#hydra he/they nonbinary real

[lastritesbish]

greasehydra save me. save me..

i know its an odd ship. but yall have to hear me out they want eachother fr fr.

[starboy-6969]

eat up guys

read the disclaimer at the start first tho

[voiceoffenrisulfr]

Build-a-Bucky Bingo Masterlist

December: 'Sex Toys' In the Dark of the Night. James Buchannan 'Bucky' Barnes x Clint Barton. E. From the world of Multitudes (can mostly be read as a standalone smutfest though). Clint and Buck can’t remember the last time they had some time alone, so decide to go camping for a night and get away from the pressures of parenthood. The usual sexytimes ensue. CW: Basically PWP.

January: 'Dom Big Dick Bucky Barnes', 'Teasing', and 'Wet & Messy' Wet & (Emotionally) Messy. Bucky Barnes x Tony Stark. After a tough mission, James finds Tony's vulnerable side. E. CW: Mentions of death of a peripheral character, mentions of violent altercation, smut. Mostly just smut. Anal fingering & anal intercourse, M/M oral, dom/sub dynamic, bratty submissive.

February: 'Bad Reputation' The Real Winter Soldier. Bucky Barnes x Original Male Character. Bucky's reputation proceeds as he heads out one night to relieve some stress - but perhaps people know him less than they think when he decides to eliminate an enduring problem, with climactic results. E. CW: Smut. March: 'Bad Coping Mechanisms', 'Mutual Pining' and 'Wall Sex' Slam. James 'Bucky' Barnes x Steven 'Steve' Rogers. Following an injury in the field, Bucky goes to check on Steve in the infirmary and confesses his feelings and his fears. E. CW: Minor injury, smut, first time. Don’t forget to use lube, folks – unless you’re a super soldier. April: 'AU: Wild West', 'Pet Names' and 'Sleepy Sex' Bind. James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Male Character (Yes, Greg's back). Sheriff Barnes has heard about some unsavoury activity going down at a local saloon, and he goes to shut it down. But sometimes these things don't go quite to plan. Especially when smooth-talking boys get their way. E. CW: Prejudices of sex work, smut, punishment turns into sex, BDSM including restraint and impact play, loss of virginity, inexperienced sex with a very experienced lover. Kind of dub-con vibes? But not? The consent is very enthusiastic.

'Domestic', 'Gradually Moving In Together' and 'Role Play' Nightmare. James 'Bucky' Barnes x Steve Rogers. Steve supports Bucky through his nightmares Post-HYDRA, and Bucky realises that his apartment is slowly filling up with Steve's things. E. CW: Smut, some angst. May: All Twelve Prompts! Destiny Bond. Bucky Barnes x Original Nonbinary Character. The Government offers Bucky a clean slate if he marries a mutant of their choosing. Can a match motivated by survival ever work out? (Arranged Marriage AU) E. CW: Angst, arranged marriage reluctance, implied incentivised breeding, smut, praise kink, spanking. June: 'Himbo' and 'Bachelor Auction' You Don't Know Me. Bucky Barnes x Original Nonbinary Character. Nat’s charity auction doesn’t quite go off without a hitch – but luckily, Buck is on hand to help out, reluctant as he may be. Until he meets you, that is. T.

July: 'Anxiety'' Paws for Applause, Chapter One. Bucky Barnes x Original Nonbinary Character. After his time in Wakanda, James ‘Bucky’ Barnes is struggling to adapt back to life in the wider world, hiding out in the Pacific Northwest as he fights to regain some control over his life. Or: Bucky gets a dog, and meets a cute salesperson. T. CW: Panic attack, trauma references, medical prejudice and medication disdain, general PTSD things, anxiety, vulnerability, implied alcohol abuse.

'Deep Throating' On the Tide - Chapter Eleven. Bucky Barnes x Original Male Character. The boys live with the after-effects of the kidnapping, and how to move forward… Together. E. CW: Discussion of gunshot wounds and captivity, non-graphic medical care, smut, AAAALLLL the smut. Full smut warnings in prompts.

'Dry Humping' On the Tide - Chapter Eleven. Bucky Barnes x Original Male Character. The boys live with the after-effects of the kidnapping, and how to move forward… Together. E. CW: Discussion of gunshot wounds and captivity, non-graphic medical care, smut, AAAALLLL the smut. Full smut warnings in prompts.

September; 'First Meeting' Near Misses and Nearly Missed - Chapter One. Bucky Barnes x Original Nonbinary Character. E. The soulmate part was just the way the world worked. The car crash? That was a little more unexpected. Sometimes a 'crash-into hello' is a little more... Crash-y. CW: Smut, Car crash (mild), distress

@buckybarnesevents

[into-the-daniverse]

General PSA

I’ve seen a number of Arcana blogs following me lately so I feel the need to put this out there.

I do not support Nix Hydra, and their past or current devs/admin. They have a consistent history of creating and/or supporting racist, antisemitic, and sexist content, and they routinely attract people with similar ideologies and only lift those voices up while silencing voices of POC and other marginalized communities.

I will not be going into further detail, because at this point, all of the work has been done already by others who have done more research than I am capable of in explaining Nix Hydra’s actions against the mentioned communities—most of which can be found by searching the Arcana game tag or the company’s tag. 

However, I am also very much not in support of the Arcana fandom as a whole. This blog has been OC-centric for the past seven months, and the only Arcana content I support is that created by my mutuals and close friends, all of whom know how to interact with diverse and sensitive topics in respectful and thoughtful ways. Many newer fans of the game, or new to tumblr fans have no concept of the harmful stereotypes and ideas that get constantly recycled here and I am very much over them, and over explaining why they’re as harmful as they are.

This includes (but is not limited to)

Treating Lucio as a misunderstood trauma victim incapable of taking responsibility for the wrongs he has committed against almost every other main LI in the game

Infantilizing Muriel and/or treating him as a “savage” character who has no idea how the world works and needs to be saved and brought to “civilization” by the MC

Villainizing Nadia, the mature brown woman in a position of power, as a greedy, violent person who is the “real” villain, and leaving her out of posts with the other LIs

Referring to Asra, the canonically nonbinary LI with gender specific terms such as “man,” “boy,” or “husband” when no such terms are ever used for him in the game

Ignoring the Jewish coding behind the Devorak siblings—specifically the antisemitism around the design of Julian—and continuing to use them in posts about Christian holidays/concepts/AUs

If you have followed this blog in hopes of seeing more Arcana content, or assumed that because I haven’t said anything recently about Nix Hydra I support them, I would ask that you unfollow me. At this point I don’t want to interact with those who do not respect POC and minority voices, and I don’t want them to be interacting with anything I create.

This post is not an invitation to start discussion; I am not interested in any kind of debate. 

This blog is for me to post about my OCs, my friends’ OCs, and the worlds we have created together, all of which are far more nuanced and diverse than anything Nix Hydra could ever dream of creating. If you aren't interested in any of that, or if you take offense to anything said here, feel free to exit stage left.

[samwisethewitch]

a real witch reviews the arcana (aka that phone game based on tarot cards that keeps showing up on your explore page)

I’ve been seeing The Arcana all over Tumblr and Instagram for several months now, and since I am a Genuine Real Life Witch™️ and have been reading tarot for several years now, I thought it would be fun to play the game and review it both from a gamer perspective and a witch/tarot reader perspective. 

Spoiler: I really, really like it.

Please note that I have done virtually no research into the developer or development history of this game. This review is based purely on my experience from my playthroughs. 

So what is The Arcana?

The Arcana is a fantasy/romance visual novel created by Nix Hydra Games. A visual novel is an interactive, text-based story with static visuals, so it’s almost more like an interactive graphic novel than a video game. Honestly, visual novels remind me of those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books that were really popular in the 1980s and 1990s more than anything else. 

(Note: I recently learned that a visual novel is NOT the same thing as a dating sim, although the two genres are similar and do sometimes overlap. Dating sims... simulate dating. That’s really all there is to them. Visual novels typically have a more plot-focused story, and may have other stuff going on besides the romance.)

The story of The Arcana follows the player character, a magician’s apprentice living in the fictional city-state of Vesuvia, who is enlisted to track down a suspected murderer. Where the story goes from there depends on which route you choose to play. There are currently six routes, each with a different love interest. Each route has its own unique story, although obviously there are some overlapping elements.

Sam the Gamer’s Review

Like I mentioned, The Arcana is essentially an interactive novel, so I’m reviewing it the way I’d review a book. So, let’s just run down some of the typical book review questions, shall we?

Is the content good? Yes. It has gotta be difficult to juggle six parallel storylines and make all of them equally compelling, but this game pulls it off. There were parts that genuinely had me in suspense, other parts that had me giggling at my phone, and some parts that were (intentionally) frustrating. I’m really impressed with how each route is totally different from the others -- not just in content, but even in tone. For example, Portia’s route comes across as much more lighthearted and fluffy, whereas Julian and Muriel both have a lot of angst in their respective stories. It’s really well done.

