#even if the Hulk could be easily mitigated by giving him what he wants in this instance

[daydreamerdrew]

The Incredible Hulk (1968) #245

[whetstonefires]

mcu ethics bad

The thing is that, while I was angry at Tony during Age of Ultron, particularly when he rode over Bruce’s compunctions about building a giant combat super-robot and pressured him into the project like a very very bad friend who happened to also be wrong...

...and when he equipped Hulkbuster armor and fought the Hulk in the middle of a city rather than attempting de-escalation or attempting to haul the Hulk out into the giant adjacent desert....

(And my suspension of disbelief snapped like a frayed cable when he brought down a skyscraper that had had no time to be evacuated on a street full of fleeing people and the only reason we were given to believe he hadn’t just cold-bloodedly created massive civilian casualties was that he told his AI to find the impossible magic angle where doing this wouldn’t kill anyone...)

While I was angry with him then, and unspeakably relieved that he recognized his own damage and retired at the end, haha psych, I was revolted by him during Civil War.

It’s supposed to make us sympathize with a character more, spending so much time with them, getting into their heads, being shown their emotional drives and reactions to things, and we spent so much time with Tony during that film, understanding his point of view. And...I did understand him. He’s not complicated. I even sympathized with his emotional state.

But in the context of his actions, throughout the film, I gazed into that understanding the way I did into Kylo Ren’s face in the seconds after he first unmasked. I see you, I know you, everything you are is written here, and the lines of your shame and self-revulsion are so thick upon you, and you should be ashamed but your self-destruction does not expiate or justify one jot of the harm you do.

Because everything Tony did in Civil War came from a place of selfishness. He was selfish all throughout that movie down to his very spine.

And selfishness isn’t itself necessarily bad--you need a little, to get through life, you have the right to your own portion of it. Your boundaries and your needs. But the type of selfishness that is forcing other people pay dearly for your emotional comfort and sense of control: no.

That is tyranny. That is not acceptable.

And you know how I know he was being selfish? Because his motive for pushing the Sokovia Accords was his personal guilt for the destruction of Sokovia.

But the Accords didn’t address that at all! They were tangential to the issue! None of the terms of the Accords would have saved Sokovia--in fact, the existence of them could easily have prevented the evacuation and harm-reduction the Avengers managed there, without saving a single soul.

The Ultron crisis was something Tony did, not as Iron Man but as Tony Stark, with Bruce Banner’s help, and which Wanda as criminal fugitive later helped exacerbate, and which all the other Avengers were involved in only to mitigate harm.

Legislation, or...treaties, idk, the UN isn’t actually empowered to pass laws so who knows what this thing was...aimed at preventing another Sokovia would mandate constant ethical oversight of billionaire science man’s mad science. At the very least! He never has to run things by ethics boards because he’s self-funded, at the very least let’s invent a mechanism to make up for that.

That would address the actual Sokovia issue, both in terms of risks and in terms of Tony’s personal guilt feelings.

But no one suggests that! It’s not even on the table! Because no one, certainly not any government, can tell Tony Stark what to do unless he lets them, that’s been a clear matter of record since Iron Man 2.

And because no one writing this legal instrument of whatever description was actually motivated by wanting to avoid another Sokovia, or even another ‘Wanda tries to neutralize a suicide bomber but merely gives him a different, smaller victim pool’ incident.

They didn’t care! They blatantly didn’t care! The entire thing was a ghoulish use of the dead to gain enough political leverage over the Avengers to put a leash on them!

(Which might not be a bad thing in principle, everything needs its checks, but when the last quasi-governmental organization you worked for turned out to be Nazis who were only prevented from staging a mass slaughter of undesireables by the skin of your teeth, I think you’re well within your rights to be very choosy about who you agree to obey, and to be firmly against pledging your honor to follow people whose first move was dishonest coercive tactics.

Actually you’re well within your rights to demand to negotiate the terms of even a much less sweeping contract, even without the Nazis. The whole approach to this thing stank to high heaven.

The fact that it was written by the UN like a treaty, expected to be signed by private individuals like a contract, and then enforced like a law except not because 1) laws are for everyone 2) if you break a law you get a trial not extrajudicial incarceration and 3) being pressured to consent to a restriction and then punished for refusing consent is hypocritical circular logic and in fact police corruption at its finest, all continues to show it was a bullshit nonsense franken-document.)

The whole movie is people ghoulishly using the dead to manipulate Tony into making bad decisions in response to his emotional pain. That’s. The plot of the film.

Then Zemo staged T’Chaka’s assassination and framed Bucky for it to raise the tension, ramp up the pressure, and prevent any sitting-down and talking reasonably through this, which might have allowed for the recognition of how extremely bullshit the entire concept was.

Tony was being used. Tony was a tool of bad people for most of that movie, and while Zemo banked on using his wrath for it, the politicos were leaning on his guilt.

And there’s honestly little I hold in deeper scorn than going out and hurting other people to assuage your own guilt and treating this as having the moral high ground. No. You don’t have the moral high ground on account of your guilt motivation. You have it if the actions you took were just, or at least could reasonably be assumed to have been so at the time.

And Tony fucking knew they weren’t. He didn’t even last to the end of the movie before recognizing that he’d been manipulated and fucked up, and doubling back.

That he then walked into a different manipulation, turned on a dime, and had to be stopped from doing a murder doesn’t unwrite that.

And it drives me nuts that people will say Tony was acting out of principle while Steve was acting out of personal attachment. Because sure, the Bucky thing was important, was the reason he was walking forward against all opposition instead of standing still to argue, but it wasn’t the reason Steve said no, while...

Tony wasn’t acting out of principle. Tony isn’t...very good at having principles. That’s not even a criticism or condemnation, it’s just how he functions. Since Iron Man he’s been substituting good intentions and emotional investment, which has worked out to varying degrees. It works best for huge, difficult, very straightforward decisions like ‘ride the nuke through the portal and save my hometown.’ It works less well for nuanced situations.

Tony was, as usual, acting out of emotion. And some awful shitheads who’d figured out where his levers were had calculated how to jiggle his emotion switches in the right places to make him do exactly what they wanted.

And you can tell he wasn’t acting out of principle because, for example, someone who was trying to get the superhero community under outside control for the sake of harm mitigation...

...well, firstly wouldn’t have chosen to stage a massive battle? But it’s possible someone in the UN specifically told him to do that, and in theory they at the very least signed off on it, presumably for its PR value of making Captain America look deranged and violent since it’s a deranged decision from every other angle, so yay, he can pass that responsibility up the chain and not have to angst about it, as promised.

But I was going to say would not have approached a minor who (this timeline takes pains to show us) had no prior experience of battle or even, somehow, serious violent crime, to recruit him to go be a government child soldier on another continent, without his guardian’s knowledge or consent. There were overtones of blackmail in Tony’s approach, before it turned out Peter was such a big fan he didn’t need that. What the fuck frankly.

That is not the action of someone who wants to start doing things by the letter, scaling the violence down, keeping within the law and putting the power of decisionmaking in other people’s hands because he’s realized he can’t trust his own.

And frankly even if he did act like that I wouldn’t necessarily support his choices, in particular his snap decision to behave coercively toward other Avengers with vastly less social power and security than he has.

And that’s the other thing! Everything about ‘Tony + Accords BFFs’ rings so hollow because he has never thought rules applied to him, and he knows perfectly well the entire time he’s fighting to force this surrender of agency down other people’s throats that he is going to be practically immune.

This man was technically a terrorist, proabably the most prolific single terrorist in world history until his rogue android exceeded his body count, but he was immune to prosecution because he was in tight with the United States military-industrial complex and basically untouchable due to his status within capitalism, and pursuing their international goals anyway. In the time between Iron Man and Iron Man II he was basically a one-man upgrade of the US drone program, and so good at it that the crest of blood he carved through the Middle East allowed him to announce he had ‘privatized world peace.’

(You are never going to get a world peace worth anything on the basis of a giant flying gun, okay.)

He went to war as a private individual, against non-state actors who were not directly threatening him, which is very much defined as ‘mass murder’ in all domestic and international law, and the US army in response sued him for control of his weapon. And lost! Lost.

No one attempted to press charges. No one. Because Tony Stark is above all that. And he knows it.

And like. I’m willing to accept the mass murder under the heading of ‘superheroing’ within the terms of this setting! Even if, after his vengeance rampage on his specific kidnappers, this violence was kept strictly off-screen for a reason. I did that! I bent that far! Genre convention!

But this history is kind of vitally important to any analysis of what he thought he was doing, and what he actually was doing, when he decided to become the iron gauntlet of the Sokovia Accords.

