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britishsass · 3 years ago

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What made you think of the flowers to represent each member of the psychic six?

Buddy. Buddy. I love talking about this stuff :D I get so hyper to talk about it, hah. There are multiple comment threads of my getting so excited to discuss symbolism in that part.

Anyways, I’ll include both what originally made me think of those flowers for them, and then some extra little notes about them, just for fun.

FORGET ME NOT (Ford)

The original reason is extremely simple: I thought it was hilarious to pair that with “Ford Forgets” and so I made him a Forget-me-not without thinking.

However, looking deeper into the meaning of Forget-me-nots, we can find a lot more to it. According to FarmersAlmanac.com, these little flowers are also called “scorpion grass”, which could bring up some points about Bob having a bit of anger towards Ford about leaving him behind. However, they also symbolize respect, and the promise to remember. These are very fitting with their dynamic, since Ford’s a sort of de-facto leader and promised to take care of things.

WATER LILY (Lucy)

Yet again, first reasons are very simple: Gut instinct. I wanted a water plant for Lucy, and I feel like light pinks are very suiting for her, so I went with a pink water lily.

However, yet again, looking into the details gives us more! According to Florgeous.com, due to an association with water nymphs in mythology, “they have also represented purity, innocence, and chastity.” This, in my eyes, has a lot to do with how I personify Bob and Lucy as close friends. He doesn’t think that she would do the things that people say, and therefore creates such a rift between memories of her and memories of Maligula that he wants to see her as innocent. He wants to see her as a playful person, not weighed down by the ground, drifting along peacefully.

DANDELION (Otto)

Simple version: I associate dandelions with dreams and wishes. Things that Otto wants to make into reality with his machines. However, I’ve also got the reasoning of seeing his hair as like dandelion fluff. To be honest, his was the one I felt the most confident in overall. Everyone else was at least a bit harder for me to decide on.

Some other little notes I’d like to include about him being a dandelion are the seeds being like the Otto-matics: They pop up everywhere, you can’t get rid of them. As well, according to PetalRepublic.com, they have “a strong association with hope, optimism, and wishes.” They’re resistant to weedkillers, they grow everywhere, like Otto’s determination to keep going and to keep moving on despite the pain he’s dealing with.

HONEYSUCKLE (Cassie)

The answer is... Honey. No really! That’s it! I had a lot of trouble coming up with anything else for her, but I see her as a very yellow person overall. Seeing Sniffles as purple threw me off big time, especially since I see Compton as purple instead.

So let’s get deeper into symbolism, shall we? These plants symbolize pure happiness, devotion, and affection. (Florgeous.com) These... Don’t mean that much with Cassie, except devotion. She’s very hardworking, and doesn’t give up easily.

LAVENDER (Compton)

Lavender is supposed to calm you down from anxiety and panic. However, for me, it doesn’t work, and instead I associate it with me trying my best to calm down from anxiety and panic, which... Well, I think Compton would feel the same.

Here’s the real meat of the symbolism though: It means peace, tranquility, and healing. As well, it can be used in cooking! Literally every bit can be cooked with. This one is pretty simple to explain, but likely more ironic than expected.

ZINNIA (Helmut)

This one is entirely a joke on “orange king zinnias” and psi-king. However, at first, he wasn’t actually a zinnia! At the start of writing things, I actually made him a sunflower. Then, as time went on, I realized that most of the others were different colors, and i needed an orange flower. I saw orange king zinnias, and the rest is history.

Zinnnias, according to uniguide.com, mean “acclaim, affection, friendship, everlasting love, remembrance, and tribute.” As well, they mean endurance and saying goodbye to someone important. I’ll leave all that up to discussion for our favorite husbands.

CAPTAIN (Bob)

Captain is not a flower, but he is a seed. I wanted to emphasize how with his friends (And his husbbannnd) he sprouts, growing as a person with their help, finally coming out of his shell-- both the closet and the greenhouse. He needs the crew as much as they need him.

Anyways, my keyboard is glitching, so I’ll be done here for now. Hope you enjoyed my rambles! ^_^

#jarswap au #anon #ask response #Thank you for asking :)

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lucarioisinthevoid · 4 years ago

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What would everyone think of king Afton?

After many years of the animatronics killing nightguards, they finally caught William and killed him. But as you know from my ask about Goldie and Cassidy, Cassidy lied saying it wasn't him. When humans found out the animatronics were sentient, they locked all animatronics underground, including all the nightguards that were stuffed. Which meant Afton was still around to mess with the animatronics and the dead kids. When animatronics started getting the hang of having a society, springtrap (as how he went by in his suit. It became common among stuffed humans to make up names for themselves instead of using their human names) became the town nuisance. He basically caused trouble just get reactions, everyone just ignored him and pissed him off.

A few years later, about a week after Golden Freddy's and Cassidy's death, the guards were waiting for orders from king Fazbear, Bonnie was subcoming to guilt and depression seeing the situation with Goldie and Cassi as his fault, the Marionette was mourning the death of another child in her room, and Freddy was in his palace thinking. He honestly didn't know how to feel in the moment of their deaths, so he just kept thinking about it knowing the should feel something, like sad or angry.

Springtrap snuck inside the palace, almost too easily. When he was sneaking in, a human fell down. Freddy went to investigate, with springtrap following behind in the shadows. The human that fell sorta looked like Cassidy, except she had gold blonde hair, but that was the only difference. It was like the world wanted to play a joke on Freddy, "hey look!!! A little girl that looks like both of your now dead friends!!! Isn't that funny?!!?!" How dare the world. Before he could even think, all the feelings he should have felt flooded through him, the sadness of loosing the people he loves, the guilt of being unable to prevent their deaths, and the anger towards humanity for killing people he held close to his soul. Without thinking, he projected his anger towards humans on the child, and mercilessly killed her.

He was brought back to his senses when William started laughing and applauding the show before him. Freddy then attacked him, nearly killing him before realizing in this moment he was no better than him. After this realization, he declared war on humanity. The Marionette ran away back to the ruins never to be heard from again, and springtrap was made into the new royal adviser. Freddy hired him as royal adviser in hopes that maybe Afton could teach him to be more merciless.

The only reason why he was so merciless as a killer was because Chara made him think he was insane, and he was a player's puppet. He lived his own life so many times, why would it matter if he killed people if he knew they were going to be fine when he wakes up yesterday? Now Chara became dormant, and the players stopped controlling him. Kinda ironic how he's now feeling powerless despite now having complete control of his body.

He began to feel regret for everything his done. The many people he's killed, the many people he let stay dead. He was no longer above his actions. He was no longer above consequences. This made him fall into despair and depression.

After years of being royal adviser, Freddy gave him a title of king, trusting him enough to rule beside him as brothers. After he was crowned, him and Fazbear became closer, like actual brothers.

But they had disagreements, like all siblings do. Except their disagreements had to do with life and death. Freddy would argue with Afton over killing humans, he'd say that he needed to kill humans and collect their souls in order to set them all free. Afton would argue saying that everyone had already suffered enough, and that more children didn't deserve to die. When ever human children fall down and leave the Marionette's protection in the ruins, he would try and protect the children from Freddy, in hopes that he might be able to talk him out of killing them. Usually the kids flat out give up and let themselves be killed. Afton stopped trying to protect the kids after a 5 year old gave up her life to Fazbear.

King Afton, with the help of doctor Bonnie, removed his suit, and rebuilt Springbonnie and Fredbear. Fredbear remembered how Afton used spring for murder, but thankfully Springbonnie didn't remember how he was used. He didn't even remember the surface, he just knew who he was, who his brother Fredbear was, and that Afton was one of the people that made him. Afton talked with Fredbear privately about how times had changed from 1987 to now, when Fredbear was shut down to when he was rebuilt. Fredbear didn't remember the bite of 87, and his memories of the surface weren't any better. All he remembered was kids, the layout of the diner, and the stars he'd look at out the window.

Once Afton explained everything, leaving out the bite incident, Fredbear to forgive the poor corpse for everything he's done. He didn't trust him, he just forgave him. Fredbear and Springbonnie then left Afton's room where they were rebuilt and started living their own lives.

This Afton is a more forgivable, and melancholy version of Afton.

What would everyone in your AU think of King Afton?

First up, very interesting take, though now all the pressure of the “why did you kill” are put on Chara. The concept of Afton getting EXP from stuffing children into suits is wrecking me with laughter to be fully honest- this man must be buff- Everyone is a big number, but I can give you three main people, I think.

Marionette hates him- like all Williams. He doesn’t believe in redemption; he doesn’t believe in the concept of regret. Nobody ever regretted what happened to him, thus regret must be a hindering emotion at best- a liability at worst. Useless and hurtful. This William is pathetic! How can you go around killing children because of some fucking spirit?! And then being all regretful about it, as though it makes a difference?! Devaluing these murders even MORE! How much must he hate these children that he admits openly that his murders were pointless and soulless and now after decades something he would be taking back?! HOW DOES THAT HELP?! WHO?! HE DOESN’T DESERVE PITY. AND YOUR FREDDY, HE SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM FOR GOOD! SO WHAT IF YOU ARE “EQUALLY” AS BAD?! IF TWO WRONGS MEET AND ONE KILLS THE OTHER, THEN WE HAVE AT LEAST ONE RIGHT! There is nothing more appalling to him than regretting the evil deeds, because then you say you did those evil deeds out of weakness and selfishness and nothing else came from it. Marion doesn’t regret killing the guards. Marion DOESN’T regret killing the guards! (My Marionette would make a much more ruthless ruler of the underground than both William and Freddy combined…) Fredbear is actually somewhat happy. He feels terrible for everything that happened until then and that the Marionette had to leave home because of William returning and becoming an advisor- and of course, he’s agonizing about the fact that another child had to die. But in the end, there’s some reassurance in William just being another puppet, suffering the circumstances and now working for redemption. The children are still here in some way after all, with this new technology- once it is perfected, everyone can live the life they wanted. All he hopes is that William will be a force of good this time around and for good this time. He shouldn’t have crumbled to the timeloop, but… … things like that are mindbreaking, certainly. Not being yourself is extremely scary. And how can you be sure you ARE yourself? If he would have the chance to say anything to Afton, then it’s to not give protecting the children. They need you. They need someone to stand up for them. No matter how pointless it seems or how often you fail, continuing to try is what matters. Stay determined. You owe them this after all- you have proven your ability to use what’s inside of you for destruction, make sure that it will become good permanently. You need to wake up every morning and choose to do the right thing. They need you. Both the living and the dead. Old Sport thinks he’s a funny fucker. As someone in the same shoes as him- well, without that evil spirit thing, but still- he sees his acting out and then doing a 180° as pretty hilarious. Like, sure, you go dude, reinvent yourself as this regretful somebody who wants to help, Old Sport gets it, he has done stuff like that too- but being all mopey and melancholic about it? Just move on! If you were in a loop, what does it matter? Reset and restart. You didn’t feel bad doing it, right? So why feel bad now? What’s the point? Genuine question. You did the deed, you committed the crime and that was okay. And then you stuck to that timeline. Sorry, not sorry, you have nobody to blame but yourself. And that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to move on and change and make peace, that’s totally fine, but the way Old Sport sees it from the outside, there’s a lot of misplaced guilt. This is a story, right? … … even if Old Sport doesn’t like, part of him feels jealous. Afton lacked control over his body, but at least he had a soul, right? At least he HAS a kind of personality and sense of self. He can make himself into a consistent character, unlike Old Sport who has to pick and choose and never knows what to do- In his opinion, Afton needs to get a grip and be less ungrateful for the things he actually DOES have. Save the kids, kill the kids, whatever, protect your sense of self… but then at least be satisfied with your choices that came out of that sense of self. Guilt is a choice. Either regret and act or don’t and stay back.

#NOT my AU

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forestwater87 · 5 years ago

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Tales of Fandom Past: Harry Potter and the Shipping Slaves

So, in my spare time I read a lot, lot . . . lot of fandom_wank. A lot. More than should be possible, considering it’s a dead website linking mostly to other dead websites, but I’m a woman addicted to drama who has the gift of long periods of quiet at work, so I’m working my way through almost 2 decades of fan history and it’s just fascinating.

Fandom, back in the ‘00s? Was so much more wild than it is now.

Plagiarism! Fake suicides! Fraud! Theft of real people’s actual money! Stalkers, both real and made up! Fanfic writers so popular they finagled it into mountains of free stuff and a book deal! Everyone was really gross and homophobic!

There were no rules, and that made it a terrible and incredibly fun time to be part of a fandom.

And we’re not talking enough about it. I guess that’s where I come in.

I’m interested in telling these stories -- not in the incredible level of detail of the MsScribe Saga or the Cassie Claire Plagiarism Debacle, but enough for us to all have a moment to think: Hold on, what the fuck was fandom doing during the entirety of the Bush administration?

A lot, it turns out. Much of it totally wild.

Today’s topic: Shipping wars are as bad as slavery

Date: August 2005

Fandom: Harry Potter

Supposed topic(s): Shipping, canon

Content warning(s): Accidental and ironic diminishing of slavery, complaints about political correctness and free speech, racism in general, lots of hurt feelings and drama

"Now, I'm not black, but boy, do I feel for the black people. If I lived in the 1800's, I wouldn't keep slaves, and if someone has a difference of opinion than me now, that's fine, believe what you want."

Background

In August of 2005, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been out for a little less than a month, the film version of The Goblet of Fire wouldn’t come out until November, and the last Potter movie had been released over a year ago. In terms of shipping, fans had just discovered, to either their delight or horror, that Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione were canon; while some would continue to hold out hope that there would be a last-minute reversal of expectations, most of the fandom both on and off the internet was in agreement:

The shipping wars were over, and the Harry/Hermione fans (a.k.a., H/Hr fen, or “Harmonians”) had decisively lost.

The Harmonians’ ire seemed to have been pretty evenly split between J.K. Rowling -- who they felt had let them down -- and the R/Hr and H/G shippers (a.k.a. “Herons” and “Chocolateers,” respectively, though I’m not sure anyone actually used those terms for themselves; they appear to have been given from without), who were taking a victory lap. Depending on one’s perspective, this was either a long-overdue celebration by two groups of shippers who’d faced the fandom’s ire for approximately 5 years and were now vindicated, or it was the tactless gloating of sore losers who were thrilled to get one over on their hated enemies. Either way, tensions were no lower just because canon had decided the victors, and the battleground seemed to shift from the books to the movies -- where shippers of all kinds were in debate over which romance would win out onscreen.

Enter Emerson Spartz, a teenager in charge of one of the most popular fansites at the time and king of creating controversy . . . who had very strong opinions about shipping, and Harmonians in particular.

The Inciting Incident

Emerson had already incited the ire of Harmonians by calling them “delusional” in an infamous interview with J.K. Rowling. The wound was still raw, having come shortly after the release of Half-Blood Prince, and in some circles Emerson was already Public Enemy #1.

