows Wilbur's 100% behind this. Fundy kind of knew but didn't do shit about it, which is why Dream rejects Fundy's offer of sanctuary. He can't be sure his husband will stay on his side, after all. It's nothing personal.

-Dream and Tubbo hide away somewhere, probably not a ravine but?? A mountain or something? They manage to get Sam away enough to ask him to build a super cool Redstone contraption thing that opens for them. ooooo.

-I'm not good at names but for the sake of jokes I'm gonna call their land the 'Bee's Knees' bc at some point Tubbo finds a fuckton of Hives hanging from Trees. Bee Mountain if Dream's feeling especially salty.

-SPEAKING OF DREAM. his insanity is on course now, it's slowly eating away at him and in fear of hurting Tubbo he's slowly distancing himself away. Tubbo's like what's wrong but Dream can't answer -- he doesn't know what's wrong with himself either.

-Tubbo and Dream need to go back and confront Techno, but they can't wait for long else Techno's going to obliterate everyone and their extra lives. They call Schlatt in.

-Schlatt's a pure business man and draws up a contract. He'll aid them in terms of supplies, but most of the revolution is on them. They agree.

-Tommy is actually really fucking good at lying and skirting around what he reveals to Dream and tubbo as a spy that Techno would have believed him if he didnt' know his brother. and Wilbur's warnings, of course. That results in Techno just being fucking done with Tommy's bullshit and plans his execution in another tournament? I guess?

-It doesn't go like the festival. First of all, Schlatt can't fight for shit, so why would Techno call him up the stage? No, Schlatt fights dirty. techno doesn't set much rules so theres no rule against poisoning Tommy quick and easy before the fight. Tommy loses another life and is on his last. Tubbo is spitting mad, but Schlatt points out that nothing in the contract covered this, so he's free to do as necessary. Tubbo is stopped by Dream who, at this point, is just overtaken by the need to one-up Techno.

-Also, Wilbur's been slowly persuading Dream to just. Let go. Let the monster inside of him free, he 'deserves it'. By the end of it all, Dream does. He snaps and lets loose the monster crying for blood inside him.

-Callahan is left to convince his old friend not to do it. In a moment of clarity, Dream stares on in horror of what he'd done. In his rage he managed to deplete ALL of Techno's lives (not really but shhhh), cause massive bloodshed, and terrified everyone in the process. He asks Callahan to kill him. Callahan does.

-Yes we'll get to Ghost Dream eventually.

-Anyway, Schlatt still does the Wither plan, because, uh, Drunken Rage. He was so stressed out from the ensuing conflict that he's like "LETS JUST FINISH THE REST OF YOU. THERE WILL BE NO CONFLICT IF YOU ARENT THERE TO FIGHT."

-and then he uses the line from the Lego movie on Tubbo like "Oh, Tubbster. It's nothing personal. It's just Business(tm)".

-Schlatt still dies of stroke. He does come back as a ghost though, that's one main difference.

-After everything's said and done, and the dust has settled, everyone decides to disband the nation, and just live their lives. like, they're done, wilbur, they get your point, jfc, let them rest.

-but uhhhh someone frames tubbo for setting fire to ranboo's (the server sweetheart) house. wilbur immediately decides to exile tubbo in 'anger'. acutally, he wants tommy and tubbo separated.

-tommy's not standing for it though, he fucking fights his way until wilbur threatens him and tubbo's like YES FINE OKAY I'LL AGREE TO BEING EXILED STOP THREATENING YOUR BROTHER

-tubbo's exile arc is not as sad as tommy's, but rather very tense because wilbur keeps riling tubbo up and taunting him. he still keeps contact with tommy though because they arent going to be separated just like that. no way. tubbo just gets a little more mad and gets short tempered like a lot.

-ranboo's not even that mad about it, he knows tubbo would never burn his house, there was a conspiracy on board and even if there wasn't he's like "arent yall overreacting its just a house, didnt you all do this like before the first war even began, what even (also, ranboo was WITH tubbo at the time of his house allegedly being set on fire. Not that he'll admit to it, because he and tubbo made that agreement long before)

-eventually he finds out that wilbur just wanted to pin the blame on tubbo to make him leave, and ranboo's like "IM DONE WITH YOUR CRAP WILLBUR STOP HURTING THE PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT" and leaves

-with the nation gone, people started to solidify their groups. sapnap and karl deal with their own thing, quackity still runs errands for wilbur, george is the main person ferrying messages from tubbo to tommy back and forth, etc.

-there's a funeral for dream, ofc, fundy arranged it. all of dream's shit was hidden because fundy doesnt want wilbur to get it.

-niki's still there managing her bakeshop but doubles as an informant for wilbur because she's well liked within the server

-ghost dream is present and he's a chaotic troll who mostly hangs around tommy. he's really hyper active and is always on the move, you can never catch him sitting still for like, 5 minutes

THAT"S ALL I HAVE FOR MY SMP SWAP AU PLEASE BE GENTLE I DONT HAVE TIME TO GET ALL THE FACTS STRAIGHT FROM THE OG SMP qwq

136 notes · View notes

fireinmywoods · 3 years

Note

Can you explain trauma Kirk has in the cheating scene? Im new to star trek

Welcome!!! I hope you stick around for a while and become fully assimilated into the strange, delightful glory that is Trek fandom.

I can only speak for myself, but when I talk about Jim’s trauma, I’m referring to two main components (under the read-more for discussion of childhood abuse and Tarsus):

1. Jim’s abusive childhood

There’s a deleted scene from Jim’s childhood in the first movie in which his older brother Sam is shown running away from home. It‘s made clear that the “man of the house” Frank is at the very least verbally and emotionally abusive to both kids, and based on baby Jimmy’s reaction to Frank getting in his face, I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that it had or would later escalate to physical violence.

[Note: Because AOS and especially the extended universe are a hot mess, some pseudo-canon sources describe Frank as their uncle (Winona’s brother) while others have him as their stepfather. I’ve gone with stepfather, because I think it better explains why they stayed in that situation as long as they did.]

Sam says their mom doesn’t understand how Frank treats them when she’s not around (i.e., off-planet with Starfleet), which makes the case for a certain amount of neglect as well. Then there’s the AOS tie-in comic Operation: Annihilate, which shows the aftermath of the car incident, and in which Winona is pretty grossly depicted as an enabler of Frank’s abuse, telling Jimmy that Frank just gets mad sometimes and that he basically needs to suck it up and live with it. For the record, this comic is not part of my personal canon, as I think the exchange I’m describing is lazily characterized and does Winona unnecessarily dirty. (“He’s given us a home” - motherfucker, it’s a post-scarcity economy and you work for Starfleet! Get a goddamn apartment!) That said, I do think Winona bears significant responsibility for leaving her kids in that situation, since the most charitable read is that she wasn’t paying enough attention to realize how Frank was treating them. (I know at least one of my fandom friends disagrees on this point, and I’ll acknowledge that I have a dirty lens when it comes to childhood abuse and the enabling thereof. Your mileage may vary.)

Anyway. In this version of events, Jimmy doesn’t steal the car because he’s some innately shitheaded out-of-control rebel like the final cut suggests. In fact, Sam’s exposition tells us that up until this point Jimmy has been an exceptionally obedient, rule-following, “good” child. Here, he steals the car because Sam leaving and his own realization that he’s never going to be good enough to make Frank happy makes something in him snap. It’s a powerful moment which greatly enhances Jim’s characterization, and if you ask me it’s frankly criminal that they deleted this scene.

2. Tarsus IV

TOS Kirk is a canonical survivor of a famine and genocidal massacre on the colony Tarsus IV. Here again canon is a bit of a mess when it comes to Tarsus IV, and fanon has taken that canon and gone absolutely hog wild with it, but it is firmly established that Jim was just 13 at the time, which...woof. That’s dark as hell.

Now, it is not official AOS canon that this version of Jim was on Tarsus IV at the time of the massacre, but it’s also not official that he wasn’t. My take, which I think is shared by many in fandom, is that AOS Jim was sent there to live with family after the car incident as a sort of “get your head straight” move, and also (in my opinion) because Winona finally started cluing in that it probably wasn’t a great idea to leave him alone with Frank.

The TOS extended universe further establishes that Jim was understandably pretty messed up after the events of Tarsus, and that his father’s intervention was crucial to helping him recover and setting him on the path toward Starfleet and the Enterprise. In AOS, of course, George isn’t around to provide that support, and Jim’s already learned that he can’t rely on his mom, and he’s maybe stuck living with fucking Frank again. All of this builds on his earlier trauma in really terrible ways, and he never has the opportunity to actually heal from any of it.

Aftermath: PTSD and the cheating scene

Again, the abuse and Tarsus IV are both semi-canonical at best. However, I’d argue that they should be considered canon, because Jim’s character arc makes a lot more sense when they’re included. This double whammy of unresolved trauma and the almost total absence of emotional support go a long way toward explaining how the boy who grows up to be TOS Kirk in one timeline instead grows into the Jim Kirk we meet at the bar in 2255 of the Kelvin timeline - a “repeat offender,” reckless, directionless, emotionally detached, quick to meet violence with violence, and so very, very angry.

That’s why the scene where Spock lays into Jim for cheating on the Kobayashi Maru is so painful to me. Jim is up on display at the front of this hall, being stared at by basically everyone he knows, and Spock is criticizing him for missing the point of the exercise - specifically, lecturing him about needing to experience fear and control his reaction to it. Imagine how that would land for someone with as much trauma as Jim is carrying, who endured all he did as a powerless child, and who (in my telling of things) suffers to this day from panic attacks as a result. It’s, uh...it’s not great.

#maybe someday i'll actually finish jim's prequel and this will become clearer #in the meantime have a bunch of words in some semblance of order #fic related #kirk #star trek #aos #ask #anon

150 notes · View notes

words-writ-in-starlight · 3 years

Note

White Collar ot3 number 14, 18 and/or 29 for the ship asks because you just reminded me how much I adore them today. Thank you and happy birthday!!

I cut this bad boy for length because I sure can go on about these three. That first one is basically a whole fic. Thank you, my birthday was great!

14) When one has a cold, what does the other do?

This feels like a great opportunity to talk about one of my favorite things to think about with this OT3, which is The First Time Neal Gets Sick, AKA The Time Peter And Elizabeth Almost Had A Heart Attack.

The thing is, they expect dramatics. Neal is someone who leans on dramatics as 70% of his social charms, and if you'd held a hot brand to Peter's skin while he was chasing Neal over half the godforsaken country, back in the day, he'd have said that Neal would be the type to wring every minor illness for all it was worth. Not, like, out of any particular irritation for that particular behavior--Elizabeth is the kind of person who gets dramatically sick even if all she has is a cold, and if he's being perfectly honest Peter kind of enjoys babying his wife for a few days--but just because. Well. All Neal ever does is make sure all eyes are on him, seeing exactly what he wants, doing exactly what he needs. It's the con he's best at, Neal's favorite magic trick: sweep everyone up in the delirium of those blue eyes and that shattering smile and take everything they've got in their distraction.

