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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 1 year ago

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PROPAGANDA

CHLOE BOURGEOIS (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Child Abuse)

1.) Girl was done so dirty… She was starting to develop and could've had a redemption arc and then they made her even more one-dimensional than she was at the start, dumbed her down, and the creator on twitter claimed she was never abused and that she never cared about her childhood friend, only his status. And in a scene that thankfully got cut by editors, her father was going to disown her, adopt her sister instead (who is like a "nicer" replacement for her) and pass Chloe onto her abusive mother.

And then a male character gets introduced who is also at first an antagonist with a backstory that gets revealed later, also a childhood friend of the same character, but it's acknowledged that he got abused by his parent and he gets a redemption arc and a romantic subplot and a spot on the hero team (which Chloe was excluded from because she was irresponsible with her power and revealed her identity publicly… Except he also did that)

This show is about girl power btw.

2.) Chloe was done so fucking dirty. So basically, the creator of the show (Thomas Astruc) created the character in the first place as a stand-in for his childhood bully (red flag no.1) Because of this, any development that she as a character got from the other writers (and it was a lot) got retconned, just because he hated her. Other, objectively much more evil, (male) characters (the main villain!) were portrayed as more sympathetic than her, because god forbid a hurt, abused, emotionally immature, unloved little girl be portrayed as anything other than an unlovable, unforgiveable unchangeable demon. Also she's obsessed with clothes, shoes and handbags, because she's a mean girl, don't you see, so obviously the nice girls (who don't wear makeup while Chloe does) are better than her.

3.) Stuck up spoiled rich girl is treated as worse than the actual villains of the show. At some point we get a glimpse into her awful traumatizing home life and she starts to be redeemed, but the second something doesn't go her way she backslides and is suddenly even more evil and dumb. Also her father is incredibly neglectful but it's portrayed as her somehow abusing him into doing what she wants and he's so sad about his awful evil daughter. He gets a redemption arc but never actually becomes a better father. She's seen as unfixable.

MILLA MAXWELL (TALES OF XILLIA) (CW: Inappropriate Age Gaps)

1.) Milla was the first female MC in a Tales game. Xillia actually has dual protagonists; Milla is a female demigod on a mission to stop global warming, while the other one, Jude, is a male med student who gets dragged into her quest. The game says that you can play as Jude or Milla… except it’s extremely obvious you are meant to play Jude’s route, and play it first. Why? Because Milla dies at the end of act 2. The plot continues in Jude’s route. If you’re on Milla’s route, you do not get to see it. Instead, you wander around heaven for a while until you’re booted back into the world of the living as a deus ex machina. It is impossible to follow. Milla doesn’t get to reckon with her own death, while her friends all get to reckon with it offscreen. All of this character drama is conveyed to her through two skippable conversations. Playing this was completely infuriating, not to mention confusing. Even in her own route she’s written as the cool, mysterious hyper-competent woman.

I have a lot of issues with the plot of this game (it’s bad!) but that’s the bitterest.

2.) 1.) If you decide to play Milla’s route, and not Jude’s route, there is a part of the game where Milla has her spine broken by the villain, and you are forced to play as Jude anyway. Her paralysis is resolved with little fanfare (the important part of this life-altering injury was Jude fighting to defend her honour, of course).

2.) (CW: inappropriate age gaps) Milla is 20, but she’s teased as a ship with the other PC Jude, who is 15 (despite being a university student? I have no idea why they did this; most Tales protagonists are 17-21). You might say “hey wait, it would be extremely inappropriate for her to be interested in him, as he is a teenager and she is an adult!” Well, first of all, it never actually seems like she is interested in him, like at all. This plot is solely about the fantasy of having a hot older woman attracted to you, presented for the presumed male audience, presumed to be playing as Jude. If you’re playing as Milla it is a totally bizarre informed plot that comes out of nowhere. Also, I guess to get around any objections to the age gap, the game pulls a “born sexy yesterday” type dynamic with Milla, where she might be a 20-year-old demigod but really she knows nothing about human society and Jude the prodigy has to teach her. Everything about this is extremely terrible from every angle—I don’t think the writers even thought of “teenage boy shipped with adult woman” as much of a problem because of the genders. And from Milla’s end the relationship is totally incomprehensible. They didn’t think about why she would be interested in Jude, because what’s important is that Jude has women who are interested in him (she’s one of 3+).

In the sequel, there’s an alternate universe version of Milla whose love interest is the PC of that game, a guy the same age as her. I was so relieved! They actually “are both adults” and “have anything in common”! Unfortunately this hint of a relationship ends when the alternate Milla is sent to super hell (not only dead but her soul erased from existence) for contrived plot reasons. We are supposed to be okay with this, because she believes she deserves to die. Why? Because her actions in this universe apparently indirectly caused Jude’s death as a baby. Even though she barely knows Jude, he is, of course, the most important person in the universe, and so the only moral option is for her to die by suicide. ARGH.

Again, I can’t emphasize this enough: she was presented as the groundbreaking first female PC of a Tales game. And we were let down SO BAD.

3.) Since you’re looking for propaganda, Milla Maxwell. Very skimpy outfit. Their justification? She has a handmaid that designed and created her clothes. But the handmaid is a 16 year old boy who’s in love with her. And she has no idea about human society, so she’s just like. Ivar put in so much effort, I’ve been assured this is fashionable. She spends a 2 hour section of the game in another plane of existence, in a skin tight white body suit with cut outs at the boobs and inner thighs

In the sequel, her outfit is almost as bad, but this time she chose it and they don’t even discuss it 🙃

#polls #round 1 #week 1 #new #cw inappropriate age gaps #cw child abuse

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voiceless-terror · 4 years ago

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I mean, I don’t believe in the predictive power of dreams, obviously, but still, it’s a deeply unsettling thing to find. I had Tim look into it, as I don’t entirely trust the others not to have written it as a practical joke and slipped it into the archives. - Episode 11, Dreamer

Jon stares down at the paper in his hands.

He’s had many an unkind thought towards Gertrude, his predecessor, the woman responsible for this mess and the current bane of his existence. She’s been the topic of most of his grumbling as he sorts through piles of nonsense and decaying cardboard boxes. He’s got no love lost for her, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy she’s dead. Or, specifically, to have a statement apparently predicting it through the medium of some prophetic dream. Ridiculous. He wants to feel detached, unaffected, but he can’t help the sickly sense of dread that creeps up his spine and lingers in his throat.

It was your face and the expression upon it was far more fearful than any I had seen in eight years of wandering this twilight city.

Jon doesn’t know Antonio Blake and has no reason to believe him. But he’s known something’s wrong for a long time now.

He’s never admitted it aloud, never within his assistant’s hearing range, but he can feel it, as foolish as that sounds. This miasma of wrong, of being watched, of becoming...something else, that happens every time he records a statement. Despite the academic detachment he aspires to, he does attempt to empathize with each statement-giver and get into their mindset. But what he’s doing here...it’s different. He can visualize it so perfectly, the terror in their words sticking in his throat and setting his own heart pounding, as if he were the one experiencing it and not just regurgitating it to an ancient recorder. He’s always had an ‘overactive imagination,’ as his grandmother would say, but this is relentless in its manifestation. The fear is real, not imagined. Each statement draws him further and further away from the safety he used to cling to, where the only real cases were few and far between and the most sinister things lurking out there in the world were books and the monsters within them.

And as much as he wants to linger on the false accounts and take comfort in tearing them apart, his hands automatically seek the real ones, the right ones. It’s frightening, the ease with which he finds them nowadays. Perhaps he’s a better archivist than he thinks.

She died and you’ll be next, something whispers to him. He’s being dramatic, as he’s wont to do, but it feels true. Every statement that doesn’t record correctly, every follow-up he has to qualify with an ‘I would dismiss this, but-’ is starting to add up. His nights have become restless. He often lies awake regretting that he ever took this job, that he left the relative safety of research for a position he’s not sure how to fill, his only reassurance Elias’s occasional emails that he’s ‘moving in the right direction,’ whatever that means.

Jon assumed he’d be more removed from the dangerous aspects of the job that research entailed- following up, going to locations, field work. And it’s true, he has assistants to do that for him now. Dependable, for the most part. And while he should feel safe in his tiny office with nothing but dust and paper and cobwebs (good lord, the cobwebs) he feels more unsettled and exposed than ever. He once joked he’d die of old age before getting the archives in order. But now a stroke sounds much more pleasant than whatever happened to Gertrude. If it’s true.

Perhaps it’s a joke, he thinks. Planted by one of the others, designed specifically to unsettle him. Well, it worked.

It wouldn’t be surprising. He’s...not had the best start. The promotion was a surprise, but not wholly unexpected; he knew he’d been on Elias’s radar, though he wasn’t expecting it quite so soon. He’s young and unfortunately, it shows. The way he stutters through department meetings, talking about digitization while the others, all of whom have at least a decade on him, shoot pitying looks. He stays later and later, the desire to show some sort of progress even as he discovers more mess by the day. The permanent scowl that now graces his features becomes his armor as he walks the halls and feels himself becoming the uptight, unlikable curmudgeon everyone believes him to be. The one time I measure up to expectations, he can’t help thinking.

A joke. There’s a comfort in that. At least it’s familiar.

But it didn’t record to the laptop, his traitorous mind supplies. It's a bit sad he would prefer it to be a mundane attempt at bullying rather than a real expression of the supernatural, but he supposes it’s par for the course. There were many nights as a child he wished for the same thing, for that boy to go back to taking his lunch money and the occasional beating or two instead of…still, he dismisses it from his mind. You don’t know there’s a correlation. Follow up. Disprove it.

He’s interrupted from his musings by a knock on the door and the vague outline of Martin through the frosted glass. “Come in,” he calls, attempting to inject some irritation in his voice to cover up the shakiness. “Did you need something?”

“Ah, I finished my write up for the Herbert case, was wondering if you had anything else for me?”

His hand hovers over the statement on his desk. He opens his mouth but then closes it, thinking better.

“Can you send Tim in, actually?”

______

“Sorry boss, I couldn’t find anything on this Antonio Blake fellow- well, at least with the details he provided, which were next to none. Proper spooky, though.”

Of his assistants, he trusts Tim the most with this sort of thing.

On a surface level, it wouldn’t make sense to some. Tim can be loud and gregarious: the typical, charming extrovert. But he’s not unkind and he’s a hell of a researcher, especially when something grabs his interest. He digs into statements and doesn’t let go- not unlike Sasha, though he’s a bit better at empathizing and handling things...sensitively. Easily attuned to Jon’s moods, Tim’s always been willing to lend an ear whenever he gets too in his head about cases, helping him talk things through or on several memorable occasions, go down the rabbit hole with him. He’d taken the statement from his hands with an easy smile, though his face grew serious with the nervous look Jon shot him.

And if Tim couldn’t find anything, well. Maybe it was a prank after all.

He sort of wanted it to be true, frightening as the implications were. Because then it would mean this terrible, heavy feeling on his shoulders was real, and not just the byproduct of his own mediocrity. He doesn’t want to be scared, he doesn’t want to be in danger, but at least it would provide a real reason for panic, and not just his own inability to measure up. He doesn’t want to prove them all right, collapsing under the stress of a job poorly done and so easily crumbling at a stupid, made-up statement, targeted as it may be.

“A joke, then.” Jon says, rubbing a hand at his temples, trying not to let the hurt seep into his voice. Tim makes a commiserating noise.

“You know how people are, the institute isn’t exactly popular. You remember last Halloween, when-”

“Yes, I don’t need a reminder.” Jon sighs. He’d rather not relive that day, stressful as it was. “But that wasn’t quite what I was thinking.”

Tim stares at him for a moment, uncomprehending. Jon continues, attempting to make his hands busy as he pointlessly shuffles papers.

“It’s rather pointed, isn’t it? I doubt someone off the street would create such a detailed account of the death of an...archivist as opposed to the usual ghostly drivel.”

A look of pity flickers in Tim’s eyes and Jon has to turn away. “I don’t really think anyone here would-”

“Really? You don’t?” Jon lets out a mirthless laugh, rubbing a hand across his face as he stares down at his desk. “I’m not blind. Or deaf.” The derisive snorts if he goes off on ‘needless tangents,’ how Rosie pretends to be busy whenever he approaches Elias’s office, the way his name badge still reads ‘researcher’ after months of asking for a new one. He’s basically become a pariah.

“Jon, did someone say something to you?” The words are carefully chosen and he’s leaning forward now, making as if to stand up and god forbid, do something comforting. It’s not that Jon doesn’t want the comfort; he craves it more than anything. But he’s gone without for so long he doesn’t trust himself not to break at the gentlest of touches. Being on the receiving end of Tim’s protective streak is nothing new, but he shouldn’t need his assistant looking out for him like he’s some sort of helpless infant.

He snorts derisively instead, covering up the insecurity and hurt with a sardonic, self-effacing smile. The kind he knows Tim hates. “They don’t need to. I’ve walked in on conversations, I’ve seen the way people go quiet, the looks they give me-”

“Hey,” Tim’s voice is low, like he’s dealing with a frightened animal. Jon wonders how he looks, if Tim’s going this soft. “Don’t listen to them, alright? You inherited a mess, we all did- but we’re doing our best, yeah? Study and record, like Elias said.” Jon doesn’t dodge the hand that finally lands on shoulder, and he’ll deny to anyone that he leaned into it.

“Study and record.” He repeats listlessly, slumping back down into his seat. He’s let himself get too worked up, acting like a child instead of a boss. He’s not sure when he started wearing his heart on his sleeve, but Tim’s always been good at reading him. Though he’d rather people think him an arrogant ass than the seething mess of insecurity he truly is.

“Atta boy.” The pat to his shoulder is purposefully light, devoid of Tim’s usually friendly force that sends him stumbling forward. “Now get out of here at a normal time, alright? We can grab lunch tomorrow. Just the two of us, if you like.”

Jon makes a noncommittal grunt, though the thought is nice. He entertains the idea for just a moment, remembering their occasional outings back in research. Tomorrow he’ll make his excuses. He hasn’t been much of a friend as of late, and he’s not sure he deserves the kindness of company.

