#(partial) source: Spider-Man: No Way Home

[showfallsquigandiris]

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/Source: HS: IR-15/

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[The camera blinks open to a bland apartment hallway, flicking across various doors as Iris slowly walks down the hallway. Before stopping at one of the doors and raising a hand. The hand looks odd, at a glance it looks normal, but quickly it becomes apparent the texture is off, slightly more rubbery than real flesh.]

[The hand knocks on the door heavily, slight humming comes from Iris, lacking any static for once.]

Iris: Hellooo? Anyone home?

[Somewhere within is the sound of a yelp, and something heavy hitting the floor, before some sort of scrabbling happens that becomes quieter as the sound moves away.]

[The door slowly opens, revealing a scraggly man behind it, a confused look on his face. He squints at Iris, attempting to see if he can recognize her.]

Iris: So the Tumblr anons weren’t liars! At least this time. Hello there… Edgar? Or is it Edward, like I first thought?

Edgar: Wh– did the anons fucking leak my address? Who the fuck are you?

[The camera tilts as Iris looks over Edgar’s shoulder into the apartment, before she focuses back on him.]

Iris: No, I just went to the apartment with the most Showfall tech in it, nice arm by the way! Was it those spider bots?

[Edgar’s eyes widen, glancing at his prosthetic, then back to Iris.]

Edgar: I– yeah? How did you know?

[There’s some sort of crocodile-like hissing coming from the right inside the apartment, where an outward open door hides the interior of the room inside. Followed by a recognized voice presumably whispering to himself]

Jasprix: Is that fucking Iris?

[Iris gasps and shoves aside Edgar, partially entering the apartment. The apartment seems as scraggly as Edgar was when he answered the door, one or two of the couch’s pillows are on the floor, and the chairs in the kitchen are pushed out, facing random directions. A few glimpses of the other rooms are caught, each one having clothes laying on every piece of furniture haphazardly.]

Iris: Heyyy Prixxy! You left your phone at the Mall and I was worried about you, so I figured I’d drop by!

[Pushing past the door the voice came from, it’s shown to be a bathroom, with a spacious looking tub full of water. Jasprix himself is sitting in the middle of the floor, looking up at her, looking more surprised than seen before. He’s disheveled, and his hair is a mess, though not as bad as how Edgar might look, horns cracked and half broken in places, but otherwise fine.]

Jasprix: I– uh, I left the phone intentionally for some time to fucking not deal with… that shit… When the fuck did you get skin?

Iris: I get it when I need it!

Jasprix: This is weird, seeing you like this, instead of how you look normally.

[Edgar calls from where he fell after being pushed.]

Edgar: You can’t just fucking walk in! I literally have no idea who you are!

[Iris looks over her shoulder towards Edgar, her hand is briefly in frame as she tugs something down from her face, followed by Iris blowing a raspberry at him.]

Iris: You opened the door, and were easily shoveable. Not my fault!

[Edgar doesn’t respond, instead staring in horror at Iris, he attempts to stand up, using the couch as support.]

[Jasprix moves past her to join him at the couch, for some reason doing so on his hands and feet, and jumps on the couch to sit and look at Edgar.]

Jasprix: Have you met Iris before? I know I asked to come in, but it doesn’t seem like a thing she does.

Edgar: I have never met this person in my life.

Jasprix: Better first meeting than the one I had with her, where she called me short. She works with Squig.

[Iris’ hand can be briefly seen throwing up a peace sign towards Edgar before the camera shuts off for a brief second, opening back up at a slightly tilted angle.]

Iris: Also Prixxy, all I really did was just call you short. It wasn’t really that bad, was it?

Jasprix: I don’t like it when attention is brought to it, or when people… loom on purpose to add to whatever fucking bullshit they’re doing. That was unrelated, ignore that part. Uh, Edgar has been nice enough to let me hang out here, though the amount of noise and people constantly in here is surprising. I’m fine.

[Iris claps her hand together and focuses on Edgar.]

Iris: That’s good to hear! If he had been a terrible host, well… let’s just say, I would have done more than a shove!

[Edgar subtly moves away from Iris. His shoulders slightly hunched, and wringing his hands. Jasprix glances at him, then back to Iris.]

Jasprix: I’d rather him alive. M– Marvin did as well. Though I honestly do have someone in mind you could kill, but I wouldn’t want to interrupt whatever you're already doing. You have more important shit probably than doing something I could accomplish on my own.

[Iris moves towards the couch, looking at Jasprix, then Edgar, before sitting down next to Jasprix.]

Iris: Well, if you do end up needing any help, Prixxy, I’m the Security to call! And yeah, yeah, if Marvvy Boy wants this dude alive, I suppose he can live, for now.

Jasprix: He apparently makes it difficult for everyone, I haven’t seen him do anything yet, but he was gone all night last night with one of the others here, driving or something.

Edgar: Yep! We went for a drive!

[His sentence comes out quickly, somewhat panicked. He turns slightly to his left, frantically making gestures towards the room across from the bathroom.]

Jasprix: Damnit. Yeah Iris, I’ll uh, I’ll call you if I need help with anything. No idea right now what that could be, but I guess I’ll figure that out… later. I’m not ready to go home, I’m sure it’ll suck though, when I do have to go back, dealing with uh, my job and certain people who hate me and I hate, and other… stuff probably on my phone now. Bloody fucking shit.

[Jasprix turns so he can put his face against the couch cushion, looking like he’s using the couch instead of a wall to hide his face in.]

Iris: Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’ll be fine! Let’s just not think about that kinda stuff right now! I know I’m also ignoring all my responsibilities right now!

Jasprix: You don’t have to deal with HR, Squig is nice to you.

[As the two talk, Edgar can be seen shaking his head at the door, a small brown blur can be seen being held out by someone in the other room. It jumps out of the person's hand and skitters over to the couch, it then climbs up Edgars pant leg, and onto his head. Edgar slumps slightly, exasperated.]

[Iris’ hand is hovering near Jasprix’s shoulder as she looks at the squirrel that has appeared.]

Iris: Is– is it legal to keep a squirrel as a pet?

[Edgar turns to face Iris, and clears his throat as he finally moves to sit on the couch as well.]

Edgar: Probably not, but Adam seems to have no regard for laws. So we have a squirrel.

Jasprix: Axolotls are allowed as pets, despite their whole endangered status and living wild in one specific area. I doubt people care about pet rodents.

[Jasprix’s face is still hiding in the couch cushions, so his voice is muffled, but not difficult to parse.]

Iris: Oooh, who’s Adam? Another roommate?

[Edgar opens his mouth to answer, but Adam is faster to act, detaching from Edgar and jumping to the coffee table in front of the couch. Using the small robotic legs rooted in the back of the forearm area to hold himself up as he waves at Iris.]

[Iris leans towards Adam, her hands hovering near him as the camera tilts and zooms in.]

Iris: Well! I didn’t know those repair spiders could pull off something like this!

Jasprix: I've been trying not to think about the spiders too hard, personally.

Edgar: Are they… not usually able to? The spiders, I mean.

[Iris does not look away from Adam.]

Iris: Not to a fully… individual level like this. Sure, maybe some level of intelligence to be able to return itself if separated… but not like this!

Adam: You may talk to me, not at me. Iris.

Iris: Ohmyfuckinggod.

[Iris leans in even closer to Adam.]

Iris: Even talking? Jeez, those Mall spiders work differently! Mine never pull anything like this!

Adam: I believe this was purely an accident. But the swarm has chosen to keep adding on.

[Jasprix makes a noise that could be considered disturbed, shaking momentarily in the corner of Iris’s vision, briefly making another rattling hiss sound in his throat.]

Jasprix: Hate those things so much, but I guess they thought Edgar was special or something.

Edgar: I wish they didn’t. They won’t leave me the fuck alone. I found one in my room the other day.

[Iris snaps towards Edgar.]

Iris: Oooh, you wouldn’t still happen to have the little guy? Or maybe there’s some others still hanging around?

Edgar: I don’t have the one from yesterday, no. But I’m sure if I look hard enough I’ll find another one.

Jasprix: I will actually go to the park pond if I see one anywhere near me. I havent had to deal with those shits in years, not going to do that now. Though they probably could have like… helped… or something, prevent his– his capture. If you see one Edgar, tell me, I’d rather hide in the tub then have it look at me.

[Iris’ arms hang in the air for a second before she throws an arm around Jasprix, startling him into flinching and looking at her again instead of the couch.]

Iris: Augh, curse you Ed… nope can’t think of a good nickname, just Edgar then, for distracting me from the reason I came here with your weird pet and cool arm! Prixxy! Let’s hog this TV and watch some stupid non-Showfall shit!

Jasprix: Sounds… fun. Could you do my hair again? It kind of got…messed up on the way here, after everything basically went to shit.

Iris: How could I ever say no to that! Of course I’d love to!

Jasprix: Sorry if you or your roommates had any sort of like, plans for tonight or something for the TV. Unless you want to watch or something too?

Edgar: I don’t think anyone had any plans tonight, I’ll stay for a bit to make sure Acorn doesn’t bother you or anything, I guess.

Jasprix: That was probably a fluke because he fell in the tub and decided it was my fault. Next time he bites me, I’m biting back though, not dealing with a squirrel attacking me again. Put your arm back on.

Edgar: Huh? Oh, right. Adam, can you come over here please?

Adam: No.

[Before Edgar can respond, Adam scurries away, opening the door to the balcony and climbing over the edge. Edgar quickly sprints over to try to catch him, but fails to reach the rogue arm in time, ending up staring over the edge of the balcony. He walks back in and sits back down on the couch, a frustrated frown on his face.]

[Iris bursts out laughing, with a matching burst of static returning to her voice. The camera goes black as she laughs, the sound of the arm not wrapped around Jasprix slapping the couch can be heard.]

Edgar: God. He always does this! I’m going to wake up tomorrow with a new object in here that he stole, I just know it.

[The camera cracks open facing towards Edgar as Iris’ laughing slowly quiets.]

Iris: Sentient and a thief, what a strange arm!

Edgar: Yeah, strange is one way to put it. Honestly, it’s like taking care of a 13 year old sometimes.

[There's a chirp under the camera, followed by a grumbling huff.]

Jasprix: The past day I’ve been here has been weirder than the last time I was in Lostfield, could have just grabbed him instead of giving him time to run. What uh, what movies or shows do you even have on this TV anyway, theres so many fucking channels.

Edgar: Fuck if I know, I just turn it on and fall asleep after a few minutes.

Iris: Just give me the remote, we’ll find something!

…

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[mushlandsandbeyond]

can you give me a general overview of the characters?

ok so this is gonna be a bit big so i'll try to section them off by region (where they currently live rn)! and also keep in mind that some characters here are in development, not all of them will be mentioned, all of this is subject to change so yadda yadda-

here we go! (and sorry for such a long ask !!!! 😭😭😭i am just glad i can properly introduce most of them finally)

🍄The Mushlands

Leopold Drummond - Archaeologist, author, researcher! He's responsible for creating the in-universe Mushlands guide series. He hails from a far away town called Rooteletor. Currently staying in Meadowview

Ethel Schwabacher - A wizard from Frosta Pinto who is living in Meadowview. An editor and good friend of Leopold

Voras - Shapeshifting spider, local carpenter living in Meadowview :) a chill guy

Kazashi Chaki - A witch who can trans ur gender and moved in from far away :) owns a cafe with animated dolls (and may or may not be a doll herself). catgirl :3

Dorian - A human who's also partially an Enderman from a curse! Not originally born in the Mushlands, and traveled with his sister and what remains of their village to seek refuge. Is a beekeeper for the Bee Kingdom! (also this is mod dorian's minecraftsona!!!)

Bubble - Dorian's little sister, founded the Mushroom Village right outside of the bee kingdom! (mod dorian's sister's character!)

Prisma Greensmith - One of the many crewmates for the Birates (Bi Pirates)! Originally from Nuvola Rosa, but left a long time ago. Adept engineer and lightning manipulator, and is also a wizard.

SeaLanternz - Captain of the Birates, assembled a crew not long before departing their homeland, Astoria. Just a frunky glow squid guy :) (mod sealan's minecraftsona/oc!)

Emerl - The current identity of the sculk originating from the city under Deepmine. As the mayor of Deepmine, she holds great power over the settlement, and her mind-controlling spores help ensure she stays that way. However, she is relatively young for an immortal creature, and with that comes a misplaced sense of invulnerability.

Cinnabar Draconis - A doctor working in Deepmine’s only hospital, and someone immune to sculk’s effects. She’s aware something is wrong with the town, and is trying to find a way to fix it without arousing suspicion. 

Raven Piedra - Blaze lady from the Nether, was an outcast before making friends with Ophelia in Floralbourne!

Ophelia Blumenthal - A potionmaker from Floralbourne and beekeeper for the Bee Kingdom!

Zephyr Marcello - Current head/templekeeper for Ametista Curativa, an amethyst temple in Mystic Mauve. He is a medium (in this case, one who gains power from an other source) and can heal and protect others.

Marisa Jansson - Current Mayor of Mystic Mauve. One of many immigrants from Old Maelstrom after the sea rising event, and direct daughter of Samael Jansson, the last mayor for Old Maelstrom.

Neifion Van Der Zee - A man living on the shores of New Maelstrom. He was taken away to help provide weapons for a war and was shocked when he came back home to Old Maelstrom now underwater.

💭Damgo Archipelago

Selenea Somnolento, Electra Burdain, Fajra Justinia, Lorelei Liliales - The first four high wizards of the Damgo Archipelago, Selenea was also the founder and first head wizard. In order they established Nuvola Rosa, Turtle Haven, Frosta Pinto, and Mossten. All of them are gone and have ascended to become gods or god-like, protecting over their respective islands.

Antony Wisp - Current Head Wizard of the archipelago and High Wizard of Nuvola Rosa.

Maverick Burdain - Current high wizard of Turtle Haven! He likes to host parties and is a turtle whisperer. Antony assigns him as the acting Head Wizard whenever he's absent.

Elisabeth Sommer - Current high wizard of Frosta Pinto. Literature fanatic and feline enjoyer, becomes acting Head Wizard if Antony and Maverick are absent.

Roe Egglovett - Current high wizard of Mossten. gra 🐸! Does a bit of mischief when she feels like it. Becomes acting Head Wizard if all others are absent.

Polaris Tang - Apprentice under Antony, set to be the next High Wizard of Nuvola Rosa once she completes her training. Found under mysterious circumstances, adopted by Antony.

Arthuria - A humanoid phantom living in Nuvola Rosa. She brews levitation potions. As a phantom, she still feeds off of insomnia, but since she lives in a big city she doesn’t have to harass anyone for it like a wild phantom.

Vega Somnolento - Great granddaughter of Selenea, she is the current priestess of the moon church on Nuvola Rosa. Somewhat enigmatic but doesn't take things too seriously.

🗻Astoria

Lady Irene - A legend in Astoria's history who protected the country during times of war. She was the first paladin and established order and peace throughout the country. She ascended as a goddess of peace and strategy.

Laurance Zvahl - A paladin for the knights. Has been searching SeaLanternz for an unknown amount of time. (???)

Cadenza Zvahl - Laurance's adoptive sister, a renowned seamstress. Her top clients are the knights.

Garroth Ro'meave - A scout for the knights. As a child he was cursed to become a werewolf by Zane, however this has proven to be a great asset for his duties later down the line.

Zane Ro'meave - Former high priest, and Garroth's younger brother. He has been sent to prison for conspiring against the royal family.

Zenith - A ranger for the knights. Goat guy, best friends with Garroth.

Lucinda Avenue - A witch who lives by the outskirts of Astoria with her owl familiar.

🌵Echino Mesa

Samson - The current identity of the sculk which resides within Echino Mesa’s borders. A powerful and enigmatic figure, not much is known about him. He mentors Maristela, and while he is generally laid back, he has an aura of menace around him. It would be wise to stay on his good side.

Marisa Caelum - Former bandit turned bounty hunter. Wizard gunslinger who uses gun-shaped twigs to fire magical bullets and can transmute sand into explosive glitter. 

Maristela Aphros - One of the last few descendants of the decimated Aphros clan of wizards. Being mentored by the very same creature who almost wiped out his line.

Maysie Meadows - Wandering trader. She doesn't really live in Echino Mesa but was born there :)

Leticia Addams - Takes care of her family business (carpentry) and also runs The Drippy Spoon, a saloon located in Thornton.

Lottie Carpenter - Assassin for hire and certified wifegirl, may or may not have split from her family in the past.

Coleman Burdain - Younger brother of Electra Burdain and the grandfather of Monstrology (no relation to wizard101. sorry again). Established himself in Echino Mesa and set the basis for studying the undead, the otherworldly, and the unknown. He's dead

[ultraericthered]

Choose violence - Spider-Man. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

1. Raimiverse Mary Jane Watson, easily. 3. NOPE. That'd take way too long to find!

4. "No Way Home saved MCU Spidey 'cause they fixed their shit and listened to all the fan complaints, period! No way was this always the set plan or else they'd never had made him Iron Boy to start with!" 6. Both the Peter/Mary Jane AND Peter/Gwen Stacy stans. If anything could make a good case for shipping Peter/Harry... 7. Carnage. He's hard to make engaging in canon as is, but his disproportionate popularity among fans is what I really hate. 8. There are many, but off the top of my head: every negative thing expressed about Raimi!MJ and MCU!MJ, the notion that Eddie Brock/Venom is some essential aspect of Spider-Man that has to be done and done right, and the purist idea that Spider-Man has some inflexible, stone-set canon mythos that must be adhered to in all adaptations or else it's some grave disservice to Spider-Man that fails to do the character and source material any justice (wonder if the whole "canon event" thing in AtSV is partially a shot at that).

9. Which canon? :P

10. The rampant purism, sexism, racism, and double standards. 12. Raimi!MJ, Spectacular!Sally Avril, 2017!Anya Corazon, and the Hobgoblin in general. Oh, and I also unironically like Michael Morbius and believe he deserves morb love! 16. Going back to MJ and Gwen, the "blind date build-up/party girl phase" for MJ and "the Death of Gwen Stacy" for Gwen. Lightning struck once, but trying to apply these to other iterations of Spider-Man comes off not only as forced but incredibly dated and dull.

