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carmenxjulia · 3 years

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Another Duane interview transcript, coming at you! This one was from a smaller Carmen Sandiego chatroom. There were several interviewers, so that’s why the name of the question asker changes. Get the details below the break! Stay tuned, more interview transcripts coming soon.

Duane Capizzi:

HI EVERYONE! I'M IN!

Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the way haha. Then got lost trying to change my PFP

Thanks for gathering! Shall we get started? Let's do some Q&A!

(as long as they are not geography questions haha)

Fuel:

What characters or plot points were cut from the final product?

Duane Capizzi:

Ooo, starting with a right hook to the jaw!

Let me think about that for a moment: I'm hesitant to give too much away because I'm really hoping we can tell more stories in this world at some point

Which is to say, we tend not to waste anything: if we don't use it when we originally planned, we usually find a way to use something later - and there's usually a "karmic" reason that we waited.

I'll also preface by saying this: I know season 3 was more of a mini-drop and some felt season 4 was rushed. But I wish EVERY season were longer. Season 1: ideally, i wanted the Pilot to be its own event and 10 more episodes after that (but we had to tell the post-Pilot story in 7. At the end of the day, that had its benefits: we got to the Shadowsan turn earlier and I think that's when a lot of viewers realized the ride they were truly in for). Season 2: we initially figured we'd need 5 episodes to have Carmen doing the ACME dance with Chief, and wound up doing it in 3 - mostly because it quickly became clear that Rio needed to be a 2 parter, and the Zack and Ivy backstory a rough 2 parter. So we squeezed 3 episodes worth of plot into 209. It was exhilarating!

So, we had hoped to have more episodes for Season 4 of course. We had a ton of ideas and had to compress things a bit. But honestly in many ways it was for the better. I know we all wanted to live in this world longer, but I think sometimes the flip side is true - when you have big ongoing storylines, it can get frustrating when some things drag out too long. But, we got all the "story" we wanted to tell in Season 4 - we just lost some "incident" if that makes sense. We would have taken longer to get there.

So, all that preface to answer the question: we wanted to do more musical numbers! We had a Bollywood dance sequence in a return to India caper with Paperstar. We wanted to do a famous Elvis suit theft in Las Vegas during an Elvis impersonator convention (Shadowsan's an early elvis guy; Brunt likes the Vegas "jumpsuit" era). We also wanted to do a thread where Gunnar gets captured by ACME so that Julia could interrogate him and he could play mind games with her a la Hannibal Lector and Clarice. CAVEAT TO ALL THIS: these were some ideas that were bouncing around, that may not have seen the light of day if we couldn't get them to work. But they were on our wish list.

re: "other stories" - I could live with these characters for another 32 episodes easily and there have of course been discussions. But alas, that is up to the powers that be. Let's keep fingers crossed - and keep the Carmen love alive online so that someone up there takes note

There is more of course, but those are some things that spring to mind.

Fuel:

Were there any scenes cut for time that were your favorite?

Duane Capizzi:

Not much springs to mind: our directors were amazing at getting everything in the scripts to fit naturally (and in fact, I was the one who was usually suggesting trims to let other things breathe, etc). We were limited to 22 minutes of episode time, NOT counting front and end credits so a little longer than the average show. We have a pretty good idea when the SCRIPT is too long, so the cutting usually happens at script stage before it gets to the board crew so that they don't waste efforts over-boarding material that won't be used.

We had hoped to build out Chase and Carmen teaming up for the first time, meeting at Carmen's hotel lobby etc for more scenes of them together; but had to reduce that to get that all to fit in the VERY packed episode 406. But again, tighter was fine considering. That's one area that leaps to mind. (note that when I say packed, I don't mean that in a bad way: we spend a lot of time pouring over details in editing to make sure everything gets its due).

If I think of anything, I'll circle back at a later point. But the simple answer is that scenes were usually trimmed or compressed at script rather than board or animatic. So nothing comes to mind. I know it's hard to believe, but "shorter is usually better."

except for my answers to fan questions of course

Fuel:

We saw that in s4 episode 6 that Julia's mother(?) is wearing a necklace remarkably similar to the one Julia wears all the time. Is this the same necklace and if so, why was it given to Julia?

Duane Capizzi:

Just when I thought I was detail oriented! Wow! You guys blow me away

I can't take credit for that: it was either the board artist or director who added that. They do slip things in! As I've said before, EVERYONE on the crew really brought their A-game and were as deep thinking and as passionate as I was/am about the show.

It's a nice detail and I would say your interpretation works!

It took me three or four reviews before noticing that the team had slipped in baby Carmen near the play set in Mom's front yard at the end of 408. When I caught it, I was like: bravo!

Fuel:

When they first met, Zack and Ivy said to Carmen that they were the only family they had, do you know what happened to the rest of Zack and Ivy's family?

Duane Capizzi:

I don't. At least, I don't yet until such a time that I might have the opportunity to explore that. It was important to their relationship with Carmen that they be orphans, so they had that common bond (aside from being "thieves who steal from bad guys" - even if it was only gonna be one time for Zack and Ivy).

I know there are writers out there who like to do entire bio's for characters up front but i'm not one of them. It could be a trap in many ways. I like to have a general idea but be open to the demands of the ongoing storyline. You discover things along the way - it's like you're taking a journey with the characters by writing them, and the longer you spend, the better you get to know them (that was not a prepared statement by the way - I just made that up but I'll have to use it again :). So in Z/I's case it wasn't important to the story or Carmen's relationship, we felt. Conversely, we STARTED with Shadowsan's family backstory with 203, but more important to me was that we use it as a platform to explain why he stays with Carmen and crew. He really has no home at that point, so it was relevant to the present ongoing story. Which is what made that especially powerful to me.

Also, there's always a push-pull between telling character back stories while balancing them with ongoing episodic plots. You have to service both. If you just tell back story, then you're writing a biography

Arden:

What was the biggest challenge when designing these characters, especially the pre-existing characters from the series in the 90's?

Duane Capizzi:

This is probably more of a question for Chromosphere, re: challenges. But from my standpoint overseeing that process, the first thing I'll say is that we weren't necessarily trying to be "true" to those characters since we reinvented nearly every one from the ground up. (with the exception of Carmen of course - her trademark red hat/coat weren't going anywhere! But mostly the update with Carmen was in the styling of her "outerwear"

ALTHOUGH: I will admit that I was pushing for Carmen to have shorter hair as Carmen. I thought it would be a cool update. Chromosphere were really passionate about giving her long full hair and I have to see that they were right. The short tomboy cut worked so well for Black Sheep anyway. We had a different hair style for each of her ages.

So about the reinventions: Gunnar is in spirit a similar character to the original (old colleague in Vile and an early mentor if I remember), but his presentation completely different. We weren't trying to be "in canon" with the original. The beauty of CSD is that every incarnation has been its own entity so that freed us to reimagine the characters. THE CLEANERS, for instance: gimme some Cleaner love! There were a pair of janitors from the original game named RICK AND NICK ICK. They were literally janitors, it was too silly for our purposes. But, it's one small step to make them "Cleaners" (in the sinister hit men sense) - and lo, our reinvention.

So to summarize the answer to your question, they weren't really challenges to me so much as FUN to creatively reinvent the original characters (many of which were from the game, so not really "characters" per se with dialogue and inner lives). Whenever we could, we tried to use character names from the originals and update their looks and personalities. Where we couldn't find an equivalent for what we needed, we created characters from whole cloth. For instance, it seemed a miss to do a heist show without a tunnel guy and a high rise climber guy. Hence, LC & ET, everyone's favorite taco truck vendors!

(yes, i've seen some short hair carmen fan art on Twitter - someone did a great one recently!)

Arden:

Are there plans to give us more of the characters in, say, novel/graphic novel form?

Duane Capizzi:

I know HMH has done a bunch and no doubt have more in works. There's currently a novelization of the Pilot with some additional material if anyone's interested. I consulted on the second one, Clue for Clue, because it falls in the timeline while Chase was still Interpol/pre-Acme so was tricky.

And depending on whether another series in this canon makes it to air, I may just approach them about writing one or two myself to get some "further adventures" our there. Anything is possible!

Arden:

If you could go back and change anything about the series, what would it be?

Duane Capizzi:

File under anecdote, but there was what I felt was an important expression on Gray that kept me awake at nights, from his graduation ceremony at Vile. When we revisited those flashbacks in the Gray arc in Season 4, I had them change his expression there (to be more evil less innocent). We had it corrected in 404 so was able to get permission to have Netflix "fix" the Pilot by adding that shot in. I am tenacious!

We really poured over everything, it's the series that I have virtually zero complaints with the end product to be honest. But the simple answer is: I would have gone back to 106 and "un-greek'd" Gray's nametag. It's sort of a rule for international that we scramble signage (which is weird for a show that takes place in many countries/languages, I know I know). It's mostly for localization/translation reasons. And I'm sure there are some countries where Gray's name might be spoken differently. But as a proper name, I think we could have made an exception and seen "Gray" on his name tag. See? Details! But that's about the worst of it

there's also like one small line from Chief in 208 where she indicates she knows Carmen is a good guy (something to that effect) which I felt was too absolute and would have tweaked the line to temper it a bit. It's tiny, but looking back it sort of bugs me and I kick myself for not catching it. But this is absolutely the series I wanted and couldn't be happier.

Carmen:

How did Carmen know she could trust Julia? As far as we know, she has not seen or heard Julia defending her, and in the Fashionista Caper, Julia even held up her gas gun to her, saying she was under arrest. Do you have any opinions on this? Was it just intuition?

Duane Capizzi:

I'm gonna go with intuition

Carmen was raised on an island with some hardened criminal types. I think she's a pretty good judge of character. Poor Julia, trying to be tough with Carmen didn't suit her.

But, great observation! I'd have to mentally step through everything to see if Carmen had any earlier indication but i think you're right there.

Yes, sometimes you just gotta follow your heart

Carmen:

Are there any characters that didn't actually interact that you think would get along well?

Duane Capizzi:

Amazing question! First, I'd have to think more about who DIDN'T meet - you're asking the hard questions haha. But "get along well" is very specific! Hmmm, care to volley anyone?

I'll also add that so many smaller moments get lost in the "binge" of it all, but I am surprised how few fans have noted the first meeting between Player and Julia. THAT was a good one IMO! Very sweet!

Before getting back to your question, I also want to add that we were originally going to find a way for Carmen to lose her earring in Stockholm so that Julia could pick it up and be communicating with Player. BUT, I cut it at treatment stage because I knew we didn't have room in that episode to service it. Circling back to questions 1 & 2, another case where it turned out better saved for later IMO (saving Player meeting Julia, not to mention the earring business in 402 with Ivy).

Oh of course, Julia and any of the other Vile members. It would have been Gunnar for my vote, as mentioned earlier. We probably would not have had Julia meet anyone else and mixed it up more. I like that Cleo sort of became J's personal nemesis.

YES, SONIA & XIFENG (and LUPE PELIGRO, if I can add). The intent was (and is, if we ever get to revisit) to see them again in Carmen's travels. We started to expand Carmen's world but when we finally learned the finite number of episodes we had to finish the story, we drilled back down into the essentials. Would love to see them some day!

I'm hesitant to share too many things I have in mind in this forum for hope that they will see the light of day one day. You know, "spoilers"

Julia:

Do you have any opinions on Zari? Just in general? Some thoughts on her backstory would be nice if possible

Duane Capizzi:

I love Zari! I really don't have any back story on her at this point. She was originally just "Agent B" but when the need arose to give story points to another agent, we chose her because she looked so awesome! And Sharon Muthu gave voice to her so wonderfully.

I love when we finally teamed her with Chase. Hopefully the anticipation was that she would give him a hard time. I love that we defied expectation (organically, of course) and had her respect him by the end of that episode (for believing that he foiled Carmen!)

Julia:

Do you have any thoughts on small facts about any character, major or minor, that you think are fun/interesting to think about, but don't necessarily add to the plot itself?

Duane Capizzi:

Bellum, like myself, likes cats. But you knew that!

I try to put everything pertinent on screen, doing double duty to service any given episode's story but also the overarching story. That "journey" thing I mentioned earlier - we had no idea Chase falling on his own car would be a thing when I first came up with it. But as other characters refer to the incident, it took on a life of its own and made the characters feel more real.

Sorta kinda related to this question and some earlier ones, I will say that I DO think there's more to learn about Shadowsan's past vis a vis Lady Dokuso: it's clear to me that they have a history together, and it's something I hope to explore someday soon (maybe in a book if not another series

Julia:

Are the Carmen Sandiego books a part of canon?

Duane Capizzi:

I only consulted on the first two or three (too busy with series!) and have not read them, so hard for me to answer in a definite way. They are definitely in the universe we've created, but not in the timeline that I know of (which would have been too hard to pull off with our script development running concurrently). But do know that the book team at HMH pays close attention to the series and world so they should be perfectly compatible. Look no further to their clever social media on the series for example.

Kenz:

We saw in season 4 that Julia and Carmen helped each other mid to long term; would there ever be a possibility that Julia would permanently or semi-permanently join team Red?

Duane Capizzi:

Of course there's a possibility. But in a sense, with ACME now finally on Carmen's side, in a sense if Carmen were back in the game Julia, Chase, Zack and Ivy would ALL be an extension of Carmen's crew. But, would J remain with ACME or literally come to Carmen's team at her HQ? As they said in an old radio show: "Only The Duane Capizzi knows ..."

Kenz:

Where do you see Carmen in her retirement (if she retires)? Do you think she would still travel the world or settle down somewhere? Similarly, do you have any thoughts on what some other characters could be doing years down the line?

Duane Capizzi:

That is a big question, and one difficult to answer without some potential future spoilers (and yes, I really want to tell more Carmen stories if you can't tell But I'll answer by giving you one "read" on our open-ended ending as seen in 408 (read no further if you haven't seen it - yeah, right haha). The ending suggests to me that Carmen settled down for a spell to forge that relationship with her mother, to make up for lost time. But, if that is indeed Carmen that we see on the rooftop, I think the ending suggests that Carmen doesn't stay still for very long. If Vile is back, there is work to be done! Carmen has a life mission - she's one determined lady.

But of course, it's deliberately ambiguous: "anyone with your heart, wisdom and courage can be Carmen Sandiego." Is it Carmen? Sonia? Someone we haven't met? I think both endings resonate: Caroline and I always said "Carmen is bigger than a person, Carmen is a movement" would be a great message to end the series on. And I think our ending resolves this chapter of Carmen's journey as a person, but also elevates her to mythic status. Which is why I love it!

And, that seems to me a pretty perfect question and answer to end our chat on. Thanks everyone! Again, I cannot tell you how moved I am to see that we have such a passionate, intelligent and talented fan base. THANK YOU.

Take care guys, thanks again for having me! 'night!

#Carmen Sandiego #CS Crew #Duane Capizzi #Interview #Transcript

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starchildsteven · 4 years

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My Steven Universe buds, guess who used concrete, as is, stated in the canon of the show, information to figure out what year Steven was born?

...by which I mean the 2 most reasonable possibilities. (Which also means I figured out when Connie was born... or again the 2 most reasonable possibilities.)

Tl;dr: It’s 1999 or 2000.

Get comfortable... It’s a lot.

So first off Channel Frederator's timeline is close, if not right on the money, based on my own calculations. With that said I am going to lay out why I agree that Steven was born in 2000.

To get Steven's birth year though we actually have to center the timeline around Greg with key information regarding Sour Cream, Buck Dewey and the Dondai.

As stated in "Steven's Birthday" by Greg himself he was 22 when he met Rose and the Gems. He had playing music gigs and was recording his album for about 2-4 years before this since he also said he dropped out of community college to pursue a music career and moved out of his home around this time. Assuming that Greg was, like most people, 18 when he graduated and community college is 2 years that means he left home between 18 and 20.

In "Gem Harvest" Greg says to Andy he left home “like 2 decades ago.” Let’s not split hairs and just say he left 20 years ago to make the math easier that puts Greg anywhere from 38 to 40. We can confirm the youngest possible age Greg could be when Steven was born (which is ridiculous but possible) would be 23 making Greg 37 which means he left home 19 years ago at most because again we know that he left home when he was at least 18. However that is NOT actually possible. Because Greg remember was 22 when he met the Gems and Sour Cream, who we know is significantly older than Steven, was born when Greg was around 23. Which means we need to add however many years older Sour Cream is than Steven to Greg’s age.

This is where Buck Dewey comes into play.

As stated in "Little Graduation" Buck is going to med school to become a doctor. This means he needs to have his bachelor's degree in Pre-med which takes 4 years to complete. Steven is 16 meaning the Cool Kids, Sour Cream included, are 22 for Buck to have completed 4 years of college after finishing high school since once again most teenagers graduate at 18. Sour Cream had to be 6 when Steven was born (5 if you want to say maybe they graduated at 17 and are 21). That adds 5 or 6 years to Greg’s 23 making him 28 or 29.

That means when Steven was 14, Greg was 42 or 43 when he told Andy he left like 2 decades ago. In this case the word like is being used to indicate estimation not an exact amount. Example: If I say I left work like 20 minutes ago I could mean any number close to 20. 18, 21, etc.) If he left at 18 it would be 24 or 25 years ago, if he left at 19 it would be 23 or 24 years ago, if he left at 20 it would be 22 or 23 years ago. While some of those are a stretch, 22 and 23 are both close enough to warrant being estimated to 2 decades ago.

I know what you are all thinking “Oh my God, StarChildSteven, why did you put so much thought into this? How many hours did you waste?” (The answer to that is... embarrassing.) But the other thing you are thinking is “How does Greg’s age get us to the year Steven was born.

This is where the Dondai comes in!

Ronaldo in the episode “Beach City Drift” calls it a '96 Supremo and cars are branded either after the year they are made or the following year. So the Dondai was first on sale and new in 1995 or 1996. We can infer through the evidence in the show, Greg was older than 18 but younger than 23 when the picture of him with the Dondai was taken. Greg's character design in the photo he shows to Connie and Steven is the same he has in “Story for Steven” before switching to plain shirts and stopped wearing his star shirt at the end of "Greg the babysitter" when he he starts working at the car wash. Again we can infer he doesn’t switch back to the star shirt after this as the implication is Greg somewhat gave up on his music career. At this time we already figured out he was 23. So the picture was taken when Greg was 23 or younger. Meaning the earliest it could be in “Greg the Babysitter” is 1995. Sour Cream is about a year old in this episode based on his limited speech and motor skills (he can’t walk or form words yet but can climb well) which means it is 4 or 5 years before Steven was born.

This makes our complete timeline: Greg meets the Gems at 22, Sour Cream is born when he is 23 in the year 1995, 4 or 5 years later Rose has Steven making Greg 28 or 29 and the year is either 1999 or 2000. Considering the show first aired in 2013 and Steven was 13 we can reasonably assume it is meant to be the current year within the show. That means the year Steven was most likely born is the year 2000!

*This next section is about Connie*

Now by extension this means we can also figure out when Connie was born based on her age relevant to Steven’s age as mentioned in “Steven’s Birthday.” In that episode Steven turn 14 to which Connie replies “I’m only 12 and 3/4!” Meaning Connie will be 13 in 3 months. (12 months in a year. 3/4 of 12 months is 9 months making Connie 12 years and 9 months. So in 3 months she will turn another year old.) A year after Steven’s birthday he would be 1 and the year would be either 2000 or 2001, 3 month later in November (because 3 months after August, Steven’s birth month, is November) Connie would be born in that same year. So Connie would be born in 2000 or 2001. Though as Steven as most likely born in 2000, Connie was most likely born in 2001.

As far as the SU x GF crossover: Dipper and Mabel turned 13 in 2012 the same year Steven turned either 12 or 13 meaning the twins they are anywhere from 16 days older than Steven to a year older and 16 days older than Steven. Just in case anyone was interested. I’m certainly not saying that the fans who like the crossover have to change their headcanons.

Preemptive rebuttals:

“But Steven doesn’t age like a normal human.” He doesn’t however Greg has obviously been keeping track of Steven’s age based on the passage of time not his son’s physical age or appearance. Steven didn’t look 13 yet he and Greg still celebrated his 13th birthday. It doesn’t matter if Steven doesn’t physically age, he could still be a baby but he would still have been alive for 13 years.