Therefore, when Emerson was one of two “anti”-Harmonians interviewed in a San Francisco Chronicle article about the shipping wars, some fans cried foul.

More responses can be found in a summary of the incident here, but personal favorites include a letter sent to the author of the SF Chronicle piece:

The majority of Harry/Hermione shippers are not merely upset that we didn't get what we wanted in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. That makes us sound childish. While I'm forced to admit that there has been much bile and vitriol posted on various H/Hr shipping sites, the majority of us are reasonable people. What really hurt our feelings was the way the Mugglenet/TLC article made it seem as if J. K. Rowling herself felt we were really dense, missing her "anvil-sized clues." Emerson's subsequent "apology" for the harsh words directed at the Harry/Hermione 'shipper community was a non-apology, which you [the author of the SFC article] would have known if you had done more than just take his word that he apologized. He simply used the "apology" as an opportunity to issue another dig. I suppose not much better can be expected from a child of 18 who has suddenly become a bit of a celebrity. But I do expect better from a colleague; a professional writer. ...

You have assisted one side of the argument and failed to represent the other. Did you attempt to interview the webmasters of any Harry/Hermione shipping sites or did you merely cut and paste posts that were pointed out to you by Emerson and Melissa? Your article shows no evidence that you made any attempt to give the other side equal time, so to speak, and as a result, you have contributed to the perceprtion [sic] that ALL H/Hr 'shippers are irrational, bitter, spoiled brats. And that's quite unfair. (Hughes, 2005, paras. 13 & 18)

Or this comment in a Harmonian forum by a disappointed reader:

History is written by the victorius [sic] (or something like that), isn't it how the saying goes?. I'm afraid we are witnessing it firsthand. Herons feel they are the winners on this war, and as such, they feel they have a right to treat us anyway they want to, and they think we have no weapons to defend ourselves since even J.K seems to have sided with them. Even if most of us are pretty reasonable people, at this point anything we say in regards of J.K's apparent disregard for our feelings (thoughts, opinions, whatever), will be gladly taken as the lashing out of sore losers. ::sigh:: I say, just ignore Emerson, he's just some lost kid desperate for attention. And how good can the guy who wrote this article be if he didn't bother to check the facts before he went slandering us?, not much me thinks. (Remolina, 2005, para. 21)

These responses, while perhaps silly or overblown, were not enough to make history. That honor belonged to a Harmonian going by the username Panther.

How, one might wonder?

The Blowout

Ya know, come to think of it, people like Emerson were probably the kinda people that started slavery. I mean, think about it, they thought the slaves were animals, just because they had different colored skin. Emerson thinks we're stupid and delusional for having different beliefs. Get the similarities here, people? Now, I'm not black, but boy, do I feel for the black people. If I lived in the 1800's, I wouldn't keep slaves, and if someone has a difference of opinion than me now, that's fine, believe what you want. (Panther, 2005, paras. 23-25)

The reaction was immediate and explosive from Panther’s fellow Harmonians. Some understood and empathized with Panther’s view; they saw it as a bit hyperbolic, but agreed with the underlying point being made.

I can see where they were going with this...a different analogy would probably have been better. Maybe the religious persecution during Mary Tudor's reign, or the Salem Witch Hunt/Trials, the religous [sic] crusades, the wars in Bosnia etc. We harmonians are being "persecuted" for our differening viewpoints/perspectives. (Anndee Granger, 2005, paras. 30-32)

The belief that H/Hr shippers were being persecuted for their beliefs was a pervasive one, and extended to fans, Emerson and other fandom “authorities,” and the author herself.

No, what we are experiencing is not at the same extreme level because of the world we now live in, but the base level is still the same. The base level taking us back to different beliefs and views without the ability to be heard in the correct manner, and yes it does feel like a form of persecution. (*Under your Skin, 2005, paras. 36-37)

While not on the same level as slavery, the intolerance of their ship did call to mind other examples of discrimination and bigotry:

Of course no one is dying because of this, but all in all we are being persecuted for our different beliefs. "Bloody" Mary Tudor, killed Protestants because she so hated their different views on Christ. This is an extreme indeed, but the mentality behind it, the vitrol [sic], is the same. (Andee Granger, 2005, para. 38)

This extreme point of view, while widespread, was not universal among the Harmonians. Many of them were . . . understandably appalled by the comment and those agreeing with it:

No wonder other people find it easy to portray us as reactionary and vicious. Some of you bloody well are. (jane99, 2005, para. 43)

I agree that it is very vicious and out in left field . . . Slavery was an oppressive movement for hundreds of years, resulting in the deaths of millions. I would hardly regard that with 'shipper treatment, nowadays. However, the schoolyard bully is a very appropriate analogy, in my opinion. Hopefully you understand the difference. (myrhlyn, 2005, para. 52)

The Response

NarcissaM brought the subject to the outside world by posting it in fandom_wank -- a defunct LiveJournal specializing in fandom drama, which now exists primarily in archives -- and the result was universally disbelief and amusement. The responses ranged from insightful, if crass, commentary . . .

Emerson did not kill your dog, tell you that Santa wasn't real, and touch you in your swimsuit areas. And the more I read the more I'm convinced that H/Hr fans aren't angry because what he said was insulting, they're angry because what he said was *accurate*. (iczer6)

I'm also wondering where keeping slaves was a matter of, y'know, people having different beliefs, and not the subjugation of an entire culture by another which had more money and more powerful weapons, and needed a lot of manual labor but didn't want to pay for it. (slackerbitch)

To good old-fashioned sarcasm and snark:

That's not the stupidest thing I've ever read, but it's in the top five. (Anonymous)

That's right. There is a conspiracy, Hermionians! The world is against you and want to take a shit on all your fan fiction! XD (Anonymous “Mary”)

QUICKLY! SOMEBODY CALL A WAAAAAHBULANCE! WE HAVE INTERNET PERSECUTION! (aerobot)

F_W, known for good and ill as a site that takes nothing seriously except the desire to laugh at themselves and especially others, took the slavery comment and ran with it:

So how much does a healthy H/Hr fan with good teeth go for these days? (xero-sky)

Which H/Hr's are in the big house and which ones are working in the fields? ... We didn't land on Plymouth rock, Plymouth rock landed on us! *throws up the fist* (prettyveela)

If we're going to start enslaving delusional people, I want to start with the scientologists. Who's with me? (ladybirdsleeps)

Big Daddy Heron:*hits the H/Hr fan with a whip* Your ship name is H/Hr, H/Hr! Say it! H/Hr shipper: H-Harmony (sewingmyfish)

Bully for the slaves! In fact they would have been sooo much better off if all we 21st century people could trade places with the whites that lived back then. Not only could we tell them to get a life, none of us would have kept slaves! (chief)

You know, just like slaves, they have to work out in the hot sun for no wages and be beaten and whipped and raped and sold like cattle deal with an author not writing the fictional pairing they wanted. (slackerbitch)

Mere hours after the controversy was reported to F_W, a user named ahiru created some icons to celebrate the controversy:

And with some more chuckles about the inherent ridiculousness of such a claim, the fandom and its onlookers dropped the subject.

For a few months.

The Aftermath

In November 2005, some users rediscovered the icons made by ahiru and found them insensitive and racist. This is immediately reported to F_W not once but twice, and the folks there were no longer entertained, responding with less amusement than outright hostility. A couple of F_Wankers understood to at least some extent why there might be people who didn’t love the icons, though they did generally come down on the side of parody and feel those upset were missing the point of the joke. A lot of F_Wankers were upset about political correctness and free speech, and were eager to point out the oppression faced by other groups of people.

Someone anonymous entered the fray with racist guns blazing, and was summarily eviscerated by gleeful F_Wankers.

After that, the dust settled, and all was quiet on the fandom front . . . at least, until the next inevitable disaster.

Further Reading

The Interview that sparked the Emerson outrage

An offshoot of Harmony that believes in Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson’s undeniable chemistry and romance

A collection of Harmonian controversies, 2006-2010

Other HP controversies

#harry potter #hp #jkr #rowling #fandom_wank #f_w #shipping wars #shipping #fandom history #tw: racism #long post #very long post #this is mostly a rounding up of quotes and summarizing the wank report #i do realize that #but this stuff deserves to be remembered #cut out some editorializing in the aftermath section about how f_w kinda come across as super huge dicks #but i'm trying to be objective here so #i got out of my way to say 'wank' as little as possible #it's one of those words that hurts to type #proving that i am not immune to finding something cringeworthy either #i don't have a consistent tw tag I'm sorry #no one is going to read this but i think it's interesting #i love fandom history and i'm not the best person to tell these stories but here we are #i guess i could just link to the wank wiki and let people read it for themselves #but that's a lot of link hunting and it's easier when it's all in one place i think

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bluebellhairpin · 6 years ago

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Marvel Headcanons - Road Trips

A/N: I’m a horrible person. But at least my procrastination of my asks is being for-filled in a way that still sprouts content. - Nemo

Summary: The Avengers and their S/O go on a road trip. Gods? Mutants? Aliens? with them, what could go wrong?

Masterlist

Loki Laufeyson

Bruh. You go on a road-trip with this guy and you’re gonna really wish you d i d n ‘ t.

Tricks. So many tricks. This guy can’t drive a car, he has nothing to do except play tricks. Look At That Face, no remorse, no mercy. You gotta be strong af to survive a trip like this with Loki.

bUt he does buy you all the food. And all the stuff you like. In mass amounts. (“(y/n), you said you liked this sweet packet stuff right? Ah, good. I brought five boxes so we don’t run out.” ) Like five whole boxes

So what’s it gonna be? Trickery for food? Yay or nay? Yay, definitely yay.

Peter Parker/Spider-Man

You will not sleep. Y’all get too hyped up of junk food and adrenaline to sleep for more then half an hour at a time so POWER NAPS ALL THE WAY THERE AND BACK

He video’s everything. He says it’s to show May and Tony when you get back but we all know the truth. Its so he can get one of those cool old-style videos of you No shame that boy has.

He lets you pick all the music, as long as it’s not AC/DC because he had an experience with Tony that involved ‘Thunderstruck’, hacking and his suits earpieces that lasted a over a week that we s h a l l n o t s p e a k o f e v e r

But overall it’s a really cute trip. So cliche. So romantic. So amazing.

Tony Stark/Iron Man

Loves every second because it’s with you and after everything he’s been through that is all he needs and wants.

He has playlists, cars, hotel reservations, restaurant reservations, food stops, food stashes, sights to see. All these things are ready before you even suggested getting away for a couple days.

Turns into a sappy, flirty mess. It’s almost like the trip turned back time to when you both first met and the only problem he had was making a new missile to sell to some place in Afghanistan.

He’s just so ready for a break, low and behold please give i t t o H i m

Steve Rogers/Captain America

Road-trips with Steve are done on the back of his motorbike and you can fight me on this. Mostly because he likes it when you wrap your arms around his torso so yeah fight me again.

Despite the trip being a road trip you both spend a lot of time at stops and motels instead of on the road. He likes taking things slow, since he hasn’t gotten to do things slowly for over four years after he woke up. He’s very grateful if you let him do this.

He lets you take lots of photo’s of him whether you’re good at it or not doesn't bother him. Even frames one you took of his silhouette because it looks that good to him.

Becomes addicted to cocktails after the second road trip because “they’re so colourful and come in so many flavours, (y/n) have you tried this blue one yet? Look they have one named after me-”

Thor Odinson

He gets so hyped and excited.

He really loves travelling and learning about earth more like you teaching him about earth stuff so he’s so optimistic about the whole trip and that attitude rubs off on you so you end up coming home all happy too.

He brings lollies/sweets/candy with you and lemme say you are bouncing off the walls the whole damn time. One time he got so hyped on sugar he almost summoned lighting.

You take Loki sometimes. He pretends he doesn't like it, but he does. He thought we wouldn’t notice but we did. So Loki ends up being the ‘bored’ third wheel while you and Thor stuff your faces with sour worms, chocolate, and gobstoppers.

Bruce Banner/Hulk

He’s gets so soft, and that makes you soft, and then you come back and your combined softness makes everyone else so very soft.

He worries about Hulk coming out and ruining the trip and the car but you constantly tell him and reassure him that it’s fine and you’ve managed to hone the ability to calm Hulk down when things get out of hand.

Needless to say he relaxes almost completely and w o w you didn’t know he sung that well.

And damn when you come back he’s like a changed man. Shyness? Almost gone. Reluctance to join conversations? Hell N a h. He almost becomes Tony 2.0 but only around you because “No one will believe you (y/n)”

Clint Barton/Hawkeye/Ronin

Clint almost l i v e s for road trips with you. I say almost because he lives for you.

You hunt down carnivals so he can win you all the prizes. The others aren't even surprised when you come back with a carload at stuffed toys anymore.

You also stop at a number of piers and sit at the end with fish and chips and some beer and just talk. Life. The future. The past. That one slice of pizza that tasted better than any others you've ever eaten in your entire lives.

You guys just do so much stuff. And its all so wholesome and pure and s o f t.

Peter Quill/Star Lord

Did someone say road trip? Peter has all the tunes.

So much as touch the radio/speakers without his knowledge and you're preparing yourself to (possibly) walk home. He doesn't care if you're the other side of the country. You will walk.

He's a sucker for staying up and stargazing with you. He'll point out all the planets he's been to, and all the ones he wants to take you to later.

While Stargazing, be prepaid to have him jump up and pull you to him if a 'dancing song' comes on. That can range from the 'Livin La Vida Loca' to 'All of Me’. It's amazing.

Scott Lang/Ant-Man

He's a dad. He knows how to keep others and himself entertained on long trips.

Magic tricks. Snacks. Music. Jokes. Everything and anything you can think of to pass time, he's got it ready and waiting.

Sometimes he takes Cassy with you, and honesty things become more fun (if that's at all possible). Which means, for you, more food, music from your childhood, and embarrassing stories about Scott that Cass had managed to get hold of.

Overall it’s pretty cute going on road trips with Scott, that and it’s never ever boring.

T’Challa/Black Panther

He’s a king, and a very busy one at that. So when you manage to pull him away from his duties he treats you extremely well.

First he takes you to a certain county (Once it was Singapore (that was a very luxurious trip), another time Hawaii, etc), then he gets a hire car and takes you wherever else you’d like go.

Every time, every trip, he finds a Starbucks. He collects the cups and brings them back to Okoye. He does it to spite her. You know it.

He gets much more relaxed on the trips, and always comes back being able to deal with his duties much better.

Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier

Wow okay first off, Bucky loves road trips with you.

He manages to persuade Tony to lean him one of his fancy older cars and takes you along the coast in that. He’s a coast road trip type of guy.