“And if there’s anyone that needs a stern talking to from me, I-” Tim wags a finger and Jon rolls his eyes, ignoring the pang of warmth the words send through his chest.

“Don’t, please. It’s fine.” It isn’t. “But...thank you, Tim.”

“Course.” A wink and a sloppy salute to lighten the mood, and Jon feels the tension in his posture ease minutely as Tim shuts the door behind him.

He lets out a breath and reaches for the tape recorder. He’s wasted too much time already.

Be careful. There is something coming for you and I don’t know what it is, but it is so much worse than anything I can imagine. At the very least, you should look into appointing a successor.

Good luck.

He fights a shiver as the man’s voice leaves him and the last vestiges of that twilight world fade back to his dimly-lit office. In his follow up, he tries to play it off as a joke. A bit of hazing for the new boss. And yet the uneasiness still creeps into his voice, and he ends another tape on a stilted, half-believed note.

If this is genuine…

Jon prays that it isn’t.

And like most of his prayers, it goes unheard and unanswered.

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32165071

reblogs > likes

#tma #the magnus archives #my writing #jonathan sims #tim stoker #season one jon feels #with added tim #in which rye has feelings about jon 'dismissing' statements and thinking it could be a joke and TRUSTING TIM #what else is new #reblogs appreciated <3 #a light bit of #jontim

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xstarker · 4 years ago

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Since the beginning and until the end (Part Three)

Peter is immortal, reincarnation exists, and in every lifetime Peter has met and loved Tony, only for him to die. He’s hoping this time might be different.

[Part One] [Part Two]

Author’s Note: I put way more effort and detail into this chapter than was necessary, but hopefully it isn’t too much for you all. I really didn’t want to post it as two parts seeing as there is no mentions of Tony in this one and this is a Starker fic, but I felt like this chapter added to the story and Peter being immortal in a fun way.

That being said, this chapter is centered around the events of Captain America: The First Avenger.

Warnings: Mentions of canon character “death”, Nazis, War, etc. This chapter includes mentions of Stucky and Steggy.

Words: 4.4k

Peter has always tried to avoid going to the doctor whenever possible. He knows that if a doctor were to examine his reflexes or his strength too closely, or God forbid take his blood, that he could end up as someone’s lab experiment – or worse. That being said, he also hasn’t exactly been super cautious in the past either.

Over the years he’s made a habit of using his curse of immortality and the unique features that came with it, to help people. He ran in front of oncoming traffic to save little girls, retrieved cats from trees, caught someone who fell off a building, and even stopped a predator or two. He has never just been that person who stands by and lets bad things happen if he has the power to stop them.

That’s why he ends up sitting in a medical exam room, waiting for a doctor to come clear him to join the military. He never really wanted to be an army man, but he also never expected one world war let alone two, and he certainly couldn’t stand idly by.

“You are marvelously fit, Mr Parks.” A deep german accent draws Peter’s attention to the curtain, a gentleman in a suit in the process of pulling it back and entering the room, Peter’s file in hand.

“Almost miraculously. You don’t even seem to have any real medical history. Your doctor gave me the results of your physical examination but little else. My name is Dr Abraham Erskine.” Peter tenses. Here was exactly what he always feared. Maybe if he grabs his clothes and runs now-

“So, you want to kill Nazis?” Peter’s attention is drawn back to the doctor.

“I don’t want to kill anyone. I just know that I have the ability to help all of those men who are out there fighting to end all of the genocide.” Dr Erskine nods.

“I can offer you a spot on a project I am working on. There are others, all of them hoping to be picked to be the first test subject.”

“Test subject for what? I don’t really want to be a test subject.”

“I will be honest with you, if you are with me. Yes?” Peter nods in agreement, curious by the strange doctor.

“The project is a serum to create the perfect soldier. However, from what I can see of you, it won’t be needed. Why is that?”

Peter swallows the lump in his throat. “It’s kind of complicated, but essentially I was bit by a cursed spider which gave me certain… genetic enhancements.”

Dr Erskine raises his eyebrows and smiles warmly, and seeing as the man doesn’t make Peter’s instincts go haywire, he thinks trusting him might not be the worst decision.

“That sounds absolutely insane, but given that you seem relatively sane and the physical evidence thus far, I suppose I have no choice but to believe you. Though I do expect that I will see more of these genetic enhancements overseas.”

“That is very likely, should you approve me sir.”

“Get dressed. You’ll need to pack a bag. Pack light though.” Peter smiles and jumps up from his seat, rushing to put his clothes back on and follow Dr Erskine out of the room, where the man then stamps a bold black 1A on his file.

“Congratulations soldier.” The doctor says, passing the file over to Peter. “You’re the second man I’ve approved tonight.”

“The second?”

“You will meet him when you ship out tomorrow morning.” Dr Erskine gives him another small smile and walks away.

As it turns out, the other man he approved is Steve Rogers from Brooklyn. They talk on the way to base, and he learns Steve has lost both parents to the war, and that he has always wanted to join himself but was never able to due to all of his medical conditions. When he actually begins to list them all, Peter understands why. He thinks Dr Erskine must really see something in him in order to risk bringing him into the military.

At base, dressed in their new uniforms, Steve and Peter join the line of soldiers currently waiting to meet their commanding officer. A few of them talk amongst themselves, but Peter and Steve stand quietly now, not wanting to step on anyone’s toes the first day.

“Gentlemen, I am Agent Carter. I supervise all operations for this division.” The woman matching the voice walks around them from the right. Her voice is both soothing and authoritative, as is the way she carries herself. She is a woman who demands respect immediately, and also one of the most gorgeous ones Steve has ever laid eyes on.

“What’s with the accent Queen Victoria? I thought I was signin’ up for the US Army.” Comes a voice to the left of them. Immediately, Peter knows the man has made a mistake.

“What’s your name soldier?” Agent Carter’s face shows absolutely no amusement.

“Gilmore Hodge, your majesty.” He’s so snarky Peter can’t help but roll his eyes.

“Step forward Hodge.” The man obeys the order almost immediately, to the surprise of both Steve and Peter. “Put your right foot forward.”

“We gonna wrassle? Cause I got a few moves I know you’ll like.” Peter knows the punch is coming before she does it, yet he still lets out a soft laugh. Carter makes eye contact with him and gives him the smallest smile, just as another man in uniform approaches.

“Agent Carter.” She straightens her blazer.

“Colonel Phillips.”

“I can see that you are breaking in the candidates. That’s good!” The man – Colonel Phillips - comes to a stop in front of Hodge. “Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention until someone comes and tells you what to do.”

Hodge hops up fast, immediately complying. “Yes sir.”

“General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons, but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men.” When he gets to ‘men’ Peter sees his eyes connect with Steve’s tiny form, and his statement suddenly sounds like more of a question. The colonel looks over at Erskine, his face doing nothing to hide the disappointment in his eyes.

“And because they are going to get better. Much better.”

The colonel goes on to explain the goal is to create the best army in history, and he says every army starts with one man. As it turned out, that one man would be chosen by the end of a week’s worth of tests. They do all of the basic things you would expect an army to do, everyone competing to get the best time or the most push-ups, the best score. Peter doesn’t really compete, but he doesn’t bother hiding his ability to do them all with ease either, knowing Erskine wanted to see what he could do in action. He ends up with the best scores in most of the tests, while Steve is dead last in nearly all of them. This doesn’t seem to disappoint Erskine in the slightest.

“Faster ladies! Come on. My grandmother has more life in her, God rest her soul.” They are all doing push-ups, next to him Steve struggles to barely do one. Peter feels bad for him, knowing he is struggling to do all of the tests but he’s still pushing himself as hard as he can.

“Please tell me you aren’t really thinking about picking Rogers.” Peter’s super hearing picks up on Colonel Phillips’ voice before he’s even finished walking over to the truck in front of the group.

“I’m more than just thinking about it. He is the clear choice.”

“When you brought a 90-pound asthmatic onto my army base, I let it slide. I thought ‘What the hell, maybe he’d be useful to you, like a gerbil.’ I never thought you’d pick him.” They come to a stop at the truck, and Agent Carter has the group switch to jumping jacks. Peter can hear the struggle in Steve’s lungs.

“You stick a needle in that kid’s arm, it’s gonna go right through him. Look at that, he’s making me cry.” Peter glances over at Steve, and really the sight is something pitiful.

“I am looking for qualities beyond the physical.” Erskine explains.

“Do you know how long it took to set up this project? All the groveling I had to do in front of Senator What’s-His-Name’s committees?”

“Brandt. Yes, I know. I am well aware of your efforts.”

“Then throw me a bone. Hodge and Parks both passed every test we gave them. They’re strong, they’re fast, they obey orders. They are soldiers.”

“Hodge is a bully. As for Parks, I have already told you he is not going to be receiving the serum. He does not need it.”

“You don’t win a war with niceness Doctor.” Peter’s eyes follow Colonel Phillips, watching as he grabs a grenade from the truck. “You win wars with guts.”

Peter watches him pull the pin and toss the grenade, not feeling the familiar tingle of danger run up his spine, he immediately knows the bomb is a dud. This was a test.

“Grenade!” He yells, and everyone begins jumping away, scared out of their minds. Peter steps back, but watches in fascination as Steve immediately moves to wrap his entire frail little body around it, planning to risk his own life to protect everyone else around him.

“Get away!” He yells. “Get back!”

Both Peter and Erskine smile. Peter gets it now, why Erskine wants Steve.

Peter and Steve are similar in a lot of ways, and had that been a real grenade, Peter knows he would have done the very same thing. He knows this is the kind of person who power belongs to, and he knows if anyone else had gotten the curse that he had, they wouldn’t have used the abilities the same way.

Well, anyone else but Steve Rogers.

That same day they tell Steve he’s been chosen to go first, and Erskine comes to talk to Peter alone, a bottle of Schnapps half empty in his hand. He tells him about Johann Schmidt, how he believes all the myths and legends, and that he believes a superior man is meant to wield hidden powers left in the Earth by the Gods. Peter knows this to be mostly true, but doesn’t say anything about it. The Doctor also tells him about how Schmidt was the first to take the serum, and how the serum amplifies what a person is like on the inside, having made Schmidt a monster both inside and out.

Once again, Peter understands his decision to take Steve.

“Peter, I am telling you this because it is very likely Schmidt will try something. Though we have many precautions in place, HYDRA has eyes and ears everywhere. He will find out. In case something should happen to me or to my research, I am asking you to help Steven in any way you can. Win this war for all of us.”

Peter nods, determination in his gaze. “I understand Doctor. Isn’t there any way I can be there tomorrow? Just in case?”

“I am afraid not. I have pulled as many strings as I can just to get Steven in that pod first. I am trusting you to do what needs to be done.”

“I won’t let you down.”

Peter gets word he is to ship out to London only an hour in advance. He doesn’t have much to pack anyways, but he does wish he could say goodbye to Steve. He wonders how the procedure went, and when he will see his friend as well as Dr Erskine again.

It’s the flight to London that he learns he won’t ever see the doctor again, but the procedure was successful.

“Sorry you had to hear it from me pal.”

“It’s not your fault Mr Stark.”

“Oh please, I’m barely older than you. Call me Howard.” There’s amusement in Howard’s voice, but none of their faces match it.

“Not that I am complaining, but why am I being sent to London? And where’s Steve?” Peter’s seated near the front of the plane, Agent Carter and Colonel Phillips talking in hushed tones near the rear. Peter tries to catch a few words, but the plane is so loud it is already making it hard enough to hear Howard less than ten feet from him.

“Dr Erskine knew something like this could happen. He had certain plans in place, which included leaving me a very detailed letter about his experience with you. I convinced the Colonel you would be useful on the front lines, and if I can manage to get you in my lab too, I wouldn’t exactly be disappointed.”

“That depends on what you mean by getting me in your lab.”

“Cursed spiders causing miraculous abilities aren’t exactly common Parks. As for where Rogers is, Senator Brandt talked him into doing propaganda shows since Phillips wasn’t exactly keen on him joining us in London.”

“What? I thought the serum was a success.”

“It was, but that doesn’t mean he wants an inexperienced science experiment running around with a gun. His words, not mine.”

Peter sighs. He knows Erskine would hate his work going to something as trivial as that. Peter hates it too.

“If I am going to be in your lab, it’s going to be to help you with your work. Not as another experiment.”

Peter helps Howard in the lab in-between missions. They throw playful banter back and forth while working, becoming quick friends. Howard continues to ask about the spider, and Peter does his best to answer questions, but refuses to be submitted to any tests, never wanting the military anywhere near his DNA, even if he does trust Howard to some extent.

On one particular mission in November of 1943, he’s sent with two hundred soldiers from the 107th to Austria. It’s on that mission that he briefly meets the man Steve can’t seem stop talking about whenever they see each other, Bucky Barnes. They try their best against the forces of HYDRA but in the end, Peter still returns with less than half of the men he left with, and Bucky is one of the unlucky souls that doesn’t return at all.

Peter lies awake that night, unable to sleep as guilt eats at him. The next day he tries to convince Colonel Phillips to let him go back to try and save the rest, but is given a firm no. The Colonel tells him it’s too risky, even if he were to go alone.

Steve comes to base for a show just a few days later, his audience the remaining members of the 107th. They don’t seem all that impressed by the propaganda, yelling and throwing things at Steve to get him off-stage. Peter understands their frustration, but he also doesn’t believe Steve really did anything to deserve that sort of treatment.

Peter goes to find Steve after the show, and sees Peggy has beat him to it. He is about to turn around and go wait for a better time to speak with Steve when he catches part of the conversation the pair are having.

“Schmidt sent out a force to Azzano. Two hundred men went up against him, and less than half returned. Your audience contained what was left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured.”

“The 107th?” He hears the panic in Steve’s voice, and then he is on his feet, rushing toward the base where Colonel Phillips sits under a tent planning their next move, Peggy behind him. Peter doesn’t need to hear the conversation to know where this is going. Instead, he decides to go wait in Steve’s tent with his bag packed, knowing he would be there soon to pack a bag himself.

When Steve does get to the tent less than ten minutes later, he looks surprised to see Peter. “Let me come with you.”

“What?” Steve’s already grabbing things and shoving them into his bag, anxiety clear on his face.

