#big damn heroes

[deadheaddaisy]

This makes my day!

[besttropeveershowdown]

The Best Trope Ever Showdown: Round 1, Side B

Hitman with a Heart

Propaganda:

Cold character meets warmth. Instant heart.

Big Damn Heroes

Propaganda:

Honestly just a very satisfying trope in general, and it's got a great name courtesy of Firefly.

[commanderbragh]

DWC 2023 Day 3: Stepping Up (Unresolved)

Banagan ducked and covered his head as waves of heat washed over him. Before it passed, he could hear screams coming from nearby. Raising his head, he quickly scanned around and saw two men on the ground with smoke curling off pieces of their armor. He ran to their side and dropped to the ground. Putting his hands on both men, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Light flared around his hands and then passed into the two prone fighters. Almost immediately their cries subsided to quiet whimpers and they stopped writhing on the ground.

Banny opened his eyes and looked around again. He could see the field medics rushing to his position, so he stood up and unhooked his mace from his belt. Nearby, he saw his Drakthyr friend Skold shooting his own fire back at the druids, causing them to scatter and run.

“Chase them down!” someone called out. It only took a moment for Banny to trace the call to the mercenary that had been dressed down so publicly only a few hours earlier.

“Fel,” Banny muttered to himself as he started chasing after the four soldiers who were, in turn, chasing after the fleeing druids.

“What is it?” Skold asked as he glided to Banny’s side.

“If we don’t get there in time? A bloodbath.”

“Whose?”

“Does it matter?”

It was a running battle as the Druids of the Flame continued to send volleys at the humans who gave chase. In return, one of the soldiers cast bolts of lightning back at the retreating elves. Electricity sparked between the druids, catching one just as he was casting of his own spell. The druid’s body jerk involuntarily and his hand dropped towards the ground just as he had released the casting. A ball of flame shot down in the midst of the running druids and exploded, sending them flying into the air. 

The humans cheered as they rushed forward. The first three bodies they encountered were charred and did not move. Banny watched as the one mercenary prodded the first body with his boot and got no response. One of the other soldiers called out “Hey, this one is still alive!”

The group looked to see there was one druid rolling on the ground. She had been furtherest ahead when the explosion went off and, as such, had only been partially hit and thrown forward. The humans walked up to the druid as a faint moan escaped her.

“What should we do?” the soldier who had first noticed her asked.

“Kill her,” the mercenary responded with a dark grin.

“No.” Banagan’s quiet demeanor and calm response washed over the other soldiers, visibly cooling the bloodlust that had them running just moments earlier. Everyone, except the mercenary.

“We kill them all.”

“We were told to bring them back alive if we could,” Banagan replied simply.

“They’ll never know,” the mercenary sneered.

“I’ll know.”

“I don’t care,” the mercenary said, raising his sword and taking a step forward.

Banagan moved quickly, stepping in between the mercenary and the injured druid. “I will.”

“So what?” the mercenary spat out, moving closer to the paladin.

“We are taking her in alive. Anyone who has a problem with that has to get by me.”

“And me,” Skold added as he stepped to Banagan’s side and flexed his wings.

“Fine,” the mercenary growled. “Take her if she means that much to you.” He then turned and stalked off. The rest, unsure what to do, turned and followed their friend back towards the rest of the troop. Once they were out of earshot, Skold looked down at his friend.

“Are you sure that was the wise thing to do?”

“Wise? Probably not. But like people say ‘If you can’t do the wise thing, at least do the right thing.’ “ 

“Who says that?”

“I don’t know. Probably my dad, or Drogar, or Shadowbreaker. It seems like the kind of thing that they would say.”

“You grew up with some very interesting people,” Skold said with a shrug. Then he turned to look the soldiers who were making their way back to the main host. “Do you think they will let this go?”

“Nope. Not even a little bit. I’ve seen plenty like them, too.”

“Then how will you handle this? You will have to work with them again, I suspect.”

“It all depends. I’ll try buying them a drink next time we’re back in Valdrakken and see if that clears up the angry feelings.”

“And if it doesn’t? If the matter stays unresolved, what then?”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing that I have a friend watching my back,” Banagan looked up at the Drakthyr and smiled. “Let’s get this elf back to the command tent. I don’t want to be out here in the open if any of her friends come looking.”

“Agreed,” Skold responded.

