#like at one of the falcons game i went to

[angelic-sturniolos111]

*The New Avengers | headcanons

authors note: marvel tumblr is SO BACK BABY. we’re getting avengers tower fics again— i could cry 🥹 obviously don’t read if you haven’t seen thunderbolts* although there’s not really any spoilers in this anyways

marvel characters masterlist

marvel taglist

Yelena

has a cute array of various succulents on the windowsill of her bedroom.

owns more stuffed animals than the average adult female probably should.

she doesn’t really read all that much, but if she hears of a new bestselling book, or anytime she passes by a bookstore, she always buys a new book for Bob :’)

hates the color pink.

likes to coordinate pranks to pull on Bucky with John.

downloaded tinder just to try it out. made a profile. deleted said profile less than half an hour later. deleted the app. never again.

Bucky

in the early hours of the morning when everyone is still sleeping he’ll make his way to the tower gym, play a YouTube yoga routine on his phone, and do morning yoga. he’s very embarrassed about it for some reason, but it’s therapeutic for him. plus he’s like, 100 years old, so it’s good for his muscles and bones.

HATES the taste of beer. drinks the absolute fruitiest, girliest cocktails and has NO shame about it whatsoever.

really pushing for the team to agree to getting a cat as a pet to let roam around the tower and such. Bucky gives cat dad vibes idk.

asked Bob and Yelena to teach him how to use FaceTime so he can FaceTime Okoye :’)

journals every night before bed.

loves loves LOVES matcha tea.

makes sure he does the daily wordle.

Ava

has a passion for cooking and loves making new recipes for the team to try.

with her newfound freedom and autonomy, she looks back on pop culture moments she missed from her stolen childhood. she finds that she LOVES 1D and becomes a directioner later in life. better late than never.

loves to go to local farmers markets and festivals.

John

diehard Atlanta Falcons fan and always asks (demands) the team to watch the game with him.

Bob always says yes even though he has zero interest in football and has no idea what is going on 99% of the time (he’s just happy to be included :) )

Alexei also always says yes, but it’s because it’s an excuse for him to sit around and drink some beers… then he goes on and on praising “the great American sport” of football.

John hates doing laundry. hates it. like will literally wait until he doesn’t have a single clean pair of underwear left before doing it.

he likes to hit the gym/ train with Bucky even though Bucky outperforms him most of the time. john will pretend he’s not even breaking a sweat to keep his composure and make himself look “cool” for Bucky even though he’s going to collapse on the gym floor (hydra serum IS the fancy one).

John will never admit to it, will take this secret to his fucking GRAVE, but he absolutely loves Bridgerton. he sat in on Ava watching an episode and said things like “this is so stupid” “what is this shit” but then immediately went to his room afterwards and binged the entire series.

Bob

has posters of his favorite bands/artists plastered all over his bedroom walls like a damn teenager.

keeps a (rather large) poster of “the new avengers” on the wall in front of his bed so he can see it before he goes to bed at night and when he wakes up in the morning to start his day.

likes to paint yelena’s nails for her because it’s very calming and grounding for him.

“I mean— I- I can paint them! You know, uhm, like if that’s okay with you? Not in a weird way I- I just—”

“Sure Bob, you can paint my nails for me.” :)

always shyly compliments Yelena and Ava randomly “that’s a nice color on you” “your hair looks really nice today”

loves to sit on the balcony of avengers tower and just people watch, nature watch. really take everything in and ground himself.

gets really excited for holidays. he likes to go to the party store and decorate different rooms in the tower for whatever holiday is coming up.

downloaded Duolingo to learn some basic Russian to impress Yelena… but Alexei ends up appreciating it was more and presses Bob about doing his daily lessons so he doesn’t lose his streak.

Alexei

ice cream addict. LOVES ben & jerry’s. it got to the point where he was buying so much ice cream “for the team” that it was taking up all the space in the kitchen freezer. so, he bought a mini fridge for his room and he keeps them there for himself.

INSISTS that, at least once a week, the team has a “game night” with all sorts of board games, charades, etc… the team will grunt groan and protest everytime he asks, but ultimately they all end up having fun (and arguing like crazy)

watches love island. he 1000% watches love island.

snores SO FUCKING LOUD— like the team is begging Val to reconstruct his bedroom to make it soundproof. you can hear him snoring from down the hall.

never makes it through a single movie. falls asleep every. single. time. very dad of him.

please let me know if you like this because I haven’t written for marvel in YEARS, but I’m looking to get back into it! let me know if you want a part two, or if you want solo character headcanons :)

[yourmcu]

Ace

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x Gamer!Stark!Reader, Avengers x Reader

Summary:

Your girlfriend, your dad, along with the rest of the Avengers, support you during a VALORANT tournament.

Word count: 4.6k+

Warnings: too much VALORANT descriptions, you can google stuff about it if you want to get a good visual of this story, basically an avengers fic as a whole but i love supportive gf nat >:(

A/n: one of the drafts I left a long time ago! I miss writing for the avengers, so I decided to finish this one.

(completely italic dialogues - casters commentating)

All the hollering from the lounge died down when Natasha practically shoved both Sam and Bucky off the couch, stealing the TV remote in the process. Their basketball game can wait, her girlfriend’s tournament is more important.

“Oh, shoot. Y/N/N's tournament is today?” Sam suddenly remembered and Bucky made a quick detour out of the lounge to fetch Steve and possibly the others. They kind of promised you they'd support your game this time around, with the knowledge that they had free time on the dates of your tournament. Sam snapped his fingers, “Snacks. I'll be right back.”

No, you weren’t a professional athlete; if anything, you’re the opposite. Your wrists move more than your whole body most of the time, you only stay an hour or less in the gym, and you prioritize getting better in Aim Lab than a shooting range.

Ever since women playing in VALORANT E-Sports were normalized, you were one of the anticipated gamers to compete, of course you were on board and signed on to an esports organization and team roster. You’ve made a name for yourself in the gaming industry because of your high IQ and big brain plays. You used your head in every match, every round unlike the majority of the players mindlessly aiming and not landing shots. Because of your career, you’re known for something else and not just Iron Man’s daughter.

Natasha didn’t like the fact that you were glued to your computer most of the time at first. She thought Tony spoiled you too much even as an adult, but she later on realized that you graduated with a degree before settling into gaming. You worked for the Avengers, sometimes as an IT for a big company which paid more than you needed. You were basically set. All of this while you were still pretty young, a little younger than Natasha.

It’s safe to say all of Natasha’s doubts went away. She felt rather impressed and took a liking to you, which developed into something more over time.

From her phone, you chuckled when you heard Sam and Bucky’s shuffling. “We’re not up for another thirty minutes, babe.” On your end, you and your team were with the event's coordinators backstage of the actual place the tourney was held. Natasha always called you before and after your events, just because she was the best supportive girlfriend ever.

“I know, I wanted to set everything up before anything else,” Natasha put you on speaker while she dealt with the TV’s settings. You smiled to yourself, absolutely adoring your girlfriend even more when she was eager and supporting your games. “Are you guys still at the hotel?”

You had to travel out of the country for the tournament. As much as Natasha wanted to go with you (Clint wanted to go too because he ‘needed a break’, you just rolled your eyes at him and laughed), being a full time hero and an Avenger doesn’t mean you get to travel 24/7. She has to be with the team in case something terribly wrong happens, which doesn’t come with a warning. “Backstage, actually. Cloud9 and Misfits are wrapping up their last match right now,” You replied. “I've already warmed up at the hotel earlier. It's crazy how our room fits all of our PCs.”

“Ah, c'mon, you don't need no warm-ups!” Sam teased, hearing you on speaker as he walked back with refreshments and an assortment of chip bags.

You giggled, rolling your eyes at the Falcon’s words. “Stop it, Sam. You know me; I always get tilted when I play too much before the actual competition.”

Sometimes you get anxious and it affects your performance, same goes for when you warm-up too much; you lose focus the more games you play, leaving nothing for the tournament.

Despite Natasha's excitement to watch your team play, she’s not too vocal about it. She wouldn’t squeal when it starts or bombard you with loud encouragement through the call, because one, she doesn’t want to be the embarrassing girlfriend, and two, she’s the Black Widow. She’s naturally subtle about everything. You knew her more than anyone else though, so even if that was the case, you still felt her support.

Thirty minutes went by quicker than you’d hope, you were so caught up in watching the game of the other rivaling teams and commenting on everything that happened whilst still in the call with Natasha. You also answered Bucky’s queries when he came back; he’s only ever heard of e-sports since you started competing in it. He couldn’t imagine how hard switching point of views and the player’s face cameras must be. Bucky has only watched, what, actual live game tournaments, basketball or chess or whatever. It was confusing to him at times, but you told him he’d get used to it eventually just by taking note of the red and blue colors.

You were cut off by one of your teammates placing a hand on your shoulder, signaling you that it was time to go. “Alright. Nat, I have to go, I’ll call you when I get back?”

The two men were the first ones you heard react, Sam shifted in his seat excitedly while Bucky wondered out loud if he should call Tony, Peter, and Bruce, who were all unnecessarily working overtime at the lab.

You felt yourself smile again when she spoke. “Okay,” Natasha bit her lip, feeling anxious about the tournament, “I love you.”

“I love you.”

“Good luck!” Sam shouted before you hung up.

Natasha almost snorted when she heard loud footsteps coming towards the lounge entrance. Her sister had the worst timings ever.

“Someone decided to take a long shit while we were heading back. Has Y/N’s game started yet?” Yelena walked in as fast as she could with Fanny, looking at Natasha expectantly as she shrugged off her thick coat and got out of her boots. Fanny ran to where the couches were as soon as Yelena removed her leash, wagging her tail happily without a clue in the world.

“About to, but you did miss her on the phone.”

“Ah, fuck.”

Soon, Bruce, Tony, Peter, Wanda and Vision came down to watch as well. Your tournaments were one of the occasions the team had the chance to bond and get together in one room, it definitely helped with the morale as Steve would think, and they have you to thank for that.

Everyone was just in time to see you walk out to the stage with your team and the opposing one. You were in your team jersey and arm sleeves with your teammates behind you in a straight line.

Tony woot-ed, plopping down next to Natasha. “Heard Y/N/N's team is going up against a brand new team roster. This should be a piece of cake for her, eh?”

Peter sat down beside him, looking at the said rival team with yours, all lined up on stage. “I don't know about that, Mr. Stark. One of them recently went viral after getting five aces on a ranked game. She's radiant, too.”

Admittedly, he also played VALORANT with you and Ned, but often miscalculates his strength as he frequently breaks his keyboard or mouse because of freaking out whenever he sees an enemy. His reflexes and fighting skills were better off used in real time.

“And Y/N/N's been on the top ten leaderboard for, what, six months?” Tony challenged, evidently confident in your skills.

The chatter on who's better than who died down when both teams sat down on their respective computers. Though it wasn’t that noticeable to most people, Natasha noticed it right away: you were wearing the necklace she gave you. You considered it your lucky charm.

After both teams chose the maps they wanted to ban and maps they wanted to play, the game started.

You mostly play the character - or agent - Killjoy. The agent reminded you so much of yourself from her overall vibe and game mechanic: she had utility to aid the whole team, from turrets to alarm bots, and an ultimate that conducts lockdowns on any part of the map. You were so used to that character that you even played her on maps she’s not very helpful at because you mastered everything about her, which made you stand out from other players as no one would dare use characters on maps they weren't good in. Gears were practically turning in your head as the game loaded.

Then, the first game commenced.

The Avengers always made noise whenever you got a kill, or whenever the casters praised you for outsmarting the opposing team, which Steve and Bucky appreciated because it was hard for them to distinguish whether or not you did something good.

Your team easily won the first game. The Avengers were now watching your tournament on the flat screen TV like a bunch of teenagers watching a romcom, all giddy and filled with anticipation.