So anyway, then Neal doesn't show up to work. He's an hour late. Two hours late. By the third hour, Peter is silently doing the math for how far Neal could get on his anklet without setting it off, and then for any loopholes he might have missed--faking the signal somehow? Neal's passable but not phenomenal with computers, but could he have hired someone? Peter's never heard of someone pulling that off, but Neal's got an aura about him, that makes the impossible seem merely improbable.

It is very important that this be an issue of Neal trying to run, because if it's not, then something might have happened to him. Neal hasn't exactly been endearing himself to the criminal underworld lately.

At three hours and forty-nine minutes past Neal's appointed arrival time, Peter takes an early lunch break and goes to June's. He knocks on Neal's door for a few minutes, and then goes and politely 'acquires' the spare key from the staff and lets himself in.

Neal is asleep on the couch, buried in every blanket he could find in his apartment, and he blinks hazily at Peter for a second when Peter shakes him and then bolts upright so fast that Peter has to move or get concussed.

"Peter," Neal says in a good approximation of his usual good humor. "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't show up to work," Peter says, reaching out toward Neal's forehead automatically. Neal dodges him and Peter sees the dizzy wave cross his face. "Are you sick?"

"I'm fine," Neal says, and then immediately starts coughing, a wet sharp cough that hurts to listen to. "Sorry I'm late, I--fuck, is it past noon? Okay, just--give me a second, I can get ready to go--"

"How long have you been sick, Neal?"

It takes Peter the better part of fifty minutes to wring the facts out of Neal, and he does not like the facts, thanks. He more or less forces Neal back into the blanket nest on the couch and calls El, apologizes for interrupting one of her rare days off and asks her to bring Neal literally anything, and shuts down Neal's fourth attempt to convince Peter that he's fine.

Neal seems...really bothered by the idea that Peter knows he's sick, let alone Elizabeth, and Peter doesn't like what that implies. About anything. At least it doesn't seem personal--Neal doesn't seem to want anyone to know that he's sick, so much so that he's been taking double doses of DayQuil and drinking straight espresso in order to smother all his symptoms at work for the past three days. Peter does some quick math in his head about the number of DayQuil that would require and says "You're lucky you're not in the ER," and Neal says, "I know what I'm doing, Peter," in that voice that means he's thinking about getting offended.

"You're going to give yourself liver failure, is what you're doing. Why didn't you just call out sick, Neal, Jesus Christ." It's blunter than he meant to be--actually, Peter meant to let El work on Neal for a few hours before he came back to play Blunt Cop--but Neal looks awful and he has a fever and he's been taking ten DayQuil in a ten hour work day and Peter does actually read labels and Peter made him stay late at work two days ago because Peter didn't know he was sick.

And maybe it's because Neal's sick, maybe it's because the fever is blurring his reaction time, maybe Peter just knows him really well by this point, but he sees the second that Neal's face closes up and he goes from "defensive" to "ready to do whatever he needs to do in order to get Peter to back down".

And then Neal smiles, all guileless blue eyes and blithe schoolboy innocence, and he says, "Come on, Peter, you'd have thought I was trying to run."

It stings inordinately. Peter did think that, this morning, but only because Neal fucking vanished, didn't come in, didn't answer his phone, didn't even leave a message with someone when Peter showed up. If Neal had said he was sick, Peter might have come by to check on him--and sure, seeing that he was really sick would have put those concerns to bed, but--

"Besides," Neal is continuing, and his voice is starting to show the effect of the coughing now, and he's trying to get up again, wavering on his feet a little before he blinks twice and visibly forces himself to steady. "I'm fine. And even if I wasn't, it's what, seven hundred dollars a month? That's not covering a doctor, and it's not like I have pneumonia. It's just a cold, Uncle Sam, I can still go to work."

And then Neal gives Peter the slip while Peter's still sitting there, stinging.

And the thing is, he doesn't even know if Neal really thinks that of him, or if Neal just knew it would make him shut up long enough for Neal to walk into his bathroom and take more fucking DayQuil.

Well, fine, then. Peter can fight dirty too, and to prove it, he walks the ten feet to the door and leans back against it, just out of an excess of caution, as he pulls out his phone. First he texts his wife, because she's a very smart woman and deserves to have all the information. Second, he calls his boss, because he's already well outside his lunch break and he might as well do the thing properly. Neal comes out of the bathroom, wearing fresh slacks and an unbuttoned white shirt, just as Peter says, "Yes, sir, I'll keep an eye on him."

Then Peter hangs up and points his phone at Neal and says, "Lie the hell back down before I taze you. You're off until next week, and I'm taking the day off to make sure you don't go into organ failure. Don't you dare," he adds when Neal takes a purposeful step toward the kitchenette and its coffee maker. "El is going to be here with actual cold medicine in thirty minutes. Take those slacks off and lie down in your actual bed."

"I'm fine," Neal says again, as if he's not struggling with a shirt button for the first time since Peter's met him, including multiple occasions of being handcuffed.

"You're really not," Peter says, and then he pauses for a moment, and looks at the way Neal's fingers pause on the button, and then he says, a little cautiously, "And that's fine. Everyone gets sick, Neal."

"I don't need you to babysit me," Neal mutters.

"I'm only babysitting you because, apparently, you take life-ending doses of caffeine and cold medicine when you're left alone. Come on, Neal, this won't be the end of the world, El will bring you some food that won't hurt your throat and I'll let you make me watch one of your boring foreign films."

"I know your secrets," Neal says, and then pauses to cough up what's probably part of his failing liver, not that Peter is feeling any doom and gloom about this whole thing. "You watch romcoms with Elizabeth, she told me you enjoy things other than football and you'll never fool me again."

"Yeah, you got me," Peter says with a faint grin. He walks away from the door like he's approaching a feral dog, and closes his hands gently but inexorably around Neal's wrists, and then steers him firmly back onto the couch. Neal's skin is hot even through his shirt, and he trips twice, and he lets Peter push him down into the blankets like he's too tired to do anything else. "I'm going to go get you pajamas. Where do you keep them?"

"Second drawer," Neal says dismally.

"Okay," Peter says, and doesn't give into his impulse to maybe, like, brush Neal's rumpled curls out of his face or something. Half the reason that Peter caught him in the first place is because Peter knows when to press his advantage. He takes the win and gets Neal some pajamas.

18) When they fight, how do they make up?

Elizabeth is the best at this, because she works with vendors all the time and that makes her a literal professional at conflict resolution. She has a temper and she’ll lose her cool with the best of them, but she knows how to say “I need a minute” and then she’ll leave and come back when she can be reasonable. She’ll lay out what she’s upset about, hear the other person out, and then either apologize or expect an apology. Then she’s the physical touch kind of person after a fight--she’ll take Peter’s hands and link their fingers together, or wrap her arms around Neal from behind with her cheek between his shoulder blades, and just kind of...rest against them until everyone’s tension starts to bleed out of them.

Peter isn’t an innately high-empathy person and he knows this, so it’s sometimes hard for him to figure out when a fight even started, let alone how to fix it. He gets frustrated with himself for not knowing what to do, and then it’s easy for Elizabeth or Neal to feel like he’s mad at them for being mad at him, and then everyone gets madder and it’s just stressful. So Peter’s the type to ask explicitly “wait, are we fighting” because, first of all, he would like to know so he can figure out how to resolve it, and, second of all, he’s discovered that being clear about it will sometimes shock everyone involved into taking a step back and figuring out if they’re arguing at all or if they’re both just frustrated. After they’ve managed to figure out what’s wrong and talked it out, Peter’s an acts of service kind of person after a fight--his specific brand is to make someone’s favorite meal, regardless of who was doing the apologizing.

Neal is...not good at conflict. For obvious reasons, he’s inclined toward avoiding conflict when he can, and bailing immediately afterward when he can’t. The first time he actually fought with Elizabeth, she had to come to his apartment and hammer on his door until he let her in. Neal’s never really been able to argue with someone and then have them still be there except for maybe Mozzie, and it’s an extremely rough adjustment for everyone. It requires a lot of patience from Elizabeth and Peter, and a lot of anxiety from Neal, for them to find a balance about it. But Neal is a gifts person after an argument, once he learns to be anything after an argument, and not just extravagant things. He brings flowers or Elizabeth’s favorite mixers or one of the boring patterned ties that Peter loves, he brings a paperweight or a mug, a hair pin, a new set of dress shoe laces, a pair of beautiful earrings, a six-pack of beer, whatever hoves into his field of vision and he can afford to acquire.

29) Why do they fall a little bit more in love?

One time when he got home from work, Peter caught Neal and Elizabeth waltzing in the kitchen while the radio played the Top 40 Hits station, and they were giggling while they tried to keep time to Umbrella, and Neal was complaining about El not letting him play classical while she was cooking, and Neal dipped El so that she could wink at Peter upside down, and they burned dinner because they left the stove on and the three of them got takeout ramen instead.

Peter thinks about that evening sometimes when he’s stuck in traffic.

#white collar #neal caffrey #peter burke #elizabeth burke #ot3 #starlight writes stuff #headcanon meme #ask meme #I WAS GONNA COMPILE THIS WITH THE OTHER ASK ABOUT WHITE COLLAR BUT #THAT FIRST ONE REALLY IS THE FIRST COUPLE HUNDRED WORDS OF A FIC THAT LIVES IN MY HEAD RENT FREE #[sits the entire fandom down] neal transparently grew up with no one in his life who let him rest when he was sick #let's talk about that more #because i think about that all the time #anyway peter and elizabeth basically Install Themselves at neal's for the next couple days #why do i think neal watches foreign films? idk i just Feel It. he would watch all the cdramas and kdramas on netflix.#also sometimes he watches crime shows and critiques the criminals to elizabeth but they don't do that in front of peter #i think peter is the kind of guy who actually really likes romcoms but has trouble admitting it and el doesn't mind that much #elizabeth likes media generally i have Decided This. she just likes stories. anything good OR fun OR interesting will do it for her.#point is that she sets up on Neal's couch and pretends that she's just there to enjoy his movie collection #and if he falls asleep and she winds up with his head in her lap so that she can pet his hair and keep him that way it is Completely An Acc #peter Hovers when people are sick but in like a benevolent 'you always have fresh tea' kind of way #anyway kids don't take too much dayquil because acetaminophen is dangerous thank you for coming to my ted talk #anonymous #asked and answered

61 notes · View notes

honey-coloured-passion · 3 years

Text

Dream SMP High School AU

pt 1

so many people loved this AU so here’s my little ficlet on the TA’s adventures! This one is SBI centric and we’ve also got some Tubbo and Ranboo!

(based of this post)

On the third day of school, Teacher-Assistant assignments are posted. Ms. Puffy treks through the halls smiling at new bright-eyed freshman and shakes her head at the hoard of hopeful seniors following behind her to the library where the list is posted.