The currently active member of the Avengers who needed muzzling most was very manifestly Iron Man, and he knew even as he jammed the muzzle on all his comrades to make himself feel better that it would affect him the least, even if he didn’t finally retire for real this time. You don’t force Tony Stark. Not if you want anything out of it but blown up. You persuade him.

And once you have...oh, look at what he can do.

[mythriteshah]

Visions of Winter

On the southern shores of Thavnair, the battle raged on.  Blows fell, spells blasted, and war cries filled the air all the while.  A massive entourage of Voidsent bombs had emerged nearby to assail the Near Eastern island.  Answering the call to battle as always were Thiji’s Angels, along with the local dance troupes and Matanga warriors who supported them. Sesena Sena, leading the vanguard alongside Umimi, had been withstanding the brunt of their attacks, while Lilina was putting her new Reveler’s Trance to good use, dousing the bombs’ explosive attacks with the power of water, and causing unstable detonations with lightning blasts.   Susuna, using her uncanny speed from her stints as a Rogue, kept the flanks secure, zooming around the battlefield thanks to her Red Mage abilities, while also tending to any wounded alongside Koyuki, who came from the Othard Branch to offer assistance while Yuanji dealt with Telophoroi attacks in Doma. Sosona, Meriri and Lelena provided artillery support atop the backs of adamantoise, striking at the Voidsent from their vantage points while also sealing any portals that were opening.  Luluma, together with Veeveena, supported the dancers and Matanga lest they would find themselves surrounded. The explosive menace was being contained.  Meanwhile, Thiji was astride Glacius, heading to the battle site with due haste alongside Suki.  The words of his mother echoed in his head… “Embrace your sorrow.  Accept it, and bring the beauty of winter to your friends and foes.” Then he remembered the times he participated in the Feast – the everlasting contest of might that pitted adventurers against one another, vying for dominance and bragging rights as they fought tooth and claw to be leaders of the pack.  He recalled the resplendent armor he wore: winged motifs and a figurehead of the Fury proudly displayed on his chest.   This Halonic armor was like a second skin to him during his stint as a knight, and he reveled in the glory of battle for which Halone was well known. “Your dream of becoming a Sorceress’s Knight is not dead.” It was time for the beast to be let loose once more.  But he was going to do so in his own way.  As the assault upon the shore continued, a roar was head from beneath the waves, with such magnitude that it shook the earth, commanding the attention of all as they looked toward the source of the sound.  The area went silent for a moment, then something in the water began to stir.   A pair of horns emerged from the deeps, followed by spines and glowing blue eyes.  As it approached the shore with its cumbersome gait, a hulking brute which towered over the jungle canopy showed itself, letting loose another roar that would terrify all but the Angels. “So that’s the ringleader, huh?  A Muud Suud!” Veeveena pointed out. “That thing’s technically a Gigas, right?  That means we can get some Giantsgall from its blood!” Susuna remarked.  “The Brugaire Consortium’s still outsourcing for these!” “Ever the resourceful lass, aren’t ye?” Meriri chuckled.  “Orders, Miss Sena?” Before Sesena could even have the time to give any commands, the remaining bombs fell back to the shoreline and merged themselves into a massive grenade, taking to the air and landing in the hands of the Muud Suud as it began discharging unstable fire-aspected aether.  The creature had intended to incinerate the surrounding area with an explosive fastball special! “Oh, shit…” Sosona calmly stated.  The lumbering behemoth of a Voidsent clutched the grenade in its right hand as it primed itself, rearing back in preparation to throw. “Good Matanga, fall back!” cried Veeveena.  The elephantine warriors gave a few trumpeting noises and sequential stamps of their feet in response.   Thankfully, there was a certain oddity of an Angel who did a study of Matanga language to translate… “They say that they’re going to hold this line, even if it costs them their lives!” Lilina stated.  Sesena sucked her teeth as she rose her shield. “Then we can get behind the adamantoise!  We have no choice but to mitigate the impact of the blast!” spoke one of the dancers.  With a swing of their hips, they protected the area in a pinkish barrier as Sesena dug her mythrite katzbalger into the sand, causing a pair of angelic wings to sprout from her tower shield to augment the zone of protection as the other Angels and locals took cover behind her. The Muud Suud then let loose a mocking laugh as it chucked the grenade with all its might at its victims.  Everyone did their best to brace for the impact, its massive size casting a shadow over the area.  As it touched down, it released its payload, going out in a tremendous blaze of glory, the force of the impact sending everyone skidding along the sands… The battlefield went silent again as the Muud Suud chuckled, seeming to have succeeded, but when the smoke had finally cleared, it let out a questioning grunt as it noticed something odd: the area suddenly began to snow! Sesena, raising to her feet, beheld the sight, as well as the bodies of the defenders strewn throughout the beach.  Everyone seemed fine save for a few burn marks and damaged clothing.  Even the adamantoise were relatively unscathed. “No casualties, Miss Sesena,” Luluma reported after giving a scan of the area.  “But I’m not sure how to explain this sudden weather change.” “I think I have an idea…” Veeveena interjected as she turned toward the jungle.  Out from the shrubbery layer emerged Glacius in his blissful barding, along with his mate, who began tending to the wounded with their curative abilities.  One could only imagine who next followed after them… “The Mythrite Sultan…!” gasped one of the dancers.  Whispers began to be exchanged between the others as Thiji began making his way down the beach… “Slow, small strides; eyes shut; calm demeanor; arms behind back… Analysis: this Muud Suud’s fucked, now,” Sosona concluded.  Veeveena bowed her head low as he passed by. “We held as best we could, My Sultan,” she said.  Veeveena then caught a glimpse of the items attached at his waist and gasped.  “Wait – those are…!” Thiji continued his advance until he reached the point in which the tide flowed furthest inland, his footwear barely touching the waters, staring down the massive Voidsent before him.  Then, there was the strumming of an oud which came from behind them.  Everyone sans Thiji turned their heads and saw Mimizo, a smile made apparent on her face as she approached the Angels. “Valide-” was all Koyuki could get out before she was interrupted by Mimizo. “Angels, pray join me,” she requested.  “You will want to see this.”  Without hesitation, they took the instruments and fell in beside the Mythrite Sultan’s mother, while the locals clapped to the rhythm, and Matanga and adamantoise kept time with their stamping feet.  Thiji would then brandish his weapons as he began to twirl on the heel of his foot, throwing a flurry of frost at the Muud Suud’s face so as to incite its wrath.  Easily taking the affront as a challenge, the hulking brute balled a fist and prepared to strike at Thiji.  Just as the hit would land, the Mythrite Sultan dashed with a spinning finish past its left leg, leaving behind a streak of ice blue as he did.  Now entering the water, the aether Thiji gathered kept him atop the surface as it began freezing over! “Wait… Wait…!” gasped Lilina, pointing out the spectacle.  Thiji dashed once more to its other leg as the Muud Suud attempted to retaliate, throwing a fan at its hip, which it would then let out a pained growl in response.  As he continued befuddling the Voidsent, it was becoming clearer to the audience… “The ice formations… the freezing waters… It was our Sultan all this time?” Lelena asked.   “I even feel that sadness from looking at it all… Holy hells, it was our lord!” Susuna deduced.  Thiji’s attacks and movements left behind small motes of ice-aspected aether, and he leapt in time with the clapping rhythm, leaving tiny spots of frozen water around the Voidsent to confuse it until stopping again directly behind it.  The Muud Suud rose both arms to smash Thiji into the deeps.  But too little, too slow – the Mythrite Sultan once again zoomed between the creature’s legs, returning back to shore as he began to perform a Step.  Though it gave off a different aura than the usual Standard or Technical.  This one gave off strands of blue and white as snowflakes began twirling about the Sultan’s form.  The crowd, awestruck at this unique dance form, slowly stopped their music.  Now Thiji was stepping to his own beat – which is just what he wanted. A pas de bourree, an arabesque, a glissade, a chasse, and a flourishing fouette later, Thiji released the aether stored into a powerful burst of ice and snow.  Everyone shielded themselves from the frigid gale, trying their best to catch a glimpse of the spectacle.  The Muud Suud sustained considerable damage, and as it reeled back in agony, Thiji continued his attack. With glacial agility, he skated along the frozen sea, assailing the Voidsent between graceful lutzes, whipping axels, and tricky salchows, culminating in a frigid Saber Dance which struck at the creature’s arms, pinning it to the ground in ice spikes.  Thiji then stopped behind the Muud Suud once more, jumping on and running along its back before vaulting off and performing a spinning maneuver with his fans outstretched, using the centrifugal force to levitate safely back onto land. With the Voidsent sufficiently immobilized, it was time for the finisher.  The Mythrite Sultan went all out as he performed a frenetic series of gyrations, jumps, and twirls as he collected the aether generated from the defenders’ efforts, along with the ambient ice clouds that littered the beachhead. “Is this the Crimson Lotus…?!” gasped Luluma.  “No… It’s too… blue.” “We’re not about ta die, are we?” Meriri said with a worried tone.  “’Cause that’s a lot o’ aether he’s gatherin’!” “Hold your ground, Angels; you are safe,” Mimizo reassured.  She spectated with a light grin as she watched her son show his true colors.  All of the aether he could possibly contain – and perhaps more – enveloped Thiji in bluish-white as he performed a dash toward the injured Muud Suud, glaring daggers at the creature who had dared to encroach upon his home before he unfurled his fan.  What followed was a sound akin to that of a shrill ring – he struck diagonally upwards, leaving a streak of white in his path.  He then descended diagonally downwards, landing on the ground with another white streak left in his wake.  He would repeat this attack thrice more as the aetherial streaks formed a star around the Muud Suud in a fivefold attack.  At each point was a large bluish-white lotus that twirled slowly in the air.  Upon returning to his starting point following the fifth strike, he slowly rose to an upright position before furling his weapons. What followed after a beat of silence was the violent display of exploding lotus petals as aetherial blades of silver and blue surrounded and cut into the helpless Muud Suud from all directions.  This would, of course, free the Voidsent from its bonds, allowing it to strike at Thiji one last time in defiance.  With a guttural roar, it mustered all its strength to deliver a downward slam with its fists.  Thiji was still, maintaining his position, for the climax was not quite over yet. The gashes and wounds left behind from the initial attack left behind residual ice-aspected aether, which sort of kept the beast from bleeding out.  It was because of this that the Muud Suud could still stand.  But it would not stand for much longer as the aether’s glow began to intensify, turning a bright white.  The beast ignored this reaction and continued its attack, but just as its arms were within ilms of hitting the Mythrite Sultan…

