#and wilson makes mistakes in how to love house because of his own issues with codependency and enabling

[thefandomlesbian]

House always believed in unconditional love.

His first action of the series was to do something he didn't want to do for someone he loved. His opening scene as a character was taking a case for Wilson.

Through the Tritter arc, House was the only one who didn't come down impossibly hard on Wilson for his choice. He opened his skull and nearly died to try to save the love of Wilson's life. He bent over backward to keep Wilson from committing career suicide on multiple occasions. He went to rehab for Wilson. He died for Wilson, metaphorically, and will die with Wilson, literally.

House always believed in unconditional love.

He never believed he deserved to be loved unconditionally. And he probably never will.

do you think house believes in unconditional love now

[all-pacas]

Can you talk more about Chase and Wilson being similar? Or did I see it in another blog,and am mistaking things?

No, that was me!

I'll preface by saying that, while I don't think it's a stretch, it is less obvious and blatant than the Cameron-Cuddy and Foreman-House parallels; part of this is because Chase is actually a fairly minor character until S6 or so (compare the storylines the others get compared to his). Both Cameron and Foreman get arcs comparing them to Cuddy and House respectively, and are given relationships with the two; Chase and Wilson by contrast hardly ever speak.

But… it's still there.

I think you see it best in the roles the two characters play on the show. Wilson acts not quite as House's conscious, but as a sounding board and almost reluctant therapist at times: in many episodes, his job is to come in and lay out House's mental state for the audience. He delights in psycho-analyzing House, and is generally portrayed as being right (even if House rarely takes Wilson's advice). And… that's the same as Chase, with the team, even with House. He has the uncanny habit of calling out Foreman and Cameron on their issues (more trollishly than Wilson's usual sincerity); he is, for example, the one who talks to Foreman when Foreman is struggling with being in charge in S2, or who Cameron talks to about her crush on House. We hardly ever see Cameron and Foreman have these conversations with one another; Chase is the default. But it's more than Chase being a sounding board, just as Wilson is hardly a sounding board: both are perceptive, just as likely to call out and accuse as listen and give advice.

Beyond that, the two are still more similar than they're given credit for. Wilson and Chase are both notorious in-universe for their polite facades: Wilson is better at it, but Chase's accusations of being two-faced are the same thing: they put on polite and charming exteriors to mask their inner cynicism and apathy. Both are good at using their charm (and smarm) to manipulate: it's highlighted often with Wilson, but House actually turns to Chase for schemes and "sneakiness" surprisingly often: in S1 in particular, there's a few casual mentions of Chase being the person on the team with the task of talking down angry patients or convincing them to do a particular treatment (Paternity, Damned if You Do).

There's something also to be said about how Wilson and Chase treat romantic relationships. Wilson runs into marriage after marriage trying to fix and be there for his wives (a role Chase actually performs with Cameron, often doing a lot of the emotional labor in that relationship), but Wilson never… really seems to connect with his partners, is never entirely happy in love. Chase has the same struggle after his divorce, not just sleeping around but dating multiple women, wanting connection and failing to find it.

I think you can also see it a bit in Chase's S4/5 Boundaries Era: at a time when Foreman is still being groomed to take over for House, and Cameron is given an arc of learning to be Dean of Medicine, Chase… has his own job, is the best surgeon in the hospital, seems to be put on a path of being his own department head, wildly capable and able to help out but in his own sphere. Again, Wilson parallels.

Both Wilson and Chase are eager to please and eager to be liked, and just as eager to toss aside their morals and sense of self to make their own lives easier (Chase and Wilson have both had affairs with patients). They're both perceptive, and prone to calling out and exposing the inner workings of the people around them. They're both in House's orbit and deeply connected to his world, while being presented as "separate" from Diagnostics in a way the rest of the team aren't; they're both surprisingly manipulative and pragmatic under boyish, charming exteriors. And, crucially, they both like House. It's not to say that the others don't, but where Foreman's relationship to House is a complicated push-pull of mentorship and rivalry and admiration and dislike, and Cameron's admiration and love/former love are always a complicating factor in their relationship… Chase just, to use his own words, likes the guy. He thinks House is funny. He is neither trapped in House's orbit, unable to escape, or resentful after leaving: he likes House, but is able to move on from Diagnostics (in S1-5) and have a purely voluntary relationship with him. Again, much like Wilson.

There's quite a lot. It should be talked about more!

[anawrites3]

I want someone (not me) to write a Bodyguard!Sladick fic - but in a very specific way (I'll probs end up writing this unless someone beats me to it (pls beat me to it someone, I can't commit to another WIP))

Basically, someone kills Bruce Wayne. And not because he's batman, but because he's rich af and refuses to sell his land in Gotham (bc yk, bro can't sell the fucking batcave and all his safe houses full of Batmerch). But no one knows who killed Bruce and why but they all believe it's because they found out Batman's identity and needed him out of the way for something.

21 year old Dick Grayson, who hasn't spoken to Bruce or had anything to do with the Batfam for two years, is asked to come back for Bruce's funeral and reading of the Will. Turns out, Bruce left everything - and I mean everything; cape and all - to Dick. Dick is now The Batman, the leader of the JL, the billionaire, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, and also the legal guardian of not one, not two, but three kids. Jason and Tim was understandable, but Bruce never mentioned to Dick about having a kid with Talia al Ghul of all people. In all fairness, Damian was only dropped off at Bruce's feet two months ago. (Note that I'm fucking around with the Batboy's ages. Thus, Jason is 16 (bro died young), Tim is 14(bro was crazy stalking so young), and Damian in 9(bro is just young))

The killer, however, is still at large, and is now targeting Dick, the new Prince of Gotham, and his kids. But Batman (Dick) can't get involved just yet, the Batfam don't know what exactly the killers knows about them and Batman - it's too risky. But Dick can't just not do anything. So he calls the one person he knows will keep his family safe - for the right price, obvs.

Dick has money to play with and Slade loves a good game.

Basically they make a contract that issues Deathstroke as the bodyguard of the Grayson-Wayne Family until Bruce's killer is handled.

Only, Slade comes with his own baggage (aka a 9 yr old Rose Wilson) and Dick is stuck training (aka raising) another kid. But that's fine, because Slade ends up being less of Dick's bodyguard (let's face it, the kid can handle himself), and more of Dick's bodyguard-with-benefits/mentor/business partner/mental-support-bestie/drinking-buddy/private-chef/co-parent/stay-at-home-husband/love-of-his-life.

They get very domestic in this fic. And Slade has to wear a three-piece suit when following Dick around as he plays Gotham's Billion Dollar Prince and Dick can't stop riding him in the back of the Batmobile because Slade looks waaaaay too good in a suit.

But raising kids is hard, especially when you're 21. So Dick faces a lot of challenges in this fic - like his undead brother, Jason, trying to come to terms with Bruce dying right after they started to mend their relationship, and Tim who was just recently fired as Robin after one simple mistake, and his new rage at Bruce for that and dying (he refuses to believe his dead), and fuck - the nine year old assassin and grandson of Ra's al Ghul, Damian, who never truly had the pleasure (misfortune?) of knowing his father. Than there's Rose Wilson, who doesn't really know English all that well and is dealing with the trauma of watching her mother die before her.

So Dick has to really step up - as a business man, as a leader, as Batman, and as a father.

Luckily he's got Slade, who fuck's like he fights. It tuff that Dick is quickly falling in love with Slade, and Rose, who he can't help but see as his kid, too.

Oh I love this idea so much, its great!! I would love to read it as well ahaha and I might write something 👀👀 but it's a big project so I wouldn't be able to do the whole thing

But you can let me know if you have any fav/special scene in mind (or a few 😌) and I might write it. You can also check out my commission info if that's what you'd preffer and you're able to afford it!

I love bodyguard Slade stories, I'm a sucker for those honestly haha and I love how here he's protecting not only Dick but the whole family. And its just so delicious that Dick hasn't talked to Bruce in so long and now he's thrown back into his life- but Bruce is dead and Dick has to take on the mantle and help the city and raise three kids and keep them all alive and not go crazy and-

I love that you're making it even more messy and difficult for Dick by putting Rose in the middle of it too lmao. I can already imagine all the trouble the family would have together

Slade wearing a three piece is a sight and I don't blame Dick at all 🙈🙈 But seriously, I adore their relationship in this, it's so complex and complicated. I can imagine them bonding over some whisky when the kids are deep asleep and Dick getting frustrated with what his life is now and Slade just letting him cry while holding him close AGHH SO GOOD

Thank you for sharing! Again, its a great idea and I'd love to play with it a bit if you allow me 🤗💕

[demonsandmischief]

Misunderstanding

Marvel - A Bucky Barnes Imagine

Bucky Barnes x Female Reader, 1.1K Words

A misunderstanding causes a rift in your relationship.

----

Six hours.

It had been six hours since you had last seen Bucky Barnes. Considering you had lived together for the past few months, it felt like a long time.

He had walked right out the front door without looking back, and you were not sure he was ever going to come home.

You didn't even know what you did. That was the worst part. Somehow, it was all your fault that he was gone, but you didn't even know why. You had created every imaginable situation in your head, stressed yourself to several breakdowns, and yet, you were still clueless.

The thing about Bucky was he was not a man of many words, so when he came storming through the house, it had shocked you more than anything. To your surprise, he had blamed you for the cause of his reaction.

He never answered his stupid old phone.

The house was eerily quiet. It was like your world had shifted from full color to black and white.

You wiped away the tears with the back of your hand, probably for the millionth time. Was it even worth it to cry over?

Yes, absolutely. You loved Bucky with all your heart. All you wanted was him. You wanted to walk through the front door and explain what happened. If he wanted to break up after that, it would be easier to handle then this. What could you have possibly done to cause such a brash reaction from a relatively collected man?

It had to be close to midnight. You had been drifting in and out of a terrible sleep. It felt like you hadn't slept in days.

Bucky's t-shirt was the only thing that brought you comfort.

The opening of the front door had you jolting awake in a panic. You hated being alone in the house.

You clutched the blanket tightly as you heard the sound of boots on the hard wood. You were still half-asleep, but just as terrified.

When your bedroom door opened, you screamed. The lights flicked on and Bucky stood there looking very annoyed.

"Bucky, you scared the shit out of me," you groaned, clutching your head that throbbed from the harsh light.

"I can tell," he grumbled. He looked awful, but you imagined you looked the same. You were so very relieved to see him.

"What are you doing here?" you asked. It was obvious he wasn't there for you.

"I live here," he said, walking to the closet. "I just came to get some stuff."

You could feel your wounded heart shrivel painfully in your chest. Tears blurred your vision.

"Can you please tell me what I did?" you whispered, praying he heard you because you knew you wouldn't have the strength to say it again.

It was quiet except for the sound of clothes getting pulled off hangers and the sound of the dresser drawers opening.

Tears spilled onto your cheeks and you did not bother to brush them away this time.

He emerged finally, a duffle on his shoulder. "I overheard you talking."

"You what?" your voice cracked, and you sniffled.

"On the phone, with your friend."

You furrowed your brows, thinking back.

"Yeah, when he says 'what if I'm a bad guy not a hero' or whatever. So stupid," you giggled, trying to pull the silly movie quotes from your head.

"There's one in the in other movies where Bella says something about hurting Edward. I don't know, but I need Edward quotes," your friend whined on the phone. "Who would have thought a psychology class would make me analyze Twilight?"

"Stand-offish and possessive equals awkward and cringe-y. I have so many words to describe," you said, remembering the way you barely made it through the first movie. "There's the one about the 'I'm designed to kill' you know what I'm talking about?"

"That's a good one. Thanks for the help. We should totally rewatch these movies after this."

"James Buchanan Barnes," you groaned. You didn't even know he had been listening to your conversation. You definitely understood how it sounded like you were talking about him. "Did you really think I would talk about you like that? You should have asked me for an explanation before you stormed off."

Bucky dropped his bag, and moved to the bed.

"I was talking about a movie, Bucky. A stupid movie, that was all. I can't believe-" you shook your head. All of this time. What did that say about his trust in you?

"I'm sorry," Bucky said slowly. "I guess I was looking for a reason for it to be too good to be true."

"I was just - I was doing everything I could to show you how much I loved and cared about you. I can't believe you would think I would talk about you like that. I thought you knew how much I adored you." You rubbed your eyes that burned from crying so much.

"I shouldn't have assumed," he said, finally looking at you. You caught a glimpse of his sad, stormy eyes, full of insecurities and vulnerabilities.

"Mistakes happen," you whispered. "I would never, ever talk badly about you. I love you."

You scooted closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around you. He put his face in your neck, releasing a shaky breath. This had really taken a toll on him.

You threaded your fingers through his hair.

"I understand if you hate me," he said, pulling back, and tugging you between his thighs.

"I could never. I love you," you repeated.

"I love you," he said back finally. "I missed you. I won't leave without talking to you again." He tightened his grip, squishing you to his chest.

"Good," you smiled slightly. You were glad to get this cleared up, but it was still so ridiculous.

"Go ahead and laugh," Bucky huffed, a crooked smile of his own just barely breaking through.

You released the giggle you had been holding in. "I'm going to make you watch the movie so you can see how ridiculous this was."

"I do feel like an idiot. I've wasted the day I could have spent with you," he admitted, running a hand along your face.

"Everybody has insecurities and doubts. These things happen." You nuzzled his hand.

You thought you'd be more hurt, but you were so relieved to have him hear you out, to have him here with you.

"So understanding and sweet," he mumbled, bending his head and brushing his lips with yours. "I'm so lucky to have you in my life. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for your love."

Your heart swelled with his sweet confession. "You're my everything, Bucky. I was so scared of being without you."

He rubbed your back, kissing your forehead with a content sigh, "You'll never be without me. I promise to do better."

----

A/N: I was listening to a sad playlist and then this happened. Soft insecure Bucky 🥺 no but figuring out where you stand in a relationship is hard work and things happened. It was hard to find something that could cause a serious issue and I think this worked out pretty well. Poor Buck doesn't know twilight - but I bet Sam Wilson does 😭

What did you think? I'd love to know.

[exyrpf]

best stucky fic recs pwease

Okay, disclaimer, these are all like five+ years old (which is the best Stucky era, imo) and definitely not the only ones I enjoy; these are just a few in my bookmarks on ao3.

In no particular order besides the order I bookmarked them and under a read more because there's a shit ton of them (really, it's a lot):

- hold me until we crumble; Not Rated, 23k

“Sam told me you were watching Antiques Roadshow,” Natasha says, shaking out her hair. “I assumed it was a national emergency.”

- despite the threatening sky and shuddering earth (they remained); Explicit, 72k

“They really didn’t want the mask to come off.” Hill thumbed through the scans, and pulled out a film that she then handed over to Sam, face mostly expressionless but for the flat line of her pursed lips.

Sam accepted the film and held it up to the light, angling so both he and Steve could see it, squinting at the outline of the Winter Soldier’s skull, and the blips of unnatural white that showed up, God, in his brain, not to mention about half his teeth, plus the mask, with its thin protrusions—

“Those are pins,” Steve realized. He looked over at Hill. “The mask—it’s nailed to his face.”

Hill’s face was as unmoved as ever. “Like I said. They really didn’t want it coming off.”

- family means no one gets left behind or forgotten; Teen, 11k

“Why did you think I wouldn’t like you for being gay?” Steve asks gently.

“You’re Captain America.” Eli’s got his teeth clenched and is resolutely looking ahead. “You stand for truth and justice and the American way. You stand for American morals. You stand for…” he shrugs awkwardly. “Not people like me.”

Steve blows the air out of his cheeks slowly, trying to figure out how to keep the anger out of his voice so Eli doesn’t think it’s at him.

Or, Steve comes to terms with his new world, and gains some children in the process.

