#not her having a contingency plan to drug him and run away during their first date she's a hot mess

[locria-writes]

my sole true non-trash male lead: *hands over a pretty bouquet for their first date*

my poor protagonist who is in the wrong genre: is this a threat against my life?

[chalkrevelations]

Episode 31 of Word of Honor, and in many ways OH MY GOD YES, but also, no, show, wtf?

As in, wt actual f is going on? Literally, what is happening?

(Spoilers, so scroll away and come back later, if you need to.)

So, first thing’s first: I feel like this one may end up a bit short, because a lot of it is likely to be just a bunch of keysmash flailing? (EDIT: No, I just came back up here to the top from the bottom, because this is NOT AT ALL any shorter than usual.) I’ll attempt a bit more than exclamation points and worry over whether my poor heart is able to take this, but we’ll see how it goes, because the first thing I’m going to do is say I knew it! and I told you so! I knew you weren’t planning to die, Zhou Zishu. I did call you a liar after Ep 30, and I was right. I mean, what’s the point of having the terrifying master of the Ghost Valley as your boyfriend husband if he’s not going to rescue you after you’ve been kidnapped for attempted ravishment by the evil prince? And get you the best wedding present ever, i.e., a bunch of new disciples? Omg, Zhou Zishu’s face when Wen Kexing finally calls himself a disciple of Four Seasons Manor! (I think he’s so overwhelmed, he doesn’t even realize when WKX calls him “shixiong” a minute before that!) Wen Kexing’s tiny pained smile that he just can’t seem to help when ZZS lays his hand on WKX’s head! That long shuddering breath ZZS lets out, and the way his shoulders just drop, like he’s finally let go of a huge weight! (The worry this brings me, because there are five and a half episodes left, my dude, and your husband is a troublemaker, and I would not be getting complacent, if I was you.) The fact that WKX has knelt to ZZS and called him zongzhu in front of the Ghost Valley contingent – there’s gotta be some political implications to that. Horseback riding! The way WKX keeps holding (up) ZZS! Lol at WKX being all, you all can leave now, we can take our honeymoon alone from here! ZZS knew he would come (I told you so)! Their smiles! Their soft little faces! (Merciless killers! How so fucking adorable?) The hairpin! MARRIED, Y’ALL. Censorship? I don’t know her. ANYWAY, that’s all just a bunch of flailing reaction to the first almost 20 minutes of emoporn. Also, Zhang Zhehan, you should not do suffering so pretty. It makes me feel like a bad person for still enjoying your face so much when your character is in so much physical and emotional distress.

Secondly, show. We need to talk. You should not be this opaque. I’m trying to piece together everything that’s happened in (vaguely) chronological order:

Sometime before dying (before breaking his heart meridians?), Han Ying tells Wen Kexing about the Four Seasons Remnants back with Prince Jin. All of Ep 30 happens, with Zhou Zishu and Xie Wang both making a mess of Awful Prince’s/Yifu’s plans. Xie Wang, the rest of the Scorpions, and the Ghost Valley team retreat back to a lair. Which lair? Who knows, at this point. Cao Weining talks to Fan Shishu. (He explicitly tells this to A-Xiang.) But does he also confront Mo Huaiyang? Because I feel like it must be significant that we get the same turn of phrase to describe Zhao Jing’s relationship with Xie Wang – asking a tiger for its skin – from Mo Huaiyang to Fan Shishu, and then attributed to Cao Weining when A-Xiang quotes it to WKX in the same ep. The show even emphasizes this for us to catch by drawing attention to A-Xiang’s use of it via her struggle to remember the idiom properly. (A. This episode’s convo between Mo Huaiyang and Fan Shishu, which is when we see Mo Huaiyang actually use the idiom, happens AFTER Cao Weining and Gu Xiang leave Gentle Wind Sword Sect. I went back and checked, and it is Mo Huaiyang who uses it, not Fan Shishu. B. In this same convo, Fan Shishu says he still needs to explain all this to the disciples somehow, so C. Was there a prior, unseen convo between just Cao Weining and Mo Huaiyang in which Mo Huaiyang practiced his excuses on poor, hapless Cao Weining first?)

Anyway, Cao Weining then goes to A-Xiang, who’s lit. and fig. in the dark at this point, in her rustic cabin outside the gated community. I notice Cinnamon Roll already has his bag packed. He is done. He lays out the current political web, and A-Xiang seems pretty sure of Liu Qianqiao’s ultimate loyalty to WKX. This is probably important in what happens next. Gu Xiang and Cao Weining decide to run away and elope but then … get captured and taken to the lair. On purpose? A-Xiang did see Liu Qianqiao with Xie Wang in the Secret Cave, standing shoulder to shoulder with Du Pusa as an apparent top-tier henchwoman, and she probably expects to be protected, but this seems like a pretty big gamble. I suppose you don’t survive the Ghost Valley without learning to take some risks. A-Xiang then leads Xie Wang and the Ghost Valley contingent to WKX (at burned-down Four Seasons Manor?) to, she says, let WKX take down Xie Wang. She notes Xie Wang’s use of some potion to control everyone – I assume the Drug Man potion, and I assume the monthly antidote is what’s keeping everyone in the Ghost Valley from going full Drug Man?

WKX and Xie Wang confer in secret. Probably about how much they both hate Awful Yifu. I mean, I assume Xie’er still hates Awful Yifu at this point, but who knows what tomorrow will bring? Probably a key point here: WKX is hiding whatever this was about from his husband. My dude, why are you still like this? I guess that explains the pained cast to that tiny little smile earlier. WKX then takes some of the Ghost Valley contingent and coordinates with the Four Seasons Remnants back in Prince Jin’s territory to rescue ZZS. Husband safely rescued, WKX now heads back to Ghost Valley, to … abdicate? He promises A-Xiang he’s going to come back safely, and my dude, I’m trying to believe you. I really am. I’m trying to have as much faith in you planning to be back all along as I had in ZZS not planning to die in Jin Palace all along, but here’s a key difference: HE LET YOU IN ON HIS PLAN. Which you were a key part of. I find your secrecy, by contrast, concerning.

Other things:

