#and i basically had one rule that defined her character: protect the group | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zaelous · 3 years

Text

The noble and most ancient House of Black was both a family and a cult. A cult is a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. In the case of House of Black, this philosophy and its subsequent goals were a form of magical eugenics focused on the supremacy of so-called “pure blood.” Establishing these basic principles is important at the outset in order to demonstrate how these beliefs and the House of Black’s implementation of them are what make them not just a family of extreme beliefs but a cult whose practices affected Bellatrix’s sense of identity, self esteem, and motivations, effectively forming her personhood.

I. PRINCIPLES BY DEFINITION

Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population, historically by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or promoting those judged to be superior. Positive eugenics is aimed at encouraging reproduction among the genetically advantaged; for example, the reproduction of the intelligent, the healthy, and the successful. Negative eugenics aims to eliminate, through sterilization or segregation, those deemed physically, mentally, or morally undesirable.

Pure-blood supremacists believe that only pure-bloods were real witches and wizards, and were often inclined to consider themselves as the elite of the Magical world; a place in which they believed that Muggle-borns did not belong. More militant subscribers of this philosophy even consider themselves to be akin to royalty. Elitist pure-bloods even believed that it was a sign of weak magic to enjoy non-magical company. Those who are pure-blooded but do not ascribe to supremacist ideologies are considered to be blood traitors and are shunned.

Shunning can be broken down into behaviours and practices that seek to accomplish either or both of two primary goals:

To modify the behaviour of a member. This approach seeks to influence, encourage, or coerce normative behaviours from members, and may seek to dissuade, provide disincentives for, or to compel avoidance of certain behaviours. Shunning may include disassociating from a member by other members of the community who are in good standing. It may include more antagonistic psychological behaviours. This approach may be seen as either corrective or punitive (or both) by the group membership or leadership, and may also be intended as a deterrent.

To remove or limit the influence of a member (or former member) over other members in a community. This approach may seek to isolate, to discredit, or otherwise dis-empower such a member, often in the context of actions or positions advocated by that member. For groups with defined membership criteria, especially based on key behaviours or ideological precepts, this approach may be seen as limiting damage to the community or its leadership.

Concerted efforts at influence and control lie at the core of cultic groups, programs, and relationships. Many members, former members, and supporters of cults are not fully aware of the extent to which members may be manipulated, exploited, or even abused. While there is really no standardized diagnostic tool with which one can definitively say whether an organization qualifies as a cult, some social-structural, social-psychological, and interpersonal behavioral patterns can help to assess a particular group or relationship, in this instance the House of Black.

II. PATTERNS OF CONTROL & DIVISION

The group displays an excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader, and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law. This is a trait more difficult to illustrate than others, since there is no one individual leader of House Black; however, it is the root of the House Black philosophy that their ideologies and beliefs are passed down generationally, presumably from medieval times (given their family tapestry). We do see a lengthy history of the family’s current patriarch (whoever it is at any given time) enforcing these ideologies on other family members by excommunicating anyone whom they deem to have fallen out of line with the House of Black doctrine. The fact that excommunication from the family is even a thing that exists and that it furthermore is seen as the ultimate form of punishment emphasizes two things:

Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished. There is no room in the House of Black to politely disagree or hold any sort of discourse on ideals. Even at the tender young age of sixteen, Sirius was summarily blasted off of the family tapestry and considered a traitor by the Black family for expressing his malcontent and running away to the Potters, a blood traitor family. Any member of House Black is obliged to conform to their ideologies or be expelled, which is seen as the worst possible outcome.

The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave—or even consider leaving—the group. In a normative, healthy family situation, being formally dismissed from the group usually only occurs under dire circumstances and often even then doesn’t fully occur at all. The implementation of characters such as Sirius and Andromeda prove early on that the family’s dogmatic beliefs are non-negotiable and that deviation has consequences.

The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and control members. Often this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion. This might be considered to be a more headcanon-y than explanatory point, given I don’t readily have any examples of shame or guilt being utilized directly, but given that these other points exist and are true within the narrative, it would be impossible for those things to have occurred without the use of shame and guilt to manipulate family members, even in occasions when it isn’t intended to deliberately. The peer pressure aspect of control is an especially pointed aspect of the situation, given that they are a family, having one’s entire family ascribe to certain beliefs and practices makes it a given.

The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (e.g., members must get permission to date, change jobs, or marry—or leaders prescribe what to wear, where to live, whether to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth). This is a point easily illustrated by again referring to the tapestry blasting incident(s), as it was up to the Black patriarch what should be done about betrayals, and he even further punished those who continued to support Sirius in violation of his ruling. However, it’s also common for House Black to arrange marriages between family members to those families whose ideologies align with their own, and if a suitable match cannot be found, to keep the blood pure by arranging marriages within the family itself. These marital practices tie in with other notable behaviors (elitism, polarization, isolation), but most importantly, they illustrate an aspect of positive eugenics, which is the practice of selective breeding.

III. GENDER ROLES

The whole point of this excessively lengthy essay is to explain how and why selective breeding is canon and thereby explain my headcanons for Bellatrix’s relationship to her beliefs and her gender and why the two are inherently linked. The entire concept of supremacy and eugenics relies on the continuation of the genetic precepts that the supremacists view to be superior-- that is, there is an inherent obligation within these beliefs to carry on the pureblooded genes and to provide the future generation of supremacists. The brunt of this endeavor obviously falls upon women, as they bear children, but given the patrilineal and patriarchal nature of the family structure (and that of English culture in the 1950s), the implication is that rather than wanting women who can bear these children, the desire is for male heirs to carry on the family name and the family bloodline, which is their most sacred duty.

Having been born a woman in the House of Black was to have been born with a form of original sin in that Bellatrix had already failed to be a male heir. Her only recompense for this initial transgression is to go on to provide male heirs, especially given that her mother died trying (and failing) to do so. While there is very little personal information available about Cygnus Black, we do know that his wife provided him with three daughters rather than a son, and died giving birth to Narcissa and left him to raise these daughters alone. Without a doubt, Cygnus would have viewed his failure to provide a male heir as a shortcoming, and given that his wife was dead, there was no way for him to vent his resentment on her. This is where we cross over into headcanon territory because I can’t prove anything about who Cygnus Black was as a person from the original text; however, it stands to reason giving the existing evidence and narrative structure (and how his daughters each turned out) that he was not a well man and that subsequently Bellatrix’s childhood was not a healthy or happy one as a result of that.

As the oldest child, Bella had little in the way of protection from her father’s dictatorship, although she did her best to shield her sisters from it once she had sisters. She always took the brunt of her father’s expectations, and his wrath should those expectations fail to be met. This is why, of all the Black sisters, Bellatrix held her supremacist values and mission the closest to her heart, and why I believe she and Narcissa held such a close relationship despite the onset of Bellatrix’s very obvious descent into madness. I also believe this is the key difference between Bellatrix and Sirius: although they both came from House Black, they grew up to be polar opposites. I think it was Rowling’s intention here to illustrate that no matter where you come from, you choose your own beliefs and destiny and you can choose to be good rather than evil or some shit, but I don’t think it’s necessarily as clear as simply choosing a different set of beliefs. I think that Sirius and Bellatrix were raised in very different conditions that instilled the same beliefs differently, and therefore had a different effect. Then one might point out Andromeda, but there’s a difference there, too-- not only did she have Bella to provide a barrier between her and their father that Bellatrix did not have, but she also experienced love outside of the family, which is a whole other set of variables I won’t begin to get into. Suffice to say that falling in love is an external catalyst which can’t be accounted for, and it certainly didn’t happen to Bellatrix.

As an adult, Bellatrix would have had a clear duty to take a pureblooded husband and provide him with male heirs. I do have a whole headcanon (which frankly deserves its own post but I digress) that she was first engaged to her Hogwarts sweetheart, but that he died early in the first war before they could be married, and as a result, her father arranged her marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange instead. This was not just to fulfill the whole get-married-have-babies mandate, but also because Bellatrix went mad with grief after her fiancé's death, and it’s really her first tangible, visible detachment from emotional stability. Her father’s solution to simply replace her fiancé might have been fine, had the couple not experienced infertility issues and been unable to produce children.

Infertility is not so surprising when one takes into account the rampant inbreeding in both the Black and the Lestrange families. Generations of intermarriage in the name of blood purity is guaranteed to give a myriad of health issues, certainly not all of which might be cured through magical means. However, an inability to fulfill her duties as they relate to Bellatrix’s personhood would be, to her, an absolute and unmitigated failure on her part. Fertility issues are already an enormous strain without the added pressures of a bloodline to preserve, but especially given that Andromeda essentially defected from the cause, the responsibility lies solely with Bellatrix and Narcissa, and as the older daughter, the responsibility is once again heavily on Bella. Her inability to conceive disallows her from adhering to her most sacred principles, which Bellatrix views as a failure on her part and results in a definitive rift in her self esteem and identity that she could not repair. She is desperate to be good and pure by the standards in which she was raised, and to fulfill what she views as her destiny, but she is unable to, and this destroys her.

IV. SYNTHESIS & RELEVANCE

Having been raised into these conditions, Bellatrix was conditioned into holding House Black and its doctrine at the forefront of her being. Because she held these beliefs so firmly and from such a young age, being a pure blooded witch is a part of Bellatrix’s identity and her self esteem. This is why any affront to these beliefs upsets her so much; it is a personal betrayal not just of these ideals but also of her wholly as a person. What made her turn on family members who had been burned off of the Black family tapestry was how personally she took their choice to leave. It was a personal betrayal, it was a publicly humiliating snub by someone who ought to have been on her side. Who did she have to rely on but family? The word family carries with it an expectation that they would die for the name Black and subsequently anyone who bore that name. Betraying the family was the same as a personal betrayal to Bellatrix, and was essentially spitting on everything Bella believed to be the most sacred and important obligations they held.

These circumstances create the perfect candidate for an offshoot of the pureblood supremacy cult, the Death Eaters. In the context of the House of Black, Lord Voldemort would have been the obvious escalation and clear apotheosis of pureblood supremacist ideals. Since Bellatrix had already been raised in an environment where the ends justifies the means and violence was an acceptable and omnipresent tool (she had ancestors who literally tried to make muggle hunting a legal sport so it’s not a stretch to think that House Black implemented casual violence elsewhere), she was an ideal fit for an extension of that ideology that placed more emphasis on negative eugenics and moving into the extermination of those deemed unworthy of their society.

V. AZKABAN

Following the conclusion of the First Wizarding War in 1981, Bellatrix was incarcerated at Azkaban at the age of 30, when she still had time to conceive a child. Her fanatical religious devotion for her cause convinced her that she would not be in prison for very long, but as she passed the decade mark, it would have been very clear to Bellatrix that if she were having fertility issues in her twenties, having aged past forty would make it very nearly impossible to get pregnant once the dark lord finally came to rescue them. Perhaps her belief in his infinite power led her to believe that Voldemort could magically fix whatever was the impediment to conception, or perhaps, having long given up on conceiving a child, Bellatrix viewed this failure as a reason to prove herself, a reason that she had to be the most dedicated, the most accomplished of his followers-- because she had failed in all other aspects and this was all she felt she had left to contribute to the pureblooded cause.

Either way, her spent youth would have clearly marked her failure in what she viewed as perhaps the most important endeavor in life, and one might suggest that her regression to a child-like state of mind following her traumatic incarceration in Azkaban could be an unconscious response to her desire to return to her youth in order to fulfill this expectation of her; or a desire to return to a time when she was not a failure but instead could still be of value to the ideologies in which she was raised and through which she viewed her purpose in life.

One could also surmise that Bellatrix’s recklessness in battle and her willingness (and possibly eagerness) to die for the cause of her pureblooded messiah might be due to this failure and the hope that at least if she died before the onset of menopause, it could be said that she was murdered before she could fulfill her duty, rather than being accused of having failed at it altogether. It’s also worth mentioning that her father had died while she was in Azkaban, and with his death, she lost any opportunity to finally earn his love and approval.

#meta ❝𝚆𝚁𝙰𝙿 𝙸𝚃 𝚄𝙿 𝙴𝙻𝚃𝙾𝙽 𝙹𝙾𝙷𝙽❞#this is SO LONG #but it's SO IMPORTANT #this post includes all of my most relevant hcs for bella #and my interpretation of so much of her canon #it took me over 4hrs to write #and I know I promised it like 2wks ago #but here it is finally

11 notes · View notes

tasloveskk · 4 years

Text

Some folklore thoughts 💭🌲✨🏳️‍🌈

Part 1

I’m going to take it song by song while also tracking key themes in red! Please also feel free to add in your thoughts in the comments, I’m curious to see what else people think folklore is about...

folklore

‘folklore’ is defined as “a body of popular myths or beliefs relating to a particular place, activity, or group of people.” or, by Steve from Taylor’s IC,”the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.” Taylor herself in her introduction/prologue says “A tale that becomes folklore is one that is passed down and whispered around. Sometimes even sung about. The lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indiscernible. Speculation, over time, becomes fact. Myths, ghost stories, and fables. Fairytales and parables. Gossip and legend. Someone’s secrets written in the sky for all to behold.”

the 1

- firstly, it’s the best opening track she’s ever had! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

- “I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit” = sounds to me like a conversation you have with an ex, like someone is saying “yeah I’m doing great, I’m dating/doing ‘x’” the first time they run into their ex in a while.

-“I thought I saw you at the bus stop” has BIG “this city screams your name” energy but is also very clever by Taylor because Miss Karlie Kloss is ALWAYS on advertisements on bus stops/literal buses around the globe 🚌

- “I hit the Sunday matinee” to me seems like an inside thing, because obviously as the world biggest pop star, if taylor is going to go to the theatre or cinema, she’ll pick the least busy and most filled with older people which would be the Sunday matinee.

- “you know the greatest films of all time were never made” —> the greatest love stories never get told? happen behind the scenes? There’s something deeper here but I’m still forming the cohesive idea!

- “if you wanted me you really should’ve showed” = showed up or showed for the world, either way Taylor wanted KK to chose her not Josh so they could work but that didn’t happen so now she’s left to wonder.

- “roaring twenties” evokes two clear images for me! 1. They were both in their 20s for the entiretyof their relationship, the best years were spent together and 2. The Roaring 20s were a time of independence, pushing boundaries and breaking the rules of prohibition - which is basically what Taylor and Karlie were doing behind the scenes.

- “if my wishes came true, it would’ve been you” = let’s say, ONLY FOR ARGUMENTS SAKE, that Taylor really IS with Toe, that still means that this song is her yearning for someone else who she always loves more AND had to lose at some point. Looking at her past beards “relationships”, there are only two plausible options - Joe (which seems unlikely seeing as they’re still “together”) or CH who she supposedly wrote “you would’ve been the one if you were a better man” about. Either way doesn’t seem like it fits. However, if you look at it as Karlie is the 1, it becomes clear - it would’ve been fun being best friends and lovers for ever baking cookies and dancing around the kitchen, it would’ve been forever if Karlie hadn’t “married” jerk, it would’ve been her and it still is. 💗

- “in my defense I have none, for never leaving well enough alone” & “I know that I went psycho on the phone, I never leave well enough alone” are about the same moment with the same person = she didn’t leave well enough alone because she kept writing about Karlie and re-engaging us Kaylors as well as I’m sure, she kept up with seeing Karlie or keeping tabs on her to the point where it forced someone to reach out to the other.... she can’t apologise or defend her actions because you can’t explain the things you do for true love.

- “I have this dream you’re doing cool shit” aka starting a podcast, expanding businesses, making headway as an entrepreneur and being a highly-paid and respected international model? Seems straight forward 👀

- “you meet some woman on the Internet and take her home” = 1. Karlie is specifically interested in tech and the internet, it is literally her entire business and 2. if Karlie and Tay did break up, then because Karlie is actually NOT married to Josh, she hooked up with someone she met through the internet somehow (probs social media not an app) and Taylor found out this is probably a snarky comment about that from a jealous ex. Could possibly also be about the dream mentioned above. 💔🔐

- “another day waking up alone” = lost her lover, sleeps alone? Bold claim on opening tack.

- “persist and resist” = very famous feminist saying, civil rights/political echo?

- “the temptation to ask you if one thing had been different, would everything be different today” = this what if mentality continues through the album but personally, I think this is about Kissgate.

- “Rosé flowing with your chosen family” = repeats later, your chosen family could refer to Karlie’s group of friends like Derek and Jourdan etc.

- “would’ve been sweet if it could’ve been me” = flipped perspective, wishes Karlie chose her.

- “dragging up the grave another time” = firstly, THAT pin on her EW jacket now makes more sense. second, Taylor has written about Karlie for 4 straight albums now, she hasn’t let their love story die even if they did.

cardigan

- “brand new phone” = this is not some story, this is current reality. Taylor hides behind era-specific language and imagery in some other songs but this one is clearly about here and now, and her.

- “sensual politics” to me stands out because only really here and in TLGAD is politics explicitly mentioned and sensual politics to me screams sleeping with someone for political gain or with political connections which certainly sounds like someone...

- “when you’re young, they assume you know nothing” = sounds to me like a lot like a) love story and b) “you don’t know you’re gay, it’s just a PHASE! you’ll grow out of it!” 🏳️‍🌈

- “chase 2 girls, lose the one” = supposedly, when KK and TS met, Taylor was still in love/entangled with Dianna so perhaps she’s reflecting on making the wrong choice?

- CIWYW links: my baby’s high above the whole scene—> heartbeat on the high line, tidbit:as is clear in both Lover & 1989 New York is a sacred place for TS and KK’s love story, the high line is a) a beautiful NYC icon and b) right in between the girls’ two places...

- as mentioned, miss Karlie ELIZABETH Kloss was the brand model for Levi’s and definitely has worn some sequins and black lipstick on cobblestones sooooo.... 🤷🏼‍♀️

- “you drew stars around my scars” = see Drake’s birthday party and the infamous third Polaroid mystery 👀

- “stepping on the last train” could mean one of two things to me; 1. The last resort for KK was marrying J*sh or 2. the last train could represent some goodbye the girls had where KK chose something/someone else over Taylor.

- “peter losing Wendy” is such an interesting metaphor on so many levels but specifically, Wendy loses Peter because she wakes up (from nearly dying but nvm) and grows up and stops believing in Neverland and magic, basically Wendy loses an attachment to Peter because her reality shifts and that’s what gets remembered especially in the Disney version of the story. HOWEVER, the opposite is also true meaning Peter Pan loses Wendy because he can never co-exist with her again, he can never grow up or bring her back to Neverland without either killing her or ruining her. So this idea that someone wanted to change the ending from peter losing Wendy because he had to do what was best for her because he loved her echoes as Karlie didn’t want to marry Jerk or hurt Taylor but had to in order to protect her. Right? 😅

- “leaving like a father, running like water” = Taylor’s parents got divorced and there’s SOME thoughts Scott left the house and Taylor lives with her Mom in Nashville in her teen years.

- “I knew everything when I was young” - Taylor has always know she was LGBT+ 🌈 and also, baby VSFS vibes because as we all know, “we were both young when I first saw you...” send tweet.

- “I knew you’d come back to me” hopefully, HOPEFULLY foreshadows the girls being together/coming out soon !!!!!!! 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

- music video wise, I’ll do a break down soon.

TLGAD

- ‘Rebekkah’ refers to the previous owner of Taylor’s Watch Hill, RI house, Rebekah Harkness. She was a divorcee until marrying Standard Oil heir William (aka Bill) Hale Harkness, a new-money dynasty was formed in this time from their profit. There are MANY wild, whimsical stories about ‘Betty’ (which is obviously an extended metaphor of folklore) that this song tries to re-create/recapture.

- Taylor is also known as ‘Becky’ due to the popular meme so this is quite literally a play on her own character as well as the previous inhabitants of the house.

- St Louis is not only Rebekkah’s hometown, but also Karlie Elizabeth Kloss’.

- “the wedding was charming, if a little gouche” seems like a direct shot fired at Karlie’s woodsy photoshoot of 2018 😂😂(ironically, folklore’s key aesthetic is the woods!!)

- “it must’ve been her fault his heart gave out” refers explicitly to William dying of a heart attack in the house, but subtly I feel like this is a dig at the media who constantly blame women for things they cannot control, as they have done with Taylor too many times to even count.

- “who knows if she never showed up, what could’ve been” seems like Taylor is stuck thinking about what may have happened for her and Karlie if things had been different, see the 1.

- “she/I had a marvellous time ruining everything” is such an incredibly provoking lyric on two fronts, 1. obviously taylor buying her RI house had a massive impact on an otherwise sleepy holiday town that is now more famous for Taylor’s july 4 parties than anything else and 2. seems introspective or personal, as if the things that ruined everything for Karlie and Taylor were the best and most marvellous parts of their relationship (big sur, kissgate etc.)

- “flew in all her bitch pack friends from the city” is not only about the friends and celebs Rebekkah was notorious for hosting but also Taylor’s ‘bitches and model’ girl gang circa 2015 which includes one Karlie Kloss.

- “blew through the money on the boys and the ballet” refers to Rebekkah’s love of wasting her fortune on things, including a ballet company that went under not long after she created it BUT also refers to Taylor paying so many boys to be her beards and PR stunts whilst also spending her money on a certain ex-Ballerina. Also remember her AMA’s performance of Lover/ bts of Shake It Off? 😉😉😉

- “50 years is a long time” - 50 seems deliberate, a bit of a reach but note it WAS the 50th anniversary of Stonewall last year. 🏳️‍🌈

- “free of women with madness, their men and bad habits and THEN IT WAS BOUGHT BY ME.” - this clearly shows that ALL the songs are being narrated by Taylor, some of the lyrics are about her, some are about these fictional or fantastical characters she’s created but there is her truth behind all of them too.

- “the loudest woman this town has ever seen” = Taylor is undoubtedly the most famous woman in the town who regualrly causes uproar there (see the Sea Wall debacle and the Taylor Swift Tax)

- in all, the two famed women owner’s of Holiday House have many overlaps and are forever intertwined.

exile

- “i can see you standing honey with his arms around your body” as the opening line is LOUD. to me, feels like this is about ALL those staged photos of Josh and Karlie uncomfortable/fake as hell on social media.

- “laughing but the joke’s not funny at all” is something we’ve all thought about Karlie’s marriage before and is about that moment where if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry at the situation.

- “it took you 5 whole minutes to pack up ... holding all this love out here in the hall” to me is about someone moving out of a shared home, like Karlie from Taylor’s NYC apartment, after a break up or fight. We know it is MORE than likely that the girls’ broke up, for a while or for good, in 2017/18.

- “I think I’ve seen this film before, and didn’t like the ending” is a lot like “Cause cruelty wins in the movies, I've got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you” / “All of my heroes die all alone.” which makes me truly believe that delicate > the archer > exile are all the progression of the same love story. ❤️

- “now I’m in exile seeing you out” = both of them have lost their home, exiled from the relationship.

