#as her husband is a vet and has ptsd | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

weezly14 · 1 year ago

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Speak your truth about tcr 🎤

ok, i'm gonna break this up into episode 10 thoughts and series overall thoughts.

episode 10:

this is easily the prettiest episode; the cinematography and direction is great. i'm a sucker for long shots and creative lighting and framing several characters the same, etc - well done.

love that we get an arc for lawyer guy in the last two episodes (sarcasm.) what purpose does it serve?

ah, yes, we need him and Rya to have a moment in the diner. he needs to have PTSD so that he can mention it and Rya can monologue and then have a lightbulb moment

EXCEPT - a) i cannot buy that this dude - a MAN - told a woman he's known for three? weeks? not long anyway - that he has PTSD in public. not only that! it is, remember folks, the 1970s! i don't remember PTSD entering the public lexicon until the early 2000s, maybe, and it was bothering me so i looked it up and PTSD didn't enter the DSM until 1980; it started being used to refer to Vietnam vets in the 70s but it wasn't as commonplace as it is now.

Which just gets further into the issue I have with this episode and this show where the writers can't seem to remember where we are in time. a man being vulnerable about his war service and trauma with a woman he barely knows in public? using terminology that wasn't commonplace at the time? rya's entire monologue in the diner felt very current, in the way she laid things out. is this truly how they spoke about mental illness in the 70s? it doesn't feel like it.

i said the second we entered the courtroom drama portion of the show: they're gonna put "Adam" on the stand. AND THEY DID

honestly as much as i know the subject matter of this show is dark, i've personally never felt triggered but fuck me, i hated that scene of Danny on the stand talking about Adam. not only can i not believe that Danny - being confronted for the first time with the fact that the abuse Adam suffered was actually abuse he suffered, on the stand, in public - would take it all in stride like he did and not fracture further, BUT he called it rape, out loud? it definitely was, but do you know how hard it is for people to name the thing that was done to them? i'm not saying Marlin didn't rape Danny; I'm saying I can't believe Danny would accept that the rape happened to him in one moment and then in the next one call it exactly that. his testimony on the stand was that of someone who's spent years in therapy working through this, not weeks/months.

add to that - i absolutely hated the way that Danny spilled his guts, is on the stand in tears, and when he's done speaking Stan simply says, "the defense rests" and turns his back and walks away. Danny needs care, and that mic drop moment wasn't as effective as it was cruel - to me, anyway

Rya just? Quit? lol ok.

the thing that pissed me off the most, though???????? i've said before, the existence of Adam before Marlin's abuse indicates that Marlin was not the first abuser. Danny's dad is alluded to in passing, and then we have an entire fucking episode about trying to find him in London which, I stand by my statement, is such a waste of an episode, but nothing else really? they sort of implied that maybe Marlin wasn't the first abuser Candy had dealt with? but it was all very implied, blink and you'll miss it - to the point that I thought it was just going to end unresolved. THEN, ten minutes from the end, Candy drops the bomb that Danny's dad abused him first?????????? this bothers me on several levels. 1) the way she danced around saying the words was imo how Danny should've been in the courtroom but given that we're past that it seems odd to suddenly be unable to say the words? 2) we're supposed to believe that this woman found out her four year old was being abused by his father and left, and then when she realizes that same child is being abused by her new husband she does nothing? the glimpse into their life that we see in that episode introducing kid Danny to us - it does not appear that they are struggling so desperately that she needed Marlin. 3) relatedly, Candy was called to testify to Danny's abuse, and Marlin scares her into not pointing the finger at him. BUT SHE KNEW ABOUT DANNY'S FATHER. why would she not have said anything? it absolves Marlin, it paints her as a good mom ("I got us out of there as soon as I knew") and it helps Danny. 4) They waited until the last ten minutes of the last episode to reveal this!!!!!!!!!!

this episode both felt too short and also, i was so done by the end.

overall series thoughts

Tom can act. Truly, he deserves an Emmy, Golden Globe, etc for this performance, because he's the shining star

the script was terrible. certain lines just bothered me and the characterization was all over the place. i feel like we watched two different shows - one about Danny in therapy, and one about Rya and Stan teaming up to save him. this was not a cohesive story.

again, the crime he was charged with was stupid. he shot at someone in broad daylight, missed, and the person didn't come forward? pick a different angle in, this one was toothless

i hated the courtroom stuff, i'm sorry. it was bad.

why was this set in the 70s? billy milligan. aside from DID and the not guilty by reason of insanity, in what way did this story or character in any way resemble billy milligan? they got the set dressing and the costuming right, but the racial and sexual politics, the way that rya is apparently divorced and on decent terms with her ex and former professor (love how that's never discussed and also - until 2010, new york state did not allow no fault divorce. maybe this is a minor quibble but my first thought watching this, seeing Rya doing the single mom thing, saying she's divorced, was to ask: what were the laws around divorce back then in New York? 1974 is when women were first allowed to open their own bank accounts), the glossing over of Vietnam until it was useful for Stan to be a vet with PTSD, the way that's thrown in at the last minute and also discussed in a way that seems inaccurate to the time - like, the writing either needed to reflect the time period, or they should've changed the setting. they were already changing everything, why commit to the one most exterior piece of the story? set it in 2005. Stan can still have PTSD, Rya can still be a divorced struggling single mom, prosecutor's speech about the incarceration of black and brown men wouldn't have felt quite so heavy handed - i mean really. What purpose did the 70s setting serve?

i think i liked this show more before i watched episodes 9 and 10.

it had such potential. and that's what irritates me the most, honestly. Tom gave a great performance, Amanda and Emmy were criminally underutilized, the story could have been there and could have been something. but they fumbled it. it wasn't cohesive or clear about what it wanted to be. was it about Danny or Rya? was it about the criminal justice system or mental health? was it about Mental Health or DID? because honestly, we didn't get nearly enough time with the alters, and Danny seemingly was told he had this disorder and then immediately was able to master it and control his alters. he was cagey and didn't wanna talk and was confused for several episodes, then he's "hooray for therapy" and not even speaking in the courtroom scenes/episodes. is this show really about him? it feels like this show is about Danny in the way that the movie 42 is about Jackie Robinson - it says it is, the title's about him and everything, but look closer. it's about him but he's not the active agent in this story. it's about what has been done to him, the forces enacted against him. we see less of Danny's journey than we see Rya and Stan and even Candy talk about it.

(the 42 comparison is another tangent but if you wanna talk to me about it please don't come at me in bad faith.)

i think the "just ask for help" bit bothers me so much because DID isn't so much a disorder about asking for help? yes, Danny did eventually seek help with the voices in his head, he worked to integrate them. but DID is not depression is not bipolar is not anxiety - is not any number of other things, and i think we do mental health a disservice by painting it all with the same brush. and of course this is where the issue of umbrella terms comes in. yes, all of it can be grouped under Mental Health, but asking for help in the context of: i'm feeling stressed and anxious about bills/starting a new school/my future is very different from: i think i have clinical depression, i have insomnia, racing thoughts, suicidal thoughts, flashbacks, etc. Danny needed help, that much is clear, but not in the same way that you or I might. so is his story unique or is just another mental health story? am i expressing this distinction clearly enough?

that being said, i appreciate immensely how respectful the abuse and suicide attempt were depicted in this show. not showing it is often more powerful, and i'm glad for the sake of the audience and the actors (particularly the child playing young Danny) that an attempt was not made to show the abuse, to depict the slashing. we know. it's enough.

did i like this show? i don't know. i'm gonna think about it for a long time. again, the performances were outstanding. there were moments that moved me and made me feel seen. but, for the hundredth time, just because a piece of art can evoke an emotional response does not mean that that piece is objectively good or well-constructed. i don't like amy pond as a character and i think the weeping angels are overrated but even i cried in the angels take manhattan. does that mean it's a good episode and i liked it? no, it means stephen moffat knows how to emotionally manipulate/impact an audience.

idk, i'm not sure i'd recommend this show except to say that Tom is great in it, or if i wanted someone to discuss it with me.

overall? it feels like a missed opportunity.

#weezly talks tcr #weezly responds #weezly has strong opinions about doctor who

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hlekani-666 · 25 days ago

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<244> 35. Atheist REpublic Newsletter: When you can't just pray it away

Religious people are very good at proposing prayer and religious service as an answer for existential problems, mental illness, and even physical ills. But atheists and other secularists and freethinkers have experience with these issues as well, and we should have our say. Here, one of our AR team members, Costas, shares his experiences and thoughts about PTSD from an atheist perspective. We’d love to hear from you about other such personal issues. Please reply to this email, and let us know if you wish to remain anonymous.

Bad things happen. Everywhere. Everyday.

Today, a large portion of the developed or first world citizens have never witnessed firsthand the effects of war. For most, conscription is a thing from a bygone era, so most of our young men and women will never witness the atrocities, pain, and death of war. Witnessing these things can, and does, leave deep scars on the psyche. These effects are commonly referred to as PTSD. These symptoms can include, but are not limited to: flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, emotional numbness, and that edgy feeling that occurs after something traumatic happens.

Bearing in mind that PTSD can strike any person who has survived all kinds of abuse and/or other trauma, I would like to focus on the veterans. There are hundreds of thousands of men and women and recent military veterans in the USA who have seen combat. They have been shot at, seen friends killed or witnessed death up close. The USDVA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) estimates that PTSD afflicts up to 30 percent of its soldiers who have been in combat situations.

There are many forms of treatment for PTSD; some examples include art therapy, medicine, different types of therapy with a psychiatrist or psychologist, support groups, and even, believe it or not, prayer.

Before I delve deeper into this, I have to divulge that I am a long-time PTSD sufferer. I have tried many different things to deal with it, but have seen many friends and people from my support groups turn to faith as a means to get past this. I have read many articles, heard from many people on this issue, and have heard of it referred to as “restoring faith”.

the thinking is that this kind of severe trauma can rattle someone to their core, challenging their sense of self, their sense of meaning and purpose in life and indeed their spiritual beliefs. Religion, in addition to everything else, is seen as a source of meaning and purpose to millions of people all over the world, and for many, their sense of wellbeing is directly connected to their religious beliefs.

In fact, in 2004, Dr. Alan Fontana and Dr. Robert Rosenheck (in a study that included 1385 veterans) found that the experiences of the veterans witnessing or failing to prevent one or multiple deaths in combat weakened their religious faith and increased feelings of guilt. They asserted that the severity of the PTSD symptoms and social functioning had no bearing on whether or not vets sought mental health care, but rather, the veterans were driven to seek help for their feelings of guilt and loss of faith; that they may have been looking to assign meaning and purpose to the trauma that they experienced through religion and faith.