“I was with the 107th on that mission. I asked to go back out there, but Colonel Phillips wouldn’t let me. Please, let me help you.” He’s practically begging, but he would never forgive himself if he let Steve go alone to try and rescue the men which he should have been able to bring back safely himself.

“What exactly do the two of you plan to do? Walk to Austria?” Both men turn their heads to Peggy as she enters the tent.

“If that’s what it takes.”

“The Colonel is devising a strategy. If he detects that-” Steve interrupts her.

“By the time he’s done that, it could be too late.” Steve throws his jacket on and grabs the metal shield he has been using as a prop for his shows, then exits the tent with both Peter and Peggy on his heels.

“You told me you thought I was meant for more than this. Did you mean that?” The question is directed at Peggy. Peter puts his belongings in the car next to Steve’s and hops in the passenger seat.

“Every word.”

“Then you gotta let us go.”

“I can do more than that.”

Peggy comes back with one of the showgirl’s helmets, the letter A painted on the front, and Howard as their pilot.

Howard gets them almost all the way there, but bombs begin to go off all around them. Steve and Peter make the decision to jump before they get all the way in, urging Howard to turn around immediately.

Once on the ground they sneak onto one of the trucks coming into base, easily taking out the two HYDRA soldiers inside. They wait until the truck parks to sneak out, Steve leading the way onto the roof.

Inside the base it’s a lot more sneaking around, which Peter happens to be rather good at, and it turns out so is Steve. They pass a set of what looks like some sort of ammunition, except it glows a bright blue. Steve pockets one of the clips to bring back to base for Howard.

When they finally find the cells, they subdue the guard and begin unlocking them. Bucky is nowhere to be seen. Steve gives the men instructions on how to get out, and is immediately ready to go looking for Bucky again. He pauses on his exit to look at Peter.

“Are you coming?”

“Recusing Bucky is your mission. I think I should make sure the rest of these men get out of here in one piece. I owe them that.” Steve nods, then takes off out the door. Everyone else, including Peter, begin to make their exit, causing chaos all around the base.

In the end, Steve and Peter return to base with another hundred or so men, including Bucky, following close behind.

That night everyone goes out to a local bar for drinks. Steve goes around asking who wants to go back out with him and help wipe HYDRA off the map, and surprisingly a decent few say yes. Unsurprisingly, so does Bucky.

“What about you Peter? You came with me for the rescue, will you join us?” Peter gives Steve a smile.

“As if you could keep me away. I came out here to make a difference Steve, and there is no better place to do that then with you.” Peter doesn’t mention Erskine asking him to stay with Steve, because even if he hadn’t asked, Peter would still have agreed. This is where he was needed the most, he could feel it.

Howard makes Steve a shield after hearing that it seems to be the man’s preferred weapon. He makes the suit at Steve’s request. It looks good on him, making him look somewhat like a superhero while still being properly fitted for war. Peter almost asks Howard for one himself, but decides against it.

The Howling Commandos is what they end up calling their group of chaotic men. They wipe base after base off the map, the group all getting to know each other rather well during the missions.

Then on one particular mission, they ambush a train Dr Zola is said to be on, headed toward another base. A hole gets blown in the side during their fighting, and Bucky falls, assumingly to his death. Steve doesn’t take it well to say the least, because that night he sits alone in that same bar as before, attempting to drink his sorrows away, the bar in ruin around him thanks to the war.

Colonel Phillips interrogates Zola for hours, and the next day they have enough intel to send everyone out on another mission, as it turns out, the last one they would go on together.

Steve enters through the front, causing a scene and effectively getting himself kidnapped, which of course is just part of the plan. Peter and three others use grappling hooks to swing in through the window, clearing the room quickly. Schmidt makes a run for it in all of the chaos, so Steve runs after him, shield in hand. Peter follows, doing his best to clear the way of any HYDRA soldiers that get in Steve’s way.

They lose sight of each other after Steve follows Schmidt through a door that he manages to keep open with his shield just long enough to slip through, but Peter and Peggy are quick to find another way to catch up with him, stealing Schmidt’s car and speeding down the runway after him.

They make it just in time for Steve to jump onto the plane, Peter bringing the car to a stop just in time for one of the wheels to be hanging off, but not sending them over the edge. Right before he jumps, Peggy surprises them both by speaking up.

“Wait!” She pulls him down for what Peter is sure is their first kiss. “Good luck.”

Steve turns to look at Peter. “What? I’m not kissing you.” Peter can’t help but laugh, Steve smiling and making the jump to the plane without another word.

On the edge of the runway, Peter throws the car into reverse until the front two tires catch on the edge and finally, they are safely planted on the metal ground. He turns the car around, and drives full speed back toward the base.

The last time he speaks to Steve is with Peggy by his side, over the communications to Schmidt’s plane.

“Come in, this is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?” They both run to the seat at the same time, Morita already seated, having been waiting for any word to come through from the other side.

“Captain Rogers, where is your-?” He doesn’t get to finish the sentence because with one shared look, Peggy and him are switching places and she is grabbing the intercom in her hand.

“Steve is that you? Are you alright?”

“Peggy, Schmidt’s dead!” That should be good news, so why did Steve sound so panicked?

“Steve what’s going on?”

“Peter? The plane’s rigged to blow.”

“Of course, it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” Peter groans in frustration, anxiety building. If the plane was rigged to blow, there were very few options for a safe landing.

“I can try and force it down.”

“I-I can get Howard on the line. He’ll know that to do.” Peggy’s might be in worse shape than Peter, but no one could really be sure. Both of them are close to tears now, but Peter has never seen Peggy look so vulnerable.

“There’s not enough time. This thing’s moving too fast and it’s heading for New York.” A pause and then, “I gotta put her in the water.”

“Please, don’t do this. We have time. We can work it out.” Despite her trying to reassure him over the radio, Peter knows they don’t have nearly enough time.

“Steve is there any sort of emergency pod or autopilot you can reset? Anything to where you can set the plane to crash but get out safely?” He’s unsure how he manages to get the words out without his voice cracking, so many emotions flooding his senses all at once.

“Not from where I am sitting. I already tried overwriting the autopilot but it’s locked in place. I’d need a genius to overwrite it. Right now, I’m in the middle of nowhere, if I wait any longer a whole lot of people are going to die.” Peter feels a tear roll down his face, and when he looks at Peggy, her face mirrors his own. They were both losing a loved one today, Peggy an almost lover, and Peter a brother, if only in war.

“This is my choice.” Steve speaks solemnly.

“Peggy.”

“I’m here.”

“I’m gonna need a rain check on that dance.” Peter places a hand on her shoulder, she reaches her own up to hold his.

“Alright. A week, next Saturday, at the Stork Club.”

“You got it.”

“Eight o’clock on the dot. Don’t you dare be late. Understood?” She’s talking through tears now, but she manages to speak clearly despite that. Peter remains quiet, letting her talk Steve through this. He isn’t sure he could speak at this point if he tried.

“You know, I still don’t know how to dance.”

“I’ll show you how. Just be there.”

“We’ll have the band play something slow. I’d hate to step on your-” The line goes dead.

“Steve?” Peggy lets out a sob. Peter clenches her hand a little tighter, releasing a shaky breath as the tears overflow.

“Steve?” It’s no use, they both know it’s too late, but she can’t help it. She has to try. Peter feels eyes on them, and turns, making eye contact with Colonel Phillips who at some point made his way here. Peter couldn’t be sure when, too distracted before to notice, but the Colonel’s face shows it was long enough that the man knows what happened. He turns and walks away, leaving the two of them to mourn alone together.

“Steve?”

#starker #tony stark x peter parker #peter parker x tony stark #starker wip #nova writes #since the beginning and until the end #immortal!peter parker

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kob131 · 6 years ago

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https://queenypie.tumblr.com/post/180408886658/rwby-and-how-it-treats-its-women#notes

Oh goody, trying to point out ‘problematic’ material.

I’ll get this out right now: older women are treated the absolute worst by this show; they’re treated worse than black people, worse than LGB characters, and worse than the younger women.

The ways in which women are treated can be divided into three categories: dead, evil/terrible person, or brushed aside. Dead obviously describes Summer, the one potentially kind mother in this show. The second group is what Willow and Raven fall into. The last category is for Glynda, and Kali.

A. Willow is not shown to be a terrible person. Fuck, she’s played more as a victim than anyone else. meanwhile her male counterpart Jacques is treated as WORSE than the Hitler-esque character.

B. Raven is a terrible person but her gender has nothing to do with who she is as a person.

C. Kali is most certainly NOT brushed off since she’s constantly acting as a second Sun.

D. Glynda’s is the result OF problematic shit with her VA.

And E:

Dead: Ozpin

Evil/Terrible person: Jacques, Adam, Tyrian, Watts, Fennec, Corsac

Brushed off: Taiyang, Klein

Looks like the women are doing better than the men here.

In Glynda’s case, she is given one major action scene in the very first episode of the show before being relegated to Ozpin’s maid. Either she fixes the streets, she fixes the school, or she fixes Qrow’s or someone else’s mess.

Because Kathleen said some super sexist shit but nope, not gonna mention that.

Then there’s Kali Belladona, who gets to lucky shot someone with one of her guard’s guns before dropping furniture on another guy; meanwhile, her husband gets to knock people around.

Kali Win Record: 3-0

Ghira Win record: 0-0

So when’s the post about Ghira getting shafted.

Then we have Willow Schnee, who isn’t so much a character as she is still just an abstract concept. We know more about her from lore and exposition than actually seeing her in action. We also have the other horrible mother Raven, who is the only woman -besides Glynda- who gets to do anything action oriented.

A. We also only know that about her father, Nicolas. So...

And B. Again, Raven’s gender has nothing to do with who she is as a person. She’s also treated with more sympathy and more attention than Jacques so it STILL doesn’t work. Fuck at least Raven has an impact on the plot, UNLIKE Taiyang.

Being a bad parent or being passive isn’t objectively a bad thing, however I just listed every major older woman in this series to date. I could talk about Salem, but she would just fit into the evil category.

Except, you know, not by anything but circumstances she couldn’t have seen coming.

By contrast, older men can be good (Ozpin?, Port, Oobleck, Qrow, Tai, etc.), fatherly (Tai, Klein), complicated (Ozpin, Qrow), Evil (Watts, Hazel), Assholes (Jacques); While women can be categorized in 3 groups, men run the gambit, and that’s not okay.

Dead, brushed off, brushed off, relevant, brushed off, brused off, evil evil and evil.

Also, you rejected Kali but accept Taiyang and Klein, both of whom have contributed LESS to the show than Kali. So nice try,

Looks like the guys actually have the shaft.

Also, wanna know what this also sounds like? Sailor Moon, better go call THAT Author problematic!

Then we turn our attention to the main generation, rwby, nora, Pyrrha, and many others. Pyrrha has the obvious problem of her entire character revolving around Jaune, while Nora only -but still glaringly- has the problem of her backstory being 90% focused on Ren. Weiss has the whole dance arc in volume 2, which relegates her to a trophy for Jaune to fight Neptune over.

Okay, let’s go through this shall we?

A. Ruby has shown more mourning and development over Pyrrha than Jaune.

B. Nora is an active character while Ren does nothing 90% of the time and is often times needed to be bailed out by Nora *cough* Nucklevee Hazel *cough*’

C. She also had most of Volume 4 to herself. So....

D. Weiss also got to demand Neptune be beaten up for flirting with another team but god forbid Jaune ask her out 3 times.

And then volume 4 hits: Ruby gets her character develop stolen by Jaune,

Right up until Episode 10 where Ruby takes Jaune’s character and keeps it under lock until an ENTIRE VOLUME LATER and even then the guy’s actions amount to jack and shit.

Weiss has to be rescued by her butler from her evil dad

Said butler’s entire character revolves around Weiss.

Blake runs to see her father and Sun

Both of whom are treated as inept and useless while her mother is the only one shown to know what to do.

and Yang has to be talked down to by her dad

Where she insults him and no one bats an eye at him. Also: HIS entire character revolves around Yang.

So 0-4, you failed.

When one or two of these things occur, it’s not a problem (minus the Jaune bit); when it becomes a pattern, you messed up.

And yet when it becomes a COMPLETE pattern with men, no one cares.

Where are the adult female role models?

Dunno, where are they in Sailor Moon?

Oh right, the only one who isn’t evil/a bitch (Kali) gets to talk to Blake personally for one minute and it’s only to say that her father wants her.

All while giving an air of ‘I know what is best for both of you’ while Ghira is portrayed as a completely awkward idiot who can’t talk to his own daughter.

Volume 5 at least has the decency to give the female leads agency again, but Raven is suddenly treated like an obstacle instead of Yang’s goal, while Weiss is nearly killed so that Jaune can unlock his semblance.

A. An obstacle that takes up the majority of the screentime sure.

B. Jaune then proceeds to heal her and do nothing after removing the one impact he had on the battle.

And C. Ren is thrown against a wall and needs bailing out by Nora, Adam gets one shotted by Blake, Mercury is treated as a prop while Emerald gets some actual characterization, Jaune does NOTHING, Sun accomplishes nothing, Leonardo is treated as a joke unlike Raven, Qrow gets tossed around like a ragdoll and Ozpin/Oscar do basically nothing.

And yet no talk about this.

Volume 6 has, to date, given us a topless genie for no real reason other than sex appeal, and Salem’s backstory, where she only became active when a man entered her life and became evil because that man died.

A. So...Salem is Jaune and Ozma is Pyrrha then?

B. Salem is also the only proactive one between the two, she manipulated multiple world leaders BEFORE becoming immortal, she cheated the MALE gods, she’s the one portrayed as in control of the relationship with Ozma and she is the one who actually has agency.

And C. And yet examples of male fanservice (like Ironwood losing his shirt)go unnoticed.

And finally, the bit that has been said many times: when a female in this show acts out, does something compulsive and rash, they’re punished for it. Yang flying at Adam to protect Blake and Winter attacking Qrow for egging her on; both are reprimanded after. Jaune losing his temper and attacking Cinder? Obviously a hero, because despite Weiss nearly dying, he healed her and unlocked his semblance, so that makes it okay in the writer’s eyes.

