#there are probably canonical mcu errors here

[stupid-elf]

Consider this your permission to rant about comics as modern myths, from a classics major who would love to hear it :)

HI OKAY so this ask might've been months ago but it's fine we're here to answer it now

SO BASICALLY one of the main features of myths is that they're archetypal, right? So long as you follow the archetypes and the general flow of the story it's the same myth. There is no definitive version, only the teller's version. Think about this with comic reboots and different versions and timelines. So long as Spider-Man is funny, slings webs, and lives in a city with a rogues gallery, that's Spider-Man. Actually, Across The Spider-Verse has somewhat demonstrated even that list is hewing too close to the bone, Spider-Man is more flexible even than that.

Consider Batman. Grim backstory, detective, uses fear as a weapon for good, has a dual identity with one consuming the other. Who to make, then, of Godkiller Batman? Of Chaos Nexus Batman? We still recognize them as Batman, but they're not detectives, they don't have dual identities, they're arguably not even fighting on the good side. Still the same character. But Owl-man? No, that's somebody else. That's a narrative foil.

We have good indications that what we assume about Dionysus isn't who Dionysus was to the people that worshipped him. Similarly, Red Hood is not, to me, who Red Hood is to somebody obsessed with the resurrected wrong trope.

If you're looking for modern myths, comics characters are your best bet. You don't have to have read, watched, or listened to Spider-Man content to know who that is. Living in the US or our sphere of cultural hegemony is enough. Similarly, a random Greek might not be able to list the 12 labors, but they know who Heracles was supposed to be.

Franchises don't usually work. There's a canon, definitive version of Obi-wan Kenobi. You can't really have a re-imagining of Old Ben. A re-imagining of Iron Man though? There's 3 of them being printed right now, with no relation to the MCU besides the idea of a guy and a suit. There's one where it's a knight in an unconventionally advanced suit of armor set during the middle ages, but a reader can look at that and go "yeah, that's Iron Man alright." I'm not sure how besides "archetypes just work like that," it's probably helped by the stamping of the name on the cover (similarly to how there's a couple dozen myths about different things Prometheus did, and some of them don't even seem like the same guy but short of a persistent translation error we're to understand it is; the storyteller often begins with "let me tell you a story of the titan Prometheus," or some variation to that effect).

All of this comes from a class I took on Ancient Mythology and a couple classes on genre, archetypal thinking, and characterization. I'm not an expert, but I'm fascinated by the ways humanity hasn't really changed, even over several millennia. We still just have our blorbos, and believe me there's people on this hellsite that would go in the woods and hold a Bacchanal if society was still structured in a way that allowed it.

#hey remortal tony #which mutual is that #come find this post

[sideshow-tornado]

What is the most expansive fictional universe ever created?

The Tommy Westphall Universe. A long time ago, in a fabled era known as the ’80s, there was a TV show called St. Elsewhere. It was about a run down teaching hospital named St. Eligius in Boston and the doctors who worked there. Dr. Donald Westphall was the Director of Medicine, a widower he was raising his two children by himself. One of those children was his autistic son Tommy. Tommy only appeared in fifteen episodes of the series. St. Elsewhere ran for six seasons, and won eleven Emmys, but all anyone cares about today is its final episode. In the final scene of the final episode, it is revealed that the building of St. Eligius is inside a snow globe being held by Tommy Westphall. And his father, who is definitely not a doctor, comes in and says the following:

I don't understand this autism thing, Pop. Here's my son, I talk to him, I don't even know if he can hear me. He sits there, all day long, in his own world, staring at that toy. What's he thinking about?

The entire six seasons of St. Elsewhere were, in fact, a child’s daydream while looking at a snow globe.

So here’s where things start to get a little complicated. The St. Elsewhere character Dr. Roxanne Turner was in an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street where she was accused of murder. But… if Dr. Turner was just a creation of Tommy… how could she possibly be on Homicide? …Unless Homicide was also a day dream of Tommy. There is an episode of St. Elsewhere where the doctors of St. Eligius decide to go out for a few drinks at a local Boston bar. That bar happens to be Cheers, the titular bar from the sitcom Cheers. So all of Cheers, and Frasier, and Frasier again are products of Tommy’s imagination.

Detective John Munch was a character played by Richard Belzer who starred on Homicide: Life on the Street, which we know never existed. After the cancelation of Homicide, the character was moved Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Detective Munch also appears in the shows The Wire, The X-Files, and Arrested Development. So all those shows had to be the creation of Tommy Westphall.

Cheers spun off Frasier, which crossed over with Caroline in the City, which crossed over with Friends, which shared a character with Mad About You, which crossed over with Seinfeld. In a few centuries the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be Star Trek, but its distant past (sorry, spoilers) is the reboot of Battlestar Galactica. Doctor Who is canonically taking place in the same universe as I Love Lucy, Hannah Montana, Grey’s Anatomy, and All My Children.

And all of it is the creation of one child, which probably explains the continuity errors. Such as no one acknowledging the zombie outbreak in Georgia in The Walking Dead, which is happening at the exact same time as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Arrow.

If you map everything out, there are at least 419 shows which are all in the same continuity with each other, and all are canonically the creation of Tommy Westphall.

The first person to propose the Tommy Westphall Universe was legendary writer Dwayne McDuffie. Which was in a blog post criticizing comic book continuity. It was about just how silly it was to try to fit vast and mutually incoherent works all into the same rigid continuity. But you know… he was kind of onto something with that whole Tommy Westphall stuff.

They did all crossover with each other.

By the way, the Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy has Tobias Fünke on his ship, which means Tommy Westphall is responsible for the MCU.

(Found on Facebook, attribution unknown)

#pop culture #multiverse #tv multiverse #st elsewhere #fictional universe

[mischievousasgardian]

I have many mixed feelings about Thor and the Marvel franchise ever since Avengers, so I will be documenting all the things that will not appear in Thor: Love and Thunder below.

In Thor: Love and Thunder, we will not get to see:

Frigga as Allmother ruling Asgard like she deserved. Thanks for burning that bridge, Marvel.

Baldr, Tyr, or Angela. They screwed up the whole “surprise children we forgot to tell you about” so introducing any of these characters now would be rather redundant.

Heven

All the glorious warrior Lesbians Thor is supposedly the patron of. Sad, I know. But maybe we’ll get to see Valkyrie with a girlfriend? Maybe we can see all the worthy female bachelorettes in Asgard competing to be Queen of New Asgard. Sif vs Amora? Lol, jk.

Thor getting the emotional healing he deserves.

Flashbacks of Loki where we get to explore the complex relationship between him and Thor.

An introduction of Karnilla Queen of the Norns, which could lead to a confrontation between Thor and the Norns or even Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, because let’s be honest. That storyline is too complicated.

A major conflict with Thor searching for a way to restore the glory of the Nine Realms vs Jane, who uses the hammer to protect Earth and the current residents of New Asgard, because again. Too complicated.

A confrontation between Thor and the Norns or TWSAIS where Thor says he’s tired of their meddling, destroys the loom and brings everyone back the correct way as fate demands. (Idk, maybe Those Who Sit Above in Shadow found out that there was more residual energy from preventing the full Ragnarok Cycle from being realized so they removed key threads in the weaving, like Baldr and Loki’s children, and now they are able to draw on some energy produced from such a massive rewrite of history? Who knows. Definitely too complicated for the MCU.)

Thor brings back all the lost Asgardians or even just Loki and we get to enjoy Loki in the form of Kid Loki or Lady Loki. Who is even that picky anymore?

Things we might get in the upcoming movie:

Sif returns from wherever the Hel she went. I think someone mentioned that she was banished, though why Loki would banish Sif and not the rest of the Warrior’s Three is beyond me. Sadly, the Three are still dead along with anyone else who ever mattered most likely. *The wiki does say that Odin banished her, but is this mentioned in the movies?

Amora and Lorelei? (No promises this will even happen. When you can go back and say, well they did it in Agents of Shield, you could probably argue that they don’t really care about consistency anymore.) *Lorelei is portrayed in the show but not Amora.

Jokes about Thor’s intelligence and worthiness as God of Thunder. Nobody respects Thor.

Thor suffering but never adequately processing the trauma he has experienced through the loss of his family and being constantly reminded of his brother being a villain and how that is reflected in his own failures.

Some conversation about why Thor and Jane broke up and why it’s Thor’s fault because of his god-sized ego, or not caring enough, or putting Asgard/Midgard/ the Avengers first because he always has to play the hero.

#Just my thoughts on Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe #ooc #out of asgardia #there are probably canonical mcu errors here #i could binge all the marvel movies anytime #but also it hurts #the struggle is real #please feel free to add to this list so that we can be upset together

[trutrustories]

Okay, this will be probably long and with many errors (my english isn´t very good) But I saw several posts here on Lokius tag, talking about this ship as result of gay fetish, and about non existing chemistry and  how this ship doesn´t make sense etc… And from what I understood there is tagged Lokius because of genuine interest to understand others point of view, so here is mine: I wil try to explain where my frustration comes from, and how I feel about Lokius, Sylkie, AND representation + some other things which I saw here somewhere. But first of all: I like Sylvie, I don´t hate sylkie shipers, and after so many years reading fan fictions, I don´t mind selfcest – I read weirder things. I have some issues with this ship (the mainlythe fact that it isn´t Lokius), but  this is not one of them. Also, I am not about to tell anyone, they shouldn´t ship sylkie.Ship whatever. And I LOVED the show as a whole. 