*BOOOOOM!!!*

A glacial explosion with force and sound not unlike that of a firework erupted within the Muud Suud’s body, blasting its arms clean off as they were flung into the far ends of the beach!  Everyone was in awe at the wintry spectacle, though they shielded themselves from the ensuing rain of blood with some convenient parasols, ensuring that Mimizo was unscathed. “GIANGSTALL MINE, HERE WE COME!” Sesena cheered to herself.  The other Angels couldn’t help but chuckle until they focused back on the shore.  The icy detonation conglaciated the Muud Suud’s body, inside and out, leaving behind a diamond sculpture of a corpse.  The tide would rock the Muud Suud’s frozen remains back and forth until it would finally tip over, shattering into a storm of dancing frost particles and lotus flowers.   And in the midst of this wintry scene of gelid spires and frigid formations… was the Mythrite Sultan, standing silently with eyes closed. “Well, we did it, girls,” Sesena congratulated with a sigh, “and in no small part thanks to our lord’s timely intervention.  Let’s see to the rest of the region before heading back to the city.” “I shall tend to our Matanga allies!  I shall make my return to the Othard Branch afterward!” Koyuki stated.  Lilina translated to their beastmen friends, to which they would graciously accept, before following them back into the jungle. “Never in my life have I ever witnessed such beauty and grace… and great sadness,” uttered one of the female dancers with a hand to her heart.   “Lady Mimizo, what know you of this spectacle?” The Valide Sultan advanced several paces forward, gesturing towards her son. “My beloved Thiji is a proud son of Thavnair,” she began.  “He has faced countless obstacles, and endured myriad hardships.  And any seasoned dancer knows that what truly separates masters of the art from fools twirling around bladed rings… is their soul.  It is the source of all emotion – it is their spirit, their conviction from where it springs.   My beloved Thiji has ever been fascinated by the colder climes.  He has developed a love for it, for winter and all things associated.  And anyone who understands the soul of winter to its core knows what lies beneath its dazzling beauty; its stark, silvery splendor…” Mimizo gave a pause as the snow fell upon her hair and cheek, basking in the scenery with the others.  All were moved by her words, most of all Veeveena, who was practically in tears.  She kept her composure, but the mere sight tugged at her heartstrings, which only made it difficult. “… It is sorrow; the silent lamentations of a damaged heart.  The Kriegstanz, though redoubtable in its own right, could not convey such emotion, for it was created solely to reverse the Danse Macabre – the Totentanz.  This dance, invented by my son, wears his sadness like a glove, and becomes an extension of himself, dominating the battlefield with the switness and alacrity that only a master of ice-aspected aether can muster.  It is a performance that expresses one’s longing… and turns it into something truly beautiful.” “What does he call it, Queen Mother?” Meriri asked.  Mimizo gave another pause before slowly turning towards the Angels to give her answer…

“… The Eistanz.”

It was at this moment that Veeveena, unable to keep it together any longer, fell to her knees in tears, succumbing to the powerful emotions drawn by this scene, coupled with Mimizo’s explanation.  Sesena hurried over to her fellow Angel to comfort her. “You okay, Miss Veeveena?” she asked as she rubbed the Advisor’s back.  Veeveena quickly dried her tears and met Sesena’s gaze. “Yes… It’s just… so beautiful… so powerful,” she replied, staring once more at Thiji, still motionless and silent.  “Could this… truly be the man to whom I may one day be wed…?” “Dear Sesena, pray maintain your current orders and ensure the surrounding environs are safe,” commanded Mimizo.  “Miss Veeveena shall escort us back to the city.” “Yes, Valide!” acknowledged Sesena, leading the others back into the jungle, and leaving the three alone to their devices. “I’ve known that handsome Lord Thiji for many years,” Lelena began as she ordered her adamantoise away, “but never in my life did I imagine him being this… well, powerful!” “None of us did,” Luluma followed.  “But if there is one thing I’ve learned from all we’ve seen, it’s that anything in this realm is possible.  It is clear now why he is no longer embracing the life of an adventurer.” “A true king doesn’t seek war, but always prepares fer it!” Meriri exclaimed. As the beachfront was clearing out, Veeveena and Lady Mimizo were finally left alone, with Thiji still in the distance.  The Valide Sultan slowly lifted the Advisor to her feet and comforted her with a reassuring hand to her shoulder. “My Lady,” Veeveena said in a hushed tone as she choked back tears, “am I truly worthy of this man…?  Could I truly help fulfill his dream…?” “If you were not, dear Veeveena, I would have not taught you so well,” Mimizo softly replied.  “As Valide Sultan, it is my duty - my charge - to seek potential suitresses and train them to become worthy prospects for my son.  But remember: this our last resort per our deal.  A lot may happen within the next two summers, so we will leave this to the hand of fate.  But I meant well what I said to you moons ago; he will have his Sultana, for a man of such elegance and kindheartedness is deserving of such."

"Valide, let me go to him... He must know... my lord must know," Veeveena pleaded, her grip on Mimizo tightening somewhat.  The Queen Mother chuckled as she shook her head.

"No, dearest," she declined.  "You need not rush this.  The effects of the Eisenstanz are influencing you.  While your heart may be true, it is still far too soon.  I wish to give my son this chance - to see if his Sultana is truly out there somewhere, waiting for him."

Veeveena once again dried her tears and smiled, getting herself back together.  Grasping her weapons in hand once more, Veeveena steeled herself and was prepared to escort Mimizo back to the city proper.  "Glacius.  Suki.   Pray watch over my son," the Valide Sultan requested, to which they would nod in acknowledgement before joining him at the shoreline. The Mythrite Sultan, now alone with his thoughts, had his gaze fixed out towards the sea for about a half-bell’s worth.  Glacius and Suki sat quietly by his side to keep their master company.  Lifting his gaze to the heavens, the clouds would slowly part, giving way to the light of that silvery star that always shone its light so proudly amidst the evening sky.  Thiji squinted his eyes at it, seeming to revile its luminescence, but his countenance softened after a moment, his annoyance subsiding as he would slowly climb on Glacius’ back and giving him the order to move.  His trusted companion took to the skies with his mate following suit, leaving the frost-kissed shore alone until it would eventually dissipate into diamond dust...

“I always despised You, Menphina... but I see now as to why You share the domain of ice alongside Halone.  ‘Tis no small wonder why the Wanderer longs for You so.  But it is thanks to You and the Spinner that I have tapped into a new strength, and with Halone ever at my side, this power will help ensure Thanvair’s protection, as well as the safekeeping of my allies.  There are still moves to make before the adventurers set their sights eastward.”

Glacius eventually dropped his master off at the balcony of his bed chambers in the Main Branch Headquarters, where Nyra was eagerly awaiting Thiji’s return.  Once done so, he ordered his chocobos to assist the Angels in their efforts, and they would fly off into the jungles below.  He then laid upon his sofa, relaxing with a pitcher of Winter Lassi that remained from his previous conversation with his mother.  He scoffed before taking a long sip, gazing back at the moon...