A. Qrow is also reprimanded (in fact, MORE SO than Winter)

B. Jaune proceeds to remove HIS OWN AGENCY and do nothing the whole fight.

C. He utterly fails to do anything to Cinder, gets saved by Ruby and gets insulted for his actions while being portrayed as helpless. Yeah, real great hero.

For a show that wants to focus on four young women, it has an awfully tough time treating women as equally unique as the men. Older women in this show are either good because they’re passive and obedient (Glynda/Kali/Winter) or active and evil/rebellious (Raven/Salem/Cinder/etc.). Younger women must be taught by fathers or male friends on how to act. While that’s not what the writers intended, it’s what the show comes across as saying.

Except Winter rebelled against her father

Kali messes around with everyone and is treated as the more level headed of the two.

And Glynda’s temper is glossed over while Ironwoods paranoia and Qrow’s alcoholism is over looked.

Raven gets sympathetic moments.

Salem is THE most proactive person in the show

And Cinder is the longest running antagonist.

Now let’s go through the male characters shall we?

Torchwick: Repeatedly humiliated and defeated by four students constantly with only his FEMALE minion making him threatening: Gets killed off with no fanfare.

Port+Oobleck: Irrelevant

Ozpin: Is used for the development of Salem, is the toy of the gods and cannot do anything to stop Salem.

Jaune: Loses all agency and becomes a background character to the point his only development in Volume 5 is basically the writers (mostly Miles) telling him to shut up and look pretty.

Ren: Hasn’t won a fight since Volume 1, needed to be bailed out by Nora from both the Nucklevee and Hazel, barely says a damn thing and is overlooked for Nora most of the time.

Cardin: Asshole bully with no redeemable features (unlike Weiss)

Mercury: Is ignored by the narrative for Emerald all the time and said about two lines in Volume 5. Is also shown to be less moral and more evil than Emerald

Taiyang, Klein and Ghira: have no characters outside of being father figures to their respective daughters. Unlike Raven and Kali.

Jacques: Is treated as Snowy Satan to make Weiss, Winter and Willow look good.

Nicolas: Is only shown in a WOR to set up Willow, Winter and Weiss’ conflict.

Whitely: Is treated with contempt and derision by the narrative despite being in the same situation as Weiss.

Adam: Is no more than an abusive ex and evil racist to make Blake look better. Unlike Illa and Sienna.

Tyrian: Utterly insane, gets humiliated by Ruby.

Watts: gets pushed aside by Cinder

Hazel: Entire character revolves around dead sister.

Need I go on?

From where I stand: Male characters either have no personality outside of female characters (Taiyang, Klein, Ghira, Whitely, Nicolas), treated with far less care than their female counterparts (Torchwick, Adam, Whitely, Jacques, Mercury), have no character (Cardin), are just evil with far less sympathy than their female counterparts (Tyrian, Watts, Adam and Mercury), have their agency taken from them (Ren and Jaune), aren’t proactive (Ozpin, Port, Oobleck) and more.

But hey, can’t stab the creators over problematic shit with guys. Or showcase the guys issues since it would destroy your argument.

#queenypie

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peacefulwriter88 · 7 years ago

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Ripples - Part 3

Warnings: Angst. Broken Bucky. Conflicted Steve and Reader….I promise things can only look up from here

A/N: This is angsty af….not going to lie all I want to do is hug Mr. Barnes after writing this drabble. Punch him in the face then hug him lol

Series Tag List: @captainxamerica, @just---love, @senpaiace, @glittercoveredsouls, @findacauseandserveit, @devil-may-cry-11-blog, @agentbarnescarter, @mannatgalhotra @harrisbn @sapphire1727 @ishipmybed @nessy-bearxb @calaofnoldor @cautionconed @badassbaker

Bucky’s POV

Time was irrelevant. It stood still as I sat on the roof of the tower, my legs hanging over the ledge as the rain pelted down on my body. I hadn’t known how long I had been sitting there, or when it had started raining, buts its Sam’s voice that causes me to shift my eyes from the forest horizon and onto him.

He has an umbrella as he walks toward me, a light jacket in tow that he beside me, taking a seat to my right. I look down at the jacket, then at him and he shrugs.

“Y/N,” her name bites at me, like when trying to pull a bullet out of a wound and my arms tense. Sam notices this and gives a slow sigh.

“She...she asked me to bring this out to you. Said you’d catch a cold if I didn’t.”

I don’t want to slip on the jacket but I do. It smells like her, the perfume mingling with the rain and the tears are sliding down my face again. Hot stains that leave me cold inside.

“She’s been working by the roof door all morning. Said she’s worried about you. Wants to talk to you - clear things up. She’s made me wear my suit just in case you….did something brash. Told her not to worry about that. You know I can’t carry your heavy ass.” he gives a low chuckle but there’s a hint of worry and I turn to him, noticing his flight suit underneath his jacket.

When she did things like this, went out of her way to take care of me and make sure that others did the same, when she did that I remembered why I had fallen for her. When I got to the Tower the only people who spoke to me, really took the time to talk, was Steve and Sam. Everyone else would chat with me for a comfortable amount of time before my silence got to them and they would keep their distance thinking I needed the space.

When Tony hired Y/N, that had all changed. She took her time getting to know everybody but she especially made time for me. She would spend her lunch talking to me - even when i spent months pushing her away. And why wouldn’t I? She was charismatic and intelligent - beautiful and wise. She deserved better than a broken man who didn’t know his past.

After missions she was the one who always asked how it went for me. No one else - didn’t matter who was injured. She always made it about me. When I broke my leg a year ago, she was the one dropping off my meals and keeping me company to pass the long hours of being in my head. Going with me to doctors appointments. Helping to heal. Sometimes we would sit in silence, staying in our minds while we did endless tasks. Slowly but surely, she got me to open up to her. She got me to laugh and talk about the old days - another time. She would sometimes speak of her childhood, a glimmer of something happy flickering in those bright of hers.

I got acquainted to her. Got use to her running her hands mindlessly through my hair when Tony and Wanda bullied us into movie nights, my head resting in her lap while she watched some stupid film that Steven and I were supposed to learn about. Got used to her voice when I would wake up from my nightmares, calling her in fear. Only that sweet voice could scare the demons away, her kind words soothing me back to sleep. Got used to the way she started watching me the same way I had always watched her. Those gentle eyes looking at me glazed over with lust, her eyes flicking down to my lips before her tongue licked over her own. Her touches, light yet lingering as she hugged me or sat next to me idly.

In love. I thought that we were both in love.

And then Steve came alone. Perfect Steve.

Why wouldn’t she marry him? He was what every woman wanted. And I was broken.

“And her husband?” I spit out the last part and Sam places a careful hand on my right shoulder.

“Steve’s been worried to but I think he’s….he’s trying to figure out his feelings with her too you know? Think he might like her a whole lot then he’s letting on. Probably wants to stay married because it's the right thing to do…”

I hadn’t realized my hand was knotted in a fist until it slams down on the concrete ledge, startling Sam. His hands instinctively go for his gun before he realizes that I’m trying to calm down, my eyes closed as I take deep breaths. He sighs and shakes his head.

“This is a mess man. I can't even imagine - listen I know you and Y/N were just two awkward flirty encounters away from telling each other how you felt.”

“Why does everyone know that.” I mumble louder than planned and Sam laughs, uninhibited and full of amusement. A Sam laugh. A laugh that for a millisecond makes me forget how much pain I’m in.

“Dude, you both are not slick. You basically turn into a pool of puddy when she’s around. And god forbid if she talks to you. She could make you her sex slave if she ever wanted to.”

I chuckle, leaning my head down and I’m flooded with memories of her again. Thinking about how she would comfort me right now, how her hand would unconsciously lift to my left arm - not the metal part. She always liked to caress the part where she knows metal meets skin, her small hands tracing over the scarred tissue as she listened patiently. She’d coax me to lie on my back, my head in her lap as I looked up to her, telling her all the things that had triggered my mood. She’d only rake her hands in my hair after I told her all, reminding me about all the reasons why I was a good person. That a person's past sins didn’t dictate the person they were today. How we defined that by how we learned from those actions.

And she knows that I’m a good person.

She always bit her lip when she told me that, her eyes far away and I wondered what she hid from the world, perhaps even to herself. But when she looked back down at me, her lips tugged between her teeth before she smiled at me, I knew it wasn’t for me to ask. She would tell me when she was ready. Instead I would preoccupy my mind thinking about how i thought her kisses would taste. How her body would feel against mine. How it would be nice to have her in my arms as she worked, pen in her mouth as she review the endless amount of files Tony had her managing. Kissing her forehead and telling her how much I loved her. How I belonged only to her.

A future I imagined. Gone, just like that.

Sam clears his throat, bringing me back to the present.

“You know Y/N can be pretty cold and distant but she’s a softie for you. And not in the way she empathizes with Bruce. There’s always been something else with you. Mention your name and her lips tug into an involuntary smile…..”

Sam hesitates before he says the next part, allowing me the pleasure of his observation for only a fraction of a second.

“But she’s also always been overprotective of Steve. I….I get why she’d drunkenly marry him.”

When I turn to Sam he’s raising his hands in defense, shaking his head.

“Listen man, I know you probably don’t want to hear that. But Steve always had a small crush on her, I just don’t think he knew it. Sharon did. That's why she broke up with him - the real reason she did. Tired of him giving Y/N those love sick eyes when she walked into a room. And Y/N respects Steve. Admires him….. You guys…..aww shit, I’m just going to say this once but you both kinda balance who she is - you and Steve. Steve represents the person she’s trying to be - the person she’s chosen to turn into since leaving god knows what evil organization. You represent the person she was...probably the true person that she is.”

I nod, my jaw clenching as I look back at the forest.

“What you’re saying is - she was going to end up with Steve because he’s the better man.”

“What? No!” Sam says, then stands up.

“Listen man, I think you and her fit better together. She may try to be clean like Steve but it's not her. She’s like you. She’s troubled. But she’s also pretty damn amazing. A good woman. A woman whose history may be bathed in blood but soul is clean as a whistle. A person who is better than Steve because they’ve survived that type of darkness. That's why you both fit perfectly. You both know you can’t ever come back from unseeing and unknowing what you know. ”

He slaps my shoulders but the fresh wave of pain has set in. I thought I’d be good enough for her. She made it seem like I was. As if knowing my thoughts Sam mutters,

“You’re a good guy James. Don’t think you're not good enough for her. Just...go and talk her.” he turns, walking back to toward the roof door, hesitating before touching the handle.

“....Just don’t tell anyone I gave you a compliment. I got a reputation to maintain.”

I smirk as he leaves as quietly as he came.

Maybe, just maybe, he’s right.

I finally move from outside when I realize that the wind has picked up and despite the jacket Sam left, I was getting chilled to my bones. I walk into the dim hallway, not surprised to see Y/N’s laptop but curious to where she had gotten off to. I debate leaving it and just hiding out in my room but I know that if know one see’s me, which I could make happen, Y/N would park out here all night.

I couldn’t do that to her.

I grab the laptop and make my way to my room, jumping on the elevator and going down to my floor. It was on the 7th level of the large complex and one of the more isolated floors. There were three bedrooms that belonged to Sam, Steve and I. An office that Tony had converted for Y/N because she liked the peace to get work done - the three of us were pretty quiet.

I knew the real reason was that it also hosted a large patio deck and she liked the view of the forest. And having quick access to an exit if necessary.

Subconsciously always thinking like a killer. A trait we both tried to disguise.

It was also the main reason why Y/N and I had become friends. Couldn’t avoid her beautiful face when it was one of the first things you walked out to.

I had almost made it to my room when I heard whispering and for a second I think Sam has left his TV on again. But inching closer to Steve’s room I recognize his dark voice tangled in her soft one. I know I should turn and walk away.

Something pulls me closer.

I walk to the entrance of the door, barely peaking through the cracked space. Not wanting to be known.

Y/N was standing against Steve’s dresser, her arms crossed over her chest. She had changed into capri leggings and a large workout tank top that fell over her body, her chest catching the large fabric and folding against it. The sports bra she wore looked like something Natasha wore and my guess was she borrowed her clothes.

She looked damn good.

Steve had changed into sweatpants and a fitted work out shirt, his hands in his hair.

“Would it really be that crazy Y/N? We did get married.”

She gives a sigh before biting her lip.

“Steve….you literally just got out of a relationship. We got married drunk on Asgardian Ale. I can’t validate staying married when I don’t even know how I feel about you. How you truly feel about me. That’s not even factoring my feelings for...you know no. And don’t say you care because you’re as noble as the energy that lights up a most of New York.”

Steve is silent before saying

“I know that...listen I know that the circumstances aren’t the best. But….I couldn’t forgive myself if I never told you.”

Her eyes furrow together as she places her hands on his dresser.

“Tell me what Steve?”

He gets up from where he was sitting, walking toward her. His eyes betraying something else that Y/N didn't see. Then he shakes his head.

“Nothing I just - I wouldn’t feel comfortable getting a divorce knowing I didn’t try to work on this. Despite the circumstances wouldn’t it be remissed if we didn’t give this a shot”

Of course he was trying to convince her to stay married. Of course he wouldn’t tell her how he felt about her.

That would just not be the Steve Rogers way.

Despite my frustration with him, I can’t help but smile. Only one guy like Steve.

“Steve…” she starts but he steps closer to her, cutting off the space between them.

“I’m not saying that you should drop everything for me. I know I should just pretend that this marriage thing never happened and let you and Bucky figure things out. But Y/N don’t tell me you haven’t felt this feeling between us before.”

She bites her lip and his hand caresses against her cheek.

I know the spark he’s referencing. I had noticed it before, before I admitted to Steve how much I truly cared about her. Before I even admitted it to myself. I had warned him that he had feelings for her and he always shook it off with a light laugh,

“A lady like that Bucky, a lady like that needs a man like you. Not me. Besides , I’m with Sharon.”

So much for that.

“You want us to have some weird sister wives situation? But like brother husbands…” she bursts into laughter but the reference is lost on both of us.

“Whats a sister wife? Or a brother husband?” Steve asks confused and she laughs harder, shaking her head in his hand.