I just want to defend my standpoint, that Lokius does make sense, people shipping it does make sense and whether it will happen or not, (I don´t have my hopes very high, and I learned to be very skeptical in this regard ) it is more than just about crack ship, or fetish. I´m honestly blown away that people are still surprised that this ship became a thing :D First of all, let´s look at some romantic story telling and tropes: I mean the way they introduced them in the first two episodes set the tone for all series and how the heck this isn´t romantic? Somehow there are all these romantic tropes existing in a show. They´re just there. Just chilling between Loki and Mobius and large portion of audience can´t even see them. (and some of those tropes were used for Sylki as well, so you could actually see them side by side)

For example: 1) traveling to the apocalypsis 2) breaking law/rules for the other 3) literally changing for the better thanks to the other 4) arguing like old married couple 5) saying secrets, personal things to the other 6) sharing glances, touches, visibly being happy around each other - in case of Loki happier then we´ve ever seen him before 7) being completely themselfs around each other 8) One knowing everything (even the worst) about other and still accepting him completely 9) teasing, being comfortable and domestic around each other 10) one being literally enthusiastic FAN of the other 11) Mobius defending Loki whenever he has a chance 12) Freaking amnesia trope that they pulled of in the end??? (It could be different Mobius, but point is he suddenly doesn´t know him - and Loki knows more, in contrast with the beggining) 13) the jealousy in ep4 14) Misunderstanding - when Mobius thought Loki betrayed him and Loki (thanks to Ravonna) thought Mobius betrayed him... 15) witnessing death of the other and being absolutely broken afterwards 16) The goodbye hug with romantic music in the backround 17) Saving life of the one (even when it means problems for the other ) - like Mobius saved Loki´s ass at least three times when he was trying to stop others from pruning him. 18) sharing deep conversations about meanings of life, freedom and how it would be fun to make some chaos and ride that fucking jet ski!!! 19) Inspiring the other 20) looking for each other (Mobius didn´t believe for a second, that Loki would die in the Void and the way how in the last minutes of the series Loki run through all places they were together when he was looking for Mobius... and I could go on. Point is, even if they are not planning to make Lokius canon, all these things are used on a daily basis to describe romance in media and they are used here. On top of that it´s just very poetic and cute, that this drama queen and powerful god of Asgard who looked down on people would find his match in someone, who is so quiet, ordinary on the first sight, and basically is just human from 90s, who loves jet skis. Mobius can´t even fight. But is highly inteligent and he also happen to be as good manipulator, such as Loki himself. - That´s why they work together so well. Mobius sees right through him and once Loki understands that, he drops his evil persona. Almost nobody expected to ship it for real. But story itself and chemistry between them just made it probably the most exciting duo in the whole MCU. And I mean it genuinely. Third episode, even though it was beautiful and Sophie was great in it (and is literally dipped in bisexual colors), is the least favorite for a reason. And that reason being, there is no interaction between Loki and Mobius whatsoever. Lot´s of people though that series slowed down a bit. Even when in fact there was more action, then when we watched Loki and Mobius working at the TVA.

(and let´s just talk about evil!Mobius narative for a bit and how some people say he is manipulative and toxic for Loki: show itself explore heavy themes and one of them is in Loki´s line: no one bad is ever truly bad and no one good is ever truly good. And as a theme in a fictional world, it is working as it should, for the  story. When Loki and Mobius meet, one of them just killed lots of innocent people and destroyed almost whole city. The other one is a part of fascist organization – and in the beginning of the series they both believe what they´re doing is right. They´re both bad, they´re both good, they´re both broken. And they are changing with the help of the other.) From all reactions I watched - and there was many of them, lots of people actually didn´t see dynamic between Loki and Sylvie as romantic in the third episode. So it´s not like Sylvie and Loki had unequivocally love story right from the start.

The only difference is that lots of people won´t see romantic tropes, when it comes to two men in a mainstream show – show that isn´t primarily about relationships and problems that queer people has to face. Because in super hero story and science fiction we have to warn audience, that they´re about to watch two man in love, right? At this point It´s just frustrating really. There were many M/M dynamics that used similar story line, as for example Lucifer, or X-files, or Bone collectors. -  But unlike those M/M pairings, no one was making fun of people for shipping main characters in these shows. But when it comes to two men suddenly you´ll see from all corners of the internet: “why can´t it be just platonic?” “There is not enough platonic relationships” “why can´t two man just be friends?” (They can and they almost ALWAYS are) and “if you think there something romantic between them, you´re delusional” “fetishist“ “And for god´s sake just let them be friends, Loki needs a friend more then....” oh wait, but Sylvie is allowed to kiss him. Sylvie doesn´t have to be just friend. (And I must say, that I love Sylvie, I liked most of the interactions between her and Loki and I think she is a great character ((I hope we learn more about her in the future)) it just doesn´t work for me as well as Loki´s dynamic with Mobius. Maybe partly because of chemistry between actors, partly because combination of characters and they´re personality and also because I had two whole episodes to fall in love with the pair before Sylvie was even introduced.)

First of all: people can be friends and then evolve into lovers. Not only it is common romantic trope, but it is also the most realistic one. And those relationships are usually strongest. second: If people want to see Loki in a platonic friendship so desperately, why can´t it be a woman for a change? They were acting like chaotic siblings for most of the episode three anyway. The age gap aspect is also very funny. Owen is only about 12 years older (That is not that much. But I imagine, some people would get uncomfortable. But If it was man and woman, most of them wouldn´t even blinked. But two men, that has to be somehow automatically son and father figure dynamic) And If you want to dive into age of an actual characters, then good luck with that in a series about gods, variants and time travel. Almost nobody cares about age gap between Lucifer and detective Decker, or Bella and Edward. On top of that, it was heavily implied, that Loki slept with older, silver haired guy in Ragnarok, so it´s not like he would have problem with that.

Different standards are projected in a way how we see romantic dynamics between fictional characters depends on what we are used to, how are we perceiving world around us, what we are expecting to see and ALSO, what we would like to see, that much is true.  When people are used to make no differences between heterosexual and homosexual pairing, then everything what happens to the characters is measured with the same meter. (Even though I experienced queerbaiting many times (( Once upon a time, Sherlock, Supernatural, Good Omens – the last one hopefully is not the case, but I guess we´ll see)) I also saw lots of lgbt shows like Queer as folks and Sense8.) And when we are not used to see it the same way, well… then it looks basically like that one comment under Castiel´s “I love you” scene on youtube, that said  “what a beautiful friendship”.

If we forget about all that chaotic mess behind the scenes (all those articles and contrary messages)  What is happening in a show between Loki and Mobius can be objectively considered romantic and what is happening between Loki and Sylvie in a series can be objectively considered platonic (until the kiss) and vice versa.  And then to see comments about how absurd it is to even think they have chemistry, and about gay fetish - it´s hard to swallow. I read posts about absurdity of a ship and how there is absolutely nothing that would suggests romance.  Well there is, actually. But whether creators are going to work with it or not, that´s something we can only speculate. They already made Loki officially bisexual. So why should it be so absurd to assume, that there is an actual possibility of romantic subplot between Loki and Mobius? Oh right… it´s Disney and Marvel we are talking about.

So on a subject of bisexuality: Bi people can date whoever they want.  But It is a little frustrating, when there is so many heterosexual pairings in the mcu and disney but when there is a promise of lgbt character (speaking of endgame) we get one line about date from a man we´ll never see again. And when there is a promise of lgbt representation you can´t even blink during movie, or you´ll miss it (Star wars, Beauty and the beast). And then Loki said “A bit of both, I suspect the same as you”. And I won´t lie, I was happy. And I think creators made biggest step yet with this one line (which is honestly terrible, that “a bit of both” coming from Loki of all people, is the biggest step forward.) But they played it VERY safe. Obviously, both Loki, and Sylvie are bisexuals, and in three episodes, we had Loki flirting with female flight attendant, Sylvie talking about her relationship with POSTMAN and then they fall for each other. So the only thing that suggests they are really as bi as Lamentis 1 is that little sentence, that can be edited out, or easily overheard. It´s the bare minimum. And I think that frustration with how freaking slowly we´re moving into some progress is understandable. From all those great M/M dynamics I talked about, those, that could make great love story, nothing happened, because too many people “don´t mind gays but don´t need to look at them” or are scared for their children. In 2021.

It is not a fetish to wish for a gay love story in superhero movies/series. (But anyway, I don´t think there is anything bad about it. Some men like to watch lesbian porn, some woman like to read gay porn. AO3 wouldn´t be were it is today, without people reading and writing slash :D – but that has little to do with what we actually see on tv)

I´m not delusional. As much, as I love these two characters together, I know how little chance it has.  I´m not delusional. I´m just in the future, old and tired, waiting hundreds of years for at least one of my OTP to finaly become a fucking canon.

#Lokius #loki series #LOKI AND MOBIUS #mobius m mobius #loki

[sassysnowperson]

writer's meme - TY to @r0b0tb0y for the tag!

How many works do you have on AO3?

168 - oh man that's more than I'd realized. I passed 150 and didn't even notice!

What’s your total AO3 word count?

1,133,901

So many.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Since r0b0tb0y and I were just talking about this, I conveniently have a list of all 20 ranked by number of works

134 - Star Wars 7 - Original Works 7 - Marvel 2 - Pirates of The Carribean 2 - The Old Guard 2 - Discworld 1 - Good Omens 1 - Leverage 1 - The Good Place 1 - Avatar: The Last Airbender 1 - Ocean’s 11 1 - Harry Potter 1 - The Goblin Emperor 1 - Gundam Wing 1 - Star Trek: TNG 1 - Hades (Videogame) 1 - Sailor Moon 1 - Russian Doll 1 - Mummy/Wonder Woman crossover

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Lol, looking at my top five - it falls into two categories

1. Fics I wrote right at the height of a fandom's popularity that got a massive reader boost because it was the Hot Thing Right Then

2. Star Wars Fix-Its

~

A Series of Better Decisions - A Padme/Obi-Wan/Anakin SW Prequel Trilogy fix-it where Anakin talks to Obi-Wan and spends Revenge of the Sith in a stressed-out bisexual panic instead of becoming a Space Fascist. He winds up fake-poly-dating Obi-Wan to try to bring down Palpatine, and eventually winds up in a better place due to the power of Quitting Your Job and becoming a househusband.

Galactic Response Time - Captain Marvel - an at the time MCU canon-compliant gen fic that ran the universe forward and explained how Carol really TRIED to show up for all those other crises that happened, but it turns out most of the major MCU disasters only lasted like three days and space is real big, y'all. Featuring Nick Fury cathartically bitching with his Space Bestie.