Love the little moment between Gu Xiang and Liu Qianqiao and Luo Fumeng when Beauty Ghost and Tragicomic Ghost turn to Xie Wang in righteous indignation and want to know what the fuck he thinks he’s doing to their little girl. Compare the reaction of these two moms to Happy Ghost being all, “Nope, this is a complete and total in with Wen Kexing right here in a pretty pink dress.” The show continues to draw a fairly bright line between the characterization of the women in the Department of the Unfaithful - who are terrorizing certain people, true, but also watching out for each other after ending up down on their luck – and the general run of men in Ghost Valley, who are basically rotten sociopaths straight out of Batman’s rogues gallery and will sell you out in a minute for their own gain. Yes, this has been made fairly explicit in Wen Kexing’s and A-Xiang’s commentary in past eps and later in this ep about trying to get the Department of the Unfaithful out of the line of fire while not caring if the jianghu burns down the rest of Ghost Valley, but this isn’t just favoritism or a whim, just some fond memories of Luo Fumeng being kind to them a couple of times in the past. I think there’s some commentary here on the kind of men who are so far gone they find themselves outside the bounds of “civilized” society and the kind of women who do – how much easier and quicker it is for a woman, that it could be any woman in the wrong circumstances, and how much further gone a man has to be than a woman to be considered a “devil.” We’ve seen these supportive interpersonal relationships among the women since Gu Xiang “adopted” her two girls in the first handful of episodes and told off Lovelace with the threat of Tragicomic Ghost – and the show is continuing to show it, not just tell it. It’s one of the things I’ve found frustrating about Wen Kexing a couple of times in past eps, when he’s trying to get A-Xiang’s two girls, or other women from the Department, to just leave and go do something else – I feel like even though WKX realizes their circumstances and their personalities are different from the rest of his Top Ten Devils, he’s not fully comprehending that they literally have nowhere else to go, that if they had any other options, they wouldn’t have ended up there in the first place. He called the two girls “puppies” when he talked about A-Xiang having to take care of them, but as Ghost Valley master, who’s enforced the independence of and protections for the Department of the Unfaithful, he’s walking away from his own basketful of puppies. Not to mention, this is one of the vanishingly small places in this particular version of the jianghu that we’ve seen women have any autonomy and power. I … think there may have been a few young female cultivators in Yueyang Sect, but while I’d have to go back and watch to be sure, I remember the Hero’s Conference being a whole bunch of men throwing their … weight around. Anyway, I also love that it looks like A-Xiang tries to kick Happy Ghost in the shin, because of course she does.

Visually, they had a cool thing going on there with the Tian Chuang behind WKX falling in concert with WKX lowering his fan, but they didn’t quite coordinate it enough, and then they cut away too soon. Bah. It was set up to be a very cool visual, if only they had committed to it. Meanwhile Duan Pengju, this asshole, omg. He’s trying to pull off the Collar of Evil and is not succeeding. Srsly, his Collar of Evil is droopy. It doesn’t stop him from monologuing like he’s the actual villain and not some sad-sack lackey. You showed the correct amount of amused disdain during your interaction, but I can’t believe you left him alive at the end of it, Wen Kexing.

I wasn’t really feeling Jing Beiyuan and Wu Xi up until this ep when Jing Beiyuan was teasing A-Xiang about her lack of shame over running away with her lover. OK, fine, you can stay, Qi Ye. Also, wow. Speaking of lack of shame, I can’t believe you just accused your husband of bride kidnapping right in front of everyone’s salads, because that is totally what just happened there.

So the band is (almost all) back together, minus Chengling, who has definitely found out in the worst possible way that one of his dads is the terrifying master of the Ghost Valley that massacred his family and sect. So, this should go well.

Lol at Xie’er lounging in Wen Kexing’s Ghost Valley master seat like some kind of consort. He’s already got a husband, Xie’er. One that would not be happy with a concubine running around, I think. I do wonder what the full scope of their plan/understanding is, bubbling away under this stare-down.

A note – WKX’s hair is styled differently in this ep in the Ghost Valley master scenes than it has been before. Previously, those side bangs were further forward and a little bit chunkier, which, I think, narrowed his face and also helped emphasize the wild-eyed look. They’re wispier and back further, now, which I think softens his face, even when he’s trying to look imposing. Makes him look more, dare I say, human.

And now, I’m going to go have a few Han Ying/Bi Xingming thoughts, actually. God, those months after ZZS left, can you imagine what that was like for them? Han Ying having watched those nails placed in Bi Xingming’s shifu in the first ep, and then having to turn around and go to Bi Xingming and tell him that ZZS was gone, with the seven nails in him? Both of them trying to hold the Four Seasons Remnants together – and then Ying-ge comes back one day and says he’s found ZZS? Mutual aid and comfort, my dudes. Also some projection. I’m just sayin’. Meet me, I guess - this kind of sideline action and extremely rare pair thing is how I tend to roll.

[blackwolf12]

Not a batfam expert, but I know a fair bit about the Waynes + Steph and a little about Duke and Barbara

The Wayne family includes Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake-Wayne, Cassandra Cain-Wayne, and Damian Wayne.

Dick was officially adopted when he was in his twenties, I believe. Jason was adopted when Bruce first took him in. Tim's father was alive for most of the time that he was Robin and Bruce adopted him after his father was killed by (I think) Captain Boomerang. I don't know when Cassandra was adopted. Damian is B's biological son and was taken in by Bruce when Talia (his mother) brought him to Gotham.

Duke Thomas is not a Wayne, as his parents are still alive but basically comatose due to the Joker poisoning them with joker venom. He does see the Bats as his family, however, and he has very close bonds with all of them (especially Cassandra). He was part of the We Are Robins movement and has been extensively trained by all previous Robins (though I'm not sure if Steph trained him) and, I believe, Batman himself. He became the Signal and is the only Bat to work mostly in daylight hours. He is a metahuman with the ability to see into the past and future (limited) and he is (I think) able to control light and shadow to an extent. He also is able to boost the powers of other metahumans around him.

The Robin order goes like this:

Dick Grayson, when he was 8-10

Jason Todd, when he was 11-12 (I think)

Tim Drake, when he was?? 14???

Stephanie Brown, when Tim was on break from being Robin. She was 15-17

Damian Wayne, at 10

The Batgirl order goes like this

Barbara Gordon, canonically at 18 though I hc her to have been younger

Cassandra Cain, somewhere in her late teens? I think?

Stephanie Brown, when she was 18-19 and a college student

About the girls

Barbara Gordon was the niece of Commissioner Gordon before her parents died and he adopted her. She is older than Dick by a few years and was Batgirl for a while when Jason was Robin (I believe). The Joker shot and paralyzed her during The Killing Joke, and she then became Oracle. She is the current Batgirl in Rebirth, having overcome being paralyzed by?? A miracle. Or something. It's stupid

Cassandra is the biological daughter of Lady Shiva and an assassin named David Cain. Cain raised her until she was (9?) or so as a master assassin who couldn't speak but could read body language better than anyone else. When she killed a man as (a training exercise?) she ran away to Gotham. I haven't read her run so I don't know how she became Batgirl or how she met Bruce + the family. At one point, she had a duel with her mother that resulted in her death, but she was revived. When Bruce "died", she gave her Batgirl suit to Stephanie and (I think) later took the mantle back from her. She was the Batgirl to Tim and Stephanie's Robins.

Stephanie Brown is the daughter of Arthur Brown, the Cluemaster, and an ex-addict named Crystal Brown. When her father got out of jail when she was around 15-16 and started committing crimes again, Steph became the Spoiler and helped Batman and Robin (Tim) take him down. She was in a relationship with Tim for a while and at one point had a baby (not with him) that she put up for adoption. When Tim was forced to stop being Robin, Stephanie made her own costume and went out to help Bruce. She was only Robin for a few months before being fired, and started a gang war (using one of B's contingency plans) that resulted in her death. She didn't actually die though, and disappeared for two years with Leslie Thompkins before returning to Gotham and eventually recieving the Batgirl suit from Cassandra. She helped Dick raise Damian and is an older sister to him.

