#alcmaeonids

[catilinas]

guy who mixes up the alcmaeonids and the achaemenids resulting in horrible terrible consequences for their understanding of the peloponnesian war

[illustratus]

Alcibiades Being Taught by Socrates by François-André Vincent

[superrman]

x

[superrman]

*insp*

[spacebuck]

okay so there’s a popular post going around that’s having a bit of a laugh at one of the moves steve did in the lemurian star sequence in catws. i’m all for finding the amusement in things but given that steve’s fighting style is an amalgamation of martial arts, one of which i have been doing for 11 going on 12 years, the whole post kinda bugged me.

so here’s an accurate breakdown of this move (under a readmore bc it got long) based on what i know, and what would happen if steve tried it on the winter soldier:

the move:

the techniques:

now it might look like he’s jumping into the guy’s arms, but there’s actually a lot going on here.

a quick background: i’ve been doing judo since i was ten, and teaching it since i was 18. judo, or “the gentle way” is a martial art that uses throws and holds rather than strikes. the idea of a throw is manipulating the body, momentum, and the centre of gravity to your own purpose. this manipulation makes it very energy efficient, and allows a smaller/lighter/weaker person to defeat a larger/stronger/heavier person if done correctly.

back to steve:

in judo we have two techniques similar to the move steve is doing here. those techniques are are yoko-wakare, and yoko-tomoe-nage (the video for the first one is for the kata so it’s kind of weird, but they show the throw before breaking it down)

both of these throws are known as “sacrifice throws” - ie. you throw your opponent by throwing yourself in a controlled way. by controlling your descent, and controlling their core (ie the stomach/hip area, and the centre of power as well as gravity), you throw the person over yourself. they’re not easy to master, especially if you don’t want to hurt your training partner (steve, obviously, doesn’t care about that).

in this sequence steve is doing what, to me, looks like a mix between the two throws mentioned, and then he’s modified it slightly on top of that by bringing it up to the chest level.

steve’s version:

what you can see steve doing is jumping up, closing the distance between he and his opponent, and gripping behind his opponent’s head, somewhere between the shoulder blades. as his body drops, he rotates himself, and, with his grip on the back of the opponent’s neck, drags him in a large circle, head first.

there are several things here that make this effective.

steve placing his weight above the opponent’s centre of gravity

steve’s grip between the shoulderblades

steve’s body rotation

the height steve has jumped to

steve’s strength advantage over his opponent

steve placing his weight above his opponent’s centre of gravity makes the opponent top heavy, and easy to overbalance. once your shoulders are in front of your hips, you tip forward if you don’t move your feet/bend your knees.

steve’s grip allows him to not only control the spine, but control the clavicle. this control means he can force his opponent’s shoulders forward - there’s no way his opponent can push his hips forward, his head back, and ride this one out.

steve’s body rotation then continues this forward direction, dragging the shoulders so far in front of the opponent’s core that the only thing he can do is fall forward. he’s accentuated this by swinging his free arm, with the shield, around in a circle to generate momentum.

the height of steve’s jump creates momentum. What goes up must come down, and steve’s using this energy he’s generating to move his opponent forward and down. steve’s drop also allows momentum to build, to the point where his opponent is throwing himself.it also, obviously, gives his opponent somewhere to go.

this technique is possible without steve’s supersoldier strength, but that makes everything easier - he knows he’s stronger than his opponent, knows he can use his strength to essentially pile drive his opponent into the ground. this isn’t required - it’s possible to do this on someone stronger than you if you get everything else right, but it would be difficult.

vs winter:

the bit everyone’s interested in right? the arm and the serum and everything that makes the winter soldier so deadly has got to pose some sort of problem to the technique above, right?

not really, no.

the original post implies that bucky’s arm would catch steve, and he’d end up in a bridal carry. this is incorrect for a few reasons:

winter’s arm is attached to his body

the strength of the arm doesn’t move winter’s centre of gravity

steve is a tactician and would modify his techniques based on his opponent

so. winter’s arm is strong, it can rip off doors and hold things up and do a lot of Strong Things. but it’s not independent of winter’s body. if something heavy suddenly lands in your arms and you’re unprepared for it, you’re going to stumble or tip forward. this is because that object is in front of you. the weight is on your shoulders but in front of them, so your body instinctively places your shoulders above the weight to best minimise the strain of carrying it.