- Mistake on the Part of Nature; Teen, 1.3k

Steve takes in Bucky's betrayed look and Sam's confusion, follows Sam's gaze to the pile of mangled fruit in the trash can. Sudden comprehension fills his face.

"Oh," he says. "Bucky found out about bananas."

In which an American icon is mourned. But probably not the one you're thinking of.

- Swear Jar; Teen, 1.5k

Bucky isn't the only troll in the future.

OR

Steve has a Swear Jar and he makes the Avengers pay up every time they cuss.

- Barnes & Rogers and the Goddamn Truth; Not Rated, 19k

There are three well-known facts at Shield High:

1. The history teacher Mr. Barnes is a stone-cold terror, and it’s not even because he only has one arm. 2. The other history teacher, Mr. Rogers, is a mysterious enigma, and it’s something to do with the body of a Greek God and contradicting stories of his past. (They’re all rumours, anyway.) 3. Mr Barnes and Mr Rogers hate each other.

Bucky wouldn’t have it any other way.

- perfectly right wrong number; Teen, 32k

It all starts because Steve is too dumb to handle his smartphone.

A wrong number AU in which Bucky Barnes doesn't enter Steve's life (meaning: Bucky wasn't born until the eighties, but Steve is still Captain America) until Steve accidentally dials the wrong number. Wherein there is a lot of texting, some advice via Natasha and Darcy, a bit of pining, and a first date in an amusement park. Oh, and on top of being a disabled veteran, Bucky is a professional catwalker. Literally.

- The power of the right shirt (a.k.a. God bless America); Teen, 1.2k

"He just…" Phil trails off, mouth gaping. He is staring at the field outside the house, eyes glazed.

Clint sighs. "Yeah, he just ripped a log in two with his bare hands."

- To fill it up with something; Teen, 21k

A fateful encounter with Dr. Strange leaves the Winter Soldier transformed, and Bucky Barnes reunites with Steve Rogers in a most unexpected way.

“Steve brings the puppy inside, into the apartment that doesn't quite feel like home no matter how much he's been trying. He isn't used to being alone. Before the war, he always had Bucky, and his mother until her death. During the war, Bucky was there, too—and the rest of the Howlers, of course—but Bucky always meant home. (And well, maybe Steve's already got a name for the puppy in mind)."

- build it bigger than the sun; Teen, 10k

“Yeah, because nothing says heteronormative like living in Dupont Circle for two years and wearing skin-tight shirts to hit on hot airmen when you go running in the morning.”

“Look, I know you’re being sarcastic but I really don’t get how no one picked up on that.”

Steve and Bucky try to work out their relationship. The Avengers keep getting in the way.

- Memories Circle (Like Birds of Prey), Teen, 32k

Everything seems to be going right, Steve's fighting with his Commandos, they've saving lives-- until Steve falls from a train, is taken prisoner, and turned into the Winter Soldier. Meanwhile, Bucky takes up Steve's mantle as Captain America, and thanks to Zola's experiments, he gets dropped into a whole new time, only to cross paths with a Steve who doesn't know who he is anymore.

Essentially, the events of CA:TFA, mild mentioning of Avengers, and CA:TWS but with Steve as the Winter Soldier and Bucky as Captain America

- The Gentleness That Comes; Mature, 9k

Steve Rogers never really views the things he had to do to get by before the War with any sort of shame or embarrassment. People ask him for his opinions on modern issues in interviews, but Steve has gotten good at talking around those types of questions. Fury insists that there's no way to answer them without casting a shadow of controversy across the reputation of the Avengers, and that's the last thing Steve wants.

But then a sex tape is released featuring Tony Stark in bed with another man, and Steve can't stay quiet any longer.

- salt for the sea; Mature, 7.5k

Natasha comes home with intel regarding the fate of the Winter Soldier; Steve leaves to go and avenge Bucky Barnes.

“It's a list of everyone who was involved in his death, and a rough timeline of everything that happened beforehand,” she tells him.

“And the notebook?”

“I explained what they did,” Natasha says, “The blank pages are for you to explain what you do to them.”

- Lone Cat and Samurai; Teen, 8.4k

"We lost Kitten America sir!" Junior Agent blurted out. Then turned an unlovely shade of purple. "I mean, Captain America. Who’s a kitten. Because magic. Sir."

- Waiting To Prove You're Not Alone; Explicit, 41k

Months after he woke up on the banks of the Potomac, when a reporter mistakenly assumes Steve would disapprove of homosexuality being as accepted as it is in the modern day, Steve accidentally snaps and unleashes his real opinion on the matter... and with that, a secret he's hidden for over eighty years.

When that secret comes looking for him in New York, Steve can only hope that he can get a second chance at saving his best friend, even if it means keeping his heart in check.

“Yeah, back in my day it wasn't tolerated, and because of that I knew from the minute I figured it out, that I’d never get to tell my best friend that I loved him, and sure enough, he died without knowing that I’d been in love with him for a decade."

- I'm Not Sick (But I'm Not Well); Mature, 30k

Steve Rogers doesn’t meet Bucky Barnes in the 1930’s. Instead, Steve meets him April 17th, 2012.

Well…sort of meets him.

In actuality, Bucky had almost hit him with his truck.

Or: The fic where millennial Bucky Barnes nearly runs over a freshly thawed national treasure, and what Steve Rogers did to adjust to modern NYC during those two weeks before the events of The Avengers.

- pure as the driven slush; Explicit, 11k

He should have worked it out sooner. But then, Steve always was a sneaky little bastard—had to have been, just to survive this long.

For the SteveBucky Fest prompt, "Steve is quite experienced while Bucky's never gone beyond second base with anyone".

- Let's Be Exposed and Unprotected, Explicit, 5k

Bucky’s pretty sure he should be into getting fucked through the floor while walls explode around him like in that Mr and Mrs Smith movie that Clint loves. But he likes it like this. He likes being on his back with Steve looming above him, big and naked, blocking out the rest of the world.

- Man of Steel; Explicit, 6.7k

It’s like Steve looked at his metal arm and thought ‘Challenge Accepted.’

- 5 Times Steve Got Arrested and 1 Time They All Did; Teen, 4.9k

What it says, 5 times Steve Rogers ended up in jail (with and without Bucky) + 1 time all of the Avengers got arrested with him.

- the best of you; Teen, 16k

Bucky is on a mission when he gets the call.

They tell him that Steve has been compromised.

[The story wherein Hydra captures Steve to create a new weapon. Bucky, alongside the rest of the Avengers, come together and work through the fallout.]

- pull apart the dark; Teen, 79k

Steve's unending faith in his best friend was beginning to look less like hope and more like fantasy. When they'd caught the Soldier – in a fire fight that still gave Sam nightmares – the only thing the man seemed to recall was how to hit exactly where it hurt.

Four months later, Barnes still refused to speak English. Refused to heed anything but Steve's voice.

So, all in all, it was not a great time for Hydra to attack New York. All in all, Sam really wished they'd just killed him, instead of turning Captain America into a baby.

- Not Another Supersoldier Fantasy; Explicit, 8.9k

Bucky finds a popular sex toy modeled on Captain America's own anatomy. Well, isn't this just perfect? Because even after all this time, he still hasn’t seen Steve’s supersoldier cock. But apparently in this day and age anyone with $29.95 can get a decent replica. The unfairness of this is of galactic proportions.

- the blood of the covenant; Teen, 7.5k

Steve has a "thing" for hot water.

Or, Sam Wilson adopts Steve Rogers.

- Mighty like Love, Mighty like Sorrow; Teen, 19k

After freeing himself from the Russians' mind control, Bucky is left at loose ends, drifting through the decades. Still, he's in no hurry to take up Nick Fury's offer to once again fight the good fight -- especially not when Fury has the nerve to put some imposter in his best friend's old suit and send him out to fight against Chitauri.

- Read Me Like a Book; Gen, 1.5k

In which Bucky accidentally becomes a book collector, because when the universe gives you a million biographies about your boyfriend, you go bookcase shopping. And then he finds out about The Grenade Incident, and the boys actually talk about it like actual adults. (Somewhere, Sam sheds a proud tear.)

- the broadest stroke of color; Gen, 16k

Sarah Rogers always loved Steve's hands.

"Your hands will do a lifetime's work," she'd say. "Remember to do the work you can for those you love."

Almost a century later, Steve does just that.

[The story wherein Steve draws comics for Bucky to help him recover his memory. Through a series of events, the issues are leaked, and Steve finds himself reviving the Captain America comics. He still isn't sure how that happened.]

- If You're Loved By Someone (You're Never Rejected); Teen, 9.4k

You’re fifteen when you realize why you stare at Bucky’s lips more than normal when he laughs and when he says your name. You lean into his shoulder when you walk next to him and when you’re sick you don’t fight off his soft hands. You tease him, he teases back and being around him is so easy you forget what it was like to live without him. You can’t remember life pre-Bucky and it scares you.

- Unusual Weather; Explicit, 8.7k

Bucky’s been at the Avengers Tower for three weeks before he finally gives in to Steve’s gentle coaxing and Stark’s cheerful waving of fistfuls of circuits, and lets them scan the arm.

It doesn’t go well.

- this city bleeds its aching heart; Explicit, 35k

The one where Steve and Bucky pose as a happily married couple while on a mission for SHIELD, to catch an international arms dealer hiding in a suburban neighbourhood.

- Good Boy; Explicit, 13k

Bucky is still adjusting to life with the Avengers, and Steve is willing to do whatever it takes to make him feel comfortable. Increasingly, though, what seems to make him comfortable is strangely intimate.

Surprise, Steve! You're a gentle dom and Bucky wants to be your pretty pet!

- Brooklyn; Teen, 8.8k

"Captain America, what's your stance on gay marriage?"

Everyone knows that, by now. Everyone but Bucky.

[the-witty-pen-name]

Fell in Love in Scotland Pt. 2

Sam Wilson x F!Reader

Warnings: ptsd/trauma related to war; mentions of nightmares; angst; cursing; pining; slow burn; 18+ in later parts (maybe? not sure yet)

Summary: After finding about the new Captain America, the reader goes to Louisiana to visit Sam.

Word Count: 2.1k

A/N: So I know this isn’t on my list of things I *should* be working on, but I had this idea today and I had to get it down! This is only going to be 2-3 parts.  (Edit: 3 parts!) This is my first time writing for Sam!

I’m taking a small break from working on my other works in progress to focus on getting out as much Sam content as a can before Sam’s (and my) bday on the 14th! Not sure how much I’ll be able to write but that is my hope!

My biggest flex at the moment is sharing a bday with Sam.

This references Civil War, Endgame and Infinity War events in flashbacks but you know, canon is a thing I like to just maneuver around so I’m sorry if there are many major inaccuracies!

This is unedited and please let me know if I missed anything that should be included as a warning.

Taglist is in my bio

The safe house in Scotland was small. A little cottage hidden away in the countryside. Absolutely beautiful, if not for the looming reminders of why you were there in the first place.

You didn’t handle laying low well. You didn’t like not doing anything. Your resolve for handling your thoughts, your problems had always been to just push them aside. Focus your energy on anything but what would pull you down. You couldn’t allow yourself to just exist. Time stopped and there was no fight to be fought, and you hated it.

Fortunately, you were with people who understood. Sam and Steve especially. It didn’t take long for Sam to work his way in. He understood you, and he related to you. Neither one of you really needed to acknowledge it. There was an unspoken understanding between the two of you which made it all feel so seamless.

You were restless, and nights were always the worst. You’d spend several hours tossing in turning on your mattress, unable to get comfortable. You’d bring your pillow and sheet with you onto the floor of your room, and if you were lucky enough to fall asleep, you’d wake up after only a few hours. Sometimes you’d remember the nightmares vividly, other times it was just the feelings that lingered.

Most nights, you’d wait it out in your room watching the clock until it was early enough to “get out of bed.” So, you’d wait until the red numbers on the screen turned to 4am and then you’d sneak your way downstairs to the kitchen or the living room, so you didn’t need to face the idea of sleep.

After a few weeks, Sam caught on to your routine. He would join you in the mornings, help you make coffee and talk about nothing. Just helping you keep your mind off the things that bothered you. He looked as tired as you, and you would insist on him getting more sleep. But Sam never made you go through any of the hard days on your own.

“You get used to it,” he’d say, understanding what you were going through better than anybody.

“I don’t know if I can,” you admit, curled up in a ball on the sofa, the warm mug of coffee Sam made cradled tightly in your hands. The curtains are pulled open, and you stare out the window to your right, watching the sun slowly coming up.

“You should try sleeping in your bed again,” he suggests. You’d recently promoted yourself from sleeping on the floor to the couch. Baby steps. You nod, knowing he’s right.

You get a rental car the next morning and you drive to the address Sam texted you. You’re greeted immediately by two rowdy young boys, asking you if you’re an Avenger like their Uncle Sam. He’s literally Uncle Sam. How could he think he didn’t deserve the shield? Well, you know why. But the coincidence is too funny not to bring up to him once all of this is resolved.

Each of them grabbed you by an arm and drag you to the backyard. You chuckle, following their lead as they ask you a million questions. They call out to Sam when he is in view and he smiles when he sees you. Your heart flips.

“They bothering you?” he asks and you shake your head.

“No, they’re great,” you beam watching them run off.

“You look good,” he compliments you, and you feel like jelly. “You’re sleeping?” Oh.

“Yeah, I mean, for the most part,” you reply, “So do you.” You can’t miss the smile on his face. “So, uh, have you heard from Bucky?”

“I text him all the time, trying to check in, but no nothing. You?”

You shake your head. “I stopped trying,” you admit, “but I can’t blame him. He really doesn’t know me.”

“He’ll come around,” he reasons, trying to be optimistic. “So, I want to show you the boat?”

“You have a boat?” you chuckle, and he grins, nodding like a little kid.

“35-foot yacht,” he teases.

“Of course,” you smile.

It was only just noon when you both arrived at the docks. The air felt crisper, and the sun felt phenomenal on your shoulders. It wasn’t until you were outside in weather like this that you realized how often you opted to stay hidden away in your apartment. The atmosphere just felt more alive, and the air in your lungs felt almost cleansing.

You sat across from Sam on the bow of the boat, your legs dangling over the side. You were sitting close enough to him that your thighs touched, and you were trying your hardest to ignore the feeling. You just felt warm, and you felt more relaxed than you had been since you’d last seen him.

“I just need to ask,” Sam asks, cutting through both of your laughter. You really had spent the day so far just reminiscing, talking about nothing really. “Did you and Cap- were you guys…?”

“Oh god no,” you choke quickly, you stifle another laugh, “Steve was just a really great friend. No nothing like that. I would go to the end of the earth and back for Steve… but no, I didn’t have feelings for him that way.”

“I had thought maybe at one point something was going on there,” he shrugs. Is he serious?

“Never,” you reiterate.  

Sleeping in a bed became easier, but the nightmares were something that you just couldn’t shake no matter how hard you tried. Many times, it would be late in the night and you’d be gently shaken awake. Sam would be kneeling next to your bed, trying to wake you up.

“Please stay,” you’d ask, eyes glossed over and your skin stained with tears. He could never say no. You’d scoot over and he’d climb in and settle next to you. It wasn’t even anything romantic. You didn’t cuddle or invade his space. You just needed to feel him next to you, and you’d be able to sleep. The cycle continued for a long while until you were able to sleep through the night without the haunting dreams.

But you missed waking up with him there.

“You need to tell him,” Steve would insist, and you’d shut down the idea every single time.

“No, I can’t,” you’d insist. The only person who knew how you felt was Steve. You hadn’t even told him; he just knew you too well.

“You’re making yourself miserable,” he’d elaborate, “you deserve a little happiness- Sam deserves happiness. He wants you too.”