17. More crossovers. The Spiderverse is practically beckoning us to try that out and see what we come up with! 18. The 2017 Marvel's Spider-Man series. It inevitably falls in the shadow of the 90's animated series and The Spectacular Spider-Man, but it's a solid take on Spider-Man in its own right and delivered some truly brilliant stuff, especially with its take on Doc Ock. 19. Aside from Morbius? The Spot. Not the new menacing version from AtSV, I mean the wimpy, whiny one from a single episode of the 90's animated series! The way he was written and handled was so bad yet so pivotal to the later proceedings in the plot that it crosses the line into So Bad It's Good for me. 20. The Clone Saga in the 616 comics, Season 4 and most of Season 5 in the 90's animated series, the Venom arcs of The Spectacular Spider-Man, the Cellar arc of Marvel's Spider-Man, and the Amazing Spider-Man film duology in general. 21. The Death of Gwen Stacy, Kraven's Last Hunt, and nearly everything to do with Venom and Carnage in the comics, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) back when it was getting hype online, and yes, Into The Spiderverse, which remains a very, very solid movie but not the best Spidey film and in retrospect it was merely a warm-up for what we've got now in Across The Spiderverse and Beyond The Spiderverse. 22. The motherfucking Hobgoblin! Namely Roderick Kingsley as the original one in the comics, and the 90's animated series' version of Jason Philip Macendale. Easily one of my top favorite Spider-Man villains who deserved better in canon, and still deserves more appreciation and adaptations.

[ghitathepanda]

On the whole irondad spider-son subject because even now that's an ongoing war in the Spider-Man fandom...

I wanna give my take towards the whole thing starting with my analysis on what is present in these movies and not compare it to the source material for now but really this is also an analysis on other MCU Spidey stuff. Tony cared more for Peter canonically in these movies than Peter actually does for Tony. Having rewatched the MCU movies Peter himself showed up in, I kinda noticed how even in-universe Tony getting himself involved in Peter's life negatively affected him. Peter in Civil War acted more like the Spider-Man that detractors expected than he does in his own solo movies minus No Way Home. But Tony bringing him to this larger world with only 6 months of experience under his belt puts him in a bit of a high and he kinda threw whatever his philosophy is aside to chase Stark's approval and Homecoming's plot is basically about him needing to be put in a reality check about his heroism. That's why Homecoming's approach to their relationship is fine for me, because moving his focus away from that is the point. I think the REAL issue is that the fanon portrayals of MCU Peter in the headcanons and fanarts constantly involving Tony and then "baby-fy" him paints a negative light to others who just wants him to be the more traditional Spider-Man that's living in a world with other Marvel heroes like in the comics.

That's why we have the anti-Tony sentiment I think. We never see Tony getting himself involved with Peter's personal life on his own accord and Peter never really relying on Tony for financial support but the idea that it could happen rub people the wrong way. Not to mention the movies themselves avoiding to bring up their financial woes (and having a deleted scene in Far From Home that was supposed to highlight financial issues adds a lil more fuel to the fire). If anything, the headcanons and fanons partially negates Peter's arc in Homecoming because Peter was already starting to move away from being reliant on Tony and be his own hero but some of the fans are craving for more of their dynamic that their own imagination paints things in a more wholesome light. I've seen even some of the irondad fans be weirded out with certain fanfic premises that involve getting rid of Aunt May in some manner just so Peter can be with his new daddy.

But I wanna talk a lil bit more about Tony and he wants Peter to be better than him and considering Peter's whole arc in Homecoming, there's a part of me that doubts Tony would immediately swoop in and spoil Peter like the rich daddies some detractors (and maybe some of the actual fans considering the one post I remembered seeing) make him out to be because he only really does things for Peter in more dangerous situations. Yes, Tony does some questionable things in this canon, but they are a result of things happening in the Avengers movies and if he feels it's very important, which is probably why he thinks putting lethal options in Peter's suits is a-okay, even if that feature was meant to be kept away from Peter to begin with and hacking the suit gave him access so yeah. I suppose maybe having that photo of him and Peter in Endgame with the internship thing might prove otherwise and he does pay Peter but I also doubt the possible "paid internship" persists all the way till before Infinity War, assuming it's paid AND it's enough to cover every monthly bill. His lack of communication to Peter leads to Peter continuing to pursue the Vulture even when Tony had his own plans on dealing with the situation and thus, destruction happens and people's lives were put in danger due to Peter's own recklessness.

But yeah, their relationship is nowhere as "uwu wholesome" as some fans like to imagine and the abundance of those probably muddy things up about certain perception of these characters. I think Tony would maybe leave Peter to his own devices after Homecoming and not chime in for more mundane stuff like financial aid that isn't "internship" related as a sign of respect, assuming Peter can go back to the narrative of the "internship" for his Spider-Man stuff. But again, their association and the implications from them does leave a bad taste in the mouth of the detractors

And then we get to Infinity War and Endgame, which is more focused on Tony's side of their relationship and he defo cared for Peter, he just wants to keep up appearances and composure. Then Peter got snapped with half the universe and Tony had to be reminded of Peter 5 years later to agree to the time travel plan and of course he hugs him and then Tony snaps himself dead and really, there's nothing too questionable about their relationship. Tony doesn't do anything shady involving Peter and following from Homecoming, Peter getting involved with the fight against Thanos isn't him trying get approval from his "irondad" but rather due to his heroism. It's the added list of people Peter could interact with in the fans' headcanons as well as the usual irondad headcanons that has the more childish fanon portrayals because "uwu wholesome" that's keeping people's sentiment against Peter, Tony and their relationship.

Far From Home unfortunately does make things a lil worse. Despite being dead, Tony Stark in a way is much more involved in this movie than he did Homecoming. His "recent" adventures in the two Avengers movies plus Tony's death PLUS his growing crush on MJ puts him in a similar yet different place compared to Homecoming. Basically his recent adventures with the Avengers has once again negatively affect him which involves him throwing away his own philosophy again in pursuit of a different goal. Thing is, he initially keeps to his post-Homecoming development of trying to keep himself from Tony Stark stuff but the change in status quo and expectations forced him to rethink things. He wants a break from being Spider-Man (which is mentally fine) and get with MJ. He kept his mind away from Tony as much as possible but then Mysterio and EDITH became involved in stuff and like... obviously, Tony creating glasses that controls murderous drones to be handed to Peter is VERY questionable and honestly the only way this would make sense is if Tony made this for when Peter would have proved himself as a proper hero and probably an adult and that the Skrull who impersonated Nick Fury didn't get the memo. The drone thing is still a lil questionable with that mindset but at least that makes a bit more sense. Now obviously, the takeaway from Far From Home to a number of people is that it retreads Homecoming's arc of being his own hero to be a hero instead of simply proving himself to others but even Tony himself in Homecoming wants Peter to NOT be the next Iron Man. Tony wanted Peter to be BETTER than him, which is what makes the difference. If Homecoming is Peter needing to be reminded of his path when he's strayed from it by seeking validation, FFH is him finding clarity on his path when burdened by expectations, with his Spider-sense being perfected to give him a "clear" image against the illusions basically visualising it. Of course, whether the execution of the two arcs is good or not is up to your own opinion, but what I can say is that having spent the movie trying to keep Tony's influence and expectations away from him, he makes a clear path for himself, having made his own new suit. While leftovers from Tony Stark is still around physically, mentally, he's finally moved on from Tony Stark. Unfortunately, the large amount of Iron Man stuff being involved in this arc much more than Homecoming did in practice despite Tony being dead doesn't exactly leave the anti Tony and anti mcu spidey folks that much happier, which makes sense. The plot says the Peter shouldn't be the next Iron Man and yet, Stark tech is used in the creation of his new suit AND Peter making the suit in the plane is set to Iron Man music, which some would interpret as the story lowkey wanting Peter to BE that. And of course his connections to other people associated with Tony or via Tony means that the Iron Man mythos is still a lil too entrenched into this Spider-Man in terms of the mythos.

No Way Home doesn't have much Stark influence, which is part of why people like this movie. Stark tech is involved but keeping with the last movie's development, Peter isn't too hung up on things belonging to Stark nor is emphasis put into the fact that the tech is made by Tony Stark. If anything, Tony Stark almost swapped places with Uncle Ben in the "dead figure not at all mentioned" in this one, even if it's Tobey and Andrew, whose movies have visible Uncle Ben deaths, being the only ones to mention him. Peter 1 is much more concerned with his own situation in light of his own identity reveal and everything that follows it. Some fans were like "aww he wants to be in MIT because of Tony" and no, he's already moved on. At this point, Peter wants to be with his friends because they are the only ones he truly gets to himself with considering his identity reveal. And then all of his actions afterwards aren't tied to Tony except using his tech to make cures, but again, the fact that it is his tech doesn't really become a thing that's brought up and eventually... the final mindwipe separates all the physical Stark influence on Peter. No more Stark-made suits. No more Iron Man characters he could simply count on to help, thus bringing a true end to the canon MCU Tony and Peter relationship.

The irony of the reception of these movies from detractors of their relationship is that Peter's arc is about him starting out having a power high from being involved in the big league stuff this early on in his Spider-Man career and having to slowly move away from Iron Man's influence with Homecoming moving him away from being dependent on Tony, Far From Home has him free himself mentally from Tony's influence and moving on and No Way Home gets rid of any lingering connections so he can become the true Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man in a metaphorical sense (as in, he becomes the proper Spider-Man that a good number of fans WANTS him to be). Again, whether you think it's a well executed arc is a different story but I do remember John Watts saying that Peter slowly being stripped down to become the classic Spider-Man was always the plan and while people can say it's bs, my perspective on how it is true is more to the general direction of his arc. When I say that I mean, they don't have nitty gritty of what exactly happens in the stories but the general idea of the arc being present early on helps them to figure out how to get the plot details to fit the arc. Again, execution of the whole thing is your own preference and without really putting the source material into consideration, the whole arc and their relationship does work. Some people do argue that a whole ass trilogy for the character they like to ACTUALLY become that ain't the best idea, and considering the Sony vs Disney debacle that caused No Way Home to almost not become a thing... yeah that makes sense.

But now we get to the "comic accuracy" argument. And I want to make things clear. Comic accuracy isn't simply "that thing happened in the comics so it must be accurate" but also if it's true to the comics in terms of context and themes and other things. Strictly going by the 616 comics, while Peter does deal with other heroes, he never idolised those other heroes, which is why sometimes he gets into fights with them and no, he didn't want to join the Fantastic Four because he idolised them, he did it because he thought they get paid and that's why he left. The Avengers at some point did try to recruit him but everyone has a different attitude to the whole thing and once Peter finds out Bruce Banner is the Hulk when the he gets tested by the Avengers to bring the Hulk in, he had some thoughts about how the Avengers might have treated the Hulk and ends up refusing. And for those who have seen my previous posts comparing Peter 1, 2 and 3 on how much of Ditko's portrayal is actually in there, Peter 1 barely has any of the more negative traits associated with Ditko's 616 Peter. Whether that's a good thing or not depends. Raimi turns that Ditko-isms in Peter 2 into his dark side and Peter 3 tried to balance things out. As for Peter and Tony's relationship, it does happen but by then, both characters have gone through plenty of things and Peter in the comics started out as Spider-Man I think before the Avengers was actually formed, so Peter's whole existence in the MCU already sets up the change in context... as well as everything that happened in the MCU vs the comics. And that's the thing about MCU Spider-Man. The context the Marvel universe is what brought these changes for the adaptation... as well as wanting to be different from prior adaptations. And in the comics... 616 Peter and Tony's relationships does get sour due to Civil War happening when Peter is much older and less naive than his MCU counterpart at that point. And I go onto this WHOLE thing as a lesson on "actually understand the context on your research before you make a fool out of yourself and claim that one thing is accurate to the comics" because it's clear that Tony and Peter's relationship in the MCU is more superficial in terms of comic accuracy, unless being associated with Tony Stark leads to Peter's identity being exposed and thus a mindwipe had to happen is what you're looking for.

But what exactly IS the conclusion to be drawn from this whole ass essay that started off with me talking about the Irondad and Spiderson relationship in the MCU? Well even in-universe the plot is about Peter removing himself from Tony Stark's influence but Tony starts things off a lil too heavily involved in the mythos that we get fans who hate it and some (and I do mean SOME) who love the relationship with their own fanons and headcanons find themselves at odds with the detractors and are probably at war with em. And then their whole relationship ends up serving a whole different purpose than what it actually did in the comics that fits the MCU's narrative and so "comic book accuracy" doesn't necessarily equals "good adaptation" depending on the context.

[bumblesimagines]

Green Thumb

Part 12

Request: Yes or No

I'm sorry this feels short

~

You smiled, ending the call with Bucky. Over the past year, you basically called Bucky every week. Sometimes you went a few days without talking because he was busy or because you had a mission but you two always tried to talk at least once a week. You had gotten to know him better. He told you stories about him and Steve, how it was like growing up bisexual and having to hide it, joining the army. Some things were hard for him to talk about so you didn't push him.

"Done talking to your boyfriend?" Cooper asked, entering the room. You grinned, rolling your eyes and patting the spot infront of you. Cooper took a seat on the bed, sitting criss cross.

"Is Wanda still in Scotland?" He asked.

"Yeah, she is." You smiled, watching your little brother. Cooper hummed, toying with the strings of his hoodie. You watched him curiously.

"What's on your mind?" You asked softly. Cooper bit his bottom lip, tugging on the strings a bit.

"Are you gonna leave to visit that guy too?" He asked quietly. Your gaze softened, reaching forward and gently pulling him closer. You wrapped your arms around him.

"Coop, even if I did leave frequently or moved out, I would come visit everyday. I'd call you all the time." You told him gently, giving his arm a squeeze.

"I wouldn't forget about you, Lila, and Nate." You smiled softly. You turned your head, hearing the burner phone. You frowned, picking it up and looking at the message.

Steve Rogers

We need to get everyone together. We're gonna pick you up in ten.

Cooper watched you, head tilting. You licked your lips, sighing softly and looking at him.

"I've got a mission, bud. Could you go tell mom and dad while I get dressed?" You asked him, tossing the phone on the bed and going to your closet. Cooper nodded, getting up and leaving the room. You got out the outfit Clint had gotten you, changing into it. You opened your drawer, sliding the pistol into its holder. After what had happened with everyone, Clint decided to teach you hand to hand combat and how to use weapons.

"What happened?" Clint asked as he entered the room. You looked at him, licking your lips.

"Something serious. Steve wants everyone to group up." You told him. Clint frowned, nodding.

"Stay safe, alert, and-"

"Come back in one piece." You finished for him, smiling softly. You gave him a hug, moving onto Laura before heading down the steps. You could hear the aircraft landing outside.

"You're leaving?" Lila asked with a pout. You nodded, crouching down and hugging her. You gave Cooper and Nathaniel a hug, assuring them you'd be back.

"Be good." You called, leaving the house and jogging over to the aircraft. Natasha and Steve greeted you with smiles. You noticed their new looks.

"I didn't know you could grow facial hair." You said as the back close. Natasha laughed softly, giving you a hug. Steve shook his head with an amused smile as he made the aircraft rise. Sam gave you a wide smile.

"So, where is Wanda?" He asked.

"Edinburgh with.. Vision." You told them, watching Natasha set the course.

"And why is she there with him?"

"She's not giving or getting information. They're.. A couple." You shrugged lightly. Natasha and Sam shared a surprise look.

"How's Bucky?" Steve asked, keeping his gaze forward. You flushed, unaware that Steve knew about you and Bucky being in contact.

"He's.. Uh, he's fine." You said, scratching the side of your neck and avoiding their teasing gazes.

"So, what's up? What happened?" You asked, looking over them. Natasha pulled up a video. New York being destroyed with a hovering circle in the sky that disappeared into space.

"Banner called and told us about everything. Aliens are invading Earth for some infinity stones. Vision has the Mind Stone." Steve explained.

"Aliens?" You furrowed your brows, looking at her. Natasha nodded. You groaned softly, looking forward.

"Yeah, I won't be home in time for dinner." You sighed. You and the other reached Edinburgh by night time, noticing one of the streets being partially destroyed.

"(Y/N), take care of the fire." Steve ordered. You nodded, standing up and dropping down when the aircraft opened its back. You hopped down, the wind taking you down towards the truck on fire. You moved your hand, spreading your fingers. The fire moved towards you as you absorbed it. You followed the destruction to a subway station, humming.

"They're in here, Cap." You called. Natasha landed the jet as the others hopped down. You crashed through the glass ceiling, using wind to throw one of the two aliens into the air. Sam flew in, punching the alien and sending him flying across the station. Steve and Natasha fought with the other alien before Sam kicked her towards the other one. You made fire balls, keeping them ready in case they fought back.

"We don't want to kill you, but we will." Natasha said. The alien looked at her, scoffing.

"You'll never get the chance again." She replied, placing a hand in her companion. A blue light flashed on them and they were quickly lifted up to a ship. You closed your fists, the fire balls disappearing. You quickly jogged over to Wanda and Vision, the others following.

"Are you okay?" You asked softly. Wanda nodded, wincing as you gently touched the cut above her brow. The root around your wirst reached out, touching the cut and slowly rottening while Wanda's cut healed. She gave you a thankful smile.

"I don't know if I'll be able to heal you, Vis." You told him, helping him up. Sam put one of his arms around his shoulder while you went on his other side.

"Thank you." Vision breathed out.

"Let's get you on the jet." Steve said, turning and leading everyone to the jet. When you entered, you gently helped Vision sit. Natasha closed the back door.

"I thought we had a deal. Stay close, check in, don't take any chances." Natasha turned towards Wanda, cocking a brow. Wanda swallowed.

"I'm sorry." Wanda apologized quietly. Natasha shifted her gaze onto you.

"Nobody likes to snitch on their friends but-"

"I know." You sighed, taking a seat besides Wanda and Vision. Sam piloted the jet to the Avengers tower. You were uneasy, not feeling like getting arrested while Earth got invaded.

"How have you been, (Y/N)?" Vision asked as Wanda tried taking care of his injury.

"I've been good." You smiled. Wanda gave a small smile, looking at you.

"Talking to Bucky as always."