“I was never one to question Mother’s judgment, and even though I carry my sorrows with me... perhaps, when all of this is over... she will finally come to me.  ‘Til then, they will have to deal with Thiji sor Higuri, Mythrite Bachelor, and the Knight bereft of a Sorceress.”

[cake-writes]

Compromise (Part Seven)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Story Warnings: Mom!Reader, Dad!Bucky, Ex-Relationship, Co-Parenting Drama, Slow Burn, Angst, Fluff, Separation Anxiety

Summary: You didn’t want to trust him again, because every time you did, Bucky broke your heart just a little more. Deep down, though, you wanted to get along with him. You wanted to be amicable. You wanted your daughter to know her father. You’d always wanted that. It just required a compromise.

Part Six / Master List / Spotify Playlist

After what felt like hours, you were the proud owner of a brand new Land Rover.

You didn’t really know the details, other than that the vehicle was in your name. Bucky may have paid for it in cash – or a bank transfer, but you didn’t know for sure because he signed most of the paperwork while you made sure Winnie didn’t get into any trouble in the play area. The only thing you signed was the title. He even offered to handle your insurance payments, because they would without a doubt skyrocket and you weren’t exactly confident that you’d be able to afford them.

It was a weird situation, and honestly, you weren’t sure how it made you feel. You were indebted to him, absolutely, but it made you feel… good, for some reason. Like he was taking care of you. Like he was taking care of Winnie.

Maybe because he was.

The ride back to the compound was short and sweet. Bucky streamed Winnie’s cartoon from his phone to the small built-in TV on the back of his seat, and she was absolutely delighted. Kept her busy while you tried to figure out what to say.

A simple ‘thank you’ didn’t seem like enough, but the smile he gave you in return made your heart pound. You turned up the radio to drown out the frenzied rhythm, but you could still hear it in your ears.

After you dropped him off, for the rest of the night all you thought about was him.

Eight o’clock came around and you realized that something was missing. Mr. Squiggles.

You’d been in such a rush – and such a state – to leave for the dealership this morning that you hadn’t double-checked Winnie’s belongings. You’d probably left some other things at Bucky’s, too, but her stuffed unicorn was the one thing she would absolutely have to have tonight. She’d throw a tantrum otherwise.

So you had no choice but to text him. Not that you minded.

You, 8:03pm Sorry, I think we left Mr. Squiggles at your place. Could you please have a look?

Bucky, 8:04pm On it.

A few seconds passed, and then he sent you a photo of it laying atop Winnie’s lavender sheets. Oh, it was a huge relief that it hadn’t gotten lost during the vehicle trade-in. That would have been a nightmare.

You, 8:05pm Thanks so much! We’ll be around shortly.

Bucky, 8:05pm Already out the door. See you soon.

You stared blankly at his text for a few moments.

Bucky was coming over.

He was coming over right now.

He was saving you the trouble of going back to the compound. It would have been a half-hour round trip, not to mention Winnie’s excitement at making another unexpected visit. The two of you had a very specific bedtime routine that you rarely deviated from, otherwise you knew she’d never get to sleep. This was about to be another one of those nights, but Bucky was really saving you a lot of hassle by making the trip himself.

You, 8:06pm Thank you! I’m getting Winnie ready for bed. Key’s under the mat if you want to let yourself in.

And with that, you set your phone down on the bathroom counter to focus on the task at hand.

“Winnie,” you called out, turning on the faucet to the tub. “Bathtime in five minutes.”

“Okay!” came her response from the living room – sweet, but begrudging. She never did like baths, but you found that giving her a five-minute warning helped a lot.

The tub filled quickly, with you checking every so often to make sure the temperature was alright. By the time you managed to corral her into the tub, more than five minutes had passed – not that you noticed. Lots of bubble bath and bath toys kept her entertained while you washed her hair and combed out all of the knots.

Your voices echoed off the tile as the two of you sang her bathtime song, to distract her from the pain of detangling her too-fine hair. You’d never understand how it got knotted so easily. Even with too much conditioner and plenty of detangling spray, it was still a chore to comb out her hair.

Then there was a sudden knock on the bathroom door, to which you jumped and bashed your head on one of the towel racks.

“Ow, Christ,” you swore, holding your aching head.

Bucky’s laughter was clear as day on the other side. “Sorry, doll. Guess you didn’t hear me come in.”

Winnie’s eyes lit up. “Is Daddy here?”

“Yes, Daddy’s here,” you began, but she hopped out of the tub to let him in and you changed your tune completely. “Winnie, honey, we’re not done with your bath—”

She fumbled with the doorknob for a moment before she yanked open the door.

Now, while you didn’t particularly want her trailing water all through the house, the bigger problem was that you were barely dressed. Just a flimsy tank top, no bra, and a pair of plain underwear. That was all. Bathtime got messy, and you didn’t like getting your clothes wet. You had a spare t-shirt and a pair of shorts sitting on the bathroom counter for when he arrived, but you hadn’t put them on yet; hadn’t realized how much time had passed.

Of course, Winnie wasn’t dressed, either, but she was his kid, for one, and for two, she was covered in suds anyway.

“Hi, princess,” he greeted gently, kneeling down to give her a kiss on the forehead. “Look who missed you today!”

When he pulled Mr. Squiggles out from behind his back, Winnie squealed and accepted the stuffed animal from him – and then she took off down the hallway towards her room, naked as the day she was born. Bucky let out a snort of laughter and then, when he finally chanced a look at you, the expression that came over his face made your face flush.

It wasn’t like Bucky hadn’t seen all of it before, but the way his eyes trailed down your body made you feel like he hadn’t. He took in every inch of you, every dip and curve and that made you hotter under the collar than it should have.

After a moment or two, however, he finally seemed to come to his senses.

“Shit, sorry,” he stumbled over his words, quickly turning around to give you your privacy. “I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine,” you reassured him as you pulled on the t-shirt, but your throat was impossibly dry. “Thanks for coming.”

Water dripped from the faucet in a staggered staccato, the only sound save for the rustling of your clothing and Winnie’s quiet giggles down the hallway.

“You… You shouldn’t keep your key under the mat. It’s not safe.”

You glanced up from tying the drawstring on your shorts to find that Bucky had shoved his hands into his pockets, and he was peering up at the ceiling, as if to make a point that he absolutely wasn’t looking. He hadn’t yet changed out of his clothes from today; that plain black t-shirt was still tight as hell, and damn if his ass didn’t look even better in those jeans now than it had earlier.

You swallowed hard, willing your voice not to waver. “Where should I keep it, then?”

“I’ll have a look outside when I go.”

Well, he would know best about this, wouldn’t he?

“Sure,” you said, pulling a towel from the rack. “Thanks. You can look now, I’m decent.”

You still weren’t wearing a bra, but the t-shirt mitigated that a bit. Putting a bra on was too much of a hassle and you were tired. You also had a bunch of other things to do before you went to bed – namely dry Winnie off (because she definitely wasn’t going to come back to the bathtub now), laundry, and lunches for tomorrow.

Bucky made it a point to keep his eyes above your collar this time, but he seemed more amused than anything, even if his cheeks were tinged pink.

“What?” you asked blankly.

“You’ve got bubbles in your hair,” he said with a grin, automatically reaching up to brush them away. He didn’t ask for permission, but he didn’t need it, either.

Your heart skipped a beat at his gentle touch, and that was when you noticed it – tension in the air, tension so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Your skin burned hot wherever he touched: the crown of your head, a stray lock of hair he tucked behind your ear, and finally on your cheek where his hand slowly, hesitantly came to rest against the side of your face, thumb tracing your cheekbone.

Bucky spoke quietly, then, “I really appreciate you trusting me.”

He didn’t just mean with this, but with everything.

His eyes were soft and so, so blue that you just couldn’t handle it – so you shoved the towel at him, and that broke the spell. He immediately let you go in favour of catching it before it hit the ground.

“Do you want to put Winnie to bed?” was all you could manage with your brain short-circuiting.

“Yeah,” he stammered, “Yeah, of course. Whatever you need.”

“Thanks,” you said again, quickly pushing past him to make your way to the kitchen. You could barely breathe, because whenever you inhaled all you could smell was him and he was absolutely intoxicating. “Let me know if you need me.”

Thankfully, he didn’t.

A little after nine o’clock, you finally finished just about everything that needed doing before the morning. Laundry was in the dryer, dishes were done, and lunches were packed – three of them, because you wanted to do something nice for Bucky as a thank you. A couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were nothing in comparison to a six-figure Land Rover, but you did what you could.

Slowly, you cracked open the door to Winnie’s bedroom. Bucky hadn’t yet come out, so you were expecting to find him still reading to her, but he wasn’t. No, he was fast asleep with your daughter curled up into his side. Somehow, he’d wrangled her into her favourite nightie, and a half-open book lay on his chest; he hadn’t gotten very far into it by the looks of it.