Personally, through my own experience and from what I have seen in group discussions, a lot of people like me suffer from survivor’s guilt. It is my opinion that the main “theme” to the start of recovery is forgiveness. I haven’t read a study on this, this is purely my own opinion. Firstly, forgiveness from my fellow soldiers’ families that I came back and not their father/brother/son/mother/sister/wife/husband/etc… Secondly, forgiveness from my fellow soldier, at least in my mind, because I couldn’t save him/her. Thirdly, forgiveness from my friends and family, because I’m not the same person anymore, because I’m ill-tempered, don’t talk as much, and as they put it themselves, broken. Finally, forgiveness from myself. This is the most important step I believe because you come to the realization that it’s ok. It’s ok that I survived. It’s ok that I am who I am now. It’s ok that I am troubled. And it’s ok to seek help. There is no shame in seeking help, and there is no shame in admitting that you need help.

I think that this is the alternative that religion offers most sufferers. I have heard of religion being called an “easy” cure for PTSD, in that God is all powerful and all forgiving. Something that took me months to get to, potentially a religious person can get to and feel in minutes all thanks to this large safety blanket or forgiving yumminess. This is a dangerous train of thought, and of course a very dangerous course of treatment. This person needs professional help. Not a quick fix that will have him possibly breaking down months or years down the line like a car that has been through a patch up job after it was almost a right off.

PTSD is most certainly NOT a “faith deficit disorder”. PTSD is real. Historically, it can be traced back to almost 4000 years ago in ancient Egypt, where Egyptian writers described PTSD symptoms; even Homer’s Iliad communicates a profound understanding of PTSD and its symptoms, and the price it exacts on its sufferers. It is cruel to tell people they can only get rid of it with faith. It has been proven that PTSD creates structural changes in the brain (specifically the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the medial frontal cortex). This damage interferes with processing memory and emotion and with “assessing and determining how to respond to threats”.

People forget that when we (yes all of us), through our elected officials and leaders, send members of our military forces into combat, we have a moral obligation to those soldiers and veterans to treat them all with love and patience, to listen to their stories and to try help them bear the weight of it all and to heal from psychological and spiritual injuries. This responsibility lies on all of us, whether we are religious or not and whether the returning injured soldier is religious or not. We are all people, and we all deserve love and understanding.

If you do suffer from any form of PTSD (be it from abuse from an early age, combat related, or anything) please seek help. There are organizations worldwide that specialize in the treatment and help of PTSD sufferers. There is no shame in feeling this way.

More Newsletters Here:

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pinayelf-archive · 5 months ago

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Updated the amounts raised for 8/23! Adding more people who have reached out to me.

Eman Abosedo - Eman is a mother of three children. They lost everything in the war and was forced to flee Gaza. They are now in a new city and they need help rebuilding their life.

Raised $52/50,000 as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/emanabosedo

Anas Alshafra - Anas is a 17-year old from Gaza. His family has lost everything in the war and struggle to find food, and water especially. His family has gotten sick from contaminated water. Funds will go to helping his family get the necessities they need for survival.

Raised: 70/50,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/anasalshafra

Ahmed Jehad - Ahmed is a 28-year old father in Gaza. His daughter was born during the war. He and his family have lost everything and is now living displaced in a tent. He struggles to provide for his family, and funds will go to providing these necessities (food, water, healthcare).

Raised $1,551 CAD/40,000 as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/ahmad-syam-blog Vetted here (#171)

Etaf Al-Qataa - Etaf is a 34-year old mother from Gaza. Her family was able to evacuate to Egypt, but they lost everything, including her husband's business, which was their source of income. Funds will go to helping the family continue their lives, including the children's studies.

Raised: 438/10,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/familymaria1234567

Mohammed Al-Deeb - Mohammed is from a family of 17 in Gaza who has lost everything. They are currently displaced and living in tents. Funds will go towards helping his family find a safe place to live.

Mohammed's fundraiser is run by Giuseppe Nebbio

Raised 425/65,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/mohammedrabahhisfamily

Palestine Jad Al-Haq - I've shared Palestine's fundraiser before. She and her family are displaced and living in dire and unsanitary conditions in a tent. Funds will go to helping them get necessities.

Palestine is part of a family who are all striving to survive. Details here.

Raised $13,571/40,000 as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/falestine-yousef Vetted here

Abdallah Mousa - Abdallah is a 20 year old student from Gaza. His university was destroyed in the war, and his family has been displaced and is now living in a tent. Funds will go to his and his family's evacuation.

Raised $998/30,000 as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/abdallahblog0 Vetted here

Aseel Asad - Aseel is a 25-year old from Gaza, she lost everything in the war, and her family has been displaced 10 times. The funds will go to her family being able to evacuate to Egypt.

Raised: $13,487/50,000 as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/aseelo680 Vetted here (the blog here is an old blog, but the gfm link is the same)

Doaa Jadalhaq - I've shared Doaa's fundraisers before to help her rebuild her sewing business in Egypt. This one is to help her autistic son with the PTSD from the war, to find treatment and a specialized school for him in Egypt. The funds will also go to Doaa's family who are still in Gaza and need to evacuate.

Raised: 133,743/300,000 Swedish krona as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/dodoomar12345 Vetted here

Fatima Alanqar - Fatima is a mother of 5. Her family has lost everything and has been displaced 17 times during the war. They struggle to find food and water. Funds will go to providing her family necessities they need to live, like food, water, shelter and medication.

Raised: 5,460/20,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/fatma--gaza Vetted here (the blog here is Fatima's previous blog that had gotten deleted, the fundraiser link is the same!)

Yasermohammad - Mohammad is the father of 5 children. They have lost everything in the war, and the funds will go to providing necessities for his family to able to begin anew and rebuild what they lost.

Note: This GFM is run by Mohammad's family member for him

Raised: 16,630/35,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/yasermohammad Vetted here (different blog but the same link)

Palestinian fundraisers to donate to

Hello everyone, here are people who reached out to me recently to share their gfms. Click on their names to go to the gfm.

These are not vetted, but a reverse image search did not bring up anything. Please take the time to visit each blog and gfm to read more about the families.

Nada Al-Farra - Nada's family has lost everything, including their house and business. Funds will go towards helping them with their living conditions.

Raised: 760/20,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/holycowboycolor

Ola Ferwana - Ola is the mother of three children. She was separated from her husband because of the war. Her youngest daughter was born during and hasn't been able to meet her father yet. Ola struggles to provide food, water and other necessities to her children. Funds will go towards their evacuation to Egypt.

Raised: 2,867/35,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/abedallhferwana and @/olaferwana

Mohammed Ayyad - Mohammed is a 17 year old high school student with 7 siblings. He and his family has been displaced 4 times since the war began. The funds will go to evacuating his family and continuing his education.

Raised: 2,615/38,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/mohammednasers-blog

Mohammed Almadhoun - Mohammed is from a family of 7 and has been living in a tent due to the war. The funds will go to the evacuation of his family to safety.

Raised: 5,147/50,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/savepalestineinfamily19 Instagram: palestinian_survivor19

Amany Ubeid - Amany is the mother of 3 children and her family lost everything in the war. Her husband and son have medical conditions that need attention and medication. The funds will go to their evacuation to safety.

Note: the gfm is created and ran by Mahmoud Alkurd on behalf of Amany, who is his sister-in-law

Raised: $5CAD/$68,000CAD as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/amnyaburas

Ahmad Matar - Ahmed is a father of 5. A week before the war he immigrated to another country and is now separated from his family. Funds will go to his family's living expenses, evacuation, and to rebuild their family home back in Gaza.

Raised: 215/64,000 Euros as of 8/23 Tumblr: @/ahmedmatatsblog

#palestine

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missvelvetsstuff · 3 years ago

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Masterlist

Aarrgh! Going back and forth between my husbands pc and my phone is causing some issues with links so I’m starting over.

Here’s my stories, all are Bucky Barnes x Reader/OFC unless otherwise noted.

If you prefer AO3

Miss Velvet- Completed

Y/N is a disabled equestrian and therapeutic riding instructor who helps Tony Stark with his PTSD after returning from Titan. When the Avengers bring everyone back he hires her to work with Avengers and SHIELD hires her as therapist and teaching basic riding skills because you never know when a horse will be the best mode of transportation.<;br />

Bucky Barnes is a manwhore who is enjoying his freedom for the first time in decades and pays no mind to y/n when she meets the team because he learned to ride from Hydra and too is busy pursuing his next conquest.

Post Endgame but everybody survived, because I said so. And Steve helped get Sharon Carter pardoned so they are together.

Little Bird-Completed

Bucky Barnes x Mutant OFC

Notes: This idea just came to me while I was working on my college au and I'm pretty excited about it. Canon has been taken out back and shot, I do what I want. Enemies to lovers

The Avengers find Rika being held captive in a Hydra base and try to figure out who she is and why Hydra wanted her.

The Cowgirl and the Engineer

Notes: this is some sort of Heathers/Mean Girls/The DUFF mash up, in college au. I tried to make it original but will admit to being influenced by other stories I have read. I have not intentionally stolen or copied anyone else’s work.

Summary: Reader is a hard working vet science major. I tried to keep the description vague except she’s a she, tall and not thin. Bucky is a studious engineering major with a mean girl girlfriend, Sharon whose sister is Steve’s ex Peggy another mean girl. Steve & Nat, Sam & Wanda, Brock Rumlow is a dick, brief reader x Jack Rollins, Maria & Carol

Friday’s Place

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Mob AU

Friday is an equestrian who runs a therapeutic stable that works with special needs, at risk kids and veterans.

Bucky Barnes is the boss of SHIELD a mafia family and involved with a business deal that requires Friday's Place and all of the homes around it to be demolished for new buildings.

Brock Rumlow is second in command with Hydra and in charge of the deal Friday is fighting. He's not afraid to fight dirty, in fact he prefers it.

Sharon Carter is Friday's oldest frenemy and Brocks girl.

Friday won't go down without a fight. What happens when her and Bucky clash?

Cold Hearted- Completed

Steve Rogers x Reader, Steve Rogers x Sharon Carter, Bucky Barnes x Natasha Romanoff, Bucky Barnes x Natasha Romanoff x Reader(past), Reader x ????

Former Black Widow Reader is engaged to Steve Rogers but what happens when Sharon Carter is pardoned and returns.

Low Expectations- Completed

Reader is low on self esteem. Can Bucky convince her that she's the one he wants?

Note: just a simple love story. Many of the people, situations and quotes were plucked directly from my past experiences. It took my husband a lot of time and angst to help me look past the image that my ex carved into my psyche. Luckily he really did want me and was patient enough to help me carry my baggage.

Names have been changed to protect the not so innocent.