"Barnes?" Vision looked at you in surprise. You gave a small nod, cheeks flushing lightly. You and Bucky were still friends but you felt like there was something more though you didn't want to ask and get rejected. Sam landed the jet at the Avengers facility, the back opening. You and Sam helped Vision up, heading inside. You followed Steve and Natasha to the lab, noticing Secretary Ross hologram. You clenched your jaw, wishing he was there so you could punch him. Rhodes made the holograms disappear, giving Steve a smile and shaking his hand.

"Great seeing you, Cap." He said, giving Natasha a hug.

"You guys look like crap." Rhodes chuckled, looking over you and your friends.

"Surprised Ross didn't arrest you at Bartons place." Rhodes said, motioning to you.

"Clint doesn't mind lying to old assholes." You replied, chuckling softly. Your gaze went over to Bruce. It had been about a year or two since you had last seen him.

"Yeah, I'm- I'm back." Bruce said, nervously looking over everyone. Natasha's gaze and voice softened.

"Hi, Bruce." She greeted. Bruce gave a nod, silence filling the room.

"This is awkward." Sam said quietly. You snorted softly, following Rhodes to an office. You rolled your shoulders, walking to the mini kitchen and getting an apple.

"Where's Clint?" Bruce asked, turning to look at Natasha after being caught up.

"He and Scott took a deal to have their families on house arrest. I'm assuming he lied and said (Y/N) was with Steve and Sam." Natasha said, glancing back at you. You confirmed it with a nod.

"Who's Scott?"

"Ant-Man." Steve answered. Bruce blinked, brows furrowing.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" He asked, head tilting. You chuckled softly, taking a seat.

"Okay, look. Thanos has the biggest army in the universe and he is not gonna stop until he.. He gets.. Visions' stone." Bruce said. You turned your head, looking at the Mind Stone.

"We have to protect it."

"We have to destroy it." Vision corrected, looking at everyone.

"I've been giving it a great deal of thought about this entity in my head.. It's nature and also its composition." Vision turned to look at Wanda, gaze soft as he approached her.

"I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently high energy source similar to its own signature then perhaps... It's integrity could fail." Vision said softly, placing a hand on Wandas' arm. Wanda shook her head lightly.

"And you with it." She stared at him with a small frown. "We're not having this conversation."

"That's too high a price." Wanda said quietly. You watched them, frowning as Wanda turned and walked away from him, eyes watering.

"Thanos needs to be stopped. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him." Vision said, staring at his lover with a sadden gaze.

"We don't trade lives, Vision." Steve said, looking up at Vision. Vision turned to face him, walking towards him.

"You lied down your life to save millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision asked. Steve face him, sighing softly.

"Because you might have a choice." Bruce said, looking at Vision.

"Your mind is made out of a complex system. Ultron, Tony, me, the stone.. All of them mixed together and learning from each other." Bruce said. Wanda turned, sniffling softly and tilting her head at his words.

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?"

"I'm saying, if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts." Bruce said. Natasha licked her lips, gaze flickering between Bruce and Vision.

"Can you do that?" Natasha asked softly. Bruce frowned, shaking his head. Steve turned his head to look at you.

"I know somewhere." He said. You stared at him before a wide smile spread across your face.

"Wakanda."

[elisaphoenix13]

Once Upon A Summer (Ch.2)

The very first jar of baby food that Tony had opened, he visibly gagged and glared at the vile concoction. He was seriously reconsidering feeding it to Peter but after asking FRIDAY about it, it was deemed safe to eat. Tony made a noise of disgust but went to fish Peter out of his new playpen, but that was when he discovered what he and Stephen had forgotten to buy at the store.

A highchair.

So Tony had to seat the baby on his knee and feed him that way, appalled when Peter seemed to enjoy what the man was feeding him. At least whatever made it into his mouth. It was supposed to be chicken and gravy but it just looked and smelled like a smoother version of wet cat food to him. Peter ate about half of it before Tony closed the revolting source of smell and gave him a bottle to fill up, and he took that chance to eat the sandwich he had thrown together. The baby's hands were full so Peter wouldn't be tempted to try and grab Tony's food, but the engineer still ate as quickly as he could. Even he knew babies had a short attention span. There was a chance that Peter would get bored with his bottle.

By some miracle, they both finished at the same time and Tony left the bottle and his plate on the table to clean up later. He was more concerned with cleaning up his kid and getting him into a clean diaper and some pajamas and then into bed. When Tony got up to his room, he grabbed everything he would need and laid the changing pad on his bed and then Peter on top of it, finally getting the Iron Spider suit off of him.

"How did Strange even know how to work this and get you into a diaper?" Tony mumbles to himself.

Peter helpfully made noises in response and rolled over onto his tummy to try and explore, but Tony turned him back over.

"You gotta work with me here kid. This is new territory for me." He grabs the teething ring sitting nearby and hands it to Peter. "Here. Keep yourself occupied with this for a few minutes."

Tony takes off the diaper next (sighing with relief to find it just wet) and moves it aside to deal with later. While he goes about grabbing a clean one to unfold, Peter makes a new noise that he was unfamiliar with. It wasn't alarming, it just sounded like relief. Like-

"Nonono!" Tony panics and tries to cover the baby with anything, but it was too late. A steady stream of urine hits Tony's shirt and he looks down at the baby when he giggles. "Some teenage part of you is still in there somewhere and I bet you're equally mortified and laughing your ass off." He finally says.

Peter answers with another coo around his teething ring and Tony quickly wipes him down and diapers him before grabbing a wipe to clean Peter's mouth free of chicken puree. After a quick glance at the toy, he found it free of food particles so he was able to finish by dressing him in some Iron Man footie pajamas. Tony had no idea they were even making baby clothes with the Avengers on them but when he saw them, he had to get them. Besides, there weren't any Spiderman ones yet.

"Friday, gradually dim the lights would you?" Tony asks, finishing off with some gel on Peter's gums and then picking him up.

"Yes, Boss."

The lights went from their normal setting to a dim light, and over the next few minutes, it would get darker and darker until it was just light enough for Tony to see where he was going. He didn't even know how a baby should be put to bed so Stephen suggested that Tony make the room boring. As dark as possible and maybe some classical music playing very quietly if needed. For now he held Peter close and gently rubbed his back as he paced the room to help the baby get ready to go to sleep. Teen Peter must have had an exciting day because Baby Peter wasn't fighting bedtime. The tiny yawn Tony heard was enough to make anyone with a heart of ice soften...and so was the fact that Peter curled closer to him as he started to fall asleep.

Tony didn't dare make a sound. When he was safely able to stop rubbing Peter's back, he walked over to the crib and leaned over as far as he could. Then he slowly lowered the infant into the crib and moved away quietly when Peter made no sign of waking back up. He stayed long enough to change into some pajamas, throwing his soiled shirt into the hamper, and left the room to clean up.

"FRIDAY, place an order for an appropriate highchair would you? And a reliable car seat." Tony rubs the back of his neck. "I may as well do this right."

"Way ahead of you." The AI replies...rather cheekily.

Tony was tempted to go down to his lab after cleaning up, but like Peter, the shock and excitement of the day wore on him and he was actually willing to go to sleep. It was probably best since Stephen said Peter would be teething. Sleep was a requirement now. Tony had someone that relied on him and he couldn't take care of them running on an hour of sleep. So he went back up to his bedroom and quietly slipped inside and into bed. After he pulled his comforter up and settled into his mattress, he could hear the soft breaths coming from the crib just a few feet away. It was weird. He wasn't used to hearing someone else in his room anymore after he broke it off with Pepper a few years ago...but it was soothing. Tony knew where Peter was and that he was safe and in reaching distance.

The poor kid had gone through so much that Tony personally vowed to do everything he could to keep Peter from further harm and pain. He tried not to get close, but Peter had this quality about him that made him so likeable and before Tony knew it, he started to see Peter like his own.

And it terrified him. He wasn't father material but he kept acting like one. He found ways to keep Peter safe, took him in when he had no one else, and made sure he had everything he needed. The thought of his kid getting hurt made his chest tight.

"Good night kid." Tony mumbles to the sleeping infant.

========

The teething gel didn't last all night. Peter woke up fussing, jolting Tony out of sleep and partially confused. When reality came rushing back, he got up, checked the baby's diaper and then tried some more gel when he found the diaper clean. It worked like a charm in seconds and Peter settled back down enough for Tony to return him to the crib and go back to sleep. The process repeated a couple more times throughout the night, and when a decent hour of the morning came around, Tony was still asleep. Well...mostly asleep. After Peter woke up the first time, Tony was in tune with when the baby woke up so he never got all the way asleep. So he was partially aware when Peter woke up and sat up in his crib. To his relief, the baby was content to babble quietly and Tony took the chance to get a few more minutes of sleep.

He almost didn't hear his door open. It was slow and quiet like whoever it was knew that they needed to be, but he wasn't worried. Whoever it was, FRIDAY didn't deem them a threat. Tony eventually found out though when he watched a shadow move silently over to the crib and Peter stand up with the aid of the bars. The infant babbles a little louder in excitement and the shadow shushes him.

"Let's let Tony sleep a little longer Spiderling."

It was Stephen. Of course it was. He was the only one that knew about Peter's predicament right now, and of course he would just waltz right into Tony's bedroom. Even though he all but demanded the sorcerer's help, he at least has the decency to be quiet about it. Soon enough, Stephen left with Peter as quietly as he came and Tony finally got another half an hour of uninterrupted sleep before he decided to get up. He wasn't really going to, but he smelt coffee and that was enough to lure him out of bed and get him to shuffle downstairs to the kitchen. He had tunnel vision until he got to the coffee maker and poured himself a full mug after fumbling for one and only after drinking half of it, did he finally look around for Stephen and Peter.

He didn't have to look far. He first saw Peter in the playpen drinking a bottle, and then he saw Stephen sitting nearby on the couch reading a book. A normal one from what Tony could see at his angle. There was some jazz playing softly from the speakers as well instead of having the tv on, and Peter looked content.

"I'll have to leave the solid food for you to feed to him." Stephen says. "I can't imagine that any will get into his mouth when my hands shake." He looks up at Tony as the older man walks over and slumps onto the couch next to him.

"I'm surprised you're here so early to be honest. I expected you to make sure he wasn't dead and then go back home." He admits.

Stephen shrugs. "I had nothing much better to do today."

"You even made me coffee."

"Your...robot voice...told me you had a rough night."

"AI. And her name is FRIDAY." Tony corrects.

He was mildly offended but Stephen simply nodded and corrected himself so Tony calmed down. The sorcerer probably didn't know what to call her so Tony couldn't fault him for it. He still didn't have the energy to get angry about it anyway.

"The teething gel only helped for about a couple of hours before he woke up again," Tony explains. "It was never his diaper and I checked."

"Well I put a teething ring in the freezer for later. He's probably ready for some fruit or something now though."

"Oh yeah." Tony gulps down the rest of his coffee and gets back up. "FRIDAY, did my order come yet?"

"Yes, Boss. The packages are waiting for you in the usual spot." She replies.

"Great." He turns to look back at Stephen. "Could you watch him for a little longer? That way I can go grab the highchair and come set it up."

"Sure."

Tony walks into the kitchen to leave his mug by the coffee maker for a later refill and then takes the elevator down to the shipping area. He didn't even bother changing since no one would be up at this hour...at least no one that cared if he decided to strut around the tower looking disheveled in his pajamas. Tony couldn't really bring himself to care much either. It was a quick trip anyway. He found his two packages, strong-armed them back to the elevator and nudged the box with the car seat out and aside once he reached the penthouse again. The highchair was promptly opened and wrestled out of its box with a few grunts and curses and in just a few minutes, it was standing ready to receive a baby by the kitchen table. There wasn't much assembly to it except the tray and the padding for the seat anyway.

"Never thought I would see any of this here." Tony puffs out.

Stephen closes his book and gets up to take Peter out of the playpen who had already gotten up with the help of the playpen. "I never thought I would be in this situation either. It's one thing to give a baby a check-up--"

"It's a whole 'nother trying to actually raise them." Tony finishes and Stephen nods as he takes Peter over to the high chair and places him in it. "Oh by the way Doc, that chicken stuff is atrocious. Pretty sure it was toxic waste."

"I think the fruit will be better on your nose." Stephen laughs. "You may even want to try it yourself."

Tony doubted it, but when he got a jar of apples and blueberries off the counter and popped it open, he took the risk of smelling it...and was pleasantly surprised. He actually did want to give it a try so he stuck the tip of his pinky in it, and then stuck it in his mouth and stared into the jar.

"Wow. That's actually pretty good." Peter cries at him in protest when he watches the man eat some of his food and Tony rolls his eyes as he grabs a baby spoon. "What? Not fast enough for you kid?"

Stephen sighs. "Tony, just feed him." He says with exasperation and walks over to the fridge. "I'm impressed."

"What?" Tony asks as he feeds Peter a small spoonful of purple goop.

"Your fridge is stocked."

"The amount of sass coming out of your mouth is just as impressive," Tony quips.

"Do you want an omelette or not?"

"He cooks too!" Tony cackles and feeds Peter some more. "Did you really just come here to raid my fridge?"

"Oh no, you caught me." Stephen says sarcastically.

Tony smirks but turns his attention back to feeding Peter who was eating the fruit puree faster than he had eaten the chicken the night before. He eventually had to stop though since Stephen had said not to feed him the entire jar. His stomach was still getting used to the different foods.

"Sorry kiddo. Gotta cut you off." There was another babble of protest but Peter was happy to take the frozen teething ring Stephen had taken out of the freezer and offered to him.

"So...what do you want in your omelette?" Stephen asks.

"Anchovies."

"...you're kidding right?"

"Of course I am. I don't even have those around."

"Your level of sarcasm is so refined that I almost couldn't tell." Stephen rolls his eyes.

"Touché."

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Problem with Spidey as ‘Iron Man Junior’

Proponents of the MCU version of Peter Parker have often defended his characterization as logical and necessary in context. But is this really the case?

Tl:dr version: No it is not.

Forgive some laziness on my part because I’m going to be presuming everyone’s familiarity with the comic book iteration of Spider-Man and his MCU adaptation for the most part. To say there is a divide between many fans of former vs. the latter would be an understatement.

Detractors (which I count myself among) typically sum this up as the character being reduced to ‘Iron Man Junior’. In general this refers to MCU Peter Parker’s hero-worshipping of Tony Stark/Iron Man, their father/son relationship and the similar emphasis upon high technology in their hero identities. A connected point of contention is Peter’s aspiration to become an Avenger.

This was outright confirmed by Tom Holland himself in an interview for the then upcoming ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’.

"I think the difference now is that Peter Parker finally has an all-time goal, and his goal is to become an Avenger…Everything he does, even though he's doing it for the right reasons, is done so that one day he can become an Avenger and prove himself to Tony Stark. And I think we've never really seen Spider-Man with that kind of motivation before."

Defenders of this take upon Spidey have argued that this portrayal makes sense in context.

After all, Peter Parker is a teenager who’s grown up in a world where the Avengers are beloved, especially Iron Man. Plus in the comics (under J. Michael Straczynski’s pen) there was a time when Peter and Tony shared a father/son relationship. Tony even equipped Peter with a high tech costume as he did in the MCU. Spider-Man early in his career attempted to join the Fantastic Four in ASM #1 and later the Avengers in ASM Annual #3.

The problem is these defences just don’t hold up to scrutiny.

Let me first be upfront about my philosophy towards adaptations.

I in no way shape or form demand nor expect adaptations to be 1:1 panel to screen translations of the source material. I fully respect that changes are a necessity.

One of many 22-page comic book stories put out every month in the 1960s inevitably needs to be altered when jumping to a 90+ minute live action film in the 2010s.

Even the characterizations need to be altered where necessary if the source material is found wanting. *side eyes Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy*

However, my attitude is that adaptations should at minimum respect the spirit  of the source material no matter what. To do otherwise defeats the object of adapting the work in the first place. If a film is just borrowing superficial traits (names, costumes, powers, etc.) and but not representing the spirit of the character, then creatively speaking it might as well be an original character.

This is the case with the MCU version of Spider-Man. A fundamental component of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original vision for Spider-Man was that he was in essence the anti-Robin.

At a time when teenaged characters were sidekicks (Dick Grayson), supporting characters (Rick Jones) or the ‘kids’ in teams (Johnny Storm) Peter Parker was unique as a totally independent  teen hero. Of course that independence only applied to his life as Spider-Man, but that was part of the point. Spider-Man was his escape and release from the pressures and hang ups of his regular life, which included his doting yet coddling aunt.

A critical part of this was that he was a self-made  man. No elder mentor guided him in the use of his powers, helped him create his equipment or provided any sort of advice/accountability for Peter. He did it all himself. He was a loner.

On a meta level this is partially why Stan Lee (and for the longest time consequent writers) showcased Spidey not jiving with super teams. It was done to emphasis Peter’s independence and thereby his uniqueness within the genre. Even if that’s not so unique anymore (even in film), it’s still a baked in component of teen Spidey’s story. An essential aspect of who he is as a character.

As is his working class status.*

In fact these things go hand-in-hand. Just as Peter had to shoulder an ‘adult hero’s’ burden as Spider-Man (noticeably Lee didn’t dub him Spider-Boy or Lad as would’ve been common back then he also had to struggle for every penny. With the death of his uncle and his aunt’s poor health the burden of household provider fell on his shoulders.

When you take all this into account, having him fanboy over the Avengers and have a superhero mentor (let alone a billionaire one) is an aggressive misreading of the character.

The best way I can illustrate this is with an analogy from the opposite end of the spectrum. Imagine if you will a movie depicting Dick Grayson’s transformation into Robin. Except Batman was wholly absent. Not even an off-screen presence.

That  is how poorly MCU has missed the point  of Spider-Man.

And it was never necessary.

Contrary to defenders of the MCU, making Peter an Avengers/Iron Man fanboy was not the only logical direction to go with the character.**

Yes, in Peter’s world most kids would revere the Avengers and Iron Man. But in the real world not every kid or teen likes the Avengers characters or movies. Just as not every major pop culture phenomenon has ever been universally  embraced by contemporary kids/teens. In the 1980s not every kid loved the Transformers or the Ninja Turtles. In the 1990s not ever kid loved the Power Rangers or Pokémon.