It was a comical sight, because Bucky was such a thick, muscular hulk of a man, so much that he took up the majority of Winnie’s big girl bed – baby pink sheets atop a simple twin mattress. It was also incredibly sweet, and you found yourself smiling a little.  

After taking a few quiet steps into the room, you got to the bed and carefully plucked the book from Bucky’s hand. It was another one of her favourites, which you closed and sat on the nightstand.

He’d always been a light sleeper, at least in the time you were together but right now he didn’t seem to be. Even when you pulled a spare blanket from the closet and lay it over him, he didn’t stir at all. You tucked in your little girl, too, and then leaned over her father to press a kiss the crown of her head.

That was what finally seemed to wake him.

His arm slowly slid around your waist, metal cold against the exposed skin where your shirt had ridden up, which sent a shiver through you – and then you toppled into bed with him, half on top of him if you were honest with yourself but all you could think about was how good this felt. One of your legs was thrown over his thigh, and the other was wedged between him and the edge of the mattress, holding most of your weight.  

He wasn’t awake at all, you realized. He wouldn’t do this without permission.

“Bucky,” you whisper-shouted at him. “Bucky, wake up.”

But he didn’t. No, instead he grumbled something inaudible and buried his face in your neck. His hot breath fanned against your sensitive skin, to which you grit your teeth at the pleasant feeling.

God, this felt good. When was the last time you slept with someone? Both literally and figuratively. 

“Bucky,” you tried again, just a little louder and with your free hand you dug your fingers into his ribs. Corded muscle jumped beneath your fingertips, but he still didn’t budge.

With a heavy sigh, you resigned yourself to your fate – not that you minded, truth be told – and you fished your phone out of your pocket to make sure he wasn’t going to miss any early-morning missions if he slept here overnight. A quick text to Steve would hopefully do the job.

You, 9:11pm Does Bucky need to be anywhere in the morning?

A couple of minutes passed, during which you made yourself a little more comfortable. Bucky’s grip around your waist had loosened enough for you to shift to a less awkward position, but you still couldn’t get out entirely. He had you well and truly trapped – except, well, he didn’t. Not really. 

If you wanted to, you definitely could have woken him up. You could have bit him. Scratched him. Kissed him, even, if you had to. There were plenty of ways to wake him up, but you only made a couple of half-assed attempts.

Why?

Steve, 9:15pm Not that I know of.

You, 9:16pm Thanks!

Steve, 9:16pm Why?

With a yawn, you set your alarm and then dropped your phone down on the bedside table. Bucky could have the honours of explaining this to his best friend. Tomorrow was going to be a mess, but that was a problem for the morning. Not for tonight. Not when you were so tired of fighting.

Maybe you could be a little selfish. Winnie slept like a log, after all, and you always woke up before her.

This was harmless. 

Right?

Your heart was racing, as were your thoughts, but all you could think about was how good it felt to be in his arms again, how comfortable it was to rest your head on his chest, how nice it would be to fall asleep to his steady heartbeat.

And it was.

Interlude #2

[heartwoodventures]

If You Go Down to the Woods Today Pt. 2

Part 1 here!

In the utter silence of the forest glen Zorah's whisper seemed unnaturally loud. Several of their number craned their necks up to peer high above them. Nazyl slowly released his blade from its holster. Bird, demon, or whatever it was, he was ready for it. Aislinn slid a hand up to the grip of her gun and tensely waited, all the while stepping back to the relative shelter of the trees.

The group didn’t have to wait long. The sound of beating wings grew loud, and louder -- the closer it got, the easier it was to pick out a sort of ungainly, awkward gait to the flapping as though the creature was struggling -- the silence around them was abruptly shattered as something massive crashed through the canopy, and came in straight for the forest floor!

The three on the front-lines managed to scramble out of the way *just* in time; though no one could escape the smell. The overpowering, sweetly rancid scent of rot rolled through the clearing as the creature righted itself. Nazyl kicked away from the creature, putting distance between him and it to get a good look at it while Zorah managed to have the grace to step back when the creature fell into their view, her hands at her sides forming the aetheric discs she relied on in combat. Though both were able to miss being hit, that putrid smell was unbearable, causing the miqo’te to silently gag and cover her nose and mouth with the back of her hand.

"Seven Hells." Aislinn coughed as both she and Vanriri scrambled backward, but there was no reprieve from the choking smell. It was almost a certainty that scent was going to find its way into the hyur’s nightmares.

A sharply beaked head lowered to screech indignantly at the party that had dodged it -- or perhaps it was lamenting its own clumsiness. Empty sockets stare balefully at the gathered adventurers as it reared back, unfurling a massive pair of leathery wings.

Aiswyda answered the creature’s eyeless gaze with a mixed look of disgust, shock, and confusion. “Is this the guy? Ugh, this chicken is far too large.” she took a moment to shake out her fists and then, “Care-to-enlighten-us-on-what-this-oversized-bird-is?” she managed to get those words out with lightning speed -- to the point where it could be misinterpreted as a very strange and drawn out battle cry. Without a moment to lose, she dashed ahead and aimed a punch right at the creature’s beak.

With its head extended from its screech, Aiswyda’s fist connected easily with the creature, crunching bone and softened cartilage. It squawked in protest and reared its eyeless head back, shaking it as though to recover from the impact.

"I've not fought maneh o' these....livin' or dead." Nazyl wrinkled his nose at the scent. Undead beast. Great. Necromancy at work. While it wasn't the worst thing he'd ever smelled, it wasn't exactly pleasant either. 

N'yami turned her head to the side and a small crack was heard from her neck, her carbuncle made a noise that sounded as if to argue with the Seeker, clearly she was about to do something stupid. "Someone has to make sure it doesn't fly away." 

Bolting towards the weird bird-like creature, N'yami jumped up to grab it around the neck then held on for dear life. She was attempting to grapple the massive pteranodon's neck, but as she leapt up to grab it, its partially rotted flesh sloughed away under her grasp, sending her tumbling back to the ground nearby. With a very nasty prize. She slopped down to the ground with some very unpleasant.....flesh on her. 

"Well....I've had worse on me I suppose." She shook her hands to try and rid herself of the gore.

Nazyl wretched at N’yami’s failed attempt to keep the ptero held down, "Try its wings first, it's a scalekin. Or was." He took his holy blade in both hands and leapt up at the unfurled wings, cutting down at the arm in an attempt to sever, or at least break it. What was this creature even doing way out here?

His blade sliced straight through the undead pteranodon's joint like butter, the severed edges turning to ash where the sword had struck. The limb itself collapsed to the forest floor nearly on top of N'yami as the undead abomination reeled backwards, dragging its bloated carcass with rather surprising agility. Nevertheless, one faulty flap of its remaining wing reveals it was almost certainly grounded.

N'yami watched as the wing almost fell on top of her. "That would've been unpleasant." She said while rolling and pushing herself up into a standing position again. She was met with a whack to the back of her head from her carbuncle, trying to get her friend’s head back in the game. "I know I know."

Aiswyda gagged as flesh and wing rained down right in front of her. She was just, so upset. The smell. The everything about this.

While the others got in their attacks, Aislinn spared a moment to pull a bandana from her hip pouch and hastily wrapped it over the lower half of her face. The smell of death and decay was making her stomach churn and she had no desire to spill her dinner all over the forest floor. Too embarrassing. That done, now it was down to business. She yanked the handgonne from the holster at her back and leveled it at the creature. With a head full of calculations, she aimed for one of the empty eye sockets and fired off a round, her back heel digging into the dirt from the kickback.

The pteranodon swung its long neck about to screech with seeming indignation at its missing limb just as Aislinn fired off her shot; though it doesn't catch the eye socket directly as she'd intended, it does glance across its already charred and softened beak where Aiswyda had struck it earlier, taking out a chunk of what charred flesh remained and shattering bone.

Meanwhile, Vanriri remained almost plastered back against the tree; she had the sense to pull the quarterstaff from her back, but her hands were shaking where she held it. Swallowing, she tightened her grip on the staff and charged recklessly into the melee, swinging her staff at the other wing's vulnerable joint. It was a good hit. Her staff cracked against the elbow with considerable force, but the impact was mitigated somewhat by the layers of leathery, undead flesh that squelched uncomfortably beneath the blow.

With sudden and surprising agility, missing limb or no, the pteranodon swung its bulbous bulk around, jabbing its sharply beaked head down at the two lalafell while its lengthy tail snaked out to trip up the miqo’tes.

With a dancer’s agility, Zorah flexed her fingers, the aetheric discs sparking as the aether rose in the air around her.  It trailed along her feet and hands as she stepped back, out of the pteranodon’s reach, turning and moving with graceful, deliberate steps that lead into her hurling both discs toward the creature. The brief glow of aether lights up the area as they criss-crossed into the creature both into him from front and back, returning to her hands.