Talia all Ghul is the daughter of Ra's all Ghul and the mother to Damian Wayne. I don't know very much about her. She and Bruce were in love but cut ties due to [something fhshfb]. Talia drugged him to make him have intercourse with her, which resulted in Damian's conception. She is usually portrayed as an antagonist, though I wouldnt call her a full-on villain. She does care very much for Damian and is supposedly in love with Bruce, though she did cause Damian's death by sending the Heretic after him. She also canonically slept with Jason after he was revived, but that's terrible and I choose to ignore it.

Kate Kane (not to be confused with Cain) is Bruce's cousin on his mother's side. She is canonically Jewish and a lesbian, having been in a relationship with Detective Renee Montoya. After she was discharged from the military, she took inspiration from Batman to become Batwoman before being offered a position in the Batfamily by Bruce when he was creating Batman Incorporated.

Thank you so much. this helps a lot. i was mainly confused on the Talia thing (if she was evil or not).

[just-dreaming-marvel]

FORTY THREE - THE ACCORDS

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story

MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Count: 2,250ish

Summary: The Team learns about the Accords.

 “Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass… I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives… but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some… who would prefer the word ‘vigilantes’.” Secretary Ross stated.

“And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?” Natasha cut in, snarkily.

“How about ‘dangerous'? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?” Secretary Ross said, activating the screen behind him. It started playing news reels from past Avengers and SHIELD matters. “New York.”  The Chitauri invasion. “Washington DC.” When SHIELD fell. 

“Sokovia.” Ultron, I shuddered. “Lagos.” Their most recent mission. I could tell Wanda wasn’t taking all this well.

“Okay,” Steve said, obviously noticing Wanda reaction as well. “That’s enough.” Ross turned off the screen. 

“For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution.” Ross said and he threw a thick book on the table. “The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries… it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary. The Accords will also require anyone who is enhanced to be put on a registry.” Ross stated.

“Like me?” Wanda wondered, “Like Bailey?” She glanced at Tony, who refused to look at her. “We’d be put on a list so that you can watch our every move? Maybe even experiment on us?”

“No it’s not like that. It’s—“ Ross paused. “Wait a minute. Who the hell is Bailey?” Ross quickly glared at Tony. “Are you hiding enhanced people here?” Tony sat there, staring at the ground, not saying a word. I waited for him to defend me or something. But nothing happened. So Steve quickly chimed in. 

“No. Bailey is someone we were thinking about recruiting. She’s not unofficial member of the team and she’s not enhanced.” Phew, at least Steve has my back. I felt bad that he had to lie though, and I immediately felt that Ross hadn’t fully believed him. He changed the subject quickly. “The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we’ve done that.”

“Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?” Steve merely looked at Ross, unable to answer the question. Thor was probably on Asgard and no one had seen or heard from Bruce since Sokovia, a year ago. “If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes, you can bet there’d be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That’s how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground.”

“So, there are contingencies,” Rhodey spoke up. 

“Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords.” I noticed Steve and Tony briefly make eye contact and Tony quickly look back down. That floor must be really interesting, interesting enough for a man who never shuts up to stop talking. 

 “Talk it over,” Ross continued.

“And if we come to a decision you don’t like?” Nat asked.

“Then you retire.” Ross answered. Everyone kinda glanced at each other. “Let me know what you guys decide.” And with that, Ross left. 

I sat in the security room watching, waiting for Tony to speak up. But nothing. He just got up and walked out. I switched the cameras so that I could see where he was going. He went to the main gathering area, took off his jacket and tie and then laid down on the couch. Everyone else slowly followed. Sam and Rhodey were bickering back and forth about the Accords while Steve had grabbed the Accords themselves and was looking through them. They listened to Sam and Rhodey go at it for a while until Vision spoke up.

“I have an equation,” Vision stated.

“Oh, this will clear it up.” Sam grumbled sarcastically. 

“In the six years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man,” Vision started, “the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate.”

“Are you saying it’s our fault?” Steve questioned, as he looked up from the Accords.

“I’m saying there may be a causality,” Vision answered. “Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict… breeds catastrophe. Oversight… Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand.”

“Boom,” Rhodey said.

“Tony…” Nat said. “You’re uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal.” Tony moved his hand off from over his face and looked at Nat. She was right. He’s always very open about his opinion. Something was definitely off if he was keeping his mouth shut.

“It’s because he’s already made up his mind.” Steve stated.

“Boy, you know me so well,” Tony said sarcastically. Tony stood up and walked into the kitchen, he rubbed the back of his head as he went. “Actually, I’m nursing an electromagnetic headache.” He opened a cabinet and grabbed a mug. “That’s what’s going on, Cap. It’s just pain. It’s discomfort.” Tony looked into the sink. “Who’s putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed-and-breakfast for a biker gang?” 

Oops, that was me. I quickly mad a mental note that I needed to stop doing that. He tried to causally pull up a holographic image on his phone. 

“Oh, that’s Charles Spencer by the way,” Tony continued. “He’s a great kid. Computer engineering degree. 3.6 GPA. Had a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world, maybe be of service. Charlie didn’t want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn’t go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer, building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.” I could feel the emotional shift in the room from where I was. “He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won’t know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass.” Tony threw some pills in his mouth and took a drink before continuing. “There’s no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I’m game. If we can’t accept limitations, we’re boundary less, we’re no better than the bad guys.” 

“Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don’t give up,” Steve stated.

“Who said we’re giving up?” Tony questioned. 

“We are, if we’re not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame.”

“Sorry,” Rhodey interrupted, “Steve, that, that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we’re talking about. It’s not the World Security Council, it’s not SHIELD, it’s not HYDRA.” 

“No, but it’s run by people with agendas and agents change,” Steve stated.

“That’s good. That’s why I’m here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing them,” Tony said back. 

“Tony. You chose to do that. If we sign these, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don’t think we should go? What if there’s somewhere we need to go, and they don’t let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.” 

“If we don’t do this now, it’s gonna be done to us later. That’s a fact. That won’t be pretty.”

“You’re saying they’ll come for me… for Bailey.” Wanda whispered.

“We’ll protect you,” Vision promised, looking at Wanda. I sensed him caring, but in a different way than I had ever felt from the android. A way that shouldn’t have been possible. It was almost… human. “Both of you."

“Do want them to be taken away, Tony?” Steve stood up to face Tony. “Do you want Bailey to be taken away?” I could feel Steve’s emotions acutely as he asked those questions. He was terrified that the government really would take me away and worried that Tony was willing to take that chance. 

“Don’t bring her into this!” Tony slapped the counter top. “She’s different, she’s not a part of this. She’s not an official member of the team and they don’t even know about her.”

“She is apart of this, Tony! She’s trained, gone on missions. She’s enhanced! Do you want them to know what powers she has? If they find out that she has healing abilities, they would run tests on her to create some sort of super drug! And then there’s her super strength and what about her—”

“You don’t think I know that?! I have thought about every possibility! I have…” Tony looked up at Steve, the glimmer of tears in his eyes was obvious. “She is all I think about. She is the reason I am doing this. Bailey is the reason I do anything. She is my kid! And no one here has a say about what happens to her except me!”