Of course, most kids did, just as most  kids like the Avengers characters today. Similarly most  kids in the MCU by extension would look up to the Avengers. However, if anything this could actually help generate a more spiritually faithful rendition of the character. Consider that on literally the first page of Amazing Fantasy #15 Peter Parker was mocked by his classmates for being an outsider. A bookworm who didn’t know the difference between a cha-cha and a waltz.

In the context of the MCU wouldn’t Peter’s lack of familiarity or interest in the Avengers make for an appropriate updating of that characterization?

Let’s also consider that in the context of the regular 616 universe Spidey held little reverence for any of the heroes who had preceded him. This included Captain America and other WWII heroes as well as the Fantastic Four and their leader, the world famous scientist Reed Richards. Peter would’ve surely known who Reed and Cap were but as originally depicted by Stan lee himself, he wasn’t falling over himself during any of their early encounters.

So there was already a precedent in the comics for Spidey to not be dazzled by famous A-list heroes, meaning it’d be totally believable in the context of the MCU. Indeed this was likely part of the point of the character. Just as being Spider-Man didn’t improve his outsider status within the high school hierarchy so too was he an outsider among his super hero peers. The nerd to the Avengers jocks if you will.

But what of those comic book sources that say otherwise? Surely ASM #1, ASM Annual #3 and JMS’ run on Amazing Spider-Man corroborate the MCU’s take upon the character.

Yes and no, let’s tackle them one by one.

In ASM #1 it was made explicit that Peter wanted to join the F4 for purely practical reasons. His family needed money so he hoped the F4 could provide and income. When he learned otherwise he departed as quickly as he’d arrived.

In ASM Annual #3 Peter was far from eager  to join the Avengers and was equally unimpressed with them as a group.

He actively sabotaged his own chances to join at the issue’s conclusion.

As for Straczynski’s run…sigh…strap in.

At face value this run does indeed seem to support the MCU’s rendition of Spidey. However, the support it offers falls apart due to two factors.

The first is that, well…Peter and Tony’s relationship was pretty nonsensical.

I’m no Iron Man expert so I do not know how old the character would be roughly. From my impressions of the character though circa 2006 he wasn’t even in his 40s yet. Peter by contrast was 30 years old when you do the math. Unlike Tony he’d had several very serious romantic relationships and was back then happily married (barring a brief trial separation). He and his wife had lost a child and even believed one another dead at one point or another. Peter at the time was also working as a teacher to teenagers where he was clearly framed as their elder authority figure.

What I’m saying is that Peter was if anything more emotionally mature than Tony at this time. Or at least he was mature to the point where he was not going to view Tony as his father figure given the minor age discrepancy.

The relationship was clearly engineered with the pre-determined endgame in mind. That endgame being the ‘Civil War’ storyline wherein Peter would unmask upon Tony’s request and subsequently become a fugitive in defiance of Tony’s unethical practices. The latter would entail Tony threatening Peter and the pair coming to blows.

This brings me to the second factor. The totality of Peter/Tony’s relationship was designed to be a testament to how it was ultimately a bad thing.

Tony wasn’t the man Peter believed him to be.

Tony didn’t have Peter’s best interests at heart.

Tony was willing to spy, threaten and even attack Peter.

And along the way Peter and his family lost their home and the safety of Peter’s anonymity. The end result was Peter’s life becoming a shell of it’s former self, with his loved ones in serious danger. In fact you could view his fugitive status as a way to recreate the ‘good old days’ when Spider-Man was feared and hated by the public and authorities.

Had Peter retained his independence rather than surrendering any part of it to his ‘father figure’ Tony Stark, much of this could’ve been avoided. If nothing else Peter might’ve been able to unmask privately rather than publicly.

Whilst the MCU addresses the first factor via de-aging Peter, it has no answer for the second. It borrowed from the JMS run superficially and ditched the greater subtext regarding how Peter shouldn’t  have formed a relationship with Tony.

I’d like to conclude by addressing the most obvious counterpoint to everything I’ve said.

If Spider-Man were more comic faithful wouldn’t it undermine the entire point of him being in the MCU? The appeal of the concept was seeing Spider-Man interact with the wider MCU. From the audience’s POV seeing yet another Spidey flick confined to using Spider-Man exclusive elements might as well have been produced solely by Sony.

The problem with this argument though is that it doesn’t consider the myriad of possibilities available. Spidey could interact with the wider MCU and still be in character.

I’m no writer but off the top of my head:

Spidey could have defied the Sokovia Accords and thus been wanted by the authorities (a neat updating of his traditional ‘outlaw’ status), consequently coming into conflict  with Iron Man

Spidey might have still dueled the Vulture and interacted with Tony as he did in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’. However, instead of gradually realizing he should be a ‘friendly neighborhood’ hero, he could call Tony out for ignoring small scale crime which indirectly ‘created’ the Vulture in the first place

Following ‘Avengers: Endgame’ the dissolution of the Avengers combined with the huge uptick in the population and displacement of citizens might’ve caused far more street crime that Peter would have to deal with. The remnants of H.Y.D.R.A. might’ve exploited this to gain a foothold upon which to rebuild.*** That might’ve warrant an appearance from more grounded heroes like Hawkeye or Ant-Man

An environment like this could’ve been exploited by Quentin Beck to frame Spider-Man, exploiting his already shaky public reputation and make himself look more appealing by contrast

Or Hell just do ‘Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut’ but with the Hulk as Roger Stern planned to do in the first place

I’m sure many of you could suggest infinitely better ideas.

In conclusion, no matter how you slice it, there were better options than rendering Peter Parker Iron Man Junior instead of Spider-Man.

*Peter, as depicted in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ was clearly not well off financially, yet consequent depictions of Peter in the MCU have de-emphasized this to the point where you could argue they are very probably not working class anymore.

This makes sense internally as a billionaire Tony Stark has no reason to take Peter under his wing but allow him to still dumpster dive for equipment. Giving the boy at least some modest financial stability would be a logical step in building a relationship with him and giving him more time and energy to put into his scientific and heroic pursuits.

Whilst I don’t exactly agree with everything said here, this post dives into the subject more deeply.

**And even if it was, if the context demands Peter be rendered so unrecognizable then maybe it was just creatively reductive to integrate him into the MCU the first place.

***They have after all had connections to organized crime in the comics.

[thefilmsimps]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (dir. Destin Daniel Cretton)

-Jere Pilapil-

I feel like I should start with a little bit about the “representation” angle that Marvel and Disney have been pushing with regards to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Marvel has finally done it and made a movie starring a mostly Chinese cast. I’m Filipino-American, and I’m pretty sure that specific movie isn’t coming any time soon, so I gotta live vicariously through movies like this and Crazy Rich Asians. I’m not going to lie, though - on a pure representation level, it seems to me that it’s not that progressive that the first Asian Marvel Cinematic Superhero’s power is “He is good at martial arts”. I’m sure this is deeply meaningful for some people who wish to “see themselves” standing shoulder to shoulder with Captains America or Marvel or whoever (eventually, one assumes), and I wouldn’t want to take away from that.

But it feels at least a little unimaginative, no? Like Marvel’s creative endeavors aren’t really creating a new definition of Chinese or Asian identities; they’re just absorbing existing imagery and ideas, polishing them up and selling them back to us. I can’t think of a better example of the limits of big-budget spectacle as a vehicle for representation. Marvel and Disney have thousands of characters, ideas and stories that they could choose to adapt, and yet, they apparently find themselves limited to updating hoary tropes, tweeting “We did a progress!” and calling it a day.

The biggest challenge in adapting Shang-Chi for a movie would be the source material. Sure, it’s been well-covered how the Shang-Chi comics are insanely orientalist. They’re not “racist” in a cruel way, but every, say, 2 pages you think “Right, yes, this was created by white guys in the 1970s”. The more insidious issue is that Shang-Chi is… not much of a character. Partly as a result of the cultural blind spots of its creators, most Shang-Chi stories are either “Shang-Chi must stop his father’s evil plans” or “Shang-Chi’s father has sent assassins to kill him” (we get a little of both in the movie). The narration provided by Shang-Chi tend to be goal oriented (gotta stop dad), or pseudo-philosophical riddles. There’s just not much personality there.

The core concept has a stench of rot to it, but Marvel went ahead with it anyway, retrofitting some of the central idea to something palatable to a modern audience. They come away with a movie that at least fixes the Orientalist sins of the past. As for the hollow innards of the titular character, well, they’re smart enough to surround him by heaps of supporting characters. Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) floats through his own movie, not as goofy as his BFF Katy (Awkwafina), nor possessing the gravitas or emotional arc of his father (Tony Leung), nor as interesting a backstory as his sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang). I can’t really tell you much about this iteration of the character other than, well, he must stop his dad’s evil plans.

Simu Liu is very likable in the role, though. His chemistry with Awkwafina and Meng’er Zhang is solid. It just feels like large chunks of the movie are big setpieces meant to distract from the character being thin. That said, the setpieces are mostly knockouts. And as seen in other action movies (shout out to The Night Comes for Us), character depth can be overrated if the action is cool enough. The strength of the old Shang-Chi comics is true of the movie, too: the action scenes are very well-realized. The choreography is tight and creative. A fight scene on a bus featured in the trailer is fantastic. A fight between Shang-Chi’s parents is deeply romantic. Shang-Chi deserves credit for understanding that martial arts movies treat fighting as its own language. This manages to still be true on the very Marvel climax, which is high on CGI bullshit but manages to at least do some almost subtle nonverbal communication between its main characters.

This is especially thanks to Tony Leung’s Wenwu, who steals the movie as the most fully realized character (probably true of the recent MCU movie characters stretching back to at least Spider-Man: Far From Home). I’ve said before that Marvel’s spectacles might function better as award shows than as movies, where the best actors get to sleepwalk through roles with a big stack of money at the end of the road. Leung’s sad eyes do more work than most villains’ monologues can, letting us in on the emotions of a man who has lived with infinite power for thousands of years and has finally found something he can’t have. There’s more than a little Neon Genesis Evangelion influence to his character, but given more humanity. It’s beautifully realized performance.

Ultimately, this is a Disney/Marvel production. Several of the normal flaws apply. The darkest stuff happens off screen. The action can sometimes be too reliant on CGI (disappointingly obvious CGI, considering this studio has infinite resources). But the action on the whole is stronger than the average Marvel movie, echoing and aping the martial arts greats in equal measure. As with all of these, it’s at least partially an ad for more adventures with some of these characters, and it succeeds on that level and as its own standalone film. And hey, now that we’ve ripped the bandage off the “First Asian-led MCU movie”, maybe we can finally get somewhere more interesting next time.

7.5/10

[marvelloussynergy]

COMIC BOOK REFERENCES & EASTER EGGS - Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

For me personally, while Spider-Man: Far From Home is a great film, it was made even better by the many Easter eggs and comic book references Jon Watts crammed into it—especially the really obscure ones! The following is a guide to all the ones I’ve spotted along with any deviations from the source material (I will update this as more come to light). Note that owing to the convoluted and complex nature of comic books, I’ve tried to include only the most essential information regarding a character’s history and backstories.

In the comics, Aunt May has worked for F.E.A.S.T. (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter, and Training), an organization that helps the homeless. This is alluded to in the film, with her cinematic counterpart working at a Salvation Army homeless shelter.

A poster featuring Crusher Hogan and advertising a $100 prize can be seen in the kitchen of the homeless shelter. Crusher Hogan is the wrestler Peter Parker beats in Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962), with $100 being the amount he earns for doing so. And while partially obscured, another name that’s listed could be Bone Saw McGraw, the wrestler Peter fights in the 2002 film Spider-Man.

A Piazza New York Mets flag can be seen in Peter’s room (it was also there in Spider-Man: Homecoming), indicating that he’s a fan, something he has in common with his comic book counterpart. This is revealed in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #33 (2001) in which we find out that Uncle Ben often took a young Peter to see the baseball team play.

The suitcase Peter uses bears the initials BFP, referring to Benjamin Parker (his middle name has yet to be canonically revealed), Peter’s uncle.

Ned Leeds and Betty Brant become a couple in the film. In the comics, Ned and Betty also dated each other before marrying in The Amazing Spider-Man #156 (1976). Note that the MCU version of Ned isn’t necessarily meant to be based on Ned Leeds, merely taking his name while being modeled after Ganke.

Two new characters at Peter’s school are derived from the comics. In both media, Mr Del (spelt “Dell” in the film) is a teacher at Peter’s school (he’s specifically a science teacher in the comic books). The cinematic version of Brad Davis competes with Peter for MJ’s attention. In the source material, he was a quarterback at Empire State University who went out on a date with MJ.

Far From Home sees Mysterio pretending to be a hero and tricking the public into believing Spider-Man is a criminal, which is essentially the story told in his debut issue—The Amazing Spider-Man #13 (1964). In the comics, Quentin Beck/Mysterio was a movie special effects artist and stuntman who sought a quick path to fame by trying to frame and kill Spider-Man. Though he doesn’t posses any powers, Beck’s costume contains various weaponry he can employ in combat. Parts of his suit can emit a smokescreen and hallucinogenic gas, which he often uses in tandem with his hologram projectors to disorient his foes. The crystal ball-esque helmet he dons—that he can see out of, but others can’t see into—contains a sonar device that allows him to “see” through the smoke around him. His gloves can dispel a web-dissolving acid, while his cape would electrically shock anyone who touched it.

In the film, Quentin Beck says he’s from Earth 833, while Peter’s reality is Earth Dimension 616. This follows the multiverse naming convention used in the comics. The mainstream Marvel Universe is known as Earth-616, Earth-833 is where Billy Braddock/Spider-UK comes from, while the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been designated Earth-199999. For those curious, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy takes place in Earth-96283, while Marc Webb’s two Spidey films are set in Earth-120703.

Though not a direct adaption of anything from the source material, the stealth suit Nick Fury gives Peter in the movie was inspired by two costumes from the comics: the black costume worn by Spider-Man Noir and the stealth costume (which has a camouflage mode) Peter develops early on in the “Big Time” (The Amazing Spider-Man #648-656, 2010-11) story arc.

In the comics, the Elementals are a group of beings that hail from another universe, each of who can control one of the elements. Hellfire has mastery over flames, Hydron can command water, Magnum is able to manipulate earth, and Zephyr has power over air. For the film, however, director Jon Watts decided to amalgamate the concept of the Elementals with some of Spidey’s classic foes.

The MCU earth Elemental takes some inspiration from Sandman. Flint Marko, having escaped from prison, hides on a beach where nuclear tests are conducted. After a nuclear explosion, he finds his body has taken on the properties of sand.

The water Elemental is based on Hydro-Man. During a battle between Spider-Man and Namor on board the U.S.S. Bulldog, crewman Morris “Morrie” Bench was knocked overboard, falling into the water just as an experimental generator was being tested. The energy from the device combined with underwater volcanic gases granted him the ability to turn his body into water. In the film, Hydro-Man’s origin story from the comics is cited by Flash as a possible explanation for the existence of the water Elemental.

The lava Elemental resembles Molten Man. Mark Raxton’s skin turned to metal after he’s covered with a liquid metal alloy that was created from substances found inside a meteor. He finds that he now has super strength, possesses skin that is highly resistant to injury, and is also able to generate intense heat, giving his body a molten form.

The air Elemental, meanwhile, could be based on Cyclone. Andre Gerard was an engineer who invented a weapon known as the Cyclone. With NATO not wanting to use his creation, he instead incorporated the technology into a suit that could create high-speed winds around him.

Despite the film not featuring direct adaptations of Sandman, Hydro-Man, Molten Man, and Cyclone, the debut issues of each character are referenced in Far From Home. When Fury and Maria Hill are shooting the earth Elemental the numbers 462 can be seen as part of a car’s number plate (The Amazing Spider-Man #4, 1963; Sandman’s first appearance), Fury’s car in Prague bears the number plate “ASM 28965” (The Amazing Spider-Man #28, 1965, which was published in September; Molten Man’s first appearance), an overturned car on Tower Bridge has “TASM 143” as its plate (The Amazing Spider-Man #143, 1975; Cyclone’s first appearance), and though not in the final cut of film—but present in the trailers—“Asm 212” can be seen on a boat in Venice (The Amazing Spider-Man #212, 1981; Hydro-Man’s first appearance).

Speaking of number plates, the one on the car Fury drives in Berlin is “MTU 83779,” a reference to Marvel Team-Up #83 published in July 1979. The issue sees Spider-Man and Nick Fury team up against Silver Samurai and Boomerang. In addition to being Cyclone’s debut issue, The Amazing Spider-Man #143 (1975) is also the issue in which Peter and MJ first kiss—hence the “TASM 143” number plate appearing on screen when Peter and MJ kiss in the film. The number plate on Aunt May’s car, unchanged from Homecoming, is “AMF 1562,” a nod to Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962). And lastly, in the post-credits scene we see the number plate of Talos’ car: “HNM 62011.” This is a reference to Hawkeye & Mockingbird #6 (2011) in which a Skrull impersonating Nick Fury is discovered.

This cinematic incarnation of MJ reveals to Peter that she knows he’s Spider-Man, with her comic book counterpart having done the same in The Amazing Spider-Man #257 (1984).

While the zombie Iron Man we see in the film was merely an illusion, there actually does exist a zombie Iron Man in the comics. This version of the character hails from Earth-2149 where all the Marvel heroes have been turned into zombies.

Though it is a newspaper in the mainstream comic continuity, The Daily Bugle is a news website in the film. Both iterations, though, have an anti-Spider-Man slant. In the Ultimate Universe, however, the publication did go digital-only, doing so in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #11 (2010). The website in the issue is dailybugle.com; in the film it’s thedailybugle.net.

In the comics, J. Jonah Jameson is the executive editor and publisher of The Daily Bugle. What’s significant about the MCU incarnation of the character is that he’s played by J. K. Simmons, who portrayed the character in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy!

Spider-Man’s identity has been revealed in the comics—accidentally or otherwise—to members of the public several times. The MCU has Mysterio do this, but in Civil War #2 (2006) Peter himself willingly does so at a news conference as a way of showing his support of the Superhuman Registration Act. 

