#actually i put part of this up because it was the first scene id written for the chapter | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

staraxiaa · 2 months

Text

porcelain, the afterword:

author's corner/first thoughts.

first and foremost: upon rereading, a scene in this fic holds a lot of similarities to one from dust, diamonds on ao3 by maokitty. (the jealousy scene w the husband where the wall crumbles) especially with the dialogue. i was definitely taking inspiration from that fic while writing the scene, and wanted to make a note of it here. go read it even if ur not into aot pls bc it’s actually life-changing !! i beat my sunflower record btw this was 25k ish words written in less than 20 total writing hours. spread over 1.5 days total. also i think i fucked up the pacing a lot from what id originally planed buuut at least its over. dobby is finally free!!! anyways. the original intent for this fic was a discussion on body imagery, to anyone who has ever struggled with the unrealistic standards of social media and/or felt lesser than themselves because they were not beautiful in a 'typical' manner. but then it ballooned into a monster of its own bc i was like how can i make this hurt. i took my inspiration from porcelain + kintsugi vases... like how can i break this reader before i put her back together. i think that i'd like to touch upon similar topics again one day. as a natural extension of my style and the way i write that 'fits' the childhood theme of this collection, i don't believe i handled these topics the best i could've: a lot of them are simplified to a point that, looking back, makes me go 'eugh' a bit because there's so much depth there that i had to like, tamp down upon as a result of my own inexperience. parts of it were likely believable, and parts of it likely weren't - whether because of my youth, or because i was afraid of approaching these topics from the 'wrong' angle. either way, i hope to be able to grow as a writer to the point that i can tackle these themes again to a point where i myself can be sufficiently pleased with the depth i've put into it. that is all. if you've read up to here, thank you. i'm not really expecting this one to do nearly as well as sunflowers - the content is heavier, it's not nearly as light, and shouto is just less of a popular character overall. but this is very likely my magnum opus so far in terms of how much thought has been put into the work, so it means a lot to me even if you do not interact, and simply read up til this point. thank you. your support truly means a lot. will also update again as i think of things

unwritten scenes, headcanons, thought process

another angst scene. at the todoroki forgiveness dinner table, katsuki and izuku are probably there. i havent watched this scene i just know it exists. (was gonna go find it just for research). enji hits shouto with the 'you can marry whoever you'd like' thing majig. shouto's like, cool i didnt give a shit anyways i was gonna marry her. with or without your permission. and THEN i hit you with the akshually... she's engaged... to be honest, a lot more scenes where it was just mother and daughter. i really wanted the point to hit home that, the mother is always intending to do good in the only ways she knows how - it's not discussed thoroughly, and she's obviously a negative influence when it matters most, which is why reader cuts her off at the end. i am a firm believer that not all parenting is good parenting, even when it comes from a good place, and to me it's like when you hurt someone - it doesn't matter your intention, because that should always come secondary to the fact that you hurt them in some way. sorry. i'm not sure if cutting completely out of the life like that was necessary, but i think that in real life, sometimes it is. something to think abt / regret abt this piece ig lots more on the brother. he was not seen a lot, and i cba to include more about him cuz tbh he's only really relevant for like... 2 scenes but basically the tl;dr is that. he also feels the same pressure. it's just offscreen. (he's a man, he's his father's heir, but he sees the impact this family has upon you). i honestly think he's pookie and hold him dear to my heart but he was really just there to get the plot moving... so.... sorry guys. i didnt even bother to give him a name. BUT hes definitely a very complex character i just didnt write it..... i just needed to add a little happiness to the dysfunctional family ok the husband. okay. so. i originally wrote him in with the intention of being someone to hate, entirely and utterly, with the whole of my heart. but i absolutely hate writing in characters that don't have at least some depth/some complexity, so here goes: he was definitely in love, i think, though i'm not sure i would call it that. there was a grooming aspect to it, an age gap difference (he attended all your recitals/performances when you were underage, had his eye on you), was twice your age. i think i wrote it in a way where it could definitely be interpreted as a form of love, as twisted and fucked up as it was⏤ in the way you think of ownership, that a pretty woman is nothing more than a flower to give the sun to, to water when you'd like. but you're not. you're more than that, you need more than food and water and a roof over your head, more than pretty jewels. you just couldn't love him, and i think that's the part that fucked with him the most. the husband was always supposed to die. i toyed with different versions of this⏤ if you should be the one to kill him, a final 'hurrah' when you finally find your courage. but i thought this wasn't very in line with the reader characterization, so i didn't include this. it's ok though u guys are always #1 bosses in my heart. i hope its clear though that the reader didnt love him at any point bc i dont like him enough as a character to give him that. sorry. he was also supposed to be a mafia man... did i make that clear... but both him and the father were like. i hate these characters. the father especially (he has 0 characterization he's only plot relevant bc he has to be). wipe them both from ur minds pls xx in terms of the baby: i actually know nothing about motherhood. this is only what i've done from the best of my imagination. if it isn't accurate at all i apologize.

i did not know tumblr had a max characters per block. i yap a lot huh. anyways on to cute shouto moments <3 i really considered the idea of like. sex scenes. nothing graphic, but tl;dr with shouto when you cry, he stops immediately. this would be near the end, when you're learning to live again, but it's like, you're so moved because no one has ever done it like this for you before, and he's just worried that he's done something wrong, and it's sad but it's like. you don't know if you can ever handle touch again, but bc you're married, you think it's your duty, and you also love him, so you want to try. you guys love each other so much i could sob. i didnt add this just bc i didnt think this was the fic i wanted to start nsfw with, and bc i dont think i could do the intimacy i wanted justice. also tbh i debated on including more thoughts of shouto during the relationship with the husband but i think, while the mc would definitely think of him, she would try her best to be a good wife. i think this is textbook of abusive relationships (i tried to portray that in the way that the husband speaks and turns the fault onto mc when he hits her) where naturally, they abuse you despite you already doing the best you can, and make you feel lesser for it. i.e. she hasn't thought about shouto the whole while, hasn't done anything, doesn't intend on it, and he still blames her for the way she feels. DID I EMPHASIZE THAT HE PICKS UP EVERY CALL EVEN THO U DONT TEXT HIM ANYMORE JUST IN CASE bc shouto todoroki the man that you are... the man i wrote you as... im never marrying idgaf i write my own standards too high i also jus wanna say guys... the way u pull him out of his shell... and then its his turn to pull him out of urs.... i am a SUCKER for stories that come full circle watch me write it into mermaid au anyways im so excited!!!!! in another world, shouto is the one to catch you. somehow he's in your penthouse apartment. the man's holding a knife to your throat (??) or it's your husband trying to save his own skin. in some variations you walk off the edge yourself, in some variations your husband pushes you, in some variations it's the man. i thought this fit better. either way in all of them he was supposed to dive off the fucking building after u but i also thought: he can't be there himself but he makes sure ur taken care of anyways. sort of fitting the characterization i had for him, i think. i rlly considered a kiss scene too but it'd be sort of natural. like stepping into someone's warmth and feeling entirely comfortable in it, knowing it's what you want and knowing it's also what he wants. at the end. but i didn't add it. wouldve been sweet but unnecessary bc i think this would be further down the line and would require a separate scene. once again i scoot free of my kiss-writing responsibilities ! ! ! more on this, though, i think i really like writing about how simple intimacy can be. i do not believe you need to be physically affectionate with someone to love them, though you certainly can be, and i hope this was reflected in the way i portrayed both shouto and reader. in my dreams we are shouto's sugar babies and just vibe for the rest of our lives. and that is all. the smallest things the reader does make him so happy like. slowly. you guys are already holding hands, so a kiss on the cheek would make him the happiest man on earth. oh here's a bonus scene: at some point he takes you out to see the fireworks. the two of you are sitting, you're tucked snugly into his side, you're watching the fireworks, but when you turn, he's watching you. it's so stupidly romantic. you probably ask him what he's looking at and hes just like 'you'. you flush a little. he kisses the top of your head, grinning like the little shit he is.

i also think it'd take a length of time to get married, so you guys probably do kiss sometime before then. no clue about the scene. but canonically (aka in my head) you guys are just having a normal conversation. like Normal Normal. nothing fancy. and all of a sudden you just lean in and kiss him on the corner of his lips. he touches it, and you can see the shock on his face. dunno if you lie and say 'something there i was just getting it for you' bc im a sucker for that but he only leans a little closer and asks you to do it again. i'd like to think man is patient even tho he desperately wants to (like to the point it's painful to watch) so you have to tell him straight up it's okay to do anything, when you're ready: i.e. initiate kisses and anything else later down the line. once he gets the green light though there's no stopping (he will immediately if u ever tell him) like in my head this man has been basically touch starved all his life and he YEARNS. everyone say thank you to the anon who prompted these scenes btw notes on reader: i think what i wanted to explore with this piece was the way that your parents, the environment you grow up in, the role models you have can shape how you grow a lot. but that does not mean you need to stay that way forever. and that even if you do, you are not necessarily 'weak' or any lesser. reader never actually stood up for herself until the very end, but she was strong in her own way. she tried her best to be a good wife, even when she practically hated her husband. she persevered, she tried her best to love her child. things were bleak, but she pulled through; she kept on living, she kept on breathing. and that was enough. she was enough! <33 i also don't know if this reader was a very believable one. a lot of what i explored here was an extension of some of my own experiences, but like. i simply have not experienced a lot of it personally, unlike with my other pieces, and not at all to the same depth. i hope that there are people out there that can resonate with her and her experiences, but like not in a fucked up way. i simply hope that this story can make someone out there feel seen/heard, even if it's just a little. also putting this here to say, i tried to write reader in a way where it made her thoughts read off as like. ingrained into her? but that the way she thinks is not supposed to be normalized. please love yourselves. just wanted to make that clear djsklsfjd

#[❀] — afterwords

31 notes · View notes

dumbistsmartass · 5 months

Text

saying something about every hatchetfield production

spoilers, some nonsense, zero consistency with what I talk about, hurriedly written text, and back Cinderella’s Castle, QUICKLY, the kickstarter ends on May 4th. Also I mostly won’t be talking about the message to take away from all of them because I plan to make that another post.

TGWDLM: the catalyst of it all, it set up many fan favorite characters. Also my personal interpretation is that the musical we watch is actually happening in canon and is being put on by Pokky/Paul. Also how much of someone’s personality remain after infection?

Black Friday: it does pretty good as our first (true) intro to the LiBs it works very well. We get more General Macnmara who quickly becomes one of my favs. It also adds a lot of my other favs to the Hatchetverse, Hanna, Lex, Ethan, and Tom

NPMD: probably my favorite of the mainline musicals. I really hate Dirty Girl tho. The musical version of Hatchet Town is better than the OST version. The characters all have really good chemistry. I love Grace as a warning about the consequences of using religion as a fear tactic, when she sinned and wasn’t instantly punished for it she decided to take matters into her own hands and became a bloodthirsty maniac. The fact we got so close to a good ending if Max hadn’t fallen is darkly funny.

Hatchetfield Apeman: I don’t know how to feel about this one, it’s an interesting story but I think shouldn’t have been the first nightmare time story as it set a bad precedent for a lot of people.

Watcher World: I FUCKING LOVE WATCHER WORLD. The horror buildup of “what the fuck is happening here?” was genuinely amazing. The idea of a paranormal amusement part made for the amusement of an elder god id so cool. I feel uncomfortable saying the work “Sniglet”

Forever and always: one of my favs, the mystery of the two Emma’s is amazing, and the twist of which Emma Paul chose is amazing. It does make me wonder tho, is Emma a robot in every timeline? Also im just gonna assume that Tinky is connected to this one.