“We don’t know how old Greg was when he took the picture with the Dondai? For all we know he was 26!” While that IS possible it doesn’t line up with the design he has when he and Rose record the video for Steven or his design in “Three Gems and A Baby.” Remember Steven has to be born at least 5 years after Sour Cream who was conceived when Greg was 22. So at Steven’s birth Greg has to be at least 28. He has lost a significant amount of hair. While I will concede it’s possible he lost that much hair in a year it’s not likely. Greg is also wearing the star shirt in the photo with the car. He presumably stopped wearing the star shirt at 23 at the end of “Greg the Babysitter” as we see him no longer wearing it at the end of the episode when he now wears the car wash shirt and every design of him after that has him in either plain white or black shirts.

“Why do you care what year people think Steven is born? Can’t you let people have their headcanons?” Where did I say you have to take my word for this and couldn’t headcanon Steven born in a different year? Please point to the place where I said everyone must now take it as canon that Steven was born in either of the years I mentioned. Show me where I said this information negates all the opinions of other fans. Tell me where I even implied that people absolutely had to conform the conclusion I came to. If you can’t then shut up.

“Why would you waste so much time on this? It’s not that deep.” Because I enjoy doing stuff like this. I had fun doing this. This was an activity that brought me joy. Analyzing, theorizing and compiling fandom data is something that I like doing. It’s something I enjoy taking part in and sometimes I get excited to share the results of all my hard work with other people who might be interested or care.

“What if the Crewniverse gives us a different year eventually?” Then I’m still taking this as canon. The same way I take Steven as 18 at the end of the series as canon because I always prefer in canon evidence over Word of God. To me Word of God only matters for things we can’t figure out by watching the show. One day when everyone who worked on the show is dead there will be no more Word of God, all that will be left is the text (in this case the show) so anything not in the show will become irrelevant. I chose to implement that even when creators are still alive. Obviously I will no longer claim it as definitive canon (though I am not doing that now) but I will accept it as an alternative interpretation so long as nothing in the text contradicts it. Word of God is not text.

#steven universe #steven universe future #steven quartz Universe #connie maheswaran #long post #No one is gonna read this

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 4 years

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How would the Quidditch characters work in a dating quest?

(Courtesy of an Ask by @dalekofchaos)

First of all, thank you for your patience. I know I took forever to finish this one, but as someone who’s become quite invested in these four little misfits, I wanted to get it exactly right. There are two ways to go about this. One is to back and attempt to write the Quidditch characters into past dating quests like the Celestial Ball. The other is to start from scrap and design a completely new quest concept. I am going to do the latter. Perhaps someday, I shall write versions of other quests, but I’d want to start from the Celestial Ball, and I’m pretty sure I only have access to Valentines Day and the Festival Quest data-mines. Let’s get started. I’m calling this TLSQ ‘A Wonderful World Journey” for reasons that will become clear soon enough. Due to reasons of conflict in Season 2, I’m gonna say this would need to drop in Season 3 or 4. I’m also going to say that the pre-existing dating quests are going to be ignored for this - Quidditch is a different timeline, so as far as I’m concerned, this is the first date MC will be on. At least, the first one that matters. So, how does it start?

It starts with Orion gathering his team (plus Murphy) for a pre-Practice discussion like he often does. This time, it’s about Quidditch as a concept, and the players’ commitment to the game versus their commitment to their team. MC is given a choice - do they play because they like Quidditch, because of the friends they have on the team, or some other reason, like glory? But this is interrupted when Face Paint Kid shows up to tell everyone that he’s pretty sure he saw Ethan Parkin on campus, and that he was talking to Erika Rath’s team! Skye and Rath have buried the hatchet, so Skye is mostly curious about what her Dad is doing here and how he even knows Rath. MC resolves to ask her after practice.

MC and Rath meet up in the Great Hall. There can be a Turkey Sandwich mini-game here. Rath admits that Ethan Parkin is on campus, but declines to explain why. Telling MC that it’s supposed to be a secret, and that Skye and the others will find out soon enough. Here, MC and Rath can have a more in depth conversation about feelings and such, and MC can have a dialogue choice to respect Rath keeping this to herself, or not respect it. But the conversation ultimately veers, again, into the concept of loyalty to the game, versus loyalty to your team. MC bringing up what Orion said. Rath proposes the question of whether or not MC can truly like and trust her then, if they’re not on the same team. Going to try and avoid using the word “friend” in this quest for obvious reasons.

After this conversation, Murphy meets up with MC back at the grounds, to tell them that Ethan Parkin has indeed been seen on campus by several witnesses, and has also been seen conversing with the other two Quidditch teams, meaning that MC’s team is the only one he has yet to visit. Both Murphy and MC speculate on why this is, and MC can be given the chance to choose between a few guesses. Murphy then asks MC to help him spy on Ethan, to find out what’s going on. Here, we can have further development of Murphy’s motives - what I’m trying to push is the idea that all four of these characters are dedicated to Quidditch for different reasons, and I also feel like Murphy is the kind of person who can’t resist a mystery. That could be his reason for being dedicated to Quidditch - the excitement of not knowing the answer, and trying to discover it beforehand.

MC then tracks Ethan Parkin to the training grounds, and spies on him talking to Madam Hooch about some big event that’s coming up. The spying itself can be a task, and if Talbott’s quest has been completed, then the option to spy using one’s Animagus form can be available here. However, all of this is interrupted when Skye shows up to confront her Dad. Post-Season 2, she’s more mature and their relationship is stronger, but she’s still (somewhat justifiably) upset that he hasn’t come to see her at all, and is visiting other teams. In keeping with tradition between these two, it’s all a misunderstanding. Ethan sent Skye a letter ahead of time, and thought she already knew. He promises to make it up to her, and tells her to gather her team. After Ethan and Hooch leave, MC comes out of hiding to comfort Skye, and the theme of why people play Quidditch can be further explored with Skye talking to MC about her Dad. Skye can also admit that she almost never checks her letters because she gets so much fan-mail, and MC can express whether or not they think she has any fault in all this.

It’s time for the big announcement. Ethan Parkin gathers all four Quidditch teams on the Pitch to announce the truth. He has a spare ticket to the next round of the World Cup that’s approaching fast - it won’t be in Britain because of canon, but you’ll soon see that isn’t going to stop me. Ethan himself cannot attend because of plot reasons, but he wants the tickets to go to the person most dedicated to Quidditch - hence a little competition. It won’t be an actual game, because that would exclude folks like Murphy, but it would be some kind of audition by heart. Basically, Ethan is going to hold a big party and talk to everyone who’s present, and figure out for himself who would deserve it/enjoy it the most. You might be asking why he doesn’t just give the ticket to Skye, and that will be explored, but the short answer is that she’s most likely attended World Cups before, so it’s not as big a deal for her.

After the announcement, MC, Sky, Murphy, Orion, and Rath all linger in a kind of semi-circle and talk about their motivations. Murphy wants the experience of getting to see a World Cup game - it will be the ultimate challenge to analyze and deduce the plays before they happen. Rath wants to see Professional Quidditch players up close and learn from their talents to better her own skill as a Beater. Skye is getting all starry-eyed and nostalgic, since she probably hasn’t been to a Cup since she was a little girl. For her, this will be like going back home. Orion is strangely quiet about his motivations. But he encourages the others in his usual mystic way. After everyone parts ways, MC hangs back to ask Orion about his goals. Orion admits that he has no intention of vying for this ticket - because Quidditch isn’t a challenge or a project or a way of life for him. It’s simply the place that he settled and found his family - the Cup would not interest him. MC can convince him to try anyway, but whether or not he does will depend on a choice that’s coming up.

MC meets up with Penny and Andre in the Courtyard, who have just been gossiping about the huge party that’s being hosted by the Ethan Parkin. Penny is excited at the chance to meet him again, and Andre wants to throw his own hat in the ring to win the ticket. But, sorry Andre, that’s not going to happen. You’ve got your own dating quests. What is going to happen is that Penny will excitedly ask MC about if they’re going to bring anyone to the party, surprising MC. When they express confusion, both Penny and Andre agree that a party like this is a perfect opportunity to have a date. Face Paint Kid, who was listening in, also agrees. If we want, we can also throw in a line about him going stag, to clarify that he’s not an option - sorry FPK fans. This can prompt Penny to ask MC if they fancy any of their Quidditch friends. The answers can be something like “Yes, I fancy one of them.” and, “I’ve never thought about it before,” and even “Actually, I fancy more than one.” But at the end of the day, one will still need to make the choice. At Penny and Andre’s prompting, and Andre’s promise to make MC an awesome outfit for the party, MC now begins to consider who they would invite.

MC will next visit the Changing Rooms, only to find their four friends all rehearsing what they’re going to say and do at the party to make sure Ethan notices them and thinks of them as the choice for the ticket. (Side note: I think it can be a show of how far everyone has come that Rath is just here, hanging out as well, and no one bats an eye.) Face Paint Kid can appear again and tell MC that this is the perfect chance. Go over and offer to help be a sounding board to one of their friends, and in the process, ask them out! This is where we get that classic screen of the four Quidditch characters with exclamation points over their heads. MC makes the choice, and chooses which ending they get. They talk to their choice, help them figure out how best to present them-selves, which also includes talking about what they would wear, and one energy-collecting task later, MC asks their interest. No tricks here, all four characters gladly accept, though they behave differently about it. Rath is more subdued, Orion is more mystical, Murphy offers calculations, Skye definitely says, “Smashing!” Etc.

Andre then sends MC one of those little owls, and the player will have to wait a few hours to unlock this next event, but it makes sense in-universe. Andre is finishing up the outfits, and he needed to clear everyone out because this event will also take place in the changing rooms. I don’t have too many ideas for what the outfits would look like, but I want there to be three or four, perhaps one that is slightly inspired by each character. Not to the point of being that noticeable, but if you look close. Like, one of the outfits could be a trench-coat. One could have a tie. One could involve MC putting a highlight in their hair. But they’d definitely all have their own unique spin so that any outfit could coincide with any date. During this scene, Andre also drops a question that MC has been too busy to even consider - what happens if they win? Why do they play Quidditch? It can be a choice, whether they’d prefer to win them-self, or if they want their date to win.

Party time! I know the Quidditch Pitch has already been a setting for a Dating Quest, so this party could really occur anywhere. The Courtyard, the Great Hall, etc. But in my head, it’s happening on the Pitch. During this opening scene, MC can interact and trade banter with the other three characters who were not chosen, before finding their date and exchanging more playful, flirty banter. They can wander around and mingle, spending energy to do so, before MC’s date gets stage fright when Ethan is approaching. This can vary from person to person. Exclusive dialogue for Skye since he’s her Dad, more reserved dialogue for Orion because he’s still uncertain about winning, Rath’s social anxiety acting up, Murphy fretting that Ethan won’t see him as a “real” Quidditch player. At the last second, it will occur to MC’s date that MC hasn’t said anything about whether or not they want to win the World Cup ticket. Ethan arrives and MC’s date hesitates. MC can have a dialogue choice here between encouraging their date to speak up or filling in the silence them-self. Either way, Ethan moves on, and MC’s date apologizes for having been so self-focused.

The time has come for the winner to be declared! Gonna tell you right now, the winner of World Cup ticket is determined entirely by the choice MC made during the outfit scene with Andre. It’s very simple - if they said they wanted to win, they will. If they said they would rather their date win, then their date is going to win. But no matter who wins, the scene plays out in similar beats. If MC wins, they express that they’re giving their ticket to their date instead of keeping it. Likewise, if MC’s date wins, they instead insist upon giving the ticket to MC. That’s when Ethan drops the plot twist that I’m sure you all knew was coming. There are actually two tickets, and with how moved everyone was by the selfless gesture, he’s giving the tickets to MC and their date. Much excitement, much celebration. Happy faces. It’s wholesome. But it’s not the end.

There’s no way in hell I wasn’t going to put the World Cup in after all that teasing. Look, we’ve seen with the Burrow and the Portrait Vault that they can include one-time only locations that aren’t anywhere on the HPHM map as we know it. The same thing can occur here. Ethan calls MC and their Date over to the Training Grounds where he and Madam Hooch have a timed Portkey waiting, probably a Quaffle or something. Hell, for added fun, it can vary - be a Quaffle for Orion and Skye, be a Bludger for Rath, and a Golden Snitch for Murphy - though in the latter two cases, it obviously wouldn’t be “active.” There can be exclusive dialogue if MC has already used Portkeys, and if we really want to, we can have an easter egg line about “Portkey games.” Ethan gives MC and their date the tickets, and reassures them that the Portkey will reactivate after the match is over. So the whole question of “wouldn’t they be stranded?” is handwaved. MC and their Date touch the portkey, and ZAP!

It’s game time. They arrive in the top box, and some generic wizard sprites usher them in to help them find their seats - having known ahead of time from Ethan that they were coming. Probably speak in an accent because this is definitely a different country. MC and their Date can see the sights, enjoying themselves and trading sweet banter as they await the game to start. And here’s one final surprise - the Player them-self is allowed to play in the World Cup. It’s just a re-skin of ordinary Quidditch games with a new background and new character sprites, that wouldn’t be too difficult to program. To be clear, they’re not controlling MC for this sequence, but the professional players. MC and their date are watching the match. It doesn’t matter if the player wins or loses though, since no matter what Britain isn’t playing in this match. But after it’s over, MC and their date cheer. We can return one final time to the theme of figuring out why everyone plays Quidditch, and the four characters can all express that, no matter their reason, they like having MC by their side as they follow a Quidditch career. We can return to Rath’s doubt that MC would be close to her since they’re on separate teams. Murphy’s fear that he wouldn’t be seen as a “true” Quidditch player. Orion’s uncertainty about his own place in Quidditch. Skye’s reevaluation of the environment she’s grown up in. All of these topics can make a return, depending on who was chosen. There can also be some exploration of MC’s bond with the character. Murphy can appreciate that they listen to him with his hyper-fixations. Rath can chuckle at the memory of how hard they tried to reach out to her. Orion can dwell on how they’ve always been kindred spirits, maybe reference the Quidditch-robe gift scene. Skye can allude to how much MC means to her, even after all of their ups and downs.

For a final cut-scene, I dunno. I just kind of imagine fire-works going off, as MC and their date cuddle up in the top box. Maybe a forehead or top-of-the-head kiss can happen here. Maybe some hand-holding. Can go a few ways, as long as it’s sweet and wholesome. Rath might have a unique animation simply because of her different sprite. Either way, that’s how the scene fades out. We don’t see them make the return journey, because we don’t need to. That’s already been hand-waved. As a final reward, I like to imagine that the portkey, now inactive, is added to MC’s dormitory.

Oh man, this was so much fun. Thank you for sending me this, and thank you for waiting on me to get it done!

#HPHM Quidditch #Skye Parkin #Murphy McNully #Erika Rath #Orion Amari #Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery #HPHM Face Paint Kid #Ethan Parkin #Penny Haywood #Andre Egwu

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vendettacanons · 4 years

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⚔️ Characterization Hour : Vaas ⚔️

// It’s been a hot minute since I posted anything and I’m sorry for that. My motivation inexplicably tanked this week. I’m feeling a little better now so I’ll get around to my inbox and replies soon. In the meantime, I’ve been playing a lot of Far Cry 3 and analyzing the characters (both to pick up one or two more and specifically to study things for ship ideas and characterization of Vaas specifically).

// Mind the tags for trigger warnings. Far Cry 3 is dark as shit.

// I noted this the first time I watched the cutscenes, but playing through the game and actually getting the full context firsthand really hit different; Citra openly says that Vaas was not always the way he is now. He wasn’t always so crazy. (Granted, both of them are crazy but I’m chalking that up to some idea about genetic things that I’ll talk about later.) She says he wasn’t always a fucking maniac- the drugs turned him into that. The drugs and the unforgiving harshness and cruelty Hoyt and his work demanded of him. She blames Hoyt for turning Vaas into what he is, and she’s right. She mentions that Vaas used to live with her and the Rakyat, and that he had some kind of birthright he ran away from (meaning Vaas is likely supposed to be the one leading the Rakyat and that’s another thing I’ll touch on in a bit.) After Hoyt discovered the islands and began trading drugs to the settlers in exchange for bodies, Vaas was one of the unlucky ones who ended up getting hooked. Hoyt took a liking to him, and put him in a downward spiral.

// There’s more to this though. It’s never explicitly stated how long Hoyt has been in the Rook Islands but we can draw a rough timeline. Not much is known about Hoyt’s upbringing, but it is known that he likely started young, killing his father and joining a criminal consortium before eventually taking it over for himself. No exact age is given, but I’d clock him at 20 then. Our biggest hint to that is a line that we get from him during his fight with Jason. He states “he’s been doing this since before [Jason] was born”. This is likely in reference to attempts made on his life by mutinous Privateers or Pirates. Jason is 25, so his business has lived for about 25 years, which makes sense given Hoyt himself is 45. He must have discovered the Rook Islands later on (thanks to his Pirate lackeys knowing the oceans so well) given that he states he has connections all over the world. I’d say he’s been on Rook for about 10 years, considering he has a whole foothold on the place and a giant satellite dish (which would take years to build by hand, especially when his men are incredibly varied and probably not all experienced in design and building, much less any of the locals). He’s definitely been sitting on the property for a long ass time.

// This makes sense considering Vaas and Citra lived and survived on the island as orphans for a long time- theyre part of the native population. Going by this timeline, Hoyt arrived when Vaas was 17. Perfect timing for him to get hooked onto drugs, abandon his birthright before he was set to receive it, and putting him at an ideal age to be easily manipulated by Hoyt into something evil and sadistic. He was following Hoyt’s example, the drugs just amplified the effect of his cruelty.

// Again this is all speculation and largely headcanon considering Far Cry 3 didn’t give us any solid hints at an actual timeline.

// Branching away from the why, I wanna talk about some headcanons I have about Vaas himself. It is very plain to see throughout the game that Vaas is not entirely bad. I mean, he is irredeemably awful, but there are some points that I want to draw attention to. He obviously cares very deeply for Citra. He mentions it often how he loved his sister and would do anything for her at some point, even kill, and in a conversation with Hoyt he sounds legitimately heartbroken that she is tattooing Jason and giving away his birthright like that. He seems to have this sober moment of clarity where he feels like his sister is replacing him based on how far gone he is. So obviously, part of his emotional instability is chalked up to Hoyt’s conditioning and drugs. But not all of it is.

// Part of Vaas’ mental instability comes fro mugs parents, and Citra is proof of that. There is literally nothing known about their parents, they were abdanoned as children. But both Vaas and Citra carry something from them: mental illness. It’s hard pinpoint exactly what kind, but addiction might very well be in the genetics. Why would Vaas, who was basically a prince capable of having anything he wanted brought to him at the snap of his fingers, turn to drugs? Unless one of his parents was an addict themselves which, again, very possible considering the island’s were likely discovered by the Pirates— meaning prior to Hoyt’s arrival, drugs were still being trafficked. That would account for why Vaas got hooked so quickly, while Citra showed a measure of restraint. However, Citra betrays other things that only genetics could account for. Because the environments they’re in are so vastly different. Both Citra and Vaas demonstrate developign strange obsessions and compulsions. Citra develops an irrational obsession with Jason after he finds an artifact (one that is important to her people granted, but how quickly and deeply she develops it is what makes it so concerning). Vaas just develops obsessions with fools who end up on the island in general— Chris, Jason, etc. In Vaas’ case, it’s hazardously exacerbated by the drugs but hey- Citra wasn’t exactly tame about how she handled it either. It’s impossible to tell what the defined cause of them being so unhinged with their obsessions is given how little else they show, but there’s definitely some common illness they likely inherited.

// And before I go any further, I just want to put a disclaimer that mental illness does not inherently make people evil or more likely to commit crimes or atrocities. That’s not the case at all and that is not what Citra and Vaas are meant to portray in canon or in my own writings. Mental illness is not the reason why both Citra and Vaas are fucked up as characters. Special conditioning to torture, abuse, and kill people, treating them like disposable toys, and violent drug addictions in Vaas’ case, or as a threat against them until proven otherwise/ indoctrinated into their sacred culture in Citra’s case, are. The fact that they may have inherited some type of mental illness from their parents developed as a result of Hoyt before he even showed and it’s gone completely unacknowledged or treated is just a catalyst.