Guarded Heart

Bucky Barnes x Reader, Bucky x Nat, Reader x Thor

Summary: Y/N is the daughter of a powerful mob boss who only cares about her horses and making it to the Olympics but her father expects her to marry an equally powerful boss to help strengthen his business. Bucky is looking for a wife to help his business but already has a long term girlfriend, Natasha.

Warnings: swearing, angst, arranged marriage, infidelity, slow burn, smut.

Notes: considering another story to try and get past the block I have for my WIP's. LMK what you think. If anyone is interested I'll keep going. I could also use help with a title, I'm not great at them.

I tried to keep my reader as generic as possible but like always she's female and taller than average.

Where Ya Going, Star?

Summary: Reader meets Bucky when the truck hauling her show horses breaks down as she is trying to leave for an event and he works for the mechanic. Passionate, secret love affair ensues. After a confrontation with her father, Bucky decides she deserves better than a poor biker like him and leaves town with his friends Steve and Sam.

Three years later, reader is trapped in an abusive relationship and about to give up hope of things ever improving, when Bucky comes back.

Just A Number

Bucky Barnes x older reader

Summary: Reader meets Bucky at a party and the attraction is more than either one of them wants to resist.

Notes: Since most stories are younger readers I felt like having a more mature reader could be a nice change of pace. Especially since I'm creeping up on senior discounts and want to believe Bucky could fall in love with someone like me.

I try to keep my readers description vague but, as always, she's female, tall and this one is obviously 40+

With Friends Like You, Who Needs Enemies

**Updated**

Steve Rogers x Reader, Steve Rogers x Natasha, Reader x ????

Reader is a mutant with the ability to turn sound into light who was 'adopted' aka stolen as a child by Baron Von Strucker to use for experimentation. She was given a form of the Super soldier serum so in addition to her mutant abilities she also has super strength, enhanced senses and healing. When he starts experimenting on his volunteers, the Maximoff twins, she tries to convince them to escape with her but they tell the Baron that she's planning to escape so he doubles her cell security. Steve and reader met when the team recovered Loki's scepter from Strucker.

She falls in love with Steve and becomes good friends with Nat but they aren't the friends she thinks they are.

This story is canon adjacent except that Thanos never happened.

No Benefits

Bucky Barnes x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Sharon Carter

Summary: Reader and Bucky are best friends until a drunken hook up. Bucky wants a friends with benefits situation because he doesn't feel ready for a relationship but reader knows that will lead to a broken heart.

Then Sharon Carter comes to work with them.

Notes: Steve and Tony are around but retired, everything else is mostly canon

The Situation Room

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: After a mission almost gone wrong, Tony brings back Bucky's former assistant, who is also Bucky's ex. Can they work together without hurting each other? Will the whole truth about their break up finally come out?

Avengers AU where Thanos never happened.

Fandom Leap

Summary: Reader is stressed and enjoys diving into her favorite fandoms as her happy escape. What happens when she is some how transported into her favorite fandoms

A/N: this is my first time doing a story collaboration with the amazing mutuals I've encountered on tumblr, all thought up and coordinated by @supraveng many thanks for including me.

This series will have multiple chapters and each written by someone else.

One shots & requests

Skin Deep

Reader and Bucky have been dating for awhile but when he is gone on a long mission the stress causes her psoriasis to flare and she's scared he will be disgusted.

Poor Choices

Request*****Like Steve cheated on his wife and when she found out about them he gave her the divorce papers and left her with their kids, and after few years the woman he cheated with cheated on him and he tries to get back to the reader and now she’s married to Bucky .******

Traded Up

Nick Fowler x Reader, Ransom Drysdale x Reader(past)

Request***** I have a request for your milestone celebration......can you write a Ransom Drysdale or Nick Fowler story? any scenario you like, just keeping his asshole persona except he's totally soft for the reader?

The Wrong One

Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader

Reader meets steve while he's on the run and sticks with him thru thick and thin. Until he sees Peggy Carter again.

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omegasamwilson · 4 years ago

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Sam Wilson Headcanons That Have Nothing To Do with Bucky Because I’m Mad About the MTV Awards

-Sam Wilson has his Master’s in Social Work. He originally wanted to work with youth in a school setting but then his PTSD got worse and he went to a support group and found his calling

-He completed his BSW+MSW in four years using the GI Bill + other scholarships

-He played baseball and did pole vault in high school. He also ran the 3200x4 for track but definitely preferred pole vaulting

-He was a Momma’s boy, thru and thru

-He got into exactly one fight in high school and it was because someone talked mess about Sarah so he rocked their shit. His dad took him out for ice cream when he got suspended

-Speaking of which, Sam was terrified of coming out to his dad, a Baptist preacher, and it caused him to try to distance himself from being close to his dad. When he finally did come out, at 15, his dad told him that he knew, that he loved Sam, and that God had created him exactly as he was.

-One of his most prized possession is a beautifully letter his father wrote him that includes the words “queer people are holy.” He sobbed when he first read it and every single time since

-when Sarah’s husband died, (in the midst of Sam looking for Bucky) Sam moved down to NOLA for a few weeks to help Sarah with her newborn and toddler

-the “Uncle Sam” thing has been a running joke ever since Sarah’s oldest was born.

-Sam attended “Donuts with Dads” so that Cass wouldn’t feel left out

-The first time his nephew gave him Father’s Day cards, he cried and his youngest nephew crawled in his lap and said, “it’s okay, Uncle Sam.” And his older nephew was like, “it means we love you.”

-Sam has provided medical care at Black Lives Matter protests since 2012, and he and some friends went to Ferguson in 2014 to provide healthcare

-he loves food trucks. He also definitely has the Okra app so whenever he travels he knows which Black opened restaurants to travel

-he played ultimate frisbee in college and got involved in it when he met another vet in college that really enjoyed the sport

-he has a soft spot for dogs and he definitely considering getting one to train as a therapy dog before he started working for Cap

-although he doesn’t do group at the VA anymore, he volunteers whenever he can

-he’s done a marathon to raise awareness for Veteran mental health

-running helped him cope with his PTSD and gave him time to reflect and think

-he does not really like drinking water, as evidence by the fact he gets back from a run and reaches for a refreshing glass of ORANGE JUICE

-he tells people his favorite Star Wars trilogy is the sequels because it pisses people off

-he was a HUGE Blerd as a kid

-he played the trumpet in high school and was actually pretty good about it

-his favorite subject in school was English

-he actually enjoyed physics and other math classes and liked it even moreso after doing para-rescue because that’s what flying is

-he and Sarah are sure to schedule monthly phone calls to check in. He kept those up even while on the run

-he loves Marvin Gaye but also Kendrick Lamar, Kevin Gates, Taylor Swift, Boys II Men, and Fall Out Boy. He’ll also listen to anything at least once

-he never “like” reacts on Facebook unless he’s feeling petty and passive aggressive

-he’s marched in several pride parades and has helped facilitate events for Black LGBT youth

-he definitely accidentally comes out to a Captain America fan because he can’t resist making a pun about being gay. It’s a young 19 year old queer kid from a homophobic home and their eyes go wide and they promise they would never out Sam but that they’re so glad they know at least one hero that is like them

-Sam gets the kid’s name and finds out they’re a student at MIT who has been disowned by their parents and forwards their info to Pepper to make sure their college, housing, and other necessities are paid for

-he totally bought Sarah a copy of “Go the Fuck to Sleep” when her kid was born. And definitely followed it up with a copy of “You Have to Fucking Eat.”

-his favorite book is “The Snowy Day” because he fell in love with it as a kid but if anyone asks his default is either “Lord of the Rings” or “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” both books he loved but not his favorite

-his nephews are his favorite people on this planet and he would literally move heaven and earth for their safety

#sam wilson #anthony mackie #the falcon and the winter soldier #tfatws #captain america and the winter soldier

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popculturebuffet · 2 years ago

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Hatchetfield Retrospective Part 2: Black Friday

Ahoy there boys and girls (and others). All aboard the SS Wiggle and set sail for giggles as my Hatchetfield retrospective rolls on just after the crimbule on your Turkey Day that requires a bottle of Pepper Spray, it's time for Black Friday!

For those friendywends just joining us, I covered The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals. If your new to starkid, I covered the troupes extensive history there along with most of the actors involved, which thankfully means with the ground work laid out I can jump right into this one.

And that was kind of the feeling here. As I covered last time the Guy Who Didn't LIke Musicals was the third idea the Lang Brothers had for this, and was chosen because it was more accesible. With Hatchetfield set up and just enough in place, Black Friday does what most horror sequels (or in this case spirtual sequels), do and kicking it up a notch: there's a much larger cast of characters, a global scope that comes about at the end of act 1, the introduction of one of the settings big bads, everything is bigger, badder and brutaler. So the question is did it pay off? Well come with me under the cut and find out. But hurry, suplies are limited.

Crawl and Brawl for A Doll

As with last time a bit of a refesher before we dive into the analysis: Black Friday follows the citzens of Hatchefield on the titular friday as a good chunk of them gather at Lakeside Mall to get their hands on the hottest toy of the season: Tickle Me Wiggly. Like Chucky you can tell just by looking at this guy…

That something is VERY wrong. The fact he usually appears surronded by an eerie green glow of stage lights dosen't help. But rather than running away from the thing as any sane person would, the adults of hatchefield are running toward it. And the Musical does expertly handwave the obvious problem of online retailers: Their already sold out so if anyone in our tiny town wants one, they gotta get in line.

IT's here we get to one of the things that sets this musical apart from TGWDLM: The previous show was pretty much Lazer focused on Paul with emma coming second, with every main cast member barring hidgens having some connection to paul. Even Emma, the plays deutratgonist, was still partly defined by being pauls love intrest.

In contrast, Black Friday is more of an ensemble, focusing on the various people at Lakeside Mall, and switching between groups with characters intersecting as the plot demands before most of them come back together for the finale, and that' snot even getting into the largely disconnected PEIP subplot. We meet our first Tom Houston via our previous protaganists Paul and Emma, a nice way to both set up the multiverse nature of things and connect back to the prevoius musical. Tom is played by Starkid Legend Dylan Saunders, who started as Dumbledoore and was a stalwart of Starkid up until twisted. Getting his SAG card meant he couldn't work with them for a while, and thus left the troupe. Thankfully this marked his grand return and he's been back ever since, even playing Ebeneezer Scrooge in A VHS Christmas Carol.

Tom is the husband of Emma's sister Jane, a nice bit of setup from last time, and naturally isn't doing well, being pantsless mid day, having left his job due to his PTSD both from his time as a vet and the car crash, and slowly drifting from his son Tim, not helped by him faking needing a drill press when he's really getting a wiggly. Emma is pissed but once she finds out why he needs her, she forgives him.