New Lands for the Living - Fix-it where the sequel trilogy ends Even Worse, Poe goes back in time to mercy-kill the timeline, and much to his dismay winds up married to just-before-Original-Trilogy Luke Skywalker. He has an existential crisis about his own existence, meets some competent women, and starts fixing things.

Life's Little Pleasures - The Good Omens fic where I put all my ace feelings, featuring metaphysical bonding and good scotch.

Flustered - Another Padme/Anakin/Obi-Wan SW Prequel Trilogy fix-it, where Order 66 never happens. Anakin gets some therapy and Padme gets a horrible crush on Obi-Wan.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do! I love getting to talk to people about fics, and I so appreciate people making the effort to comment I want to spend some time with them! It's so much easier not to comment, I know.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm this is not my normal wheelhouse. I usually go angst that gets resolved by the end. Let me look to see what the options are.

Okay, I think we've got two contendors: In Waystation an exhausted Poe Dameron crash-lands in a station where a Bodhi Rook that lived and then hid now lives with Baze and Chirrut. There is a little epilgue that implies they're going to meet again, but the bulk of the fic does end with Poe making the decision to go back to the Resistance, and leaving Bodhi behind. Still, I think it's more wistful, rather than angsty.

Time Enough for Mourning takes it though, I think. Davits Draven/Antoc Merrick, that is entirely about Draven mourning the fact that Antoc has died. The end is still, I think, more cathartic than angsty, but it is overall probably the strongest "break out the waterworks" of my fics.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I do occasionally, usually when someone prompts me and I find something in there that makes my brain go!!! I think the strangest is probably The Face Underneath. It's a Cassian Andor/Elim Garak fic where I drag Garak into the Star Wars Universe for a triple drabble series where he is an old mentor of Cassian's.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Mmm, not proper hate. Realtalk, the most devastating one for me was when I posted a fic that the only comment was a spelling critique.

And yes, there was a spelling error, but still, very crushing to have that be the only feedback. (It has since found a few readers that said nice things, very healing :D)

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes! Uh - consensual, between adults, often M/M adults, tho I have written explicit femslash, hetfic, and poly piles. It's usually affectionate, often plays with power dynamics even if it doesn't go into full dom/sub.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that anyone has made me aware of, I've never looked.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Had a request or two, but never been linked the result - so not sure if it didn't happen or if I just didn't get linked. I welcome it!

I have had several fics podficced, and I LOVE that. What a joy! Making a blanket permission statement that allowed podfic is one of the best decisions I've made as a fic author. Suddenly, Podfic!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Once or twice! I like the idea of doing it, but follow-through is hard. Hoping to do some co-writing soon though, so we will see!

What’s your all time favourite ship?

Sorry, unrepentant multi-shipper here. I like possibilities, and finding the story that will bring people together, more than one specific thing.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I don't have ANYTHING I've given up on, but there are a few fics in my unpublished drafts that were beautiful ideas, and really struggled to become contained stories. They all want to be sprawling things, and I have not felt sprawling-thing-writing passionate about those ideas. But, you never know! Inspiration may strike.

What are your writing strengths?

I'd say character voice, along with that, dialogue. Also humor moments that still have real weight and don't undercut the story, as well as straight comedy writing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

You see, I, uh, do this thing where I don't really end a sentence - I think about ending it, I even assume, at some point while I'm writing that I have ended it; I have not and it meanders, persistently, until I have constructed a whole paragraph made out of one chain of words and a hodgepodge of punctuation.

Also the thing where I accidentally use an unusual word five times in one paragraph because my brain has grabbed onto it like an excited puppy and keeps offering it up as the Perfect Word.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I love having multilingual characters. When writing, I tend to keep all the words in English and use dialogue tags to denote language shift - unless I am inventing the language, or have a speaker of that language willing to beta the bits to make sure I don't mess them up too badly.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Actually wrote and posted? Rogue One.

Fandom of my heart my younger self spun out stories in my imagination about? Where if I had my own computer and easy access to a fic archive they almost certainly would have become spectacularly earnest fics?

ReBoot and Sailor Moon. The Sailor Moon was an AU that took place on the sun and they all had kick-ass horses. Baby Sass knew what was up.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Nope, sorry, can't pick, love them all in different ways for different reasons.

Tagging: @semisweetshadow, @anamelesstraveler, @jules-of-the-crown - and generally if you follow me and want to do it, do so and tag me in it!

#fic talk #about the writer #long post #text post

[lumilasi]

I saw this in my feed and since I was pretty bored and FINALLY free from the said boredom, figured I could do this one. I generally enjoy question based tags, especially if they relate to art/writing/fandom/are some general things about favorite colors, music, foods, things about your home country etc.

(basically, you can tag me in stuff similar to listed above things and I’ll probably do them if I see them/have time lmao)

Fic Writer Questions!

How many works do you have on AO3? 

44 total. I used to have more but I’ve deleted an old Bleach one I knew I’d never continue to write, and two bnha ones for the same reason (those two were also at the very beginning stages so nobody missed a lot anyway)

What's your total AO3 wordcount? 

4 269 068......wow. It’s even MORE than I even imagined. Over 4 million words. 

....Someone take my writing tools away from me lmao

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

 Three. I started with MCU, moved on to Bleach and now I’ve done most ofr BNHA

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 

Crossroads - 3069 

Family Secrets - 3015 

Reanimate - 1534 

The neighbor - 809 

Espada and Fraccion - 782

.....Admittedly this list surprised me. Not the first three but the last two. The fifth is an one shot for Bleach that I wrote AGES ago. I also for some reason expected this list to match the bookmark list more lmao

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I always try to respond to every comment I get, but often times when it’s just one word or a heart emoji I don’t really know what to say, so I might not reply to those. I do appreciate every comment I get, and read every single one, even if I don’t respond

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? 

I don’t do angst endings typically, but Family Secrets is probs the most obvious choice, given what happens at the end. 

- and its not even the real end, because I couldn’t help myself and made two more stories for the AU that was like “hey! this character I made you all love so much actually DIDN’T die, he just had unfinished business back home” lmao

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you've ever written? 

Rarely, typically they’re between my own fics (the story that crosses the paths of Crossroads and Family Secrets AU’s, literally titled Crossover, creative name I know OTL I was out of ideas) 

Or between me and other people’s fics. Currently there’s two, both with Crossroads: one with Theteapotofdoom’s fic Something Good, and another with leontheneon’s fic Here with you. Both stories are basically a two part series that is non canon to actual Crossroads. The first story is finished, second one has two chapters left...that...I uh...struggle to write it seems OTL

(not tagging either person into this because Tea is very busy IRL right now so I don’t want to bother her, and Leon hasn’t been around in ages, IDK if they even use tumblr anymore)

Have you ever received hate on a fic? 

Not really no? I can only remember one time with somebody kind of demanding me to completely rewrite one fic in the past. It wasn’t really hate, more just...kinda unreasonable in my eyes? This was years ago by now.

While I did understand their side and the particular struggle they had (once they actually explained it, the first comment at the time came off pretty rude and demanding), I still feel them wanting me to re-write an entire multi-chapter fic just for them is a bit unreasonable, like said.

Like it wasn’t just couple of grammatical errors that was their issue, we’re talking weeks and even months long process of completely reworking multi-chapter story, because the grammar wasn’t tip top perfect. (I’m not a native speaker so there’s bound to be some mistakes; pointing out small occasional things is one thing - asking me to rewrite an entire multi-chapter story is another)

You can imagine that is not exactly high on my priorities list with IRL responsibilities and being more focused on the actual content of what I write, the ongoing stories I’m updating. This fic isn’t even finished yet either, so...yeah. Like after they explained their side of the story I was a bit more understanding, but its still....a bit ridiculous and unreasonable in my eyes to ask somebody to do such a massive overhaul when the story isn’t even finished yet?? Like maybe once its done and I have time I can go and edit it, but not when I haven’t even finished it lmao

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Nah. I don’t care about smut a whole lot personally. I much more enjoy writing emotional scenes, character interactions and mystery. Plot over porn basically lmao 

Have you ever had a fic stolen? 

I don’t...do people actually do this? It feels like such a weird and pointless thing to do. It’s fanfic. stuff you write for fun and for free, for people to read for free. I’d also imagine its pretty easy to get caught given AO3 shows when you first posted your story. 

Have you ever had a fic translated?

 Yes, a couple of times. In Russian and I think other one was Chinese?

Have you ever co-written a fic before? 

Writing the crossovers was kinda that? Like I asked feedback from Tea and Leon on how to write them. there was also actually third crossover story that was supposed to happen (only I wasn’t going to be the one to write it) but this project has been shelved as the other person had to drop majority of online activity due to some IRL health related things. (I’m just glad they recently contacted me to inform they were doing better)

What’s your all time favorite ship? 

Right now it’s..probably pretty obvious its Shigadabi, but I can never really say any ship is my all time fave, as it always changes depending on the fandom lmao. 

I guess my favorite character x proper sleep/emotional stability/happiness will always be the OTP

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oof. I always try to finish every single one, and if I absolutely know I won’t, I tend to just delete them. Thankfully I’ve only done it thrice. Which I guess is still a lot, but compared to how much I write, in context not really? 

What are your writing strengths?

From what I’ve gathered of feedback, its typically emotional moments/character dialogue and interaction/character arcs and so. Mystery plots too. Or maybe that last one is just me lmao

What are your writing weakness?

Personally, while I tend to get positive feedback on both, sometimes I feel like I struggle to choose a good pacing for a fic, and fight scenes are always a pain. Namely, I might struggle with making the pace too long-winded and slow sometimes. Ironically, my IRL update pacing is probs a bit too fast in turn. (To add another layer of irony, I got an update ready for Unravel that I’ll post after making this tag)

Also writing shorter stories. I’ve been trying to write one-shots more (like the Spinaraki series thing) to kinda try and get myself to pack up my stories better and not let them always spiral out of control haha

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I did try to do that once with a fic I deleted, I had a native speaker help me with the canadian french bits. This person is no longer active on tumblr, and I deleted that fic because I realized I’d never finish it. 

