#also technically since it gets a little shippy:

[maukree]

Masterpost with all parts Welcome back to this increasingly unhinged 616 winteriron timeline that was supposed to be a quick primer for my fic and has somehow turned into a full-blown, too-many-bad-jokes-per-paragraph alternative wiki. If you’re still reading this, you’ve either developed an unhealthy attachment to my mediocre sense of humor, or you’re just curious to see how many things I’ll get wrong, which is fine by me either way.

When we last left off in Part 4:

Tony deleted his entire brain like it was a corrupted zip file because Norman Osborn stole his job as Director of the no longer existing S.H.I.E.L.D. by shooting a dying alien queen on national television.

Bucky, now wearing the stars and stripes (and somehow making it hot—sorry, Steve), is moonlighting as “guy Tony secretly trusts with literally his entire mind.”

Steve is still dead. (But also: comic books. So, not for long.)

Peter is emotionally ping-ponging between every dad figure he’s ever had, while Nat, Sharon, and every other female is there to remind everyone that sometimes our boys do have girlfriends, which is canonically inconvenient, but somewhat relevant.

Everyone is mad at Tony, who is in a coma and technically brain-dead.

Jarvis was a Skrull. Still not over that. 

A quick note from your exhausted, ship-crazed tour guide:

This recap series has become so much larger than intended, and I am, frankly, sick of narrating Marvel events designed specifically to injure our already injured blorbos while trying to get to the fucking point. So going forward, we are skipping content unless it is:

Directly relevant to potential winteriron tension/interaction

Supremely shippy for other ships

Too sexy, sad, or stupid not to mention

So. Let’s see how far we can get in this part—from Tony's brain-melted coma to his eventual reboot, to Tony and Bucky finally working together, Steve doing his signature “surprise bitch, I’m back,” and all roads leading to Fear Itself, because Marvel can never just let anyone heal in peace, and at least I’m here for it. 

New Avengers (2004–2010) #48–#60 (ish)

While Tony is getting ready for his Sleeping Beauty arc, Bucky gathers the New Avengers crew in Steve’s old place and tries very hard to turn it into his own MCU-style Avengers compound where they all live, train, and pine for each other.

Now, since we’re aggressively cutting content unless it’s relevant to ships or breakdowns, the important thing that happens here is this: Bucky and Peter are finally in the same room. That’s it. That’s the post.

Okay, fine, a little more: those five seconds of on-screen interaction that birthed an entire winterspider ship get canon support here. Peter’s there. Bucky’s there. They talk. There are panels. They breathe the same air. I blacked out slightly from excitement, but trust—it happened.

Plot-wise, Luke and Jessica are off having the worst parenting arc imaginable, because Skrulls kidnapped their baby and everyone (and I do mean everyone) is running around 616 trying to beat intel out of any remaining lizard still in hiding. The power of friendship prevails, the baby is found (yay), and in the process we learn Bucky has allegedly never been close to a baby before (?), and Peter announces—with a lot of surprise—that babies don’t actually smell bad, which honestly makes it sound like he’s never met one either. Boys, please.

Bucky’s base officially gets named Avengers Hideout, Bronx, plot is plotting toward Siege (ugh, another Event), but the key takeaways are:

Peter keeps calling him “Bucky Cap” like it’s a cute nickname. Bucky hates it and keeps asking him to quit it.

Peter unmasks in record time—doesn’t learn from his mistakes, obviously—because he wants Bucky to see how pretty he is.

Jessica straight-up admits (in front of her husband, no less) that she was totally in love with Peter in high school on the account of him being so pretty just to point it out to Bucky, and I just… yeah.

Everyone keeps sitting down for family dinners while still wearing their uniforms, and this has so many found-family vibes it needs shit written about this group specifically yesterday. I would, but… nobody would read it.

Oh—and Issue #55 puts Peter on top of Bucky on the cover. Physically. As in: on him. And that’s the moment I briefly forgot this was a winteriron timeline and started vibrating at frequencies only my dog could hear.

But circling back: two seconds after unmasking, Peter has a small meltdown about it (relatable), doesn’t trust anyone, and wants to crawl back into the safety of full-body spandex. That said, he’s still on the team (Bucky’s real pretty too), they act as illegal Avengers, do some adventuring with Dr. Strange, fight Osborn’s evil version of Avengers, nearly die a bunch of times during cathartic superhero shit, Bucky gets to yell “Avengers Assemble,” and Peter pouts because he never gets to say it. 

The whole stretch of this is basically winterspider fanservice in disguise, and I, for one, am not complaining. But I should probably stop thinking or talking about it before I completely defect from winteriron and write 80k of Peter stammering while Bucky Cap cleans his gun.

Captain America: Reborn (2009) #1–6

Essentially the mini-run where Steve returns to Sharon through the power of eye contact with Bucky.

After all this build-up and me repeating “Steve is dead” about a hundred times, he was not so much dead as he was... time-stuck? Yeah. Marvel got tired of resurrection by cloning, so we get a super special time gun that launched Steve into his own greatest hits playlist. As the run goes on and other things are happening, Steve is bouncing around his own past like a patriotic screensaver, reliving key moments of his life on an endless loop. (It’s philosophical for like five pages and then becomes deeply boring, very fast.)

In the actual present-day plot everyone suddenly remembers that Steve was hot, important, symbolically useful, and very marketable. So, naturally, Osborn wants him, would love to slap a fresh coat of fascism on the shield, and trot him out like a rebranded action figure next to his other evil Avengers. To make this happen, Osborn teams up with Crossbones and Sin, and they start executing their weekend-at-Bernie’s plan to put Red Skull into Steve’s body.

Bucky, meanwhile, just wants his other man back. For normal, definitely not gay reasons.

What Tony is doing exactly during this specific run is a bit… unclear? Captain America: Reborn #1 dropped in July 2009, which lines up with Tony’s World’s Most Wanted, so he’s either just starting his “on the run with a dying processor” arc or already napping through it all, too medically unconscious to be helpful. If you know what happens first, congrats. I don’t care. Steve’s back by the time Tony wakes up, so let’s not split hairs.

Anyway, the bad guys get to Steve first and yank him out of the time vortex. They plug Red Skull into him like a USB drive of evil, Steve wakes up a bit wrong, throws Bucky around a little, but fear not: Stucky prevails. 

That thing happens. You know the thing. The thing where Steve sees Bucky’s pretty face and immediately has an emotional aneurysm. The Red Skull is yeeted out, Sin takes a near-fatal injury to her face (which we’re calling a literal and metaphorical facelift), and is carted off to be annoying—but now also creepy-looking and a lot less hot—in some later arc.

I am sure it will not surprise anyone to find out that Steve spends the final pages of this run brooding on the roof instead of celebrating because he’s allergic to joy and addicted to foreshadowing.

Invincible Iron Man (2008–2012) Stark: Disassembled #20–24

(Tony commits medical fraud on himself while his boyfriends squabble over his coma body)

So, post-World’s Most Wanted—triggered by Secret Invasion, public disgrace, and Bucky deciding “hey, maybe I’ll just walk away from you with everyone else for dramatic effect”—we kick things off with Tony being officially, clinically, but not quite spiritually bricked. The issue opens with him lying in a bed like a hot paperweight while Bucky, Nat, Maria, Pepper, and Thor stand around—Bucky specifically looking way too emotionally engaged for someone who hasn’t been banging Tony in secret all along.

“We bring him back. We have to.”

And may I gently remind the class that, even if we set aside my unrelenting ship brain for five whole seconds, so far in the canon continuity we have:

Tony giving Bucky the shield and making him Captain America within an hour after Bucky tries to murder-kill him

Tony designing him a suit (collab-style, no less) and protecting him from the government

No joint panels for X amount of time until battle with Skrull

Tony sending the digital ghost of himself to Bucky, labeled “do not open unless you miss me”

And yet Marvel’s official stance is: nah they barely interacted, so you don't get those panels.

Excuse me?

Then why the everloving fuck is Bucky, presumably a nearly-stranger, in this arc at all and acting like he shares Tony’s pillow every night? It’s like they want you to fill in the blanks here with shippy shit just so you keep paying for their comic books in the hopes of seeing some established heroes finally come out.

Anyway. While Tony did nuke his entire brain to protect Peter (and, like, some other heroes, presumably—but mostly Peter, even though he has no clue how pretty he is at this point), Tony, being Tony, obviously left behind a reboot plan. And that plan includes a totally chill, completely medically sound procedure that requires:

Extracting Pepper’s arc reactor, which she has for reasons

Putting it in Tony’s chest (for the first time ever in 616, so this is his MCU origin finally catching up)

Zapping him with Thor’s lightning, because we’re just skipping every actual defibrillator in the hospital

Using Steve’s shield because of symbolism

Totally normal ER behavior. Ten out of ten doctors recommend rooftop resurrection. But we won’t question comic book logic, because if we did that, well, why the fuck are we here? 

The plan is solid, let’s go with that, but there is a minor hiccup with Pepper. She’s understandably cranky—her husband Happy is very dead, and Tony had to pull the plug on him during Civil War, which sucks. Still, the moment she hits us with “why does he get to be saved?” I have to step in and say: girl. He gave you this arc reactor to save your life, your own flying suit, and your CEO badge, not to mention an orgasm the last time you’ve interacted, unless you faked it, but that's on you. At least let the man be electrocuted into consciousness without sounding a bit ungrateful.

Which Pepper does, of course, but only after Steve comes back from being freshly de-time-looped and convinces her to help. One guy already sporting a suit of Captain America by Tony’s deathbed wasn’t enough, clearly, but Tony was always an overachiever.

They take Tony to the roof of the hospital (because that’s where all high-stakes neurological procedures happen), and Thor tries to zap him back to life, but this unfortunately doesn’t work immediately. Bucky is there, by the way, hovering next to his head like a sad war widow after helping carry Tony out, and is essentially drawn just about not looking down at his face like he’s memorizing it. Again I ask: why can’t winteriron be canon? Like… gimme a What If, Marvel. What If for popular fanfiction ships would slap.

So they try, but Tony, in true diva form, is like, no thanks, not waking up today, which is valid, because emotional hurt/comfort was not invented by fanfiction. 

It takes a lot of fuckery and a few comic book issues to eventually get him to wake up, and Bucky is, sadly, not there when it finally happens, but neither is Steve (suspiciously). I am going to have to assume here that they both stepped away to get a quick break before returning to his side, and possibly shared a shower to conserve some water. 

The day is saved by Dr. Strange, who rolls into town with “Trust me, I am a doctor” dialogue, which never gets old.

Boom, Tony wakes up, the arc is over, but what follows is just… devastating. The arc ends with us realizing that he doesn’t remember Civil War, doesn’t remember fighting Steve or losing him, doesn’t remember being Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Secret Invasion. And, obviously, after all of that… doesn’t remember Bucky anymore. 

Bucky, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. But listen: I believe in you. If there’s one constant in the fandom, it’s that Tony Stark will fall in love, given literally any opportunity and no matter the roadblocks. And, yay, you didn’t actually snap his mom’s neck in this one, so you’ve totally got this. Go, ruin him a second time. For love. Come on, honey, time to move in together. 

Which they do. They do move in together. I mean, okay, technically they are both using Avengers Tower as Avengers after this (or about to), and I’m not actually clear on if they both live in it, but we’re gonna assume they do. Yes? I honestly haven’t checked, as it’s been a while, but this is your golden era of heroes (fact), we have an Avengers team in the Tower again, so let’s not dig too much into whether Bucky is ‘crashing’ with Steve for old time’s sake or not. Cool? Cool. So, it’s been established—possibly in canon, and definitely in this house—that Bucky moved in, either into his own suite in the Tower or into Tony’s.