// Anyways, what is the point of all this? Why did I do this characterization assessment? Well, this is basically a long-winded way of describing a new facet to my portrayal of Vaas. One that I’ve been looking for for a while now. With all of my characters, I try not to let them fall flat and be defined by one particular characteristic. In Vaas’ case, this is very difficult. He’s so all over the place and unpredictable that writing him is easy, but actually capturing the essence of him is hard because he is often only portrayed as being one thing: insane. But after playing the game for hours and carefully studying him, I found it really interesting how Vaas has all these “breaks in his insanity”. They mostly happen when he’s talking about family. His quiets up, he softens, and his act vanishes only to pop back up when something seemingly random sets him off again. But the fact he has these breaks at all, and the way he acts during them, implies that part of Vaas— the man that he was supposed to be, is still there. His entire persona is driven by a work and drug motivated impulse to be as destructive and chaotic as possible. And he is. He is cruel, evil, nasty, and wicked. But he’s also still capable of being gentle and loving like he was when he was with Citra. He shows he still loves his family. He even still carries some of their traditions, like calling everyone “brother” or “sister”. There are moments, rare as they are, where he is free from the demands of his work and his addictions aren’t gnawing at him. There are small moments of calm in the storm that he has become. It doesn’t erase or justify the destruction that he inevitably brings. But it does exist. Because Vaas is still a man after all. And he knows there is something really wrong with him. He’s not only guilty, he is tormented by it. He literally gets on his knees and begs Jason to kill him. He knows he’s fucked up. He’s just not strong enough to change.

// TL;DR: Hoyt’s been fucking shit up since before Vaas was born. This is all Hoyt’s fault. He’s the reason Vaas is an orphan, he’s the reason Vaas was mentally unstable even before he gave him drugs and forced him to abandon his birthright and work for him, he’s the reason Vaas is such a wicked little brute that destroy everything he touches. But there are brief moments where his facade cracks and reveals he’s still capable of being the gentle loving brother he once was. He still loves his sister very much and he feels very guilty for abandoning her. He knows there are things wrong with him and he knows he can’t correct them or finish himself off by his own hand, hence why he begs for death in the end. Thanks, Hoyt.

// Looking at it, this will definitely impact my portrayal of Vaas. Probably not by default, but definitely in terms of pre-established relationships and ships going forward. I’ll mention ahead of time that nobody except Hoyt, Citra, and Vaas really know the extent of what has happened to him. Buck does to a certain degree but he doesn’t have the full story. I’ll also say this does not change the fact that most of Vaas’ relationships that aren’t business related are going to be unhealthy or downright abusive, if not for a large portion of it than for all of it. Vaas has proven that he is not above threatening, manipulating, emotionally toying with, and physically hurting people. Especially those he develops obsessions with. He might be infatuated with someone, but his infatuations are far from pure and wholesome. And stemming from that, he is not one of those “fixable” villain types. Lots of love and understanding are not going to cure him. He is not going to go change overnight because someone was nice to him. In general, I dont see Vaas changing for anyone. He’s just too... stubborn and set in his way to do so. But if he does, it’ll require some hardcore chemistry and a metric fuckton of plotting (and probably a dead Hoyt but that’s neither here nor there).

// Anyway if you read this far, you’re awesome and I love you, thanks for coming to my TedTalk. ❤️

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artemis-entreri · 4 years

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[[ Artemis is finally coming to Idle Champions! 😄🥰😍 I am super pleased with his imminent arrival, although this wasn’t always the case. However, Codename Entertainment has not only satisfied my expectations, they’ve blown them out of the water.

I’d been anticipating Artemis’ addition to the game with both excitement and dread. Excitement for the obvious reasons, and dread because I’m extremely particular about how he’s presented. Too many people erroneously depict Artemis too pale, to the point of making him a white dude, when in reality, as a native Calishite, Artemis’ skin tone would be dusky brown, similar to how people from our world’s Middle East look. Furthermore, an oft-overlooked fact is that even in canon, Artemis is stated to have brown skin. Post-Shade absorption his skin is tinted gray, but gray mixed with brown is brown-gray, not grayish-white like many people think it is for some reason.

The second mistake that many make is depicting him too young. While Artemis’ exact age isn’t known due to his birthdate not being known, during The Sellswords he estimates himself to be in his 40s. Calculating based on this, he first meets Drizzt in his early 30s, and first set off after Regis in his late 20s. While he’s not old, he’s not exactly young either. It is explicitly stated in the books that his aging was frozen to his middle-ages. Many people depict Artemis with the face of a 20-year-old, and while it is also stated in the books that he has the lean athleticism of someone half his age, this refers more to the exceptional state of his physique rather than his facial features.

I’m so happy about how Idle Champions has exactly nailed down Artemis’ physical appearance. His skin color is appropriately dark, comprising of an awesome mix of brown and gray. His portrait shows the wrinkles of an older man (who also happens to be done with your shit. XD)

His in game sprite is such a delight too! When I first saw it, I couldn’t help but wonder if CNE’s artists might’ve considered my own artwork in making his design. Pretty much everything I’d studied from Lockwood’s paintings is there: the concave shape at the bottom of his leather breastplate, the distinct triangular cloak clasp under which extends the two belts, shoulderpads over sleeves composed of strips ending in rivets, a double-belt with unique angular-shaped buckles, belt over one leg, vambraces arcing over and around his elbows, kneepads over his tall boots, dual belts over his boots and the double earrings. Heck, even the sword and dagger shape are the same as how I’d interpreted them.

Honestly, if I’d been designing his sprite, there is very little that I’d have done differently. For comparison, here’s the line art of a chibi-style painting I did back in 2015:

I can’t express how giddy I am that CNE’s artists apparently studied Lockwood’s paintings as much as I had. It’s something that pretty much no other artist I know has bothered to do. They picked up even the smallest details, for instance the shape of the base of Artemis’ sword, which is really such a minor feature in this painting:

There are some aspects in CNE’s depiction that don’t come from Lockwood’s paintings that I can’t help but wonder about. First, Artemis’ garment underneath his armor, it wasn’t until very recently that I noticed Lockwood having depicted it as a complex series of even more layers and rivets:

I’ll be changing my own depiction of his outfit from now on, but up until now I’d interpreted what was underneath as a gambeson, which can be seen in my lineart above. In CNE’s depiction, he’s also wearing a gambeson underneath his breastplate.

While both CNE and I apparently drew our inspiration for the vampiric dagger’s design from Lockwood’s paintings, Lockwood’s depiction of the dagger does not contain any gems, despite the weapon’s jeweled nature. As seen in the sprite above, Artemis’ dagger has an emerald in the crosspiece. Is it just yet another coincidence with this painting I did in 2017?

And of course, those double earrings -- a feature that most artists change, yet it is one that’s both prominent and consistent in all of my work.

Ultimately though, despite these similarities, as much as I’d like to think that my own art contributed to CNE’s depiction of Artemis in what’s an official WotC/D&D product, I fundamentally believe that it’s all just a happy coincidence. In Idle Champions, Artemis’ earrings are silver, his leg belt’s on his right leg rather than left, the pommel of his sword is different and his facial hair is different. However, I do know that I was able to affect his final appearance, for originally, his portrait had brown eyes, and his sprite’s dagger had a red gem rather than a green gem. CNE addressed both of these things after I’d brought them up.

Game mechanics-wise, without having seen him in action yet, I really like how CNE designed him. Artemis’ superb improvisational abilities are a big part of what makes him such a capable fighter, so his kit in Idle Champions being built around him mirroring other DPS champions’ buffs makes a lot of sense. His jeweled dagger, as his signature weapon consistently throughout the ages, is similarly adequately tied in to his damage-dealing capacities.

I absolutely love that Artemis will be in seat 3, next to a certain drow mercenary. (灬♥ω♥灬)

The one thing that is a little strange is the nature of his epic items.

Idle Champions’ snapshot of Artemis, based on his game description, is from the pre-Sellswords era. During this time period, Artemis had the bat-winged cloak and his dagger, but it wasn’t until after he thought he’d killed Drizzt did he acquire the nightmare figurine, the bolero, Idalia’s Flute, and Charon’s Claw. By that point, he’d lost his bat-winged cloak. The bolero was disassembled and presumably discarded after its final usage in Road of the Patriarch. In the current timeline, Artemis only has his dagger, Claw, and the nightmare figurine. Furthermore, he’d be quite displeased if presented with Idalia’s Flute again, and most likely would reject having it in his possession. All in all though, I can understand why CNE chose these items, and I really love how the flavor text isn’t Artemis discussing them as they are for other champions. It is definitely more fitting to cite them as rumors whispered among third parties.

Overall, it feels like the “real” Artemis has come to Idle Champions, and I’m very glad about that. I’ve been saving up forever for Artemis’ arrival.

He might very well fall flat like new DPS champions have in the past and/or not be up to par to the current meta best DPS champion, but the recent trend with new champion releases is that each has been better than the previous, so I’m hoping that it’ll mean Artemis will be the new meta DPS. However, even if he isn’t, I still plan on blowing all of this on him, because sometimes, personal preference trumps the need to min/max.

Thank you so much Codename Entertainment! Artemis coming to your game is already such a great joy, but to arrive in the way that he is -- I’m absolutely thrilled! ]]

#Artemis Entreri #Forgotten Realms #legend of drizzt #D&D #Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms #Codename Entertainment #ooc #appearance

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sol1056 · 6 years

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three anons: what the hell was all that in S7

Picking out the three that are most to the point for this answer, but I’ve got another dozen or so that overlap. Not sure I’ll have time/energy to answer the rest individually, so hopefully this meta will be sufficient.

I mean it could be that they had different execs back then who were better at their jobs and kept Shiro around. No one disliked black paladin Shiro, even the DotU fans were ok with it, and the writing in s1-2 was mostly very good. Changing all that was a bad idea. I would have left on the spot if Shiro died or was benched, like now, I'm only around for closure. Maybe they were different execs with this decision & the EPs leaped at the chance. Well, we know who's also gonna be in trouble if that's the case.

With your theory on how storyboards were reused and characters shuffled around for cost cutting, might this not also partly explain the Adam flashback scene and how it was staged? I mean, they were originally supposed to be roommates and the scene was meant to appear in season 2 but got cut. What if they just reused the storyboard (or even animation, if it was already mostly done) the way it was and then just changed the dialogue? This could explain the lack of intimacy in the staging, too. Ezor and Zethrids interactions were more openly intimate maybe not (just) because they‘re villains who die immediately after, but because the decision to make them an item came before storyboarding was done, so the staging is more suggestive. I mean, if you think Shiro was mostly pasted in in the first half of s7, that might make sense.

If cost was the issue and they already had the black paladin Shiro version written, and got the greenlight to change it to Keith then things don't add up. Because they changed it once more! Which could have been avoided if they stuck to the Shiro one. And it goes without saying it would be better written to follow canon instead of the mess we got, like, I cant imagine this NOT discussed. So if it wouldn't be cost effective to change it again for Keith and it would be badly written, why did it happen?

Behind the cut: the most likely chronology of revisions, the clues in S7 as to its original form, and what this means for S8 and the Black Paladin position.

This is everything I’ve been able to figure out between interviews, podcasts, tweets, plus researching the industry and a few reality-checks with friends more familiar. As always, any mistakes are my own.

version 0: "five teenagers"

This would’ve been the first pitch after getting the green light, and probably only a loose synopsis, with just the pilot given a rough storyboard. A post-apocalyptic Earth conquered by the Galra, who are seeking Blue. The execs rejected JDS' mechanism for the discovery of Blue, in favor of simply having Keith ‘sense’ Blue. The execs also rejected the idea that Shiro would die only a few episodes in. This summary seems to be the basis of the "five teenagers" part of the teaser.

version A: "shiro kicks the bucket"

Timelines would've dictated moving onto an outline pretty quickly, detailed down to the episode level, including bits of dialogue, motifs, turning points or emotional beats. In this revision, Shiro dies/leaves at the end of S2 and does not return. This is the “originally we wanted him to kick the bucket” version, which the execs rejected.

version B: "shiro goes away for awhile"

If I'm interpreting the hints correctly, the "does Shiro die or not" question got tossed back and forth all the way into S1/S2 pre-production. Rather than rearrange everything, the easiest fix would've been to leave most of the story intact and write only a new ending where Shiro returns. The execs reject this rewrite, saying Shiro can’t be gone that long. This is the “we tried to just have him gone for awhile, but the execs said he had to come back sooner” version.

version C: "enter the clone"

Again, easiest fix is to insert Shiro/Kuron, remove Keith, and reverse that just before Shiro's return in version B. This impacts only the middle seasons (S3-S6); the clone compromise satisfies the execs. Kuron's characterization makes a lot more sense if it’s Keith, in visuals (ie Kuron leaning against the wall in Keith fashion), dialogue (fighting with Lance), and action (leaving without consulting the team). It's also why no one mentions Keith's absence. Because in the original version A, Keith was standing right there.

version D: "wtf is going on", aka Season 7

When JDS mentions having a full season written with Shiro as Black Paladin, it didn't make sense how they'd have a script and not use it. With @ptw30's visual detective work, I think I may've figured it out.

Technical notes: first scripts are all written for a season, then voices are recorded, and then the combined script+recording is used to storyboard. Production seasons are 26-episodes, independent of actual broadcast seasons; VA may be recording scenes across two 13-episode seasons completely out of order, since the recording schedule's going to be based on who's available, not chronology of the file numbers. The biggest staff changes are usually in April ('staffing season') when new shows get the greenlight and start sharking around to catch writers, designers, directors, etc.

In March of this year, S5 was released. At least some of the storyboarders were released in time for staffing season; in April, Hedrick moves to a new project. With S7/S8 being unchanged since version B, I suspect Hedrick delivered the scripts for S7 and S8 by winter of last year, at latest. Even that would be tight, since that's expecting animation to deliver 26 episodes in an 8-month timeframe. [edit: probably delivered much earlier, given the studio leaks show images we can recognize from S7/S8, so some amount of these seasons were in production by then.]

In June, S6 dropped, and a week later, Hamilton was announced as the new story editor via the Lets Voltron podcast. With the lead time required in production, there doesn't seem to be any reason to even need a story editor, at this point. All the pre-production work should be done.

In August, S7 dropped. Hedrick's editor credit is only for the first half of the season; Hamilton gets it for the second half. That means the last six episodes were written after Hedrick's departure. (May Chan's S2 script was reused in part, and she gains a belated co-writing script credit for that. Hedrick should've received the same; it's standard.)

Let's recap a few things we know (and a few we can intuit) about S7:

The season was already written with Shiro returning as Black Paladin, possibly also recorded and storyboarded.

S6 reversed the S4-S5 trend, lending strength to exec arguments that Shiro is necessary in the story.

After S6 dropped, the EPs said the wolf's name was a spoiler. See this post from @pwt30; tl;dr is that perhaps the EPs intended the wolf to be Shiro's spirit.

Despite Shiro's return, he's absent for the majority of the first half; when he is present, he barely speaks a half-dozen words, and none are plot-relevant. See @ptw30's post for more details.

There's a glaring incontinuity when Allura says the paladin armor protected the team, yet Shiro is frozen with the other non-paladins despite wearing armor.

Keith never offers for Shiro to pilot, nor mentions it, nor even seems to consider it an issue.

Not everything dovetails since I don't have the full picture, but here's my theory: S7 was originally outlined with Shiro's spirit in the wolf, rather than Black. I have no idea when/how JDS would've thought up the CA:WS parallels for his sole writing credit, but Shiro's "I died" and Lotor's psychotic breakdown are squeezed into S6E6, which was written by Josh Hamilton, Hedrick's later replacement. The only other Shiro-in-Black point is a few minutes at the end of S6's final episode. Shifting from Shiro-in-wolf to Shiro-in-Black really only affects one episode, with a bit of editing for another.

Anyway, S6 ends version C, and we segue to version B. For the first half of S7, the clone's body may have been in stasis while the team traveled through its various non-adventures. The episode we now know as S7E1 may have been the mid-point, with about six episodes of Shiro being unconcious. After watching the numbers drop from S3 to S6, the execs may've rejected another six episodes of where-is-Shiro and insisted he come back ASAP.

S7 only has two episodes that must be in order; the rest are pretty rearrangeable. All they had to do was insert Shiro into the background and record a few lines. (Several lines are pure voice-over, which also saves cost/time by not needing to animate moving mouth.) But the moved episode is only his memory/awakening, and the logical next episode would be Shiro's reconnection, and the rest of the season would roll from there. Without moving the entire second half of the season to the start, moving only his awakening episode would mean Shiro does nothing for 5-6 episodes and then abruptly reconnects.

In a recent interview, JDS said at first the execs weren't enthused until JDS talked up the new mecha they'd give Shiro to captain. Honestly, there's no way JDS got to be EP without giving a really good pitch, but there may've been another element to his argument: nostalgia. The EPs seem certain everyone suffers from their same nostalgia dementia, which if you do, then you probably have been waiting for any glimpse of that og!Keith. If Shiro returns at the start of S7, then Keith's time in Black has been limited to a few disastrous episodes in S3, and a single big battle in S6. The beginning of S7 is the only time we'd ever see the Voltron84 formation working as a unified team, and returning Shiro too soon would defeat the whole purpose of showing how the team has grown in his absence.

The solution seems to have been to remove Shiro's reconnection completely, and keep Keith in Black. That would mean re-recording Shiro's lines from the midpoint onward, and editing in Keith over Shiro. The savings would be that only half the seaon would have to be reworked, not all. The loose end of the space wolf --- an artifact of version B --- was left in place.

What I'm not sure of is whether the following are significant enough changes to warrant removing Hedrick's name and replacing it with Hamilton's. It could be, if supervising the revision process is enough to override the previous credits. I have no idea about that part of the industry, and it's the kind of edge case you're just not going to find a lot of blog posts about, so if you know, tell me. Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, this would've meant Shiro was switched in for Allura, Allura was put back in a lion, and Keith was switched in for Shiro. This would explain why Shiro speaks as the leader of Voltron despite no longer being a paladin, and the uneasy sensations a lot of people got about the characterizations. It was most striking in the last three episodes: Shiro felt like Allura v2, while Keith felt like Shiro v2. And that further, the Altean-Earthian ship just 'lighting up' for Shiro --- and becoming that oversized white mecha --- may've meant as Allura's fourth (fifth?) deus ex machina.

I'd be willing to bet that mid-battle, Allura repeated her stunt from the end of S2, heading out to destroy Sendak's crystal by herself. She wouldn't need Sam to hack her brain, and then we'd also have a call back to when she got knocked down by the crystal-ball thing on Naxzela. If she was the one meant to go toe-to-toe with Sendak, that would explain the bizarre neutrality of Sendak's words --- he says nothing personal to Shiro, at all --- and the even more bizarre silence on Shiro's part. Allura's words wouldn't fit Shiro, so he's silent.

And lastly, it'd mean that the one leaping out of Black to cut down Sendak wouldn't have been Keith. It would've been Shiro.

Where would the story go from here?

If I look at the events of S7, the first half is terribly disjointed, really. If Shiro was supposed to wake at the midpoint, an episode (or two) is missing. One for him to reconnect with Black, and a second that would provide some minor conflict to settle him back into position. Those two episodes were likely replaced with the unexpected and frankly over-told two-parter of the Earth flashbacks.

Two problems with that, one technical, one structural.

First, the flashback two-parter has a lot of moving parts. Brand-new designs, characters, and backdrops. It's far too elaborate to be done in an ultra-compressed timeframe, not without several heart attacks and therapy bills on the part of the animation staff. (Plus, the US-based storyboarding team is already downsized, so fewer hands to do the work.)

Second, it doesn't make a lot of structural sense, especially against the big revelations in S6 of an existing Altean colony. Within the story, there's no reason to halt everything and travel across the universe to take however long to build a new castle, when the Altean colony question is far more pressing. Returning to earth also violates the structure, because it's really just a standard milieu: start on earth, head out to have adventures, and return home at the end.

But here, they're returning home and then possibly leaving again. That's just... a rather peculiar and imbalanced way to do it. It doesn't help that doing so means literally telling Romelle her people are just gonna have to rot, the paladins are certain they need the castle more. Why would you take one of the more compelling storylines you've come up with, only to background it again, and wreck the traditional bookending milieu structure at the same time? Especially if that means coming up with major set-pieces and brand-new designs in the space of several months, after a chunk of your core staff are already onto other things.