- “I can see you staring honey, like he’s just your understudy” has a lot to unpack. Firstly, see this photo. Second, as a beard, Joe is quite literally Karlie’s understudy - stepping in only to fill a public void or play her part when she can’t.

- “like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me” is basically this tweet

- “second, third and hundredth chances” - hopefully this means the girls WILL be together again soon!!!

- “those eyes add insult to injury” - Taylor has often made explcit reference to her lover’s eyes, but this could also mean the eyes of the public on her every move and relationship not allowing her to properly grapple with break ups. 👁️

- “i’m not your problem anymore, so who am i offending?” - homophobes love to say wlw or mlm relationships “offend” them or their beliefs, so who could taylor be offending if she’s publicly in a straight relationship?

- “you were my crown”, Taylor was/is Karlie’s princess, if Karlie is gone, Taylor doesn’t feel like she’s a princess anymore. Likewise, Karlie is Taylor’s sunshine which makes the moody, misty, dark aesthetics all the more relevant to this album.

- “so I’m leaving out the side door’ - this side door? the other side of the door?

- “all of this time, we always walked a very thin line” between outing themselves and being happy?

- “I gave so many signs” - Taylor has queercoded EVERY album since her self-titled, she has been dropping hints and signs for years that she is LGBT+ so it must be exhausting to have to keep hiding who she loves. This is repeated so many times - it means a lot.

- written with William Bowery who nobody can quite identify, but Karlie and Taylor have been to the Bowery many times together and William is mentioned earlier in TLGAD

- this whole song is a duet, a two-sided conversation between lovers - her and karlie both without each other.

my tears ricochet

- Track 5 is, as per usual, deeply confessional, personal, emotive and moving. 😿😿

- there are lots of theories and layers to this masterpiece of a song, including that it’s in reference to big machine. I personally think every single song of Taylor’s is made up of layers that reflect multiple things in her life and experience so plausibly it can be about multiple things all at once including Sco** and Scumbag as well as Karlie, who was under Scumbag’s management for the majority of the decade. Another theory which with every new listen I think is more and more possible is that this is alternating between Taylor and Karlie’s perspectives.

- ‘if i’m on fire, you’ll be made of ashes too” whoever is associated with Taylor will ALWAYS be dragged down with her. If she’s being attacked, they will be too. Big 2016 energy.

- “even on my worst day, did I deserve babe, all the hell you gave me?” could be directed at a lover, or at Big Machine, or even the public for all the shit they’ve said about Taylor over the years.

- “I swear I loved you ‘till my dying day” seems a lot like the 1, as well as could be about the music and the label she helped build.

- “I didn’t have it within myself to go with grace.” Taylor was LOUD about her split from Big Machine, she called them out (rightly) and made noise which is not a ‘graceful’ split.

- “you’re the hero flying around saving face” very easily is about S+S jackasses but deeper than that, while Taylor was under immense attack and criticism, everyone who actually like her music pretended suddenly to hate it and her to stay ‘cool’

- “cause if I’m dead to you why are you at the wake?” this lyric becomes especially important in the final verse but essentially those who publicly distanced themself from Taylor still showed up when she was thriving again and/or because they actually truly loved her *uhmm karlie uhmm*

- “cursing my name, wishing I stayed” either at Big Machine or with Karlie/Taylor.

- “some to make a diamond ring” > firstly we still have never understood the ring image from the LWYMMD and ME! videos, it is entirely possible this is a continuation of that same symbol/image. Second, I think this hints to Karlie getting ‘engaged’ while still being with Taylor, the rock for the ring in the song was found by the two people gathering stones after all.

- “you know i didn't want to have to haunt you” both Taylor and Karlie have big reputations all over the world that follow them everywhere. For either one, they will always be haunted by reminders of each other.

- “you wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” - on the Big Machine side, Taylor made the label professional and big, she is literally the sole reason it succeeded in the music industry so she handed Sco** his fortune and reputation which he still had when he sold her music to Scumbag and got into a very dirty bed with him. From the Karlie side, many people have noted that not only does she wear her black cartier necklace, which is assumed to be from Taylor, but to her ‘wedding’ wore a necklace she’d worn before with Taylor.

- “when I’d fight you’d tell me I was brave” could refer to Sco** encouraging her in 2016 to defend herself. Could refer to Karlie supporting her behind the scenes.

- ‘and I can go anywhere I want, just not home” seems like a continuation from exile, as in she’s lost the place she called home because her lover is no longer there but could also mean she can’t go back to her other albums and the house (see the lover music video) that they created as her musical home.

- “you will still miss me in your bones” could be about Sco** losing his money and label without her there to physically support and carry it or about the fact that the love Taylor and Karlie had is so ingrained it’s in their bones forever.

- “and i still talk to you when I’m screaming at the sky” this lyric has a lot of possible interpretations (i’ve seen one about cursing out God?) but i think it’s similar to “asking the traffic lights if i’ll be alright” as in, it’s Taylor asking the universe to help her make sense of things.

- “when you can’t sleep at night, you hear my stolen lullabies” suggests a) sco** + scumbag is still haunted by the music they stole from Taylor because it was literally the backbone of the business which is now practically worthless and b) that Karlie is kept awake by the songs Taylor has written for and about her over the years which again were stolen away by the jackasses at Big Machine.

- “you had to kill me, but it killed you just the same” again, same idea - big machine will never be profitable without her/while they hold her masters hostage. BUT Karlie wise, breaking up with Taylor broke her too?

- this is where the song changes. it shifts from Taylor’s story to someone else’s, personally I think Karlie.

- “you turned into your worst fears” as in she settled for the money and sold her values off by marrying Josh. Also, Karlie was under Scumbag’s management for years (part of Taylor’s hatred of him was him keeping the girls’ from doing as they pleased) so by being completely controlled by him, she turned into this completely fake person. Contrast 2014/15 Karlie with 2017/18 Karlie and it so much more all about PR and money.

- “you’re tossing out blame, drunk on this pain, crossing out the good years” - sco** and scumbag have made so many false excuses for their behaviour and completely erased the good relationship between the Swifts and sco**. Not sure yet what the Karlie side is here but it’s here somewhere.

- in conclusion, this is about Big Machine and Karlie. As the first song Taylor wrote for the album, I think it’s clear just how incredibly multi-faceted this album is. ☕☕☕

mirrorball

- first off, we can never forget about this and this look from both girls. ✨✨

- “I’ll to show you every version of yourself tonight”, the public and the private sides to them both. this is big glass closet energy in my opinion

- “and when I break it’s in a million pieces” is so personal and heartbreaking. 2016 and Kaylor breakup vibes. I cannot elaborate at this time.

- “when no one is around my dear” = the secrecy, forbidden love motif returns and again, if she’s in a hetero relationship, what’s to hide?

- “you’ll find me on my tallest tiptoes”, Just an fyi, Karlie, a giraffe, is 6′2″, Taylor is 5′10″ -- thats a big difference. 🦒🦒🦒

- “i know they said the end is near” = end of the relationship or the end of hiding it, either way, it’s a romantic last private moment together, swaying as the room burns down.

- “i can change everything about me to fit in” = Taylor when she was starting out was forced to create this all innocent, american-girl image of herself. She has had to hide herself to succeed, as she said in Miss Americana, she was muzzled.

- “you are not like the regulars, the masquerade revelers” = Karlie is different to everyone else, or any other ex, ‘masquerade’ implies masked or hidden figures at a party, very Love Story

- “and the called off the circus, burned the disco down” = the ‘circus’ could be the media/public, or all the illusions Taylor has cast in order to appear straight. The ‘disco’, and Taylor is the ‘mirror ball’ to her lover means that this isolated existence of just the two of them.

- “I’m still on that tightrope, I’m still trying everything” for now, she’s still closeted, she’s still trying to have the best of everything.

- “I’m still a believer, but I don’t know why” believer in everything working out perhaps, or perhaps believing it’s better if she’s in the closet and it’s only the two of them.

- “never been a natural” = she has completely created herself through years off trying to be what people want, not who she naturally is.

seven

- “picture me” implies this is retrospective of Taylor, she’s reflecting on her childhood/youth.

- “I hit my peak at Seven” could either refer to the age 7 or album 7, ‘Lover’ which many critics argued was her best work.

- “Over the creek I was too scared to jump in” = fear of jumping is something Taylor has discussed in many songs but this is different, the creek represents something she fears will drown her.

- “High in the sky with Pennsylvania under me” = obviously, Taylor was born and raised in rural PA, so this truly is a childhood memory unearthed and explored. It’s personal to Taylor, it’s her story. 👏🏼

- “Are there still beautiful things?” Recognizing the world isn’t all daisies and rainbows

- “cross your heart, don’t tell no other” = again, secret keeping and hiding something is a big queer image, ‘cross your heart’ is a quite childish phrase but it’s adult equivalent in Taylor’s world is an NDA, ie swearing people to secrecy is something she's always known... 🔐

- “Although i can’t recall your face, I still got love for you” = this childhood love has faded with time to memories, this girl simultaneously forgotten and remembered.

- “Your braids like a pattern” = definitely about a girl (1996 rural Pennsylvania was not the kind of place where boys had braids), specific use of YOUR pronoun not ‘my’ or ‘our’ suggesting again it’s about a girl. Very obviously about a first girl crush. 🌈

- “passed down like folk songs, the love lasts so long” = firstly, reference to Neruda’s poem Taylor used in the red prologue. second, folksongs change slightly from generation to generation but the heart/melody remains the same meaning that in Taylor’s mind, the story of her first girl love has changed but it’s still the same song/story all the years later. also, clearly a reminder of the setting of the song and the album as a whole being folklore. 💛

- “your dad is always mad and that must be why” feels a lot like Love Story and forbidden love, also again rural Pennsylvania in the mid-1990s was not the most liberal place so I can imagine a lot of homophobic ideas that perforated Taylor’s childhood.

- “I think you should come live with me” is such an innocent image of someone in love and wanting to just fix things by bringing them home, it also is like a baby gay version of uhauling

- “we could be pirates” = pirates are not just a childhood image/motif but also one historically seen as gay, gangs of pirates often had ‘mateolage’ agreements that basically were like widow’s benefits. See John Swann. ☠️

- “you won’t have to cry, or hide in the closet.” = I think this one is explicitly clear but just to be sure, Taylor could’ve said “hide when he lost it, hide if you wanted, hide in the woods too” etc. Read this for a full understanding of why it such a LOUD image to use. It is VERY DELIBERATE PEOPLE. 🌈🌈🌈

- “just like a folk song, our love will be passed on” = different from the first bridge but deliberate again. Their story, aka Taylor liking girls from a young age will always be talked about, AND their love lives in this song she wrote.

- “picture me in the weeds before I learned civility” = again, given the homophobic attitude, ‘civility’ and straightness should be read as the same so Taylor is saying when she was a child, free in the grass and herself, she wants to always be.

- “I used to scream ferociously any time I wanted” = she wasn’t muzzled as a child, she could say and be who she wanted, screaming it aloud for everyone to hear but that changed as she grew up.

- “pack your dolls and a sweater, we’ll move to India forever” = ‘dolls’ again would imply it’s two girls running away together and India is this exocitc far off place to a child, a place where they can be together without anyone knowing them or controlling them.

August

- Karlie Kloss is born in August. Karlie Kloss posted yesterday about being a Leo (an August born). August belongs to Karlie Kloss. 🦁♌

- “rust on your door” = image of something well-worn, perhaps someone who’s been here too a few times before?

- “whispers of are you sure?” = obviously there is the sexual connotation, but beyond that, what if it’s about Taylor and Karlie going public etc.

- “never have I ever before” = see above but also the game ‘never have I ever’ evokes youthfulness and sounds almost like a reminder of a fun night with friends.

- “I can see us lost in the memory” = implies they’re still together, losing themself in the memory together

- “I can see us twisted in bedsheets” = again, sexual imagery but also the intimacy of sharing a bed with the person you love after sex

- “Like a bottle of wine” = matures the song a bit, the youthfulness of earlier is now more adult. 21 is America’s drinking age, 20s were mentioned early etc. 🍷

- “Cause you were never mine” = the whole of Taylor and Karlie’s relationship, Karlie has publically been dating Josh so she was never solely Taylor’s.

- “Will you call when you’re back at school?” = Karlie attended NYU in 2015, the height of Kaylor.

- “back when we were still changing for the better” = instead of changing to adapt/survive or keep up appearances.

- “wanting was enough” = wanting Karlie without labels was enough, rather than having to go public etc. Many have said for a long time that Karlie and Taylor fought about coming out or not.

- “cancel plans in case you would call” = sounds like a very love-sick Taylor Swift thing to do. Also waiting on a lover’s call when they constantly are travelling like both Karlie and Taylor do makes sense. ☎️

- “so much for summer love” = cruel summer echo? Summer 2015 was again, peak Kaylor so this could be a specific reference to that period

- “Do you remember? Remember when I pulled up and said ‘get in the car’” another specific reference, comes up again later in Betty, clearly is something personal.

- “Back when I was still living for the hope of it all” = back as in the past when everything was happening, hope of it all being the hope they’d still end up together.

TO SUM UP PART 1:

BENEATH ALL FICTION OR MYTH IS FACT & FEELING. Taylor is no longer hiding. Yes, some of these songs are about stories and people not her but there is so much of herself and her own story layered in too. PAY ATTENTION!!! Obviously, these are just my opinions, I’m not Taylor so I cannot know exactly what these songs are about but I think, after years of analyzing her music, these images/themes and deliberate word choice are well-versed in this part of the fandom. It is entirely possible this is the beginning of Taylor’s full, public coming out journey.

I’ll be back with Part 2 tomorrow. Stay Tuned!

#ts8 #taylor swift #taylor swift gay #taylor swift karlie kloss #Kaylor #kaylor proof #gaylor swit #Gaylor #GAYLOR RISE #karlie kloss taylor swift #Karlie Kloss #karlie what you want #tasloveskk #folklore #folklore taylor swift

194 notes · View notes

qqueenofhades · 4 years

Note

I really don’t want to start a discourse™, but I want you to know that I really appreciate how you write joe and Nicky in deo volente. So many of the fics I’ve read have placed yusef in the role of more sexually experienced and less devoted to god, while Nicky is depicted as an inexperienced and virginal priest/knight/monk and so forth and so on. Your narrative of joe out there rescuing people and being faithful, while Nicky looks back on his life of gambling and pleasures of the flesh ...(1/?)

Not to say that there’s anything wrong with either, obviously. I love guilty priest Nicky and repressed Nicky and p much every Nicky. But in the vast array of fics out there, it’s rare to see the opposite. Not that you’re working in a binary morally good/religious vs. not way. Your writing in the fic is really subtle and and your characterizations reveal a lot of depth. I just think it’s cool to see Nicky, average second son of a duke, drinking and gambling and feeling terribly guilty (2/?)

Guilty about the crusades and the fucking horror of crusade 1 without being excessively devout. Just an average dude. Not some paragon of virtue (btw, I’m on chapter 2 of the fic, so I don’t know how much your characterization changes moving forward. You have a lovely ability to combine your incredible knowledge of history, your beautiful writing, and these intimate details of the characters that make them fit— fit the canon and fit the history. (3/? Shit I’m sorry this had gotten way too long)

I enjoy the way you’ve really inserted us into the quotidian aspect of history. Aaaaaanyway— the discourse that I was afraid of: I think that a lot of fans of the movie that are generating fan content (tysfm to all of you beauties, btw 🙏🙏♥️) are westerners (which is a whole nother kettle of fish) and that carries a sort of ignorance about the Muslim world in the Middle Ages and this desire to simplify Europe as “Christian” “fighters for faith” etc. (4/? Fuuuuck. One(??) more)

And when we do that, we end up as characterizing the brown people as “not that”. The thing I love about this fandom is that people are definitely down on the crusades. I feel like all the fic I’ve read has been particularly negative about those wars, but the thing I love about your fic is that you don’t just say war is bad because people died and it was despicable and this pious white dude says so and this one brown person agrees. (5/6, I see the end in sight I swear it)

Instead you give us a larger cast of Muslims and Arabs and really flesh them out and give them opinions and different interpretations of faith, and I really appreciate that. The crusades were terrible, and we know this because these regular dudes who struggle with their different faiths and lives say so. And I just. I think that’s really great. Also, I fucking love yusef’s mom. I feel like more people would be accepting of the gift in this fashion and I think she’s lovely and (god damn it 6/7)

Aaaaaaaand. The bit where yusef returns and she’s already gone breaks my fucking heart. Also the moment where he’s like “I’m not sure about Abraham’s god, but my mothers god is worth my faith”?? Just really fucking great. So. Excellent fic. Excellent characters. Excellent not-being-accidentally-biased-towards-white-Christians. That is what I came here to say. Thank you so much for your amazing stories. I love them and I love history. Sorry about the rambling. idek how I wrote so much. (7/7)

Epilogue: tl;dr: you’re great.

Oh man! What a huge and thoughtful comment (which will in turn provoke a long-ass response from me, so…) I absolutely agree that no matter what fandom, I don’t do Discourse TM; I just sit in my bubble and stay in my lane and do my own thing and create content I enjoy. And I don’t even think this is that so much as just… general commentary on character and background? So obviously all of this should be read as my own personal experience and choices in writing DVLA, and that alone. I really appreciate you for saying that you love a wide range of fan creators/fanworks and you’re not placing one over another, you understand that fans have diverse ranges of backgrounds/experience with history and other cultures when they create content, and that’s not the same for everyone. So I just think that’s a great and respectful way to start things off.

First, as a professional historian who has written a literal PhD thesis on the crusades, I absolutely understand that many people (and regular fans) will not have the same privilege/education/perspective that I do, and that’s fine! They should not be expected to get multiple advanced degrees to enjoy a Netflix movie! But since I DO have that background, and since I’ve been working on the intellectual genealogy of the crusades (and the associated Christian/Muslim component, whether racially or religiously) since I was a master’s student, I have a lot of academic training and personal feelings that inform how I write these characters. Aside from my research on all this, my sister lives in an Islamic country and her boyfriend is a Muslim man; I’ve known a lot of Muslims and Middle Easterners; and especially with the current political climate of Islamophobia and the reckoning with racism whether in reality or fandom, I have been thinking about all this a lot, and my impact on such.

Basically: I love Nicky dearly, but I ADORE Joe, and as such, I’m protective of him and certainly very mindful of how I write him. Especially when the obvious default for westerners in general, fandom-related or otherwise, is to write what you are familiar with (i.e. the European Christian white character) and be either less comfortable or less confident or sometimes less thoughtful about his opposing number. I have at times tangentially stumbled across takes on Joe that turn me into the “eeeeeeeh” emoji or Dubious Chrissy Teigen, but I honestly couldn’t tell you anything else about them because I was like, “nope not for me” and went elsewhere rather than do Discourse (which is pretty much a waste of time everywhere and always makes people feel bad). This is why I’m always selective about my fan content, but especially so with this ship, because I have SO much field-specific knowledge that I just have to make what I like and which suits my personal tastes. So that is what I do.

Obviously, there’s a troublesome history with the trope of “sexually liberate brown person seduces virginal white character into a world of Fleshly Decadence,” whether from the medieval correlation of “sodomite” and “Saracen,” or the nineteenth-century Orientalist depictions of the East as a land variously childishly simplistic, societally backward, darkly mysterious and Exotic, or “decadent” (read: code for sexually unlike Western Europe, including the spectrum of queer acts). So when I was writing DVLA, I absolutely did not want to do that and it’s not to my taste, but I’m not going to whip out a red pen on someone else writing a story that broadly follows those parameters (because as I said, I stay in my lane and don’t see it anyway). Joe to me is just such an intensely complex and lovely Muslim character that that’s the only way I feel like I can honestly write him, and I absolutely love that about him. So yeah, any depiction of hypersexualizing him or making him only available for the sexual use and education of the white character(s) is just... mmm, not for me.

For example, I stressed over whether it was appropriate to move his origin from “somewhere in the Maghreb” to Cairo specifically, since Egypt, while it IS in North Africa, is not technically part of the Maghreb. I realize that Marwan Kenzari’s family is Tunisian and that’s probably why they chose it, to honor the actor’s heritage, but on the flip side… “al-Kaysani” is also a specifically Ismai’li Shia name (it’s the name of a branch of it) and the Fatimids (the ruling dynasty in Jerusalem at the time of the First Crusade) were well-known for being the only Ismai’li Shia caliphate. (This is why the Shi’ites still ancestrally dislike Saladin for overthrowing it in 1174, even if Saladin is a huge hero to the rest of the Islamic world.) Plus I really wanted to use medieval Cairo as Joe’s homeland, and it just made more sense for an Ismai’li Shia Fatimid from Cairo (i.e. the actual Muslim denomination and caliphate that controlled Jerusalem) to be defending the Holy City because it was personal for him, rather than a Sunni Zirid from Ifriqiya just kind of turning up there. Especially due to the intense fragmentation and disorganization in the Islamic world at the time of the First Crusade (which was a big part of the reason it succeeded) and since the Zirids were a breakaway group from the Fatimids and therefore not very likely to be militarily allied with them. As with my personal gripes about Nicky being a priest, I decided to make that change because I felt, as a historian, that it made more sense for the character. But I SUPER recognize it as my own choices and tweaks, and obviously I’m not about to complain at anyone for writing what’s in graphic novel/bonus content canon!

That ties, however, into the fact that Nicky has a clearly defined city/region of origin (Genoa, which has a distinct history, culture, and tradition of crusading) and Joe is just said to be from “the Maghreb” which…. is obviously huge. (I.e. anywhere in North Africa west of Egypt all the way to Morocco.) And this isn’t a fandom thing, but from the official creators/writers of the comics and the movie. And I’m over here like: okay, which country? Which city? Which denomination of Islam? You’ve given him a Shia name but then point him to an origin in Sunni Ifriqiya. If he’s from there, why has he gone thousands of miles to Jerusalem in the middle of a dangerous war to help his religious/political rivals defend their territory? Just because he’s nice? Because it was an accident? Why is his motivation or reason for being there any less defined or any less religious (inasmuch as DVLA Nicky’s motive for being on the First Crusade is religious at all, which is not very) than the white character’s? In a sense, the Christians are the ones who have to work a lot harder to justify their presence in the Middle East in the eleventh century at all: the First Crusade was a specifically military and offensive invasion launched at the direct behest of the leader of the Western Roman church (Pope Urban II.) So the idea that they’re “fighting for the faith” or defending it bravely is…

Eeeeh. (Insert Dubious Chrissy Teigen.)