“Happiness? With me?” you snort, “Steve, think about me, my past- everything I carry around with me. You know as well as I do, I can’t infect him with that when he has his own issues. We’re all too broken- he deserves better.”

“You don’t to be the one to decide that for him,” he counters. “What Sam deserves is the truth.”

“I know, I know!” you sigh, wrapping your arms around yourself and you can’t look at Steve. “Telling him how I feel complicates things to much. I can’t risk it.”

“Even if he feels the same way?”

“Especially if he feels the same way.”

You rest back on your palms, close your eyes and tilt your head up towards the direction of the sun. Your mind wanders to Steve, and how much you miss him. You were oftentimes too thick headed to take any of his advice but it was something you hadn’t realized you needed.

You decide to just throw out all your apprehension. And just take the advice from Steve you should’ve taken years ago. The timing is perfect. The universe is screaming at you to just tell him.

“I gave up the shield because I didn’t think anyone could follow Steve,” he admits, “I didn’t think I could fill the role- no one can, or maybe no one should.”

“You’re the only person who can, Sam,” you say, looking back over to him.

“When I gave it up, I didn’t think it would be given to someone else. I donated it- to keep it with the rest of what we have left of him. God- if I had known…”

“I watched on television when you donated it, Sam,” you say, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Symbols are nothing without the men and women that give them meaning… I wish you saw yourself the way Steve did- the way I do…”

“That’s not fair…”

“You said we need new heroes for the times we’re in. Sam- the world needs a new Captain America. And you know as well as I do, that man on TV they pushed out there isn’t it.”

“It’s not me, either,” he says, looking down at the water, the reflection of the two of you rippled and distorted.

“I wish you could see how much that isn’t true,” you admit, “I also- I also wish I was more like you… You’re so good at talking to me… people like us and Steve. You show people their value and their worth, and you’re just so fiercely loyal it’s almost annoying. And I suck at that, I’m a terrible communicator, and I can’t vocalize how much you’re worth, and how much you deserve the shield. Feelings are just too overwhelming and I can’t focus them into anything coherent. And you right now need what you give others just so freely, and you’re stuck with me… I know I’m not Steve, and I as much as I try to convince you the decision is yours, but you need to know that you are the only person who can be our new Captain… Steve wasn’t wrong about you, and I just… I’m in your corner.”

“(Y/N) …”

It was safe in Scotland. Quiet, secluded. Time wasn’t looming over you. There was nothing there that was any imminent threat except your own demons that you carried with you. You had a lot of regrets, past mistakes that haunted you whenever you slowed down. It’s why when you left the air force, you joined SHIELD. You were like Steve, kindred spirits plagued by the after effects of war and both of you resolved to fighting rather than be left to your own devises.

Not like Sam. Sam put his focus into helping others. Selfless, and understanding, he was always there. He was thoughtful with what he chose to fight for, which is something you greatly admired. He was morals and loyalty, and everything that made a great man. He was a friend first, and a fighter second.

Which is such a rare quality that you wished you could tell him you noticed.

Steve got very into crossword puzzles. He found a box up in the attic tucked away of old books from whoever used to live here. He’d sit on the armchair in the living room, pencil in hand and try his best to fill in what he knew. He ended up heavily relying on you and Sam to fill in the references he didn’t know.

You and Sam would be on the couch, you tucked into his side, watching television or sometimes you’d both read, old magazines or anything you could find for entertainment. One night you both sat on the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table with an incomplete deck of cards playing Double Solitaire, and Steve would occasionally vocalize a clue he was stuck on.

“Drummer of Duran Duran. Blank Taylor. Five letters,” Steve said, not looking up from the flimsy book.

“Roger Taylor,” Sam answered aimlessly, tapping the card in his hand to his chin as his eyes scanned the columns of cards.

A few minutes of silence follow before Steve speaks again.

“1996 Looney Toons film starring Michael Jordan. Eight letters.”

“Space Jam,” you smirk, and you bite your lip to hold back a laugh. You want to ask him what the theme is for the puzzle he’s working on but you decide against it. You don’t want to embarrass him.

It felt really silly. The three of you, all ex-military crime fighters on the run, couped up together in this tiny living room, playing cards and helping Captain America with a pop culture crossword. Maybe it just felt weird because it was so normal.

You’re sweating. You didn’t realize it until just now. The dampness of the underarms of your t-shirt was all you could focus on. Why were you so nervous? Because again, the universe if giving you every single sign to just tell him. Yell it out so loud it echoes back to you across the water. Tell him. Tell him everything.

Every harbored fantasy of being with him. Tell him how much he means to you and how sorry you are that your fears drive you away from him. He feels so strong, and stoic next to you, it’s making your head spin and you feel like your brain is leaving your body behind. He’s so understanding and patient, and here you are, again, leaving him on another cliff hanger.

“Sam, I need to tell you something.”

No going back now.

Taglist:

@greeneyedblondie44 @witchybarb @stiles-stilinski-24-dylan @sassy-kassaay @aynanasstuff @claudiaatje @lieswithoutfairytales @ttalisa​ @januarystears 

[aion-rsa]

From Battle Beast to Titan, The Invincible Rogues’ Gallery is Taking Shape

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

As its blood-splattered title card makes clear, Amazon Prime’s Invincible is quite a bit more intense than other animated superhero shows.

Adapted from Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker’s comic series of the same name, Invincible takes place in a stylized, yet realistic world where superpowered punches have real consequences. It’s rare that an episode goes by without our titular young hero getting drenched in blood, whether it be his own or some poor villain’s. 

Despite Invincible’s commitment to the violent bit, however, the show still does have quite a bit in common with its more all-ages animated peers. The series animation from Wind Sun Sky Animation studio is based off of comic illustrator Ryan Ottley’s art but it also harkens back to a golden era of superhero animation.

The character designs, with chiseled jaws, chunky limbs, and very deliberate movements is highly reminiscent of ‘90s Warner Bros. Animation classics like Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and Justice League. And just like those earlier series, each episode of Invincible thus far has proven dedicated to introducing interesting and novel villains for its hero to confront. 

There’s an old adage about superhero stories that a hero is only as good as its villain. That might be oversimplifying things a bit as Batman, Superman, Invincible, and the like are all pretty interesting figures on their own. Still, the animated series surrounding these heroes always know how to put a compelling villain to good use. Batman: The Animated Series in particular built up the Caped Crusader’s impressive rogue’s gallery and each new episode was a treat for viewers in guessing which villain would take center stage. In fact, the all-time best episodes of that series were often great due to the deployment of its villains, like in the beloved Mr. Freeze installment “Hear to Ice.”

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While Invincible is only five episodes into what will hopefully be a long run, the series has already proven to be particularly adept at introducing colorful villains to challenge Mark Grayson as he trains to be a superhero. Now that we’ve crossed the halfway point of Invincible’s eight-episode first season, let’s take some time to examine the young hero’s rogues’ gallery. 

The Mauler Twins

The Mauler Twins, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, are the very first villains introduced in Invincible. The Guardians of the Globe (R.I.P.) are able to put a halt to their assault on the White House, but not before the twins reveal their awesome strength. The Mauler Twins are an unusual combination of brains and brawn. First we see heavy machine gun fire bounce off of them like pebbles and then they embark on a very brainy mission for none other than Robot (Zachary Quinto).

The Mauler Twins are a consistent presence in the comic and their dynamic only works because neither of them knows who is the original and who is the clone. Their inclusion on the list is cheating a bit because Mark hasn’t crossed paths with them yet but he is sure to soon.

Titan

Titan, voiced by Academy Award winning actor Mahershala Ali, is the first great example of how Invincible will allow its villains to recur and evolve like Batman: The Animated Series’ baddies. Titan first pops up in episode 1, then he is essentially the main character of episode 5. There is quite a lot of depth to this rock-man as he tricks Mark into helping his criminal underworld coup, but he also seems to really believe he can make his city a safer, more equitable place. 

Kill Cannon

Kill Cannon (Fred Tatasciore) is an extremely minor villain in the Invincible comic. He first appeared as Atom Eve’s nemesis in her standalone comic before making his proper series debut in Issue #58. Kill Cannon arrives in the Amazon series much earlier and has already popped up again as a recurring villain. He seems to fulfill the role of a particularly easy training dummy for Mark to take care of. Unfortunately, all the other villains won’t be as simple.

The Flaxans

The Flaxans, an aliens species from another dimension, are the first baddies to really test Mark. Their lifespans are short in Earth’s timeline, but they are also tremendously capable of learning from their mistakes. Led by the hateful “Slash” (voiced by Richardson), the Flaxans embark on three increasingly successful invasions. Omni-Man appears to have wiped out their society for now but all it will take to rebuild is a handful of dedicated Flaxans. 

Doc Seismic

Every superhero story needs a good old-fashioned mustache-twirler and Doc Seismic (voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos) fits the bill here…despite having no mustache or even hair to speak of. Through his advanced weaponry and seismological knowledge, Doc Seismic is able to manipulate the earth around him. In our first introduction to him, he puts these powers to a surprisingly progressive use by attempting to blow up Mt. Rushmore and its depiction of “oppressors.”

The Doc did his undergraduate in sociology and women’s studies, with a minor in African dance as it turns out. Invincible and Atom Eve are able to dispatch him ease and he appears to fall to his fiery death. Of course, these kinds of villains normally don’t go down that easy, so it’s safe to expect seeing him again. 

Roarface

Roarface is an entirely new creation for the Invincible TV series and she gets only a very brief bit of screentime in episode 5. According to Amazon’s helpful episode trivia feature, Roarface was developed by comic illustrator Cory Walker and the collar she wears prevents her entire body from becoming a werewolf. Only her head succumbs to lycanthropy. 

Machine Head

Every superhero story needs a Wilson Fisk-style underworld crime boss figure. Invincible has one, it just so happens that his head is a machine, leading to the brilliant nickname Machine Head (voiced by Jeffrey Donovan). This villain loves Italian maple and is eventually usurped by Titan then arrested by Cecil Stedman. Machine Heads teleporting partner is named Isotope. 

Battle Beast

Oh yeah, now we’re talking. Battle Beast is a fan favorite of Invincible comic readers and TV viewers may now have a better sense of why. Battle Beast (voiced by Michael Dorn) isn’t so much an enemy to Mark Grayson as he is an enemy to everyone who crosses his path.

As his name suggests, this beast is really about battling. His real name is Thokk and he travels the universe looking for worthy foes to fight. Machine Head was able to lure him to Earth with the promise of a real competition. Unfortunately, he found Mark Grayson and the new Guardians of the Globe extremely wanting in this regard.

“This battle is beneath me. There is no honor in killing insects,” Thokk mutters before peacing out. Rest assured that Battle Beast will be returning to this series at some point…preferably once Mark has leveled up quite a bit.

The other villains who battle alongside Battle Beast in episode 5 are unrelated mercenaries who all fight on Machine Head’s time. They are: Furnace, Kursk, Magmaniac, and Tether Tyrant. The comics has a sixth villain involved in this battle named Magnattack, but Amazon’s episode notes indicate that production couldn’t fit him in.

Invincible streams every Friday on Amazon Prime.

The post From Battle Beast to Titan, The Invincible Rogues’ Gallery is Taking Shape appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[lovecanbesostrange]

There was no reason for Station 19 to go that hard on all fronts, but wow they did. I honestly watched S1+2 mostly out of habit, but S3 was like cleaning house, setting everybody up as a character with their personal flashback gave them far more layers and now I truly care. Thanks. Well, and then Grey’s happened and I cried for like half the episode...........

Maya and Jack have definitely profitted the most from the shift in tone and the character development overhaul. And I liked both their storylines. Maya dealing with all that crap from her father and coming to terms with why she maybe isn’t 100% ready for this very steady relationship and sharing all her emotions was great. Can she tell Carina everything she told Andy? In almost exactly this way, please? Because being afraid of slipping and finding these moments and naming what she has trouble with adjusting to - that is all good. And Carina is one of the most compassionate and patient people (from the limited scenes we have had with her over the years). Dear Maya, if you communicate, she will be there for you.

And wow, Carina than talking about her home and her own fears. Magnificent. Early days of covid? All the horrible, horrible news from Italy come to mind. So thanks writers for building that international bridge. (I wonder how any Italian tv shows that will incorporate the pandemic will deal with this. Every country has their very unique story in this.)

Of course we will see nice side characters getting covid and probably die. Gonna keep my fingers crossed for Marsha nonetheless. Jack having this make-shift family did wonders for his character and I don’t want him to take a blow. It’s a found family on the side, not bound by trade and I like it. I love that thanks to Marcus the masks with plastic windows were mentioned (even tying back to Dr. Riley’s visit to Grey-Sloan. Good job.

Well, Miller and Sullivan. That all happened. And I am exactly 0% qualified to discuss the issues raised. I do empathise with Sullivan a bit more (not that I dismiss Miller’s points, because like Sullivan and Warren say, he is right). Because I absolutely hate this thing were being part of a (minority) group makes you the spokesperson and you get judged far more harshly. And then also taking in-group crap about it. Yes, it is how the world is. But it’s unfair. (And tbh luckily Sullivan hurt mostly himself and he did stand up and face any consequence coming his way. And yes, he was the kind of person to always tell everybody else to better not make mistakes *blablabla* and look, he fell down that high horse... I do think that is something Miller pointed out very rightfully.)

Glad Travis talked to his dad. And I do like the way he did. Just letting him know he knows and leaving that door open. His breakdown about how the church/religion is letting gay people down, while so many sins are just forgiven... damn. Hard to watch. And if just one viewer watching suddenly went like “huh, fucked up”, it was worth it.

Vic is the unsung hero of this episode. I loved how she kept defending that drugged up dude. Yes, he is stupid and it’s horrifying that he stays with his obviously abusive wife, but also keeps drugs around and just... lives like this. But she kept talking about how he didn’t mean to hurt anybody else and that he needed help far more than punishment. Travis and Vic are both good people, but in that situation I think most of us would react more like Travis. Being annoyed, mouthing back and wanting those two shut the fuck up. It’s a normal reaction. What Vic said is the harder choice. And it felt like there was an untold story there.

Okay, wow, much to say about Station 19 for once. But oh boy, Grey’s...........

I remember the “early” episodes we met Bailey’s father. And then we barely talked about her parents. They were somewhere in the background. Until in “(Don’t) Fear the Reaper” we met her mom, got that whole thing with her dead sister and got this picture of her early home life. It was really good. And last week her parents get mentioned again, because hey, elderly people. AND NOW THEY TELL US HER MOM HAD ALZHEIMER’S AND THEN SHE DIED............................................................... it was so fucking heartbreaking start to finish.

And I love all the quiet scenes we got out of this that are just so human. Sad and human. Bailey talking to Meredith, saying she misses her and relating to the whole seeing your mom withering away (so dying twice in a way). I like the use of the beach, because Meredith is semi-conscious, she hears it all, but she just can’t wake up long enough. And then Maggie and Bailey on that bench.

Two people sitting on a bench, talking. Nothing special happens. They don’t need to distract by having them in a busy hallway or somethng. It’s a whole ass conversation with no shorthand. Showing all the emotions. Having Maggie go back to that time her mother died and how she views it all in a different light now. Talking about dying with dignity. Chandra Wilson was so good in this scene. (Her best performance to me will probably always be when Charles died in front of those elevators, I can cry just thinking about that.) And she was allowed such a variety of feelings. And the pain of it all brings up joyful memories. Thanks so much for that hilarity that her scholarship came from the fucking Daughters of the Revolution. HA!

I don’t get people who still watch Grey’s and the relationship drama is the thing they care most about. This is what I’m here for first - the personal lives and relating to all these emotions (and also the mistakes and the way to do better next time).