He really loves the beach, the only thing that gets in his way is the sand and salty water getting in the joints of his arm, but he says he can “just take it off, don’t worry darlin’.” so yeah it’s r e a l l y not a problem.

If he can't get a hold of one of Tony’s old cars, he gets an old pickup truck/ute and camps outside on the back with you and watches the stars and has old 30′s/40′s music playing from the radio. It’s pretty cute. Like him.

Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler

Mate. This guy has no idea what he's doing.

Once he tried to bring, like, a whole ass record player because he was worried there’d be nothing to dance along to. Seriously, Kurt, we have a ca r a d i o for that. Precious Baby Boy.

He’s also pretty young, so be prepared to have lots of contraband School food (sour lollies, chips, etc) stashed everywhere in the car. This boy will eat all the junk food he can lay his three-fingered hands on. R E S T R A I N HIM.

He'd probably take every opportunity he can to cuddle you or take you hand in his. He’s not quite used to doing ‘normal’ stuff like this, so the fact he’s doing something like that with you means a lot.

Doctor Stephen Strange

He’s, um. He’s not used to this sort of thing either.

He’s been this arrogant, selfish, self-absorbed neurosurgeon for as long as he can remember. The most social and intimate thing he’s used to doing is ‘faking it’ with some random to make him look good.

BUT, sudeNly with you he kinda turns to a charismatic, sweetheart gentleman that will actually take you wherever you’d like to go. France? Okay. Brazil? Just south a little. China? Food’s great there. Russia? We’ll take ice skating lessons before we go.

He can’t actually leave NYC for long, but he will spend as much time with you on trips away because they help him relax and it’s n i c e.

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chrysanthemums-au · 5 years ago

Text

Season of Chrysanthemums

SUMMARY: Within the outer limits of Corona, Cassandra meets Varian, who seems to be as insubstantial and ethereal as the black rocks. The two lost…forgotten…overlooked (?) souls decide to wander the streets at nightfall in search of ghosts.

Though, as Varian has long since had a connection to the spirits of the departed, how can Cassandra be sure if the alchemist is who he says himself to be?

CHAPTER 2-Fall from Grace

AO3 LINK

“You’re going the wrong way, Cassie,” Varian says, glancing once more at Monty’s sweets shop for the third time in a row. They had been wandering for quite some time, but they had never made it far beyond the patch of flowers on the outskirts of the kingdom.

Chrysanthemums, is what they are called. Varian frowns as he glances at the plethora of flowers that are as nigh abundant as the black rocks that have overtaken Old Corona. From a distance, the blood-red flowers seem almost spider-like, which…is fitting.

Prior to the blizzard, he…had rarely seen them. His dad, well, ever since his mother disappeared—

He had gotten rid of all traces of the accursed flower from their village. Of course, it was easier said than done. If he had ever come across one of those cursed flowers, Quirin would merely avert his eyes.

“In a certain sense, both those flowers and I are the same,” Varian muses, stride not quite meeting with Cassandra. Chrysanthemums symbolize death, and Varian…he is everything that one would not desire their child to be. He cannot fault his beloved father from avoiding his very presence.

Varian, if many from his village are to be believed, is as non-descript as a ghost. With how rarely he leaves his lab buried underneath the foundations of Old Corona, the very sight of him could be seen as an ominous foreboding of tragedies to follow.

And, considering the numerous explosions that follow in his wake…were it not for his affinity for destruction and mayhem, his existence would be that of an old legend—

His very existence…whether it be from the village or his father’s own eyes, is an aberration.

Like the numerous chrysanthemums that have sprung up all over Corona, Varian is as welcome within everyday life as a funeral procession on a sunny day.

Chrysanthemums are often used as funerary flowers and Varian…

He does not wish to follow them, but similarly to that of the black rocks—

They have embedded themselves into his life. Death is as prominent a part to his very being as breathing.

Though, try as he might, he cannot bring himself to care. As he listens to the rhythmic pattern of their footsteps on cobblestone road, he just…does not care. Or at least, that is what he tells himself.

Varian feels as if he is submerged underwater. He does not know where or how this journey will progress, but he will follow where the tides take him.

---

Cassandra is unnerved. The alchemist, he is much too…compliant. He does not speak. Varian…he is eerily observant of everything and nothing.

She feels like he is judging her.

It is a feeling she does not like, but he hasn’t exactly committed any crimes. And so, she continues to bury these feelings.

Still, she glances at him from the corner of her eye—she wishes he would not call her ‘Cass’ or any variation of her name.

They are not friends. They are not acquaintances, and they most certainly are not family. She does not need any friends except for Rapunzel, and she would like to keep it that way. This alchemist…she merely pities him.

It is true that she prefers peace and quiet above all else, but this silence is unfathomable. If it were to continue, Cassandra knows it will drown her.

She stops as she spots…another horrid chrysanthemum. The sight of it makes her blood boil, irrationally so, and she crushes it underneath her boot.

“What the hell are with these flowers,” Cassandra says, frowning. “It’s like the kingdom’s celebrating a second Day of Hearts…and goodness knows we need more than one disgustingly sweet holiday per year.”

Varian is still as he glances up at Cassandra. It occurs to her that for once, he might actually be ‘seeing’ her and not…anything else.

“I’ve never celebrated Day of Hearts,” Varian simply states. His attention is now directed to the now desecrated chrysanthemums.

“Your parents have never put a chocolate egg in your stocking?” Cassandra asks. She’s not surprised, but this is the most she has heard the alchemist talk about himself all evening.

“Wrong holidays, Cassie,” Varian states.

“Again with the nicknames,” Cassandra grumbles to herself. “Oh, shut up, kid. You know what I meant.”

The alchemist smiles, almost fondly, but it seems ill-suited and horribly mismatched on him. “Dad’s too busy to celebrate, but I don’t mind.”

“Your dad, huh? What’s he like?” Cassandra asks, curiosity piqued.

“He’s great,” Varian says. There is a light in his eyes, but it looks sad. Uncertain. He chuckles, but the sound is much too hollow.

Quickening his pace, he walks past Cassandra, and she swears that the curious streak in his hair is glowing. She looks up at the night sky, and for a minute—she cannot help but compare the serene full moon to the sad, broken alchemist.

And as quickly as Varian had spoken about himself, the ever-resilient silence had enveloped the duo once more.

Her mind wanders, and she cannot help but wonder what it is about the alchemist that has her so concerned. He is not the only troubled child in the kingdom. During the time Princess Rapunzel had been whisked away by an evil witch, the king had an iron-hold on Corona. There were many orphaned children before her disappearance, and there were many deaths. The high mortality rate is the one constant of every kingdom, but until Rapunzel had reappeared, executions were abundant.

Cassandra’s dad always shielded her from public executions, but as she grew older, she became more accustomed to them. Corona did not condone witch burnings, but hangings were much too common.

This is a facet of the kingdom the king had buried ever since Rapunzel had returned.

Quite frankly, she does not know if Rapunzel truly knows what the kingdom had been like for the last eighteen years.

Cassandra is a strong believer in punishment and justice, but executing petty criminals over thievery…she does not know how to feel about that. She is not naïve enough to believe there is no hunger or sadness in Corona.

But, the king’s word is law. Cassandra knows this, and she is a firm supporter of the royal family.

She’d never admit this, but she wouldn’t wish a gory end to someone as stupid as the princess’s boyfriend.

Eugene is the worst, but even he doesn’t deserve to be lynched. The thief’s faults outweigh his good points, but if there is one positive to be said—

Were it not for him, the princess would never have returned to the throne. Had he never stolen the crown, Cassandra would have never met Rapunzel.

Of course, she’d never admit this to his face, or anyone else, for that matter. His head is big enough as it is.

Though, as Cassandra thinks of the alchemist, she cannot suppress the sinking realization and bizarrely enough, relief…that he is not what the rumors imply him to be. In another time, in another place, Varian could have been capable of feats beyond her imagining.

However, in this here and now, Varian is nothing.

He is a blank slate, but Cassandra does not know if this is good or bad…for him and the kingdom.

---

The alchemist is apprehensive. He swears they have been walking in circles, but he does not voice his observation—Cassandra is already irritated by their predicament as it is. He does not wish to add onto her growing stress.

Still, a part of him is worried of what Cass would think of this. Surely, she’ll eventually realize he is to blame for their wayward status.

Any misfortune that Varian encountered or anyone that had the bad luck to meet him are all due to him. This is a fact, albeit one that he has grown weary of.

“Hey, kid, Varian—” This is what snaps Varian out of his reverie.

“You’re awfully silent; got something on your mind? He knows the swordswoman is unnerved by his presence. It would be more surprising if she were not, but there is a darkness seeping into his vision.

Varian hesitates, and then…

“Always,” he says. Varian can barely hear her voice. Cassandra…she sounds muffled and far away.

As his vision slowly ebbs away, Varian feels a bone-chilling cold slice through the air like a thin knife. Shadows with bright, glowing eyes—they are always there. Ever present. Vigilant. Watching.

But today, in this time and now, they scare him.

For once, they are not gathered around him. Their mirthless grins and icy, raspy whispers are not directed towards the alchemist.

Instead, they are drawn to the dark-haired woman.

He is not scared for himself, but Cassandra…what is it about her that draws them near?

Varian reaches one hand out towards her, but it is too late. The windows of the store shatter into pieces and his world is enveloped in a dark kaleidoscope of jagged edges and glass.

Cassandra’s voice echoes into the night as she repeatedly yells his name. He manages to catch a glance before falling into the depths of unconsciousness, and that is when she sees her.

The small, blue ghost girl…she is standing behind Cassandra. Her hands are clasped together in a mockery of a prayer. The girl’s eyes are large, and almost pupil-less in her excitement.

Perhaps she is not a ghost like Varian had once thought. This enchanted girl is not a phantom or lost soul, but something more. Something old and dark.

Her grin is far, far too large on her face.

“Good night, my dear moondrop,” she says.

And then…

Nothing.

---

Varian wakes up. But it is not in this ‘here’ and ‘now’. He is nearly overcome by joy when discovering that he is back in Old Corona. Ruddiger is curled up in a tight ball on his pillow, but he knows that this is not where he belongs.

Old Corona had been buried under snow and black rocks. Right now, it is a dream. As much as he’d like to stay, he knows he cannot—not as long as Varian’s father is trapped in amber.

At the moment, he is not a corpse. Quirin is not a suspended corpse buried within a translucent tomb of loathsome crystal. He knows this, but Varian cannot cope with living in such close quarters with one he can see but cannot speak with.

It is almost like how he had felt with his mother.

Varian does not remember much of her. She had left one day with promises to return…but instead, she vanished.

Only empty promises and a broken family were left in her wake.

If there is anything Varian hates more than himself, it is broken promises.

There was nothing left to bury, but Quirin tried. She had always loved apples, from what little his father had told him of her. And so, there is a small patch of earth underneath one of his their apple trees dedicated to her.

The gravestone is chipped and ugly in its imperfections, but it is also beautiful. Had it not been where it was, Varian would have truly believed his mother would one day return. Childishly, he had once believed his dad would be proud of him if he could be the one to find her.

Though, of course, these were merely the musings of a lonely child. As time grew on, Quirin neglected the grave until…it became overrun with weeds and cobwebs. His father could not bear to look at the grave—

It only reminded him of his lost wife.

Back when his dad could look him in the eyes, he’d say Varian was the splitting image of her. Varian thinks this is why Quirin will not exchange more than one or two phrases with him nowadays, or…why he does not spare him a single glance.

The alchemist wishes this to be the answer, but it is but a dream. His mother who loved alchemy and apples, she will never return. And his dad—

Quirin has never uttered these words, but he knows. Varian is well aware he is a disappointment in his father’s eyes. Afterall, Varian is a problem child, as the other villagers are more than eager to gossip.

Though, never to him or his father, of course. Quirin is the village chief, and Varian, well, they are scared of him.

More so than the explosions that follow his every move, more than botched experiments and inventions gone haywire, Varian can—

Varian can see the dead, or at least, that is what the other villagers say.

He, himself, does not know what exactly it is that he sees, but he is self-aware enough to know that they are visions no sane person should witness.

It had started off small. A faint flicker at the corner of his eye, shadowy figures roaming the halls of his home at the dead of night…it was nothing to be concerned with.

“Merely the overactive imagination of a child,” is what his father had always told him. But, they had persisted as they had grown older.

Varian tried his best to ignore them, but by then, it was too late. The damage had already been done, and the village of Old Corona regarded him with fear and contempt.

Rumors circulated that he, himself, was a ghost haunting the village, or more infuriatingly—

A wizard of all things.

Thankfully, his father had never put much stock into the rumors. For that, Varian was grateful. But he knew Quirin did not trust him. From how Quirin would walk on eggshells around him or how he could not look Varian in the eyes, much less be in the same room as him, Varian knew.

His dad was not scared of him. Rather, he was scared for him.

Visions are not normal. Disembodied shadows…are what you’d read about in a childish story.

Quirin had never outright told Varian any of this, but he had seen the pills he’d slip into Varian’s meals. It was clockwork—every morning before heading out into the fields.

And as it was a routine, Varian would toss his breakfast out every morning. He did not want to waste food, but he knew this was not the help he needed.

Varian wished he could be a perfect son; it was what his father deserved.

He wanted to gift his father a sense of normalcy in their lives. But instead, their world was an empty house and filled with the cold, mirthless laughter of silence and forgotten promises.

Involuntary, Varian raises his hand to his eyes and is surprised to find it damp with tears.

He sits down on the floor of his fake house. He stays there for hours and hours until he…is not.

---

Varian awakens to the sight of the concerned swordswoman. It is odd, he thinks, of how much she cares. No one had ever cared for him…not during his previous life, or his supposed afterlife. The sight is as unnerving at the scent of chrysanthemums that have overtaken Corona.

The comparison is gaudy, and tasteless, and macabre, but he feels like a cadaver within a coffin. With how distressed Cassandra appears, he could almost believe this to be a funeral.

He’d nearly believe it too, were it not for the dull pain radiating around his head.

To his surprise, he notices a small tear on the swordswoman’s sleeve. Apparently, Cassandra had used it as a makeshift bandage. It seems that in his fall, Varian had lightly grazed his head.

For a mere, guilty moment, Varian looks away from the swordswoman. She is prickly and chilling, but there is also warmth buried deep inside her. These kindnesses are more than he could ever deserve. He is thankful, but he knows nothing he could ever do would be enough to repay her.

He looks up towards the night sky and is entranced by the moon. It is large, glowing…he feels as if it is beckoning him to follow.

Slowly rising to his feet much to Cassandra’s protests, Varian walks forward. He does not appear to entirely be ‘there’, or present, and Cassandra is concerned for the strange alchemist once more.

She wants to help, but she feels as if she is carrying the weight of heavy lead on her back. Helpless, Cassandra looks on, and sees where it is the alchemist has gone.