But of course, nobody teaches medieval history to anyone in America (except for Bad Game of Thrones History Tee Em), and they sure as hell don’t teach about the crusades (except for the Religious Violence Bad highlight reel) so people don’t KNOW about these things, and I wish they DID know, and that’s why I’m over here trying to be an academic so I can help them LEARN it, and I get very passionate about it. So once again, I entirely don’t blame people who have acquired this distorted cultural impression of the crusades and don’t want to do a book’s worth of research to write a fic about a Netflix movie. I do hope that they take the initiative to learn more about it because they’re interested and want to know more, since by nature the pairing involves a lot of complex religious, racial, and cultural dynamics that need to be handled thoughtfully, even if you don’t know everything about it. So like, basically all I want is for the Muslim character(s) to be given the same level of respect, attention to detail, background story, family context, and religious diversity as any of the white characters, and Imma do it myself if I have to. Dammit.

(I’m really excited to hear your thoughts on the second half of the fic, especially chapter 3 and chapter 6, but definitely all of it, since I think the characters they’re established as in the early part of the fic do remain true to themselves and both grow and struggle and go through a realistic journey with their faith over their very long lives, and it’s one of my favorite themes about DVLA.)

Anyway, about Nicky. I also made the specific choice to have him be an average guy, the ordinary second son of a nobleman who doesn’t really know what he’s doing with his life and isn’t the mouthpiece of Moral Virtue in the story, since as he himself realizes pretty quick, the crusades and especially the sack/massacre of Jerusalem are actually horrific. I’ve written in various posts about my nitpicking gripes with him being a priest, so he’s not, and as I said, I’m definitely avoiding any scenario where he has to Learn About The World from Joe. That is because I want to make the point that the people on the crusades were people, and they went for a lot of different reasons, not all of which were intense personal religious belief. The crusades were an institution and operated institutionally. Even on the First Crusade, where there were a lot of ordinary people who went because of sincere religious belief, there was the usual bad behavior by soldiers and secular noblemen and people who just went because it was the thing to do. James Brundage has an article about prostitution and miscegenation and other sexual activity on the First Crusade; even at the height of this first and holy expedition, it was happening. So Nicky obviously isn’t going to be the moral exemplar because a) the crusades are horrific, he himself realizes that, and b) it’s just as historically accurate that he wouldn’t be anyway. Since the idea is that medieval crusaders were all just zealots and ergo Not Like Us is dangerous, I didn’t want to do that either. If we think they all went because they were all personally fervent Catholics and thus clearly we couldn’t do the same, then we miss a lot of our own behavior and our parallel (and troubling) decisions, and yeah.

As well, I made a deliberate choice to have Nicky’s kindness (which I LOVE about him, it’s one of my favorite things, god how refreshing to have that be one of the central tenets of a male warrior character) not to be something that was just… always there and he was Meek and Good because a priest or whatever else. Especially as I’ve gotten older and we’ve all been living through these ridiculous hellyears (2020 is the worst, but it’s all been general shit for a while), I’ve thought more and more about how kindness is an active CHOICE and it’s as transgressive as anything else you can do and a whole lot more brave than just cynicism and nihilism and despair. As you’ll see in the second half of the fic, Nicky (and Joe) have been through some truly devastating things and it might be understandable if they gave into despair, but they DON’T. They choose to continue to be good people and to try and to actively BE kind, rather than it being some passive default setting. They struggle with it and it’s raw and painful and they’re not always saints, but they always come down on the side of wanting to keep doing what they’re doing, and I… have feelings about that.

Anyway, this is already SUPER long, so I’ll call it quits for now. But thank you so much for this, because I love these characters and I love the story I created for them in DVLA, since all this is personal to me in a lot of ways, and I’m so glad you picked up on that.

#history #medieval history #queer history #dvla asks #long post #the old guard meta #anonymous #ask

103 notes · View notes

wisteria-lodge · 4 years

Text

Character Analysis: Sorting The Old Guard

@sortinghatchats has a brilliant personality/character analysis system based on the four Hogwarts houses. At this point it’s become much more interesting and nuanced, which is part of why I’m moving away from using the names of the houses.

Here’s how it works. Everyone gets two houses – a Primary House and a Secondary House

YOUR PRIMARY IS YOUR MOTIVE. IT’S WHY YOU DO THINGS.

LION Primary’s sense of morality and ethics comes from inside. Things just feel right or they feel wrong.

BIRD Primary gets their morality and ethics from the world outside them. They decide what they think is right.

BADGER Primary is focused on the good of the group. Who cares if something is technically “moral” if people are getting hurt?

SNAKE Primary is a lot like Badger, but instead of protecting the group, their highest law is the well-being of the individual people they love.

YOUR SECONDARY IS YOUR METHOD. IT’S HOW YOU DO THINGS.

LION Secondary gets their power from being direct, honest, completely themselves. Their “plan” is just keep going until someone stops them. If they see a locked door, they kick it in.

BIRD Secondary collects tools and skills. They build things, find things, learn things. If they see a locked door, they go through their box of keys until they find the right one.

BADGER Secondary is fair, hardworking, and shows up. They’re good at getting people to trust them, and good at getting people to help them. If they see a locked door, they knock.

SNAKE Secondary knows the right mask to wear for each situation. They’re adaptive. They go in the back way. They find the third option. They’re the ones who know how to pick the locks.

And now let’s talk about The Old Guard. Also, SPOILERS.

***

Nile Freeman is a bright Badger primary, defined by her groups. “I’ve got people who love me,” is the first thing she tells the team. And follows that up with, “I’m a Marine.” We meet her in uniform, part of a squad. Getting back to her family is her main motivation. (And it’s a “my family” thing - not a “my mom” or “my brother” thing.) Family continuity and family history mean everything to Nile, and that’s so Badger. Religion is also used as visual shorthand for “Badger” a lot, and Nile’s got her cross necklace. And she doesn’t want to kill people. Doesn’t matter if they’re the bad people who killed her, they’re still people. Badgers can’t ignore that.

Nile’s challenge is figuring out a way to separate from her family (and become an immortal commando) while still keeping her healthy, shining Badger intact. And she does it by expanding. It’s not just about protecting America and her family anymore. She looks at the wall outlining all the good the Old Guard has done, and her community expands to include them, and all of humanity.

She’s definitely got a Lion secondary. Yes, she’s willing to run into the villain’s stronghold with a bag of guns and not much plan - but this is an action movie, that stuff is kinda a given. I’m thinking more about when she has to lie and say her miraculous healing factor is an experimental skin graft – she hates doing it, she’s so bad at it, you can see her skin crawl. Nile is powerful when she is able to just lay out what she believes. People like Agent Copley and the Afghani women just feel the honesty and conviction bleeding off her, and come around to her way of thinking.

Nile also has a Bird secondary model. Smashing down walls isn’t appropriate all the time, so a lot of Lion secondaries learn to use one of the mellower secondaries as backup. Nile’s Bird is subtle, but it’s there. She applies her anti-militant training to the situation, and thinks they should “follow the money.” She can identify a Rodin sculpture across a dark cave. And she spends a while trying to reason away the fact that she’s immortal (considering hypnosis, drug trips, all that fun stuff.)

Andromache the Scythian aka “Andy” is also a Badger primary. But a very old, very tired, very burnt one. She’s been protecting humanity for about ten thousand years, and she feels all the people she wasn’t able to save. Andy starts off the film doubting whether any of it mattered, if she was actually able to protect her community at all. Because she can’t protect everyone, she is forced to shrink that community down. She can protect Nile, Joe, Nicky, and Booker – and that has to be enough.

The situation with Quyhn is a good look at the sort of darkness that can live inside a Badger Primary. Because Andy stopped looking. She could have spent hundreds of years pouring money and time into finding Quyhn - and neglected the rest of her team, and by extension humanity. But Andy’s a Badger primary. That’s not a thing she can do.

(A Snake primary would never have stopped. Someone like Nicky would burn the world, if that’s what it took to get Joe back.)

If your preferred weapon is an ax or a hammer, then you’re a Lion secondary. That’s just how it works. You are too direct and too smashy to be anything else. Ms. “I always go first” Andy, leader of the group she thinks of as an army? Even when she’s discouraged and exhausted, her Lion secondary is still so loud. She has a bit of a Bird secondary model: she sets up rules like “we don’t do repeats, it’s too risky,” and establishes code words linked to specific maneuvers. But you can tell she’s a little uncomfortable with that kind of thinking. She wants to hit things with an ax and give inspirational speeches. And also threaten people.

Which means that Andy and Nile match perfectly. They are both Badger Lions with Bird secondary models. And that makes perfect sense. Nile was “born” at the same time Andy lost her immortality. They are both warriors. Nile is the one who will “go first,” when Andy isn’t able to anymore. She’s the one who gets Andy’s ax at the end. She’s the new Andy. Andy’s redemption comes with waking her Badger primary up, and training a replacement. Or as she puts it, “I think you showed up when I lost my immortality so I could remember what it was like (…) that there are people still worth fighting for.”

Nicolò di Genova aka “Nicky” fights for Joe. It really is that simple. His backstory tells you everything you need to know: he fought in the Crusades until he fell in love with a Muslim, and had to choose. On one hand - religion, country, job, society, security. On the other hand - the man he loves. For Nicky the answer is obvious. Because he is such a Snake primary.

As long as he’s with Joe, he’s fine. Agent Copley is trying to explain himself, Nicky doesn’t care. “I’m sure you’re bringing us to the person who paid for your betrayal. There’s a TV [on this plane] Joe!” The villains can talk all they want about the greater good and moral imperatives and changing the world. Nicky is just bored. “A fine justification. I’ve heard it so many times before.” None of that stuff matters to him.

His secondary is harder to spot, underneath the really loud primary and the really loud Lion secondary model. But I think I see a Badger secondary. Nicky’s a caretaker. He brings Andy her favorite candy, sets up Nile for the night and shows her where to sleep. Joe says that Nicky’s heart “overflows with a kindness of which this world is not worthy,” and I get that they’re in love, but that’s still some serious character testimony. I’m also going to throw in the fact that Nicky’s a sniper. Being a sniper is not like hitting things with an ax. It’s all about getting in place and being careful and patient. Badger secondary traits.

Yusuf Al-Kaysani aka “Joe” actually takes the time to lay out rules he lives by. Which is interesting, because the only other people in this film who do that are the villains. Those guys are not motivated by personal loyalty: they’re either Lion or Bird primaries motivated by “the greater good.” The Old Guard is a very Loyalist movie. When we get our big Theme Scene, the French shopgirl tells us, “Today I put this on your wound. Tomorrow you help someone up when they fall. We’re not meant to be alone.” That’s the ethos of the movie. It’s very Badger.

Joe gets how Badger Primaries work. He gets Andy, and the best example of this is when he comforts her by saying Quyhn “would be insane” by now. He’s basically saying, “you don’t have a responsibility to her the way you have to the rest of us, because she’s not really a person anymore.” It’s dark, but so is Andy, and that line of reasoning would make sense to a Badger primary.

Joe also understands Nicky’s Snake primary. He knows he’s Nicky’s world, and he never stops demonstrating that. He has Nicky’s back when they fight (Nicky passes things over his shoulder without looking). He has Nicky’s back when they sleep (as the big spoon). He learned Italian for Nicky, and when Nicky is freaked, Joe just shows up with that “his kiss still thrills me, even after a millennia” speech. But that speech is also him explaining his worldview to the guards, the same way he bothers to tell them, “You shot Nicky. You shouldn’t have done that.”

When Nile asks, “Are you good guys or bad guys?” Joe responds, “Depends on the century.” He is interested in those large moral questions, and the answer he has decided on is a combination of Andy’s Badger morality, and Nicky’s Snake morality.

And to go with that really complicated Primary, I think Joe really is just a straightforward Lion secondary (another reason he gets Andy). I mean... he literally headbutts people.

Sebastian “Booker” Le Livre, whose nickname is a very silly pun, is the most vaguely drawn character. I’m not sure if he turns Nicky and Joe over to Merrick because he wants to die, or because he wants to find a way to help Andy die. Or both. But either way, he is a very burnt Snake primary.

Booker seems to be the only one who kept up contact with his family after learning he was immortal. As a result, he got to watch his son die painfully with “hate and despair in [his] eyes,” blaming his father for not loving him enough to save him. It’s been about 150 years, but Booker is not over this.

That is a very Snake primary love, and when it comes down to it, Booker is a Snake with no people he can throw himself into loving the way he loved his son. (No wonder he drinks). He wants more emotional intimacy from Andy than she is able to give him - not in a romantic way, they have more of a sibling dynamic. But look at the betrayal in his eyes when he learns she’s lost her immortality: “Andy, look at me. Why didn’t you tell me?”

This is the exchange right after Booker betrays the team:

JOE: You selfish piece of shit. NICKY: Joe, leave it, please… BOOKER: What would you know of the weight of all these years alone? JOE: You’re a very pathetic man Booker. NICKY: Joe, stop. BOOKER: You and Nicky always had each other, right?

Nicky is sympathetic. He’s a Snake primary like Booker, he knows what living without a Person must be like, he knows exactly why Booker did what he did. Joe doesn’t. He only sees how Booker has failed to look at the big picture (like Joe would have, because he’s a Bird, that’s how he thinks) and that he made an objectively dumb call. Joe is angry at him for the rest of the movie. But the others, who know what it’s like motivated only by personal loyalty… they kind of get it.

To round things off, Booker is a Bird secondary. You can tell by the way he collects skills. He’s the operation coordinator, the quartermaster, the driver, and the tech guy. He’s also not afraid of a plan with steps. Nile calls him, “the brains of the operation” (although she’s probably being nice). Still, Booker is a good example of the way Bird secondaries aren’t always smart. His plan was pretty objectively terrible, but that was because his primary was so compromised.

tl;dr

Nile – Badger/Lion (Bird model)

Andy – Burnt Badger/Lion (Bird model)

Nicky – Snake/Badger (Lion model for fighting)

Joe – Bird who has built Nicky’s Snake morality, and Andy’s Badger morality into himself/Lion

Booker – Burnt Snake/Bird

112 notes · View notes

muertawrites · 4 years

Text

Two Halves - Chapter Nine (Zuko x Reader)

Part Eight

Word Count: 3,200

Previously: The Dai Li staged an attack on the refugee district of Ba Sing Se, during which the Firelady killed an agent to stop him from assaulting a young girl. Her life was threatened by another agent, and after the attack, she and Zuko had an argument about her need for his protection, during which he admitted how much he cares for her. (and that’s what you missed on glee)

Warning: This chapter mentions details of violence and attempted assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Author’s Note: Aaaand we’re back! I’m glad I took the week off last week; I’m feeling much better (which doesn’t mean much but) and am slowly getting back into the swing of writing regularly. Hopefully next week I’ll have a one shot to post, or at the very least, will get around to writing the second part of Lunar New Year. I’ve also got some *chef’s kiss* immaculate Sokka content going up on Monday (which may or may not already be available on my Patreon 👀).

~ Muerta

Over the next few days, dozens of meetings are held. Despite relentless hours spent digging, Kuei’s intelligence agents can find no clear motive for the attack, other than to disrupt the peace that’s settled over Ba Sing Se since the end of the war.

“It's perplexing,” Kuei tells you during one of these meetings. “The Dai Li have never been outwardly violent; their crimes are always kept very hushed as a way of keeping the city under their control. This type of attack is out of character for them.”

“You're sure there wasn't a shift in leadership?” you attempt. “A change in tactics? A coup, even?”

Kuei shakes his head, staring grave faced down at the scrolls before him.

“No,” he affirms. “Even our informants within the Dai Li are confused by the choice to act so publicly.”

Aang diverts his trip to the Northern Air Temple back to the city, and Suki comes from Kyoshi Island with a group of warriors to lend a hand, Sokka in tow; when they arrive at the palace, he forgoes any type of formal greeting to the Earth King in favor of capturing you in his arms, hugging you as though he intends to cave in your ribs.

“Oh, thank the Spirits you're okay,” he gasps. “We’re moving to the Fire Nation and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

“Sokka, please,” Suki chides, placing a hand on your shoulder. “She nearly beheaded a guy - she doesn't need you chaperoning her.”

While Sokka fusses over your safety, refusing to be apart from you for more than an hour at a time (unless Zuko, Suki, or Aang are present), Suki and Aang jump right into giving you a bit of proper combat training - Suki gives you one of the signature fans of the Kyoshi Warriors, teaching you the basics of using it for defense, and Aang instructs you in chi blocking, showing you how a few swift jabs in precise places can incapacitate an enemy without injury.

“I actually learned it from an old friend of Zuko’s,” Aang confesses as you train in the empty ballroom. “She outwitted us more than once when we were kids.”

“Ty Lee is terrifying,” Zuko admits from where he sits propped against a pillar, sharpening one of his swords as he watches your lesson. “I'm glad my sister never had more influence on her.”

After your fight the night of the attack, Zuko takes a step back in his protectiveness of you. He no longer insists you be sheltered, instead allowing you to define your own limits of how chivalrous you need him to be; he seems more concerned over your mental health, inquiring multiple times a day about your feelings in the wake of nearly losing your life and taking another. You keep yourself together in public, refusing to show anything that could be used against you as weakness, but when alone with your friends - Zuko especially - you let your vulnerability slip, unable even in wearing a brave face to go about your days with the same shine you usually do. You wake Zuko more than once in the middle of the night due to a nightmare, which begins a ritual of you discussing things that make you happy before bed. He's just as bothered by the unrest as you are, a fact he doesn't hide from you.

To the dismay of everyone in the palace, it isn't just your friends that arrive to help with damage control - the international affairs committee hears of your actions during the attack and drops everything, sending diplomats to participate in Kuei’s meetings. Luckily, it's Advisor Sung who shows up instead of Advisor Qiang, and you're thankful to have the more even-tempered man to oppose.

“They're supposed to be on my side,” you remark to Kuei as you walk to one of the palace courtrooms together, on your way to a hearing about the raid - specifically, about the man you killed during it. “I feel like I shouldn't have to fight my own council while also trying to defend myself from everyone else.”

“If it's any consolation, most people in the Earth Kingdom support you,” he responds, affectionately patting your arm. “Zuko has done a great deal to help us rebuild since the war, and they admire your bravery to act alongside him. Plus, I'm the king - I make the rules here, whether your advisors like it or not.”

You grin lopsidedly at him, hooking your arm with his.

“Run away with me, Kuei,” you teasingly propose. “Let’s build a house in the desert; you and Zuko can be my harem.”

Kuei laughs and rests his hand over yours, bringing your knuckles to his lips in a friendly kiss.

“We need your good trouble here, my dear,” he tells you. “I also am not keen on the idea of being a concubine - your husband looked quite ready to execute me when we danced together, and I prefer to be on his good side.”

Inside the courtroom, a group of Kuei’s legal and affairs advisors gather beside Advisor Sung and his aides, all of them speaking in hushed tones. Toph and Zuko sit together to one side of the room with a few members of Kuei’s guard, having been gathered as witnesses. A young girl sits alone a few feet away from them, flanked by an older couple who each have an arm around her; you recognize her as the girl you saved the day of the raid.

“Your Majesty,” the presiding judge announces upon your arrival, bowing low as his fellows follow suit. “Shall we begin the hearing with your statement?”

“Yes, I believe we shall,” Kuei replies. He takes his place at the head of the room while you lower yourself beside Zuko; your husband silently tucks his hand into yours, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Please describe the events of the Dai Li raid,” the judge states; beside him, a scribe scribbles shorthand on a blank scroll. “Specifically, your part in it and what you witnessed the Firelady do during it.”

“Dai Li agents were looting businesses and attacking civilians,” Kuei describes. “Firelord Zuko and Toph Beifong set to subduing the delegates of the raid while the Firelady and I rode through the district to incapacitate as many agents as we possibly could.”

“Did you discuss beforehand whether or not you intended to inflict serious harm on the attackers?” the judge asks, politely raising a hand to pause the king.

“No,” Kuei answers. “The situation was urgent and there was no time.”

“Were you armed?”

“I was not - the Firelady used a katana in its sheath as a means of rendering any attackers we encountered immobile.”

“Did you ever see the Firelady unsheathe the katana or use its blade?”

“Only once.”

“Please describe the incident.”

Kuei clears his throat, purposely keeping his gaze fixed on the wall behind the judge and legal council.

“I believe she saw them before I did,” he begins, sounding distant and disjointed. “A Dai Li agent had a teenage girl pinned to a nearby building, with what seemed to be the intent to assault her; the Firelady unsheathed the katana and slit the agent’s throat to prevent him from doing so.”

“What gave you the impression that the agent intended to assault the girl?” the judge calmly questions.

“He had her dress pulled up over her waist,” Kuei responds; he knots his hands into the fabric of his robes, so subtly you're not sure anyone else notices, “and his trousers had been dropped around his thighs.”

“Do you believe there is anything else the Firelady could have done to incapacitate the attacker?”

“No; anything else would have risked injuring the girl due to the… intimate nature of their position.”

“What did the Firelady do after slitting the Dai Li’s throat?”

“She took the girl to a safer area of the street. A group of residents had gathered in an unbothered storefront - she rode with the girl and deposited her there.”

“Thank you,” the judge concludes, bowing respectfully. “That is all the information we need.”

Kuei nods as one of the legal advisors hands him a stack of papers, quickly shuffling through them before speaking up.

“We’ll interview the guard next, if you agree,” he says.

For the next two hours, members of the guard - as well as Zuko and Toph - are interrogated, each giving their own account of the events of the raid. Toph, surprisingly, keeps her cool during the grilling, but one of the advisors pushes the wrong buttons when asking Zuko about his choice to not only allow you to come with him, but to take part in protecting the citizens of Ba Sing Se.

“You believed it was a good idea,” the advisor presses, “to let your wife - a woman with absolutely no combat training - defend civilians not under the care of her own government against an invasive attack?”

“Of course not,” Zuko replies. “But she’s my wife. My responsibility as a husband is to keep her away from harm while also keeping her by my side. It was either fight the leaders of the Dai Li beside her or send her with the Earth King. I chose what was safest for her. I'd even say she performed well, given her lack of experience.”

“You truly believe that?” the advisor needles.

“How many men attempted to kill the people of Ba Sing Se the day of the attack?” Zuko counters with his own question.

“Forty-seven,” the advisor quips. “Not including the leader and his right hand.”

“And how many civilians died?” Zuko prods.

The advisor falls silent, his expression dropping in vexed defeat as he swallows heavily.

“... None,” he mutters.

Zuko keeps his blank, piercing expression fixed on the advisor, saying nothing; after a tense moment, the man announces that he has no more questions.

Eventually, the girl you saved is called to make her statement. She paces to her seat before the king with nervous, trembling steps, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

Advisor Sung approaches her, the Earth Kingdom legal team having decided they have enough evidence to deliberate if a sentence needs to be handed to you; the Fire Nation, however, needing more information to defend their Firelady against any wrongdoing - a stance you feel they won't be quick to take.

“Bulan Ngo,” Advisor Sung addresses her, his tone even and measured. “Can you please describe what happened to you the day of the Dai Li’s demonstration?”

The girl swallows, parting her lips and closing them as if unsure to speak; when she does find her words, her voice is timid.