Are the characters well-rounded and realistic? Again, yes. Okay, “realistic” may be a bit of a stretch in some cases Vlastomil but all six of the main romanceable characters have fleshed out personalities that feel natural within the story world. The side characters in this game are also really interesting, although I do wish some of them had bigger roles in the story.

What about the technical stuff (dialogue, grammar, etc.)? For the most part, it’s pretty good. The dialogue flows naturally, and different characters have different speaking styles, which is a little thing that makes SUCH a big difference. I noticed a couple of typos, but nothing too crazy.

The gameplay was pretty good. The only real mechanic is choosing one of two or three dialogue options at certain points in the game. There are a couple of places in each route where these choices are timed, but other than that it’s a very stress-free gaming experience.

Another thing that impresses me from both a writing and a gameplay angle is the multiple ending mechanic. Your choices matter in this game. Each of the routes has an “upright” ending and a “reversed” ending. I’m not exactly sure which choices affect the ending you get, but I’ve only managed to get “upright” endings so far, and I didn’t have to do anything special to unlock them.

Sam the Witch/Tarot Reader’s Review

Honestly, I did not expect this game to be as accurate with its depiction of magick and the Tarot as it was. 

Each character is based on one of the Major Arcana, and I feel like they did a really good job of matching their personalities to their cards. Nadia is based on the High Priestess so she’s very intuitive and intelligent but tends to be distant and hard to read, Julian is based on the Hanged Man so he feels the need to sacrifice himself for others (with lots of gallows humor along the way), Lucio is based on the Devil so he’s a fucking bitch all about power and excess, etc. 

I reeeeaaalllyy like the use of “upright” and “reversed” endings instead of the typical good vs. bad endings -- based on upright vs. reversed meanings of Tarot cards, of course. I also really love that the reversed endings aren’t 100% negative, just like how reversed cards in readings aren’t necessarily negative.

I don’t wanna spoil anything, but I also really like how the upright endings deal with the upright traits of that character’s Major Arcana card, while the reversed endings deal with the reversed traits of that card.

This game also includes some pretty realistic depictions of witchcraft and magick. Obviously because it’s a fantasy world there is fantasy magic involved, but astral travel is a major theme in pretty much every route, and the way it’s depicted in the game is very similar to my real life experiences with it. 

There’s one character who is a kitchen witch and makes homemade enchanted food with magickal herbs, which made me feel warm and fuzzy because it reminded me of all the times I’ve used kitchen magick to make charmed food for myself and my loved ones.

Tarot readings are obviously a big deal within the story world, but there’s also a character who uses runestones! Which I think is neat!!

They mention some real-life magickal plants. Myrrh being used for protection comes up a lot, which, in case anyone was curious, is actually one of the common uses for myrrh in spellcraft.

They clearly did their research and honestly I’m thrilled.

Other Cool Stuff About This Game

It’s probably the most queer-inclusive video game I’ve ever played. Right off the bat, you’re given the choice to choose between he/him, she/her, or they/them pronouns for your character. The pronouns you pick do not affect the story in any way.

All six love interests are romanceable no matter what gender you play as. Which means this is canonically a universe in which everyone is queer. Hell yeah.

Two of the six current romanceable characters are women, and one is nonbinary. The routes for these characters are just as well written and romantic, with just as many wink-wink-nudge-nudge innuendos, as the men’s. There are also multiple nonbinary side characters.

Also! Racial and ethnic diversity in the main cast! And the main characters all have different body types, which is another nice touch.

This is nerdy as hell but I love how the different cultures and ethnic groups in the game are based on real-life cultures? It’s just one of those little things that makes my heart happy.

The art style is pretty as fuck.

In conclusion: I feel like this review is overwhelmingly positive but I just genuinely can’t think of any major criticisms of this game. It’s fun, it’s free, there was clearly a lot of thought put into it. I was really pleasantly surprised. Everybody go download it and play it. You’ll have a good time, and afterwards you’ll understand all the memes.

P.S. I know people are gonna ask so: I chose Julian for my first playthrough because he’s tall and goth and has messy hair and that’s honestly all I look for in a man. Now that I’ve played all six routes, Portia’s is probably my favorite because it’s so cute and wholesome and I just really want a soft bookworm girlfriend, please. Lucio’s route is a close second because after seeing him as an antagonist in everyone else’s routes it’s actually really interesting to see his story told from a sympathetic angle! But like I said, I’ve played all six routes.

[steponmepinkjun]

I know gender isn't important to the plot so they don't need to explicitly say it, but I was soo excited reading that the arcana had a canonically nonbinary LI and was quite disappointed when like... the only real evidence of asra's nb-ness is statements from the devs on tumblr???? hhhh.

like, I'm not complaining about his presentation or pronouns or ANYTHING. enbies don't have to use they/them pronouns or look/act a certain way. actually, if they wrote it well, it'd be rad to see some nb representation that ISN'T just nb stereotypes?

but like... maybe let him make a joke or two? reference his non-man-ness? let other characters actually use he/they (his canon pronouns) interchangeably for him ingame?

I guess there might be some vague hints ingame I can't remember. I guess it just really disappoints me that the devs write every other (non-LI!) enby blatantly nb WITHOUT explicitly mentioning it but don't do that for their ONE nb LI???

idk aaa I feel needy complaining about his portrayal. it's not the WORST and I suppose it's better than no nb LIs,,

For a game that prides itself on its LGBTQ inclusion, and markets itself as an LGBTQ game, the casual mention outside of gameplay that Asra is nonbinary feels like a post-script add-on for the sake of appearing diverse. This is because the lack of any plot points, discussions, or scenes bringing up or exploring the fact that Asra is canonically nonbinary screams of the corporate machine at the heart of any business, Nix Hydra included, not wanting to lose a single penny alienating readers. You can just tell that if there was ever any intention of his being nb being brought up, it was quickly squashed by a PR team. You can tell they didn't want to risk losing readers and money if they "forced people to romance" a person who isn't gender binary conforming. It's the sort of carefully calculated surface inclusion that feels performative and, ultimately, manipulative.

Asra is clearly written to be the "true" route, as I've said before, and the intimacy and trust between them and the apprentice is amazingly written, it's natural, it's palpable, it's believable, it's soft and gentle, but deep and scintillating. There's literally no reason they couldn't have, or shouldn't have, as a self-proclaimed LGBTQ representation focused game, given us some soft and tender scenes that at least brought Asra's nb identity into the story. I have every faith that they could have written in some lighthearted and easygoing banter, or a joke or two as you suggested, in a way that felt natural and comfy, because every part of Asra's route is natural and comfy. The apprentice rediscovering their memories, their past, their sense of self, is the perfect groundwork for a heart to heart on the topic. They simply... Didn't. Which, I completely agree, is just quite disappointing.

[spectrumdiversitycommunitycenter]

LGBTQ+ History: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs

Ulrichs was a German author, journalist, and lawyer born on August 18, 1825 in what is now part of Aurich. He is considered one of the earliest progenitors of the movement for queer rights and acceptance. He recalled that he had an affinity for the feminine as a young child and that his first sexual encounter was at the age of 14 with his male riding instructor.

He attended Göttingen as a student of both theology and law, after which he studied history at Berlin University. This background allowed him to work as a administrative lawyer for the district courts in his area for 8 years until he was terminated once his sexuality became known.

In 1862, he came out to his family, using the term Urning, a 19th century term denoting a "female psyche in a male body" that is attracted to men. There is some debate as to whether Ulrichs was trans or nonbinary without the right words to describe it, or if he was an effeminate gay man. He then began writing and publishing essays under the pseudonym Numa Numantius on the natural and biological nature of live and how no type of love is better or worse than another. He is credited with coining various initial terms for sexualities in this essays that were then used by the public at large until more modern terms were found as language evolved.

Soon thereafter, he began publishing his work under his real name, the first recorded public coming out in modern times. Homosexuality was still a crime then, and one of his essays was providing legal and moral support to a man charged with the crime of being gay.

On August 29, 1867, he became the first gay person to petition a legislative body to repeal anti-homosexuality laws, not to mention the first gay person to speak publicly in the defense of his community. His voice was drowned out and disrespected. Two years later, the weird homosexual was coined by an Austrian writer and the discussion began again.

Ulrichs moved all over Germany, continually in trouble with the law for his continued writings promoting homosexuality and criticizing the government. He continued writing essays and books on the subject of homosexuality until he died, one of his last works having the following except:

"Until my dying day I will look back with pride that I found the courage to come face to face in battle against the spectre which for time immemorial has been injecting poison into me and into men of my nature. Many have been driven to suicide because all their happiness in life was tainted. Indeed, I am proud that I found the courage to deal the initial blow to the hydra of public contempt."