Well, at least Tom got better quick, I guess. Nice way to give Amelia a reason to get to work for a day and thus have her confronting Teddy. Look, I am done with storylines involving cheating and all. Teddy as a character is often hard to like. But the way she is isolated and like the most contact she has is with DeLuca when he updates her on Meredith’s vitals... it’s harsh. And I liked that Amelia can talk to her without making her feel more terrible. And then I did like Teddy talking to Tom, who was his charming self in the end. Bonuspoints for mentioning that the kids are with Owen’s mom. And hey, I give this to Owen, I believe this must be hard for him, because being a dad is the biggest deal for him. Actually something to make him more likeable - if handled correctly - and this situation sucks for him as well.

Which brings me to Link. Who was left at the Grey home. With Zola, Bailey, Ellis and Scout. Wow. Who would have thought? Amelia’s pregnancy was a good thing, I guess, to give them the excuse of baby time and also Link sorta moving in to deal with all the kids. (Shipping all of them off to their own living Grandma isn’t an option. lol ) Link is a good dude. So please, okay, it was news to him, no need to hate on Tom, push through the irritation, Link! Ahahahahaha.

Jackson being so nervous about his mom being a bit too proud to always keep her mask on - wonderful. Sure, she’s a doctor, she’s also stubborn and he was so scared of losing her not that long ago. Family drama everywhere! I always like seeing Jackson and Webber together. And then they had another big talk, hammering home the fact that people are affected differently. That it’s worse for poor people and not by accident, but systemic problems, most of them are PoCs. So many black and brown patients dying left and right, and it’s clear where the problem starts... I do believe for some viewers this is actually news, because the “news media” they consume won’t talk about that.

So, well, and then there is the Jo of it all. OMG where do I even start? Now, first off, Levi and Jo living together is still hilarious and thanks so much for getting two scenes at the loft. Especially that first one with Levi pretty much pushing her out of bed. Now, I do want Levi to talk to his mom, I desperately need to know how things are. I’m sure the pandemic has shed some new light on what’s important. Second I’m also glad Levi is with Jo, so she is not alone, which makes it harder for her to fall into really bad habits and down that depression hole.

I kinda freaked out seeing Val again and was sure she’s gonna die (might still happen aaaaah). They have a tendency to kill the nice ladies. Still haven’t forgiven Grey’s for killing CeCe. So it was cool that the surgery was a success and wow, did I love when Jo sent Levi out to just listen to Val and connect. And then the baby delivery happened and....... what is going on? Jo even just casually thinking about switching specialties? TO OB?????????? WHAT?????? Dear writers, you dropped the ball on her entire medical journey so often, giving her a bonkers fellowship, having her residency take way too long and shoving her into general, because oops no mentor or anything. And now you give me this? Please, so this is how I would accept this as a set-up for an actual carthartic moment:

Let Jo stalk Carina, play out this thought “what if this thing that made me happy for a day is the thing I am supposed to do longer”. And then let her have joyous moments, but also something complicated, and finally a very distressed woman in labor. And Jo feels for the woman, is compassionate and all and when the baby is there, the woman struggles to connect. And this joyous second is withheld from Jo. And boom, full circle, this woman feels like shit for not loving that baby instantly, for the feeling of resentment and being out of her mind. And finally Jo can forvige Vicki. And that’s the end of that particular journey.

I mean we all pretend that we have forgotten that time Jo stole a baby, right? Because that was the S16 hiatus and there was a storyline set in motion that blew up with Justin leaving like that. And we have had Jo interacting with babies and new moms so often over the course of the show. While also staiting that Jo’s self-worth is tied to being in an OR, which is also her safe space. So this whole thing...

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Addison was the attending OB/GYN once upon a time. (”I’m being stalked by pregnant women!” “You are an obstetrician.”) She was also a fetal surgeon, which was what Arizona eventually became. So it’s not like when Meredith wore pink scrubs for a few weeks and got made fun of. There could be a long interesting road that eventually does include  surgeries. But it’s just so....... dumb. In a way. Especially with Jo having so many issues. And the writers - who give out pregnancies and babies like halloween candy - constantly skipping a potential Jolex-as-parents-storyline.... which kinda bites them in the ass now. ugh F R U S T R A T I O N......... I could write a five page essay just about Jo so far this season, I’m sorry. (Also if I ever have to see Jo in pink scrubs, a part of my brain will explode thinking back to Jason for sure.............)

Oh, and then there was Ben Warren. Just existing. Being a good man. Thanks. :3

[psychadelickate]

House MD - House: Dad

Title: Dad Word Count: 1452 Fandom: House MD Pairing: None Characters: House. readerDaughter Rating: Teen Gif: Not Mine Requested: Anonymous Prompt: Okay i have a request for House Md. Could you please write something about being Houses daughter?

You’re seated at the last booth in the coffee shop. At this late hour, the place is empty, leaving your favorite seat unoccupied. Your table is littered with books and papers and your iPad is somewhere in the mess, but it doesn’t concern you right now. What does, is the Jane’s expression as she walks up to your booth. “(Y/N), the usual?” she asks and you nod your head. You’ve been coming to this place ever since you can remember, Jane coming to get you when your dad couldn’t. Jane is tall, dark haired, loud, warm and brown eyed and though she looks nothing like you, people often mistake her for your mom.  “How about you, honey?” she asks your best friend, who simply smiles at Jane and tells her she’s good with anything.  You both go back to the assignment due the next week after Jane leaves the two of you at the table. Both of you immersed in the files, you only look up when a gaggle of women enter the coffee shop and settle at the table closest to you.  They’re all well dressed, composed and older and you don’t need to guess they’re doctors here for the conference.  “So, what’s it feel like to be back in Princeton?” you hear one of the women ask another and you resist the urge to look up and eyeball them.  “It’s different,” comes the reply.  “And how do you think he’s going to react when he sees you’re in town?” comes the next question.  You guess she shrugs in answer because there’s no verbal one.  “Do you really think House has changed? He’s a drug addict. Brilliant and world renowned, there’s no getaway from that, but still a drug addict,” comes another voice and this time you feel your face flame. 

“And let’s not forget the kid that he got dumped with. Drug addicted father, mother who abandoned her. Who knows how she’s turned out?”  It’s too much for you to hear, and so you pack up your stuff with not much care. The world around you blurs for a second though it clears when you blink, but blurs up soon after and it takes you a little while to realise you’re silently crying.  You heave your backpack and walk out just as Jane walks to the table, plates in hand. You don’t have the strength or heart to tell her what you’ve just heard. You’re not sure where you want to go, but you find yourself on the forth floor of PPTH, walking toward your dad’s office. He’s in the middle of a diagnosing session with his ducklings but he sees you through the window and stops the session when he sees your expression.  He looks mutinous.  “Who,” he asks and you know he wants to know who’s responsible for the tear-tracks on your cheeks.  You look at the man before you, take him in, and you can’t equate him with the person those vile women were describing at the coffee shop.  Sure, your dad has pain issues with his leg; he’s never hidden that from you and with Uncle Wilson’s help he’s been able to manage the pain, somewhat. Yes, some days are worse than others, but you’ve never seen him popping pain pills, or injecting himself with opioids to forget about his pain.  What you see when you look at the man looking back at you is your dad. Your hero… Uncle Wilson often told you that you were the reason your dad become such a party-pooper and you always laughed it off but now… now you’re thinking about it.  Chase had talked about poker nights at the apartment, but you don’t remember living in an apartment and all the pictures of you since you were born were taken at the house you and your dad currently live in. Poker nights moved to your new home and boys nights decreased. You often heard Chase and Wilson complaining that your dad never joined them, but House always told you it was because he wanted to spend time with people he actually liked… Despite his leg pain, your dad was the one who taught you to ride a bike, without the training wheels. He was the one who cleaned and treated bruised and bloodied knees. He’d been the one to calm you down when you’d fractured your wrist falling off the monkey bars in the fifth grade and assured you it was fine to get a sky blue hard cast even though the nurse tried convincing you blue was for boys. Cooking, baking cupcakes, piano and guitar lessons were quality time he made available for you.  He was also the one who terrorised your dates if he didn’t like them, and to his credit, he was correct about ninety-five percent of the boys and thirty percent of the girls. You loved that he grilled them endlessly about their intentions toward with and with you, even though you made a show of protesting his behaviour in front of said dates. Your interest and love for medicine came from him. He was always explaining things to you, making learning as exciting he could for you and appreciated it. There was nothing your dad didn’t know or couldn’t do… “(Y/N),” you hear him call you though before you can answer his phone starts to ring.  You see the screen light up with Jane’s picture and you have no doubt she’s relating the coffee shop events to him… His expression changes from concerned to furious as Jane talks and you’re grateful his attention is off you for a few minutes.  The sound of heels clacking on the vinyl flooring gets your attention and you turn to see one of the women from the coffee shop walking toward your dad’s office.  The silence at her presence is deafening. Your dad’s ducklings have stopped quarrelling at are looking in shock at the woman. You’re clearly missing something here and its obviously something big.  “House,” she greets, but your dad is livid. You don’t have to hear his voice to know it, you can see it in his eyes.  “You need to leave,” he tells her and you note he hasn’t addressed her by name. Your dad’s anger doesn’t scare her and she continues talking as though he never asked her to leave.  “I want to see her,” the woman says.  “No.” There’s no explanation or reason.  “She’s mine too,” the woman says and the anger that your dad has been holding in blows out.  “Yours? Yours? Are you kidding me? You left her when she was three days old. Couldn’t wait to leave her on my doorstep because you didn’t want to have kids with a drug addict. And you needed to focus on your career. If she’s yours too, where were you when she had fevers that wouldn’t break for days, or when she cut her first tooth, or when she took her first steps or even said her first word? Where were you in the first grade when she had to do an oral presentation about her mother and she had no idea what to say, because she doesn’t know what having a mother feels like,” House is on a roll.  “You weren’t there!” he booms. “House,” the woman tries, but he’s done.  “For fifteen years you’ve missed every one of her milestones, every important event in her life, so no, you don’t get to meet her. She might have biologically inherited some genes from you, but everything else comes from me. She’s mine,” you hear your dad say.  And then just as suddenly as it started you see the fight leave your dad. He looks exhausted and older than he really is.  “Actually, she’s old enough to make her own choices so (Y/N) if you want to meet your mother and spend time with her, that’s up to you,” he tells you.  You, however, have no intention of doing so. Not when wounds are so raw and she’s hurt your dad so badly.  “I think you need to leave. And you can tell your posse of friends my dad isn’t a drug addict,” you tell her as you walk to your dad and hold onto his forearm.  He’s been your one constant in life and you’re not letting go of him anytime soon. Not for anything.  “It’s always been dad and I and I’m okay with that. We’ve done okay without you for fifteen years…” you don’t need to complete your sentence, she gets the meaning of it.  Your heart hurts at the sight of tears in her eyes, but you stay strong. That’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt from your dad…

Tag-list: @kyky9103 @diaryofafan17 @wefracturedmotivation @yeetmetohim @manicmarsupial @cameronmonaghantrashaf If you’d like to be tagged, let me know More house MD here

[wordywarriorwrites]

Chapter 12: Sabotage

Masterlist: The Boss of Brooklyn A03 Story Link Author: @wordywarriorwrites Summary: When it comes to being The Boss, James Buchanan “JB” Barnes rules with an iron fist. For him, there’s no room for sentiment, and certainly no time for distraction, even if it is in the form of an old flame. Steve Rogers had bowed out of the life a long time ago, but a twist of fate brings him right back into the fold, and face-to-face with a man he once loved. When a game of cat and mouse turns into a matter of life and death, both will be forced to decide whether they’ll be loyal to the business, or faithful to each other. A/N: Bucky Barnes Mob Boss AU. Stucky. For: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan Star’s Multi-Fandom Follower Celebration & @sherrybaby14 Sherry’s Fall Into You Challenge. Warnings: Language, violence, drug use, alcohol, smoking, explicit sexual content, illegal activities. *Re-blogs are welcome. Plagiarism isn’t. *

Steve left before dawn with nothing but the clothes on his back and his dogeared passport.

When he hit the lobby, he expected to find it deserted, but instead, it was teeming with pissed-off guests. It was way too early for check-ins, which meant there was only a skeleton crew on hand to receive them, and the sole desk clerk was struggling to appease the mob and contain the situation.  

The weary travelers were ripe for the picking and Steve took advantage of the chaos. By the time he stepped out of the hotel, he’d pilfered a suitcase, a backpack, and a dozen wallets. Given the situation, the doorman was overly polite and very Johnny-on-the-spot, and within seconds, he was in a taxi and on his way to the airport.

While the driver was focused on the road, Steve sorted through what he’d lifted; anything useful was put into the backpack or pocketed, and whatever remained was discarded in the suitcase. When the cabbie pulled up to the curb, Steve paid the fare, and disembarked. The airport’s entrance was bustling, and the throng of early-morning travelers were laden down with luggage, which made it all too easy for him to leave the stolen suitcase behind in the crowd.

Steve checked the departure schedule and found the first available flight out was destined for Mexico City. When he got to the ticket counter, the agent told him he was just in time, and that there was still plenty of seating available. By the time he paid, got checked in, and made his way through security, they’d announced final boarding.

It had only taken forty-five minutes to escape, but this time, Steve didn’t feel relieved when the plane took off. Instead, he felt nauseated, and the sensation stayed with him long after the flight ended.

A pit-stop at a tourist trap for toiletries, over-priced snacks, and new clothes. Then, it was on to a cash-only, no-names, non-descript motel. Four walls, a bed, and heavy, garishly patterned curtains. A bedside lamp that flickered incessantly, a television that didn’t work, and an air conditioning unit that puttered out lukewarm air in unsteady intervals. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but the place was clean, which was more than he could say for himself.

He undressed in front of the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the bathroom door, and the fluorescent light revealed everything that had been kept under wraps. Friction-burned knees; thighs smattered with fingertip-shaped bruises; hickey-covered throat; a bite mark on the crook of his neck; scratches on his torso; tenderness in the softest, most intimate of places.

It looked bad, but it felt so God-damn good.  

Half a fucking decade had passed. He should’ve been well and truly over it, but old habits were the hardest to break, and like an idiot, he did the one thing he’d promised himself he would never do again. Steve should’ve said no. He should’ve said no because he knew better. Damn it, he knew better, but he’d always wanted Bucky. He’d wanted him from the moment he understood what wanting someone actually meant, and he’d never stopped fucking wanting him…

The ache in his gut was compounded, because every time Steve took a breath, he could fucking smell him. Many things had changed, but Bucky had worn the same cologne since high school, and the all-too-familiar scent still clung to his own skin. Steve could still feel the voraciousness of their shared pleasure in his calves, at the small of his back, and in his arms. His groin and mouth and heart and conscience were still laden with everything they’d done, and all that blistering, bittersweetness was just too fucking much to carry.

A tiny shower stall, with a sheer curtain that kept clinging to his ass; travel-sized, off-brand soap and shampoo; a methodical cleansing that he knew would leave his skin pruned and bright red afterward. After Steve got out, he wrapped a towel around his waist, and brushed his teeth at the sink until his gums bled in protest.

The clothes he’d traveled in went into the trash, and though he was exhausted down to his marrow, he could find no rest. Detoxing meant avoiding temptation, so, instead of obsessing over Bucky, he turned his mind toward Fury, and tried to mentally untangle the web.

What Steve couldn’t understand – what didn’t make any sense at all – was why Nick had even bothered coming to the table if his ultimate goal was to take Brooklyn for himself. Fury was a man who didn’t like to share or compromise, but he would do it if it served his bottom line. He was also a man of patience and strategy, and he rarely, if ever, missed a target. It just didn’t make sense…

Steve knew there had to be more going on, but he couldn’t see the bigger picture yet. He may have lost a battle in Jamaica, but that didn’t mean the war was over, and leaving had been much more than a tactical retreat. He knew what he needed to do – what it would take to get it done and make it right – and for the sake of what remained of his sanity, he had to go it alone.