@daily-writing-challenge

[pixiereblogs]

Pixie Recaps Picard | Disengage

[waywardwizzard]

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf,

Virginia Woolf,

Virginia Woolf...

Red and blue and grey and every gorram colour except her colours.

Why weren't they here? Why was she here?

(You know why. This is home)

Spinning, spinning, spinning, little star in a big universe. Looked for the Milkyway, found the Beginning. New life, real life. Why wasn't her family here?

(Focus River. Two by two hands of blue. Keep your family safe.)

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf,

Virginia Woolf,

Virginia Woolf...

Needles and blood and this wasn't right. Or was it? But it wasn't then, it's now so why weren't they here? And why was there blood? Ge-ge?

(Hiding away. Focus. Focus)

All alone in her Serenity, purple leaking out onto the floor. No answering blue, just cold.

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf...

(Focus. You're a weapon. Act like it)

I am.

(Now!)

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Author's note-

... yeah, I got nothing. I really hope this makes sense.

I was busy analyzing Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf when this hit me so I crunched it out in about 5 minutes. Hope y'all enjoy!

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes a Girl Needs a Firefly Fix. Was It Worth It?

Off the top: I do not endorse Whedon's behavior. Frankly, I'm not going to mention him at all in the rest of this post. I also don't endorse the "great man creator" myth. Lots of people were involved in making Firefly, and we can honor their contributions while holding that hard boundary against predatory and abusive behavior.

Sometimes a girl needs a Firefly fix. Growing up, my TV and movie access was pretty restricted, but never in my life did my parents say no to a book, so novelizations and spinoff novels were often how I first engaged with media and narratives (see my two and a half tubs of just Star Wars books). So when I was missing Firefly and couldn't access it, I dived into the books. My results were decidedly mixed.

I made the eminently logical decision to start with the first of the Firefly books, Big Damn Hero. I'm pretty confident that space western isn't common enough as a genre to have generic space western story issues, but honestly if you had changed all the names and take the Firefly branding off this book, it would have still been aggressively mediocre, just without the familiar characters that made me pick up the book in the first place.

Frankly, I don't have much at all to say about this book. It was fine. The plot was fine, if a bit on the generic side. The characters were fine, I didn't feel like anything contradicted the show. There was nothing particularly memorable about it, it was a fine way to kill a couple of hours on a rainy weekend afternoon.

Novelizations and tie-in novels, in my experience, can vary wildly in quality, so the violently mediocre first experience did not turn me off the Firefly novels in and of itself. I made sure to do a little more research before I picked up the next one, though. These books do technically have an order, but I went full chaos goblin mode and fully just ignored order. Instead, I looked at the focus characters and basic plots (spoilers were also not something I cared about, because c'mon).

I am an unabashed Mal and Inara shipper, and frankly the fact that Inara living with a terminal illness was deprioritized in the show (I know, there was a ton of drama with getting cancelled, this is an opinion and feeling, not a criticism) was wildly disappointing for me, so when I read the blurb for Life Signs, I had hope that we might actually get some Mal/Inara and some illness rep, which we just do not get enough of (massive shoutout to One for All for anyone who wants some incredible chronic illness rep that isn't John Green).

So, objectively, this book was better than Big Damn Hero. And with the benefit of hindsight, I would even call the book good. But if I'm being totally honest, when I was reading the book, I felt LIED TO. Inara shows up in the first two and last chapters, and the rest of the book is Zoe having an existential crisis about Mal's judgement and turning around a pulling another woman up behind her (which honestly I can get behind, Zoe is awesome). I was actually furious because Inara had basically zero agency or opinion about anything, and the framing wasn't Inara's voice and experience, it was Mal's man pain. Literally, the framing was patriarchal and infuriating.

The being lied to and shitty framing aside, the plot was intriguing and carried me through the book in one sitting (that was admittedly part rage as well, but the plot overall was solid), and the character work was solid. As long as you know what you're actually in for with this book, I think readers would genuinely enjoy it. I plan on giving it a second try once I've gotten some distance from the rage and the disappointment, but it definitely landed in the "this says it has illness rep but actually no, this is patriarchal man pain and the actual person experiencing the illness could be seamlessly swapped out for a table lamp without materially changing the story" category.