“Don’t ever worry about it Steve. Its this stupid thing that bored people in Utah have created and now market out to the public via television”

Steve’s face is still complex but the smile tugging on his face reassures her. Better to go in now, when the tension was less thick and leave.

I round the corner, expecting to find them still standing there laughing and shaking their heads. Instead, Steve bends down to kiss her. It catches her off guard. I can tell by the way her limbs instantly tense up, the hard muscles pulling against the soft skin. Her eyes are wide open before the close, her hands rising up to his shoulders.

I take a small swallow, feeling my throat constrict with the motion. I should walk away. Her hands run down his chest and she pushes away slowly, shaking her head.

“..... Steve, please don’t make me choose.”

He looks down at her as she continues, her eyes glued to his chest.

“We’ve already created a mess. Don’t complicate it with feelings.”

He swipes his hand across her face and she gives an involuntary shiver,

“I’m not trying to make this more complicated. But wouldn’t it be lost if we didn’t give this a try. Even if its for the month. If I can prove to you that I could make you a happy woman - a happy wife, wouldn’t you want to give that a chance?”

She gives another long sigh, her lips between her teeth.

“I don’t want to be your rebound Steve. I never wanted to be anyones wife so playing as rebound wife just sounds like…..hell.”

“You’re not!” he yells this and she chuckles, shaking her head.

“I may be the biggest idiot allowing the most naive man to try to talk me into saying married. But...I’ll think about it ok.”

“That’s all I’m asking.” he lifts her up, her frame light in his arms and she laughs, wrapping her arms around him. I can’t handle any of it anymore. Like hell I was going to stand around while they slowly fell in love with each other. I clear my throat, pushing my way into the room.

“You left your laptop upstairs.” I mumble, placing the thin metal on his desk. Trying to ignore how my metal hand - my curse- has left imprints on it. They both snap their head at me, Steve instantly placing Y/N down.

Our eyes meet and I know he knows I heard everything.

“Bucky...I…”

“Save it Steve,” I looked over at Y/N who has moved past Steve and was walking toward me.

“Wouldn’t want to distract you from winning the heart of your wife.”

The last part hits Steve the way I want it too. I see him flinch from the action and Y/N turns to him briefly before following me out the door, my name on her lips.

I don’t slow down until I hit my bedroom. By this point she’s run to catch up to me, stopping the door with a new form of strength I didn’t think she possesed.

“Can you stop for two goddamn seconds and listen to me.”

“You want me to be courteous to you when you go and marry my best friend. And don’t have the decency to warn me until he’s telling the whole damn world.”

“I was going to tell you,” she says, pushing her way beyond me and turning around. “Steve was planning on telling the team. We didn’t want you to find out the way you did…...you know Steve. And he’s damn good honesty policy. Didn’t think he’d blab to them before I talked to you”

“Then why were the damn wedding band into the house? At least pretend you wren’t happy in love.”

She crosses her arms in frustation.

“Forgot I had the damn thing on to be honest. I’m not accustomed to having jewelry dictating my commitment to someone else.”

“You appeared to have forgotten a lot of things in the past 24 hours.”

“That’s not fair.” she whispers and I roll my eyes.

“You think finding out my best friend married the person I -” I stop myself. No need to betray something that no longer had the potential to live.

“I know that’s not fair either.” a step toward me. Its calculated but I take a step away from her, turning to shut the door.

“You think finding out that the only two people that I care about, that I trust, decided to get drunk together and go off and get married. Did he seal your union last night too?”

She shakes her head.

“...I don’t think...I don’t remember.”

I snort.

“Perfect. So you probably fucked my best friend and then you expect me to be okay with it.”

“I don’ tknow what I did Bucky. I just remember going off to check on Steve.”

“Leaving me for Steve. Should have seen that coming. Golden boy has an army of women after him now - why wouldn’t you be a part of that group?”

Bitter words that I didn’t know lived in me were coming out. I had to get a handle on this.

“Its not like that! Besides, I know you fucked that stupid little blonde from accounting. Had to go through the security footage to figure out what happen between Steve and I. What about that James? Wanna explain to me why you woke up with some stranger?”

Her eyes were like daggers, glued on me. Knowing good and damn well that she was right. I had no right to demand anything from her when I did stupid shit like that.

“Fucking some stranger is different than going off and marrying my best friend.”

“Is it Bucky? Because for someone who is always claiming they give a damn about me, seems awful unfair that I’ve been the one alone night after night while you nurse some dumb ho that has flirty eyes for The Winter Solider. In the one who has to deal with escorting them off the premises in the morning and hearing their stupid snide remarks. I’m the one stuck flirting with you, wondering how the fuck you feel about me. You wonder why I went off with Steve? Maybe I was tired on waiting around on you and wanted to be with someone who cared about me. You know what - fuck this Bucky. I wanted to apologize. But fuck this. You should be apologizing to me.”

She’s crying now, the tears consuming her. She was right. I had slept with those women to distract myself from her. I didn’t think I was good enough for her. It was easier to have one night stands with someone I wasn’t invested than thinking about rejection with someone l loved.

I was just as much as a mess as Steve.

She tries to walk past me and I grab her out of instinct, my-hands wrapping around her waist.

“Let go of me.”

Her voice is venom. Its dark and icy and promises pain.

“Tell me why you don’t want to marry Steve.”

She grabs my wrist, I know to pull away but my hands just dig deeper into her flesh.

“Tell me. Please?”

Before I can respond she’s twisted my arm behind my back, moving fluid and precise. She’s freed herself as her other hand pushes into my neck. At a pulse point.

For a second I’m stunned and impressed. She never trained with us - we didn’t know her potential. Of course she was probably some goddamn top assassin.

“You don’t have that right anymore. You lost it the moment you thought I choose to marry Steve.”

Then she releases me, exiting my room quickly. I groan, sitting on the bed and putting my head in my hands.

How the hell was I supposed to navigate this mess and win her heart?

#bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes #steve rogers #marvel #Sebastian Stan #Chris Evans

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convndrums · 7 years ago

Text

here the FAWK she ( the semi-finished masterlist of all my characters ) is ! took way too long but hopefully as you proceed to click on the linque below you’ll know why smh but yep ! i’ll be adding their pages on my account when i’m done with them soon i hope and maybe come back with a bunch of connections for each character but for now this is all i got & smash this like or im me for plots i’d love to get on those finally xx

reintroducing amanda wheeler; intro & info page.

queen of irony. rich post- faux country gal who’s a loud homosexual and writes hetero fics/has an indie het smut for the absolute shits and giggles. dates a married woman she’s utterly in love with and will pull the life support cord for. said to be possessed by a possessed flapper. cute and knows it even though she looks like a republican. socially open & everywhere. morally grey.

reintroducing imogen yates; intro & info page. ( tw violence )

the grey area between your mom friend and your drunk aunt. happily vegan & owns a vegan restaurant called the fork, alt. the vegan cult’s lair. won’t kill you, but will convince you she really wants to. local brat tamer. minds her business via minding others. clashed head-first into nature’s very own reset button: amnesia. used to be satan and traumatized everyone. disgustingly active and accomplishing.

reintroducing ethan holland; intro & info page. ( tw suicide )

he is a sk8r boi, she said see ya later boy ( and meant it. they’re dating now. hey lourdes ! ) a nice person, so nice he doesn’t realize how fake he sounds/is. a certified headass. previously a bully/bully enabler, current guilty fuck. #torn. does the most for his loved ones. doesn’t remember his own birthday. googled foot fetishes once. trolls stan twitter with his fake selena gomez stan account when tumblr crashes. burned a sue of cide note with his name scribbled on it.

reintroducing sebastian miller; intro & info page ( tw violence )

kazimer sokolov whom. russian ex-cult member well-adjusted into a mundane life via lies, a fake canadian accent he’s ‘trying to get rid of’, being a twilight saga aficionado and a dickwad, a lame record store and a tumblr blog to keep himself sane by maintaining a general aesthetic and shitting on people and every discourse out there. knives/books sniffer. allegedly fucked a moose. probably kinkshames as a way to deal with his own “kinks” aka please keep the dead bodies away. ( im kidding i swear but [redacted] )

reintroducing prudence zima; intro & info page ( tw death )

parents died in a fire when she was two months old and it shows. idolizes avril lavigne & her favorite movie is lords of dogtown for aesthetics references. dude. social leech or effortless networker ? both. remains in her lane regardless. cry-types probably. here for a good time, not a long time. steals your stash and smokes you out with it. avid dick connoisseur. minimum effort lifestyle. either on her way to become a manager of some one hit wonder band that finds it’s demise in a freak accident, a drug dealer or god forbid, a guidance counselor; depends. mild cool girl syndrome.

reintroducing jennifer meade; intro & info page ( tw death, violence and abuse )

bi/pussy muncher and proud misandrist, first and foremost. remembers killing her brother very fondly. the one girl in a room to call when you want to kill a bug and you’re relieved until she kills it with her bare hand. tops. unstable & chaotic evil, respectively. the ginger devil. biased and has her minion whom she invests a great deal of her time in brain washing and obsessing over. supposedly here to make amends but that’s not happening any time soon.

reintroducing margot williams; intro & info page ( tw mental illness )

deserves better. very gay. all her friends are heathens xtra, take it slow. corrects typos in the gc. a nerdy editorial assistant daydreaming about publishing houses instead of the magazine she works for. lowkey shy and she’s angry about it. goes off if she must. jacks off to #knowledge and yuri anime. helps with homework and essays and takes the kids out. deadpan because we’re original but she swears it’s just the face & unresolved trauma. stans her therapist. unofficial older sister.

reintroducing chandler accardi; intro ( re-written ) & info page

needs to do better. dropped out of college for culinary school then dropped out of that too. was engaged to an absolute goddess he ultimately wronged ( with her damn best friend, bitch disgostin* ) and got kicked out to the curb. currently residing in the couch of his sister until things are resolved. thot-by-default & annoying. has like three ( 3 ) redeeming qualities. has never been told to shut up and it shows. works at buzzfeed.

reintroducing abel gautier; intro & info page

french and “confused”. lives a minimalist n’ expensive life. if american psycho & french kiss were the same movie. wine sniffer. the devil bakes croissants. will watch you die. takes grudges to the afterlife. gets attached but either ruins it or ruins it to spare everyone, himself included. falls in love a lot but knows how to calm the fuck down. very giving, fortunately. manipulative but isn’t too wild about bending everything to his will.

reintroducing simini gale; intro & info page ( tw abuse, violence & mental illness )

token white actress & character in rosie’s show. [ britney vc ] its me.... against dissociation. a loud mess with an intense mental state and anger issues dulled out by her prescribed meds and whatever pill she got in the bottom of her manager’s purse. dependent and distraught about it. grocery shopping for garbage food and attending comedy stand up shows half drunk as a hobby. stable ? where. very nice and super flighty. heels are hot. wishes she could fight someone without feeling the urge to actually fight someone.

reintroducing calvin o’shea; intro & info page ( tw mental illness )

it’s not just the depression more than the incredible self hatred. walks into rooms with his bad energy, grumpy mood and cunty attitude. graduated college just to shut his dad up. wants to die harder than edward cullen. just doesn’t give a shit. has a baby named freddie mercury ( also known as the antichrist, with alanis, his mortal literal enemy whom he absolutely despises and will not hesitate to put his dick back in again lbr ) who will probably grow up to talk shit about his parents whom he also mentioned in his tell-all book on ellen. works at his family’s bookstore that sucks the life energy out of college students nearing a mental breakdown.

reintroducing isabel pavia; intro & info page ( tw drug use )

contemporary dances her feelings away. too ambitious for her own good but knows what she’s doing. in a goth ass secret society ( here ) a.k.a her new found purpose. knows everything eventually. oddly trustworthy. doesn’t know what speaking loudly is, let alone yelling. loves the moon & has that moon app. had to take painkillers when she twisted her ankle very badly and would take them for a while for stress and performance reasons, but has stopped. a quiet angel.

reintroducing anastasia zeller; intro & info page

ambitious/multi-talented asshole. horror trash & an emotional/mental maze which translates well into her weird works on no sleep reddit and current horror comedy podcast. ( click here for info ). needs a therapist according to a friend, whom she dropped for saying that. will bite your head off. obsessed with her works to an unhealthy point. would love to establish a company and stuff out of it and is working on that. healthy relationships are a semi-foreign concept.

reintroducing morgan booker; intro & info page ( tw death )

vape-curious and takes photos of ghost towns and abandoned-everythings because #vision. had a roadtrip phase like the fake deep idiot he is. morally grey. genuinely here for a good laugh and spreading joy in the form of hover-friendships and taking lit candids of his friends. knows shit and comes off as a creep sometimes but does he really care. knows your mom’s name. lives in a disused hospital bc he’s marinating on that aesthetic.

reintroducing bowie harmon; intro & info page ( tw drug use & abuse )

part of a duo in a web series as the anxious n’ cackling mess. showcases her depressión & anxieté by her colorful wigs n’ new hair dyes. painful receptionist at a tattoo parlor. recovering addict who advocates for drug use. thinks tattooing a ruler on someone’s dick one day would be the peak of her accomplishments as a tattoo artist. daily bad decisions. “ it’s complicated. ” when asked about literally any relationship she has with anyone in her life. traumas include her failed singing career. an ex viner-by-association.

reintroducing shaheen bin baz; intro & info page ( tw violence & mental illness )

the physical deception of going through hell in a short amount of time with zero mental durability to begin with during midterms. trigger-anxious. will shoot your toes off your foot if caught off guard. aided in criminal operations with the brilliance of his mind in codes. would not mind dying. seasons your food. waters his crops in his balcony garden. the grey area between a super laidback dude and a crackhead with violent tendencies. nearing a mental breakdown probably.

reintroducing minka abbott-santos; intro & info page ( tw abuse )

defeats the evil stepmom stereotype one breath at a time. the human embodiment of a deer. gothic angel. alarmingly gets black swan. type to wake up to her staring at you from an armchair across the room, but lovingly, with a book she was reading in hand and two hot cups of tea; she was waiting to start the day with you. spooky until you get to know her and even more spookier when she’s ( note: calmly ) pissed but that’s extremely rare. gentle voice, soul and everything.