The journey began two days later on the shores of Table Bay in Cape Town, South Africa. The economic hub lured in real estate moguls and sightseers, but Steve hadn’t been interested in Clifton Beach, African penguins, or the architectural heritage. What he’d needed was information and he knew a guy who owed him a favor.

From there, it was on to Tristan da Cunha; an island completely isolated from civilization that required a seven-day boat trip to reach. There were no restaurants or hotels, credit cards weren’t accepted, and while most of the inhabitants made their living through trade and farming, he knew of one resident who wasn’t who she appeared to be.

After that, it was on to the Caymans, followed by Cuba. Then, Steve headed back to the States, and hoped to find the final piece of the puzzle at a swanky beach house in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“I heard you were dead,” Phil Coulson declared by way of greeting.

Steve smirked and stepped over the threshold, “Disappointed?”

“Impressed,” he countered. “And relieved.”

Steve knew there was no point in asking Phil to elaborate on his assertions. The man had been doing the whole espionage thing since before it became mainstream, and though he’d been in retirement for nearly a decade, he still had his finger on the pulse, and really enjoyed the build-up before the show-and-tell. Phil was also the last person left who owed Steve a debt, but it took a tour of the house, lunch on the patio overlooking the ocean, and a lot of small-talk before he was able to bring up the reason for his visit.

“What can you tell me about the players in New York and in the West Indies?” Steve prompted.    

“I don’t participate,” Phil said as he tapped at a wireless keyboard that fired up the flatscreen on the wall. “But I do like to watch.”

A map of Brooklyn appeared and it displayed the hierarchy and territories of the Families over time. After that, it was the West Indies, which showcased how Fury had slowly taken it piece by piece. Next came the reports of all the backroom talks, underhanded deals, blood, death, and destruction. It wasn’t anything Steve didn’t already know, but what Phil brought up next made his blood run cold.

Steve had lied to Fury – said he’d tied up all loose ends – but he hadn’t. Since he knew the woman’s death would bring nothing but trouble, he’d let the dead Senator’s wife go free, and his act of mercy had been both a mistake and the catalyst. Sam’s flunky at the shop came up and he recognized the trademark lollipop. Subsequent pictures showed the two women had met dozens of times. After that, there was a video of Sam doing what he did best, which was very illegal, and they’d used the tape to blackmail him and force him to play along.  

The series of clips that followed showed Fury locked in a cell by himself, but eventually, another person had been thrown in with him. The man Steve saw was supposed to be in a graveyard back home, but the date and time stamp revealed Sam Wilson was above ground, and very much alive.

Bucky’s private security – all taken out by a lone bodyguard who had been bought off and tasked to kill his own Boss. The men who had ambushed Steve on the street, in his house, and who had also raided the Families homes -- they, too, had received similar instruction and payment. All in all, they’d had enough combined insider-knowledge to get it done, but someone who had both clout and cash had helped them execute their plans.  

Steve ran a hand over his beard and started to pace. He hadn’t been able to see clearly or think straight, but now, all the madness made sense. Keeping the peace meant Steve continued breathing and someone clearly hadn’t wanted that. When he’d gotten captured by the Families, Fury should’ve issued a kill order; instead, he’d sent an unknown emissary to negotiate for peace, which meant the accord had actually been a contingency plan.

The agreement between the Bosses had been Fury’s way of trying to ensure Steve’s back was covered. The man had struck the bargain of a lifetime, but if half of what he’d learned was true, Nick’s hands hadn’t been on the steering wheel since the paperwork had been signed. Whoever had done this had managed to get him out of the way and that person now had full control over both the business and crew. What little protection Steve had been given had also been taken away, and somehow, they’d managed to convince the Families to cut him off completely.

Given everything Phil had shared, Steve knew someone had to have put things in motion before he ever stepped foot in Brooklyn. Whoever it was had maneuvered the Senator and his wife into Fury’s orbit; ensured they got caught double-dipping with the Families; planned for the job he’d been sent to do to go sideways. The torture, the ousting, the rumors, the staging of Sam’s death – they’d been responsible for all of it.

Whoever was behind it hadn’t been trying to prevent a war, they’d been planning one all along…

“When all else fails, follow the money,” Steve bit out. “Who bankrolled this?”

Phil had saved the best for last, and when the picture and wire transfers were revealed, Steve put his fist through the screen. Everything inside him was screaming in protest, and he didn’t even realize Phil was still present until he’d been given a towel for his bloodied knuckles.

“Why? Why would she do this?”

Phil shrugged slightly, “Fury’s getting up there in age and has been looking for a successor. I have a feeling Nick intended to hand the crown to you after the job in Brooklyn was done.”

He cursed and wrapped his hand, “I wouldn’t have accepted.”

“She couldn’t be sure you’d decline,” Phil asserted.

“Then, why even bother to play nice at all?” Steve snapped. “Why didn’t she just kill me when she had the chance?”

“Money, anger, fear, envy – they’re all powerful motivators. Sabotage takes time, but it’s less risky, and much cleaner. Killing you would’ve been easier, but you’ve got friends in high places, and it would’ve drawn too much attention.”

“Is anyone else involved?”  

“No. None of them had a hand in it or benefitted from it.”

Steve let out a ragged breath and stared at the destroyed television, “I don’t have it on me now, but I will send you money to replace it.”

Phil grinned and retrieved both a manila envelope and a tablet from the coffee table, “I thought you’d say that. I also figured you’d show up here eventually, so, let’s settle up, shall we?”

A thumbprint was all it took to bring the screen to life, and when Steve realized what Phil had done, the tightness in his chest spread right on up to his throat. He hadn’t just provided coordinates to Sam and Fury’s location -- he’d also somehow managed to unfreeze Steve’s money and assets, and had put safeguards in place to ensure they would never be taken from him again. The envelope contained two stacks of cash, a burner phone, a plane ticket, and a set of car keys.

Phil told him his chariot and the arsenal in the trunk awaited him, and since his flight departed in an hour, his driver was on standby to take him to the airport. The debt Phil owed had been paid in full, and though Steve was floored and overwhelmed, he still managed to thank him and shake his hand.  

“Give ‘em hell, Rogers,” Phil advised. “And when you’re done, get out, and don’t ever look back.”

Chapter 13: Settled Scores

Everything: @jennmurawski13​ @nerdy-bookworm-1998​

Steve Rogers: @patzammit @hearttoearth​ The Boss of Brooklyn: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety @captain-rogers-beard

[all-pacas]

I like your take on house and chase relationship cause it feels very realistic lmao (idk why the fandom are so against the idea of foreman being the favorite during the beginning of the show like it’s okay to admit that. Chase does end up becoming the favorite/prodigal son at the end and the journey towards that was beautiful) anyways I wanna ask you what you think was going on through chase and house head when chase hugged him after thinking he had cancer

i think the general fandom read is pretty spot on: chase's dad just died of cancer, and this is hitting close to home.

chase and house's relationship actually changes a lot in s3 in a way that's more interesting to me than the generic "they're father and son uwu" take — finding judas really changes their dynamic, chase says it does, we see it, and the irony is that i think it's for the better.

chase really doesn't start off as house's loyal lapdog. in s1, he's just as likely to disagree with or argue with house as not, and pushes back a lot: he doesn't often go to such lengths as foreman does, but he has no issue saying no to house's wilder ideas, or… you know, ratting to vogler. he likes house, but that's as far as it goes. (cameron is the loyal and unquestioning one, and there's an interesting shift there too.) it's really in s2 that we see chase slip into asskissing/loyalty mode, and that's when he starts getting made fun of for it as a character trait: if this was a change he was starting to make post-vogler, it really solidified during/after the mistake (which, you know, canonically took place six months earlier, so also post-vogler). he's seeking house's approval; he wants house to like him.

the thing is: house really doesn't care for brown-nosing. we see him push back against cameron's in s1, and i think ugly in s4 is a great counter example: taub went from a nobody to someone house respected almost entirely because taub was willing to risk his career to fight house on what he thought was right. he consistently makes fun of chase's ass kissing; it is never going to make house like him. it is doomed to fail.

and then finding judas happens. house punches chase, and the thing is: chase doesn't just shrug it off. he tells wilson he's not waiting for house's approval anymore, and chase means it. he immediately stops kissing house's ass. he starts getting more and more assertive in differentials. he hardly cares that house is in rehab or dealing with tritter; he starts pushing his own theories when house isn't around. part of it might be because chase solved a case and knows he can do it now, he's just more confident, but… it really does carry through the rest of s3. we don't see him sucking up to house at all anymore. we see chase standing up for himself, we see him willing to do things that might antagonize house (breaking into his apartment in half wit). by resignation, chase is even calling house out on the foreman drama, and by the jerk he's lecturing house on how to handle the situation.

(there's definitely a… cameron element to this. chase is much more aware than cameron herself seems to be that house is a part of their relationship/lack of relationship -- he might actually consider it more of a love triangle than she does, and certainly more than house does. so there's a sort of competitive aspect to the relationship suddenly: chase is viewing house as a rival, not just a mentor or surrogate parent. house is an equal and not an insurmountable hero.)

the irony is, going back to what i said about house hating ass kissers: house likes chase better this way. we see he responds to chase when chase starts calling him out; we see he's downright proud in the jerk when chase figures out his scheme. house would absolutely rather have chase be blunt and honest and not trying to impress him than a chase who agrees with whatever house says, you know? (and this relationship absolutely carries through for s4-5 and beyond: chase never really tries to impress/suck up to house like he used to, and house rewards this with bowling and s7 favoritism.) ironically, chase cooling on house and erecting boundaries made them closer.

so. half wit.

despite the shifting relationship dynamic, one thing has stayed the same: chase really does like house. he thinks house is funny. he likes what an ass house is. even if he's no longer fawning, he still likes house, and we see time and time again than chase… fall hard, to put it bluntly. cares hard, once he lets himself. his dad died of cancer, he thinks house is dying of cancer. he might even be thinking of the punch and how angry he was, and how he'd been angry at his father for years; there are so many parallels.

even before the hug, we saw chase was openly red eyed and sniffling around house earlier; he took the news hard. interestingly, he alone of the team wasn't trying to fight it: he was just as preoccupied with "curing" house as cameron and foreman, but cameron was trying to sneakily take blood for testing and foreman wanted to talk and clear the air; chase just seemed to jump straight to this is goodbye, i think you can make a case he took it harder than the other two. not because he cared so much more, but because it did hit close to home.

as for house… i'd imagine he was taken aback. he knows chase is an ass kisser, but does he realize chase cares about him that much? did he assume it was just chase appealing to any authority? i don't think house would have thought chase liked him on any deep level, because house tends to assume most people don't, and they aren't really friends or peers or all that close. that's probably why, imo, house sort of… let the hug happen without much fuss: he was taken aback. it was not what he expected. the others wanted something, and chase was saying goodbye. i don't want to pretend it meant something big and deep and meaningful to house -- he probably did his best to never think about it again, lol -- but given that it's in the middle of an interesting time where their relationship is changing anyway, and given that chase very slowly does become the obvious favorite… i think it's a piece. the fact that house never, to our knowledge, made fun of chase or mocked him publicly about it speaks volumes.

[thevisionmarvel]

We need to talk about WandaVision.

or the alternative title: I will be inactive for a while, but before I go, I need to write about what I think will happen, not what I want to happen, but what they, according to the facts and history of the MCU, might do. also a rant about why Tom King’s Vision is the worst.

Ps: older version used a fan-made logo to do a visual study, I'm Sorry for the mistake, this is the problem with second-handed information, I saw being used It Multiple times, and assume It things, I'm really sorry for the mistake.

Showrunner and Writers

So right now, the only thing we know about the writers room of the show, is the showrunner, Jac Schaeffer, and  Megan McDonnell, the write that confirmed writting for the series in a podcast. First kudos for the show having  a woman as showrunner.

I don’t know much about McDonnell work, but was in this podcast that the twilight zone  inspiration talk comes from, the host talks that she comes from this background of weird, twist, fantasy stories and how Wandavision seems a good fit , and she confirms that it is. see here in the wonderful post of the @officialstellaacosta​, and all the praise to @those-celestial-bodies​ that found about it the podcast.

I know a lot more about Schaeffer’s work, even before Marvel, also it rubs me the wrong way, that marvel is using the same writer to all the females centric movies and shows ( She is one of the screenwriters of Captain Marvel, she is the one that pinned the story of the  Black Widow movie), even after  what happened with Nicole Perlman . It’s hard to  talk about the Schaeffer’s work with Marvel because the only thing which premiered is Captain Marvel, and she was credited as a screenwriter really late, the movie has four screenwriters, the story of the movie is by other  three people, so this is a lot of hands, to know what was written by her .

So if you want to know more about her, this older interview with the Blaclist is great,  also it has a really insightful look  of her own writting that is backed up with the movies that she likes and mentions as inspirations to her writting:

“ I love movies that tell regular stories about regular people but I have a hard time writing straight. It’s often flat. (…)  I need a weird situation and then I try to put authentic characters having truthful reactions inside the weird. Also, the weird needs to be a commentary on something (..). The ideas I see through always begin with what if… “

She is also one of the writers of the new remake with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson , The Hustle, but I know her work from her debut work that she directed and wrote  that it is TiMER (2009) is a indie rom-com with a really great idea, you know the post about clocks that rundowns  until you met you soulmate, so the movie is about that, and find the mudane in this weird set-up, it’s a average niche small movie, has almost every beat of a rom-com that you are expecting, just really stumbles in the end, like drop the ball  in themes about love, relationships that  wanted to talk about it, also the  end is really, boy it just undermine the theme of the movie and also  really hurt the most important platonic relationship in the story, also the comedy is so cringy sometimes and has some talk about latinos, that it’s really low-key xenophobic. Hope that since then she had learn with this. The writting has some really good bits. I think that the movie is in Amazon Prime video.

So what this tell about WandaVision : is that with the type of  writers attached to the project, the idea of putting Wanda and Vision  in a mudane environment seems likely to be true, them  and their powers being the  point of abnormality in the story.

this leads to…

 Comics (or me ranting about Tom King, a lot)

I never made a post just about Tom King’s Vision  after launched because I always feels like chewing glass  when I think about it , but this is me apologizing to you that is reading this post because of that, this will be more like a rant, so sorry, but I’ll try to be really on point  “stretch fingers again” 

So first we have to talk about the Story of the Scarlet Witch and  the Vision, their stories always were more ground, with the two limited-series really with them dealing with  relationships and family problems, this is one of the really good things of  their stories, it’s this insane of idea of a witch and a android falling in love, and with the all B-movie, pulp ideas just as backgrounds to really human  stories, and they did one of the things that comics most hate, they evolved,  we saw them build a family life, they moved to the suburban, they married, they had kids. One moment that always stayed with me, it’s really fun but also encapsulate all this, it’s the moment that they open their home to peter parker to take photos of their house, because is tax season, it just a really mudane thing, but it’s something that it clicks, yeah she is a witch, he is a android but their are grown-ups starting a family, tax season is going to be a part of their life now and then their fight the bad of the week with the help of spider-man. Simple, Fun but with a underline theme and story as comics  aimed at children should be.