which puts the shoulders in front of the centre of gravity.

which puts you off balance.

see where i’m going with this?

the arm is strong, yes, but strength doesn’t matter when you go from having no weight in your arms to suddenly bearing a load. it’s the suddenness that would be key here. get him before he braces himself, and he’ll tip right over. faster probably, because he’s so top heavy (thanks to the giant hunk of metal attached to his shoulder).

the fact that he’s top heavy is point number two: attaching the strong object to him doesn’t move his centre of gravity, which is still somewhere in his core. sudden load above this point? tip. control the clavicle in some way and drag forward? tip faster.

the one thing that most bugged me though is that the post implies steve would not modify his techniques for a stronger opponent. even at the start of the first fight sequence (the causeway) he’s seen winter move and work, seen the strength in the arm, seen how strong he is. what worked on your average joe on the lemurian star will not work here.

so, going high could prove beneficial, but if there’s not enough surprise it leaves steve vulnerable. the smartest thing to do in this situation would be to go low. against winter this would only really be possible with steve’s strength, but irl this would work on anyone who isn’t expecting it. therefore, if you watched the videos above, he’d be more likely to move towards a pure yoko-wakare.

getting a grip somewhere around the shoulder, dropping his weight, rotating his body, and planting himself somewhere just in front of winter’s feet? that assassin is gonna face plant and there’s not much he can do about it.

and if y’all would like me to demonstrate i’ll see if i can get an unwitting partner and a camera and i’ll prove my points (with less athleticism than steve because i’m broken af) but if you have any questions/points you’d like to bring up i’d love to hear them!

[pencap]

IMMOVABLE OBJECTS

I love you. 

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you-- I love you harder than this heart of mine can beat. I love you farther than these hands of mine can reach. I love you longer than these bones of mine will last.

Perhaps, in some other world,      where the horizons are wider than ours,      where the oceans are deeper and the stars are brighter, Perhaps this other world can encompass this love of mine,  but dear heart, all I have here are       five inadequate fingers to caress you with and      four inadequate limbs to hold you with and      three inadequate words to comfort you with and      two inadequate lips to kiss you with and      one inadequate life to love you with.

They say, dear heart, that Love is an unstoppable force,      and I believe them.           I do. It’s just that I’m also learning, day by slow day, that there are more immovable objects than I ever thought existed. 

I cannot love you into safety.  I cannot love away the nightmares that haunt your midnight sleep. I cannot love together the pieces of you that they broke apart. I cannot love us back to the past where the skies were rosier and your smiles were brighter. I cannot love us into a future where I can promise you you will never be hurt again.  I cannot love you back from Misery’s grasping fingers and Death’s cold hands.

I cannot even, dear heart,      no matter how hard my heart longs and my breath shudders,  I cannot love us into a quiet grave where we can rest,       side by side      at last at peace      together

But dear heart, I promise you this: I will try. I will try until my last gasping breath      and my last pounding heartbeat      and my last trembling step      and my last whimpering prayer.

I will try, dear heart,      until we reach a quiet grave where we can rest,            side by side           at last at peace           together.

If I cannot win against the world, dear heart,      then by God, I will not let them win against me, either. 

[superrman]

— Julia Rodrigues

[superrman]

I can save today...You can save the world

[superrman]

— Margaret Atwood,

[vulcansmirk]

I’m in your orbit now. This revolution was inevitable, wasn’t it? How foolish of me to try to flee a singularity.

alucinor 4.17 (s.s.)