“Everyone will get to take a look! Mr. Minecraft and I worked extensively on the list and there will be no changes! The teachers and I are so excited to help foster your growth as a-” Puffy tried to give her inspirational speech but was cut off by the shrieks of joy, excitement, terror, anger, and every other emotion high strung teenagers could have.

Tubbo walked straight up to her, “I got Sam right?” while the other kids were crowding the list beyond hopeful for their advisor Tubbo knew he would be Sam since he took every computer science class in his freshman year.

“If I told you no would you believe me?” Puffy winked, Tubbo shook his head with a laugh and started off toward the science wing. Unfortunately for him, a familiar screech made him spin on his heel.

“WHAT THE FUCK” Puffy stiffened, took a deep breath, and located the voice as one TommyInnit. In a few angry strides he was towering over her as he began screeching. “I requested Wilbur, or even big man Philza, or hell, I probably could’ve made do with Sam and Tubbo! But Wastaken’s shit class? What do you take me for? Wilbur doesn’t even have a fuckin’ TA this year? You’d better change me right the hell now if you know what’s good for you.”

Puffy sighed, she knew this was coming. “Tommy, Mr. Minecraft and I went over this, and we really think you can grow a lot with Dre- Mr. Wastaken this year. You truly have knack for physics and we think your creativity will add to his class. Trust me here Tommy, this is gonna be a great year!” Puffy tried to keep a calm smile on her face, but her saving grace was Wilbur himself coming up to her.

Wilbur looked disheveled, it was writing season for the fall musical after all, but he had a massive grin as he approached the pair. “Pufffayyy! How will I repay you, or was it Philza? God do I have to give my condolences to Dream but a year with no TA is a good year for me! Say- Tommy! You ready for physics?” Wilbur clapped the shorter boy on the back with a teasing grin. Wilbur would poke fun at Tommy but he truly wanted the world for his favorite student. Puffy wasn’t going to be the one to tell Tommy it was actually Wilbur who had the idea of putting Tommy with Dream, Wil was always telling everyone he could that Tommy would be great and he was determined to let him shine even if it meant living TA-less for a year.

“Wilbur you have to let me switch I cannot lose senior year to physics.” Tommy faked a gag but Wilbur was quick to chime in, “Oh no, you’re doing it. But my door is always open you know. Also you should be happy- isn’t the physics classroom one door down from the computer science room?” Wilbur always knew how to get Tommy’s attention elsewhere.

“It is... speaking of which, Tubbo, we have to go set up our TA studies next to each other!” Tommy turned on his heel, nodding to his best friend as the two bolted through the hallway towards the science wing.

“You sure about this Wil?” Puffy glanced as the library which now had the teachers looking at their own pair-ups. One physics teacher looked less than excited.

“The world isn’t ready for TommyInnit. Hell, Tommy isn’t ready, but he’s gonna do big things. Trust me Puffy.” Wilbur said with a grin, heading over to congratulate Dream on his new understudy.

On the other side of the school Philza sat with a different senior.

“Ranboo my boy, I promise you this year’s going to be great! Mate, you’re one of the brightest students in this school. And trust me, Techno’s a great guy. He likes to have the reputation but he’s a real softie once you get to know ‘em! I wouldn’t assign you to him if I didn’t believe in you!” Phil placed a reassuring hand on the anxious senior in front of him.

Ranboo’s voice was shakier than normal, “I-I just- it’s only my second year here. I barely know where the english classroom is! Also, I didn’t take advanced english here so how will I even be any help? Doesn’t Mr. Blade hate all the non AP students?” Ranboo rambled but Phil knew he was just nervous.

“Everything happens for a reason mate, now go on down and pick a study wing with the other TA’s. It’s your senior year! It’s gonna be great.” Ranboo gave him a slight nod, thanking him for his time as he scurried out of Phil’s office. Phil couldn’t deny the Ranboo and Techno pair up was his idea, last year he saw something in Ranboo that was so innately intelligent and bright he knew Ranboo’s thoughtful ideas could impress anyone, even “The Blade” as the students called Techno.

Phil yawned, he was exhausted and it was only day three of the school year. Just as he was about to dive into paperwork he go a call from the front office manager saying he had guests. With a sigh he got up, giving slight waves to his teachers as they made their way through the office to pickup paperwork and whatnot he noticed two familiar figures sitting directly across from each other. As he entered the main office both stood up.

“Phil, the newbie? Kid hasn’t even passed my class how am I supposed to make a TA out of him?-”

“TommyInnit? Tommy-freaking-Innit. Is this a joke? What’s your play here?-”

They both stopped, looking at the other.

“Techno.”

“Dream.” They greeted each other curtly.

It was always a funny sight seeing the two interact. AP Physics and AP English were known as the two most challenging, and iconic classes in the school- and their teachers held themselves to that standard. Many compared the two, debating who was the better teacher, with the better class content, or more rigorous academics, but honestly Philza wouldn’t have it any other way. Dream and Techno pushed each other in the best way possible, and the students always benefited from their competitive nature.

“I see you two saw the TA assignments.” Phil mused, beckoning them down back to his own office. The two scuffled for who got to walk directly behind him but Techno took the lead.

“So, as I understand, you’re both reasonably confused with your seniors, but trust me: those are two of the brightest students here, and they’ll both impress you as the year goes on.” Phil laughed at himself at their similarities, deciding he could play into the competitiveness of the two teachers in front of him. Phil continued, “Now, before either of you start I’ve got this to say. Ranboo and Tommy are both gifted in their subjects. Techno, I know you haven’t taught Ranboo everything he knows but that kid will give you a run for your wits, and I trust that you can shape him into a great scholar. Dream, you’ve got Tommy. I’m assuming Wil has already explained Tommy’s capability, your job is to inspire him. Both of you have two of the best kids in my school, and you better appreciate it. I would hate to see either of you drop the ball.” Phil leaned back in his chair, watching the two think his statement over.

Dream was the first to speak up, “I never drop the ball.”

Techno scoffed, “Good luck with Tommy, this Ranboo kid sounds pretty great anyways.”

This got Dream in the game, “Tommy’ll be double the student you could make Ranboo.”

“That so? Not with your teaching.” Techno shot back playfully.

And just like that, Phil knew Dream and Technoblade would give their students the best education they could, he just hoped the kids could hang with the crazy teachers in front of him.

“Did this day feel like the length of a month or just me?” Puffy slumped into the chair across from Phil. Phil answered, “it felt liked a month. But I just know this year’s gonna be good.” Puffy nodded in agreement.

“Glad you’re feeling good, ‘cuz I’m 99% sure Tubbo’s programming a device to hack the school intercom. And I cannot deal with another week of Wii Shop music playing over our loudspeakers like last year.” Puffy laughed, but there was a clear wince in her tone.

“God that kid’s unstoppable isn’t he.” Phil pinched the bridge of his nose. Almost like clockwork a familiar tune started blaring over the intercom. Phil and Puffy jumped from their desks, headed straight to the comp sci room.

“TUBBO”

~fin~

That’s part one! Mostly just setting stuff up but it was still pretty fun! I’ll probably get a taglist going for this series so message me or send an ask if you want updates! Also, there will probably be some spin-off style parts including DNF or KarlNap but those will have warnings for those not interested.

Thanks! <3

55 notes · View notes

frankiefellinlove · 3 years

Text

THE STEVIE FILES PROUDLY PRESENTS - THE AMAZING ROCK & ROLL ODYSSEY OF STEVEN VAN ZANDT

From The Source to Soulfire via Springsteen and Sam & Dave

Recorded, transcribed, edited, written, produced, mixed and mastered by MIKE SAUNDERS

SIDE TWO (1975-1983)

Track 6: Miami Steve, The Asbury Jukes, Tenth Avenue and Hammersmith

In early 1975, Steven returned to New Jersey from Florida, inappropriately dressed for the winter weather. “I came back with the flowered shirts and the Sam Snead hat and continued wearing them in the snow.” For the next seven years, he was known as Miami Steve. He joined Southside in the Blackberry Booze Band and within weeks they’d altered and expanded its line-up (adding keyboard player Kevin Kavanaugh from Middletown and bass player Alan Berger from The Dovells’ backing band), transformed its musical direction, changed its name to Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes (referencing their mutual hero Little Walter’s band and first single release) and established a successful three-nights-a-week, five-sets-a-night residency at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

“Just before that, me, Southside, Bruce and Garry went to see Sam & Dave. A life-changing moment. So me and Southside basically decided we were gonna be the white Sam & Dave, with rock guitar. So the horns came in and although we didn’t know it, we would change the entire concept of what a bar band sounded like and the respect a bar band would get by making it creative, soul meets rock. ‘Bar band’ was an insult. ‘You’re a bar band,’ which means you can’t make it in the real music world. After the Jukes, they started using ‘bar band’ in reviews and they meant it as a compliment, with Graham Parker and Elvis Costello and Mink DeVille. We changed the way people thought about these things.”

The Miami Horns were a vital component of the new band. Steven composed the horn arrangements, but although he’s always possessed a natural ability to imagine horn parts, he doesn’t read or write music (“never have”) and has always required a little help from his friends to transcribe them. “I have people write ‘em down, to this day. I like that actually. You have to do a lotta things yourself so any excuse I find to collaborate I do it. I find other people will bring something to the party usually. That’s why [I’ve] used Eddie Manion for I don’t know how many years. He knows how I like to voice things. Once I think of something and create the parts, I get bored if I have to voice every part, exactly right. If I hear a voicing I don’t like, I will change it, but I get bored by the mechanics of everything.”

While the Jukes were building their reputation and growing their audience, Bruce invited Steven to hang out at the Born To Run sessions in New York, where he was working on “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” David Sanborn and The Brecker Brothers had been hired to play the horn parts, but Steven created a spontaneous new arrangement. He’s told this anecdote countless times, but I ask him to repeat it because it provides perfect examples of his innate musical talents in action (“I can hear the parts, who knows why?”), the nature of his friendship with Bruce (“I still am the only human being not afraid of him”), and his no-bullshit attitude (“I didn’t know anything about diplomacy”).

“So he says, ‘Whaddya think?’ I said, ‘It sucks, that’s what I think!’ I didn’t know how uptight everybody was. I didn’t give a fuck either. The managers and producers were all afraid of him already. He asked me a question, I’m gonna be honest. I’m trying to help my friend here, not make points with some fucking record company guy. Moment of silence. ‘He just said it sucks, which means we all suck.’ Bruce [says] ‘Alright then, go in and fucking fix it.’ So I did. I went in and sang the [new] parts. I didn’t know they were the most famous [session] guys in New York. It wasn’t insulting them, the chart was ridiculous. That was my thing, just from the Jukes being around maybe six months.”