Time Bastered: another of my favs, the way it connects with FaA and the very clever time travel writing were highlights. The Ted is The Homeless Guy twist is really clever, and the ending is tragic

Jane’s a Car: holy shit my opinions on this one is so mixed. I love the bonding of Becky, Tom, and Tim is so wholesome. I REALLY hate that scene. Also is Jane turned into a car in every universe?

The Witch in the Web: our true into too Webby. Massive lore dumbs sort of weighted it down for me but it was still good.

Honey Queen: god I love this one. The fact that the LiBs aren’t mentioned until the very end was a really good choice. Both Zoey and Linda going to any length to win was some great tension.

Perky’s Buds: I went into this one expecting it to be kinda mid, and I was right but it was on the high end of mid. Ziggy being NB and played by a real NB actor is great! The bird hive mind is genuinely kinda unnerving despite how cute they are. I personally think they should have died, then content on the rooftop with the fire would have been such a good ending, but the police showing up to arrest them packs less of a punch.

Abstinence Camp: again, one of my favs, I fucking love this one and it also has the best Nightmare Timr song. It’s a fun way of exploring the “if you have sex in a horror movie you die” trope. Grace once again gets some sort of power and abuses it.

Daddy: I have mixed feelings, it’s a genuinely interesting plot but it get pretty uncomfortable. The song at the start made me think it would be a more empathetic take on Sherman Young but it definitely fucking wasn’t.

Killer Track: what is there to say? Killer track is actually so fucking amazing, if you will watch anything from this list watch this. I’m saying nothing else

Yellow Jacket: not at all what I was expecting, but it was great! From what I heard I was sort of expecting a high school drama with Pokky doing his bullshit in the background, but I loved this too. Also the ending hurt me.

Workin’ Boys: Pokky strikes again, but I’m not sure why TBH. Motherfucker just decided to fuck with his one most loyal subject and for what?

#hatchetfeild #hatchetverse #the guy who didn't like musicals #black friday #nerdy prudes must die #lords in black #nightmare time #nightmare time 2 #workin’ boys #team starkid #star kid #starkid #tem star kid

24 notes · View notes

glavilio · 1 year

Text

my annoying beastars thoughts under the cut. continue if you dare

the thing that makes beastars so interesting to reminisce on is that it is poorly written in such a way that it becomes actively difficult to engage with the story without interpreting it as a gay one. its really only aesthetic in the first part of the story, but after louis runs off and the murder investigation arc starts, all of the character points set up with legosi and his relationship to herbivores as interspersed with love are severed from haru as she's almost completely sidelined. the only conversations between legosi and haru are ones in which legosi is being a terrible partner, never hitting any actual beats that might progress their relationship's development. meanwhile, all of the beats furthered in a romantic or even sexual context are feature the relationship between legosi and louis, and while i don't think the story or author are intentionally pivoting, that fact + all the suggestive framing between louis and legosi + how legosi's character foil riz is pretty overtly queer-coded, ends up making a very compelling story almost entirely by accident. there are plenty of aesthetic and incidental things that make the story really... gay (which are sometimes half played for laughs, like like legosi french kissing riz to identify unknown saliva by taste), but i think the the most poignent examples are the more subtle but critically important plot beats like this:

(itagaki really should've had the foresight to involve the the actual intended love interest in the story, so they would be able to put that character in this very important scene. id argue this chapter is THE most important component of legosi's romantic arc, and yet haru is still MIA)

this is why everything goes so downhill so quickly (aside from the drawing-burnout on itagaki's part, and the random nonsense concepts of course). from a character standpoint, everything set up in the first part with legosi's character has pretty much been resolved, while his relationship to haru specifically is totally underdeveloped. so itagaki decides to just revert legosi to a previous state, undoing all the character progression and making him jarringly unlikeable as he appears to have learned nothing. meanwhile, louis has almost nothing to do, and haru still does not get the focus she desperately needs from the story. instead, random elements are thrown together, a few of which stick, but don't adress any problem or shortcoming of the story thus far and instead just make them more glaringly obvious as previous arcs are vomited back up half-digested as the story flails around, trying to latch back on to what worked. beastars was always a character driven story. the world was interesting, but could not stand on its own without the interesting dynamics that pushed the first and second arcs forewards. when those disappeared, the whole thing seemed retroactively suspect: the reader is forced to consider if the story was ever really that good in the first place.

the story tries to have it both ways. if it has ended here, it wouldve been the perfect conclusion to louis and legosi's character arc. the story with legosi as a protagonist would need to end here, or very shortly after, because legosi's internal conflict is largely thematically resolved, even if his relationship with haru isn't, because the story substituted louis, rather seamlessly, into her role in legosi's development. of course, it would be better if the story ended with haru actually having a character arc, but to move naturally past this point it would need to switch POV characters (ideally to haru herself). instead, it has to make an abrupt and very clumsy shift to continue with legosi, and fails both the potential for haru's conclusion to work and retroactively weakens everything that happened up to this point. i think a great deal of blame lies with the context in which beastars was being produced as well: a good editor should've caught this in advance, and the story was likely renewed for new chapters without a plan or really the full enthusiasm of its creator. thats speculation on my part but itagaki's interviews seem to strongly imply it. i have more thoughts but perhaps they are better saved for another time

#this is all very off the cuff and not well thought out so dont take it too seriously. teehee

31 notes · View notes

coulsons-fullmetal-cellist · 1 year

Text

The Final Girl Phone Call

(Dieter x horror loving female)

Words: 1, 1996 (get it? Because Scream came out in 1996!)

Summary: this is my entry for the PedroHalloween2023 with the theme What’s Your Favourite Scary Movie? Thanks to @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi for bringing this to my notice and suggesting the story

Warnings: lots of references to Scream, somewhat difficult questions relating to horror films, Dieter being Dieter

Check out masterlist here

Watching a scary movie had a routine and ritual to it. A scary movie required comfort and tasty snacks. Scary movies required only the fluffiest of blankets to snuggle under to feel safe and warm while people were having their limbs chopped off by a machete wielding maniac on screen. This blanket was special because it was one of the first luxury purchases you made when you first moved to New Zealand. You were strangely feeling homesick, moving out of home for the first time, and you saw this soft orange blanket made from New Zealand wool. It cost more than a regular blanket, but it called out to you, wanting to offer you comfort. It provided many hours of comfort, especially when you were feeling lonely once you moved to Los Angeles. Once Dieter became a permanent part of your life, you introduced him to the blanket, almost like it was a pet, but obviously he loved it and treated it with respect.

You had just gotten out said comfy blanket and put it on the couch to get comfy with when a familiar tune broke through the silence. It was your phone. Normally you would check the caller ID but this time you answered without checking who it was.

“Who is this?”

“Tell me your name and I’ll tell you mine.” The voice on the other end was rough and laced with danger.

“I don’t think so.”

A few days earlier…

“You want to do a Scream roleplay?” Dieter looked at you like you asked him to strip naked, paint himself green and walk around town in public, which he would actually do and probably did once back in his younger, drug-filled days. “I’m a kinky guy, but that may be a bit too kinky for me.”

“It’s not that sort of roleplay. I just want to act out the opening scene.”

“Am I going to have to stab you? Because I really don’t want to do that.” He wrapped himself around you, almost protecting you from any potential dangers.

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” you kissed his cheek. “I don’t really want to get my fake blood out. And I wouldn’t know which one to use.”

“It would make a mess.”

“And how would we get the stabbing action going?”

“It would make a giant mess.”

You were too lost in your overthinking to notice that your boyfriend was teasing, “It’s going to be a lot of prep and too much effort.”

“I only like the good mess.”

“The good mess?” his cheeky look gave you the answer you were seeking, so you gently nudged him. “I’m just curious.”

“Curious was me in my days in a travelling nomad artist commune with access to too many drugs. You, my dear, have a morbid curiosity wrapped up in a sexy adorable package. One of the many reasons I love you.” He kissed your cheek this time.

“I just want to see how I’d be if your life was in danger.” He gave you that look again. “I know it’s weird. I’m just curious to know if I’d act smart or become a hopeless case.”

“You’ve seen way too many horror films to act dumb.”

“But that’s how I’d be on screen. How would I be in real life?”

“Would a Scream roleplay really help out?”

“Possibly. It’ll be fun.”

“Let me guess, you’ve already written a script?”

You didn’t want to admit how many times you watched the opening scene in order to write down the dialogue to get material for a roleplaying script.

“Maybe. But you come up with the questions, it’s not fair otherwise.”

Back to the script…

The plan was simple: Dieter will call you as soon as you got home. Then the roleplaying would begin.

You had made your way over to the kitchen. Taking a bag out of the cupboard, you put the popcorn in the microwave. After a pressing a few buttons, you shut the microwave door but realised it wasn’t loud enough, so you opened it again and slammed the microwave door shut. This time, it was loud enough to be heard at the other end of the phone.

“What’s that noise?”

“It’s popcorn.”

“You’re making popcorn?” you mumbled a yes, “Popcorn is only for when you’re going to watch a movie in my opinion.”

“What a coincidence, I was just about to put on a movie.”

“Really? What kind of movie?”

“A scary movie.”

“You like scary movies?”

“It’s my bread and butter.”

“So what’s your favourite scary movie?”

“I don’t know.”

“You have to have a favourite. What comes to mind?”

“Well it’s a difficult question to answer. I have one too many favourites so really it should be what is my favourite right now? Normally I’d be up for a fun adventure like The Mummy, or a parody look at horror films like Tucker and Dale but really horror is such a great canvas to explore the harsh realities of life and use the metaphor of a supernatural monster to recreate and actual human monster.”

Dieter’s real voice came through the phone, “Honey cakes you’re going off topic.”

“Sorry,” you went back to the script. “Why do you want to know my name?”

“I want to know who I’m looking at.”

“What did you say?” You sensed that you were not alone and looked out the window, seeing only darkness. You made sure the screen door was locked; it was as it always was.

“I want to know who I’m talking to.”

You had moved to the front door this time and made sure it was locked; it was as it always was. “That’s not what you said.”

“What do you think I said?”

“What are you up to? Is this some kind of joke?”

It was at this point the microwave decided to provide a jump scare. You had forgotten about the popcorn until now. A tiny yelp was heard over the other end of the phone. You just left the door of the microwave open so it would stop screaming at you.

“More like a game. Can you handle that?” you didn’t answer. “I’ll take that as a yes. Now here’s how we play. I ask a question and if you get it right, I’ll spare the life of your boyfriend.”

Dieter could not play the double role of the boyfriend in danger. He was a talented actor, but not that talented.

“I’ll give you an easy question, as a trial run.”

You had by now, made your way back to the couch and wrapped yourself in the safety of your blanket. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

The voice on the other end gave a small maniacal laugh, “Now, what was the original title for Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

“It was Head Cheese.”

“Good. But now all the questions get harder. Which means a harsher punishment for Mr. Sexy here.”

You covered your mouth, not because you were scared, but of the nickname your boyfriend gave himself. “So, first question: How many people does Jason kill in Friday the 13th?”

“Um, none because it was Pamela Vorhees who did all the killing.”

There was a pause coming from the phone, “Uh, I was meant to ask how many people died in that film but you’re correct, nonetheless. So next question: who was the serial killer in Silence of the Lambs?”

“There were two weren’t there?” the phone didn’t answer. “There was Hannibal Lecter obviously but there was also Buffalo Bill.”

You heard a rustle of paper and mild swearing, “Stupid kid ripped me off!” After a minute, Dieter finally got back into character, “Now here’s a really hard question: what is regarded as the first horror film?”

“That would be Le Manoir du diable.”

There was a pause, “And in English that would be?”

“The Devils Castle.”

“Correct. Next question: what horror film made the most money worldwide?”