[superrman]

the future’s in our hands, and we will never be the same again (insp)

[vulcansmirk]

You smiled when you saw me. You sat with me all night and quietly let me into your mind. I found out that you’re the youngest of three, that you worry you can’t support people like you should, and that there’s a chance I can be for you what you have fast become for me— a comfort. You’ve never asked for comfort. You never ask for help. You told me flat-out that you believe in taking care of yourself only insofar as it equips you to keep fighting. I understand that belief more than I can say, and I love you for it, but it makes me sad, too. You’re fighting for a world in which everyone is free and happy. In your mind, does that world not include you?     (My world, at least, would be a much grimmer place without you.)     You told me all your heroes are people who’ve been jailed and killed fighting for what they believe. You said it scares your parents because they think that’s the best they can hope for for you. Here’s a secret: it scares me, too. And I will do everything I can for you to make sure this fight doesn’t kill you.     (See, all my heroes are people who’ve been jailed and killed fighting for what they love. I think it should scare my parents, because it’s the best thing I hope for for me. You fight for the world. I fight for you. You are my best-case scenario.)

alucinor 4.17 (s.s.)

[jacquelineshyde]

i'm afraid of never sleeping again, of not hearing the dulcet of her voice, giving me a ride on a dream she's driving. there is where i can see her now, only in the dark and the calm, when not a soul makes a peep and my body gives in to peace. but i've never been good at dreaming. my eyes were not made to rest, my mind was never thought to let go. i cannot sleep with her hands away, without the smell of her love and the softness of her care, i may never sleep again. here's the only place where she exists as we were, where nothing of it happened and i held her enough to stay. even if the morning comes, at least here i can go back. but she's gone and so is my sleep. i'll never feel her again.

stay. // jackie on my mind. nc.

[superrman]

― but your heart is far too broken to realize, the unimaginable light you hold inside. [insp.]

[superrman]

I dare you to do better x

[spacebuck]

For the writing meme, if any of these strike your fancy: “Did you really just insult Captain America in front of me?” or “I don’t leave messages. If I wanted to talk to a machine, I’d talk to my VCR.”

((i’ll go with the first one, modern bucko au)) (((this got long so read-more, sorry fam ;u; )))

Send me a prompt from the list!

–

The man in front of him splutters, hands coming up, placating. Bucky’s seen it all before, in all sorts of situations. This is the more fun one.

“I asked you a question.” Bucky says, folding his arms across his chest. He raises an eyebrow, and that’s probably what does it.

“Captain America is-” the man starts, and Bucky cuts him off. “A good man, who does what’s right regardless of who’s in the White House. He was a hero before, why is he suddenly the bad guy? Because he marches against the idiot who bought himself the most important seat in the oval office?” Bucky pauses, waits. The man splutters again. He’s turning a delightful shade of red, and Bucky’s glad they’re in a busy street. Even more glad that there are at least two people filming.

“Freedom of speech” the man gasps out. He really looks like he’s struggling. Bucky could almost pity him for it. Instead, he pities the man for his ability to reason.

“Yeah, you can say what you like. But that same act means that it’s my right to tell you you’re an idiot. You just badmouthed an American hero, who has done nothing but fight for the people who believe in him, to one of the people who fought so that you could have the comfort and security to sit here and do it.” Bucky narrows his eyes, and sees the exact moment the man realises he’d backed himself into a corner. 

“A word of advice?” Bucky offers, stepping out of the guy’s space. “Apologise. On camera. Because you and I both know damned well that this video is gonna be on the internet in about three minutes.”

Bucky turns on his heel then, forcing his shoulders back and keeping his head facing forward by sheer force of will. He listens, careful, taking in the shadow placement as he walks away as smartly as he knows how. Nothing approaches him, nothing swings at him, and as he turns the corner he takes a deep breath, slumping inwards as he let it out. He scrubs his hands over his face, back hitting a stone wall as he twists, and he takes another breath.

Instead of doing something he’d regret, he pulls out his phone.

I did something probably-stupid

It only takes a few minutes for the thing to buzz in his hand again.

When don’t you?

I’m in the office if you wanna pop in and chat in person.

Bucky flexes his hand, then nods to himself, short and sharp. He straightens, heads in the direction of his friend’s - and counsellor’s - office.

–

His phone is buzzing.

His phone is on the other side of the room, and it’s buzzing.

Bucky groans, pushing himself a little ways off the couch he’s lying on, and blinks dazedly. He’s still in nap mode, trying to work out what the buzzing means as he stares at the breakfast bar, and the phone on it.