“I wasn’t really feeling the pressure that Bruce was at the time. I didn’t realise his life depended on this album. His first two records hadn’t done very well. They wanted to drop him. I don’t know how aware I was of any of that. He invited me into the session and I’m laying on the floor. All I can think is, we’ve been hoping to get into recording our whole lives, I’m listening to this and it sounds fucking terrible. Not just the horn charts, everything. It was the worst period of recording in history. Virtually every record from the 50s and 60s sounded great, virtually every record from the early 70s sounded terrible. Because engineers took over, started close miking, padding the walls. Separation, separation, separation, all the things that make rock ‘n’ roll suck. The idea was, you isolate everything and make it sound exciting in the mix. Which they managed to do, miraculously, with the Born To Run album. Because it was pieced together in a bizarre way. Bruce made that record 100% out of willpower, he willed that into existence!”

Soon after making his instinctive artistic contribution (and singing backing vocals on “Thunder Road”), Steven was invited to join the E Street Band. It was a chance to complete the circle, play with his old friend again and settle any unfinished business from three summers earlier, when he’d been sent packing at the Greetings sessions. He made his live debut on the opening night of the Born To Run tour, which ran until New Year’s Eve. His input and influence over the next decade, onstage and off, would prove invaluable. (Bruce even began playing The Dovells’ “You Can’t Sit Down” as an occasional encore). In the fall, the tour took everyone to Europe for the first time, where the culture shock was off the charts. “There was no hamburgers, no peanut butter. The only place you could get a hamburger in the whole of Europe was the newly-opened first Hard Rock Café. There was a line around the block even then.”

Culinary deficiencies aside, Bruce also had to endure the overblown hype surrounding his first UK gigs at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, where Columbia had displayed the legend “Finally London Is Ready For Bruce Springsteen” on every available surface prior to his arrival. “[It was] completely obnoxious,” says Steven. “[Bruce] spent half the time ripping down posters. It was an embarrassing time for him, between that and Time and Newsweek. He didn’t like that stuff. You wanna be in charge of your life, that’s why we get into rock ‘n’ roll. Suddenly it was slipping out of his control. We made the mistake of playing a place with seats. It just made the show that much harder. But by the end, we got ‘em outta the seats. We went to Amsterdam, Stockholm, and back to London. The second one was a bit easier.” The experience had a prolonged effect on Bruce. “He was uptight in those days and would remain so through Darkness into The River, until he asked me to produce the record and we found a way to have some fun.”

Track 7: Epic Records, Steve Popovich and The Stone Pony

Back on the shore, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes continued the Stone Pony residency throughout 1975, gradually consolidating their line-up. For the next three years, between Springsteen commitments, Steven worked as their producer, arranger, manager, part-time guitarist and principal songwriter. In early 1976, after circulating a demo tape, they signed a recording deal with Epic, with assistance from Steve Popovich, the label’s Vice-President of A&R. “I Don’t Want To Go Home,” the song that Steven had kept in his back pocket since his days on the oldies circuit, became the title track of their debut album and their first single. Ben E King’s loss was Southside’s gain.

“I produced [the song] in a way which was appropriate for the Jukes. They didn’t have a big background vocal thing going on,” explains Steven. “I was very conscious of being able to try and do most of it live, although I put strings on it, on my very first production! There was no synthesiser in those days that could play strings. That’s why I re-cut it [on Soulfire] the original way I pictured it, with the singer and background vocals answering. That idea of writing for someone else is extremely important, critical and essential. It changes the way you write completely, from when you think of writing for yourself, which is extraordinarily complicated and confusing. It’s not easy, but easier, to write for someone else. There’s their identity in your mind at least. I’m writing them a song. That’s a wonderful exercise for songwriters.” I Don’t Want To Go Home was released in the summer of 1976 (“I’ve never received one penny of royalties, but whatever!”). The Jukes later began their first national tour and made their European debut in 1977.

Recommended by Bruce, Steve Popovich was one of a kind. “The last of the real music guys in the business. The only other person I can compare him to would be Lance Freed on the publishing side, who’s unique. He’s actually into music and songwriting and the things you’re supposed to be into when you have a job description like that. And Frank Barsalona, the only agent who really did his job and would set the standard for everybody to follow. Those three guys, really quite historic. [It was] Popovich’s idea to launch the record with a broadcast from the Stone Pony. Never been done before. Popovich loved the local scene idea and he largely made it happen. It never would have been recognised nationally, I don’t think, if it hadn’t been for Popovich, who had the vision to say it’s cool if you’re not from New York. Rather than being embarrassed if you’re not from New York, LA or Nashville, it’s actually cool.”

Track 8: Production Credits and Political Awakening

Steven developed his talents as a producer and songwriter with the Jukes in the late 70s, following I Don’t Want To Go Home with This Time It’s For Real and Hearts Of Stone. Successive releases featured greater quantities of his original material, which included “I Played The Fool,” “This Time Baby’s Gone For Good,” “Take It Inside” and “Some Things Just Don’t Change,” apparently written for another of his heroes, David Ruffin of The Temptations. During this period, he also produced the “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” single for Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band and provided production assistance on Darkness On The Edge Of Town. His relationship with the Jukes ended when they left Epic for Mercury in 1979 and he went on to co-produce The River and two comeback albums for Gary US Bonds, Dedication and On The Line. It was an impressive fast-track apprenticeship. Steven had no production experience when he began. He acquired the skills and learned from his mistakes in the studio. “That’s why all three Jukes albums are different,” he says. “By the time we did The River, I knew what I wanted to do. I got it all down by then. That’s how I tend to do things. I can picture what I want. Jump in, do it, let’s see what happens.”

Steven also kept his promise to himself to bring his musical heroes out of obscurity, initially as guests on the first two Jukes albums. “I did what I could, but I wanted to do so much more,” he admits. “First time I get in a studio, got Lee Dorsey out from under a car, where he’s a mechanic. Got Ronnie Spector out of retirement. Second album, we reunited The Coasters, Drifters and Five Satins. Me and Bruce worked with Gary Bonds. We got Ben E King and Chuck Jackson on that record. Those artists had a talent level noticeably above everybody that followed. I wish I’d been insistent on doing more of them. In those [early] days, you actually had to have talent to make records. You had to be able to sing a song, beginning to end, perfectly in tune, perfectly the right melody, and if you fuck up one word, you gotta do the whole thing again. Couldn’t do enough for those people, they were so much fun to produce.”

In addition to his studio accomplishments, Steven played more than 300 shows with Bruce and the E Street Band between 1976 and 1981, primarily on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town and River tours. The majority took place in North America, but the River tour included a European leg that took the band away from home and out of their comfort zone for nine weeks. Much longer than their previous visit in 1975, it was their first significant experience of foreign countries, languages, cultures and political perspectives. They received rave reviews wherever they played, but Steven gradually became aware that not all Europeans viewed the United States in a favourable light.

One particular encounter was pivotal in dramatically reshaping Steven’s worldview. “A kid asked me, ‘Why are you putting missiles in my country?’ I said, ‘I’m not, I’m a guitar player.’ I realised, for the first time in my life, at the age of 30 I’m embarrassed to say, that I’m an American. What the fuck does that mean? I managed to grow up in the middle of civil rights, the Vietnam War, demonstrations about every fucking thing and had no interest in any of it. Amazing when you think about it. Redefining tunnel vision. Suddenly, the tunnel is gone. We’re now successful. Who would have ever figured that would happen, right? Now it’s like, uh-oh, what did I miss, the last 20 years?”

Track 9: Men Without Women, Motown and Mixing In Mono

This revelation accelerated Steven’s growing political awareness, one of two important developments in 1981 that would change the course of his life forever. The second came when he returned from Europe and was approached by EMI America about making a solo album. Having spent six years producing and writing for others, he welcomed the opportunity to have his own creative outlet, which soon expanded into a separate career. In the fall, he enlisted musicians from the E Street Band and the Asbury Jukes to record most of the material for his debut album, Men Without Women, using his established rock-meets-soul sonic blueprint. Including “Lyin’ In A Bed Of Fire,” “Princess Of Little Italy,” “Angel Eyes” and “Until The Good Is Gone,” it remains an undisputed career highlight for Van Zandt devotees, but Steven feels that an outside producer might have helped him make a more commercial record.

“Conventional wisdom is you never should produce yourself and I have to say that’s correct. The only exception I can think of in the history of the business was Prince, who was an extraordinary genius, but other than him, I don’t know anybody who successfully produces themselves.” Describing himself as “extremely schizophrenic, I’m twelve different people, never mind two,” Steven explains how his inner producer failed to control the whims of his inner artist. “Without knowing it, the artist takes over. I was into this extreme naturalism, no logical reason why. I did the whole album live in one day. Came back the second day, did it again, beginning to end. Couple overdubs, that was it. There’s one guitar. The horns aren’t doubled. Nothing’s doubled. Bruce did all the harmony on that record but we couldn’t use his name. We [did] a similar thing with Born In The USA, where we just recorded live in the studio.”

“I made Bob Clearmountain mix ‘Forever’ in mono, to try and achieve the perfect Motown record. It’s never gonna be exact and it shouldn’t be exact, why should it be, but I wanted to capture a Smokey Robinson Motown record. The only way I could do that in my mind was to make it completely mono. He was so good in those days. I mean Bob’s still the best, but in those days he was beyond the best. He was something else when it came down to that Neve board that wasn’t automated, and he’s feelin’ those faders. I made him do something he’d never done before, which requires a whole different way of thinking. You’re now thinking depth-wise and vertically, not horizontally.”

“That’s where my head was at. Can I achieve the emotional communication that my heroes had provided me? My heroes being Motown in general, 10 acts there. Or my heroes at Chess, another 10 acts. Sam Phillips did ‘Rocket 88’ for Ike Turner (Jackie Brenston) and ‘How Many More Years’ for Howlin’ Wolf, three years before Elvis Presley. Unbelievable genius. [I’m] trying to achieve that level of quality in my own world, in my own little bubble, which has these ridiculously high standards. I’m absorbing the 50s and 60s and then trying to integrate them in my head and reproduce them in my own way, not the least bit interested in what’s going on in the 70s or 80s certainly, because it was shit to me, comparatively. An interesting moment here and there. Punk was certainly interesting. But mostly it’s all coming from what I call the renaissance period, ‘51 to ‘71, where it all was created. And that’s true to this day. That’s all I was interested in and that was enough for 10 lifetimes. I didn’t need another bit of input after 1972.”

Track 10: Little Steven, Little Richard and Bob Dylan

In 1982, after recording with Bruce and Gary US Bonds, Steven completed his album, formed the Disciples of Soul (which included Dino Danelli from The Rascals on drums, Jean Beauvoir on bass and Eddie Manion, Mark Pender, Stan Harrison and La Bamba on horns) and played a debut concert at New York’s Peppermint Lounge. Released in October, a month after Nebraska, Men Without Women preceded his first national tour and was credited to his new professional name of Little Steven, which would be used for all future solo activities. “I just wanted separation [from] being the sideman,” he explains. “Each of my personalities required a different name, in order to keep it straight in people’s heads and my own head.” The name referenced his early heroes Little Walter, Little Anthony and Little Richard. In his role as an ordained minister, the latter officiated at Steven’s wedding to Maureen Santoro in New York on New Year’s Eve. Percy Sledge sang “When A Man Loves A Woman” as they walked down the aisle and the reception included performances from Gary US Bonds, Little Milton, The Chambers Brothers and the wedding band from The Godfather. “Little Anthony was doing a cruise at the time or he would have been there.”