Technically tho, as a non-native English speaker, EVERY word is in other language to me lmao. I could only add Finnish as an extra one easily, and it rarely makes sense to do so anyway.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for? 

MCU. It’s what I originally made my AO3 for, as I felt brave enough to post things. I also can’t remember writing fandom related stuff before that, it was typically more oc related. Writing fics has helped me learn a lot about world-building, character consistency and all that stuff, without having to make everything from scratch (tho I do enjoy doing that as well of course). I feel like my original work writing has improved too thanks to my fic writing shenanigans in a way lmao. Tho that might just be me, IDK

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? 

Oooof. This changes a lot depending on the time. I can never really pick just one either: my current favorites are Stringmaster, The neighbor and Family Secrets

Stringmaster because I love building the Steampunk AU, and Tomura’s relationship with Dabi and his Sensei, The neighbor because I personally think the romance build up in that one is probably one of the best I’ve done so far (the character dialogue in that is among my favorites I’ve written as well) and FS, because it taught me a lot about character building through writing a character like Hisashi.

 Plus I just really like Hisashi. 

And baby Izuku and little Tenko are super adorable. 

And Inko is the best mum.

 Also the fact the whole story is so ironic in a sense its still kinda funny to me. 

The only writer I know that might be around rn is @nightlilly0110 soo...I guess I’ll tag them if they want to do this! Anybody who’s a writer can snatch this too of course ;)

#tag game #writer tag #fic writing

[ironxkid]

why don't you like endgame or civil war

((hoo buddy, idk what brought this up but salt under the cut!! Like... a lot of salt - specifically regarding Endgame lmao

I’m gonna start off with CACW because it’s a short response lol

I don’t like it simply because I was done with the infighting between the Avengers. The found family crumbs we were given in Endgame was something I really wanted to see, and them just... ripping them apart frustrated me lol

honestly, the movie was... fine? Idk, I found it to be a lil slow for my taste (it felt like it just dragged on when I watched it in theaters), and I just don’t care for it in general  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also, ngl, I’m really bummed that Captain America: Serpent Society was a joke announcement because that sounds dope as hell and I really wanted to see that before I realized it’d been a joke dfgjhdsfhj

but, yeah, literally just because CACW is specifically an infighting movie annoys me to no end so I just won’t watch it again dgsfjhsfdhj

now, Endgame?

fuck Endgame

I. have a lot of issues with it, all of which are major grievances throughout the fandom. I’m pissed they killed Natasha and didn’t even bother giving her a fucking funeral because, I quote from Joe Russo, “Well, Tony does not have another movie. Tony is done. And Natasha has another film. And Marvel Universe obviously does not have to move forward linearly anymore. But that character still has more screen time coming.” (see here) and that annoys the hell out of me. She’s getting another movie - great! So you killed one of the few characters doing her fucking best to keep everything together at the compound, the one who was taking charge, give her a big role, and then murk her and... give her nothing but a brief mention at the end. Like... what the fuck? Natasha deserved so much better than what she was given. Tony’s funeral could’ve (and, frankly, should’ve) been a funeral for him, Natasha, and Vision because god forbid we see anyone mourn Vision other than Wanda

(actually this post covers how Endgame fucked over the MCU women perfectly, though Wanda’s not mentioned :c )

plus... Tony’s not done lol - he’s still a massive figure in the films/shows despite RDJ not acting in them, so his character has left shockwaves that aren’t dying any time soon. Natasha... basically disappeared, and I believe she would’ve been dropped completely if it wasn’t for the fact she does have a film coming out soon. Which, frankly, seems awesome and all, but it’s a film that goes back to post-CACW pre-IW and... frankly doesn’t give me any reason to understand why that means she didn’t get a funeral. She’s not coming back in future movies/shows that are in present MCU timeline - her movie is set in the past. She could’ve gotten a decent sendoff 

now, Clint’s arc as Ronin rubs me the wrong way. I know it’s a huge thing in the comics, and it’s not him taking a different mantle that I have an issue with. It’s the fact he, a white man, went around murdering people and got off scot-free. Yes, he was targeting genuinely bad people, but... to show that, they specifically singled out Mexican cartels and the yakuza (Japanese mafia, essentially) - so, in other words, the bad guys were people of color! I feel like I don’t need to explain how fucked up that is. And, to clarify, I love Clint! Clint is honestly one of my favorite characters, and the whole thing was just handled... poorly in the film

Tony’s arc genuinely hurts. This is a man who has suffered for years and has tried to make things right, and finally got a chance to settle down. He finally retired from the Avengers, finally settled down, and had a fucking life he could enjoy despite his ghosts, and yet... His arc ends with a message of “tortured soul finally gets rest by dying”. Because, y’know, it’s great seeing yet another long-suffering character only reaching peace through death, because god forbid they let characters heal! He could’ve still caused the second Snap, and he could’ve survived. He could’ve finally been able to step away for good and focus on his family, focus on recovering, and be truly happy. What’s so wrong with letting him stay alive so he can rest and be with his family? What’s so wrong with letting a long-suffering character finally find peace after one last bang? 

plus it pisses me off that they’re now using him as a reasoning as to why bad things are still happening. Why is this person the bad guy? Because Tony Stark somehow may or may not have done something that hurt them! Even though most of that really stems from Howard or Obadiah. Tony just ends up getting the blame in their place. He’s just an easy target to use, much like the tesseract seems to be the go-to answer for why things go wrong. But this is a different train of thought

Steve’s ending pisses me off just as much as the next person lmao. You take a character who has acknowledged he no longer belongs in the past (which, funnily enough, was written by the Russos), aaaaaaand have him go back to the past while ignoring two important people in his life that were still right there. He got Bucky and Sam back, and he leaves them. His arc is ruined within a matter of minutes, and it paints a hella bad picture of him in the process. He goes back in time to stay with Peggy (which ultimately destroys her own arc, and the fact she’s a person outside of her relationship (or lack thereof) with him because, y’know, why have her be able to move on and be her own person?), and we’re supposed to believe he’s fine with everything he knows from the future? Fine with knowing Bucky’s trapped with HYDRA and is suffering as the Winter Soldier? Fine with knowing HYDRA has infested SHIELD from day one? Fine with knowing Howard and Maria are going to die? Fine with royally fucking up the timelines? We’re supposed to believe he sat back and did nothing with all of that? They could’ve had him still hand the shield over to Sam - they could’ve let Steve stay an Avenger without the mantle

also the fact the Russos said he didn’t recognize Red Skull when he returned to Vormir to return the soul stone? Like... what the fuck?? Not to mention he literally returns the stone to Vormir, which “soul for a soul”, and they didn’t bring Nat back that way??

and now onto Thor. Thor... holy fuck is this hitting something personal for me. Thor was ridden with guilt - he was furious with himself, hated himself, and blamed himself for failing to stop the Snap. He fell into a massive depression, and... was promptly danced around as laughing stock. Like, “oh! look at Thor! he’s fat and drunk because he’s depressed haha!” - like fuck off. It’s not funny in any form. His suffering was made into a joke and it pisses me off because I suffer from depression. A lot of people suffer from depression. It’s not funny. It’s fucking terrifying at times. I wasted a shit ton of money on a stupid online sim game because it was a distraction - it gave me... god, I wouldn’t even say temporary happiness, but it gave me something to temporarily help, and I still hate myself for doing it. It was a poor decision on my part, and I wish I could change it. And, during that time, I was scared because I couldn’t see myself pulling out of it. I thought I was gonna feel that way forever. I called out of work multiple times because there were days I couldn’t stop crying (something I still feel horrible for doing), I couldn’t get myself to contact any of my friends for months, and it was all because the medication I was on at the time... stopped working. Thankfully, my depression doesn’t work in a way that makes me a danger to myself, so that wasn’t an issue, but it still fucking sucked. And to see a character that I could relate to on such a personal level treated as laughing stock fucking hurt. I’m not sharing this for sympathy - I’m sharing this because it Thor’s arc hit home and it’s literally the main reason why I will not watch Endgame again

this is more of a nitpick than anything else, but... I didn’t really care for Carol in it tbh? Which is unfortunately because Captain Marvel is one of my absolute favorite movies! And I’m well aware she was introduced in Endgame while CM was being drafted, but that in itself is annoying?? Because Carol was originally going to be introduced in AoU, but was cut because it wasn’t going to introduce her character properly. And yet they decide to introduce her character in a clusterfuck of a movie before her movie is in the final stages, and proceed to release her movie first and then give a complete different characterization in her following appearance

honestly I just wanna cover this now to clarify some things regarding Carter and her backstory: the only reason I keep Endgame as is is because it felt easier for me to do so for the purpose of bending canon for specific threads. I wanted to stay as true to the given plots as possible to help with fudging of both the movies and her background, and also because I didn’t want anyone to feel like I was trying to force my own headcanons onto them, y’know? 

I’m just gonna plug this here because fuck it lol, but I did start a fix-it fic regarding Endgame that you can read here! I... probably won’t finish it tbh, and I haven’t gone over it in a hot minute so it might be riddled with errors ahah - plus I’m not sure about how I wrote the characters! I get nervous when writing canon characters because I feel like I’ll miss their characterization completely, which is actually why I,,, rarely rp canon characters dgfjhgsfdhj

also the image in the doc was created by @/archervale!! 

#ooc #((I think I covered what I wanted and I hope it makes sense dgjhdfh #I'm pretty tired but I'm doing laundry so I figured I'd answer this while I wait #but yeah I don't care for CACW and I honest to god hate Endgame #the potential is there and it just never reached it)) #((I'm not even gonna touch the Russos directing style #'hey guys we're gonna film a wedding sIKE IT'S A FUNERAL' #like?? MAJORLY different event fellas #also I'm literally going off what I remember from Endgame so I'm sure there's QUITE a bit I'm missing #but I'm not watching it to make a bigger salt post lol #I don't hate watch things because I would much rather watch something I'd enjoy #tbh I don't understand hate watching at all but that's a different conversation gsdfjhdfhj)) #death mention tw #depression tw

[chaoticacecryptid]

tagged by: @archervale and @picnokinesis (YOU ALLUDED ME FOR NOW DSFHDFS)

rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 8 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work!