His name faded from history for many years but his popularity gained a posthumous resurgence. Dr Magus Hirschfeld referenced him quite often while compiling his research on homosexuality. There are streets named after him and festivals held in his honor. The International Lesbian and Gay Law Association awards a Karl Heinrich Ulrichs award annually for "distinguished contributions to the advancement of sexual equality."

[shakespeareanqueer]

Break Fast

Pairing: Pietro Maximoff x Nonbinary!Jewish!OC-Klara

Summary: Passover week has been particularly grueling, but maybe Klara will get more than just their wish for carbs when it’s over. 

Word count: 912 (p short) 🍞Contents: lots of mention of food, discussion of the Jewish holiday Passover and related traditions, mentions of weed

A/N: This was a weird one for me to write, because I wrote it on Google Docs on my mom’s iPad since my laptop broke. Anywho, it’s for Lancsnerd’s 1K Celebration, and my prompt was “Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in the land!” Which is bolded. Enjoy!

I saw advice not to put links in original fic posts for searchability, so I’ll reblog with my taglist, linking my masterlist, tagging Lancsnerd, and citing the header photo.

Growing up, Klara Reznik was not religious enough to cut out leavened bread products over the week of Passover. Their family would have a seder on the night of Pesach, sure, and it’s not like they would have pasta with the brisket or anything, but the next day they were right back to their usual diet, bread and all. And of course, in Hydra, there were no religious dietary accommodations. So post-capture, all bets were off.

But now that they had been rescued by the Avengers, they were free to make their own choices about the matter. And since their two closest friends, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, were looking forward to a stricter adherence to their faith for the first time in several years, Klara had decided to join them.

That was seven days ago, and the fast had been an unmitigated disaster. Staying away from bread proved immensely difficult for Klara, especially when they were the only three in the tower doing it. On day 3, Steve had made a meatloaf that smelled heavenly, the aroma wafting through the entire tower had made Klara’s mouth water, it was Steve’s mother’s old recipe, and… it had breadcrumbs. So the twins and Klara had sat in Pietro’s rooms eating their gefilte fish and feeling sad.

It hadn’t been all bad. On day 4, the trio had gotten high (because weed is kosher for Passover if you don’t care about it being blessed by a Rabbi) and had matzo pizzas. While high, Klara found the number of and texted their crush from back in Russia, and the ensuing drama (and lingering effects of the marijuana) had caused them all to have a huge laugh the next morning. On day 6, they made matzo nachos and watched the best Passover film of all time, Prince of Egypt, twice in a row, first in English, then in Russian. And all together they ate nearly twelve boxes of those dinner mints over the course of a week.

But still when the final day was winding to a close, Klara was ecstatic. They could not wait to consume all of the forbidden, carb-loaded foods they had been denied all week. Pietro, Wanda and Klara had a big night planned too: dinner reservations at a fancy Italian restaurant, paid for with Tony’s credit card of course. They would consume cheesy garlic bread, and bowls and bowls of pasta, and finish off with some real chocolate cake made with flour and everything.

But the best laid plans of mice and superheroes… Of course life had to go and get in the way. The Avengers all had to race to Latveria in the Quinjet to tend to very important Avenging business, and none of the team got any dinner at all. The trio missed their reservations and by the end of the strenuous night, they all just tumbled into bed and zonked right out.

By the time morning rolled around, Klara’s stomach was rumbling as loud as one of Bucky’s machine guns, and they were really craving carbs.

“Good morning, zaychonuk,” Pietro greeted as she stumbled out into the living room. Their bedrooms branched off of an adjoining suite in the upstate Avengers compound. Klara couldn’t help but smile groggily at him when he greeted them like that. They loved when Pietro referred to them with the term of endearment meaning ‘little bunny.’ Truth be told, they had a little, teensy-weensy, colossal crush on the speedster, and the phrase set butterflies aflutter in their stomach. “What would you like for breakfast, pet?” he asked.

Klara plopped down into a dining chair and dramatically proclaimed, “Bring me the finest muffins and bagels in the land!”

Pietro chuckled and grabbed his coat. “Consider it done.”

About an hour later, Klara was fiddling around on their phone and Wanda was working on her knitting when Pietro came sweeping back in the door. The fit, super-powered speed-demon was actually out of breath as he placed several paper bags on the island counter.

“Woah, where did you go?” Klara asked.

“Yeah, and what took you so long?” Wanda added, somewhat indelicately, but she knew she could tease her twin brother like that and get away with it.

“Manhattan,” he said matter-of-factly.

Klara and Wanda stared at him, jaws agape.

“I’m sorry, you ran to Manhattan??” Klara asked, flabbergasted. “Why??!”

Pietro shrugged, a nervous blush bringing just the smallest amount of color to his cheeks. “You said you wanted the best bagels, and that’s where the best bagels in the world are,” he answered in a bit of a mumble. “At least that’s what Bucky and Steve swear.”

“Aww, that’s so romantic and sweet,” Wanda teased around a mouthful of muffin she had already inhaled. Then she murmured, “Mmm, sweet, sweet chametz,” to the muffin itself.

Pietro chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t seem to make eye contact with Klara. “Here let me…” he offered, taking two of the bagels over to the counter and getting out a cutting board.

Wanda grabbed one of the bagels out of the bag and went to the door. “Well I’ll leave you two love-birds alone. Bye! Thanks for the bread!” Merrily, she skipped off to enjoy her bagel in Vision’s apartment.

Now alone, Klara and Pietro were both blushing furiously, set off by Wanda’s comments.

Wait. Did the other’s identical reaction mean they liked them back? Hm.

Perhaps this Passover wouldn’t be so awful after all.

[willowishstudios]

tbh i’m rly loving all this talk abt ariki n his gender and i was wondering ! is it gonna ever be explicitly mentioned in the game? or a bio within the app, or something? a problem that a lot of fans had with the arcana’s asra’s gender identity was that if you didn’t look through nix hydra’s tumblr, you wouldn’t really know that he was nonbinary

Sorry in advance for the wall of text and how much I ramble. And please understand that this is Warie speaking from a personal standpoint, and not for the devs as a whole. 

I’m a bit torn on that issue. Speaking as a person who is nonbinary, I enjoy the feeling of it being so normal and accepted in-game that it doesn’t need to be explicitly mentioned, but I very much understand why people would like for it to be. Just slapping the label ‘nonbinary’ on someone who can be perceived as a cis man isn’t representation that really helps anyone.

That said, I, personally, am a nonbinary person who is always assumed to be a cis woman at a glance, no matter how I dress or otherwise present myself. No one would ever know I was nonbinary unless I told them, and it’s honestly not very safe to do so where I live. It’s frustrating, extremely upsetting at times, and for the most part unavoidable unless in extremely LGBT friendly spaces. Because of this I took a bit of solace in Asra as a nonbinary character who presented similarly to me, which leaves me with a bit of bias.We want Stellamore to be an LGBT friendly space, which saddles us with the balancing act that is “representation by normalizing” or “representation by explanation”. The former makes for very, very easy storytelling and narrative flow, whereas the latter does not.

In that vein, the social climate for most of the nations we’ve created is such that gender expression isn’t something that would come up very often. Mistaken pronouns would be corrected and conversation would move on, and wouldn’t be questioned. There would be no ‘why’s or arguments for or against ‘valid’ gender identities. In this way, I struggle a bit with where I could work in discussions of gender, especially in Ariki’s case. 

He experiences gender very confidently, to the point that he hardly thinks about it at all. He doesn’t understand why anyone would ever question his identity, and has never had to defend himself against personal attacks. Unless you asked him openly to explain his gender in detail, he would probably never bring it up.

Dior’s experience with gender, on the other hand, may come up in the narrative at some point as they grew up in a much different environment and were faced with much more opposition. Granted, nowhere near as much opposition as transgender or nonbinary people face daily in our real world, but much more than Ariki. They may react more openly or emotionally to being misgendered, which could open up a dialogue. 

TL;DR: It’s all situational, and Warie is still thinking on this. Very hard. Their brain cell is smoking, but they’re working on it.

[everestv-themuse]

the wheel of fortune: optimism, success, luck;

“We did it! I can’t believe it!”

possible AUs/settings/ideas: genie au, chance/fated meeting

Thanks for the prompts! I definitely didn’t plan on this getting so far away from me, but it was so fun to write! Here’s an alternate, chance first meeting (before the Conclave/Inquisition) for Shaelin Cadash x Sera with special guest nonbinary BFF Lantos for @apostatetabris @alxxiis @alxxiiswrites​ @dadrunkwriting​

“In and out,” Lantos whispers the promise for the umpteenth time that night. Shaelin just rolls her eyes and continues working at the locked door. “We go in, get the—”

“You mean you go in. Someone has to keep watch,”

“Oh, uh, sure, good point.” Lantos admits, continuing to pick at their warhammer’s grip absently as their eyes dart up and down the hallway. “I’ll go in, get the cut, we get out, we’re big fucking heroes and that asshole gets stiffed. Just like he deserves.”