“Look at that, 13-1? She’s insane." Bruce shook his head. A team needed to win at least 13 rounds to win, if it's neck and neck, 14, or they may choose to go into overtime.

“I’ve never seen Y/N play with that kind of aggression before; they don’t stand a chance.” Wanda pointed out. She liked to spectate from the side whenever you played at the compound, whenever she could.

Natasha’s lips turned upright when they replayed your team’s best moments. One included your one versus three clutch, in which you threw a taunting, questioning look at the opposing roster across the stage after you effortlessly took out three enemies on your own. It was like their heads weren’t in the game at all.

The team laughed when they showed the exact clip of your face camera mocking the other team across the room. Natasha liked that about you; sure you were reserved and shy in general, but she loved it when all your confidence just comes out while you’re out there.

Another clip was when you had a problem with communication, so you weren’t aware that there were enemies around. Your character didn’t stop running because of that and you were exposed to two enemies. You reacted fast and jumped, pulled out your vandal to shoot both of them in the face.

Tony clapped his hands together at that moment. “Let’s go. Let’s fucking go, Y/N/N.”

Natasha, not all that phased on your brilliant play, could still not contain the smile on her face as she plopped back down on the couch.

“What? Wait, hold on, how did she even-” Sam looked back at everyone while they reacted to the highlight. He didn’t exactly process what happened because you moved too fast.

“God reflexes,” Yelena shrugs, not looking away from the screen. Wanda laughs in agreement.

After a bit of commentary and commercials, it was on to the next match on a new map.

Now, Natasha did not know the difference between the multiple maps at all, but she did remember you mentioning that your weakest one had to do with ice.

The next match was on a map called Icebox.

So, she watched intently as your team took a little while during the agent selection. But in the end, you decided to go for Killjoy again. Natasha could only guess what you had in mind to pull off another win.

“This is highly unusual for [Team Name] Y/N, isn’t it? Right now she’s watching the flanks when we usually expect her to be out there with a duelist to try and take picks!” The caster exclaimed, looking at their partner caster. “She’s one of the strong sentinels who you would trust to be by your side - and look at that, she takes out two already, they did not expect anyone to be holding the flank!”

“But she's using Killjoy again - couldn't she have gone for Cypher or Sage? Then again, they already have Skye on their team.”

Even though you were trying to play smart in this map, you still hated it, it was your weakest one. Still good, but not all that great. The opposing team seemed to know the typical Killjoy strategy on the Icebox map. You got sniped every round and your setups were way too predictable to the opposing team.

Soon, the score was 4-10. It was definitely not good to be on the end of only winning four rounds. Your team had to win the remaining rounds or hope for the best and go to overtime, or you lose this game and go onto the third one which would be way nerve racking and increase the odds of losing.

“Intense match so far we've got here. With [Team Name] Y/N at the bottom of the leaderboard this just has to be a miracle for [Team Name] to get a second win and move on to the next round.”

“There's also a bit of a setback with her shots in the last few rounds. I guess this is when we get to see if she's learned a thing or two from her girlfriend, right?”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “They honestly did not have to bring that up.”

The other commentator expressed confusion at their partner's comment.

“The Black Widow! [Team Name] Y/N's been dating her for the last couple years. Honestly, where have you been?”

Everyone groaned as they started bringing your dating life to the conversation when they should be sticking to the game. Tony chose to laugh it off to and ignore the annoyance, whereas Yelena mumbled, “Did they just turn into a morning show now?”

After everyone in your team died, you all decided to ask for a timeout to talk things out. While that was going on, the Avengers had their own timeout and were trying to talk about the game, or at least what they thought was happening.

“Okay, assuming we've all seen how this Killjoy character works, her character would make most sense if her utility was in Site A." Bruce said, in thought.

Vision, one of the smartest of the bunch, had not grasped the game mechanics that well over the hour and half of the tournament. "But why is that, Dr. Banner?"

“Site A is pretty cramped, while site B has a lot of space. Of course the opposing team would always go to B since Y/N’s character's utility can't place utilities in both sites, they only have limited range," Peter points to the map as soon as it's shown up close, the casters having their own separate conversation about it.

Bucky turned to a confused Steve and Sam, “I have no idea what they're talking about.”

“Where else would she put her chicken gun on site B, then?” Tony joined the conversation, talking about your character's utility placement.

“It’s,” Natasha sighed. “It’s not a chicken gun...”

“Well, that chicken gun slows down enemies, right? It would make sense if Y/N places those bomb thingies to instantly kill them.” Yelena said.

“Lena, I think Y/N is fairly capable of playing the game right,” Wanda chuckled.

“Then she should be winning.” Yelena said jokingly, chugging on her drink.

It was astonishing how a group of heroes are knowledgeable about a video game, just so they could follow what you enjoy doing. That's how much they adored you.

Clint entered the room and looked at the source of ruckus, absolutely sick of the discourse. He was aware of your tournament and has been probably spectating on different means. “They still get another match if they lose this one. It’s the best out of three.”

“I’m starting to think someone’s cheating, has anyone noticed that some of the opponent team instantly kill them with only one bullet?” Steve squinted.

Tony scoffed. “That’s ridiculous, it’s a tournament.”

“It’s because they hit them precisely on the head, Steve. Who wouldn’t die if they got shot in the head?” Sam crossed his arms.

“Me,” that came from Vision.

“You don’t count.”

They all turned back to the screen once the timeout timer ran out. Natasha could sense the tension in your team, just from the way you glanced across the stage… she could tell you were gonna have a different way of playing the remaining rounds. The screen turned to you stretching your neck from both sides, seriousness evident in your face as you clutched your mouse, ready for the game to resume.

“And we're back, and it seems that [Team Name] had enough time to come up with a different game plan. We've got one duelist camping B, one on mid, and look at [Team Name] Y/N's utility. She's got her alarm bot and nano-swarms over on A, but her turret is on B as she's over by tunnel to keep it active.”

“Again, I have no idea what he's talking about.” Bucky shrugged, crossed his arms and kept his eyes on the screen.

After fixing your team's strategy, all that was left was to deliver with accurate shots and stay alive as much as possible. By the end of a few rounds, with your team’s communication and teamwork flawless than ever, the score was 12-11. Your team only had to win one more time to officially win.

At this point, Yelena and Wanda were loudly reacting to the gameplay, Sam and Tony were howling, rooting for you. Clint ended up setting himself on one of the sofa's arms, invested in the match.

Natasha was on the edge of her seat, clutching the couch cushions. She couldn’t help but chuckle when they showed your reaction momentarily, clearly breathless and eyes wide, fist bumping your teammates seated beside you.

“Oh, what a comeback! The most intense so far, am I right?” The caster exclaimed.

“[Team Name] only has to win one more round before moving on to the next part of this tournament!”

The last round wasn’t exactly in your team’s favor in the half. Three of your team got killed already, only two of you remaining and the five of the enemy team. The rival team obviously did not want to hand over the win that easily.

After the call of another successful kill by the opposing team, you were the last one standing against a full set of players. You would either have to clutch up the round or go into overtime.

Clint perked up, pulling out his wallet. “Alright, who wants to get the bets started?” He asked, placing down a crisp fifty dollar bill on the coffee table. “Y/N wins the game.”

They all stopped to look at him as if he was a madman.

“C’mon, Barton, it’s one versus five.” Sam pointed out.

“So what? Am I the only one who believes in Y/N here? Oh, Nat, you better start placing fifties.”

Natasha merely rolled her eyes, not once wanting to bet on or against her girl. Her eyes glued to the screen in which your character is cautiously checking if the area is clear to plant the bomb.

But Tony pulled out the same type of bill from his wallet, placing it on top of the archer's money.

“Mr. Stark, you do realize you're betting against-” Peter started.

“Hush, spiderling. Watch the game.” Tony brushed him off and watched the screen intently.

Tony was proud of you, truly. But it would also be funny to tease you lovingly when you go home as a loser.

You set up your utility, kind of surprised the whole enemy team went to the other site in which they thought you were heading. They did not leave anyone behind to make sure, as per your cautious scan of the area before settling. After checking all angles again, with thirty seconds to spare, you planted the spike.

“This is a dangerous game to play. She has to hold a lot of angles by herself, they could come in from anywhere.”

The spike continued to beep, which added a lot more tension among the Avengers. Natasha alternated from looking at the actual game to your face camera, of which was the only one left colored. You kept pacing at one of the hiding places, waiting for the slightest noise or actions from the other team.

You decided to peek at one of the entrances to the site once, the Jett with an operator narrowly missed your head so you took the opportunity to blast her head off. Afterwards, your alarm bot from the other side of your hiding place went off, so you went and peeked quickly, managing to pick off another player from the opposite team. Two down, three to go.

The Avengers erupted in noise. Sam and Peter were losing their minds, Bucky and Steve had amazed grins on their faces, and Natasha was clinging on to Yelena and Fanny like a fangirl trying to contain herself.

“What was that?!”

“She's a god!”

“My god, this is way too intense for me.”

Both commentators erupted in surprised glee as well. “A double kill from [Team Name] Y/N! The others are slowly making their way into the site, what will she do?!”

A Sova fired a dart to hopefully reveal your location on the map, but you were too quick to shoot it down to cancel it. But, the Sova spotted you anyway, and was able to shoot you until you were at only 50 HP.

You hid again and recalled your turret, placing it on top of the wall in front of you before sneaking your way to the opposite side. It could watch your back while you attempt to peek on the other side to surprise your enemies.

That move managed to catch one of the other players trying to sneak in as well, and you killed them off with ease. Three down, two to go.

“Down goes [Player Name]! Sova and Yoru are still on the lookout, it's like an intense version of hide & seek up in here!”

Barely anyone was talking now, all eyes on the enormous screen.

“Y/N has her ult!” Peter pointed out.

That you did, as your third kill managed to unlock enough points for it. Aware of its availability, you hurried off to the perfect spot to plant it to cover almost the entire site, still hidden from your enemies. Killjoy's voice rang through the game, saying 'Initiated!', when you planted her ultimate.

“What's that? What's happening?” Steve asked.

“Well, it's called 'lockdown', so I'm assuming it's locking off the area within its perimeter... trapping everyone inside...” Bruce said, lost in thought because of the game.

The Yoru activated their ultimate in time with yours, and you were now twice as cautious, looking around for blue swirls of the duelist to avoid getting sniped easily. He tried to blind you, but you were quick to move your view away from the flash to avoid it. Stupidly, the Yoru's ultimate ran out while trying to destroy your lockdown, so you killed them without hesitation. Four down, one to go.

Clint cackled at the turn of events while the others continued to freak out, teasing Tony, a billionaire, on losing a fifty-dollar bet. “What did I tell you, Stark?! What did I tell you?!”

The spike's beeps started getting faster and you could finally see the finish line. But, you were still cautious as they still had more than enough time to defuse if they managed to kill you.

“You know, [Team Name] Y/N could just leave the site at this point. It's game over for [Rival Team Name].”

“Ah, don't speak too soon there! [Team Name] Y/N's now inspecting the outer corners of the site, unaware of [Rival Team Name] [Player]'s sneaky entrance - and she's placed a smoke down, ready to defuse!”

Of course you were unaware of the opponent's whereabouts. But, you did hear the defuse sound go off for a second. With that, you head back, holding a grenade to throw near the area of the spike.

“She's got this in the bag.” Sam said in content.

After a few seconds, the defusing sound started up again, but you were certain that the grenade you set off did some damage to your opponent on top of the information you got from your teammates before they died.

You started to jiggle-peek from your spot, clearly visible from your opponent's perspective, so they had no choice but to stop defusing the spike to try and shoot you.

Unfortunately, they did a number on you, so you decided to go around. Once the cooldown reset on your turret, you placed it down on one side for intel. With only 20 HP left, you snuck up to the other side of the obstacle to hopefully pull off a knife kill for the finale.