“A… a group of agents... came into our apothecary,” she attempts, looking into her lap. “They took us out into the street… me and my mother. One of them… one of them s-said… I was pretty… and another… suggested he ‘try’ me…”

“What happened then?”

Bulan’s chin quivers. A single tear rolls down her cheek.

“He took me to the alley,” she whispers. “And he undressed me.”

“Did he touch you anywhere that made you feel uncomfortable?”

She nods, shutting her eyes tightly.

“He put his hand between my legs.”

“Did he penetrate you?”

“N… no… his pants were… he took his pants down, though.”

“Do you remember what happened next?”

“He pushed me onto the wall.”

At this point, nobody in the courtroom breathes, and you have to strain to hear what she says. Not far from you, her father draws in a sharp breath as he brings a hand to his mouth, trying in vain to cover up a sob.

“Did he say anything else to you?” Advisor Sung asks.

“He… he said… he wanted… he was going to… ‘fuck me good’... he told me,” Bulan manages. Tears pour from her eyes. “And… and then I… his neck was cut. I was covered in blood...”

“Did that scare you? When the Firelady attacked him?”

“I…”

Bulan heaves in, shaking her head.

“I don't know… I was scared already... I… I don't know…”

“Did you know the Dai Li agent was dead?”

“Y-yes… I saw his body… as the Firelady took me away…”

“What did he look like?”

“Stop.”

You spring from your place beside Zuko, fists clenched.

You hadn't meant to, but you screamed the word at Advisor Sung. Bulan flinches at the sound, her shoulders seeming to fold in on themselves as she begins to sob, holding a hand over her face to obscure the shrill gasps of her weeping.

“My lady?” Sung questions, startled.

“Stop,” you repeat. “She's upset. You already made her tell you every last detail of the wretched things that monster did to her - she doesn't need to tell you anything else. Let her go. Question somebody else.”

Advisor Sung stares at you for a moment, the muscle beneath his left eye twitching; he looks as if he’s on the verge of glaring at you, but he draws back, his features softening as he nods.

“Of course,” he secedes. “Your Majesty?”

“You have enough,” Kuei snaps. He's moved from his throne, come to Bulan’s side and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders; he coaxes her onto her feet, returning her to the safety of her parents. “That’s all I’ll allow you to take from my people.”

“I’ll finish the statement,” Bulan’s mother chimes in. She cuts into Advisor Sung with a searing, steady gaze, positioning herself in front of her family. “That woman saved my daughter.”

She points to you, setting her jaw as water lines the edges of her eyes.

“My daughter is only thirteen. Her pain isn't for the man who violated her. None of us mourn for him. We mourn the innocence he took from her. We are thankful he didn't take more. If he had done so, I would have rather he killed her - it would have been more merciful than forcing her to live with the memory. The Firelady saved my only child from a horrible fate. As her subjects, you should revere her for that.”

Bulan’s mother is crying by the end of her speech, silent tears that drench her skin and make her words fiercer. She turns to you and bows, lowering herself completely to the ground. When she stands once more, Kuei gives her permission to leave the courtroom, sending the members of the guard that were interviewed to escort the family home.

“This hearing is dismissed,” he announces, glowering at Advisor Sung. “The Earth Kingdom will press no charges.”

Zuko slams the sitting room door into its slot against the opposite wall, the sound ricocheting down the corridor you just came through. He rips his headpiece out of place, tossing it into the nearby cushions as he roughly runs one of his palms through his hair.

“What the hell was that?” he barks. “What were they trying to do? It’s the kind of behavior my father encouraged! I thought I got rid of it!”

He flings himself back onto a nearby chaise, his hand covering his face as he pinches the bridge of his nose. You collect his headpiece from the floor, setting it on the serving table in the center of the room before lowering yourself beside him; your hands find their way to his chest of their own volition, rubbing gentle, calming circles over his pectorals and down his abdomen.

“It's only been ten years since the war ended,” you remind him. “People like Sung grew up with your father’s influence ingrained in them - it’ll take another hundred years for it to go away.”

Zuko sighs, turning his head to look up at you.

“I should sack him,” he suggests.

“No,” you retort. “That won't solve the problem, either. Sung’s a good man, he just has some questionable people guiding him. Once he's out on his own, we’ll be able to bring him around.”

Zuko sits up, fixing you with a concerned, pensive stare; your hand still rests on his chest, settled into the space just below where his shoulder meets his neck.

“That's not what's bothering you,” you observe.

“The Dai Li who attacked you,” Zuko explains. “He called me ‘Zuzu’. That was my sister’s nickname for me when we were kids.”

You knit your brows.

“But… how would he…?”

“She worked with the Dai Li during the war. They helped her conquer the city.”

Zuko takes your hand in his, locking his fingers with yours.

“You think she's behind this,” you conclude.

“It's possible,” he admits. “Azula is manipulative. Uncle was right when he said my father would have just killed us, but Azula… She knows how to destroy things from the inside. She's good at it.”

You raise your free hand to his cheek, running your thumb over the damaged skin on the peak of his cheekbone; his eye, glassy and clouded the color of a full moon, stares vacantly back at you.

“... I might have to execute my sister,” he mutters.

You shake your head, the hand clasped within his moving to cup the other side of his face.

“You will not do that,” you assure him. “You aren't Ozai, Zuko; you don't have to love your family, because Spirits know they don't deserve it, but you're strong enough to overcome them without resorting to the cruelty your father did. He only got his power because of your grandfather - he was weak. You've earned your own place as Firelord.”

Zuko swallows hard; you watch the bone in his neck quiver as he does. It's then that you realize just how close you are to him, your faces only inches apart, your noses almost touching. One of his hands rests at your waist. He licks his lips, and you can't stop your mind from wondering how they would taste pressed against yours.

He pulls away, his fingers tucking the braid that rests to the left of your face behind your ear.

“You're right,” he whispers. Tears brim over his lower lashes, threatening to spill. “I'm not my father.”

“Knock, knock!”

The moment is broken by Kuei’s entrance, his knuckles rapping against the frame of the sitting room door as he steps through the threshold. He backs up a little when he notices the intimate position you're in, his cheeks pinkening with embarrassment.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” he sputters. “I just wanted to let you know that lunch is ready - Mushi came from the Dragon to cook for us.”

You turn to smile at the Earth King, standing to block Zuko from his view so that he can collect himself, wiping the water from his eyes.

“Thanks, Kuei,” you say. “We’ll be there soon - keep some dumplings warm for us!”

Kuei bashfully grins, nodding as he retreats into the hallway. Zuko paces up behind you, placing a hand to the small of your back.

“I'm fine,” he murmurs. His lips brush your temple in a chaste, tender kiss, which you feel all the way down your stomach and into your core. “Let's go.”

For the rest of your stay in the Earth Kingdom, Zuko keeps close to you; there isn't a moment when you're together that he doesn't have an arm at your waist or your hand cradled in his. Your friends all notice, shooting you teasing, knowing glances whenever they catch your eye.

📚 table of contents 📚

✨ join me on patreon ✨

{ subscribers: @ladylizzieofdarbyshire @celamoon @omgwhattheeven @i-am-not-a-thot @fandomtrash1616 @dream-alittlebiggerdarling @just-another-romantic @berkeliums @eridanuswave @oleander-in-the-wind @kinismanditory @lammello @peppermenty @theawesomefactor123 @loganrwebb @ijustwannabecanadian @a-hopeless-fan @softvv @oddment-niwit-blubber-tweak @pearl-stonecutter @crazy0t @commander-rex @kittyddandnyla @abbyarchie @smol-grandpa @nonbinary-rogers @themanwiththemetalarmsdoll @witchywrter @canibea-whore-yet @fuckwhateverfuck @eridanuswave @duh-dobrik @sum-stuff13 @whalerus @yeetletzgetitjae }

87 notes · View notes

worldismyne · 4 years

Text

Analysis: Warrior's of Hope (Peds Psych 101)

SPOILER WARNING FOR DANGANRONPA ULTRA DESPAIR GIRLS

This post will look at the Warriors of Hope as a group. Now since we are talking about the Warriors of Hope, we will be discussing child abuse. So if at any time you feel things are getting to you or need to decompress after the essay, feel free to click this link.

What is a Paragon?

To start, we will be focusing on the paragon trope, defined by Overly Sarcastic Productions as a hero that is both righteous and charismatic; your "do no wrong" hero, if you will. They do what is right all the time because of their personal beliefs. Protected by a heavy coat of plot armor, they gather a small group of companions who learn through their example to be better heroes; and together they overcome evil and spread peace throughout the land. That’s the basic formula of a paragon hero, if you want or need a more in-depth explanation, I would strongly suggest watching OSP’s video.

In the first game, we follow Naegi, your textbook paragon hero up against Junko Enoshima, the queen of charisma. I feel it important to mention that Junko, while almost a paragon in the way she gathers her followers, is missing the key ingredient of knowing she’s doing is right, because she admits to the opposite. She’s doing the wrong thing on purpose to see what will happen and how far she can take it.

While in the second game you look at Hinata (our paragon hero) up against Komaeda; someone who believes wholeheartedly they are right, but lacks the charisma to rally allies in-universe. You can love Komaeda all you want, but no one during the game's central plotline seems to particularly like him or want to follow him. Which makes Junko and Komaeda foils of each other in a way, each consisting one half of the paragon trope.

So what does this have to do with Another Episode? Simple, the dynamic is flipped. The Warriors of Hope are each paragon’s in their own right, varying on the scale of righteous and charismatic. But what makes them villains is that what they believe to be right, is in fact horrendously wrong. Their righteousness and charisma become their greatest flaw when pointed at the wrong enemy. It showcases how this type of character can be equally dangerous on the “wrong side”. We see this especially in Nagisa, who has openly convinced himself the ends justify the means. A place where children can be safe is the top priority, nothing can stand in the way of this ideal, not even the lives of other humans.

Additionally the real heroes of this tale are two halves of the paragon hero, like Junko and Komaeda. We have Fukawa; hideously unliked by everyone around her but righteous to a fault, and Komaru; an ordinary girl who appeals to everyone, yet has no strong beliefs outside of her need to feel safe. We are reminded throughout the game over and over again that the reason Komaru was picked as the heroine was not because she wanted to help others, but because as an ordinary girl. And this isn't portrayed as a bad thing. When teamed together, Fukawa and Komaru formed a paragon duo strong enough to overcome the obstacles before them. The game flat out states they are meant to work together, in order to make up for each others shortcomings.

So it is here we see the typical dichotomy of Danganronpa flipped in Another Episode. In which two character types that were typically used for villains are up against a group of paragons set on a path of destruction. Bringing to question, if someone like Naegi were to be sent on the wrong path, could they be redeemed and change direction?

And the answer the game gave us… was no.

At both the end of the game, and the end of the anime we are left at a standstill where neither side will move. No outside force can change how a paragon thinks other than the paragon themself. Sure outside circumstances may kick-start introspection, but they can not change the way this type of character progresses by force. Not to say that change is impossible; but that journey would take more time then both the anime and game could allow, especially if we were to cover all five characters. But further discussion on the matter should be left on a character, by character basis.

Age and Developmental Stages (Time to Get Scientific)

As a BSN with a particular interest in pediatrics and psychology, a great deal of my analysis’ will refer back to my classes. Writing characters under the age of eighteen can be really difficult for writers, especially if they are not in constant contact with at least one individual from the age group they are trying to portray. Often times in media, we find child characters to be annoying, grating, and unrealistic; because on an instinctual level, we understand that's not how children that age typically act. You won't see an eight year old acting like a teenager, or six year olds throwing tantrums.

This is especially important, because children are not bound to the same rules as adults when it comes to understanding the world around them

According to Kotoko's mother, Kotoko was still 10 years old while she was alive. And while we can't determine when exactly her murder took place, we can say it happened shortly after the despair incident but before Junko was locked in the school. Since the children still refer to themselves as Super Elementary School Levels, they can be no older than 13 based on the Japanese school system making them range anywhere from 10-13. So what does this tell us about how they should think?

Erikson’s theory of child development indicates they are just now gaining their own sense of identity outside of the roles they had been assigned. There is pressure to look to the future and what they want to be when they grow up. If they don't see a place for themselves in society or dislike the role they've been forced into, they will be more likely to rebel and cave to peer pressure. We see this especially with Nagisa who struggles between his role as the new leader verses his previous role as the dutiful son. If they are on the younger side, their sense of self worth relies heavily on the praise of their peers and mentors, seeking approval of their accomplishments. They define themselves through peers and test values/belief systems against society.

Above all else is an inherent inability to understand abstract concepts, or ideas that extend beyond where they are and what they know. Simply put, they cannot understand why adults are bad or that someone may have an ulterior motive. They know that their parents were bad, so all adults must be bad. This idea is reaffirmed when their peers share the same conclusion.

Everything is black and white, good or bad, right or wrong. They are just beginning to understand that an idea, such as freedom, means something different to everyone. Until they fully comprehend this, they are unable to fully empathize with individuals that don't share their viewpoint. When it comes to things that are not physical like love, empathy, morality, justice; they simply can’t understand it the way adults do.

In their mind, their view is right because they are good, anyone who disagrees must be wrong and therefore bad. This is not a moral thing, it’s how they cognitively process the world.

This is in no way saying their actions were justified. Simply, that they were just beginning to understand that there are things outside of what we see/say/do. The idea that someone can be both good and bad, nice yet dishonest; was not something they knew before Monaka betrayed them.

Coping Mechanisms in Children

When it comes to abusive situations, a huge emphasis is placed on power and control. Children in these situations will do anything to seek the control they do not have. This can include laying low, people pleasing, hurting themselves or others, aiming for over-achievement or perfectionism. It's not entirely uncommon to see children using multiple coping mechanisms at once, jumping from one to another until they regain a sense of safety and stability.

In times of stress, children will exercise their ability to control their perception of what happened. This can include denying the effects of trauma (Masaru), detaching their emotions from what happened (Kotoko) and failure to see that something can be positive and negative at the same time.

Children may also try to change or justify their situation. They can try to rationalize, or explain why something bad happened to them, even if the explanation is not grounded in reality (Jataro). Or they may try to please/appease those who hurt them by seeking approval (Nagisa).

I cannot emphasize enough the importance power and control has over children in these situations. Power is safety, exercising that power is a reminder of that safety.

Building the Children's Paradise has less to do with recreating Lord of the Flies, and more to do with creating a place where they have control over everything in their environment (rules, peers, and who is allowed close to them). Anything that threatens their position of power is an immediate and personal threat to their own sense of safety. For example, the peers they consider friends are brainwashed into doing exactly what they say. The only adult allowed near them acts as a slave to be manipulated and mistreated.

The Influence of Role Models and the Importance of Subjective Information

We know very little about their parents from a omnipotent view. With the exception of one letter from each parent, all information comes from their victims. However, there is still much we can determine about them, in how the children themselves behave.

According to the "Identification" theory; a child's behavior patterns, beliefs, and values are greatly influenced by their parents. And not because it was something that was taught, but it was something they saw routinely growing up and adopted themselves. While this does not eliminate their ability to make their own choices, a great deal is to be said about learning through example. Self destructive behaviors like substance abuse, low self-esteem, and violent behaviors are often traits learned by watching their parents. We know in great detail about what the parents did to their children, but very little about what their parents did to themselves or peers.

Likewise, the kids have an opposite view of Junko which is equally as biased and inaccurate. According to the Warriors of Hope Junko is sweet, caring, and blameless. As someone who met one of their most neglected needs, she represented a sense of security and love they never had. But we all know Junko's true nature and how manipulative she can truly be. The children actively deny any accusation against her because she became, essentially, their surrogate parent. It's not clear how involved she was with them, but we are given a sense that at face value, she took care of them the way a big sister ought to. Once again, an example of this black and white thinking still held by the children, it also gives us insight on the validity of their information.

Questions like "Why does Junko want to destroy the world?", "Why is my dad an alcoholic" or "Where’s the rest of my family?" may not have occurred to the kids as important, and certainly were not included in the original narrative. With no intent to excuse the abusive behaviors, it's important to keep in mind we are given a very narrow and subjective view of their home lives that purposefully excludes any positive redeeming aspects. This is all by Junko's design; as a way to keep them in a traumatized, despair-induced state that would facilitate the killing of adults.

We know this, because several rules of the Children's Paradise Commandments expressly forbid remembering the past and emulating the behaviors exhibited by their parents (including Nagisa trying act as a competent leader). Any positive influences their parents (or any other adults) had are actively being repressed to perpetuate the massacre of Towa City.

Cultural Considerations

If you're reading this, there is a high probability that you live someplace other than Japan. Your views on everything are influenced by the culture you grew up in, and just because we can relate to other cultures, doesn't mean that we completely understand them and the issues their country faces on a daily basis. The best we can do is look at the window they provide us.

In Japan mental illness is a taboo topic to discuss publicly. It's seen as something to be ashamed of or suffer in dignified silence to protect the family's reputation. Equally taboo is the discussion of child abuse, with the Japanese government only starting to track of cases in 1990. 50% of all sexual abuse cases go unreported because of Japan's cultural stance on upholding strong moral values closes off the discussion, in a “it could never happen here” sort of way.

Foster homes in Tokyo are packed to capacity with kids that were taken from their abusive environments with nowhere to go. Not because people don't care, but because culturally, the discussion of abuse and having an adopted child are not embraced the same way as in other cultures.

In fact, both Kotoko and Nagisa point out that the surrounding adults wouldn't help them. It's not entirely unthinkable, given Japan's history, that they had tried to reach out for help; only to be let down by a system that was still adapting to discussing the topic. The revolution of reporting and advocating for children's rights is still a new and growing practice in Japan.

When Danganronpa Another Episode released in Japan, the number of child abuse cases were the highest ever, surpassing 70,000 reported cases for the first time and has been rising since they first started reporting cases. This isn't to say people were abusing their children more over the last few decades, but that people's stance on reporting abuse has drastically changed and continues to improve. Games like Another Episode not only champion the cause of child advocacys among newer generations, but spreads it to a wider audience, including people who will form and change the governmental and social aspects of Japan's culture in the future. Games like Another Episode provide an important platform to discuss societal issues that have for years been ignored because talking about them was 'uncomfortable.' To unironically quote G.I. Joe. "Knowing is half the battle."

Abuse in DR

The topic of child abuse is not a new one to the DR universe. In fact several characters share similar childhoods and have spoken quite openly about them.

(Masaru: Oowada, Kazuichi)

(Jataro/Monaka: Fukawa, Mikan)

(Kotoko: Sayaka, Hiyoko, Akane)

(Nagisa: Togami, Ishimaru)

What separates the Warriors of Hope from the other characters, is their age and proximity to these negative events growing up. We closer see the impact of what these things to do to their personality and worldview because they're still children. It's all the more heartbreaking because we understand, while dramatized, it is something very real and in some cases, relatable. Seeing their stories play out, makes us uncomfortable, because we know that there are children out there that experience similar pain and there is very little we can do about it at the very moment we are reminded these things exist.

However, it is important to acknowledge the things about society that upset us, as it is a crucial step in orchestrating change.

I'd like to end by highlighting charities and organizations working to fight child abuse in my own country. If you do not live in the United States I would highly recommend finding reputable charities in your area that are working to help, if you are interested in volunteering or donating to the cause.

Thank you so much for reading this crash course through child psychology and I look forward to seeing you in the next analysis.

http://www.ylc.org/

https://promisehouse.org/

https://lnfy.org/

#danganronpa #ultra despair girls #danganronpa another episode #danganronpa ultra despair girls #drae #long post #character analysis

10 notes · View notes

creeroleplays · 4 years

Photo

- creeroleplays does a guide -

Black Hair: How to describe texture and style in roleplay

Introduction: I want to start by saying that black hair is one of the most- if not the most- diverse hair groups in the world. What is in this guide may not apply to everyone, but it may give you some insight on the culture surrounding our hair and how it applies to your character. I didn’t fully edit this, so you might see typos, inaccuracies, etc. I’ll update it the more I pick up on things. Enjoy!

history.

Black hairstyles have been passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. From Ancient Africa to Black America, styles such as locs, bantu knots, braids, afros and twists have adorned our heads as symbols of identity, culture, politics and status. They have inspired fashion, music, movements and art, and defined cultures as we know them today.

During colonialism, black people were often forced to conform to European ideals of beauty- turning them to harmful chemicals and equipment to achieve what some would call “good hair”. During the civil rights movement (and even some time before with the Rastafarian movement), people were encouraged to turn away from damaging practices to embrace their natural textures, reestablishing their identities by shunning conformity and returning to their roots. In the years following, black hairstyles became symbols of pride and rebellion- as it was considered daring for black femmes in particular to wear big afros and long braids.

Today, black hair care is a billion dollar industry- from oils to equipment, we invest quite a bit of money and time into our crowns. The reasons why may vary- some see their hair as a symbol of pride and identity, others simply dig the aesthetic. Whatever the reasons, black hair is always evolving while simultaneously serving as a reminder of where we come from.

types of styles.

There are hundreds of styles that I could detail, but I’m going to stick to a few of the most popular ones. Many black hairstyles are often protective styles -styles used to protect our hair from natural detriments such as the sun, wind, rain, our own hands, etc-. Some even wear these styles beneath wigs for further protection and style options. Below, I will list a few that I know of personally with accompanying pictures.

cornrows

Cornrows were named because -well- they look like rows of corn. They are a protective style worn by braiding the hair in an underhand, upward motion. In Ancient Africa, they were considered a symbol of agriculture and order, while today they are used for a myriad of purposes whether protective or fashionable. The process of braiding can take anywhere from minutes to hours. When I was a little girl, it took approximately four hours to braid my full head of hair- for those with longer and more intricate styles, it can take even longer. These braids can be done in different angles and shapes. I personally liked to have my braids angled into stars.

locs

Dreadlocks, locs, goddess locs, faux locs, twists- there are so many different variations of this style it is mind boggling. The most basic one involves sectioning off the hair, twisting it and leaving it uncombed until it mats and turns itself into a loc.

Beginning dreadlocks can be an arduous, costly and time consuming task, but most who get them claim that it’s the best decision they ever made. Some incorporate weave into their locs for longer styles while others go for a shorter approach (thank you Michael B. Jordan in Black Panther). My big mama (grandmother) had locs all my life and they grew until they reached her waist- they required a lot more care and attention than my own hair did, with weekly retwisting, washing, oiling, etc.

microbraids/box braids

The reason I put microbraids and box braids into the same category is that they’re basically the same thing. Small sections of your hair are braided until they cover the entire head. Microbraids are very, very skinny and mimic strands of hair, while box braids are thicker and more defined- earning it’s name from the box-like way the hair is parted into sections. If someone plans to get box braids, they can plan to spend anywhere from 3-10 hours getting their hair braided. When I got mine a few years ago, I showed up to the shop (hair salon) at 7am and didn’t leave until 6pm. I also chose to incorporate weave into my hair for a bulkier braid and more of a protective style.

afros

Afros are, for the most part, exactly how our hair grows out of our heads. Some of us (me) don’t have the ability to grow afros that go upward or have volume like traditional afros do. This particular style involves maintaining healthy hair, and often picking it out with a pick comb. Those with afros usually have kinky, high volume hair textures that enable them to unravel their natural curl pattern to form their fros. I am not one of those people. While I have thick hair, my curl pattern is not as kinky as others, thus is tends to lay flat.

how to describe black hair

Black hair is incredibly diverse. It can be kinky or coily, loose or big, long or short. There is no set standard or expectation for our hair, it simply is, and every kind is beautiful.