Tom has his work cut out for him though as the line is massive and if that weren't enough also features his Ex, Becky Barnes, played by Kim Whalen. Kim's a fresh addition to StarKid, but has been acting for some time and is the wife of Curt Mega, a close friend of star kid and part of their sister troop TinCan Bros, most famously headlniing spies are forever, a show I both need to see and cannot stop listenting to the soundtrack to. We'll be seeing him too as both joined up and both are invaluable additons to the team.

Becky is a kind, patient nurse who just wants to get a doll for the kids… and who is gossiped about by the town both because her and Tom were the big couple on campus.. and because she ended up in an abusive marriage that no one bothered to try helping her out of until stan just disappeared one day. Rubbing this in is Linda Monroe, every karen in the world baked into one insufferable but gloriously hammy person, the bitch of bitches who wants a wiggly for her kids and is constantly on the phone with her husband Gerald, who apparently can't be within 10 feet of a cinabon, which turned what was suppposed to be a cruel dig at his weight.. into everyone in the fandom to this day just asuming, probably correctingly, that Gerald once fucked a cinnamon roll. I mean they haven't proved he didn't.

Off to the side we have Lex Foster, a high school dropout with an abusive mother whose hoping to escape to california. Lex is played by yet another new face, Angela Giratnia, a great addition who plays Lex excelently. Mariah Rose Faith was supposed to play the roll.. but instead went to do Mean Girls. Ironically though the two have become very close friends, shooting the video for Yellow Jacket from Nightmare Time together and even more ironically, will be starring in the next full on musical, Nerdy Prudes Must Die, together as the leads.

Lex plans to sell a doll on the black market thanks to her Boyfriend Ethan, a nice dude in a leather jacket who despite being a punk is not low down nor cheap. Hannah however is less than receptive having stephen king style doom prophicies of death today and while Ethan calms her down with the power of grey skull, it's clear given we're in a horror property she's right and our heroes are in for some shit.

And shit does indeed hit the fan thanks to two people once their doors are open to you: The first is Frank Pricely. Frank is easily one of the best parts of the musical, with Corrrey Dorris absolutely devouring the scenery and having some truly great comedic moments..

Frank makes Flintheart Glomgold look both reserved and morally upstanding, and his greed ends up being a problem when our second domino tips him over: Sherman Young, a creepy toy collector who outright admits he's going to fuck at least two of the dolls and wants to buy them all. Linda has to sue to get frank to back off with her attonrey gary goldstien.. only for that to fall apart since he's also sherman's attorney> A man in a hurry plunges the final nail into the coffin by offering money, a bidding war starts and CHAOS REIGNS as everyone but Frank and Lex plunge into a full on retail riot, in song of course, and it quickly becomes apparent that while part of this is just human greed and bloodlust, the doll does something to people as it quickly escalates from simple riot to full blown cult.

Helping this escalation is Uncle WIley, the creator of Tickle Me Wiggly.. who naturally given this is a child's play and stephen king style horror show, turns out to ALSO be a delviery man played by the same actor, as well as a Randall Flag style corrupter, seducing Linda into leading a cult for Wiggly and finding the last dolls in the store.. one of which Lex smuggled into Hannah's backpack.

Things quickly go to shit for our heroes: Ian , after a really touching moment showing what a good guy he is.. gets curbstomped to death by the raving shoppers, wtih Hannah barely escaping, and Tom and Becky find his corpse… and Tom gets stabbed right after. And if that wasn't enough main character murder for you Frank goes soon after while Lex is held prisoner.

So naturally while all this drama nd tension is going on we cut to Washington DC

Yeah this is the subplot I mentoined; turns out riots like this are happening nation wide and the President, played by Curt Mega, is trying to solve it… only for him to succumb to wiggly too. Thankfully John Macnamara returns, shooting the doll and coming in to fetch President Goodman while belting out a badass underated song.

So our party splits into a few diffrent groups for a bit: Tom and Becky reunite while watching Santa Claus Goes to High School, and trust me we will unpack that one in a moment, and reveal their baggage, tom talking about how hard thigns have been … and Becky revealing she KILLED Stanley, as he refused to let her go to Jane's funeral, she tried going anyway, and the resulting confrontation lead to his death.

Hannah meanwhile is in a bad place as Wiggly himself harasses her, first posing as Ethan in a truly unerving scene with some excellent and horrifying acting form Robert Manion.. before speaking to Hannah herself and despite the doll not being able to move like Chucky, I applaud Jon Mattenson for being every bit as terrifying in his own way. Excellent job dude.

So we go back to the Washington Cul De Sac and get a bunch of exposition: Wiggly is an outer god from the place known as the black and white. Their plan amounts to tellign Wiggly

I wish I was kidding: They whnat goodman to come ot bargin with him. The thing is unlike say one Stephen Strange.. their just assumign the authority of ONE head of a country is enough to make an Elder God who clearly intricatley planned out his apocalypse go away.

SHOCKINGLY this goes bad immeditely: Wiggly instead mocks goodman, refuses to help and we get a truly haunting and AMAZING shot: naturally given when this play takes place, the set was decked with garland and two stage lights… which turn INTO wiggly, revealing he was there the whole time. The fact they pulled off the phsyical form of an elder god in a fucking stage show and did so in a way that had it there the whole time without making it obvious is fucking incredible.

Wiley lays out that it was mankinds own need to fill the voids in their soul with stuff that made their plan so easy and Goodman almost dies only for Macnamary to sacrife himself to the black and white to save him and urges the president to nuke him. NATURALLY this also goes bad and the nuke gets instead sent to BOMB THE RUSSIANS

World War III were declared. John does help one last time though: As sherman tries to murder lex, he appears to her awakening her own psychic powers and allowing her to get a gun

And just in time too as tom and becky found hannah and went on full posseison mode, tom running off with the doll while the other two were taken by the cult. So it's up to Lex to wake Tom from the possesion and go save her sister before it's too late.

How she does it reveals an EXTREMLEY clever twist: as Lex points out… none of the kids actually want the doll. The fact it's out of date and dosen't seem like something a kid would want.. is the point. It was all marketing and elder god brainwashing. Tim never ACTUALLY asked for it and it simply prayed on Tom and other's need to fill the void inside. Tom breaks free.

The two confront Linda, and almost loose as she gets the doll.. only for Becky to get the gun and Linda to be too busy mocking Becky and assuming she wouldn't get shot… to try and duck. Linda dies..

The rest of the cultists burn as Lex burns the mall, and our heroes meet up with Paul and Emma and sing one last song and the day, and possibly the world.. ends with an ominous noise and a smash to black. What happened?

Big Fat Buts

As I said before the summary, Black Friday feels like a lot of horror sequels or followups, a clear escalation that tries to be bigger than what came before: With the All-New All Diffrent team starkid having proven themselves by defeating an island that walks like a man.. er putting on a musical about a guy who dosen't quite care for them, it's clear Nick Lang had a lot of confidence both in his team and in hatchetfield. He knew he had fans and thus he could go as big as he wanted and even if it didn't quite land, there would still likely be fans left.

As such the cast is an ensemble, our heroes troubles are even darker with our abuse victimt his go round having to KILL her husband just to escape, a ptsd laden war vet in the darkest remake of jingle all the way ever and a teenager who genuinely thinks she's worth nothing and sings a song as she's choked out. TGDLM went dark but Black Friday goes pitch black

IT's not to say we don't have our usual starkid hilarity: from the whole drillpress argument ("How would it fit in the sedan?" killed me JUST as much the second time around) to the glorious ham of Gary Goldstien, to Lauren just.. devouring the scneery as linda, who alternates between horrifyingly awful to hilariously awful with expert timing. The show dosen't lack humor.. but it's less frequent and thus there's less refuge from the pretty bleak subject matter. While both musicals go darker in their second half, after the santa claus goes to high school bit, act 2 of Black Friday just has a bleak tone, with our heroes barely winning.. and even then it being implied nothing good came of it. The ending is not a rousing if dark number decnsturctoing final acts.. but a very chilling song asking if tommorow will come and hoping it'll be better.

And I.. like it. I'm fine with The Lang Bros having the tones be whatever fits the worth with the Hatchetfield Series. It set in a bit more with Nightmare Time, but it's fine for horror to have a range, to shake things up. It's why John Carpenter is so immortal in the genre and why Jordan Peele is his clear succesor: both have a knack for cranking out masterpieces.. while also not being afraid to experiment or throw something new in wether it works or not and i'm glad the Langs are willing to take risks. It paid off in this regard, as the darker tone fits the story better: TGWDLM had such a silly premise that while ti got far darker than expected, you had to camp it up. While this likewise has a rediculous premise it's grounded enough in our own flaws, that it needs a bit more grounded characters and tone to really sell the horror and cosmic dread, really making our heroes feel outmatched by the elder god their basically playing a game of keep away with.

Another big change.. is that this works message is far less subtle. TGWDLM had a subtle message about the dangers of escapism, using the hive as a metaphor for people ignoring the world's shittyness by whatever coping mechanism they have. It's a fairly well done metaphor ,even if I forgot to tackle it last time. We all turn to something. And it gave no easy answers.

Black Friday.. is about as subtle as a bunch of kicks to a pooor innocent teens head. It's VERY upfront about how people use consuramism as a way to escape their issues, how the goverment has failed us so badly that people turn to stuff to fill the void, that we buy more and more things to help escape how awful the world is. Uncle Wiley spells it out in his speech and the ensuing song after said speech just in case anyone missed it. I can't deny it's just a tad overbearing, even having the President repeadtely go "i'm a status quo democrat" which is funny.. but kinda wears out over time. The musical could only be less subtle about those parts of it's message if the lyrics to made in america were just "THE GOVERMENT TOTALLY SUCKS YOU MOTHERFUCKER'.

That said, while this musical lacks subtley the message.. isn't a bad one and is one worth exploring. While it's not the first horror work to explore consumrisim by a long mile (Child's Play, They Live and the Stuff were all way ahead of it), it does so in a way that really does hit me, by tackling shopping and getting more things to try and cope. I've done that quite a bit. It's easy to fall into the trap of buying shit just to get that small rush you get from getting a thing. I've grappled with shopping addictiona dn I still haven't fully tamed it

The fact of the matter is the system is broken. You can se eit for yoruself most sundays are on "British Man Explains why the System is broken on a slowly collapsing platform with John Oliver". Most people lack the power to change it and ther'es only so much protest and speech can do. It's easy to drown yourself in whatever you can to make the constant pain of how fucked we are stop. To just say "hey this thing will help me not feel bad and tha'ts not bad". And while ti's fine in small doses it's a powerful drug and one that can be abused easy. It's why fuckers like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk have power and why despite hating a lot of disneys practices I struggle to break away: as Uncle Wiley says "your thirst for stuff.. is never slaked". The message isn't subtle.. but in a time when women have had their rights yanked from them, the threat of facisim via trumpisim still looms and coprations keep getting away with shit while we impotently yell for them to stop and we just keep buying more and more crap to help cope… it's one we needed. And the end message as shown by Lex saving Tom with memoreis of his son, that it's people not things that can help us get through is a powerful one.. and that even if tommorow may not come… it might and break the dawn. The message is fine… it just didn't need to be delievered with a kick to the head is all.