And while not exactly a reference to the comic books themselves, in Venice the students stay at Hotel DeMatteis, a nod to J. M. DeMatteis who has written many Spider-Man comics. Additional shout-outs to Spidey writers come in the form of signs that can be seen in the city: Calle Bendiso (Brian Michael Bendis), Calle Slotto (Dan Slott), Calle Sterno (Roger Stern), Calle Michelinio (David Michelinie), and Calle G. Convayo (Gerry Conway).

In terms of references to the wider MCU, the biggest would have to be Tony Stark’s death, which occurred at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Pictures of him, along with Captain America, Black Widow, and Vision can be seen as part of the in memoriam video a student at Midtown School of Science & Technology creates. The disappearance and return of half the universe’s population is referred to as “the blip.” Happy Hogan hands May a large cheque for the homeless shelter signed by Pepper Potts. Videos about the Snap, Wakanda, Hydra, Einstein Rosen Bridges (featuring Erik Selvig), and Iron Man can be seen as part of the in-flight entertainment. Various other heroes are also named-dropped: Thor (who’s offworld), Doctor Strange (who’s unavailable to help Fury), and Captain Marvel (Fury tells Peter to not invoke her name). We find out that Quentin Beck was the one who invented B.A.R.F., and was present backstage at MIT during Stark’s demonstration of it in Captain America: Civil War. William—who we first met in Iron Man—has joined Beck in his revenge against Stark. At one point, Fury mentions the presence of Kree sleeper cells, and that this information was top secret. And in the post-credits scene we find out that Talos and his wife, Soren, have been impersonating Fury and Maria Hill respectively during the course of the film.

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[bluebellhairpin]

Fresh Off The Press

Peter Parker X Fem!Stark!Reader

A/N: Can you guess I’ve seen Far From Home Yet? - Nemo

Warning(s): Angst, and overall media being pushing media. (I removed the FFH Spoiler warning because it’s been ages since the movie came out.) 

Summary: Thanks to Quentin Beck, the world now knows who hides behind the mask of Spider-Man. But you, one of Tony Stark’s long lost children, decide to take things into your own hands. Maybe then the press will leave poor Peter Parker alone. Maybe then the press will believe someone else is Spider-Man.

Masterlist  

[Edited 1-04-2020]

You had been having a rough year as it was. A holiday was needed, but you knew now was a horrible time to rest.

Your world was in chaos. 

After confronting Tony Stark in the five years between blips, you were given a lot of trouble. Dealing with the media became an everyday occurrence. Even with half the population gone they didn’t take a break. 

Then after Tony died, you helped direct attention away from Pepper and Morgan. People had questions, and they wouldn’t rest until they had answers. So since, by now, everyone knew you were a Stark, you took the interviews, answering every question fired at you with ease and truth, without telling too much. 

Eventually, while Pepper was still the CEO of Stark Industries, you became the new face of the company. Partially because the Media liked having you around, and partially because Pepper couldn’t bear to do it herself. 

But now, this was a whole new board game. 

Mysterio was already a villain you had to explain on behalf of the disappeared Avengers, but now Spider-Man was too.

He’d become the villain.

You already knew who Peter Parker really was, and you did your best to direct questions about all anonymous heroes away from their civilian identities, even going so far as to pose others as one of their aliases somewhere where the other wasn’t. You even had people scanning photos, videos and web articles so that nothing would leak. 

But this one slipped through every loophole like that was what it was made for.

And so that is what led you here, minutes away from the biggest ‘do or die’ of your life. The city and the world wanted answers. They wanted confirmation of who Spider-Man was. They wanted to know if, in Beck’s last moments, he was finally telling the truth. 

As for Peter and May, they just wanted to be left alone. 

They were waiting in a back room, along with Pepper and Morgan, watching a live-stream of the event on the TV. You’d only met Peter once before, but you knew you’d do anything for him.

Tony really didn't second guess him in the slightest. He had no reason to. 

As soon as you stepped out from behind the door, cameras flashed and questions were thrown right away. You walked up to the podium, ignoring the attention like usual, and took in a deep breath, shooting a look to your right at Happy.

Hey, even accustomed public speakers got nervous. 

You looked up at the main camera, the one the proper live-stream was being viewed on, and the room took that as their cue to be silent. 

“I understand since last week’s shock that many questions are still left unanswered. No doubt it came as a shock to everyone, including myself, as to Mr. Beck’s so-called reveal of Spider-Man.” You took this moment to look up from your speech to survey the room. Many were eating up your words like it was their last meal on earth. “Beck was an illusionist. And a disgruntled, former Stark Industries employee. He wanted nothing more than to take down what my father built and remake it with his name plastered over it. Nothing he ever said was worth trusting.”

A reporter put her hand up, and you nodded to her to speak.

“So are you saying the video Mysterio recorded and gave to the source was fake?” Murmurs started in the room, but you silenced them very quickly.

“Yes, it was all staged.”

“So what did happen? How do you know Mysterio was lying?” the reporter said, a light smirk on her lips. She thought she’d caught you.

“We have footage from the EDITH glasses that show exactly what Spider-Man saw, and what ‘Mysterio’ saw whenever they had them on.”  You told them straight, and murmurs rose again. 

The EDITH glasses had been made known to the public as soon as they were in Peter’s possession. You’d made sure that manufacturing of fake replicas were available at every shop that sold Tony Stark memorabilia. They became a novelty very quickly. It was your way of making sure Peter never got caught wearing Stark tech with no reason. 

“We have the real footage prepared, if you can bear to handle the truth.” You added, your own lips quirked up in a smirk, and the room all gave answers that sounded like approval. You turned back to look at Happy, and he pressed a few buttons to get a projection on exactly what happened in London that day. 

As the footage played, the contorted voice of Spider-Man contrasted to the normal voice of Mysterio played through the eerily silent room. You noted looks of confusion on people’s faces as to why Spider-Man’s voice was like that, and some looked like something you couldn’t recognize.

The footage ended and another reporter spoke up.

“Why was Mr. Parker’s voice distorted? We all already know who he is.” he said, laughing awkwardly. 

“EDITH is programmed to distort the wearer's voice to preserve identity. And I know that you think Mr. Parker is Spider-Man, however I’m obligated to inform you that you are wrong.” The room roared to life with more flashes of light and questions. You rose your hand to silence them, and they simmered down within a few moments. 

“So who is Mr. Parker?”

“He was one misfortune student on a school trip to Europe that Mr. Beck just so happened to know was there at the time. Mr. Parker has worked with Tony as an intern in the past, and Mr. Beck obviously figured that he was the perfect person whose life to mess with. The perfect person to make him look like the hero. It could have easily been anyone else on the trip Mr. Parker was on. He was simply in a series of events that led him to the wrong place at the wrong time.” 

They were back to eating your words in full. Beck sure didn’t lie about people believing anything.

In the back room, Morgan was comfortably sitting on Peter’s knees; she’d adopted him as her older brother the first afternoon they met. May was sitting on his one side, a tight grip on his hand, and Pepper on his other to give some sort of emotional support. 

Peter couldn’t believe how well you could just ‘say’ all those things, some of it was the truth, other parts were a bit of a stretch, but he found himself not minding. He found himself believing too. 

For a moment even he believed he might not be Spider-Man. 

“So who is Spider-Man?” 

You looked over at a new reporter, he looked old, and worn, and he seemed to just want answers. You’d hate to just give it to him.

“Anyone can wear the mask.” you started, looking back down at your speech again. You smiled to yourself at the words there. But you ignored them. 

“Even me.”

[fink-le-freak]

@mikey-putrid and I have this weird little desert town we created called Halflight and I want to share some of the character blurbs we wrote for the citizens

Notable Locations Within Halflight

-Halflight General Hospital

-Halflight Public Library

-Halflight Grammar School

-Halflight Town Hall

-The Flock and Feather

-Dragon's Keep Games and Comics

-Feline Good

-Pins N' Needles

-Ink Addicts

-Rose's Antiques

-Theodore's Oddities and Enchantments

-Kelly's Judo Club

-New to You

-Sunny Valley Nursing Home

Dr. Elsie O'Dalaigh, 54: The town's most beloved doctor. Her dry wit and eccentricities may put you off at first, but she's a very warm and wise woman and should you fall ill or find yourself hurt, you will be in good hands. She's originally from Dublin and has a fair number of stories to tell from her wild youth in Ireland. She has an affinity for all things macabre but especially spiders. You might find her dozing off on her porch swing or enjoying a cup of tea with a friend. You're always welcome to join her and her spouse for dinner.

Dr. Ivan Vasilevsky, 39: A sickly doctor who recently came to town from New York City because the air quality was better for his lungs. He's very brilliant but hardly friendly and very private. Because he's fairly well known, patients come from across the country seeking his care. The only person he seems friendly with is his nurse, Cameron.

Dr. Andre Jimenez, 34: An anthropomorphic parrot surgeon at Halflight General Hospital. He's a total social butterfly and loves to talk, talk, talk. He has trouble keeping secrets and falls into gossip frequently. He's well liked by all his colleagues, all but Dr. Vasilevsky that is.

Johnathan "Johnny" Ross, 20: A cowardly and sensitive young man with a passion for piercing. Though only an apprentice, he's very knowledgeable about body modification and keeps his own piercings immaculate. His motorcycle is also kept in pristine condition. He's also quite shy and is hardly ever seen without his girlfriend, Loretta.

Venus Estelle, 31: A laid back frilled lizard woman that claims to see the future through the smoke from her pipe. She's very transparent and sees no reason to keep secrets about herself. She has nothing to hide. She has a passion for music and plays drums in a local punk band, The Heart Electric.

Kaisei "Kai" Kelly, 56: A very stoic and serious judo instructor. His father was a boxer in Ireland and ever since childhood, Kai has been enthralled by martial arts. He fancies himself a train enthusiast and has a large collection of model trains in his home. His serious nature and brute strength can make him rather intimidating but his husband Rodney finds him cute. He visits his family in Kyoto every spring.

Rodney Kelly, 59: The gym teacher at Halflight Grammar School. Originally from Edinburgh and standing a diminutive 5'2", Rodney more than makes up for his height with personality. He's encouraging, kind, hyperactive and loud. Very, very loud. Fitness has always been an important part of his life, even at nearly 60. He does his best to make gym class a fun place for all instead of a source of bullying and stress for those who don't like team sports.

Jeremy Fox, 19: A brilliant college student neck deep in conspiracy theories. He's very paranoid and distrusting, often to his detriment. He wants to prove to his professors that aliens exist though none of them will give him the time of day. When he isn't studying or trying to prove his theories, he can be found practicing his bass guitar or stargazing. He and his older sister like to unwind by smoking pot and watching sci-fi movies. He's one of Johnny's closest friends.

Jodie Fox, 23: Jeremy's cheerful, supportive yet ditzy older sister and roomate. She let him move in with her after their parents kicked him out for being gay. She doesn't understand a lot of what he talks about but she's happy he's passionate about something. Her bedroom is filled with Care Bears merchandise and colorful collectibles. She's rarely seen without her sticker covered roller skates. The two siblings live in the apartment right above Johnny and Loretta.

Sunny McIntyre, 30: An anthro horse gym rat and fitness trainer. Her cheerfulness is contagious and her motherly nature makes her easy to talk to. Her thick southern drawl might make it hard to understand her though. She always looks on the bright side and doesn't have a pessimistic bone in her body. In addition to being a die hard Bon Jovi fan, she enjoys fishing, hiking and hunting. She also hosts a transgender support group at her house.

Junichiro Oguma, 46: An overworked and underpaid pharmacy technician. Though very good at what he does, he isn't really a people person. He's rather grumpy and has little patience for foolishness. He's infamously difficult to work with due to his perfectionism. He holds himself to ridiculously high standards and gets upset easily when he fails to meet his own expectations. His wit is drier than the desert itself.

Edward Dowler, 68: A retired illustrator living comfortably at the Sunny Valley Nursing Home. He takes his sketchbook everywhere and may sheepishly ask you if you would mind posing for a portrait. He's a gentle soul and a firm believer in the power of pacifism. He's very close to his adopted daughter and three grandsons.

Joanne Lawrence, 47: The owner of Joanne's Diner. She bought the place almost 20 years ago and turned it into a comfortable, 1950's style diner popular among bikers and travelers. She's very blunt and hates wasting time but if you treat her well, she'll treat you well. Threaten her livelihood however and you will pay dearly. Regulars might call her Mama because she takes such good care of them.

Dennis "Moose" Bowen, 52: The cook at Joanne's. He's a people pleaser and will do whatever a customer asks to make sure they enjoy their meal. Hearing someone say they didn't like his food is like a knife through the heart. He prefers to stay in the background and not call too much attention to himself. Joanne calls him Moose because of his large size.

Hilda "Mouse" Calhoun, 21: A demon waitress at Joanne's. Contrary to what you might believe, she's very down to earth and sweet. She's not here for souls or bringing you to damnation, she just wants to serve pancakes and save money for beauty school. Her petite build makes her the Mouse to Dennis's Moose.

Wally Mack, unknown but born before 1956, mentally and physically around 21-24: A living humanoid shadow that can usually be found on a wall at Joanne's. He's chatty and perky and loves to dance. He's able to interact with others through their shadows. If Wally was to touch your shadow's shoulder, you would feel it. He likes to play harmless pranks on Dennis.

Tiffany "Tiff" Cain, 25: An anthropomorphic eagle bartender at her father's restaurant, The Flock and Feather. She also volunteers to work with children with special needs on weekends. She's very patient and a daredevil at heart. Her straightforward, casual attitude makes guests comfortable and keeps them coming back. She may be seen skateboarding around town.

Hisao Nakajima-Stewart, 33: The recently appointed head librarian at Halflight Public Library. He's rather sarcastic and moody but becoming a father has softened him up. He's very passionate about high fantasy and hosts Dungeons and Dragons sessions at his house every week. He spoils his chihuahua, Kotori, rotten with all kinds of pretty dresses and toys. He loves his husband, daughter and newborn son dearly.

Delwyn Morgane, 29: An employee at Dragon's Keep Games and Comics. When his shift ends, he dons a full suit of armor and obsessively hunts down dragons, or at least tries to. He's yet to actually kill a dragon. He's quite handsome but has a few screws loose. He plays Dungeons and Dragons with Hisao and friends every Thursday night.

Klaus Brunsvold, 70: A quiet and hardworking man originally from Norway. English is not his first language but he's slowly improving thanks to his coworkers. Though he might look imposing, his warm smile puts people at ease right away. He works at the cat cafe, Feline Good, as a barista and gleefully serves customers fattigman and slices of ostekake. Goria says he has "big grandpa energy".

Jonas Ostergard, 61: A blunt, reclusive man that's easily recognized by his towering height and voracious appetite. Standing 8'2" in comparison to his wife's tiny 5', he's one of many oddities in this town. He's absolutely enthralled by zombies and robots and fills notebooks with detailed diagrams regarding them. He's often seen at the Flock and Feather, chatting up a storm with his friend Tiff. He has autism, ADHD and intellectual disabilities.

Jamie De Luna, 18: A scrawny young man enamored with anime and martial arts. He's a bit hotheaded and immature but nonetheless determined to become an MMA fighter. His younger sister Tala is his biggest fan and supports her nerdy big brother all the way. He loves cheesy kung fu movies and takes them very seriously. He thinks very highly of his judo teacher Kai and seems to think of him as a father figure.

Goria Stout, 15: A high school student and part of Hisao's Dungeons and Dragons group. She's partially an ogre, 25% to be exact, and admires her ogre grandfather greatly. However, at the same time, part of her has been made to feel ashamed of her pointed ears and blue skin. She's rather lazy and self centered, but occasionally shows a more warm side. She wants to study magic and become a feared sorceress but just doesn't have the natural ability to do so. She frequents the comic shop and is the only one that believes in Delwyn's quest to slay a dragon.

Wesley Eldridge, 19: The bratty and materialistic son of billionaires left to play in mommy and daddy's mansion. His parents are constantly traveling the world, so he spends his days lazing about and relishing his family's wealth. He's notoriously snobbish and will have no part in anything, or anyone, he deems beneath him. He's had a fondness for unicorns since he was a child and even owns a purebred Irish unicorn named Divinity Diamond. He's very protective of her and has no qualms about sending his guards after you if you dare harm her.

Renwick Ozul, 25: E-boy and aspiring model with a sour disposition. He's distrusting of others and keeps people at a distance, except for his close friend Missy. Despite his cold and calculating online persona, he's quite insecure and struggles with his body image. He can be rather rude and nasty but has his moments of vulnerability and kindness.

Chelsea Montgomery, 23: A quiet young woman who keeps to herself. Some people say she fades into the background. She's very creative and resourceful, cleverly finding solutions to most problems she faces. Her interests include anime, cosplay, drawing and video games. She's great with kids and would like to be an art teacher one day.

Dallas Silvers, 27: A monster hunter and unofficial sheriff of Halflight. She's bold and quick witted, outsmarting any beast that threatens the town and quickly subduing it or killing it. Her talent with a rifle is nigh unmatched in town. She's the second oldest of 11 children and adores her older brother, the bounty hunter Smokey Silvers. She finds it difficult to be open about her feelings but loves her family dearly.

(Characters below belong to my friend @mikey-putrid, follow him he's cool)

Brody Erickson-O'Dalaigh, 47: The town's resident maternal figure and unofficial monster hunter (or befriender, really). Their spunky, adventurous attitude often gets them into shenanigans, but they always manage to pull themself out. They are kind and loving towards everyone. No matter who or what you are, you are always invited to Brody's for a nice meal.

Landon Borowick, 26: Brody's, often unwilling, sidekick and a security guard at the local mall. He's a cowardly young man who would rather stay home and get stoned, but thinks of Brody as his hero and therefore ends up getting dragged along on their adventures. Despite his fearful nature, Landon is a physically intimidating person who will do anything to help a friend.

Darcy Cooper, 16: A rough and tumble student at Halflight Grammar School. Darcy moved to Halflight with her mother to open up a bakery, which doubles as their home, and she often makes deliveries on her bike. Her warm and friendly personality helps her to make friends easily. Usually covered in bandages, Darcy loves practicing stunts on her skateboard, as well as watching anime and playing video games.

Loretta Sims, 20: Johnny's girlfriend, aspiring cryptozoologist and collecter of cool antiques. Loretta is shy and timid, preferring to blend into the background and not draw attention to herself. She loves spending time in the forest and working on her ever growing scrapbook. She's never far from her beloved boyfriend.