I burst into tears as I sat there listening to everything that was being said. I shook my head and ran out of the security room, down the stairs, and out the back doors. I went straight to the facility fence line, collapsing against it as I continued to cry. When Tony first found me, I was being tested on. When my parents and others found out about my abilities, I was sought out for. My parents were paid a lot of money to sell me to, what we now know was, HYDRA. I was 4 years old when I was sold, just 4 years old. Kept in a cage, poked and cut open, blood drawn. Then I was kidnapped. Now, the government could put me on a list and could possibly do the same things that HYDRA had done to me. I agree that the Avengers need to be put in check, but not at the risk of those who are enhanced. 

While I was crying across the compound grounds, things were still heated inside.

“I signed the Accords to protect her,” Tony continued. “To protect all of us.”

“Steve, maybe Tony’s right,” Nat suggested. “If we have one hand on the wheel we can still steer.”

“Aren’t you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam asked. 

“I’m just raiding the terrain,” Natasha answered. “We’ve made some very public mistakes, we need to win their trust back.”

“I’m sorry,” Tony interrupted, the hint of surprise in his voice, “Did I just miss hear you or did you just say that you agree with me?” 

“Oh, I want to take it back—“ Nat quickly shook her head. 

“No no no,” Tony said, as he shook his finger. “You can’t retracted it.” 

Natasha looked at everyone around the room. They were all tense. She knew that continuing this conversation would get them no where. Especially with Tony and Steve going at each other about me. It frustrated her that Tony didn’t know what was going on between Steve and I. But she understood that it needed to be kept a secret from Tony for now.

“I think we need to take a break and rethink things. We can talk about this once we all have cool heads,” Nat suggested.

Tony marched out, immediately in search of me since he hadn’t seen me in weeks. Steve sat down and put his face in his hands. Nat went over and put her hand on his back. She glanced at everyone else in the room. They all got the hint and then left. 

“You can’t be serious about this Nat,” Steve said, once everyone else was gone. 

 “They’re going to put them on a list. They’re going to put her on a list. I can’t—“ He took in a harsh breath. “I can’t let that happen. She’s already been through so much, too much. I have to do what I can to prevent more from happening to her.”

“I know you love her Steve, but you have no say in the matter. Tony’s her father and you’re her secret boyfriend. Until it’s out in the open, you’re just going to have to deal with having no say.”

“I know,” he sighed.

“He’s just trying his best.”

“I know.”

“We need to ride this out, see what happens. But you should go talk to her. We both know she heard the whole thing.”

“I can’t be the one to talk to her first. Tony needs to… I’ll just have to pick up the pieces of that conversation.”

next >

[eeveecrmchl]

DISCORD THREAD | EEVEE X VULCAN:

feat: @eeveecrmchl​ & @ellisvulcan​

summary: eevee finds an old shirt at v’s place and wigs out simp style.

Eevee: It’s almost three am and for once, Eevee is sober and is actually aware of where her car is — currently on its way to V’s place. The drive there is familiar and she’s hit with the nostalgia of when she’d do this before. It doesn’t take long until she’s pulling up to his street and parking by the sidewalk. Hoodie wrapped around her, Eevee realizes that she should have changed rather than drive off the moment she’s given permission to stay over. Her steps echo through the silent neighborhood along with the knocks she delivers on his door even if it’s already slightly ajar. “Vulcan?” The wind is cold on her legs and Eevee is definitely regretting not putting on more clothing. “It’s, uh, Eevee.”

Vulcan: “Chevie, come on. You can wait somewhere else, you’re going to startle mommy if you wait by the door.” No response. It’s obvious who’s the pomeranian’s favorite is, Vulcan’s not complaining though. He did leave Eevee’s place an hour before since he needed to open up his repair shop in a few hours. He went to the kitchen while the dog still stayed there to get himself a bottle of water. Not long after he hears Eevee’s voice followed by a small bark, then there is Chevie running up to him. “I know, bud. I heard the door.” He chuckles as he walks to the living room. He was immediately surprised by what she was wearing. “Hello, baby. See what I’m talking about?”

Eevee: Eevee bends to pick up the Pomeranian and makes her way to the living room. It doesn’t escape her notice how domestic this all is and while she’s usually not one for monogamy — or any type of relationship really after him — she can’t help but relax into this role. “It’s not my fault he loves me more,” she points out, cradling the puppy in her arms. Eevee gives him a few more belly rubs before setting him down. Even if they’ve shared her bed before, she’s come to realize they’ve never actually discussed sleeping arrangements at his place. “Uh I can take the couch? I don’t want to fuck up your sleep schedule since you have work in the morning and we both know I’m not gonna let you go once your alarm rings.”

Vulcan: "I was going to say I can't blame Chevie for loving you more, like father, like son, right?" A light chuckle escapes his lips as he watches her cradle the dog in her arms. It's been so long ever since Eevee last stepped foot in his house and he couldn't believe she's here again. He's never put away her things even though he broke up with her, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He even argued with the girls he's brought home with him if they ever dared to touch her things. "No, you're not taking the couch, baby. Come on--get settled in bed, okay? And I don't mind waking up later than my usual time. I'm turning my alarm off for today, so we can get the sleep we both need." He walks over to her and kisses the top of her head. "Spend the rest of the day with me?"

Eevee: “Simp,” the term holds an affectionate note even if Eevee denies ever being one. Rather than argue — and truth be told she was hoping for his answer anyway — she takes his hand and guides them to the direction of his bedroom, already knowing where to go from memory. “No, don’t do that for me. You have to work. I can sit around and help -- or uh give you moral support. I don’t have plans tomorrow anyway.” Eevee’s pretty sure she doesn’t have class but she’s brought a couple of pills to keep her busy for hours anyway while V worked. That and she barely goes to the class she’s thinking of since attendance isn’t mandatory. “Watch it, Ellis, you keep wanting to spend your day with me, I’m going to start thinking you actually want me around,” she teases. Dropping his hand to strip herself of her hoodie, she leans in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Come on, looks like you’re tired. The drive kind of woke me up so it’ll take me a while to knock out, but you need rest.”

Vulcan: "My body's used to waking up on a certain time, baby. The alarm's just my little contingency plan." Vulcan is honestly just looking forward to spend the day with Eevee even when he's going to on his repair shop. "I do like having you around, makes any day better." He just shrugs at her blonde, watching her while she takes her hoodie off. "Clothes right there, baby. Need to make sure you're always warm." He sits down on the edge of the bed. "I'm not tired, maybe only a little. I do sleep better with you, you know that?"

Eevee: The laughter that escapes her isn’t meant to be mocking but Eevee can’t help but point out the fact that Vulcan truly is an old soul. “Baby, are you Benjamin Button? Is that what’s happening here?” She shoots him a thankful smile, walking towards the drawers to borrow a comfier shirt. Upon opening one at random, she’s hit with the sight of old band tshirts she thought she’d never see again. Lifting one, she turns to face him, not counting on tears to form at how full her chest feels. “You kept these,” she hugs it close to her. “Why did you keep these?”

Vulcan: When he broke things off with Eevee, Vulcan still kept her things at his home. It was hard for him to accept during those times that she's out of his life, thinking that they would never cross paths again after her father did everything in his power to split them. There was just some form of comfort not putting her things away. Maybe part of him was hoping that they'd eventually get back together, without the interference of her father. "They kept me close to you, in a way." He looks down at his hands for a moment before looking back up at her. "Any part of you is really important to me. I--I never really stopped thinking about you, about us. I didn't--I really didn't want to leave, Eevee...."