“This game is way more intense than I thought.” Bucky spoke thoughtfully amidst the suspense-filled silence.

“Shhhh!”

“Oh my god, she's got her knife out.” Natasha said in disbelief, watching your character sneak up behind your opponent whose back is facing you.

“So?”

“Just wait for it.” Natasha bit her lip, knowing fully well how you always prefer a devastating way to end a match.

The commentators were freaking out, a combination of “no's”, “don't do this”, and “not like this” rang through the Avengers' speakers. It was considered devastating in the VALORANT community to be killed in game with a knife instead of a gun or anything else. The opponent is oblivious, having already defused half of the spike, but they didn't know what would soon come.

You strike your knife at their head, killing them instantly, the spike left undefused. The game graphics became slow motion while the screen flashed green with 'VICTORY' in the middle of it all. You stood up almost immediately, proud of your savage last kill, fist-bumping all your teammates.

“AN ACE FROM [Team Name] Y/N! [Team Name] IS GOING TO THE MASTERS!”

You hugged your team as well before turning to the camera nearest to you, blowing hot air onto the lens, and tracing a heart followed by a cheeky grin and a wink.

“Yup, she's a Stark alright!”

Roars and cheers emitted from the commentators, the present audience, and the Avengers. Sam yelled and everyone followed, but the loudest one was Clint, who then swooped down to collect his cash prize for winning the bet. Tony didn't care at all, laughing along with the others; he had something new to brag about his kid. Natasha's cheeks flushed, as they always did when it came to you.

“SHE WON!”

“I'll get the booze!”

“In your face, Stark!”

“Cap, you stepped on my foot!”

Natasha unlocked her phone to take a quick picture of the livestream of the heart you drew on the camera, as well as of the stage displaying all of your team's headshots with an abundance of confetti almost covering it. All she wanted now was to call you, but she knew you probably had interviews and post-game rituals with your team, and she had champagne to drink with her own team in celebration of you.

The next morning, on a quick flight back home, the first thing that caught your attention was Natasha's Instagram story of the tournament. Your family supported and watched the tourney for you, as the following slides of her story consisted of the team chugging on champagne, Clint showing off an apparent bet that he won, and Peter and Sam posing in front of the TV when your face camera was shown up close.

Smiling, you liked her stories and replied with 'Thank you for supporting me, my love. I'll see you all soon'.

[delicatebarness]

i cant read your mind | chapter one

Summary: It has been six months since half the universe came back, six months since Steve left, six months since you lost Natasha, and three months since finding out the man you were sleeping with wanted to end it.

Warnings: MCU Spoilers. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier spoilers throughout.

Word Count: 1600

Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

A/N: I have watched TFATWS at least 6 times this week so I am prepared for this.

Tags: @blackhawkfanatic | @cjand10 | @wintrsoldrluvr | @missvelvetsstuff

As Sam addressed the crowd at the Smithsonian, you listened to his every word by Rhodey’s side. You let yourself laugh at the appropriate moments and fought back tears as your friend paid tribute to another. Your heart ached as you watched him pass on the shield, the symbol that guided you to become the best agent you could and more.

“I can’t do this,” you murmured almost inaudibly as you slipped away from the crowd, retreating to the quiet street. You steadied your thoughts, taking a few deep breaths. Retrieving your phone from your purse, you hesitated before dialing a number. “Come on,” you urged as the ringing persisted. 

Disappointment washes over you as you realize there’s no answer on the other end, you stand there for a moment. Staring at your call lost, feeling the loneliness creep in as you see that none of your calls have been picked up. Taking another deep breath, you put your phone back and start walking. Each step is a deliberate effort to move forward. 

While navigating the streets of Washington, your thoughts are focused on the events at the Smithsonian. The passing of the shield symbolized the end of an era for you. An era that had taken over your entire adult life. 

~

You enter your quiet apartment and sink onto the couch. The weight of the day, flight, and lack of food were starting to seem heavier, you couldn’t bring yourself to get changed out of the formal black dress you had been wearing since half four that morning. You retrieved your phone from your purse once again, your fingers hovering over the screen as you debated whether to try calling again. 

You knew it was getting late but you dialed the number again, heart pounding with anticipation. As the phone rang, you tried not getting your hopes up, but they were crushed when it went to voicemail. 

Sighing deeply, you set your phone down as you got back up from the couch and made your way back out into the street. You were proud of yourself for not letting the tears spill down your cheeks. 

The streets were quiet, and the soft glow of the streetlights offered a semblance of solace. With no destination in your mind, you wandered as the hunger gnawed at your stomach. Searching for a nearby restaurant for a late-night bite, you approached the diner you knew as Izzy. 

Your heart lurched in your chest as you recognized the figure through the window, sitting opposite a woman, she seemed to be laughing at whatever it was he was telling her. Playing a game of Battleship and drinking. “Not like that’s going to affect him,” you thought as you took in the sight. For a moment, you stood frozen in place, the tears you previously held back now beginning to spill. 

~

Once you were home and washed the day off of you, a hint of optimism rose from within you. Deciding to open yourself up to a new experience, you downloaded a popular dating app and uploaded all the photos of you in dresses that hugged your body just the way you loved. The way he once said should be for his eyes only. Swiping through profiles, it didn’t take long for you to come across someone who caught your eye, and match with them. 

You exchanged messages for the rest of the night, at some point agreeing to meet for brunch the next morning.

~

Your date was waiting for you when you arrived at the cafe, a friendly smile lighting up his face. Exchanging greetings, he pulled out a chair for you and helped with your coat and bag. You thanked him, finding yourself relaxed in his company. 

Settling into conversation, you shared stories, laughed, and began feeling a genuine connection. You hadn’t allowed yourself to truly feel this happy in three months, letting yourself let go of the weight that had been pressed into your chest for so long.

“Is that? Is that The Winter Soldier?” your date asked, his focus moving away from you and instead toward the entrance of the cafe. Turning your gaze over to where your date had been looking, it felt like time stopped as you looked into the eyes of a furrowing James Buchanan Barnes. His fist clenched under his leather gloves. 

“Here we go,” you mumbled under your breath as you noticed him making his way over to you. With trembling hands, you reached for the glass of champagne that sat on the table in front of you. Tilting the glass back, you swallowed every last drop of it in an attempt to calm yourself down. 

“I need to speak to you,” Bucky growled, his voice low and commanding as he towered over you. As much as you’ve wanted nothing more than to be around him for the last three months, you kept your gaze fixed on your date. “Now.” 

“I’m on a date,” your tone even with a hint of defiance as you responded to the super soldier. You watched as the eyes of your date filled with fear and amazement. 

“I can see that,” he replied dryly, sarcasm dripping in his tone as he gave your date a pointed look. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, sensing the tension between you and Bucky. 

“Whatever you have to say, it can wait,” your voice steady despite the adrenaline coursing through your veins. “I’m here with someone else,” you added emphasis on ‘someone else’ as you sensed him tense up beside you. 

Your date cleared his throat, shooting a hesitant glance between you and Bucky. He spoke up, his tone polite but uneasy. “Perhaps I should… give you two some privacy?” He began to stand from the table, making his way over to the restrooms. Bucky quickly sat in the seat he had previously occupied. 

Your gaze was ablaze with a mixture of hurt and frustration as you finally made eye contact with Bucky. “What do you want?” your voice trembled slightly. 

Bucky couldn’t suppress the sarcasm that came from his tone as he looked over toward the restrooms. “Well, he seems like a real charmer,” his tone full of irony. 

You shot him a disapproving look, eyebrows knitting together in a silent warning. “Again, what do you want?” Bucky looked back at you, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. Rolling your eyes, you defended the man you had known for less than 12 hours. “He’s a nice guy,” 

Leaning back in his seat, Bucky folded his arms across his chest as he sent you a knowing look. “If you say so,” he remarked. If it wasn’t for the dry and snarky tone, you’d have thought he was backing down. “And, I’m sure he can handle a doll such as you,” he continued while sending you a wink. 

“Can’t you just go back to ignoring me like you have done for the last three months?” you sighed, picking up your fork and using it to move food around your plate.

“I saw the pictures you used for your little dating profile,” he glared at you when he noticed a smirk now taking place over your lips.

You shrugged nonchalantly and replied with a calm tone. “Yeah, and?”

His jaw tightened at your response, frustration simmering beneath the surface. “Thought they were only for me?” he pressed.

Your expression softened, remorse flickering over your features as you looked back at him. “Things change,” you murmured, your voice tinged with regret. “I waited five years for you to come back, five years of not even knowing if you were coming back,” your voice quivered with emotion.

Bucky’s gaze softened, and he straightened his posture. “I know-” he began to speak but you cut him off before he could finish.

“No, Bucky, you don’t” you shot back at him, your voice rising with each word. “You couldn’t possibly understand what it was like, not know where you went, or if you were alive or dead, or if you’d even come back,” 

His jaw once again clenched, “I waited over 90 years for you to come into my life,” he confessed, his voice thick with emotion and vulnerability. 

Your eyes widened at his admission, you were both surprised and in disbelief, “But yet, you only waited three months before jumping into bed with someone else,” you accused, voice thick with bitterness. “How was your night of Battleship, by the way?”

His hands balled into fists on top of the table, his voice raised to match yours. “Firstly, I didn’t sleep with her,” he retorted. “And secondly, what the fuck is this?” he gestures toward your date as he started to make his way back out of the restroom.

“I’m sorry,” your date now interrupts your conversation with Bucky as he makes his way back over to you. “I didn’t know you two are exes,” 

“He’s not my ex!” 

“She’s not my ex!”

~

Alone in the dimly lit apartment, you allowed yourself to have a moment to rest, closing your eyes and taking a few deep breaths. The weight of your date pressing down on your shoulders. Surprisingly, he asked for a second date. Once Bucky had left, he offered to take you out again another time. You happily agreed.

As you began to drift into a state of relaxation, the sound of the television caught your attention. “... it is with great honor that we announce here today that the United States of America has a new hero. Join me in welcoming your new Captain America.” 

“What the fuck?!”

---

Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

[nobodystrawteas]

Okay so my first tumblr post! I’ve just been lurking on a tumblr for a long time…

So I drew a tiny Age reversal of the ninjas!

Ages: Lloyd 17, Cole 11, Zane and Kai 10, Jay 9 and Nya 8.

Ummm this is some hc that I have on the show from this au. Ships, well their kids so it’s mainly crushes.

Lloyd

Starts off as a minor villain like in show but easily beats the ninjas!

Motivation is to become a great villain like his dad

Till he meets Sensei Wu and realise that he doesn’t want to hurt the young ninjas

Still got kicked out of darkly when he was younger but became more independent and has more trust issue since Wu didn’t find him till he was 17

In season 1 he gets kidnapped by the snakes I think that still happens but it happens because he went on his own to fight them

Lloyd and lord Garmondon relationship is still the same

Just slightly more strained when it’s revealed that he’s the green ninja.

LORD GARMONDON DISLIKE SENSEI WU

That man is angry that Sensei Wu is sending kids and his own son to defeat him

So in S2 he’s targeting sensei Wu over the ninjas

HE REMAINS A BIT OF PRANKSTER 💔💔

Kinda stereotypical mean older brother vibes?

Less mature than older Lloyd in the show

But has more survival tactics and understand villains motivations

More edgy and emo, def doesn’t forgive Misako so easily

I think he would still take on a leadership role since he’s the oldest

Mentoring the younger ninjas, he picks up on things more quickly

Struggles with duty and discipline

Struggle with what right and wrong, plus forgiving people who left him (his family)

Thinks of the others as brats

No one can insult you but me vibes

He gets upset whenever the other get hurt

Morro possessed him and made him hurt them

He has nightmares for weeks afterwards

He makes bets with sensei Wu on who will end up with each other

gossip with Nya

Encouraging the others to go out and be kids when he can

Will take them to the arcade and get them food

Shares his sweets with Cole

Kai got upset that Cole was getting special treats

so Lloyd will train and play with Kai extra when he notices that he getting jealous

Zane and him cook together all the time

He see himself in Jay especially with having similar insecurities like abandonment issues, struggling with being good enough.