“Are we talking most profitable film or highest grossing film?” you didn’t get an answer, so you continued. “Because the highest grossing horror film is IT, but Paranormal Activity grossed nearly $40 million off a $450, 000 budget.”

“Okay, um…”

Intense rustling was heard coming from the hallway cupboard. You went to investigate, knowing it would spell certain doom in any horror film but for real life, cause just a mild inconvenience.

The rustling noises got more frantic, and the doors of the cupboard suddenly opened, your boyfriend spilling out onto the hallway floor. It was hard to tell it was him at first because he had dressed himself head to toe in a black robe. From his hands spilled out his phone, some scribbled notes, and a mask. You picked it up to see that it was a replica of Ghost Face.

“You went and got the costume?”

“Well yeah. I had to get into the part, didn’t I?” he rubbed at his knee where he fell. “It took me a while to find that mask. All the stores had were the ones from the latest Scream film and I wanted to make sure it was the same as the first Scream so…”

“I don’t think I would have noticed,” you saw the dejected look on his face so you knelt down and embraced him, “Aw, you’re the best boyfriend ever!”

“I am?”

“Yeah. But I have to ask: why did you hide in the cupboard? You could have hidden yourself away in the spare room.”

He was probably dazed from falling out of the cupboard, “Because…it was authentic to the film?” neither of you were convinced. “And I love you?”

You couldn’t help but laugh, “Were you planning on jumping out and scaring me?”

“Kind of. I was hoping we’d do a bit of light tussling followed by some sexy time,” he sighed. “Sorry the questions weren’t that good. The kid on set said they were really hard questions.”

“I thought they were pretty good questions.”

“Really?”

“Really really.”

You helped him get up which took longer than normal as the length of the sleeves provided lots of tripping up material.

“I don’t know how anyone can do anything in this costume.”

“Well, they did stumble a lot in the first three films,” you hugged him close. “So do you want to get out of this costume and…?”

“Get naked?”

“I was going to say snuggle up on the couch and watch a scary movie,” he pouted adorably. “I made popcorn.”

“I like popcorn. And I like snuggles.” He tried to wrap his arms around you but then remembered that the sleeves prevented this, so he took off his costume. You don’t know how he managed to get the costume on in the first place with how much difficulty he had getting it off. But soon he revealed back his normal self which was his normal Dieter attire.

By that time, you re-remembered about the popcorn and put it in its special popcorn bowl. Thankfully it was now at the perfect temperature for snacking on while watching a scary movie.

“Any requests?” you asked him.

He thought long and hard, so about thirty seconds, “Um, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” you looked at him in surprise. “You asked for a scary movie request.”

“Is it scary?”

“Remember the tunnel scene?”

“Oh,” You shuddered. “That might be too scary.”

“How about the one with witches and that actor you like?”

It took a while for you to decipher this, “You mean Hocus Pocus?” he nodded so you kissed in agreement and made your way to the couch.

Dieter carefully picked up the blanket before sitting down and let you snuggle up to him. He then arranged the blanket so it covered the both of you. “So how do you think you’d be in a scary situation?”

“I think I’d be a Sydney Prescott,” he looked confused. “You know, she’s the final girl from-“

“Scream, yeah. You definitely are,” he kissed your forehead. “My final girl.”

Lovingly tagging @pedrocontestsrus @boliv-jenta @simpingcowboy @ellenmunn @brilliantopposite187 @chaithetics @myloveistoolittle @cevans-is-classic @glshmbl @perennialdoll247 @joelswritingmistress

#PedroHalloween2023 #pedro pascal #jose pedro balmaceda pascal #dieter x honey cakes #love of horror fanfic #love of horror

21 notes · View notes

nicomrade · 1 year

Note

A genuine question here, but why do you dislike The First so much?

well its a weird thing to talk about cause really its the same reason why i dislike stolen lupin or any other low tier TV special. the real question is why other people liked it so much and i think its only because its such a pretty movie, its jaw dropingly gorgeous and the lupgang banter is great but just those 2 together isnt enough to make a good MOVIE. but it is enough that u can have a good TIME if u dont think about whats happening. thats the short version, its just a bad movie. sorry🐅

i purposefully havent been too frank when talking publicly about it (why i kept a mean tweet about it in drafts for literal years) but compared to the unlimited love it gets from the fandom it looks like thats enough for people to pick up that i dislike it so much lol. so lets talk about the first!

ill be brief on each point. that ancient technology thing it does w the eclipse? thats a bad trope. its a very very bad trope. its the atlantis conspiracy theory, its 1 throwaway line away from slipping into ancient aliens, they pull the same shit in a couple other TV specials and none of them are fondly remembered so hopefully we all know this plot point sucks and is racist. if not you can google it. lets move on

the nazis. after watchin harimao i said it was more anti-nazi than the first, idk if id stand by that cause i havent seen it again since but i mention it to put it in lupin context. generally if it isnt OK to have lupin scam an ex-nazi in part 2 ep 3 by disguising himself as hitler, whys it OK for lupin to steal from nazis by disguising himself as hitler? at no point is the movie actually anti-nazi (though i wouldnt call it pro-nazi either) and its fucking weird to see lupin disguised as hitler in modern lupin cause each time nazis show up in classic lupin everyone agrees its tasteless & overdone.

laetitia! TMS did a genius thing w her cause shes incredibly well written as a self-insert fic protag. it is very easy to watch the first & pretend u urself are best friends w the gang by projecting urself onto her. this doesnt balance out her lack of character it only helps the audience not care about it. compare her to mariya from tokyo crisis- one could be written out of her own movie and we only get info bout her to move the plot (the bad, boring plot) forward, one is essential to the core of her movie and shes realistically affected by the things that happened to her and makes believable connections with some of the gang. yay! a character!!

the movie is also very segmented between "plot scenes" and "lupgang banter scenes" you will notice everything fun about lupin STOPS when we are being explained Plot Elements. lupin talks to laetitia and its a boring nazi ancient treasure movie. then we get a scene thats not about the eclipse or laetitias grandpa or the nazis and all of a sudden its super fun !!!!!!! this is bad writing. lol. watch fuma & see how lupin at its best can blend comedy and plot and exploration and fun banter.

my personal experience w the movie! the first time i watched it i had to pause it cause i was bored out of my mind. iirc it was more or less when lupin gets on the eclipse ship thing n all banter stops cause its just him n the nazi dude n i realized hey this movie kinda sucks actually! i texted a friend about it n he was like. yeah having to force urself to finish it sounds like ure not enjoyin this movie. i did watch the first 3 or 4 times? i did gif it a lot. theres scenes i like (the banter) but it doesnt make it a good movie. like i said when i first wrote my personal review of it: "I think looking at gifsets of this would be more enjoyable than actually watching it". laetitia really embodies her movie in that sense, shes a really good character if you only look at her. she shares her name with all of her ancestors! just who is she? why is she wearing short shorts? why was she a cop? how old is she? then you realize theres nothing there

and ultimately this IS a reaction to it being an unpopular opinion. there are so many lupin entries a lot more worthwhile than the first (2019) that dont even get half of the hype. in my personal ranking its in the bottom 10 (tho ive skipped 2 specials so u can consider that the bottom 12). i genuinely dont like it but im not as vocal about lets say, angels tactics, because we usually agree thats a bad one- or at least we dont recommend it to newcomers. the first has a good reputation so i feel more strongly about it despite liking it more. i would be just as vocal about dragon of doom & voyage to danger if people talked to me about them more often. (and i have a much more coherent critique of dragon of doom lol)

so i dont really know how to explain why i dislike the first cause i just do; the same way u just dislike a bad part 2 episode, the same way most of the fandom just finds napoleons dictionary kind of boring. how do u explain why u dislike the nazi ancient tech self-insert npc girl movie- except by calling it just that? i guess i wasnt blinded by how pretty it is which makes me sound full of myself LOL. but its true a lot of animation can get away w god awful writing if its well animated enough- and if its too ugly no one will watch the best written animated movie. i love animation too and it has so much to offer and i want to see more done in the style of the first with the story of [insert your personal favorite TV special]. im glad it opened the door for vs cats eye to look that way (though lets not forget the 2012 3DCG lupin short!). but the WRITING the STORY the MEAT of the first just isnt any better than any other mid to low tier lupin TV special. is it really worth recommending the first as someones entry into lupin just because it looks pretty? is it really better than the anime that made the author reboot his own manga? why are we even still talking about the first?

#ask #anon #uhm a bit shy to put this in my lupin tags #really no hate if u personally really enjoy the movie. i love elusiveness of the fog we all have different taste. who cares what i think 👍#lupin the third

17 notes · View notes

iiusia · 2 months

Note

2, 3, 4, 13, 21, 23, and 24! I WANNA KNOW ABOUT YOUR OLIVIAVERSE YES YES

2. Summarize this au in 5 sentences.

im always so bad at this kinda stuff but i will try my best

olivia saves herself and tries to slowly relearn how to live. eli's been saving himself every day for years. mariam tries to keep them (and herself) together. they love each other so much :(. it'll work out, eventually.

3. Did anything inspire this au?

lichrally any story ive read that has slice of life/bittersweetness TBH!! but for the latest thing id say the line tender by kate allen / après céleste by maude nepveu villeneuve (french book saurry)

4. What is a major change you made?

this story used to have magical realism with birds as a thouroughline but i ended cutting that part out i felt like it was Too Much for this story yk... but i do wanna end up writing magical realism sometime soon

(that's why there's a bird in the parking lot in that snippet i posted a while back!!)

13. Write a lil snippet set in this verse.

thought id give a little uni arc olivia + lauren (for the first time? i think?)

Lauren pulls the headphones away from her ear. "Anybody you want to talk to?" Olivia, who's sitting on the small couch bolted to the side of the ship, gives a dismissive wave. "No," she says, still typing away furiously at her laptop. Lauren frowns and lowers the headphones to her neck. "Are you sure? It's been two weeks. No one that needs to know that you're not dead?" Olivia's fingers still, and she shoots Lauren a quick smile, all teeth. It's somewhat tight at the edges. "Nope," she says, shutting her laptop screen and gingerly setting it aside. "It's fine. I'm going to go get some fresh air. All that screentime is starting to make my eyes hurt." She leaves before Lauren can get a word in edgewise.

21. What makes you most excited about this fic?

i just LOVE writing these guys. you dont understand they live in my head so much that putting them down into words is a relief. like i just think that a dynamic like theirs is so fun to write... its about the deep love its about the loyalty its about the care its about the you-might-mess-up-sometimes-but-i-will-love-you-anyways DO YOU UNDERSTANDDDDDD

23. Do you have other ideas for how to continue this au/other fics that could be written in the same universe?

honestly the way im writing this now its kind of just disconnected scenes for fun yk so i could write Literally Anything... BUT for the sake of answering this question i do want to write more scenes for what i call the uni arc (olivia moves away for uni and everything she's tried to ignore blows up in her face)

24. Ramble about something you haven't gotten to talk about yet.

okay. honestly. been trying to figure it out but i lowkey want to make this story christian in some way?? idk like theres christian poetry there's christian fiction (mostly fantasy) but i havent ever read a christian story with These Vibes you know. i want to write a good story that is also christian!! is that too much to ask!!! i have no idea how .... honestly everything i think of sounds cringe and corny but maybe thats the like. social conditioning talking. fantasy stories have it easy because they can have magic and stuff so its easy to integrate but for this story thats like. the POINT is that its realistic and down to earth and they're all just People trying to get by. i cant really make it an allegory or a metaphor yk? it has to be real .... but then if i say "olivia starts to believe in her uni arc and becomes a christian" that just sounds silly to me!! (or maybe. again. its just that the worlds pov is that christianity is corny and silly and it could actually be good but IDK!!!)