I honestly forgot I actually created things this year fgdjhfdshj - a lot of it tho is gonna be linked to my other blogs bc I don’t really post stuff here x’D

@ironxkid - sO, I made this rp blog a few weeks ago, but I honestly really love it!! it’s an mcu oc of mine that I’ve had for about four years now, and it’s the first time I’ve really... done much of anything with her publically sdfhdsfh - albeit a lot is different from her actual canon just to make her more rp friendly, but!! she’s my favorite oc and one day I will actually publish fics with her bc I have written a lot for her 

Glowworm - okay, so this is linked to my Wings of Fire sideblog that I’ve,,, dropped (whoops fdghjsdfh), but!! I’m super proud with how it turned out!! dragons are hard man sdfgjhd

Apples - this is also a link to a different blog of mine, but this one for Warriors! I participated in ArtFight this year (which I,,, completely forgot about until now dfsjhsdfh), and this was one of my entries!! I have never drawn so many apples before I don’t know if I want to ever again dgshjsd

Maria Hill playlist - yEAH so I made a Maria Hill playlist!! I was briefly rping her on a mcu discord server (I had to drop it tho - I wanna try coming back at some point tho!), so I had to make a playlist to go with her!! bc I love making playlists sdgfjhsdfh

Leafstar - another link to my murder cat blog, and I really like how it came out!!

Animal Crossing sona - and yet another link to my murder cat blog (I post a lot of art there what can I say sghjsfh), but this time for a meme thing!! I was basically assigned what my ac sona would be and tada!! I’m a normal deer that says yeehaw fdshsdf

it should be different - oKAY so technically not this year, but!! I did edit a tad bit this year so I’m gonna count it fdsghjdsfh - anyway! it’s basically a fix-it fic for the ending of Endgame, but I,,, honestly don’t know if I’ll ever finish it lmao I do enjoy it! but I just,,, don’t have the drive to finish it atm, but that could change in the future! just be warned it’s not edited-edited (like, there’s probably gonna be a good chunk of errors dfgsjhsdfh), and idk how well characterization is, but I do like it!! also, the image in the doc was made by @archervale! uwu

I know it isn’t 8 things, but I’m drawing a blank sfgjhlsdfhj - I have written a lot more this year regarding Carter, bUT a lot of it is no longer canon to her au and idk if I really wanna share those just yet dfhjdfh

tagging: idk man dghjsdfhj - whoever wants to dot this!

#a wild midge appears #tag game

[marypsue]

Tagged by: @mira-eyeteeth

Author Name: MaryPSue

Fandoms You Write For: Too many to list! Anything that I either love and want to learn to imitate, or want to rescue at least one character from. I’ve been most prolific for Gravity Falls and Rise of the Guardians/Guardians of Childhood, with honourable mention to Rick and Morty. (Seriously? That’s my third-most prolific fandom? Well, I guess I have no one to blame for this but myself.)

Where You Post: Here, and AO3. 

Most Popular One-Shot: Based on hits alone, it would appear to be The Incident with Mrs Peterson (Gravity Falls Transcendence AU, a sequel to Return, Rewind, Rewrite). 

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: Again, by hits, Reincarnation Blues (Gravity Falls Transcendence AU). 

Favorite Story You Wrote: I’m gonna do one from each of those three most prolific fandoms up there, because I’ve been posting this shit for longer than I really want to think about and picking one ‘favourite’ from one hundred and eighteen posted works (not counting all the individual oneshots in each oneshot collection) is just not an undertaking I’m going to get into tonight.

Gravity Falls: Hive! I fear I will never write anything that so completely, absolutely captures exactly what I set out to write ever again in my life. As far as I can tell, the mood is there, the Ian Worrel visuals are there, the pacing is there, the slow, creeping horror is there, the mix of horror and humour is there, the weird identity bullshit is there, the characterisation is there, the canon tone and voices are there... 

ROTG/GOC: Dreamland. This was the fic that introduced me to my girlfriend and vice versa, and also the fic that introduced me to the X-Files. Both extremely momentous accomplishments. It also was an exercise in lyrical writing that I haven’t quite captured since.

RAM: Boiling a Frog. I set out to spread around as much pain as possible while doing my best to keep it all implied. It’s my favourite thing about the source canon and, imo, the trickiest (but most rewarding) part of it to try to imitate. 

Honourable mention to What Happens in Space Vegas because I giggled the whole time I was writing it.

Story You Were Nervous to Post: Like, all of them? Writing is the mortifying ordeal of being known, even when you’re using other people’s characters.

How Do You Choose Your Titles: Half of them are stolen song lyrics slash lines from poetry in pretentious lowercase, half of them are bad puns. 1% margin for error for the, like, two that are just titled like episodes of Friends.

Do You Outline: If by ‘outline’ you mean ‘have approximately three notes documents and a paper notebook full of post-it notes with different Things I Realised Had To Be In It, slash Thinking Through Things That Aren’t Working, But On Paper, Because That Helps Sometimes, Somehow for each project’, then yes. They’re usually updated constantly the whole time I’m working on the fic - sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot.

Complete: One Hun Dred And Six Teen Works, Babey

In-Progress: The creatively-named Adventure Zone: Balance sequel!fic Imbalance, and Something Borrowed, Something Blues, the sequel to Reincarnation Blues! They’re both actively updating, my update “’”schedule”’” is just glacial.

Coming Soon: Endings for both my published WIPs. I ammmmm also sitting on a couple of things that are all or mostly finished, but they're not likely to get posted, because unfortunately they're not any good and I don't know how to fix them, or they're a specific brand of weird I'm not sure the greater reading public would appreciate or have any use for, or I got fed up with the canon and stopped watching but now I don't know how it ends. Sorry, everyone who followed me because you liked my writing! I peaked in Gravity Falls fandom and it's all downhill from here.

Do You Accept Prompts: Not unless explicitly stated on the blog. I do open up for prompts every now and then, but I’ll reblog a prompt meme or something if I do.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: Look, fool's errand or not, I’m still trying to wrangle that damn SPN/MCU Thor fic into something readable. There’s something there. If I ever manage to excavate it (unlikely), you’ll all probably be the first to know. Whether you want to or not.

Tagging @gretchensinister, @tejoxys, @viletorpedo, annnnd...anybody else who saw this and went ‘aw fuck yeah, fic meme’.

#somehow over the last year or so i turned into a fandom basic bitch #sorry folks! it's all hyperfixations on two-year cycles on this blog #// #/// #//// #meme #long post #seriously unless you folks wanna join me in this hole I don't foresee any new posted fic until I find something else to obsess over #because right now my brain is Rural Queer Feelings about fantasy interspecies dysphoria 100% of the time #but i know it's 2019 and it's naff to take hiddlesloki remotely seriously

[emutempo]

Ashes to Ashes (Natasha Romanoff x Maria Hill fic)

It’s been a while since I first created this account and announced my intention to use this tumblr as a writing blog. I’d say I sure failed a bit in that regard. Life sure does find a way to, well, get in the way. If I’m being honest, I’m still struggling with the anxiety of posting my writing for others to read. 

But, I’ve recently gotten into the MCU and became a bit obsessed with the Romanoff / Hill pairing. I’m absolutely delighted to see there’s a community for this pairing and have been blown away by the fics I’ve read on here and AO3. So much so, I’ve been a bit intimidated to jump into this thing! Luckily, this little obsession of mine is one I can’t keep in my brain anymore. I had to start putting some words on paper. And to help me rid myself of my fear, I decided to post it here and commit myself to facing that fear. 

With that, I bring you my first foray into Blackhill/Martasha. It’s an unfinished first chapter of a fic I’m calling Ashes to Ashes. Apologies for posting an unfinished chapter but I wanted to post this before I got cold feet and deleted the whole thing. 

It takes place during the final fight with Thanos in Avengers:Infinity War. Since I’m new to this ship and the MCU in general please forgive me if I’ve made any egregious errors in regards to the canon or the community! I’ve tweaked a few things but for the most part, tried to stay true to the events across the MCU.

Once I finish this chapter, I’ll edit this post to include the ending of the chapter and post a link to the story on AO3 in case anyone likes this enough for me to continue. I’d love to know what anyone thinks.

Edit: I finished the chapter! I made a couple of tweaks to what I had posted previously too. Nothing major. Just some sentence restructuring I think improves the writing a bit. 

I’ve also uploaded to AO3 under my handle EmuTempo. 

ASHES TO ASHES: Chapter 1

WAKANDA. PRESENT DAY

All she could smell was dirt and all she could feel was pressure. The ground was like quick sand. Every move she made settled the dirt around her, tightening its hold on her. Like she was buried alive.

Natasha had faced a lot of adversaries throughout her career, some of them capable, dangerous even. And whether it seemed like it or not, she usually had the upper hand. Even against these new alien foes that were popping up over the last few years. Despite all of that, rarely was she ever frightened. But in this moment, as she lay in the dirt, hearing her team, her family, succumbing to this unstoppable enemy and the power of the Infinity stones he wielded, she was scared. 

She had been trained to lose her fear of the ultimate failure, death. She was just a cog in the Red Room’s machine, a pawn on their chess board with no place in the world for herself. Her life already forfeited to the mission. And what had it meant to her? She had nothing and no one to live for. At least not until Nick Fury and SHIELD saved her from the shell of an existence she thought she deserved. Until she had a team who cared what happened to her and had her back.

Until… she met her. 

SHIELD HQ. WASHINGTON D.C. 2008

The Triskelion was impressive even if it was still undergoing renovations. Natasha felt a fleeting moment of pride as she walked through the front doors that this was her new home. No. ‘Home’ was putting too much weight to it. She quickly snuffed out the feeling. A muscle memory triggered by self-preservation. She forced herself to relax a bit. She may not be sure about the rest of SHIELD but for now, she trusted Fury. For now. It helped having Clint there by her side and he trusted the SHIELD Director. And at worst, if things went south, she knew Clint would have her back. 