Varian.

Varian is going to jump.

Cassandra curses. She had thought it better to traverse high ground as she carried the injured alchemist towards the castle. Ideally, it made for a shorter route, but now more than anything else, she regrets her decisions.

Due to her mistake, he will die.

---

The moon is comforting. Varian had always loved the night, which was just yet another reason as to why he was truly a disappointment. With the absence of sunlight, their fields would not yield any crops.

He knows there is nothing good to come from the absence of light, but it is only in darkness that he can find peace.

Varian’s steps slow to a halt as he looks over the edge. Only, to him, he sees…something. There is a person beckoning to him. Red hair, goggles that look so much like his, only hers are not quite so old and antiquated.

Her face is sun-kissed and covered in freckles. The woman’s eyes are soft as she beckons him to walk forward.

One step, and they will be reunited.

All it will take for Varian to finally achieve happiness is a single second. One quick decision and his journey will finally be over.

He takes in one deep breath, raises one foot over the ledge, but—

---

Cassandra is scared. She is terrified. While she manages to catch Varian in the nick of time, the damage has already been done. She is out of her element. Had she missed him by a single moment, Varian would have shattered into pieces atop the black rocks that have sprung up stories below their feet.

If she failed to catch him, Varian—

He would be as broken as one of the wooden dolls in her childhood. The only difference here is that some cheap glue could piece them back together, but Varian would have been beyond salvation.

She sees the light blue glow of his eyes and the curious hairstreak in his hair, but she does not care in her anger and terror.

The alchemist, he tried to end his own life, and Cassandra…she was powerless to stop him. Just a slip of the hand, and he would have been gone.

Cassandra grits her teeth as she looks down at Varian. He is crumpled on the ground, his wrist still clasped tightly in her hand. His glove has shifted slightly to reveal skin marred with bruises.

She is angry. At herself, at how broken this child is, at the lot life has thrown at him…them.

Grabbing him by the shoulders, Cassandra yells at the alchemist. She knows he is not to blame here. He is a victim of life. Varian deserves help and understanding, which is something that she can sadly not give him.

Varian is not alright.

No sane person would throw themselves off a ledge.

She is frustrated with the blank look in Varian’s eyes. She wants to knock some sense into him, but he is not Rapunzel or Lance or….that ridiculous man. He is Varian, but she does not know him.

Sighing, Cassandra lets him go. She knows anger does not help, but what else is she to do? Thankfully, they are nearly at the castle.

Only there, will the alchemist finally be safe.

Varian looks at her and smiles. It is a sad smile, and not one that reaches his eyes, but it is sincere. Cassandra’s heart nearly breaks at the sight. She does not ‘deal’ with emotions, but she’s not nearly as heartless as she’d like to believe.

“Thank you, Cassie,” Varian says. He reaches into the pocket of his apron and pulls out a glass vial filled with a semi-translucent, bubbling formula.

In her tiredness, Cassandra is too slow to catch him. He tosses the vial towards the ground and Cassandra’s world is enveloped in smoke.

As the smoke clears, the swordswoman realizes the alchemist has gone missing.

He had vanished into thin air.

Perhaps there was some truth to the rumors. Had she not followed them, she would never have met this broken, sorrowful ghost.

With a shudder, she cannot help but be thankful for them. Had she not listened to them on a whim, Varian could have died this evening.

As she slowly walks backs towards the castle, Cassandra hopes the alchemist will be alright.

Now, more than ever, Cassandra is lost.

#Tangled #Tangled the Series #Varian #Varian Tangled #Varian the Alchemist #Cassandra #Cassandra Tangled #Fanfic

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microwaved-timmies · 5 years ago

Text

Diseased (Stiles Stilinski) - 1. Body Hunting Gone Wrong

Author: @microwaved-timmies

Masterlist

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x Cassie Erikkson (OC)

Word Count: 2593

Warnings: blood, mention of dead bodies, murders

Author’s Note: I originally started this on Wattpad like 3 years ago and just stopped. Now, it’s posted on my wattpad account (where future chapters will be posted first) and I’m just hoping that I get more people to enjoy the character that I created. I think she’s pretty great :) (the amount of work it took to post this on the Tumblr mobile app is unbelievable)

(Wattpad is re-writen)

Description: Description: Being a teenager is hard; all the hormones and drama left a teenager tired and worn out before they even become adults. The life of teenager, Cassie Eriksson was filled with hormones and drama, with the added kick of medications and doctor's visits. Living the life of someone with cystic fibrosis was hard enough on young Cassie, but adding on the added stress of being a teenage girl left her mentally exhausted. But, as she grew up with being told to be strong, Cassie powered through with barely enough wit to spare. With her best friends, Scott and Stiles, she gets through the first year of High School. Only with Stiles' slightly-obsessive crush on Lydia Martin, Scott's obsession with lacrosse, and her own genetic problems. The second year of High School was when it got interesting. With Scott's mystical night in the woods, the incredible rise in murder cases in Beacon Hills, and Cassie's own unknown past shockingly taking the spotlight, Cassie doesn't know what to do. The only thing she does know for certain is that her disease might not be the thing that kills her.

"When I walk in the spot, this is what I see. Everybody stops and they staring at--"

"What are you doing?"

I screamed in terror, turning off the music that was blasting throughout my room, and probably my entire house. I turn to my open window to see my friend, Stiles, trying to climb through my open window, but it seemed to be a strikingly difficult task. His pale arms and legs frailed around as he tried to wiggle through my small window.

That was when I decided to help him. I grabbed his left arm and began to pull him through the window.

"You know, we do have a front door," I told him after the gruelling effort of getting him through the window. "I didn't think the window would be that hard." He replied as he stared at the window in disbelief. We stood in the middle of my bedroom, he dressed and staring at the window and me in my 'Hello Kitty' pyjamas and purple bathrobe.

"Any particular reason why you had the desire to climb through my window, Stiles?"

"Well, I listened in on my--" He started before looking down on my attire for the night. "Why are you wearing pyjamas?" Stiles asked with slight confusion. I felt a slight embarrassment, but that was for the fact that I still owned 'Hello Kitty' pyjamas.

"I don't know Stiles, why would I be wearing sleepwear at night?" My words were laced with sarcasm, as I stared at him as he glared at me.

"Well, sorry 'Little Miss Sarcasm'. Get dressed and meet me outside." Stiles grumbled as he began to make his way back to the window.

"Stiles, Stiles, we do have a door."

***

We had gotten to Scott's house quickly, my house is only a few blocks away; close to the outskirts of town. Stiles had told me on the way there as to why exactly we were waking Scott up in the middle of the night, just a few hours before the first day of sophomore year. Stiles was climbing the roof, hoping to climb into Scott's bedroom.

I heard the sound of creaking footsteps on the wooden deck. I felt my body fill with slight panic as I stood outside in the dead of night. Thorns scraped against my face and neck as I scrambled into the bushes next to the railing. I heard screaming from above, I just hoped one of the screams was Scott. I was not staying in this bush for the night.

"Stiles, what the hell are you doing?!" I heard Scott's distinctive voice from above me, I could just imagine Stiles hanging from the rafters, I just wished he wouldn't fall into the bushes with me.

"You weren't answering your phone! Why do you have a bat?" That was Stiles, his voice was confused, but I would have been to if my friend almost whacked me with a baseball bat. "I thought you were a predator ." Scott blurted. I tried to wrestle my way out of the bush, but my hair and clothes were stuck on the thorns and vines. My backpack, on the other hand, was basically mating with the thing.

I heard rustling a few feet in front of my feet, it stopped after a few seconds. It's just my imagination. Right? Man, I really need to get out of this bush.

"A pre - I - wha - look, I know it's late, but you gotta hear this. I saw my dad leave 20 minutes ago. Dispatch called. They're bringing in every officer from the Beacon Department, and even State Police," Stiles said, informing Scott of why we showed up in the middle of the night. I've begun to regret my decision to come along, and I think I'll regret it even more in the morning. "For what?" Scott asked with confusion. We barely get cases that involve the Beacon Department, let alone State Police.

"Two joggers found a body in the woods."

I heard a thud on the outside of the bush that seemed to love me just a little too much or just my backpack. "A dead body?" Was Scott's stupid reply. I swear, he doesn't think before he speaks. When I get out of here, I'm going to stuff him in this bush.

"No, a body of water. Yes, dumbass, a dead body." Stiles' words dripped with sarcasm. "You mean like, murdered?" Scott questioned. Whatever was in the bushes with me, began to move again, this time quicker and closer to where I was. I could feel my body fill with slight panic, whatever the thing was, it didn't seem to enjoy my company.

'It's more scared of you than you are of it,' I thought, but even as I chanted it in my head, my body filled with more fright the more the animal moved. It was at my side now, but I couldn't move my head to look in the dark, my hair in so many tangles I couldn't even move my head.

"Cassie, where are you?" Stiles questioned the area around him, not knowing that he should have been checking the vegetation surrounding Scott's house. Come to think of it, it's not that unreasonable that I hid in the bushes; I'm a nature-lover at heart, even though my thumb is not the slightest bit green. My grandmother had gotten me a few plants one time, let's just say their deaths were mysterious.

"Down here!" I shouted, "I'm in the bush!" I heard rustling beside me. "Hurry, I don't think I'm alone down here!" The rustling got louder until a felt something breath near my hand. I felt a hand grab the top of my shoulder, and pull. My body was pulled through the bush, branches and spiderwebs coming in contact with my face.

I think I swallowed a few...

Cold air rushed toward my face the moment my face came out of the bush. I saw both Scott and Stiles standing before me, Stiles with his hand still gripping my shoulder. I walked out of the bush, or at least tried to on my own; I had to grip both Scott and Stiles, so I didn't lose my footing and tumble back into the dark abyss that was the bush.

Once I was fully out of the bush, Stiles' hand came closer to my head, and out of instinct, the top half of my body began to lean to the side. The same thing happened when we were little kids; Stiles' hand got closer to my head and I didn't move. His plan at that time was to steal my hair elastic.

I leaned too much and my entire body became unbalanced, resulting in me laying on my back in the grass. Stiles was too slow to catch himself from falling. Stiles fell and his leg ended up stabbing me in my own leg, with his hands on either side of my face. I felt the burn of my cheeks-they were probably fire truck red by now-Stiles' cheeks were turning from their pale state to pink, to red in a matter of seconds. I could smell his cologne; it had a musky smell to it. It reminded me of the wilderness of the summer camp my Grandmother would send me to every summer.

My face contorted into pain every few seconds. "You had branches in your hair," Stiles whispered to me, he shifted and put more weight on the leg that was stabbing me. My face contorted into pain again, this time with an "ow!" at the end. He immediately moved off of me, as he asked if I was okay. I told him I was fine. It's not like he basically stepped on me.

"Come on, lovebirds. Aren't we going body hunting?" Scott, being the annoying best friend that he is, said as he walked by us to Stiles' jeep.

***

The ride to the reserve was peaceful and relaxing almost, even though Scott had stuck me in the back. Somehow, Scott just couldn't think of sitting in the backseat. It was like he was a king and the front seat was his throne.

I sat in the middle of the backseat and leaned forward to hear whatever they said. I noticed my backpack had twigs and leaves stuck in it; making it look like it had been surviving in the jungle for years. I was surprised it didn't carry a spear or have a beard.

The jeep stopped suddenly, ending in a jolt. We were at the Reserve now, it was pitch black and felt like the place where you would find a dead body, ironic that that was the reason we were here, to begin with.

"We're seriously doing this?" Scott questioned, as we set foot into the forest of tall trees and mud. The woods were dark, but even in the pitch darkness, the trees cast shadows over everything. The shadows added a certain element that could be felt in your bones.

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town," Stiles replied to Scott, as we passed trees and bushes.

"Come on, Scott, this is supposed to be fun. If you're going to have your typical party-pooper attitude, why don't you wait in the jeep?" I said as I walked past Scott, bumping his arm as I did. Scott rolled his eyes at my words; he never appreciated my mind-blowing genius.

He's going to regret that if I get killed in these woods. Or by my disease. My disease could definitely kill me at any time. I'd prefer it if it wasn't today.

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practise tomorrow," Scott said, choosing to ignore my words. Scott could barely run from one side of the field, let alone catch the ball. But he dreamt big, and I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

Yet.

"Right, 'cause sitting on the bench is such a gruelling effort."

"Your ass must get a great workout."

Scott glared at us, or I'm pretty sure he was. It sounds like something he would do. The dark that wrapped around us like a blanket limited my vision to only a few feet in front of me.

"No," Scott glared at me in the dark. I smiled at him, acting like I didn't just insult his ego. "Because I'm playing this year. In fact, I'm making first line."

I continued to walk behind them; following the flashlight Stiles was holding so I didn't wander into the woods.

Where a murder just happened.

"Hey, that's the spirit. Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one."

I snorted uncontrollably; I could almost feel Scott's annoyance. His glare made me stop my snorting, but I couldn't keep a straight face. We walked for a bit in silence, our shoes crunching over the leaves. "Just out of curiosity," Scott said, "which half of the body are we looking for?"

We kept walking, Stiles a couple of steps in front of Scott and I. "Huh, I didn't even think of that."

"You've got to be kidding me." I sighed in annoyance; of course, Stiles didn't check for finer details.

"And, uh, what if whoever killed the body is still out here?"

"Also something I didn't think about."

I stared at Stiles' back in disbelief; but I really shouldn't be, he does this thing all the time. One time, he picked up someone else's backpack (thinking it was mine) and carried it around for 20 minutes, even though I was wearing mine.

"So what your saying is," I started, "we're going to get murdered out here because we stupidly decided to go body hunting.". We were walking up a small hill, Scott beginning to have an asthma attack.

"It's comforting to know that you planned this up with your usual attention to details," Scott said, panting and struggling to breathe. He got his inhaler out as we walked together and Stiles answered with a cheerful, "I know!".

Stiles was up ahead, darting through the trees, the flashlight slowly leaving my sight. Scott and I hurried to catch up. The forest was dark and the leaves were slippery. The raindrops fell on my head and down the back of my sweater, causing me to shiver. Scott panted and wheezed beside me. Stiles was laying on his stomach at the top of the hill, Scott and I dropped down and joined him. Rain dropped on my head and right through the sweater I was wearing. Why did I decide to go body hunting in the woods? At night? In the rain? A murderer on the loose? I should really start asking questions before I do stupid things. Especially with Stiles.

The police officers were in view from where we were. Stiles stumbled up and ran through the trees, leaving Scott and me in the dust.

"Wait!" Scott shouted.