For her own part, N’yami wasn't quite as quick enough to dodge the tail that came slamming down, with an 'oof' she was sent back to the ground where she was before. "This bastard." With a groan she pushed herself back up to dust her coat off of any fleshy slime.

The pteranodon's maw closed on Vanriri like a bird plucking up a particularly juicy morsel, its teeth slicing easily through her leather armour as it proceeded to fling her back and into a nearby tree. She hit the trunk and slid down, unconscious or stunned, her staff falling from her hands halfway between her and the hulking undead creature. Losing no time, it swung its head around to Nazyl to do much the same -- though thankfully his armour largely prevented it from getting a good grip on him, and instead it settled for the satisfying crunch.

No one had bargained on the thing being so fast with so much of its flesh missing, but they should have, considering how fast some skeletons can move. Aiswyda watched in alarm as Vanriri soared through the air on impact while Aislinn could only curse under her breath as the lalafell hit the tree with an unnerving ‘thunk’. Nazyl moved quickly to stand between Vanriri and the beast, settling into a protective stance. He didn't need to watch someone die today. There was little more they could do in the moment. It did, however, give them a sense of urgency. The faster they could down the beast, the better.

Aiswyda continued to focus her punches at the creature’s head. One, because she thought it would do more damage, and two, because she didn’t really want to have her fist sink into the bird’s mushy torso. Her flaming fists succeeded in collapsing part of the pteranodon's skull, its motion began to seem a little more sluggish as the fire charred its flesh and blackened bone.

Back on her feet now, N’yami turned to her summon. "Whackara, ya wanna go for a little ride?" 

The carbuncle flicked her tails and already knew what was coming, with an excited squeak the summon prepared herself as N'yami held Whack like a ball in her hand. "And....go!" And with that the carbuncle went flying right through the pteranodon's body. The carbuncle made a whistling noise as she flew and like a boomerang came back to the Seeker to smack into her face....while covered in rotting flesh. 

"I hate you." the miqo’te muttered. 

As the carbuncle returned to N'yami there didn't really seem to be any effect at first, save that the pteranodon shifted slightly and began winding up for another tail swipe at the group. Then its midsection began to expand slightly, a flicker of aetherial light glowing from the slices Zorah had carved in the bulk of its middle earlier. It screeched once more -- a sound that is abruptly cut off as an impact ripples through the clearing from inside the beast -- and promptly splattered everything and everyone within a 10 fulm radius with gore as the aetherial bomb Whackara had left behind exploded.

Nazyl prepared himself for the inevitable attack, digging his boots into the dirt and raising his shield....only to me showered in a mess of rotting flesh and viscera. Gross. He exhaled slowly, staring at the ground some in quiet contemplation, before beginning to wipe the gore from his person, "Twelve, could ye a have killed it without...explodin' it?"

As the creature wavered, Aislinn saw her chance and rushed to the fallen lalafell to make a hurried assessment of her condition. Just as she had knelt at Vanriri’s side, however, the undead exploded and Aislinn simply hung her head in resignation as she was splattered in gore and rotten flesh. Yet another coat, ruined.

"To be fair that wasn't my plan." The carbuncle moved to the top of N’yami's head, each little foot squished through the flesh stuck to her. "I blame, Whackara, that was all her."

Aiswyda had been knocked over by the meaty impact, hidden under piles of miscellaneous viscera. From where she lay silent prayers leaked from her lips.

"Uh huh, blame the construct." Nazyl dryly replied. 

Vanriri was roused by the sound of the explosion; and as Aislinn approached it was clear she had some wounds that would need tending, but she seemed to be shaking off the worst of her trip. At least until she was suddenly and unceremoniously splattered with viscera which left her gaping in speechlessness. 

Surprisingly unfazed by the shower of gore, the highlander’s hands began to move as though writing in the air just above the lalafell's torso. As the arcane equation takes shape, Aislinn can feel the gemstone bracelets under her gloves heat as they release their aether, dulling the pain and redirecting blood from the injury site. It was a patch, at best. All she could do. 

She took in Vanriri's speechless face. "Surprisingly not the first time we've left a job like this." she says by way of explanation. 

“WHACKARAAAaa!” Aiswyda called out. A fist rose from the meat pile, followed by the rest of the Sea Wolf. She was covered head to toe in things that thankfully remain undescribed.

Vanriri relaxed just slightly as Aislinn's healing aether stemmed the worst of the bleeding, though she couldn’t immediately tell what was her blood, and what was the pteranodon's.

"Hey lass, ye alright? Ye took quite a hit there." Nazyl asked as he turned to Vanriri with a grimace, still wiping himself down.

"Mhm!" she squeaked immediately. She did not look alright.

"Right. Yer gettin' medical attention eithah way, in case that thing had some nasteh disease. I'll likeleh need a look too..."

Her expression said everything she didn’t as she looked at Nazyl, horrified at the idea he had just put in her head.

"It doesn't feel great either." N’yami pulled on the front of her coat as if to try and keep the flesh off her skin that had slid down with Whackara. "Someone throw me in the river."

“Nymeia's Blood, that's a good idea.” Aislinn murmured. 

Aiswyda lifted a hand and observed it. The limb is covered completely, stained red. The Roegadyn let out a sigh so long that it seemed to physically deflate her. “A river, right. We’re all going to need a good hosing off. Again!” She shook her head. “Again!”

Vanriri scrambled unsteadily to her feet, doing her best to ...not look traumatized. She looked traumatized. This was her first rodeo, guys.

Nazyl smirked in amusement, "Ye new ta this? Careful, wait too long n' ye might become a zombeh yerself!" He laughed, shaking his head, "I jest. Though, ye could get some nasteh infections if we don't get those wounds cleaned."

Vanriri did not look mollified by Nazyl humour. ".....Oh dear."

Aislinn nodded in agreement with Nazyl. She gave Vanriri a gentle look. "Could be worse. Let's get you back to the Company house."

"I'm gonna go home and shower, someone let Ma know injured are headin' to the clinic." N’yami said, still shaking out her coat. 

"Y-you have a qualified chirurgeon?" the petite lalafell asked plaintively.

Aislinn did her best not to show her amusement at the question. "With a group like ours? Indeed we do."

"Welcome ta me world." Nazyl snorted. "I deal with this daileh."

“And you never get used to it, unless your name starts with Naz and ends with ‘yl.’” Aiswyda gave Vanriri a tired, but amused look.

"I was...perhaps unprepared for this eventuality." Vanriri said, trying not to sound as anxious as she felt.

Nazyl smiled, more warmly than before, "I don't think anehone expected a bloodeh scalekin zombeh out here in the woods. I'm curious as ta why it was here in the first place..." He glanced back at the fleshless corpse, "Mayhaps we can research that latah. Fer now though, we've succeeded, n' the Shroud can sleep easiah."

Aislinn nodded and gestured to Nazyl. "As he said." she looked around at the others. "I'm going to head back and let G'lewra know you're coming."

Vanriri cleared her throat, nodding. "I--indeed. I will report the, ...success of the hunt to the Wailers on our way through Buscarrons that they might clean ...this... up before someone stumbles..." She trailed off, spying bits and pieces of what was perhaps the pteranodon's last meal in amongst a nearby pile of gore. "..."

She quickly averted her gaze up to Aislinn. "Thank you."

Aislinn gave a single nod in reply.

“Shh. Don’t think about it too much.” Aiswyda groaned, and began to make her way out of the clearing. Presumably back to Heartwood. Their job was done. The beast slain. More gil for the Company coffers. The Shroud a measure safer for those who lived within its boundaries. And, most important of all, every one of them had managed to walk away at the end of the fight. There wasn’t any better proof of success than that.

[crowsent]

Tokoyami Fumikage is  underrated

I love that my boi Sero is getting his appreciation. Sure, fandom is still sleepin on him like we all collectively drank a whole bottle of ambien, but he’s getting a bit more love from both fanart and fanfiction.

BUT BOY why y’all gotta sleep on Tokoyami too????

For someone not in the main cast (and not even with the bakusquad), he has a fucking FANTASTIC design if you ignore the fact that he looks like he’s permanently stuck in his Evanescence phase or maybe that’s why he looks so damn cool? and a potentially op quirk. Dark Shadow, with training and some attention, can be pretty fucking terrifying.

I mean, it already is, since we saw Dark Shadow utterly beat Moonfish within an inch of his life in S3 and chapter (psych i aint gon dig through squat to find the exact chapter) of the manga.

Dark Shadow is the Hulk of BNHA. Bring him to a fight and what do you get? A screeching bird demon conjured from the shadowy pits of Tokoyami’s infinity cloak ready to eviscerate a motherfuck.