Cameron Payette, 28: A nurse at Halflight General Hospital and Dr. Vasilevsky's live in assistant. Having grown up with 15 disabled and ill siblings, Cameron has developed a love of helping people, keeping them healthy and cheering them up with a silly song on their trusty ukelele. During their off time, they enjoy video games and sci-fi movies.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

I adored Into the Spider-Verse but I think there was a double edged sword effect to it.

It’s message of anyone can be Spider-Man is true and all but people have either misunderstood it or distorted it to mean that anything and everything goes when you are making a Spider-Man...product.

And so we get to Far From Home, probably the single most broken portrayal of Spider-Man on film to date. On it’s most fundamental level it is simply not Peter Parker.

The life that person leads, the places where the emphasis is placed, the over all story and emotional journey Peter goes on? 

None of that stuff demonstrates a character who’s every action is underpinned (subtly or not) by the mantra of Great power=Great responsibility, imprinted onto him by the death of the man who raised him.* It certainly doesn’t demonstrate that within the context of a down to Earth everyman who lives a life very similar to the Average Joe except he happens to also be a superhero in his spare time. 

And yet people will regurgitate ITSV’s sign off message or horribly distorted versions of that message to justify the FFH/MCU take upon Spider-Man.

Let me spell it out for you though.

Yeah anyone can be Spider-Man. But not anyone or any thing can be Peter Parker.

In addition to that a lot of people don’t seem to comprehend that whilst the MCU is indeed an alternate universe to the mainstream Marvel comics universe that that doesn’t automatically justify anything and everything the MCU does as far as changing characters or plot points.

See alternate universes in comic books are not one size fits all, there are specific varieties.

What Ifs for example rely upon you having some kind of preexisting knowledge of the canon versions of the characters and then showing you how zigging where they zagged can wind up with drastically different end results. For example What If Gwen Stacy Lived? ends with Peter’s identity exposed and his life in ruins.

Elseworlds also rely upon at least a broad knowledge of the established canon on top of which the story imposes some other kind of twist. These can range from something as close to canon as if Kal El never became Superman and how that’d affect the Justice League or something far more wacky and out there such as Batman in the 19th century or Superman as an agent of the Soviet Union.

Spider-Man: Noir would be an Elseworlds type of character.

Then you come to...adaptations. Adaptations are unique as alternate universes as they actively presume little-no knowledge on the audience’s side. Spider-Man 2002 for instance presumed at most audiences were aware of the 1960s Spider-Man theme song and what Spidey’s outfit looked like but nothing else. Every character or story element in that movie was played as though audiences didn’t know about them, precisely because the majority really didn’t. Prior to 2002 ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ was not a quote just about everyone knew.

Adaptations jobs are specifically NOT to zig where the source material zagged because there is no presumed knowledge on the part of the wider audience.

Their job, partially informed due to being so much more influential on pop culture than the comics they are based upon, is to at minimum present the spirit of the characters and stories as much as possible within the confines of their project. For example you aren’t going to have Spider-Man dump loads of inner monologue in a film like in a comic book. You aren’t going to have him bitten by a radioactive spider. You aren’t going to present Betty Brant as a teeange secretary if the movie is set in the modern day.

This then brings us to Far From Home.

Far From Home was NEVER marketed, to general audiences or fans, as a What If or an Elseworlds rendition of Spider-Man. If it was then presenting a version of Peter Parker who quite frankly ISN’T Peter Parker beyond superficial elements (he’s clearly more influenced by Miles Morales and it is not even subtle) or a version of Mary Jane who lacks any of her personality traits, role in the narrative and even her name, might be more permissible. Might being the operative word because in the definitive adaptation of the Marvel universe made by Marvel themselves deciding to so radically depart from the essence of Spider-Man is a decision worth questioning.

In an Elseworlds or even a What If showing Spider-Man become Tony Stark’s surrogate son or Mary Jane be radically different makes sense, it’s expected from the ‘subgenre’ of story if you will. 

But the MCU Spider-Man was pushed as (and I suspect in the minds of the creators in fact is) a genuine interpretation of the mainstream canon Spider-Man. Indeed misguided MCU stans have touted this iteration of Spider-Man as the most faithful yet, which is provably not true. If I have to I will  bust out specific pages and panels for you to see that.

Again, anyone can be Spider-Man, but not anything and anyone can be Peter Parker  if your aim is to actually represent the specific canon version of the character...which frankly in the MCU you should be trying to do!**

He’s a long stories versatile character you can do that whilst still making it different to what came before, there are multiple ways to get Peter Parker ‘right’. And as for other characters, like Mary Jane, they’ve NEVER been done right on film so cutting it closer to the definitive version would still present audiences with something new. 

Long story short. 

You can do Spider-Man in a lot of different ways but do not dare for a moment delude yourself into thinking it’s impossible to ever do him wrong.

*And no it isn’t the same because Tony was his father figure. Tony wasn’t there to wipe his nose when he was a kid. He wasn’t there on his first day of high school. He wasn’t Peter’s dominant male role model when he was growing up. He didn’t teach Peter the lesson about great power and great responsibility.

And before anyone starts bleeting on that he totally did, Peter states a reworded version of Ben’s famous quote in Civil War. Peter already knew it, Tony didn’t teach him it. 

Tony Stark is NOT Peter’s Uncle Ben in the MCU, no matter how much Marvel or news pieces claim otherwise.

**There is a difference why Miles Morales mentor in ITSV was essentially canon Spider-Man if his life turned out wrong instead of it being Spider-Man: Noir, Peni, Gwen or the blonde successful Peter Parker. The version audiences would inevitably see as more familiar, as closer to the primary Spider-Man, being Miles mentor legitimized him more.

[ventivante]

Part One summary | can be found here! genre | jennifer’s body!au, college!au, horror, supernatural, humor, angst, demon!wooyoung; wooyoung x reader, mingi x reader warnings | language, discussions of death, some blatant blasphemy, and very bad/cliche humor word count | 2.1k

DISCLAIMER: this fic contains lots of dark subject matter and i will put any specific trigger warnings before each part. i do not condone the unhealthy relationships portrayed in this fic, nor do i believe the characters’ real life counterparts to display these behaviors.

happy halloween y’all!

“God, just shoot me in the face,” Wooyoung whined aloud, leaning his head back to emphasize just how unhappy he was with studying.

“Stop, you’re gonna get us kicked out again,” you whispered across the table at him.

“Good! I hate this place anyway, it reeks of decaying dreams and B.O.,” Wooyoung announced dramatically, his voice still at full volume.

Against your better judgement, you’d invited Wooyoung to study with you at the library. It was against your better judgement for two reasons: first, because Wooyoung didn’t function well in environments where you needed to be quiet and you were both already on the librarian’s shit list, and second, because you felt like you owed it to him after ignoring him all weekend.

Another unspoken reason you weren’t ready to admit was that Wooyoung had been acting . . . weird over the past few days. Even weirder than he normally was. For starters, he had dyed his hair—gone were the black locks you had grown up alongside, now replaced by sandy blond, perfectly gelled movie-star hair. His response to being asked why he’d changed it?

I got bored, he had told you, as if it were the simplest question in the world.

Of course, you knew that abrupt hairstyle changes usually took place in the midst of an emotional crisis, but you hadn’t pressed the issue further. If Wooyoung wanted to talk about things that were bothering him, he eventually would on his own terms—you had learned that the hard way.

Not only had he changed his hair, but he had started dressing really different as well. Normally Wooyoung opted for comfortable sweaters and hoodies, with some standard t-shirt-and-jeans ensembles thrown in the mix. Now he dressed as if his daily commute was on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. You didn’t know where his sudden sense of style had come from, but you guessed it may have had something to do with the aftermath of the party yet again.

Despite all of the red flags, you wanted to find out just what had caused the sudden changes, and you felt partially guilty that you had been the source of it. You figured if you spent more time with him, he would open up to you and finally forgive you.

“Come on, let’s get out of here and grab some sushi, I’m staaarved,” Wooyoung pouted as he rested his head on a propped fist, eyes wide and lower lip protruding in a wholly pathetic display.

Even though he had been acting strange, Wooyoung had been in very high spirits. He was constantly joking with you and laughing over the smallest things, not common indicators that Wooyoung was undergoing mental duress. His current behavior also wasn’t a surprise, as he’d always had a distaste for studying.

“Let me just finish these last couple sections,” you sighed as you flipped the page of your anatomy book.

“I can give you the short version: Adam shoves his dick into Eve’s vagina, boink boink boink, and that’s the miracle of life,” Wooyoung explained crudely, even throwing in a few vulgar gestures for added emphasis. “There, I even included curriculum for the Bible thumpers.”

You grimaced at his tactless anatomy lesson and shut your book without another word. “That’s gross and blasphemous.”

Wooyoung only shrugged before folding his hands on the table’s surface and fixing a now serious look on you. “Don’t tell me you’re still squeamish about sex, Y/N.”

“I’ve never been squeamish, I just don’t need to shout about it from the rooftops.” You hoped that the blush you were undoubtedly now sporting didn’t undermine your words.

“Oh, boo, so boring,” Wooyoung rolled his eyes and slumped back onto the table, his chin resting on his forearms.

“Hey guys.”

You jumped as someone slid into the seat next to you, scaring the daylights out of you. Your pen was raised, ready to attack your would-be assailant before you realized it was only Yunho—one of your and Wooyoung’s few mutual friends—who had made a sudden appearance.

“Can you not just drop in like that?” you asked, lowering the pen now that you were no longer in danger.

“I announced myself! Maybe you just need to have more awareness for your surroundings!” Yunho whispered shrilly.

“Shh!” A fourth person joined in, this time from the librarian desk, where the older woman was giving the three of you the evil eye as she let out a particularly firm shush. You ducked your head bashfully and gave her an apologetic wave, hoping to convey that you would keep your friends in check.

“Have you guys heard?” Yunho started again, now lowering his voice to a more library-friendly volume. “They found a dead kid in the woods out by Hongjoong’s frat house, where that huge party was this weekend.”

You straightened at the news, feeling your heart skip a beat. “What?”

“Well, not a kid kid, it was a student here,” Yunho continued. “But they found him just yesterday. They think it was some kind of animal attack—dude was ripped to shreds from what I heard.”

“Jesus,” you breathed, your stomach beginning to churn at the thought. “What kind of animal?”

“I dunno, a wolf or even a bear maybe?”

“Dumbass, there’s no bears around here,” Wooyoung chimed in, looking positively bored with the shift in conversation.

Yunho cast an offended glare on the newly-dyed blond. “Hey, it’s possible! Climate change, bitch! Animals can come crawling here from all over now, the polar bears are migrating.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes. “So you think this kid got mauled by a polar bear?”

“I’m just saying it’s possible.”

“Shhhhh!”

This time a student at the next table over had expressed their own irritation at the rising volume yet again. You sent them an apologetic nod of the head before turning back to your friends and lowering your voice once more. “Do we know for sure it’s an animal? Is there going to be like, an investigation or something?”

The taller boy shrugged and leaned a little closer to you to match your tone. “Cops were all over the place earlier but it’s calmed down a bit now. I think it’s officially been listed as an animal. Or, what they think it is at least. But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that it’s some psycho killer, stalking young, vulnerable co-eds.” He grinned widely at the end of his statement, waggling his eyebrows in an exaggerated motion before poking you in the side.

You swatted his hand away and released a noise of discontent. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Yunho, why don’t you make like a tree and leave before I chop you down at the knees?” Wooyoung posed, leaning forward on the table with an acidic smile stretching over his features.

“Come on, I’m just kidding,” Yunho laughed. “I’m sure that they’ll find whatever animal it was and put it down.”

You wished you could be as lighthearted about the situation as the other two, but the news brought on a sense of dread that was seeping into your stomach like sour milk. Had it really been a random animal attack? And if so, what kind of animal could rip a person to shreds, as Yunho had not-so-delicately put it? Or worse, what if there was a murderer wandering around campus waiting for their next victim to come along? Were you actually safe?

“There’s probably nothing to worry about at this point,” Yunho added, as if he were reading your mind.

“Good to know. On that note, I think it’s time for us to leave.” Wooyoung rose from his seat and gave you a pointed look.

This time, you actually agreed with him and began to gather your things, shoving them haphazardly into your bag. Wooyoung was at your side in the next second helping you before focusing his attention back onto Yunho.

“Try not to get eaten by a polar bear on your way home, Yunho,” Wooyoung winked.

“Bite me,” the taller boy quipped, but you and Wooyoung were already on your way to the door.

Darkness was quickly approaching as you walked beside Wooyoung back to your apartment. It made you weary, especially after hearing Yunho’s news about the attack. Your best friend, however, seemed completely unfazed by the potential danger as he slung an arm over your shoulders and hummed quietly.

“You aren’t worried?” you asked him.

“Worried? About what Yunho said?” he scoffed then and only pulled you closer to him. “Definitely not. And you shouldn’t be either. You’ve got me to protect you!”

You let out an amused bark of laughter. “You? The same person who makes me kill the spiders in your room?”

“That was when we were ten!” Wooyoung whined, giving you yet another pout. “I’m a man now, in case you hadn’t noticed!”

“Please spare me the toxic masculinity spiel,” you retorted, albeit with another giggle.

A comfortable silence fell over the two of you as you continued down the sidewalk. You allowed yourself to enjoy the moment, because it felt like it had been years since you were both this close—not just physically, but also on an emotional level. You took a second to glance up at your longtime best friend and study him.

Wooyoung’s skin glowed in the waning rays of sunlight, blemish free and smooth as fine porcelain. His nose was a little large, something he had always been concerned with, but you saw absolutely nothing wrong with it. Even his dark eyes shone brightly as the day faded into dusk. And if you weren’t mistaken, you could have sworn he had been hitting the gym too—the arm wrapped around you was firm and not as wiry as you remembered it being during childhood.

You hadn’t admitted it to him, but he had grown up to be very handsome, and sometimes you found yourself wondering how things would be if the two of you had been more than just friends. It had always been a passing thought before, but now as he held you against his side and you looked up at him, the thought didn’t seem . . . particularly bad.

Just as you were rounding the last corner before your building came into view, you decided to ask Wooyoung what you had been meaning to for the past few days.

“Wooyoung, you’re not mad at me, are you? About the party, I mean.”

There was a short pause and you felt Wooyoung’s hand squeeze your arm gently, just as your phone chirped from your pocket. Automatically, you reached for it, digging it out and bringing the device up to check the notification.

It was a text message from an unfamiliar number, which made you squint in confusion. A split second later, realization dawned on you and you let out a small gasp.

It had to be Mingi, the boy you had met at the party.

You smiled at the thought then quickly remembered you had been waiting on Wooyoung to answer your question. You glanced back up at him and saw that he was eyeing your phone with a furrowed brow. His arm now felt tense and heavy around your shoulders but his voice was still light when he spoke again.

“Your friend from the party?”

“Oh, yeah, I think so. I’ll text him later—”

Wooyoung’s arm dropped from your shoulders and he took a step away from you, creating distance that might as well have been a brick wall between you two. He stared down at his feet for a few moments then lifted his head and smiled weakly. You noticed that the smile failed to reach his eyes.

“Listen, Y/N—forget about what happened at the party. I told you, it wasn’t a big deal and I’m over it. I’ll catch you later, okay?”

Wooyoung started to turn away, shoving his hands into his pockets as he went. You felt your small window of opportunity slipping away, so you reached out for him, latching onto his jacket.

“Wait! Don’t you wanna come up and watch a movie or something?” you asked, eyes wide with an unspoken plea.

Wooyoung peeked over his shoulder at you while his lips curled into a lopsided smirk. “Maybe some other time. I’ve got dinner plans.”

[fisherfurbearer]

I would absolutely live to hear about Future Plans and heritage fruits! My partners and I are looking at buying a house by the end of the year and I'm so excited at the prospect of a back yard to fill with food plants and gardening and everything! So I'd love to know more about someone else's plans!!

mmMMMMMMMMMMMMMM YOU OPENED THE CAN OF WORMS THE WORMS ARE OPEN THEY ARE EVERYWHERE NOW!!!! OHHHHHHH JEEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOTHING CAN STOP THIS!!!!

MMMMMM. I LOVE. DOMESTIC CROPS AND ANIMALS. SO MUCH.

SPECIFICALLY “heritage” varieties. The pre-industrial/commercial varieties that people lived on for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, or even the stuff younger than that, it’s just...so!! Good!!!

You didn’t QUITE ask for this but this is where I’m going with it. I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. The HISTORY of our domesticated crops (specifically fruits and vegetables, but mostly Tree Fruits!!!! But I’m also suuuuper partial to heirloom sweet potatoes/normal potatoes even though I don’t like the taste of sweet potatoes, they’re just SO FRICKING COOL and I want to learn more about other vegetables too) and animals is just....HOOOOO!!!!

Locally adapted,, perfect little....NUGGETS that just...perfectly fit their own SPECIFIC LITTLE NICHES...no matter WHERE you live, no matter HOW much space you have, no matter HOW good or bad your soil, NO MATTER WHAT, there is ALWAYS something to grow or raise, and we can thank so, so much of that to the incredible variety of heritage crops/animals (and methods of agriculture) out there. Mild, cold, hot! Lots of space, little space, no space!! Fertile, barren!! Every condition in every color and shape and flavor and size and ahhhhhhh!!!!! AHHHH!!!!

Hold onto your butts because this is one Hell of a Mega Ramble okay, there is so much to talk about here, oh man.

Some background, which you can skip if you want...!!! It’s a LOT and it get’s VERY NEGATIVE but also VERY GOOD AND HOPEFUL, it’s a real big story and it’s My Story and gives a lot of insight into Why I’m Like This but it’s okay to skip for sure!! Anyway:

I’ve been researching (i.e. writing literally 1.5-2k+ words nearly every single day) for literally 7 years now about all of my various Passions and Plans in life. Obviously breaks were taken due to Sad Times but no matter what I did, no matter what happened, I’d always come back to my dumb awful stupid notes. I have notes on my current laptop, my old harddrive, my SO’s laptop, my stepdad’s laptop, my SO’s OLD gaming laptop, my old netbook, my OLD OLD netbook, every phone I’ve had in the past 7 years (which has been like uhh...five? I have bad luck with phones..) and COUNTLESS pieces of paper and cheap composition books.