reintroducing reuben faulkner; intro & info page ( tw abuse & violence )

rekt hell prince. lived in an amish community with his family until he got kidnapped away from home when he was seven into an awful living situation. doesn’t remember if the gas leak that happened five years later and killed everyone was his doing or not. knows where his real family is after months of tracking them down but. blood kink under investigation. shady bouncer at a shady club. has issues he has no care or time to diminish. fights for the shits and giggles. leaves texts at read. leaves you alone for your own good and his own sanity.

reintroducing alexandra turunen; info page

wants to do everything and be everything and doesn’t know what to do with herself ( read: post-graduation identity crisis ) currently investing in a motorcycle for no reason. essentially jobless. a “retired” kathryn merteuil who “outgrew” her cunning ways since highschool but really only found new socially destructive interests. appears to be self-possessed but she’s #shaken. doesn’t care about how well she presents herself anymore after getting rejected by four universities and refusing to accept her father’s offer to pull some strings to get her in one. sleeps a lot.

reintroducing giuseppe del vecchio; info page ( tw death & drug use )

goes by pepe because well. son of italian oil peeps & is extra. said to be in a cult when all he’s in is this extra ass dining club that does the most for initiation ceremonies. ready to fall in love with you. goes to the king’s college in london and studies business & changes his minor way too often for everyone’s liking. into everything and will be down to do whatever. faux deep. mischievous shit. incredibly unbiased. had his rawrk n’ roll phase that died along with someone in a club literally. still has it but he knows god now & less drugs.

reintroducing kelian scott; info page ( tw death & drug use )

a father/father figure who tries™. runs a mechanic shop/chop shop because bad decisions and dire needs ( had his son to send to school and his daughter who passed away due to a disease he couldn’t afford to treat even after turning his shop into a chop shop. his wife then left him ). stares into the distance. wants the best for the kids but one of them is a junkie ( he doesn’t know yet ) and the other -- his niece -- is an orphan he’s worried about. thinks ahead 24/7. needs to pull out of this dull n’ depressing daily routine he has fallen into like the basic ass divorced dad he is.

reintroducing sal presley; info page

smexy trace & fingerprint detective. talks. the perfect illusion to bring home to your parents and friends. gets shit done which is both a good thing and a bad thing. looks calm, collected n’ well-rested but isn’t. his actual name is salvatore but no. knows how to mix drinks and more; used to showcase his multi-talented ass to make his ( currently ex ) fiancée look good now just himself. was engaged three times; two of those times with the same person. obsessive; gets into his job a little too intensely for no reason but #justice and maybe something else whom knows. loses sleep at least two nights a week as a habit at this point. has an extended family back home he misses occasionally. wishes he could calm down truly.

#smoke:intros #FINALLY RISING HOLY SH-#ill do some plotting n hopefully get on replies soonish hell yea lets GO!

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words-writ-in-starlight · 8 years ago

Note

Okay, for Steve Rogers prompts: Steve is leaving the grocery store and hears some guy yelling at the little Girl Scouts selling cookies about how Feminism Is Ruining This Country and Girl Scouts Are Evil for Supporting Abortion and Lesbians. (Because this actually happens, it happened to me when I was a kid. And once you are like 13 you are allowed to sell without an adult, so me and my friend were alone).

Ahahaha yeah, good times, been there, donethat. Right, so, I’m picturing this aslike a month or two after Avengers, while Steve is still Figuring Out the2000’s. Also featuring: Steve swearinglike a Brooklyn kid who went into the Army, and my weird obsession withtime-displaced super soldiers who are angry about bananas. WARNING: 100% WISH FULFILLMENT. Some general assholery and Steve losing his temper a little under the cut because…this is longer than I meant it to be.

Steve was sure it would shock any number of people, but his biggestproblems with the 21st century weren’t the televisions, phones, orcoffee makers (thank you, Stark). Therewas a learning curve, but it was reminiscent of the learning curve after he’dgotten the serum—hell, he’d gone from a colorblind, partly deaf asthmatic withmore chronic illnesses than you could fit on a chart to a walking talkingsuperhuman. The whole world had beenbrighter, louder, and faster-paced than Steve had ever been remotely preparedto deal with, so he went onto stages and into battles until he adapted. The 21st century was brighter,louder, and faster-paced than the forties could have dreamed, so Steve got onhis bike and went to tour the country without help. By the time he got back, he was pretty surehe could manage technology well enough to Google shit like ‘what is Facebook.’

(Google was good. Steve fuckingloved Google. All the answers were onGoogle. Including answers to questionshe never needed answered, but he had gotten better at choosing his searchterms.)

No, Steve’s biggest problems with the 21st century, otherthan the obvious fact that it wasn’t hiscentury, mostly revolved around money.

Example: who in their right goddamn mind paid seven dollars for a poundof apples? Had anyone ever heard ofaffordable bread? What the fuck washappening with the price of potatoes—potatoes,for the love of God.

��Inflation’s a bitch,” a passing college student said in dry amusement,obviously picking up on his bitter muttering. Steve’s scowl deepened and he put the apples in his cart.

For the first time in his life, Steve actually didn’t have to worryabout money—apparently seventy years of back pay totaled up to a significantamount of cash—but that didn’t mean that he didn’t wince as he did the math forhis food. If this was usual for oneperson, what the hell were families paying? Bucky’s family had been Bucky, his ma, his dad, and all three of thegirls, plus sometimes Steve. How was afamily of seven affording thisfood? He added it to his mental list ofthings to Google, along with what iswrong with bananas.

Bananas. Of all the things forthe future to fuck up, fucking bananas were weird bland not-bananas now. Steve hadnever had strong opinions on bananas before, but live and goddamn learn,apparently.

Anyway. The money thing was why,upon entering the grocery store,Steve hadn’t paused at the table set up just inside the door, save to read thesign hanging in front of it—it was good to see that the Girl Scouts hadsurvived. Nonetheless, he could bakecookies his own self and probably get a better net value than six bucks for atiny box, thanks. To be polite, he’dwaved a little to the girls at the table, both wearing green sashes and winningsmiles as they did a slow but respectably steady business, and then he’d goneon his damn way like a civilized human being.

But God forbid that otherpeople could do the same. Steve checkedout with his apples and cereal and soup ingredients (and no bananas), put themin pair of reusable grocery bags, and started for the door just in time to hearraised voices.

Well. A raised voice. It soundedlike a man, older, with a neutrally middle American accent. The table where the Girl Scouts had beenselling their cookies was ringed by a small crowd, steadily growing larger bythe moment, and Steve had to mutter a string of ‘scuse-me-sorry-ma’am-can-I-just-yeah-thanks under his breath as heshouldered through to see what was happening.

The voice belonged to a guy in his fifties, thickset but not out ofshape, with dark hair just going salt-and-pepper. His face was flushed red, twisted into abitter snarl as he shouted at the two stiff-backed girls behind the table. Steve noted that the girls, both wide-eyedand pale with a sort of primal panic, couldn’t be more than twelve or thirteenat the most.

“—nothing but needy bitches looking to take advantage of men! This,” the man snarled, slamming a hand downon the table so hard that it shook, “is a cult, designed to convince our children that ‘feminism’ is good forthe country instead of being an excuse for women to work less and get paidmore.”

“Can you hold onto this for me?” Steve murmured, turning and offeringone of his bags to the young woman to his left, and she nodded absently, takingthe bag without letting her phone shake as she recorded the situation.

“Besides,” the man continued, clearly getting into his rant, “the GirlScouts support homosexual behavior—are you two girlfriends? Are you dykes,or are you waiting to get older so that you can get knocked up by some guy andabort your baby? Maybe you’re justplanning to have the kid,” he spat, “and get on welfare so that the rest of uscan pay for everything you need.”

“Hey,” Steve said to the guy on his right, “can you take this?” The guy took his other bag, a nauseated lookon his face.

“What, are you going to cry?” the man sneered down at the two girls infront of him—one of them did look like she was about to cry, almost shaking ashe loomed over her. “I thought youfemi-nazi cunts were supposed to be tougher than–”

“That is enough,” Steve said,stepping forward and catching the man’s arm. He had a not-insignificant height advantage—Steve was a clean and evensix feet, but the man was perhaps five inches shorter, enough that Steve couldloom just as effectively as the man had been doing over the two girls. “You’re done.”

“Let me go, you fucking–”

The man spun, and made a critical mistake. He threw a punch.

Steve caught him by the wrist, twisted, and the man dropped to one kneewith a yelp like a rabbit in a trap, his arm angled sharply up behind his back. Steve pressed down a little, the barest fractionof his strength, and got a string of curses in reply.

“Now,” Steve said in his most reasonable voice, feeling the bubblinganger fill his chest and make his head light. “Why don’t you walk away before this gets any messier?”

“Who the fuck are you?” theman panted through clenched teeth.

“My name’s Steve,” Steve said. Hisheart was beating with the bone-rattling speed he remembered from when he was akid, getting into fights on the streets of Brooklyn—now, he took care not tolet it make his hands shake. If he lostfocus and closed his fist any harder, he might break the man’s wrist. If he broke any bones, Steve intended to doso on purpose. “I don’t like bullies. So. How about you just get the hell out of here, now, before I have one ofthese nice folks call the police?”

“Oh, um, I did that,” a voice said, and a woman about two ranks back inthe crowd shakily held her phone up as proof. A little girl clung to one of her hands. “Sorry, I just–”

“No, that’s great, ma’am,” Steve interrupted with a smile. “That was real smart of you.”

“You cocksucking freak,” the man snarled up over his shoulder, and Stevepressed down a bit harder on the arm locked across his back. He could feel the man’s shoulder creakingdangerously, threatening to dislocate as the man made a shrill sound of pain.

“I don’t like that kind of language, either,” Steve said sternly. He looked up at the two girls, who werewatching him with something very close to tearful awe. “Are you two kids okay?” he asked, trying tosound as gentle as he could manage. Oneof them nodded slowly, and jabbed her friend with an elbow until the other girlnodded too.

“Um,” the first girl said, “do you mind if I—are you Captain America?”

Steve winced a little, offered her a wry smile. “Steve, please. So, am I just real obvious?”

“Yes,” she said baldly, and Steve chuckled at that, earning a shaky grinfrom the girls.

“Bullshit,” the man on his knees hissed, and Steve felt the fine threadof his self-control snap. The pop of thedislocating shoulder was quick and loud in the crowd, and Steve dropped the manin disgust.

“You listen to me,” Steve said, struggling to keep his voice even as hegave the man an ungentle prod with his knee, forcing him to look up at Stevestanding over him. “I’ve known women inthe Army who could hand your ass to you on a plate, and girls in telephonecenters and diners who could outtalk, outthink, and outfight half the guys Iserved with. Lesbians too. And every last one of ‘em was being paid shitfor their work and ignored every second of the time they weren’t being hit onby scum-suckin’ trash like you. You wantto crucify someone for being pro-abortion, you can pick on someone your owndamn size. The Tower ain’t that hard tofind, I’m sure you can have a nice talk with the Widow about women’s health.”

“I wasn’t–”

“And as long as we’re on the subject,” Steve continued, raising hisvoice to drown out the man on the ground. “How goddamn dare you throwaround words like ‘Nazi’ about people who just want to be treated like humanbeings. These two girls are fucking teenagers,what the hell were you thinking? Don’tanswer that,” he said mercilessly, crouching down to be on a level. “Because listen real close, pal, but youweren’t in the right seventy years ago and you ain’t in the right now, and I’mstill real fucking tired of hearing your bullshit.”

Steve stood up and turned to the young woman who had taken one of hisgrocery bags, realizing with a burst of rueful amusement that he was facing awall of phone cameras recording him.

“So, uh, folks,” he said, already mentally drafting the apology letter hewould need to write to the PR team Pepper and SHIELD had assigned to theAvengers, “when you inevitably put that online, it would be real great if youcould forward it to Fox News so they stop calling me. Can I have my groceries back, please?”

#steve rogers #pro choice #avengers #yeah i don't know what else to tag this with #girl scouts #????#aggressively progressive steve rogers #in case you're curious those two girl scouts show up at the tower to thank steve later that afternoon #and tony cleans them out of thin mints and buys clint a box of samoas #clint does not like samoas #they become the samoas of shame and magically appear on the kitchen table of whoever has pissed off the previous owner #until one of the scientists absent-mindedly eats them all during a 72 hour research binge #yep #this is how my brain works #starlight writes stuff #asked and answered #fic request #maelace #avengers fic #mcu fic #also this is the pr team's first introduction to the fact that steve is the worst #he goes from being a relative media nonentity to being viral as fuck on every platform #'capdoesn'tlikebullies' is the top trending tag for literally almost a whole week #fox news gets like fifty different versions of the video sent to them #three members of the pr team quit within the week and one of them doesn't even make it through the day #'didn't you have the dream job of being like captain america's pr rep' her friend asks her #'you don't understand' the woman wails into her double vodka cranberry

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inkskinned · 8 years ago

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How often my conversations about feminism have spiraled into requests for assault. I say, "Women don't need men to defend them," and am asked, "Can I punch you, then?" And I say, "Women belong in movies and video games and everything," and I hear terrible things, unprintable slurs and demands for my assault, the threatening of a young woman to shut up: What they would do to silence me. The things they'd shove between my teeth. I say, "Men cannot threaten any woman they disagrees with," and I'm told, "Women are just as cruel. Am I not supposed to respond in kind?" In my inbox today I have deleted sixteen messages asking for my life. When I say, "Your virginity only means what you want it to mean," I'm asked, "If you believe in sexual freedom can I fuck you?" When I say "All it takes to be a woman is to want to be a woman," I am asked, "So if I just say that I'm a woman, can I watch you in the shower?" As if women stand shadowy behind each other in our private moments. As if being woman means sexually assaulting each other. Part of me - cynical, unwilling to be frightened, says that it might be a nice dose of reality. My shower where I am naked but my hair becomes streaky and thin, where my body sags, where my makeup smears. To witness a woman less than sexy, legs akimbo while shaving, pulling up flab thighs to reach the underside. Part of me dares them to punch me because I fight to win and am small but I'll kill a man if he touches me. Once I dropped a U.S Marine. Part of me, hellfire and ice queen - says come on, then. You want a fight? Come fight me. But more is scared. More timidly deletes messages, makes sure my name is hidden, doesn't answer the endless antifeminist comments. The insertion of men and their opinion on simple things like "I teach children to ask before hugging." When I close my eyes sometimes I wonder if they're right and that scares me. How much am I going to change when my voice only echoes around me. Why are you angry. Why are you angry. What do you think we are taking from you? If it's not already equal why would equality frighten you. The ancient art of being a woman and trying to get your voice heard: the gentle suggestion, the peaceful comment. The quiet listening to another opinion and the fact we must acknowledge it before we can continue. That I must educate, be sweet, be feminine in my feminism or else it's "invalid." I must present my declaration as a timid thing: "Women maybe should be part of more things." And then the apologies: of course I don't hate men, yes I like plenty of things with men in them, no I don't think women are better. And then the explanations: women are people, here is the number of women in media, here is the number of dead women in media, here are the number of shows led by men. And then I brace for it. For the bullying. Every time I speak it's from a flinch. From "maybe this isn't always the case but for me it is." From please listen. From less demanding. God forbid I state factually that men are violent. If I speak about our fathers and brothers and the cycle of anger unfolding. God forbid I suggest that just once we should cut the bullshit and treat women well without pandering to men about how that helps them. What if I say "Men shouldn't hit anyone. Hitting isn't an answer." I'll tell you what happens. The post was up for four seconds with three notes. The message I get is "If hitting isn't allowed I'll just go ahead and shove a gun down your throat."