And we know what happened,  which is one of more poignants things that happened  with them and  one of the best metaphors  of the worse  human thing that can happen wiith a couple, losing their child, one becoming emotionally distant and other shutting down even the memory of them, and Marvel butchered it. (but this is another post)

But before we talk about the comic, I need to talk about Vision, every  superhero has one panel that define who they are, think super-man flying, batman in the  gotham landscape, captain america punching hitler,  hawkeye falling of a building, spider-man hanging upside-down, iron-man with his hand blast, This to Vision, is him alone, crying after being accepted by the avengers, it is a moment of vulnerability, of pure emotion, he was created to destroy and now that he was accepted to protect, he cries. the tragedy of Vision is not that he is a android, and could he feel? it is that he feels, but is still learning what this is because he was created fully formed. and when he did, when the emotional reach super levels off having a healthy family dinamics, he was stripped of it, and had to regain bit by bit, just to lose again, the most horrible thing that marvel made to him is strip him of this. His creation by Ultron made him “emotional handicapped” for lack of a better term. It is like the most shakesperian super hero comics character, because he embodies the paradox of the media, no matter how much he grows emotionally,  a new writer always is going to come click on the switch and send him back to the start of the journey.  

Anyone that reads you know the wikipedia article of Vision can see that,  at least in broad strokes, and the last of the writers is Tom King, and boy, did it show that  he just didn’t care about the story of character, don’t get me wrong Tom King has talent, he is really a one note  type of writer, but he play the note really well, ( his book, and all his comics just use the same theme, same set-up, and boy, he has a portraying woman problem), you know he is really good in the most broad  branch in western fiction canon, “white man broading   being/learn to be d*cks but having feeling about it S/A” and he bring good ideas,  the execution is the problem”, the mental heatlh facilities for superheroes, genius idea, heroes in crisis not so much. the growth of the relationship between Batman and Selina, genius idea, the execution of  the wedding terrible. 

This wasn’t exactly what happened with Vision (2016)  that he wrote, the pitch for the comic is  spectacular, in his own words “Breaking Bad meets The Incredibles”, if I was the executive receving this pitch I would say yes and the execution is a well-made, well-paced psychologigal thriller, so why I am saying that just to think about it that I  want to chew glass, because this pitch was broken in the first sentence of the treatment of the comic, This is not breaking bad ( to people that don’t know , breaking bad is a series that starts as a man  doin it everything for his family, he starts trafficking drugs but we learn in seasons ahead that no, he is d*ck, alwasy been, just wanted an excuse to be bad), because he has Vision create his own wife and kids, and god , with everyone praising this series , I felt that i was alone, Vision created  his WIFE, with the only purpose of being his wife. this is not breaking bad, this is straight villain territory since the start , HBO has a series about how fucked up this is.

Vision became this monster even before the comic even starts, as a fan of the character I hated it , but I read it because I said well it’s a new experience, it’s dark, seeing one or my  favorites characters as a villain, but no things could get so much worse. Nobody pointed out the obvious, the despicable  thing he did, I waited the whole book  to when Virginia would stab Vision or disconnect every part of him,but it never came, he made even worse when he made Wanda gave her brainwaves and the idea of him making this. And in the last issue, Virginia fridged herself  with the words saying that everyone she killed was to prevent of Vision doing it the same, to preventing him of become a monster to  defend their family, and this is portrait as sad, because Vision save the world so many times, and Virginia saved one, killing herself  to make Vision not a monster.  And now I am screaming “HE IS THE MONSTER, YOU ARE THE VICTIM, STOP BLAMING YOURSELF”.

And you know what? this won the fucking Eisner of Limited Series, I saw people  saying that Vision became one of their favorite characters after the series,  the one time that Vsion is a fucking terrible villain, he is held as like poor vision  always trying to be normal, see he created a family, it didn’t work out because her wife didn’t want  to him become a monster, so she become one herself”. Like I said, he has a problem with portraing women This is the Carol and Markus situation again, bit by bit,  this is not a story that fit the character of Vision, he would never do this. and worse, everyone embrace it as a new take of the charater see this  “Tom King has reinvented Vision from a non-feeling hopeful-human into a deeply tragic character” I had to read this, multiple times.the only new take that he brought is turning Vision in a rapist monster, and not even adressing it,  I say this because this is something that no character can walk away from it, he molded the charaters to be in a story that didn’t fit them. 

But Marvel  and everyone tried , even me, pretend that this  didn’t happen but Viv still exists. Vision entered a new part of his story, being a father, healing.

What does this have to do with Wandavision? 

Well, one of the most thing that people say about it , it is that his run will be a influence in the series. So let’s start with the facts, this is the most recogniize work with the character in years, in decades really, (without counting the Chelsea Cain story that was canned before even start, but this made more news about how the industry of comics work that about the story itself)  it won a Eisner, and Feige like famous storylines, so yeah, it  a possibility, and Elizabeth said that  are  many comics that they are pulling from.

The story of  living in a suburb, like i said before, this is not something that Tom King invented, The Vision and the Scarlet Witch made this decades before him.

Being a psychological thriller, see this  I see being pulled right off his run. but it also made me think, most nothing in this shit-show of  comics would work  in the MCU, so it mosst of a genre type of thing that Feige would take from it.

Also, I saw people saying  with some tweets that King made, that he could be in someway be involved in the series. I’ll try to explain how this work, even if Marvel wanted to do an exact re-creation of his run, how things are made, they could do, because  Vision and every story made with him is property of Marvel,  They are not required to tell anything to him. Jim Starlin has this famous story about  how he had to pay to watch the first avengers, even if  he is the creator of Thanos, well Marvel became more “generous” with some creators , Starlin even has a cameo in Endgame, but they are just required to credited you, if they used some character that you created, so in King case, they would be required to put his name, just if they would used viv,vic or virginia. It’s not fair, but this is how it works. 

Do this mean that I’m saying that King is not involved? No, just saying that even if he is in the credits, as a “good action” by Marvel, this doesn’t mean that he nas any insight in the series, he could maybe  be invited as a consultant to the writers’s room , to present himself his comic , but nothing besides that.

But the tweets about a secret TV thing? well  by the dates of the tweets, yes he could being talk about some stuff about the series, but is more likely he is talking about this other project that he is making to TV, because in this dates, the show would even have a showrunner yet. (off note: Dude, but what  a problematic plot to a series)

Can I be wrong? Yes, but Marvel would never get some writer  without any experience in writting movie/TV scripts, not now, and with this commitment with other TV project, not happening it.

 for lack of a better term, Marvel : Phase Four. (when we talk about Feige, businness, contracts, etc.)

This would be so much easier if we woud still on the phase three, but this is new territory, we don’t know what the future that Feige and the Disney wants to the MCU, but  it has to go smaller, because they have to give space to “breath” after  something so big as Endgame, if this was a roller coaster, phase four  will start with a descent,  the next movie (100% MCU) will just come in 2020. and now with the series, the scope will branch more, and Marvel is a big corporation, that  is own by a even bigger corporation, so we can’t never forget  the business side of things when trying to discuss where they headed. So the series, mostly were a business decision, Disney+  is comming late in the game of streamings and they used the biggest brands to throw a knockout, but the movies will always be the flagship of the MCU, so we work with two possibilities: first, that  this talk about the series afffecting  the movies is salesman talk  and  if this happen is slighty  details or cameos or it is true and MCU will work  with a more branched continuity.

the first one, my cynical side still think that they will going to do this, but my rational side think is more unlikely because they will be minisseries  and Kevin Feige is producing them, everything we know about the Loki series  fits with this version, just taking one character  from the movies and isolating him in a series. How it was done before with AOS and Agent Carter.

The second one is a little more complicated, because then the series will mostly work as characters pieces, but nothing too big can happen in them, because if these characters will jump from TV back to the movies, if something has happened in TV, will have to be something that can explained in a quick  dialogue in the movie, or this characters will just appears in the movies in  the big fights (example: the people that were dusted just showing up to fight in the end) because no matter how bigger audience this series will have, the movies will be made to  a audience even bigger.

But just because something is a businness  decision, doesn’t mean that there is no motive in the narrative decision, (because if we stop to think, as a corporation every decision made by Feige and Marvel is a businness decision, buy you know what I mean). As in Endgame, Tony Stark and  Steve Rodgers have ends  that work with the narrative, but it’s not coincidence that between the two, the one with the bigger pay-check is the one that died and the other has an end  which allows the easily return.

Also contracts is another clue that we have: see this article . The contracts for the TV Shows don’t negate the contracts for the movies, besides the burocracy that new contracts  would definitively been made, because is two different medias, that they didn’t tried to surpass the old one, show that Marvel wants the option to still use the characters  without renegotiating a new one. Elizabeth and Paul made their multiple movies deals in the end of the phase two, also known as the moment that Marvel noticed the  “money problem” with  shorter contracts , so I would say that they still has at least one more movie.. and Marvel is mantaining the upper-hand with this new Tv contract while still holding movies in the old movie contract.

So why Marvel would do that, if the didn’t want to use the characters again? Maybe to keep a  safe net, to have the characters at hand but without having to worry of the actors getting very expensive pay-checks.

But maybe, is also has a narrative motive to do this , now  I am back to the  question that phase four is the calm between storms , the big shake it up  that is coming and we know it  it is the mutants and FF being in the MCU , but Feige said this is just comming in Phase Five ( I find this really sad, because then he loses the oportunity to use in Avengers Five, the roman numeral as  Avengers V X-Men, now he just have to used it the X of X-men). I don’t have a solid opinion besides they are holding the actors to something.

 Why? Feige is known by having famous storylines as just a base to the movies, remember when I said it  in the comics parts,  that every super-hero has  a panel that define who they are,  every fan hates it the one that Wanda has, is one of those moments that no character can overcome it unscarred, it also  is connected to the dissassemble of the Avengers,  and  the  original decimation (of mutants). and Feige after Dr. Strange, started saying that Wanda uses magic, maybe just to keep sinergy on brand, but he pointed out that she used it more chaotic, also don’t explain why every user of magic, use the gold one, and green one if is Loki, but she uses the red one. 

But Feige had a problem if he is doing the ground work for this, they made Wanda suffers a lot already, because she already lost it the brother, she had to lose it Vision in Infinity War  to Edgame to Happen, so how to set it up this, but in a way that it  can work if  you want to use it in the future , but without seems that it’s comming from nothing, you need time , more time that one movie has, you know what I’m saying it,

They using Wanda as literally as a time-bomb and using the series to set it up. and i hate this because  it can works both ways, make the series, about she learning more about the powers  and bring back Vision , blow it up in her face, boom here  is the  set it up, that can be explained it really fast in a movie, ends in a happy note,  in the movie, they just need explain well she was happy and then boom tragedy is a no win situation. 

Also  last businness tihings, how these series are being made it really show that it’s more about  Marvel with the ideas, because  most of the series already existed as a concept even  before the showrunners became involve, and in Wandavision in particular,  she don’t have experience as a showrunner, but  the marvel machine works very well, so I not so much worried about that.

The Concept Art

  So we just have the description about the art, but just say it that they are using 50′s type of Clothes. No, I don’t believe, they use time travel, but it’s more a asthetic choice, because the image of suburb that we have is still predominantly of  the 50′s, white fence, big house, so this other thing to contrast with them, they stand out.

Conclusion

So with this information, I can predict that the series will focus really on Wanda, and her powers, it will be in the suburbs with a 50′s asthethics, it will be more The Scarlet Witch and The Vision than Tom King’s Vision, but  changing the melodrama and  conecting the B-Movies threats of the first  to a more sophisticated but soft psychological thriller  of the latter, but still with a romance in the mix. and that Wanda will be back in the movies after the series. This are the things that I see the MCU doing it, not what I wanted them to do it.

[10906900-blog]

Annotated Bibliography final

Annotated Bibliography

“Analysis of Financial Literacy in a College Population.” Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, vol. 19, no. 4, Feb. 2019, doi:10.33423/jhetp.v19i4.2197.

           “Analysis of Financial literacy in a College Population” is a research paper made in 2019 by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. It researches how many college students are financially literate today. They describe how important financial literacy is and how it helps young people throughout their lives. For the research they take into mind what gender the person is, how motivated they are, what major they’re in, their age, and their financial backround.

They’ve come up with a few hypothesis, which are:  

1.      Business students will be more financially literate than those who are not business students.

2.      Students who have taken financial literacy courses will be more financially literate than those who have not.

3.      Students who have family members in a financial field will score higher on the financial literacy test than those who do not.

4.      Students who are more confident will score higher on the financial literacy test than those who are not.

5.      Students who are more motivated will score higher on the financial literacy test than those who are not.

It’s interesting what this research shows, and I hope it motivates college students to take a course that would help with this. This analysis was interesting and gave me some more insight into the points I was going to make in my essays. I had a more board view of finances, but this is exact research for a particular population. especially having this research be towards people my age was interesting. It also goes into what financial literacy is and how people may view it nowadays.

 Bednar, Joseph, and BusinessWest Staff. “Financial Literacy Should - but Often Doesn't - Start Young.” BusinessWest, 21 May 2019, https://businesswest.com/blog/financial-literacy-should-but-often-doesnt-start-young/.

           The title of this particular article is “Financial Literacy should – but often doesn’t- start young” by Joseph Bednar. This article was made in May 2019 and goes into what mistakes people make and solutions we can do to solve those issues. The article goes over mistakes that people make and how to avoid those bad decisions. The blogger makes a stance on how schools should be teaching financial literacy at a younger age. It is so important to start teaching kids this as young as we can. It may not be “entertaining” for some children to talk about how money works, but teachers and parents should do the best they can. I was never really taught about to handle real life situations with finance in school, until I got to college.

           There are companies wanting this education of financial literacy to be spread throughout children of the US. In the article there are quotes from Credit Unions that want its customer to be financially literate. This also focuses on the importance of teens being educated in finances. Surveys are done that show that some teens may have a lack of confidence about their financial future. This helps support the claim that financial literacy is so important. This article is a great for our society to be able to get financial literacy to be taught at a younger stage in life. Another reason why this is important because the only education people have in the youth for finances is from their parents.

Hill, Napolean. Think and Grow Rich. 1937.

This is a book has a very interesting back story, which actually helps magnify the content in the book. This book was made in 1937 and it is a self-improvement book. Napolean Hill interviewed and studied the most successful men during his time. Men such as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and many more. The book starts with an introduction explaining the 13 steps of becoming your best self. These steps can be applied to anything, especially financial literacy.

Some of the steps in the book are desire, imagination, organized planning, persistence, and the subconscious mind. Each step is important for different reasons and the author goes into depth with each principle. This book definitely goes into a spiritual aspect, but also how these aspects can help with self-improvement and becoming successful. And again these steps or principles are things that Mr. Hill found in hundreds of the most successful men of his time. He lists some names in the book, but says that it all started with an invitation by Andrew Carnegie. This book contains the “secret” successful people knew and Mr. Carnegie invited Mr. Hill to do twenty years of research to compile the secret from these people, and share it with the world.  

The author is very confident when he says this book contains the secret to success. Thousands of people have practiced what’s in this novel. The secret was used by President Wilson during the World War, and told Mr. Hill that “it was strong factor in raising the funds for the war”.

Kiyosaki, Robert, and Sharon L. Lechter. Rich Dad, Poor Dad. TechPress, 1997.

“Rich dad poor dad” is a book written by Robert Kiyosaki who is a multi-millionaire. This book was published in 1997 and it helps people know how to be financially successful. The author tells the story of his dad (poor dad) and his friends’ dad (rich dad) and how both of these men influenced his life. The poor dad is educated but lacks “street smart”; and the rich dad has very little education but has lots of “street smart”. The principles of these men are taught throughout the novel, along with insights from the author Robert Kiyosaki. The principles are great and help people think outside the box.

Principles in the novel, “Rich dad Poor dad”, are as follows:

Roberts describes a phrase he calls don’t work for money, have money work for you. He explains that too many work to hard and don’t think outside the box. He encourages readers to become owners of their business and that they can get income without them doing a lot of work. Another principle is the importance of financial literacy. He basically explains how important it is to learn accounting, or take a class about it. Another principle is that we should work to learn and don’t work for money. This is similar to the first one, but he goes deeper into the importance of learning. He also describes knowing the difference between assets and liabilities, and how people need to learn this so that they can stay financially stable and not go bankrupt.