As they walked through the HQ, Natasha took in her surroundings. Sure, it was part of her training to identify and memorize the layout, the rooms, personnel and most importantly, the exits. But this was more of a ‘sizing up,’ like assessing a safe house. What are the vulnerabilities? Choke points in the hallways? Unsecured air vents? Natasha had to admit, SHIELD was an advanced facility clearly designed with defense in mind. She wondered if the scarcity of personnel in the hallways was coincidental or if Fury had ordered it for her sake. Or maybe SHIELD’s own sake? She couldn’t know, of course, and it would be counter productive to ask Fury. 

Natasha and Clint took an elevator to the top floor and a short stairwell to the roof where they found the trench coat clad Director and two agents beside him, looking out onto the Potomac. Natasha recognized one of the agents — Agent Coulson. Fury had introduced them after her de-conditioning at an unmarked SHIELD off-site facility in who knows where. Coulson was one of Fury’s right hands and Natasha liked him. He had an easy and calming demeanor and she’d bet a few rubles he could keep his cool under fire. 

But the other agent next to Fury was unfamiliar to her. Even with her back to Natasha, she could tell a few things about this new-to-her agent. A few inches shorter than Fury, she was tall, wearing a well-fitting suit that revealed a toned physique. Clearly she took care of herself and appearance. Her hair was in a low bun and that with her militaristic posture let Natasha assume she was probably ex military. Her arms were crossed against her chest but her shoulders were relaxed. Was it doubt? Apprehension? Or maybe she was chilly from the breeze coming off the river and onto the rooftop?  Not surprising for a SHIELD operative. Natasha would need more than just a few seconds to assess but nonetheless, she seated herself in her trust for Barton and Fury as they approached. 

Fury, Coulson and the other agent turned around and for the first time, Natasha got a look at the new agent. She wasn’t surprised, per se, to see such a beautiful woman standing before her. But she was surprised by her own reaction. Their eyes connected and she felt a warmth spread through her body as fast and disarming as lightning, traveling from the pit of her stomach to her throat. And as fast as lightning, Natasha stuffed the feeling down, scolding herself for the involuntarily betrayal by her own body. They walked the last few steps and Natasha took a deep breath, subtly enough she knew no one would notice. 

Fury reached out his hand to Barton, “Welcome to the SHIELD rooftop Lounge Barton, Romanoff.” He shook Natasha’s hand. “Of course, you remember Agent Coulson.” Coulson smiled warmly and shook their hands. “Agents. Glad to see you again.” “And this is my other right hand,” Fury continued,”hell, my left eye too. Commander Maria Hill.” All hopes of squashing any involuntary feelings creeping back died when Maria smiled at Fury’s joke and reached out her hand to Barton in a strong hand shake. “Commander Hill. I’m looking forward to working with you.” “Likewise, Commander.” Natasha couldn’t help be distracted by the brightness of her eyes when she smiled. She had a strong but feminine voice with a no-bullshit firmness to it. She spoke with confidence. 

Hill turned to Natasha who reached out her hand automatically. “Natasha Romanoff.” Again, Natasha chided herself internally but Maria smiled. “Oh, I know who you are.” Natasha tilted her head in slight hesitation. “In a good way, I mean, of course.” The words tumbled out of the Commander’s mouth a bit too fast and Natasha forgot herself for a moment and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you too, Commander Hill.” Natasha stepped back and bit the inside of her cheek. This is going to be a hard one to ignore. 

WAKANDA. PRESENT DAY.

The memory renewed Natasha’s struggle against the dirt prison entrapping her. She pointed her toes, digging her heels into the ground behind her ankles and scrunched her shoulders, trying to get leverage against the ground and slide out. Rocking her body side to side, her hands and feet dug into the dirt but she didn’t move an inch. She tried again and again but made no progress, succeeding only in getting more dirt on her face. Rather than get frustrated, she changed tactics. Rocking her body harder against the dirt sides, digging her shoulder into the hard surface, trying to erode the dirt away. The dirt crumbled a bit, dropping more sediment onto her face. It was a little bit of progress but Natasha wasn’t sure it would be enough in time for her to get back to her team. To stop Thanos. 

She wasn’t sure how, not that it really mattered, but Thanos had threatened to wipe out half of the universe and Vision’s mind stone was the key Thanos needed to do it. Her body rocked harder against the wall, fighting against the thoughts invading her mind. She thought of Tony, wondering where he was, if he had survived whatever he had encountered. They weren’t sure, but the intel had Tony leaving the atmosphere on an alien ship and that was it. No sign of Tony since. When Thor beamed down to Wakanda mid-battle, she had expected Tony to be with him. But, he wasn’t.

As her body rocked harder against the dirt, she gritted her teeth, forcing her shoulder into the walls. More dirt fell but it wasn’t fast enough for Natasha. Not fast enough to fight the thoughts as they hit her harder. Fury… Barton… Maria. 

OUTSIDE OF WHITE HAVEN, PA. 1 WEEK AGO.

An old diesel truck rumbles down a green mountain highway, a middle aged man at the wheel sporting a pair of horn rimmed glasses, a pencil thin mustache and a tattered baseball cap. Paint peeling, chunks of fender missing. You can barely make out logo on the side of the driver door. Musical notes emerging from a cartoon toilet shaped comically like an instrument. The words “Stravinsky Plumbing” arched above. The truck labors to a stop at a fork in the road before turning right onto a dirt road surrounded by trees. The truck finally pulls up to a one story cabin sitting at the edge of a lake. A pile of wood and a lifted jeep sits next to the front door. The driver grabs a large, black duffle bag from the passenger seat of the truck and walks to the front door, giving it two loud knocks. Barely even a second after the second knock, the door swings open. Maria Hill stands on the other side, staring at the plumber with a mixture of surprise and barely covered delight. 

The driver tips his hat and winks at Maria. “Afternoon, miss. I heard you called for a plumber about 9 weeks, 2 days and 3.5 hours ago? Apologies for the delay. There were some unforeseen speed bumps along the wa—” Before he can finish, Maria steps out of the door way and grabs the collar of his shirt in her hands. Her lips close on his and the driver drops the bag, rising to his tip toes and wrapping his arms around Maria’s neck. Their hands explore each other, Maria’s lowering to slip inside his back pockets, his fingers spreading into her hair. Their lips don’t move apart until Maria pulls away, sucking in air. “Igor Stravinsky.”

The driver pulls back, his face turning to a pout. Shaking his head in disbelief, he opens his mouth to speak but the voice doesn’t match the man we see. “How did you—” Maria smiles as her fingers caress the man’s face, “I heard the truck coming down the drive.” She raises an eyebrow, “Stravinsky plumbing, huh?”  “Too obvious?” asks the man. “Maybe a little.” Maria pulls the man in for an intense kiss before they both pull back, needing air. Despite the man’s appearance, they stare for a moment into each other’s eyes, familiar and warm. Wordlessly, the driver picks up his bag as Maria pulls him into the cabin and shutting the door behind them. 

The bag quickly forgotten on the floor, the man reaches up to his face and peels the latex from his face. Rather, her face. Maria watches as she expertly unbuttons the denim shirt worn by the woman underneath. As the last bit of latex comes off and the wig embedded in it, Natasha looks into Maria’s eyes and cups her face. “I missed you.” “I missed you too.” 

#blackhill #martasha #maria hill #natasha romanoff #mariahill #natasharomanoff #natasha romanoff x maria hill #maria hill x natasha romanoff #avengers #mcu

[dalenthas]

Here's some predictions for Captain Marvel, in Bingo form. Some of these are based on wild speculation, some on rumors, some on guess work, and some on general Marvel movie tropes.

More Info

B1: Pretty straightforward, Carol is a pilot in the Air Force, I'm guessing Stark Industries will be mentioned in that context.

B2: Nothing big expected here, just a small easter egg to let us know Kamala is on the way.

B3: As the writer that really put Carol on the map this millennium, I wouldn't be surprised if Brian Reed is mentioned or referenced, probably as a missable background detail.

B4: This is mostly based on hope, but I wouldn't be surprised if Carol is the MCU's first openly bi character.

B5: Several of Stan Lee's cameos have had him in some kind of uniform, I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a General on the Air Force Base.

I1: Pretty obvious here, as long as one mid or end credits scene is in the modern time line I'll call this a victory.

I2: I don't actually expect this, but Big Grey Villains are a common trope.

I3: I'm betting there will be at least one scene that's in the trailers that's not in the actual movie.

I4: Some kind of sly nod to Ronan and Korath's roles in Guardians of the Galaxy will be made.

I5: Roy Thomas created Captain Marvel, I'm guessing he'll also get an Easter Egg.

N1: I'm betting that Jude Law is playing Yon-Rogg and all evidence to the contrary is deliberate misinformation.

N2: Even if Mar-Vell doesn't actually show up in the movie, it'd be odd if none of the Vells get mentioned.

N3: This is a gimme, there's going to be AT LEAST one very 90s song on the soundtrack. I'm hoping for something by Pearl Jam or Sublime.

N4: If Carol directly quotes any Star Wars line I get this space. Bonus points if Fury points it out.

N5: The danger of setting this before most of the MCU is that it is very easy to accidentally create a continuity error; I'm guessing something in this movie will directly contradict some minor fact in the canon.

G1: Chris Claremont wrote most of Carol's first ongoing, I'm guessing he earns an Easter Egg.

G2: Coulson is going to say or do something extremely dorky.

G3: Another MCU trope, the final fight of the movie will have Carol facing off against someone with her same powers.

G4: This is more a hope than prediction, but Jessica Drew showing up in the end credits scene would be nice.

G5: Another gimme, everyone is predicting that we'll see Fury lose his eye, so I'll jump on that bandwagon.

O1: It's not enough for Carol to go super sayin, it actually has to be reffered to as going Binary to get this point.

O2: I'm guessing the Skrulls aren't going to be as blatantly evil as the Kree propaganda that Carol spouts in the trailer claims they are.