#spilled ink #prose #sjw bullshit #and tbh about the echo chamber #assault tw

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arielmagicesi · 8 years ago

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Hi, sorry. So I am new to the st/efvater world, and I've only read one of her books (raven boys), and like I see you posting stuff about her a lot, but only like little bits and pieces, and I feel like I'm missing something and don't understand what's going on cause I'm not really in the fandom; I've just read one book, and don't really know anything about her. I'm sorry, this is rambling mess, but if you could enlighten me a little bit I would appreciate it.

OK I took a while to respond and I’m gonna try to be objective and polite but there isn’t a whole lot of objective politeness in this soul of mine, but I will try.

Maggie St/efvater (I only spell it that way so it doesn’t show up in her tag and annoy people, I’ll just call her Maggie for the rest of this post) is this fairly popular YA author, and she wrote the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, the Scorpio Races, and the Raven Cycle. Her writing is very good (I have some bones to pick about it as a writer but mostly it’s pretty good) and the Raven Cycle in particular has gained a big fandom because it’s an excellent series. I guess you would know cause you’ve read TRB- the concept is unique, it has cool magic stuff, there’s fascinating character concepts, and the teenagers do a lot of realistic teenager stuff like being annoying and cursing and either doing their homework or not, etc. And if I haven’t made it abundantly clear with my posts, a lot of us in the fandom fell in love with the main characters for many reasons, but especially because they represent parts of ourselves that aren’t often represented. Abuse victims who don’t react in a Good Abuse Victim way, poor teenagers who scrape and claw to get out of their shitty towns, mentally ill kids who have ugly unpleasant symptoms, girls who are feminists but whose feminism is a little messy because they grow up in a terrible small town, etc.

Unfortunately, the development of the Raven Cycle fandom online, like the development of ANY goddamn fandom on the accursed Internet, led to some gross pockets of fandom. In the second book, an abusive character called Ka/vinsky shows up, and some heavy subtext suggests that he’s gay and into one of the main characters, Ronan. He’s absolutely awful and monstrous to Ronan and the others, but you know how fandom is, they started shipping it and being like “Ka/vinsky’s just a misunderstood cinnamon roll uwu” and generally being the worst about it. Additionally, some parts of fandom started hating on the two lower-class characters, Adam and Blue, for not always being sweet and nice about the class privilege of all their wealthy friends, and for reacting "badly” to literal abuse and sexism. so the fandom is a mess, yeah

In the second and third books, also, (spoiler alert I guess? I mean if you follow my blog you can’t avoid knowing this haha) it’s suggested and then made all but direct canon, that Ronan is gay and has a crush on Adam. So, like, everyone shipped it because they’re a great ship and it was pretty obvious it was gonna be made canon in book four.

But Maggie interacts a lot with the fandom online, and obviously the clashing of fandom issues like this with any author would lead to some mess, but the way she treated it was....... terrible. She would make jokes about Ronan being Gansey’s “dog” and things like that. She milked the whole “writing a gay character” thing for all it was worth, and would never really say “hey, Adam and Ronan are a romantic thing” but would hint at it constantly, which, if you don’t know, is agonizing to watch when you’re desperate for any representation of your identity. She eventually said “I realize you guys are used to being baited, so don’t worry, the ‘other kiss’ will be between the people you hope it’ll be between” or something like that. And she would talk about Ronan being gay, but never address whether Adam was bi, and god forbid those words were used in the books. In the fourth book, although they do actually kiss and presumably get together, they don’t talk about it, and they never use the words “gay” or “bisexual.” Her excuse was that she’s writing for a world without labels. Leaving aside that that’s bullshit and a straight* woman doesn’t get to say that when we are out here in a homophobic world and saying our labels out loud is a sign of pride, she actually didn’t write a world without labels. The aforementioned Ka/vinsky is constantly using homophobic slurs to describe Ronan, boys at the private school make homophobic jokes, Adam’s dad makes lowkey homophobic remarks, etc. So labels are OK if they’re nasty and negative and used against you, but you’re never allowed to say who you are out loud.

When she gets called out on this whole mess- or a number of other things**- her response is to block people, tell people “if you are hostile one more time you’ll be blocked,” to reply to private posts by teenagers, to sic her army of clueless fans on young LGBT mentally ill readers, to claim that she’s being bullied and attacked, to make vague posts talking about “callout culture” and how it’s mature to avoid “discourse,” etc. I talked a while back about how I’ve made several fully thought-out posts critiquing her, but when I sent her a polite ask about her next book, she replied linking me to one of my own joke posts about “hating” her, making it clear that she apparently has me down on some sort of list of haters or something. And at least she responded privately, so that her other fans didn’t attack me, which has happened to other younger fans before.

She claims to be an ally, but she only really wants the ally points. She’ll talk your ear off about how brave she is for “writing an on-page queer relationship” as a straight woman, but when actual queer teenagers critique her for the way she writes it, she throws a fit and absolutely refuses to listen. She doesn’t want to do the work.

Additionally, she is writing a follow-up series called “the dreamer trilogy” which she drops constant hints about on her social media. It will center on Ronan (naturally, because she’s admitted Ronan is her self-insert and has butchered his character development for the sake of giving him a life identical to hers and fulfilling her fantasies of driving fast cars 24/7 and being an asshole with no consequences) and she’s making it increasingly obvious that none of the other characters we all fell in love with will feature at all. And basically any plotllines we enjoyed, she scraps (often out of spite?), and any plotlines we hate, she makes sure to write tons about (I’m talking about the magical artifact community. No one cares. We started reading for the house of psychics and Glendower and Gwenllian, not the fucking Greenmantles and their haunted doll babies or whatever).

The fandom obviously responded with like “ooh! more Pynch!” because like, fandoms like ships, but ALSO BECAUSE some of us are goddamn LGBT teenagers who are starving for representation and we want to see that “on page queer relationship” she brags about. And yet, at every opportunity, she makes remarks like, “This won’t be a romance. It won’t be the cuddle trilogy. It won’t have relationship drama, that doesn’t interest me. It won’t be fanservice. It won’t be lovey dovey, it won’t be cute, etc.” No, I don’t want fanservice or drama or the cuddle trilogy. But given her history, when Maggie says shit like that, I get worried, as someone who’s been baited a thousand times before. Doesn’t anyone see how awful it is to dangle representation like this? To say “ooh, look, someone who has the same identity as you? Juuuust kidding I’m not writing about it?” She can’t just say what we want to hear, which is “Adam will be there. I’ll say the word gay. I’ll say the word bisexual. Their relationship will be treated as real as Blue and Gansey’s or as any other relationship I write. Not the main focus of the plot, but THERE.” Because she’s not GOING to do any of those things, because writing actual gay relationships makes her uncomfortable. But she can’t say that or she’ll lose her sales.

And when she says all this bullshit about “I won’t write a romance” she gets so much FUCKING praise from her straight readers who think she’s the sun and fucking stars because their shit brand of feminism thinks all romances are equal and romance is insipid drivel and that a feminist book, apparently, is one token white girl who has a pink switchblade being sort-of in the background of a bunch of rich boys fucking around. I’m not saying I didn’t like that very book and that I don’t love that girl and her switchblade, but Maggie has to actually LEARN and IMPROVE and not go backwards. If she wants all this credit for gay representation, she has to actually write gay representation. And if not, I’m not congratulating her for “not writing relationship drama!!!!” because all that says to me is “yuck, I’m not writing gay stuff.” She says “relationship drama doesn’t interest me” and yet she wrote pages upon pages of Blue’s mother making out with a hit man. Relationship drama sure does seem to interest her. This isn’t her taking a Stand against romance, it’s her finding a way to make homophobia seem cool and progressive.

So yeah. That’s why she pisses me off.

*I know I know, “she’s never said her sexuality! How can you call her straight?” On the off chance she’s bisexual (she’s married to a man with kids), that doesn’t excuse her homophobic bullshit. She’s acting like an asshole straight person so yeah I’m gonna call her straight.

**Here are some other problems she’s been called out for and her bullshit reactions:

-Blue is basically the only female character and has no female friends or anything. Maggie says “well none of them had friends!” OK so why isn’t there another girl in the group? Why is her family the only other women who have page time besides villains and other relatives of main characters?

-Gansey gives Adam a lot of grief for not being fond of Gansey’s wealth, but Adam never makes Gansey apologize for blaming Adam for the abuse he endured? Maggie doesn’t have a comment on this, I don’t think.

-In book four, Ronan and Adam make racist jokes at the expense of the One (1) character of color, Henry Cheng. Maggie didn’t address this outright because “spoilers” but made a post about it saying that it wasn’t meant to be a racist joke, it was a throwback to some random joke from book one, and any good reader would know that.

-Blue isn’t a very intersectional feminist, which is fine, but it’s never really addressed, apparently because “all the characters are damn fools!” Who never get any character development except for Adam whose development essentially consists of “I stopped being prejudiced against the rich!” (and lots of other personal things but still)

Yeah, that’s about all I can think of. This didn’t end up being very neutral but I have class in 10 minutes and yeah this is hella long I just wanted to get it all out. I hope I don’t get shit for this, but you know what, anons? Go ahead, send me stuff saying I’m a nasty bitch and should stay away from fandom for criticizing poor Maggie. I don’t even care.

OH AND THEBROKENBREAKINGSEAS: THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTION. I know I answered in a horrifically mean tone but that ISN’T directed towards you, you were just asking! Don’t take my words at face value, I’m super biased. If you’re interested, you can go read Maggie’s blog and Twitter account, or other fans’ essays on this, etc. I’m glad you asked! And thanks for still following me after all this stuff haha. I’m normally... nicer? I think? Thanks again.

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canonmisogynyvictimstournament · 1 year ago

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PROPAGANDA

CHLOE BOURGEOIS (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) (CW: Child Abuse)

1.) Girl was done so dirty… She was starting to develop and could’ve had a redemption arc and then they made her even more one-dimensional than she was at the start, dumbed her down, and the creator on twitter claimed she was never abused and that she never cared about her childhood friend, only his status. And in a scene that thankfully got cut by editors, her father was going to disown her, adopt her sister instead (who is like a “nicer” replacement for her) and pass Chloe onto her abusive mother.

And then a male character gets introduced who is also at first an antagonist with a backstory that gets revealed later, also a childhood friend of the same character, but it’s acknowledged that he got abused by his parent and he gets a redemption arc and a romantic subplot and a spot on the hero team (which Chloe was excluded from because she was irresponsible with her power and revealed her identity publicly… Except he also did that)

This show is about girl power btw.

2.) Chloe was done so fucking dirty. So basically, the creator of the show (Thomas Astruc) created the character in the first place as a stand-in for his childhood bully (red flag no.1) Because of this, any development that she as a character got from the other writers (and it was a lot) got retconned, just because he hated her. Other, objectively much more evil, (male) characters (the main villain!) were portrayed as more sympathetic than her, because god forbid a hurt, abused, emotionally immature, unloved little girl be portrayed as anything other than an unlovable, unforgiveable unchangeable demon. Also she’s obsessed with clothes, shoes and handbags, because she’s a mean girl, don’t you see, so obviously the nice girls (who don’t wear makeup while Chloe does) are better than her.

3.) Stuck up spoiled rich girl is treated as worse than the actual villains of the show. At some point we get a glimpse into her awful traumatizing home life and she starts to be redeemed, but the second something doesn’t go her way she backslides and is suddenly even more evil and dumb. Also her father is incredibly neglectful but it’s portrayed as her somehow abusing him into doing what she wants and he’s so sad about his awful evil daughter. He gets a redemption arc but never actually becomes a better father. She’s seen as unfixable.

CHI-CHI (DRAGON BALL)

1.) okay so to start at the beginning, she was introduced as a young kid but they put her in a super revealing bikini styled outfit. pretty sure it was supposed to be armor too, so besides just being a disgusting design choice even in-universe it’s impractical. but besides that she was pretty charming as a kid, she was cute and funny and pretty tough, and had a cool gimmick in her blade/ laser helmet. even when she reappeared in late Dragon Ball, she was a bit abrasive but was overall rational and kind. she was strong enough to make it into the World Martial Arts Tournament, one of only 16 to qualify.

but come Dragon Ball Z and on, she’s reduced to just a shrill, nagging, aggressive wife and mother. all she gets to do is cook, worry, and berate her husband and sons. her physical strength is only used so she can comically hit Goku. sure its played for laughs, but he’s shown to be afraid of her. I only recall her leaving her house once or twice in DBZ. just the worst mother character stereotype, with nothing left to make her likeable. she’s portrayed as irrational but despite her aggressiveness, half the time her wants are completely reasonable. can’t blame a woman for not wanting her husband to die every other day!! her writing us ass but I still love her and she deserves better!!!