Kruse, Nicole. “Money Matters.” Nais.org, June 2019.

           This article is by a woman names Nicole Kruse in the summer of 2019. The article also goes into the importance of students becoming prepared for the real world. The real world can be crazy and unexpected, and financial literacy can help with that.  The neat thing about this article is that it references other research that has been done for when other countries and states implemented a curriculum to help students be taught finances in school. She has a huge focus on getting these classes into schools, but also suggests it should be taught multiple times. Mostly because the things we learn in one class may not be enough to make it a habit for students. This article is a little small, but still expresses the importance of students being taught how to be financially literate.

           I think article is very relevant and mentions things that I have not heard from the other articles. In the beginning it explains where we are today as a country. It mentions tests done to measure financial literacy across the country made from a study called the National Financial Capabiliy Study by FINRA Investor Education Foundation. So it not only goes over the importance of it, but also where we are has a country. They concluded that nearly two-thirds of the people in America are not financially literate. They based this on a financial literacy test. I believe that providing this in schools at a younger age will help America today, but also for the future.

Lally, Tammy. “Let's Get Honest about Our Money Problems.” TED, June 2017, https://www.ted.com/talks/tammy_lally_let_s_get_honest_about_our_money_problems?language=en#t-709049.

           The speaker’s name is Tammy Lally and she is a money coach. In this TED talk in 2017, she explains a story about her brother and how from the experience that happened to him inspired her to realize that we should break free of “money shame”. People around the world feel this. When people buy things and use money not really for things we would consciously think of. She brought up a good point saying that just because we make certain decisions with money, does not mean we should beat ourselves and think we are bad with finances. This ted talk goes how money can really get a hold of someone’s life.

           This feeling of money shame, can make people feel unworthy of love just based on our bank accounts and what we own. She explains that it doesn’t matter how much money we have, and sometimes people let money control our lives. An example of someone having money shame would be someone living in a house or having a car they don’t really have the budget for. Tammy also encourages that people shouldn’t try to hide their money shame. She also encourages that money should stop being a taboo topic, because not talking about it can lead to bad consequences. Tammy of course encourages to stay out of debt and budget. I love this talk because she really helps realize what I spend and how feel about spending. And I like how she makes the point that money does not equal happiness nor our self worth.

Lance, et al. “Is Money Actually Important and Does Money Matter?” The Mastermind Within, 14 Mar. 2019, https://www.themastermindwithin.com/does-money-really-matter/.

           This is article made by a financial blogger, and the author wanted to explore a little bit about money. The title is “Is money actually important and does money matter?”. It goes into a lot of what if situations like if money wasn’t that important in people’s lives. The blogger also talks about how money or finances can sometimes get in the way of important things in life. The blogger further explains that if money didn’t really matter, there would be no stopping people from going to spend time with friends and family or even travelling the world.

I would say this is an important question to ask ourselves if money really matters. Money can cause a lot of stress and break ups in life. Even between friends or spouses, money can sometimes break those relationships. Now selfishness is a big thing when these break ups happen but this isn’t really a psychology essay. Now I also think money can help with achieving goals or making memories with the people you love. The author did mention that if people thought money didn’t matter, there would be no stopping people from going to Las Vegas and doing other things that may have that person loose money. Thinking that money doesn’t matter can be risky, but I think it’s important that we realize people may view money in different ways.

The author then closes with a final remark that at the end of the day, people aren’t thinking about money. When people are on their death bed, they’re not going to be thinking about how much money they have.

 Payzan-LeNestour, Elise. “Why We Take Financial Risks.” TED, 2016, https://www.ted.com/talks/elise_payzan_lenestour_why_we_take_financial_risks.

The speaker for this Ted talk is Elise Payzan-LeNestour. This speaker at Ted talks about why humans gamble or take financial risks. She is a behavioral scientist that specializes neuro finance. Although this isn’t really a “how to” get rich resource, I think it’s important to realize the consequences of risky decisions with finances. There’s been a few tests on this. The first test she mentions is a monkey test. The monkey is in a cage and has two buttons both giving it sugar. One button gives a fixed about of sugar each time, one button gives out more sugar but sometimes gives a shock to the monkey. And with other tests she notices that we like taking risks. Even financial ones.

She describes that we are “greedy and lack self-control”. Before making this statement she explains other tests that they’ve done. The tests were to see if people who take risks have a “homer simpson” mind set. Comparing that mindset to “spock”, we learn that it doesn’t matter how intelligent we are, we all are subject to taking financial risks. People just have the temptation to gamble. Elise says people “cannot resist the temptation to seek more reward”. After looking at this, she describes that we are almost “hard-wired to gamble”. We sometimes cannot resist the chance of getting something more, even though it’s not guaranteed.

  “Practical Psychology.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Feb. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCir93b_ftqInEaDpsWYbo_g/featured.

Practical Pyshcology is youtube channel that started in the last couple years and already has almost 2million subscribers. The creator of this channel has many videos and a lot of them are on self-development, and some of them are involve financial advice about saving money, selling, credit cards, etc. Whenever he does say most of his statements, he does refer to the place where he got them from. Or he just states what he’s learned from his own experience. I will now explain some of his tips for becoming more financially literate.

For saving money he suggested on making a monthly statement (budget), identify needs vs wants, avoiding spending money once you get paid, and don’t take loans to buy things. He also gives other tips like how to invest and how to use a credit card properly. Now a lot of his videos do explain how to set smart goals and have healthier habits, which are necessary to becoming financially literate and successful. He has a lot tips he’s learned from the habits of millionaires, but also tips similar to Dave Ramsey. One for example is that using cash (instead of a card) sends a signal to the brain that you lost something. When people use their credit/debit card, there’s no signal sent to the brain because their card is giving right back to them. But the physical cash isn’t coming back after you use it. So when people spend a lot of money, they’re most likely using a card instead of cash.

 Ramsey, Dave. “Dave Ramsey's 7 Baby Steps.” Daveramsey.com, Ramsey Resolutions, 2019, https://www.daveramsey.com/dave-ramsey-7-baby-steps#baby_step_2.

Dave Ramsey is a multi-millionaire and has a podcast for financial advice. He’s written books, has his own company, and gives advice to not only help people get rich, but helps them get out of a financially difficult situation. In the link is his famous 7 baby step plan to become financially successful.

One of the first steps, he suggests people to pay off all debt (excluding home loan). So that means student loans, car loans, and credit cards. He excludes home loans in the beginning because he knows it takes a lot of time to pay off those for most Americans. His steps also include saving, investing, and saving for your children’s college fund. The last step is to build wealth and give. He states that spirituality will help rich people not lose their heads when they gain wealth. That helps him be majorly generous when accrues more wealth than he needs. For most of my sources from him, I will use these 7 steps and podcasts he has. I haven’t read any of his books just yet.

His podcasts mostly consist of him answers questions to his listeners. There are of course people who disagree with his views, but Mr. Ramsey sticks with his views and strategies for becoming financially stable. He gives tips for self-reliance, car payments, mortgage, life insurance, and even identity theft. He’s gone bankrupt before, but obviously knows how to get out of quick which is why his advice is more compelling to me.

 We can prevent us from doing this by having one hand tied behind our backs. If we simply restrict ourselves from gambling, there is a way for us to avoid this temptation.

[fierycosmos]

YGO Laurel: Goodbyes and Hellos

(so it’s not a drabble, but features my YGO oc Laurel writing goodbye letter and some hello letters to people in her life. and a little background: she’s writing to her dad who’s in prison for abusing and kidnapping her, and her mom’s dead but she’s writing a cathartic letter to her anyway, and Adam is a friend she stayed with before moving to Domino City, and Fein is her best friend from childhood she had to say goodbye to when she ran away from home -- SORRY THAT’S A LOT BUT ENJOY) I rip the failed letter to shreds, again. I toss it with the rest of my mistakes into the trash. I lay back into my revolving chair roughly and my hair scatters across my face. I exhale through my nose and I watch as a strand floats lifelessly and then plops back down onto my face. Annoyed, I collapse my elbows onto my desk and rub my face with my shaky hands. Why can’t I write this God-forsaken letter? I’ve been able to write the others, and I even delivered! Even the ones to Seto and Mokuba I placed on their beds. But you, you like to mock me don’t you? I grab another card from my desk and begin to scribble out my thoughts once more. *** Lawrence Turner, Why? No, better question is how? How could you ever think you could get away with this? You won’t be able to hurt anyone in there. Didn’t you realize before this started? Before the drinking and the gambling and the Cuban cigars, that you would get caught? I can’t begin to count the scars on my body from smashed beer bottles to concussions that were never treated. And those bloody turtlenecks. I hate turtlenecks; and yet that’s all I could wear for two years! Don’t ever talk to me again. I hate you. I really hate you. __________________ Seto, I’m sorry. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. I know you won’t accept that. You probably won’t accept it or you will hate the lack of “better language in expressing my sorrow.” I don’t even know if you will read this. I understand though, I really do, but it hurts though to know you may never forgive me. I had my reasons. You still may deny that my choice to lie to you was reasonable, but I had to protect myself; I had to protect you. And Mokuba. Now don’t let that stupid ego of yours get in the way! To my surprise, I started to care for you both; I’ll admit that much. The more involved I got, the more I wanted to tell you my story. My insides were going to explode if I didn’t tell you soon; I guess that’s why I am writing this letter. To put it succinctly, we both have daddy issues. While yours was a pompous asshole with too much money, mine was an abusive alcoholic. Oh, and did I mention he was a wrestler back in the day? That’s why I acted so tough and wanted to work out. I had to be ready if I ever saw him again. That’s also how I got the scar on my left shoulder that you always asked about; it was a broken beer bottle. Happy? And then there’s the mom piece: she died not long after Luka was born. He was two and I was nine. Terminal cancer; there was nothing the doctors could do. That’s when dad’s drinking got out of control, and he got back into the ring. Once that started, there were lots of late nights and lots of brown-stained t-shirts. And so I ran and took little seven-year-old Luka with me. I was smart enough to know I couldn’t take care of another human being at my age, so I left him with Grandma Lacey. She stopped talking to my dad after mom died. And you know Adam. I met him along the way. He actually caught me when I tried stealing some food from his pub. It was a bad time in my life; I was a desperate and dirty fifteen-year-old. He said I reminded him of how he acted when he was my age and took me in. I slowly began telling my life story to him and became a part of his family. But once again I had to leave. Lawrence was getting too close to me and it was heartbreaking to leave them. Then I ran into your brother and my perspective on life changed. You and Michael stopped me from dwelling on my past. Please don’t try and track me down. I need to stay away to keep you and Mokuba from meddling where you don’t belong, and in circumstances you don’t understand. I’m probably not your top priority; I was more of a bother than anything I bet. I’ll find a way to pay you back. For all the clothes, for living in your house, even when I was using up all the hot water. I don’t think I need to go on; you’re probably enjoying it too much. The point is, you’ve done a lot for me over this past year and I feel the need to repay you for your generosity I continue to feel unworthy of. Before I end this poor excuse for a letter, I’d like to make a deal with you. I want you to let people into your life when I’m gone. I know that may sound nearly impossible for you to do, but I believe that it will help you be less of a grump. And don’t deny it – you’re a grump. Get out there, have a party or a fundraiser or a fancy gala or whatever. Get a girlfriend and treat her nicely. Go out to fancy dinners and see movies. Also maybe get a dog, to teach Mokuba some more responsibility. And yes, naked dogs are out of the question: those things are disturbing. So yes, you’ll have to put up with some new fuzzy furniture. And what will my part be in this deal you ask?  Well, if you wish, you’ll never have to see me again. If not, if you do manage to find me (which I still recommend you don’t try to do), I’ll answer any, if not all, of your pestering questions. Deal? Sincerely, Laurel Annalise Turner __________________ Dear Mokuba, You know I love you, right? You’re one of the sweetest human beings I’ve ever met. I had a hard life until I ran into you and you made everything in life seem worth living for. There’s so much I would love to tell you but I can’t get the words out. I don’t think you’ll want to read a novel about my life. I could go on forever in this letter but I’m kind of in a rush. To put it simply, you and Seto became the most important part of my new life. You two made me happy and almost helped me forget about all the hardships and people I had lost in the past, including my mother. She died years ago, but I never got over it. Then I lost my father, but he didn’t die. I lost him as a person I could turn to for help, someone who I could rely on for support. He turned on my brother Luka and me. I had to grow up quickly and become the one people, like my brother, could lean on. I wish you could meet Luka, my baby brother. He’s around your age. Maybe someday you will, if Seth ever lets you see me again. Don’t be mad at Seto, okay? He has every right to be mad at me, and you can’t blame him for being thickheaded. I want you to also be on your best behavior. No harassing your brother! He’s a very busy man and you’re heading off to middle school soon and you’ll need all the free time to STUDY. Don’t forget about me, all right? I’ll swing by some time; it’ll be our little secret. ☺ Love, Laurel __________________ To the Unworthy Human Being, To my Asshole of a Father, Hey douchebag, how’s it feel to rot in jail? That’s right, you’ll have to make due with hanging out with your sorry self and other good for nothing bastards just like you. Hell I don’t even think you deserve to live, and that’s coming from your daughter. You’ve done nothing but shame the Turner name, I’m thinking of changing it. I don’t even know why I started this. Say hi to your loser friends for me. __________________ Fein Wilson 25 Park Ave. Dear Fein, Long time no talk or long time no write. It’s been, what, seven years? Don’t be mad at me, okay? I just want to tell you that I’ll be heading back home soon. I’ve been gone for some time and I feel I should visit and reconnect with my roots, you know? You were the first person that came to mind. I’m sorry I never stayed in touch while I was gone. A lot has happened to me since I left our small little suburban bubble. The world outside is so strangely wonderful and different. I should show you around one of these days. I’d like to see you. Like I said, I have a lot to explain. Hope you appreciate the postcard. It’s funny, when I first saw it I immediately thought of us. Almost identical to the last picture we took together. We should go to the beach again, dig up some hermit crabs and stare at cute lifeguards. It’ll be good to act normal for a change. Again, I’ll explain that to you in person. Miss you, Laurel T. __________________ Adam and Meredith Jameson 21 West 52nd Street Apartment 2A Dear Adam, Surprised? I’m not going to forget about you any time soon. How’s that wonderful wife of yours? Tell Meredith I said hi. Last time I saw her she was a swollen planet. Did you name your newborn after me ☺? I bet the bar’s a mess without my leadership. The bartenders need to get better at their mixers. They were sloppy last time I was there. I would suggest getting rid of that blonde bimbo. But I’m not writing to insult your judgment, because you gave me a chance out of the blue. I just thought I should check in. A lot’s happened since my dad found out where I was. Sorry for the mess on the roof by the way, hope there wasn’t too much blood. I didn’t think he would find me while staying with you. I’m just glad all you saw of him was his mug shot on TV. Thanks for visiting me in the hospital by the way. I was out of the coma a few days after you visited. I never got to thank you for the roses. Meredith’s idea, I’m guessing? You know the more I try to joke about my dad finding me the harder it is for me to write this all down. I still have nightmares of that night on the bar roof every so often. Thankfully I’m not fighting my demons alone, so please don’t lecture me about going about my “recovery” on my own. You don’t need to worry about me anymore; you’re a father now and will have your own child to stress over. I just wanted to let you know that I’m moving past “the incident” (if that’s what I can call it – apocalypse sounds a bit too strong) and that I can’t thank you enough for your support, and for reuniting me with my old and new family. Thank you for everything. I’ll stop by soon. Best, Lor __________________ Hey Dad, People keep trying to stop me from writing this, but someone told me it’s best to get things down on paper to help move on. But one question keeps running through my head: how could I ever forgive you? Yet, somehow I feel like it’s not your fault. Some unknown force took you away from me and switched you for some demonic spirit, maybe to test me? Either way I feel the alone time you’ll have will hopefully be enlightening and help you be happy and accept the decisions you made. Maybe then I can see you again. __________________ Dear Mom, Hi. Hey, mom. How’s heaven? I miss you. So do Luka and grandma, and I know dad does too. I hope you understand why I can’t talk to him (you weren’t there when the harassment began, thankfully). I don’t even think you could have done anything. It would have happened eventually even if you had never left us. Though having you to hug again would be nice. I’m starting to forget some things; maybe it’s the head trauma from being slammed into walls and banging my head on tables. Dad always had a good arm. I buy your favorite perfume every so often, just to remember your smell. I still have the necklace you used to wear. The chain broke a year ago and so I attached it to an old charm bracelet I made in school. It stands out on the cheap rusted metal and I stroke it every so often, thinking how you would touch it when thinking of your father. I’m playing with it right now as I wonder what to write. I know, who ever thought I’d be so cheesy? I wish you could meet my new family. Seth and Michael mean the world to me. They’ve done more for me than I could ever give back to them. You always knew exactly what to say to make everything all right – I wish I had inherited that from you. I can’t seem to tell them exactly what’s on my mind. Seto makes me so flustered and he pisses me off (sorry, mom, I know you never liked rude language). But, I couldn’t picture my life without him now. I wonder if you’d approve. I have to admit he can be quite the charmer. But that’s not the point. You know I’m not very good with romance; it never made sense to me and I don’t think it ever will. I don’t know the secret behind a successful relationship. I remember Fein always talking about her celebrity crush of the week, but that was about it. I could really use your help right about now. Only Mokuba gets to see how I can care for someone. He’s just like Luka; it’s unbelievable. It’s like I got another chance at being a sister. Anyway, I hope you’re having a nice relaxing time up there. I’ll love you always, Laurel __________________ Father, I don’t even know why I started this. People say it’s best to get things off your chest to officially move on. I hate you. I really hate you. I’ll never forgive you. You hurt me, and worse, you threated Luka. How could I ever forgive you for that? Don’t bother writing back. Besides, I’m changing my name legally. You don’t deserve to know my new name. All you need to know is that I’m moving on to bigger and better things, and you’re not invited. L. *** I seal the envelope. Finally. I gently lift it up from the table and brush the seal, trying to calm down slightly. I can feel as though a heavy burden is being lifted off my shoulders. However, I can’t begin to relax or feel better. I grab my bags near the side of my desk, pocket the letter, and slowly head to the door. I look back at the room I called my own for the past year and sadly switch the light off. Once I close the door behind me, I lean against it seeking some sort of comfort. I am going to miss this old house. “Goodbye Seto. Goodbye Mokuba,” I whisper to myself as I try to hold back tears threatening to fall. As I head down the long hallway, I wonder where I will head next.      