O3: We know Maria Rambeau is showing up, Monica appearing as a baby or toddler will earn this point.

O4: KSD gave Carol the promotion to Captain, we've heard rumors already that she has a cameo, so I think this is one of my more probable guesses.

O5: This might be one of my less likely guesses, but the giant tentacled head of the Supreme Intelligence will show up, even if only for a moment.

#captain marvel #carol danvers #mcu #predictions #prediction

[destinationtoast]

TOASTYSTATS: Omegaverse!

PART 1: Which characters get tagged most often with specific A/B/O roles? (Feb 2018)

Which characters most often appear in the “Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics” tag on AO3 – and what specific roles are they most often tagged with?  I explore these questions in this post, which is also available on AO3.  And you can see the images at ideal resolution on imgur.

Older related posts (from 2013-2014):  Omegaverse general trends Omegaverse in the Sherlock fandom

A note before I get going: General feedback about this post, as well as sharing of info from various fandoms, is welcome. Please veer away from yelling in the comments about relative lack of female characters, or other representation issues in A/B/O fic; I don’t have capacity to fix those things, and yelling stresses me out and makes me hesitant to share stats. I encourage you to have those conversations on your own blog/twitter/etc, if so inspired!

Methods

I decided to find out by doing a tag search on AO3 for all canonical tags of the format “Alpha [name]”, “Beta [name]”, or “Omega [name]”, and looking at every character with at least 100 fanworks in one or more of those categories. Where there were multiple tags – e.g., “Alpha Derek” or “Alpha Derek Hale” – I used the larger one. Where there was any ambiguity about the fandom involved for a given name, I limited it to the largest fandom.

For most of the characters, I didn’t explicitly force their fanworks to use the “Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics” tag; “Omega Sherlock Holmes” almost always implies that the story takes place in the Omegaverse. However, because of werewolf pack role ambiguities, for the Teen Wolf fandom, I ruled out all works that didn’t use “Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics” or a subtag.

The resulting raw data is available here.

Characters most commonly tagged A/B/O

Okay, so first, let’s just look at totals, without breaking it down by role – who gets tagged the most with an A/B/O role, overall?  (See graph 1 above).  We see lots of Teen Wolf – not so surprising – but also lots of Supernatural, Sherlock, One Direction, and MCU.  Edit: It turns out the graph is missing some Yuri on Ice characters, and probably more, who fit the criteria. Maybe because AO3 Tag Search is in beta? Not sure. But if you don’t see characters you think should be there, you’re probably right that they’re missing!

However, some of these characters may be showing up because they’re really popular on AO3, rather than being especially popular in the Omegaverse. So let’s sort the characters by what percent of the works they appear in tag them with an A/B/O role (graph 2).

Fascinating! What’s up with Castiel? Well, probably part of it is that the Supernatural fandom has been around for ages – since before there was an Omegaverse – but Castiel is a somewhat more recent character, so he doesn’t have all those works from back before A/B/O was a thing, like Dean and Sam do. But we can also see from the overall numbers in the first graph that he does get tagged a lot, in absolute numbers. (If anyone in the SPN fandom knows any other likely reasons for this, please comment!) Somewhat less surprising are Jensen and Jared showing up high in the rankings; the A/B/O trope actually first emerged in Supernatural RPF fandom.

Also probably unsurprising, given the predominance of M/M in Omegaverse fics: Natasha Romanov, a very popular character on AO3, is relatively unlikely to get tagged with A/B/O roles. We’ll return in a bit to female characters who make an appearance in this AU.

What roles do characters take?

Okay, so which characters most often are assigned the Alpha role in A/B/O fics?  See graphs 3-5 for answers.  Bucky Barnes is apparently the only character in this set that nobody ever envisions as an Alpha (unless they’re tagging those fics differently).  (Edit: Oops, data error!  Plenty of Alpha Bucky fic out there.  I’ve updated the graphs. :) )

The Alpha and Omega rankings are close to the inverse of one another. However, the Beta role shows a quite different ranking. I find it really interesting to see which characters are most often Betas, but I don’t have any good theories about why any of this is the case. (Feel free to share yours!)

What about female characters?

Okay, so back to the topic of female characters. They appear much less often in Omegaverse, to the point where I could only find 12 female characters with canonical A/B/O tags (see graph 6). Some of this just may be due to the limitations of AO3 tag wrangling system – the volunteers who wrangle AO3 tags have limited hours in their day, and haven’t yet canonicalized a lot of the smaller tags that aren’t as popular as the really huge ones above. And the amount that they have wrangled also varies by fandom. So don’t be surprised if a bunch of female characters are missing that you know you’ve seen in A/B/O fics. Edit: and I just discovered that I also managed to initially miss some characters who do have canonical tags, like Rey (Alpha Rey and Omega Rey are both canonical tags).  Unclear if this was my error or an AO3 error, but either way, there may be others missing.  I’ve updated the graphs to include Rey, at least. :)

Because these numbers are so small and subject to large variations due to noise, I didn’t look at percent of the character’s overall fics that were in the Omegaverse. However, in the final graph, I did break each female character down by specific A/B/O role. Please take these ratios with a liberal grain of salt, given the small numbers involved.

* * *

That’s it for now; hoping to post more soon about the frequency of different pairing types (e.g., Alpha/Beta) and more. And as I mentioned above, I also have older stats about Omegaverse general trends from several years ago, as well as Omegaverse in the Sherlock fandom, if you’re interested!

[more toastystats] [FAQ/notes] [#fandom stats on Tumblr]

#fandom stats #omegaverse #abo #alpha beta omega #ao3 #toastystats #my stuff #50 #100

[syrupwit]

Letter for Trick or Treat 2019

-

Dear Reader: 

Hello, and welcome to my letter for Trick or Treat 2019. Thank you for considering making a work for me!

The primary purpose of this letter is to provide additional inspiration and creative direction. If it’s not doing that for you, feel free to disregard it.

Navigation:

Do Not Want (DNW)

Long List of Likes

For this exchange, I have requested fic only, Tricks and Treats, for the following fandoms:

Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft

Dishonored

Doom Patrol (TV)

Invader Zim

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Umbrella Academy (TV)

Here we go...

Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft

It’s various-degrees-of-doomed!narrators -- plus Danforth! Lovecraft is great at the doomed narrator thing. What other sorts of terrible or wondrous things can happen to these seekers after forbidden knowledge?

Characters Requested:

Danforth

The Hound Narrator

Robert Harrison Blake

The Shadow Over Innsmouth Narrator

William Dyer

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom.

Dishonored

It’s creepy whales, trickster gods, and lots of minor characters! This is one of my favorite games of all time. I love the detailed worldbuilding / lore and the many opportunities for filling in backstories and missing parts of canon.

Characters Requested:

Adelle White (yes, the moth from Lady Boyle’s Last Party)

Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster

Daud

Daud’s Mother

The Outsider

Thalia Timsh

Vera Moray | Granny Rags

Waverly Boyle

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom -- seriously, go wild. On a specific note, I’ve recently become fully awakened to the appeal of Billie/Daud, and am intrigued by the idea of Billie Lurk/Thalia Timsh, Adelle White/Waverly Boyle, and Adelle White/Abigail Ames (look, it could work -- the disgraced noblewoman and the ruthless mole, okay?).

Doom Patrol (TV)

It’s Exchange Patrol! This series is so wonderfully chaotic and ridiculous. I love how messed up the characters are + the ways they support and clash with each other, and how it feels like anything can happen.

Characters Requested:

Crazy Jane

Danny the Street

Rita Farr

Cliff Steele

Victor Stone

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom. Gen-wise, I’m really fond of Victor’s relationship with his dad.

Invader Zim

It’s my recently revived obsession, back with a vengeance! After a decade and change, the movie reeled me right back in. I love this canon’s particular brand of dark comedy and pessimism mixed with... uh... zaniness.

Characters Requested:

Dib

Gaz

GIR 

Foodio 3000

Invader Skoodge 

Tak

Countess von Verminstrasser

Zim

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: Dib/Zim | ZaDR is my OTP. I’m also pretty intrigued by the idea of Ms. Bitters/Countess von Verminstrasser. Otherwise, no preferences -- anything is fine.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

It’s the megafandom, or a tiny slice thereof! Since this canon is so darn expansive, I’ll discuss each of these characters separately rather than summarize my interest in the fandom as a whole.

Characters Requested:

Mantis

Mantis! I enjoy her earnestness, her goofier side (“kick names, take ass”; jumping to test the gravity on Titan in Infinity War), and the way her powers’ potential array of uses ranges from tooth-achingly sweet to Thanos-topplingly strong to skin-crawlingly disturbing. I am also a huge, huge sucker for sheltered and socially awkward characters learning to get along with others, and for characters with unhealthy or abusive upbringings coming to terms with the past, and for characters in space exploring space. Basically, though, I’d just like to see more Mantis.

Peter Parker

All iterations of this character have a fond place in my heart, and MCU Peter occupies a particular part of it. I am interested in the pure-hearted hero bit as well as his angstier/darker potential (getting a building dropped on him, getting pushed in front of a train, Mysterio’s illusions, the FFH post-credits scene, the classic Spider-Man backstory that has so far been left untold except through implication).

Flash Thompson

The MCU reinterpretation of Flash as a rich, douchey nerd is very intriguing to me. When he isn’t bullying Peter or playing the butt of a joke, what is he like? ...What do his social media followers actually think of him, anyway?

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for any of these characters, though I am also specifically interested in Mantis/Nebula, Mantis/Gamora, Mantis/Peter Parker, Peter Parker/Tony Stark, and Peter Parker/Flash Thompson.

The Umbrella Academy (TV)

It’s the end of the world, probably! I love this show’s tone and the genre trappings and the complicated family/team drama. Just, all of it.

Characters Requested (Any):

Allison Hargreeves

Ben Hargreeves

Diego Hargreeves

Klaus Hargreeves

Luther Hargreeves

Number Five | The Boy

Vanya Hargreeves

Hazel

Re: Shipping, If That Interests You: I’m fine with any pairings for this fandom, though I will admit to a particular fondness for Allison/Vanya and Allison/Luther.