I think those two flashback episodes -- and the rewritten finale episodes --- may've been cribbed from S8. In other words, the second half of S7 was the original end of S8. That would mean repurposing already-created storyboards and animation artifacts, so there's a huge time savings there (not counting the need to re-record voices and edit the visuals to match the changed-around parts).

[note: if there’s anywhere you want to frontload introductions for the spin-off, it’d be in the final season, not the penultimate season. Here it feels like a big honking distraction, rather than an organic segue into the next iteration.]

That change necessitated that utterly bizarro mecha that appeared out of nowhere with the most ridiculously impeccable timing. There needed to be a reason to pull the team back out to space to deal with Haggar and/or the alt-Alteans and/or Lotor or whomever else it turns out to be.

So... where we go from here depends on when S8 gets released, because that’ll tell us how much they did (or did not) edit the episodes. Another clue will be whose name gets listed as head editor for an episode; if we see Hedrick’s name reappear at the top, we’ll know we’re dealing with episodes that are enough unrevised to qualify as being Hedrick-edited, that it’s a version B episode.

My expectation? They’ll move Shiro’s reconnection to the first part of S8, and add an episode or edit pieces of another, to blend it into what would’ve been the first half of S8 (probably with filler to mask the gap). Then add an episode to segue into the version B finale of S7, where we’d end with the original VLD lineup. With the time needed for animation, that’d be the easiest (if potentially awkward) way to repurpose as much as possible of existing artifacts.

If we don’t get S8 in the next 1-2 months, though, all bets are off, and there’s a much greater possibility that the entire final season is being redone from scratch. I’d expect Keith to stay in Black, in that case, but I’m always willing to be pleasantly surprised.

edited to add: see this followup for another detail that supports the reversed-seasons theory

#vld #voltron #analysis #story structure #television production #come for the sugar stay for the salt #sol thinks about stuff

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toniwilder · 6 years

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Tony Stark and the Myth of Icarus

“Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk,” Tony Stark says before taking his newly designed suit out into the world. It’s the second time he’s harnessed the power of flight. The first time Tony flies is immediately after escaping capture in an Afghanistan cave.

It’s upon his second lift off that Tony’s able to truly revel in his work. He flies higher, higher, higher still, until his system shorts out and the ice builds on the unpainted metal. Though it’s not the same as fire to feathers, Tony topples towards the Earth in the dead weight of his iron man suit anyway.

Just before he hits the ground, his wit saves him. Tony unpacks the ice, the system restarts, and he bolts back into the air to later, somewhat safely, crash into the garage of his sleek Malibu home. He does not burn. He lives and goes on to create more suits, save more lives, and attempt to shed the skin of his reputation as “The Merchant of Death.”

While most remember the fall of Icarus acutely—the myth is named for him, after all—it’s important to remember that Icarus’ fall came at the hand of his father’s mistakes. The truth is without Deadalus’ hubris, Icarus would never have fallen in the first place, as Icarus wore wings to escape the tower where he was arrested with his father by the fault of his father’s sins.

Deadalus, Icarus’s father, was an impeccable engineer imprisoned for creating a monster. Icarus was imprisoned with him. Like Icarus, Tony is accountable for the nepotistic cruelty of his father’s legacy. Tony is held by others and himself to the complacency of staying within a system that he does not check. He flies high in the money, the lifestyle, and the women until brought down by the attack in Afghanistan. It takes a literal shot to the heart before Tony begins truly addressing the privileged state of existence he has lived in.

To understand the constant reaching of Tony Stark, it’s important to remember the man who raised him. Howard Stark is described by Tony as, “cold, calculating,” and that Howard “never told [Tony] he loved [him], he never even told [Tony] that he liked [him].” Howard’s character is established in a handful of ways: flashbacks, mentions, and the rare instances of time congruent depictions in Steve Roger’s story, for the short time that the two interlocked their timelines.

We meet Howard through the eyes of Steve, pre-serum, first, as a man creating flying cars and helping in engineering the super soldier serum application. Howard would later go on to obsess over the serum, creating the catalyst of movement in Civil War when he meddles with enhancement—trying to recreate Steve’s physical prowess through means of obsession. It ultimately leads to his death, as Howard is killed by The Winter Soldier in the middle of transporting the serums.

Howard Stark, within the canon of the MCU, helped create the atomic bomb. He also meddled in the creation of magical weapons of mass destruction (as seen in Agent Carter). Howard builds the Stark name on the back of war. Other notable accomplishments of Howard include the study of the Tesseract, which Tony later uses to create a new element to sustain his arc reactor, but we’ll get back to that later.

Spoken amid Tony’s risk-taking behaviors revolving around an end of life crisis, a post-humous video of Howard is delivered to Tony while Tony struggles to save his own life. “I built [The Stark Expo] for you. And someday, you'll realize that it represents a whole lot more than people's inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out. And when you do, you will change the world. What is, and will always be, my greatest creation…is you.”

A short unpacking can illuminate that Howard refers to his son as on level with his other engineering exploits, that he is a creation solely attributes to Howard’s existence and intellect that was made to further establish Howard’s life work and influence on the future. It doesn’t matter that perhaps Tony might not grow up to pursue the same goals as his father. As a connection to Howard, Tony must live up to what Howard has done. That means the good, and also the bad.

Later in the MCU timeline in Captain America: Civil War, Tony creates a virtual reality interface that so aggressively hijacks his hippocampus that he is later seen recovering from what he calls “Electromagnetic headaches”. Howard, in a reality that Tony recreated from memory, tells his son, “They say sarcasm is a metric for potential. If that’s true, you’ll be a great man someday.” Someday being the thing to key in on here, the furthering of a narrative that Tony has based his life upon; that he needs to live up to another man’s metric.

It’s important to note that both of these quotes occur during moments of extreme agitation for Tony. More notable in every adaptation than his performative arrogance is Tony’s lethal guilt complex. The BARF recreation of his memories allows Tony to relive memories and process his trauma… In front of an auditorium filled with people. He then funds the entire school body in their intellectual pursuits. He notes, “It helps ease my conscience.” Tony edges ever further low in his humility, closer to metaphorical drowning.

Tony’s arc in Age of Ultron centers around the idea of making himself obsolete. “Isn’t that the ‘why’ we fight, so we can end the fight?” he asks. He’s constantly fighting against societal and self-imposed limitations. “I don’t want to hear the ‘man is not meant to meddle’ medley,” he snaps. Like Deadalus’ warning, Tony constantly wavers between two extremes—falling into the ocean of not doing enough (leading to the death of his fellow avengers) or burning by his hubris (creating Ultron, signing the accords, and there undoubtedly more examples).

The myth of Icarus constantly focuses on the danger of flying too high, forgetting that the outcome of both flying high and flying low is that ultimate moment of drowning in the ocean. Tony’s high flying, his ability to continue to create and move forward as the Avenger’s futurist, brings him further into the minds’ eye of global (and soon universal) society. Tony takes more and more and more accountability for the grand reach of himself and the behavior of the Avengers. Creating Ultron to keep the world safe resulted in the destruction of Sokovia, and so Tony is forced to correct course from flying too high to crashing too low which leads to the creation of Vision, but also in the signing of the accords.

The accords are an interesting aspect of Tony’s character journey, considering at no time does Tony ever display much confidence in their efficiency/usefulness. Natasha sums it up best by describing the motion as keeping a hand on the wheel, to steer them to the least troublesome outcome available. Tony later echoes this sentiment by discussing addendums and manipulating the accords to keep their heroism freedom in tact (by placing Bucky within a psych floor instead of a prison).

Ironically, Tony’s lack of confidence in the structure and balances within the Avengers facilitates to the destruction of the Avengers just as much as Steve’s unwillingness to sign them. Tony’s guilt (a bastardization of humility) ostracizes and isolates the Avengers from one another. In Age of Ultron, Wanda tells Steve, “Ultron can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?” The next scene takes us immediately back to Tony.

Unlike Icarus, Tony begins to take form of his own Deadalus and creates his own legacy with the Iron Man suit. However, the Iron Man suit becomes again associated with Howard’s memory when Tony is forced to use the technology of his father. When poisoned by his first draft of the arc reactor, the one powered by palladium, Tony is forced back to his father’s notes by the suggestion of Nick Fury (who, again, relates to Tony the importance of Howard). The new element replicates the renewable energy of the tesseract, which Howard studied but could not replicate in his own life. Despite the fact Tony is able to replicate an element he did not personally study in less than a week; the action is overshadowed by Howard’s constant call back to the element being his “life’s work”. Tony notes that Howard is still able to “take him to school”.

Howard is mentioned at least once in every film that involves Tony, but our clearest vision into their family dialogue rests in the interactions between Tony and Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Tony constantly makes references to “breaking the cycle” and makes active attempts to assist Peter. At the same time, Tony’s actions and his guilt do lead to instances of isolation between the two. It doesn’t take a parenting genius to understand that ignoring a child, even a teenager, and pushing them away is not an apt replacement for open communication. “I just wanted to be like you,” Peter says. Tony counters, “and I wanted you to be better.” A reference to young men being ‘metrics for potential’ is worth making, along with the importance of Peter’s self-establishment of what being Spider-Man means, but that’s another essay for another time.

Now, all of this isn’t to say Tony is somehow at fault for every aspect of every antagonistic plot movement within the MCU, but Steve’s (now ironic in hindsight) statement in Age of Ultron— “Sometimes my teammates don’t tell me things.”—does illustrate how Tony tends to push conflict forward. Tony’s guilt and constant struggle with communicating with others leads him to remove systems in place that might check and balance his attempts to better himself. Think of the rest of the Avengers like a committee of supportive players and Tony’s actions of only including some, or none, of them in his grand plans (something that stems from Tony’s inability to believe that the others may support him and his tendency for introverted work practices) only furthers the intensity of his mistakes for the team.

Tony goes to Bruce in creating Ultron because he knows Bruce’s curiosity is stronger than his loyalty to the other Avengers. (Bruce’s lack of interest in limitations versus scientific progress is evident by his very self-experimentation with gamma radiation and is not worth arguing about further.) Add the fact that Tony’s PTSD was irritated by Wanda’s vision; a vision that, when induced for the other Avengers debilitates them to a point that they have to retreat to a safe house; and it’s no wonder that Tony constantly waivers in his ability to differentiate between hubris and humility.

In a quick summation, Tony Stark mirrors the constant struggle between hubris and humility as told in the tale of Icarus. Tony’s journey as a superhero constantly ricochets between the two extremes lends vulnerability to vices like alcoholism, and isolation. He struggles as one of the main progressive forces of the marvel universe, and also as one of its largest handicaps.

“The difference between ‘Iron Man’ and some other movies is that there’s no spider bite; there’s no magic bullet where a hero is born. We had to build him. We wanted people to remember that there’s a person inside that suit, and it will hurt if he falls.”

#tony stark meta #tony stark #marvel #essay #iron man #mcu

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minijenn · 6 years

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Universe Falls Timeline (updated)

Ahahahaha dammit I’ve spent all day makin this fancy ass new timeline for UF and UF2 and I feel like dying now because I sunk so much fucking time into this. Mind you this is based on what we know as of right now (7/3/18) which means a LOT of this is subject to change depending on what happens in the rest of SU as well as any further revelations we might get from extra-canon Gravity Falls material. When it comes to the UF2 stuff, pretty much all of that is up in the air until I actually sit down to start planning it in full. Hell even the latter parts of UF are up in the air at this point. Mind you I did retract a lot of stuff for the sake of spoilers but in my version of this timeline, all this stuff is there in full so believe me when I say I got this planned out. And now, without any further ado... here it is, the grand timeline of Universe Falls!

Ancient History

Pre-History • Bill Cipher and the Axolotl both come into existence • Bill destroys the second dimension and takes over the Nightmare Realm • The universe is born along with its countless lifeforms. (Humans and Gems included) Eons Ago • Under the Great Diamond Authority, the Gem race expands and cements their control over 43 planetary bodies and two star systems through colonization • Pink Diamond is created on Homeworld • Fluorite, Rhodonite, Padparadscha, and the Rutile Twins are considered "off color" by Homeworld standards and remain in hiding underground in an abandoned Kindergarten to avoid the Shattering Robonoids • At some point during the Jungle Moon's colonization, Pink Diamond demands her own colony from Yellow Diamond, but is rebuffed due to her inexperience • Pearl is given to Pink Diamond as her servant Over 6,000 years ago • Ruby, Sapphire, Bismuth, and Lapis Lazuli are created on the Gem Homeworld or one of its colonies • Gems arrive on Earth, their first scout ship crash landing in what would eventually become Gravity Falls, Oregon; the impact of their ship's landing forms a deep valley • Pink Diamond is granted access to colonize Earth; She and her Gems arrive there to begin a new colony • Centipeetle and her crew members travel to Earth in the Ancient Gem Colony Ship • Gems begin to emerge in the Prime Kindergarten; Structures such as the Lunar Sea Spire, Communication Hub, Sky Spire, Moon Base, and Sea Shrine are constructed; Amethyst is formed (but does not emerge) in the Alpha Kindergarten • Pink Diamond wishes to be at the Prime Kindergarten to play with the Amethysts. In order to not be scolded by Yellow and Blue Diamond, Pearl gives Pink the idea of shapeshifting into a Rose Quartz soldier to blend in • In her Rose Quartz disguise, Pink and Pearl arrive at the Kindergarten where Pink meets the Amethysts. In order to not draw unnecessary attention, Pink and Pearl traveled off and Pink became fascinated by the beauty of Earth. She soon realizes that completing her colony would destroy all of the life she grew fond of. • Pink contacts the other Diamonds to tell them that she does not wish to complete the colony and instead wants to preserve the life on Earth; in response, Blue Diamond creates a Human Zoo for her and she along with Yellow Diamond kidnap humans from their families and stored them inside the Zoo Over 5,750 Years Ago • Pink Diamond decides to use her Rose Quartz alter-ego to make a stand that her fellow Diamonds could not ignore. She originally intended to use Rose Quartz to scare away other Gems • Pink Diamond (as Rose Quartz) and Pearl defect from Homeworld and form the Crystal Gems • The cut of Rose Quartz is thereby recognized as a threat and every Rose Quartz is removed from service, specifically from Pink Diamond's entourage • Pearl learns the human concept of being a knight at the Ancient Sky Arena • Blue Diamond and members of her court arrive on Earth and oversees the removal of the then-forming Rebellion • Sapphire is sent to Earth along with three Ruby guards at the request of Blue Diamond; after Rose and Pearl launch a direct attack, Ruby and Sapphire accidentally form Garnet for the first time • Rose tells Pearl how fascinated she is that two completely different Gems fused. Pearl attempts to fuse with Rose but fails. Rose and Pearl run into Garnet where Rose tells her to never question who she is, recruiting her to the Crystal Gems • Pink Diamond tries one more time to persuade Yellow and Blue to end colonization, this time using Rose Quartz as an excuse. The other Diamonds continued to ignore her pleas Over 5,500 Years Ago • (Redacted due to spoilers) • The Gem War officially begins; Some of the first battles in the Rebellion take place at the Ancient Sky Arena • Bismuth is recruited to Rose's cause, who outfitted the Crystal Gems with weapons; she creates Rose's Sword • (Spoiler) Over 5,300 Years Ago • Lapis Lazuli arrives on Earth to visit for a short time and was caught mid-war and poofed by a Bismuth-type warrior Gem • Lapis Lazuli was then collected by a Homeworld soldier and was mistaken for a rebel. She was imprisoned in a mirror to be used as a source of information • (spoiler) Over 5,000 Years Ago • The Beta Kindergarten is established mid-way through the Rebellion in haste to create more troops; Jasper is created among these troops, and is rumored to have taken out 80 Crystal Gems on her first day • Bismuth presents Rose with the Breaking Point, a weapon designed to shatter Gems, specifically the Diamonds. Disagreeing, Rose poofed and bubbled Bismuth, later storing her in Lion's pocket dimension • Pink Diamond and Pearl plan a ruse to stage Pink Diamond's shattering. Pearl, shapeshifted into Rose Quartz, "shatters" Pink Diamond by poofing her after she has swallowed fake gem shards • From then on, Pink Diamond permanently identifies herself as Rose Quartz and continues leading the Crystal Gems in the Rebellion • In grief over Pink Diamond's 'shattering' the Diamond Authority (specifically Yellow Diamond) makes a deal with Bill Cipher to get revenge on the Crystal Gems and the Earth • Earth is deemed an unviable colony by Homeworld, commencing Forced Fusion experiments using the gemstone shards of fallen Crystal Gems; The Cluster is embedded in the Earth's core at some point as part of these experiments • Blue Diamond takes over Pink Diamond's Zoo in her absence • A battle occurs at the location which would later become the Strawberry Battlefield. Many Gem Warriors fall. Rose's scabbard is lost Over 4,500 Years Ago • Homeworld Gems are commanded to evacuate Earth • Lapis Lazuli's mirror is abandoned at the Galaxy Warp and her gemstone is trampled over and cracked during the evacuation. Many Homeworld Gems such as Centipeetle get left behind • A flash of light is set off by the Diamonds, corrupting all Gems caught in it; The only known Gems who were unaffected are Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz, Pearl, Garnet, Bismuth, and Lapis Lazuli • (Spoiler) • The Galaxy Warp becomes inactive Unknown • Era 2 of Gem production begins on Homeworld • Amethyst is found in the Prime Kindergarten and joins the Crystal Gems • Unnatural anomalies and strange creatures begin to congregate in the area that would become Gravity Falls • Peridot is formed and receives her limb enhancers on Homeworld • Pearl finds Lapis Lazuli's mirror at the Galaxy Warp and stores it in her Gem 1000 AD • Gravity Falls' native population evacuates the valley under fear of the land being cursed following contact with Bill Cipher, leaving pottery, blankets, and remnants of their language behind

19th Century

1837 • Quentin Trembley wins the 9th Presidential Election of the United States in a literal landslide. However, his many silly and embarrassing policies lead him to be forced out of office, and William Henry Harrison is declared the 9th president of the United States 1842 • 8½th United States President Quentin Trembley discovers the valley of Gravity Falls and subsequently founds the town 1843 • Drawn to the valley due to its odd properties, the Crystal Gems arrive in Gravity Falls and begin to investigate its anomalies (Welcome to Gravity Falls) • The Crystal Gems construct the Gem Temple near the Floating Cliffs 1859 • Pioneer William Dewey and the settlers accompanying him on the Oregon Trail to Gravity Falls are rescued from a gem monster by the Crystal Gems; however, Dewey is falsely hailed as the town hero due to a misunderstanding 1862 • In order to cover up the fact that President Trembley founded Gravity Falls (after he freezes himself in peanut brittle), Nathaniel Northwest deemed the founder of Gravity Falls and William Dewey is dubbed its first official mayor • Dipper, Mabel, and Steven accidently transport themselves back to pioneer times briefly (as seen in Lion and Waddles) • Nathaniel Northwest tricks the lumberjacks of Gravity Falls into building Northwest Manor of the false promise of allowing them into their annual party 1863 • The first Northwest Party takes place, however Nathaniel Northwest breaks his promise and locks the townsfolk out; the Crystal Gems attempt to intervene over this injustice but are ultimately too late; the lead lumberjack is killed in the ensuing Great Flood of 1863 and vows revenge against the Northwests in his final breath 1860s-1870s • Rose Quartz begins traversing the Desert with a pride of lions • Buddy Buddwick leaves Captain Dewey's crew to begin his career as an explorer and author; he records his research of Gem locations in his book • One of Rose's lions dies and she resurrects him 1883 • To escape imprisonment, Blendin Blandin travels back in time to live as a 19th century pocket watch repairman, inadvertently instigating the Great Train Crash of '83 by distracting a passing train conductor with his time machine (journal 3)

Early 20th Century

1920s • Dipper goes back in time to recover Lion and accidently meets Rose Quartz in the process (as seen in Lion and Waddles)

Mid 20th Century

C.1953 • Identical twins Stanford and Stanley Pines are born in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey 1960s • Stan and Ford start rebuilding an old ship they found in a cave 1965 • Greg DeMayo (Universe) is born Late 1960s-Early 1970s • Stan dates Carla McCorkle 1972 • Stan is disowned after ruining Ford's science project, costing the family potential millions • After being rejected from West Cost Tech, Ford enrolls in Backupsmore University