“All I can think is, we’ve been hoping to get into recording our whole lives, I’m listening to this and it sounds fucking terrible. Not just the horn charts, everything. It was the worst period of recording in history. Virtually every record from the 50s and 60s sounded great, virtually every record from the early 70s sounded terrible. Because engineers took over, started close miking, padding the walls. Separation, separation, separation, all the things that make rock ‘n’ roll suck. The idea was, you isolate everything and make it sound exciting in the mix. Which they managed to do, miraculously, with the Born To Run album. Because it was pieced together in a bizarre way. Bruce made that record 100% out of willpower, he willed that into existence!”

Steven toured internationally in 1983, then dropped the horns, adopted a more contemporary rock sound and made his second album, Voice Of America. It was an explicitly political record that featured “Solidarity,” “I Am A Patriot,” “Out Of The Darkness,” “Los Desaparecidos” and “Undefeated.” Triggered by his River tour experiences in Europe, this radical transformation was completed with a long period of self-education. “I read every book about post World War Two [US] foreign policy. [It was] shocking how often we were on the wrong side. All of these bad things were happening behind the scenes and nobody was talking about them. No political consciousness whatsoever in the country. I decided I have an obligation to say something about this stuff that we’re all paying for with our taxes.”

“Being conscious of the fact that everybody needs their own identity, I figured who the hell needs another love song from a fucking sideman? I’ll be the political guy. Nobody else is doing it. There were people demonstrating of course. Jackson Browne, John Hall, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, those guys. The Grateful Dead were doing a benefit every week, but rarely did it end up in the work. In general, people weren’t putting much politics into the lyrics of their songs.” For artists with commercial aspirations, he concedes, that’s a smart move. “Jefferson Airplane being an exception with ‘Volunteers.’ Big exception, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, with Neil Young’s ‘Ohio.’”

Steven contends that Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” introduced the idea of political consciousness in rock ‘n’ roll. “His first electric song. It’s not given enough credit. The first sentence from Bob Dylan’s electric period, ‘Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine, I’m on the pavement thinking about the government.’ What? You’re doing what? You’re thinking about the government? Excuse me? Who does that? Whoever did that before, in a song, no less? There in that one sentence, Bob Dylan communicated what his entire career was gonna be about, which was having fun with language, with inference, symbolism, metaphor and nonsense lyrics that rhymed. ‘Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine,’ what does that mean? It means whatever you want it to mean, right? Then ‘I’m on the pavement thinking about the government.’ Holy shit! You mean we’re supposed to figure out the government? That, to me, is the most important sentence in all the history of rock ‘n’ roll, right there.”

All photos below by Mike Saunders

7 notes · View notes

vestigiallegs · 3 years

Note

If their roles were swapped: how would Sam fare as a psionic and Ike as a lycomorph? How would their lives, personality and outlook change?

I actually answered this same hypothetical on my old oc blog years ago! However, my answer was pretty general, and with the development PT has had since then I have a better idea of what the specifics would be now, I think. Incoming longpost.

SAM AS A PSIONIC

SITUATION: Growing up in Rietveld would appeal to Sam for some of the same reasons it appealed to Isaac. Baby Sam ABSOLUTELY would have appreciated being stolen from her birth family, taken out of contact with her shitty father, and raised in an environment with some semblance of stability. However, with her general temperament and attitude I don't think she would ever have the same level of emotional attachment to Rietveld that Isaac does. In his most bootlicker moments, Rietveld IS his family, and a genuine savior to people like him.

Sam wouldn't share that take.

She would feel that the Rietveld Academy is more of a necessary evil. An organization with a good mission statement and a bunch of power hungry dirtbags looking to co-opt it into their personal army (a pretty on-the-nose assessment).

Adapting to her new life would be harder for her than it was on Ike, as she is generally allergic to rules and strict schedules and conformity. She would be a lot of trouble as a new recruit, hideously uncooperative and generally looking for problems. Of course, when you deal exclusively with kidnapped children, you see this kind of behavior a lot, so she wouldn’t actually be anything the Academy wasn't prepared to handle. Eventually she would tucker herself out enough to become somewhat system compliant (but she would always be looking for discreet acts of rebellion that she could get away with).

As she got older she would feel torn between wanting to put as much distance between her and Rietveld politics as possible, and feeling an obligation to every other psionic to try and effect change where possible. She would decide the latter was the morally right thing to do, and end up going down a very similar career path to Ike. In general, she would make a lot of his same choices, she'd just be more conscientious about it.

Assuming she was as psychically talented as Ike is, she'd have a similar time rising through ranks, garnering some level of recognition, reaching a sort of smalltime celeb status in certain corners of Rietveld. Eventually, though, her career would come to a ceiling. While this Sam would have learned to hold her tongue now and then, she is terminally pushy and nosy, and there would come a point where her superiors just... didn't want her any closer to sensitive information. Her career would lose steam in a much less dramatic way than Ike’s, and though she would remain respected people’s attention would drift as she settled into the life of a cog.

From here I can see two options.

1. She gets disillusioned and leaves for Verdamt of her own volition, growing even more disgruntled with Rietveld once she’s living outside of the system. She lives her best life but feels bitter that Rietveld stole years of her life from her.

2. She stays in her position for years, becoming one of those “cool middle aged mentor who is in a position of authority but not a jackass about it and looks the other way if you break a rule that hurts nobody” type characters who dies in a story’s inciting incident, either after discovering something they shouldn’t have and/or getting mercilessly betrayed by someone obviously evil who they fully trusted for some reason (fitting for her).

PERSONALITY: Sam as you know her, but with a much larger vocabulary. She has strategically polished her personality to come off as more intentional, charming, and rascal-y in order to balance her innate desire to mouth off and backtalk with her need to function in Rietveld’s existing hierarchy. Unflappably confident. Could function as a D&D party’s face without getting them all killed.

Cuts her hair short, very clean cut style, doesn’t smell sweaty. No tattoos. Still missing an eye.

ISAAC AS A LYCOMORPH

SITUATION: Ike's regular life is already stressful enough, and he is emotionally equipped to deal with psionic problems, he is not emotionally equipped to deal with lycomorph problems like Sam is.

First things first: he spent his entire childhood being raised ("raised”) by Seymour. Seymour is a career lycomorph hunter who has spent years tracking his runaway feral werewolf wife with the intent to kill her. He ABSOLUTELY expects his sons to follow in his footsteps, and when they are older, he makes sure they do. He raises his sons telling them they are obligated to help in the mom hunt and that every person they let her kill is second hand their fault. Terry grows up going “haha sure okay dad (turns to Ike and makes the cuckoo sign at him)”, but Isaac takes this to heart because he is just... really susceptible to guilt tactics.

You can probably already guess how Isaac would get infected and how Seymour would react to this.

Isaac knows his father is an awful, terrible man, even more than usual since he was actually raised (”raised”) by him. He KNOWS it. Even so, he finds himself completely caught off guard. He really for real thought “my dad would never murder me” was really a boundary Seymour wouldn’t cross. Of course, he also knows (”knows”) he shouldn’t feel hurt about this either, because executing the infected just makes sense, you know...

So this sad, wretched dogman is probably just going to let Seymour kill him, but luckily Terry is a voice of reason AS ALWAYS and kills Seymour before he can (something Terry has always wanted to do anyway).

Isaac copes very badly with being a lycomorph. While Sam adapts to her new normal relatively quickly, everything about being a lycomorph repulses Ike. He doesn’t like the transformations, they’re inconvenient and he finds them disproportionately painful. He doesn’t like being a naked wolfman once the change is over with. He hates eating carrion. He develops a psychosomatic weak stomach and struggles to eat enough for a lycomorph because he can’t emotionally bring himself to eat sub-human-grade food because THAT’S GROSS.

Luckily, good ol’ dependable Terry is looking out for him. No, really. Terry looks out for him. Not very well, because this is Terry we’re talking about, but he’s giving it his all and making sure Ike doesn’t die. (What makes you think Terry wouldn’t be there for his only brother?)

PERSONALITY: Absolutely VIBRATING with anxiety. Imagine one of those excruciatingly fearful, huge bite risk dogs. That’s him. Really hung up on and over dramatic about being a monster. Out of touch with what he likes and wants because he repressed like 3/4ths of his personality to get along with dad.

Looks like regular Ike got lost in the woods for a week. Doesn’t wax. Shakes like a chihuahua.

#sam #ike #pt swap au

4 notes · View notes

sm-pantheon · 3 years

Text

SMPantheon AU Information

Greetings, Tumblrer. Can I interest you in my Dream SMP God AU? Yes? Great. Hope you like reading.

I should clarify, before we begin, that there is one rule in the Pantheon: and that is not to date those in other classes. This rule is often broken due to the enforcer's blatant biases, so some people get off scott-free. This rule doesn't apply to dating humans, however, because of the need for classic zeus-style, demigod-bearing hijinks.

THE TRINITY

The creators of the universe, the dreamons. Gods of Chaos. Two have been replaced so far.

Dream XD The creator, the father, the man...god...thing Himself. Yes, that H is capitalized. He was the first god to exist, and every heavenly being stems from Him in some way. He enjoys seeing people suffer. He loves George in secret, even if He hasn't yet reciprocated. He stripped Captain Puffy of some of her power because He deemed the God of Order to be getting in the way of His chaos. His mask has the XD emoticon on it, fittingly enough.

Dream The 'son' of the Trinity, and the enforcer of the love law. His position was once filled by Mexican Dream, before he was demoted for being a dumbass. He later demoted Mamacita for falling in love with Mexican Dream, because they weren't in the same God class anymore. He is notoriously biased and nepotistic with his enforcing. He's also an asshole. His mask has the :) emoticon on it.

Drista The 'holy spirit' of the Trinity. A child. She causes chaos wherever she goes, whether intentionally or not, which makes DXD very proud. Her position was once filled by Mamacita, before she was demoted. She often hangs out with the demigods, most often Tommy. Wherever she goes, hijinks ensue. He mask has the >;P emoticon on it.

GREATER GODS

The most powerful gods, besides the Trinity.

Philza The God of Freedom. A ruthless killer, but a pretty good father figure. He was the first non-Trinity god, and appropriately he matches up with their chaos. He is most notably the god who invented angels, and personally made the first one, Clara. A long time ago he fought with Awesamdude because of their conflicting symbols and won, demoting Sam to the rank of a regular God. His wife is Kristin, a (dead) human, but one time he had a fling with a refridgerator. Confusing times. His sons are Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur, and his grandson is Fundy.