BUT before we get to the domestic vibes and unresolved sexual tension, we have to speedrun through one more crossover Event (I know, I’m exhausted too). Don’t worry, I promised lore restraint, and for once, I’m keeping that promise. Because Siege (2009) #1–4 is blessedly short and dumb in a fun way.

So here’s what happens just after Tony wakes up without Extremis, with an arc reactor and no memories of Bucky:

Asgard is hovering over some random Oklahoma field.

Loki and Osborn go full bitch collab and convince the government that Asgard is a threat.

Steve, Bucky, Peter, and some other warm bodies show up to unfuck the situation before it becomes World War Norse.

Ares and Sentry have a deeply unchill throwdown, and Sentry tears him into ribbons. It’s gross. Ares is super dead.

Tony gets invited to the fight while still running on maybe 3% battery and a single juice box. They hand him a wrench and his old suit and say, “get in, loser, we’re going to war.”

Asgard is blown to smithereens because Tony is taking his time, but we’re not going to blame it on him, for once.

Peter gets to punch Osborn for harassing him across the last six events and ignoring the restraining order.

When Tony does show up, he turns a helicarrier into a bullet to take down Sentry, who gets a bit upset that he went all murdery again (Yes, there is a panel. Yes, it’s as stupid-cool as it sounds. Shut up and let it happen.)

Sentry, over his own edgy nonsense, begs to die, and Thor respectfully flies him into the sun for a nap before he gets resurrected in some other event.

And then—most importantly—Steve gives up the shield. The basic tone of this is: “Nah, Bucky, honey, you’ve got this. I’m busy being promoted by the U.S. government to superhero dad-in-chief now that both S.H.I.E.L.D. and H.A.M.M.E.R. are gone, so keep the shield and, while you’re at it, keep Tony. I’m over brunettes and going to shack up with Sharon for a bit.” (Which we are totally cool with, since—I cannot state this enough—we love Sharon, and this is a winteriron timeline.)

So, the end of this event kicks off: Steve being in charge of them all, metaphorically blessing their union, which leads to Tony and Bucky being officially on the same team. Working together. In close proximity. In the Tower. With shared living spaces, presumably. 

Before they fully move in together to set the scene for perfect pining, we also get a pit stop in Invincible Iron Man (2008–2012) #25, where we find out for sure that the backup Tony left was pre-Extremis. So, factory reset, for which the man is pretty much called lazy, because if there’s one thing you’d think you’d keep backups of, it’s your brain, but alas.

It takes only two of Marvel’s allegedly smartest men—Reed “I ditch my family for Tony during Civil War” Richards and Tony “I fucked up my brain for love” Stark—to build the Bleeding Edge suit, which now lives inside Tony, and honestly, I can’t believe Reed/Tony isn’t more of a thing as far as shippy shit goes, because they’ve got that bisexual genius mutual-respect-disaster dynamic, and it is right there. But I digress.

The rest of Invincible Iron Man (2008–2012) is... not really my fave. Tony tries to fix his reputation, build Stark Resilient from the rubble of his company (idk, maybe Pepper not wanting him to wake up was because she drove SI into the ground, down to one helicopter and the logo), and revolutionize clean energy. But unless it’s relevant to Fear Itself or involves Bucky being lovingly exasperated while Tony does something reckless, I’m not covering the rest of this run. We’ve got enough emotional ruin on the itinerary already. Onward.

We make another quick stop at Captain America (2004–2011) #600–605—but first, a PSA: after issue #50, Marvel smashed the legacy renumber button. Who the fuck knows why, honestly. Timeline-wise: this specific arc happens before Bucky joins the Avengers. So, while Tony is doing his thing, re-downloading trauma into his shiny new Bleeding Edge brain, Bucky yeets himself back into solo plotlines for just a second. The plotlines happening in #600 and #601–605 are those that are too stupid not to mention.

Captain America (2004–2011) #600 is essentially Vampire Bullshit (yes, really).

This issue is a flashback inside a flashback and is set during the time when Bucky was secretly working with Fury during Civil War. Bucky sees surveillance footage of Tony and Steve’s friendship break-up, immediately decides Tony is too sexy to be such a fucking idiot, and has a sadboi spiral about a vampire mission from the good ol’ days with Steve for no reason. Because, oh yeah, in 616 we have full-ass Dracula lore, and nobody warned me about it before I got invested. I am only mentioning this because people are into vampires, and the art is fire.

Captain America (2004–2011) #601–605 is more of a filler too, but it has a ton of SamBucky vibes, and there’s some wild shit buried in the nonsense.

The plot of the arc is that Steve’s wackass clone—the one who’s been running around pretending to be the original—is back and has decided he is absolutely the real Captain America. And, logically, if you’re the Real Cap, you need two things:

Your own Bucky

Some sort of epic standoff at a historical place (in this case, Hoover Dam, which Evil Clone wants to blow up)

I’ve seen fanfic with less cracky premises, but let’s not get into that. When actual Bucky and Sam show up to put an end to the clone, they immediately get kidnapped, because of course. Clone Steve forces Bucky to dress up in his old Bucky suit (not the sexy kind of forced dress-up, tragically), and there’s a moment of “haha, look at the symbolism” before Bucky’s like “absolutely fucking not,” and some fighting happens. Sam gets his hero moment, Bucky ends things messily, and the clone gets his brains ventilated.

SamBucky shippers, you’ve got a lot of material here, so go read this. Do I personally care? Not unless they’re both thinking about Tony while it’s happening.

Now, important footnote that has absolutely no business making me feel things but does anyway: Nick Fury tinkers with Bucky’s metal arm and changes it to look and feel human. Because Natasha complained it was too cold. That’s right—this man is getting tune-ups because his girlfriend wants him to be warmer during post-mission snuggles. To which I say: boo.

I mean, sure, thoughtful gestures are fine, but the arm is iconic, and Tony would never complain about it. Tony would absolutely be into the cold-metal aesthetic. He’d imply or straight-up admit that he wants to do indecent things to it. He’d design a docking port, if needed. He’d name it. The whole “warm and flesh-colored” moment doesn’t even last too many issues, because readers (and the artists, probably) were like, “bring back the chrome daddy murder limb, thanks.”

In all seriousness, Bucky doesn’t actually spend a lot of time as an Avenger, because, let’s face it, he’s infinitely sexier as the Winter Soldier, but he does officially join the team alongside Tony, Peter, Thor, Clint, Wolverine and Spider-Woman, and dutifully, suspiciously consistently hovers around Tony in Avengers (2010–2012) #1–6. Does he do much during these issues? Debatable. Is he 100% looming like a broody protector from a soulmate AU? Absolutely.

But as it stands now, Tony and Bucky officially kick off Avengers Vol. 4 together, which means all those “Bucky is an Avenger” fanfics are comic book canon, babes. Whether those fanfic authors knew it or just manifested it through pure gay desperation, they were right. And while winteriron overlap here only lasts one arc, and it’s very sad that it is only one arc, that just means there’s more unsupervised shippy headcanon space between the panels for us to thrive in. Bless.

Plot-wise the arch is a bit… meh. Let’s speedrun it too.

Steve, now promoted to Grand Poobah of All Capes, pulls a bunch of new teams together and sticks my favorite disaster OT3—Tony, Bucky, and Peter (plus Clint, but we’re not calling it an OT4 yet, calm down)—onto one team. Then he has the nerve to tell Tony he believes in him, totally trusts him, but, like, also he’s not leading the team. That honor goes to... Maria Hill. Which. Okay. Sure. Let’s put the only non-super hero in charge here just so Tony doesn’t feel forgiven yet. 

Before Tony can spiral about it, Kang busts in from the future like a knockoff Doctor Who villain he is and starts ranting about how the team's future kids are ruining everything. Whose kids, do you ask? Great question. Tony and Bucky’s? Peter’s and literally anyone’s? No idea. But the plot is essentially a “spin the bottle of disaster lineage” situation, and Kang’s solution is to blackmail them into saving the timeline or something by using a doomsday device Tony once thought of but never built. So, pretty standard.

The arc itself includes time-travel shenanigans that I won’t pretend to understand. Something something paradox. The team splits, paradoxes paradox, battles happen, and eventually they punch the right number of problems to save the future. Yay, teamwork. Whatever.

But the shippy content is shippy as shit, for real. There is touching. There is Tony telling Peter he could kiss him while simultaneously Tony doing his “I’m the smartest bitch alive” routine while clearly trying to impress someone while showing off too much skin. 

I’m going to call out specific panels next because they’re so choice, but just know this: Avengers (2010–2012) #1–6 is short but shippy.

Okay, okay, the ones above are related to what I’ve described already in regards to Steve. A tasteful sampler for Stony shippers and to confirm the plot. And I’m not gonna post every single panel of Bucky lurking in Tony’s personal space (mostly because there’s an image limit and I do respect the platform… a little). BUT. I am gonna drop the best bits below. The hovering. The loitering. The tragic staring. 

Fine, it’s not that direct, as if, but yes, the following selection should be considered evidence_for_court_dot_png. Screenshots for the soul. Brought to you by someone who has stared at these pages long enough to astral project into the Tower HVAC system where Bucky is 1000% hiding between missions, watching Tony solder wires and trying not to feel things.

Exhibit A: They finish each other’s sentences. Yeah. I know. It’s crumbs. It’s microscopic. It’s blink-and-miss-it-tier. But when Marvel gives you nothing to work with but mutual trauma of losing Steve and two panels of syncopated dialogue, it’s not nothing. That’s foreplay. We are starving in this house, okay? Let me romanticize it in peace.

Or like—okay, maybe we’re not totally starving on the Starker front here (don’t yell at me, I contain multitudes), because at one point Tony’s suit just gives up on life, he starts free-falling like a hot brick, and someone—either Bucky or Clint, the art’s unclear but my delulu ass knows it’s Bucky—screams “TONY!” out of a hole in the wall instead of, y’know, fighting the actual villains. Priorities.

Peter, a hero that he is, immediately goes full-action scramble to save Tony mid-air while Tony, mid-plummet, casually calls him “kid” (identity porn alert), and then says, “I could kiss you.”

Sir.

Peter, to his credit, declines on the grounds of delicate skin, which: fair, but also, babe… Tony would definitely shave for you. Probably exfoliate too. I promise he could make it work.

I mean, maybe Peter refuses because deep down he knows he can’t come between one true love. He sees Bucky, sticking out from a wall hole in all that glorious anxiety, and he understands the assignment. Either that or he’s just playing hard to get. I respect the drama either way, can’t help it. I am so close to shipping all four of my boys, Clint included, in any combinations. Think about it. Winteriron (duh), Starker (must), Winterhawk (practically canon), Ironhawk (I am so tempted) and, of course, Winterspider (love). I digress again, sorry. 

This one’s more of a filler panel compilation, yeah, but it still delivers. Our boys are in sync, working together like they’ve definitely coordinated some covert tactical positions before (interpret that however you want). Bucky, once again, is framed so delicately on purpose, making sure Tony tells them what he needs from him and Peter. It’s the casual “I’ve got your back” energy from a semi-stranger, y’know. As soon as this mission’s done, they should all just—you know. Fuck.

Wait—no, sorry, wrong tab. I meant: Bucky and Tony should fuck. Peter can watch. Or, like, sit in another room and wait to be invited. Whatever works for the perverts reading this, I’m not judging and only reporting the vibes.