"Stiles, no!" I yelled. Scott and I stumbled up and ran after Stiles. I'm surprised the police didn't hear our dog-like panting. My small structure was a disadvantage when it came to catching up to Stiles. My track experience, however, allowed me to get a couple of feet ahead of Scott. I was nearing Stiles and I watched him fall back on to the wet ground. I slide to a stop on the wet leaves and watched as Stiles was caught by Sheriff Stilinski and a police dog. I caught Scott's hand and pulled him into the trees to hide.

If I come home with the police one more time, I might get killed by grandma.

Scott and I were hiding behind trees as the Sheriff interrogated Stiles. "So where are your usual partners in crime?" Sheriff Stilinski asked as he moved his flashlight in the dark. I sucked in a breath, even though I highly doubt they could hear my breathing.

They'd be more likely to catch Scott due to heavy breathing. The dude sounded like a dog.

"Who, Scott and Cassie? They're both at home... sleeping. They both wanted to get a good night's sleep before the first day of school tomorrow," Stiles started nervously, "there's just me... in the woods..." My nose started to itch and my eyes began to water. No, no, no...

A loud sneeze went through the small clearing we were in. I froze and hoped that maybe, just maybe, it didn't sound like a sneeze. Judging by the look, I mean glare, Scott was sending me, I was not walking out of here without a police officer.

And that I was most likely dead.

"...alone" I heard Stiles finish softly as he too, awaited my fate.

"Cassie, you out there?" Sheriff Stilinski said as flashlights turned in my direction. I knew I had to reveal myself, but maybe if I wait long enough they'll forget. "Cassie, come out,". I walked out from behind my tree into my spotlight.

"Hel--why is it so bright?!" I yelled as I shielded my eyes. It was a spotlight, and it hurt. A lot.

"Well, I'm gonna walk both of you back to your car," Stilinski said, grasping our shoulders, "and you and I are gonna have a discussion about something called violation of privacy." he directed at Stiles.

The walk to the Jeep was silent and awkward. I was hoping that my grandmother wouldn't be involved, that Sheriff Stilinski would let this one slide.

"I'm hoping my grandma can stay out of this one," I suggested.

"No, I am. I have her on speed dial."

"I expected nothing else."

#stiles stilinski #stiles x oc #stiles stilinski imagine #stiles stilinksi x reader #teen wolf #teen wolf season 1 #lydia martin #allison argent #cute #scott mccall #cassie erikkson #She's so fucking cute #faeries #changling #banshee #werewolves #supernatural #funny #sarcasm

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sweet-star-storybook · 5 years ago

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Character Comparisons - Episode 1: Arack [Feather Knights] vs. Scorpio [Starglass Zodiac]

Well hi! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Fear not, the word train has not stopped, but outside of my art a lot of that progress has been behind the scenes lately. I’ll probably make an update post about that later but for now, I’ve got another discussion topic! :D This is an idea I’ve had kicking around for a while that is similar to my OC Design Talk series, but will focus more on a character’s personality and mannerisms rather than their visual designs and the concepts behind them. Specifically, comparing characters that seem to have similar personality traits, and exploring the differences between them to set them apart. Not that having similar characters (especially across different stories) is a bad thing, but I think this will be an interesting way to explore their nuances and examine what makes them unique, even if they’re given a similar foundation for their traits. Every artist or writer has specific character types and tropes that they gravitate towards, and I’m certainly no exception! From what I’ve seen so far, this is also a good way to delve into details about these characters that I might not have ironed out previously, both inside and outside the context of their original stories. So with that, let’s get started, shall we? :D Strap in, this is a long one!

To start, I’ll point out some of the main similarities between these two that prompted me to do this comparison in the first place. As you can probably tell by the art, both of these characters give off a sort of “edgelord” demeanour, intimidating, distant, and probably not the most agreeable. I would say that Scorpio fits this category a bit more than Arack, but I’ll explain why in a bit.

Scorpio's more the "silent but deadly" type, either not saying much or having his blades speak for him. When he does speak he does so quietly, but with a sharp directness. There are no “frills” to his language, often giving a response with as few words as possible. Excessive frippery exhausts him, and he’ll likely get more agitated if you are unable to get to the point quick enough. He's a tough person to break the ice with, relying on intimidation to ward off others (and usually succeeds). Those who are committed to getting to know him are aware of the danger, but do not fear it.

Arack has similar trust issues, albeit for different reasons, but he's far more outspoken than Scorpio. His lack of trust manifests more in skepticism and analyzing a person’s motive than anything else. His experience as a travelling merchant makes him privy to any attempts at swindling or deception, and this translates to a skill in bartering as well. He's also not shy about calling out lies or other crap either, he has no time to tolerate that. He has skills in sewing and textile work, so his "designer sensibilities" do come out often. If you're doing something bad (or worse, wearing something bad) he will tell you, and he won't sugar coat it. He will provide suggestions for improvement if he feels you are worthy of it, though it still comes off as very forward usually.

Arack does not, however, pick a fight at any opportunity. In fact he is quite skilled at picking his battles to make up for his lack of physical prowess. He’ll make a quick and unassuming escape where possible if it means avoiding a confrontation or escalating one further than necessary. Unlike Scorpio, who is a highly skilled ninja-like warrior trained in weapon use, Arack relies more on his intelligence to get him out of tough scrapes, and has grown quite weary of physical confrontation in general. I would call both of them quick-witted, but for different reasons. Arack can usually find ways to avoid a conflict altogether, while Scorpio, if anyone actually challenges him, would take the opportunity to show his skill and end the fight quickly. Scorpio will take you down if you cross him, but neither go looking for trouble. Both are quick to analyze those around them, and choose who they associate with with precision and care. Scorpio does this out of necessity, at least in his mind, to avoid repeating past history, while Arack does so more out of preference. I would describe Arack as “prickly”, as his outspoken nature makes him rife with sharp comebacks, and if he doesn’t like you, he is quick to use them. His designer sensibilities give him an additional advantage when assessing someone’s personality, typically based on how they dress and carry themselves. This social profiling is actually how he meets Snowy, who, especially in his costume and armour, doesn’t have much to hide. This in turn makes him a reliable judge of character, and one that becomes very useful when recruiting allies later on. Scorpio does similar profiling, but his skepticism is sometimes unwarranted, or is not always as necessary as he deems it to be. More of a reflex, if anything.

Arack’s visual appearance does lend itself to intimidation like Scorpio, but he doesn't actively use it to ward off others. It usually happens anyway, so he has a “take me or leave me” attitude about it. Scared reactions to his appearance do not phase him, at least not to the point of self-deprecation, but he does cover all of his eyes in some way when acting as a merchant. If nothing else, Arack wants his work to speak for itself, so fewer distractions the better. He is quite tired of it all, especially when it happens so often that it’s not worth mulling over anymore. The reason I would describe Scorpio as more fitting of the “edgelord” category is that he is far more mysterious and brooding. You’d be more likely to find him sitting on a rooftop doing just that, even if he does spend this time scouting for tactical reasons. His ninja-esque appearance corroborates this feeling. Arack has nothing to hide, really. He is what he is, and usually doesn’t bother much with concealing himself or his past. He could tell you his father was a selfish king who was responsible for his son’s transformation and then banished him from the kingdom after it all went wrong, but who has time for that? The one exception is Arack’s desire to reject his royalty in general, which he does so virulently. He primarily does this to avoid special treatment and association with his former kingdom, and will not take the opportunity to “throw his weight around” as a royal instead of a commoner. He is very averse to the power structure presented with royalty, especially when the politics of said power often leaves common folk crushed underfoot. So when he ends up with not one but three wingbearers (i.e. the people with the most royal status in this universe) at his side, he is more than a little annoyed. His response when Snowy meets Dee is quite literally “what, another one?” This view does lend itself to a more charitable side to Arack, however, as his first introduction has him giving some blankets he made to a homeless family, but under sworn secrecy. When Arack is later attacked and accused of stabbing another man in the village, that family comes to his rescue by enlisting Snowy’s help to clear his name. His kindness outshone his intimidating appearance and his past as an exiled royal. Scorpio, meanwhile, spends a great deal of his time either hiding his past from others or actively seeking to change it. He’s a lot more “on guard” than Arack, as his story involves not only looking out for Cassie, but looking out for Ophiuchus’s return. In his mind he cannot let his guard down, for if he does, bad things will happen. Scorpio is a lot more vengeful than Arack for this reason, as most of his motivation derives from ending the fight with Ophiuchus and keeping Cassie safe from him, making him the main connector between the protagonist and antagonist for this story. Thus, he is caught in the middle, and it becomes clear pretty quickly that he does not know how to properly deal with it all, even if he’s good at hiding that fact. From Scorpio’s point of view, Cassie’s arrival on the Astral Plane is very much an example of that repeated history that he has tried so hard to avoid. Namely, her role as the next Starglass. Her birthday falls under Scorpio’s sign, and therefore it is his responsibility to train her. This parallels Scorpio’s past with Ophiuchus, who took him under his wing to help him control his poison abilities. Not only has this been a role reversal for Scorpio, but one that he has almost entirely negative experiences with. Teaching is not his forte to begin with, much less for the saviour of the Astral Plane. Ophiuchus was once a much kinder soul, one that Scorpio trusted, and seeing a similar kindness in Cassie brings up that past more often than he’d like.

The two approach their affectionate sides a bit differently too. Neither are prone to public displays of affection, but still rely primarily on actions speaking louder than words. Arack will not declare his devotion to you or your cause outright, likely taking a nonchalant or “okay let’s get this over with” kind of attitude, but he will be there reliably and repeatedly. If you have earned his trust in this way, you can count on him, no questions asked. This does happen in Feather Knights, when the crux of Dragon Knight’s plan to overthrow the kingdoms is revealed. Among the four in Snowy’s group, he’s the only one who completely backs out of navigating the kingdoms’ politics going forward, knowing full well it would lead to a battle that he wished to have no part of. He soon discovers, however, that even he cannot run from a fight entirely, and the rising tensions amongst the villages bring him to more conflict than ever. A kind of conflict that, by that point, could only be fought by taking up steel. But, he still becomes one of the key players in the fight against Dragon Knight, not through steel but through his resourcefulness, rallying allies under Snowy’s name and providing crucial backup in the final fight. He does, albeit begrudgingly, partake in the fight, but focuses more on support for his group (i.e. Snowy, Dee and Loralei) rather than the army as a whole.

Arack is not one for physical contact. Not to the point of touch aversion necessarily, but a hug or something similar simply wouldn’t do much for him emotionally. He may not object to it, but he likely won’t react to it much either. He’d much rather have the companionship itself instead of the usual displays of platonic love, even if he does genuinely care for someone. Displays of creativity or intelligence are far more likely to get you on his good side, but he’s not one to admit it.

Scorpio, on the other hand, is actually far more accepting of such things, but under VERY rare and specific circumstances. Perhaps like a real scorpion, he’s got a hard outer shell but an inside that’s a bit softer than you might expect a poisonous blade slinger to have. He is far more emotionally volatile compared to Arack, so even if those emotions are largely suppressed, one must break through that hard shell to get to this level of comfort as far as affection or friendship is concerned. He relies on the few people who truly “get” him, so even if he only hugs you once in his life, it’ll be at a time where it really counts. And sometimes, he might need it more than you. So hug him, if you dare.

Arack, generally speaking, has fewer walls to break. He is incredibly world weary, especially for his age, but his contentment with independence still shows through in how he treats relationships. As mentioned earlier, he has a very “take me or leave me” sort of attitude, so he rarely feels the effects of abandonment or betrayal as far as those relationships are concerned, at least not in the same way as Scorpio. I wouldn’t say he’s emotionally detached, but he’s not the “touchy feely” type either.

Scorpio has suffered far more emotional pain, and thus the suppression of his emotions is viewed as a necessity. He may not be “touchy feely” either, but a lot of his reliance on intimidation is to protect himself from others out of a lack of trust, especially with his own anger and aforementioned volatility. Anyone familiar with his history could get under his skin far more easily (see: Ophiuchus), regardless of how stone-faced he is otherwise.

If you reach a high level of trust and affection with Scorpio, he would kill for you should the opportunity arise. He may be able to take a life, but if you get on his good side he’ll protect you with his own. He can be quite the guard dog should you be in any danger, and this is no more evident than with his relationship with Cassie. She and Scutum are the two that are closest to him, but the dynamics they share are quite different. With Scutum being a literal shield, he isn’t phased by much, and the odds of him getting hurt in any permanent way are far less likely compared to Cassie.

Not that Scorpio views her as weaker necessarily, especially after dedicating most of his time to training her, but he still feels she is in more need of protection in general. She’s a lot “softer” than an impenetrable shield after all, emotionally and physically. He worries for her more, even if he does so in secret, and develops an older-brother-to-younger-sister relationship with her. Seeing Cassie in emotional pain would hurt as much as seeing her in physical pain, so despite being far less emotionally expressive, he does try to be more than a guard dog for her, in whatever way he can. He may not talk much, but he can listen. This does cause a bit of friction later on in the story when Cassie’s role as the Starglass begins to intersect even further with Scorpio’s past with Ophiuchus, and in some ways, mimicking it. Despite the level of trust he and Cassie have built up at this point, he is still very opposed to the idea of revealing everything that happened with his former mentor, especially from his side of things. He (and the rest of the signs, for that matter) fears that should she learn of the true power of the Starglass and its past dangers, she will inevitably follow the same path as Ophiuchus, willingly or otherwise. Cassie’s cries for transparency are not unwarranted, given that she has to fulfill her role as the Starglass by the end, but that doesn’t make it easier for Scorpio. In fact, his protection over her causes him to actively procrastinate on reaching “the end” of her role, recognizing the Herculean task placed on a 14-year old’s shoulders. Eventually he runs out of options, and goes into the final fight with a lot of inner conflict, and that all comes to a head when the end inevitably arrives. Overall, I would describe both Arack and Scorpio as characters that began with a similar foundation and past history, but ended up on two ends of the same spectrum as far as “world experience” goes. Their universes have different rules of course, and both have a history that they’d rather forget, but how they deal with it is a stark contrast. Arack has already had most of his learning experiences prior to the events of Feather Knights, so things like his identity, purpose and world view are already present to a point where he is comfortable. He still sharpens his social tactics, gains new allies, and learns to navigate a tense political situation during the events of the story, but he does not possess nearly as much inner conflict. Scorpio, on the other hand, is caught in the middle of learning for the majority of Starglass Zodiac, and his inner conflict has direct consequences throughout. This adds a sense of duality into the dynamic between him and Cassie, as he may be the teacher, but he ends up learning as much from her as she does from him by the end. --------- And there you have it, folks! As I said this kind of post will be one of many in the future, and this stuff will develop over time as these stories progress. I’ll probably make a list of these too so you can navigate the excerpts by character or series. For now, I hope you enjoyed this character exploration, and I’ll see you next time! :D

#Character Comparisons #Arack #Feather Knights #Scorpio #Starglass Zodiac #long post #writing #character excerpts

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alloftheendgamefeelings · 6 years ago

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Endgame spoilers

Talking about arcs, rewards, and empty space. And, because I’m me, explicitly tracing character arcs through all of the movies, even though anyone who cares enough to read this probably already knows.