He does not want morro anywhere near Jay because he could feel that Morro actually liked Jay (platonically)

Cole

When his mom died, I imagined that his farther threw himself into dancing and dragged Cole with him.

Cole couldn’t handle living up to his dads standards and the grief

So either A. Ran away from home and joined the ninjas.

Or B. Made up some fancy dance boarding school like in cannon and joined the ninjas

Since he’s the oldest (beside Lloyd) he took on a leadership role

He struggled with overworking himself worries about not being enough for the other ninjas

Sensei Wu unofficial favourite kid

Quite innocent compared to his older self

Has a sweet tooth and begs sensei Wu to buy more treats. (Sensei Wu always gives in)

When he reveals to his farther that he’s been a ninja his farther is still slow to accept him

His farther comes around just like in cannon

However he wants to make it up to Cole and be a better dad!!

So visit every now and then to check up on him.

Coles dad comes and gives the ninja team dancing lesson, Cole finds them embarrassing and annoying at first

But Cole dad always brings a cake for them to all eat

Will save up and give gifts to the other.

Buys Kai and Jay video games and reads/plays it with them

Him, Jay and Lloyd all practice dancing together

Nya and him have a competition to make a better playlist than the other

Begs Zane to let him in the kitchen once, everyone got food poising

Zane

The scene (S1) where Zane finds out he’s a robot and his creator is gone?

Boy is crashing out 💔💔

Treats the falcon like a pet

More emotion than og Zane,

Dr. Jullian (Zane’s creator?) made him a child body and adult body that he can switch to.

Zane remains in his child body till later season and upgrades to the adult body. (Maybe when he “dies” his conscious uploads to his adult body?)

He would struggle with his humanity and what it means to be a nindroid

Pixal would be/look the same age as him

Very innocent romantic relationship. Think middle school relationships, where they’ve only held hands like once 😭.

Besides having more emotion than og Zane remains the same

In s2 everyone leaves to go back home except him

Everyone comes back once it looks like lord garmondon is up to no good

The only kid allowed in the kitchen

Slower to upload information, since he’s a kid

Prefers to play and hang out with Nya most of the time

Is the most comforting and comforts Kai when he lashes out

Goes to Nya and Jay for upgrade that will allow him to mature with the rest of them

He see great potential in Lloyd

Out of the boys, he closest with Cole, underrated friendship

Kai

Hot headed and more arrogant

Impulsive? 10x as much. Sensei Wu is aging 2x as fast with him around

He more of a jerk at first because he still dealing with the loss of his parents

More protective of Nya because he doesn’t have the strength to save her as much

Not very flirty since he’s a kid

Acts like a typical middle school boy

Struggles with his powers

Secretly looks up to Lloyd and acts like a annoying little brother to him

Desperate to be the green ninja because he wants to be strong and special

He wants to be Sensei Wu favourite

Gets Jealous of Cole, Zane, Lloyd and Nya because he thinks sensei Wu likes them more than him

He also jealous of Cole and Jay family

Jealousy issues

Besties with Jay because he feels like he can protect him and be cool around him

One sided beef with Cole. Cole has no idea,

Thinks Zane is extremely smart so will bother him with any questions he has

If he thinks of himself as the leader than Zane is his 2nd command.

He doesn’t like leaving the blacksmith shop, since he emotionally attach to it

Will come back every couple months to do upkeep on it

Jay

Find it hard to believe that his adoptive parents would let him be a ninja as such a young age

But in this au, I think sensei Wu saw them struggling to take care of their family (due to money issues) and offered to take Jay and train him

It hurt them, but they wanted Jay to be able to have a full stomach as well as finally be able to make friends

I don’t think he ever hung out with kids his age

So Jay is quiet shy in S1 plus when he nervous he just blabber on and on

As season progresses he becomes more snarky and confident

He definitely hyper aware of his insecurities

So will lash out more

Doesn’t have a crush on Nya since he doesn’t yet know how to hang out with people his age

He still thinks she really cool and wants to hang out with her

Kai is more friendly to him because of that

The others are protective over him since he young and shy.

But he has the most control and skill with his powers. 😭

Would get annoyed at them for treating him like a baby

when he lashes out and be all snarky with them for the first time. they would all be like: shocked pikachu face 😭

Except Zane, Zane was the only one to treat him like normal

Lloyd comforts him when he feels insecure

When morro possess Lloyd, he treats Jay nicer than everyone else (Storm brother will happen in cannon I swear 🙏)

I think in S4? When Cole and Nya are said to be the perfect match he would start to get jelly.

Would be jealous but wouldn’t understand why, until it hits him in the middle of a fight with Cole that he likes Nya

Naddakah or whatever that jerk name is, would traumatise him, by then he would finally understand his feelings for Nya

He does not gloss over the fact that he was abandoned and is adopted???

This boy will have issues about that, and adds to his insecurities!!

when Naddakah is all over he would avoid Nya feeling bad about what happened

Cole and him are great friends, and he takes every opportunity to cling to him

His parents visit often but mostly he visits them. They worry about him a lot

Nya

Oh she is so annoyed that she didn’t get to train as a ninja in S1

Wouldn’t be able to help herself and make passive aggressive comments at Wu

Wu wouldn’t understand why she upset at him

Smaller and less powerful version of her samurai armour

Forces Wu to start her training as a ninja

Wu feels bad and realise he should of started to train her to be ninja as well

She more feisty than in cannon

She still dealing with the loss her parents just like Kai

While Kai gets angry about it and searches for replacement of his parents issue

She completely distracts herself from the issue till she breaks

She realises before Jay does that he has a crush on her

One day she breaks down over her parents and Lloyd is the one to comfort her

She made Lloyd her second older brother, which annoys Kai

Zane will sneak her into the kitchen and they will cook with each other

She helps makes upgrade for Zane and reassure him that even if he’s a nindroid she still see him as a person

Has a small awkward crush / relationship with Cole when they are said to be a great match. They break up rather quickly realising it wasn’t gonna work

Naddakah (genie dude) would want to adopt her instead of marrying her because he what he imagined his daughter would of looked like

And also that would be extremely gross if he wanted to marry a kid

She is so desperate for another girl on the team

Tries so hard for Skylor and Pixal to join the team, heart broken when they don’t

She still has girl night and sleepovers with them which makes her feel like a kid again

They would be teens when they meet harumi and she would be her bi awakening,

Looks up to harumi so much. Harumi would be the same age as Lloyd though.

[flightlogmcu]

Hey so Sam Wilson as a character is flawed (exists only to score the bl*ck points) and one dimentional which is why people don’t resonate with him as opposed to previous captain (not that that one was any… marvel to behold). It doesn’t help that the actor is a trump supporter…. Flop all the way, Capitan Floptina more like it

You goin on about how he’s the new jesus is kinda proving that represnetion for representation sake is enough for those here without any critical thinking skills lol

Since we're talking about critical thinking, let's have an actual critical analysis of Sam Wilson. (That is if you can actually read more than three paragraphs)

First and foremost, no one appreciates representation for representation sake. Including people who advocate for it. That's why thing such as the Bechdel test and The Duvernay Test exists. It comes off as disingenuous and done poorly half the time. Ironically enough, Disney is notorious for this and it bleeds into Marvel Studios on a regular.

However, it is odd to even consider Sam Wilson for quote unquote "black points" (not sure why you had to censor that) when Sam Wilson has existed as a character since the 60s and has been Captain America in the comics since 2015. He's a prominent character within the comics that was then brought to screen. As thus the natural progression of the MCU.

Sam Wilson as a character in the MCU invites discussion on the idea of not only the role of Captain America but the idea of what America is.

The parallels between him and Steve within The Falcon & The Winter Soldier and (somewhat) within Brave New World provide a perspective in which we are to question what America stands for.

Hofstede's cultural onion model (since I have to stop writing my thesis to address this dumbass message, you're gonna get my thesis talk) reflects the manifestation of culture with layers. One of those layers is Heroes.

Heroes are persons, alive or dead, real or imaginary, who possess characteristics which are highly prized in a culture, and who thus serve as models for behavior.

And by all accounts, Sam Wilson should fit that ideal model: he's active duty military, smart, and (if we were to look within the universe itself) an ordinary man capable of following in Steve's footsteps.

The only issue is that he is black. His accolades and character no longer matter because racism and anti-blackness is wrapped within the fabric of America.

This then points to the discourse of Captain America: what (and who) does the hero represent?

Steve Rogers represented the true to form American hero of the 40s and 50s. Blond haired, blue eyed man with super strength that punched Hitler. Questioning authority and being an immovable object. It represents (whether that is who Steve Rogers truly is or not) an old America at the top of it's imperial game. It intends to reflect brute strength and power through said strength. No questions asked.

Contrast that with Sam Wilson in the modern era. A black man from the south serving in the air force. Prioritizing conversational tactics alongside sheer human strength. No serum needed. He represents a post-vietnam, post-globalization America. An America that has changed in it's values since Steve Rogers was in his prime. He is to reflect what America is today; a *trigger warning cause I know the snowflakes hate this word* diverse country that is intended to be a beacon of hope through compassion that will still fight you and persevere out of spite.

Sam Wilson does not exist just to be black. Most black characters aren't and shouldn't be. The existence of black superheroes and any black character in media is to add a different perspective that invites conversation that would not be considered if we went along with the status quo. And that's for any underrepresented group.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Are Kyoraku's game abilities actually based on real Japanese children games? I only know about the Daruma one.

Sorry i put this off so long, i kept meaning to go dig up the old anime episodes to see if the anime added or changed anything, but never did. I'm just leaning on the fan wikia to take inventory and trusting they didn't overlook anything...

Bushogoma[不精独楽]: "Lazy SpinningTop" is the type of spinning top toy you usually see in Japan, where you wind a bit of string around the top to use like a rip chord to send it spinning; as opposed to the sort you'd spin by hand or something.

(It's similar to the beigoma tops that Beyblades are based on.)

(Oh a good thing to note here is that in the japanese version of the game we generally refer to as "tag" as well as the "it" role in it is called "oni" as in a demon/ogre. So the term in all the associated "XYZ-Oni" attacks could functionally just be translated as "XYZ-Tag")

TakaOni[嶄鬼]: "(High/Steep)Mountain Tag" is a play on takaoni[高鬼]: "High(up) Tag" a variation of tag where the tagger must be at even or higher elevation than the person they're tagging. i.e. players higher up than the tagger are considered safe. The "taka" is also a homonym with taka[鷹]: "hawk/falcon" and seems to be a play on how hawks hunt by diving at their prey, meaning they have a blind spot above them.

KageOni[影鬼] "Shadow Tag" is a variation of tag where instead of tagging the person themselves, whoever is "it" has to touch their shadow to tag them out.

IroOni[艶鬼]: "colorful/lustrous oni" is actually a pun on irooni[色鬼]: "Color Tag." Unlike in the manga the rule is usually that once a color is declared, touching anything of that color is considered "safe," so each round is a matter of chasing down players until everyone is either out or safe, then declaring a new target color.

Daruma-san ga koronda[だるまさんがころんだ] got the most attention I think of the whole line up and is the Japanese name for what I think it most commonly called "Red Light, Green Light" in English.

(Pretty notably the manga Kami-sama no Iu Touri[神さまの言うとおり] aka As The Gods Will used it as the first big game in their death game series, with a literal Japanese daruma doll. It's also what Squid Game stole its first game plot from, beat for beat.)

Kageokuri[影送り]: "Shadow send(off)" i don't know that this is really a "game" but it's when you stare at your shadow on the ground for a bit then up at the sky and can see your shadow's afterimage.