To call it research, it seems to silly. Writing these words here, to you strangers on the internet, I CANNOT EXPRESS TO YOU how VITAL these notes are to my VERY EXISTANCE.

I have been researching and writing and talking to folks and asking questions and LIVING AND BREATHING this stuff for LITERALLY, LITERALLY HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS if not ALMOST A THOUSAND OR MORE HOURS at this point!!!! If we were to actually SOMEHOW backtrack all the way to late 8th grade/freshman year when I first started dipping my toes into reptiles and fell in love with my first jumping spider that landed on my arm after I read Darren Shan’s Cirque Du Freak, after being so fascinated by the intelligent giant magic tarantula in the first book, and gathered ALL of my notes from then to NOW (I’m 21 now, if I was in college, I’d be graduating next May) it would EASILY surpass that. For YEARS in high school my family thought I was always playing games on my laptop, but really from the moment I got home to the moment I went to bed, I was watching lets plays with one side of the screen and reading, reading, reading, and writing, writing, writing with the other. For HOURS. Every. Single. Day.

Hell, this has been my most recent “Renaissance” of writing, after The Big Realization of earlier this year (I’ll get to that), and this is AFTER I went on a horrible depressed/manic rampage and deleted like 80% of my notes (that would have been from...hmm. This is what I didn’t delete, what Jessie recovered, and what I’ve added...so March to Early September, when Jessie switched my notes to a new program (I lost a lot of notes from lack of autosaving so now they’re on our nextcloud so I can’t lose them...but I’m too stubborn to use it still) and this is still like. A lot.

Keep in mind the average 10-11 kb file is 1500-1700 words for me. My biggest files (only of the ones I still have, on this laptop) are 40-60 kb. (Also these are Big Secrets that I don’t ever show anyone but Jessie, who I’ve been with now for almost 7 years, so this is pretty dang important to me and a big thing to be revealing.)

Current folder I’m usually saving to:

Nextcloud I don’t bother to use usually but probably should use:

Again, this is ONLY on my newest laptop, and this DOESN’T include the files I deleted a few months ago, nor the files I lost from February-early April after Jessie updated my computer and wiped my files, and I still have a BUTTLOAD left on my old harddrive from last year, but we never moved it up and I don’t feel a need to. (I’ve learned so much. So. Much. In the past year. I think I’ve matured a lot and really become more...Me. But I’ll get to that.)

Also doesn’t include the SEVERAL notebooks I’ve filled front to back this year (cheap $0.50 ones from work...I’ve blown through a couple biggish ones and I think 2-3 little quarter-size memo books) and all the receipt papers I have crammed into my work uniform...

But anyway why is this important? It really helps iron in just how HUGE this is to me. My future “Plans” aren’t just...it’s really important to me. Okay? I am but a humble stranger on the internet and my life and everyone elses’ respective lives are infinitely more complex than we can ever dare imagine one anothers’ existences to be, but just trust me when I say that I’m not pulling this from nowhere, this shit isn’t some sort of “fad” to me, this has been a long, long series of events and realizations and heartbreaks and so, so much pain that have finally led to everything kinda falling into place sometime this year where it hit me.

You see...all of my research topics followed a pattern. It went, in my rough memory, something like this.

It started with reptiles. Lots of reptiles. So many reptiles. I was so naive and young then and my sources sucked and I was very much a novice who dreamed of owning all sorts of cool reptiles when I got older, and of getting a gecko when I went to college. That was how it started and it went downhill from there. I branched off into gardening (I wanted and still want a blue tongue skink and had thoughts about how I’d grow a garden for vegetables and squashes and stuff for the skink and feeder insects) and THAT grew into this whole THING about raised bed gardening, square foot gardening, then into permaculture, which planted the seed for many things to come...and now I’ve ALWAYS LOVED BIRDS,, but when I learned that keeping CHICKENS was a thing (thank you Jennifer (Nambroth)!!!!!!!!!! Our emails back and forth are still saved forever, our talks about chickens changed my life and way of thinking Forever!!!) and I researched that, then I’d jump back to reptiles again, and back to chickens, then more reptiles, then chickens and QUAIL, or OTHER poultry,, and so on and so on. This beautiful fluid branching path that would always rebound on itself and I’d drop some topics, gain new ones, revisit old ones, learn what I liked, what I didn’t like, what were brief interests, and what were there to stay.

Some topics (chickens, new caledonian geckos, antaresia pythons, tarantulas, gardening...) would always come back. No matter what I did...they came back. As I grew as a person, I started to figure out what was important to me (CONSERVATION, animal welfare, reptile/invertebrate enrichment, vivarium design, combining art with animals, and did I mention CONSERVATION? and combating climate change/The World but that came later.) and while some of those points didn’t show up in my research until later...like my obsession with native wildlife/plants and domestic species...it never went away.

And as I grew older, outside of my research life went on, and I really went through A Lot in these seven years. Undiagnosed anxiety/depression all through high school, practically living in the guidance office junior/senior year, dealing with an emotionally abusive and animal abuser teacher for many years, living with my emotionally abusive/narcissistic mother, and eventually going to an amazing art college and having both the best and worst time of my life (Hahah!! Almost straight As and skipped a writing class with my amazing scores and was top of my class, Dean’s list first semester, in the Visionary Women’s Honors society, worked in the admissions office and did lots of cool things, but hahaha also really wanted to die and was Destroying Myself) and trying to get help while keeping it a secret from my mom...lo and behold of course she eventually found out about the Depression when I had to go inpatient near the end of my second semester, and she. HA, I can’t even cry about this anymore. She literally disowned me (took all my money, sold my car, cut me off of health insurance, made me pay my own hospital bills, refused to do my FAFSA for college anymore, dropped all support, and later when I had to come home because I relapsed again and the college made me go on a medical leave of absense, she threatened to kick me out and call the police [hilariously enough though the house was owned by my stepdad, not her, so she couldn’t do anything. Also I never did anything to her and she was just crazy and made up excuses. But yeah not fun trying to walk to work and being threatened over the phone that she was going to have me dragged out of work by the cops and not to come home, hahaha!!!!!! But then also when I did live with my neighbor for a few days she was apparently so distraught?? Haha what a weird person!!!! I haven’t seen her for three years now and it’s been the best thing that ever happened to me. Don’t mourn for me, it’s SO Much better now. Speaking of, she was a PETA-hugging ARA nutjob and if she knew what I was planning on doing she would’ve disowned me either way!!!!!!), and of course fighting to be able to move out and rent an apartment with my SO (I hate the word boyfriend. It’s been 7 years come January 11th, and we’ve been through so fucking much. And she [my mom...] and other people always made fun of him being my BOYFRIEND that that word is tainted for me...so Significant Other it is) and then being forced to live alone there for a couple months,, and then even after that, the fights with his family, the car accident in November, my mom ruining all chances of me going to college (keep in mind I had after leaving college, spent the next TWO AND A HALF FUCKING YEARS OF MY LIFE trying to make it so I COULD go back, spent all of my time, energy, hope, eVERY OUNCE OF MY BEING trying to do so,,, and she manipulated me and then lied to me and made it so I couldn’t), my rebounding depression, my Intensifying Aggression (terrifying. Developed when I was in college...I guess it’s some kind of rapid bipolar disorder, maybe triggered by me going on antidepressants in college, they said. But it was so long ago and they never knew the full story for a proper diagnosis anyway. But it’s gotten manageable and We’re Coping), the housefire on Christmas, moving Once Again to the new place and being told I can’t bring my 15 year old cat (he’s with my stepdad still now but it’s not okay.), the rats have to be in the basement, and oh yeah if you want to attend college again loans will be nearly 13% interest hahaha!!! and then finally just straight up breaking down in February and not leaving bed for DAYS and nearly committing suicide, just the real worst time ever, and my former therapist/psychiatrist place weren’t responding (turns out they discharged me!! haha kinda hard to make appointments WHEN YOU DON’T PICK UP THE PHONE and we DIDN’T GET THE NOTICE IN THE MAIL because our HOUSE WAS CONDEMNED and my mail was being sent to my STEPDADS an hour away!!!!!!!! Also really hard to talk to you when you BLOCK OUR FUCKING NUMBER and HANG UP ever time we fucking call haha!!!!!! Literally on the verge of suicide and not on my anxiety meds for MONTHS but hey sure that works too guys!!!!) which really didn’t help, and yeah it was really just the pits! Just the absolute pits, the Very Worst.

Now at this point I don’t remember exactly when/what changed, but SOMETHING did.

Leading up to February, I wanna say it was about October that I started getting kinda weirdly depressed, and I started REALLY tanking after the fire. After the fire, I had to move back to my stepdads within the night, and had to live without Jessie again and commute really far and keep the tarantulas a secret and in general be very alone and very sad. I started wearing down and it was getting so hard to just...enjoy. Anything. Even just taking care of the pets became difficult, and doing art or researching was impossible. I just...didn’t care anymore. I stopped caring.

On top of that, my climate grief and general feelings of Despair were at an all time high, and I just didn’t. Fucking. CARE. What happened next.

I spent YEARS of my life WEARING MYSELF TO THE BONE trying to get into college, the get back into college, to just try to do this thing that I was supposed to do, my ONE hope of having a career and a future that I probably wouldn’t even be happy with (I was an illustration major. I liked drawing. It’s what I was best at. But looking back, I wouldn’t have been happy doing it for a living. And Moore [no that’s not what my blog is named for, it just also happens to be my last name] was a great college but it just...wasn’t worth $30k a year with no cosigner for loans, even AFTER my scholarships) and my body and mind were wearing down and no matter what I did I didn’t care about myself, my animals, my partner, my life, nothing. I can’t explain how terrifying that is. Of all the time in my life, I think this was the worst. On top of my life problems, it must be said again that my climate grief and Misery regarding the state of our country and the world was also at an all-time-high, and I just felt...POWERLESS. Powerless and empty and uncaring and dead inside. I really wanted to just...drive off a bridge or eat a ton of pills (which I did do a couple times, don’t do that. Please. It’s NOT worth it.) and just stop Existing.

But then something just...changed.

I don’t know what it was, exactly. But I got SOMETHING back. SOMETHING “clicked”.

I’m crying a bit now. It’s so stupid to say, but I truly believe this is what saved my life. Realizing my purpose in life. That everything fell into place and finally made sense.

I’m going to be a bit more concise here but...basically...many of my passions and smaller aspects of myself all fell into place, so PERFECTLY.

It hit me that...ah jeez.

I will digress one more second. For those of you who don’t know, I have two Eurydactylodes geckos, named Vladimir (E. vieiliardi) and Estragon (E. agricolae). They are named for my favorite drama that we read in AP English, Waiting for Godot. It’s an aburdist theater play about two men who wait under a tree for someone (we don’t know who, just that his name is Godot) and that’s about it. Everyone had a lot of different things to say about that weird little book, but my take on it was that it’s supposed to be what happens to two men when they lack a “purpose” in life. Existentialism, and all that. They sit there and sit there and completely lose themselves just WAITING for this guy that they don’t even remember, they don’t even know why they’re there, and they do nothing to try and change that. The difference between existentialism and absurdism, however, is that absurdism specifically discusses this idea of a Chaotic Universe, this Lack of Meaning, this pointless quest of humanity to seek value and meaning in a universe without reason. It’s a fruitless effort, it’s Absurd! But the beauty of absurdism, this tiny idea that stayed with me in the goofy names of my geckos (I chose the names because I thought the play was amusing and I loved the characters’ relationship, which is Quite Gay and so Loving and Charming it warms my heart, and I loved that they called each other “Didi” and “Gogo”) and really held true to my own life. I DO NOT believe that THIS is why this change happened for me, but it’s ironic, no?

Back to Absurdism, Absurdism says... “here is this meaningless, Chaotic, RIDICULOUS universe. There is NO reason for ANYTHING, there NEVER will be, you DO NOT MATTER, you DO NOT HAVE A PLACE HERE. There is NO POINT to anything. So fuck it, and try to find one anyway.”

My original therapist did not understand why I found this so wonderful and inspiring. It’s so rebellious and selfish, I LOVE IT. To embrace the Absurd is to take the bull by the horns and flip it upside down! It’s to stare all of this dreadful pointlessness in the Void, and when it says “Why bother? Why care about these insignificant invertebrates? These ridiculous reptiles? These ABSURD apples???” and flip the bird both hands and say “BECAUSE I WANT TO, BECAUSE I SAID SO, BECAUSE I AM HUMAN, AND I CAN!!!” It’s...also more than that, it’s this long, defiant lifelong journey, this stupid, ridiculous journey of fumbling about trying to find one’s place in a cruel, vast world, and finding oneself in that journey.

I love people. I love the ABSURDITY of humanity, of people, of myself, of others. A Huge part of my Future Plans has to do with People, and Community, and Changing my little patch of the world. It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but I know it can make a difference to someone and myself and that’s what matters.

Anyway back to the Clickening.

Around that time I had a moment like that. It was as if something in my mind was screaming at me, listen. You are here, and you have always been here to love animals, to love life, to make art, to tell stories with your art, to raise little sheeps.

And like that, it started Something.

I agreed to go to a local doctor, and was put on antidepressants. I’ve been on them since late February. I also got accommodations for work, so I have two excused absenses due to mental illness each month, which was good, because they tried to fire me 4 times now and they haven’t succeeded yet. (I’m DAMN GOOD at what I do, I’m just Sad and Unlucky and Dumb, but I’m doing a lot better now!!) I started taking all of the things I learned in the past many years and what I’ve learned about myself as a person (I won’t talk about it here but I’ve always struggled with my Identity [not gender wise, just...with my mental health and my mood disorder, it’s really hard to know What is ME and What’s The Illness) and it all started falling into place. My needle felting, my love for animals, conserving native wildlife AND heritage breeds with restoration grazing and positive impact forestry, utilizing my Overwhelming Charisma (in person I swear I’m quite a good talker! Way better than my typing here!) for education, outreach, and farmers market sales, my love for life and my fellow human beings and my plans to work hard to help feed my local communities and encourage sustainable agriculture and the dismantlemant of capitalism Love of our native wilds and backyards alike (I also have Big Thoughts about getting native peoples input as well, but I need to research that more and actually talk to people, but that would be in future years!!), and so, so many things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That started in late February/early March now, and since then I’ve still had Really bad times, but I’d say in the past mmmmm...probably since late July? I think yeah since about then things have really taken great turns. I’ve Matured a lot, really embraced who I am and what I want to do, and while I KNOW my plans are going to keep changing over time (tentative goal is to look for/buy our property in 2025!! That gives us 5 years post-graduation to settle down and see how things go, where Jessie will be working, where we’ll be living, how my mind changes, all of that!!) but I KNOW in my BONES in my SOUL that this is what I have always been meant to do. To raise things, grow things, and to Care.

ANYWAY WOW HAHAHA YOU SURE DIDN’T ASK FOR ALL THAT BUT THERE YA GO THERE’S THE BACKSTORY, THE FIRST HALF OF THE WORMS!!!!!!

TL;DR: I’m a sad sap who is now slightly less sad and has Big Plans that were 7 years+ in the making and I want to take all my Big Thoughts about exotic welfare (well, reptiles and spiders mostly, but sure) and also apply it to DOMESTIC welfare and Make a Dang Difference!!!!

Okay now I’ve become very burnt out, I’ve been writing for like two hours now? So this part will sadly be shorter, but I will definitely write more about it again if you or anyone else has questions or actually wants to hear about it.

Basically...the amount of These Plans that I am willing to let you folks know, is uhh...oh jeez where do I even begin, haha...

Well it started small plans (early years of research, when I used to think a small greenhouse was Super Wild and Crazy) but nah bruh we goin’ full hog, literally. My plans are to get a decent sized property, still in my state, and have a HUGE focus on Sustainability and Positive Grazing/Management! That means rotational grazing to IMPROVE soils!!! Thinning the woodlot and clearing brush for the HEALTH of the forest!!! Reintroducing blight-resistant american chestnuts to restore our forests and support a healthy wildlife population!!!! Using both honeybees AND cultivated native bees [did you know that’s a thing???? You can buy native bee cocoons, like raised humanely, and raise them for pollinating plants!! Like Orchards!!] and grazing pastured pigs and chickens under orchard trees, while also providing BUTTLOADS of native flowers and domestic tree blossoms for native pollinators!! All that great stuff.

My biggest focuses would be raising practical heritage livestock for sustainable agriculture and conserving heritage fruit trees, with a focus on apples and pears. I also want to grow a lot of mutually beneficial/low-impact perennial resources...think honey, maple syrup, nut trees, stuff like that! And I want to graze on pastures with native grasses and locality-specific wildflowers (check out Ernst Seeds, especially if you live in/near PA like I do!! Wow it’s so frickin’ cool) and focus on northern european short-tailed sheep (finnsheep, gotland, icelandic, leader, shetland, and soay) and small landrace American hogs (american guinea hog, ossabaw island hog) and the more recent but so full of potential idaho pasture pig. I also want to raise icelandic landrace chickens for utility (parasite/pest management, composting), conservation, and eggs. I also want to raise rabbits (silver fox crosses for meat, and french angora crosses for fiber! I have a dream of producing high quality tri color angora for spinners...three colors on one animal, and I want them to be especially great for fiber artists who want to raise their own fiber animals but don’t have a ton of space) and I have BIG orchard plans...SO MANY ORCHARD PLANS, HHHHHOOO YES....SO GOOD...also COPPICE WITH STANDARDS and FORESTRY and HOO YES!!!!! I LOVE SOME GOOD OL FORESTRY!!!

I think the best way to describe my current plans standings is that it seperates into a couple different “zones”, for my Current Ideas. This has taken months and so many countless hours of thinking, researching, and ironing out, and I’ve made so much headway in just this past week, but basically imagine this...

It’s mostly split into two pastures, the orchard, and the woodlot.

PASTURE 1

Pasture 1 would be the largest, where we would rotationally graze two primary groups of ruminants. Polled NES-T sheep (finnsheep/gotland) and horned sheep (icelandic/leader) with dairy cows (dutch belted) as well. Dutch belted for milk and specifically cheese production, and they would be grazed in front with the icelandics to help take care of the taller grasses that the sheep would avoid, and help keep the sheep a bit safer. All would be guarded by livestock guardian dogs. Group #1 of the icelandic chickens would be grazed behind them, to help break up manure and disrupt parasite cycles.