2.) So in Dragon Ball she wasn’t the BEST character to start out with. Toriyama hasn’t ever been the best at writing women or not making stupid fucking sex jokes about them. So she had to deal with that. The outfit she wore as a kid was… NOT GREAT. Let’s say that! Then in late Dragon Ball her entire character revolves around Goku and trying to marry him, which she gets by tricking Goku and getting beaten by Goku in a tournament in one hit. Not off to a great start. Then Z started and Toriyama just… gave her an ENTIRELY NEW new personality, and that new personality was just a stereotype of a tiger mom. Regardless of how correct she might’ve been about letting Gohan fight (and she WAS completely correct, he was 5-6 for a HUGE chunk of Z) the narrative frames her as a hysterical and unreasonable woman nagging at the menfolk and not letting them do things. So naturally people hate her without even considering why she’s upset because the story itself frames her as in-the-wrong. The whole franchise also just forgets that she’s a martial artist and never has her DO ANYTHING.

This is only scratching the surface, there’s a LOT more because the franchise is like 40 years old and we’d be here all day.

3.) GODDDD okay so full disclosure i guess shonen is such an easy pick but like. out of every shonen wife she was and is THE most hated by the narrative and creator (maybe tied with sakura omfg). shes always made out to be a beast, got her fighting skills shafted after she got married, was always played like she was hysterical for worrying about her kid dying in battle, and not to mention the creator actively HATES her. like toriyama just straight up hates writing her. its bad. its really bad. shes just “bitch wife” but for no reason :(

#polls #round 2 #week 3 #new #cw child abuse

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cleverwordsandotherstuffilike · 7 years ago

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How often my conversations about feminism have spiraled into requests for assault. I say, “Women don’t need men to defend them,” and am asked, “Can I punch you, then?” And I say, “Women belong in movies and video games and everything,” and I hear terrible things, unprintable slurs and demands for my assault, the threatening of a young woman to shut up: What they would do to silence me. The things they’d shove between my teeth. I say, “Men cannot threaten any woman they disagrees with,” and I’m told, “Women are just as cruel. Am I not supposed to respond in kind?” In my inbox today I have deleted sixteen messages asking for my life. When I say, “Your virginity only means what you want it to mean,” I’m asked, “If you believe in sexual freedom can I fuck you?” When I say “All it takes to be a woman is to want to be a woman,” I am asked, “So if I just say that I’m a woman, can I watch you in the shower?” As if women stand shadowy behind each other in our private moments. As if being woman means sexually assaulting each other.

Part of me - cynical, unwilling to be frightened, says that it might be a nice dose of reality. My shower where I am naked but my hair becomes streaky and thin, where my body sags, where my makeup smears. To witness a woman less than sexy, legs akimbo while shaving, pulling up flab thighs to reach the underside. Part of me dares them to punch me because I fight to win and am small but I’ll kill a man if he touches me. Once I dropped a U.S Marine. Part of me, hellfire and ice queen - says come on, then. You want a fight? Come fight me.

But more is scared. More timidly deletes messages, makes sure my name is hidden, doesn’t answer the endless antifeminist comments. The insertion of men and their opinion on simple things like “I teach children to ask before hugging.” When I close my eyes sometimes I wonder if they’re right and that scares me. How much am I going to change when my voice only echoes around me.

Why are you angry. Why are you angry. What do you think we are taking from you? If it’s not already equal why would equality frighten you.

The ancient art of being a woman and trying to get your voice heard: the gentle suggestion, the peaceful comment. The quiet listening to another opinion and the fact we must acknowledge it before we can continue. That I must educate, be sweet, be feminine in my feminism or else it’s “invalid.” I must present my declaration as a timid thing: “Women maybe should be part of more things.” And then the apologies: of course I don’t hate men, yes I like plenty of things with men in them, no I don’t think women are better. And then the explanations: women are people, here is the number of women in media, here is the number of dead women in media, here are the number of shows led by men. And then I brace for it. For the bullying.

Every time I speak it’s from a flinch. From “maybe this isn’t always the case but for me it is.” From please listen. From less demanding. God forbid I state factually that men are violent. If I speak about our fathers and brothers and the cycle of anger unfolding. God forbid I suggest that just once we should cut the bullshit and treat women well without pandering to men about how that helps them. What if I say “Men shouldn’t hit anyone. Hitting isn’t an answer.”

I’ll tell you what happens. The post was up for four seconds with three notes. The message I get is “If hitting isn’t allowed I’ll just go ahead and shove a gun down your throat.”

2018 International Women’s Day

Don’t listen or give a voice to anyone who talks like that. Ignore the creeps and trolls on the internet. You can’t change them. But there are lots of good men out there who respect women. Just let the lowlifes continue to do the lame things that they do but don’t waste another minute reading their drivel.

inkskinned.com

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wolforion20 · 7 years ago

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Blame it on the time we live in where human lives are regarded as trash. This is the philosophy of the eldest sister of the Jing family. If you have not status, your life if cheap, expendable, and the most you can do is endure and survive. Needless to say this goes against everything Xiao Liu stands for. Even if she cannot remember her past en toto, she is a woman of action who refuses to be bullied. Xiao Ba is also more of this spitfire mindset and the two are constantly told to lie low to ensure the safety of themselves and their family.

Knowing her brother is in trouble, Xiao Liu arrives on scene in time to witness Yuwen Yue killing him and throwing him into the fire. When she goes to rush to the fire, Yuwen Yue surreptitiously kicks a stone at her leg, causing her fall. She loses the pass here which Yue Qi finds. Yuwen Yue denounces Lin Xi as a spy and that his death can in no way make up for his complicity in killing Yuwen Yue’s beloved grandfather. Xiao Liu insists on her brother’s innocence. He was a good man who was not at the manor long enough to be embroiled in any plots against the members of second household.

She does confess that her brother did get the pass for her. There is a severe punishment for this, but she escapes with a sword slash to her arm. Why? A poisonous spider had crawled its way onto her arm unnoticed except by Yuwen Yue and he strikes before it can poison her, too. This marks the second time he saved her life. He also gives her a lesson—she has no power in an age where people look up to and revere those with power. She is just a poor person meant to be trod on by the powerful. Xiao Liu vows that if she lives on, she will become a person with power and Yuwen Yue warns her against her bold words as they will only bring her shame.

Xiao Liu manages to go back to her eldest sister and let her know of their fifth brother’s death. Zhi Xiang takes her younger sister in and once more tends to her wounds. Xiao Ba is livid. Another sibling lost. She puts all the blame on Xiao Liu. A black cat, an unlucky star. Ever since she entered their lives, bad things have happened—they lost their parents and now their siblings. Zhi Xiang is livid. Xiao Liu is a precious sister of theirs and it is not her fault their lives are trash. They are born low and have no power. They can only endure and pray not to attract attention and lose their lives. The thing I don’t like, especially since Xiao Liu does her best to protect her sisters, is that Xiao Ba and Xiao Qi often think of throwing Xiao Liu away, but yet they cannot survive without her.

Steward Zhu reports to Yuwen Huai that the old man has died and their real spy, Jin Zhu, remains undetected in Yuwen Yue’s manor. Huai asks if Zhu saw the body with his own eyes. Steward Zhu hems and haws, but admits he did not. This makes Yuwen Huai livid. He will need to see for himself that the old man has really perished as they planned.

So, Yuwen Huai marches to Yuwen Yue’s household and arrives as they are about to seal the coffin. Huai demands to see his uncle’s body to which Yuwen Yue refuses. Huai should know better than anyone just who his grandfather liked and disliked. Yuwen Huai insinuates that the ungrateful Yuwen Yue killed his grandfather to gain the “Eyes of God” spy network. The two then start a huge fight as Yuwen Huai tries to force his way in to open the coffin to investigate the real cause of his uncle’s death (which we all know is a ruse to confirm his uncle’s death).

Enter the Noble Consort Shu [Sun Ning] who is displeased at this fighting as she was a good friend of Yuwen Yue’s grandfather. Huai whines that his cousin is suspicious in not letting Huai see the old man’s corpse. Yuwen Yue explains to the consort that he has burned all of his grandfather’s personal affects and was going to seal the coffin to prevent the leak of the rare Western poison that killed his grandfather. Consort Shu tells Yue that this is indeed right and that she will examine the body herself. She goes to the coffin and Yuwen Yue carefully opens it while she masks her face. She confirms his grandfather’s death. Ah, we must not forget that she insinuates Yuwen Huai in Yuwen Yue’s grandfather’s death as it is known that Huai’s family regularly does trade with the West on the Silk Road. This is fact. To make matters worse for the annoying Huai, Shu forbids him from entering Yuwen Yue’s manor unless expressly invited by Yuwen Yue.

Later when Shu and Yue are alone, he thanks her again for her help. She is worried about Yuwen Yue. He has a decision to make. Should he take on the mantle of his household and reactivate the “Eyes of God”? If not, he should know that the emperor does have others who could take charge of this. Yuwen Yue keeps his cold expression. His whole thing is flying under the radar. For whatever reason, he must always downplay his power and intelligence. Of course, he is living in a political and personal minefield, isn’t he? This is also why Yan Xun does his best to keep a low profile and not attract negative attention from the emperor.

Yuwen Huai reports to his own grandfather of their success in killing Yuwen Yue’s grandfather. Now that Yuwen Yue is on his own without his grandfather’s backing, it should be easier to kill him and retain the “Eyes of God,” but there is the snag of being kicked out of Yuwen Yue’s manor. Of course, Jin Zhu is still there. Huai’s grandfather laughs as he recalls how Jin Zhu turned down Huai’s advances as she was saving her virginity for Yuwen Yue. A nice verbal slap in the fact to Huai. His grandfather right now only cares about women and leaves his grandson to figure out how to end Yuwen Yue’s life. Of course, at the same time, he doesn’t believe his grandson, the son of a lowborn woman, can every accomplish anything. Ouch.

So, since the owner of Jin Le Pavilion wants women, Madam Song picks out maids. Zhi Xiang breathes a sigh of relief when neither herself or her younger sisters are chosen. That is until Madam Song tells them to drag Xiao Liu to the pavilion as well. Zhi Xiang begs for mercy for her younger sister, but Madam Song does not yield until the oldest of the Jing siblings tells the older woman that she will do whatever Song asks as long as Xiao Liu is spared. Anything? Then go in Xiao Liu’s place.

This is important. Earlier, Zhi Xiang was with Xiao Liu and trying to get her to drink some medicine so she can heal. Xiao Liu initially refuses, but then drinks the medicine so she does not let her older brother’s sacrifices for her go to waste. Xiao Liu will live. She will not give the people in power the satisfaction of her death. Thus, even though she probably would have done it anyways, Zhi Xiang is even more so determined to save her beloved sisters.

Zhi Xiang collects her things when Xiao Ba and another Jing sibling arrives—Xiao Qi. I am not certain, but Xiao Qi might be the seventh of the siblings, which puts her between Xiao Liu and Xiao Ba. Zhi Xiang lies to her sibling and says that she is going away for a little while and that Xiao Liu as the eldest of the remaining siblings and must look over Xiao Qi and Xiao Ba well and keep her head down. Xiao Liu agrees to this. Before Zhi Xiang leaves, she gives Xiao Ba and Xiao Qi an object that contains the truth behind Xiao Liu’s identity.

So…Zhi Xiang is another sacrificial lamb to the lust and power of the Yuwen family. Yuwen Huai’s grandfather is a man who is crazy and takes pleasure in killing maids. Zhi Xiang almost managed to escape with her life, but she is killed by Huai’s grandfather in the end. Xiao Liu wakes to her younger sisters crying and learns that Zhi Xiang was taken to Jin Le Pavilion and the three go out in the rain to find her. There they see guards and a cartload of dead maids. Her sisters see her dead body and are hit with grief once more. They go to the pile of corpses and collect their sister’s. They bury her and create a mound as well as a funeral plaque for Lin Xi and Zhi Xiang. Xiao Liu has made up her mind as she pays her last respects to her fifth brother and eldest sister. She will not do as Zhi Xiang insisted and lay low in hopes of things going their way. No, Xiao Liu will fight for herself and the remainder of her family.

At this time, Huai is upset with Steward Zhu over the leaking of their family’s trading information which throws suspicion on them for Yuwen Zhuo’s death. Zhu throws Madam Song under the proverbial bus and Zhu relishes in kicking her out of the Yuwen household. You get to see in this rain scene that Yuwen Huai is tormented by his own existence. He despises his lecherous grandfather, his low birth, and his inability to be included with his other “friends” in the top 5 of the young nobles. Do I feel sorry for him…eh. The actor playing Yuwen Huai, Wang Yan Lin, does a great job. And you know Huai is as sick and twisted as he is because of how he was treated and raised, but you just can’t feel sorry for the cruel arse that he has become.

In order to win merits, she follows one of the Jing siblings as they get paper money to burn for their recently deceased siblings. It is forbidden to do this, and Song stupidly believes if she turns the Jing siblings in to Huai, she will be spared. Xiao Ba talks back as does Xiao Liu and a fight ensues. Madam Song chases the siblings onto a bridge and nearly sends Xiao Ba and Xiao Liu over. Instead, it is Madam Song who falls. Xiao Liu and Xiao Ba try to save her, but Song grips Xiao Liu’s injury and she slips and falls, taking Xiao Ba’s bracelet with her. Xiao Ba is horrified. They have killed a person. Xiao Liu, much like Yuwen Yue, is as cold as ever. No one saw them, so they will be fine. If the truth should ever come out someday, Xiao Liu will take full responsibility for Madam Song’s death in hopes to spare her beloved siblings.

Xiao Liu must now walk a fine line. She desires freedom and justice for her family, but she must also guarantee the survival of her remaining siblings. Can these three remain intact? Doubtful. And we all know that besides catching Yuwen Yue’s eye and Yan Xun’s, Xiao Liu has also caught Yuwen Yue’s eye and will be drawn into the bloody political battle raging not only among the Yuwen family, but also between the different states.

Princess Agents Episode 3 Recap Blame it on the time we live in where human lives are regarded as trash. This is the philosophy of the eldest sister of the Jing family.

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