What Makes Us Mighty was my "third strike, you're out" book, and actually I was really impressed with this one. This felt more like Firefly than the other two books had, and there was some incredible work in it. The highlights include:

Mal going absolutely feral on a toxic, predatory rich guy

Jayne having some actual character growth and nuance beaten into his head

Simon Tam getting to do his doctoring thing

Zoe being an absolute QUEEN

The absolutely most horrifying SFF weapon I have ever read (this is a disputable claim, but even if you're not putting it at the top of the horrifying weapon list, it PLACES)

The Sereneity crew doing what has to be done with compassion and mercy and absolutely making me sob while reading

This book single-handedly redeemed my Firefly novel experience, and honestly I would actively recommend this one to Firefly fans. Not so much Big Damn Hero, and maybe not Life Signs (would depend on the reader), but hell yes, read What Makes Us Mighty.

[paladin-panoply-of-pax]

It would be easy to see this and laugh at a corporation's foible, but I'm not laughing.

The global gaming community rose up with one voice and said "No." WOTC was FORCED to listen. We need to do the same for everything right and just.

Equality.

Education.

Pay.

Human Rights.

Human Dignity.

Alone we are a drop of water.

Together we are a flood.

[antrontsr]

All New Firefly: Big Damn Finale

(I used a variant cover as the thumbnail as to try and avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn’t read it)

I absolutely love the Firefly Universe.  Not just the TV show and the movie.  I’ve read all the comics and graphic novels.  I’ve read all the novels as well.  I’ve even tracked down the script for a missing unaired episode, along with the original extended, uncut, movie script.  Even the novelization of the Serenity movie, adds bits and pieces to the lore.

Suffice it to say, I get after Firefly content like a kid devouring candy on Halloween night.  Well, sometimes you can get sick that way.  This story left me gutted.  Was it enjoyable? Yes.  I recommend everyone who likes Firefly to read it, but be warned, it’s not for the faint of heart.

[epickiya722]

This bit right here!! Tsu's little siblings cheering on for her!! THAT'S THEIR BIG SISTER!! 😭💚

[itz-darktrax]

"We didn't set out to be superheroes. But sometimes, life doesn't go the way you plan."

Happy 9th Anniversary to Big Hero 6!

[capesch-arts]

☺️ 📖 👁️👁️

[lulublack90]

Prompt 6 - Murder

@jegulus-microfic February 6 Word count 487

Murder had never been very high on Regulus’s to-do list. But when you’re part of Voldemort’s inner entourage, murder is expected.

Regulus didn’t like it, but he did as he was told. That was until he had his ex-lover on his knees in front of him, his chin held up by the tip of Regulus’s wand while his fellow death eaters cheered him on over finally getting the Potter boy. 

Regulus couldn’t do it. He stared into James’s eyes, knowing James would be the only one able to pick out the fear in his eyes. James’s lips were moving. He concentrated on the words coming out. 

“It’s ok, love. I know you have to do it.” James gazed up at him, completely relaxed and calm. Regulus’s wand hand shook, prodding James in the throat. James swallowed hard but didn’t take his eyes off Regulus. 

“Alright, Black, enough gloating. Finish him already so we can go.” One of the masked men spat out, getting bored of the situation. 

Regulus had only let his eyes flick away from James for a second to acknowledge the speaker before turning his full attention back on James. 

James smiled at him again and nodded his head minutely. Regulus shook his head with a similarly almost invisible movement. 

“I can’t.” He mouthed soundlessly down to James, lowering his wand slightly. 

“If you’re not going to do it, Black, move out of the way!” The other death eater stepped forward just as the wall beside him imploded, and Sirius Black came leaping through the dust swirling around the gaping hole. 

He started blasting before his feet even hit the ground. Sirius took out three death eaters without blinking and rounded on the remaining two, the bored death eater and Regulus.

Regulus, shocked at the sudden interruption, stood frozen. His wand still resting under James’s chin. 

Sirius knocked the other death eater out, leaving only Regulus. He pointed his wand at his brother. 

“Give me a reason, Regulus!” Sirius murmured, his voice deathly quiet, his stance showing he wasn’t messing around.

Regulus didn’t move, but James did. 

He stood up, gently moving Regulus’s wand away from him and reaching his hands to cradle his face. 

“You okay?” He asked, ignoring Sirius’s protestations. A tear dropped from Regulus’s eye, and his jaw quivered in James’s hands, but he managed to twitch the corner of his mouth into a smile. 