BBS adds Yubikiri[指斬り]: lit."finger beheading" as in to cut off the "head" of a finger. It's what we'd call a "pinky promise" in English, the idea being that you've sworn to keep whatever promise at the cost of cutting off your pinky if you aren't faithful to it.

...as well as Kagome kagome[囲召籠目]: "encircled basket eye" a pun on[籠目籠目]: "basket eye, basket eye." Children hold hands in a circle with an oni/it in the middle, they dance around in said circle singing while the center child keeps their eyes close, and when the song ends the oni/it has to guess who is directly behind them. The tune of the song that goes with it is extremely recognizable.

Some of the old videogames had original techniques but those were largely made before any of his actual powers were revealed so they're mostly just like wind elemental attacks and don't contribute to the theme.(ugh... goddamnit now that i went and looked for it i realize there's like zero info around most of those old games and it makes me want to download emulator files for them all and look up all their move lists... i dont want to actually do all that tho...)

Honestly I'm surprised Katen and Kyokotsu didn't have any anime original abilities in the filler arc or something...

They do have a BBS card with the move Utage-no-Ikkyou[宴の一興]: "Amusement/(Brief)Entertainment of (a) Feast/Party" which isn't really a game of any sort. at least not specifically. It would refer to something like a bit of song and dance interlude at a feudal era banquet. Admittedly a clever intersection of Katen and Kyokotsu's differing types of play -children's game vs adult entertainment.

[raynetheinsane]

more thunderbolts (+sam and joauqín apparently) as football fans…

the first time they actually get tickets to a game they end up sitting third row back and being some of the loudest fans in the entire stadium. Their first game is a Falcons v Vikings game for Yelena and John, they get super into it and viewership for both teams spikes a ton (think like when taylor swift and travis kelce started dating so a ton of new people started watching the chiefs)

the only reason they dont have season tickets is because none of them are Jets fans and their schedules are too busy to justify flying out to Atlanta or Minnesota every week

continuing with the tower decorating thing, they all agree on the team they want to win it all once they know whos in the playoffs after wildcard weekend. they then pull out all the stops, decorating the tower in the colors of that team and their logo replaces the A. Betting for what colors the tower will be happens the most frequently before wildcard weekend, but some people place bets during the preseason.

The Avengers doing this was highly scrutinized by fans because they worried that the refs/teams/nfl would rig the games so that the avengers prediction went through. This was disproven though when the team they predicted was out in the first round three years in a row.

They dont redecorate when their team gets out of the playoffs.

Bob once caught the vocal stim of singing that one “cooper dejean is not a safety” song and kept singing it for literal weeks

Joaquín doesn’t really get football, but he wants to keep up with the game so when they have the superbowl party he spends the game asking questions. John gets tired of it almost immediately, Yelena a little after, Sam is annoyed by halftime, Bob loves it tho and answers everything he can

Sam likes football in an “It was always on when I was growing up” kinda way, so he knows the rules and the best players but nothing much more

Yelena does the reverse hurdle on a mission

John listens to the Pat McAfee show religiously

Yelenas first superbowl watch as a football fan almost didnt happen because Val scheduled them for a mission on the same day. John absolutely flipped out. He went off on Valentina so intensely that she moved the mission up a day.

John made it seem like he did it cus he was mad that he wouldnt get to watch it, but John hasnt seen any of them since Lemar died, hasnt been into football since his watchbuddy died. Yelena reignited his love and he was looking forward to spending the day with her and bonding. He saw her face fall when she heard the news and decided “nope wont be having that”

Part of why Yelena loves football so much is that its a place for her to have her own opinions and knowledge about something, its a passion, and she doesnt have many of those so she savors every one. Kinda like how she loved the vest because it was her first peice of clothing she bought for herself rhat wasnt tied to the red room. She loves football because its a passion that has no connection with the red room whatsoever

Yelena and John get “soft” around each other whenever they watch football. They still trade barbs, playfully tease each other, and yell at the screen, but they also talk more, open up more, and bond more over a shared intrest. It starts as little things like anecdotes with childhood stories and becomes a way for them to get to know each other

Bucky has found the duo passed out on top of one another more times than his phone has storage for

[fallstaticexit]

Omg your cyber sulani world is incredible!!! Am i right in that you used tool to add the background buildings to hide the built-in background? I would love if you talked more about your design process and ideas behind this project! Please talk more about it!! (if you want ofc❤️) Also i have never seen that type of servo before how do you get it in game 👀👀

Hi there! Thank you so much, it's so fun to make and still a WIP cause I'm always thinking of ways to enhance it! :) !! Yes, I used TOOL and I can't live without it! I'm gonna drop the how to's under the cut, since it's pretty lengthy!

Servo Download

Inspiration:

Honestly, the idea for a Sulani cyberpunk world came from me talking to my wife about old anime my sister and I use to watch, and I remember watching one called Eureka Seven and it's sequel , Eureka Seven: AO which is a mecha anime from the early 2000s and the characters are flying around in machines on this island and I thought damn, how bad ass would like a futuristic island be? And then by brain went into goblin mode as it does and that's where I got Nu Sulani from (or Nulani lol)

As for my process:

It's all about knowing how to utilize TOOL, which if you're reading this and you haven't, it's so worth learning. It's actually pretty easy to use too! and I honestly use it in it's most basic form , so I'm sure there are like experts who are doing sooo much more with it.

But basically, I will load a lot with items I want to populate the world with and then click and point where I want it to go!

So if I want this deco building that's on the lot to go where I've circled, I just select it, and click right in that circled area and it's there!

ta da! and rinse and repeat!

And you can get fancy! I'm going to take the Millennium Falcon and make it look like it's coming into the city to dock a fuel station or something, so it's slowly descending. To do that, I am going to do place it on my lot, then select the part in the ocean where I want it to be. Then I'm going to elevate it, and rotate it so it looks like it's coming from an angle!

And that's really it! You can drop items wherever there is a selectable part of the world and with tool you can enlarge, rotate, elevate and so on! :) hopefully this gave you more insight on my process!

[goblinhoursinsomniaramblings]

I Know Those Eyes Pt 2

why yes i am continuing this

“You’re certain.”

Batman’s words were clipped. Less a question than a threat of consequences. Tim nodded, no hesitation.

“I’d have to have access to a blood or skin sample for 100% confidence, but… yeah. As of 1:23 A.M. this morning, we have confirmed visuals of Lex Luthor and Damian Wayne, alive and mobile, in downtown Gotham City.”

He brought up images of the hotel.

“Hotel Spillane, originally used by the Falcone family, mainly used by the successors of their original business interests. Several legal and executive representatives of one of these interests arrived over the course of the night and previous evening, with Luthor and… Damian being the last to arrive.”

Keep it together, Tim.

“Oracle looked into Luthor’s new identity. It’s so obvious I am actually mad. He’s backstopped a whole life story as Lex Luthor’s estranged twin brother, Lionel V. Luthor, going by the nickname Vlad. Sole inheritor of all Lex Luthor’s assets.”

He brought up the images on file for ‘Lionel’ as well as his own analysis of the footage.

“The confusing part is what he did after inheriting–he has been spending a lot of money on sustainability research, alternative fuels, updated emergency service systems, things like that. As far as I can tell he wants to make premium versions of those things and sell them for a profit, but is playing the long game by flooding the board with cheap goods while gaining good PR.”

He called up the files on VladCo.

“The rest he used to get a tech startup running, VladCo. Apparently he’s interested in ‘standardizing the nonstandard’, whatever that means, but he hasn’t really made anything for the mass market yet. The closest we can find is he’s been making something classified for the U.S. government.”

He took a shaky breath and called up what he had on Damian. He felt Bruce’s pained, shocked exhale more than he heard it, but it was there all the same. So… there really wasn’t any doubt.

“Daniel Summers. On paper he’s 24, was raised in Chicago, and while he’s acting as Luthor’s bodyguard we couldn’t find any official records of him being employed in that capacity. Probably because Oracle was only checking every thirty seconds and his birth certificate didn’t show up on any records until just before they arrived at the hotel.”

He started counting off on his fingers.

“So, 1: whoever is adding them to the system isn’t done yet. 2: they don’t actually care if they get caught. 3: they, very specifically, don’t care if we catch them.”

“You’re saying he’s taunting us.”

“It’s looking–hang on, Oracle says there’s a situation developing.”

One quick shortcut and video of a meeting room popped up on the screen. ‘Lionel’ was smugly facing down his very angry looking investors and their representatives. Suddenly, each of them seemed to calm down. Unnaturally fast, and in unison, with a very particular dull look to their eyes. Tim felt a chill down his spine.

Mind control. Lex Luthor was a meta now, and he had mind control! No wonder Damian hadn’t reached out–

But why? What did he still need Damian for? Unless…

Oh.

He met Batman’s eyes. The taunting, the lack of discretion, finding his first victims in Gotham City.

This was a hostage situation.

***

“You know, badger, you’re perfectly free to walk away from this part of the plan.”

“No, I promised. … still really creepy to watch, though.”

All the papers were signed, all the signatories overshadowed. Now all they had to do was get out of range.

Danny frowned as he saw the receptionist reach for the phone. Right, spy games. Someone was probably supposed to give her a code word when the meeting was over–

Her eyes went glassy, hand freezing around the phone, and seriously that would never stop being creepy to watch. Still, non-violent solution, he’d take it.

As they approached their car, Danny scanned the quiet, ominously lit street. Not for obvious cameras–he knew for a fact Oracle would never allow one to be obvious–but for the best possible angle a camera could have. Eliminating the ones that would have already been used, that left–

He had thought about this moment. How he would give some signal to let them know he was back. That he had been thinking of them.

… Tt. Another time. Too many layers to communicate through, too little space to do so. His gaze had lingered with a purpose, he could only hope that would communicate that Damian was still a part of him too.

For now, that would have to be enough.

***

-major reveal of this chapter: ‘Lex’ has mind control powers

-lol damian/danny is the ghost king, vlad holding him hostage? ha no

-yeah they did not plan the hostage thing but vlad is gonna jump on it with both feet later. like he’s not gonna take credit for it, amirite

-some chapters will be longer. some will be shorter. the main thing is still vibes

-yes, the last little bit is going to make things so much worse with the bats

-why Summers? anything winter-related would be too on the nose, and using a name associated with a very different comic book universe felt appropriate

-i've been a touch stressed so this got put on the backburner. yes, because current events

@hinari @blankliferain @grimdarling69

[starkdirewolflove]

Went to see Thunderbolts* today and it was a great movie. Lots of laughs as well as action and some heavy emotional stuff.

Yelena was definitely the main character in this ensemble cast and she lead it well. The confrontation where the four antiheroes each try to kill each other was entertaining and a cool fight scene. That's also where we first meet Bob ("who's pyjama boy?" my dad asking the important questions lol).

The name for the Thunderbolts actually comes from Yelena's childhood girls soccer team, they never won a game but they had fun.

Alexei is such a dad, he's by turns embarrassing and supportive. He is ride or die for Yelena and excited to be back in the game and join a hero team with his daughter and her new friends.

Walker is back and his life has turned into more of a disaster after the events of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, he's still so full of himself and thinks he's so superior to everyone around him but I think he mellows out a bit by the end of the movie and learns to work more equally with everyone.

The Ghost was really good, don't remember seeing her since Antman and The Wasp. I think she took a real shine to Yelena, maybe a new bestie for the black widow. Ava was a really good fighter and helped save the team a good few times.

Congressman Barnes has no head for politics, at the first sign of trouble Bucky is armed up and on his motorbike like the terminator. He sort of becomes leader/co leader of the team with Yelena. They both have a dark past but they want to be better and do some good in the world now that Steve and Nat aren't here anymore.

Bob is sort of the everyman character, an ordinary person thrust into the crazy superhero world but woefully unprepared to deal with it. The way they show his struggles with mental health, addiction and a dysfunctional childhood makes him more sympathetic and relatable than most characters would be. Also his moments with Yelena were so sweet, like she wants to protect him from being used as a weapon the way no one did for her when she was a child.