Late 19th Century

1972-1982 • Stan, now a solo drifter, travels in and out of the United States as a salesman and impoverished conman; he goes to prison at least 3 times 1973 • Ford is accepted into the doctoral program 3 years ahead of schedule; he receives a research grant of $100000 for any field of his choice 1975 • Ford arrives in Gravity Falls and begins documenting his research of its anomalies in Journal 1 • Ford meets Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems; realizing their similar goals, Rose and Ford become partners in researching Gravity Falls and its anomalies Before 1981 • With the Gems' help, Ford is able to document extensive notes on Gem fusion, culture, history, biology, and weaponry • Rose takes Ford to her hidden armory under Gravity Falls' cemetery • Rose also shows Ford the remains of the crashed Gem scout ship buried underneath Gravity Falls (which he dubs Crash Site Omega) • Rose entrusts one of laser light canons with Ford, who hides it underground near his home 1981 • Rose and Ford hit a wall in their research; at this point, Ford finds the cave drawings that depict Bill Cipher and summons him, hoping he will give him the answers to the mysteries of Gravity Falls. Ford and Bill become partners and start work together; Ford keeps their partnership a secret from Rose and the other Gems • Ford begins to write Journal 3, six years since beginning his research in Gravity Falls • Bill gives Ford plans for the Universe Portal; Ford and the Gems begin construction on the portal • Ford asks Fiddleford McGucket to visit him in Gravity Falls, to help him with building the portal • Ford, Fiddleford, Rose, and the Gems journey to Crash Site Omega to salvage a hyperdrive from the ship • Disturbed by his encounter with the Gremgoblin, Fiddleford constructs the Memory Gun, much to Ford and Rose's shared concern (Crash Site Omega) • To protect their research, Ford, Fiddleford, Rose, and the Gems begin constructing an underground bunker; Rose and Ford hatch the shapeshifter and raise it as a pet, only for it to turn on them and go rouge; they are forced to freeze it in a cryogenic tube 1982 • Ford allows Bill to possess him so he can complete calculations on the portal; Rose encounters Ford in this state and becomes increasingly concerned • Fiddleford implores Ford to give up on the portal and instead publish his already existing research, but Ford is adamant; at the same time, Rose confides in the other Gems that she has worries over the portal herself • McGucket is nearly sucked into the portal and quits the project; in order to erase his mind from the horrors he's seen, he founds the Society of the Blind Eye; his mind begins to deteriorate due to extensive use of the mind erasing gun • Rose and the Gems also break off from Ford after the portal accident, all of them horrified at the danger it could pose to the earth • Ford breaks off his deal with Bill after finding out that he had been deceived; as a result, he becomes increasingly paranoid and isolated • (spoiler) • Ford entrusts Journal 3 into Rose's care; she later hides it on the temple hill; Ford hides journal 2 near the local elementary school • Ford contacts Stan, who comes to Gravity Falls in response; Ford attempts to entrust Journal 1 to Stan, but is sucked into the universe portal and is lost in the multiverse for 30 years • Ford encounters Bill in the Nightmare Realm and makes a narrow escape along with a group of interdimensional Refugees (The Nightmare Realm) • Ford begins to travel across the various dimensions to learn all he can about Bill in the hopes of defeating him once and for all (The Nightmare Realm) • Rose resolves to make sure that the other two journals remain hidden to prevent Stan from reopening the portal, even if its for the sake of saving Ford • Stan begins running the Murder Hut, later renamed the Mystery Shack, in Ford's house • The government begins to take notice of odd readings in Gravity Falls due to the universe portal • Ford becomes an outlaw in a number of different dimensions (Adrift in the Cosmos) 1984 • Greg DeMayo drops out of community college and changes his last name to Universe to become a professional musician and tour the country under his manager Marty • Greg's family began moving away from each other leaving Andy DeMayo alone to explore the world in his plane 1986 • Greg holds a concert in Gravity Falls, and Rose Quartz is the only one who attends; Greg decides to stay in Gravity Falls with Rose and the two soon fall in love (Like a Comet) • Greg begins working at the Murder Hut under Stan • Greg learns about fusion from the Gems and unsuccessfully attempts to fuse with Rose (We Need to Talk) 1988 • (spoiler) (Chille Tid Part 2) • (spoiler) (Chille Tid Part 2) 1990 • Jesus "Soos" Ramirez is born • Stan and Amethyst form an unlikely friendship and begin to go on weekly "Revenge Trips" with each other; they continue this trend for 8 years 1990s • Ford encounters the Oracle, Jheselbraum the Unswerving in Dimension 52; the two corece over their shared desire to vanquish Bill Cipher once and for all; Jheselbraum installs a metal plate into Ford's skull to prevent Bill from interfering with his mind any further (Adrift in the Cosmos) 1996-1997 • Wendy Corduroy is born • Lars Barriga is born • Sadie Miller is born • Jenny and Kiki Pizza (twins) are born • Robbie Valentino is born 1997 • To earn extra money, Greg takes up a second job babysitting with Rose's help; after this falls through, Stan helps Greg out by giving him a loan to buy the car wash (Greg the Babysitter) 1998 • Stan and Amethyst finally get arrested on a Revenge Trip; Rose and the other Gems break them out of prison and Stan and Amethyst stop hanging out • Rose leaves her other laser light canon in Greg's storage unit • Rose writes a letter of farewell to Ford containing hints as to the location of the Gems' memories in the event of his return; she entrusts this letter with Greg • Rose leaves two tapes for her unborn child behind, one at the remains of Pink Diamond's ship and the other in Lion's mane; she also hides the Crystal Gems' lost memories there as well • Rose Quartz gives up her physical form to give birth to Steven Universe • Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl kidnap Steven and steal Greg's Van temporarily to try to find out who or what Steven is. Greg and the Gems eventually agree to help Steven grow up together 1999 • Twins Mabel and Mason "Dipper" Pines are born • Connie Mahaswaran is born • Pacifica Northwest is born

Early 2000s

2002 • Gideon Gleeful is born • The Mystery Kids travel back in time to figure out why Soos dislikes his birthday; as a result of this time anomaly, 4-year-old Steven disappears and Greg frantically searches the town looking for him (Blendin’s Game) • Soos begins to work at the Mystery Shack Unknown • Steven moves in with the Gems after Greg completes the house in front of the temple • Gideon finds journal 2 in the schoolyard of Gravity Falls Elementary • Gideon somehow steals a telepathic Gem artifact from the Crystal Gems • Wendy starts working at the Mystery Shack • Sadie and Lars begin working at the Big Donut • Ford travels to a parallel dimension where he is given plans for a Quantum Destabilizer by a parallel version of Fiddleford (Adrift in the Cosmos)

2010s

2012 • Steven summons his shield for the first time • Steven and Connie meet and become friends • Pearl is damaged and poofed by her holographic counterpart and reforms two weeks later with a new design • Steven meets Lion, who follows him home and becomes his companion • Dipper and Mabel come to Gravity Falls for the summer to stay with their Grunkle Stan • Dipper and Mabel fend off the gnomes during their first day in Gravity Falls

Universe Falls

Arc 1 • Dipper and Mabel meet Steven and Connie; the four become fast friends (First Meeting) • Dipper discovers Journal 3 on the temple hill (The Journal) • The Crystal Gems defend the Mystery Shack from Centepeedles and meet the twins; Steven summons his shield once more (Gem Glow) • Pearl and Amethyst fuse into Opal to rescue Steven from a robotic lake monster (Legend of the Giant Woman) • Wax Stan and the Wax Gems are decapitated by the Gem-shard powered wax figurines; they are defeated by Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and Connie (Headhunters) • Amethyst and Garnet form Sugilite to break down the Gem communication hub (Strong in the Real Way) • A Homeworld vessel appears on Earth for the first time in 4,000 years in the form of the Red Eye (Magic and Mystery) • Steven, Dipper, and Mabel help the Crystal Gems defend Gravity Falls against the Red Eye by utilizing Rose's laser light canon (Magic and Mystery) • Bill Cipher and Yellow Diamond begin planning their final stages of their deal (Magic and Mystery) Arc 2 • Gideon develops a crush on Mabel and attempts to get rid of Dipper and Steven in order to be with her; he is subsequently defeated by Mabel; the kids return the Gem artifact Gideon stole to the Gems (Lil' Gideon) • Using a time device, Steven recruits copies of himself to form a band to preform at the Mystery Shack party; at the same time, Dipper uses a coping machine to make copies of himself in order to dance with Wendy; both of these plans backfire (Copies and Clones) • Mabel wins Waddles at the Mystery Fair (Lion and Waddles) • Steven, Connie, Dipper and Mabel encounter time traveler Blendin Blandin and use his time traveling device to accidentally cause several anomalies throughout time; Wendy and Robbie start dating (Lion and Waddles) • Steven discovers he has healing spit after Amethyst is nearly fatally cracked; he also accidentally cures Connie's eyesight (An Indirect Kiss) • Steven discovers he has the power to create sentient watermelon look alikes; Gideon nearly takes the Mystery Shack by shrinking Steven, Dipper, and Mabel, but he is ultimately thwarted; Steven sends the Watermelon Stevens off (Measure Up) • Steven uses his Gem to access Rose's Room for the first time; the Gems discover Journal 3, and though they are bewildered by its contents and information concerning them, they allow Dipper to keep it (Gems and Journals) • Steven, Dipper, and Mabel free Lapis Lazuli from the mirror; she subsequently steals all of the water in Lake Gravity Falls in a desperate attempt to return to Homeworld (Mirror Gem) • Lapis's cracked Gem is healed by Steven and she returns to Homeworld; the lake is restored (Waterfall Gem) Arc 3 • Pioneer Day is Celebrated in Gravity Falls; Dipper, Mabel, Steven, and Connie unfreeze President Quintin Trembley from his frozen state; the Northwest coverup is revealed and the kids discover Rose's secret armory (Irrational Treasure) • Pearl, Steven, the twins, Stan, and Greg attempt to build a space ship (Space Race) • Mabel, with Dipper and Steven's aid, helps Mermando return to the ocean (The Deep End) • Garnet reveals her future vision ability and Dipper uses her intel to break Wendy and Robbie Up (Future Vision) • Amethyst takes Steven and Dipper to the Kindergarten she was made in (On the Run) • Steven befriends Centipeedle, who is ultimately poofed trying to save him; the Gems and the Pines discover a labyrinth of frozen dinosaurs beneath Gravity Falls (Land Before Swine) • Steven discovers the tape Rose left behind for him in Lion's mane (Straight to Video) • Stan and Amethyst go on a revenge trip to get even with Gideon, narrowly avoiding arrest (Revenge Trip) • Gideon summons Bill Cipher to invade Stan's mind to acquire the code to the Mystery Shack safe; Bill is defeated by Dipper, Mabel, Steven, and Soos (Dreamscapers) • Gideon takes over the Mystery Shack by force and the Pines temporarily move into the temple; the Crystal Gems fuse into Alexandrite to save Steven and the twins from Gideon's robot; Gideon exposed as a fraud by Stan and is subsequently jailed (Gideon Rises) • Ford ends up on Homeworld, where he is quickly captured by Yellow Diamond's forces (Home Away From Homeworld) Arc 4 • Government Agents Powers and Trigger come to Gravity Falls to investigate strange readings coming from the town; The Pines fend off zombies with the help of the Crystal Gems (Scary-Oke) • Peridot arrives at the Galaxy Warp on a scouting mission; the kids later confront Peridot at the Prime Kindergarten (Marble Madness) • Dipper, Mabel, Steven, Amethyst, Garnet, Soos, and Wendy investigate the author's underground bunker and refreeze the shape shifter and recover the laptop; Amethyst is poofed three times and regenerates into a new form (Into the Bunker) • Lapis arrives back on Homeworld but is soon apprehended and interrogated by Peridot; she is subsequently imprisoned and meets Ford; the two plan an escape, but they are ultimately thwarted; Lapis flees back to Earth while Ford remains a prisoner of Yellow Diamond (Home Away from Homeworld/Dipper and Lapis) • Steven and Connie fuse into Stevonnie for the first time (Alone Together) • Steven and Mabel fuse into Maven for the first time (Together Forever) • Steven and Dipper fuse into Stepper for the first time; he fends off Peridot's attack robinoids (Forever Alone) • Lion retrieves Rose's Scabbard from the Strawberry Battlefield (Rose's Scabbard) • Steven, Dipper, and Mabel attempt to throw Soos a surprise party but are apprehended by the Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squardron and are defeat Blendin Blandin in Globnar (Blendin's Game) • Dipper discovers that Lapis has returned to Earth and is taking refuge in the waterfall cave; the two form a close friendship; Lapis warns the Crystal Gems that Peridot is returning with reinforcements (Dipper and Lapis) • Gravity Falls is evacuated; Stan stays behind and Dipper and Mabel return to help Steven and the Gems; Peridot and Jasper arrive on Earth and take Steven and the Crystal Gems captive; Dipper and Mabel stow away on their ship to rescue them (The Return) • Ruby and Sapphire refuse into Garnet; Garnet defeats Jasper; Peridot flees from the Crystal Gems; Lapis and Jasper fuse into Malachite; Malachite is trapped at the bottom of Lake Gravity Falls (Jailbreak) Arc 5 • The citizens of Gravity Falls begin repairing damage caused by the Gem Warship (Full Disclosure) • Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and the Cool Kids discover Peridot's escape pod, which is then apprehended by the Crystal Gems; Robbie and Tambry start dating (Joy Ride) • Mabel prepares for her sock puppet opera to impress Gabe Bensen with Steven's help; in trying to find out the password to the laptop to rescue Lapis, Dipper makes a deal with Bill Cipher and is possessed by him; Bill's plans to destroy Journal 3 are thwarted thanks to Mabel, Steven, and Connie (Sock Opera) • Dipper and Connie begin taking sword training lessons from Pearl (Do It For Them) • Ford escapes from Yellow Diamond and befriends the Off Colors; eventually, he manages to find a way off Homeworld altogether (Home Away from Homeworld) • Soos and Melody begin dating (Soos and the Real Girl) • Pearl entrusts Dipper with the Ancient Sea Blade; the Crystal Gems discover Peridot's location. After she escapes, the group happens upon a nest of forced fusions created from pieces of shattered gems (Keeping it Together) • The Mystery Kids, the Gems, Soos, and Wendy discover the Society of the Blind Eye and help McGucket recover his memories from them (Society of the Blind Eye) • The Northwests hold their annual party; Dipper and Pacifica work together to break the curse on the manor; Steven and Connie defeat a group of Gem mutants (Northwest Mansion Nightmare) • Ford goes to face Bill himself in the Nightmare Realm once more (Home Away From Homeworld) • Stan is arrested by the government agents; Dipper, Mabel, Steven, Soos and the Crystal Gems discover his shadowy past as well as the universe portal; The portal opens and Ford returns after 30 years, though he is unable to defeat Bill before he does (Not What He Seems) • Ford reunites with the Crystal Gems, who have no apparent recollection of him (A Tale of Two Stans) Arc 6 • Ford receives the letter Rose wrote to him; Steven discovers the memories that Rose took from the Crystal Gems and returns them (Lost and Found) • Garnet and Pearl fuse to form Sardonyx to destroy the Homeworld Communication Hub after Peridot rebuilds it. Amethyst and the kids learn that Pearl has been lying to Garnet about subsequent repairs to the Communication Hub, presumably done by Peridot, to keep fusing with her (Cry For Help) • Ford dismantles the universe portal, however doing so creates a rift in space and time, which Ford manages to contain • Stan, Mabel, and Steven rescue Dipper, Ford, and Pearl from Probabilitor the Wizard; Pearl and Ford rekindle their former friendship; Ford creates the Sword of Seasons for Dipper and confides in him about the Rift (Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons) • Garnet unfuses into Ruby and Sapphire after a falling out between the two of them over Pearl's deception; the two eventually re-fuse (Evergreen Inn) • Stan runs for Mayor of Gravity Falls against Bud Gleeful and wins; however, due to Stan's extensive criminal record, Mayor Dewey ends up resuming his mayoral position (The Stanchurian Candidate) • Garnet and Pearl forgive each other and the Gems repair their friendship with Ford while trying to capture Peridot (Friend Ship) • Steven discovers his ability to venture into the dreams of others and uses this to communicate with Lapis; (spoilers); The kids and the Gems detail their respective histories with Bill to each other (Chille Tid) • Mabel, Candy, Grenda, Wendy, and Pearl collect unicorn hair to protect the shack and the temple from Bill Cipher; Dipper and Steven discover Ford's history with Bill (The Last Mabelcorn) • Peridot wanders the wilds of Gravity Falls where she (spoiler) (Peridot in the Wild) • (spoiler) (Pyrite) • Steven and Mabel free Peridot, who escapes again and takes refuge in the shack's bathroom (Catch and Release) Arc 7 • Steven, Connie, Stan, Ford, Soos, and Wendy go camping; Garnet and the twins track down an escaped Peridot while also dealing with a substantial threat from an escaped Gideon (Camping Adventure) • Peridot reveals to the kids that a massive cluster composed of millions of shattered gems is incubating below the earth and is due to form and destroy the planet (To Con a Clod) • The Crystal Gems and the Pines use Greg's family barn as a base to build a machine that can stop the cluster; Ford and McGucket reunite and reconcile (Bot Battle) • Stepper is formed again to aid in Ford's research; Stepper fuses with Mabel to form Dipevebel for the first time; Steven discovers his floating abilities (Three's a Crowd) • Steven turns 14 (Steven's Birthday) • Pacifica assists Dipper and Peridot in collecting Titan's Ore for the construction of the drill; Peridot discovers her abilities to manipulate metal; Steven, Connie, and Mabel form Mabonnven for the first time (Peridot and Pacifica) • The Crystal Gems travel to a Homeworld base on the moon where Peridot reveals the Homeworld's original plans to colonize and drain the earth of its natural resources; Peridot confronts Yellow Diamond and defects from Homeworld, becoming an official member of the Crystal Gems; the Crystal Gems and the Pines learn of Yellow Diamond's alliance with Bill Cipher (Message Received) • Dipper tags along with the Gems to confront Malachite and Rescue Lapis Lazuli; the Sword of Seasons is lost (Out Too Far) • Steven, Mabel, Peridot, and Ford use the drill to travel to the cluster, where Steven is able to contain the geoweapon (In Too Deep) Arc 8 • Steven and Dipper help Lapis adjust to life on Earth. Lapis reluctantly moves into the Barn with Peridot, but eventually warms up to her (Same Old World) • A squad of Rubies arrive on Earth to retrieve Jasper, but are tricked into leaving following a baseball game with the Crystal Gems and the Pines (Hit the Diamond) • Dipper and Pacifica start dating (Mismatched Making) • Greg becomes a millionaire and finally settles his differences with Pearl over Rose (Mr. Greg) • Steven further develops his mental powers by accidentally taking over an unwitting Stan (The New Stan) • Stevonnie, Maven, and Stepper take Kevin and his friends on in a street race (Gravity Falls Drift) • (spoiler), causing its inhabitants to undergo monstrous transformations; Steven learns more about the Gem War and reunites Centipeedle with her own kind (Monster Falls) • Jasper returns and nearly forces Lapis to fuse with her once more before being thwarted (Alone on the Lake) • Small interdimensional gaps begin forming around Gravity Falls • Steven and Dipper end up getting trapped in the Nightmare Realm and form Stepper to take on Bill; (spoiler); (spoiler) (Rifts) • (spoiler); (spoiler); (spoiler); Ford tells the Gems about the Rift (Memories) • The Pines and the Gems face Bill in the Nightmare Realm; (spoiler); (spoiler); (spoiler) ends up tearing wider holes in the dimensional fabric that possibly lead to other parallel dimensions (Dimensions) Arc 9 • Ford details his grand unified theory of weirdness to Dipper; Steven, Mabel, and Connie discover that Jasper is amassing an army of corrupted Gems (Theories of Weirdness) • The Mystery Kids discover a dimension where Steven is Yellow Diamond's son and the twins have used magic to practically take over the town (Played in Reverse) • The Pines and the Gems travel to a dimension where the kids are adults and the adults are children (Its All Relativity) • Amethyst is poofed by Jasper, who is defeated when Steven, Dipper, and Connie fuse to form Convenper for the first time; Lapis and Peridot adopt a kitten, which they name Dippurr (Crack the Whip) • Stan and Amethyst recruit the kids and the other Gems in helping them with their most ambitious revenge scheme yet (Revenge Trap) • Steven accidentally releases Bismuth from her bubble inside Lion's mane. Bismuth reconnects with the surviving Crystal Gems and provides upgrades for their weapons. The kids learns the reason for Bismuth's imprisonment and is forced to bubble her again. Afterward, they explains her imprisonment to the Gems (Bismuth) • The kids happen into a dimension where their personality traits seem to be completely switched around and where Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper are the Crystal Gems (Opposites Attract) • Steven and Connie officially become a couple; Dipper and Pacifica nearly break up but reconcile their conflicting emotions (Double Date) • The kids, Stan, Amethyst, and Peridot track Jasper to the Beta Kindergarten. They discover Jasper's origins along with what has happened to the Corrupted Gems; Amethyst and Steven form Smoky Quartz for the first time while fighting Jasper. Jasper becomes corrupted after attempting to fuse with a Gem Monster and is subsequently defeated by Peridot (Earthlings) • The Rubies return to Earth. Amethyst (disguised as Jasper) convinces them to take herself and the other Crystal Gems and the Pines to the Moon Base. Upon arrival, Eyeball, as a firsthand witness, confirms that Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond. Eventually, Amethyst's deception is discovered and the Rubies attack. Sardonyx knocks the Rubies (and Steven and Mabel, by accident) into space (Back to the Moon) • Steven, Mabel, and the Rubies become stranded in deep space. Steven and Mabel fuse into Maven to survive; they find Eyeball and rescue her, eventually revealing Rose's gemstone. Believing Maven/Steven is Rose Quartz, Eyeball attempts to shatter them, forcing them to eject Eyeball back into space. After some time, Maven is saved by the Crystal Gems and the other Pines, having hijacked the Rubies' Roaming Eye ship. On the ride back to Earth, the Crystal Gems confirm and justify Rose's actions toward Pink Diamond (Bubbled) Arc 9 • Jheselbraum the Unswerving arrives in Gravity Falls and reveals to Ford an ancient prophecy that might contain the power needed to finally defeat Bill once and for all (Jheselbraum the Unswerving) • Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and Connie fuse to form Stonipbel for the first time (Mindful Education) • The kids find a largely peaceful dimension where they themselves are teenagers (The Mystery Teens) • Pearl meets Mystery Girl (Last One Out of Gravity Falls) • The Pines and the Gems find a dimension where Steven is a normal human and the twins are both half Gems (A Swap of Fate) • Steven creates Pumpkin as a pet for Lapis and Peridot; Andy DeMayo reconnects with his estranged cousin Greg over a family dinner with Steven, the Gems, and the Pines (Gem Harvest) • Steven and the twins accidentally travel both back in time and (spoiler) to an alternate dimension to right before Ford was sucked into the portal; Bill possesses Blendin Blandin (Time Tangled) • Steven attempts to "connect" with his mother inside of her room; meanwhile, Dipper and Mabel start to grow further and further apart (Storm in the Room) • Dipper, Ford, Steven, and Peridot investigate Crash Site Omega to find a sealant that can repair the cracked Rift; Mabel recruits the Gems in helping her plan for her and Dipper's upcoming birthday party (Vs. the Future Part 1) • Dipper and Mabel have an immense falling out after Dipper agrees to be Ford's apprentice and stay in Gravity Falls; Mabel unknowingly hands the rift over to a Bill-possessed Blendin; Bill breaks the Rift and Weirdmageddon commences (Vs. the Future Part 2) Arc 11 • Weirdmageddon begins as Bill easily takes over Gravity Falls; Yellow Diamond and her forces arrive to make good on the deal between the two; (spoiler) ; the journals are destroyed, Ford is turned to gold and captured by Bill; Mabel is captured by Bill and kept in a dream-inducing bubble; the Crystal Gems are scattered; (spoiler) ; (spoiler) ; (spoiler) (Welcome to Weirdmageddon) • Dipper wanders the apocalyptic Gravity Falls alone for three days before being found by Lapis; (spoiler) ; Garnet and Connie team up to (spoiler) (Alone At the End) • Amethyst and a group of other survivors take refuge in the bunker where they encounter both McGucket and the shapeshifter; Dipper and Lapis run into Wendy, Soos, and Pearl and face off against Gideon and his cronies in an attempt to rescue Mabel (Out of the Bunker) • Dipper convinces Mabel to leave her self-created fantasy world behind; (spoiler); Bill and Yellow Diamond realize that they are both confined to Gravity Falls thanks to a weirdness barrier/gem destabilizer trap (spoiler) ; Amethyst and her group make it to the Mystery Shack, where Stan has been hiding out on his own (Escape from Reality) • Dipper, Mabel, Pearl, Lapis, Soos, and Wendy reunite with Garnet, Connie, and Peridot, who have (spoiler); (spoiler); the collective group arrives at the Mystery Shack and takes up refuge there; (spoiler); (Love Like You) • The survivors at the shack rally themselves to face Bill and Yellow Diamond and save the town and begin constructing a massive robot out of the shack in order to do so; Bill attempts to coerce Ford into revealing the secret behind the weirdness barrier so he can take over the entire world, (spoiler) (Rise of the Resistance) • The resistance takes both the Henchmaniacs and Yellow's forces head on in a massive assault; a small group manages to sneak into the Fearamid in order to rescue Ford; the statuefied townsfolk are freed and (spoiler) (Take Back the Falls) • In an attempt to defeat Bill, the members of the prophesied zodiac wheel gather together; their attempt is ultimately discovered by Bill, who apprehends all of its members save for the Pines and the Gems; the Mystery Kids narrowly manage to escape however, but are eventually captured by Bill and handed over to Yellow Diamond (Wheel of Destiny) • (spoiler); the Gems and the Pines free their captured friends and allies, but are unable to reform the wheel as they are all separated once again (Of Diamonds and Demons) • (spoiler) ; Stan tricks Bill into entering his mind, where he is ultimately defeated when Ford erases his mind; Weirdmageddon ends and Yellow Diamonds' forces retreat (The Universe Falls) • The statued remains of Bill Cipher are lost in the forest of Gravity Falls; the town begins to recover from Weirdmageddon; (spoiler); The Mystery Shack gets reconstructed. Stan recovers his memories with the help of Mabel's scrapbook and old home movies of Ford and Stan's childhood. Soos finds the Journals in the woods unharmed; McGucket becomes wealthy and buys the now-ousted Northwest Mansion and (spoiler); (spoiler) ;en route back to Homeworld, Yellow Diamond begins planning a new bioweapon initiative involving humans (Everything Stays) • Dipper and Mabel celebrate their 13th birthday with all of the townsfolk at the Mystery Shack, Stan Pines retires and gives ownership of the Mystery Shack to Soos. The family decides to throw the journals into the Bottomless Pit; (spoiler); Dipper and Mabel leave Gravity Falls to return home to Piedmont; (spoiler); the Mystery Kids promise to meet up again in Gravity Falls the following year