Another mixed bag is the scope. The incrreased number of main characters isn't terrible: Lex and Hannah are great and Becky and Tom are passable, we'll get to that more in the character breakdown, and we get a lot of great side characters like the rise of Man in a Hurry, Gary Goldstien and Sherman Young. So it ballances out a tad. The increased cast size helps sell the packedness of the mall as much as you can with a moderate sized troupe and the size of Linda's cult.

The issue isn't at the mall.. but beyond it. I'm probably not breaking any hearts saying the PEIP subplot feels tacked on. A large part of this is part of what makes this new franchise special… is Hatchetfield itself. Each new work expands on another part of the island and adds more locations to revisit. It's very clear, especially from Nightmare Time, that the Langs put a LOT of work into making Hatchefield feel like a real town with clear locations like Pizza Petes and the Lakeside Mall and landmarks like the Witchwood. So leaving that for Washington DC feels a bit jarring.

And look i'm glad to have McNamara back, i'm always for more jeff and he's great as always and the SONGS in this subplot are amazing and we'll get to them shortly. But the actually plot of it is…

Yeah the plan makes NO sense and make MacNamara, a trained vetran of dealing with weird shit who clearly knows the lords in black decently well and can take down their servitors with his knife of truth thinking one world leader whose not all that imposing, charasmatic or intresting coudl talk down wiggly seems a stretch. "He's never had a phsyical form so maybe he'll know fear" makes no sense.. especiallys ince while it's not a body the dolls GIVE HIM A PRESENCE ON THIS PLAIN. The fact your not going yourself to use the knife of truth on his physical form and you don't even try John shows you know Wiggly's mostly invicible. Don't get me wrong the idea of simply barganing with a god instead of fighting them is cool, it's why the climax of Dr. Strange is one of it's best parts. But Stephen had an infinite time loop of his own deaths to pull that shit off. All John has is a status quo democrat. It would've worked better if John himself went or went with the president. Again the subplot has some good stuff, the whole meltdown with the presidents cabinet is great, but it takes away from the core of things and pads out the runtime for something that ultimately dosen't really pay off. It's like the Canto Blight bit of Last Jedi: it's neat to look at and I can't say it has no merit whatsover, but I also can't say you coudln't of rewritten it to feel more integral to the story.

It just contributes to the musical being strentched a bit thin: with no real main focus character to zero in on the musical just kind of ambles on. It doesn't do so badly, but without zeroing in on lex or tom or hannah or anyone, it feels the most aimless of the hatchefield works i've seen thus far. Black Friday isn't bad but it coudl've been far better and it seems from Nightmare Time and Nerdy Prudes smaller focuses and clearer main character selections, sticking to one or two a story, that the Langs learned this lesson well. Wiggly Jingles

The songs for Black Friday are their greatest strength. While the performances are mildly strained as the performers aren't in their best shape, the songs still slap both on stage and soundtrack and i'll stand by that. Jeff took his already great satrical work from his previous two musicals and, now able ot use a regular musical format again, let loose. This musical may be a mixed bag but it's soundtrack.. really isn't and Nightmare Time and the Nerdy Prudes Demos show he's only getting better with each show. Jeff is the heart and soul of hatchefield and this soundtrack cemented that

First up we have the Nibbly Ditty, a fun catchy jingle with some nice belting and some nice foreshadowing for the nature of the dolls "he's all that you wanted, he's all that you needed" indeed. Having seen my share of children's stage shows, Jeff and co nailed the sound of one beautifully while melding it perfectly with a commerical. Angela trying to just.. straight up eat Wiggly after just adds to it.

Then we get What Tim Wants which is one of the weaker tracks.. yet it also shows just how good the soundtrack is that it's still an utterly soulcrushing heartfelt ballad from Dylan. He came back guns a blazing with this one, with the flash bang parts especially killing me. It's only real weakness is whle the soundtrack has a nice variety and style its own elsewhere this feels like a very stock musical theater number, which works for what it is, it just dosen't stand out nearly as much. It does sum up Tom VERY well thougH: a man desperatley trying to fix things with his kids but his trauma and desperation to get back what he head instead of fixing what he has are holding him back.

Case in point to What Tim Wants not standing back, we next get an Avril Lavengin style rock anthem, California MIA. Angela comes in hot with her first number, and I feel her rougher vocals fit lex like a glove, with this fun pop punk number that perfectly sums up both Lex's edge, and desperation to escape in a cool rebellion number.

What Do You Say is one of my faviorites, and really helps show off new member James Tolbert, the longtime coreographer for the group turned actor this time around, who gets some fun bits as scarf guy. It's a hlariously catty and well done song as everyone gossips, everyone in the troupe gets a fun bit, and the line coreogrpahey is fucking amazing. That must've been a bitch to pull off but my god they did it well. And I don't mean in delivery I mean the entire dance is coregraphed while still having the people wait in line mostly. It's incredible. It also has the immortal bit of MIAH holding up his camera, creepily smerking and saying "Just skip to the fucking". God bless you Jeff

We then get what is easily my faviorte number: Our Doors Are Open. This made me fall in love with Corey because holy shit does he own this one. I still hear this one in my head on occasoin, to the point I even ordered Creme Brule on my turkey day. I did not require a bottle of pepper spray thankfully. EVERY. SINGLE. LINE. is quotable and perfectly satiresing the comercialsim of Black Friday gloriously. As also proven by "Pays to Be an Animal" before this and "Axeman" after, Correy really makes a meal out of it any time he gets a number, and this is his greatest feast.

It's hilarious, biting and has a grew du wop sound

That said Jeff didn't rest because we get another bit that really sums up the holiday well right after… and it's far less glossy side, the side where people fight or trample: Feast or Famine, a great number showing off the greed, madness and violence of the "holiday", perfectly summed up with the chorus of "Take what you want, return what you get". Highlights include Corey's drunk sounding response to the riot and Jeff's glorious CHAOS REIGGGNNNNSSSS.

We end act 1 with Monsters and Men. And having watched a few videos ranking either this musicals songs or Starkid soundtracks in general, I gotta say this one is HIGHLY underated. A lot of people seem to hate this one because it's in that stupid PEIP subplot, but it's a really good rousing song about standing up against great evil. Jeff really sells the hell out of it, and it really gives one hope before Act 2 cruelly yanks it all away. It likely only ranks so low because there's so much else good, but it's still one of my faviorites.

We open act 2 with a hilaroiusly jarring break from everything. See this was supposed to just be dialouge on the screen.. but the whole insane concept of Santa Claus Goes to High School was too fun and it's clear after all this time the Langs STILL love High School Musical, so doing a Disney Channel style number as well as a parody of those sort of movies for tweens was too tempting. And i'm glad we did as we got the holiday classic deck the halls of northville high. It's an energetic number that deserves it's own mini musical, hilarious, over the top, and greatly belted by Robert. The escalting insanity from the elves to "mr humbuger" just adds to it. It's so perfectly Disney Channel. Seriously make this a movie and have Calum Worthy in it despite being about 30 at this point. Do it. Do it now. if you've seen reboot you'l know why.

For those of you wondering what Santa Claus Goes to High School is it's exactly that: Santa becomes a teenager to get down with the kids, makes out with a teen.. it's pretty nuts.

Spekaing of santnta making out with a teen we get the excellent Take Me Back next, as Kim Whalen really gets to show off her pipes, and Dylan gets to show back. A nice sorrowful number about what could've been and what still might be as two old loves firmly reconnect. The interlude from Santa Claus Goes to High School and Jamies delivery of santa before she jumps robert.. fucking amazing.

We then get our first in a string of awesome villian songs and it's Lauren's turn to shine as she gets what seems to be her first full on Villian Song in the Starkid Catalogue and it was about damn time as holy shit does she nail it. Linda gets to show off her incredible ego as she demands your love and worship too… or she will end you. An all timer of a villian song, helped of course by "unless I get what I shit".

Next is "Do You Want To Play?". I admit it's not the most musically ambitious or clever of these.. but that's the point. It's simply a very creepy song sung by a wiggy possed Becky and Tom as they hunt poor Hannah. It's just supposed to be lightly enchanting and DEEPLY unsettling. It's easily one of the creepiest parts of the play.

Capping off this trilogy is Made In America. This is one that's grown on me at times as this is where things are at their most

But over time i've come to figure it's a REALLY good song, with Wiley mocking humanity for making it SO easy for them. Honestly though it wouldn't work half as well without one man. Joey Fucking Richter. While this isn't HIS first villian song and Wagon On Fire is amazing and showed he could pull this off, it shows he shoudl've been given more because hot damn this one is good. It's his vocals that really bring it to life and make me love this one. There's really not a bad one among this soundtrack.

And then.. we get our title track, which is a VERY close second for my faviorite. Honestly it's hard to tell if I like this or doors are open better in part because their so very diffrent; Doors are Open is a goofy, brutal satire of Black Friday itself.. while Black Friday is a very dark rock solo about Lex comtemplating her life and how much she feels it's a waste, her relationship with hannah, and her oncoming death. It's throughly tragic, watching this teenager think so little of herself as she slowly fades away, and pointing out just how much hope Hannah gave her .. and how she'll have to be fine without her because "I'm leaving". It just.. destroys me every time and I let it EVERY TIME. Angela got to show off nicely with CalfiorniaMIA but this made me marvel at how amazing a singer she is. Goddamn.

The Monsters and Men Reprise is decent. Not much else to say, it's just a nice short song of hope after Lex hit her rock bottom.

If I Fail You is.. fine. It's another very typical ballad. And look being standard is fine, there have been some really great broadway numbers and will be. it's just that other ones like "Take Me Back' and "Monsters and Men on this same album are SO much better and so much more resonant. This is just kinda there and to me is the weakest of the tracks. While I feel Monsters and Men gets

Thankfully we cap off Linda before Becky caps her with "Wiggle" right after. Another amazing villian song this one darker and more cultish to show just how CLOSE she is to winning. Is it entirley necessary? Probably not. Would I cut it

This song is another great showcase for Lauren and a banger of a villian song.