Obviously, I’m closing out the Avengers Vol. 4 evidence folder with this gem, because yes—it has touching. As in, Tony just got a little shaken and fucked-up (as one does), and who’s right there leaning in all concerned? That’s right: Bucky “I’ll die for him” Barnes, hand on Tony’s bicep like it’s muscle memory. He’s saying “Here,” which—okay, on paper? Innocent. But in context? It’s soft. It’s intimate. It’s “Sweetheart, you okay?” levels of tender.

Let’s assume for a minute that I’m not a full-blown ship obsessed crazy person here foaming at the mouth and reading into every panel like it’s a biblical text, but even then—what the actual fuck goes through a writer or artist’s mind when they’re like, “yeah let’s frame this with Bucky gently bicep-gripping Tony like he’s checking if the love of his life is still breathing”? Huh?

Tell me with your chest that isn’t deliberate. I dare you. I’m not going to insist it’s a declaration of love disguised as casual concern, but I am saying this is basically the comics equivalent of Bucky whispering “I’ve got you” in a fanfic and then carrying Tony bridal-style out of frame. So jot that down.

Vibration intensifies.

Alright, now that we’ve lovingly and obsessively established that Tony and Bucky were officially on the same Avengers team (canonically sharing air, a fridge full of Red Bull, and Peter), and that this blessed overlap gave us just enough panel crumbs to construct an entire alternate reality fueled by ship vibes and bicep touches, let’s look at what happens after.

While Tony remains on the team after that sweet little team-up moment in Avengers (2010–2012) #1–6, Bucky straight-up ghosts. Poof. No warning. One minute he’s leaning into Tony like a man who wants to be electrocuted back to life with him, and the next, he’s vanished.

Now, I don’t know exactly why his run as Bucky Cap-slash-Avenger was cut shorter than my will to live during Civil War and Secret Invasion re-reads. Maybe it’s because Steve not being Cap wasn't working out for the marketing team. Maybe it’s—yes—because the Winter Soldier aesthetic is just too hot to retire permanently (fair). Or maybe Marvel realized Bucky can only pretend to be emotionally stable for like six issues before the PTSD starts leaking out of the boots, and if he keeps sharing a frame with Tony, the bicep touches will get out of hand.

Whatever the reason, we pivot into something incredibly juicy.

Bucky’s got some personal shit to handle. And by “personal shit” I don’t mean repressing the urge to steal Sharon’s man in Captain America (2004–2011), but being put on trial for war crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier while brainwashed by evil communists. Not gonna lie, it’s one of my favorite arcs. Fuck, the angst is unbearable and hurts so good. 

Okay, so Captain America (2004–2011) #606–610 is not a filler arc, and I know I’ve cried wolf on that like ten times already, but for real—this one actually slaps. It’s got plot, it’s got emotional devastation, and it’s got Zemo crawling out of whatever ratty purple monologue hole he’s been lurking in just to make Bucky’s life worse.

Now, Zemo’s beef with Bucky is big. Like, giant man-child grudge levels. And this beef ends with Zemo outing Bucky as the Winter Soldier. Globally. Just absolutely fucking blows his cover sky-high. Everyone sees it. Everyone knows. And it quickly becomes a problem for many people—Tony included—who now has to defend the decision he doesn’t remember making to offer Bucky the shield. 

Captain America (2004–2011) #611–615, or The Trial of Captain America should’ve been called ‘Let’s Emotionally Eviscerate Bucky Barnes for Five Issues Straight While Tony Has a Slow-Burn Breakdown in the Background’.

I’m gonna be real with you, this arc is fucking devastating. Like, genuinely painful. Not "oh no the plot is bad", but the "I'm gonna lie face down on the floor for 20 minutes after reading this and think about metal arms and unspoken love". Bucky gets thrown in prison, Tony nerfs his arm down to “just a guy” strength levels so they don’t take it from him entirely, and everything spirals from there like we knew it would.

This arc is so good, Marvel actually dropped a whole omnibus just for it. Character deep dives. Legal drama. Violence and introspection in tasteful grayscale. The court of public opinion don’t give a single flying fuck, and as far as the media is concerned, Bucky’s guilty before he even sets foot in the courtroom, because who cares about being a weaponized trauma victim when there’s a sexy scandal headline to run.

Tony is out here defending Bucky at Avengers meetings, going toe-to-toe with Clint like “Hey maybe don’t be a bitch about my sad ex-Winter Soldier boyfriend, thanks.” And you know Clint’s only mad because he sees it too. He’s like “wow, Tony’s very emotionally involved in this, should I be jealous?” (Answer: yes, always.)

Jokes aside, while Bucky is trying very hard to rot in a jail cell with dignity, Sin is out here popping up out of the woodwork again. She picks up a new himbo sidekick, goes full daddy-issues-core and decides she’s going to be the next Red Skull. She now also looks the part and there are too many panels of her making out with no face on. Ugh. She kidnaps Nat and Sam since they are Bucky’s support humans, and lures him into escaping custody for a rescue mission.

Bucky, of course, breaks out, saves the people he loves, and then walks his pretty ass right back to jail. Voluntarily. Because he wants to face the consequences. Because he wants to take responsibility. Because he’s like “yeah I was brainwashed and had zero free will but I still feel like I deserve to be punished for it” and if you’re not sobbing yet, you’re stronger than me.

Oh, and just when the trial actually goes his way—somehow—after he literally pleads guilty, and they sentence him to 20 years with time served (read: “you can go now, sweetie”), he gets deported to Russia. Because they already ran their own shady little trial in secret and decided they want their war weapon back. So the arc ends with our boy being sent to a fucking gulag just as he finds the will to want to be free, like he hasn’t suffered enough. 

Captain America (2004–2011) #616–619 is where Bucky goes to an awful-awful Russian place, mentally dies a bit, and Tony is mentioned twice so I had to read it twice.

So, America yeets Bucky back to Russia like he’s a slightly defective product, and now he’s stuck in a gulag, getting punched for sport while slowly dissociating into the cold steel of his trauma. Fun? Hell no. It is bleak. Bucky’s not doing great. There’s blood. There’s pain. There’s soul-crushing monotony and flashbacks to violence, in addition to real-time violence. And just to twist the knife, there are not one but two separate mentions that “Iron Man” might visit—as in, “Hey, maybe your hot billionaire will come get you out?” (almost). And then... crickets. Tony, come pick up your future husband from the Russian fight club before I scream.

Tony, for reasons unknown, doesn’t visit. But Sharon and Nat, being badass motherfuckers, hop on a plane to go figure out what the fuck is happening in Russia, because someone has to. Steve, for his part, is doing his own thing in the U.S., but I’m going to go ahead and headcanon that he’s spending this time babysitting Tony, making him tea, and deleting Russian headlines from the Stark servers.

Anyway, our boy Bucky is spending most of his days getting his ass handed to him in pit fights while wearing the same sad grey hoodie of despair. He’s isolated, miserable, and yet still hot enough to make the snow in that Siberian awfulness melt. He’s also being reminded that oh yeah—he trained a handful of elite sleeper agents to infiltrate the U.S., and they’re still out there, frozen like evil murder popsicles. And if he doesn’t help stop them, someone else is gonna wake them up and let the body count begin, which he eventually will do in his Winter Soldier comic book run (which I am also not covering here, but I might do a from Winter Soldier to Revolution timeline, just for fun, because you all need to know how he gets Alpine, at some point in the future.) 

In present, however, Nat’s like “fuck this, I’m done waiting for my bestie” (and I’m using his words here, because Bucky keeps calling her his best friend every ten minutes), so she punches some bad guys, wrecks some shit, and assists Bucky in breaking himself out. The whole arc is God-tier content, cross my heart. I am here for the quiet devastation in Bucky’s eyes, the offhand Tony mentions, and the subtle, soul-shattering reminder that no matter how far he runs, the Winter Soldier still owns his nightmares.

Anyway, this arc ends with the jailbreak, and, just for drama, let's say that the real prison is the guilt Bucky carries. And the other real prison is me, in hell, because Marvel refuses to just let him be held by a certain genius. But we’ll get there. If not in comic books, then in fanfiction.

So… Fear Itself. The end of the road for this entire recap. The tragic gay crescendo. The dramatic mic drop that Marvel fucked at our collective heads just when things were getting soft.

If you’ve been here since the beginning (blink twice if you need help), you now know this whole cursed journey from Extremis/The Man Out of Time to this point is essentially two parallel, occasionally intersecting trauma arcs.

Fear Itself is the moment everything unravels again, beautifully and horrifically. It’s not just about Bucky dying (kinda) or about the ship angst that comes with that (although, hi, yes, that’s here and I’m sobbing into my keyboard). It’s about him stepping out from under Steve’s red-white-and-blue shadow, finally—not to replace him, not to cosplay patriotism—but to carry his own name and start working on his own legacy to eventually ditch being Winter Soldier and become Revolution waaaay later. It’s also about Tony breaking his sobriety for… reasons. 

To me this Marvel event doesn’t just close out a plotline, but very much closes a loop. Fear Itself is where my fic (last plug) taps out, too—because yes, obviously, I take some creative liberties and give these blorbos a happy ending. 

Gather ‘round, kids. It’s lore time. Once upon a clusterfuck, Odin locked away a spooky little number under the ocean. And then, slightly less once upon a time, Red Skull decided to help Hitler win the war the old-fashioned way, flexed a casual genocide of a thousand of Namor’s people to summon some eldritch hammer of power, which immediately crashed down to Earth in a very normal "Hi, I’m here to ruin everything" fashion.

Unfortunately for Red Skull at the time, he couldn’t lift it, so this evil hammer just sat there in Antarctica until Red Skull’s deeply unwell daughter Sin shows up, picks it up, gets a makeover that does nothing to fix her very unsettling face, becomes Skadi, the herald and unlocks the real boss of the game: The Serpent. Also known as Odin’s creepy brother, also known as the OG All-Father, also known as Evil Sea Dad. And in Fear Itself #1 Odin takes one look at this cosmic horror comeback, goes “SHIT,” slaps Thor so hard he needs therapy, packs his sparkly god bags, and hauls Asgard’s ass off the planet, leaving the rubble behind like, “Good luck, Midgard, I’m out, don’t @ me,” dipping the second things got spicy just as Tony was going to use Stark Resilient to build them a new home instead of the one destroyed in the Siege and create some jobs for hard-working Americans in the process. 

In Fear Itself #2, the Serpent chucks a bunch more evil hammers at Earth, and these babies are pure apocalyptic energy designed to possess anyone who can pick them up with unresolved rage issues. Juggernaut is like “yoink, this is mine now,” Hulk gets one too and turns into the green embodiment of a nuclear anxiety attack. Titania, bless her scary wife soul, grabs one and says “I’m built for this,” and points her hubby in the direction of his. Others follow, but you get the idea. Serpent goes full Oprah, giving out divine rage steroids: You get a hammer! You get a hammer! Fuck you, everything’s on fire! Earth is then immediately on fire, and humanity’s general response is: “Uhhh hey Avengers? Y’all up?”

Fear Itself #3 is the issue that neither I nor Tony are ready to fucking process. Like, if you’ve got coping mechanisms, good for you, but I personally had to go and hug my doggo after reading it for the recap, and I will be purging my phone of those screenshots as soon as I post this.

Here’s the quick and dirty: Odin, in peak absentee space-dad form, locks Thor off-world because he disagrees with his grand plan—to burn Earth to stop the Serpent—and I’m not even going to get into that because my blood pressure is already high. On Earth, the Thing picks up one of those evil rage-hammers, but this issue is really all about Bucky.