Eevee: Eevee notices that she’s practically white knuckling the fabric. Her chest feels like it isn’t expanding right; it’s getting hard to breathe. The whole time they were apart Eevee felt like the whole relationship was a scam, that it meant more to her than to him. Seeing this now, she’s caught off balance and while she doesn’t firmly believe him on his story, she can’t deny that this means something. Wordlessly, she puts the shirt back in the drawer. It takes her a moment but she’s moving towards him, legs quickly straddling his hips, hands cupping his face so she could look at him dead on. “I haven’t stopped loving you,” is what comes out first and it surprises her but the admission comes from months of denial. “Whenever I tried to find someone —,” and with this her voice breaks. “ — no one came close. Not at all.” She offers him a shaky smile, tears free falling now. Eevee has never been one for sentiments, has always shied away from talking about what hurt, but here, with him, it feels like she owes it to herself to come to terms with it. “I didn’t even hate you for what you did. I couldn’t. I had to talk myself out of begging you back so many fucking times.” Those were the bad days, the ones where alcohol couldn’t numb the pain and the drugs did nothing but remind her that she no longer had someone that gave her a natural high. “I love you, Vulcan. As stupid as it is, as scary as it fucking is, I love you.” She looks away from a moment, tries to blink away the moisture. “At one point I thought I was going to marry you.” Her head shakes at the memory but she manages to focus her attention back to him. “A lot has changed. But what I’m sure of — the only fucking thing I’m sure of — is that my feelings for you haven’t.”

Vulcan: The day he broke it off with Eevee, Vulcan was in a level of this excruciating pain that nothing could ever take it away. He drowned himself with work at the repair shop and the underground fight club--God, that fight club. He got so much into his fight that day they broke up that he ended up being concussed after the fight and managed (or tried to) to take care of himself for at least two weeks. Nothing could ever take that pain away, even a part of him tried to look for something worse that it. "I...I was in a downward spiral after that." He couldn't tell her about his night job, at least not yet. That was something they're bound to talk about later on. "I wanted to take it back, I wanted to....to get you back. But I was terrified. I'm still terrified, Eevee. But I can't live this life without you anymore." He rests his forehead against hers, wiping her tears away. He doesn't even realize a few tears escaping his eyes. "I love you, Eevee. I--I never stopped loving you." He admits. He cannot imagine spend the rest of his life with anyone else. "I don't want to be away from you, not anymore. You're the only one I need, Evelyn Carmichael."

Eevee: Forehead against her own, Eevee lets his words wash over her. There’s nothing else they could do about it. The year has passed, they’ve been separated and now, the only option is to find their footing once again. “Vulcan Ellis, you won’t ever lose me,” she presses the words onto his lips like a promise. The sea salt taste of tears remind her of their state and so she pulls back to wipe his tears the way he did with hers. “Fuck we’re such simps,” she lets out a shaky laugh. “We’ll be fine, V. Whatever happens, we’ll be fine.” She looks back towards the drawers, head tilt in curiosity at just what else he’s managed to keep. He’s braver than her, she figures. She couldn’t have anything that’s set as a reminder of what they were without reaching for he nearest bottle. Sighing, she pushes herself off of the man, legs shaky as they were pressed against the bed the whole time. She pulls her camisole over her head, goes to get the shirt she found, and puts it on. Eevee pushes V back onto the mattress so she can lay on his side, head on his chest. “Hey,” she pokes his cheek. The night feels lighter; she feels lighter. “You should go to sleep. You still have work tomorrow.”

Vulcan: Vulcan only realized that he was also crying when Eevee did the same, wiping his tears away. "So you admit it now, baby? You're a simp too?" Vulcan grins playfully, teasing the other in attempt to lighten the mood. "We'll be fine..." He takes her hand and kisses the tattoo once more, looking at her lovingly. He never thought he'd be able to have her close like this ever again. But seeing her for the first time in a year at Landon's apartment....That's when he realized he should've fought for her from the very start. He watched the musician walk up to his closet with a smile, changing into a shirt he's never seen her in forever before he was pushed back into his bed, his arm finding its way around her shoulder, holding her close. "As long as I get to wake up with you?"

Eevee: Eevee rolls her eyes at his attempt but she humors him anyway. "I never said that. You're the simp. Don't get it twisted here." Heart flutters at the lips on her tattoo, the small act of which meaning more than he would ever know. She was warned that getting something permanent about another person was a foolish endeavor and was proven so when he left, but after a while, she grew to accept that no matter what, Vulcan has and always will be an important part of her life under any ciruc,stance. Nuzzling in close, she lets herself relax in his arms, content in a way that she's too terrified to think too much about. "We both know you're the one that's going to wake up first, you oldie, so yes, you get to wake up with me," she points out. "Now go to sleep. You have work in the morning." // END

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Canada’s other health crisis (Washington Post) The novel coronavirus was on the march across Canada, but it was a different public health crisis that turned Shannon Krell’s world upside down. Her brother hadn’t shown up for work, which was unusual. She called the police to have someone check on the 46-year-old, but a friend arrived first and made the sad discovery. Ryan Krell had died of an accidental drug overdose—another life lost to a crisis that has killed more than 15,400 people in Canada since 2016. Their number has increased in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. British Columbia, the epicenter of the crisis, recorded its deadliest month in May—and then surpassed it in June. Nearly four times as many people in the province have died of a suspected overdose this year as have died of the coronavirus. Overdose deaths in the Yukon territory this year are double last year’s tally. Paramedics in the city of Saskatoon last month responded to a record weekly number of overdose calls.

Taller cubicles, one-way aisles: Office workers must adjust (AP) Bergmeyer, a design firm in Boston, has erected higher cubicles, told employees to wear masks when not at their desks and set up one-way aisles in the office that force people to walk the long way around to get to the kitchen or the bathroom. “The one-way paths take me a little out of the way, but it was easy to get used to,” said Stephanie Jones, an interior designer with the company. “It actually gives me the opportunity to see more people and say a quick hello when I might have just walked directly to my desk before.” Around the U.S., office workers sent home when the coronavirus took hold in March are returning to the world of cubicles and conference rooms and facing certain adjustments: masks, staggered shifts, spaced-apart desks, daily questions about their health, closed break rooms and sanitizer everywhere. Employers in some cases are requiring workers to come back to the office, but most, like Bergmeyer, are letting the employees decide what to do, at least for now. Some firms say the risks and precautions are worth it to boost productivity and move closer to normal.

Postal Crisis Ripples Across Nation as Election Looms (NYT) Each day, when Nick Casselli, the president of a Philadelphia postal workers union, sits down at his desk, his phone is full of alarmed messages about increasing delays in mail delivery. Mr. Casselli and his 1,600 members have been in a state of high alert since Louis DeJoy, a Republican megadonor and an ally of President Trump’s, took over as postmaster general in May. Overtime was eliminated, prompting backups. Seven mail-sorting machines were removed from a nearby processing center in West Philadelphia, causing further delays. Now, post offices are being told to open later and close during lunch. Similar accounts of slowdowns and curtailed service are emerging across the country as Mr. DeJoy pushes cost-cutting measures that he says are intended to overhaul an agency suffering billion-dollar losses. But as Mr. Trump rails almost daily against the service and delays clog the mail, voters and postal workers warn a crisis is building that could disenfranchise record numbers of Americans who will be casting ballots by mail in November because of the coronavirus outbreak. At risk are not just the ballots—and medical prescriptions and paychecks—of residents around the country, but also the reputation of the Postal Service as the most popular and perhaps the least politicized part of the federal government.