The hardest part for me, dealing with Nat’s death Endgame, is realizing that there were a few different things happening simultaneously.

There was the arc I was reading into the ten years of the MCU, and I genuinely felt rewarded because, in interviews pre-movie, it sounded like Scarlett Johansson saw Natasha in the same way that I had: that what she wanted, more than anything, was to find a place where she belonged, where she could love and be loved without fear of rejection. Where she was valued as a person rather than just as an asset.

And you can trace it. In IM2, you can see her realizing that while Iron Man isn’t qualified for the Avengers Initiative, his found family is what makes him special. You see it in her careful recitation of “love is for children” but her absolute loyalty to Clint. You see it in how she puts in the work to befriend Steve. You see how she just accepts that Tony doesn’t trust her because of IM2 in Avengers, but how hurt she is that Steve doesn’t trust her in Cap2, or that Nick’s’ small circle excluded her. You see it in her only goal in Cap3 being to keep the team together, joining Team Stark not because she believed in the Accords but because it was the best way to stop them from being separated, and she went to Steve in that church and she gave him as much of herself as she could.

And there was another arc, the one I liked much less. The one that kept repeating. The one where, since the time when Clint recruited her, no one has ever just accepted that she’s not a threat. We see it over and over: other characters don’t trust Natasha, and she has to do the work to prove that she’s trustworthy, and they grudgingly agree to accept her until the next time she has to show she’s worth taking a risk on even if their goals aren’t exactly identical.

But then there’s the arc that was on screen. If you actually look at what was in the movies- not the deleted scenes, not the novelizations, not the interviews, not what we got out of comics- so little of this is actually there. So much of it is those of us who care about Nat connecting dots (about her and around her), and making educated guesses.

As a result, we never actually find out what, canonically, she wants. And when you think about this movie, you realize: that’s not true for any of the rest of them.

Clint wanted his family happy and safe. We see that in how no one knew about them until Ultron, we see how much it kills him to leave them in Civil War, and we see how even though he’s wearing an ankle monitor he’s delighted to be picnicking with his wife and kids. His relief when Laura calls is palpable, and we see how close he holds the kids during Tony’s funeral.

Bruce didn’t want to be a monster, too dangerous to be around people. And while we have no idea HOW he became Professor Hulk, he did it, and now the guy who thought his inability to have kids made him a monster has them coming up to him for photographs.

Thor never wanted to be king, but it was his responsibility. Once New Asgard was settled and he’d killed Thanos, he felt lonely and directionless, and mostly just played Fortnite. He got one last time to spend with his mom, which gave him the boost he needed to consider a new life: one where he lets someone else take the crown, who can actually handle it, who he trusts, while he gets to fuck off to space to have more adventures.

Tony wanted to not grow up to be his father, but also wanted his dad’s approval. He got both of those. We see how much he loved Morgan, and how well he took care of her; we see how he was able to advise his father, and even get that hug.

Steve... Steve’s a weird case here, because he talked about that missed dance, and he got it. The missed dance always seemed like a metaphor for all the things he’d missed out on, and that he’d chosen a different path, and everyone lives with regrets and etc. But here he got the opportunity to take exactly what he’d always held up as that one big thing he missed, and he took it. Whether or not it works for you as a viewer, he got exactly what he’d been looking for since his first movie.

My first instinct was to say that Nat, in this movie, doesn’t get what she wants. And while I stand by that, I also can’t prove it, because we don’t KNOW what she wants as much as they wanted those things. In this movie she says she’d always wanted a family and now she has it with the team, but we don’t get to see that. We see what they mean to her; we don’t see that she means the same to them.

So the closest Natasha gets to joy is probably flying with Clint on the way to her death, and that isn’t the same as, say, Scott’s realization that Cassie isn’t missing. Every other character gets the joy of human connection. Natasha gets “Shit, space is cool.”

So going back to her death- it would have been upsetting no matter what. Because she wasn’t getting what she wanted. But if they’d done more with the aftermath, it could have been a cap to her arc of wanting a place to belong. It could have shown that it wasn’t just how much her family meant to her, but how much she meant to them.

I mean, look. Clint is clearly upset with the cost of the soul stone. Bruce tried to bring her back with the gauntlet. The whole team made noises about valuing her, and I don’t doubt it.

But her loss had no real narrative weight- not like Tony’s did. There was not a single moment during the fight where they acknowledged we could really use Natasha to help us win here. As much as I felt it (I sobbed), the gorgeous scene with all the women fighting doesn’t seem to really HAVE that bittersweet note of how Nat should be there. There was not a moment where anyone realized how much she’d always been responsible for, in terms of handling the aftermath. Clint’s kids call Natasha “Auntie Nat,” but we don’t see them mourning her, while we do see them at Tony’s funeral. We don’t see anyone surprised that Natasha chose to sacrifice herself for Clint and for her family and for the world, but we also don’t see anyone grateful for it.

Don’t get me wrong. Natasha was resplendent in this movie. She was brave, and noble, and good. She did what no one else was strong enough to do: she stayed, and she worked, and she gave all that she could for five years of absolute devastation, and then she gave even more. Natasha was a hero. But from Iron Man 2 on, Natasha was a hero. She didn’t grow to this point. She was here all along.

You know the biggest Nat moment for me all movie? It wasn’t her at the desk with all the people reporting in, or even her dying to let Clint live. It was the moment when Steve checked to see if she was okay, because in her previous six movies, that was never something anyone thought to do- after extreme trauma, sure, but not just when she was doing something hard. That moment of her not being taken for granted was a throwaway line, but I had so much hope that it was leading to more. And it didn’t.

So maybe the answer is that Natasha’s arc didn’t have an ending, because Natasha never had an arc. Other characters’ shifting perspectives of her never had to follow a path, and her journey never had to, because no one- aside from ScarJo and parts of the audience, I guess- cared about it. But I don’t like that read at all. I want to read Natasha’s sacrifice as closure.

I want there to be something I missed that proved that her growth was important to the Infinity Saga. I am trying so fucking hard to find a way that Natasha’s actions in this movie signified growth for her, rather than just a way for the narrative to remove one of the pieces and prove its stakes.

If you find one, please let me know.

#Avengers Endgame #Endgame spoilers #Black Widow #Natasha Romanoff #I cried like ten times writing this post I'm a fucking mess

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scifrey · 6 years ago

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My Very Spoilery Endgame Review - What I Liked, What Annoyed Me, and Two Questions I Am Left With

I was very satisfied and enjoyed it very much. The theater burst into applause in several instances and it was great to celebrate the end of an era with fellow fans.

Now for the spoilery critiques and praise.

My favorite moments were:

Thor reconciling his self-image and self-worth with his mother

“I’m still worthy.”

Loki escaping and (hopefully) living in at least one timeline - because if Steve went back to “trim the branches” then this means he returned the Tesseract to 1970. Which means the branch where Loki snagged the Tesseract and was not imprisoned on Asgard may have endured*.

Ken Jeong’s cameo.

Stan Lee’s cameo.

Banner coming to terms with who and what he is and living comfortably with the Hulk.

Basically everyone really leaning into the self-love and self-value by the end of the film.

“That is America’s Ass”.

“I could do this all day.” “Yeah, I know.”

“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.”

“Ha! I knew it!”

“I am Iron Man.”

Scott finding Cassie alive.

Wong’s exasperated reply to Strange’s “Is that everyone?”

Nebula’s redemption. This is a princess (as Squidward calls Thanos “sire”) who saves her own damn self.

How the thing that gave the game away to Thanos was actually really clever and well executed; this wasn’t a “heroes are just stupid this one time” (like how Quill screwed the pooch in Infinity War when they had the damn glove). It was something that I genuinely hadn’t thought of, and I assume no one, not even Nebula, would have thought of. It worked. And it worked well.

All the ladies supporting Carol in the final battle - which was awesome but also felt a bit like the moment was added only so the Russos could check it off a “don’t piss off the feminists” list.

How the final battle set it up well for the next phase - I liked how the Glove Relay was from an OG Avenger (Hawkeye) to the new Avengers - Black Panther, Spider-man, and Captain Marvel.

“I love you 3000″.

Falcon!Cap - finally! Yay!

The sound of the armor that started it all being forged as the endcap of the credits.

However.

I wish Bucky and Steve had also had a meaningful moment at the end, like Steve and Sam, something that made it clear that even though Steve was older now, he was no less Bucky’s best pal.

I'm very, very annoyed that they Fridged Natasha. I mean, I get it. Someone had to die. And we all knew Hawkeye was going to go back to his family, so it wouldn’t be him. And I do love how they did the death, how Nat and Clint fought with one another to the be the one to make the sacrifice. And her death would have been especially cheap if Bruce had just Snapped her Back. I get it.

And if there wasn’t a long history of Fridging female character to ensure the male ones have enough Man-Pain to have a character arc and impetus to be a hero, then you know what? This would have been a really moving sacrifice. It would have really worked.

But there is. And in light of that, it’s left me... itchy. Uncomfortable. Because in the context of the film alone it was a great death. But in the context of the history of comic book narratives, it sucked.

Also, what does this mean for the Black Widow movie? Will it actually be a prequel? Will it be Budapest? And if it is Budapest, will they use the same actors, or cast new, younger ones?

I also don't understand the narrative reason why they had to make so many fat jokes around Thor.

I mean, yeah, it makes sense he was depressed and stopped taking care of his heath, and self-medicated with booze and food. This was a strong and meaningful narrative and I really liked that he was given the opportunity to mourn, to question his purpose, to become more than just muscles and a hammer in terms of character construction. That he could grieve and struggle, and be filled with crippling regret that kept him indoors and hiding, and filled self-loathing.

As a character choice it made sense. And I liked that he was still a powerful warrior while chubby, and that he didn’t magically become slim again when he suited up. It was wonderful to see him be no less powerful, dangerous, dedicated, and no less kick ass while sporting a keg instead of a sixpack.

But they leaned awfully hard on that “fat joke” button and by the time Rhodey said “Cheez Whiz?” I was over it. Its got tedious and frankly a bit insulting.

Teasing someone for suffering because he lost literally everyone he loved is not cool. The jokes fell flat, for good reason. They were cruel.

And when the Russos announced that they had included the MCU's first openly gay character I was hoping that it would be a main character, not some rando dude in a talk therapy meeting. I wanted Bucky and Sam to confess feelings, or Bucky to Steve even if Steve couldn’t return them, or Valkyrie to at least have a wife in New Asgard, or something.

But TBH it didn't surprise me that they made it some nameless dude in group support. Like J.K. Rowling, the Russos are happy to queerbait but too cowardly to commit, and they always have been. I’d be annoyed but it’s not worth the energy.

At least when the guy mentioned his boyfriend it was a “no big deal” mention, and nobody made a “are you cool with this, Cap?” thing to really point out that ooooo, this dude is queer.

But those are my only gripes. The rest of it was thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying.

Especially all the little call backs. The "I am Iron Man" and “I could do this all day” stuff - it felt like little gifts to the fandom.

However, I have two questions.

1) When people were Snapped Back, were they Snapped to their previous exact geographical location? Because if so, what about people who had been in transit? Did people who were Snapped Away while in a plane just... appear mid-sky and plummet to their deaths? Were people on spaceships Snapped Back into the void of cold space? We saw in Infinity War that helicopters crashed into city streets - the pilot, that means, was Snapped Away. When that pilot came back, where did he come back? Did Bruce think to Snap them all into safe places? (I mean, I assume the Stones accounted for Spacial Drift and the location of planets in orbit... maybe it accounted for people who would have Snapped Back into deadly situations?)

2) I do love that Steve and Peggy got their life together At that point Pegs would have been like... at least 10 years older than Steve? Maybe 15? What would her neighbors think of Sugar Momma Peggy Carter and her Very Much Younger (Looking) Husband?

Did she introduce him to anyone? Did they have neighborhood BBQs? At that point everyone would have known who Captain America/Steve Rogers was so did no one recognize him? What did they say? (Did we get Beardy Steve back???) They had kids, canonically, so was Steve able to attend their T-BAll games and school plays?

One assumes that Sugar Baby Steve would have been the House Husband, because Pegs was running Shield and Steve was out of the game. He’d never be able to show his face at SHIELD because Howard would recognize him, and so would Arnim Zola, so HYDRA would have known that Captain America survived and I imagine they would have given anything to get him into the Chair.

It makes me think that Sugar Baby House Husband Steve would have been very isolated and possibly lonely. Maybe he had a few neighbor friends, but can you image how torturous it must have been to live so privately? To know that Bucky was out there suffering and being tortured and brainwashed and that he couldn’t do anything about it? He couldn’t go save his best pal?

That Peggy could never bring him to the SHIELD Christmas party, to visit her new baby godson Anthony, never attend anything with him.

And it makes me think Steve had to vanish from her life right when his earlier self entered it so like... as soon as she started getting sick enough with Alzheimer's he had to leave.

Because that’s when younger Steve came into her life, and started visiting her in the nursing home.

But he had to abandon her when she needed him most, and that is very tragic. How did Steve reconcile that with himself? Especially with returning to a future where she was dead and his friends were alive and he didn’t need to be the Secret Sugar Baby House Husband any more?

All in all, it was very enjoyable and I will watch it again.

And I look forward to the FanFic.

* This means that Loki in that branch also likely did not participate in the battle against the Dark Elves. His character growth in that moment was likely delayed, but I believe he ultimately would have processed his extreme confusion, self-loathing, and hatred of his betrayal by his “family” Thor enough to join forces with him against the destruction of the universe when it mattered. Perhaps having the extra time to do so might have even served him better. I don’t know if this means Odin chose to die and Hela was released, thus triggering the destruction of Asgard. I don’t know what this would have meant for Ragnarock - possibly with Odin as the King when he died the defenses would have been better (though I argue the culture and peace of Asgard thrived under Loki, especially with his dismantling of the Empire and the valuing of the Arts) and they would have saved Asgard or at least not lost so many.

And if Asgard had not survived, perhaps in this version something different may have happened, and Loki wouldn’t on the survivor ship. Perhaps he was on a different ship. Perhaps he wasn’t present for the battle at all and in a completely different part of the universe.