#asks #I LOVE TALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#thank u 4 the ask heehee #close the door

2 notes · View notes

liongoatsnake · 1 year

Text

So, I done goofed, let my imagination run a little too wild and now I'm like, 3 chapters deep into writing not only a Batman fanfic, but also based on my chapter outlines and the rough drafts completed, this monstrosity of a story is shaping up to be easily over 90,000 words long (if I manage to complete it, ever). FEAR.

Also, this story would be, if I get the courage to share it, the first real fanfic I’ve ever written/completed, let alone published. FEAR^2.

But I'm concerned some of the stuff I'm writing isn't half as witty or good as I think it is. So, I thought I'd share a single scene I just wrote earlier today that I thought was pretty funny, but I fear its not really.

[Note: This is a rough draft. Also, for context, if desired, this scene is taking place soon after Dick Grayson became Robin.]

Dick thought the Batmobile was super cool, but if he had the option, he almost would have preferred moving anywhere in Gotham by wing instead. Well, Dick would totally concede that the Batmobile was a lot faster even with being confined to the roads, usually. Okay, a lot less usually than Dick had assumed. So, it had its uses.

Plus, Batman had looked at Robin like he’d grown a second head when asked if he could drive the Batmobile sometime in the future.

“You’re not even old enough to have a learner’s permit,” Bruce, because he had not used his Batman voice, had exclaimed.

“Like an ID would be handed over if the cops ever dared pull The Batmobile over! Not like they would ever dare try. Besides, there is no way it’s even street legal, even I could tell you that. A little thing like requiring a learner’s permit to drive The Batmobile would be like putting a brand-new chandelier in an abandoned haunted house!”

“Firstly, some people have indeed tried. Second, correct it isn’t. Third, the answer is still no.”

“What,” Dick started, his original disappointment getting sidetracked, “seriously? Someone seriously tried to pull that over?” Dick says, pointing to where the Batmobile in question was concealed in an alley way. (Dick was surprised someone hadn’t tried to steal something off it yet, honestly.)

Bruce, for his part, only gave a knowing smile and continued to walk; Robin following hot on his heels.

“No wait! You can’t just tease me with a story like that and not actually share! Come on! I’ll go batty if you don’t tell me!”

--- Things I personally find funny about this scene:

Dick Grayson mildly dissing the Batmobile.

Bruce acting like/being a dad is never not funny to me.

Bruce getting hung up on someone having a permit to drive The Batmobile when he fully acknowledges its not street legal anyway.

Dick referencing a chandelier.

The mere idea of someone trying to pull over the Batmobile.

Not only the implication that some poor sap has actually tried, but the fact it’s happened more than once.

Dick making a reference to someone stealing Batman’s tires.

Dick making puns.

#fanfic #batman fanfiction

8 notes · View notes

myarmsaretoolong · 6 months

Text

20 questions (for fanfic writers)

cheers for the tag @sarah-sandwich <3

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

57.

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

412,260

3. what fandoms do you write for?

mcu but mostly just irondad, though i stopped writing that for a bit when a small (large) marauders obsession hit so now i write both depending on the fic im working on. also taken a side step into parkner recently

4. top five fics by kudos:

A Different Future - peter snaps one-shot

Futures are Made to be Broken - more in depth follow up to peter snaps one shot

The Best Day of Harley's Life (and the worst of Peter's) - classic field trip fic only harley is like the tourguide and makes it his mission to ruin peter's day. not actually parkner but for sure the beginning of my growing love for harley

Not my First Time - part of webpril challenge one-shot, tony and peter are stuck under a building, conversation ensue

Where Do You Think You're Going - urrrmmmm good question. its a whumptober one-shot so peter must get beat up. pretty sure its by quentin beck and his drones, lets assume tony finds him and saves the day (its less than 2000 words i could read it and find out but im lazy)

5. do you respond to comments?

i do my best!

6. what is the fic your wrote with the angstiest ending?

ermmm *checks notes* Is This It? springs to mind first. you know the deleted scene of tony snapping and seeing morgan? well in this one he sees peter, only peter is a good few years older and has sorted his life out a bit. its sad obvi, but also kind of happy? the end lines are sad sad though :( so either that or 01/11/81 (if you're a marauders fan you already know that date) which basically very closely follows remus throughout the entire day after james and lily are killed etc. its very angsty all the way through, mary is a sweetheart, and at the end he's left all alone...

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

most tbh. im going to say Past, Present, Yet to Come because that's my baby. (peter is the ghost of christmas present, tony is scrooge, only its like the ryan reynolds film spirited, very good)

8. do you get hate on fics?

nope! (and please dont :) )

9. do you write smut?

nah

10. craziest crossover:

well ive only ever written one and it was mcu/glee and there's a reason i never finished it (nor am linking it [insert skull emoji])

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that ive noticed

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope! im a solitary kinda guy

14. all time favourite ship?

what a question... wolfstar is a classic, ineffable husbands are precious to me, doctor/rose is nostalgic... i can't pick favourites

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

besides all of them? all of them.

no but really there are so many and i have this problem of thinking of idea -> getting excited -> writing beginning -> not knowing where to take it -> get excited by new idea -> repeat. im working on it though and do genuinely plan to finish them all

16. what are your writing strengths?

yknow i honestly think my general writing is at a pretty good level. defo room for improvement but there always it, int there? id say that's a general strength, but specifically i think im goooood at making things angsty. and i love doing it so win win

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

well... finishing anything. plotting out full stories is a big problem. (though ive recently started a notebook for random ideas for fics and its helping) um... tbh i can struggle with everything from time to time. i think getting characters voices right can be hard cos i often find people saying things they would never say and having to go back and and put them straight. er,,, action can be next to impossible if The Vision isn't there.

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i dont have many. if its a language i cant read i just skim past and sometimes read an end note translation but if there's too much im just going to go with the flow

19. first fandom you wrote in?

mcu

20. favourite fic you've written?

again, Past, Present, Yet to Come is my babygirl. love him to pieces. can i say fics ive not finished yet? because parkner hunger games au and marauders doccy who are fire and one day will see the light of day (and get names)

tagging @winter-turtle @helloliriels erm ive forgotten everyone who has ever existed... @ anyone who i followed in the boopening who writes and @ anyone who just wants to (no pressure at all obvi)

#tag game #irondad #marauders

2 notes · View notes

ikigaitsuki · 6 months

Text

hello! here’s a small update

i keep seeing new followers and interactions and anons so i thought id actually take a second to finally give some sort of “what’s been going on in gai’s world”

to start, i can’t remember the last time i even wrote. it’s been over a year, i know that. to still have regular interactions from followers old and new is very lovely - i appreciate it so much.

i know there’s things i’ve written here that people have been waiting forever practically for the second parts. i honestly didn’t think id ever come back to finish them.

a part of me wanted to disappear from here entirely and another part really appreciated this little space i’d created. there’s been a lot of my favourite mutuals slowly leaving this platform and it becomes very isolating when you’re funnelling out work and not maintaining these online relationships.

however, writing is something i want to get back into. it’s hard, because i’m really living an adult life now and the time i have is just not what i had when i first started this account. i can’t say “hey, i’ll write again in 3 days, months, years”, i have no time frame. im also not as into the whole kpop scene as i used to be, which makes inspiration pretty bleak for me. our interests fluctuate though i suppose!

if i ever wanted to give this up completely though, you’d know about it. there’d be some post like this where i’m saying goodbye or something lmao. that’s not happening.

i’m so entirely grateful for the people that continue to give me even the smallest feeling of “ok yes i can get back into this” because that’s so huge for me. id love to write again and make stories for the people who want to read what i have to say. im not sure if i sound dramatic but being able to give to you my creative outlet is just so massive. i’m giving you my creative mind, and that is so vulnerable. my work is always so well received, and people have such lovely things to say. thank you.

i’ve also had major indexing issues with this account. so posting has been hard because nobody actually sees it? i’m actually a major loser when it comes to technology and so messing around with coding and stuff just knocked the life out of me - another reason why i just gave up a little with writing. it’s not about having thousands of notes, but when you’re posting and nobody is going to see it apart from through reposting (which i assume people are still abysmal at) it’s just not motivating.

anyways, i’m not sure if this is something that people will read and feel happy over, but nonetheless i’m putting it out there. in not going awol, im in the process of discovering what i want to do going forward.

if you’re reading this, thank you, always. and don’t forget, you can message me, send me an anon, do whatever! i don’t bite. you might not see me active every day here but i pop by regularly.

- gai

#gai: 💭

5 notes · View notes

juniperhillpatient · 2 years

Text

Sozin's Comet Part 4: Avatar Aang Re-Watch

Wow, I'm so sad that this rewatch is over. This show means so much to me, & I've had such a great time revisiting it. Alright - let's get into the final episode. The battles are underway & everything is as high stakes as possible. I'm just going to say that I know pretty much all of us have a lot of valid criticisms of the way that this show was wrapped up, but I still love it overall & I still think the final episode is just a fantastic conclusion with beautiful fight scenes & a lot to love.

The air battleship showdown is freaking intense. The scene where Sokka is hanging onto Toph's hand & he says "I don't think boomerang is coming back. This is the end," is just insanely scary & emotional - these kids really did think that they were about to die. Suki gets +2000 iconic behavior points for rescuing them. I loved "did boomerang come back?" "no! Suki did!"

[id: Suki smiling as she stands on an airship. end id]

I love that this finale really did give everyone their badass moments. Toph gets +1000 iconic behavior points for using metal bending to steer the ship, & Sokka gets +1000 for giving up his space sword to save Toph.

Aang Vs. Ozai, well, that's just a fantastic battle. The animation, the music, the voice acting, the fight itself it's all just so good. I mean, I have to give Aang a lot of iconic behavior points for saving the world & doing it on his terms. +3000.

[id: a scene from Ozai & Aang's final battle. Aang's tattoos are glowing, & he is yanking Ozai's goatee. end id]

I already said in my last recap post that I think that Aang finding a way to defeat Ozai while staying true to his cultural identity & maintaining air nomad values is the most satisfying conclusion the show could possibly come to. However, I would like to add that this is a pretty grim fate - possibly worse than death. In this show, bending isn't just a thing you can do, it's part of who you are. Aang taking Ozai's bending was not done lightly, nor should it have been. I just think that this was a very narratively satisfying way to conclude this epic final battle & while I totally get critiques of it, I don't think there's anything I would change. Maybe the lion turtles could've been brought up sooner? But I also liked the way energy bending was explained & it made sense to me, so that's like, actually me digging for something to critique. I loved this final battle.

The final Agni Kai...And its aftermath. Azula has completely lost it after almost killing her brother. She tries to stop Katara from helping Zuko, & goes after Katara herself instead. This battle is just absolutely haunting & beautiful. It's tragic, it's intense, it's beautifully animated, the music & voice acting is amazing, & it's just a well-written battle. I wish the show had leaned more into the fact that Azula & Katara are foils - younger sister prodigies who overshadow their insecure older brothers, with distant father figures & missing mothers.

[id: Katara putting chains on Azula's wrists. end id]

It's been said before (I can't remember by who) that Azula "loses to a better version of herself" & I think that's a harsh way to put it because it's not like Azula had a chance to be anything different than what she is (that's what's so tragic about her) but it's narratively true that the only one who could ever beat Azula is her foil who was given the chance to be strong in ways she could not. I remember holding my breath the first time I watched this showdown. It's just so beautiful & sad.

***Edit to say that I'm coming back because I totally forgot to give out points. Katara & Azula each get +2000 iconic behavior points for one of the most intense battles on any show ever.

I go back & forth constantly on how I feel about Zuko as Firelord at the show's conclusion but ultimately...I enjoyed the scene where he & Aang promise to restore peace, balance & love to the world the first time that I watched & I enjoyed it this time. It's a good scene, even if I could hem & haw about whether I like this conclusion for Zuko or not all day.