Valentina gets her time to shine as a villainous, diva after all her cameo appearances in the MCU shows and movies. I think they'll keep her around for a while as an antagonist to the heroes since she's in the CIA (I wonder if she's had dealings with Sharon Carter aka the Power Broker). She's not an outright villain but she's not a good guy either, Valentina has the potential to be a valuable ally in the future.

The final post credit scene included a time jump, a fractured friendship with Bucky and Sam and a tie in to an upcoming MCU film which is probably gonna lead up to Doomsday.

[philtstone]

For the mini fic ask game? Han and Leia?

12. things you said when you thought i was asleep

pretty much immediately post-rotj. also on ao3

Leia wakes up sticky and comfortably sore.

"No. No, the other thing -- you know what it looks like. Oh, now you're gonna be offended that I don't like all your hair?"

There's half a warm body draped against her. She'd know the uncoordinated press of Han's hairy knee against her ass in this too-small ship bunk anywhere; six months was not nearly long enough for such things to be forgotten.

Her mind crawls out of sleep-state just enough to understand the next string of Shyrriwook rumbling through the room.

"If I don't do it now it'll get everywhere," Han mutters in response. "In little balls."

You humans are so unsanitary, says Chewie.

"You say that. Then you clog up my poor ship's vents with fuzz."

"Chewbacca and I are getting our own ship," Leia announces, without opening her eyes. "Shag carpet. Better than the expensive Myrnian pelts in the Imperial core."

The warm body against her stiffens. She cracks an eye open to catch her guilty lover with the auto-power hand vacuum hovering over their pillows.

"It gets in my mouth," Han says, apologetic. He's mostly unclothed. Right -- last night. One cycle in the Ewok huts with drunk rebels and drying meat next door was more than enough for them. Anyway, Leia has been processing, and she doesn't like doing that in public. She pushes herself into a sitting position.

"Han," she says, realizing. "You ass, you called Chewie in here while I'm lying in this bunk without any --"

"He's outside," Han interrupts, rolling his eyes. "Relax. I reached. Cracked door. Long arms," he stretches them above his head, only preening a little, "Princess, this is the Falcon, not a royal cruiser."

Remember? Snarky little lilt to that unspoken question, but Leia concedes it's a fair one. So much has happened over the last forty-eight hours that she's having a hard time keeping track of everything in her head. She pushes two hands against her bare back in a stretch and shoves her feet out against the cramped bunk's wall. Of course she remembers now: his shithole ship. That she practically lived in for six months. Looking for him.

Kriff, Leia did not expect to feel this maddeningly vulnerable seconds after awakening. She thought she'd paid her dues, that night Luke dashed off to confront (defend? redeem? protect?) Vader and she had to ask Han to hold her. Next morning, when Luke came to her pale faced and quietly devastated, and she couldn't bring herself to hold him. Eight hours ago when she started crying all tangled up on the bunk after Han slumped sweaty on top of her and she suddenly felt every emotion she's ever had in entire duration of her lifetime at once.

Maybe it's the Force. After all, she's related to -- fingers clenching -- Luke, isn't she?

She watches Han suck up all her hair into his little vacuum and shut the thing off, inspecting it.

"Half of that is Chewie's," she says.

He puts it aside, then puts his elbows on his knees. Han's all elbows and knees sometimes. He's also putting on quite a show, sitting like that. Leia wrinkles her nose at him.

"Jeez, Leia," he says, kind of laughing, which means he's not yet back to normal enough to not feel a little bit insecure -- now she feels bad. Kriff, again.

At least the Emperor's dead. Leia thinks she's going to be using that one as a standby comfort whenever she feels like Bantha shit for -- oh, decades to come, probably.

"You sound like Luke," she says, without thinking. Then she kisses his cheek -- zor fruit branch, if you will. Leia's a trained diplomat.

"Saw him, earlier."

"Dressed like this?"

"I dressed," Han says, wry but patient. "I woke up. Went out. Saw him. Came back."

"Stripped," Leia offers. "For what? Effect?"

"You feel good," Han says. "Your skin's real soft. I missed you."

It's a touch more sincere than she can deal with, right now, but also just the right amount of sincere, and she really wants to kiss him again, but they're talking about Luke -- who she needs to see, and comfort, because he's Luke and he's her Luke and he's their Luke and he's her brother -- anyway, kriff, Leia thinks. Third time's the charm.

At least the karking Emperor's dead.

"He's okay," Han tells her. He's lost weight. She had that thought when he was first getting his eyesight back and has it again now. Another reminder of that six months. Remember? Leia wrinkles her nose a second time -- "Well, no he's not. But," Han waves a hand, "the way you are."

"I," Leia says, "am not okay."

The Emperor. Dead.

Luke's father. Dead.

Leia stares down at her own naked legs.

"Alright," Han says, eyebrows raised like he is almost impressed and probably a little bit worried at the ease of this admission. Leia brushes a bit of hair out of her face impatiently. The two braids she's got her hair in, the style she always wears to bed, hang heavy down her bare back. Alert the holonet, she thinks. Only took her three years to admit.

"You made me all sore," she accuses him.

"You weren't complaining. Just made a lotta bossy commands. Hey, Leia," She can't believe he's been vacuuming up her hair when she isn't looking -- it shouldn't feel embarrassing, and it's not, but it's -- silly. That's what Leia thinks. The kind of domestic nonsense that one can and should laugh at. Since Bespin ...? "I'm serious, you can't just avoid him."

She focuses. Glares.

"I am not avoiding my brother."

Again, Han is impressed, this time by her very pointed word choice. Still a touch too mystified by the revelation -- Force, Leia thinks, it should've been so obvious, down to the twin ropes of hair down her back -- but, "Fine. In that case, we shower, I finish vacuuming, and you go find him."

She'll have to dodge Command on her way. Maybe Wicket can help her.

"I'm not talking about -- it," Leia says. Him could be too many people, Luke included. It is sufficiently broad, and sufficiently disparaging, and sufficiently avoidant.

Han only twirls two fingers around braid on the left, tugging at it with his clever spacer's fingers. He's always been unnaturally fascinated when her hair's unbound. The expression on his face says you don't have to talk to Luke about his father and the heat of his body says I wanna make you sore again and the gently pull of his fingers says I love you.

Leia knows all of that. Mostly.

"Okay," she says. "Alright."

With perfect timing, Chewbacca roars outside the cabin door: Lando kriffed the coolant system by turning the steer too hard, like I told him not to do. We have a bad leak, Han. It is getting everywhere. Into the mainframe wiring.

"Kriff," Han says it this time, loud and with gusto.

It will get worst if you spend all day in the Princess's mane.

"I told him to go easy on her," Han moans, abandoning her and getting up almost on autopilot to tug his pants on. "Don't worry, girl. We'll fix you up."

Leia rolls her eyes, but pats the claustrophobic hull of their beloved junk pile consolingly anyway.

"I don't have a mane," she says, just to be difficult. Luke, she thinks. Her twelve hours of hiding have proved counterproductive; she kind of really misses him. Han throws her a look and a scoundrel grin over his shoulder.

"Your Shyrriwook's still a little rusty, sweetheart. Chewie gets vulgar around family."

It's been three days. The Emperor is dead. The Falcon is just as irritatingly cramped as ever. She's used to being someone's princess, someone's commanding officer, someone's fighter, someone's daughter and -- recently -- someone's lover.

Time to face day one as a sister. In spite of herself, Leia smiles.

[justlookfrightened]

'I Wanna Be Like You'

Filling a prompt from @goddess47: A new rookie has broken one of Jack's rookie records and Jack finds he's really upset; Bitty offers comfort.

The puck thwacked against the tape on Jack’s stick just as he drew it back, and Jack fired it toward the net in one motion, sending the frozen rubber disc sailing over the goalie’s right shoulder and into the back of the net.

In an instant, Willie was embracing him against the boards while Poots and Connie skated in to join the celebration.

Hold on for another thirty seconds, and the game would be theirs.

Sure, it was a meaningless game at the end of another lost season, at least for the Falconers. The best that could be said about it was that the team was playing spoiler, ruining the Blue Jackets bid for the last playoff spot in the east.

Well. They wouldn’t have beaten Carolina in Round One anyway.

The buzzer sounded and Jack started to join the team as they filed down the tunnel towards the dressing room, stopping when one of the broadcast producers plucked at the sleeve of his sweater.

“Number two star,” the producer said.

Jack nodded, waited for Montblanc, the goalie, to take his turn and salute the crowd as number three star, then skated out and raised his stick to the Providence crowd’s cheers.

Willie, who had scored the first goal and gotten the primary assist on the third — Jack’s goal — was waiting to go out as first star.

“You mind waiting here a minute?” the producer asked as Jack tried again to go to the dressing room.

He was tired, his shoulder hurt and his gear was starting to feel uncomfortably clammy. He didn’t know why they would want him for the post-game on-ice interview; that was the first star’s job, although sometimes it got passed to the second star if the first one was new to North America and wasn’t comfortable speaking in English.

That wasn’t the case for Willie, though. Matty Wilson had been drafted by the Falconers in the first round last summer, a product of Minnesota who had moved to Canada in high school to play major juniors. He wasn’t huge for a hockey player, but he was compact and strong, with a powerful first step and a cannon of a shot. He also had the good looks and winning personality that meant he was likely to be the next face of the Falconers.

That was fine with Jack. A decade into an NHL career that he had thought wouldn’t happen at all, Jack was ready to pass the torch. And Willie had had a good season. A great season for a rookie.

Valerie, the broadcaster who did the rink-side interviews, positioned herself between Willie and Jack at the boards.

“Congratulations, Matty!” she said. “With your goal and assist tonight, you have 65 points for the season, a new record for a Falconers rookie.”

“Thanks,” Willie beamed. “It’s been a great season, and I’ve learned so much and developed so much more as a player.”

“Do you know who set the previous rookie scoring record for the Falconers?” Valerie asked, turning to Jack.

Because of course. Jack had set the previous rookie record, at 64 points.

Valerie explained that in case anyone in the arena had missed the point, while Jack offered congratulations to Willie.

He meant his congratulations. It was a huge accomplishment, something that wouldn’t have happened without Willie playing almost every game of the season, without him playing serious minutes in those games, without him becoming a very real scoring threat nearly every shift.

Almost like Jack, who had eclipsed his rookie point total five times in the last 10 years, but not this year.

Willie thanked Jack, and went on to say, “It’s a real honor to be mentioned with Jack, let alone play on the same line. I can only hope to have a career like his.”

Then they were headed down the tunnel side by side, Jack working to make sure he didn’t have a sour expression on his face.

Bitty was still up when Jack let himself in the back door of the house they’d bought three years ago. That was when Jack had signed his last contract, the one with the no-movement clause, and he and Bitty had agreed it was time to think about raising a family. No kids yet, but Bitty adored the dog they’d adopted two weeks after moving in.

The house wasn’t far from downtown Providence, but it was on a big enough lot for Bitty to have a large garden with room left over for an eventual play structure, and, maybe someday, a tiny rink in the winter. Bitty loved it because it backed up to the water, and the kitchen had marvelous natural light for taping his cooking segments.

Jack liked it because he could go out on the back deck at night, and it was magnificently quiet.

“Nice goal in the third,” Bitty said, looking up from his laptop on the kitchen table. “Protein shake is in the fridge.”

“Thanks,” Jack said, letting one word serve as answer for both things Bitty told him. “Puck go out yet?”

Puck lifted his head from the rug in front of the sink when he heard his name.

“Not yet,” Bitty said.

“Come on, chiot,” Jack said, still carrying the tumbler with his shake.