If he was elsewhere this means

a) The Asgardian survivors would have lived because Thanos wouldn’t have targeted the ship, and Thor would have been less self-loathing.

b) When Thanos found Loki with the Tesseract in this branch, it’s likely Loki was able to ingratiate himself to Thanos and gave the Stone to him without Thor there to tip his hand toward an immediate betrayal murder attempt. I subscribe to the theory that Loki was just as mind-controlled during The Avengers and the Battle of New York as Barton (though I wouldn’t call Loki totally innocent in everything) and that he had been suffering from extreme mental health issues following his unsuccessful attempted suicide. In this case, he would be willing to play the long game to get his revenge on his abuser Thanos. Then, later, hopefully, he joins Thor’s side to save the universe against Thanos (as he did against the Dark Elves)- betraying Thanos and perhaps stopping the Snap before it happened in that timeline. Or if not stopping the Snap, perhaps being a part of the new Avengers if he survived it, or joining in the final battle if he was Snapped Away.

Anyway - I have lots of Loki Thoughts. Feel free to adopt any Plot Bunnies this may have generated in reading this.

#Avengers: Endgame #Review #spoilters #Endgame #Avengers #Storytelling #Loki #Endgame Loki #head cannon #theories #loki theory

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ljones41 · 5 years ago

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"The Sokovia Accords: A Narrative Blunder"

"THE SOKOVIA ACCORDS: A NARRATIVE BLUNDER" Three years ago, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), along with Marvel Films and the Disney Studios, introduced to the world the thirteenth entry of the movie franchise, "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR". Although the movie is officially regarded as a Captain America solo film, many moviegoers and critics tend to view it as an unofficial Avengers film. The film also introduced a new story arc to the franchise called the Sokovia Accords.

In reality, the Sokovia Accords is supposed to be a cinematic version of the Marvel Comics legislative law called the Mutant Registration Act and was the main focus behind the famous 2006-2007 seven-issue story arc known as "Civil War". In this story, the U.S. government passed a Superhero Registration Act, ostensibly designed to have super powered individuals act under official regulation, somewhat akin to law enforcement. Those superheroes opposed to the act, led by Captain America, found themselves in conflict with those like Iron Man and Ms. Marvel who supported the act. Spider-Man found himself caught in the middle and the X-Men took a neutral stance. About a decade later, the MCU released "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR" and introduced the world to the Sokovia Accords. For a while, I had wondered why Kevin Feige had allowed this story arc to be introduced in the middle of the franchise's on-going Infinity Stones arc. Then I had stumbled across an ARTICLE in which directors Anthony and Joe Russo had claimed the plot for the third Captain America movie was changed to compete against the DCEU's 2016 movie, "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE". In this film, the U.S. government and the United Nations created the Sokovia Accords to regulate the actions of the Avengers and other enhanced beings in the wake of a deadly incident in Lagos, Nigeria; after Captain America and his team prevented a group of HYDRA terrorists from stealing biological weapons. Some of the Avengers - including Iron Man, War Machine, Black Panther and the Black Widow - supported the Accords for their own personal reasons. And some of them - the Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Captain America - refused to sign it. This schism between the Avengers, along with a bombing incident at the document's ratification in Vienna, widened the schism between the former teammates. Especially when Captain America's former best friend, Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier, became the number one suspect behind the bombing. "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR" managed to successfully compete against "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE". The MCU proved to be more financially successful. And it managed to acquire critical acclaim from most film critics, unlike the DCEU movie, which had received a good deal of negative review. And yet . . . the movie had failed to succeed with me. I found this surprising back in 2016, considering that I was more of a MCU fan than one of the D.C. Comics franchise. At least before I saw "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE". Whereas I found myself harboring a low opinion of "CIVIL WAR", I became a fervent fan of the Zack Snyder film. And over the next three years, I have found it increasingly difficult to maintain my high opinion of the MCU. And a major factor of my burgeoning disappointment with the franchise proved to be the Sokovia Accords.

Ever since 2016, I have harbored many misgivings about the Sokovia Accords arc. My first misgiving proved to be its portrayal in "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR". I had assumed that the document would be the main factor to divide the Avengers. Instead, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely included another subplot regarding the hunt for Bucky Barnes to divide the Avengers even further - especially Captain America and Iron Man - in the most contrived manner. One of the first advocates of the Sokovia Accords was King T'Chaka of Wakanda (father of the current Black Panther). Why? When the Avengers had prevented Brock Rumlow and other HYDRA operatives from stealing from that biological weapons lab in Nigeria, Scarlet Witch had used her telekinesis to divert the explosion from Rumlow's suicide bomb to another building that contained several Wakandan humanitarian workers. The problem with is scenario is that the 2018 movie, "BLACK PANTHER" made it clear that Wakanda was an isolationist country around the time of "CIVIL WAR" that did NOT involve itself in the affairs of other countries - including those on the African continent. Great. "BLACK PANTHER" managed to contradict certain plot points of "CIVIL WAR" and no one realized this. More importantly, King T'Chaka no longer had a reason to be an advocate of the Sokovia Accords. And the mistakes kept on going.

A major blooper regarding the Sokovia Accords had manifested in the 2018 movie, "ANT-MAN & THE WASP". In this film, Scott Lang aka Ant-Man found himself near the end of his house arrest, which manifested from his involvement with Captain America in "CIVIL WAR" and his violation of the Sokovia Accords. While incarcerated in the Raft (U.S. underwater prison for enhanced beings), Scott had mentioned Dr. Hank Pym, the first Ant-Man and creator of the Ant-Man suit. After being rescued from the Raft by Captain America; both Ant-Man and Clint Burton aka Hawkeye made a deal with the Federal courts and settled for two years of house arrest for violating the Accords. Both Hank Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne became Federal fugitives because Hank had failed to register the Ant-Man suit. This proved to be problematic in so many ways. One, the Accords had not been ratified by the United Nations around the time of Scott's arrest, due to the bombing in Vienna. Two, Hank had first created the Ant-Man suit back in the 1980s and had been unaware of Scott’s use of the suit during the Avengers' battle at the airport in Berlin. After being freed by Steve, Scott had shrunken the suit and mailed it to his daughter Cassie, while declaring that it had been destroyed. If the suit was officially considered destroyed, why was Scott arrested anyway without the crucial evidence any prosecutor would need to convict him? Why were Hank and Hope declared as fugitives for failing to register a suit that officially no longer existed? Why did they become fugitives in the first place? Scott had used the Ant-Man suit without Hank's permission, something that he could or may have easily pointed out. The latter had created the suit some thirty years ago. And the Federal authorities remained unaware of Hank's creation of the Wasp suit and Hope's use of it. And she had played no role in the creation of the Ant-Man suit. Also, the writers did not need the Sokovia Accords as a reason for Scott to face conviction and house arrest. He had violated his parole when he left the United States to help Captain America, the Falcon, the Winter Soldier and others to deal with the potential threat of other HYDRA-created "Winter Soldiers".

Ever since I first saw "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR", I found myself wondering about Thaddeus Ross' role in this story arc. By the time of the 2016 movie, he was no longer a general in the U.S. Army. He had become the new Secretary of State. It was Ross who had delivered the news of the Sokovia Accords to the Avengers. In his argument, he had pointed out the collateral damage caused - in his eyes and the eyes of others - by the Avengers. I found this idea ridiculous . . . to a certain extent. Asgardian Loki and a Chitauri army were mainly responsible for the damage inflicted upon downtown Manhattan in 2012's "THE AVENGERS". Malekith and the Dark Elves were responsible for the damage inflicted upon Greenwich, England in 2013's "THOR: THE DARK ELVES". The Royal Air Force had contributed to the damage . . . along with Thor. Obadiah Stane and his armored suit was responsible for the damage inflicted in downtown Los Angeles in 2008's "IRON MAN". As for the events in "THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON" . . . only two Avengers were responsible, Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Dr. Bruce Banner (the Hulk). They were the ones who had created the artificial intelligence (A.I.) known Ultron. The other Avengers were forced to help them clean up their mess. I noticed that no one had bothered to point this out. I also noticed that Ross had failed to bring up the Harlem battle between the Hulk and Abomination (Emil Blonsky) in 2008's "THE INCREDIBLE HULK". It seemed only natural that he would avoid the topic, considering that he played a major role in the creation of both the Hulk and Abomination. Also, the U.S. Army had managed to inflict a good deal of damage upon Harlem, while battling Abomination. I found it odd that neither Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff, who both knew about Ross' role in the event, had said a word. Then again, I found it odd that Ross had become President Matthew Ellis's new Secretary of State in the first place. Why on earth did President Ellis select Ross to be his Secretary of State? Why did he think that a narrow-minded, uber-aggressive personality like Ross’ would be the right man for that particular position? Why did the MCU writers?

There is another aspect of the MCU's portrayal of the Sokovia Accords that I found mind boggling is that it was barely mentioned in the franchise's films between "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR" and "THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR". I could understand that the document was not mentioned in films like "GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 2" and "THOR: RAGNAROK". Both were set on worlds other than Earth. Well, Manhattan appeared briefly in the third film, but not long enough for the topic of the Accords to be brought up. However, I found it odd that Sokovia Accords were never mentioned in films like "DOCTOR STRANGE", "SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING" and "BLACK PANTHER", especially since these films were set on Earth. Considering that King T'Chaka's role in the creation of the Sokovia Accords had inadvertently led to his death, I found it odd that the document was never brought up in the 2018 movie. Did Wakanda drop its advocacy of the document, considering that the new King T'Challa gave refuge to Bucky Barnes? If not, why?

Even most of the MCU television shows had failed to mention the Sokovia Accords. In fact, I can only mention one that did - "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D." - and one that vaguely referenced the document - "JESSICA JONES". Most or all of the characters in Season Four of "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.", including then former Director Philip J. Coulson, seemed to support the document. And I found this disappointing. Coulson and his team were willing to protect Inhumans and other enhanced people from xenophobic bigots like the organization called the Watchdogs. Season Four began with Inhuman Daisy Johnson aka Quake being on the run for her vigilante activities after leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. Seven episodes later, then S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Jeffrey Mace had cleared her name of past crimes . . . after she had agreed to sign the Sokovia Accords and re-join the agency. Everyone seemed fine with that, including Coulson. I found that disturbing. Season Two of the Marvel Netflix series, "JESSICA JONES", the Raft was mentioned as a possible destination for the title character's mother, another enhanced being who was proving to be dangerous to New York City's citizens and her adoptive sister, a talk-show host-turned dangerous vigilante. And yet . . . not one character managed to express disapproval of the Accords or that damn Raft. The Marvel Netflix franchise had featured three attorneys as major characters - Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, Franklin "Foggy" Nelson and Jeri Hogarth. and not one of them had discussed the legal ramifications of the Accords.

Ironically, only one person had ended up questioning the Sokovia Accords after "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR". That person was Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes, USAF aka War Machine. What I find disturbing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that only one person has expressed disapproval of the Sokovia Accords since "CIVIL WAR". And that was James “Rhodey” Rhodes aka War Machine in "THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR". Yes, he had supported the Sokovia Accords in "CIVIL WAR". I did not find that surprising, since he was an Air Force officer. But nearly two years later, he had rejected the Accords when he had refused to obey Ross' order to arrest Captain America, the Falcon, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Vision and the Hulk following their return to the Avengers headquarters in "THE AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR". It took six films after "CIVIL WAR" for a MCU protagonist to either express disapproval of the Sokovia Accords or refuse to adhere to it. Yet, at the same time, Rhodey never really went into details over his eventual rejection of the document.

Why? Why did it take the MCU so long to find characters others than Captain America or the Falcon to express disapproval of the Accords? Why was the MCU so reluctant explore the legal ramifications of this document, especially since the franchise had went out of its way to introduce it in the first place? As several articles, including THIS ONE, have made clear - the Sokovia Accords is a violation of a citizen's right. It is a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Period. Any attorney, civil rights activist or civil rights organization could have easily pointed this out in any of the other Phase Three movies or MCU television shows. McFeely, Markus and other screenwriters could have easily pointed the unconstitutional aspect of the Sokovia Accords in "CIVIL WAR", "AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.", "JESSICA JONES", "INFINITY WAR" or any other MCU production set on Earth. Either McFeely, Markus and these other writers were idiots or for some reason, Kevin Feige had lost interest in exploring the consequences of the Accords. Perhaps Feige simply wanted to use the Accords as a plot device to battle "BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE" at the box office.

There is another aspect of the Sokovia Accords that many do not seem aware of or willing to discuss. The Sokovia Accords should not have been presented as a law in the MCU. Why? Because an accord is an agreement, not a law. Those enhanced beings who did not sign the Accord should NOT have been held accountable for using their powers, unless the latter were used for the usual crimes – robbery, burglary, kidnapping, murder, etc. Now, many would dismiss this criticism, claiming that "CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR" was a movie set in the world of comic books. Well, so were other similar documents. The Marvel Comics series, "Civil War" had the Mutant Registration Act. The document that affected enhanced beings and costumed vigilantes in Alan Moore's comic novel, "Watchmen" and Zack Snyder's 2009 movie adaptation of it was called the Keene Act. And "act" is a law. Mark Millar, Alan Moore and Zack Snyder had managed to get it right. Why had Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely failed to do so? The problem with this is that if an enhanced being does not sign this accord, agreement or treaty; then their actions should not be dictated by it. The Sokovia Accords is an agreement, not a decree or a law. If an enhanced or non-enhanced vigilante, who did not sign the accord, practices vigilantism, then that individual should be asked to cease such activity or face imprisonment for practicing vigilantism. To me, a vigilante is like a person pursuing a criminal or going into a foreign country to find a criminal without contacting the police or government agency. Nothing more, nothing less. Which is why I find it odd that in "SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME", Spider-man aka Peter Parker was never pursued by the police for his vigilante activities. Had he signed the Sokovia Accords and agree to cooperate with law enforcement? Do the Accords still exist by this latest MCU entry? If not, why is Spider-man practicing vigilantism without law enforcement breathing down his back? In the end, I get the feeling that Kevin Feige and the MCU seem undecided on what to do with the Sokovia Accords arc. Worse, the franchise seems incapable of utilizing this story arc with any real competency. How can it if its writers do not know the difference between an accord and a law? But the more I think about the Sokovia Accords, the more I cannot help but feel that its creation was one of the biggest mistakes made by the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

#anti mcu #anti sokovia accords #anti marvel cinematic universe #anti captain america civil war #anti kevin feige #zack snyder #batman v supeman: dawn of justice #Don Cheadle #war machine #marvel netflix #william hurt #thaddeus ross #agents of shield season 4 #anti agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#phil coulson #clark gregg #jessica jones #u.s. constitution

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sergeant-angels-trashcan · 6 years ago

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anyway i finally saw endgame and surprisingly??? i did not hate it to the very primal core of my being???

but also i had like....the LOWEST standards for it, so that might be it more than how good the movie actually was.

really i just feel very “what a bizzare fanvid i just watched”

Onward!

The Good:

the whole Steve-in-the-Elevator scene. My little stuckate shipper heart was just like FUCK THEM UP BOO.