Do Not Want (DNW)

Character or ship bashing

Non-canonical permanent major character death, *EXCEPT* for the Cthulhu Mythos

Non-canonical permanent body modification (ex. amputation)

Harm to pet animals (if a giant space squid is attacking the character's ship and they have to fight it or something, that's fine)

Parent/child incest

Non-canonical child characters

Extended discussion of Twelve-Step recovery programs (mentions are fine)

Characters in romantic relationships being written as asexual/aromantic

Smut DNWs: A/B/O, master/slave, heavily ritualized/formal BDSM, bestiality, necrophilia, scat, vore, sounding

Long List of Likes (LLL)

Humor: hijinks; absurdity; surreality; comedy of errors; ludicrous/cracky premises treated seriously or unseriously; Rashomon situations where each character shares their uniquely biased perception of an event; that trope where found documents or outsider POV seriously misinterpret canon events/characters; Ember Island Players trope. 

Horror: dark comedy; gallows humor; fridge horror; Monkey’s Paw situations; parapsychology; mad scientists; witches; ghosts; ghost hunters; cryptids; zombies; THE WALKING DEAD; revenants; cultists; rituals; eldritch beings; dying gods; possession; Dark Carnivals; cursed objects; creepy little shops peddling dubious merchandise; secluded or remote locations; big scary buildings with tragic histories; haunted mansions, ships, spaceships, houses, “haunted house” attractions, hayrides, forests, marshes, beaches, islands, etc.; that trope where you aren’t sure if there was really a supernatural occurrence or if it was a trick of the mind, ooohh scary.

Slice of Life: a day in the life of $character; dealing with the everyday challenges of life in a non-mundane universe; worldbuilding elements; missing moments; domesticity; character studies told through small details.

Action/Adventure: missions/cases and snippets thereof; escaping from captivity together; unusual team-ups; undercover as XYZ; identity porn; road trips of the terrestrial, extraterrestrial, aquatic, and supernatural varieties; space travel; visiting other planets; wilderness survival; climactic warehouse confrontations; wacky foes / locations / circumstances for battles; bar fights; fighting back to back.

Gen Relationships: frenemies; reluctant allies; forced to work together; parent-child or sibling-sibling relationships where things may be complicated but they care about each other deeply in the end even if they’re not always great at expressing it; cooperation, camaraderie, and loyalty between characters; lonely/isolated characters taking steps toward opening up to others.

Romance: first times; get-together; feelings realization; friends to lovers; frenemies to lovers; UST; one-sided pining; mutual pining; flirting where one character doesn’t think the other is serious but they totally are; possessiveness and jealousy where the possessive / jealous character feels guilty or the target of the possessiveness / jealousy is into it; monster on a leash.

Smut: characters feeling overwhelmed; lots of emotions; touch-starved; awkwardness; praise kink; xeno; unexpectedly compatible; kink discovery / exploration; characters being really into their partner or what they’re doing or how into what they’re doing their partner is; “I shouldn’t be so into this”; friends with benefits where both characters are pining but feel more comfortable having sex than talking about their feelings.

Miscellany: holidays; holiday traditions; seasons; weather; thunderstorms; getting caught in the rain; stargazing; appetizing descriptions of food; diners, drive-ins, and dives; tea; candles; cats; metafiction; unconventional formats.

#optional detailed letters for exchanges tag

[robotskilledmygrandma]

So listen here.

Avengers Endgame spoilers below and me trying to accept it. Read especially if you are a fan of Steve and Bucky.

ALSO IM ON MOBILE AND CANT PUT A READ MORE UNTIL LATER. IM SORRY!

I want to get it straight with anyone who reads this that yes I am a bug Stucky fan but I am also realistic and understood that it would never be canon. We can hope but maybe years down the line with the remakes of these?

But I also want to say I get why they did this and there are ways to accept it and get through it. Sure they fucked up a lot, hell all of the friendship between Steve and Bucky which is the legit driving force for them. Even Sebastian Stan says that MCU Bucky would have commited suicide if it weren't for Steve. So having Steve just drop everything, especially the most important person in his life (as we have seen over all the fucking films) and just go back to Peggy was a punch in the guys. And I'm a huge Steggy fan.

Everyone is saying though that they only knew each other for a little bit but actually, I don't remember whose blog I read it on and I'm so sorry, someone worked out that there was close to a year and a half where Steggy were probably a legitimate couple, before and after Bucky's fall and then between Bucky's fall and Steve nose diving into the Atlantic. So to say that he only knew her for a little bit, like a few months if most likely wrong.

Next up is the acceptance. I know it was shitty for all of us out there who love the Stucky friendship and the non-canon romance. That ending was shit and we didn't even get a Stucky reunion which we should have after all of the other films, even just a fucking conversation, but no, we got like two lines of dialogue and barely any Bucky screen time. Also I'm so sorry for any Vision and Loki fans, that shit must suck.

The silver lining is that Steve is back and still alive, albeit old as fuck, but he's alive and Bucky ain't surprised so it's hinted at that they spoke about this. Obviously that fucking sucks and I feel like we will get lots of bonus content when the DVD comes out. Anyway, Steve is still there and for Bucky he's only been gone for like 10 seconds or something, much longer for Steve. But he's still there, and I think that's important.

At first I was angry that he abandoned him, and I guess I still am. But at the end of the day Steve is just old and Chris was done with his role, it was fitting and a happy ending that sucked but also has hope for the Stucky friendship because Steve hasn't left yet.

But if we don't get any bonus Stucky content when the DVD comes out or with any of Sebastian's rumoured movies (since he still has a few more under his contract) and the tv show, then that will be the fucking worst. Let's hope they can see the error of leaving it out, it's super important to have strong friendships and theirs is amazing. Just give us more.

Actually give us more if everything please. More of Clintasha in Endgame, and science bros, god, everything. It was too short and nothing felt complete.

#avengers endgame #avengers endgame spoilers #endgame spoilers #avengers spoilers #stucky #brotp #bromance #my favs got screwed #the non-canon romance wasnt even important #the friendship was important #we better get a fucking reunion and conversation in the deleted scenes #a4 #a4 spoilers

[veliseraptor]

whole bunch of self-aggrandizing navel-gazing here, but I think it’s important for me to remember when I do things that I like.

so I mentioned that I’m doing a full reread of Remember This Cold (so I can cringe at all the little continuity errors and glaring typos, hooboy) and I am thinking about which are my favorite installments, which ones I am proudest of, and I think the list is:

when I’m falling I’m at peace: I don’t write recovery fic very often, for a lot of reasons - one of which is that I feel like I’m very bad at it. But I really like this one, especially the ending, and the themes of it - which were, mostly, about being bruised but not broken, bloodied but unbowed. Also small thing: Steve opening up to Loki about his PTSD.

Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me: This was the first fic where I really started tying into the MCU canon and I think it remains one of the strongest. I got to push and test Steve and Loki’s relationship in ways I hadn’t before, and pit Loki’s jealousy and insecurity against Steve’s need for support. Also, the first real “I love you” from them both. I think the fight between Steve and Loki after Bucky comes back remains one of the more intense scenes in this verse for me, when I was writing it.

The Long Way Home: This is another one of those quiet in-between fics - I have a lot of fun with those - that followed the Asgard politics and was really about Loki reconciling himself to Earth being his home. I feel like I like the balance of emotions in this fic a lot - the hurt and anger. Also I am stupidly proud of Loki’s conversation with Natasha.

Gnosienne: Look, I don’t even know what to say here, this fic was definitely a detour into “all of the family feelings” but there were so many important family feelings, it turns out. Probably I like this one so much because it’s embarrassingly personal. But that’s okay.

won’t heal given time: Sad Thor is really fun to write, it turns out. Sad, scared, and grieving Thor. This one was short but I felt like I got to do a lot in a relatively small space, and seriously, it turns out that I really like writing sad Thor. Also, Thor in Remember This Cold, who has a lot going on that I don’t often get to delve into. 

Retrospective: I don’t know why I like this one so much. Maybe it was getting to write Maria Hill POV, who is not a character I’ve inhabited much, but I do really like her. I like writing characters who don’t like Loki for good reasons, and outsider POV, and I guess this kind of combined those two things. 

hang on (when the water is rising): When I think about ways in which I’ve grown as a writer, I think my ability to write this fic is one of those signs. I feel good about the way I tied in the events of Age of Ultron (the ones that I wanted to) with the events of my verse, and the way I could use canon’s plot elements to further my own ends. Getting to dig up the Thanos plot (and finally have the reveal to Thor and Steve about what happened with him, at least in part) was one result, and building out the team and Loki’s relationships with others was another part. The pieces of this fic that are important to me aren’t really the ones that have to do with Ultron, but I feel like I got to use Ultron to do a lot of things that I really wanted to do. 

comfort those who suffer: This is another weird side fic that I am really proud of for some reason. I’m pleased with my Lila voice, and another outsider perspective (very different from the Maria Hill one) and for some reason I am really proud of the conversation between Lila and Laura at the end of the fic. 

I’ve got my love to keep me warm: Shamelessly adorable fluff with bonus feelings and smut that basically wrote itself. Also the scene of Loki and Steve in the snow remains one of, in my opinion, the sweetest moments in this verse. This fic is a deep breath before the plunge in a lot of ways, and it was a very fun deep breath to write that I think turned out well.

don’t care if heaven won’t take me back: The amount of juggling I did on this fic alone merits some pride on my side, I think. Tying the canon I wanted to keep together with my own canon, adjusting things to fit together - I wrestled so much with this fic and I feel like in the end I actually won and ended up with something I can feel good about. And something that sets me up with a lot of interesting plot threads to pull on moving forward. This fic was a labor of love and frustration, I think moreso than any other installment - even though the Aesir fic is longer, I think this one is more complicated. But I beat it, dammit. I fuckin beat it.

#remember this cold #confessions of a frustrated writer #shameless navel gaze #trying to decide if want to work on fic #or want to just watch more person of interest #leaning toward latter