Bucky, fresh off his Siberian trauma vacation, is back in the field, back in the stars and stripes, trying his best to pretend he's fine and definitely not still bleeding guilt from every pore or missing Tony. He rolls up as Captain America to fight Sin, who, and I say this with my whole chest, is the worst. She goes on a rant about how it's her destiny to kill him (whatever you say, twat), and then that rotting cheeto of a fascist feral child rips off Bucky’s metal arm, guts him, and beats him to death with her hammer.

I can’t even be funny about it. I mean, I will, but just know I am heartbroken, even though the dying doesn’t stick, obviously. Tony’s not on the page when it happens, but he feels it in his soul, okay? Somewhere, wherever he is at that moment, something slips from his hand and he looks off into the middle distance, because he just knows he’s lost the one person who never asked him to be anyone but himself.

That’s where we’re at. Bucky gets murdered by a Nazi in a shitty bondage outfit. Fuck you, Sin, and fuck you, Marvel, for making me go through this.

As a side note, the evil hammer powers amplify the supers who picked them up, so there’s death, carnage and all-in-all shit all over the world, with people going crazy, dying by buckets, riots, looters, etc, the Serpent feeding on fear. But who cares, Bucky’s dead.

Okay so, Fear Itself #4 is where I throw my hands in the air, say “fuck it,” and recap it alongside Invincible Iron Man (2008–2012) #503–509—because even though Bucky is dead for now, the ship goggles are still on and I refuse to take them off. Half the ship might be six feet under as far as the reader is concerned at this point, but sorry MCU, your impact was weak, and that never stopped us before.

Now, in the main event issue, we find Tony standing over Bucky’s very dead, very ruined body, and he’s got the helmet on. Which is… interesting. Because in basically every other important conversation Tony has, that helmet is off. The consensus here should be that if he takes it off, we’ll all see the tears and collapse. So yeah. He’s got it on. He’s grieving. And yes, we noticed.

Nat is openly crying over Bucky’s body too, our girl has range, Steve picks up the shield, and Thor, fresh off being grounded by his shitty space dad, shows up to help punch things. But the real butterfly effect of Bucky getting bludgeoned to death is this: Tony relapses straight after. Total coincidence. He sacrifices his sobriety as soon as he leaves the room Bucky’s in, pours a drink in the middle of a ruined world, and prays to Odin since, according to him, he’s giving him the only valuable thing he’s got left.

Eventually, Odin (who is, in fact, also the worst) transports Tony off-world to a magical forge because sure, let the sad tin man cry into the bottle surrounded by dwarves while he tries to make some weapons to help the Avengers beat the Serpent, and maybe he’ll feel better. He doesn’t. He angsts the whole time, but he does build new weapons for the Avengers, and at the end of this arc he shows up back on Earth in a new, shiny, spiky Iron Man suit, still under the impression Bucky is dead.

Next slide, please. Let’s, for the moment, stop being heartbroken because of Bucky and get heartbroken for other reasons.

Fear Itself #5–7 is three issues of watching the Avengers get their collective asses handed to them while everything explodes and hope gets dropkicked into the sun. Like, things are bad. So bad that even Peter—sweet sunshine boy, human serotonin dispenser, the kid who once tried to high-five a symbiote—starts having a crisis because he thinks they’re actually gonna lose. And when Peter loses hope, that’s when you know we’re absolutely fucked.

For a bit, Steve and Thor are out here trying to hold the line, but Steve’s shield gets smashed, and Thor takes on like five rage-hammered kaiju at once and barely crawls away with internal organs still attached. There’s a whole lotta death in these issues, and when Tony shows up, decked out in a magic-ass suit made of grief, dragging along weapons for the rest of the team, and Odin gives Thor his Ragnarok sword and armor before the final fight, Thor uses it to end the Serpent—only to go down himself like the noble himbo he is.

Technically a victory, though Sin is alive to cause trouble in some other arcs, but it’s giving zero joy. No joy to be had at the end of this event. Unless, y’know, you count Fear Itself #7.1 that—phew—confirms that Bucky is alive.

No way a babe as hot as this gets to die. Not on Nat and Fury’s watch. In a flashback, we learn that just before Tony walks into the room with his “My God… it’s true” entrance, Nat and Fury injected Bucky with a serum. In fairness, it wasn’t guaranteed to work, and they needed Steve back in the game and figured traumatizing him into reclaiming the shield was a solid strategy. Normal friend stuff.

So yeah. Bucky technically flatlined, but got better. Was it sketchy? Extremely. Did they tell Steve right away? Absolutely not. When Fury eventually spills, Steve punches him. Repeatedly. They say their goodbyes, Bucky gives Steve the spotlight back, and slinks off to his own solo title, while Tony doesn’t find out Bucky’s alive for so long. Unfair, if you ask me. Perfect shippy blind spot for fanfics, if you also ask me.

I’m not here for canon. You’re not here for canon. We’re here for the sweet, unhinged dopamine injection of winteriron endgame fix-it fanfic based on MCU anyway, okay? That’s the content we deserve. That’s the timeline we manifest. Or something. Idk, I’ve been losing the plot for the past 20k of this recap, and can’t think of anything else to say that doesn’t end up being a massive rant about how Tony and Bucky are soulmates, damn everything.

And that, folks, brings us to the end, since we are skipping that rant. I wish I could give you a chirpy little bowtie ending, but this is comics. It always gets worse before it gets rebooted. No final thoughts. Get out of here knowing that winteriron prevails either way, and in any canon/headcanon. Unless it’s some other ship, since every ship is valid.

Masterpost with all parts

[weregreatatcrime]

Chocoboy Prompto grows up to be a little jacked because he's a farmboy running around. So tempted to make things shippy solely so Noctis, meeting Prompto for the first time in years since he went on a field trip to the Chocobo Post as a little kid, can literally trip over his own two feet because he wasn't expecting his childhood penpal Prompto to be a jacked af and ensues to have a crisis over it. Anyways.

Prompto’s a bit bigger and slightly shinier than most chocobos, along with his pretty speckles. And blue eyes... which chocobos do not have lol. His beak is also a bit bigger because direct lineage from Dromornis.

Dromornis is just a golden. Fat chocobo. God. He's a Messenger, technically, but he's also the Father of Chocobos because I say so. He's also Prompto’s Father too. Wiz is Prom's Dad. They share custody and Wiz somehow gets used to coparenting with a literal god

[neurotonic]

ohhhhh wait before I start answering those shippy asks I have. ship name ideas..... might add to this when I get more ideas... but also feel free to send any thoughts and such :3c

Solaris/Fabricator/Prism - Triple Threat Self explanatory...Each of them became an antagonist at least once, and I like the alliteration too! Science Gals/Science Wives is nice but I feel bad since. technically there's another science gal in this game and she's not invited :( sorry ashley lincoln </3

Fabricator/Prism - Antidote Chaser Beverage Motif, Fabby's into poison and wine (poisoned wine?) and Prism has a recipe for a universal antidote cocktail in her puter... is this yuri? science says yes. something something finding someone as a cure to drown out all the bad stuff. I'm aware it's a bit one-sided which is, for me, the point since that's how I'd think their relationship would start out

Solaris/Prism - Solar Flare / Sunkissed Robots / Radiant Machinery These are a bit on the spot, but there's Something with the both of them having heat as a core part of them/their creations... I thought of having something to do with explosions but that feels a little mean LMAO. also radiant like the sun, or radiant like. radioactive. there's a lot of mental gymnastics happening sorry /lh

Prism/Phoenix - Bluebird / Kinetic Mocktail Credit to tumblr user solobodor for Bluebird since she used this as her roxanix art trade's filename and I Really like it.............it's simple and cutes! Blue for Prism and Birdie for Phoenix. But I also wanted to think of something with the drinks again since they've got that in common. I chose mocktail specifically since the fruit mocktail recipe card says it's 'meaningless without kinesium', and Phoenix has kinesium.. etc etc

[convenientalias]

Kdramas I Watched in 2024

A little roundup as the year comes to a close :D

First, the dramas I watched that aired in 2024:

A Shop for Killers - I wasn't as big a fan of this as I expected to be. I liked Jeong Jian, and the uncle-niece moments, but there was a lot of screentime that was just gunfights and explosions, which kind of bore me. When it comes to action, my preference is fistfights and swordfights. I also think I might not actually be a Lee Dong-wook fan; this is the third show I've watched of his, and I never quite get into the characters he plays. I'd rate it 2/5.

Bitter Sweet Hell - Ever since watching Mine, I'm always looking for the next female-led thriller that can deliver the same femslashy energy, or at least an intense and complicated relationship between two women. Bitter Sweet Hell seemed like a good bet for this, as the two leads are both women (a woman and her mother-in-law), but it never quite hit for me. It is a bit femslashy between our FMC and the woman having an affair with her husband, especially towards the end, but overall, it's not a very shippy show, and as a thriller, it never quite got me fully invested. 3/5.

Black Out - I watched this show primarily for Byun Yo-han but also because I like plots about ppl getting framed for crimes. I read the book beforehand, which led to me constantly scrutinizing it for differences lol, and there were many. Some good, some perhaps less so, but I won't go into that here! I really enjoyed the whump (lots of that in the book too) and I loved Geon-oh's character, who barely appears in the book but here actually got some screentime. There are a LOT of terrible people, of course; probably the majority of the characters have committed some crime they are trying to cover up, and after a certain point, you're constantly watching them rip into each other and throw each other to the wolves. Barely anyone makes it out intact. I would recommend this one! 4/5.

Queen Woo - The first few episodes of this show are amazing. Beautiful costumes, political intriguing, complicated relationships, and a villain played by Lee Soo-hyuk who comes across as both sadistically evil and rather pathetic. Then the second half of the show is consumed by chase scenes and fight scenes, and the political intrigue kind of gets confusing and falls apart, and Lee Soo-hyuk barely shows up anymore, and the female lead's character goes from survival mode to girlbossification. This show infuriates me in a way only a show with great potential could. I still love the first few episodes though. Queen Woo/Go Bal-gi forever. 2/5.

The Trunk - I'm not sure what to think about this one. I really liked the two lead actors, Seo Hyun-jin and Gong Yoo. The atmosphere of the show (especially at the beginning) is strong, in turns mellow and tense, very absorbing, a bit slow paced. And the exploration of two people cohabiting, in a "marriage" that is at first stiff and impersonal but that slowly becomes something more. At the same time, I'm not sure I buy the central relationship as much as the show wants me to--I'm not sure I'm convinced that either lead would get over their past so quickly, or that these two really could not just be interested in each other but love each other. Maybe they just sold a tone of estrangement and nostalgia too hard, idk. I also don't love the way the second female lead is portrayed less and less sympathetically as the show goes on--the last episode tries to dial it back, but she's become very flat by that point. So, mixed feelings all around. I'd recommend more for vibes than for plot. 3/5.

When the Phone Rings - I'm only 2/3 through this one so I won't rate it yet, but so far it's been good. I love the identity porn and the complicated central relationship. Also the representation of mute and deaf characters, though I'm not sure the female MC would technically be called selectively mute, as she seems to be able to talk and chooses not to. In any case, the sign language is a cool aspect of the show. And I hadn't seen Yoo Yeon-seok in anything since Mr. Sunshine, so it's fun to see him again! (I also hadn't seen Byun Yo-han in anything since Mr. Sunshine until Black Out, so I'm associating these two shows in my head lol.)