When describing texture it always helps to keep in mind that there have been very harmful stereotypes to avoid. Words like ‘nappy’’ are generally best kept far away in describing your black character’s hair. Instead, aim for descriptors that give light to the features. Fluffy, crimped, coily, poufy, spirally, etc. It can also helps to simply describe the style they are wearing, as cornrows and afros create their own visual presence in your head.

ex.

“My hair, which someone had tied back into a puff in an effort to control it, broke the tie and clouded loose behind me.“ (The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemison

“I got the crown of his head at first, and marvelled as always at the feel of hair like my own — soft-curled, dense but yielding, thick enough to lose my fingers in. The first time I’d touched him I’d thought he was one of my people, because only Maroneh had such hair. (The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemison

That’s not to say that black people don’t have days when their hair is less than immaculate. For instance, my hair is currently piled on top of my head with curls popping out of my bun every which way. A good rule of thumb I have found when it comes to describing black hair is to avoid harmful stereotypes and to focus on shape, style and color.

ex.

“Dark spirals coiled around my face, the frayed ends frizzing from my night of tossing and turning. It would take some kind of miracle to free the knots that surely hid in the thick mass of curls and scalp.”

Black men and women often cut their hair short- sometimes in styles known as fades, where parts of the hairline fade to the skin to create a gradient effect. The hairline is always incredibly important, as a straight and well-angled hairline is often seen a sign of self care. Describing the hairline as sharp is always a good place to start off, though you could also go on to say that it is clean, precise, or smooth.

ex.

“He was good looking- dark skin, full lips and a clean, fresh cut.”

tips.

Avoid harmful stereotypes. Black people do wash their hair- whether it’s in locks or not-. Our hair is not nappy and “othering” our textures or styles is never okay.

It’s okay for your character to wear wigs, weave, etc. Despite what some people might say, there’s nothing wrong with weave. Taking care of our hair every single day can be exhausting and sometimes you just wanna throw that shit in a wig and call it a day.

When in doubt, do some research. It’s easier to do research than it is to offend someone. If you don’t have a way of describing a particular style or texture, just refer to the resources you have on hand. Or ask a black person that you’re friends with. More than likely, we’re not going to be upset at you wanting to accurately and respectfully portray us.

While there are many differences between our textures and different textures from various ethnic groups, we also have a lot of similarities. Don’t think you have to go above and beyond to get an accurate description of our hair, sometimes less is more.

Shrinkage is a thing. Because of how tightly curled our hair is, sometimes our hair can see shorter than it actually is when you stretch the curl out.

Have fun. Seriously, black hair is so incredibly expansive and beautiful, portraying it in anyway can be very exciting. Enjoy the experience.

This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind and I may make this into a series, but if you have any questions, feel free to message me! I’m always happy to clarify whatever I can!

#rpc #rph #guides #resource guides #resources #black hair

146 notes · View notes

writtenbyhappynerds · 4 years

Text

Fanfiction 102- Writing Superpowers

Another week, another lecture. Like supervillains, writing superpowers came up during Fanfiction 101. We see a lot of characters with superpowers, and we have written many many characters with superpowers. Superpowers or gifts or quirks, whatever you call them, can be poorly executed much like characterization; they become vague, mary sue-esque, and they don’t let me as the reader know what’s going on with said character. Defining superpowers is a lot like defining the Rules of the Universe (as discussed in Unit 1 of Fanfiction 101) where defining and setting parameters for superpowers will protect the canon of your characters as well as their validity.

The most important thing you need to do when writing superpowers is to figure out what those superpowers are and what they can and can’t do. I’m very over vague Elsa ice powers that started with being able to freeze things and ended with visions of the past. Magic is the most difficult superpower to write because it is the most freeform, but you have to define limitations, costs and put a cap on those capabilities that don’t involve the OC collapsing from overuse because that’s such a cliche. A great example is The Fairly Odd Parents. Cosmo and Wanda can’t make money, can’t make true love, and can’t kill or bring someone back from the dead. Their time and agency to cast magic on behalf of someone are limited, and they can’t cast whatever magic they want; it has to be limited to what the child they serve wants. Writing setbacks to magic is a lot like writing character flaws. You need to take the time to give limitations. By giving magic limitations you have an easier time creating plot and adversaries for your characters because it’ll be easier to create a character that would really challenge your OC.

A common exception to writing flaws in superpowers is DC or Marvel Comics. I have seen many many times the scene where, “an OC’s file gets passed around and we the audience get to read a laundry list of superpowers including but not limited to fire, ice, air, metal, lightning, etc.” I understand that superheroes in DC Comics have an abundance of superpowers. Look at Wonder Woman or Superman. Do not fall down that rabbit hole. You will struggle to write conflict for your character if you give them that many abilities. Hell, Superman’s own writers struggle to write conflict for him. It’s why he’s the most iconic but ultimately most boring character. On top of that, the “passing around a file” scene is another very overused cliche. I understand that it’s an easy way for the audience to see what the OC can do, but I think we as writers can challenge ourselves to be better than that. In addition, don’t take away the choice to share from the OC. If we’ve learned anything from X-Men, it’s that superpowers aren’t always taken well and some would rather die than be seen as a mutant or a freak. We know that these unnatural abilities are strange and confusing and that the people who have them need time to grow. They don’t need their supervisors outing them to God and everyone. Let your characters share their powers on their own terms. Let them have a special moment with the cast where they get to feel wonderful and special and magical. You’ll reveal more about the OC’s personality and develop a deeper relationship with the cast. Here’s an example.

Let’s say we’re writing Avengers fanfic. Let’s say we give our OC control over light. Here are two scenes that are revealing the same information to Captain America. One is done on the terms of the OC, who we’ll call Astrid, the other is done by Nick Fury.

*****

Astrid led him back to her room. It was like his own, the same size, and the same basic tidings- bed, dresser, desk, chair. While his had been dark gray, as had the rest of the team’s, Astrid’s was bright white. Steve noticed heavy black curtains tucked back from her window. The black stood out against the white of the rest of her room. She had a smile on her face. Her eyes were alight with excitement, and she pointed up at the ceiling.

Covering the ceiling of Astrid’s bedroom were over a hundred hanging crystals. They had different shapes, sizes, and lengths and all swung from the ceiling on thin clear strings. Astrid turned off the lights. She pulled the black curtains out and covered her window which plunged them both into darkness.

“I had to beg Nick for these. I told him it would be good practice.”

“Practice for what?” A light turned on. It took Steve a moment to realize the light was coming from Astrid’s own hand.

“No one’s really told you what I can do yet. I wanted to show you myself.” Carefully, she pulled one of the crystals down and let it rest in the palm of her hand.

Rainbows bounced off the walls. Tiny refractory lights bounced around the room, off each crystal that was a brilliant gem in the darkness. Off the metal of Steve’s shield. Off the brass buckles of Astrid’s shoes. She grinned merrily, a beautiful cascade coming around the both of them.

“It takes me forever to fall asleep. I never want to stop looking at them.” Steve smiled, studying the way the light danced on her walls.

“Yeah.” He breathed. “I get it.”

*****

And the other, done by Nick Fury.

*****

Steve sat at a roundtable with the rest of the team. At least, he thought he did. Looking around, he could see one person missing from the group.

“Where’s Astrid?” Fury and Coulson exchanged a look. Coulson handed over a file and strode out of the room.

“Agent Dawes is currently occupied. We thought it best to tell you without her.” Fury slid the file across the table. “Along with being an Agent of SHIELD, Agent Dawes joined up because of her… condition.”

Steve opened the file. He could see a picture of a much younger Astrid looking back at him. Her date of birth, her parents, everything was laid out before him. When he flipped the page he found page after page of notes.

“She can do what?”

“We don’t have a real name for it yet. Just light manipulation.” Steve kept reading. The reports dated back years prior, with medic referral forms, personal statements, and even more photographs of Astrid.

“Is Astrid a potential threat too, Director?”

“We all are. Agent Dawes recognized her own risk ahead of time.” Fury took the file back. “She’s been training for years. She has it under control. Stark and Banner already know about her-”

“I’m the last to know?” Steve said angrily. He looked at Tony and Bruce.

“Hey, not my fault you got here late.” Tony turned back to his phone.

*****

Do you see the difference? See how much more personal the first one is? Not only do we get to see Astrid actually use her powers, but we get a moment of bonding and trust between her and Steve, whereas in the second one her personal information is being divulged on her behalf. Not by her. It’s beneficial to make these superpowers personal, in the sense that the OC should be able to tell people on their own. Let them establish that trust with their team, and don’t shove it off to Nick Fury or Coulson or even Batman. It’s their gift, they need to share it on their terms.

Superpowers and The Rules of the Universe go hand in hand in many ways. What I mean is the Rules of the Universe apply to superpowers as much as they do to timelines and cast desires and canon. When you write superpowers, they have to make sense with the world they live in, and not every OC needs superpowers. If you look at Twilight, you’d most likely have an OC with more subtle, less combat-oriented abilities (see Edward’s mind-reading or Alice’s seer talents). If you give an OC something heavy combat-oriented in this universe it feels a little clunky, and a little more like the Avengers but vampires instead of vampires with talents. On top of that, not every vampire needs to have a talent. It’s totally okay to have a vampire who can’t do anything special. I’m more compelled to read stories with those characters because they seem more realistic. It’s okay to have a character less important to the Volturi than Edward or Alice, or less gifted than Jasper. You can explore their individuality without tying them or limiting what makes them special to “they are a vampire and they have a gift.” Another example is Harry Potter. In that universe, the only extraordinary gifts we know of are Olcummency and Parseltongue. One is something you’re born with, the other takes patience and practice. It would be unrealistic to give a Harry Potter OC additional gifts. It would be rare to give them either of the aforementioned gifts because if something is described as rare in the canon, it shouldn’t include your OC. Your OC is not an exception to something’s scarcity.

Let’s talk about powers themselves. I have several gripes with superpowers, and we are going to discuss all of them. First and foremost, something that kind of shows your own ass as a writer is using the -kinesis phrase of a superpower beyond the common ones people know (telekinesis, psychokinetic, etc.). It looks like you just googled, ‘list of superpowers’, and found atmokinesis and put it in because you liked the description. Who talks like that? No one knows what those -kinesis phrases actually mean we just use them because we think they sound cool. Don’t tell me that the character has atmokinesis, just tell me they can control the weather. You don’t need to use big words to make your gift sound impressive. It’s what they do with the gift that makes it impressive. Going off of this, not every superpower needs to be combat-oriented. You don’t need to give people super-strength, invulnerability, or fire powers for them to matter or be useful. It’s actually more creative and more unique if you take a superpower that isn’t combat-oriented and find a way to make it mean something. The best example is the Tumblr post that will be linked below, where the OC’s main ability was helping. It was helping out wherever they could and trying to make a difference and making the lives of their friends, who had some of the “strongest” superpowers in the universe, better. It is beautifully written, an incredible short story, and shows the value of being there for others versus trying to save the day. If you are writing a character with superpowers, I would absolutely recommend reading it.

Finally, make it make sense. With superpowers, it’s kind of like the old saying, “if you describe a hammer hanging on the wall you better use the hammer before the end of the story.” Don’t describe something that you won’t use. So things like controlling taste, smell, temperature, those are things we never see used in the narrative, so there’s no need for the character to have control over them. If you’re struggling to come up with superpowers, the Editor and I have a few methods we’ve developed over the years to get off of and stay off of the superpower list websites:

I like to have my superpowers mirror the character’s backstory. I have a character who was kicked out of their home at 16 and therefore became a “hearth” where they could bind one location to appear at many, and with the turn of a knob bring the group from New York to Seattle to London. I did this to represent the character making their own home once they were exiled. Another example is a character who was almost killed in a tsunami. They can breathe underwater, and swim impossibly fast. You can give characters with a passion for drawing the ability to bring inanimate objects to life, characters who went to Antarctica as a researcher who came back with ice powers, characters who lost their twin that can multiply themselves, or characters who suffered amnesia that can now modify the memories of others. It’s fun to tie the gift to the story, and to me personally, it feels more cohesive when I do that. However, this isn’t for everyone. When you do this, the character’s superpowers shouldn’t become their whole personality. That should never happen in the first place, but especially here.

Another method we’ve used and we like is contrasting superpowers. If your character is blind, give them telekinesis (Scott 2015). If your character is afraid of heights, give them the ability to fly. If they’re afraid of dogs, make them talk to animals. Learning to get over their fears and weaknesses in the grand journey of mastering one’s powers shows growth, and shows character development, and we should never shy away from an opportunity for character development.

A final method that we’ve recently adopted is genetics. Something you see in Avengers fanfics is that the OC was inexplicably kidnapped and experimented on by HYDRA despite them having no shortage of volunteers as we see in Avengers: Age of Ultron, therefore, the existence of these OCs who are usually kidnapped doesn’t make sense. That is only mildly my business. What is my business is these test subjects having powers that don’t really make sense or that we don’t understand how they got them. It would make sense realistically, that a character who HYDRA experimented on would have powers that affect their vulnerability and less “shoots fire out of their hands.” This is because we can only assume that if they’re not using an Infinity Stone, they’re splicing and combining genes from animals to make a perfect soldier. If that’s your cup of tea, using a genetic connection to explain someone’s powers, go for it. The Editor and I have been using recently is the idea of gifts passing through generations. Let’s return to our new hero Astrid. Instead of being experimented on by HYDRA, having a backstory where she was maybe mugged or is afraid of the dark, or a backstory where she loves creepy-crawly dark spaces, we can say the following:

“Wait… How many people can do what you can?” Tony looked up from his phone to Astrid, who had become engrossed in her newest prism. “Hey! Glow-stick!”

“Mmm?” Tony tossed her his phone. “Oh… you don’t have to friend him.”

“Why isn’t he here?” Astrid stood up and walked back to Tony, handing him his phone.

“Why isn’t who here?” asked Steve.

“My brother Jeremy. He’s like me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “He didn’t want to go. I texted him when Director Fury reached out, and he didn’t want to give up on his Northern Lights project. My cousins said no too.”

“What do you mean, your cousins?”

“Didn’t you know? I thought you knew everything Stark. My gift’s genetic. It’s been in my family for generations. I have my brother, and like, 3 other cousins who can do what I can. I’m the only one who responded to Director Fury’s text.” Astrid sighed. “If my cousin Dixie were here, she’d tell me that means I’m the idiot of the group. C’est la vie.”

****

You can totally make superpowers genetic. It’s something that isn’t done often and is very fun because you can get into subtle mutations or variations of the same power. With Astrid, since we know she controls light, maybe the gene mutates with one of her cousins who can bend light in a way that they appear invisible. Maybe one of Astrid’s children can make the light into solid objects. Try making your superpowers a recessive gene. It could be a fun way to showcase the OC’s support network and give an explanation for their gifts that’s uncommon.

Our final note is that if you are writing a character with superpowers, we want to see the character learn to use those powers. It is so boring to have a character come out of the gate with gifts that they’ve mastered perfectly, OR, have a character initially struggle, but learn and master their gifts in 1 training session. That’s so boring to the reader, because there’s no development, and there’s no struggle. If a character earns their powers and is experiencing the new and wonderful, we want to see that struggle. That way at the end of the story when they have near-perfect control the ending is so much more satisfying because we know what went into that. Look at Avatar: The Last Airbender. The final fight with Ozai and Zuko’s final fight with Azula is the ultimate show of growth and mastery. You clearly see that neither of these boys are the same kids from the beginning of the series. The same is true for Percy Jackson, where all the Olympians have moments where they have powers, but don’t know or can’t use them. Let us see the struggle. It makes the journey more worthwhile. And, speaking of Avatar, no more “can control the four elements.” We’ve all seen the show. We all know the source material. It’s not original and your OC is not the Avatar.

Next week is a big one! We’re talking about diversity. Not only diversity in race but diversity in LGBT, in experience, and how to capture and make your stories diverse, and where it makes sense to have a story that’s diverse.

Xoxo, Gossip Girl

References:

The Ables. https://www.goodreads.com/work/best_book/41929531-the-ables. Accessed 26 July 2020.

https://idontknowartdump.tumblr.com/post/169046958039/inkskinned-writing-prompt-s-at-18-everyone

9 notes · View notes

cosmicjoke · 4 years

Text

Ash and the unwanted gain of power:

I wrote this post as a response to the awesome meta by @vashak, regarding her post on gang leader Ash, which you can read here: https://vashak.tumblr.com/post/189907130780/gang-leader-ash

But since it turned out so long, I thought I’d post it as a separate meta of my own as well.

Particularly, I think it’s important to take note of the fact that Ash never wanted to be a boss. Neither does Sing. Both of them are chosen to take on that role by the other street punks, because it’s decided among those groups that people like Ash and Sing are most capable of offering them protection.

Focusing on Ash specifically, it speaks volumes about his character that he accepts this responsibility, even as it isn’t something he ever chose for himself, or at all desired.

We see in Angel Eyes, after Ash’s fight with Frankie and his men in the library, that the other inmates start treating him like a Capo, basically attaching themselves to him and showing deference to him, because they’ve realized Ash is strong, and can protect them. Again, this is really important to point out, because Ash didn’t want this, or have designs to this affect. Shorter even points out that Ash is made uncomfortable by the sudden deference, by the other inmates treating him like the leader, and Ash also shows confusion later on, when Shorter is talking about how Arthur tried to take a hit out on Ash because he could see Ash would eventually inspire that same kind of deference and following on the outside, making him a direct threat to Arthur’s rule. Ash doesn’t understand what Shorter means, and expresses his confusion over it. We also hear Dino talking about Ash to Arthur, explaining that Ash never had any ambition, directly in contrast to Arthur, who’s ambition knows no bounds, and how regrettable Dino finds this, because he knows if Ash did have ambition to be a boss like Arthur, there would be no stopping him from taking over every single turf in New York. Dino initially sends Ash out onto the streets with the hope this will happen, setting Ash up to run jobs for him, whether that’s selling drugs or taking out hits on whoever Dino decides needs to be eliminated. He forcibly injects Ash into gang life and culture, doubtless under various and horrible threats from Dino himself. We know from Dino’s own words to Ash, and the way he mocks him by reminding him about how he used to cry with every job Dino made him do, that he was likely either threatening Ash’s life if he didn’t do as he was told, or threatening to put him back to work at Club Cod as a child prostitute. And we know how horrifying that was and continued to be for Ash. Ash didn’t want to be in a gang, or engage in criminal activities, but he didn’t ever have a choice. He was completely under Dino’s thumb.

Eventually, Ash does gain a loyal following. It really becomes a substantial thing in reform school, and once he gets out, he doubtless has an entire crew that have attached themselves to him. Again, because of his superior abilities, charisma and intellect, the other kids are just naturally drawn to him. Ash doesn’t even have to try. They just go to him because they can see he’s strong and capable of giving them protection. But Ash never moves beyond this specific territory or specific group. Eventually, he does come into conflict with Arthur, because that’s the territory Ash operates in, and of course he beats Arthur in one on one combat. Further, the fact that Ash doesn’t kill Arthur, but spares his life, is more proof still not only of Ash’s ambivalent feelings towards killing, but of how he never particularly sought after the role of boss in the first place. If he’d really wanted to solidify his position of power, he would have killed Arthur. Again, this just all serves as proof of Ash’s reluctance to be in this role and position.

Ash never planned on becoming a boss. The role was thrust onto him because of his superior abilities and intelligence. The other street kids align themselves to him because they know he can protect them. And even though Ash doesn’t want this role, he accepts it, because, and again, this speaks to Ash’s moral character, despite what he thinks of himself, and what others perceive him as, he feels a moral obligation and responsibility at this point to take care of these other kids who have selected him for exactly that. He could easily refuse the obligation, and abandon them to be run by Arthur, who treats all of them as disposable. Ash more than once proves his capability in handling himself. He doesn’t need a crew to survive out there on the streets. In fact, Ash is most effective and capable when he’s operating on his own, and doesn’t have to worry about anyone else. His chances of survival are highest when it’s just him on his own. And he’s not doing it because of any kind of loyalty to Dino, or because he thinks Dino will come after him if he doesn’t have a crew. At the beginning of Banana Fish, Ash is already operating separately from Dino, and is only willing to work with Dino on equal terms, meaning they both benefit from whatever jobs they run. He doesn’t operate out there anymore FOR Dino. Which is also why he kicks those two members out of the gang at the beginning, for betraying him and going behind his back to run a job for Dino. Again, Ash could have and probably should have killed them, but he showed them mercy instead, once more, because Ash doesn’t want to ever kill anyone if he doesn’t absolutely have to, and he has no actual desire for power. He kicks them out because they’ve proven they can’t be trusted, which would endanger not only himself, but the other members of his gang and which, subsequently, they prove by immediately running to Dino and ratting Ash out, for which trouble they get themselves killed.

Ash accepts his role as boss because he cares about other people. He understands that they’ve chosen him as their leader because he can protect them, and he takes that responsibility seriously and takes it onto himself willingly, even as he doesn’t want it and would in truth be better off on his own. We see this proven also in the way Ash purposefully leaves his gang out of any truly dangerous business which is likely to get him or them killed. He initially didn’t involve any of them in what was going on with Dino and Banana Fish, and didn’t want to involve Shorter either. Circumstances led to all of them eventually getting roped into it, but Ash fought hard to keep everyone out, and was 100% ready and willing to take Dino on completely by himself. He protects them constantly at risk to himself. And it’s not only his gang that he tries to protect. He tries to protect Sing’s gang, and Cain’s as well, by keeping them out of his war with Dino and Arthur. Again, circumstances eventually lead to them getting involved, but Ash tried very hard to not involve them.

It’s once more just an example of how Ash’s own choices and own wants and needs are never really something he’s allowed. His entire life, he’s been under the control of one person or another, whether that be Dino, or Marvin, or any of the other men who have abused him, or even, unintentional though it may be, his own gang. Ash’s life is more or less defined by his own free will and agency being robbed from him, and his endless, heartbreaking struggle to gain some small amount of it back.