Technoblade The God of Violence, often regarded as the 'Blood God'. He is a force to be reckoned with, and you can probably trace him back to every world war in some way. He has a more stoic and calm side, which only Philza and his family can bring out. He acts as sort of an uncle and brother to them, sometimes caring for the kids. He would rather die than have his own, though. He feels an attachment to his friend Ranboo's son, Michael, because they are both pigmen. He plans to train him when he grows hold enough. His pride and joy is the section of the underworld he invented, which is the section where sinners burn eternally.

Antfrost The God of Love. Currently he is taking refuge on earth with his boyfriend Velvet, who is the third archangel. He's never been very friendly with Dream, so it would be inevitable that he would be punished for loving Velvet. To avoid this, he fleed to a small town on earth. He has had a long-time rivalry with Ponk because of his innate hatred of cats.

Foolish Gamers The God of Creation. He is a master builder, and has built the temples of all the Gods. One day, Sapnap, the God of Destruction, challenged him to a fight, and whoever lost would be demoted. He accepted and won, which is why his equal is now lower on the totem pole than he is. He created the earth with Hannah at the command of the Trinity. His best friend is Eret. He often enlists the help of the rock nymph HBomb for help with terraforming and foundation building.

Karl Jacobs The God of Time. He can control time by slowing it down, speeding it up, pausing it, rewinding, etc. However, he is only allowed to use it when the Trinity gives permission. Usually, he just sits around and helps his "not fiancés", Quackity and Sapnap, with their work. He was born soon after Philza.

GODS

Averagely powerful gods.

Sapnap The God of Destruction. He was originally a greater god, but lost a fight to Foolish and gave some power up as a result. He is responsible in part for all the natural disasters of the world.

Awesamdude He was stripped of some of his power by Philza (with assistance from Techno, although he'd never admit it). He acts as a father figure to some of the younger heavenly beings. He created Sam Nook, an altered clone of himself, to be a Nanny for Philza's children. He now takes care of young Fundy and Michael. Loves Ponk in secret.

Badboyhalo The God of Purity. Cannot do wrong, after all he is the only person who actually is dating someone and is following the rule. Has a public record stating he has never sworn. He's highly devoted to his pursuit of holiness... and also Skeppy.

Skeppy The God of Fortune. After all, he's made of diamond. He's a goofball, especially around Bad. He's Bad's best friend/boy friend, B.B.F., as he would say!

Captain Puffy The God of Order. She has always had a rivalry with the Trinity for directly contradicting them with her existence. Because of this, her dates with Niki have to remain a secret, or else she'll be demoted again. Currently she's filling the paws of Antfrost as God of Love until he comes back, or a new heir is born.

Hannahxxrose The God of Nature. She mostly hangs out on Earth, tending to gardens worldwide, but she stays in heaven an ample amount too. She was literally born from Foolish's idea to create nature for earth, which she then assisted in plans for.

JSchlatt The God of Sin. He was originally a Greater God, but he had to be demoted so that the human race wouldn't be absolutely fucked. He's technically in charge of the Underworld, but he doesn't do jack shit down there. He's a raging alcoholic, and is always complaining about heart problems. His best friend is Minx.

Eret The God of Power. He isn't part nymph or anything, but the nymphs respect him and have crowned him as their king. He gladly accepts this role. His best friend is Foolish.

MINIGODS

Less powerful gods.

GeorgeNotFound The God of Beauty. He is fully aware that DXD is in love with him, but he doesn't want to reciprocate for fear of the rule. Still, he hasn't ratted him out... yet. He often hangs out with Sapnap, and he used to hang out with Dream, but he has become more distant as of late.

Mamacita The God of Justice. Also known as Girl Dream. She was removed from the Trinity for loving Mexican Dream after he was demoted. Since she and him still have a lot of power, they've been tasked with running the Underworld. Her mask has the :/ emoticon on it.

Mexican Dream The God of Death. Was removed from the Trinity for generally being a dumbass. He co-runs the Underworld with his Mamacita. He has also adopted Quackity as a twin. His mask has the ;] emoticon on it.

Quackity The God of Humor. He doesn't do a whole lot, just hangs out with his fiancés and his unofficial twin. An absolute jokester.

Slimecicle The God of Joy. A lovable goof who has never done a thing wrong in his life. He has a human wife, Grace, and his son is Connor. He skips around heaven a lot, and often hangs out with the angels.

Ranboo The God of Identity. He is *platonically* married to Tubbo (so Dream can't technically punish him!) He has a son, Michael, and he often hangs out with the demigods. He is considered the least powerful full god. He has a habit of forgetting things and also a habit of stealing all the gender from the other members of the Pantheon.

Niki Nihachu The God of Grace. She mainly takes care of the children along with Sam Nook, and hangs around the water nymphs. Her best friend is Sally.

Jack Manifold The God of Spirit. Previously nicknamed 'Thunder', he is an epic gamer lad. He famously invented 3D glasses and also Britain.

Ponk The God of Bravery. Has had an age-old rivalry with Antfrost because of his fear of cats for eons, and he is quite happy that he's gone. He has a strained love for Sam, which they have to keep secret. Only Sam has seen the rest of his face, under the mask.

DEMIGODS

Half gods, half humans. They are free to travel between earth and heaven.

Tommyinnit The youngest son of Philza and Kristin. A rambunctious teenager who is quite popular among the gods, especially Drista. Often flirts with the goddesses, and always says he has a crush on the Queen of England.

Tubbo The middle son of Philza and Kristin. A chaotic man-child and also goat boy. He is absouletly adored by the Trinity. He has a "platonic" husband, Ranboo, and a son, Michael.

Wilbur The eldest son of Philza and Kristin. A musical prodigy, who is an adult but doesn't quite act like one. He has a wife, Sally the water nymph, and a son, Fundy.

ConnorEatsPants The only son of Slimecicle and Grace. He is a massive sonic fan. If you asked life advice from him, he would tell you that the only problem with being faster than light is that you can only live in darkness.

SEMIGODS

Demigods, except it's not a 50/50 split between God and human. Other races can also be added.

Fundy The son of Wilbur and Sally. He is 25% God, 25% Human, and 50% water nymph, but most importantly, 100% furry.

Michael The son of Ranboo and Tubbo. 75% God and 25% human. He's good friends with Technoblade because of their shared pigman-ness.

NYMPHS

Mythical and elemental creatures.

Sally A water nymph. Married to Wilbur and the mother of Fundy.

HBomb A rock nymph. Often helps Foolish with his builds.

Alyssa An air nymph. She's been wandering around the outskirts of heaven for an eon with Callahan.

Callahan An air nymph. Wandering with Alyssa.

Minx A fire nymph. Best friends with Schlatt and Niki.

ANGELS

Heavenly servants.

Punz First archangel. He's currently the Trinity's bitch, but if you offered him enough money he would absolutely betray them.

Purpled Second archangel. He just follows Punz around and helps him with his tasks. He isn't very devoted to his job. He was the one who came up with the idea of space.

Red Velvet Third archangel. He has fleed heaven with his boyfriend Antfrost. He's working as a baker on earth.

Michael McChill Replacement third archangel. He was created out of a necessity for three archangels, and he isn't very well adjusted. He has no motivation and has only talked to Philza.

Vikkstar The guardian angel of all the demi/semigods. When he's not watching over them, he is hanging out with Lazar.

Lazarbeam The general of the heavenly guard. He slacks off very much, and often hangs out with Vikkstar. Aggravated easily.

Clara The first angel, and the most wise. She is seen as an oracle and is prayed to as frequently as the gods. She often hangs out in Tommy's dreams.

Sam Nook An altered copy of Sam, made to be a nanny to Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur. Now he takes care of young Fundy and Michael.

HUMANS

Just like you and me. Except some are dead.

Kristin Married to Philza and mother of Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur. When she died, Mamacita offered her a job as the Grim Reaper so that she could hang out with Phil more often.

Grace Married to Slimecicle and mother to Connor. Is the second Grim Reaper, alongside Kristin.

Ghostbur Human clone of Wilbur that Foolish accidentally made when fooling around with the demigods. Has since died and chills out in the animal sector with his sheep, Friend.

Lani Tubbo's sister from his old foster family on earth, who he lives near. Knows everything about everyone in the Pantheon, somehow.

Corpse Husband The janitor of the Underworld. Was a massive sinner when he was alive, but managed to convince Mamacita to let him work for her instead of suffering for eternity.

Mr Beast A generous billionare who runs a private church for the rich in his town. He communes with Karl on the condition that he won't try to gain things for himself using him.

5up A turnip farmer who died and now hangs around Fundy.

.....

Alright. That's it. So. Much. Typing. My fingers hurt. I accidentally deleted all my progress around the halfway point but I persevered. Also, this blog will be used for designs of the AU characters I'll be making. Thanks for reading this far!

Bye. Thanks again.

Oh wait now I have to add a shit ton of tags ughhhh

13 notes · View notes

wolffin1 · 3 years

Text

Raymond Reddington theory part 2 Intelligence gathering is often a family business.

People play off the "Scott" connection but it's probably significant and I would think it ties Sam to Scotty.

I've often believed the complete lack of family history in the show for RR is for a reason, and I think it is something we haven't seen because it would give to much away. It makes no sense that Liz, a person longing for answers her whole life about her biological family, and after she finds out RR is her biological father she doesn't at the very least start working up a family tree? Doesn't make any sense at all.

In the original pilot script," Raymond “Red” Reddington grew up the son of an army brat " Back to the point historically American Intelligence in its beginnings, a good portion of its founding can be found tied to a family. There is an Easter egg nod to this when the Major tells Tom he was the only failure from the "St. Regis" project. Some might remember it as a hotel from James Bond movies and novels etc, but it has historical significance to American history and Intelligence gathering. You can read this article for more information. https://www.6sqft.com/highly-elegant-and-highly-classified-the-history-of-espionage-at-the-st-regis/

Oleander was in the states to be a spy and do spy things. Katerina had to at least be partially raised in the states. When Dom fled Russia I highly doubt he was able to package up family mementos etc. to bring back to the US with him they were already here. The board game was American in Katarina's childhood belongings. Where would Dom want to live in the US and do some spying? He would pick a place he could rub elbows with military and or agency connections. It's my belief that Scotty, Sam, RR, Katarina, and Ilya all grew up knowing another. That's why I think Dom sent Katarina to turn RR, they had a history and he knew RR loved her.

I'll go a step further. How do you think Red knows that Tom is Scottie's son? How do you think he knew to grab the "older" gentleman that was an ambassador who was under deep cover assignment for the Major and knew he would have a number to contact the Major? Put this into perspective the Hargraves who own a fantastical private contract Intelligence gathering company have no idea about their son. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see the Hargraves were targeted for their son to be taken due to their family profession it was a given their child would most likely have innate skill suited to the profession. The Major probably stole their son threw him into the system of foster care to make him hard and have no family ties and later recruit him. Red and Scottie are familiar with each and their conversations point to them having a history. Red says he never liked her. Scottie has a picture of Carla Reddington.