California power problems (NYT) A heat wave is scorching the Southwest and has forced intermittent power shut-offs in California. Thermometers are cracking 110 degrees Fahrenheit in some cities. Californians used so much electricity trying to stay cool Friday night that, for the first time in 19 years, the agency that oversees much of the state’s power grid shut off power to hundreds of thousands of customers for several hours to avoid a damaging overload. The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for much of the West Coast. The sweltering heat comes as coronavirus cases are on the rise in California, creating a dilemma for those who could not stay cool at home.

Bald Eagle Sends Government Drone Into Lake Michigan (NYT) A squabble in the sky over Lake Michigan left one bald eagle victorious and one government drone mangled and sunken. Hunter King, a drone pilot at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, was surveying an area of the lake near the state’s Upper Peninsula last month when the $950 drone started “twirling furiously” after it indicated that a propeller had been torn off. “When he looked up, the drone was gone, and an eagle was flying away,” said the department, whose name is abbreviated E.G.L.E. The department speculated that the eagle could have attacked because of a territorial dispute, because it was hungry “or maybe it did not like its name being misspelled.” Julia Ponder, executive director of the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota, said that it was likely because the drone had encroached on the eagle’s territory. “They’re the king of the skies,” she said.

National Debt To Surpass $78 Trillion By 2028 (Forbes) The coronavirus pandemic pushed the government into the proverbial corner, prompting it to borrow heavily from the future to ward off a serious threat today. Without this intervention, the U.S. economy would be in a much worse recession or possibly even a depression. Even though borrowing excessively may have been the lesser of two evils, the burgeoning debt will have ramifications in the future. With the debt approaching $27 trillion, and projected to rise to $78 trillion by 2028, it will present significant challenges.

French government pushes for wider mask use (AP) After France recorded its highest one-day rise in virus infections since May, the government is pushing for wider mask use and tighter protections for migrant workers and in slaughterhouses. But France still plans to reopen schools nationwide in two weeks, and the labor minister says the government is determined to avoid a new nationwide lockdown that would further hobble the economy and threaten jobs. France’s infection count has resurged in recent weeks, blamed in part on people crisscrossing the country for weddings, family gatherings or annual summer vacations with friends. Britain reimposed quarantine measures Saturday for vacationers returning from France as a result.

Lukashenko under pressure as rival protests planned in Belarus capital (Reuters) Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko was under growing pressure on Sunday with rival protests due to converge on the capital a week after a contested presidential election that has thrown his country into turmoil. Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, has faced down a week of street demonstrations and refused demands for a re-run of an election protesters say was massively rigged to disguise the fact that he has lost public support. Often emotional in state TV appearances, the 65-year-old leader has alleged a foreign-backed plot to topple him. Russia, which has had a troubled relationship with Lukashenko, is watching closely as Belarus hosts pipelines that carry Russian energy exports to the West and is also viewed by Moscow as a buffer zone against NATO. The EU is gearing up to impose new sanctions on Belarus in response to a violent crackdown in which at least two protesters have been killed and thousands detained. Protesters show no signs of backing down.

Campus-based Thai protest movement extends reach to streets (AP) Anti-government protesters gathered in large numbers in Thailand’s capital on Sunday for a rally that suggested their movement’s strength may have extended beyond the college campuses where it has blossomed. Thousands of people assembled at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument, a traditional venue for political activities. Hundreds of police were also present, as well as a small contingent of royalists opposed to the protesters. There was no reliable estimate of the crowd size, though it appeared to be one of the biggest demonstrations in several years. The student-led movement has three core demands: holding new elections, amending the constitution and ending the intimidation of critics of the government. Thailand has experienced a successful coup roughly every six years on average since the army toppled the absolute monarchy in 1932 and replaced it with a constitutional monarchy. But it has been under military rule for much of the time since then.

10 killed in Somalia in extremist attack on Mogadishu hotel (AP) A Somali police officer says at least 10 people have been killed and more than a dozen others injured in an ongoing siege at a beachside hotel in Somalia’s capital where security forces are battling Islamic extremist gunmen who have invaded the building, Capt. Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press that the attack started with a powerful car bomb which blew off the security gates to the Elite Hotel.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man: Life Story #2 Thoughts

 Very mixed feelings....again

SPOILERS

 Let me get this out the way Bagley is the man on this book.  Beautiful art work, beautiful  colouring, the works. I especially love him drawing a MJ reminiscent of his 90s take on her but with more modern art flourishes.

Now onto the nitty gritty.

For the last issue I said I had mixed feelings because the premise for Life Story seemed at odds with what was advertised.

Reading ahead for the solicits for the series it became clear that what we were apparently going to get was the events of Spider-Man’s life playing out in real time wherein each of the stories still happened in the decade/time period they originally occurred in but Peter himself would just be the age he’d realistically have been. For example if Peter was 15 in 1962 then in theory when he deals with Kraven’s Last Hunt in 1987 he’d be 40.

Reading this issue though...even THAT isn’t what this book actually is.

What this book actually is... is Chip Zdarsky’s fanfiction.

It’s just a general Alternate Universe.

It’s not even a What If wherein you presume history to be the same up to a point of divergence then explore the repercussions of that divergence.

Like you’d think wouldn’t you that the changes in Spider-Man’s history would be as the natural result of either him aging in real time or him or at least the natural repercussions of dealing with real life history more realistically. Like you’d have thought in the last issue Norman Osborn going to jail would be because of the Vietnam War in some way.

Nope.

He goes to jail because Peter just decides in this universe to spill the beans on him.

Even before that Peter’s history was different because how and when Norman confronted Peter about his identity was radically different as well, not to mention Gwen learning his secret.

Gwen is perhaps the centrepiece of why this is just fanfiction and nothing more.

Zdarsky is very plainly a Gwen stan and you can tell from this as well as his OTHER alternate universe in his Spec run where he had Gwen and Peter also end up together.

So here Gwen and Peter got married and were married for a long while and that’s the status quo we’re jumping into.

Gag me.

But it goes deeper than that.

I’ve never been impressed by Zdarksy as a Spider-Man writer and this issue is perhaps a microcosm of why.

This story, this series had a central premise but that’s not the real premise the real premise is for this to be just Chip Zdarksy randomly remixing and changing pieces of Spider-Man’s history anyway he desires.

Like He’s going to vaguely hit certain beats per decade.

In the 1960s Norman will find out who he is and Flash will join the army.

In the 1970s Gwen will die and maybe MJ and Peter will hook up and there will be clones.

In the 1980s if the cover is to be believed he will be buried alive.

In the 1990s we���re probably getting clones.

But it’s superficial. It’s hitting the beats in spirit but not in sunbstance.