Shows that didn't air in 2024 that I watched this year:

Circle - This was my fourth time watching this show lol. I think I've said all my feelings about this show before but!!! ITS SO GOOD. There are lots of shows that play with a split timeline, showing half the show in a flashback and half in the present, or just a short flashback every episode, but I've never seen a show use the format as successfully as Circle. The way it uses the separation of time as well as space to show the longing of two separated brothers to find each other; the way events in the past are slowly revealed at a pace that makes sense given what's going on in the future. The fact that the future portion has a significantly different setting in a dystopian sci-fi city, and the very existence of this city ties into what happened in the past. THE ACTING. Yeo Jin-goo and Kim Kang-woo at their best! AMNESIA. MIND CONTROL (of sorts). ALIENS. This show truly has everything. I know it came out in 2017, I KNOW I have recommended it a hundred times before, but I am never over it and yes, that's right, I'm not over it now either. Not only 5/5 but 100/5 To Me.

Crime Puzzle - This show? is not? good? Speaking of shows that use a bunch of flashbacks, that happens here too, but? it's just not well done? It was so boring I can barely remember what happened in it, and just... not satisfying. My favorite character died. The answers to certain mysteries were kind of obvious. I feel like the central relationship could have had Flower of Evil vibes if I had cared about them at all, but the chemistry was simply not there. 1/5.

The Deal - Kidnapping show! Kidnapping show! I LOVE KIDNAPPING it is my favorite trope of all time. And I don't know if I've ever seen a show that was as purely "Hey, wanna watch a kidnapping go wrong and everything be whumpy and fucked up" as this one. The two kidnappers and the kidnap victim are equally protagonists of the show, and both sympathetic. You just want them all to somehow come out of this situation okay and yet everything is constantly going wrong and the longer the show goes on, the more emotionally unstable everyone gets. Incredibly shippy between all the main three characters. I AM BEGGING YOU TO WATCH THIS SHOW. mostly bc I need more fanfic but also I would settle for just more ppl talking about it. 5/5, the best show that I watched for the first time this year.

Jirisan - I'd recommend this show primarily for the atmosphere and setting. It takes place on a mountain (Jirisan) and is about rangers trying to save people from life threatening accidents (and also murder). There's just so much panning over the landscape and it's absolutely gorgeous. Lots of hiking etc. As a thriller, it's decent; the setting leads to different sources of tension than usual, a lot of man vs. nature rather than the usual man vs. man conflict of the average thriller. But also a certain amount of detection and investigation. Also, one character spends a certain amount of the show as a ghost!!!!! which is very cool but I won't give too many spoilers on that. The only downside of this show is that the pacing can get kind of slow if you binge watch it due to the aforementioned focus on the beautiful landscape. 4/5.

Pale Moon - I rarely watch a show focused on an affair that I actually like, but Pale Moon really did it for me. Part of it's the acting. Kim Seo-hyung in the lead creates a quiet, withdrawn character who sort of steps out of her life and starts creating the world she would want to live in: A younger lover rather than her distant and dismissive husband, a lover she can pamper with her own money rather than accept money from submissively. But it's fake - the money is embezzled from her job at a bank, and the lover, at first awe-struck by her and utterly infatuated, becomes less the person she loves the more support she offers him and the more success he finds on his own. Money courses through the show, enchanting and corrupting all the characters. The minor characters are also great, especially the MC's best friend, played by Yoo Sun. And the ending, while not entirely tragic, is still emotionally devastating (or at least, it devastated me). 5/5, maybe not for everyone but I think more people should try it out.

I also watched a lot of Korean movies this year! I won't go into too much detail here but I did rank 15 Park Sung-woong movies here. TLDR everyone should watch Daemuga, For the Emperor, Method, and New World. Apart from that, a brief summation:

In Dream (2023) - Spooky dreamwalking, but basically your average serial killer thriller apart from that. 3/5.

Love and Leashes (2022) - I came for the femdom and I did enjoy it but the structure of the plot is still very man-pursues-woman, plus the femdom in question barely seems to enjoy BDSM. So, it wasn't quite what I hoped. 3/5.

The Night Owl (2022) - Spooky happenings and Murder in Joseon. Lots of political intrigue. 5/5.

Tomb of the River (2021) - I just wanted to see Jang Hyuk in a gangster movie and I did get that. But the plot was not so strong, and after all the Park Sung-woong movies I watched this year, my standards for gangster movies have gotten higher. 2/5.

Burning (2018) - Have you ever watched a Murakami adaptation and said to yourself, yeah, that sure seems like a Murakami? I hadn't until this year but now I have. That said, it did make one change that, without having previously read the short story, I could completely pinpoint--there are some things Murakami just doesn't do. I liked the change, though, and I liked this movie. 4/5.

The Divine Move and The Divine Move 2: The Wrathful - I like watching people play go and murder each other in convoluted ways. Both these movies are a bit ridiculous and over the top, but I enjoyed them! And Woo Do-hwan is in one of them :D. 4/5.

Old Boy (2003) - Wins the "most fucked up movie I've watched this year" award. If you know, you know! 4/5.

Overall, I had a good year for kdramas and Korean movies both. The dramas I would recommend the most would be: First and foremost, The Deal, more people need to watch it ASAP. After that, Pale Moon and Black Out were really good; I also would recommend Jirisan but you do need some patience!

I hope you watched good kdramas this year too! We'll see what the next year holds :D <3

[thousand-winters]

Pal, I hope the cats are doing well!! I have fanfic questions for you! 5, 7, 20, 27, 36, 48, ok I gotta stop there's too many good questions haha

Hi, friend!!! They're very good, they have been cuddling on my bed these past week because it has been so incredibly cold, so they're living their best lives haha. I hope you and your cats have been doing as well as you possibly can, given the circumstances 💖

It does have some amazing questions, it's hard to decide what to pick when it comes to asking. But let's get into that haha.

5. How many wips do you have?  What fandoms/pairings are they for?

... Oh, boy. Let me count them, haha. There's...

4 I have pending for Dadrius week (crying, by the time I'm done with that, it's going to be the next Dadrius week, surely). Do I count the two multichapters I have going on? I'm not going to, just to give myself some grace ahaha.

For MP100 I have one silly little idea for Reigen's birthday, one Dimple centric fic that I'm struggling for my life with because his interactions with Reigen keep coming out flirty, one silly Terumob inspired in a Mean Girls song, and the "Reigen pulls an Eda" fic. I technically have more but shhhh, only picking the ones I have faith in. So that's another 4.

And then finally for Saiki K I have vampire Kaido that I need to finish for Halloween but we'll see what the gods say about it, the Aren intervention™️ that I might turn shippy out of spite, and then Hairo getting burnt out. So 3, surprisingly not that much yet. I'm refraining from any Teruhashi ideas because I know I'm not gonna shut up with her.

That gives me a total of 11 things without counting multichapters I have to update. Not too bad. I think. Help me LMAO.

7. Post a snippet from a wip.

Reigen pauses all of his movements and looks up from his game, one eyebrow raised. “Unless… you really like my company, I guess.” Dimple huffs. As if.  “In your dreams.” “More like my nightmares.” “You would be lucky to have me in your nightmares.”

Why does it sound flirty. Am I going crazy. Help.

20. Do you prefer writing AUs or canon fics?

Canon fics, I think. I like exploring the possibilities and it's honestly less of a headache to have certain things about the characters already established rather than to have to think about how a new background has shaped their life haha.

I really, really enjoy AUs, but in terms of what's easier, canon is always good to play with, especially when it's a fandom in which there's a lot to explore and usually that's the case.

27. What area of writing do you feel strongest in?

Mmmm... the sequence of events, if that makes sense? Like I'm generally good at picturing how one thing gets from one point to the other, which might not say much about the way in which I actually write it when it comes down to it, but I do think it's important to have a grasp on how you get from point A to point B, and I think I'm good at that. If it ever feels rushed, that's a problem of my descriptions and redaction, not the plan in my head, I believe haha.

36. What fic are you proudest of?

The stars too, they tell of spring returning continues being my baby. I've been re-reading it in the hopes I can get back to it soon and oof. I went off with that one, it has a good amount of tension and it doesn't stall too long in unnecessary bits in my opinion? I don't know, I just like it. I did start writing the next chapter, it's just a matter of time, we'll get there!!!

48. Who is your favorite character to write for?  Has this changed since you’ve started writing for that fandom?

Darius Deamonne my beloved. I do think I need to make him a bit bitchier haha, I have made him far too soft lately, and while I do believe he's a sucker for his loved ones, he's also a bitch in the best of ways. But anyway, this says your favorite and not the one you write the best so I stand by the fact it's Darius, he's just fun in all of his little complexities, his snarkiness and his softness and his vulnerability. I love him madly.

My favorite to write for used to be Hunter, for sure. Now with him I think it was in part because he's easy. He's so terribly traumatized that I always joke with my friends that you can project some things on him and chances are it'll stick because he has all the issues in the world, poor tang haha.

Thanks for the questions, friend!!! From this ask game

[whereonceiwasfire]

Landing Zone

Figured it was about time I finally did one of these, so hey, hi, hello, I'm Rees (a.k.a. WhereOnceIWasFire). You can find some general info about me, and a masterlist of fics in this post!

GENERAL

Any pronouns

I write fic (masterlist below the cut)

My brain has been chemically altered by: Danny Phantom and DBZ (though I typically keep Dragonball posts to my sideblog)

My DMs/inbox are open! Send me things, I'm friendly, I swear!

I'm always open to prompt requests (though I don't do crossovers). Feel free to leave me something in my ask box, and I'll get to it when I have a chance/if it sparks an idea!

FICS

(tags can be found on ao3)

Finished Fics:

Overshadowed - Long ass (140K) College AU, No One Knows, heavy angst, mystery w/ horror elements, mostly happy ending, but I also left it a bit open/ambiguous. I MIGHT write a sequel one day. Everything's Fine (And the Boss is Totally Not a Cryptid) - Outsider POV, intern gets hired at Vlad Co., shenanigans ensue. Oh so many Dracula references. H(a)unted - Weird, angsty little Ghost Hunter Danny AU. Separate Danny and Phantom. ALT ending. I have some ideas percolating to continue off the alternate ending. The Hazards of Being Hot High AF - Shippy Popular Psychology (Jazz/Dash) oneshot I found in my fics folder. Jazz visits Dash in the hospital after a football injury. Elementary, My Dear Fenton - Ecto-Implosion fic. A goofy comedy-mystery where Danny and the trio try to track down who left an anonymous gift in his locker. They get WAY too into it.

WIPs:

Not So Bitter Reunions - AU, canon divergence, badger cereal. The college reunion goes decidedly less off the rails than in canon, leading to some nefarious consequences. I'm just kind of vibing with this one. High School's a Beach - **AGIT SPOILERS** Dan's in high school. This one is so very unserious, but I think I've got a few more chapters left in me. Needs Must (When the Devil Drives) - Canon divergence. AU. Vlad and Harriet reconnect at the college reunion, but since Vlad's technically an evil spirit, he's adversely impacted by things like salt, windchimes, running water, etc. Bad News (Vlad/Harriet) shipfic. I just...I think they're neat. Bearer of Bad News - Post Phantom Planet (not AGIT compliant). Bad News fic because I have an illness and these two live in my head rent free. The GIW enlist Harriet's help in preventing Ghost King Danny from destroying the earth.

Drabbles/Ficlets:

DannyMay 2022 - I don't remember any of these being particularly good, but they do exist. I very much did not last the entire month. Drabble Dump from Tumblr asks - this is just what it sounds like. Though, in general, I'll probably start trying to post oneshots and/or collect the separate, individual Tumblr ask ficlets on this post now instead of just clumping them in a drabble dump on ao3. Monsters Don't Exist - horror vibes. AU. Vlad didn't peace out after the accident and he's keeping his enemies (Maddie and Jack) close. Jazz suspects their babysitter, Uncle Vlad, is more dangerous than everyone else in the family seems to think. Cheese Melt ficlet - Outsider POV. Dani has a parent-teacher interview. Cheese Melt ficlet #2 - Dani doesn't like the toy she got at Nasty Burger. Vlad gets her a new one. Badger cereal ficlet - No one knows AU. Danny works as a cashier and Vlad accidentally outs his supervillain indetity by infodumping to him when Danny makes idle customer-servicey smalltalk.