[id: Zuko & Aang, in the Fire Nation Palace. end id]

I really loved the parallel of "we're friends." "yeah, we are friends" compared to "do you think we could have been friends if we knew each other back then?" *cue Zuko fire-bending.* The way that Aang & Zuko have developed & grown & the way that their relationship has evolved really is the heart of the series.

Now - the part that I flat-out hate. I think I know when to be charitable to the writers versus when to call them out, & the scene between Zuko & Ozai? I didn't like it the first time that I watched & now I hate it. I'm not a big comics or graphic novel person, it's just a taste thing. And I'm pretty much against post-series extra content, no matter the fandom, just like, in general. I just think stories should be allowed to end. SO, the first time that I watched the show with limited knowledge of the comics? I was vaguely annoyed that we got this obvious advertisement for them instead of something else more meaningful in the final episode. But, I didn't know what the comics were like so I was kinda "whatever" about it. Now that I know how fucking stupid the comics are? Bruhhhh. Fuck this stupid scene.

We could've easily had a scene with Azula instead. And yes, Azula is my favorite character, but I also feel like I'm pretty reasonable about her arc & not like, totally blinded by loving her or anything. I'm not actually opposed to Azula having a somewhat tragic/ambiguous end. I don't think she & Zuko should've hugged it out after the Agni Kai or that she should've immediately been shown as besties with the Gaang or anything. I just think we should've gotten a scene where Zuko - maybe with Katara by his side - visits Azula, & it's shown that he does want to see her heal. THIS post from @theowritesfiction already discusses how this should have happened as well as a number of other valid critiques of the finale, but I wanted to bring this up too in my own post too.

A N Y W A Y. Yeah, that's really my biggest critique, & it's all about that one scene. I actually love the finale for the most part. I totally understand the critique I've seen pretty often from a lot of you that Mai & Ty Lee were shown as good guys way too fast but like...Guys, I WISH there was a Book 4. I do. There's so much that could've & should've been expanded on. But there isn't. So....yeah, I'm glad we saw Zuko & Mai happy together. Ty Lee becoming a Kyoshi Warrior was definitely out of nowhere but I still prefer seeing Ty Lee happy with new friends to just not appearing & viewers being left to wonder if she's rotting in prison. I pretty much think the writers did the best they could with the time they had there.

The final scene at the Jasmine Dragon, well, as someone who's made no secret out of my distaste for the Katara/Aang romance, you'd think I'd hate it. But I actually don't hate it at all (the scene itself that is, not the kiss, the kiss is stupid & out of nowhere.)

I like that we get to see a final scene of the Gaang all hanging out though. I thought it was a cute & funny lighthearted way to end the show. I loved the group just hanging out & the implication that visits like this will be often & they will all be friends for life. At heart, I'm a sap.

Anyway, I'm sad to say goodbye to this rewatch. It's been so much fun revisiting this show.

#sozin's comet part 4: avatar aang #sozin's comet part 4 #atla book 3 #atla re watch

25 notes · View notes

amourcheol · 1 year

Note

i have a few things to say and first of all i’d like to say how dare you? genuinely, how dare you? you are absolutely insane

the way i went through an entire rollercoaster of emotions that went from pure despise to shedding actual real salty tears is sickening, i want to yell at you fr

to repeat myself: how dare you? how dare you write such a fic that left me in shambles, on my knees, crying in a walmart parking lot, going through as many divorces as txt did for lovesong, bawling my eyes out, throwing myself against a wall and did i mention i cried?

jesus christ dear god goodness gracious holy mother mary i am NOT okay, it is 5am and i need to work tomorrow (more like getting up in 1 hour to leave for work) and i just could NOT stop reading your cheol work, i HAD to know how it ends, i could physically not handle not knowing how it plays out

first of all id like to say that the way you write is pure poetry, the words and descriptions you use are so rich in detail (like the paintings hehe) and gave your fic so so so soooo much life and depth, your writing style is just so mwah mwah 5 star michelin level, i can not stress enough how incredibly good your writing is

and the plot???? i saw 41k words and was legit like 👁️👄👁️->🫥->🤨-> 🥶 because i have the brain capacity of a fly that just flew against a window at full speed but OH GOD reading it was SO worth it and let me tell you, the plot was so good ???? like never did i ever even think about skipping a paragraph ahead

also, the way you wrote the characters is so good i don’t know if i want to throw something at you or smooch your brain, you really said enemies to lovers and not:

person a: “i don’t like you.”

person b: “fine i hate you too”

person a : “shall we still kiss?”

person b: “okay”

you legit said you’re whipping out a steven spielberg quentin tarantino oscar worthy plot i’d pay for to see in a movie because DAMN the characters (especially cheol lmao) were so well written and had SO much depth to them

next up, the scenes, THE SCENES

i hope you know you took my heart, shredded it, let birds pick it apart, threw it into the smoothie mixer and blended it, cut it with a chainsaw and then made it combust with that scene with cheol and his uncle talking about how he is in love and risking his career

also, the way you gave the nickname so much depth???? how did you even come up with that like??? your brain is built different, i swear if you were to take an x ray it’d be heart shaped because WHAT i SOBBED and i CRIED like actual water in my eyes down my cheeks, that was so cute, so precious and so tooth rotting sweet i want to run into a streetlight i could not handle that part of the plot i am still in shambles i want to sob every time i think back like ?????? (not spoiling anything specific here BUT AH THIS WAS SO KSKSKSKS)

in conclusion, i’d like to throw something at you for attacking the entire fandom like that BUT i would also like to wholeheartedly thank you for putting so much time and effort and thinking and love and brain capacity (yes your heart shaped brain, prove me wrong!) into that fic which is so so long but so full of plot and plot twists and lovely details and in total so lovingly written, your writing style is so nice like ???? the whole fic is a giant piece of art for real, thank you so much for blessing us with this, i wish you all the best and someone like the cheol you wrote to be your special someone, you deserve someone kind and caring and loving and only wanting the best for you because that is what you deserve

also i wrote this in a rush of emotions it is 5am my brain is dead and there might be typos grammar mistakes anything of the sort but i’d like to say i don’t know you but i love you sm for putting this out i hope i gets the appreciation it deserves and mwah i hope you’re having a great day

oh my fucking god this ASK THIS FUCKING ASSKKKK 😭💖💖🩷🩷💖💖😞😞😞💖😭🩷🩷💖 CURRENTLY SCREAMING CRYING INTO MY PILLOW SHITTING MY PANTS GIGGLING EXPERIENCING RESURGENCE OF GIRLHOOD

TXT DIVORCES SCR E AMMMING GGG G what i like to do is HURT BITCHES ☝🏼😍 WAIT SCREAM 5AM ??;£;£: OH MY FOD I HOPE U WERENT TOO SLEEP DEPRIVED RHE NEXT DAY IM SO SORRY 😭😭👹👹👹👹👹

5 star Michelin level 😞😞😞💖💖😞💖💖😞💖💖😞💖 PLEASEEE im so glad u enjoyed the paintings description!! the art whore in me is very very happy 😞😭

A STEVEN SPIELBERG QUENTIN TARANTINO STAWPPPPPP ITTTT STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY I WILL KISS YOU 😞😞😭😭🥹🥹🩷 i was so nervous about pacing their hatred/love because I didn’t want them to just fall in love w each other quickly cause it wouldn’t be realistic at all !! thank u for appreciating that 🥹💖

SCR E WAMINGGGG UR WAY W WORDS ARE MILES BETTER THAN MINE ?;£:!3£33 UR TOO FUNYN LFMAOA I’m glad I had this much of an effect 😍🙏🏼 i will take being thrown shit at for my work LMDAO

HEART SHAPED BRAIN 😞💖💖😞💖 I’m so so happy u enjoyed the nickname bit cause idk nicknames are such an important aspect of ur identity and cheol is such a cute fucking nickname i feel like shitting screaming crying over it whenever I see him so i needed to express that 🙏🏼🙏🏼

OH GOD UR LITERALLY SO INSANELY SWEET??? I could only hope i find a man as insanely kind, beautiful, endearing as cheol (me and him would eat each other alive)

thank YOU for the kindest words, your ESSAYYTT of a review 😞😞😞💖💖💖💖 i honestly wasn’t expecting anything like this when I released cheol fic, but it’s people like you that make posting worth it 🩷🩷💖

#asks #foxdaisy asks #the great war tings #might be the sweetest ask I’ve ever received #thank you for writing this #AT FUCKING FIVE AM TOO #MY GIRL I REALLY HOPE U HAD SOME SLEEP LATER #the threats are so funny MY HANDS ARE UP IN SURRENDER !!!#I’m so so happy u enjoyed it dearest !!#i was actually not gonna post this fic #because I was like … so embarrassed by how niche it was in the sense of like #cause i literally just wrote for myself 👹 but I’m glad alice convinced me thank u Alice #I hope you are having the bestest of days #MWAH !!

8 notes · View notes

aelaer · 2 years

Note

⛓

Okay so. THREE YEARS AGO, back in early 2020 before The World Went To Shit, I posted a "whump prompt request" thing with icons to basically request fics based on the whumpy icon. I answered 2 or 3 of them before I basically stopped writing for like, over a year.

This year I'm doing my damnedest to finish the 6 whump prompts I have from early 2020 and the last (anon) prompt I have from 2019. That's my goal. (If I can get to the 2022 user-submitted prompt as well this year, that's an extra bonus).

I don't think this user is even in the fandom anymore (possibly not even on tumblr), but I'm still doing the prompt fics. As always with tumblr prompts, my tumblr followers get them first, and I'll post it on AO3 at a later time.

Obviously the prompt is chains. For 2 years I was trying another fic to fill this, but when it just wasn't happening, I threw out the original idea for this new one below.

So I've done alternate meetings between Stephen and various Avengers before, but I wanted to try something different and have a different set of Avengers meet him in different circumstances. Well, not that different because I just enjoy seeing Stephen suffer. Sorry love. But it's a different crew of Avengers, so it's at least a little different. I don't think I've seen this particular group meeting him before in this timeframe, either.

This fic stars Steve, Nat, Sam, and Stephen, and is actually written from Steve's POV! First time writing from Steve's POV so it was a lot of fun. Not betaed, but this is still about 7,000 words long, so enjoy!

—--

Ever since aliens attacked New York in 2012, alien technology was a major part of the arms dealing scene in the black market. Nuclear missiles were old school; Chitauri-powered weaponry was the cream of the crop. And as the United States' Department of Damage Control seemed to have done a very lousy job at controlling all the weaponry leaving the country the last several years, Steve Rogers figured he'd put his time out of the country to good use and clean up for them.

From all the people that came back from the Raft, only two were with him now. Clint and Ant-Man—Scott, nice guy—had families back home and went for a plea bargain. Wanda asked to be dropped off in Europe and Nat provided her with a new ID and enough money to get by for a couple months without any sort of job. Bucky—well, Bucky was getting help in Wakanda.

That just left him, Sam, and Nat. When he told them what he planned to do, they were fully on board. Nat even had some old KGB connections to get them started.

And that's how they had spent the last year, going from city to city, country to country, chasing leads on illegal alien weaponry across Asia. They started in Yemen and Oman, then went north to Syria (where they got into a tight spot and found Nick Fury of all people waiting for them. How he got to Syria in the first place, Steve had no idea.) After a tense conversation with him, he parted with him in Lebanon, then they started their way east to Iraq, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.

It was another old contact of Nat's that pointed them to their next destination: the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.

With most of their hits, it was clear that terrorists, insurgents, and other sorts who dealt with black market arms were getting types of Chitauri weapons. With their information out of India, it was less clear what the nature of the weapon was.