Between Stories

• (spoiler) • Stan and Ford set sail to hunt down anomalies all over the world together • Dipper and Mabel return to school but largely keep the details of their summer in Gravity Falls to themselves • Yellow Diamond's human-bioweapon initiative kicks off, with humans from Pink Diamond's zoo being utilized as subjects; all of these subjects end up failing however, due to the severity of the process • Yellow Diamond commissions the creation of an Amber to oversee the biological status of humans utilized in her project; she also appoints Hessonite to serve as the supervising commander • (spoiler) • Pacifica forms a friendship with Candy and Grenda while the twins are away; due to her family recently falling out of money, she takes up a job at Greasy's Diner to pick up the slack • Soos hires Melody on at the Mystery Shack; he eventually purposes to her and the two are engaged • Steven, Connie, and the Gems visit Dipper and Mabel in Piedmont around the holidays; the Mystery Kids spend their Christmas together • (spoiler)

Universe Falls 2 (as far as I know right now)

Arc 1 • Dipper and Mabel return to Gravity Falls for the summer; (spoiler) and the Mystery Kids reunite; Stan and Ford are the last to return and a celebration is held to kick off the beginning of summer • (spoiler) • (spoiler) Arc 2 (SU events) • Steven investigates a strange dream he is having, despite frequent warnings from Garnet. After Blue Diamond abducts Greg and Stan in Korea, Steven, the twins, Ford and the Crystal Gems travel to Pink Diamond's Zoo to rescue them. Lapis, Peridot, and Connie are charged with protecting Earth in their stead • Despite issues with the Roaming Eye's gravity drive, the group arrives at Pink Diamond's Zoo. While Holly Blue Agate gives Sapphire, Ruby, and Pearl a tour of the facility, Steven and the twins are inserted into the Human Zoo and reunites with Greg and Stan; meanwhile, Ford goes off on his own to attempt a solo rescue • Despite a comfortable existence inside the Zoo, Greg and Stan ultimately reject the "choosening" ceremony of the other humans. Steven, the twins, Greg, and Stan are subsequently captured by the intervening Amethyst guards • Brought to the guard quarters, the group is surprised that Amethyst has quickly befriended her sisters, both for their common heritage and mutual dislike of Holly Blue Agate; not long after Ford barges in and reunites with Stan • While Holly Blue browbeats the guards into preparing for Blue Diamond's surprise return, Steven, Greg, and the Pines take refuge in a large room full of bubbled Rose Quartzes, hiding when Blue Diamond arrives to pay her respects. Yellow Diamond enters immediately after, attempting to convince Blue to move on. • The Universes and the Pines sneak back out while Sapphire stalls Holly and the Diamonds for time. Upon entering the hangar, Holly catches the humans attempting to escape. She tries to stop them, but is thwarted by Garnet and the others. The group successfully escape the Zoo Arc 3 (SU events only (mostly) • While the Gems and the Pines are away, Connie, Lapis, and Peridot protect Gravity Falls with help from Pacifica, McGucket, Soos, and Wendy, only to lead to disastrous results • The Gems and the Pines return to Earth • Navy crash-lands on Earth. Posing as a defector, she eventually steals back the Roaming Eye and escapes into space • The Mystery Kids do a stakeout with Mr. Maheswaran, though the culprit is not who they suspect • The Mystery Kids and the Gems investigate several mysterious disappearances, including Stan and Ford's; the kids encounter Aquamarine and Topaz for the first time, and Connie and Mabel are captured in the process • Stepper and the Crystal Gems confront Aquamarine and Topaz, with the former explaining their reason for visiting Earth. In order to save his friends, Steven reveals his mother's gemstone and turns himself in (spoiler) and the other Mystery Kids reveal their role in defeating Yellow Diamond last summer; though Steven manages to push Connie off the ship, he is unable to do the same for Dipper and Mabel and the trio is whisked off to Homeworld • The kids discover that Lars is still on the ship. Nevertheless, Aquamarine and Topaz escort them to Homeworld. Topaz tries to help the kids and Lars escape, but to no avail • Put on trial for Rose Quartz's crime of shattering Pink Diamond, Steven (represented by a blue defending Zircon) goes up against the Diamonds (represented by a yellow prosecuting Zircon). Steven learns that his mother may not be responsible for the shattering. Both Zircons are poofed by Yellow Diamond • Steven, Mabel, and Lars escape the Diamonds using Blue's palanquin, but Dipper is seperated from them in his attempt to keep Yellow Diamond from catching them • Steven, Mabel, and Lars meet a group of rogue "off color" Gems (Padparadscha, the Rutile Twins, Rhodonite, and Fluorite). Lars is killed by an explosion while protecting the group from a pack of Robonoids • Steven revives Lars with his tears, causing him to turn pink and gain powers similar to Lion. Steven and Mabel use Lars' pocket dimension to return to Earth, while Lars and the Off Colors stay behind to search for an alternate way home while also promising to try and find Dipper Arc 4 (SU events (partially) • Connie gets mad at Steven for not working together to save their friends and Steven giving himself up in the fight against Aquamarine and Topaz and leaves, upset; distraught over what happened to Dipper, the Pines frantically began planning out a way to rescue him; Lion goes missing; Mayor Dewey resigns from his post, allowing Tyler Cutebiker to take his place • Despite her promise to Blue to safely deposit him at the zoo, Yellow Diamond interrogates Dipper on his knowledge of Rose Quartz and has her Peridots cut his arm off, initiating him in the "process" • Dipper is placed in the care of Amber and is subjected to physical and mental torture over the course of several weeks in order to transform him into Yellow Diamond's personal assassin • To try and comfort Steven and Mabel, the Gems and the Pines take them on a brief vacation (while all the while stressing about Dipper's unknown fate) • Kevin returns and invites the Mystery Kids to his party; Mabel reunites with Gabe Bensen and harshly refutes his advances on her; Connie and Steven make amends and leave on Lion as their relationship is finally recovered • During this time, Lars and the Off Colors escape from Homeworld and become a rebel cell against the Homeworld Gems; despite searching as much of Homeworld as they could, they are ultimately unable to find and rescue Dipper • With Amber's assistance, Dipper records a farewell message for his friends and family back on Earth • Unable to resist any longer, Dipper succumbs to the brainwashing forced upon him by Yellow Diamond and becomes "Stonemason"; he is outfitted with a shapeshifting metallic arm and is sent to hunt down "Rose Quartz" and shatter her • Steven, Connie, and Mabel visit Lars and the Off Colors, only to be shot down by an Emerald while protecting Lars' new ship • The kids get stranded on an alien planet; Stevonnie learns more about Pink Diamond's past while Mabel encounters the mysterious Stonemason, who forces her to take him to "Rose Quartz"; after a brief skirmish with Stonemason, the Mystery Kids escape thanks to Lars • Stonemason arrives on earth and begins perusing Steven and the Crystal Gems • Mabonnven fights Stonemason and ends up unmasking him, revealing his true identity as Dipper; the Pines and the Gems begin plotting out how to free Dipper from Yellow Diamond's control Arc 5 (mostly original) • Yellow Diamond commands Stonemason to attack Gravity Falls in order to lure "Rose" out; he does so, damaging much of the town and harming several civilians • The Pines and the Gems receive Dipper's supposedly final message to them and are inspired to continue looking for a way to save him • Thanks to continued interactions with his friends and family, Dipper starts to break through his Stonemason conditioning and fight back against Yellow Diamond's control • After several skirmishes and fights, the Gems apprehend Stonemason; (spoiler) Dipper beats Stonemason's presence in his mind back, allowing him to resume control once more • As a result of Yellow's conditioning, however, Dipper is still left in a servantile state of quiet obedience until Pearl helps him break free of it; the other Mystery Kids assist Dipper in his mental recovery Arc 6 • Steven introduces Garnet and Dipper to the Off Colors; Garnet tells Lars and the Off Colors the origins of Rose Quartz and the Rebellion • Lapis Lazuli leaves Earth once again and takes the Barn, not wanting to get caught in the middle of another war with the Diamonds; (spoiler) • Peridot, the twins, Steven, Amethyst, and Ford return to the Kindergarten to turn it into an actual garden in order to cheer Peridot up, but instead encounter a Flower Monster. Peridot gets over the fact that Lapis left her. • Garnet adopts a one-eyed stray kitten and names it "Cat Steven" • Dipper is met with resistance and anger when trying to reintegrate himself into Gravity Falls as a result of the destruction Stonemason caused; Pacifica intervenes and quells the townsfolks' anger • (spoiler) Arc 7 • The kids discover that Lapis has taken up refuge on the moon; they find her there and (continue when ideas are fully flashed out) • Steven goes inside Pearl to find her phone and discovers that Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond, which shocks Garnet and Amethyst, and the Pines • Garnet unfuses and Sapphire becomes mad at Ruby, saying that Rose Quartz lied to them and leaves, upset; Dipper also leaves, outraged that all of the torture he was put through was essentially for nothing; Steven, Pearl, Stan, and Ford check on Sapphire and Pearl tells Steven and Sapphire the story of how Pink Diamond became Rose Quartz; (spoiler) she also reveals the original deal Rose/Pink made with Bill, which outrages Ford; eventually, everyone returns home, only to find that Ruby and Amethyst are not here • Upset by the uselessness of their shared suffering, Dipper and Stonemason reach an agreement that they will work in conjunction with one another towards the eventual goal of shattering Yellow Diamond as revenge

#aaaaaaand that's all i got #whew i am exhusted after all that planning #now to fuckin enjoy tonights ep and probably add onto this garbage fire later on #i gave ya'll some free stuff in there so enjoy it #i swear to go d i probably spoiled something in here #augh #jen writes #universe falls #uf timeline #uf ref

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inawickedlittletown · 6 years

Text

Walking The Wire (89/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Eighty Eight

They watched Back To The Future when they got back to the den complete with bowls of popcorn and Tony had even gotten out a couple of blankets for them which just built up how cozy, comfortable, and easy the night had to be.

Peter had watched the first movie only once before with Ben and May and it was a good one. He liked that it was something he had already watched -- something entertaining that he didn’t have to necessarily put all of his attention on. His mind just kept drifting back to being under all that concrete and how in that moment he had wanted Tony -- he had wanted his dad -- because somehow he always just seemed to be there to help him and save him and make things better and he just hadn’t disappointed.

It made him just a tad embarrased now, to think on how he had been yelling and how easily he’d slipped into calling Tony dad in those moments. He sort of -- he wanted to keep doing it.

“You’re thinking kind of loudly over there,” Tony said.

Peter sighed and turned to look at him. Tony hadn’t even pulled out his phone or tablet like Peter had expected him to because Tony nearly always needed to be doing something with his hands. Instead, he was actually watching the movie.

“I’m -- I called you dad,” Peter said.

“You did,” Tony said. “I don’t mind.”

“Oh,” Peter said and he smiled a little. “I think -- maybe I’d--”

“You can call me whatever you want, Pete,” Tony said and he reached over and squeezed his wrist.

Peter was warmed by the easy way that Tony just breezed past the awkwardness that Peter felt and just made everything seem okay. Made it seem normal.

“I’ve never had a real dad,” Peter whispered. “Ben was always just Ben and I don’t really remember Richard all that well but you’re -- you’re really my dad. You know?”

“I know,” Tony said and smiled at him. His eyes looked maybe a tad misty, but Peter couldn’t really tell and then they both turned back to the movie.

Peter fell asleep a few minutes into the second Back To The Future which made it easier to just watch him and not the movie as Tony had been doing. Eventually, he turned it off and shifted Peter into a better position on the couch and hoped that he’d stay comfortable. He fixed the blanket over him and then just lingered and watched him. He looked even younger while he slept.

Tony wasn’t tired. And even if he was, he just knew that sleep wasn’t going to come easily. Instead, he went and reviewed everything that the FBI agents from earlier had left after they finished their inspection. He was sure Pepper had taken care of all of it already, but he just wanted to see what they had left behind. Then, he grabbed a tablet and sat down and got to work on some designs for SI. Every once in awhile he looked up and found himself just staring at Peter. His bruises had faded and his hair had dried floppily on his head.

It was a while later, when Tony got up to get a drink that he heard Peter scream. He rushed back. Peter had pushed away his blanket and it pooled on the ground next to him. Peter whimpered and gasped and his head went from side to side. He almost rolled off the sofa, but Tony pushed him back on it and he dropped to his knees next to Peter and shook him gently.

“Peter, Peter, wake up.”

He shook him a little again. Peter’s forehead creased and he groaned and then he woke up slowly, eyes looking everywhere in confusion but wide and with just a tinge of fear in them.

“You’re okay,” Tony said and he placed a hand on each side of his face to keep him from moving too much. “You’re okay.”

“A building fell on me,” Peter said. His voice was soft and a little breathy.

Tony nodded.

“You came for me.”

“I did.”

His breathing slowed down and then Peter just wrapped his arms around Tony’s shoulders. “Thank you,” he said.

“We’ve been over this already, kiddo,” Tony said.

“No. For -- for being here now,” Peter said as he pulled away, moving so that Tony could sit next to him. “Can we just keep watching the movie?”

“Sure, kid.”

Peter scooted close to Tony as Tony put the movie back on and then after a few minutes, Peter leaned his head on Tony’s arm. Tony lifted his arm and wrapped it around Peter’s shoulders and he could tell that they both needed this. Peter let out a sigh and moved closer and Tony couldn’t help but smile.

“Three more days,” Sam announced.

They were in Wakanda and this time, Steve had brought everyone with him. Sam more than any of the others seemed amazed by the place. He just didn’t seem to be able to believe that a place like Wakanda could exist in their world. Natasha as always kept her reaction low key and invited herself to train with the Dora Milaje as soon as she could. She and Okoye hit it off. Nevertheless, they were all excited to be heading home.