“Yeah, that’s about what I agreed to,” Shaelin says with a released breath as the lock clicks open. She puts away her tools and steps aside with a nod to the other dwarf. “Your turn, partner.”

“Right, um,” Lantos stares at the door slightly ajar. “Yeah. My turn. No problem. Totally fine. Super easy.”

“Lan, this was your idea. But if you’d really rather get out of here now and just—”

“No, no, I’m going, I’m going, shut up.” The warrior gives the door one last look over and steps inside.

“Fucking soft,” Shaelin mutters under her breath as she leans against the wall to keep an eye on the hallway. She shivers, though, at the expanse of it. For such a rich noble, the asshole’s castle was dark and cold, void of any life or warmth. She had been surprised to notice no real furnishings besides stiff statues of armor and the occasional Fereldan banner. There weren’t even paintings or fancy vases or whatever else rich people liked to collect, just empty walls and spotless floors and—

She shivers again. There’s that feeling again. Like she’s being watched. She slips into stealth on instinct but stands her ground, feeling the shadows wrap around her to the point of functional invisibility. Silently, she unsheathes her daggers and crouches in a ready position.

“Lantos, you idiot, this would be a really good time to—” Her mumbled plea cuts off at the sound of a crash behind her and then a very familiar, hissing curse.

“Fuck it! Lin, run!” Her partner yells one second and the next second, they’re zooming past her and tossing a comically large gemstone over their shoulder at her. She barely manages to juggle it and her daggers in hand before racing after them.

“What the fuck did you do?! What did we say about ‘in and out’?!”

“Listen!” Lantos growls as the two sprint down the dimly lit corridor, hearing the shouts of pursuing guards close on their heels. “I got in and now we’re getting out. How was I supposed to know the guy hired security?! You did catch the cut, though, right?”

“Yeah, shit, barely!” Shaelin shouts back, really wishing there were fancy vases around to topple in their wake and slow their pursuers. “What, you can’t hold it?!”

“I’m a two-handed warrior, Lin! My hammer’s enough to run with!”

“And you didn’t think to bring a pouch to carry the cut in?!”

“No, okay?! Is that what you want to hear?! That I fucked everything—”

Something whizzes past Shaelin’s ear and she barely has time to flinch. Then there’s a thunk, a clatter of armor, and she glances back in time to see one guard with an arrow through his helmet topple to the ground and take two of his cohorts down with him.

Shaelin shivers.

And then someone grabs the two dwarves and jerks them around the corner, throwing them both against the far wall. Lantos wheezes and Shaelin covers their mouth with a slap, staring at their sudden rescuer and then at the remaining guards racing past their hiding spot. The three wait for another silent moment, listening for the sound of thundering footfalls of guards none the wiser in the distance.

“Hey. Thanks,” Lantos pants after Shaelin removes her hand. “That was too close. Where, uh...where did you come from?”

The stranger whips around, bow in one hand and dagger in the other, moving to press the blade against Lantos’ neck before Shaelin could react, all while staring her down. “You. You’re gonna put that gem back, got it? That, or your friend gets a slower death than that guard back there.”

“Wh-what the fuck?!” Lantos splutters, dropping their hammer with a clang. “Who’s side are you on?!”

Shaelin’s gaze holds steady and so does the stranger’s, eyes hard and steel grey behind the bandana she wears to hide her face. But it’s not enough to cover her ears. An elf. A damn quick one too.

“I’m not bluffing, redhead! Get walking!”

“Hold on, hold on,” Lantos interjects. “What exactly do you want here? Because you obviously don’t work for the rich asshole of this place and let’s all be honest here, we stole that gem fair and square.”

“Fair and square?! I’ve been casing this place for weeks! And then you two burst in and my whole plan goes to shite, that’s what’s square!”

“Your plan?! Well listen, lady, first come, first serve, alright?” Lantos hisses back and Shaelin is suddenly tempted to just let them both at each other’s throats. Leave it to her best friend to argue with the very person holding a knife to their neck. “And it’s not like we picked the guy clean! There’s plenty of other shit for you to steal, believe me!”

“That’s not the point!” The stranger huffs, as if exasperated by the obvious stupidity. “You steal that, the asshole’s most prized shiny thing, and it won’t just be the guards who get their pay docked. He’ll take it out on his servants too! You get away with your big score and the little people left behind get treated like dirt, even more than they were before.”

“Yeah? I can see why that’s not my problem, so why’s it yours?”

“Because they came to me to fix this for them!”

“How? They paying you to kill him?”

“Don’t have to pay for that,”

“Oh, how noble of you!”

“Right, coming from the petty thief,”

“You were going to murder a guy!”

“Shut up! Both of you!” Shaelin’s eyes flash a warning to Lantos before turning back to their captor. “Look. We don’t even want the gem. We were going to sell it. But more importantly, I can already hear the guards circling back.”

“You can?” Lantos’ eyes widen and as the three fall to silence, the unmistakable clangs of approaching armor could be heard. “Oh shit...”

“Exactly. So,” Shaelin slowly sheathes her daggers but keeps the gem firmly in hand. The stranger watches in hesitant silence. “You clearly know your way around the place. I hold onto this while you lead us out of here. Then, you can take it, sell it, and give the money to those little friends of yours for their trouble. Everyone gets out of here alive but the asshole is still out one shiny thing.”

“You...you don’t even want a cut of the profits?”

“We don’t really need the money. Apparently, we just couldn’t stand hearing the story of how the guy won it at an auction for the millionth time. I guess it’s about the principle of the thing?”

“It is!” Lantos pipes up. “The cut is clearly Dwarven craftsmanship and the guy flaunts it in our face every single time we come to drop off a lyrium delivery. It’s insensitive and cruel when you think about it.”

“Whatever. Fine.” The stranger drops her blade and shoves Lantos toward Shaelin. “I’ll agree to your stupid plan, but only if your friend shuts up the whole way.”

“Deal.”

“Whoa, hey, I don’t get a say in this?!”

The stranger slinks off down the hall and Shaelin follows with a roll of her eyes. “It isn’t up for debate. That was the deal. She’s leading us through certain death right now, so whatever the mystery lady says, goes.”

“Pfft. Mystery lady?”

Shaelin turns away from Lantos’ pouting to meet the gaze of the woman in front of her, eyes meeting a much softer grey this time, more playful. “Well I didn’t get a name, did I?”

The woman arches an eyebrow before blending into the shadows like it’s second nature, leading the way through an empty bedchamber and out again through a servants’ door. “Didn’t hear you asking,”

“I’m asking now,” Shaelin says in a hush, crouching at her side as they wait for a patrol to pass by before continuing down the hall. “I’m Shaelin, my friend is Lantos. I don’t normally throw the name Cadash around, but maybe you’ve heard of it?”

“Carta, yeah. Your uniforms gave you away the second I saw you picking the lock.”

“Knew there was someone watching,” Shaelin chuckles softly. “I’m impressed it took me so long to notice you, I’m usually better about these things.”

“I’m impressed you were bullheaded enough to steal from your employer,”

“Buyer,” Shaelin corrects. “And it wasn’t my plan. Can’t stress that enough.”

“Right.” The woman’s lilt gives way and Shaelin can hear a smile in her voice. Her chest tightens and it feels like a victory, even if she’s not sure why. Lantos gives her a shoulder nudge and she realizes she’s falling behind, staring too intently at the way the woman’s eyebrows furrow and her ears flick towards her voice, anything that would betray the emotion hidden behind a red bandana.

“Still,” Shaelin speaks up once she matches pace with the woman again, making their way outside and into a small courtyard. “You didn’t answer my question. Can’t call you mystery lady forever.”

The woman glances back at her and it’s a guess, but Shaelin could swear there’s a smirk in her eyes. “How about Red Jenny then?”

“Red...I should’ve known,” Shaelin shakes her head as she watches the woman rifle through a nearby bush before revealing a coil of rope. “Red Jenny is a hydra, that’s hardly an answer.”

“You’ve heard of us then?” The woman certainly sounds surprised, but she doesn’t pause. She throws the lassoed rope up over the hanging roof of the courtyard and pulls it taut when it finds purchase.

“The Carta has to know about all the players in the game,” Shaelin answers as she watches the woman scramble up the rope to the roof and then lean over the edge to wait, eyes alight but silent. Finally out of the shadows and in the open, moonlight glints through the woman’s hair and the pale gold of the strands freezes Shaelin to the spot as she stares. Lantos gives her another nudge and she splutters out a cough. “Is that really the only answer I’m gonna get, Red Jenny?”