"From how they're discussing it, it sounds alien," Nat said as she read over her contact's notes. "And they're guarding it fiercely. But it appears they don't know what to do with it."

"Who has the weapon?" Sam asked. "Lashkar-e-Taiba? ISIS?"

She shook her head. "It's a small splinter group of revolutionists. No household names here."

Steve frowned; these small groups were more difficult to determine how to respond to. "Are they considered terrorists by the United States?"

Nat shook her head once more as she looked through the notes. "Strictly Indian. This group doesn't go beyond their borders."

"Then let's go for a nonlethal encounter, as much as possible. We're not here to say who's right and wrong about such things, so long as they're not hurting anyone in their actions."

She half-smiled. "They do have a weapon, Cap." They've likely hurt people, she didn't say.

He quirked his lips in return. "And that's why we're going to relieve them of it." In the end, it was up to the local authorities to take care of the people themselves and to put them through due process. If Steve could, he'd do the same for every terrorist, too—but he didn't have that luxury when they were caught in the middle of a gunfight, or when it was just the three of them versus dozens in enemy territory.

He wasn't happy with the fact, but he made do with what he could. He didn't particularly enjoy killing others in the war, either—and the fact that he still had to from time to time was an unhappy reality.

So when he could get through an incident without death, he gladly took it.

"All right," Sam said. "Next stop, India."

—--

Nat's connections made getting the quinjet from country to country actually possible. From there, they paid someone enough cash to both keep an eye on the jet and to keep quiet about it. These people made a living on such gigs, so after a year of seeing such deals, Steve was a lot less worried about it than when they first started.

Their contact got them a van and from there, they fit everything they needed into it to get to a safehouse and gather more intel from there.

Uttar Pradesh was a land of extremes. As the most populous state of India, it also saw some of its richest and poorest citizens, some great beauty and great ugliness, and both wondrous joys and terrible suffering. Steve didn't interact with the locals—Nat did all that if they had to, as she somehow knew Hindi as well—but he could see it in the people's faces as they went from city to village, and back again.

It took them a couple days to secure their safehouse to their liking, then another few days to find the location of their target. It took Nat and Sam another 48 hours to break into their security and tap their communications, and it wasn't too long that they got the location of the weapon.

"They're not giving any further description on what this weapon is," Nat said with a grimace as she leaned back in her chair. "I don't think the guys we bugged actually know what it is, just where it is as they were guarding the building. On the second floor, so that narrows it down further."

"That's annoying," Sam said. "I'll look up the address and see what I can find on the building. This city's large enough to have blueprints."

"Not sure how much you'll find," Nat said. "I'll drive out there and scout it out tonight."

"You can add it to what I do find," Sam said, grinning.

—---

When Nat came back from her scouting just before dawn, Steve woke up to find her thoughtful. "What happened?"

"The building was unusually busy, considering the time of night," she said. "The good news is that I found the most likely room in which they're keeping the weapon."

"Should be an easy snatch and grab?"

"Absolutely; this is a group of amateurs. You and Sam can probably stay in the car."

Steve snorted. "Well, if we would just get in your way."

Nat smirked, then went to get herself some breakfast. "I'll listen in today to see if anyone says anything more about the weapon."

About two hours later, Sam and Steve were mapping out their route away from the building once Nat had the weapon. From the corner of his eye, Steve saw her frowning as she listened to the tapped broadcast. He did not like that frown. "What is it?"

She listened for about ten more seconds. "It sounds like they have a prisoner."

Sam jerked his head up. "What?"

She paused as she listened, then after two minutes she shook her head. "These idiots know nothing. They think he was after the weapon, naturally, but for all they know he could be a political prisoner or hostage." She sighed. "Should've bugged someone more useful."

"This changes things," Steve said.

"A rescue mission makes this more complicated," Nat pointed out.

"Are you suggesting we leave him?"

Nat smiled slightly. "Just making sure you were aware."

"Well, I've never been one to back down from a challenge." He looked at Sam. "You'll be fine alone in the car?"

Sam shrugged. "I can keep the engine running. You sure you won't need help with sneaking in?"

"No. Show me what blueprints you found again, Sam." He had learned several things about subterfuge and stealth over the last year from Nat. He had to.

With their combined intelligence gathering, Steve was able to map out his own route to search for this prisoner. It was likely he was being kept in the basement level of the building, so Steve would start there and work his way up, if need be. As decided before, Steve wanted to go for the non-lethal route, and they had just enough drugs to knock people out to make it happen (one of the good things of running into Fury all those months ago was getting supplies of that nature).

With their plan set, all they had to do now was wait until nightfall.

—----

Nat was right: these guys were amateurs. Steve was certain that she'd be in and out of the building in five minutes, tops. He had the longer route here just because he had to find the room this prisoner was actually being held.

Half the people in the building were asleep on the second floor; those awake were either guarding the mysterious weapon (Nat had them handled) or posted around the perimeter. He only encountered one other guard on the first floor before making his way into the basement. Those he did encounter he stashed away in dark corners so they weren't easily spotted by anyone passing by.

The basement was a little busier. The stairwell led to a long hallway filled with several tiny rooms, one of which was easily seen as occupied the moment he came to the floor. Steve took out two guys in a room at a pair of computers and kept them propped in their chairs. The other rooms in the hall were empty of people, largely filled with storage and detritus.

At the edge of the corridor was another hallway and Steve carefully peered beyond the corner to see if anyone was there. There was a man sitting outside of a door playing on his phone; that was very likely the door Steve was looking for. It was child's play to sneak up at him and jab him in the neck just as he had done with the rest.

He lowered the guard to the floor before he could fall out of his chair, then peered through the small window—hole, really—within the door to take a look inside.

Well, he had definitely found the prisoner. While the light in the room was dim, he could tell that their prisoner didn't appear Indian; his skin was just too light. Steve frowned; what was a foreign national doing dealing with a group that largely dealt with Indian affairs?

It appeared that he had crossed them in some way because the man looked terrible. Bruises and bloody scrapes blossomed across his face; they appeared to be recent hurts, gained in hours or days rather than weeks or months. His dark hair was pressed damp against his head, though from sweat or water, Steve did not know. His clothes were unlike anything Steve's seen in the future so far, at least outside of movies.

Despite his poor state of being, this group had considered their captive enough of a threat to chain him to the wall itself. Steve had no idea wall fetters like that still existed. The man was leaning his head against one of his arms pulled up, though sleeping or unconscious, he couldn't say.

Steve soon discovered neither. As soon as he took the cell door key off the unconscious guard and slotted it into the lock, the man's eyes snapped open and he straightened his position as much as he was able to. And he didn't appear afraid at all. Resigned, perhaps, but not afraid. Interesting. Nat would have quite the analysis on him from just this.

The man's grim resignation turned into outright confusion as Steve opened the door to reveal himself.

"Keep your voice down," Steve warned as he dragged the guard's body from the hallway and into the cell. He carefully shut the door to make it look closed, but left it open a crack in case it locked from the inside. He turned back to the hostage. "We'd rather avoid a full on confrontation if we can."

"Captain America?" Disbelief dripped through every syllable, but he kept his voice low. And he sounded American; that wasn't expected at all.

Steve could not help his unhappy smile. "Not so sure I can call myself that anymore."

The man remained still as Steve closed the distance between them. "Let me get these off," he muttered as he brought up the key again. But he could see the problem immediately—the key was too large for the manacles.

The man was watching him and seemed to catch his realization. "I imagine that one of the leaders has that key," he said, voice flat. Not panicked at all like many others would be if they thought they were so close to freedom and were stuck.

This man was no normal civilian, that much was clear.

Steve, though, had another idea. "Hold on." He took hold of the left manacle and chain, then paused as he caught long scars on the hand accompanied by a tremor that certainly wasn't fear. "This might pinch. Brace yourself."

The man said nothing, but hissed softly as Steve snapped the chain from the manacle as the rough metal scraped against him, despite Steve's best efforts.

"Okay?" Steve said as he slowly let go of the manacle still around his wrist, allowing the man time to gain control of his arm.

"Fine. Don't worry about it."

Steve moved to the other manacle and saw the same patterns of scars on his right hand, as well. He broke the chain with as much care as he could, and this time the man remained silent at the break.

"Can you stand?"

The man was already standing—or at least attempting it. He managed to get up to his feet, but he was leaning heavily against the wall. His eyes were focused on the corner where Steve had deposited the unconscious guard near the door. Steve followed his gaze and saw that beyond the guard was some sort of red fabric in the corner.

"I need that," the man said, leaving no room for argument in his voice. With some bemusement, Steve gathered the long length of red fabric in one hand (a coat?), and with the other dragged the guard to where the hostage once sat so anyone looking in the dimly lit room would make out the figure of a body. So long as no one took a closer look, it would hold until morning.

The man took the red fabric as soon as Steve offered it to him and slung it over his shoulder. Steve caught the glint of silver of what he assumed was some sort of clasp on his coat, and while he was no expert, it looked like the real deal.

"Surprised they didn't take those," Steve said as he nodded to the ornamentation. "Lean on me."

The man did so without protest. Steve couldn't see what was causing the other's inability to fully stand, but that would have to be examined later. He did mutter, though, "They couldn't rip the clasps off. Then they thought they were maybe cursed." For some reason this seemed to amuse the man.

Right, then. "Follow my lead," Steve murmured.

He locked the door behind them and dropped the key in one of the storage rooms within the basement. Steve was slower going out than coming in, but he had been thorough in jabbing everyone and placing them in either hidden areas or in discrete positions, should anyone pass. But for all the rumors of having a powerful weapon, as their security personnel was not what Steve would consider top-rated, he wasn't expecting any change of guard anytime soon.

The building was thankfully small enough that the journey from the cell to the exit was less than five minutes, even at the slowed pace they were forced to go. From the corner of his eye Steve saw the man turn his head at the sight of one of the men stashed on a chair, positioned as if he were asleep rather than drugged.

It wasn't until they were past the building's outer fencing and around a corner that Steve breathed more easily. Perhaps the man sensed it, because he spoke for the first time since they left the cell. "Did you kill them?"

"The guards?"

"Yes."

"No. Just drugged."

Steve felt the man exhale beside him. "Good."

That… wasn't expected. But then again, nothing about this man met any of the preconceptions he originally thought about the person he would be rescuing. "What's your name?"

"Strange."

They turned another corner. "Your name is Strange?"

"Yes."

Fair enough.

"How far are we going?" Strange asked. Steve was supporting more of his weight now, his hidden injury seeming to do a number on him.

"Not far," he assured him. "I've got a car waiting."

"Great." The 'great' sounded oddly sarcastic.

The van was only a couple minutes further, which was good because Strange only seemed to be getting weaker with every step. By the time they turned the final corner to meet it, Strange's left leg fully gave out on him. Steve caught him before he could totally collapse, but he noticed Strange's attention was fully on the van.

"I'm not the only thing you're taking from that building, am I?" he asked between clenched teeth.

How could he possibly know? Steve didn't know how to answer, but before he needed to, Sam was stepping out of the van to assist him. He took in Strange's interesting fashion choices with a raised brow, then took on the role of medic immediately. "Where are you injured?" he asked as he took Strange's other arm. He spared a look at the hand and the manacle, then gripped him on the forearm as he slung it over his shoulders.

"It's complicated," was Strange's cryptic answer. "Nothing you can��" He sharply inhaled, "—help right now."

Once they loaded Strange into the back seat (with his coat on his lap—though it was rather large to be a coat, now that he took a longer look at it), Steve asked Sam quietly as they rounded the car, "You found the weapon?"

"Well, we definitely found what they were hiding, though I'm not so sure I'd call it that," he replied.