Then of course we have our finale, a truly awesome and haunting some from Kendall Nicole, a child actress whose a student of Kurts.. who fucking nails it as Hannah. It's a shame she coudln't come back for BLack friday 2 but she was awesome while we had her as this is a nicely haunting song that fits the darker town and bleakness of the ending: we wont' know if our heroes survivie or not… we just have to have hope. Did tommorow turn the night off? With a song this beautiful and hautning it dosen't matter. Shoppy Shop People

So finishing things we have our group of surviviors trapped in a mall, our cultists and of course our characters stranded ove rin subplot land to break down.

Starting off we have who I consider to be the best of the main cast, Lex Foster. The musical REALLY coudl've been served better focusing on her as the center, with Hannah or Tom serving as a secondary ala Emma, as she's easily the most engaging of the main cast. Lex easily could've been an edgy snarky teen sterotype as many teen dramas tend to have.. but instead is a character who while snarky and prone to doing crimes.. is throughly sympathetic and realistic. She's not jaded because she won't be a part of your system man, she's jaded because everything has failed her: her mother is implied here and confirmed in later works to be abusive, the school barely tried to help her , and the one teacher she DID like left and you can see both sides when she lashes out at Tom: Tom is coming to her for a favor after essnetially abandoning her.. but he had his own trauma to deal with he hasn't. You can't blame Lex for feeling abandoned but you can't blame tom for doing it when he was in no shape to help anyone most of all himself. It's just a tragedy of time, crucmstances and a system that dosen't give a damn about the kids it teaches some of the time. The teachers care and can try, but they can only do so much. It's no wonder Lex's plan is a desperate, shaky gamble, and one that may not even work if Pam bothers to call the police.

Yet despite the lashing out she genuinely loves her sister. Hannah is not just a tool to make lex feel better: Lex does muse "did I need her more than she needed me".. but her plan to run away would have NO risks other than the usual of trying to flee to LA using sketchy doll money if she left Hannah behind. It shows that while Lex may doubt herself.. she's a genuinely great caretaker to her sister and the one major scene they have togehter shows it: she chastises Ethan for calling her crazy, tries to calm hannah's panic attack down gently without snapping at or judging her, and clearly is only trying to calm Hannah's worries about the mall because she sees them as regular anxiety and not that mixed with end of the world doom visions. She loves her sis and wants her to have the best. Usually that wouldnt' include a kidnapping and I wouldn't condone this sort of thing but again, and it's left ambitious here if it's really that bad.. but trust me it is. Sometimes a terrible solution with clear consequences is better than no solution.

Much like Paul her self hatred only becomes apparent via song: It's not until black friday we get a full sense of how much this poor young woman hates herself and feels her death. Black Friday the song is brilliant in just having it stripped away: she feels there was "nothing to subtract" that she did and acomplished nothing and wonders if she even shoudl've wanted. It's a powerful give in to despair that makes MacNamara unlocking her powres and saving her so damn cathartic. Lex finally gets agency in her life nad kicks it's ass and it's beautiful to see, saving Tom form himself and wiggly.

Tom himself.. is a mixed bag. The idea is a good, a down to earth man trying to grapple with ptsd and raising his son and loosing his wife. The problem is in execution, Tom is just whatever the plot needs him to be or focus on, either being stuck in Jingle All The Way 3: Wow This Series Got Dark, or focused on becky. He gets some beauitufl numbers from Dylan but no real shape or form. He's a bit bumbling and tha'ts all we really get. Tom could be more and to the langs credit he's ab it more of a character in his next starring role Jane's A Car.. .and he also got to full on fuck a car so that helped. I just wish he was here. Dylan feels wasted in the roll, only elevating it because he's that good.

Becky also suffers from feeling underwrittne. She's mostly just

For most of the procediings. She does get a few standout moments. Her face when Linda just straight up tells her everyone knew stan abused her and no one cared

Is devistating.. and Kim utterly sells the reveal that she killed stan and the whole monologue is sad and chilling. She's a tragic character, a woman who had her agency ripped from her by a monster, lost her chance with the preson she actually liked and even freedom has just left more people laughing at her and Becky likely terrified Stanely will find out again. There's a lot to her but again the musical just.. dosen't really focus on it outside of two scenes and her arc is just solved with.. shooting her arch enemy in the head

It dosen't help her problems along, it just… is really badass. Which is nice but it'd be nicer if there was some sort of closure beyond bang bitch went down

Hannah again suffers from the same problme as the others: not enough focus, being more of a plot device. Like all these characters Kendalls performance elevates it and the poor child goes through hell, and KNOWS something like it is coming but everyone's convinced it's her possible disablity and not her psychic powers that ecaservate a possible disablity. She does get the great scene dealing with Wiggly and thankfully Hannah gets two nightmare time stories in the center to make up for this btu once again it's a great description for a character.. that gets to do nothing because this musical has like 20 stories to get to.

That said while the musical underwites most of it's characters to it's detriment… there are exceptoins. For all the heroes potetial being squandered our villians are fucking fantastic. And starting off we have Linda Fucking Monroe. She starts out broad, hilariously catty.. then horribly cruel, mocking becky over her ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP and calling her WEAK for it.

What makes Linda work so well is that she's so evocative of the Karens we see all the time: the kind of asshole who asks to see a manager in the rudest way possible, will call the cops on a child with a sword because she dosen't like his skin, and will throw a hissy fit the second things go slightly wrong. We've all seen videos of Linda Monroes.. but at the core Linda shows wha thappens when your average asshole, if well connected and rich, is simply nudged in the wrong direction to being an absolute monster. The potetial was there, again this woman mocked someone for being an abuse victim.. but she dosen't quite seize it right away. It takes Uncle Wiley prodding her, pointing out the need to be loved and admired and her skill at manipulation to blossom her from cruel bitch to full on monster. It dosen't take a far push for someone to go from simply being a very, very cruel asshole to being capable of great evil.

It helps Lauren Lopez really hams it up. She's utterly horrifing when need be, wether it's when calling Becky weak or killing Frank, but she's also just hilariously over the top the rest of the time, but in a way that works: she's every entitled shithead roleld into one and Lauren just owns it. The fact she spends the whole play talking to her hsuband who waits out there for her for hours, and the payoff to that with Gary talking to gerald about the will is gold by the by just adds to it. Linda is both over the top but also compitent and ruthless. She knwos how to play the wigglyites, with the frenzy having helped.. but ont heir own they just woudl've been madened assholes, dangerous as seen with poor Ethan, but under her their an army, their her children.. and they almost win. She's not a super mastermind or anything, it stillt akes the lucky break of Lex coming right ot them for them to actually get the doll and had Lex not talked Tom down, the doll woudl've left the mall, but Linda still manages to turn a disorganized mob into a cult in a manner of hours with only a slight push and a promise of power. It's not a sign anyone can become bad with the right push.. tis' a sign a bad person can become life destroyingly awful with the right push and it is great.

Next is Uncle Wiley, aka MacNamara's friend Wilbur Cross, a former PEIP agent who upon meeting wigly was turned into his right hand, his mouth of sauron his number. one. guy. Since it takes some effort for Wiggly and his brothers to take form on earth, as we'll see as we get into nightmare time, he needed someone and for whatever reason Uncle Wiley took up the roll. Is he brainwashed? did Wiggly simply turn any evil in wilbur up? or was Wilbur Cross always just one push away from the dark side and Wiggly simply pushed him far enough. We still don't know and it's part of what akes WIley awesome: we don't know WHY he's like this, why he's so respected by an elder god that Wiggly fully trusts him with the plan and never talks down to Wiley or orders him around, treating him almost as an equal. It's clear whose in charge.. it's also clear Wiggly has so much faith in his frendy wend that he trust shim to carry out th eplan to the letter without going into his own agenda. To say his words for him before his big reval in the black and white. To trust his servants the sniggles to him as minons. Wiley is just as much a threat as his boss without nearly as much power and his mystery, while one I'd be curoius to se esolve, just adds to it.

It help's he's just charasmatic. At first seen as a goofy host and seemingly just a dleivery guy , the second he reveals himself as Wiley and shows up to Linda the switch flips> He goes from just another guy or a succesful toymaker.. to the devil himself. A manveloent tempter who simply takes what was in a person and gives it purpose and focus toward his dark lords ends. Joey Richter just projects this sense of unease to the audience, simply by being utterly calm. He takes everything easily and only really starts to project at his most when he sings, poitning out how huamntiy's own flaws and america's abandonment of it's own people gave Wiggly the weapon he needed. All they needed was the right package and a slight amplifciation from the magic. After all they needed to actually be AROUND the wiggly to become frenzied like most of the shoppers did. But it's human nature, greed and longing that let Wiggly in and all Wiley did was give them a solution to their problem. A need to fill a hole. And osmetimes that's all it takes. He's one of the most fascneating and haunting characters this franchise has put otu and I'm eager to see him again.

Finally we have Wiggly himself and Jon Mattenson, really tears it up as the friendy wend in chief. And yet he spends a good chunk of the play passive and not really talking, only getting two bits of dialouge, one in a commerical and the other failing to convert lex, and with people's own self destruction guiding thigns. It's not until Wiley shows up again and recurits Linda we get the idea Wiggly is the god he is.

And it works brilliantly: it reminds me of the first child's play: it's fairly obvious the doll is really behind this, especailly now said doll is a horror icon, yet the suspense of what's up with it, why is he not moving, and his true motives keep you hooked.. and thus makes when theyf inally do speak as themselves allt he more impactful

Case in point the bit with Hannah> Wiggly first appears as an illusion of Ethan, which Manion sells horrifingly well: while you know this really isn't ethan from minute one ti's not because well no doy, but because something's.. off about Evil Ethan. He acts like an unsettling evil jim carrey and not the ethan we knew: he's not laid back he's manic and just wants Hannah to split. it's truly unerving.. nad yet somehow and inanmiate (due to budget sadly) doll is even more terrifying. Jon delivering Wiggly's threat that "Your a rotten banana, i'm going to peel you hanana and SPLIT, YOU TO BITS", is so perfect, having that cutesy tone of a childeren's toy.. while being utterly terrifying. Wiggly is like if Chucky didn't drop the good guy voice and got his sweet jersey accent and it's unerveing as hell. A truly masterful new villian…. and the dawn of a whole new bunch of freindy wends to come and play. But we'll get to his brothers soon enough.. just not this time.

Frank Pricely is a fucking masterpiece. He dosen't last long, but Corey eats up every bit of screen time as this throughly unlikeable dick who gets his rightful commupance.. but not before again a giant gala musical number where he comes off as manager frank n furter, gives the fans all the pelvic thrusts they could want, brags about how greedy and horrible he is like mr krabs cloned himself but it came out human, and just utterly devours the scene. One of Corey's greatest parts and i'm Psyched to see him again in Daddy.. and they had to know what they were doing titling a frank centric story that.