Wanda for her part just kept to herself -- quiet and reserved possibly because she knew that she was responsible for the deaths of some Wakandians even if it hadn’t been intentional.

Their trip to Wakanda had become necessary once the UN decided that they could go back to the states. But before they could do so they had to sign The New Accords. T’Challa had offered Wakanda for the signing and Steve had been grateful because he knew that once the papers were signed they would go to a hearing in New York City and their punishments would be doled out. They all knew that it was going to be house arrest -- they just didn’t know what the length of their punishment would be. Going to Wakanda to sign gave Steve the option of seeing Bucky before they went back. Another goodbye because it really seemed like they were destined to be torn apart. Maybe that would change in the future.

Bucky’s whole situation was one that Tony and T’Challa didn’t want to bring up yet. There was too much that he had done as The Winter Soldier and too much to risk by trying to get him cleared of his charges just yet. Tony hadn’t said it -- but he was still a little bit sore about his parents too and it was certainly a factor in him not trying harder. Steve didn’t resent him for it. Bucky was happier in Wakanda irregardless and Steve didn’t know if Bucky would even want to leave a place where he’d finally found some peace. He loved the people and he loved his hut and just everything about his daily life in Wakanda. There wasn’t a fight for him to engage in and he could just learn to become himself. Steve could tell how well he was doing there.

“I know,” Steve said. “I can’t believe it.”

“Tony really did it. It’s been barely four months,” Sam said. “Not that I’ve been counting or anything.”

They were all a bit shocked at how well everything had gone. It was just crazy because normally things didn’t work out in this manner quick and without anything going wrong. It almost made Steve suspicious except that Tony was behind it all and he could trust Tony. Steve had been expecting to stay on the run for the next year at least and somehow that just wasn’t the case. It wasn’t going to be amazing to be stuck at the tower for however long the US government and the UN felt that he might need to be, but he’d be with Tony. He’d be home and that would be enough. Not that any of it would actually matter if there was a real threat.

“His boyfriend’s involved -- of course he’s getting us all back there,” Natasha said as she walked towards them. “And I don’t doubt that he has plans to make house arrest easy and fun.”

Michelle had tried to enjoy the rest of the dance, but since she didn’t really like anyone that was in attendance and it wasn’t really her thing in the first place, it just hadn’t felt all that fun. Still, she had gotten what she went for which was to see Peter leave early. She hadn’t expected it to happen so early on -- basically with his arrival -- but it had and Ned had gone off too soon after. Michelle had considered following but that had felt like really doing a bit too much.

They had all seen Ned come back later on, though, with his hat held in his hands and looking like he didn’t know how to act. He stayed mostly on his own, constantly checking his phone and looking worried.

Michelle had tried to approach him and talk to him about it, but he was just too distracted and then eventually Ned just went home, leaving much earlier than anyone else and Michelle felt like she should go home too so she called her mom and got picked up.

The weekend felt long and no one reported on anything to do with Spider-Man although someone said that Iron Man was sighted somewhere in Brooklyn. Then, it came out that Liz’s dad had been arrested. No one knew exactly why he’d been arrested, but it had apparently been something big. It happened the night of the dance which seemed just a little suspicious. Maybe even connected to Peter leaving the dance early.

The other thing that happened that night was that Spider-Man stole Flash’s dad’s car. It was a little hilarious because Flash and his date had walked into the dance stunned and then Flash had started telling everyone that he’d lent the car to Spider-Man. Except that Rita who had agreed to go with him for some reason or another just told a different story entirely -- a more believable story -- about how Spider-Man had demanded the car and Flash’s phone and then taken off. But more importantly, she had also mentioned that Flash had been pissed off about the whole thing especially when Spider-Man did some damage to the car as he left. All in all, Michelle had been pretty amused.

By the time that Monday came around mostly everyone knew about Liz’s dad. They also knew about the state in which the car had been found.

Michelle almost expected to not see Peter at all on Monday, but he walked in with Ned at his side and Ned seemed to be pestering Peter about something again.

She felt some relief to see Peter and to see that he was actually okay, but she still didn’t try to talk to him about the whole thing. Instead she watched him from afar for the next few days. She even saw him when Liz showed up to pick up her things with her mom. They all knew that she was leaving and Michelle didn’t blame her. Michelle left them be while they talked and was surprised when Mr. Harrington approached her.

“With Liz having to leave the school year early, I was hoping you would take on the mantle of team captain,” Mr. Harrington said.

“I -- really? Me?”

Mr. Harrington nodded. “Yeah, well the other real choice is Ned and I think you’d be better at it.”

“Um, sure. Yeah. I’ll do it.”

“Good. Good. We’ll meet up today like planned and we can let everyone else know then.”

Michelle nodded. She hoped that Peter would show up because they really did need him to stick around for the team and show up to future competitions. They all knew how smart Peter was and with Liz gone they would definitely be needing Peter if they were going to have any kind of chance at next year’s nationals.

When Ned and Peter did show up to the meeting, Michelle pretended to not be relieved.

“Congratulations, Decathlon National champions,” Mr. Harrington said.

Everyone was cheering and happy. Peter clapped along with everyone else even though they all knew that he had skipped out on the competition. How the rest of the team hadn’t figured out that that meant that Peter had to be Spider-Man kind of boggled Michelle especially since they were all supposed to be smart. They really did not notice much, did they?

“I’ll have to put this back in the trophy case soon but just for motivation right now at this practice we’ll have it out here. I’m ahead of the game, but we will need a new team captain. So I am appointing Michelle.”

Everyone started cheering and clapping. Peter who was sat in front of her smiled at her and Michelle tried not to let them all know how much she appreciated their reaction.

“Thank you,” she said. “My-- My friends call me MJ, though.”

“I thought you didn’t have any friends,” Ned said because it was Ned.

Michelle looked at Ned and then Peter and she ducked her head. “I didn’t,” she said.

Peter smiled when Michelle looked back up and then he fished out his phone when it rang. “I have to go,” he said and looked genuinely apologetic.

“Hey,” Michelle said as he stood up. “Where are you going?”

The others were distracted and not even paying attention except for Ned, but that didn’t matter.

“What are you hiding, Peter?” Michelle asked.

Peter looked like a deer caught in headlights, like he couldn’t believe that Michelle had just asked that question. He didn’t even seem to know how to respond.

“I’m just kidding,” Michelle said. “I don’t care.”

“Um, okay. Bye.”

He rushed away and Michelle turned back to the group. “Um, we should get some practice in.”

Ned nudged her and looked dead serious with his eyes narrowed on her. It was almost comical. “What do you know?”

Michelle shrugged and smirked to herself when she looked away.

Chapter Ninety

#peter and tony #peter and tony fic #mcuwriting #mcu fic #iron dad #iron dad and spider son #stony #stony fic #marvel

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tomfooleryprime · 7 years

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Was Spock the first human/Vulcan hybrid?

First contact between humans and Vulcans occurred in 2063. Spock was born in 2230. If you listen to some Star Trek fans, that means 167 years passed before both our species decided to bear some sex fruit. Let’s be real though, 167 years is a long time for two civilizations to interact with each other without at least someone from one group deciding to bone someone from the other group, particularly when you consider the populations of both civilizations numbers in the billions.

We might say, “Maybe interspecies sex was just too big of a taboo! Maybe it took that long for barriers to finally start coming down.” Yeah, maybe. Or maybe it’s like Hagrid once said of Dobby the house elf: “Yeh get weirdos in every breed.” Even if 9,999,999,999 humans thought the idea of having sex with an alien was weird or unnatural, there would always be at least one exceptionally progressive person who could see beyond everyone else’s prejudices and pre-conceived notions, and I’m certain the same is true for Vulcans. I would almost be willing to bet that at least one of the first Vulcans who rolled off the T’Plana-Hath on that April morning in 2063 in Bozeman, Montana saw one of the locals and thought, “That human is aesthetically pleasing.” And all it takes is a spark, right? Besides, who wouldn’t want to hear a Vulcan pickup line?

And all the panties fell off as if by magic.

Moreover, in 1957, 106 years before official First Contact between humans and Vulcans, a small Vulcan survey ship crash-landed near Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania. There were only three survivors, and of those three, one of them just couldn’t stop himself from falling for the single mom who ran the local bar. Granted, Maggie didn’t know Mestral was Vulcan, but he definitely knew she was human, and a trivial thing like species didn’t seem to matter to him.

Smitten personified.

But wait, just because a few amorous, adventurous, or convention-hating humans and Vulcans might be willing to stand up and proudly (or maybe more discreetly) proclaim, “Love is love, fuck the haters” and get naked with each other, that doesn’t mean they were making babies because after all, humans and Vulcans are genetically incompatible and it would take a feat of medical engineering to swap gametes, right?

Argue if you want, but human/Vulcan sexy time dates back to at least 2153.

People who believe Spock must have been the first hybrid usually stake this claim on one or more of four arguments:

1. Humans and Vulcans didn’t shack up routinely enough 2. The science of making a hybrid baby didn’t exist until Spock came along 3. Gene Roddenberry said so 4. Spock clearly felt isolated as a child, but he wouldn’t have if there were more hybrids like him

I’ve already poked enough holes in the first claim. Maybe there weren’t a ton of interspecies couples, but I feel confident in saying there were at least some and some is all we need. And once people decide they like each other enough to form relationships, it’s usually not long before at least some of them start thinking, “You know what would make this better? A smaller version of us!”

As for the science behind making a hybrid baby, it existed in the mid 22nd century. Spock wasn’t the first. That’s a fact. Elizabeth, the hybrid child of Charles “Trip” Tucker and T’Pol, existed in 2154.

Pointy ears and pinchable cheeks.

Elizabeth sadly died as a result of the improper cloning techniques used to conceive her, so there are many who would take the statement of “Spock was the first human/Vulcan hybrid” and simply add the caveat of “to survive.” Perhaps. But in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Terra Prime,” Trip says:

I spoke with Phlox. It turns out there was a flaw in the technique that Paxton’s doctors used in the cloning process. Human DNA and Vulcan DNA, Phlox says there’s no medical reason why they can’t combine. So if a Vulcan and a human ever decided to have a child, it’s probably be ok. And that’s sort of comforting.

So a Denobulan doctor knew a way to make hybrids a full 75 years before Spock was conceived. Maybe the technology was untested and required some refining, but by even a modern a technological timeline, 75 years is an eternity.

There’s an interview between Gene Roddenberry and Mark Lenard which claims Spock was the first, and so a lot of people might be happy to believe whatever Roddenberry said was the gospel. In the interview, Roddenberry is interviewing Mark Lenard as Ambassador Sarek, asking him questions about humanity and his life when the subject of Spock comes up.

Mark Lenard: Spock’s mother Amanda is an extraordinary woman. Gene Roddenberry: And Spock was the result? The first human/Vulcan mixture? Mark Lenard: No, not the first, but the first to survive. As you must know, an Earth/Vulcan conception will abort during the end of the first month; the fetus is unable to continue life once it begins to develop its primary organs. The fetus Spock was removed from Amanda’s body at this time: the first such experiment ever attempted. His tiny form resided in a test tube for the following two Earth months while our physicians performed delicate chemical engineering, introducing over a 100 subtle changes we hoped would sustain life. At the end of this time, the fetus was returned to Amanda’s womb. At the ninth Earth month, the tiny form was again removed from Amanda, prematurely by Vulcan standards, and spent the following four months of Vulcan term pregnancy in a specially designed incubator. The infant Spock proved surprisingly resilient. There seemed to be something about the Earth/Vulcan mixture which created in that tiny body the fierce determination to survive.

So for some fans, maybe that counts as proof. But Gene Roddenberry had a lot of conceptual ideas about his beloved Star Trek that conflict with actual canon and modern science. For a prime example, just look at the treatment of star dates. So maybe it’s me, but I don’t think something is canon just because Roddenberry said it in an interview once. Furthermore, if we take that interview as canon, how do we explain this scene from The Final Frontier where Spock is delivered from Amanda (not a “specially designed incubator”) and presented to Sarek?

Then Sarek went and uttered one of the most dick lines in Trek history.

Lastly, there’s the isolation that Spock feels. How can we explain how lonely he is if it’s not because he’s the only hybrid? Quite easily, actually. Every single person in existence has felt misunderstood and alone at times. As children, our worlds are very small and our social circles consist of our immediate families, school mates, and our parents’ associates. That’s pretty much it. When we aren’t exposed to people like us, it’s very easy to imagine Rocket Raccoon might have been onto something when he said, “Ain’t no thing like me, except me!”

But that’s very rarely literally true, as every kid who’s ever been the only minority at their school or any teen who’s ever been the only gay person in their tiny conservative town will tell you. As we get older and achieve the freedom to strike out and meet people on our own terms, we often learn we weren’t quite as unique as we thought and there are whole groups of people out there who are black or gay or disabled or whatever it was that left us feeling so alone in our formative years. I think that’s why Spock’s character resonated so much with viewers – he was a symbol for all the misfits out there who knew just how much it sucks trying to fit into the fabric of a society that seems so different than they are.

Proof that regardless of species, kids can be fucking awful.

Vulcan was a big planet. By the time Nero destroyed it in Star Trek: 2009, it had more than 6 billion inhabitants. Even if there were only 100 human/Vulcan hybrids by that point in time, the odds of an average Vulcan encountering one would still be incredibly small. It’s entirely possible Spock may have felt like he was the only hybrid because he might have been the only one in his community, but the universe is a big place with plenty of room for other human/Vulcan hybrids he and those vicious bullies never met.

Spock was clearly pretty special. Even people who hate Star Trek and know almost nothing about it know who Spock was and recognize the Vulcan salute Leonard Nimoy made famous in his portrayal of the character. But just because Spock’s human ancestry made him unusual doesn’t necessarily mean his conception was some completely novel, groundbreaking, pioneering leap for interspecies relationships either.

I can’t say I know many Vulcans, but I think I have a pretty firm grasp on humanity. Despite homosexual, interracial, and interfaith relationships being taboo and even illegal in many countries until relatively recently (and sadly still are in some places) there have always been people who decided they didn’t care and took a chance on love. So I don’t buy the idea that humans and Vulcans could live and work together even in a limited capacity for more than a century and a half before making the jump into starting families.

#star trek #star trek enterprise #star trek the original series #star trek the final frontier #spock #sarek/amanda #trip/t'pol #mestral/maggie #human/vulcan #human/vulcan hybrid

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inawickedlittletown · 6 years

Text

Walking The Wire (22/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Twenty One

“You didn’t have to do any of this,” Steve said as he got into Tony’s car.

Tony grinned over at him. “I did,” he said. “It was come here and hang out with you guys or surprise the Bartons at the farm. I did send the kiddos some cool gifts, though, so Clint’s going to be a happy camper.”

“Of course you did,” Steve said, “and I think Clint would have appreciated a visit. I think he’s getting bored of the normal life.”

Tony laughed. “And now you all understand why I couldn’t retire the first time and even now I’m not completely retired. It’s not easy sitting anything out.”

Tony drove them out of the facility and Steve leaned back in his seat and watched him for a while. “I think,” he said, “you’re trying not to think about how this is another Christmas not spent with Peter.”

Tony didn’t deny it, but he didn’t answer for a long while. When he did, it was a red light and he actually turned his face to look at Steve. “I sent him a book on spiders since he seemed so interested. I think his interest in science might be taking a more biological basis. I guess he takes after his mother. He’s been a bit quieter lately when it comes to emails but I’m not too concerned.”

Steve nodded and just stared ahead as Tony drove them at a fast speed and didn’t take the usual turn to head into New York City. Tony seemed at peace. He was relaxed and happy and Steve wished for nothing else than for him to stay that way.

“Have you thought about trying to meet him?” Steve asked. “You wouldn’t have to tell him everything at first.”

Tony shook his head. “I don’t think that’d be fair to him. I’d have to tell him. I couldn’t -- it’s one thing to keep this lie alive when I only know him through email. But if I met him it would be different and I couldn’t form any kind of relationship with him if the lie stands.”

“I get it,” Steve said. “Or rather, I don’t, but you’ll have to face that soon. You can’t keep putting it off.”

“I know,” Tony said and smiled a little.

“Where are we going, anyway?” Steve asked, not sure that he recognized the road they were on.

Tony tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “You do know I own a lot of property, right?”

Steve did know. He didn’t actually know how much Tony owned, but he knew that Tony had inherited quite a lot from Howard and then probably purchased newer property on his own too. Steve actually didn’t like to think about how much money Tony had because he knew that he would never be able to accept that someone could have that much wealth. At least Tony did a lot of good with it.

Tony took him to a large Victorian style house. It looked like it was in need of some repairs, but overall not a bad home.

“The last time I was here Edwin Jarvis was still alive and I was in the process of making Dum-E some friends,” Tony said as they pulled up.

“And why are we here?” Steve asked.

“Your present is here. I really should have come on my own and made sure it’s actually still here but I just -- I don’t know if I could have done it.”

He followed Tony to the door and watched as Tony fished out a key to open it. The door was a bit stuck and it creaked loudly when it finally opened.

“It’s the same exact door it’s always had,” he said to Steve as they walked inside, “which probably means it needs to be replaced.”

All the furniture inside was covered by sheets, but even then it didn’t seem to be dusty or in much disrepair which meant that someone regularly cleaned it or that Tony had made sure someone would clean it before they arrived. Past the foyer the first room Steve saw was a living room complete with a covered piano and Tony walked directly towards the piano. He lay his hands on it whispered something that even Steve didn’t catch.

“I grew up here,” Tony said. “My dad gave this house to my mom as a wedding gift. She loved interior design so everything in this house was chosen by her for some reason or another. I haven’t changed anything about it.”

Steve suddenly understood why it had been so hard for Tony to return to that house. Before he could say anything, Tony continued.

“I never really lived here. Howard sent me to boarding school by the time that he thought I was old enough and then later I was at MIT. Then, they died, and I couldn’t face coming back here again.”

It was hard to listen to Tony talk about his parents’ deaths without telling him that they hadn’t just died in a car crash but that their deaths had been ordered by Hydra. He was basically giving him an opening so that Steve could bring it up, except that he didn’t want to hurt Tony with that particular truth when there was nothing that they could do to change what had happened short of time travel.

“I had Jarvis pack the things he thought I would need and I went back to school and when I graduated I moved to California because it was just easier. I could never live in this house that was my mom’s more than anyone else’s.” Tony looked towards Steve then and Steve reached out, touching his shoulder.

“I get it,” Steve said, “my mom was a nurse and I lost her before the war. Seeing her get sick and watching her die was hard. Bucky was probably the only reason I survived and he just really took care of me afterwards even when I tried to push him away.”

Tony smiled a little. “That was Rhodey for me. He was my roommate at MIT and he was with me the entire time. He even made me stay with him at his parent’s house for a few weeks.”

They stood in silence for a long time over the piano and Tony seemed to be taking in the room, as if trying to picture all the memories he must have had from it. Eventually he sighed and shook his head.

“Well, I didn’t bring you here to be all sad and melancholy,” Tony said, “there’s actually a reason.”

Tony took him up to the second floor and after some hesitation into the last room at the end of the hall. Steve hadn’t expected to see what was at the other side, but of course he should have. It was something of a shrine to him. There were posters and news clippings and shelves that seemed to hold all those comics that had come out of his time in the war and just so much more.

“Coulson used to think that he had the largest Captain America collection, but actually I did. Well, Howard did and I inherited it, although these were the things that he always let me look at and that I really considered mine. I kind of figured you’d want to see it. To see what you’ve inspired. There’s also a real gift for later, but let’s just say that I used to dream about my dad finding you and you actually coming to see me here in this room. Your biggest fan. Well, when I wasn’t hating you because Howard seemed to think finding you was more important than being my dad.”

Steve took a look through everything carefully and he was amazed at how much there was and how much was just so wrong or got things strangely right. It was odd to see the comics and the way that the artists had imagined him. At one point when he was still skinny and sickly Steve’s aspirations had been to become a comic book artist. He had never intended to be the subject of so many of them.

There were other things too like posters and calendars and just so much that he couldn’t even wrap his mind around and Tony just smirked at him.

“This is actually kind of incredible, Tony,” Steve said.

Tony grinned at him. “Yeah, and it’s kind of worth it to trigger my daddy issues by coming here.”