It would seem obvious by now that RR has a connection to the Major, close enough to go to the Major for someone to watch Elizabeth and the Major would obviously have trust in RR for RR to know that Tom is the Hargraves missing son, add that to knowing about the ambassador, etc. RR has intimate first-hand knowledge of the Major's organization. Why do you think RR gave Liz the scar and it matches the symbol on the boxes and was Branded in Minister D's face, it was Liz that implied it was Katarina that gave him that scar Minister D never confirmed it. I think it was most likely RR that gave him that scar because he is tied to the Major and his organization in some way.

Was RR ever a boring pencil pusher? You mean the guy who acquired the information to bring down the Cabal, and who was shadowing Russians gathering intelligence and was captured by a Spetsnaz team? Anton Velov a spetsnaz group leader said during RR's time in American Intelligence he was the KGB's Greatest Threat. Boring? He sounds like James Bond. Maybe they met at the St. Regis(all puns intended).

It wouldn't surprise me if it turned out he used Katarina in some way to gain Russian secrets. Forget interviews they aren't going to drop anything useful and after you read enough of them the responses from people like JB are always from the point of view of an audience member that's seeing what they are steered to see. The most honest thing he has ever said is “I think it’s best to let the show and its characters answer that. Anything that’s meaningful is in the scripts and on the screen. EVERYTHING ELSE IS NOISE.” -Jon Bokenkamp. In other words don't be distracted by the noise. This show is all about the art of misdirection.

It's strange Cooper didn't seem to notice any difference in personality in Raymond when he first saw him after he turned himself in, the only thing he said was it's really him, and having known him it seems it would be significant if his personality was different. Red was being his normal charismatic self with Cooper. Wouldn't cooper have noticed the difference?

When Naomi/Carla tells Elizabeth that he isn't who she thinks he is, isn't meant in the way everyone takes it and is part of the misdirection that is happening in the show. Think back to the Psychologist Red saw when he was on trial and she said. “while most people see you as a, uh, ICONIC BAD GUY, YOU’RE REALLY JUST AN IMPOSTER.” I believe what Naomi/Carla said is in the same vein. She was trying to tell Liz that he isn't the person he "portrays" himself to be not that he isn't Raymond Reddington, he is portraying himself differently than he truly is or at the very least as he once was. I think that's why Dembe is determined to save his soul, he is an anchor for Red to not get completely lost in the persona he portrays himself as.. If this true then Naomi/Carla was speaking of RR that she married when she spoke about RR and women's heads and her revulsion to him working with Elizabeth and their familiarity with one another after they haven't seen each other in decades and his sincere display of feelings for a former lover when she was departing all make sense.

In season six they scanned Red's hands as he was incarcerated, they took the time to show the screen with the scanned prints matching the paper copy prints from season one which is from 1989, and before Raymond Reddington went missing. Did he ever really die? The bones could have been implanted with DNA we have seen this in the show, part of a backup plan to disappear? He did tell Elizabeth that he could disappear at a moment's notice, that he sells that particular package.

Why did Kaplan tell Katarina she was sorry, because in her mind she failed to protect Elizabeth. Why give the bones to Elizabeth if they aren't RR's? To set Liz on the path for answers because she knew once Liz started she would never stop.

People bring up Jennifer and he treated her very differently than Liz. A lot of difference between a grown woman in her 30's that he hadn't seen since she was a child from over two decades in the past and had been safe in obscurity, she was estranged from him, and he didn't look at her the same as he did Liz, whom he had watched her whole life and needed to be watched and protected and was more or less orphaned and still in danger. The more he stays out of Jennifer's life the safer Jennifer is. His indifference is just appearance by keeping her away from him he is actually keeping her safe where he feels he has to be involved in Liz’s to keep her safe.

#The Blacklist #the blacklist raymond reddington #Raymond Reddington #Red Reddington

10 notes · View notes

areiton · 4 years

Text

End of Year Recs - 2019

It’s the end of year fic round up time--and this year I’m doing things a little different. I’m gonna do my favorite two fic for each ship or gen pairing I really enjoyed this year, and then (up to) five honorable mentions.

So here--without particular order, my faves from the year!! Also this is long as hell so hit read more for...more...

Irondad

we’re gonna have to do this together by edibna (Irondad | MCU)

Being a superhero sometimes means you forget about the small dangers in the world, like disease. For Peter, this means he loses May to natural causes, not something he could ever save her from.

Unknown to him, May left custody of Peter in the hands of Tony Stark, who, even though he wants kids, has no idea how to actually raise one. With a grieving superhero teenager on his hands, Tony is going to have to figure it out quick, if he wants Peter to ever be able to move on and be happy.

Webcams and Webshooters by losingmymindtonight (Irondad | MCU)

Once Peter's relationship with Tony gets out, the public can't get enough of their new favorite father-son duo.

So, naturally, they monopolize.

(Or: Tony and Peter's relationship, as seen through videos.)

Honorable Mentions:

Put out every star

Holdfasts

i'm the satellite (And you're the sky)

stars, hide your fires

miscommunications

~*~*~

Winteriron

fractures (filled) with liquid gold by itsallAvengers (Winteriron | MCU)

Ultron happened. The Avengers left.

Tony is fine with being alone again. He always worked better as a Lone Wolf than a team player anyway. He's not sleeping or eating or resting or... living, but it's fine. It's good. It's okay.

And then there's James.

illuminate me by Half_SubmergedinPurgatory (Winteriron | MCU)

Tony isn't a healthy man. He's fine with that, really. It makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, he has a job to do that kind of has his health as a major requirement. So he unmakes himself, remakes the Accords, protects every single child super that enters his field of view, and hopes ferociously that the Avengers never come back to the US. He doesn't spend any time at all rebuilding Bucky Barnes' life. Not a single second. Anything he does that contributes to him is simply an accident.

Bucky is a patient man. It's ok if Tony wants to ignore him for now. He won't be able to forever.

(Somewhere in the world, a sense of dread crawls up the back of Tony's spine)

Honorable Mentions:

a street corner in Cambridge

does it hurt

the road less traveled at the end of the line

scars

looking at you

~*~*~

Sambucky

winter, sweetheart by wilsonsnest (Sambucky | MCU)

To know the Falcon’s identity feels surreal to Bucky. It means nothing. As far as Hydra was concerned, Sam Wilson was erased. He has only ever been The Falcon and to Bucky he’s always been Sweetheart.

we could jump state lines (we only get the one life) by notcaycepollard (Sambucky | MCU)

It starts in Paris.

“You can’t steal things just because you like them,” Sam tells Bucky, feeling innately that this is a losing battle, and Bucky cocks his head to the side, considers Sam very thoughtfully.

“Really,” he says. “I’m stealing you, aren’t I?”

Honorable Mentions:

seek out hidden places

not an end, but (the start of all things)

cancel all your reservations (no more hesitations)

they gave you a heart, they gave you a name

you touch me within and so I (i know I could be human once again)

~*~*~

Starker

Stipulations by anonymous (Starker | MCU )

Peter Parker’s longterm dream recently went from ‘get into MIT’ to ‘afford going to MIT’. As the time approaches, it’s dawning on him that he won’t be able to pay his tuition and afford the move to Cambridge all at once: he’s out of money, his secrets are beginning to pile up, and desperation has started creeping in...

And then one night, he saves Tony Stark’s life.

mr. hurricane by spqr (Starker | MCU)

Peter makes it to the ripe old age of 26 without anyone finding out he’s Spider-Man. And then he falls asleep during a B&E at Stark Tower, and the rest is—well, the rest is this.

Honorable Mentions:

Both Ways

breaking point

velvet elvis

the leash

left hand free

~*~*~

Thorki

along a deserted highway by trieduntrue (Thorki | MCU)

The events of Thor (2011) take a different turn when both Thor and Loki are sent to Midgard without their powers as punishment for their misdeeds. With nothing except each other, they go on a journey to reclaim Mjolnir together.

soft shocks by stereobone (Thorki | MCU)

"And why," says Thor, "would I need to come with you to Jötunheim?"

"Ah, well," Loki says. "They may be under the impression that we're married."

Honorable Mentions:

How Long We Were Fooled

we spent our darkest days howling at the moon

~*~*~

Ironhusbands

touch the sky by scrollgirl (Ironhusbands | MCU)

Jamie Rhodes wouldn't be who she is today without her friendship with Tony Stark. The flip side of that is Tony Stark wouldn't be Iron Man without the twenty-five years he's been in love with her.

twenty five years by Not Applicable (Ironhusbands | MCU)

Nobody knows how long this has actually been going on. (Tony Stark has pretty much been in a monogamous relationship since he was 18 years old.)

Honorable Mentions:

a date on the moon

home for the non-holidays

reconstruction

pretend we're in love (the heartache still hurts)

i place your hands around my neck

~*~*~

Winterhawk

silhouette by mariana_oconnor (Winterhawk | MCU)

After a mission in Mexico goes wrong, SHIELD Agents Barnes and Rogers are given the job of hunting down the notorious Hawkeye and the Black Widow, the only problem being: no one even knows what they look like.

On the other side of the law, Clint's enjoying messing with their new SHIELD shadows, especially seeing how close he can get to Agent Barnes without him realising, but he makes the mistake of getting attached, and that makes everything more complicated.

nameless by AvaKelly (Winterhawk | MCU)

A gun is pointed at him before he can even move from his position, the Soldier's metal arm steady in its aim. Clint sighs.

"Nemo," Clint says. "It's tattooed on your wrist, right here," he lifts his right hand and taps his left index finger where his palm ends.

The Soldier's eyes widen. "How do you know this?"

"I put it there."

Honorable Mentions:

What do you mean we left Clint on Mars

clint barton's super secret snipers' club

lucky in love

i'll keep you safe here with me

complications

~*~*~

RPF

the end of the missing by eadunne2 (Evanstan | MCU RPF)

Sebastian remembers this from before, Chris’s physicality, remembers shoving and tripping one another, and hugs that lingered. It had been silly, friendly, until some vague, unspoken moment towards the end of filming when their relationship had changed again - Chris circling Sebastian’s wrist with his hand, or a palm to his lower back, only on rough days, only when Chris noticed him tensing up against unpleasantness in his own mind. At first Seb wanted to apologize, brokenness is a tiresome trait, but the actions seem to calm Chris too, ease his busy brain. When they lost touch Seb pretended not to miss it; he wouldn’t have had a chance to anyway, right? - with two dozen excellent fuck buddies all over the globe. Weird how they all had blue eyes though.

I would lose my decadence (for your love) by deadhearts (Stackie | MCU RPF)

The thing of it was that Mackie had just been trying to make a point. He'd just been trying to shut him up, or to make something clear, and he'd done what he'd set out to do. Sebastian had been well and properly put in his place. He'd been put in his place so well that Mackie had never touched him again, not in that way, because he'd never had the need: whatever question he'd been asking had been so thoroughly and roundly answered that there wasn't any need to ask it twice.

Honorable Mentions:

Like O, Like H

when you kiss me i just gotta say (baby i love you)

cross the line

fine until you're not

~*~*~

Stucky

ain’t no grave (can keep my body down) by spitandvinegar (Stucky | MCU)

It's six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.