Their moment was broken when ropes shot from Sirius’s wand and wound around Regulus, pinning his arms to his side so forcefully his wand clattered to the ground.

“Grab him, and let’s go!” Sirius yelled as he summoned Regulus’s wand into his hand. Regulus found himself being hoisted into the air and over James’s shoulder as he was carried indignantly away from the building as a prisoner of the Order. 

He contemplated whether murder would have been the easier option. But no, this humiliation was still preferable.  

Next part

[puddleslimewrites]

Prompt #4

Villain gripped Hero's collar in their fists, eyes burning, cheeks stained with tears.

"I. Fucking. Hate you." Their voice was low, full of hurt and loathing.

Hero stared up into the face of their nemisis - their friend - with wide eyes. They swallowed the lump in their throat, guilt burning in their blood. "I...I'm sorry-"

"Sorry?" Villain laughed and their voice cracked. "Oh, no. No, no, you're not sorry." They gripped the fabric of Hero's shirt tighter, pulling them close enough for their noses to touch. "You're not sorry," Villain murmured. "But you will be."

[batbabydamian]

i've seen you reference a couple times that you're not into the idea of Damian being batman when he grows up which i completely agree with on a narrative level as well. this begs the question though...what do you think would fit Damian best when he grows up? (and why is it Nightwing COUGH COUGH)

ideally, i would love for him to create a new identity and forge his own future without any ties to a legacy 😭

i’m a sucker for the whole Grayson legacy aspect they tease with Damian so i would be happy with him as Nightwing, but i’m content with just seeing fan interpretations of it 🥺 i think Nightwing is so tied to Dick Grayson it’s hard for me to imagine it as a mantle that needs to be passed down unless Dick’s choosing to do so

anon i do see the vision though 😭

Nightwing (2016) #19/20

not that heirs should automatically get the mantle but if Dick did have the option. like. Dr. Hurt outright calling Damian as Dick’s heir, on top of Dick’s own subconscious in the form of a Nightwing Damian

Nightwing (2016) Annual #2

AND THEN THIS PAGE AS THEY ZOOM ON DAMIAN WITH THE TEXT SLAPPED OVER HIS FACE “…WE BOTH KNOW YOU’RE THE LAST OF THE GRAYSONS”

[paladin-panoply-of-pax]

Luke Skywalker is still my hero

No matter what, Luke's arc, all the way through the latter six movies, is wonderful. I don't know that it's objectively the best. Star Wars is kinda clumsy in general, but I know I relate to his story.

I know we're all destined to confront the demons of our past, and the secrets we've hidden from ourselves if we want to become our best selves. The more we deny it, the more pain comes from it.

I know we all fail and need to get away sometimes. Our loved ones still need us, and we still need them. Even if it's only at a distance, we need to keep in touch with the world, and even at that distance we can still do good.

I know that I really like that color green. Even if it's only because the blue wouldn't show up against the Tunisian sky, it marked Luke as different from his father. As having become himself, and giving up the past and the pain that came with it to pursue something more.

I know that being a dramatic bitch is sometimes necessary. We all have a Big Damn Hero in us somewhere. The one who comes in at the last minute. The one who shows up at the 11th hour for someone in need, even if it's for ourselves. Whether it's in fabulous drag, detailed cosplay, or just a magnificent laugh and a big smile and a hug, we all have the ability to inspire and save others.

Luke taught me anyone can be a hero. Anyone can do the work that brings down the system that's holding others down. Anyone can learn magic. Anyone can leave their life behind for something greater. Anyone can be redeemed.

Luke taught me that heroes have each other. We aren't heroes alone. We always have someone to turn to. We always have someone who's fighting alongside us.

Luke taught me that being a hero doesn't mean being a chosen one. Sometimes it's about getting the chosen one their shot. It's about reminding another person that they're a hero, too, in the darkest moment, when all seems lost.

And because Luke is my hero, I've found so many other heroes in my life. I've seen people defeat their demons, and I've fought beside them. I've survived my demons, and passed my tests. I've got literal and figurative scars to prove my victories. And I know you do, too.

So thank you for being a hero. Keep it up.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I firmly believe that Vash has no idea what an insurance agent actually is and what little he does know has been so thoroughly warped by his experiences with Meryl and Milly that he is now too afraid to find out