The woman laughs and Shaelin can’t climb the rope fast enough just to be close enough to truly witness it. In her rush, she almost slips on the shingles, but a nimble arm reaches out to grab and steady her. It’s the closest she’s been to the woman, as she’s caught staring into silver eyes, and then a hand reaches up to pull the bandana down to hang from a slim neck.

Shaelin shivers.

There’s no need to guess now, she’s definitely wearing a smirk as she answers, “For now,”

[ayankun]

real quick before I get into season 6

So this is my second time watching Season 6 and I’m p. excited.  This last week or so I’ve been dredging up bits and pieces, but most of it is a blur.  It seems the memories that lasted this whole year were mostly of the huge armored truck and the nonbinary character who works at *spoilers*’s tech startup.

I’m curious to see if the second time through it’ll settle in like it belongs.  I remember Season 5 really didn’t make any sense to me until I saw it again.

But really I’m just excited that in 11 hours I can watch the new stuff?!

But first, before I forget, here’s my last thoughts on Season 5.

So remember how I was surprised at Season 1′s structure, that it folded up nicely down the middle with some pretty tidy symmetry?

None of the other seasons do that.

Instead, I remember particularly strongly how jarring the end of the Ghost Rider arc was in the middle of Season 4.  And then again when the (what I’m calling) Kasius arc also wrapped up mid-season.

I’m not sure when I read about it, but it probably was circa Ghost Rider, that they’d intentionally decided on what I’m pretty sure they called “pods” of episodes, these seasons-within-a-season sort of narratives.

Season 2 sort of kicks it off, what with the race to Terragenesis taking eps 1-10 and the Afterlife/splinter SHIELD stories filling 11-22.  Then Season 3 has the monolith/Maveth mystery to start, followed by Hive & the Inhumans for the second half.  S4 is super poddy, obviously branded as Ghost Rider/Agents of Hydra, and S5 also splits neatly into future!Lighthouse and present day!Lighthouse.

Two points to make on this:

Kasius is such a rockstar villain that I feel really bad for Hale/Ruby/Talbot.  They’re so apples and oranges but having the highlight come first allows for unfavorable comparisons to be made.  It’s like asking any well-to-do Kree to compare Xandarian snail to oops all berries.

Good thing they’d had all this practice writing complete stories in 12 eps, since I’m hoping Season 6 (and obvs Season 7) will still feel as fully formed as their longer antecedents.

Anyway, that first point is my major point for S5.

S3 already feels like the second half of S2, and its internal halves are the most similar to each other as any of the other “pods,” so it’s not like people have a reason to go around saying “I liked the first half of the season waaay better than the second.”

(although I might.  I might say that, actually.  but not because the halves were branded separately from one another)

And S4, though the two halves are barely identifiable as coming from the same show much less the same season, they’re both good.  Robbie Reyes is perfect.  The effort to incorporate new MCU topics/aesthetic from Doctor Strange is great.  Robots who just want to be a real girl is my JAM.  All the Framework cameos really make my day!  And then Robbie Reyes comes back all deus ex machina (ironic) and saves the day, and

it makes sense that he does because the function and nature of the Darkhold was well established in part 1 and

it’s GREAT that he does because he’s perfect and we miss him.

Then here comes S5.  I really really respect so much about the creative decisions that took the story where it went (ie, outside Papa MCU’s sphere of interference), and getting to reuse the same set in a different context while minimizing “on-location” shoots is just technical and financial genius, okay. 

But there’s so much about the first half, in the future, that compels me waaaaaaay more than the gritty anger of the second half. 

Kasius, WOW what a villain.  Dominic Rains, everyone.  I have nothing unkind to say about the performance, the character, anything.  Impeccable.  Spectacular.  Perfection.

The mystery of the season opener!  We had the tag scene where Coulson’s “in space” and plenty of time to ruminate on the how and why, especially with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 coming out right as S4 ended and Thor: Ragnarok literally sizzling in the theaters at the same time as this season started.  They answer the question by the end of the episode, but not before several characters come up with and pursue several different theories, and that’s fun.

What a way to capitalize on the Inhuman storyline your show’s been about for years now, without forcing Papa MCU to contend with all this good work you’ve been doing.  Just go somewhere he can’t reach you (the future), and then un-write all of it anyway.  V. tidy.  Extra style points will be awarded.

LEITMOTIFS.  If y’all’ve seen BSG, then you know Bear McCreary is a master of the art.  But this season has so many good themes, my friends.  The Daisy/Quake theme that’s been knocking around for a season is here in full force, and Sinara’s is the best bad guy theme you could have wanted, and dearest sweetest Flint has the best great guy theme you ever heard.

Just, while we’re here.  Sinara.  She says nothing for episodes (it feels like, I wasn’t counting) and her first line is a scornfully growled “compassion.”  Give it up for Florence Faivre !!!  She hardly has any lines but you always know exactly what she’s thinking and what she’s about.  Sinara and Kasius have the richest on-screen chemistry of anybody on any show from any era fight me on this I dare you.

Mack’s coming down from his second life in the Framework, and that suuuuucks that these folks never have a moment to rest before barreling into their next story.  But he gets to be a father to Flint!  And Yo-Yo gets to be a mother!!!  UGH why couldn’t they have brought Flint instead of Deke lololol oh well.

I think I know another reason why Lincoln seems overhyped to me.  That other Inhuman, Ben I think his name is?  He’s in like two episodes, serves a narrative purpose, and is disposed.  I know Lincoln’s in like 18 times as many episodes but they have the same exact overall impact on my brain-hole.  Imagine if it was Ben that came back with them instead of Deke.  That’s how I feel about Lincoln.  Like, how did this obviously disposable character make it this far?

Then you have Deke.  You love to hate him.  He’s a very well-fashioned character who is flawless in making you feel the way the showrunners want you to feel.  That’s the kind of character that gets killed off twice and still comes back, and it doesn’t surprise you.

So, Enoch.  Enoch is everyone’s favorite character, right?  Right.  Give me genderless robots with a soft spot for humanity ANY DAY.  PLEASE where are they I need them.  (I’m un-repressing memories of S6 and I feel like somehow I should be careful what I wish for)  Man I remember with 1000% clarity the absolute glee I felt sitting down for the opening montage of S5 the first time, how ballsy weird it was, just watching this freaky bald alien of a man go swimming with some fun electro pop number playing in the background.  100/10 please make more television like this

 More monoliths!!  The time one is so pretty!

(remember when there were more monoliths and no one knew where they came from or what they did but then it didn’t matter because they got instantly exploded?)

The low-key obvious answers to the season’s questions, what with the Inhumans running all over the shop, Quake there to tear everything down and Flint there to put the pieces back together I’m not crying you’re crying

Oh man, and Simmons getting to mentor not one but two Inhuman youths to be confident and trust in themselves and their powers.  What a ways from the fear-panic response to Daisy when she turned.

Also, yeah, it has to be said, this show’s blatant “you’re different and that’s okay” agenda sits very well with me.  Agents of SHIELD says LGBTQ+ rights!

So anyway, part 2 falls a little flat for me because its strength is its themes, but I’m not really compelled by the stakes and definitely not by the villains and not really even by the intra-team drama.

Obviously S2 touched on parenthood, but it was pretty specific.  S5 digs in and brings us a lot more on the topic.

Kasius desperately desires his father’s approval but very deeply despises the methods and the people who earn it.

Hale was indoctrinated by Hydra and was very earnest in wanting to uphold the values of the organization, until the organization (and Whitehall) shared with her their narrow appreciation of the gift of her loyalty.  Even then, she struggles to make sense of this loyalty, only realizing too late that being a good Hydra pawn and a good parent are categorically mutually exclusive.

Ruby, obviously, is like a mini-Kasius, the brave-faced rebel who wears her mother’s disappointment on her sleeve like a badge of honor to pretend that it isn’t crippling her.

The Von Strucker kid, boy is he messed up (and his Hydra dad had something to do with it)

((echos of Ward are still heard even this far after his demise, and we know what his father figures were like))

Poor Talbot, got some brain damage and some Hydra conditioning on top of that, cracked that noggin wide open.  He just wanted to do good by his family.  Just wanted his son to know he loves him.

Polly and Robin.  The daughter who needs constant special care because she’s stuck inside her own mind and the mother who’s been through hell and back and still manages to do her best.  Even when she knows she won’t always be there for her daughter.  Even when she knows she’ll be replaced.

May getting a glimpse at the life she and Andrew once talked about.  Getting a chance to do right by that little girl.

Mack recovering from getting that same glimpse, from the echoing memories of a life time spent with his greatest regret erased.  Being roped into being a thug and threatening that dad without knowing the meaning behind his threat -- being told that people like him don’t deserve the privilege of parenthood.  But then getting to know Flint, and having Yo-Yo at his side while they fast track this kid through all the things he’s gonna need to know in order to be the Big Damn Hero the world needs him to be.