So we've come to MacNamara and Goodman

Yeah as I said the Peip stuff is fairly week. Mac himself is fine as always, hammy, a source of hope an da decen tbig good. You still come out thinking

But I give Jeff Credit for being awesome as always. Sadly Curt Mega can't say the same. He tried his best, I don't place any of the blame on him and just from HEARING him from the soundtrack for Spies are Forever I knew he had a ton of talent going into this muiscal. President Goodman is just given nothing to work with. His only jokes are he's terribly qulaified for this crisis and he's a status quo democrat. He's.. nothing.

Thankfully we also get some great side characters. We get Ethan a mildly insetive but ultimately emapthetic and sweet boyfriend. Robert really does a good job making him charming: he and angela had great chemistry and you can see why Lex likes and trusts him, and despite being a tad insentive to hannah at first, helps calm her down and sacrifices himself so she gets away. His death is one of the most horrific and tragic moments in the hatchetfield universe, a teenager cut down in the prime of his life in a bloody and brutal way. Unlike the violence for the previous musical, we see the blood and see the poor guy slowly fade out. Truly chillling.

We aslo get the glory that is Gary Goldstien Attorney at Law. He was cleary created because while jon's main role was mickey he needed something else to do, it dosen't make him any less comedically brillant and it's puzzling that, as far as I can tell, he hasn't returned since so far. He's true comedy gold, from the goofy voice, to him gladly rerespenting two clients with conflicting intrests, to putting his tie aroun dhis head like a neckband to my faviorite thing his response to a groin attack being "ohhh right in the supoenas!" like this happens every day. He's a national treasure. The fact Jon used the SAME VOICE for one of his own characters, his BEST character, and says the two are brothers both makes this better, introduced me to the wonder that is venus please, and makes me hope Elmo gets backported into the hatchetverse. Behold his glory bellow

youtube

True. Art. Finally for new characters we have sherman young. While i'm still sore Jamie Lynn Beatty STILL hasn't gotten a starring role, I mean what the fuck, she does get to fill Lauren and Jeff's usual slot of cast weirdo. I mean she shares it with jeff here but still, she gets to really ham it up as this creep and while he's not a great character, having a creepy manchild toy collector (note collecting toys dose not make you a manchild or a creep, wanting to fuck them and hoard them all for yourself makes you a creek) does make sense and him being the one to nearly kill lex assuming as a worker she's there just to serve him was still perfectly horrifying. Not Jamie's best, but as usual for this one not her fault.

We get a few happy returns. Besides Ted, Charlotte and BIll all showing up in the final number, we get MAN IN A HURRY. Because he didn't get to say i'm in a hurry last time… Nick just decided to make that one big joke so his entire personality is now I'M IN A HURRY, and if you think him being in a hurry at black friday is a bit of a stretch.. you haven't seen anything yet. And they coudl've coasted on this one joke and i'd be fine, but adding other bits for him from being a bit of a creep (again JUST SKIP TO THE FUCKING), and loudly shouting CHAOS REIGNS. It's a great showcase for Jeff.

We also get Paul and Emma back as mentiond and while their scenes are great we see both growth in emma and some peak awkward paul "We ar eintimate". It' snot much but it was fun to see them again. Not so much the NEXT time we see them again.. but. we'll. get. to. that. Our Doors Are Closed

Black Friday is a decent musical but it's a mess. The characters can be underwritten, the tone goes a bit too dark for it's own good, and the PEIP subplot needed vast reworking they didn't get or want to do. It's an ambitious work, but one that's kicked in the head by an overused running gag with it's ambition. I can't fault the Langs for going hard on this one, I just wish it'd came togethe rbetter. The bright side is.. furture projects did. While Nightmare Time keeps narrow character focus again, we still get big stories involving a whole ass theme park, time travel to a dystopian future, and an entire dreamlike finale. Sure it's all done over camera because pandemic and all that, but it still shows how they learned to expand in scope while knowing when to ease back and hopefully that stays now their back on stage. Black Friday is still VERY much worth watching though with great music, set pieces and coreography and the performers do thier best, it's just one of the more uneven works in this fairly new franchise is all. It's not even my least faviorite or anything, we'll get to that in feburary.

SO with that we close up the mall for the season, shutter the doors and prepare for the month ahead. I probably wont' be doing any starkid material in December, it's pretty packed and this works well as a christmas edition. I"ll be back hopefully monthly in january, as the nightmare time is gonna get you as we dive back into the first two episodes. Thanks for reading, consider joining my patreon, and have a good day.

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abbatoirablaze · 3 years ago

Text

Dressed To Impress

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: cute fluff, light teasing, mutual pining, low self-confidence.

“I heard he’s an avenger now,” one of the women around your desk giggled. You rolled your eyes at how they had started their daily gossip after the infamous Sam Wilson stepped through the doors of the VA with none other than Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers to be part of the PTSD support group and help other vets by speaking about their own war with PTSD, “he’s the falcon.”

“He’s been an avenger for years now. And he’s not The Falcon anymore. Rogers handed over the shield when he retired, remember? So, stop being a group of clucking hens,” you warned the three women, all of whom were older than you. They rolled their eyes at you in turn, and you raised a brow, “If you aren’t going to do what you’re supposed to be doing you can go outside and wait in line with the rest of their fangirls. Harmony, you need to be helping out in the South wing. Same goes for you Amanda. The only one that’s supposed to be here is Rachel, while she covers the desk for me while I run the group.”

“How are you not drooling over at least one of them?” Amanda, the one closest to your age asked, “if I wasn’t married and on my second kid with my husband, I’d try so hard to be getting in their super suits. Granted, Rogers is definitely my style…but I wouldn’t say no to the other two if they wanted a taste.”

“She’s madly in love with her boyfriend, remember?”

“What boyfriend?”

“The invisible one,” Harmony laughed. You stuck your tongue out at the thirty-four-year-old and she laughed, looking to Rachel and Amanda. Then she looked back to you, “When are you going to let me set you up? My husband has some really cute friends.”

“Wait, you mean to tell me you don’t have a boyfriend and you aren’t interested in at least one of the three of those men?” Rachel asked, leaning against the desk.

“I don’t care to be involved with anything like that.”

“But didn’t you work with Sam when he worked here?” she asked calmly, “how are you not trying to ride his co-“

“Captain Rogers. Sergeant Barnes. Sam,” you smiled, cutting the girls off as you noticed the three men stopping behind the girls. All of them paled and turned around, “nice to see you guys again.”

“Jessica Riley,” Steve smiled, holding his hand out to you to shake. You took it and his grin got even wider as he looked to Sam, “Sam has told us so much about you.”

“God I hope not,” you laughed. You gave him a look, and noticed that he was blushing, “if he told you anything too incriminating, I can always give you guys some insight on some of his more boring days here. And then, well from when he was in the Air Force. He used to run with my brother. Jake was his wingman.”

“So, he’s mentioned,” Steve replied, eyeing you up and down, “thank you for allowing us to come in today.”

“It’ll be really great for the vets to have someone of all of your calibers to open up to,” you replied softly, sparing a glance to Sam and Bucky as you dropped his hand. Bucky held his arms out to you, and you walked around the desk, giving him a hug, “how’ve you been, Buck? Taking care of my little birdie?”

“It’s Captain America now,” Sam corrected, trying to sound tough, “and I take care of robocop here, not the other way around.”

“Sure, sure,” you laughed, breaking away from Bucky. You smiled even wider as Sam wrapped his arms around you, “been a while since you were here last…was thinking you forgot all about us little people.”

“I could never forget about you, Jess.”

“Sure.” You pulled away and looked at the three girls who still stood by the reception desk, jaws agape, “Guys this is Rachel, Amanda, and Harmony. They’ve all been hired in the past six months…you know…how long it’s been since you, Sam and Bucky, were last here.”

Sam blushed again, and it caused both Bucky and Steve to chuckle. They all started greeting the girls, and you noticed that Sam never fully let go of you, his arm low on your waist. You felt your own cheeks flush as you leaned into him a little bit.

“You know, people might get the wrong idea if they were to see you holding me like this, Sam,” you muttered under your breath, “the new Captain America coming into the VA to flirt with a receptionist.”

“I’ve been flirting with you long before Steve handed me the shield,” he chuckled quickly, “but if you don’t like my hand on you, I can remove it.”

“I’ve gone over this before, Wilson, either ask me on a date, or stop flirting with me,” you replied just as quickly as you stepped away from him. Instead, you went up to Steve and took him by the arm, “come on Steve. Bucky let’s get you guys to the support group. It should be starting in about fifteen minutes, and I’m sure they’d love to meet with you beforehand.”

“Sounds great, kiddo!”

Steve was smiling the whole way, with his Colgate smile and oceanic eyes glimmering as the two of you chatted one another up. Meanwhile, Bucky was walking a little slower with Sam, “you ask her out yet?”

“No.”

“Come on, Sam, you’re wearing the whole getup,” Bucky admonished his friend playfully, “couldn’t even ask your dream girl out as Captain America, bird brain?”

“She’s not just some girl, Buck.”

“Hey! Only St-”

“I know, I know,” Sam recalled, cutting his friend off as he rolled his eyes at Bucky. He prepared his best stoic expression and stared at Bucky, and in a mocking tone, he held up his finger, “only Steve gets to call me Buck…because Steve always had a plan…”

“I don’t sound like that,” Bucky bickered at his friend, “and if I did, I wouldn’t be wagging my finger at you! I’m not your mother.”

“You sure like to act like it sometimes.”

“Stop trying to run away from the subject and just ask your girl out before Steve does,” Bucky laughed, nodding his head up to where you were giggling at something Steve said. He brushed a few loose locks of his hair away from his face and Sam noticed him touch her forearm gently, “because by this point, it looks like Steve may have traded the shield for her.”

“Jessica isn’t someone you trade off, Barnes,” Sam snarled, “she’s special. Sweet. She’s fucking perfect.”

“Then stop being a pansy, and ask the girl out,” Bucky replied, “I heard you two when you had your arm around her waist. Even she was asking you to do it.”

“Tha-that’s just Jess being Jess. She doesn’t mean it,” Sam said quickly, “she doesn’t really want a date with me…I’m just the last reminder of her brother that she’s got.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not it, Sam,” Bucky scoffed, patting his friend’s back a little harder than necessary, “But I’m gonna head in there and grab Steve…give you a few minutes…just for the love of god, grow a pair and ask her out already.”

Sam watched as Bucky walked past and grabbed Steve, without so much as a word, and the two of them walked through the door to the support group. And that’s when his eyes caught yours once more. His throat went dry as you started walking up to him.

“Is Bucky okay?” you asked, your brow quirking at him, “he just grabbed Steve…”

“Yeah…Bucky’s weird like that sometimes,” Sam said in a noncommittal tone as he looked back down the hall, “you know how he gets.”