By the time he remembers, it’s too late, phone going silent just as he starts to scramble off the couch.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” he hisses, stumbling across the room and narrowly missing losing his leg in sacrifice to the coffee table gods. He fumbles his way through his unlock sequence, stares at the missed call notification blinking at him. After a second he opens his call logs, checks the number. Hidden.

Well, that’s suspicious. Bucky gives up, about to drop his phone when he gets a text. It’s a voicemail notification, number still hidden. He takes a breath, then gives in to curiosity and the nagging voice in the back of his head - one that sounds suspiciously like Sam’s - telling him not to be a crotchety old bastard.

He clicks call, navigates through the million and one menus of his voicemail service, then finally gets to the message.

There’s silence at the other end for a second, like whoever it was had missed the beep. Then. “Oh, right” and that voice sounds more familiar than Bucky’s comfortable with.

“Hi. This is Steve Rogers-” Bucky nearly drops his phone at that, because fuck but that’s Captain America. He stabilises his phone, gets it back to his ear. “-heard about what you did, what you said? I mean, it’s all over the internet now, so it wasn’t hard to find, but a friend sent me the link, and- shit, I’m rambling. I wanted to say thank you. In person if you’re willing, though I know it’s probably creepy enough that I’ve found your number and am calling you in the first place, but yeah. If you’re willing to, you can give me a call back and we can set something up, as public as you’d like.” The voice rattled off a pile of numbers, then hesitated. “If not, then thank you, honestly. Both for your service-” the comment that usually gets on Bucky’s nerves somehow doesn’t sound so bad coming from actual-literal-Captain-fucking-America “-and for sticking up for me. I’ll stop filling up your mailbox now, heh. Hopefully I’ve dialled the right number.”

There’s a click, and the message ends. The robotic voice prompts him to listen again, save, or delete it. Bucky hesitates, then grabs a pen and a scrap of a bill, and hits replay to get the phone number.

–

It takes him a day and a half to actually use it. It’s saved in his phone under Steve, probably. Bucky’s sitting in a coffee shop as the business-types all filter out, swinging the foot that’s kicked over the arm of his chair. Staring at his phone isn’t doing anything to help his predicament, so instead he bites the bullet, puts his coffee down, grabs his phone, and hits call.

It rings for a few seconds, and Bucky’s almost about to hang up when there’s a click and the call connects. “Rogers” is the business-like answer, and Bucky flounders for a second. He honestly hadn’t expected to get this far. 

“Uh,” he gets out, and it’s a little strangled. “I didn’t expect to get your actual personal number. Jesus.” Bucky claps a hand over his mouth as soon as it’s out, a muffled little groan escaping him. Yeah, the guy was going to hang up thinking Bucky’s a creep, and Bucky wouldn’t blame him in the slightest.

There’s silence at the other end of the line, then a cautious “Sergeant Barnes?”

“God, don’t call me that. It’s just Bucky. This is Captain Rogers?”

Another beat of silence, then a soft laugh that rips through Bucky like nothing he’d ever expected. “Do you think it’d be possible to convince you to just call me Steve?”

“Probably not,” Bucky answers honestly, squinting a little at the table in front of him. “I may be retired but I’ve still got some respect left in me.”

“Yeah, I worked that one out. So, you’re calling about…?” The implied question is there, and Bucky swallows.

“You left me a message, and said that if I wanted to see you in person I could call this number?”

As much as he knows about Captain America, Bucky doesn’t know anything about Steve Rogers. But even so, he can hear the smile in his voice as he responds. “Yeah, I did. When works for you?”

“I’ve got nothing on all day,” Bucky offers after a second, mentally rearranging things. Before he could regret his impulsive desperation, Captain Rogers is speaking.

“Yeah sure. I know somewhere a little more private we can go for lunch if that works for you? Somewhere the staff won’t be…”

“Starstruck?” Bucky offers, and there’s a laugh in response.

“I was gonna go with nosy, but that works too. One PM work for you? I can text you the address?”

Bucky nods, then realises how stupid that is. “Yeah, that works for me. I guess I’ll see you then?”

“I’m looking forward to it,” is the response, then there’s a click, and the call disconnects.

Christ. Bucky stares at his phone for a second, a little shellshocked. He’s going to meet Captain America.