Aside from, perhaps Class 1-A’s Shoto “living thermostat” Todoroki, DS is quite possivbly the most versatile quirk in the entire fucking class.

As we have all seen in the sports festival, DS can be used short-range, mid-range, and long-range. Reaction time is astounding, since Bakugou came pretty damn close to them when Deku launched him and crew up in the air with Mei’s boots and Dark Shadow. fucking. DELIVERED. He swung at sweat-hands mcgee like it was nothing and drove Bakugou back. (This was before Bakubitch realized that DS was weak to light, but more on that later) He displayed plenty of mid-range capabilities during the rest of the cavalry battle and showed us his long-range when he shoved Momo out of the ring WITHOUT HURTING HER. Tokoyami and DS aimed for the shield which maximized pressure on Momo but didn’t claw her arms off.

And of course, Dark Shadow, in terms of raw power, utterly decimated a villain that Bakugou and Todoroki struggled with. They weren’t in the best position, of course, but hey, they can’t really control the fact that Bakugou’s quirk and the other half of Todoroki’s will send the forest straight to hell if they used it. (more on this later). Dark Shadow fucking decimated Moonfish. Get that man to Recovery Girl bc I’m pretty sure he won’t survive getting crushed, swung around like a chewtoy, and slammed into a tree. Fuck canon, no man who doesn’t have an augmentation quirk can survive that.

With all this fuckery, DS is pretty damn op already. But consider this.

What if, after all that, Tokoyami is suppressing Dark Shadow? Even when he lost control in the training camp, some part of Tokoyami is still actively resisting Dark Shadow? It’s the equivalent of a skinny beanpole of a man with sticks for arms trying to pull the leash back on their 220lbs russian bear dog from running, but the resistance is there.

Now, imagine if Tokoyami DIDN’T suppress Dark Shadow.

Imagine, that instead of shoving DS into the folds of his emo poncho, Tokoyami accepts and works WITH DS instead of against?

I think that there’s a few reasons why Tokoyami admantly refuses to let Dark Shadow ride in the passenger’s side of the car and instead shoves DS in the trunk.

It’s already been established that DS grabbed Moonfish by the hand and dragged him to the gates of death. With a power like that, anyone who wants to be a hero like Tokoyami, would be hella fucking afraid to use it at full power due to the destructive capabilities of DS. With that fear, I think Tokoyami would see DS as less of a boon and more of “holy shit i have a literal demon bird inside me” and be hesitant to use it.

Of course, he uses DS but notice how in the sports festival, DS is always measured, controlled, and never allowed to do more than what Tokoyami deems necessary. DS is always on defensive in the cavalry battle, DS aims for Momo’s shield, and even in the fight with Bakugou, Tokoyami keeps DS in line before Bakugou knocks him to the floor.

And if Tokoyami actually accepts DS, imagine how well he’s gon improve if he doesn’t have to constantly rein in DS.

Quirks are like a muscle and if you work them regularly, they can be strengthened. If DS is trained to work in bright light, it could mitigate the near instant decrease of his power. Not completely, of course, but in the training camp, Bakugou and Todoroki lighting their hands up was enough for DS to go from fucking massive to the size of my hopes and dreams within seconds.

Training DS to be more resistant to light adds to Tokoyami’s versatility, and removes the crippling disadvantage he has against light-based quirks. Todo and Baku cant use explosions and fire respectively in an area around a forest and they can’t exactly change that, but DS has a little bit more leeway with that if he can be trained to withstand light a little better and that can only be done if Tokoyami stops repressing him.

It’s understandable tho. Tokoyami’s not a fucking moron. He knows DS is dangerous in the same way that Shoto knows his fire is dangerous. That 13 knows their black hole can easily rip someone apart. That Izuku constantly has to hold himself back to avoid murdering people with OFA.

The difference between Izu and Tokoyami tho, is that Izu doesn’t have a quirk that has its own personality.

Bc DS can talk, think, and behave differently than Toko does. DS is noticeably spilling sass from his mouth (beak?) like an undammed river and is much more enthusiastic and upbeat. During the flipshit episode in the training arc, DS rampaging around, he seems to be having fun and, when Moonfish tried to stab him, is displayed to be arrogant as well. Characteristics that Toko don’t have.

Aside from the threat of a giant hulk bird flipping all the tables and flinging people into walls, DS is essentially a living creature constantly with Toko, a creature that has enough power to overtake him if he isnt careful and Toko holds himself back severely by fighting against the tide here.

There’s a physical strain in keeping part of him repressed, like Shoto with how his ice frosts his own body without fire, since Toko is essentially fighting against a living creature inside of him. I don’t have my own shadow ninja but I imagine that doing that day in day out is exhausting.

Not to mention the mental strain.

Having something inside you that you can never get rid of with such power is mentally fucking exhausting. Not to mention terrifying. One wrong move, one slip-up, and people you love could die. DS could, potentially, turn you into a villain and you might not even have the power to stop it. There’s going to be doubts if you are the one in control, or if DS is just using you as a puppet meatsuit to move around. You want to be a hero, but your quirk is skirting the lines of villainous. You can’t even use it in full power because you’re so fucking scared of losing control, of having other people see you as a villain, of hurting the people you care about, that you sacrifice power for being cautious and safe. But I’d imagine that DS doesn’t like that. DS, a being with thoughts and feelings of its own, would not appreciate being cooped up inside you for so long and you have to LISTEN to him all the damn time because you simply won’t allow him to work with you because you’re AFRAID.

I think about Tokoyami a lot. There is so much fucking potential in this boy.

Horikoshi please.

Give him more love. Give him all the love.

TL;DR: Tokoyami and Dark Shadow are fucking underrated and we as a fandom need to stop sleeping on him thanks for coming to my TEDtalk

[royal-loki]

Proof That Loki Is Alive

There’s a really good theory floating around the internet and I wanted to expand upon it. Loki is alive and pretending to be Bruce Banner. My first reaction was that it was impossible but now that I’ve thought about the evidence, I think we have a real contender for how Loki survived the fight with Thanos.

We don’t see what happens before Thanos attack’s Thor’s ship. Thor: Ragnarok ended with Thanos’ ship appearing before Thor and Loki as they look out the window of their vessel. Infinity War starts off with the many Asgardians already deceased and Thor beaten by Thanos. What happened between those moments? My theory is that Bruce, Korg, Miek and Valkyrie took half of the Asgardians on a smaller ship and escaped while Thor and Loki stayed on board and tried to defend those that were left behind. It would make sense that Hulk would offer to accompany Valkyrie because he wanted to make sure he could defend her if her ship was attacked. I think Thor’s ship didn’t try to escape to distract Thanos into not pursuing the other Asgardians. 

There was a strange inconsistency with Thanos’ power level that can be explained by Loki pretending to be the Hulk. I knew something was off when I watched Cap hold back Thanos during their fight scene in Wakanda. Earlier in the movie Thanos defeated the Hulk easily despite how powerful he was in all the other movies. Either the writers forgot how powerful the characters were or they have a secret plan. I choose to believe that the writers aren’t ignorant of their own source material. 

Before Heimdall was killed, he sent the “Hulk” back to Earth. I think that the reason why Thanos beat Hulk so easily was because Loki can transform to look like the Hulk but can’t copy his power level. Heimdall is omniscient thus he was either aware of Loki’s plan or figured it out. He sent Loki to Dr. Strange because Loki knew more about the Infinity Stones than Thor. 

Loki stayed as Bruce Banner because in Thor: Raganrok, Dr. Strange showed his reluctance to trust the Asgardian brothers when they went to Midgard to find their father. Loki probably felt that if he showed up in his true form that Dr. Strange would either attack him or not believe him about the threat that Thanos presented to Earth.

Bruce Banner isn’t able to transform into the Hulk. My theory on this is that Loki pretends to attempt to turn into the Hulk in front of the Avengers so they continue to believe he is Bruce. He knows that he would be useless as the Hulk because he doesn’t possess his power. Thus, he gets the Hulkbuster suit to help them fight in the Wakanda battle.

Another reason Loki stays in character as Bruce is because Thanos thinks he has already killed him. Just like how he pretended to be the Allfather for years until Thor revealed his true identity, I think Loki is hiding out as Bruce Banner until the threat is mitigated. 

Loki’s lines before he is killed by Thanos are very cryptic. Using words like “undying” and telling Thor that “the sun will shine on us again” implies that Loki didn’t die. Even Thanos saying “No more resurrections this time” applies to the situation because Loki doesn’t need to be resurrected if he didn’t actually die but this is a good way to throw off the audience. 

In Thor: The Dark World, we saw that as Loki was dying he started to turn gray. This didn’t happen in Infinity War. Loki’s death in the Dark World was meant to be permanent before reshoots so I’m assuming that when he dies, he changes color possibly due to him not being able to control his seiðr anymore. 