Unwritten/Unposted:

I'm not going to list out all my filenames and ideas, don't worry lol. But I do have a couple (*cough* couple hundred *cough*) ideas percolating or half written in my fics folder, so that is a thing. I want to jump on WIP Wednesday and such, but like. IDK. Feel free to ask/harass me about my unposted WIPs too, I am motivated by peer pressure.

[addictedtostorytelling]

hi aj! i just came across all your meta and headcanons (which i love btw) and i'm sorry if you've been asked this before, but what's your favorite gsr episode? and what's your favorite sara episode? i'm just curious because you really get the characters very well so i wonder about your favorite scenes. love your fanfiction btw! keep writing ❤ and meta-ing! ❤

hi, anon!

thank you so much for your kind words! ❤ i'm so happy you like my stuff. i also very much appreciate the encouragement on the fic and meta!

to answer your question:

can i cheat a bit and give you two favorite gsr episodes?

my favorite-favorite gsr episode is 04x12 "butterflied" (which, coincidentally, first aired twenty years ago yesterday, on january 15th, 2004). it is, to my mind, the most technically perfect teleplay in all of csi.

one of the rare examples of an episode that places grissom and sara's relationship "front and center," it is nevertheless remarkably subtle, still operating mostly on a subtextual level. until grissom gives his monologue at the end, he actually speaks very little throughout, and yet his emotions couldn't be louder. likewise, though we get very few actual interactions between him and sara start to finish, they couldn't be more conscious of each other, orbiting around along concentric paths like two celestial objects trapped in the same gravity. grissom's haunted, heartsick looks alone are worth the price of admission, but of course the pièce de résistance is his monologue at the end—and then the gut-punch reveal to the audience that sara listened in on the whole thing. the episode really is peak angst done well and a watershed in terms of grissom and sara's relationship.

that said, "butterflied" is also not super cheerful or happy-shippy, so i will also offer up my favorite feel-good gsr episode, which is episode 02x16 "primum non nocere"—or as i like to call it "gsr: flirting on ice." truly, nothing beats the iconic "since i met you" scene, but there are also myriad other delightful little grissom and sara exchanges throughout, from them tag-teaming to give greg a rough time to them making eyes at each other while processing bedsheets. this episode is very much one of those "married before they were married" episodes, and it's one i tend to watch whenever i just want to enjoy my otp being stupidly in love with each other.

as for my favorite sara episode, i've gotta go with episode 08x01 "dead doll." sara's escape from natalie davis's deathtrap showcases everything i love about that girl, including her gutsiness, rawness, intelligence, resilience, vulnerability, stubbornness, and irrepressible survival instinct. i'm especially fond of the scene just before sara finally passes out at the side of the highway, where she's walking through the desert, doing simple math problems to keep herself conscious. forget "damsel in distress;" sara saves herself, and jorja fox delivers a masterclass performance in the process.

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

[flowerslut]

for the writer ask: 💞 🎙

💞what’s the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

plot plot plot plot PLOT. anyone who has read my fic also knows that I am a big worldbuilding girlie, and I think writing good characters comes pretty naturally to me, but if I am writing a fic that doesn't have plot? it hardly even sounds like me.

it gets me in trouble sometimes because I'll write a one-shot or a shorter fic that very clearly sets the stage for more potential material—that I do not want to create—and then have people asking me for more, because obviously they see that, too.

fun fact @perihelions-crew didn't realize that cotn was a romance/'shipping story' because, and I'm fucking quoting them here, "I didn't think you wrote shippy fic because you actually write interesting stories with plot" and I think about that every fucking day

🎙️which one of your fics would you like someone to make a pod-fic of?

I was actually in the process of making a podfic out of the hunted a few years back but I didn't get very far into it before I stopped working on it. a call of the night podfic would be fun but thats so fucking long that I would never want someone to have to spend months doing that arduous task.

I think when the moment ends would be fun since theres very very little dialogue in it and it's a fic that operates pretty heavily on Vibes. also north star. because I love north star so much. any additional medium for it would just be another way for people to consume it. and i'm always ravenous for more people to read it.

fic writer asks

[squirrelno2]

This is a very nothing little piece of fluff, but I love them and I'm trying to get myself back into dragging them through hell for the clone rebellion fic. so! Here are my ocs Sneak, Nali, and Nine as they would be post-clone wars in the canon universe. the galaxy may have gone to shit, but they've got each other. (fun facts about them/their circumstances after the cut)

Sneak’s leg was asleep. He grimaced, forcing it up and down a few times. One of Nali’s lekku slipped off his knee, but she didn’t budge.

“I’m napping,” she grumbled, swatting the air over her head. Sneak looked beseechingly at Nine.

“You’re the one who adopted a stray,” he said airily.

“You’re the strays,” Nali said, eyes still closed. “This is my ship, remember?”

“And that’s his lap,” Nine said. “You’re not wearing the thing Splatter made you.”

“You mean the shoddily crocheted headdress? Splatter seems to think I have three lekku,” Nali said. “Either that, or he mixed it up with a pair of underwear he made for someone with a tail.”

“Considering he only knows clones and you, that seems unlikely,” Nine mused. “Maybe the phantom lek can be a thrilling new style.”

“Fashion is nobody’s strong suit on this ship,” Nali said. “And I’m happy with it that way. We may be smugglers –“

“Pirates, really,” Sneak said.

“Smugglers who dabble in piracy, but fashion is the really cutthroat industry.”

Nine laughed, tipping his head back against the wall. Sneak gave up on sitting comfortably and laid his arm across Nali’s chest. She swatted at him again and rolled over, holding his arm to her like a blanket.

“I’m never getting up, am I?” Sneak said.

“No,” said Nali and Nine at the same time. Nine tipped sideways so his head was on Sneak’s shoulder. Sneak resigned himself to being the communal pillow.

“I hate you both,” he said without any hope of affecting the situation.

“Don’t fucking lie to me,” Nine said.

In the clone rebellion Nine doesn't get to spend much time on Nali's ship, but in canon they don't have to run around overthrowing the government so when he finally gets out of Krell's clutches he gets to go on adventures with Sneak and Nali.

Splatter is a clone I've written a little about on here before, and technically he's been introduced in the clone rebellion fic but not by name; he's from Krell's unit as well, and joins the Vyla crew with Nine and another clone named Tilt

Splatter likes art of all kinds. She is also terribly bad at it. this does not stop him from making people awful sweaters and things

this is not intended to be shippy in any way - Nali and Sneak are in a qpp that occasionally gets sexual for fun and as an extension of the trust they have for each other, but Sneak is aromantic and Nali just Does Not Want romance in her life these days. Nine and Nali are often a little weird about each other, since they're both Sneak's Important People and they have Trust Issues, but they like to gang up on him. it's how they bond

it's not all fun and cuddles, as they're definitely continuing the work they did before with helping deserters but now with knowledge of the chips (more on that... sometime?) and rebelling against the empire in general, but this era lets them breathe in a way the clone rebellion au really doesn't, since they don't have to be in charge of anything beyond themselves

[quinnthebard]

WIP ask game <3

In a new post, list the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Thank you @did-you-reboot for the tag! (and terribly sorry for the HUGE delay)

I didn't think I had that many wips and now I've opened my scriv folder and I am horrified soooo, let's take a look beneath the cut lmao

anything you can do (I can do better) Gale / Tav BG3 fic one shot collection document. I technically posted one of the things in there on AO3 but the plan was to just post little snips of their nonsense because I think Gale is neat lol

Eclipse Sequel pretty self explanatory, the sequel to my WolElidibus fic that I don't even think I really started? Let me open and... There's two paragraphs? More than I expected tbh lol

Eminne Fic also pretty self explanatory. I wanted to write a Wol/Estinien fic for one of my alts but I didn't do much with it. I occasionally open it when I do have an idea but it's pretty bare

Estinien gets plowed by catboy G'raha / Estinien NSFW pwp. Yep.

Heartless The original file for my entirely original fantasy book I started. It's been since abandoned and replaced with a different scriv file.

Home I honestly don't know if I posted this anywhere. It's a WoL/G'raha one-shot that's mostly Q'wynn contemplating what home means for her. I don't remember writing this at all lmao

like the dawn 8th Umbral Calamity AU where the Ironworks failed to wake G'raha and he only did so himself much later in the timeline. Reincarnation / obviously canon divergent and Wol/G'raha. The first few chapters are on AO3 but this gets updated very sporadically oops

nald'thal I think this was meant to be nald'thal smut. I'm too scared to look.

original fiction maybe not the document I mentioned under Heartless. I don't know what this is lmao Rolan is neat Rolan / Tav fic dump where I just put ideas I have for shippy nonsense between him and Zapheria, one of my OCs lmao

Siren's Lament Actually titled Siren Song on AO3. Still a WIP. I have a lot written but not edited and real life has been a bitch so it hasn't been touched in a long time and I FEEL BAD

Stone, a working title The ACTUAL document for that original fantasy book I started writing.

tomorrow and tomorrow, evermore A post Endwalker fic that was just supposed to be cutesy and my version of the post expac content. Some is on AO3, I haven't looked at it in a long tiiiiiime

[haleshe]

prompts. wishlist. edits.

#  HALESHE  :  INDEPENDENT,  SELECTIVE  &  PRIVATE  PORTRAYAL  OF  LAURA HALE,  ORIGINALLY  ROOTED  IN  TEEN WOLF,  WRITTEN  AS  A  FANDOMLESS  &  MULTIFANDOM  CHARACTER.  TRIGGERING  MATERIALS  AHEAD,  PROCEED  WITH  CAUTION.  adored  by  shelley  —  31,  pst,  low  activity.

also at: @divienity, @fairchield, @l1ghtwood.

⟢ rules.

001.  first  things  first,  my  activity  is  incredibly  sporadic  and  slow.  my  muse  is  fickle,  and  i  work  nearly  full  time  as  a  starbucks  supervisor  with  a  schedule  that  changes  weekly.  i  don't  always  have  the  energy  to  be  around,  and  i'm  not  going  to  force  myself  to  be.  you  can  always  find  me  on  @divienity.

002.  laura's  technically a canon character and belongs to jeff davis because of that, but i've been developing her for years now, and she's basically an original character since we get very little info on her!   all headcanons, development and the like belong to me, and at this moment, i am not duplicate character friendly because of how much work i've put into her.  she  is  also  been  adapted  to  fit  multiple  fandoms  such  as  the  vampire  diaries  universe,  the  hunger  games,  teen  wolf  and  more,  so  if  you're  not  familiar  with  her  canon,  that's  okay!  i  can  easily  adapt  to  just  about  anything.

003. laura's development is heavily tied to headcanons and a lot of ideas of my own, and there are many side characters that are featured on a sideblog to this one, @herpack. you don't have to follow that blog and interact with it, but just saying, it could be fun! a lot of those characters will also be mentioned here and there when it comes to furthering laura's story, so if you're lost, you can find the characters important to laura's development there.