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hi - so i hope you liked this, i wrote it for an english creative writing class and i really enjoyed writing it back in the day

let me know your thoughts <3

also since i wrote it for a class, there might be instances where seto’s name appears as “seto” and mokuba’s as “michael” -- i changed them so not everyone would know i was a weeboo lol

[dweemeister]

South Pacific (1958)

With the 1955 movie adaptation of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Oklahoma! proving to be a popular success a roadshow attraction, producers at the other Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musicals began laying the groundwork for cinematic versions. Oklahoma! was released by RKO, but the three R&H adaptations to follow were housed at 20th Century Fox. Within Fox’s domain, South Pacific followed Carousel (1956) and The King and I (1956). The stage musical South Pacific was based on a short story collection by James A. Michener entitled Tales of the South Pacific – the winner of the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In taking Michener’s work as inspiration, R&H implemented themes of racial prejudice that might have seemed groundbreaking upon the Broadway premiere in 1949 and the film’s late ‘50s release, but has become less norm-breaking in retrospect. Similar issues also affect The King and I. But when it comes to the theatrical releases, the craftwork and acting has assured The King and I’s place as one of the best Hollywood musicals. Shot on location in Hawai’i, South Pacific is an enormous production, but it contains less cinematic intrigue than other R&H adaptations.

Much of that is down to director Joshua Logan – experienced on the Broadway stage (the original runs for Annie Get Your Gun and Mister Roberts) not so much with movies (1955′s Picnic, 1956′s Bus Stop). Logan directed the original run for South Pacific for its five-year stay on the Great White Way. But the skillset for a successful stage director is not necessarily compatible with that of a film director’s. For example, when The Sound of Music first appeared on Broadway, it was not as universally acclaimed by audiences and theater critics. With its immortal 1965 adaptation under veteran film director Robert Wise, The Sound of Music surpassed its stagebound source material by embracing the Alpine scenery surrounding it, stretching images that makes possible what a Broadway audience might imagine.

Somewhere in South Pacific during World War II, the United States Navy and its Seabees are stationed, waiting for their next assignment. Aside from the usual tropical maladies, the most infectious affliction among the men is boredom. After an early song in which a local trader, Bloody Mary (Juanita Hall in yellowface; singing dubbed by Muriel Smith), describes the sexual mysteries of a nearby, forbidden island called Bali Ha’i, a few of the men find themselves aroused by the thought of easygoing dames. It is from here South Pacific establishes two storylines. The first centers around the love affair of Ensign Nellie Forbush (Mitzi Gaynor, the only major actor to do her own singing; her character is a nurse) and Emile de Becque (Rossano Brazzi; dubbed by Giorgio Tozzi) – a wealthy expat French planter with a guarded past – a past simultaneously hidden by time and in plain sight. The other subplot does not truly integrate itself until the second half, when Lieutenant Joseph Cable (John Kerr; dubbed by Bill Lee) visits Bali Ha’i and falls for Liat (France Nuyen).

Other significant characters include Luther Billis (Ray Walston), Captain George Brackett (Russ Brown), Commander Bill Harbison (Floyd Simmons), the Professor (Jack Mullaney), and Stewpot (Ken Clark; dubbed by the inimitable Thurl Ravenscroft). Elizabeth Taylor was considered by the producers for the role of Nellie, but, during her audition, she was so intimidated by Richard Rodgers that she could barely sing. It matters not, though, because Mitzi Gaynor’s performance is tremendous. Juanita Hall, as Bloody Mary, is the only original Broadway cast member to reprise her role.

Melodrama reigns. And melodrama, when paired with excellent filmmaking, can pack emotional wallops for even the steel-hearted viewers. Excellent filmmaking is not present here; far from it! The first appearance of major faults comes with Bloody Mary’s introduction, the song “Bali Ha’i”. Do not adjust the color configurations of whatever device you are reading this piece on – those saturated Technicolor filters blanketing the screen are present during many of the musical numbers and most dramatic scenes. During the film’s post-production, director Joshua Logan was concerned about how the rapid weather changes might appear in theaters. To mitigate that, Logan shot those aforementioned parts of the film through color filters – unintentionally mimicking the effects of mood lighting one might see on a stage play. Logan disliked the decision after seeing the final print, believing that the film processing lab saturated the colors to extremes. He requested reshoots but, because of South Pacific’s roadshow release schedule in which theater bookings were finalized months in advance, those never occurred. Logan reflected that the filters were the worst mistake of his filmmaking career, and I concur. Where these color tricks might work on stage, film is a different beast. As South Pacific is not a silent film, viewers do not expect tinting to that extent. Often occurring in the movie’s most romantic sequences, the oversaturation adds nothing to the poignancy onscreen. The filters are more suited for drinking games – not that I am giving you any suggestions.

Logan and cinematographer Leon Shamroy (1944′s Wilson, The King and I) botch the camerawork. The colorized filters interfering with the audience’s appreciation of the backgrounds, and this issue is exacerbated by Shamroy’s insistence on medium and medium-close shots for many of the musical numbers, as well as placing many props or foliage in the foreground. Shamroy sometimes carries over the same aesthetic and framing tendencies between musical numbers shot in the same general area (“There is Nothing Like a Dame” and “Bali Ha’i” in particular). The visuals, amid beautiful sights on Kaua’i, are frustratingly adequate given the on-location shooting.

As entertaining as South Pacific, it buckles with its gendered behaviors, questionable romance, and flawed arguments around racial relations. The secondary plot concerning Liat and Joseph Cable is grounded in the fears of Liat’s mother, Bloody Mary. With war raging across the Pacific and the fact that the economic presence of the U.S. Navy could disappear at a moment’s notice, Bloody Mary wants her child to enjoy the benefits of Western society and escape from the poverty of the islands. Liat, portrayed by Nuyen, has no agency and no choice of suitors because of her mother’s arrangements. Among their exotified neighbors, Liat, who does not speak a single word in this film adaptation (because apparently the worst sort of woman is someone who dares speak out concerning a man’s worst behaviors), embodies the Oriental feminine ideal pushed by artists over several hundred years: submissive, seductive, pale-skinned, giggling. Yet the musical and the film adaptation tends to play this for laughs, burying the narrative lede behind mother and daughter: the former preventing the latter from discovering love for herself, in the name of economic benefits (given how much money Bloody Mary claims she has made – and taking her at her word and inflation into account – their income probably far exceeds that of the average islander) and wartime expediency. Asian characters in Western narrative art – especially women – are often infantile, finding themselves at the mercy of underdeveloped, acquisition-hungry, and horny white characters. Where a musical like The King and I had its lead Asian and white protagonists on equal footing in terms of power and agency, that dynamic reverts to its stereotypical norm here. South Pacific has much to say about interracial romance – and not just with Liat and Cable – but its approach was and is regressive.

Not that the primary romance between Nellie and Emile is any better. From the moment they lay eyes on each other and an interested eyebrow is raised, Emile repeatedly engages in prevarication. He does this thinking that Nellie will not accept his truths – and really, too much of the drama in South Pacific occurs because of characters failing to explain their pasts or their reasoning (it’s tearing-hair-out-in-large-clumps stuff). Now, I’m all for forgiveness in leading one’s life. But Nellie, whose resentments are based on her personal racial intolerance and Emile’s history of obfuscation, forgives Emile too quickly, too easily to be believed. The two leads here are playing characters with an array of personal flaws that can be overcome. The resolution of those flaws plays out in the most dramatic fashion possible because, hey, it’s the Second World War and they have to put some war violence in there somehow!

It is my hope that you are watching South Pacific for its music, and not for the plot. Because the entire score from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical is intact, albeit many songs have been placed far differently from when they appear in the original stage musical. Credit to this film adaptation that the rearrangement of the song order makes greater sense here. Instead of jumping headfirst into Nellie and Emile’s romance, the film opts to introduce “Bloody Mary” and the Naval non-coms and Lieutenant Cable first with “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” – an enjoyable opening which establishes their longing for female company and restlessness. “Bali Ha’i” and the first appearance of the atrocious filters follows.

Soon after this the musical’s best works appear where in the stage version they were featured far too early. Nellie and Emile’s budding relationship is outlined by three songs following the other: “A Cock-Eyed Optimist” is followed by “Twin Soliloquies” and South Pacific’s signature song – “Some Enchanted Evening”. Also preserved in their spots from the stage musical are “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” – the film unfortunately cuts two minutes from the song – and “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy”. The partial deletion of the former song speaks to how the filmmakers wanted to champion falling in love (as opposed to loving someone), but that does not make me adore the latter song any less. As an example of how poorly South Pacific treats its Asian characters, “Happy Talk” is featured in all of its glorious pidgin English embarrassment (the song is often cut in contemporary productions, including the 2001 television version). This is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein film adaptation in which all of the songs are intact – “My Girl Back Home” being the one addition (and it was cut from the original stage musical).

This review is based on the general release version which runs 157 minutes long and does not include the intermission. The roadshow version runs for 171 minutes; includes an overture, intermission, entr’acte, and exit music; and contains additional scenes. Both the general and roadshow versions are available on home media.

For South Pacific, various elements of this film version – from how it handles its two romantic subplots and its commentary on interracial romance and relations – have not aged gracefully. The Rodgers and Hammerstein score, even if this does not represent the height of their collective musical acumen, remains indelible. Forget the love declarations and probably one-sided relationships. Stay for the music.

My rating: 6/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

[twatd]

History Repeating

Back once again with the renegade masters. WicDiv #35 is out and we're back with the ill behaviour – by which I mean, two essays looking at different aspects of the issue. Which means spoilers aplenty, starting now. D4 Damager, power to the people, and all that.

Alex: When The Wicked + The Divine’s first issue opened with the words "And once again, we return to this", it was fairly inevitable that, eventually, we’d be back. And 34 issues later, here we are. Issue #35 opens with those same words, that same striking full-page image of a skull, and is followed a three-page sequence that’s nearly identical in both issues.

I say ‘nearly’ because McKelvie has gone back and redrawn some elements of each page. It’s most obvious in the close-ups, and especially Minerva’s face. To my eye, she looks a little older – more in line with the modern-day Mini, in her early teens, rather than an out-and-out child – and like she’s doing a worse job of hiding her excitement about what’s about to happen.

I spoke to Jamie directly, and he confirmed that this was just a case of not wanting to use four-year-old work. In Minerva’s case, he doesn’t believe he quite had her design down yet. I can only imagine how tiny mistakes – the kind that are only visible to the person who made them – eat away at you, when something is out there as prominently and for as long as WicDiv’s opening sequence.

This isn’t the first time WicDiv has revisited an old scene to show us what really happened. I’m thinking of issue #20’s return to the apparent murder of Persephone in #11. But the reused art in that sequence was drenched in stylised pinks and blues, a variation on the sampling effect seen in Woden’s retelling of events in #14 – the first time the series played with reusing old art in a new context.

With this revisiting of the 1920s, the visuals are played completely straight. Matt Wilson appears to have reworked his colours a little – the shadows are little deeper, and there’s an added blown-out glow to the highlights – but at first glance, the overall effect is the same.

The effect is fascinating. By being presented with something so close to identical – and, at least in my case, so burned into my brain – the tiny differences immediately tickle at your brain. But when you get to the fifth page and the differences get significantly larger, it’s enough to blow those brains out your ears. (Not literally, thankfully – that fate is saved for poor sweet Susanoo.)

We see what really happened inside that summer house, and get a reverse of that final shot of Ananke, clutching herself and repeating “Once again, we return”. This new information changes the images we’ve seen before. Ananke’s seemingly genuine sorrow when the ‘20s gods blow themselves up, which was for a long while the red herring that led me away from believing she was a bad ‘un, now seems to be grief for her own imminent demise.

That’s a brilliant detail, which makes sense both times, in different ways. But I’m also interested in the broader logistics – knowing, four years ago, how to divide a page to leave space for a future revisit. In this respect, the #1/#35 sequence uses a similar trick to the #11/#20 one, splitting a single image into multiple widescreen panels.

Some of these panels, which get reused, contain key details – like Ananke’s face, in both of the examples above – while others show things that, looking back, seem like extraneous filler – rubble and smoke. These kind of empty ‘mood’ panels are a fairly rare occurrence in WicDiv, which is fairly committed to using its space as efficiently as possible, suggesting they were drawn with the retellings in mind.

I’ve written before – all the way back in 2015, following issue #11’s release – about WicDiv’s love of circle motifs. Back then, I read it as a sign that this was a comic about breaking free from a cycle, and with the cage currently tightening around the Pantheon, it’s hard to disagree with that.

But on the page, the effect isn’t oppressive. It’s beautiful. Like a song returning to its chorus, like a 1-2-3-4 beat looping over and over, symmetry and repetition are building blocks of the art that WicDiv celebrates, even as it shows us the increasingly dark side of its creators.

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