The timey-wimey promise that FitzSimmons will one day be parents to a brilliant daughter who will unfortunately give birth to a Deke.

Coulson and Daisy.  Another parent placing enormous expectations on his daughter, desperate that she be ready for his responsibilities because his time is running out.  A daughter who mishandles these expectations and refuses to stop fighting a losing battle, not because she’s not ready to step up, but because she doesn’t want to face the fact that she’s losing the man who raised her.

Anyway, aside from all this good Theme work, part 2 wades perfunctorily through musty remnants of the previous season, from The Doctor to The Russian.  Which makes sense, because that season ended in a way that left so many loose threads -- but then this season comes along and summarily ties them up, all cute little bows, the lot of them.  Dusts its hands.  Nothing to see here.  Move along now.  Time’s up.

[theclaravoyant]

Any thoughts on the implications behind AIDA being a female-shaped android who is portrayed as an evil, rapey, unstable person while Enoch, the male-shaped android is portrayed as a "beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world" who sacrifices himself for the team?

Do I have thoughts? Oh, so many thoughts…..

I know this ask is leaning toward gender politics & representation but you know what? I was actually thinking about this while watching the finale and I had to stop and rage for a second because you know what? You know what I can’t help thinking about why this happened?

FITZAND FITZSIMMONS DRAMAAND MAKING FITZ LOOK BAD AND WEAK AND MAKING HIM FUCK UP

and also gender politics bc that shit is inescapable

so SOME THOUGHTS

first of all, pronouns. Enoch insists that they have no gender (*I don’t remember their feelings re: pronouns). Aida couldn’t have done that, because according to the (sarcastic) big book of When It’s Appropriate To Be Nonbinary, you can’t humanise something without pronouns (other than they because that’s obviously not a real pronoun, no The Literal Dictionary, kiss TBBWATBN’s ass) and to do the story they did with her, you have to humanise. If you want to humanise, just make up a gender! 

As long as, where a man is creating the inanimate object, that gender is female and if humanoid, the object is attractive or at least has boobs. (see the sarcastic big book of When It’s Appropriate to ID as Female). You can’t have a man obsessively crafting the naked form of another man or masculine shape, especially not an older, not-particularly-sexual one! That would be creepy! Especially if in their introductory scene they were naked, and apparently had anatomically correct genitalia! Gross!

Taking a deep breath and chilling out with the sarcasm now, you also couldn’t pull the sometimes character-threatening hype they did on Fitz. Idk how much the promo team stoked the fire or not, but the fandom was losing their shit with thoughts of “Fitz is going to cheat on Jemma with Aida”, some even advocating for it. (Same with Elena before she came in too). They ended up going for a ‘lol it’s cute that you would think I was cheating’ storyline, which was better, but still would have been ZERO question with Enoch.

Thank fork they didn’t do a full-on Born Sexy Yesterday with Aida. oh my GOD. but still I don’t think they would have got as much of a kick out of Fitz having to hide her with Enoch either. Sure, he was technically hiding her because of protocols, but come on. I’m also really, really annoyed they had Fitz lie to Jemma about this whole thing, it was bullshit for unnecessary drama but I’ll try not to get side tracked.

Would Fitz have been as keen to save Enoch and advocate for him as he was Aida? Possibly. We by and large loved Enoch by the end and Fitz did talk to him like a person and sort of friend, so it’s possible.

Would we have got the “oh no Fitz is in love with it” thing before, during, or after the Framework? Heteronormativity says NO FORKING WAY SON. and in FACT a LARGE part of the Framework story as a whole would fall apart!!!

Why?

Because it wouldn’t be about Jemma anymore.

Through a combination of heteronormativity and amatonormativity I don’t believe Enoch could have taken Jemma’s place in Fitz’s life as Aida could have. Therefore they’d have to restructure the entire Framework and the aftermath from it. How could Enoch have got what he wanted from Fitz? Been his father, threatened him? Been his father, gently coaxed him into an adulthood where he would do something bad? I’m giving myself feels about that one actually oops. Idk. It might not have been that bad. It might have actually been better and less non-conny for Fitz. Maybe they wouldn’t even need the Framework. Or maybe Enoch would be asking for help to make a (female, obviously, bc duh) companion or something and because Fitz believes in love he would do it, or something. It depends what they would have done with the FW if they couldn’t embed Fitz’s romantic relationship with Jemma so deeply into it. But moving on.

When Fitz got out Jemma would probably have looked better actually, because she wouldn’t have gone straight to ‘what if he’s in love with somebody else’. With Aida, we couldn’t trust Fitz’s feelings, he’s a man and will fall in love and/or sleep with anything appropriately female that moves, and that would get in the way of FitzSimmons, which is why we would care about that. We probably wouldn’t get Jemma “standing up for her man” so much as Fitz taking revenge because heaven forbid he show mercy to man that couldn’t make people freak out about him still being in love with her / it. While I want to believe better of the situation, they never did anything with his hesitation other than that, so that’s what I’m stuck with in this train of thought.

MEANWHILE I wonder if they’d ever make an old timeless genderless robot in a woman’s figure, let alone a young-looking, attractive-looking woman like Mallory. I wonder if they’d do it without sex jokes. I WONDER if we would have made it 74 years in cryofreeze with this chick standing guard and no fears of Fitz sleeping with someone else in the intervening years (*laughs forever because we got that anyway even without an attractive mentor-slash-partner-robot on the scene*) or Jemma, not being able to hear and thus fully comprehend a situation, assuming that the robot is Fitz’s new love that he found in the time apart and Angst. Because obviously, no man and woman can hang out for that long and not at the very least Comfort Sex each other. (*eyes a certain other storyline we know*)

I got through all that and I haven’t even TOUCHED the sexualisation of evil, femme fatale seductresses, the allure of “Madam Hydra”, or any of that. Oh, so many thoughts. Thanks for the ask, this was really interesting (and actually, surprisingly fun, if in a slightly bitter way) to reflect upon!

[moreracquetball]

hey, here’s a little outline/synopsis of my original idea and OCs

SET UP

Situated in the state of [REDACTED], [REDACTED] is an unassuming yet bustling borough on the up-and-up in innovation, efficiency, and - to an oddly statistically high degree of peace and happiness. However, unbeknownst to the peaceful, happy public, there is an organization of secret police, tasked by the Borough’s Elders to keep everything running smoothly and - most importantly - efficiently. The organization (Secretive Policing Action Moderators - or SPAM for short) is a team of highly trained yet everyday citizens in the borough, living alongside the public and pretending to work at a failing Printing Company. These five individuals share a secret, but that’s the only thing they share. They do not know each other’s real names/addresses/family members. They do not interact with one another outside of the Printing Company. They are simply watchful guardians of the area, probing into the public’s privacy and psyche in a way that is - so they have been told and “persuaded” to believe - for the greater good. But something is wrong in [REDACTED], and soon the agents don’t know who are their friends and who are their enemies - even amongst each other.

CHARACTERS

FULL LEGAL NAME: [REDACTED]

CODENAME: Agent Nix

AGE: 23

ROLE: Surveillance. She screens everyone’s texts, emails, web history, web cams, etc for any leaks of sensitive data or information of interest. She’s basically the incarnation of that NSA Agent meme.

EXTRA PROFILE INFO: Female, lesbian, Latina

PERSONALITY: Logic is the Law of the Land, confident (almost to the point of arrogance), doesn’t think rules apply to her, purposefully distances herself from others, is secretly lonely, has a very dry sense of humor,

PERSONAL STRUGGLE: Tasked with closely screen a civilian’s activity, she makes the mistake of slowly falling in love with this civilian. This gets further complicated when she meets and begins a tentative relationship with the civilian, who cannot discover Agent Nix’s residency as apart of SPAM under punishment of death. Not to mention the itching question of just why is Agent Nix supposed to be closely screening this beautiful but boring citizen...

FULL LEGAL NAME: [REDACTED]

CODENAME: Agent Kerberos (nickname: “Kerby”)

AGE: 19

ROLE: Privacy. He’s basically tasked with keeping all the Agency’s secrets secret - by any means necessary. He moderates and deals with information leaks of any kind. His biggest task is to maintain the secrecy of the agency’s existence. 

EXTRA PROFILE INFO: Male, Korean, Asexual

PERSONALITY: He’s a conspiracy nut that went through many hoops to get where he’s at. However, after finding out all the secrets are boring (ie no aliens or cryptids or secret-fake-moon-landing) he’s becoming disillusioned because being “behind the veil” is boring. He’s an optimist who wears his heart on his sleeve, aimless and willing to believe and devote himself to anything. He just hasn’t found the right cause to fully proselytize. He loves mysteries more than anything.