He stood on the deck while Puck sniffed around the yard, watched the dog’s ears prick forward when a rabbit passed by on the far side of the fence, gazed out at the bay. This was better, right? Better than being a rookie, wondering how his career would turn out? He had a home, and a husband (and a dog) who loved him, they were planning to raise a kid or two or three together, his name was on the Stanley Cup twice … this was better. 

Better than having his whole life ahead of him? Better than having his face on all the billboards and the sides of buses. Well, yes, for that part. Even though he was still on some billboards. 

Some things were worse. The way his shoulder hurt after a hard game. The ache he was starting to feel in his hips every day when he got out of bed. How intentional he had to be to recover from one game and be ready for the next.

“Jack?”

He hadn’t heard Bitty come out behind him. Jack looked over to see his husband wrapped in old oversized hoodie, wearing flannel pajama pants and fuzzy slippers, carrying a steaming mug of what smelled like chamomile.

“You okay?” Bitty asked. “Puck should be ready to come in by now.”

“Ouais,” Jack said. He sighed and looked up at the sky, imagining the stars he knew were there from the nights he had spent at the family cabin in Nova Scotia. “Sorry. Just … thinking.”

“About what?” Bitty said, coming to stand right next to Jack, so that when Jack lifted his arm it settled naturally around Bitty’s shoulders, pulling him even more closely to Jack’s side.

“Willie. Matty Wilson. He broke the Falconers rookie scoring record tonight.”

“I saw,” Bitty said. “Is that what’s got you down, that he broke your record?”

“It sounds stupid when you say it like that,” Jack said.

“No, sweet pea, I didn’t mean —”

“No, I know you didn’t,” Jack said. “It’s just, it’s not the record, really. Records are made to be broken. It’s a cliche, but it’s true. I didn’t expect it to last forever.”

“But you didn’t expect to score the goal that let someone break it?”

“I didn’t even know,” Jack said, with a little huff. “I’m his captain. I should have known. I mean, I knew he was having a great season, I knew he was close, but … maybe I didn’t want to know? I didn’t know when I set my record.”

“That’s because the previous record was like, forty points or something,” Bitty said. “You didn’t break that record, you obliterated it.”

“And we had so much success early on,” Jack said. “Then these last few years have been tough. I wanted to stay around until the team gets better again, until we have a chance … but I don’t know if I can. Did you hear him, Bits? Saying that he hopes he has a career like I’ve had? Like it’s over?”

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually say that,” Bitty said.

“Maybe not,” Jack acquiesced. “But the implication was there.”

Bitty hummed a noncommittal response.

“I guess I was just remembering what it was like, back when I was a rookie,” Jack said. “I was so worried about everything. I thought I’d ruined everything and would never play in the league, but I did … and I was afraid I’d ruin it again and there would be no more chances.

“And we were new, too, you and me — really, maybe not the best idea for either of us, timing wise, but we made it work,” Jack said.

“That we did,” Bitty said, nuzzling a little into Jack’s shoulder.

“Once we got to the end of the season, and made the playoffs, it felt like — like anything was possible,” Jack said. “And once I retire, it won’t be anymore.”

“No,” Bitty said. “It won’t. Every choice you make — every choice everyone makes — closes off other choices. We bought this house, not the one in Warwick. I went to Samwell, not Georgia. Sometimes we miss out on things just because we got older, or because things don’t go our way. I hate to have to admit this, Jack, but I will never be an Olympic figure skater. And you will never be an NCAA hockey champion. Even though you deserved that so much more than me.”

“You deserved it,” Jack protested.

“I’m not saying I didn’t.” Bitty answered. “But you did too, more than I did. … I don’t know what I’m saying, really. Just that, no one gets everything they want, and I don’t think anyone’s life is really easy, not when you know them well enough to really know. But I hope you don’t have too many regrets. Not about your career, at least.”

“No,” Jack said. “Not about my career. Not about us, or our life, either. I could never have imagined this when I was growing up. It’s just — I got jealous, I think. I got jealous, because Willie still has everything ahead of him, and that feeling that everything is possible. And I remember how exhilarating that was, and how scary. Why did I waste my time being scared? Why didn’t I enjoy it more?”

Jack felt Bitty shrug.

“Because it is scary, when you don’t know how it all turns out,” he said. “People forget that part. Somebody saying they want to be like you — that’s a compliment, Jack. Take the win.”

“I guess,” Jack said. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”

He turned to kiss the side of Bitty’s head briefly.

“And I know I got lucky,” he said, before releasing his husband and calling the dog, who had been sniffing at the bottom of the fence in hopes of finding another rabbit.

“And I know one more thing,” Jack added, as the three of them turned towards the door. “Willie won’t get to win a Stanley Cup his first year. I guess I’ll always have that.”

Bitty shook his head as Jack waited for him to enter the kitchen first. 

“That’s the spirit,” Bitty said. “Is there anything you won’t turn into a competition?

[wanderingmind867]

So let me just recap briefly the history of the first joker and the first riddler. The first riddler was the guy from the telltale games. The one played by robin atkin downes who died at the end of the first chapter of the game. And the first joker is alfred stryker, some weird mutant who became a crime lord and mafioso whilst also becoming a champion of the downtrodden. Together, the riddler and the joker became enemies of the Court of Owls. But they both vanished decades ago. Nobody ever learned where they went. And they both only resurface now, just in time to strike back against the Court of Owls.

The Riddler reappears first, and he ends up dying just the same way he did in the telltale games. Except here he manages to inspire young forensic scientist Edward Nygma shortly before he does, which will inevitably lead to the birth of a second Riddler. But all that's important for right now is that the first riddler dies, and the original joker blames the Court of Owls for his death when he finds out about it. That's all that's important for this recap of my storyline.

When the original Joker breaks out, he ends up infiltrating the Court of Owls. Meanwhile, Batman is busy dealing with Doctor Phosphorus (who I forgot to mention earlier, but who was the third core component to the riddler and joker's old triad of crime). By the time Batman has stopped Doctor Phosphorus from taking revenge on the families of Hamilton Hill, Carmine Falcone and Bruce Wayne, the original joker has already learned everything he needed to learn in regards to the Court of Owls and their history. More of this is covered in my original note on him, so I don't want to discuss it again now.

But to cut to the chase, Batman finds the original joker and the court of owls headquarters just as everything's gone to hell. Alfred Stryker has been uncovered by the Court, but he's already rigged their parliament building to explode. Batman manages to save a small handful of court members, but it's too late for most of them. The whole building explodes in a fiery ball of chemically induced destruction, and the Court of Owls is no more. Their whole membership is dead. Alfred Stryker is dead, turned into dust alongside all the members of the Court. It's all over, but now Gotham is broken and in desperate need of rebuilding.

So we make a time skip to around eight months later. That's around when batman first meets Dick Grayson and takes him in as Robin. The organized crime scene in Gotham is virtually nonexistent now, so all the criminals this dynamic duo faces end up being costumed supervillians of some variety or another. The second Joker, the second Riddler, Two-Face, The Penguin, Catwoman, etc. It's not peak silver age style storytelling, and this is where i'm gonna leave this story.

I can't be bothered to write any more stuff to bridge the rest of the gap until we catch up with pre crisis 1985/1986 time, so i'm leaving this task to somebody else now. If you want to continue my worldbuilding exercise in futility, go right ahead. Talk about Ra's Al Ghul, and the birth of the second Robin (Jason Todd), and how Killer Croc killed Jason's parents, and how Nocturna became Jason's adoptive mother. But i'm done. This is too much for any one man to bear. I think I exhausted myself writing all this at school today. And also, I feel like writing all this took away from my ability to read my book as effectively at school. So yeah. I'm done. Someone else needs to finish what i've started, because i give up.

PS: The first joker is responsible for Ethan Bennett becoming one of many supervillians known as clayface. I forgot to mention that, but it's something that does happen here. I can't not have Ethan Bennett show up in my Batman story. He's similar to Harvey Dent, but he's a distinct character all his own. I feel like it's only fair I feature both of them here.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hi! I was wondering if you happen to know of any ttrpgs that utilize dragoons as a class option/thematic presence?

THEME: Dragoons

Hello, so when I followed up with you, you mentioned that you wanted dragoons from Final Fantasy, rather than the historical dragoons - and I’m glad I clarified, because I was sifting through historical games at first. From what I understand, the main points of dragoons is that they are a class who fights with a spear, with strong elements of launching themselves into the air/attacking from heights to land hits with extreme force. I also understand that they are meant to have strong relationships to dragons. So let’s see what we’ve got.

Final Fantasy Legend Edition, by Mildra the Monk.

This is an intermediate-complexity tabletop roleplaying game based on the Japanese console RPG series, Final Fantasy.Whether you're a veteran or someone new to the series, these streamlined rules and various customization options will help you get started with ease.

When I went to check out this game, the Dragoon class was the first image listed on the storefront. This class comes with some classic jump abilities, and other character abilities that are all about pinning down your enemies from the air. You also have access to the appropriately-themed Dragon Arts, tying your character intimately to their historic roots. The game itself moves through what it calls a four-phase structure: Preparation, Exploration, Encounter and Downtime. Each arc is likely to follow a quest that has been given to your characters, and these four scenes give you a procedural structure that typifies many ttrpgs.

Megalos: Crystalpunk Fantasy Roleplaying, by matara.

MEGALOS is a game for telling stories about adventures in the clouds, fighting evil empires, and dueling ancient gods. The Worlds of MEGALOS are vast and old, each a cosmic emanation connected to one another by the Wellspring- the source of all aether in the cosmos. Make your own World of MEGALOS or play in one of ours, from the Oradam Rift to Pallid Telkane to Zone Gachette to The Erefane. Soar through the air in an airship, dogfight imperials, and wield aetheric magicks as a punk-rock witch.

This tabletop game is inspired by things like classic JRPGs, electronica music, and medieval alchemy. MEGALOS is the first game to use the SLIPSTREAM game engine, which uses pools of d20s as the core of its task resolution mechanic.

The martial damage class for Megalos is called the Throne, and it hast at least two subclasses that I think you could use to make a Dragoon-like character. As a base class, Thrones have access to a flight ability called Liftoff, and both Arklights and Champions use this ability to do some neat things with combat.

Arklights are warrior monks, interested in the “protection and cultivation of ‘good’”. They have a lot of light and wings metaphors, including an ability called Falcon Dive, which allows you to dive at your opponent while in the air, with an upgrade ability to inflict piercing damage to multiple enemies. Then there’s the Champions, fighters who are all about learning new techniques and experiencing combat as a way of life. They’re very brawl-friendly characters, but their abilities Aerial Charge (which launches you in the air) and Meteor Drop (which is practically a dive-bomb attack) give me pretty strong Dragoon vibes.

Lancer, by Massif Press - and the Field Guide to Suldan, by KaiTave.

Lancer is a tabletop role playing game centred on shared narratives, customizable mechs, and the pilots who crew them. Set many thousands of years from the present day, Lancer imagines a future where a survivor humanity has spread to the stars after weathering terrible ecological collapse on Earth -- the end of the Anthropocene as a consequence of unrestrained consumption and poor stewardship.

Lancer features a mix of gritty, mud-and-lasers military science fiction and mythic science fantasy. In the setting, conscript pilots mix ranks with flying aces, mercenary guns-for-hire brawl with secretive corporate agents, and relativistic paladins cross thermal lances with causality-breaking, unknowable beings.

Lancer’s big thing is the ability to make a mech that can do some really cool things, all based around combat. You build your mechs with pieces you gain access to through licenses, many of which are distributed by various companies and organization. The base game has the IPS-N Nelson Frame, which is all about close-quarters combat and high mobility, with a gigantic War Pike that can puncture armour. If you want to go full Dragoon mode though, you’ll want to download the Field Guide to Suldan fan expansion, which has an additional frame option for the Nelson, giving you the power of flight - and an ability called Drive Burst, which allows you to move really fast in one direction and do a whole bunch of extra damage to anyone in your way.

If you want a game that’s all about figuring out neat combos and making your machine really really good at specific things, you want to try Lancer.