Gwen for instance does not die via a bridge, a Goblin and a misplaced webline.

She dies because Harry (not Norman) throws a bomb at a clone of Gwen stuck in a test tube who was actually the real Gwen.

The issue’s quality honestly very much depends upon how far you personally are willing to buy this AU as being just randomly different.

Because of the false advertising it’s curtailing my enjoyment for sure.

But more than this my enjoyment is curtailed because an awful lot of the changes I strongly suspect are not the result of Zdarsky actively choosing to change things but Zdarksy simply being a crap writer and not understanding the characters in general. Also just being bad at common sense things in his writing.

Let’s go through some of those things:

·         Mary Jane getting drunk. Nope. Sorry. Mary Jane was all about her party girl facade and keeping people at a distance, she’d never have compromised her cover and potentially allowed herself to lose control like that. She loved to party and yeah probably enjoyed alcohol but in a controlled manner

  ·         MJ chewing out Peter for allowing Flash to die. WTF was that? MJ knew Peter was Spider-Man and was alternatively sympathetic towards him or else repressed that knowledge because it upset her. It took the Puma invading his home and endangering her life very directly after YEARS for her to finally let that out. Here she sips one too many martinis and it slips out? Not to mention MJ NEVER blamed Peter for Gwen’s death nor Captain Stacy’s. She understood that he couldn’t do everything even with his power and that was when she knew Peter was the guy who literally snapped Gwen’s neck by accident. Does she blame Iron Man and Giant Man for also allowing Flash to die. How does she, or Peter in fact, know Peter would’ve been in Flash’s platoon to protect him in the first place?

    ·         MJ being engaged to Harry. ARE YOU SERIOUS! MJ had COMMTMENT ISSUES why the fuck would she be engaged to him! She also never regarded their relationship as serious at all and broke up with him FFS! This is like screwing up Peter’s origin!

  ·         MJ and Peter tolerate Harry’s drug abuse. Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr what?????????????????? Peter ‘guilt/responsibility’ Parker...just sits back and allows his best friend to kill himself with drugs? Mary Jane does that too? MJ whom it was implied in the Drug Trilogy KNEW about Harry’s problem and drifted away from him because of it? WTF Zdarksy.

    ·         MJ is...a DJ...Um....huh? I suspect all of the above can be explained via Zdarksy adopting a simplistic, superficial and frankly possibly somewhat sexist attitude to MJ’s ‘party girl’ label

  ·          Why is Norman still in jail? We know from Marvel Knights he had a contingency in place if he was ever jailed wherein Aunt May would be kidnapped and Peter thus forced to liberate him, a plan he had in place since shortly after he found out Peter’s identity. In this universe Norman knew Peter’s secret for ages BEFORE acting on it so he had plenty of time to dream up that plan but here the plan he made AFTER he was jailed was to get his son to hire a professor to create a clone of himself upon which to pin the blame for his crimes???? That doesn’t even make sense since it doesn’t exonerate him!

  The general public would just find out that in spite of the overwhelming evidence the Green Goblin wasn’t Norman Osborn just someone who looked like and had his exact genetics (could genetic science even detect a difference between an original or a clone back in the 1970s?). How does that exonerate him? Wouldn’t someone question if maybe Norman just had the clone created after the fact which is exactly what he did?

    Why even go to the trouble of doing that, you might as well have someone with plastic surgery or a mask look like Norman Osborn and reveal they framed Norman for some reason. Or have ANYONE ELSE dress up as the Goblin instead, like Harry for instance instead of having him be...ugh...the Black Goblin...In Hobgoblin Lives Macendale revealing he wasn’t the original Hobgoblin created enough doubt that his case stood a better chance surely Norman could pull the same trick...you know....like he has in canon...twice...Also what was Norman’s plan anyway, the clone of himself gets jailed then he gets free and then...he goes back to being the Goblin...what?????????????

·         Norman considering Peter his true heir makes no sense. Yeah eventually Norman dreamed up that scheme but it took him years and multiple defeats by Peter whilst feeling harry was a failure. In this universe none of that history is there, he even respects Harry to a degree so why would he feel Peter was the better choice for his heir?

  ·         Norman dreamed up the clone scheme because he wanted to shatter Peter’s sense of identity. If his hang up was Peter would make a great heir for himself back during the Clone Saga or even after why the fuck did he try to recruit the real Peter instead of just creating a clone for himself? Because to Norman a clone is genuinely a lesser, not a true person at all. So why make a clone Peter in the first place?

    ·         Why do the clones of Peter and Gwen adopt the last names ‘Parker’. Surely a guy called ‘Ben Parker’ who looks just like Peter Parker, who’d dead uncle was Ben Parker, who is also married to a woman who looks like Peter Parker’s dead wife, named after the mother of Peter Parker’s dead mother-in-law would raise some questions. Was Zdarsky really so adverse to just calling them ‘Ben and Helen Reilly’

  ·         I get that they are both clones but the implication here is that Ben and ‘Helen’ are now in a relationship. Why? Ben couldn’t possibly have all of Peter’s up to date memories and Helen was presumed to be the real Gwen ever since she and Peter got married (I’ll explain why in a moment). That means from Helen’s point of view the man she married and was in love with was Peter and not Ben and from Peter’s point of view, sure he married a clone and not the real deal but...so what? From MJ’s point of view in the 1990s Clone Saga most of her relationship with Peter, including their marriage had actually been with the clone not the real Peter, but he was the person she had that history with and was in love with. Helen IS the woman Peter loved and married and she even implies as much when she states because she has all of Gwen’s memories she and MJ will always be friends. So why are she and Peter breaking up? Why is Peter acting like the woman he actually married and had many years of matrimony with dead when in effect he loved two identical women and one of them died. He’s acting like he’s a widower and Helen is meaningless which doesn’t make any sense. Same with Helen, she’s just hooking up with Ben because he’s a clone like her and is nearly identical to her husband but...he isn’t. Peter is the man she loves, Ben hasn’t got all his memories or anything. It’s just a mess

  ·         What was Warren’s plan here? Replace the real Gwen with a clone, put her in a test tube and then somehow this will allow him to be with her? I know Warren is nuts but his mania when it comes to Gwen always made sense within his warped logic

  ·         Warren cloning Gwen and giving her away doesn’t even make sense. Warren only cloned Gwen because she died, he wanted to in a sense bring her back to life. He never tried to clone her when she was alive and practically engaged with Peter. He didn’t even like the idea of any version of Gwen potentially being with Peter, which is why he created a clone of himself to hook up with the Gwen clone he created. Here he’s created a clone of Gwen to what? Trick Peter into marrying the fake while he gets to keep the real one in mint condition in a tank? What??????????????????

  ·         The reason I say Helen must have been the one who married Peter is because there is no way in Hell Warren would have walked the real Gwen down the aisle to marry Peter. Not ever. But if that is the intention...it makes no sense

  ·         Why is Warren nice to Peter? In those silver age stories he was gruff and not that nice to him a lot of the time precisely because he was jealous of him. What, because he has the real Gwen that means he’s okay with Peter?