PERSONAL STRUGGLE: Someone has found out all of the agents’ identities - real names, addresses, and close family members. This person sends Agent Kerby on a wild, dangerous goose chase in order to prevent the information leak - a chase that could not only put Kerby out of a job but also out of existence.

FULL LEGAL NAME: [REDACTED]

CODENAME: Agent Styx

AGE: 29

ROLE: Media manipulation. They are in charge of manipulating information in order to keep the public not only ignorant but also pushing the desired agenda. They are the most visible person in the agency within the community, being the area’s only mail person.

EXTRA PROFILE INFO: Nonbinary, White, Pansexual

PERSONALITY: outgoing, charming, friendly, smiles with their teeth and has early onset laugh-lines. They have the sort of charisma that, whenever they talk to you, they make you feel like you two are the only ones in the whole world. And they truly believe that what they are doing is for the greater good - that ignorance really is bliss. They are stubborn and passionate, friendly and ruthless, empathetic but willing to do anything for “the greater good.”

PERSONAL STRUGGLE: A new, hotshot reporter is digging around on the post office, convinced there is a conspiracy. Agent Styx has to artfully manipulate the reporter without compromising their identity as a secret agent, which is becoming harder and harder as the reporter is starting to change their perspective on just what the “the greater good” really is. 

FULL LEGAL NAME: [REDACTED]

CODENAME: Agent Hydra (Nickname: “Hyde”)

AGE: 27

ROLE: Coercion. He is in charge of soliciting information for the prisoners (who, mind you, were not arrested or charged by any legal court) - by any means necessary.

EXTRA PROFILE INFO: Male, Latino, gay,

PERSONALITY: He has a tough appearance and attitude, but he is actually very tender at heart. He only pretends to torture the prisoners (like a “pretend to scream for a few hours just in case my bosses are listening” sorta deal) because he’s a pacifist. He has a very strict moral code: never inflict harm unless it’s in self-defense. He has a goofy sense of humor and loves rom-coms.  

PERSONAL STRUGGLE: A new prisoner has a lead on just who is making all the other agents dance around like puppets, but he won’t talk with Agent Hyde’s passive means of coercion. Running out of options, Agent Hyde must make a choice: compromise his moral code or let his coworkers (and friends) remain in peril.

FULL LEGAL NAME: [REDACTED]

CODENAME: Agent Charon

AGE: 33

ROLE: Next generation programming. She’s the president of the school board and is systematically manipulating the youths into becoming more docile and easier to control/manipulate.

EXTRA PROFILE INFO: Female, bisexual, biracial (Caucasian and African American)

PERSONALITY: She is a single mother of two kids, one of whom is just starting kindergarten and the other is still a baby. Agent Charon is very goal-oriented and sometimes forgets/ignores how her actions affect other people. She is very quick to be loyal and protect what she loves, and her love and laughter is just as deep and infectious as her sorrow and anguish. She’s the “all or nothing” kind of person.

PERSONAL STRUGGLE: Her oldest - a daughter - is just starting school and entering “the program” that Agent Charon herself designed and implemented. She starts to get first-hand knowledge of just how this is affecting the youth population and starts getting doubts about whether she is really doing the right thing.

[anonymous-eggy]

@jejublr

Based on the Himbo chart, i have sorted some of the male Love interests from the arcana and Fictif. i will go through and explain my reasoning for the way i have sorted everyone in this chart.

Regardless of whether or not these men are himbo, they are still no less worthy of love, so keep that in mind while reading. (cut in order to save the time of people who are not interested in my annoying shenanigans)

Sage- Now, while Sage does fit the "beefy and stupid" catagory, he lacks the innocent kindness that a himbo must possess. therefore, he must be a jock.

Lucio- Same as Sage. He fits very well and seems like a good candidate, however, even more so than Sage he lacks kindness. Sage does have kindness, but Lucio... Lucio babes, kindness really isn't your strong suit. therefore, he is also a jock (and arguably the most jock out of all the love interests)

Howie- Howie seems like a very good candidate to be himbo! However he cannot be himbo, for Howie does possess intelligence. At first sight many would assume he is himbo, but he's not stupid, therefore he's a hunk. (a very cute hunk too!)

Poe- Poe is straight up not at all stupid. we know this. he's smart and beefy and so very kind. (still confused as to why Fictif wants a beefy nerd. let Poe be soft, cowards)

Nicky- Nicky cannot be himbo. there is no way in hell. Nicky is clever and not stupid. he has the strength and most definitely has the kindness, but he lacks the stupidity to be himbo. (Hey, Fictif, let Nicky be soft too please. he does not need rock hard abs to be attractive, plus hard abs do not make for a nice pillow :( )

Muriel- Like the others in the hunk catagory, he fundamentally lacks the stupidity to be himbo. He is beefy and kind as hell, but he is very much not stupid. therefore, he is Hunk.

Julian- This string bean is not beefy. no no no he is a dramatic floppy noodle and we love him for it. he possesses the kindness and stupidity, but he is not beefy. therefore, not himbo. Julian is a decent man.

So the real question stands. we have all these male LIs, one of them must be himbo, right?! Now, this is tricky. there must be extensive research into his personality and traits. so, out of all of these men, who is most likely to win the most himbo contest?

Chava- It was hard for me to place him. He is beefy, kind, and just a little stupid. that's the part that held me up. is Chava stupid??? well, not really. i will admit he is not fully stupid, he's only a little stupid. kind of.

however! Chava fits the title of himbo the best and therefore deserves to be temporarily crowned Nix Hydra's most himbo Love Interest. at least until we are presented with a more himbo LI. One that is as himbo as Kronk (Kronk is the god himbo, though. No one could be more himbo than Kronk)

For the male Love interests i did not include, I was unable to include them because I had no idea where they fit, and I'll most likely put them in once i replay their routes and learn more about them. (Asra is nonbinary and therefore was not included btw)

here's my hot take: Howie is more himbo than Lucio and Sage will ever be, even combined.

[locke-writes]

Revelations

Author: locke-writes

Title: Revelations

Based On: Imagine coming out as a trans guy to Bucky, your boyfriend From: @alloftheimaginesblog For: Myself really.

Rating: T

Word Count: 1,106

AN: This fic is a bit more personal as it involves coming out as a trans man and as such using my own personal experience questioning my gender. This uses my own experience and is in no way meant to encompass the questioning and coming out experience of every single trans/nonbinary person out there. If you have any questions about identity, figuring out your gender, etc. feel free to ask me.

Tagging: @insecurewritersworld @aryn-the-wolfheart @proud-shy-slytherin

You wanted to say that you always knew. You wanted to say that you were always aware. But that would be lying. You'd never been one of those kids who knew they were trans from a young age. You knew you were different sure but that difference was chalked up to just being a tomboy. That was the first label you embraced because it made you feel somewhat normal. There was a name for who you were, one that everyone already seemed to apply to you so why not accept it?

Female. A girl. A woman. Those were the labels also placed on you. And from a young age you figured that while they didn't really seem like you, they were labels that maybe you would grow to understand. Maybe you would one day grow into them. At the time you didn't realize that wasn't going to be the case.

Transgender, the label, the idea, the concept, was one you didn't grow up with. People were either male or female and that was that. You had no idea people didn't have to identify this way, that their were people out there in the world who saw themselves as being female when everyone called them male, or vice versa. Being transgender didn't exist in your world. At least not until you were older.

College was the first time that you began questioning your gender. It was out of nowhere. A feeling that you might not be female. From there you tried to pinpoint what label you could possibly use. At the time it seemed like genderfluid might be a possibility, mainly because that was the only other label you knew of. But you had then figured out that you never felt female. Questioning terrified you, so you shut down your own thoughts and pretended that you were still ok with being referred to with feminine pronouns.

After that first initial moment of questioning years went by. Years of lying to yourself.

It was only recently that you admitted to yourself your real identity. You were trans. You were male. You always were and always would be it was just everyone else that was wrong.  Now it wasn't you lying to yourself that bothered you each day, it was the fact that you were lying to everyone else that bothered you.

Mainly the fact that you felt you were lying to Bucky.

The two of you had been dating for a little over a year, your relationship beginning a few months after the first time you met. It took some time for you to come around to him, after all he had killed Tony's parents, Tony being your oldest and closest friend.

You trusted Steve and his judgement but it had taken you awhile to forgive him for keeping the knowledge about Bucky and his involvement in Maria and Howard Starks death a secret. You had been with Tony when it had happened, you had stood by him as he navigated the world as an orphan. Putting your experience aside to forgive your friend took time. After that it took even more time to trust Bucky who you had known only briefly before he decided to be put into stasis.

After Bucky had been awoken you and he had ended up becoming close, he eventually asking you out. Now you were in love with him, happy that you had given him a chance. He had opened up to you about his time with Hydra, about his time with Steve when they were kids. He had revealed to you as much of his past as he could remember.