When Ash says to Eiji “I wish I could have been like you, Eiji. I always wanted to live a better life than this. A more normal life.” He means that exactly. He never wanted the life he has, he never asked for it, or tried for it. It was thrust on him by other people, by other people’s decisions and other people’s needs and wants. Ash was never asked what he wanted or needed. Those things were never even considered. It was just decided and chosen for him. Like Ash says multiple times, he was treated by everyone around him like he wasn’t even a real person, like he didn’t have any real thoughts or feelings of his own. Like he was just a doll, there for the benefit and pleasure of others, to do with as they pleased. One of the most tragic results of that, is that the life he has, has done nothing but bring him misery and despair and a crushing sense of guilt and self-hatred.

It’s why Eiji treating Ash like a person means so much to him, and is so significant. Because Eiji is the first and only person to ever actually do that. To ever actually realize or care that Ash was a human being with his own thoughts, his own needs, his own feelings. He was the first and only person to ever treat Ash’s pain like it mattered.

#Banana Fish #Ash Lynx #Meta #Commentary

16 notes · View notes

daisyxbuckley · 5 years

Text

I’m Only Human

PART ONE A/N: So I did a thing because apparently I can’t just have a normal obsession with something, I have to write about it. So here is Part One for my American Assassin Fic. Tell me what you think, if you like it and all that jazz. I am using an actual Original Character instead of Y/N though because it is more than one drabble and it gets very difficult for me to write a multi chapter series doing it that way.

Description: Ophelia Lane has a past that most CIA operatives would hate to have. The 25 year old is sent back to The Barn to help Stan train the new batch of recruits, including one that is hell bent on getting revenge. Can she keep it together or will a secret that is hidden under the surface come back and haunt her?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Barn- Present Day

Pop. Pop. Pop. The shots rang out in the empty shooting range, echoing off the walls. The slim hands that held the 9mm G4 moved in a fluid motion that not many were capable of, but she was. To her it was an extension of her body, something that seemed as natural to her as breathing. Emptying the mag, the woman put the gun down on the table in front of her and took her protective gear off.

"God damn O, I've seen you shoot probably 1000 times and every time I'm still amazed at how good you are." Ophelia smiled a bit and looked at Jones as he walked over clapping.

"Thanks. I just needed to blow off some steam. Stan has some new guys he wants me to check out for him so if anyone asks I'm a recruit up here." O said as she fixed her ponytail and handed the weapon to the range instructor. The older man nodded and clapped her shoulder with a warm smile.

"I'm really happy you're back Phi. I was worried about you." Before Ophelia could answer she heard a noise behind them. Turning around she saw Stan standing by the entrance staring at her. Nodding once more at Jones, the brunette walked over and grabbed her bag following Stan out of the range.

"I need you to lead combative class for a bit today. I have a new guy coming in." Stan said as they both walked towards where the group was standing. It was a circle of about 10 males and 2 females. "Scope them out. Find their weaknesses and tell me who you think is a good fit"

Ophelia nodded but didn't respond. She didn't have to. Stan knew her inside and out by now and knew that she understood. Her goal was to see if there was anyone else that would be good enough, that could be trained for his select team. "Remember your cover." Was all he said before they reached the group.

"Listen up! This is Ophelia Lane. She is going to be leading the class for the first half today. She's one of the best that's two classes ahead of you and I expect to hear a good report when I return." Stan said with a blank face. Ophelia stood next to him mirroring his expression as she scanned the crowd. "Anyone fucks up and you're gone." He said before turning away. The group stared at Ophelia as she stared back. She knew that they were trying to figure out who and what exactly she was, but she knew they would never be able to. Motioning for them to circle up around here, O stood and waited before she began.

“When you’re in the field on a mission you won't always have a weapon close by.” She said as she slowly looked at everyone. “It’s a huge reason why the CIA trains you to be the best in combative’s. When it's you and your target, or you and other enemies, you need to be able to take them down in any way possible. The majority of the time you won't have it as easy as point and shoot.” As she spoke she heard someone snickering in the background. Turning on her heel, Ophelia faced him. “Conners, you have something to say?” She asked tilting her head to the side as she studied him. Conners stood up straighter as he looked down at the hazel eyed woman. “No ma’am. I was just saying that if you have to fight hand to hand you’ve already lost. Or at least that’s what my dad said.”

“Your father is also a sniper who has seen little face to face combat.” Ophelia deadpanned “And he wouldn’t know real combat if it hit him in the face.” She saw him scoff and try to deflect it but she knew that he was upset with it. Stepping towards the middle of the circle, she lifted her hand and made a slight motion beckoning him forward. Conners stepped into the circle with her and looked nervously around.

“The main rule of hand to hand combat is never let the enemy know what you’re going to do next. You want to have the element of surprise on them at all times, if they can read your moves they can kill you.” She said as she faced towards the taller man. Putting her hands behind her back she stood there. “When you’re ready.” Was all she said before taking a step back. Conners looked at her for a full minute before he finally realized that she wanted him to attack her. Charging forward, Ophelia saw his eyes move to the side that he wanted to attack. Right before his fist was about to make contact with her face, the girl moved to the left. Conners kept going as his momentum carried him to the other side of the circle. The look on the woman's face never changed as he moved back in front of her.

“I wanna go again.” He said with a determined look on his face. Ophelia nodded as she got ready along with him. As he charged forward Ophelia dropped down low and swiped her leg out as she took out his left knee. Conners went down with a yell as she lifted herself up and wrapped her legs around his neck, squeezing till he was on the ground. When she felt a tap on her thigh Ophelia got up and looked at him.

“Rule number two. Always know your targets weaknesses. If you know their weaknesses then you can play off them. Conners here had an old football injury from college that I took advantage of.” She said looking down and offered her hand. Conners took it and Ophelia helped him up and smiled slightly. “That was good though, just remember i’ve been doing this a bit longer than you.” He nodded as he went back to his spot in the circle. Ophelia looked everyone in the eye for a second before talking again. “You need to understand that out there it’s basic instinct. You need to be the best otherwise you will get killed. Everyone pair up.” She said as she watched who went with who. Conners paired up with one of the girls and Ophelia watched them for a bit as they fought before walking over to the other female in the group.

Watching her struggle against the other man, Ophelia finally cut in. “Kates. You need to use your size.” Ophelia was about 5’7 but Kates didn’t reach any higher than about 5’2. Compared to the other recruit she was almost childlike. Kates looked confused as she Ophelia walked over. “Here, you’re tinier than him and all your power is in your legs. You can use that.” She said showing the girl the move she used earlier on her sparring partner. Working with her for a bit longer, Ophelia finally heard the footsteps that signaled Stan's approach and held up her hand to get everyone's attention.

“Okay shitheads. Enough party games.” Stan said as he walked down the hill where the group was. Ophelia noticed the man that was standing behind him and though she stayed focused on Stan, she observed him out of the corner of her eye. He was tall, probably about 6 feet and had long hair that fell in his eyes. The scruff of his beard looked like it had been trimmed recently, but to the point where it was just to stave off looking like a wild animal. His eyes were the color of warm whiskey and he had an unreadable expression on his face that Ophelia recognized as someone who didn’t want to reveal what they were thinking. The brunette realized that she had let her eyes stay a little too long on him when he met hers before looking away.

“Combative training isn't a time for you to go easy on people, it’s not a time to show off and look like a hot shot. It's a time to hone your skills and practice how you fight.” Stan said his voice booming through the woods.”I’m sure Ophelia here has shown you a few things and taught you our two main rules.” The group nodded as they looked over at her before looking back at him. “Good, you’re going to need it.” Motioning for the man to follow him into the circle, Ophelia took her place leaning against a tree and watched what was about to happen next. “This is Mitch Rapp. He’s one of the new guys who will be joining your class.” Stan said with a grin on his face that O recognized as one of his famous ones. Taking a knife out of his back holster, Stan held it out to Mitch. “Kill me.”

It took Mitch about ten seconds to grab the knife and attack. Ophelia straightened up and watched the man as he moved. His shirt lifted up as he went after Stan and Ophelia could see the defined trail of hair that disappeared into his pants. His muscles in his back could be seen moving under his shirt as he swiped the knife moving around the moves that Stan blocked. He was good, but sloppy. He moved as if he had some sort of training but not the kind that stood out with the CIA...at least not yet. Ophelia watched as Mitch moved like he was almost dancing, a determined look on his face. He was no match for Stan though and the older man knew that as he managed to get a grip on Mitch’s arm and twist it, shoving him to the ground as he pointed the knife in his face.

“Know your enemy. And don’t get too cocky.” Stan said standing up. “Mr. Rapp’s issue here is that he is messy. Hes good but messy and he let his cockiness get the best of him. Don’t do that.” He looked around at the group and locked eyes with Ophelia and nodded. “Go take a shower. All of you fucking stink.” He said walking towards the main house. Ophelia looked at Mitch one more time as he got up and started walking away catching up to Stan to tell him how the beginning of the class went. She could feel eyes on her as she walked and glanced over her shoulder to see those eyes belonging to Mitch. Shaking her head she sighed as she caught up to Stan, trying to put the whiskey colored eyes out of her mind.

Mitch watched her as she walked away and caught up to Stan. Her ponytail swung as she jogged and even with her zip up hoodie on, he could tell that she was defined. Her yoga pants cut off at the calf and were tight on her lower half, showing off the strength that she had in her legs. What she didn’t know is that he and Stan had stood on the hill watching her lead the group before coming down. He saw just a little bit of how she fought and knew that she was good at what she did, and she knew it. There was something about her that Mitch recognized though, a coldness behind her eyes that was there even though she had tried to hide it. Moving the hair from his eyes, he started towards the house that he and the other recruits stayed in wanting nothing more than to just shower and be alone.

@cxddlyash

#american assassin #mitch rapp x reader #american assassin fanfic #american assassin x reader #mitch rapp #dylan o'brien #mitch rapp fanfic #mitch rapp imagines

73 notes · View notes

zedecksiew · 5 years

Text

What Torchbearer Taught Me About RPGs

Google Plus is now dead. I found my preferred roleplaying-games community there. So many friends and discussions and games. I wrote the following piece on G+ in August 2017. It is the closest I’ve ever got, before or since, to RPG “theory”.

(This particular text is actually the version I posted to Facebook, which is the social-media account closest to my meat-space civilian life -- hence that little oh-what-is-an-RPG-anyway? tangent.)

+++

WHAT TORCHBEARER TAUGHT ME

Torchbearer is a roleplaying game. It taught me that I shouldn't play human characters, in roleplaying games.

Preamble: for the last three years, I've been playing a lot of tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs) over the Internet. Basically, you know that game the boys in Stranger Things play? That, but in a video conference.

I am a Person of Colour (tm), and I almost always play with white dudes.

I wish this didn't matter. But in 2015 I played with some dudes who, after hearing me speak, started talking about how English was definitely my second language.

Ever since I've been hyper-aware about how I present to white dudes.

Anyway: Torchbearer is an RPG. Based on another game called Burning Wheel, Torchbearer's schtick is nostalgia: it is designed to emulate perilous, early Dungeons & Dragons-style dungeon crawls.

It uses BW's "beliefs, instincts, and traits" (BITs) mechanic - define your character's personality and goals; get rewarded for playing accordingly.

I don't really have an issue with BITs. "Fight for what you believe in!" Oh, my self-sacrificing dwarf gets experience points for taking a hit meant for the foolhardy wizard - ie: actually being self-sacrificing? Neat!

But playing according to your character's beliefs and instincts is half of how you need to play in the Torchbearer ruleset.

At the end of every session, you also get experience points for "embodiment" - roleplaying in a "believable and entertaining manner throughout the entire session".

Basically, this means funny accents and exaggerated manners. Which - hey: also seems to makes sense. Funny accents and exaggeration is what makes RPGs fun. I want to have fun. You're rewarding me for having fun? Neat!

Thing is: embodiment can only go to everybody at the table, minus one, in any given session.

It is quite a game-designer-ly thing to think that competition is a good way to make any experience points you gain feel earned / meaningful.

So: players have to rate each other's performances. Players compete to be entertaining.

And, in my group, embodiment effectively became the "you were the least memorable character, tonight, no XP for you" penalty.

I found a group to play Torchbearer with, on Roll20.

My first Torchbearer character was a not-conquistador: a cleric with light in his heart, come to bring Civilisation to savage lands.

He only ever got embodiment once, when I gave him an awful accent (his name was Ulric, so it was a German accent) as a last-ditch attempt to make myself stand out.

My second Torchbearer character was a goth-chick assassin. She spoke in a slinky voice and wore the blood of her victims as makeup. Massive OTT edge-lady.

The other dudes didn't think much of her, either.

Okay, fine. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a great role-player. Gotta try harder!

My third Torchbearer character was Slessik, the snivelling rat-man coward. Great warriors protect Slessik, yes-yes? I did the raspy voice and the hunched posture and mimed licking my whiskers and everything.

Slessik was a hit. His embodiment rate? 100%!

I had fun playing him. And, because in Torchbearer how well-liked you are basically equals how survivable your player-character is, Slessik was my longest-lasting character.

After Slessik, I had enough of playing an essentially non-human character. (It made my throat sore.)

My fourth Torchbearer character was an elf. He began as a slave. He was lazy, and tried stupid schemes to get out of work; this meant he got in trouble, more often than not.

He was also a massive coward. Essentially, I saw him as Slessik, in elf form, with a stammer instead of a hunch and rasp.

No more embodiment. Like, 0%.

My elf died pretty quick. Dead by the - second session, I think?

I sighed, and switched to a fearless, leap-into-danger mantis-man. He / it spoke in a raspy monotone, and was a ravenous predator.

One was the other dudes said:

"Yay! Slessik is back!"

Was it because I didn't do a voice, with my "human" PCs?

But the other dudes didn't do voices, either. They got their experience points.

Maybe I just didn't play with enough colour. But - the other dudes played characters just as trope-y and textbook as my own. Proud barbarian; mysterious wizard; quiet Aragorn-type ranger. They were archetypes, they were fun, they got embodiment.

But I didn't. Not unless I played a monster.

I started thinking about the other campaigns I'd played, online, with white dudes.

I realised I had a tendency to other myself. Play outsiders. Strict cannibal savage. Cyborg with binary-to-human translator. In any party of adventurers, I was usually the outlier figure.

Easier, you know? In our video conferences, I had different skin, a different speech pattern. I couldn't understand certain references. Didn't laugh at certain jokes. I kept quiet when the other guys talked about American-football teams.

Mirroring that dynamic in-game meant less dissonance, on the whole.

You know - that's fine. I'm not about to pretend the cultural divide isn't there. Neither am I going to make a big fuss about it.

It's just - a thing.

But there's a lesson here, for designers - of games, or otherwise:

Thor Olavsrud, Torchbearer's creator, day-jobs in tech.

His collaborator, the designer of Burning Wheel, Luke Crane, works for Kickstarter.

Crane has previously said that he designs his games against social dysfunction. He believes that players will inevitably, inadvertently be anti-social fucks, so Burning Wheel (and, by extension, Torchbearer) are systems designed to make that impossible.

These are systems that handhold you to civility, making sure that there are incentives for working together, being group-oriented, entertaining your fellow players.

Olavsrud and Crane are liberal types. Crane has taken selfies with Anita Sarkeesian. Hearts in the right place, and all that.

But I think it is a distinctly technocratic stance to think that people are intrinsically going to be terrible.

And that the solution isn't to be adults and talk out our problems, but build a system where bad behaviour is impossible. "Solve" the human condition through better design.

That doesn't work.

Torchbearer, a game / ruleset / system Olavsrud and Crane designed, because it tries to account for and course-correct real-life-people-around-a-table social dynamics in its system design -

Is the only game I've ever played that, in effect:

(a) mechanically rewarded me for intentionally other-ing myself, and (b) mechanically punished me for not other-ing myself.

My takeaway from all this:

Don't try to manage real-life social dynamics using rules and systems. It doesn't work. And it will probably cause some harm.

+++

Two years on, re-reading this, I still stand by what it says, by and large. I remain skeptical of using (game) design to social-engineer a Better World. (That still belongs to real-world organising and activism. No shortcuts!)

Two things I’d do differently:

1) “Crane has previously said that he designs his games against social dysfunction.“

I no longer remember the source of this assertion, so as it stands now it’s a claim with no evidence. (I will argue that the design notes in the Burning Wheel rulebook support the idea, though.)

2) I’d further emphasise that there were no bad-intentioned people in the above account.

Torchbearer’s designers are progressives. The guys I played with were -- with one notable, Pizzagate-believing exception -- decent folk. I still remember most of the sessions I had with those guys fondly. They probably identify as woke.

#writing #rpgs #design #torchbearer rpg #google plus

240 notes · View notes

bookfreaky · 4 years

Text

THE TRINITY OF WOMEN: The Archetypes of The Virgin, The Whore and The Mother.

Men wrote the rules, men should read them. We, woman, we’ve been fighting all this time to not much at all, or that’s my impression sometimes. Fighting simply for the basic right of being human, of being liberated. Liberation implies that a beforehand incarceration, and that could be a summary of women’s history. We’ve always been property, objects to somebody, to some man. First, we are properties of our fathers, then we either become the pleasure of the soldiers, worth of our flesh, or if we are lucky, we become the mothers of our husbands’ heirs, worth of your uterus.

Women CEOs, independent women, sexual revolution, divorce, none of these accomplishments in fact broke off with these three simple, sub-people, categories, if you are a woman you are either a Virgin, a Whore or a Mother. These three archetypes define woman in the male gaze, and they are susceptible to nuance, a well-married adult woman could fall into the slot of either of the three.

Having a transsexual experience, and now transitioning in my mid-twenties, I could be aware of the category I’ve been put into, I wasn’t an innocent twelve-year-old girl menstruating for the first time and having the male gaze soar over her just-formed breast like animals of prey. I lived as a boy, and grew into a woman. I have never been a girl, I had schooled my features and my behaviour to appeal to man in the most advantageous ways, how to control my voice tone, how not to be disagreeable, how to behave amongst men, straight men more so. I would have been categorized as “wife material”, if I wasn’t categorized as a tranny. Better yet, it makes me a perfect “trap material”.

As I’ve noticed in many aspects of my life, I am lucky. I like being the Mother. To me, the idea of womanhood and motherhood have always been inseparable hands, completing each other. I know that’s a very Judeo-Christian archaic concept, which builds the lives of women around their reproductive ability, therefore, their capacity to pass through family wealth to male heirs. But there’s also something instinctive about it, women – I guess some women – are wired in a way to protect their children above all interests. The Mother is always loving, ever-forgiving, she is just, she is always present, always caring, she is the harvest, she is the ocean, she is Gaia and Danu, she’s Mary crying over her son’s body, she’s sacrifice, she is death. I remember my own mother saying once that becoming a mother is like dying: your dreams, your desires, your well-being become your children’s. Some see horror in it, some see beauty. I see a little a lot of both.

The Virgin, even if being a grown woman, she is an infant. She doesn’t need to be an actual virgin in the religious connotation, her lack of interest for sex, or her lack of knowledge about her own sexuality makes her a virgin to the eyes of the world. She is pure, he is untouched by men so in a way she is an unclaimed property, she is respected not for who she is, nor for her virginity, but for her being undefined potential of becoming either a whore or a mother herself. Men only respect two types of women, Virgins and Mothers, and the most respected of all was both. Rape culture is in itself the men’s pattern of behaviour to turn virgins into whores. In a way, you can use the allegory of land to understand the male view of women. You are your father’s land, fertile and ready to sow, until you are sold to another man through marriage who shall cultivate you to his next spawn, or you are invaded, camped on and exploited. Girls without fathers are vulnerable to be hunt. Mothers create, Fathers own.

At last, the rebels, the unruly, the ones who have had no care or respect for themselves, neither deserve it. Every single time a woman had sought for an act of freedom in history she had been called a whore. It doesn’t matter your status, your sexual behaviour even, not even if you are married or not. Act outside the lines, you are a whore, a witch, a lover to kiss the devil’s tail. Feminism has been first described as a group of “sluts marching down the street”, until the March of the Sluts reclaimed the title; Queen Elizabeth I was called a whore by the Spanish King for refusing to marry; married women unable to produce children were considered whores and were switched for more suitable wives. The whore is the upmost simple of women’s resistance to the male dominance. Woman who proudly fit in this archetype, the free form women, they are the ones who through history have been killed, raped, burnt. The largest genocide in history, it would be the genocide of women if only we were considered people.

Although the male gaze is the oppressive eye of man over woman, we cannot present here the idea that men are free-form human beings while women are put into categories forever, that idea would be untrue. Men, boys, they are just as shaped by this gaze as woman. The main difference is that women are put into categories, like objects, like property, while men are put into characters, human façades they are supposed to fulfil in order to be a man. Boys must grow to be tough, violent but wise about their violence, they are supposed to own a woman, love if possible, pride her with a family, sow the land, fight against nature, find God. Women are the nature forces many times men fear and have to fight against: the tempest, the ocean, the wilderness, they are all phenomena of feminine connotations.

Still, growing up as a boy who then became a woman, I see the advantages of educating children, all children, in the more “masculine” modes. Boys are taught to have a voice and to be listened, boys are taught to stand-up by themselves, boys are taught to enjoy life, boys are taught to put reason first, boys are taught to be free. All which I consider to be advantages for life. Of course, you could argue that the “feminine” counterpart of these behaviours is just as important to survival, but in the sexist world, they are just not. Though I am fit for the Mother archetype, sexism and the cruel reality of being a girl under the male gaze, makes me feel uneasy and anxious about the idea of raising a daughter. In a way, I fear that if I bring her up as I was brought up, she’d end being too free, too opiniated, too strong, and where would the world put her? Would they break her? But what kind of word is “too free” anyways?

#feminism #essay #transexuality #womanhood #my own

3 notes · View notes

tonystarkbingo · 5 years

Photo

Week 30 Roundup! THIS IS OUR FINAL ROUNDUP! Our Second Round of the Tony Stark Bingo has officially concluded, and here are the last of the amazing creations that our spectacular participants have made. (There are DOZENS, so pace yourself!)