“You didn’t have to,” Steve said.

Tony shook his head. “No, I did. I really didn’t know it could affect me this much even now.”

The guilt of knowing they hadn’t died in a car crash settled on Steve’s shoulders and he tried not show his discomfort even as Tony gave him a tour of the house and then actually took him down to the basement where his real gift was.

It turned out to be an old picture of him and the Howling Commandos. It wasn’t one that had been put out into the public like most of the pictures from back then and in it Steve had his arm thrown around Bucky and they were laughing. Peggy was off to the side and so was Howard and Steve just couldn’t remember when the picture had been taken.

“There’s a whole bunch of them and just other things that Howard saved. Actually, I think there’s some sketchbooks of yours in here too. Howard never really let me look at those so they never made it into the museums either.”

Tony dug around in some boxes and handed Steve things as he found them. He started making a pile for the things he actually wanted to take. Mostly pictures of his friends in the moments when they had been at their best.

“Aha!” Tony said.

“What?” Steve asked and moved closer.

“The sketchbooks. I knew they’d still be here,” Tony said and opened one and then he burst out laughing.

“Oh god,” Steve muttered and he grabbed the sketchbook out of Tony’s hands already feeling mortified because he knew what Tony had found. He couldn’t believe that Howard had kept them.

“You drew nudes,” Tony muttered after a while. “Steve Grant Rogers, you porn drawing deviant!”

Steve could feel himself turning red as Tony just kept staring at him and then he was grabbing the sketchbook and Steve couldn’t even stop him as he started to flip through the book. A part of him didn’t even seem to mind because Tony was so weirdly gleeful about it. He also seemed to actually appreciate the art.

“It’s good,” Tony said, “but I always thought it was only ever Peggy that you--”

“She was the only person I ever really cared for that way, yeah,” Steve said a little bit amused about how Tony didn’t seem too comfortable asking the question. “A lot of those are from my art classes. We had models come in -- volunteers. Then, when I was on the USO tour some of the girls let me draw them. Not all of them in the nude. Some of the guys too after I rescued Bucky and the others.”

“Oh,” Tony said and flipped through a few more pages.

Steve grinned. “There’s a beauty to the human form.”

“So should I ask to be drawn like one of your USO girls?” Tony asked with a glint in his eye.

Steve actually laughed, especially when Tony gave him a pose. “Titanic,” he said after a moment.

“I love that you get my references now,” Tony said and turned back to the sketchbook.

Later, as they were leaving, Steve could tell that Tony was still affected by being there from the way that he looked at certain rooms and how a picture of his mother in the hallway made him pause for a long moment. Steve felt horrible about not telling him. Maybe he needed to. Steve told himself that he would and yet he just couldn’t ruin the holiday with it and anyway he wasn’t sure that it would make things better for Tony to know it hadn’t been an accident. It might make things worse.

Chapter Twenty Three

#Stony #Peter and Tony fic #iron dad #iron dad and spider son #mcu fic

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inawickedlittletown · 6 years

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Walking The Wire (5/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Four

2012

“Is Tony Stark moving to New York City?” Peter asked.

May Parker was in the middle of cooking dinner and she didn’t know what Peter was talking about. Ever since Tony Stark had told the world that he was Iron Man, it hadn’t come as too much of a surprise that Peter started singing his praises. He had never known of anyone that was as smart or as inventive and amazing as Tony Stark and on top of all that he was a superhero and Peter was obsessed. A part of May didn’t know what would happen if Peter ever found out that his hero was his father and that his father had made the choice to stay out of Peter’s life. She hoped it wouldn’t break his heart.

May knew that in his own way Tony Stark cared. He made sure that they never wanted for anything and that Peter in particular got anything he wanted. Tony had made sure that Peter could attend good schools that encouraged kids like Peter who were curious and interested in learning. Had Peter had an interest in sports she was sure that he would have made that happen too. Tony also paid for Ben’s car when it was crashed into while parked outside their house and he had gone as far as to pay their mortgage too and refused to admit to doing either thing when they tried to speak to him or Ms. Potts about it. The Stark Expo passes had been a gift and a nightmare after everything that happened there. It was the first time that May was glad Peter didn’t have direct contact with Tony because the danger would just be too much.

Then, of course were the other gifts. Science kits and books and all kinds of things that May and Ben had to slowly give out to Peter before it became too suspicious. Sometimes, Tony even sent money directly into their bank account and those were the gifts May hated the most except that the money always came only when they really needed it. It made May paranoid that Tony was monitoring them closely.

“They’re saying that the new building in Manhattan is Tony Stark’s,” Peter said, “and everyone’s saying he might be moving.”

“Well, he has plenty of money to have more than one place to live, Peter,” May said.

“I guess,” Peter said, “but wouldn’t it be cool if he did move?”

May laughed. “Yes. Very cool. Except that it might bring the bad guys to New York just like with the Expo.”

“But Iron Man would protect us,” Peter said.

May just smiled. “Yeah. He would,” she said.

May was still entirely grateful to Tony’s team for getting them out of the Expo. Somehow they had known that they were there and even in the mess of people running away had found them and put them in a car that sped them away across town.

“Do you think I’ll get to meet him someday?” Peter asked.

May nodded. “I think that it’s very likely you will, Peter. Now get back to you homework or we won’t have movie night tonight.”

She heard his book open again and when she glanced at the screen in the corner of the kitchen sure enough they were discussing the building of Stark Tower. They listed the sustainable energy movement Tony was trying to start and showed some footage of Iron Man flying into New York City.

Somehow, the move to New York City didn’t ruin his relationship with Pepper. Tony had thought it might because Pepper insisted that she needed to work out of California for the good of the company. She seemed to do a lot of things for the good of the company and Tony appreciated it, even when it felt like Pepper was more focused on that than him. Then again, they were slightly obsessed with their own work. Still, it helped that Pepper could fly out on the jet without much preamble and that Tony could do the same with the Iron Man suit so they saw each other plenty.

Soon after getting into the city, Tony had reached out to May and Ben Parker and let them know that he was going to sticking around. He had made it clear that he had an interest in Peter but that he wouldn’t approach him without their consent or get in their way. Ben had returned his e-mail.

Mr. Stark,

We really appreciate everything you’ve done for Peter. He’s a really special boy and he hero-worships you. May and I are thankful that you allowed Mary to make a choice on what she wanted to do with her boy even if it meant excluding you from his life. You’ve made yourself known anyway. Peter isn’t aware that Richard was not his father -- I know you know this -- but it is true that you are. I don’t know if Peter needs to know about that right now. He’s still so young and I wouldn’t want him to think that you did not want him or have any interest in him.

Peter is like a son to me and May and we really have tried to do our best to raise him. He has a normal life away from all the attention that you seem to attract. There is attention and danger in your line of work. I do not want to keep you from Peter -- as he is your son -- but there are factors to consider, Mr. Stark, and I would hate to put Peter in any danger or any emotional turmoil.

For now, I think it best that we continue as we have in the past. I admit that Peter has been very excited since you’ve moved to New York and he’s seen Iron Man flying over the city a few times. He wishes to meet his hero and yet would be a nervous wreck if he ever did meet you whether as Iron Man or Tony Stark. He is fan of both. I don’t know how that would translate if he were to find out that you are his biological father. Someday in the future, I suppose we will deal with that.

I do respect the care and interest you have in our boy and I do hope that someday the two of you can meet. In the meanwhile, May and I will send you everything we can to keep you up to date. May says that she might even suggest to Peter that he can write you if only so you can have some form of contact. I know that he would love it if you, his hero, responded.

Thank you,

Ben Parker

As far as e-mails went, Tony agreed with everything that Ben Parker said and he meant it, that he would do as they asked and so despite being a little disappointed, Tony continued to watch Peter from afar and to sometimes try and be seen near Queens hoping that it could give Peter some joy to see Iron Man.

In the weeks leading up the tower being completed, Tony was so busy that he didn’t remember Ben Parker had said Peter might write him until a letter arrived back at the Malibu house and Pepper flew it out with her on the night that Tony was finally turning the tower on.

“It was sent directly to your house,” Pepper said whens she handed the letter to him, “so I figured it was probably Peter.”

Tony opened it at once and sure enough it was from Peter.

Tony had received lots of fanmail over the years. Back before Iron Man some of it had been more in the lines of hate mail but even then there had been fans. Mostly from people fascinated by his work. High School students and College students and plenty of others in between. Then there was the other kind of mail. The weirdly porny mail that came in with full on pictures of men and women alike in all states of nudity and descriptors of everything they wanted to do to Tony. Those had always creeped him out a bit and not stopped at all since he became Iron Man. So, for the most part, Tony didn’t look at the fan mail. There was someone at Stark Industries that dealt with it and actually sorted everything. When they found something from a genuine fan they sent them back a pre-written letter thanking them and then if they found something particularly nice or moving they gave it to Pepper and sometimes she would respond personally or pass it on to Tony to see.

Most of those were drawings or touching letters from people that Tony had directly helped or whose children wanted to write to him. It was all very sweet.

“I think I’ll read it later,” Tony said. He wasn’t sure if he could handle reading his own son’s words.

“Okay,” Pepper said with a small caress to the back of his neck.

“I have to go turn the tower on,” Tony said with a grin. “Are you ready for this to become reality?”

Pepper nodded. As Tony went to suit up, she sat down in front of his computer screens and Jarvis patched her in through he flew out. It was all done quickly and when Tony flew back STARK was lit up as was the rest of the tower. It looked exactly as he had imagined it and because he had designed it, he knew that it was going to work. It meant they could break out the champagne and have a proper celebratory date night. But first, Peter’s letter.

Before he got a chance to read Peter’s letter, they had an unexpected guest that changed the entire course of the evening. Agent Coulson hadn’t shown himself since he’d sent Tony in to talk to General Ross and Tony wasn’t particularly in the mood to deal with Shield so he wanted him to go away. Instead, he persisted and Pepper actually liked Coulson so somehow his plans for the night were changed and he was left to look through all the files Coulson had brought him and Tony would be lying if he said they didn’t interest him. Somehow, he forgot all about Peter’s letter.

Chapter Six

#Peter and Tony fic #MCU fic #Walking The Wire fic #Peter Stark #Peter is Tony's son

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inawickedlittletown · 5 years

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Walking The Wire (120/155)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

@findmeinthestarss

Masterpost

Chapter One Hundred Nineteen

Natasha could tell that Steve was a bit distracted and she didn’t blame him. She was a bit distracted too. Bruce was back. He was back and he was -- well, he was certainly different. Everything was a little different and Natasha was well aware that things between her and Bruce would never be what they once were, but she hated the awkwardness of it all. So mostly she’d been staying away -- keeping her distance and just worrying about Vision and the alien invasion that they were on the fringes on. It was easier to do that instead of thinking about what could have been and maybe what could have never worked in the first place.

There were carriers that were supposed to take them out onto the field. Everyone was getting ready and Natasha was just sort of waiting.

“Hey,” Steve said. “Ready?”

“Sure,” Natasha said. “How do you think Tony is fairing?” It kind of felt unfair to bring up Tony and she regretted as Steve’s face fell a little.

“He’s -- he’ll fight until the very end. I just -- I wish we could communicate. Know what’s happening -- know if Thanos got the Time Stone.”

He didn’t add that they both wanted -- more than anything -- to know if he and Peter were alive. Maybe not saying it was them trying to keep their hope alive.

“Bruce is getting into the Hulk-buster armor,” Steve said.

“He’s never been in one of Tony’s armors before,” Natasha said.

“Rhodey’s giving him some pointers,” Steve said with a shrug. “This is Bruce we’re talking about -- if anyone can do it, it’ll be him.”

It really was just too inconvenient that the Hulk was choosing this moment to not want to come out. From everything Natasha had heard on their way to Wakanda it wasn’t surprising. Bruce had left from Sokovia as the Hulk and he’d stayed that way while in space. If Thor hadn’t found him it was likely he’d still be the Hulk and in space.

“Come on,” Steve said and motioned towards the carriers, “we should get up there. I think they’re ready to go.”

Natasha nodded. She just hoped that Shuri would have enough time to get the stone out of Vision’s head while they held off the alien threat.

“That’s a lot of possible futures,” Peter said.

Stephen glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Peter was sitting on the ground, mask off and his hair flopping on his forehead. There was certainly a resemblance to Stark there. It was the eyes and the way he formed expressions. He was so young.

“Yes,” Stephen said.

“So, you can do magic, then? I mean -- how does it work? Is it innate like powers or because of something like the stone?”

“It’s learned,” Stephen said and left it at that.

He didn’t like children. He liked teenagers even less. Although, he had to admit that Peter wasn’t all that bad and he could tell that Peter was only talking to him because he was trying to keep himself busy or from thinking about the upcoming fight. Really, Stephen would have preferred to be left alone and really think about everything he’d seen -- all the possible futures and how everything could oh so easily go wrong. He needed to consider what had to happen -- what needed to happen. The only way that they could actually win. It was going to be hard and it was going to hurt and looking at Peter made it that much harder.

Stark had been trying to compile a list of everyone’s skills to continue to form his plan and Stephen was glad to let him -- because a plan was fast forming and Stark really was the best one to figure that out for them. It was the way that things needed to pan out. Already, things were going the way they needed to and Stephen just had to make sure that they wouldn’t get off track.

The cape lifted up and touched Peter’s shoulder and Peter jumped. “Oh,” he said. “How does it do that?”

“It just does,” Stephen said.

Peter sort of squinted at him and looked like he was getting ready to another question when--

“Peter, come here,” Stark called and Stephen let out a sigh as Peter walked off.

He watched them for a while as they spoke. Stark had his arm around his son and the two of them were far enough away that Stephen couldn’t actually hear what they were talking about. Mostly though it made Stephen regret what was coming.

When Stark was done with Peter, he called all of them gather and it seemed that he had formulated a plan. Stark was trying to use all of their skills to their best benefit. It was smart. Stark wasn’t even hesitant to use his own son but then Peter was Spider-Man and he was stronger than everyone else probably and also quite agile. He was an asset. Stephen really didn’t like what was to come and yet -- and yet he also knew that it had to. It was for the best.

“He’ll come at any time,” Star Lord said, “he has the Space Stone.”

“And the Power Stone,” Stark added.

Star Lord nodded. It was Mantis that spoke next. “The Reality Stone too.”

He would have them all--

Aliens. It was -- Bucky really had no words. He’d been having a normal morning before T’Challa was suddenly giving him the gift of a new arm -- sleek and beautiful and carrying so much weight to it not because it was heavy but because of everything it represented. Shuri had promised him an arm back when she’d first seen him and Bucky had declined it even after she showed him a few different versions of what she was trying to design for him. Later on, Tony Stark had offered to make him one and Bucky had declined that too. Life had been simpler with just one arm.

Seeing Steve again even though the circumstances weren’t great was a nice change of pace for him -- Bucky hadn’t been expecting to see him until...well, until the wedding. It was easy for Bucky to read Steve and see all the anxiety that was just beneath the surface. Bucky had to admit that he was worried about Tony. He had a great deal of respect for him -- respect that had grown after Tony came to speak with him. More than that, though, Bucky knew how much he meant to Steve and what it would do to his best friend if Tony was lost.

“We got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line,” Colonel Rhodes said over comms. Bucky had noted that he too seemed to be anxious for word on Tony Stark. He was flying over all of them with Sam and sure enough he was right because Bucky spotted movement.

Bucky wasn’t surprised when Steve, Natasha, and T’Challa ran out to the edge and they all waited while the three of them spoke with the aliens. Bucky could sort of make them out. One of them was smaller than the other one but they both looked other-wordly. When the three of them returned, Bucky was sure nothing had come of the conversation. None of them expected it to.

“Did they surrender?” Bucky asked, anyway when Steve returned.

“Not exactly,” Steve said.

That was when the alien ships started to open up and Bucky didn’t know what he’d expected, but he hadn’t expected what came out to be like something out of a horror flick. He’d gotten acquainted with a lot of movies due to Shuri and some of the other occupants of Wakanda, and the huge grotesque creatures that bounded out of the alien ships looked like they belonged more to one of those movies than to the real world.

“What the hell,” Bucky said as the creatures actually ran against the barrier.

They were killing themselves trying to get in. It wasn’t at all what he’d expected to happen and they didn’t seem to care seeing as they just kept going for the barrier and eventually a few did get through and they ran on four legs towards them like rabid wolves out for a kill. Bucky lifted his gun like everyone else around him and pointed. He was good at this, at finding the target and firing. This was familiar ground as much as he might hate it.

“You seen the teeth on those things?” Sam said over the comms.

More and more were breaking through but there were lost limbs and other body parts all along the barrier. It was almost hard to watch and yet there were so many that it didn’t even seem to matter. Bucky had no idea how they were going to be able to take them. Probably having realized the same, War Machine flew over the creatures and dropped some bombs over the ones entering. It took out a lot, but it didn’t even make a dent on the numbers that the aliens had with them. He heard him warn Sam over the comms and then there was a bit more chatter until:

“Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us -- there’s nothing between them and Vision.”

None of them had thought about that, but the creatures were running to surrounded the barrier. Vision was the priority. Keeping him alive and destroying the stone. He looked towards Steve and it didn’t take Steve long to figure out what they had to do.

“Then we better keep them in front of us,” Steve said.

Steve had his Captain America face on all seriousness and bravery masking all the fear and the worry that he had to be feeling where it came to Tony and his time in space. Bucky hated that even he couldn’t really see through the mask and know what Steve was thinking -- time had changed Steve and had made him just that bit harder and if something happened to Tony and he never returned Bucky couldn’t imagine that Steve would ever be the same again.

Steve and T’Challa seemed to be of the same idea because T’Challa made the decision to open up a portion of the barrier which meant that now they really did have to fight the creatures.

“Wakanda Forever!” T’Challa yelled and then they started running. The barrier opened at T’Challa’s signal just as they were approaching it. And Steve and T’Challa ran ahead of everyone because they were so similar that of course they would. Bucky should have expected nothing less. He joined the fight as well, a part of him happy to do his part.

Bucky shot a couple down but physically fought others too. Around him it was chaos. The creatures just kept piling in and rushing at them and no matter how many got taken down there were more there to replace them. Even the Hulk-buster armor seemed to keep getting piled on by them which was almost a funny sight. It seemed like Bruce Banner still didn’t quite have the hang of the suit. It seemed neverending. They could only hope to hold them off long enough for the stone to be destroyed and none of them knew just how long that was going to take.

Time passed slowly and fast all at once and Bucky was doing what he could -- keeping as many of the alien creatures down and trying to help the others around him too. He knew some of these Wakandan warriors and they were all good men and women. But as good as they all were, they were outnumbered and Bucky could tell that things weren’t going well for everyone. Too many of the creatures came at each person and they seemed to only have one motive which was to kill.

One of the creatures lunged at him, throwing him on the ground and Bucky fought back until he had destroyed it and torn it apart but then there was another. He managed to grab his gun and he shot at a few more even getting shot didn’t stop them unless they were shot in the right place.

When the two aliens from earlier stepped inside the barrier things went from bad to worse. Where the creatures lacked in finesse, these aliens made up for it. They were powerful and strong and they came ready to fight. They had alien weapons too that weren’t going to make things any easier and Bucky was sure that they weren’t going to be able to keep holding on for much longer.

Of course, that’s when bring light fell from the sky and Bucky couldn’t imagine that it would be anything good. Lighting shot out across the sky which had been clear seconds before and all of Bucky’s worry faded when the lighting struck the creatures, killing them as it touched them and then the air cleared. He hadn’t been able to make it out, but it wasn’t just lightning but some sort of axe which flew around the field and then back to a trio that was made up of a racoon with a gun, a twig-tree looking thing, and a man that Bucky recognized as the God of Thunder. Thor.

They had a moment of respite where all of the creatures around them were on the ground and although more were coming, Bucky had a chance to look on at Thor. He was more impressive than Bucky had expected him to be.

“Bring me Thanos!” Thor yelled and then he turned and ran towards the barrier and he just seemed to lift up into the air. The sky around and above him crackled with lightning and the clouds turned dark and then the man -- no, the god -- dropped to the ground and slammed the axe and all the creatures around him fell.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty One

#peter and tony #peter and tony fic #mcuwriting #mcu fic #iron dad #iron dad and spider son #stony #stony fic #marvel

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