You shrugged it off and crossed your arms, your lips becoming two plump, straight lines that he desperately wanted to kiss. You quirked your head to the side and looked at him, “you okay, Sam? You look a little pale.”

“Yeah…yeah, I guess I just have a lot on my mind.”

“That’s understandable,” you replied, biting your lip, “you know…you can always talk to me if you want to…if something’s bothering you…”

“Nothing is bothering me,” he said quickly, shaking his head, “I don’t-“

“I’m sorry, you replied even quicker as you cut him off. You gave him a frown as you started to turn away from him, “I’m sorry…I-I -I didn’t mean to overstep if I did.”

“Wait,” he begged, reaching out to grab ahold of your arm. You turned, brown doe eyes looking back at him, “I-I didn’t mean to get short with you…I just…I’m having a tough time is all…and I really…would you want to grab dinner with me sometime?”

“To talk?” you asked slowly, “or…to have dinner?”

“To have dinner?” he asked hopefully. Your breath caught in your throat as the words passed his lips, and it felt like butterflies erupted in your stomach, “I mean…if you don’t want to, I-“

“I’ve been waiting ten years for you to finally ask me out, Sam,” you muttered, unable to contain your excitement. You wrapped your arms around the muscular man, and he let go of the breath he was holding in, only for your lips to capture his own in a kiss. Sam’s arms immediately went to your waist. You could feel your heart racing as you pulled away, leaning your forehead against his, “what on earth took you so long, Sam Wilson?”

#sam wilson #marvel #marvel au #captain america #the avengers #falcon and winter soldier #the falcon #falcon #bucky barnes #steve rogers #winter soldier #fatws imagine

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mssleepy876b · 3 years ago

Text

Family Ties- Chapter 13

Summary: Family can be a positive and negative force in one's life. Detective Jay Halstead knows that personally and he helps a new Intelligence family member through it.

Requested? No. But promised @resanoona that I would post mine once she posted hers. SORRY for being absent. Teaching keeps me busy

Word count: 2139

Warnings: domestic violence, PTSD possible

A/n: Unedited Sorry for any mistakes

Family Ties Chapter 13

Several days later, an envelope was delivered to the district for Brie. Trudy brought it up and Jay opened it. There was a note. She recognized Michael’s handwriting. He had written ‘You are playing a dangerous game, Brielle. I will teach him that you are MINE. Plus, who gave you permission to change your appearance? I know I didn’t. You will follow my instructions, or I will kill him, Brielle. Your precious Detective, War Vet, will lay in his own blood at your feet and it will all be your fault. Return to my side, follow through with the wedding, and I will let your Detective Halstead live. Just a little evidence to show I can find you and get you anytime. Tell your cop friends good-bye. I will come for you soon. Your husband.’ After reading the note, Jay turned the envelope and pictures fell out. Brie gasped as she recognized the photos. It was of her and Jay together, at Molly’s, outside the precinct, and at the park near their apartments. She also saw pictures of her recent shopping trip with the girls from the unit. She used a glove to spread the pictures around and felt the blood drain from her face. It was days’ worth of pictures. She reached out to place a hand on Jay’s arm trying to ground herself separate from her growing fear.

Brielle stood trying to absorb the images in front of her and the words in Michael’s note. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she tried to take deep breaths. She felt her knees give out suddenly as she grasped quickly at Jay’s arm and felt arms catch her before she fell. Jay looked down into her face as he helped her sit at her desk. He kept his hand on her shoulder as he looked over the pictures at her side. The rest of the unit and Jay were able to figure out a timeline for the photos and how far the pictures were taken from.

Feeling stronger as she heard the team working together, Brielle stood up and walked from her desk to the break room. Jay moved to follow but the girls motioned for him to wait for a moment. Kim got to Brie first before the other girls joined them. Her touch to Brie’s shoulder was enough to break the hold Brie had on her emotions. Vanessa closed the door to give the girls a bit of privacy before the guys came in.

“Talk to us, Brie.” Vanessa said holding on to her hand as they all sat at the table in the break room.

“This is my worst fear, Vanessa. I knew Michael would react, but I would never forgive myself if something happens to Jay or anyone else that I care for because of Michael’s evil.” She said trying to calm herself down.

Hailey got Brie to look up a minute. “Hey, Jay can handle himself. Plus, he wants to be sure you are okay. We as a team will handle Michael, You and Jay will not have to face Michael alone.” She said watching Brie nodded. “Did you two talk after our shopping trip on Saturday?” she asked.

Brie shook her head no. “He has been too busy with the cases when we leave in the evenings. I try to give him space to work. He has been exhausted most nights by the time we head to sleep. I don’t want to break his focus.” She said quietly.

Vanessa touched her shoulder catching her attention. “He has been worried about you. He noticed you have been giving him space. He wants to talk. He has noticed the different look you have. I think he is interested. I have noticed that he gets jealous especially at Molly’s when other guys try to get your attention. I think you both are just nervous and don’t want to lose an important person in your lives. You need to talk to him now, Brie.” She said.

She nodded and the girls stood feeling she was stronger than when they had checked on her. They slid out and Hailey gave Jay the nod to go talk to her. He did so while Kevin, Adam, Kim, Vanessa, and Hailey focused in on the photos. Kevin had already bagged the letter and taken different pictures. Jay walked from Brie’s desk back into the break room. He heard her sigh as she attempted to bring her emotions under control in order to continue her work today. She stood to face the window when she heard him enter. She felt his presence at her back before he placed his hands on her shoulders.

She sighed leaning back against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. “How are you feeling?” he whispered to her as she placed her arms on to his.

“Physically, a little better not as weak. Emotionally, I just don’t know right now. There is a lot my heart and my mind are trying to process. Plus, I am trying to be professional here. Your job is important to you as is mine. I know the people in this unit are our friends, but I feel I owe them enough to be able to set my personal drama aside in order to focus on this like any other case.” She said leaning her head back feeling his chin next to the back of her head.

He turned her to face him. He placed his fingers under her chin and made her look at him. “I understand, Brielle. We will focus on the professional right now. But you and I are talking through the other tonight, agreed?” he said looking into her eyes.

She nodded and he pulled her against him in a hug that after a few moments they broke their embrace, and she led them back out to the bullpen.

She moved to sit at her desk as the photos had been removed. Hank came over and put his hand on her shoulder and she nodded at him. The team worked focus for the rest of the shift as they identified the key features to each image which led them to understand these had been taken with cell phones and in the scanned information of the photos included identifying features to link the image to different cell users. The unit had a warrant in place in order to access the names on the accounts before the close of business, but the cellular provider delayed until tomorrow.

Voight looked out over the bullpen at his team ready to protect two of their own. He was proud but knew that they needed rest. “Alright, call it a night. Go home all of you. Keep your phones on in case we catch a case but go rest. We will hit this again tomorrow morning, we are at a standstill until we get those account names anyway.” He said looking across the room.

He and Jay met eyes and he motioned for Jay to come into his office. Brie watched and met Jay’s eyes. She would wait for him and be ready to go when he came back out. She organized her papers and set up the files she would work on tomorrow.

Jay walked into Voight’s office and had a seat. “Sarge?” he asked.

“How’s she doing?” he asked him.

“She got it back together today. The pictures and note threw her. She was determined though to be professional here. Felt she owed it to the team. We agreed to talk this evening.” He said.

“Where are you going to be?”

“Her place tonight. Stronger security plating at the doors and better locks and deadbolts installed in the building.”

“You keep your weapon with you?” Hank watched Jay nod. “Okay. You two get out of here then. Call if you need backup.” He said opening the door to the office.

Jay walked out and grabbed his stuff from his desk. Hank watched as he helped Brie gather her things and they walked hand in hand out of the unit.

Jay closed the door behind them, locking it, when they arrived at her apartment. “I’m going to go change and start some laundry. Do you need me to wash anything for you?” she asked him.

“No, I’m good.” He said.

“Okay. Settle in and I will back soon.” She said moving towards her room.

He waited knowing that she needed to settle in before she would be relaxed and able to speak.

He grabbed a beer that she kept in stock for him and he knew she would want a glass of wine after today’s letter. He smiled when she finally exited her room and joined him on the couch. She sighed take a sip of the wine he had for her. She set her glass down and she felt him pull her to his side as he held her close. She took a moment to just take in the sensations of this knowing the discussion waiting on the other side. She rested her head on his shoulder and breathed in his after shave.

He ran his hand down her head feeling her hair as his fingers ran through it. He just took in the moment as well, but he knew they had to talk about today. She sighed again as she relaxed next to him. He placed a light kiss on her forehead catching her attention before he spoke. “We still need to talk, Brie.”

She sat up and turned to face him. “I understand.” She said quietly.

He looked at her and saw concern and fear in her facial features. “What is going through your mind right now, Brie?”

“My fears, my concerns for you, the team, everyone’s safety. Trying to figure out what I can do to stop Michael. How do I hide from him what I truly feel?” she said trying to stay calm.

“What do you mean hide from him what you feel?” he asked her.

“I have heard it from all our friends, all they have to do is look and they know what I know I haven’t admitted to yet. If Michael sees that, he will kill you on the spot. I am surprised he hasn’t come after us already. I could see it in the photos at the precinct.” She said quietly.

“Here’s my suggestion, how about we agree to just lay it all out on the table right now. Be totally honest with each other and then we can make a plan together, okay?” he said to her.

She nodded and turned to face him. “Can I go first?” she asked getting up her nerve to finally voice her feelings. He nodded and watched her face and eyes as she took a deep breath before speaking. “I have to admit, I have been lying to myself and to you about how I feel, Jay. I am not acting in all of this Jay. I can’t picture my life without you. I find myself looking for you when we are out with friends. I breath in your after shave and feel home and safe. Your presence as you know from our previous conversations is my safe harbor. But it also feels like home, like I am where I am supposed to be. My heart knew what it wanted long before my brain and that is to be with you. I know you may not feel the same, but I can’t lie to myself or to you about it anymore. I love you, Jay.” She said looking into his eyes.

She watched as he absorbed her words and he took his hand and rested it on her cheek. She leaned to his hand before he began to speak. “Brielle, there has been something different about you since you came into my life almost 2 years ago. I just knew I needed to help you and make sure you are safe at first. Then as you started to grow, increase in your confidence, I just wanted to be near you. You have been a presence in my life that I miss when it is not there. Your vanilla scent draws me in each time I smell it. I know that it leads to a warm place where I can find a partner and an equal. I have been trying to comprehend my thoughts and feelings as much as you have. I have been nervous to admit how I feel because of a previous experience and I know that is not you, but it still makes me cautious. But each time you adapt and change you take my breath away and I can’t deny my feelings. I love you too, Brie.” He said looking in her eyes as she grasped his hand in hers.

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