Title: Welcome to the Pride Collaborator: MagicaDraconia16 Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - Shapeshifters Ship: Pepperony, FrostPepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: shapeshifter AU, humor, implied/referenced brainwashing Summary: Escaping from Thor before he's taken back to Asgard after the Invasion of New York, Loki decides that a night following Tony Stark and his girl friday - what is her name?! - will be a lot more exciting than watching the Avengers have movie night. He didn't expect just how right he was. Word Count: 2710

-----------------------------------

Title: I fall in love (everyday with someone new) - Chapter 35: Cinderella Story (A4) Collaborator: scriptatur Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Cinderella Story Ship: Stuckony, Tony/Rhodey,Pepper Rating: Gen Major Tags: polyamory, Endgame fix-it Summary: "Waking was- surprising. He woke up slowly, like drifting through mist or sirup or- something. He was kind of confused, if he is being perfectly honest. Confused about his own metaphor, a bit, but mainly confused by the fact that he was, well, waking up. That was not something he’d expected to do, after all." When Tony Stark wakes up after the final battle against Thanos, he decides that there will be nothing more that stands between himself and happiness. He goes home with Pepper and Morgan and it doesn't take long for Steve and Bucky (and other (ex-)avengers) to follow. Basically, this is the fix-it that I needed. It's very self indulgent and mostly fluff. Word Count: 22,928

-----------------------------------

Title: Not Science Unless You Write It Down Collaborator: AoifeLaufeyson Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: pre-relationship, fluff Summary: Just a few hundred words of pre-relationship cuteness between my boys. Word Count: 883

-----------------------------------

Title: The Lost Twin Collaborator: camichats Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - (Picture of young Tony next to a woman with short hair) Ship: IronWitch Rating: Teen Major Tags: time travel, family secrets, twins Summary: Wanda gets shunted back in time for a little bit and learns that Tony has a twin sister she's never heard about. Turns out there's a reason for that. Word Count: 1023

-----------------------------------

Title: Songs in the Key of Stark Collaborator: Politzania Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: assorted Rating: Gen Major Tags: playlist Summary: So, for the Free square of my @tonystarkbingo card, I’ve put together a playlist of the songs that have inspired and/or provided titles for various fics of my that feature Tony in a lead role. I’ve linked to YouTube vids, some of which are the official music videos, others are fan-created. I’m also providing links to the fics themselves, grouped by pairing with a quick blurb about the fic and a rating.

-----------------------------------

Title: Reminder Collaborator: Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa) Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - Wingfic Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: drabble, tattoos, Tony needs a hug Summary: Tony has a tattoo to help him get through the rough moments. Drabble. Word Count: 100

-----------------------------------

Title: The Bun and the Bear Collaborator: romancebyfaye Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R4 - Interspecies Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: They told them it would never work. A kodiak bear and a domestic dwarf flop ear rabbit? Preadators and prey just don’t go together. Especialy when the differences in their shifted form is so drastically huge. But Tony has never fit any mold someone tried to force him into, and Rhodey is certainly not some growling beast ruled by instinct. And, as every naysayer is going to learn, love is not defined by the skin you wear.

-----------------------------------

Title: What Time Can't Drive Out Collaborator: deathofthestars Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Apology Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: medieval AU, implied mpreg, kid Peter, post split, getting back together Summary: Its been two years since King Anthony last saw his husband, Sir Steven Rogers, when suddenly the man appears in the middle of court. Could Steve's return spell a second chance for them or is there another reason for this impromptu visit? Word Count: 2181

-----------------------------------

Title: Broken Parts, On The Mend Collaborator: rebelmeg Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - comics image of Tony fixing Bucky's metal arm Ship: Bucky & Tony Rating: Teen Major Tags: developing friendship, Bucky recovering, Tony has a heart, Winter Soldier Summary: Tony has Shuri's best assurances that Bucky can no longer be triggered into the Asset by the control words, but there is no guarantee that the Winter Soldier isn't still lurking somewhere in Bucky's head. All that aside, there's something up with the guy's new arm, and if they could get to the point of trusting each other, maybe Tony could help. Thanks to Shuri's hard work, Bucky's mind is his own again. As he tries to become his own person again, in the new and foreign setting of the Avengers Compound, he ends up learning a lot. And finding a lot in common with the one person he never would have expected. Word Count: 7204

-----------------------------------

Title: Fractures beyond the looking glass - Chapter 2: ii. Collaborator: justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Quarantined! Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Victorian AU, canon typical violence, gothic romance, supernatural elements, dreams and nightmares Summary: The world spun round and round, the trees blurring past him as Bucky skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. He laid on the ground with a gasp, gritting his teeth as his ankle continued to throb with a dull but insistent pain. For minutes or hours, Bucky couldn’t tell, he hobbled as best he could trying to find the familiar path back to the village. However, the impressive outline of Stark Manor had Bucky pausing at the edge of the trees. Everyone in the village knew of the rumours surrounding the estate. These days, people wondered if the infamous Lord Stark still lived there, or if he was merely a ghost story, haunting the halls of the vast manor on the edge of the woods. Word Count: 2923

-----------------------------------

Title: indeed a beautiful thing - Chapter 2 Collaborator: Fluffypanda, justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: For Panda, A4 - AU:Fantasy World Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: fantasy AU, fusion AU, anthropomorphic, plot twists, bandits and outlaws, swordfighting Summary: Rebellion is brewing in Velmar and Captain Steven Mouser has been sent to the city of Iron Landing to investigate. He is to secure the cooperation of Lord Stark if he is ever to find the elusive leader of the rebellion, but there is more to both of them than meets the eye. Word Count: 2364

-----------------------------------

Title: R3- No powers AU Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - No powers AU Ship: IronShieldHawk Rating: Teen Major Tags: deaf characters, polyamory, Tony feels Summary:At first, Tony didn’t realise there even was a problem. He always preferred to have his music loud, so the workshop was designed with surround sound in mind. Even though he tended to tune it out anyway when lost in the depths of an engineering binge. It was only when the need for food and other bodily functions overrode his ability to focus that Tony noticed something was wrong. Initially, it seemed like the problem was with JARVIS’ speakers. He was in the elevator, returning to the penthouse, when he noticed he was hearing much less sound on the right side as JARVIS lectured him about the benefits of a proper sleep cycle, or something.

-----------------------------------

Title: Soft And Sweet (And That's Enough) Collaborator: Gothic_Lolita Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Asexuality Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: asexual Bucky, protective Tony, established relationship, bonding, panic attack, emotional hurt/comfort Summary: Bucky loved Tony more than anything in the world. And when he opens up to Tony, he learns he can love Tony even more. Word Count: 760

-----------------------------------

Title: Falling through time Collaborator: Menatiera Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T5 - Time travel Ship: Stuckony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Moodboard + plot summary, time travel Summary: Strange sends Tony and Steve through time, it goes sideways, Bucky gets involved. Happy ending.

-----------------------------------

Title: In Love With Wolves Collaborator: camichats Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - Wolf Ship: IronWidow Rating: Gen Major Tags: established relationship, Avengers family, magic, wolves, fluff Summary: Natasha gets turned into a wolf, and Tony still thinks she's the best. Both literal and figurative fluff ensue. Word Count: 655

-----------------------------------

Title: Fractures beyond the looking glass - Chapter 3: iii. Collaborator: justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: R3 - Secret Siblings (Especially Evil Twins) Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Victorian AU, canon typical violence, gothic romance, supernatural elements, dreams and nightmares Summary: The world spun round and round, the trees blurring past him as Bucky skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. He laid on the ground with a gasp, gritting his teeth as his ankle continued to throb with a dull but insistent pain. For minutes or hours, Bucky couldn’t tell, he hobbled as best he could trying to find the familiar path back to the village. However, the impressive outline of Stark Manor had Bucky pausing at the edge of the trees. Everyone in the village knew of the rumours surrounding the estate. These days, people wondered if the infamous Lord Stark still lived there, or if he was merely a ghost story, haunting the halls of the vast manor on the edge of the woods. Word Count: 4367

-----------------------------------

Title: Iron heart, iron love Collaborator: Menatiera Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K4 - Riri Williams Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard and summary Summary: After a battle, Tony Stark is in medical-induced coma until his body recovers from the shock he survived. Tony was prepared for something similar to happen, so in the meantime his downloaded consciousness helps the new generation of young superheroes to adjust to their new life. Orchestrating meetings between them and giving useful (or not so useful) advices both about growing up and superheroing. One of Tony’s favorite is, unsurprisingly, the young and brilliant engineer Riri Williams, who built her own suit of armor.

-----------------------------------

Title: Bad Blood Collaborator: Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa) Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - Doppelgangers, Evil Twins Ship: none Rating: Teen Major Tags: Howard’s A+ parenting, introspective, waiting for the other shoe to drop Summary: When Gregory appeared, claiming to be the son of Howard Stark, Tony couldn't help but think this would not be going anywhere good. And as it turned out, he was right. Word Count: 1515

-----------------------------------

Title: Field Of Study Collaborator: camichats Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Backstory Ship: Science Boyfriends Rating: Mature Major Tags: Sexual content, perceived unwanted sexual advances (mild), mentions of past abuse, fear of abuse Summary: Bruce is the Hulk, and Tony thought he was keeping a different anger-related issue secret. They break up but get back together when Tony learns the truth. Word Count: 3035

-----------------------------------

Title: He loves me, he loves me not Collaborator: lbibliophile-mcu Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S3 - [image of the ‘Proof Tony Stark has a heart’ plaque’] Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: Pepper Potts knew she was falling in love with her boss, and tried to find subtle ways to show it. What she didn’t know, was if he liked her back…

-----------------------------------

Title: indeed a beautiful thing - Chapter 4 Collaborators: Fluffypanda, justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Squares Filled: K2 - Victorious (Panda) and S3 - Steve/Tony (Summer) Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: fantasy AU, fusion AU, anthropomorphic, plot twists, bandits and outlaws, swordfighting Summary: Rebellion is brewing in Velmar and Captain Steven Mouser has been sent to the city of Iron Landing to investigate. He is to secure the cooperation of Lord Stark if he is ever to find the elusive leader of the rebellion, but there is more to both of them than meets the eye. Word Count: 5990

-----------------------------------

Title: Steamships, Cyborgs, and Self-Determination: A Steampunk Story - Chapter 3 Collaborator: JacarandaBanyan Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - Anger Issues Ship: Stuckony Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: developing relationships, steampunk AU, comic book science, angst with a happy ending, mild gore, body horror, cyborgs Summary: The Cyborg Assassin formally known as Bucky Barnes is sent on a double assassination mission. His Targets: Anthony E Stark, brilliant inventor and scientist, and Steve Rogers, subversive artist. Word Count: 8037

-----------------------------------

Title: Ain't That a Kick in the Head - Chapter 1: Thermodynamic - What Now? Collaborator: Faustess Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Maria Hill Ship: Bucky & Tony, Bucky/Maria Hill Rating: Mature Major Tags: dad Bucky, deaged Tony, BAMF Maria, protective Bucky, Tony needs a hug, enemies to friends, pre-relationship Summary: Maria Hill reviewed the footage of the mission, trying to pinpoint where it’d gone wrong. She knew now, of course… that the lab had been trapped, but she hadn’t known then. AIM had created perfect setup to put Tony Stark out of commission, cause a panic with Stark Industries shareholders, and lower the public’s confidence in the Avengers. A three-year-old Tony Stark has just become Maria Hill's next issue to deal with... and the fact that the kid latched on Bucky Barnes and she has things to consider like creating the most stable environment possible for the boy until he goes back to normal. Word Count: 9897

-----------------------------------

Title: Ain't That a Kick in the Head - Chapter 2: Oops... I Did It Again Collaborator: Faustess Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 – Found Family Ship: Bucky & Tony, Bucky/Maria Hill Rating: Mature Major Tags: dad Bucky, deaged Tony, BAMF Maria, protective Bucky, Tony needs a hug, enemies to friends, pre-relationship Summary: Five times Bucky and Maria accidentally kiss - and one time when it's not an accident. Word Count: 9897

-----------------------------------

Title: Realizations Collaborator: ethereal-lullabies Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K4 - Identity Crisis Ship: Erik Killmonger/Tony Stark Rating: Teen Major Tags: genderfluid Tony, Erik didn’t die, identity crisis, supportive boyfriend Erik, Erik ends up living in Wakanda helping when he can, good guy Erik Summary: none

-----------------------------------

Title: Ain't That a Kick in the Head - Chapter 3: Only a Sergeant When I’m Wearing the Hat Collaborator: Faustess Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - pizza/takeout Ship: Bucky & Tony, Bucky/Maria Hill Rating: Mature Major Tags: dad Bucky, deaged Tony, BAMF Maria, protective Bucky, Tony needs a hug, enemies to friends, pre-relationship Summary: Tiny!Tony turns ten! The pizza arrived, the cupcakes Bucky had made the day before were delicious, and the kids played Minecraft and built box forts in the backyard in preparation for the biggest Nerf gun fire-fight Maria had ever witnessed. But what happens after the party? Word Count: 9897

-----------------------------------

Title: (Not So) Similar Conditions Collaborator: Gavilan Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - Sharing a Bed Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: college AU, bedsharing, first kiss, first date, cuddling, oblivious Tony, awkwardness, fluff Summary: Tony and Bucky share a bed at a conference. It takes six months and some very different conference bed sharing with Rhodey for Tony to figure out exactly why cuddling with Bucky felt so awkward. Word Count: 5519

-----------------------------------

Title: the ultimate power couple Collaborator: hereandnowwearealive Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: Iron Man and Rescue art

-----------------------------------

Title: Clint Really Should Have Known Better Collaborator: deathofthestars Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - Free Square Ship: Stony Rating: Team Major Tags: King Steve, Queen Tony, gag gift Summary: Clint gave Steve and Tony a gag gift that is really backfiring. Word Count: 765

-----------------------------------

Title: Catch & Release - Chapter 2 Collaborator: MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne) Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 (picture prompt, Tony + tentacles) Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: mershark Bucky, fishing, octomer Steve, canon typical violence Summary: Neither Tony or Ty like fishing in the first place, so why are they even out here? “But I mean… it’s a shark, not a fish. Don’t you put those back?” Tony presses. Ty snorts. “Put it back, Tony? Come on.” Word Count: 3544

-----------------------------------

Title: Soar in the sky (with me) - Chapter 3: Your noncompliance will be rewarded Collaborator: Menatiera Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - Shared trauma Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: soulmate AU, wing AU, Winter Soldier, angst with a happy ending, hurt/comfort, getting together Summary: "The Asset was suddenly entirely sure that the kid was like him. He couldn’t track down the origin of that thought, or the base of this feeling of similarity, but ultimately it didn’t matter. It was instinct like battle-readiness, like the anticipation of the next move of an opponent before his conscious brain could catch on." *** "He didn't move for a moment, too surprised. This position was too sudden and too much - the closeness wouldn't have been a problem for him, Tony was used to his private space being invaded, but the fucking wing outstretched over him made it into a nest, caring and intimate. Tony was used to sudden closeness, had been in just enough parties with drunk university students, even if this environment wasn't where he would've expected something like that. What was truly shocking, though, was the lack of visceral reaction from him." They have met more than once. It wasn't their fault that it took decades for them to come around, though. Word Count: 5018

-----------------------------------

Title: Guide Me Home (Guard My Heart) moodboard Collaborator: eirlyssa Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K5 - AU: Sentinel/Guide Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: A moodboard based off my WinterIron Sentinel/Guide story, Guide Me Home (Guard My Heart).

-----------------------------------

Title: Ain't That a Kick in the Head - Chapter 4: The Real Perpetrator Is Getting Away, Old Man! Collaborator: Faustess Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 – Innocent until proven guilty Ship: Bucky & Tony, Bucky/Maria Hill Rating: Mature Major Tags: dad Bucky, deaged Tony, BAMF Maria, protective Bucky, Tony needs a hug, enemies to friends, pre-relationship Summary: A teenage Tony and Harley Keener should've been back from the store over an hour ago. Bucky's worried and Maria's annoyed she can't finish her candied sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner. What really happened to those marshmallows? Word Count: 11,743

-----------------------------------

Title: indeed a beautiful thing - Chapter 5 Collaborator: Fluffypanda, justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Identity Porn (Summer) + S3 - On opposing sides (Panda) Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: fantasy AU, fusion AU, anthropomorphic, plot twists, bandits and outlaws, swordfighting Summary: Rebellion is brewing in Velmar and Captain Steven Mouser has been sent to the city of Iron Landing to investigate. He is to secure the cooperation of Lord Stark if he is ever to find the elusive leader of the rebellion, but there is more to both of them than meets the eye. Word Count: 9085

-----------------------------------

Title: Fractures beyond the looking glass - Chapter 4: iv. Collaborator: justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Revenge Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Victorian AU, canon typical violence, gothic romance, supernatural elements, dreams and nightmares Summary: The world spun round and round, the trees blurring past him as Bucky skidded to a stop at the bottom of the hill. He laid on the ground with a gasp, gritting his teeth as his ankle continued to throb with a dull but insistent pain. For minutes or hours, Bucky couldn’t tell, he hobbled as best he could trying to find the familiar path back to the village. However, the impressive outline of Stark Manor had Bucky pausing at the edge of the trees. Everyone in the village knew of the rumours surrounding the estate. These days, people wondered if the infamous Lord Stark still lived there, or if he was merely a ghost story, haunting the halls of the vast manor on the edge of the woods. Word Count: 5939

-----------------------------------

Title: After a long day Collaborator: littlecrazyfangirl_98 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A1 - Intimacy without sex Ship: ThunderIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: fluff, bathing/washing, nonsexual intimacy Summary: After a meeting that went longer than expected,Tony comes home exhausted. His boyfriend already awaits him and helps Tony relax with a nice bath. Word Count: 539

-----------------------------------

Title: To Wed the Dragon Collaborator: Politzania Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - Forced Marriage Ship: IronStrange Rating: Teen Major Tags: fantasy AU, forced marriage, dragon AU, shapeshifter AU, curses Summary: Every spring equinox, the dragon that lives in the mountains north of the kingdom demands its tribute: a quarter-tithe of goods and a consort. Antony Stark has been chosen, and neither he nor the mysterious manservant of the dragon could foresee what the summer will bring. Word Count: 2243

-----------------------------------

Title: Fylgja Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - AU: Angels & Demons Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Angels & Demons AU, Hydra, Tesseract Summary: In Norse mythology, a fylgja (plural fylgjur) is a supernatural being or spirit which accompanies a person in connection to their fate or fortune. Or, Shoulder angels and demons are rare- they exist to work with those who have an important choice to make, one which will have an impact on many people. Word Count: 9761

-----------------------------------

Title: Recover Collaborator: Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa) Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - Howard Stark Ship: Tony and Howard Rating: Gen Major Tags: drabble, Howard’s A+ Parenting, healing Summary: Tony muses about Howard, and the things he learned from him - for the better and for the worse. Drabble. Word Count: 100

-----------------------------------

Title: At the meeting Collaborator: littlecrazyfangirl_98 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Kink: Vibrators Ship: IronStrange Rating: Mature Major Tags: explicit sexual content, D/s undertones Summary: Tony can't concentrate at the meeting. Stephen is to blame. Word Count: 640

-----------------------------------

Title: Drip by Drip Collaborator: ShippersList Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - Character death Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: canon divergence, 5 things, slice of life, chosen family, getting together Summary: Steve’s road to Tony through five cups of coffee.

Word Count: 2109

-----------------------------------

Title: The stranger addition - Chapter 4 Collaborator: Menatiera Link: AO3 Square Filled: S3 - Kink: begging Ship: Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, BDSM, no powers AU, first meeting, Tony POV Summary: “Doll,” Bucky orders quietly. Tony opens his eyes to see Steve reaching for him, stretching his amazing muscles to reach the restraints on his right wrist. It takes a while - Tony writhes with impatience the whole time, and Bucky chuckles, the sound vibrating through Tony’s dick still in his mouth - but then Tony’s hand is free from the bond. Word Count: 8765

-----------------------------------

Title: Beside And Below You Collaborator: camichats Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - Kink: Concubine Ship: IronWinter Rating: Teen Major Tags: royalty AU, established relationship, comfort, jewelry, insecurity Summary: Tony gave Winter a necklace, and he's a little confused as to why Winter isn't wearing it when he comes to his room that night. Word Count: 602

-----------------------------------

Title: Take me to the magic of the moment - Chapter 5: Epilogue Collaborator: Menatiera Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - Happily ever after Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: mild dub-con, explicit sexual content, BDSM, fantasy/magic AU, getting together, happy ending Summary: Sneak peaks of what happened afterwards. Word Count: 14,322

-----------------------------------

Title: Prince Anthony, First of His Name, Protector of the Kingdom, Creator of Miracles, the Iron Knight. Collaborator: Menatiera Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A4 - Royalty Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard, royalty AU Summary: Moodboard of Tony Stark as a prince of a medieval kingdom.

-----------------------------------

Title: Hot Summer Day Collaborator: camichats Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - Heat Fic Ship: IronWidow Rating: Gen Major Tags: established relationship, fluff Summary: Nat wanted to come to the fair, but it's hot outside. Word Count: 521

-----------------------------------

Title: you’re blind, i see (but i’m free) Collaborator: cvdmus Square: S1 — waking up married Rating: teen and up Warnings: none Pairing: Tony Stark/Peter Parker Summary: Tony wakes up and finds himself married to Peter Parker. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20449346 Word Count: 3020

-----------------------------------

Title: Popsicle Collaborator: littlecrazyfangirl_98 Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Popsicle Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: preslash, Tony is a tease Summary: Tony eats a popsicle. Bucky gets frustrated. Word Count: 258

-----------------------------------

Title: Gave You My Heart - Chapter 2: Know I've Made It Home Collaborator: Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa) Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Tension Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Hanahaki disease, hurt Tony Summary: The five times Tony developed Hanahaki disease, because as much as he wanted to, he just couldn't stop loving the wrong people. (When the Rogues come back, they're in for a surprise.) Word Count: 9355

-----------------------------------

Title: A New Life Collaborator: tuesday Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - Nebula Ship: Tony & Nebula Rating: Teen Major Tags: background character death, missing scene Summary: When the Avengers, Nebula, and Rocket return to Earth, Tony is still in his sick bed. Word Count:604

-----------------------------------

Title: K3- Peter Parker/Spider-Man Collaborator: Thudworm Link: A03 Square: K3- Peter Parker/Spider-Man Rating: Gen Pairing: Tony Stark & Peter Parker Warning: N/A Summary: Small snippet of Civil War, if Tony’s identity as Iron Man was a secret from everyone. Word Count: 628 ----------------------------------

Title: Gave You My Heart - Chapter 3: Open Up My Eyes Collaborator: Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa) Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - [picture of Iron Man and Captain America fighting] Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Hanahaki disease, hurt Tony Summary: In which Tony experiences the less fortunate aftereffects of Hanahaki disease when having a talk with the rogues. Word Count: 9355

-----------------------------------

Title: Tale As Old As Time Collaborator: Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa) Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Magic for the Tony Stark Bingo Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: hurt Tony, protective Bucky, magic AU, fairytale AU, Howard’s A+ parenting, safe haven, misunderstandings Summary: Once upon a time... A young prince, an elaborate spell, and a soldier who just wanted to help his friend and ended up in a fairytale he never could've imagined. Word Count: 2622

-----------------------------------

Title: Taking the First Step Collaborator: Judy_The_Dreamer Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Kink: Dom/sub Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: prelude to kink, D/s undertones, getting together, emotional hurt/comfort, sexual content Summary: While going through Tony's closet, Steve discovers a special trunk he wasn't prepared for. It turns out to be the answer to all his prayers. Word Count: 2314

-----------------------------------

Title: Galaxy Tony Collaborator: Menatiera Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R5 - Galaxy Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: Watercolor galaxy silhouette of Iron Man with the white negative of Tony Stark in front of it, quote added digitally over the picture.