004.  this  blog  uses  the  beta  editor  only  and  uses  xkit  rewritten  as  a  form  of  trimming  reblogs.  please  use  the  same  when  it  comes  to  our  threads!  my  icon  border  is a mixture of elements  by  ariapsds  & creationcolor and  the  coloring  is  by  weirdestwitch.   icons  made  with  caps  downloaded  from  screencapped,  or  downloaded  and  made  by  myself.  sometimes  gifs  are  used,  and  those  are  found  through  the  actor  gif  hunt  tag  on  tumblr!  creators  will  be  properly  credited  as  i  use  them.

005.   i  use  double  space  and  small  size  text,  but  i'll  happily  match  your  use  of  big  text  if  you  like!  i  don't  do  anything  very  fancy  with  my  formatting  though,  and  i  ask  that  you  don't  go  too  crazy  with  replies  to  me  so  i  can  read  it  easily.

006.  i  love  shipping,  and  laura's  such  an  easy  character  to  ship  with,  so  please  feel  free  to  send  me  shippy  means  to  test  the  water!  i  would  absolutely  adore  to  explore  a  romantic  dynamic  with  you.

007.  if  i'm  following  you,  i  want  to  write  with  you.  i  don't  mind  if  it  takes  a  while  to  get  to  it,  but  i  do  ask  that  there  is  some  interaction  ooc  so  i  know  you're  interested  in  writing  and  aren't  just  treating  me  like  a  number  in  your  follower  count.

008.  lastly,  have  fun!  it's  no  joke  when  we  say  this  is  a  hobby  and  not  a  job,  and  i  hope  it's  treated  as  such.  also,  stay  hydrated!

[violetsareblue-selfships]

himeko, serval & blade for the ask game :3

hi hi mika!! ty for the ask! this got long so under a readmore :3

Himeko:

Sexuality Headcanon: Either a lesbian or bisexual… idk I just know she likes girls so~

Gender Headcanon: Honestly, I don't have one? I tend to see her as cis

A ship I have with said character: Is it too early to say me yet? Even if she's still only a potential f/o lol; also I've seen some faint art pieces for her and Kafka which were fun so that's an option

A BROTP I have with said character: The Express Crew - Welt, Dan Heng, March, Pom-Pom, and either Caelus or Stelle - they give such a good found family vibe ^-^

A NOTP I have with said character: I don't have one for her

A random headcanon: She can draw really well! She likes drawing out landscapes of planets that she visits (or if she can't while she's there - she canonically has a good memory so she'd do it as soon as she gets on the express afterward).

General Opinion over said character: She's very pretty!! I can't wait to pull her in-game and also I wanna see her go on a mission with us like Welt currently is <3

Serval:

Sexuality Headcanon: Lesbian - I literally cannot see her with a guy lol

Gender Headcanon: Again I don't have much of one, though, genderfluid would be interesting with her

A ship I have with said character: Again, is it too early to say me? Lol, but also there was something there with her and Cocolia when they were younger

A BROTP I have with said character: I love the dynamic between her and Gepard like so much! (also putting the literal meaning of 'bro' in brotp here lol)

A NOTP I have with said character: I mean, there's an obvious no here (as mentioned above) beyond that… I don't have one.

A random headcanon: Whenever one of the kids from the Underground comes to her, she'll sing/play guitar for them even if she doesn't have a gig planned for that day.

General Opinion over said character: She's so cool!! I really love her whole aesthetic and her little singing idle animation just <33

Blade:

Sexuality Headcanon: Demisexual

Gender Headcanon: Like Diluc he's either cis or trans in my head :3

A ship I have with said character: Me~ - Kafka is also an option but given what I know of lore it also isn't lol

A BROTP I have with said character: the other Stellaron Hunters! So Kafka, Silver Wolf, etc.

A NOTP I have with said character: I don't think I have one again. I'm not usually picky when it comes to ships lol

A random headcanon: He loves watching cute animal videos (specifically like baby animals) but he won't ever say it out loud. Like he'll watch any that I send them and never complains that I send them so :3

General Opinion over said character: Loml literally. He's the exact character I fall for no matter what and his voice is already <33 so 10/10

[nighttimeebony]

A collection of my thoughts, reactions, predictions and whatnot that I had and wrote down while I was reading The Sea of Monsters. So spoilers for that under the cut.

EDIT: part 1, part 3, part 4, part 5

Ah, I just now realized that Percy’s sword, Riptide, is another nod to his Poseidon heritage

Where the hell was this kind of school when I was Percy’s age? You don’t get grades, and you just get to blow shit up in science class?? I fucking wish

Tyson kind of reminds me of some of the special ed kids I knew in elementary school. Or kids with low-functioning autism. That’s probably what Percy figured, too, since he didn’t know that Tyson was a cyclops at first. Percy is such a sweetheart, and he does his best to treat Tyson kindly and to protect him from bullies. And he does it not to feel better about himself but because he wants Tyson to feel better. And he doesn’t just protect Tyson and leave him alone afterwards and hope he doesn’t talk to him. He genuinely considers Tyson to be one of his friends and he cares about him. I just. I love this kid.

Ah, yes. Tantalus. I remember you. Your son had sex with Percy’s dad.

I like that whenever Percy sees Grover in a wedding dress, he says nothing about the fact that Grover is a boy wearing a dress, he’s just like, “bro, that does not fit you at all, you need a size 9 at least before we can call it kosher”. I love these kids.

I like Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf. I imagine that they're a couple, because it would be a cute reference to the fact that Aphrodite and Hephaestus are technically married. In a very crack shippy kind of way.

I just now realized that the name of Luke's sword (Backbiter) was foreshadowing for his inevitable betrayal. Backbiter is a term used to describe someone untrustworthy, or used to describe a traitor. It’s basically a synonym for “backstabber”. The trickster Norse god Loki is actually frequently referred to with the epithet Backbiter. It could also be a reference to the fact that Hermes is not only a trickster god, but also the god of liars and thieves, which would make sense considering that Luke is a son of Hermes.

Holy shit, Luke is trying to Voldemort this shit!

“‘Percy,’ Annabeth said, trying to keep her cool, ‘we’re going to Polyphemus’s island! Polyphemus is an S-i-k… a C-y-k…” She stamped her foot in frustration. As smart as she was, Annabeth was dyslexic, too. We could’ve been there all night while she tried to spell Cyclops.” I love this book.

Percy’s like, a donut shop in the middle of nowhere is a little weird, but donuts aren’t all that high on my list of threats to worry about. Percy, last book you were almost murdered by Medusa at a diner. I think you should know by now that free food is sketchy as hell when you’re you.

“‘I DON’T CARE WHAT IT SAID!’ Ares bellowed with such force that his image shimmered. ‘You will succeed. And if you don’t…’ He raised his fist. Even though he was only a figure in the steam, Clarisse flinched.” Oh, baby…

I think Clarisse should swear. She deserves it.

Annabeth talking about weaving and Athena’s skill with weaving specifically makes me wonder if we’re ever going to meet or get some other mention/reference to Arachne.

“‘But…’ Annabeth’s voice sounded hurt. ‘What’s wrong with my hair?’” Annabeth saying this broke my heart, but then I remembered that she’s going to be Black in that new live action series, and thinking about this scene with that context in mind hurt me even more considering how Black kids are often shamed and punished for their natural hair texture. I’m just imagining little Annabeth getting made fun of by other kids for her hair and teachers punishing her for being “dirty” or “ungroomed”, and then thinking about the way this cunt is manipulating Annabeth to feel like she’s lesser than because of it. That new live series Disney+ is making better not mess this up.

Holy shit, did C.C. also invent the concept of Instagram?? Why is she obliterating these thirteen-year-olds’ self-esteem???

Oh, because she’s a witch. Yup, Circe, that checks out

Amelia Earheart was a half-blood? I love that. Also, yes! Thank you for mentioning Atalanta, I adore her! She’s one of my favorite characters in Greek mytho-history.

Also, Blackbeard being a son of Ares makes way too much sense

Percy being good at sailing is amazing. Finding that one interest that’s very niche and obscure that’s almost useless in modern society and nailing the hell out of it is very neurodivergent of him and I’m so proud of him for that

“I looked over, expecting to see Annabeth, but the girl wasn’t Annabeth. She wore punk-style clothes with silver chains on her wrists. She had spiky black hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy blue eyes, and a spray of freckles across her nose. She looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure why.” Wait. Is that Thalia?

"'But… you're still getting married?' Grover sounded hurt." Grover, baby, he was going to kill you. This is not about you not being hot enough for him.

Annabeth calling herself Nobody to get Polyphemus's attention—I remember that myth; I read it in elementary school. I thought it was hysterical. It still is. Also Annabeth's burn game is on point.I didn’t know that that hero was Odysseus specifically, but now that I do, it makes a lot more sense.

By the way, isn’t Odysseus related to Poseidon? I can’t remember, but I could swear that Odysseus was a grandson of Poseidon… (two Google searches later). Nope, it was Hermes. He’s a grandson of Hermes, which, yeah, that makes more sense than Poseidon.

"'Not a traitor,' Tyson said. 'And you are not my kind.'" YES, BABY!!

Percabeth. Just Percabeth. I love these children and I love them together.

Percy is one of the best protagonists ever. When Polyphemus was crying and asking Percy not to kill him, Percy spared him. Not because Polyphemus didn't deserve to die, but because Percy didn't want to kill him and felt bad for him. He sympathizes with Clarisse when she's upset, even though she's insulting him and Annabeth is angry with her. He remembers the way Ares had treated her on the boat, and instead of yelling back at her, he treats her with kindness and patience. He lets her complete her quest and have the glory that comes with it, because Percy doesn’t care about getting recognized by the camp for what he did—he just wants the camp to be saved, and as long as the Fleece is delivered to do that, he doesn’t care how. I just. I love him so much. He's such a sweet kid.

I love that Annabeth is the bloodthirsty, petty one between her and Percy.

Holy shit, Tyson's watch thing!! Damn, Tyson!

Percy proudly calling Tyson his baby brother is everything to me.

I love that at this point in the story, Percy is only 13 and has canonically been wanted by the police on two separate occasions.

HOLY SHIT!!!!! THALIA'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!! I AM READY TO LOVE HER!!!!!!!!

[evanescentdawn]

okay since I did a non-shippy rangikuorihime snippet I feel obliged to show a shippy snippet (okay. not really obliged as to I want to Show it)

I debated on which one to show, okay technically the two parts could be apart of the same thing; just wrote it separately as I was trying to figure out How to write this whole rangikuhime thing. anyways! so! them!