Your relationship with one another was built on communication and trust. A heavy amount of trust. Which was why you felt so guilty having not come out to him.

It wasn't that you were afraid he wouldn't accept you. Knowing Bucky as well as you did you were aware that he wouldn't care. It might take some time for him to adjust to using different pronouns but you believed he'd be supportive of you. So why couldn't you simply tell him the truth?  You knew he deserved to know, the hard part was actually telling him.

You were pacing the bedroom you shared with Bucky when he returned from training with Steve.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting on the bed and beginning to remove his shoes.

Turning to him you sighed, clenching your hands and trying to calm yourself, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"You know you can tell me anything right?"

You nodded, "It's just. I don't want you to think different of me ok."

"Whatever it is I'm going to be here for you."

"Yeah. Just," you paused, "So I've known for a bit now and I wasn't sure how to say it but I need to say it. I'm trans. Like I'm a guy. I'm male. And I want you to know that. I need you to know that."

"Alright." he stated.

"Wait that's it?"

"I mean yeah. I'm happy that you figured that out, I'm proud of you for figuring that out and I know that can't have been easy. I'm also really glad you told me. But you don't have to be scared. I'm going to be here with you no matter what."

"Really?" you questioned.

"Always. I love you, male, female, neither, both. You're you and that's the person I'm in love with. I just have a few questions if that's fine?"

"Yeah. Go ahead."

"One, have you told anyone else? Two, pronouns? Three, are you going to change your name? What about hormones and surgery and all that? Is that to invasive?"

"Not invasive because I'm comfortable with you Bucky. But no one else knows. He/Him pronouns. I'm going to change it but I haven't picked one yet. Maybe you can help with that. And I need to find a doctor first before either one of those things but I am planning on getting a binder."

"That's good. I just want you to be you. Do whatever you need to do for that. I love you, I care about you, and I want you to be happy. If I mess up with anything you should tell me."

Bucky fell back on the bed and you laid down next to him, flipping over onto your stomach and laying your head on his chest.

"Love you too, Bucky. Thank you."

"Any time. You're my boyfriend after all"

Boyfriend. Well that was another term you were going to have to get used to Bucky calling you. You definitely liked it though.

[ladiesofmarvelbingo]

Week 44 of round ups!

~~

Title:  The Problem with Almost Content Creator:  remreader Square Filled:    M1 - Sleepy Confessions Word Count:    1846 Rating:     General Pairing(s):     Pepper Potts/Tony Stark Major Tags: Nightmares, Pepper Potts Needs a Hug, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort Summary:  Pepper accidentally wakes Tony up after a nightmare.  Link: AO3

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Title:  Becoming Spiderwoman Content Creator:  FrenchKey, JayofOlympus Square Filled:    M2 - Peter Parker/Spiderman Word Count:    1556 Rating:     General Pairing(s):     Peter Parker & Tony Stark Major Tags:    Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Peter Parker, Coming Out, Supportive Tony Stark, Protective Tony Stark, Supportive Aunt May, Supportive Avengers, gender reveal parties, Anxious Peter Parker Summary:  Something is making the Spider-Kid nervous, and Tony just wants to help.  Link: AO3

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Title: Coachella -- lovelytheband Content Creator:  iconforagaymess Square Filled:    W5 - Swimming Pool Word Count:    539 Rating:     General Pairing(s):     Natasha Romanov/Reader Major Tags:    None Summary:  Mini-fic inspired by Coachella by lovelytheband  Link: AO3

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Title:   my body is not their bed   Content Creator:  deathsweetqueen   Square Filled:  O3 - “You owe me.”   Word Count:   83,488 Rating:   Explicit  Pairing(s): James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov/Tony Stark   Major Tags:  Soulmates, Female Tony Stark, child kidnapping, Tony Stark is Kidnapped by HYDRA, Pansexual Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Hurt Tony Stark, Genderswap, Torture, HYDRA Violence, Polyamory, Queerplatonic Relationships, Aftermath of Torture, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Tony Stark Recovering, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Angst with a Happy Ending   Summary:  In 1995, the Engineer and the Winter Soldier escape HYDRA and end up, bleeding, on Peggy Carter's doorstep.

This is their journey after. This is the story of their victory march.   Link: AO3

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Title:  On The Street Content Creator:  The_Alias (Artemis_Day) Square Filled:    O2 - AU: Street Racing Word Count:    1695 Rating:   Teen+ Pairing(s):     Jane Foster/Loki Major Tags:    Alternate Universe - Human, Street Racing, Loki Does What He Wants, Pre-Relationship, First Meeting, Jane Foster Loves Science (Marvel) Summary:  On some level, Jane only had herself to blame for renting the cheapest apartment possible all because it was a five-minute bus ride away from campus. However, just because this was a ‘less than safe’ neighborhood didn’t mean there couldn’t be at least the bare minimum of noise regulations.

Right?  Link: AO3

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Title: The Kidnapping of Pepper Potts Content Creator:  FrenchKey, JayofOlympus Square Filled:    O5 - Frenemies Word Count:    1648 Rating:     Teen+ Pairing(s):    Loki & Pepper Potts  Major Tags:    xocktails, girl talk, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Extremis Pepper Potts, Lady Loki, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), kindnapping, Mentions of gross old rich men Summary:  Loki kidnaps Pepper for a much needed night off.  Link: AO3

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Title:   When The Sun Is Out (I Love Her And She’s Loving Me)   Content Creator:  periwinklepromise   Square Filled:   M3 - Free Space   Word Count:   27,692  Rating:   Explicit   Pairing(s):  James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov   Major Tags: Sex Pollen, The kind of dub-con always implicit in this trope, Awkward Sexual Situations, Angst, Embarrassment, Trope Subversion/Inversion, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD   Summary:  From this prompt on the kinkmeme:

"Whenever I read a sex pollen fic, the sex is always between two people who like or realize they like each other and they lived happily ever after. But what would it really be like to be dosed with something that made you lose control in such a mortifying way? To want to and have to fuck in order not to die? Then realize you had tons of sex with a friend or co worker and you still have to see that person every day."

OR

Natasha and Bucky get dosed with sex pollen, have lots of frantic sex, then have to face each other and Natasha's partner Maria, resulting in all kinds of awkward angst.

Remix for What a Day for a Daydream (Tomorrow I'll Pay the Dues for Dropping my Load)  Link: AO3

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Title:  Gods Need Angels Too Content Creator:  ibelieveinturtles Square Filled:   Y1 - AU: Guardian Angel/Human  Word Count:    320 Rating:  General Pairing(s):  Jane Foster & Thor, Jane Foster & Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster & God Major Tags:    Guardian Angels, Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Angel!Jane Foster, pre Jane Foster/Loki Summary:  Jane Foster is a guardian angel.  Link: AO3

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Title:  If The Hoodie Fits    Content Creator:  FrenchKey, JayofOlympus  Square Filled:    E5 - Sharing Clothes  Word Count:  2,890  Rating:   Teen+  Pairing(s):  Clint Barton & Kate Bishop  Major Tags:  Sharing Clothes, Deaf Character, Deaf Clint Barton, Nonbinary Kate Bishop, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Clint Barton & Kate Bishop Friendship, 5+1 Things,  self-sacrificing idiots, Side Effects of Magic Summary:  Clint's hoodies are just more comfortable. 

Or: 5 times someone stole Clint's hoodie and 1 time they gave him one instead.  Link: AO3

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Title: The Name You Gave Me (Chapter 2) Content Creator:  Fighting_for_Creativity, rebelmeg Square Filled:    N5 - Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier Word Count:  9723   Rating:     Mature Pairing(s): James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov, Edwin Jarvis & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes & Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Ana Jarvis/Edwin Jarvis Major Tags: Child Abuse, Hydra (Marvel), Trauma, Kidnapping, Kid Tony Stark, Kid Natasha Romanov, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Fluff, Nightmares, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Past Character Death, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Implied/Referenced Torture, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting Summary:  If you asked the Asset, he'd say it started with being given a name, something of his own. For the first time he had something for himself, and he became greedy. So she became his as well. 

If you asked the little Widow, she'd say, “It started with a brother. He was my brother and I wanted another.” 

If you asked Howard Stark, he'd say, “It started with the Serum, and it ended with a Serum.” 

But if you asked the youngest of them all, he'd answer, “It started like everything, an action was the catalyst for a chain reaction. I was just lucky to have a brother and a sister, a real father and another mother, through it all.”

The moral of the story is that a true family always finds each other.  Link: AO3

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Title:  Captain Marvel Content Creator:  rebelmeg Square Filled:   W1 - Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel Word Count:   N/A (Cross-Stitch) Rating:   Not Rated Pairing(s):     N/A Major Tags:    None Summary:  Tiny Carol has nothing to prove to anyone!  Link: Tumblr