What on earth did that mean? Steve sent Sam a look, but held off on any further questions until they were out of immediate danger.

Nat had slipped into the driver's seat as soon as Sam was out of the van, and Sam gave it up with the roll of his eyes. Steve decided to sit in the back with Strange to keep an eye on him as they drove back to their safe house about thirty minutes away. Somehow Strange seemed worse resting in the van than moving. Yes, the road was bumpy and unpaved in many spots, but he would have thought walking from his prison would have been more taxing on him.

As he eyed Strange's clenched fists, tight eyes, and pallor face, he wondered where these hidden injuries lie—and if they were all physical in nature.

Perhaps more importantly, he was wondering what on Earth another American was doing all the way out there in the middle of Uttar Pradesh and far away from any sort of tourist destination (and they had done their research—this was absolutely not an area for tourists).

Apparently he wasn't the only one wondering about him. "So, you gonna tell us who you are and what on earth you're doing all the way out here?" Sam asked, turning himself partially around to look at him.

"If we could save the interrogation for when we're stopped, I would greatly appreciate it," he said without moving his eyes from the center of the windshield.

"Carsick?" Nat asked in that casual way that was anything but casual.

"Yes," Strange said, but Steve wasn't sure if he fully believed him. It was the tight anxiety in his gaze that pointed to something else.

But what it was wasn't important for him to know. Every man had his demons. So Steve said, "His name is Strange."

Sam looked between the two of them, gaze settling on Strange. "Seriously?"

"Yes," Strange said, curt and tense.

"Right," said Sam. He cleared his throat. "Well, Mr Strange, when we get to our little base, we'll take a look at you and see what we can do for your injuries."

At first, Strange didn't seem like he would reply. Then a moment later, after Sam had already turned around and Steve was getting ready to settle in for a long, silent trip, Strange said, "Doctor."

"Pardon?" Steve asked. Sam slightly turned his head.

"It's Doctor Strange."

Well, that just created more questions than it answered.

—---

Doctor Strange could barely walk by the time they made it to the safe house. His lips were pressed tight as he contained what appeared to be excruciating agony. Steve had seen that look on men's faces before in war as they lost limbs and burned from napalm fire.

What sort of wounds was he hiding underneath all his clothing?

"He can take my cot," Sam said. The cots were in a separate, smaller room to the side of the larger room that held their base of operations. Their vital equipment didn't exceed what could fit in a single van should they need to leave fast, but at this point they had acquired decent bedding, more fresh clothing, and a mini-fridge alongside the basic necessities of the trade: their tech, a well-stocked first aid kit, non-perishables to last for several weeks, and a few weapons.

Sam already had their first aid kit by his side as they got Strange to the cot, and Strange collapsed as soon as they let him go. However, when Sam started to undo his belts to his—robes, Steve guessed—to get access to whatever hurts he was hiding, Strange stopped him by grabbing at his arm. But the grip was minimal; Strange's hand was shaking badly enough to continuously jiggle the ugly manacle still there.

"Not—not hurt—physically," he panted.

Sam raised his eyebrows incredulously at the comment. "You've got bruises all over you. Look, with this weakness, you could have a bad internal bleed—"

"No," he hissed. "Listen." His weak grip readjusted itself on Sam's arm. "Move the statuette—away from me."

Steve turned a confused look to Sam, but Sam had stilled and was looking at Strange with narrowed eyes. "How did you—"

"200 feet," he interrupted. "For an hour. You'll see." With that, he finally passed out.

"Statuette?" Steve asked.

"It was what they were protecting." Nat appeared at the door and frowned at Strange as Sam, obviously, ignored his protests and started stripping him down to both attach him to a BPM and to look for any signs of massive trauma. "He shouldn't know that we took it."

Steve frowned. "He said something of the same just as we got to the van."

Nat's eyes narrowed. "Did he, now."

Steve shook his head. "But that doesn't make sense. They were supposed to be holding onto some powerful weapon."

"Whatever our intel, the statuette was definitely the only thing they were truly guarding," Nat said. "Had two men at the entrance and one on the ground below—even more than last night." She kept her narrowed gaze upon Strange. "Maybe he is what caused all the disturbance last night, too."

Steve frowned at the information. "Did anything about it seem suspicious?"

Nat shook her head. "Not from a cursory look. It's just a rather ugly statue made out of stone. Weighs no more than 10 pounds. I was saving the closer examination for when we got back here, though."

"This makes no sense." It was Sam this time, and he was looking at the diagnostics on his small handheld that he had hooked up to Strange.

"What is it?" Steve asked.

"His vitals are not what I was expecting. His blood pressure is higher than normal, which is opposite what you'd see with internal bleeding, and none of this bruising is severe. I mean, he should still get himself to a hospital when he can to double check, but I'm not seeing any obvious signs of hemorrhaging."

Nat looked back at Strange. "He's not faking it. He's out."

"I know." Sam worked on cleaning up some of the cuts on Strange's face because they were, apparently, the worst wounds they found. "But from what I can see, he shouldn't be unconscious. I found no head trauma, no major blood loss, and his temperature's stable."

Steve pursed his lips together in thought. The world had gotten very weird the last few years.

Nat read him like a book. "You're going to entertain his idea?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, the world isn't exactly what it used to be," Steve said. "We can try for an hour. Just to see what happens."

Nat canted her head, then nodded slowly. "I know a spot. Be back soon."

—--

Fifteen minutes later, Steve had his chair at the doorway between the beds and the rest of the space as he kept an eye on Strange. Sam was working on repairing some of their surveillance tech while Nat was looking up something at the computers after having returned just a couple minutes ago.

"He said Doctor Strange, right?" Sam asked. "You think, being an American with robes and a cape and all, that he's playing at being some sort of superhero with a secret identity or something?"

Steve blinked and took another look at the red pile of cloth resting at the foot of Strange's cot. Huh, yeah, he supposed it could be a cape. A red cape like Thor's, to boot.

"I'm not so sure," Steve said as he eyed the man. "He didn't act like a civilian playing hero that got in over his head when I found him."

"Not a fake name, either," Nat said, causing the both of them to turn her way. She recited, "Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, MD, PhD. Neurosurgeon. And yes, I found images. It's him, just without the beard and a little less grey hair."

For some reason the name sounded familiar, though Steve had no idea why. He definitely hadn't met the guy before; he was pretty sure he'd remember him if he had.

Sam raised his eyebrows high. "What in the world is a neurosurgeon doing dressed like that in the weeds of Uttar Pradesh?"

"Former neurosurgeon, actually," Nat said with a thoughtful frown. "Last news I can find of him is from early 2016 after he got into a bad car accident. His hospital doesn't list him as a doctor there, anymore."

Steve frowned softly as he looked back at Strange. That would explain his hands. But as Sam said, it didn't explain what he was doing all the way out here. Then he narrowed his gaze as he saw Strange stir—or he thought he saw him move.

Then Steve blinked as he saw the edges of the red cape start rising upward. It reminded him of a cobra. He blinked again, and yea, it was definitely moving a bit like a snake. It was slinking.

"Hey uh, Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"Clothing generally doesn't move on its own in this century, right?"

"Uh, what?"

"You better come see this."

Steve felt both Sam and Nat beside him as they watched the cape—definitely a cape, not a coat—extend itself upwards until it was no longer a bundle of cloth at the edge of the bed, but fully extended and covering Strange from the bottom of his neck to his feet.

This cape might've been bigger than Thor's cape.

"So that's definitely not normal, yes?" Steve reiterated.

"Yes, Steve, that's not normal," Nat repeated. "You two sure there wasn't any sort of tech embedded within it?"

"Surveillance would've picked up something," Sam said, which Steve knew that Nat knew.

"Right," she said. "I'd ah, I'd keep my distance from it, gentlemen."

"Right."

"Yep."

—------

Another twenty minutes passed before Steve heard a groan coming from the cot. He looked up from his sketch to watch a minutiae of expressions cross over Strange's face before it settled on the blank expression of a man who woke up in unfamiliar, potentially dangerous situations. Steve saw that expression all the time once, a lifetime ago.

Strange was not just a neurosurgeon, no matter where his internet trail ended. Nearly two years had passed since early 2016, after all—and much of the world had changed since then.

Steve pushed away the troubling, all-too-personal train of thought before it went somewhere dangerous. "Welcome back, Doctor Strange," he said. He kept his distance.

Strange glanced his way with a furrowed brow before a light of understanding came to his eyes. "Ah. Right." He slowly sat up, grimacing softly, frowning down at what was obviously rumpled, disturbed clothing. Speaking of clothing—the cape was floating a bit more now, its collar at the same level as Strange's head.

"Oh, good, I'm glad you're starting to feel better," Strange said, and he was definitely talking to his cape. Steve was certain about it.

"Uh," Steve started, causing Strange's eyes to focus again on him. They were no longer clouded in pain, and he could see the man had an unusually sharp gaze. "Nat was going to remove those manacles off you, but then your cape started moving…" He trailed off.

"It's a cloak," was Strange's absolutely absurd reply.

Steve was saved from replying by Sam joining him. And just out of sight of Strange, Nat lingered, listening. "Hey, doc. How're you feeling?" Steve was pretty sure Sam was mostly staring at the half-floating cape—cloak.

"Much better. Thank you for moving the statuette." He frowned at the manacles on his wrists before making something of an effort to straighten out his robes. The red cloak moved behind him and settled itself upon his shoulders with Strange saying nothing about it.

"Uh, you wanna tell us what that is?" Sam jerked his chin to the cloak as it moved.

"It's a cloak," Strange replied. With eyes that sharp, Steve knew the man was being purposefully obtuse.

"Funny." Sam crossed his arms. "You wanna tell us why it flies?"

"It's called the Cloak of Levitation. That's what it does."

Steve wasn't sure if he should be annoyed or amused by the obfuscation. He settled for something around the realm of exasperation. "Doctor Strange, please." Strange stilled his adjusting and settled his gaze on Steve. "If you would sit down with us," he gestured past his shoulder to the main room, "Natasha can remove the manacles while you answer a few questions."

Strange pursed his lips. "I don't suppose you'll let me go without answers," he said dryly, but he stood up. Steve stood as well to give Strange ample room to pass.

Steve could feel Nat stepping into line of sight just behind him. "Consider it payment for us getting you out of there."

Strange huffed as he stepped through into the main room; with his so-called cloak, his whole ensemble had an odd feeling of completion that was missing prior. "I thought the Avengers were meant to be altruistic." Steve had been pretty certain that Strange knew who the other two were, but that at least confirmed it.

Nat smiled. "Some of us are more altruistic than others." She nodded to the table where the laptops were sitting a minute ago, but were now closed and set aside. "Sit."

Steve was more than happy to leave the bulk of the interrogation to Nat. He retook his chair and Sam went back to his tech maintenance corner while Strange sat adjacent to Nat at the center table.

With her left hand, Nat slid her fingers underneath the manacle to offer some cushioning between the metal and Strange's skin, certainly raw from the metal and more sensitive with whatever lay underneath his skin now. Steve knew, only after being with her for so long, that it was yet another way she could better tell truth from lies by being right on top of his pulse.

She had never forgotten her years and years of training.

"Why were you being held in that building?" she started as she flicked open the pick.

Strange narrowed his eyes at the question. "The same reason you were drawn to it."

"And you were caught trying to take it."

"Well," Strange said, "I was not expecting to have such an adverse reaction."

Nat kept her gaze on the manacle, seemingly. Steve wouldn't doubt that she was looking up at Strange through her lashes at pertinent moments. "We came because we heard there was a powerful weapon being held there," she said slowly, "but it seems only to affect you."

Strange didn't reply, at first. "Was there a question in that statement, Miss Romanoff?"