JFJFJFJ I CHOSE THIS ONE because I have Thoughts to say. like. as I was writing I was like. why couldn’t Orihime just….heal away the bruise because tech that’s what hickies are anyways. but then, it got me wondering about shinigamis and healing. I barely remember shit about the manga tbh, like details, but I do remember…..rukia having her arm bandaged up as she’s standing with the whole gang after the the ichigo-aizen fight so it suggests that bones aren’t that Easily healed or smth. i mean it could have been not enough time for that too war and all. I mean, yeahhhh Orihime has High Healing thing (if she still does, in this au) (probably) anyways. like. maybe they don’t just think of doing that? healing bruises? like! it’s a minor thing and especially in this scenario I don’t think Orihime would be like “I can heal it away” okay idk I think I was going somewhere with these thoughts but my brain trailed off on it and I can’t grasp on where I was going on it. so, stopping here fjfjfjf

back to the wip. heh I love it. THEY CUTE. i love the fifth paragraph about the scarf and the hot season because like. i didnt even know it was during the hot season currently in the soul society, but it turned out like that because I needed to have a reason as why No Scarf. i mean. i could have have said “people be curious a little anyways” since that might be something she technically doesn’t wear. anyways. i just love it when u write and u learn more details about this setting ur writing. it’s just. So. to me when that happens. the fun of writing, to me. when ur learning/discovering about ur story as u write it. it’s so !!!! to me !!!! u know. like I myself haven’t even thought of hfjfjf make up as a solution. until the last moment and I was like oh ! that could be a thing ! also had no idea this was morning smex before we go to work thing when I started writing it which makes me laugh. so rangiku-coded.

hfjfjfjfj also why does the fifth parade read to me as if Orihime was in a scandal similar to this but where people found out !!!!! (I say but but also people could find about her hickie now too) (now im thinking of reisho protected Make-up and what does that MEAN) (now I’m thinking of mayuri having a Make Up brand so his make up? face paint? doesn’t go off in battle) (HE WOULD) (I can’t believe that rangiku is buying mayuri make up that’s a horror) (but it’s really good so she does???) (yumichika also buying it….) (MAYURI BRAND MAKE UP BEING A THING WTF) anyways…. back to the potential scandal that might have happened before to Orihime…. that is incredibly funny to me as it must have been mortifying to her (maybe) (idk depending on the people and the situation)

RANGIKU SHEEPISH FACE. i Love that. the fact that it’s morning smex Adds to it. like. it was partly Orihime fault too, aware of the time and all and still goes along and says yes but Also rangiku suggests it. so. she feels sheepish for forgetting herself and giving hime a noticeable hickie i never know how to spell that word. i keep changing up my spelling. I should look up the spelling, one day. one day, i say, LMAO. shouldn’t it be today or later. anyways. Yeah.

also just. i love how this part….flows? how the words were placed. I DID A GOOD JOB. I LIKE READING IT HEH. also going fjjfjfjfkd thinking about the homoeroticness of Applying Make Up. 😳 im so excited to write that hehehehhehe

if I get to it.

im saying hoping tho and trusting myself to do it. (PLEASE)

i think in my one of my soulreaper!orihime series, rangiku and orihime most definitely hook up. like it just leads up to it one day and it keeps happening. it’s not really anything just something casual and fun <3

[ozrockbitway]

If Vale had groovy cards, what do you think they would look like/be the story behind them? 👀

Vale groovy cards...I eventually plan on drawing their Groovy art at some point. Im just drawing blanks on how to do it + I'd wana do a BG and make it SICK like an actual card. So...one day...eventually :')) I am drawing more recently so!! its a possibility!!

I'll focus on the 2 SRs I have for them I guess?? Considering the bday one is technically an interview so...not much story there?? Although for that one I'd like Grim to be the one interviewing them & have him in the groovy art too uwu/

Suitor Suit Vale!

It starts off with them fretting over their looks. Like a bit after they've all changed into the suits to go save Idia. Vale is just nervous cuz they don't usually dress up, but they also like it?? No time to appreciate it all though when the homie is in danger!

There's also talk on how to woo the ghost bride. I'm thinking that Vale ends up suggesting really good lines?! They just say it's cliched stuff from novels about princesses and whatnot but hey, those kinda things might actually work. I think Ace would try to prod them a little like, what would you say to get someone's hand in marriage, without 'cheating' aka using your novel knowledge. Do something from the heart.

To be continued in pt 2 lol

Commentary from Vale about how this tragic tale of the ghost bride finding her one true love would make for a good novel. Insert comments about oh please dont do it. They laugh...maybe they won't but no promises hehehe.

Ima dab me in some Corpse Bride reference here. sorta. Basically it's Vale on their way back to Ramshackle at night with the looming thought of how they never got to give their hand at wooing the princess. They take Ace's words to heart and try to think of something to say. Also a comment from either Rook or Epel, probably Rook about thinking about someone who inspires such thoughts (coughs Idia coughs)

They give a soliloquy, their own heartfelt confession and lines for a wedding. They get a bit embarrassed afterwards and glad that no one is around. But they're totally using that in the future.

haha funny bonus is if the Shroud bros hear it or something and Ortho just eye emojis at his bro like HMMMMMMMM lil bro knows what's up

I'd like their groovy to be like gets down on one knee and extends hand out to the player or something?? w/ the ramshackle background?? to be more shippy its them doing it to Idia B))

Starsending Robes Vale!

steals my own fic idea lol. sort of. but it starts off with Ortho asking about what Vale's wish would be despite giving/sharing it with Grim. They're honestly not so sure about it like?? The thought of having magic does come to mind and they say it but they know that isn't possible. So maybe something else? Ortho says to think on it and he'll grant it!

Vale ends up hunting for wishes with Ortho & Idia the most out of the selected trio. I know the Shroud bros get the wishes from the Leech bros, so Vale ends up hanging around them for a bit. The eels are so kind and willing to lend an ear to Vale's woes...at least they seem to be interested.

Vale admits that they don't know what to wish for. Floyd points out it doesn't matter since they don't get a wish anyway while Jade is softens the blow saying its all for fun and its not so serious. Conversation ensues and it boils down to Floyd's side saying be selfish or following after Jade's with his selfless wish. Ugh decisions!

to be continued...

The night of the starsending...

They're still conflicted on what to choose. Selfish and selfless. They're rarely the former, but the latter is so much easier. They consider the bros (Jade & Ortho) and their wishes. As they think on it they end up seeing the "shooting stars". And then it hits them.

The whole thing is done and Idia is probably trying to peace out but Vale spots them and is just like!! I know my wish!! Idia is like?? wishing is over but go off I guess??

My wish...is to spend as much time with my friends here.

They probably explain that they were tempted to wish for everyone's wish to come true, but they can be a little selfish and wish for that instead, right? It's silly, but that means they also get to spend more time with him and Ortho too!

tbh the image I have in mind would be similar to the header on my sideblog or just focusing on Vale making the wish with Idia in it uwaaa

[calliecat93]

Hi Callie! In your opinion, what are the top ten best Mccoy centric episodes in TOS? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, thanks for reading anyways! ❤️

Ooh, good question! This is a little hard because McCoy, compared to Kirk and Spock, didn’t get a lot of centric episodes. Actually I think he only really got like… two out of 79 episodes (depending on how you view it). But he DOES have a large prescence in others, so let me see here…

1. The Empath Technically it’s a Triumvirate episode, but this has McCoy’s best moment in the entire show. Like if you want to understand McCoy’s character, this is the episode that you turn to. I already blabbed about why once so I’ll let that go into it for me.

2. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky: While some of the execution is a bit iffy, this is still a realy excellent episode. Mainly because DeForest Kelley plays McCoy here with everything that he has and just nails everything, McCoy’s sadness, loneliness, and invevat le fate of dying in a year, masterfully. The episode would be NOWHERE near as good if not for De Kelley.

3. The Man Trap: This and the last one are the only two McCoy-centric episodes, at least that I recall. This one often gets overlooked since it’s first so I think that the emotional impact gets lost. But God McCoy in this episode is just outright tragic. I wrote a whole post about it because it felt so unfair that it was overlooked because there is SO MUCH there. Also mrke amazing De Kelley acting

4. All Our Yesterdays: While McCoy does spend a good chunk of it passed out from hypothermia, he is freakin’ excellent in this episode. He’s not only hilarious (“He means it’s cold!”, De’s delivery made me burst out laughing) but when he’s finally awake, he’s just freakin’ awesome. He put himself at GREAT risk to snap Spock out of his mental state and then went ‘screw it’ and tried to find the portal home cause he wants his life back, with or without Spock (but preferably with Spock). He’s just great~!

5. Return to Tomorrow: This whole episode is super underrated. It’s the one where the alien beings posess Kirk, Spock, and Lady of the Week’s bodies. McCoy is the ONLY rational person in the episode and the one who has to deal with the majority of the problem. He has to both worry about everyone’s minds in the orbs and what the aliens do to their human bodies and is VERY concerned throughout. It also demonstrates how devkted to his profession and oath that he is. He even outright risks Kirk dying for good, as painful as it is for him, because it would mean allowing another to die and like Hell is he doing that. Seriously, this one is so freakin’ overlooked.

6. Bread and Circuses/The Immunity Syndrome/The Tholian Web: Yeah three way tie cause they all have one thing in common: they feature his complicated relationship with Spock. The first one I wrote a whole meta about already. It’s a Spones analysis, but it reflects why McCoy himself is great in this episode along with all hos geneal grumpy snark throughout. Oh and the ending with him throwing a mattess at a guy… and he wins IIRC. Best underrated comedy moment EVER. With the second, he’s not at all happy with Spock being picked over him to examine the amoeba and that Spock may die. Their whole interaction in the hangar, McCoy waiting until the doors close to wish Spock luck, Spock’s seeming final words, and of course “Shut up Spock! We’re rescuing you!”. The last one of course has Kirk gone and McCoy is angry, grieving, and stressed with everyone losing their minds and Spcok pressuring him to fix it all at the same time and he takes it out on Spock. Then they see Kirk’s final message and we all know what happens after. All three do such a great job showing how much McCoy cares about Spock and showcasing how great they really are together, and not even just the shippy sense. Only reason they’re at six is because of how closely tied to Spock he is in those episodes instead of being the central character, but he IS still central in them and showcase some of his best moments. So I hope I got my point across XD

7. A Private Little War: The episode’s message is kind of… questionable. But ignoring thay, McCoy is the real freakin’ hero of this story. It’s only because of him that Kirk survived and he’s more than willing to contront him on his questionable decision making. Which is the very thing that Kirk brought him for to begin with. It’s one of the best episode to show how much he cares about Kirk and the lengths he’ll go for him. Oh and he kept Spock from dying along with Chapel and M’Benga. Thank God he has competent medical staff who can do the job without him XD

8. Journey to Babel: Okay yes this is a Spock episode, but McCoy is VERY prominent throughout. He’s both hilarious in the cold opening and we all remember his reaction to Spock’s ‘teddy bear’ XD. But he managed to conduct a VERY risky surgery that put Spock and Sarek at great risk if he screwed up. A surgery he’s never really conducted. And during a battle that causes frequent rattling to boot. He succeeded and the episode appropriately rewards him by allowing him the final word. It’s not only oen of the best episodes showing why he’s the CMO, but he’s just freakin’ great the whole episode.

9. Amok Time: Again it’s a Spock episode, but I repeat what I said about Return to Tomorrow: McCoy is the real hero. He’s the one who recognizes that something is horribly wrong, puts up with zero excuses, actually usus logic to get Spock to comply, and of course it was him who saved both Kirk and Spock’s sorry butts. They’d both likely be dead had McCoy not been there. He may have had the least screentime of the three, but he damn wel made up for it.

10. Operation: Annahilate: It has one of the saddest but strongest McCoy scenes. Through the whole episode he’s super protectice of Spock, running various tests to get rid of the parasites and trying to keep Kirk’s kid nephew alive all at the same time. Then he gets made by Kirk and Spock to risk blinding the latter… and DOES blind him. Then his face when the test result revelaed that he didn’t need to use an jntense light and being outright unresponsive when Kirk calls him later… just ouch. It’s one of those moments I wish it had gone more in depth, but upseide is we have haply McCoy by the end. Want proof of how much he cares for Spock and others? Here you go

And he has really good scenes in other episodes despite varying levels of prominence (Miri, Space Seed, The Galileo Seven, This Side of Pradise, The City on the Edge of Forever, Mirror, Mirror, Friday’s Child, The Ultimate Computer, Spock’s Brain… no seriosuly he’s the biggest bright spot in that and for certain S3 episodes tbh). It’s a HUGE shame that he was treated like the third wheel both in series and the films, and even now gets the raw end of the deal in popular media. But I hope that this was a satisfactory list Anon. Sorry it got all wordy and long, I can’t help myself sometimes XD

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