For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don't. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It's very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.

I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.

Steve sits down hard on the steps.

there should be stars by childhoodinfamy (Stucky | MCU)

“All memories to tell you the truth aren’t good.

But sometimes there were good times.

Love was good. I loved your crooked sleep

beside me and never dreamed afraid.

There should be stars for great wars

like ours. There ought to be awards

and plenty of champagne for the survivors.”

- Sandra Cisneros

Or, it takes them decades.

Honorable Mentions:

This, you protect

little animal lives

the long game

a long winter

the art of cooking for two

~*~*~

Stony

never too late for love by Sineala (Stony | MCU)

Steve has always believed that a soulbond is a blessing -- a rare and beautiful miracle, joining the thoughts and feelings of two people forever, from the first time they touch. Steve knows he's not going to be one of the lucky ones. He knows Gail isn't his soulmate. But he loves her, even if they're not soulmates, and he's going to do right by her. After the war's over, he's going to marry her, and they're going to settle down. They'll buy a house. They'll have children. He'll see his family again. Maybe Bucky will live next door. It's going to be a good life. He doesn't need a soulbond. He'll be fine without one.

Then Steve wakes up sixty years in the future to find that his wonderful life has moved on without him. His family is long dead. His fiancée married his best friend. And the only purpose he has left is leading the Ultimates, a misbegotten team of superheroes with flaws too numerous to count. Steve hates everything about the future -- but most of all he detests Tony, flashy and flirtatious, who embodies everything Steve hates about a world he never wanted to live in.

And, oh, yeah, Steve has a soulmate after all: Tony fucking Stark.

wait and sea by lenalena (Stony | MCU)

In which Tony and Steve get sent on an undercover mission aboard a cruise ship to make contact with Hydra. In this AU the military has kept the discovery and defrosting of Captain America a secret, so Steve and Tony have never met before. Yet they are to pose as newlyweds....

Honorable Mentions:

celestial navigation

the song without words

dear mr fantasy

slipping off the page into your hands

the twice-told tale

~*~*~

Stuckony

hide a heart of war by Hummingbird_52 (Stuckony | MCU)

“You’ve got war in your heart boy,” Howard sneers, “don’t ever try and pretend to be anything but what you are.”

Tony feels the familiar burn of a flower mark being etched into his skin but he doesn’t look, doesn’t try and check to see what it is. Instead he keeps his eyes on Howard and his hands cupped around his bleeding mouth and nose.

the stories we write by NotEvenCloseToStraight (Stuckony | MCU)

A question at an interview leads to Steve and Bucky discovering fan fiction, and after piles of coffeeshop au's and fake dating tropes (and screaming over ABO fics) they find an author that writes some of the best fics they've ever read-- reader inserts starring a dark haired, dark eyed male reader as their shared love interest.

The platonic fics are heartfelt and sweet, the smutty fics have them tearing their clothes off to act out scenes, the soulmate fics have them crying over the true love that so often ends with the Reader passing away and Stucky being left behind.

Then one day, a fic posts with a scene taken right out of their lives, one that happened right there in the Tower, entirely the same right up until they take the Reader to bed.

Bucky is the one to realize the writer is Tony.

Steve is the one to suggest writing fics of their own to show Tony they return his feelings.

Writing fics to show an author you're in love? What could possibly go wrong?

Honorable Mentions:

eagles

branded

imagine you and you (and you) and me

#arei reads fic #stony #stucky #sambucky #irondad #starker #winterhawk #winteriron #MCU RPF #stuckony #ironhusbands #thorki

139 notes · View notes

barnesandco · 4 years

Text

Comfort Food

The Avengers catch Bucky indulging in a questionable snack. They are intrigued. Sam is horrified.

Pairing: None. SamBucky if you squint really hard.

Warnings: Swearing. Love Island hate, none of which is personal. I'm sorry! I needed something to ridicule and this particular reality show drew the short straw for my fic.

A/N: This is a crackpot of an idea I had when I thought about Bucky eating P.B. and chocolate like Seb does, after having a conversation with @buckyreaderrecs . Hope it brings a smile to your day because I don't know what else it's good for.

“What the actual fuck, man?” Sam gapes at Bucky from the doorway to the common room. He's sitting on the floor, legs splayed out under the coffee table, back against the couch, but that isn't what's bothering Sam. Or the other, less mouthy, but just as awestruck Avengers standing behind him, still covered with dirt and dried blood (little of which is theirs) from the mission they have just returned from. No, Sam's expletive-laden surprise is aimed at two things.

One, he is wondering exactly why Bucky is watching what he is. Reality television. And it's not just any old reality TV show. Not at all. Sam thinks he could have tolerated, say, something like Real Housewives, or the Bachelor, or even Keeping up with the Kardashians. But no, it had to be Love Island. The horror. Needless to say, Sam hates Love Island. Avoids it like the plague, claims it disgusts him to no end. Nat tells him it's his innate phobia of romantic commitment speaking. He argues that this particular dating serial promotes the opposite of commitment. But that's not the point here.

The point is that Bucky, for a reason Lord only knows, is watching that literal shitshow. Sam momentarily fears he's been possessed. More realistically, he considers the injury and subsequent orders to sit their latest mission out hit him too hard, and he's desperate for a distraction. That's the only reason anyone would turn to that godawful excuse for a TV series, right? Right.

He’s now on his feet, looking at them as if he hasn't decided what his strategy for tackling the situation will be. Should he cross his arms, raise his chin, and defiantly act as if there is nothing out of the ordinary here? As if it is perfectly normal for super-powered, super-lethal, broody ex-assassins to sit around watching terrible reality TV that exists only to kill the traditional sentiment of love and relationships? Or should he look sheepish, shuffle his feet, and avert his eyes in the hope that his apparent shame will make them take pity on him so they don't question his actions?

It’s highly unlikely that either option will lead to them leaving him alone, because it's going to take a lot to stifle their curiosity towards the family-sized Kit-Kat wrappers, and two empty jars of peanut-butter that are currently lying on the otherwise pristine coffee table. Not to mention the half-empty jar in Bucky's hand, which he doesn't quite know what to do with at the moment. And this is Sam's second concern, the one that made him greet one of his comrades with swear-words upon seeing him after a fortnight-long mission, despite their budding friendship. A friendship they both vehemently deny, provided the opportunity, but one that exists regardless.

“Have you been eating peanut-butter out of the jar?” Clint voices the question that's on everybody's minds, and is answered with nothing but a wry smile from Bucky. Not that it needs to be; the evidence speaks for itself.

“We go away for two weeks and you lose it completely? What the hell, dude? Did you hit your head on that mission?” Sam rants, eventually breaking the absolute silence.

Perhaps it's the frantic expression of genuine panic in Sam's tired, bloodshot eyes. Perhaps it's Clint's dad-like tone, like he's caught one of his own kids red-handed doing something they shouldn't be. Perhaps it's the sight of the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, still in uniform, exhausted beyond belief, standing in their everyday common room with amusement and mild confusion on their faces. Perhaps it's a combination of the aforementioned, that causes Bucky to burst into laughter. Pure, unadulterated laughter. The kind that bursts from your lungs and makes you double over, and leaves your stomach aching when it's over. It's a wonderful, booming sound, and it increases exponentially every time he glances back at his teammates to see them looking back at him like he's grown another head, arm, and leg. Eventually, the laughter fades, and he straightens back up again, next to the others.

He wipes a tear from the corner of his eye, and addresses them properly.

“Peanut-butter and chocolate's my… comfort food.” Bucky says slowly, composing himself, struggling to remember the exact term Shuri used to explain the mountain of junk food piled up in her living room when he FaceTimed her the other day. It was her way of coping with the increase in demand from Wakanda's science division due to T'Challa's efforts to integrate Wakanda internationally.

“Since when? And no it’s not. No, man, no. Just no. Pizza is comfort food. Taco is comfort food. KFC is comfort food. Hell, I'll accept club sandwiches. Anything but this.” Sam insists, gesturing wildly at the carnage on the coffee table, almost stomping his feet. Bucky doesn’t seem to have fully grasped the concept of comfort food, and this puts a serious dent in Sam’s impatient plans for helping Bucky catch up to the 21st century.

“What is it?” Vision muses, coming closer to see what's sticking out of the jar Bucky just put down. It's a piece of Kit-Kat. Wanda's face lights up, and she walks up to him.

“Oh my God. You put Kit-Kat in the peanut-butter and eat it? That's genius!” She exclaims, and promptly removes a piece of the chocolate covered in peanut-butter and eats it. “This is delicious.” Wanda moans, reaching for the jar, but Bucky yanks it out of her reach.

“Go make your own, Wanda. This one's mine.” He says, reestablishing his claim on the unfinished "snack".

“Delicious? It's disgusting. And you stay away from that shit unless you can handle the sugar-rush, because I can't deal with teenagers high on P.B. and Kit-Kat.” Sam warns, rubbing the bridge of his nose, seemingly still struggling to process what's occurring before his very eyes.

“Um, speaking of teenagers, where did Peter go?” Nat says, looking around. She is undoubtedly worried that he's gone to make his own variant of Bucky's treat. Sugar-rush isn't a strong enough word to describe what happens when that kid gets some sweets in him, and nobody wants to be around when he does.

“I'm up here, Agent Romanoff! There was some more peanut butter and chocolate in the pantry, and this really is delicious.” Peter says from the ceiling, holding his own jar, in which chunks of chocolate are visible.

“Is there more left?” Scott asks him, craning his sore neck to look up at him, simultaneously rubbing it to ease the ache.

“Not you too, Scott.” Sam groans, rubbing his hand down his face. He captains a group of children. Total children.

“What?! I want to try some. Can I share with you, Peter?” Scott continues, face lighting up when Peter nods, holding the jar out for him to take from.

“Sure. Just a bit, though. I'm starving.” The rest of the team, who had managed to disappear unnoticed, return with a few jars of peanut-butter to share between them, each clutching their own spoons. Sam rolls his eyes, and thinks that if he has to do so one more time, they’ll disappear into the back of his head. Better than having to witness more of these crimes against food, he supposes. Crimes that are being endorsed by his Avengers, who look all too comfortable as they plop down on the sofa around Bucky, in full mission-gear, unbothered by his disbelieving glare. Some people have no taste.

“Come on, Sam, try it. It's good.” Bucky teases, but actually offers the sparse remains of his own jar to Sam, contradicting his earlier statement in favor of dragging Sam to the dark side. He stands his ground.

“Crazy. Every last one of you. I'm going to shower and then sleep, and hopefully not remember any of this tomorrow.” Sam declares, turning on his heel to do precisely what he said, and looks forward to writing off tonight as a bad, bad dream.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky fanfic #bucky #sam wilson #natasha romanoff #scott lang #peter parker #wanda maximoff #vision #the vision #clint barton #the avengers #marvel #ayesha writes

203 notes · View notes