Nat smiled. "You know my question, Doctor Strange."

Strange, again, considered his words. "And what would you do with that knowledge?"

Something that looked like true confusion flickered across Nat's expression. Steve doubted Strange caught it, but after all these years, he did. "What do you mean?"

"Don't be obtuse," Strange said, and there was an edge to his voice, suddenly. "After all, it was not even four years ago that the very agency you worked for created a weapon to kill millions. What am I to think of a person who worked for such an organization?"

The flash of something real crossing through Nat's eyes was so fast that Steve wasn't entirely sure that he hadn't just imagined it. "And all of us here were part of the team that exposed that plot." The first manacle clicked open, and Nat removed it, allowing Strange to take his wrist to rub it. "And when the worlds' governments tried to force us to sign a document that we believed endangered the world's freedom, we ran. And here we are."

Strange stared at her wordlessly, and they held a battle of wills. He had seen this expression on Nat very few times. The first she started showing it to him was when they really started working together, when—

Steve suddenly remembered. "Hydra!" At his exclamation, the battle of wills was dropped as everyone looked to him, but his eyes were again on Strange. "During Project Insight—one of their high level goons mentioned your name, your name and a few others—as he explained exactly what the algorithm was written to do." He looked at the other two. "Sitwell on the rooftop, remember?"

Realization came to them and they looked again at Strange, perhaps in a different light. "He did mention you," Sam said, pointing a screwdriver his way.

Strange cleared his throat. "That was in 2014, years before… this. They couldn't have known this would happen to me."

"And what is 'this', Doctor Strange?" Nat asked. She gestured for his left hand, and Strange gave it to her wordlessly. As she slipped her fingers underneath the metal and against his wrist, she asked, "What makes you different from us that the statue would only be an effective weapon against you?"

The silence sat. Strange said nothing, and it remained steady until the second manacle clicked open. Natasha removed it and stared at him for a moment, but when he remained still, she simply nodded and stood. "Steve can help you make arrangements to get back to where you need to go," is all she said, and turned to leave.

"Magic."

Nat stopped mid-step.

"The statuette has an adverse effect upon people who practice what you would call magic."

Sam was the first to break the silence. "Wait, do you mean 'You're a wizard, Harry,' type of magic?"

Strange's carefully blank expression fell away into a look of distaste. "The preferred term is sorcerer."

"A sorcerer is just a wizard without a hat," Sam said in return, and Strange's expression went through the whole range between gobsmacked and irritation, and back again.

Steve stepped in before Sam was completely eviscerated. "Right, so the statuette's bad news. What did you want to do with it?"

Strange seemed surprised by the question. "If it were up to me, I'd have it destroyed; were that impossible, burying it several miles deep or throwing it into the Mariana Trench is a good alternative. I'd say it could be placed in another dimension, but I'd be worried about another intelligent species potentially coming across it."

Right, dimensions. That was—something. Steve just nodded, as if all of that sounded perfectly reasonable and not completely insane.

Still, there was something Strange wasn't saying, and Steve had to make sure. "And these adverse effects—they're not permanent?"

"They're not."

"You sure?" Sam asked. "You were pretty badly off there for a time."

Strange cleared his throat. "I had been within near proximity to the object for almost a day, and the car ride's enforced closeness simply exacerbated the symptoms. They were unpleasant, but not permanent for the length of time I was exposed."

Steve narrowed his eyes; 'unpleasant' was a soldier's word for 'agonizing, but it didn't kill me so I'll be fine.' And Strange had the gaze of a man who had seen battle.

The other two noticed, naturally. They were both soldiers too. But it was Nat who prodded, to see just how much she could glean. It was almost instinctual for her to do so, Steve thought. "Sam is right to be concerned. You were near catatonic by the time the drive was through."

Strange's lip twitched upward in displeasure. He would allow some prying to establish—what? Some sort of basic trust? Whatever it was, it only went so far, and when Strange said, "I'm fine, thank you," Nat laid off with a raised hand and a slight smile.

Steve switched topics. "If you knew this statuette was so dangerous, why did you go in alone?" At Strange's quirked brow, Steve explained, "I assume there's more than one sorcerer around. You had to learn it from someone. You needed backup." Steve allowed a tone of disapproval to shine through his last sentence.

Strange heard it and rose up to it. "The statuette hasn't been encountered for quite some time, so its intensity wasn't known to any living sorcerer. Besides, we thought it was something else entirely here. If we'd known it was the statuette, we would have used a completely different strategy in retrieving it. On that note," he said, tone moving to decisive and unrelenting, "I'd like my phone call, now."

"Your what?" Sam asked.

"Well, Miss Romanoff said you'd be assisting me in getting out of here," Strange said. "To do that, I need to call somebody."

Steve nodded, though that statement led to more questions as to how Strange got out here in the first place. Did that mean there were other sorcerers in the vicinity?

They had several burner phones as part of their stash. Nat selected one not on their persons, so not yet in active use. Depending on what happened here would determine if they kept it or threw it out after this.

Strange nodded in thanks and dialed a number slowly enough that it didn't take a spy to read his movement, should he decide to steal the phone for some reason. Steve didn't think he would. Besides, if he was more concerned about keeping the number private, he certainly wouldn't have dialed it in front of Nat.

Regardless, it took about ten seconds from Strange lifting the phone to his ear for him to start talking. He stood as he did and began to slowly pace during the conversation.

"Wong, it's Stephen. I have good news and bad news." A pause. "The good news is that it wasn't the Jade of Antioch. The bad news is that it's the Empirikul Statuette."

Another pause. "Oh yeah, it's as bad as the books say it is. Can't say I recommend the experience." His cloak was swaying quite a bit. Was that natural? "The Avengers. Or, well, three former ones, I guess." Another pause. "Yeah, them. And yes. Where do you think I found a phone?" Pause. "Why would I have my wallet on me? That's an awful idea. It would've been taken from me if I had brought it."

Strange paused mid-stride as the response on the other side went for a few seconds longer than the other replies. "It wasn't—you're exaggerating. No, it wasn't that bad. The issue was the Empirikul Statuette, not the guys holding onto it. It wasn't even a day. I'm fine. But they did take my sling ring, so."

Strange rolled his eyes after another pause. "Look, it could have happened to anyone. It was just my luck that I went searching rather than someone else." He huffed in annoyance. "I just need someone to pick me up. Can you do that?" Another pause. "It's not in my immediate vicinity, but it's still too close. Give me ten minutes to walk—not going to chance the Cloak right now." A beat. "Yep. Right. Bye." He snapped the phone shut and looked at Steve. "If that's all, I should be on my way."

That phone call had only made him more curious about Strange. And when Steve exchanged looks with Sam, he could see the same on his face.

And apparently Nat wasn't going to let it go so easily, either. "This area can be dangerous at night," she said. "We'll escort you to a safe spot."

"That won't be necessary," Strange said. He set the phone back down on the table. "I can take care of myself."

Sam asked, "Your powers are fully back, then?"

Strange pressed his lips together at the question. He answered, "As I said, I can handle myself."

"So that's a no," Sam supplied.

"We wouldn't want anything to happen to you," Steve added.

Strange looked between the three of them, then exhaled in resignation. "You'd follow me regardless, wouldn't you?"

Nat smiled at him. "Wouldn't want our hard work to go to waste."

Strange rolled his eyes and gestured to the door. "Lead the way to this 'safe spot', then. Away from the statuette, if you would."

"Gladly." Nat headed to the door and Strange followed. Sam followed and Steve did as well because of course he wanted to see where this went. Before leaving, he swiped the burner phone Strange had left and slipped it into his pocket.

Nat led them through the dark back alleys southward of their hideout. In a few minutes, they were at a dead-end corridor nestled between three silent industrial buildings. "How's here?" she asked as she looked at Strange.

Strange's brow furrowed and he looked at his hands and made a gesture, then suddenly a bunch of golden sparks appeared on the tips of his fingers. "Here is far enough," he said.

Steve exchanged a look with Sam, and the latter asked, "So… what exactly can you do with magic?"

"Many things," Strange said as lowered his hands again.

Steve frowned at the vagueness of the answer. "And what is it that you do use your powers for, doctor?"

Strange looked at Steve again, his gaze considering. After a moment, he said, "When I was still learning the Mystic Arts, I was told that the Avengers handled physical threats to the world, while sorcerers handled more mystical threats—a countless number of them."

Sam folded his arms. "And that statuette is one of these so-called mystical threats?"

"In a way. In the wrong hands, it could cause a catastrophe." Strange waved his hand. "But I was thinking more along the lines of extra-dimensional entities that would enjoy consuming the Earth."

Nat tilted her head. "And do you come across those often?"

"More often than you would think," said Strange.

Suddenly, golden sparks appeared in the air behind Strange up against the wall. Nat took a step back, hand on her holster, and Steve felt Sam tense beside him. Strange, however, just turned and said, "And here's my ride."

The golden sparks widened into a circle large enough for anyone to walk through it. On the other side was a room and another man, Asian, dressed in brown robes and looking exasperated. "Strange."

"Wong." Strange stepped through the circle to the other side.

This so-called Wong glanced at Steve, then Nat and Sam. "Thank you for the assistance. We'll take care of the relic from here."

"Relic?" Sam asked.

"The statuette. You won't find any use for it, I assure you."

Nat narrowed her eyes but didn't argue. Steve decided to keep it simple. "Happy to help. You can, uh, call on us if you ever need assistance." He held the burner phone up.

Strange shot him a raised eyebrow. Wong's expression, however, remained even. "You should hope that day never comes, Captain." With that, the golden circle closed, leaving the three alone in the dark once more.

"Are we just gonna let them take the statuette?" Sam asked.

Nat's lips were pursed. "They may already have. He was able to get to Strange without knowing where he was physically. And if they were able to find the statuette in the first place without any sort of scouting and they now know it's in this area, I suspect that they could have moved it since they can travel with portals like that."

"He was right in that there's not much we can do with it," Steve said as he opened up the burner phone. "We can take a look to see if it's in the hiding spot or not anymore." He pulled up the last called number. "Either of you know what country code +977 is for?"

Nat was faster with searching. "Nepal."

"Huh. They're right next door." Steve closed the phone. "Still, I'll keep this phone handy. They may prove to be useful allies in the future."

Sam sighed. "So I guess it's now the big three rather than the big two that we gotta keep an eye out for."

"What?" Steve asked as they headed out of the alley.

"Well, it was just robots and aliens before. Now it's robots, aliens, and wizards. Or at least magical 'entities', whatever that means."

Steve huffed in amusement. "Well, we certainly do live in interesting times."

"Can't argue against that."

—----

The history of going after weapons in Syria then Lebanon, and getting picked up by Nick Fury are actually from the MCU Prelude comics! Those are considered backstory canon so I definitely recommend giving them a read, they're really interesting and fill in some holes for a lot of Avengers-related stuff around AOU, CW, and IW. (The Doctor Strange ones are really great, too.)

According to Wiki, Nat spoke *at least* 11 languages. I'm not sure how much of this is from the MCU or not. But I figured her having another language under her belt wasn't the most insane thing in the world.

The "jab to instant unconsciousness" isn't a thing in the real world, but it was established as existing in the MCU in FFH, so it makes these non-lethal special ops missions much easier. It's a fun trope so I certainly don't blame Hollywood for having it.

Finally, the Empirikul Statuette is a made up item, named as a nod to the Empirikuls, who in the comics kill all magic—items, books, users, etc. So an item that makes magic inert and makes magic users suffer in its presence seemed an appropriate item to name after them.

#stephen strange #steve rogers #natasha romanoff #sam wilson #doctor strange fanfiction #whump #a bit at least #prompt fill #mcu #my writing #my fanfiction #fanfic

13 notes · View notes