“that is America’s ass”

uh....

rocket!

and nebula! god i adore nebula more and more every day

and Valkyrie was soooo good and I’m glad Meiks and Korg were there

also Rescue fucking finally

and the whole a-force visual towards the end there, i appreciated that

also Carol’s lesbian haircut

STEVE BEING FUCKING WORTHY OF THE HAMMER FUCK YES

Sam getting the shield!

everyone coming out of their magical glowing portals

fucking. QUEEN BRUNNHILDE sorry KING BRUNNHILDE

find her a wife ffs

but also

fuck this movie

so like...it was REALLY slow for the first hour. at least. i was getting bored actually

Tony’s daughter was adorable and I love dad!tony but it’s also in line with Marvel giving men families to give them More Pain and I’m over that

also are you trying to tell me he wouldn’t have named her some derivative of peter? or carol, or nebula, since they’re the reason he is alive? i call bullshit

“marvel’s first openly gay character” you know what fuck you marvel

that woman in the support meeting might be kate in a future fic i’m just saying

for as much time as they spend tooling around this new universe they really didn’t give us much information--who is in charge? how are you getting electricity?

all i wanted was for gamora or nebula to kill thanos and i was denied this catharsis. fuck you. you can let an abuser kill the woman he abused but not vice versa? fuck. you.

who was that random boy kid at tony’s funeral?

bold of the russos to assume peggy wouldn’t notice someone staring at her

how is nebula not dead? she killed a past version of herself so????

holy plot holes batman

because...the soul stone...YOU are supposed to sacrifice what is most important to YOU so...how does Natasha killing herself fulfill that requirement? Clint did not sacrifice her. This implies that Natasha loves herself the most and that means she would have gotten the stone...i’m so confused about this

how did no one notice nebula’s hands were wrong? you’ve known her for five goddamn years gang. yeah i get she covered it up but rhodey saw it get mcfried while getting the stone....this seems like something rhodey would notice. because. he’s fucking rhodey.

i get why like...narratively tony ~had~ to die but also...what’s wrong with fucking retirement? why couldn’t he pass the mantle of iron man on? like in? the comics? was that kid supposed to be iron lad i mean for realz

and I get that Steve got to have his happy ending with his one true love and that’s so great, but idk fam...i didn’t like it. and i think i don’t like it because it places this huge focus on Never Moving On and I guess some people probably do have their one true love and they never love another, but i think there’s real value in stories where people find love again, where people go through trauma and can still be happy even after going through loss. this is viscerally important to me

also i firmly believe that peggy is married to angie

does this mean steve knew sharon? since she knew peggy really well? and she kisses him? does steve just hide every time she comes over? it wasn’t creepy in civil war but it’s sure creepy now

although peggy explaining to everyone that her husband doesn't look ANYTHING like steve rogers is sort of hilarious. how did they even explain this.

no it’s getting worse because peggy has Alzheimer's supposedly well no fucking wonder she was confused with young!steve showing up and presumably her old husband steve showing up as well like. what.

i mean. i’m glad steve got his happy ending

but i also feel like this was really insulting to bucky. Steve went back and never went out to find bucky? to stop him being tortured? the guy who is your best friend? you didn’t even say mcfucking goodbye? marvel was that “no homo” about their relationship in this movie???

chris and seb’s chemistry is just so strong they had to keep their shared dialogue to three lines?

i understand steve staying in the past. i get why they did it. i hate HOW they did it

wheremst the fuck is loki you fuckos

also all of Peter’s peers are 5 years older than he is

what on earth do the people who were dusted think of all the fucking ptsd all their loved ones have or the fact that THEY MISSED FIVE YEARS

was cassie living in that house all by herself?

also you know what it was really irritating when tony was blaming steve for not being around while completely ignoring any culpability he had in making it so that steve could not actually be around. and steve apparently made like the rest of us and blocked the events of civil war from his mind so he didn’t remember his valid fears

y’all fucked up your own timelines so bad like? sitwell is wandering around thinking cap is hydra, loki never spent time in asgard jail, or did the stones get replaced before those things happened? like immediately before? and if not i’m going to have to assume that loki went on the lam and then called noh to pick him up in earth airspace and noh becomes his unwitting getaway driver and eventually the ya get involved in interstellar crime shenanigans.

the fact that vision didn’t come back sort of implies that everyone who was killed before the snap didn’t come back, so that still leaves a shitton of asgardians dead, loki, and ???? who knows about gamora. right?

in conclusion, it was...okay. it had some really good moments but was mostly just “???????” for me. like, i’m not even mad. i’m going to erase it from my memory immediately except for Steve dating Kate in the five years and when Bucky comes back she’s just like “hey! I think we have the same boyfriend!” and they share custody of Steve until steve gets called in to consult on a mission and asks bucky to go on his date with kate and that’s how they become a triad

#endgame #avengers endgame #endgame spoilers #also i'm willing to consider kate getting dusted and tony naming his daughter after her #im like...very unimpressed

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the-insomniac-cat · 6 years ago

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ENDGAME BIG SPOILERS

Complete synopsis of the entire film below the cut.

If you want spoilers but not the whole shebang, scroll down to my other Spoiler post.

Why post this? Because some people want to know, either before they go, or instead of going, or to decide whether to or not.

Look, if you don’t want to know, then use the tag filter. In case you didn’t set it up, then I’ve put in the ‘keep reading’ cut. So you should be covered. So please, no more anon hate! (Haters are so brave when they go anon!)

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT MY SYNOPSIS. I HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM (and won’t) THIS IS FROM A REDDIT USER. BECAUSE LOTS OF SPOILERS OVER THERE ARE BEING TAKEN DOWN, I DECIDED TO CUT AND PASTE IT RATHER THAN JUST GIVE A LINK.

People who HAVE seen the film have been adding comments to this post on Reddit, saying it is ‘correct’, or ‘basically correct’.

CREDIT: Reddit Posted byu/Wico90

12% credit to Brontcrab24 and others

First Scene is actually Hawkeye losing his family to the snap. He doesn’t actually see it happen as he is facing the other direction. We then get the Tony/Nebula sequence (paper football, etc). Tony records his message to Pepper. When he falls asleep, Nebula takes him to the front of the ship and sits him in the pilots seat. He wakes up and sees something glowing outside the window. Captain Marvel helps them return to Earth. Pepper, Rocket, Steve and Rhodey all come out to greet him. Tony is very shaken, particularly about losing Peter.

Movie starts with the Avengers trying to find Thanos. Steve wasn’t to know where Thanos is and asks Tony, but Tony says he doesn’t know, They argue. Nebula knows of Thanos’ garden he said he would once go to when he completed his goal. They found him because of the energy he released using the gauntlet. Thanos is alone, and tells them he used the gauntlet to destroy the gems. He is weak and Thor, angry, decapitates him.

Title Card and five years later.

Natasha is now basically in charge of what's left of the Avengers is talking to them via holograms. Basically the world is in ruins and they're trying to salvage it. Carol is there via hologram with a new haircut and uniform and tells them that she's covering thousands of planets and won't be able to come back to Earth for a "long time".

Steve and Nat talk about how the Avengers are family. Inside a storage shed is Luis’s van. A rat is crawling over the Quantum controls and activated the switch which brings Scott out. He’s now locked inside the cage but starts waving at the security cameras. A guard lets him out and he is walking the streets confused as to why everything is so overgrown and run down. He finds a memorial which lists the names of the ‘missing’ on large stones. He starts reading them panicking that Cassie might be listed on them. But she isn’t. He sees her at home, as an older version of herself. Scott drives to the Avengers facility and Nat and Steve let him in and he tells them about the Quantum realm and how they might be able to build a time machine to go back to the past before everything happened. They visit Tony, but he doesn’t want to help. He’s happy with the way that his life is, with Pepper and his daughter Morgan. They leave and to visit Bruce who is now Professor Hulk.

The plan becomes to start looking for the gems in the past. Initially Banner builds quantum time machine and sends Scott back to test but it is faulty, Tony refuses to help at this point, however, he returns Caps shield and they make up. He tweaks Banners Quantum Machine, The catch is that they need quantum particles for it to work.

Natasha goes to Japan to get Clint. He is mourning his family and is not certain of the plan. Rocket and Hulk go to get Thor who is drinking and playing video games with Korg and Meik. (Funny joke involving an online video game troll)

Finally the team then all suit up and discuss their plans to get the stones. They make it clear that they can not mess up because there is only enough Quantum particles for one trip for each of them.

Tony, Scott, Steve and Bruce go to the Battle of New York. Hulk meets the Ancient One at Dr Stranger's future home. Ancient One refuses to give the Time Stone to Bruce but relents when Bruce tells her that Dr Strange will give the stone to Thanos.

Cap, Iron Man and Scott tries to retrieve the Tessaract after Loki surrenders. SHIELD/Hydra agents Crossbones and that bald guy with glasses in Winter Soldier retrieve the brief case containing the Tessaract. Past Hulk funnily has to walk down lots of flights of stairs as he can't go on lift due to maximum capacity. Cap meets with Crossbones with the briefcase in elevator along with other Hydra agents. He convinces them to give him the briefcase containing the staff when he utters two words: Hail Hydra. Cap gets the briefcase. Tony in disguise as a SWAT soldier tells Scott to disable his past self's chest reactor to give him a minor seizure while his past self meets up with Alexander Pierce who demands the Mind Stone and Loki. Present Tony retrieves the briefcase but past Hulk accidentally knocks out Tony and Loki uses the confusion to teleport out with the Tessaract. Present Cap accidentally meets with his 2012 self, and 2012 self thinks he's Loki in disguise. They fought and 2012 has present self in chokehold when he tells his past self that Bucky is alive. He then taps his past self with staff to knock him out.

In Asgard, fat Thor and Rocket plans to retrieve the Aether out of Jane Foster's body. Thor's mother meets his 'son' and know he's from the future. Rocket retrieves the aether out of Jane by prodding her off screen and gets chased by guards. Before Thor leaves, he retrieves Mjolnir!

On Morag, War Machine and Nebula stays on Morag while Clint and Nat goes to Voromir via a ship that Rocket miniatures for Clint. Unknown to Nebula, her past self's nervous system and databanks are connected to each other and Thanos finds out where the stones are and how he meets his fate.

Cap and Tony transport back to 1970 at the SHIELD training site seen in Winter Soldier and goes underground to retrieve that era's Tessaract. Tony retrieves the Tesseract while meeting his dad. He calls himself Howard Potts. Cap makes a prank call to young Hank Pym and sneaks into his office to steal 4 vials of Pym Particles. Cap also sees Peggy. Cap and Tony teleport back to present.

WM and Nebula knocks out Quill during his dance in intro of GOTG. They got the stone and WM and Nebula was meant to teleport together but WM only succeeded. Present Nebula and past Nebula meets and fights and past Nebula takes her place to go back to present.

On Voromir, Clint and May meets the Red Skull as seen in Infinity War and is told how to retrieve the stone. Clint and Nat fought each other. Clint jumped off cliff but Nat catches him and held on by grappling rope. She falls off and dies like Gamora. Clint now has the Stone.

All members went back to present and everyone is devastated by Nat's death. Tony and Bruce constructs the Infinity Gauntlet and Thor wants to wield it but Hulk goes instead as he's the strongest one and the stones emit gamma radiation according to him. He wields it and snaps his fingers restoring all life lost. Clint's wife calls him on mobile. Hulk suffers extreme pain in his right arm due to IG. Past Nebula activates the Quantum teleporter and summons Thanos' warship and blasts the Avengers HQ to ruins with missiles.

Hulk lifting up rubble similar to Secret Wars cover where he lifts up a whole mountain except this is less in film lol.

Clint finds the gauntlet and is being chased by Outriders creatures in last film. He kills them and is met by past Nebula. Gamora and present Nebula meets up and Nebula kills her past self.

Cap, Tony and Thor teams up against Thanos. Thor is losing against Thanos even though he has Stormbreaker and Mjolnir. Thanos is about to kill Thor with SB when:

Cap lifts up Mjolnir and beats Thanos with hammer and shield.

Thanos uses his double blade weapon to break Cap's shield in half.

Thanos summons his whole army including the Black Order and some new creatures. Cap is all by himself against a whole army.

He hears Sam's voice and he turns around and see EVERYONE who has vanished PLUS huge armies of Wakandans, sorcerers and Asgardians (no signs of Warrior Three). Wong, Valkyrie, Wasp and Pepper Potts as Rescue turns up as well. Ant Man becomes Giant Man.

Clint plays American Football with IG and passes it to Black Panther then Spidey. Quill meets past Gamora and gets hit in the balls, not believing he is the one she loves lol. Scarlet Witch overpowers Thanos but Thanos orders missiles to hit everyone including his forces. Captain Marvel shows up to destroy Thanos' flagship and gets the IG and dashes towards the goal. There is a bit where Hope and Scott goes to the van with the Quantum teleporter in the middle of battlefield. Was lost in the moment so forgot why they doing that, sorry.

All female Marvel characters fight Thanos. Spidey's armoured suit goes autokill mode with the extra arms.

Thanos tries to take the gauntlet off Marvel by headbutting her but didn't phase her.

Thanos retrieves the gauntlet away from Stark and he snaps his fingers. Nothing happened. The stones went to Stark and before he snaps his fingers, he says 'I'm Iron Man'.

White flash of light.

All of Thanos' forces turn to dust including Thanos himself.

Tony dies from using the gauntlet. Everyone mourns.

The battle is won but at a cost.

Holographic Tony gives a message to everyone present including his daughter.

A wreath with Tony's chest reactor is laid to rest at the lake near Tony's hut.

Everyone is present including GOTG, Peter, Maria, Ross, Nick and Hank and Janet.

Thor, still fat designates Valkyrie as Queen of New Asgard in Tonnsberg. Thor is now travelling with GOTG to find Gamora and maybe more Asgardians. Quill and Thor are about to fight for leadership lol.

Scott, Cassie and Hope are together again. Wakanda is back with his King.

Cap goes on a mission to put back the stones and Mjolnir to their proper places. Hulk says to Sam and Buck that he should be back in 5 secs. He didn't. Sam sees a old man at a bench and it's Old Man Steve (who looks like Clint Eastwood now but less wrinkles and bit younger than he is lol). Steve has wedding ring and passes his shield to Sam. Sam is honoured.

Ending shows young Cap dancing with Peggy at their house. That's it.

Credits music is set to 1930s music then shows all cast members. The main cast is shown with their signatures on it.

There is NO post credit scenes which is a first for a MCU.

Stan Lee cameo is set in 1970s where he is shown in his 70s younger self driving a car with a woman, driving past a army base where Cap and Tony retrieves the Tesseract there.

#ENDGAME SPOILERS #end game spoilers #ENDGAME #end game #SPOILERS #big spoilers #AV4 #AV 4 #AVENGERS 4

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