Fabula Ultima, by Need Games.

FABULA ULTIMA is a Tabletop Roleplaying Game inspired by Japanese-style console RPGs, or JRPGs.  In Fabula Ultima, you and your friends will tell epic stories of would-be heroes and fearsome villains, set in fantasy worlds brimming with magic, wondrous locations, and uniquely bizarre monsters!

A game that is typically advertised for folks who want a Final Fantasy experience, Fabula Ultima is likely going to hit a lot of similar plot beats and game moments that feel familiar. When it comes to character creation, you are expected to put together a few different options to make someone with a lot of cool talents that you can expand on as you grow.

One of the pre-gens in Press Start, a quick-start version of the game, looks fairly Dragoon-like, with a heavy spear and a move called “Soaring Strike” that looks like it can send you airborne to fight flying enemies, so I think it should be fairly easy to make the kind of character you’re looking for.

First Fantasy, by Marc Strocks.

A one-page RPG created for the game(s) jam.  In the year 199X, technological cities grow thicker by the day, feeding off the planet's resources. Demonic fiends fill the wilds, attacking anything that moves. With a weapon by your side, you travel the world. This is your mission. This is your story.

First-Fantasy is a single page full of a lot of roll tables, both for character creation and adventure creation. This game feels like it’s relying on folks who are well acquainted with the lore and tropes of Final Fantasy, and gives you a few tools to add chance to your story. Character creation is pretty slim, but the Dragoon class does give you the basics: a spear or a sword, a Jump-charge ability, and the metal plate you’d probably expect a knight of some kind to wear.

UMBRA, by Star Bear Games.

UMBRA is a Table Top Role Playing Game in which you delve into a world of bug Knights! It features the quick and snappy combat of the LUMEN system.

Under and within a grand oak tree lays a sprawling metropolis known as the Cradle. Making their lives under the watchful rule of the Ashen King, are the bugs of the Cradle. Every bug has a part to play, big or small, in the kingdom. For you, oh noble Knights, your part is that of protector.

Inspired by Hollow Knight, I thought about Umbra for two reasons: one, because the titular character of the game does a lot of jumping when in combat, and two, because this game is based in LUMEN, which is all about modular combat and strategy.

You cobble together a few different things to make your character unique, including a House, a weapon, and armour called Regalia, which give you different abilities or advantages. If you want to make a Dragoon-like character, I’d recommend making a bug from Horn House, which gives you the hard-hitting, high-damage typical of an armour-puncturing spear. You’d then make your spear by taking a Point weapon and giving it tags like Reaching, to give yourself the ability to stab from a distance. Then for Shell regalia, you can take either Hovering Wings, which gives you the ability to fly, or Propelling Wings, which give you heightened jumps, allowing you to stay in the air for extended periods of time.

If UMBRA itself isn’t the setting that you want but you like this level of customization, then I recommend checking out some other LUMEN games for different genres, but the same easy-to-learn fast-action strategy.

RottenFall Heroes, by LazerSamuraiGG

In a world forever changed by cosmic disaster, ordinary lives collided with the extraordinary. It all began with the sudden appearance of mysterious beings, turning unsuspecting humans into monstrous entities known as the ROTTEN. The trigger? A mysterious collision between an Obsidian Pyramid and the moon.

As if this upheaval wasn't enough, interdimensional beings known as VILLAINS seeped into our reality, distorting familiar landscapes into surreal nightmares.

Yet, amidst the turmoil, emerged a glimmer of hope – the Heroes. These courageous individuals joined forces, establishing schools and enterprises to combat the encroaching darkness. They ventured forth into the warped realities, confronting villains and safeguarding the innocent.

Mechanically, I cannot honestly say that RottenFall Heroes has anything that looks like a Dragoon in fighting style. However, what it does have is a class called a dragon knight, which involves a person who has a solemn pact with an ancient Dragon, who has granted them access to special powers. In Dragon Form, you are especially talented at wielding two-handed weapons, and I think you can choose a spear or lance if that’s what you desire. You can also re-roll your attacks when fighting with your clawed hands, and you’re resistant to fire. If you want the connection to dragons more than the ability to jump really high and pile-drive someone from the sky, then you might be interested in RottenFall Heroes.

You might also want to check out…

The Fire Emblem recommendation post I put up a couple of weeks ago.

The Official FFXIV TTRPG has Dragoon options! And it looks like there are free versions of the rulebooks.

This playbook for SLAYERS is all about playing a Dragoon-like character.

[laylasverse]

i feel like you already got 🥯 so just in case 🥞 for the baked goods ask game :P

baked goods ask game ( 🥯 & 🥞 )

ꪆৎ answering for my gotham dr .

🥯 : BAGEL . . . create a mood board of your significant other(s) in your desired reality. you could include their face claim, favorite color, clothing style, what your relationship with them looks like, etc.

i went ahead and did our relationship together ( after he finally mans up & facing his feelings ) since i already basically did a moodboard of him. our relationship is sort of the dictionary definition of him being a guard dog and me just doing whatever i want with him at my heels. he acts all big 'n bad in public but at home he's just my little meow meow.

🥞 : PANCAKE . . . create a mood board of your familial relationships in your desired reality. who are the most important people in your family? what does your relationship look like, visually?

growing up as the only daughter of carmine falcone was.. something. as a little girl he was my best friend and i looked up to him. it was only after puberty that i realized how awful he actually was outside our home. never meet your heroes oe something like that . . . also, i have four brothers that also are consistently watching over me like hawks. so basically i can't do anything without at least one of them or bodyguards following me around.

ꪆৎ : my dear theo, i am so so sorry this is quite literally a month late 💔 but still thank you so much for the ask !!

[nerdforxmen]

BUCKY'S HAIR CHANGING THROUGHOUT HIS TIMELINE IS VERY LORE IMPORTANT AND NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE.

Okay so imma break down how his hair has changed and how it shows his growth.

( shortened the titles of the movies... CATFA- captain america the first avenger... CAATWS- captain america and the winter soldier... CACW- Captain America civil war... BPWF- black panther: wakanda forever... TFATWS- the falcon and the winter soldier. CABNW- captain america: brave new world... TB- thunderbolts) (TWS- the winter soldier)

CATFA: when we first see Bucky in 1941 he has short and styled hair (as a sergeant in WW2) but after he got rescued his hair becomes a little unkempt, but that's fine you're not expected to have perfect hair in the middle of war. We can take away from this that his hair in this movie doesn't symbolize HIM like people think his short hair does, but it's nothing more than a regulation by the government during the war.

CAATWS: wowzers the first time we get to see the winter soldier after we all thought bucky died. And boy oh boy get this man some shampoo. So his hair is really long now and still unkempt but let's think about it, when we make the connection between bucky and the winter soldier it all comes back to the hair, as TWS he had long hair every other time he had short hair. So his long hair in this movie symbolizes the lack of control he has over his own body and his own choices that he can make about his appearance. It's honestly really sad because he knew he had no control over something so simple like his hair, but it's all a part of the picture.

CACW. you see that in the timeline this is alter his WS phase his hair was slightly shorter but still his unkempt and seriously GIVE THIS MAN SOME SHAMPOO. CACW was a time where we truly got to see bucky going through his identity crisis which is like sodoo sad LIKE MY SWEET BABY BOY NOOO. he still isn't sure what part of him is TWS and what part of him is bucky, so we still see him rocking the long GREASY hair eugh. Butttt he also wore a hat in this movie. Now some can argue this is just him trying to keep everything on the down low and not give away who he is to everyone. But I think on a deeper level so what I think this was, was his attempt to add onto his appearance without the input of others or it being forced by HYDRA or in the case of CATFA the government. I think in this movie specifically we see a lot of character development with Bucky that us as a fandom really wanted.

BPWF: oh my gosh for the very few screen time minutes he had. THIS WAS THE HAPPIEST WE'VE EVER SEEN THIS MAN. and I'm so here for it too. His hair is not oly brushed BUT IT'S WASHED! They gave my man some shampoo! I was honestly so happy to see him well, but there was also a bt of grief and self hatred towards himself in this movie because of things he did as TWS, this is like a weight on him keeping him from moving forward so his hair is still long RIP.

Infinity war and end game: he doesnt play a big role in these movies so there wasn't any change in his hair and he's basically in the same stage as he was in BPWF i also cried watching him fade away in intinity war MY POOR BABY LEAVE HIM ALONE TFATWS: oh my gosh where do i even start on his development in this show. it goes further than just his hair although that's what i'm focusing on in this. So we get a short hair comeback and immediately everyone freaks out "he took control of his life again" "he's tree from the forcing of his hair style" "he took back his life" but if we zoom in on one specific scene in season 1 episode 2- bucky says that he works for the government. If we look back to CATFA the reason Bucky had that short hair was because it was enforced by the government for his position in the army (sergeant). So the real question is, was this because of the government or is this also him showing that he's taking back controlin his life alter all the crap he went through in HYDRA? I think it's a mix of both. I think because he works for the government he doesn't want to be remembered by TWS therefore he cut his hair. I think he was worried about his public image even though he's been pardoned of all the things he did as TWS he still cares how people see him. So. unfortunately even this late in his timeline you can still see how HYDRA and his time as TWS sull dictates his decisions. But the amount of character development we got in this show can not be ignored so real quick imma just not talk about his hair- it was amazing seeing him finally being able to fight the trigger words and not relapse back into TWS. (not to mention the short hair looked great on him!) and this was again one the happiest we've ever seen bucky. I also think there was a lot going on between bucky and john walker, it was obvious he wasn't fond of the idea of someone replacing steve that wasn't chosen BY steve like sam was. But that's a different thing.

CABNW: So this (at the time of writing) is the newest movie we see bucky in for a whopping 5 minutes. And yet there's A LOT to unpack... so boom his long hair is back, well it's actually just a little longer and slicked back. which by now we've all kinda seen coming it you've kept up with teasers and trailers for thunderbolts. But we weren't even exactly expecting Bucky to show up in Brave New World. So we now know bucky is a congressman which is a very slippery slope in the fandem right now so i won't share my full opinion on that. All that matters is that we know he works for the government again (specifically in politics) and if we make the connection between him working for the government and his short hair, then why is his hair long again? And I'm going to be very honest here, I'm not fully sure. We didn't get a lot of screen time with bucky let alone dialogue to truly unpack that. But I think it's a sate assumption that he's finally free from the reign HYDRA has had on his life. Considering he's working for the government again, looked genuinely happy, and seemed overall better off than we've ever seen him (or at least since he was the white wolf.) i think for now until thunderbolts comes out, its safe to say Bucky has come further than we could've asked for. Very pleased with his short but sweet cameo!

TB: So this one is going to be short and sweet because at the time of writing this thunderbolts isn't even out yet. But he does have a very important role in TB so we got to see a lot of him in the trailers and teasers so that's what I'm working off of. His hair is now medium length which is best compared to the same length it was in the civil war. All though it's a lot more free because in the civil war it looked like it was poorly straightened by a middle school girl. Here I think his hair perfectly fits the role he's playing in this movie. They need to make him look standoffish like someone to take one good look at him and think "yeah maybe I won't second guess this guy" or "if I value my life i'l keep my mouth shut around him.." which if you ask me is perfect. Because he literally kidnaps 2 super soldiers, 1 ex widow and hawkeye (kate bishop) and somehow convinces them to work with him. (sounds like a new avengers team that was teased in BNW but i won't get into that just yet.) so he has to look gruff and mean. And what better way to look gruff and mean then going back to the same style you were when you were an assassin? But how does this show his growth and decision making?? Well he knows what image he gave off with his long har and the connection that others make with his long hair and him being TWS. so he took what he knew and used it to his advantage to make himself look scarier. Could I be wrong about this 100% and after thunderbolts comes out i'll most definitely update this with an actual thing and not just a theory. But that's it for my yapping for now. :3