In the trailer for Infinity War, we see that the Hulk bursts out of the Hulkbuster suit during the Wakanda battle. I was wondering if they either did reshoots to change that during the actual movie once they decided that Loki was going to pretend to be Hulk. I’m basing this on the reshoots they did for Thor: Ragnarok in which they showed Hela destroying Mjolnir in an alleyway and in the movie it happens in Norway because the Studio decided to give Odin a more fitting death scene. Maybe they were planning on killing Loki originally but felt that it didn’t do his character justice so they changed it to where they can trick the audience but also still have Bruce Banner play an important role in Infinity War. 

Loki rushing at Thanos with a small dagger is out of character. I have a theory that Loki has mastered creating magical clones of himself. We saw that Dr. Strange can make physical clones of himself in Infinity War. Loki has had thousands of years to perfect his use of seiðr. For him to only conjure up a small dagger that didn’t even reach Thanos’ throat is ridiculous. 

Loki’s death served as a distraction to Thanos so he would leave the ship without killing Thor. The line that Loki says before he is killed is “You will never be a God.” Only a God like Thor could survive a spaceship explosion and floating through space without oxygen. Loki wanted to play it safe for himself and his brother. By pretending to sacrifice himself and giving the Mad Titan what he wanted (the Tesseract) he made sure that Thanos won’t pursue the Asgardians anymore. This was Loki’s best chance at saving his brother’s life because immediately after getting the Space Stone, Thanos leaves without finishing off Thor.

[mailorderfictionalcharacter]

a list of semi coherent thoughts I’ve had about mcu wanda maximoff

0.5 this post is open to discourse. if u are unwilling to see viewpoints that are pro wanda or anti wanda this is not the post 4 u.

1. wanda runs off of very powerful emotions and that’s an a + character trait. her rage fueled grief and power is just fascinating to watch.

2. ew whitewashing why do you do this to me mcu. stop. enough.

3. yeah it’s kind of ridiculous to kill the ex-ceo of a weapons company that killed your parents as compared to whoever fired the missiles or whoever ordered said military action but it’s not that ridiculous if you apply the barest modicum of generous interpretation to it.

Tony Stark was emblematic of the very destructive American ideal of we’re great and right and coming with guns. Going off of IM2, even as he was doing great things (”I’ve successfully privatized world peace”) his performance was still very um American (”no one’s man enough to go [against me]”). Like as audience members we get it but I could see how that sort of look-at-me attitude would not ring like redemption to someone in that much emotional pain. Like, you could easily read their actions as being about attacking every American/foreign influence figure head, which is sort of supported by the fact that the twins wanted the avengers down not just Tony Stark.

If the weapons were illegally sold there’s no guarantee the twins knew that Tony wasn’t responsible. It’s possible Tony leaked the truth about Obadiah after the “I Am Iron Man” press conference, but the original plan was a SHIELD coverup.

I’m not inclined to conflate profiting of our wrongs or moral ambiguities on the same moral level as instigating wrongs, but it’s also up in the air whether or not Stark Industries cared about collateral damage in the design of their weapons and that’s something the twins could legitimately blame them for. IM1 canon is a mixed bag - we have intellicrops (concern for philanthropy) but we also have, y’know the Jericho (the weapon that levels mountains)

(read more under the cut)

tl;dr: wanda is a fascinating flawed character who suffers from writing problems but she’s also wearing the name of a jewish/romani woman even though marvel studios is too much of a coward to translate that to film & i’m perpetually bitter and indecisive about everything.

4. the twins had enormous social factors encouraging them to hate the avengers/america. even american media was questioning the avengers; shield had fell; people were putting up anti avengers graffiti

5. considering the twins spent their formative years in a country at war and lost their parents I’m assuming they went through quite a few economic hardships.

6. what sort of access did the twins have to media or education?

7. I’m not inclined to blame the twins for their desire to get revenge but it is worth noting that they seemed to have very little concern for collateral damage even though the only thing we as an audience knows for certain is that the whole reason they’re seeking revenge is because of collateral damage.

8. there’s a gap of 8-12 years between the death of their parents and their attack on the avengers. no matter what mitigating circumstances there were (and I think there were a lot) that’s a premeditated crime

9. there’s a lot of parallels between wanda maximoff and kira nerys except the writers on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actually cared about Kira Nerys.

10. both of Wanda’s major fuck ups (willingly unleashing the Hulk on Johannesburg and failing to protect everyone in Lagos) happened in African countries. I believe in some suspension of belief for superhero movies but I’m not sure it’s entirely appropriate to be like hey! look at Wanda! the whitewashed character who fucks things up in African countries! such girl power! great anti-imperialism message!

(I mean, the same disregard applies to all the avengers though. I’m pretty sure the safest interpretation of Lagos is “the avengers could have done better by not fighting in proximity with a bunch of civilians” which is on Steve. And unless I fever dreamed this Steve tosses his cowl at the feet of anti-avengers graffiti in the beginning of aou and there is nothing appropriate about that).

11. Wanda was introduced in AOU, a movie with sub par dialogue and tbh I have a feeling Whedon et.al never thought through the implications of Johannesburg bc he just wanted a convenient way to introduce a hulkbuster fight.

12. tbh I really want a scarlet witch movie to fix all of this but I also really want a recast and I know I won’t get either (fanon wanda is the best because we can fix all of this with a hammer).

13. CA:CW seemed to draw on a lot of Wanda’s comic history (specifically in the oppression metaphors) but since it followed the clusterfuck that was AOU I can’t exactly give them a standing ovation for that.

14. ca:cw did a very bad job following through wanda’s plot threads from aou. tbh I’m not even team we need to stretch Wanda’s redemption arc further but idk, it might be nice if she mentioned her dead brother or tied the Lagos incident/Sokovia accords to, idk, her past living in a war zone.

15. ca:cw could’ve given me wanda wryly commenting on how luxurious the compound was compared to sokovia but instead it gave the should-be-jewish character a cross in her bedroom and fuck that marvel why don’t you just stake me through the heart so I don’t have to deal with your bullshit

16. I wish wanda in the airport scene was more about her desire to do good (go stop the supersoldiers) than the awkward oppression metaphor

17. although push come to shove I would’ve focused on poverty/american foreign intervention over calling the powers she volunteered for the source of her oppression the whole raft scene does demonstrate that people whose powers (or even training) cannot be separated like say Sam and the Falcon or Tony and the suits face a special criminal justice risk.

but this isn’t really relevant to the accords, which are not the SHRA and honestly the same ethical problem of how to incarcerate enhanced people exists whether or not someone is acting as a superhero (is it ethical to put a psychic murderer in solitary confinement if that’s the only way to prevent them from using their powers to escape or assault guards?)

18. according to beta canon/film subtext wanda & pietro did not willingly sign up to work with hydra. Just good to remember.

19. I will forever be attached to the idea of wanda liking Vision’s company because he is both practically invulnerable (not going to get shot 7 times on a floating city) and emotionally dependent on her support (just like Pietro). (this is not implying twincest btw)

20. I think wanda’s house arrest in ca:cw is not completely unreasonable (she’s probably awaiting investigation & is at risk of being hurt/hurting others from mob violence) but definitely steve (and probably natasha & sam) should be under house arrest as well. but they aren’t, and I think it’s fair to say that in universe that’s xenophobia/anti-immigrant sentiment. why be afraid of the american icon when you can be afraid of the poor sokovian woman?

21. antis make way too much of the whole “she’s just a kid line”. like steve was responding to tony calling her, a human being, a weapon of mass destruction. like, he was just trying to humanize her and calling the youngest person in a group a kid even when they’re an adult isn’t that strange.

22. in lagos wanda was trying so damn hard to stop that bomb and yes she didn’t manage it but blaming her instead of steve? uh gross.

23. how much experience does she have? yes tony stark throwing himself into superheroics worked out surprisingly well but superheroes need training

24. I insist marvel release a 22 page dissertation on wanda’s mind powers but also if I don’t like it I’ll call it not canon. (my initial theory was that she produces ptsd symptoms - even if the person normally doesn’t suffer from ptsd - but something in the confidence that she can manipulate tony before entering his mind makes me think she has slight suggestive abilities beyond fear and also thor’s vision arguably followed a different vein)

25. antis like to argue that the maximoffs only turned on ultron because it benefited them but let’s be clear the maximoffs fought ultron because they thought he was wrong and wanted to personally help. they could’ve just tipped off the avengers and left or left ultron to do whatever ultron was going to do and only fought him if he directly came after them okay the twins had options and they chose the most altruistic option.

26. ppl who say wanda isn’t really whitewashed because marvel’s decades of retcons have whitewashed her at past points are pretty much using a two-wrongs argumentative fallacy.