Pasture itself would be mostly a big bluestem/little bluestem/indian grass/switchgrass mix, with a good variety of livestock-safe wildflowers (small portion being nitrogen-fixers like tick trefoils and pasture pea) and seed-producing flowers for birds (wild birds and our birds!). Would be rotationally grazed 1-2 days at a time (avg. 3-4 days total) with a 21-35+ day rest period. Polled NES-T sheep would be moved to “silvopasture” (copse with standards, a portion of the woodlot, with coppiced trees for fuelwood/timber interspersed with standard-sized mast producting trees [would double as nut and persimmon orchard, and hog foraging in fall/winter!!!]) in the summer to help them deal with the heat. Summer would be the best time, as it’s after the spring predator pressure and before the acorns fall, which could be bad for them if they ingest too many. Rams and hogs would otherwise graze this land with much longer rest periods otherwise (more like 30-45 days or so).

PASTURE 2

Smaller pasture with similar planting, arranged ‘paddock paradise’ style for a small group of icelandic horses (SO GOOD, and useful!! Little horse hooves are much kinder to the forest than a UTV, and herding on horseback is less stressful for the livestock) and rotationally grazed shetland and soay sheep. Pretty simple, but important. Would also contain Icelandic chicken group #2.

ORCHARD

Worthy of a novel all on it’s own. I want to grow semi-dwarf heritage fruit trees with the fruit drop type synced to the rotation of pastured hogs (idaho pasture pig, american guinea hog, ossabaw island hog) and group #3 of icelandic chickens. Hogs would be in orchard spring-fall, and in the copse with standards fall-early winter. Hogs and chickens would be moved to a holding area during rainy times to help preserve the orchard floor and during winter, where we would also have a large waste management/composting set up for them to root and turn to their hearts content. Should be a lot warmer than the outside in the winter too, and I plan on it being in a high tunnel/hoop house so its covered.

I am ALL ABOUT pairing livestock with crops and encouraging multi-purpose acreage in general, so this is definitely one of my FAVORITE plans so far, and every time I revisit it, it gets better. I also want to raise BEES (honeybees, mason bees, leafcutter bees!!!) for honey and pollination. I also want to plant BUTT-TONS of native flowers and goodies for pollinators, as well as lots of seed producing plants and sunflowers for the chickens to forage for by themselves. These would be some happy livestock, for sure.

WOODLOT

Another huge part of the plan is that I want at LEAST 1/3-1/2 of the property to be Woods. Only a small fraction of the Woods would be managed for livestock foraging and more frequent harvesting (still looking at a good 7-10 year coppice cycle though for trees) and the rest would still be tended to, with the help of the local forestry folks, but it would be preserved for wildlife and low-impact timber and nut/fruit/sap collection.

The VAST MAJORITY of the farm would be multi-purpose acreage for both livestock AND wildlife benefit (and people too of course) and I truly, truly believe and KNOW it can be done. In fact it HAS been done, IS being done, in so many different ways by so many different people in different times, and I know that I want to be a part of it and I can make a difference and use my weird passions for Good and make a dang difference.

Ohhh jeez I’m real sorry I didn’t quite answer your question though but I hope this gives a little insight into what I mean?? And if anyone has Specific questions after reading this (if you make it to the bottom, bless your cotton socks, I’m so proud and also distressed) I can definitely answer them a bit better than this. And hopefully much less...whatever this is, haha!!

[traincat]

Hi, I'm thinking about diving into the world of AU's and I'd like to attempt to make a story featuring Villain! Spider-Man. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear your thoughts on some villain essentials like: What would his goals be? What would he do to achieve them? How far would his flaws expand? How would he treat his friends/ family, if he even has any left? And would it be different from the actions of the morally problematic Superior Spider-man? Thanks for your time ~

So for me, when considering villain!Peter, the thing is I don’t he would be that far a departure from regular Peter – as in, for me, Peter is a character who works to be good, but is not necessarily inherently good, which makes it very easy to imagine scenarios where he’s bad. For me, a lot of it comes out of Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter’s origin story:

“I’ll see to it that they’re always happy, but the rest of the world can go hang for all I care!” There is this great combination of selfishness, righteousness, and anger at Peter’s core where I think, if you tweak the origin story just so slightly, you can send him down a different path super easily. For instance, if you don’t kill Uncle Ben – fast forward a couple of years and Ben and May are living in a beautiful condo in Florida, so proud of their successful nephew and blissfully unaware of what exactly he does to come by all that money. I’m very partial to a Kingpin-ish king of crime type villain Peter, so I think that’s one way to go there, with a Peter who feels like he can just take whatever he wants because he’s entitled to it, unhindered by the doublesided coin of guilt and responsibility. 

Alternatively, you could kill off Ben in a way where Peter feels no responsibility – only anger. Kill Aunt May, and you remove Peter’s guiding light as a young man and his biggest source of morality. Don’t kill Peter’s parents – or kill them when he’s much older – and turn his anger on SHIELD, so then you’ve got a villain interested through good ol’ parental trauma in taking down a secret agency. I’ve only mentioned origin story twists so far, but I don’t think that’s the only way to go. Not to sort of spoil my own WIP, but I was dissatisfied with Zdarsky’s take on a villainous Peter in Marvel Two-In-One (and I found the “he’s bad so he’s ~unhinged~” take somewhat offensive) – but I was very interested in the fact that this evil!Peter was spun out of Civil War, and I knew instantly what I had to do with his story to get him to go full evil warlord dictator (with bonus murder). For me, it’s all looking at the material and shifting the puzzle pieces around to get a Peter who is still Peter Parker, but who now fits the story I want him in, and sometimes it’s about figuring out what buttons would have to be pushed to get him there. What If? Back In Black, for example, has Peter kill the Kingpin with one punch after Mary Jane is shot and killed instead of May.

I don’t think this is the only way to write a villain!Peter AU, it’s just how I go about planning when I think about the subject. 

To go back to the Amazing Fantasy #15 panel above – I think Peter would treat his loved ones quite well, even as a villain. Peter likes being a protector; I don’t think that would change, I just think that would shift. His possessive tendencies would probably be ramped up and I think he might be overprotective to a fault or downright smothering, which could chase people away, but in my opinion he would think he’s being perfectly reasonable. (This is why I tend to think Spideytorch works with villain!Peter because Johnny’s self-esteem isn’t good enough not to get steamrolled by a much stronger personality might kind of like the overbearing amounts of attention/being someone’s sole live-or-die focus, especially if you strip away his family and/or his powers.)

As for goals, I think you need to look at what you want for your AU. Peter’s very versatile here: he’s smart, he’s strong, he’s cunning, and you could use him in a variety of ways. While I’m partial to a kingpin of crime take, you could also easily have him as more of a traditional costumed criminal or use Peter’s love of science to plunge him into the evil scientist role. Doctor Octopus is interesting because he is in a way a twisted mirror image of Peter: an unpopular brilliant young student with an overprotective mother and a salt of the earth father who suffers a lab accident that transforms him forever. This is part of the reason Superior Spider-Man disappoints me in addition to my dislike of it: the parallel is right there. On the subject of Superior, to address your question, I think the point’s a little moot: unless your villain!Peter is snatching someone else’s body and posing as them, the premise is always going to be different than Superior Spider-Man, which featured Otto using Peter’s body and identity to trick the people in Peter’s life and to “be a better” Spider-Man than Peter. So imho that’s automatically just very different than a “Peter Parker, but evil” premise.

I’d start asking yourself questions about the particular villain!AU you want to tell with Peter: what are his goals? Money? Power? Control over New York, his home? The safety and protection of his loved ones, and he’ll do whatever he has to do to ensure that? Who do you want him to fight? Other heroes? Other villains? A power struggle between Peter and the Kingpin is going to look different than one between him and the Green Goblin. Is it a love story? Could Peter’s love interest live with what he’s doing? Do you want them to be able to? If so, do you have to shift the pieces around in their backstories to make it fit? (This is why I tend to put a villain!Peter with a powerless!Johnny who doesn’t have anyone but him. Unhealthy! But fun and dramatic.) 

One thing to remember with 616 Peter is that, at the end of the day, he doesn’t really believe in anyone’s authority but his own – that’s what allows Spider-Man to function the way that he does. If you give that tendency over to someone who is out for himself, who never tamps down on that selfishness in order to embrace responsibility, who has the power and the ability to take what he wants, whatever that may be? You can end up with a very effective villain. In a lot of ways, as a hero, Peter stands in the way of succeeding for himself; that’s the trade off he’s made to be able to protect people on the ground, the people who matter to him. But villain!Peter wouldn’t feel that way towards strangers, and I think the flipside of that is that he would be incredibly ambitious -- which is one of the reasons I trend towards a Kingpin Peter. But ultimately I think a villain!Peter is going to do his best to accomplish his goals, without worrying about who is in the way.

If you want some additional inspiration, I have a villain!Peter Spideytorch aesthetic here, and @splendidnothings has a whole villain!Peter tag that I love. We both trend more towards the Kingpin!Peter type, though.

[elisaphoenix13]

To Lose Everything And Then Gain Something Back (Ch.1)

This is NOT connected to Supreme Family Chaos but will still dip into the Mama Bear trope. Let me know what you think of this idea so far!

Don't worry, Supreme Family Chaos and related series will be continued!

___________

Wong nearly had to throw him out of the Sanctum so Stephen would stop hiding away after the events of the war with Thanos. He had been wallowing in guilt and continuously blamed himself for the death of Tony Stark, even though after fourteen million different timelines it was the only one they had won. Wong had tried to convince him that Stephen was in no way at fault, but the Sorcerer Supreme was stubborn. He was convinced that it was his fault that Earth lost its best defender.

The other sorcerer eventually got fed up and told Stephen to take a walk and pick up some lunch for them on the way back. Not that he had much choice. Wong literally pushed him out the door while simultaneously throwing a winter coat at him, and the cloak barely had enough time to follow its master and take the form of a scarf. The walk helped. It did. Just not with his self loathing. Stephen walked around for a little bit, and when an hour had passed, he had decided it was long enough and Wong would let him back in as long as he brought lunch.

He was halfway to the Sanctum with a bag of sandwiches, when the cloak (in scarf form) nearly choked him by pulling him in the direction of an alleyway. Once it had the sorcerer's attention, it unraveled itself from the man's neck and floated into the alley, causing Stephen to sigh.

"What has your attention? It better not be another cat." Stephen grumbles.

The cloak had gotten his full attention when it fluttered frantically over someone half hidden behind some empty cardboard boxes, and from Stephen's angle, completely motionless. The cloak never concerned itself with the homeless before so he had to wonder if it was someone he knew. With that thought, Stephen slowly crouches in front of the body and reaches out to carefully peel away the scarf wrapped around the person's nose and mouth, and immediately feels his blood run cold. It was someone he knew. Someone he had fought beside just months (and years) ago.

It was Peter.

And he was cold to the touch.

Stephen presses shaking fingers against the teen's pulse point and sighs with relief when he finds a faint heartbeat. He would have to act fast though because it was fading by the second. Thank the Vishanti Wong didn't have the mind to take his sling ring. Stephen opens a portal after throwing the bag of sandwiches to the still hovering scarf, and scoops the icy teen into his arms before stepping though the portal. It closes behind him once the cloak follows him and Stephen takes the stairs two at a time before heading to his bedroom.

"WONG!" He shouts and shoulders his bedroom door open before carefully depositing his burden onto his bed.

He was halfway through getting the top part of Peter's clothes off when the other sorcerer walked in, and the man narrows his eyes. To be fair, it was a little bit of a suspicious scene, but once he caught a glimpse of who exactly Stephen was undressing, Wong was more understanding.

"I said bring lunch, not a kid."

Stephen glares at Wong over his shoulder. "I did bring lunch! The cloak has it, I need you to bring me some extra blankets."

Wong stays a little longer when Stephen finally pulls the teen's shirt off and nearly tears off his own, and leaves the room when the Sorcerer Supreme yanks back the bedcovers and climbs into the bed. He lays down, pulls the blankets over himself and Peter as high as possible, and then grimaces when he finally pulls the boy against his bare chest. It was like cuddling with an ice cube. Wong returned briefly with a couple extra blankets that he helped lay on top of the comforter, and after turning on the small television for Stephen, went back to the Sanctum's library.

It took an hour for Peter to finally respond to his body warmth, and it came out as a pleased sigh and the teen getting even closer to Stephen. Any other day, the sorcerer would feel uncomfortable with a situation like this, but it was quite literally a life or death situation for Peter. At the moment, he was a doctor.

Peter didn't wake up for another couple of hours, and when he did, he slowly blinked his eyes open, and furrowed his eyebrows when he found himself staring at a pale collarbone. Stephen didn't move when the teen suddenly ripped himself away from his head source and stared at him before sitting up to look around and take in his surroundings. Something bothered Stephen though as Peter processed his new situation...and it was that the teen hadn't said a word. He knew for a fact that the kid had a bit of a motormouth, even in battle, so he was expecting Peter to stumble over apologies as soon as he woke up.

But nothing.

Stephen finally sat up and held his hands out to calm the panic rising in brown eyes. "It's alright. You're safe. I found you nearly frozen in an alley and brought you to the Sanctum to warm yoh back up." The panic thankfully subsides a bit and Stephen lowers one of his hands, the other moving up to rub his eyes. "Peter...why aren't you at home with your aunt?"

Stephen pulls his hand away just in time to catch a pained expression leave the boy's face, but Peter still says nothing as he turns his attention down to his hands. So, something must have happened with May? He had met her briefly at the funeral and she was a kind woman that didn't seem the type to kick Peter out for anything, so Stephen had to assume the worst. Perhaps May was gone and the teen was homeless now? He was sixteen though. He was still young enough to be put into the system.

Oh.

"I want you to drink something warm. I hope you like tea." Stephen says as he moves out from under the covers and to his feet, putting his shirt back on. Peter merely responds with a nod. "Lay down and rest. I'll be right back."

Stephen didn't stick around for any kind of affirmation though. He was more concerned about getting Peter something hot to drink and something to eat. He couldn't have been out on the streets for long, but he had felt thin and Stephen had to wonder just how many spider attributes the teen took on from the spider bite he had mentioned while they were on Titan. He was in the middle of brewing tea when Wong walked into the kitchen with his arms folded.

"Spiderman right?" He asks calmly.

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure. He was half frozen in an alleyway and I only found him because of the cloak."

Wong frowns. "Shouldn't he be at home?"

Stephen grabs the bag from earlier and looks inside to find his sandwich still in it. "I asked him the same thing, but he's not talking. He gave the impression that something happened though so I can only assume the worst."

"Is he staying?"

"For now. Will that be a problem?" Stephen asks with a raised eyebrow.

"No. I just need to prepare myself for a little more noise. He may not talk but I've seen that kid fight. He's probably clumsy."

Stephen chuckles. For a kid that could crawl on walls, he had seen Peter trip over his own feet a couple of times. There were probably rooms in the Sanctum the sorcerers should make off limits to the teen.

"Maybe he should stay. That's the first time I've seen you smile in months." Wong says before turning and leaving the kitchen.

The smile falls slightly from Stephen's face as he makes his way back to his bedroom, and he finds Peter curled up under the covers watching the tv blankly. A far cry from what he was used to on the boy. This was a kid that drove Tony crazy with pop-culture references, and now acted as if his world had crumbled around him. Which, to be fair, it had. Tony had obviously been a father figure to Peter, and he was gone. If Stephen's earlier assumptions were correct, so was May.

Peter had no one.

Stephen kind of felt like he could relate.

"Here." The sorcerer holds out the mug of tea and the bag containing his sandwich. "Finish both." Peter sits up and takes the tea but looks at the bag skeptically. As if he knew that it was supposed to be Stephen's lunch. "I imagine you need it more than I do right now. I can wait until dinner."

The teen slowly takes the bag and pulls out the sandwich, and Stephen blinks in surprise when the teen hands half of it back to the sorcerer. This kid. He didn't argue though. As long as Peter ate something, Stephen would agree to the terms. He could always make sure that Peter had extra at dinner. The tea on the other hand? The teen barely brought the mug to his lips before he made the most disgusted look on his face and gave it back to Stephen who looks at him incredulously.

"I thought you said tea was fine?" The doctor takes the mug back. "Peppermint is usually something everyone likes." Peter scrunches his nose when Stephen mentions peppermint and a proverbial lightbulb flicks on. "A trait from the spider bite I take it?" Peter nods and Stephen sets the wrapped half of his sandwich on the nightstand. "Green tea with honey?" Another nod. "Alright."

It didn't take long to make the new cup of tea, the peppermint given to Wong with the promise that it was poisoned (The other sorcerer just rolled his eyes when he accepted it), and Stephen returned to his room to give it to Peter. His half of the sandwich already gone and eyeing the other half he had given back.  Stephen sits on the bed with his own cup of tea and grabs the other sandwich half off the nightstand to silently offer back to Peter while figuring out what the teen was watching on tv. To his relief, the young Avenger took it and tore into it. Peter probably didn't realise how hungry he was until he ate his half.

Once the sandwich was a distant memory, they sat in comfortable silence with only the noise of the tv to fill the room, and drank their tea. Stephen had chalked up Peter's silence to be partially from shock, and partially from emotional pain, but he would have to try to coax some kind of explanation from the boy soon. If May was truly gone, Stephen would have to go about getting things taken care of. Peter obviously didn't want to go into the foster system and he couldn't blame him. The teen was a mutant super human and that could be hard to hide. From what he knew, he somehow managed to keep the secret from May for about a year before she found out. Now he had nowhere safe to go, but Stephen would offer that to him if he needed it. Peter was respectful and wasn't helpless (if anyone attacked the Sanctum).

Peter's head lolls onto the sorcerer's shoulder, distracting the man from his thoughts, and he peers down to find the teen fast asleep. His mug still in his hands but empty. Stephen carefully moves the boy back down onto his back and lays the comforter over him, sits back against the headboard with a refilled mug of tea and crosses his ankles, and then returns his attention to the movie playing on the tv.

By the Vishanti...he was going soft.