-----------------------------------

Title: The Pit-falls of Vampirehood, starring James Barnes and his Major Crush on Steve Rogers - Chapter 6: Family Bonds Collaborator: Judy_The_Dreamer Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - Interspecies Ship: Stucky Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, vampire/werewolf college AU, fluff, meet cute, getting together Summary: Steve and Tony have a talk about love and murder. Word Count: 18,225

-----------------------------------

Collaborator: lbibliophile-mcu Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A5 - image of bruised Tony in the F1 racing suit Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: gifset Summary: Tony is Done with villains interrupting his days off.

-----------------------------------

Title: Holding Out for a Hero Collaborator: mariana_oconnor Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Kink: orgasm denial/edging Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, internalized homophobia, light D/s, Tony has a heart Summary: The serum did a lot of things to Steve, but one thing he hates about it is how sensitive it made him, too sensitive. After it contributes to the end of his relationship with Jan, Tony offers to help him out. Word Count: 36,418

-----------------------------------

Title: No Shit There I was, Undercover in a Gay Bar... Collaborator: LBibliophile Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - Undercover in a gay bar Ship: WinterHawk Rating: Gen Major Tags: preslash, identity porn, deaf Clint Summary: No shit there I was, undercover in a gay bar... and you'll never guess who I ran into and how. Word Count: 1233

-----------------------------------

Title: Never Let Me Go - Chapter 3: All This Devotion Collaborator: Iron_Eirlyssa (Eirlyssa) Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - Wake up! Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: developing relationship, asexual Tony and Bucky, cuddles, panic attacks Summary: As they continue meeting up at night, Tony and Bucky grow closer. Then they find out that they can actually sleep when they're together, and really, what else is there to do but cuddle as they finally find some peace? Word Count: 6884

-----------------------------------

Title: Already a sinner, and I'm an overachiever - Chapter 1 Collaborator: Menatiera Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - kink: collars Ship: Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, established threesome, Extremis, D/s Summary: "Extremis and his arm - that for a long while was a combination solely for Tony's and Bucky's pleasure. He shared Tony in almost every aspect, but this, this was private, this was theirs… His greedy mind recoiled from the idea of sharing until only recently.Lately, Bucky feels that he might be ready to share Tony completely with Steve. They are all together in this relationship after all, but Bucky held back this piece of him from Steve, afraid that Steve wouldn't be able to accept that submissiveness. Just like with Tony, it took Bucky time and effort to work through his fears, but now he’s ready to make that leap of faith. Especially if he doesn't have to do it alone this time. --- Bucky is finally ready to be submissive in front of Steve. Turns out, Bucky wasn't the only one who held back a piece of himself. Tony finally gets to enjoy being in control of both of his boyfriends at the same time, instead of just separately. Word Count: 7649

-----------------------------------

Title: Ghosts of the Past Collaborator: mariana_oconnor Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - panel from the Winter Soldier comics of Tony working on Bucky's arm Ship: Tony & Bucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: Leverage fusion AU, hacker Tony Summary: Tony doesn't know why he didn't see this coming. Looking back it seems inevitable that they would end up going after Stane, that's what their little group does isn't it? They pick up where the law leaves off, and Obadiah Stane is rotten to his core. There's just one problem, no one knows that Tony Edwards is actually Tony Stark, presumed dead two decades ago. Word Count: 1640

-----------------------------------

Title: Already a sinner, and I'm an overachiever - Chapter 2 Collaborator: Menatiera Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - costume porn Ship: Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, established threesome, Extremis, D/s Summary: Steve, Tony and Bucky are all kinky in their own ways. In addition, Steve Rogers Also Thinks Extremis Is Hot. (Apparently.) Word Count: 7649

-----------------------------------

Title: The Weight of Knowing Collaborator: ShippersList Link: AO3 Square Filled: R4 - prison Ship: Tony Stark & Avengers Team Rating: Teen Major Tags: gaslighting, character death, open ending, emotional manipulation Summary: How would your life look like if your worst nightmare came true? Tony Stark is about to find out. Word Count: 2917

-----------------------------------

Collaborator: Thudworm Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A2 - image of the scene from IM1 where Tony is pointing the repulsor at his reflection Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: craft Summary: Iron Man gloves

-----------------------------------

Title: Sentinel Collaborator: justanotherpipedream Link: AO3 Squares Filled: Chapter 1 - A5: Image [Silver haired Tony] Chapter 2 - T3: Writing Format - Missing Scene/Epilogue/Coda Chapter 3 - S4: Fluff Chapter 4 - T5: Body Swap Ship: Tony & Nebula Rating: Gen Major Tags: drabbles, missing scene, fluff, hurt/comfort Summary: After Tony and Nebula return to Earth, Nebula keeps an eye on her new friend. Word Count: 400

-----------------------------------

Title: If Only I Could Feel You Collaborator: deathofthestars Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - I hate magic Ship: Stuckony Rating: Teen Major Tags: magic, battle, injury, ghosts, angst Summary: When a fight with Loki end with Tony being seriously injured Steve and Bucky are left reeling. Word Count: 539

-----------------------------------

Title: Soar in the sky (with me) - Chapter 5: Run boy run Collaborator: Menatiera Link: AO3 Square Filled: K3 - Afghanistan trip gone wrong (again) Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: soulmate AU, wing AU, Winter Soldier, angst with a happy ending, hurt/comfort, getting together Summary: "The Asset was suddenly entirely sure that the kid was like him. He couldn’t track down the origin of that thought, or the base of this feeling of similarity, but ultimately it didn’t matter. It was instinct like battle-readiness, like the anticipation of the next move of an opponent before his conscious brain could catch on." *** "He didn't move for a moment, too surprised. This position was too sudden and too much - the closeness wouldn't have been a problem for him, Tony was used to his private space being invaded, but the fucking wing outstretched over him made it into a nest, caring and intimate. Tony was used to sudden closeness, had been in just enough parties with drunk university students, even if this environment wasn't where he would've expected something like that. What was truly shocking, though, was the lack of visceral reaction from him." They have met more than once. It wasn't their fault that it took decades for them to come around, though. Word Count: 12,254

-----------------------------------

Title: A different take on the Iron Fam Collaborator: Menatiera Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R2 - [image: Tony & Nat at IM2 party] Ship: Tony & Natasha, BuckyNat Rating: Teen Major Tags: moodboard, plot summary, mention of abuse Summary: Moodboard + summary. Natasha as Tony’s little sister, getting together with Bucky.

-----------------------------------

Title: Younger but just as in love Collaborator: camichats Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1-Teenage Tony Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Gen Major Tags: deaging, established relationship, Avengers Family, married couple Summary: Tony gets de-aged, and they're all unreasonably surprised that the best way to keep him in control is to bring in Rhodey. Word Count: 826

-----------------------------------

Title: About A Little Boy That Lived In A Blue World - Chapter 5: Candlelight Collaborator: camichats Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Kink: Candles Ship: FrostIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Arranged marriage, first kiss, first time, explicit sexual content, past abuse, misunderstandings, getting together Summary: Loki doesn't really have experience with candles, so he orders a couple to try them out. Word Count: 11,537

-----------------------------------

Title: Never Promised You A Rose Collaborator: MagicaDraconia16 Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - AU: Flower Shop Ship: Tony & Stephen Rating: Gen Major Tags: humor, flowershop AU Summary: Stephen Strange has had to buy numerous bunches of apology flowers because - according to Christine - he just can't help being an asshole to her. He knows what she likes. At least, he does . . . right up until this annoying flower shop owner tells him differently. Word Count: 1008

-----------------------------------

Title: Preying On You Tonight Collaborator: Gothic_Lolita Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Animals Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: modern setting AU, past sexual abuse, protective Tony, mildly dark Tony, flirting, first meeting Summary: Tony was almost ready to go home after an uneventful night at the bar. But luckily, he stayed long enough to swoop in and save a damsel in distress, just in time. He also got to flirt with the damsel too, but that wasn't as important. Word Count: 630

-----------------------------------

Title: In The Woods Collaborator: Lacrimula_Falsa Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - AU: Fantasy World Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: drabble, fantasy AU, dragons, harpies, implied relationship Summary: A dragon and a harpy went to look for a shield. Word Count: 100

-----------------------------------

Title: Scaredy Cat Collaborator: Lacrimula_Falsa Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - Bathing / showering together Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: holidays, fluff, laughter, dorks in love Summary: Tony and Steve go midnight “swimming”. Word Count: 1393

-----------------------------------

Title: No Pets Allowed Collaborator: Cinnamon_Anemone Link: AO3 Square Filled: A1 - Adopting A Pet Ship: Bucky & Tony Rating: Gen Major Tags: accidental pet fic, Tony has a heart Summary: Tony Stark is not a cat person. Word Count: 768

-----------------------------------

Collaborator: snarkysnartes Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K1 - AU: artist/muse Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: The second that Tony moved in Steve had found that his inspiration sky rocketed. When they were going out, ofcourse he had a few bursts of inspiration there and Steve managed to draw something after months. However, once Tony was fully in his home, walking around and cooking him breakfast Steve found himself drawing a lot more than he usually did. The first time, the first actual picture had been done on accident. Tony was telling a story and Steve just began … well, sketching. After that, Steve didn’t put the pen down.

-----------------------------------

Title: Trouble With A Capital T (And That Stands For "Tiny") - Chapter 1: Honey, we shrunk the genius Collaborator: Cinnamon_Anemone Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - De-Aged!Tony Ship: minor Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: deaging, actual good dad Howard, protective Bucky, kid Tony, AI Tony Summary: Tony is five. Panic ensues. Word Count: 14,568

-----------------------------------

Title: Out for a Swim Collaborator: romancebyfaye Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K5 - merpeople Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: Tony spots something interesting while out Bucky, his octo-mer boyfriend.

-----------------------------------

Title: 01000001 Tales of Siberian Nights - Chapter 1 Collaborator: ceealaina, feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: For Cee, A5 - holiday fic Ship: pre-WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: canonical character death, Howard’s A+ parenting, implied/referenced brainwashing, Bucky needs a hug, 5 + 1, silver fox Summary: Or, alternatively, Five Times The Winter Soldier Glitched Out, and One Time Bucky Barnes Understood Perfectly. A 'Maria Lives' AU told in vignettes. Word Count: 8416

---------------------------------

Title: It's Not Gay If It's A Cover For My Secret Identity (yes it is) Collaborator: Cinnamon_Anemone Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - Pretend Couple Ship: Gene Khan/Tony Stark Rating: Gen Major Tags: fake/pretend relationship, identity porn, Tony is an idiot, teenage drama, puppy love Summary: What do you do when you’re secretly a teenage superhero and you’re worried your best friend’s mom is going to figure it out and ground you? Start fake-dating your supervillain archnemesis/high school crush and use him as your cover story, obviously. (For the record, I really, really wanted to make the title of this fic "YOU ARE BEING SUMMoned TO ROACH PROM." Not sure if that would have been better or worse.) Word Count: 1635

-----------------------------------

Title: 01000001 Tales of Siberian Nights - Chapter 2 Collaborator: ceealaina, feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: for Fey, A5 - FRIDAY Ship: pre-WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: canonical character death, Howard’s A+ parenting, implied/referenced brainwashing, Bucky needs a hug, 5 + 1, silver fox Summary: Or, alternatively, Five Times The Winter Soldier Glitched Out, and One Time Bucky Barnes Understood Perfectly. A 'Maria Lives' AU told in vignettes. Word Count: 8416

---------------------------------

Title: Trouble With A Capital T (And That Stands For "Tiny") - Chapter 2: Time travel: not even once Collaborator: Cinnamon_Anemone Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Plot Twist Ship: minor Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: accidental pet fic, Tony has a heart deaging, actual good dad Howard, protective Bucky, kid Tony, AI Tony Summary: Introducing Pepper, Rhodey, Stephen, Howard, and a very special surprise. Word Count: 14,568

-----------------------------------

Title: 01000001 Tales of Siberian Nights - Chapter 4 Collaborator: ceealaina, feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: for Fey, K3 - Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier Ship: pre-WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: canonical character death, Howard’s A+ parenting, implied/referenced brainwashing, Bucky needs a hug, 5 + 1, silver fox Summary: Or, alternatively, Five Times The Winter Soldier Glitched Out, and One Time Bucky Barnes Understood Perfectly. A 'Maria Lives' AU told in vignettes. Word Count: 8416

---------------------------------

Title: Inappropriate Suggestion [!Art] Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange (DepressingGreenie) Link: AO3 Square Filled: A5 - crack Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: art, slime monster Summary: Steve and Tony had just finished fighting a giant slime creature. Tony has some ideas for the post-mission celebration.

-----------------------------------

Title: 01000001 Tales of Siberian Nights - Chapter 5 Collaborator: ceealaina, feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: for Cee, R2 - Missing You Ship: pre-WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: canonical character death, Howard’s A+ parenting, implied/referenced brainwashing, Bucky needs a hug, 5 + 1, silver fox Summary: Or, alternatively, Five Times The Winter Soldier Glitched Out, and One Time Bucky Barnes Understood Perfectly. A 'Maria Lives' AU told in vignettes. Word Count: 8416

-----------------------------------

Title: Confessions [!Art] Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange (DepressingGreenie) Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - gossip press Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: art, relationship reveal Summary: Tony decides to confirm the rumours that have been circulating in the press about his relationship with Steve. Yes, they are dating, and he loves his Steve very much.

-----------------------------------

Title: 01000001 Tales of Siberian Nights - Chapter 6 Collaborator: ceealaina, feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: for Fey, A2 - AU: Sci-Fi/Futuristic Ship: pre-WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: canonical character death, Howard’s A+ parenting, implied/referenced brainwashing, Bucky needs a hug, 5 + 1, silver fox Summary: Or, alternatively, Five Times The Winter Soldier Glitched Out, and One Time Bucky Barnes Understood Perfectly. A 'Maria Lives' AU told in vignettes. Word Count: 8416

---------------------------------

Title: Trouble With A Capital T (And That Stands For "Tiny") - Chapter 3: Iron Man: now available on Google Cloud! Collaborator: Cinnamon_Anemone Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: minor Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: deaging, actual good dad Howard, protective Bucky, kid Tony, AI Tony Summary: Tony is not a secret lovechild, but he is a computer program, and also there are two of him. Wait, what? Word Count: 14,568

---------------------------------

Title: A Walk Through The Fields [!Art] Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange (DepressingGreenie) Link: AO3 Square Filled: S3 - Fantasy AU Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: art, dwarf Tony, elf Steve, established relationship Summary: Steve and Tony talk a walk together though the nearby flower fields.

-----------------------------------

Title: Pining Paintings Collaborator: JacarandaBanyan Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Picture of Tony on a magazine cover Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: pining, artist Steve, tabloids, Skrulls Summary: Come on, Steve thought, how hard does it have to be to find a picture of Tony that hasn’t been photoshopped to the moon and back? He glared at the magazine rack as though he could peal back the layers of digital editing with nothing but the heat of his disapproval. The kicker was that Tony was already gorgeous and photogenic as hell. When natural perfection landed in your lap like that, you didn’t mess with it. But beggars can't be choosers, so he picked one of the less egregious examples off the rack and got into line for the register to pay for it. Bright yellow front running along the bottom promised more photos inside. Perhaps there’d be one or two that had escaped the airbrush. Steve pines so hard for Tony while he's away that he stalls the Kree Supreme Intelligence Word Count: 4735

-----------------------------------

Title: He Did Okay [!Art] Collaborator: DarthBloodOrange (DepressingGreenie) Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - all's well that ends well Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: One of my favourite MCU Tony moments.

-----------------------------------

Title: S3- Future Fic Collaborator: thudworm Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - Future Fic Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Endgame, time travel Summary: It's becoming very clear to Tony that something strange is going on. Loki managed to escape with the tesseract, someone messed with the arc reactor, and Steve has some concerning information to share. Alt-2012 Avengers timeline fic. Word Count: 3515

-----------------------------------

Title: Your Rescuer for This Evening Collaborator: mariana_oconnor Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - Clint Barton/Hawkeye Ship: Indries Moomji/Tony, IronHawk Rating: Teen Major Tags: bad date, rescue mission, meet-cute Summary: The restaurant's discrete, the food is expensive and Tony's date is getting later by the minute. When a stranger sits down at his table, things get a lot more interesting. Word Count: 1665

-----------------------------------

Title: Insight offered (and sorely needed) Collaborator: ShippersList Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Amnesia Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: domestic Avengers, character injury, temporary amnesia, oblivious Tony, getting together Summary: Clint always said he sees better from a distance. Does amnesia count? Word Count: 1353

-----------------------------------

Title: E.D.I.T.H. Collaborator: celtic7irish Link: AO3 Square Filled: S3 - Afterlife/Ascension Ship: MIT Bros Rating: Gen Major Tags: post-Endgame, not a fixit, ghost Tony Summary: “Dammit, Tony,” Rhodey muttered, “what the hell were you thinking?” “I was thinking that I shouldn’t have listened to the wizard,” Tony spoke up from where he was walking next to Rhodey, his footsteps eerily silent. “There’s always another option. I just didn’t have time to find it.” Word Count: 2734

-----------------------------------

Title: The Cat Crept In Collaborator: Lacrimula_Falsa Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Cat!Tony Ship: Steve & Tony Rating: Teen Major Tags: fantasy AU, witchcraft AU, magic AU, familiars, fluff and humor Summary: There where two things that had always made Tony's existence needlessly difficult: his big heart and his insatiable curiosity. Never had that been more apparent than when he not only became but stayed the familiar of an unbelievably incompetent witch. Word Count: 2161

-----------------------------------

Title: Bubbles Collaborator: mariana_oconnor Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Bathing/Showering together Ship: Stuckony Rating: Teen Major Tags: bubble bath, no sex, nonsexual intimacy, fluff Summary: It's been a hell of a day, Tony, Steve and Bucky take a bath together to unwind. Word Count: 863

-----------------------------------

Title: Z-z-z Collaborator: Lacrimula_Falsa Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Sharing A Bed Ship: Stuckony Rating: Gen Major Tags: drabble, fluff Summary: Tony's secret superpower is being an adorable sleeper. Word Count: 100

-----------------------------------

Title: Cherry For Two (And Something New) Collaborator: Lacrimula_Falsa Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - free square Ship: Steve & Tony Rating: Teen Major Tags: Wreck It Ralph fusion Summary: Power-ups and nostalgia. And something new and shiny. Word Count: 638

-----------------------------------

Title: Let The Present Wash Away Memories of the Past Collaborator: celtic7irish Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - Flashbacks Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: flashbacks, past character death, Tony feels Summary: Watching the coming storm, Tony finds himself trapped in memories of the past. Lucky for him, he's surrounded by those that love him. Word Count: 859

-----------------------------------

Title: Everything and Nothing Collaborator: lbibliophile-mcu Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T1 - Jealousy Ship: none Rating: Teen Major Tags: drabble Word Count: 100

-----------------------------------

Title: Pilot and Mechanic Collaborator: MagpieWords Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - a still from the MCU of Tony sitting underneath the torso of the armor while he works on it. Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: IM1, physical health issues, fluff Summary: The slow kiss jolted apart and Tony gave a manic grin. “You.” “Me?” "You’re a pilot and you’re the only person I trust with my tech. You’re perfect.” Word Count: 7508

-----------------------------------

Title: Wrong About You Collaborator: MagpieWords Link: AO3 Square Filled: T3 - Missing Scene Ship: Tony & Natasha Rating: Gen Major Tags: BroTP, missing scene, beginning of a friendship, Avengers Tower Summary: Missing scene for how Tony Stark goes from being spied on by Natalie Rushman to being teammates with Natasha Romanoff Word Count: 951

-----------------------------------

Title: Ain't That a Kick in the Head - Chapter 7: You Never Can Tell Collaborator: Faustess Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 – Marriage Ship: Bucky & Tony, Bucky/Maria Hill Rating: Mature Major Tags: dad Bucky, deaged Tony, BAMF Maria, protective Bucky, Tony needs a hug, enemies to friends, pre-relationship Summary: Nearly six months later... Tony wasn’t hiding. Of course, he hadn’t spoken to Bucky since last December and hadn’t talked to Maria since February. It had been months and the humid heat of this mid-August evening didn’t help his nerves at all. How do you apologize for being such a jerk to the people who raised you? Word Count: 16,459

-----------------------------------

Title: Trust Me, I've Tried Collaborator: MagpieWords Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Prison Ship: Tony & Natasha Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: Endgame compliant, major character death, purgatory, PTSD, coping, alcohol, afterlife Summary: Hell wasn’t a cave in the desert. It wasn’t a wormhole in space. No, hell would have been this massive, empty house, all by himself. “We never stood a chance.” Word Count: 3000

-----------------------------------

Title: Villain Meatloaf Collaborator: Lacrimula_Falsa Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Interrupted by SuperVillains Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: drabble, weddings, supervillain Summary: Bad timing, Victor. Word Count: 100

-----------------------------------

Title: My Own Brew Collaborator: celtic7irish Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: coffee shop AU, college AU, pre-relationship, Sam and Rhodey are good bros Summary: “Rhodey,” Tony whined, glaring up at the shop sign, “why are we here again?” His friend grinned at him. “Because this place has the best coffee in town,” he told Tony, for probably the sixth time in the last ten minutes. And yet it didn’t seem to be dampening his cheer in the least. “No,” Tony protested. “No. Jumpstart has the best coffee. I should know.”Rhodey grinned. “Trust me,” he countered, and Tony rolled his eyes, but acquiesced. Besides, they were already here. “Fine. But you’re paying,” he told Rhodey, who just chuckled. “Always do!” Word Count: 1005

-----------------------------------

Title: Where The Masks Don’t Matter Collaborator: MagpieWords Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - KINK:Dom/sub Ship: Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Genderswap, BDSM, explicit sexual content Summary: “How ya doin’, genius?” She was supposed to be halfway to a bruised ass and an orgasm by now. “I’m bored. What else have you got for me?” Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes give Toni Stark exactly what she asks for. Word Count: 5562

-----------------------------------

Title: Make Some Noise Collaborator: MagpieWords Link: AO3 Square Filled: S5 - KINK:Hatesex Ship: WinterIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: rockstar AU, hate sex, explicit sexual content Summary: Bucky could happily perform at this festival forever- if only the EDM group across the way would stop stealing his music. If Iron Man wont stop when Bucky asks nicely, he'll have to deal with the problem a little less nicely. Word Count: 5516

-----------------------------------

Title: Talk to the Hand Collaborator: bag_of_catZY (catZY) Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - [image of Tony Stark from Iron Man 1 in a tank top with his armored glove up] Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: When cornered by a Hydra agent, Tony knows just what to say...

-----------------------------------

Title: Fight Me Collaborator: bag_of_catZY (catZY) Link: AO3 Square Filled: S4 - [image of Earth's Mightiest Heroes boxing scene between Steve and Tony] Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: ABO, non-traditional, explicit sexual content Summary: Tony has an unusual idea of foreplay for heat sex. Steve's nothing if not adaptable. Word Count: 2899

#tonystarkbingo2019 #tonystarkbingo #weekly roundup #week 30 #week 30 roundup

1 note · View note