  ·         Doc Ock is a reformed bad guy because in spite of the age difference and the fact that he’s nearly died multiple times (like I dunno in the accident that gave him his powers in the first place) marrying Aunt May and having a heart attack made him change his ways. Um...no...No, no, no those things would absolutely not cause Doc Ock to change his ways. He never really loved Aunt May, he just had affection for her because of his own Mommy issues and he’s nearly died countless times. Like surely the fact that he remained a villain after all those times, including his near death misses across Superior Spider-Man and Slott’s run, barely sort of reforming right at the end of ASM #800, is proof Doc Ock isn’t the guy who stops to smell the roses after a near miss. Not to mention in this universe I guess Spider-Man didn’t stop the wedding in time so Otto actually married Aunt May and then...was content to just wait until she died to get that island she inherited....

  ·         Zdarsky apparently loved those Marc Webb movies because he not only wrote Gwen closer to Emma Stone, not only shipped her with Peter, but also leaned in on the Osborn sickness thing and decided to borrow the whole ‘Peter is a better son than you Harry’ angle from the Raimi movies too. Because why use the real canon I guess

  ·         Why does anyone blame Peter for not helping Flash when fucking Iron Man and Giant Man are in Vietnam too?

  ·         Why kill Flash? Again, wasn’t this series supposed to be Spider-Man’s life just in real time? You’ve just blown up all those Hobgoblin and Agent Venom stories playing out in real time because you wanted to do something arbitrarily different that also wanted to pretend like MJ would be super angry about Flash dying because Peter could have saved him...somehow...what?

  ·         I’m sorry but...how the Hell is the Vietnam War still happening if Iron Man and Giant Man are involved? In the actual 1960s-1970s you had to suspend your disbelief about heroes involved in the war because realistically they would have altered it’s outcome, much as Superman could’ve ended WWII in a day. But in this AU Captain America, Iron Man AND Giant Man, super powered beings with immense intelligence and tech resources are actively involved in the war. Why the fuck are the Viet Cong still a thing at that point. I’m not trying to diss the real life Viet Cong, but realistically they might be able to fend off the then contemporary united states military but IRON MAN too? No absolutely not, Stark would’ve found a way to deal with them very easily just as Doctor Manhattan did in Watchmen

  ·         Why is Iron Man even involved? Wasn’t Tony Stark’s whole origin about him realizing weapons are bad, war profiteering is bad, it hurts everyone. Why then is he using his weapon of war, the Iron Man armour, to help fight the Viet Cong??????????????????

  ·         And on top of all this shit...the timeline doesn’t even make sense. This is essentially the Clone Saga/the Death of Gwen Stacy reference right? Okay cool...the latter happened in 1973 and the former in 1975...so why the fuck does this issue happen in 1977 with the epilogue in 1978????????????????????

  I guess if you just entirely turn your brain off and treat this as akin to the Ultimate Universe where things are different for the sake of being different and all the riffing on the original history is fanservice then it’s enjoyable enough.

  But as advertised, as obviously intended...its immensely problematic.

  And frankly, once and for all this issue alone has convinced me Zdarksy is not a good Spider-Man writer because he clearly does not get these characters.

  P.S. The redesigned costume looked...nice....but again it plays into the ‘this is different for the sake of being different’ thing rather than actually being a change that’d be natural due to the alterations in history.

  P.P.S. Once again the real life historical aspects of the issue aren’t really relevant to the primary plot of the issue, and are window dressing at best. Actually they’re even more window dressing that issue #1

[irnwoman]

AVENGERS ENDGAME  ---  DUAL TIMELINE*

Under the cut contains my two diverging timelines for Post Endgame, beware that there are spoilers below for Avengers Endgame, so please read at your own risk if you haven’t seen it yet and wish to remain surprised. These are my default timelines; and as always, points are flexible for specific plots and preferences.

DO NOT REBLOG / PERSONALS DO NOT INTERACT !

This section is divided into two categories; Tony Lives and Tony Dies. My default will vary depending on the muse, but I might typically lean more into Tony Living since that seems to be the general consensus I’ve seen on the dash. There will be parts that carry over into both, those details will be highlighted.

BEFORE DIVERGENCE

I’ve covered Pepper during the time span of Infinity War to the final battle here;  so please refer here for more information prior to this split. 

Tony didn’t know yet, Pepper had only found out moments prior and had zero time to fully process it. FRIDAY scanning all ID’d inhabitants of their home the moment an emergency protocol kicked in --- a moment Pepper learned later to be the Second Snap. FRIDAY quickly scanned her, Morgan, and Happy --- detecting that she was indeed a a couple weeks pregnant and that signs of this were set to start showing soon.

Of course, she had hardly a moment to even begin comprehending this before a Priority Alert came through. Everyone who had vanished was back; devastation at Avengers Compound. Ally ID signatures all diverging to the point. 

That was when it was fully activated; Morgan ran into the room showing her that “Mommy’s suit turned on”. She’d never worn the Rescue armor; but she had played around in Tony’s suits. FRIDAY gave her the rundown on it’s hyper intuitive design. Meant for a beginner, but as strong as any of the others. Calls began flooding the systems; fragments of what was happening --- what was going on. Pepper felt overwhelmed.

Until she looks at the suit in her five year old’s hands --- this is it. She can tell; she can feel it in her very being. This is the final fight and it’s not just for the day --- it’s for everything, and Tony is out there facing it. Fighting for them along side the Avengers and they’re gonna need as much help as they can get. 

Pepper suits up and joins the battle, Happy keeps Morgan safe and locked in the house while she does. 

TONY LIVES

Pepper stays by Tony’s side as he recovers; she momentarily forgets her own ‘delicate’ condition until she starts feeling morning sickness. 

While Tony is in recovery, she and Morgan stay somewhere near the hospital until he’s ready to come back home again. 

Pepper is forced to prepare her daughter for the very real possibility that Tony might not make it; and it’s one of the hardest moments in her life.

Of course she tells Tony eventually that she’s pregnant again --- after the three months mark / when he’s stable enough to be in a less drugged state and can properly understand her ( whichever happens first ). 

Pepper doesn’t know how long Tony will be in hospital, so she has a contingency plan. She has a labour plan for wherever they are staying; plans for Morgan to start school once they are up and running. This is the kind of stuff she’s good at. It’s what she spent a good portion of her life doing before any of this superhero stuff began.

Pepper officially steps down as CEO once businesses like Stark International are running again. She spearheads a lot of charity work; serves on a few boards of organizations that she believes in. She speaks at universities, and earns a recurring column in both Vogue and Teen Vogue for a period of time before fully settling down completely.

The Rescue Armor comes out on occasion; in emergency circumstances but she by no means takes on a superhero mantle. That part of their life is over --- her, Tony and their family deserve a soft epilogue and that’s what they get 

TONY DIES

Tony never got to know about their second child; she couldn’t do that to him. Pepper couldn’t make him feel bad about leaving in his last moments. For him, she is brave. For him she holds it together --- eases him gently into his death as much as possible. It’s only after Tony is gone that she allows herself to cry.

Telling Morgan, who is so young and doesn’t truly understand, is one of the hardest things she’s ever done. For days --- weeks, Morgan keeps asking when Tony is coming home and she has to try to explain it all over again. She spends many nights curled up in her bed in attempts to help her sleep. 

Pepper’s feelings towards everyone involved are confused; she can’t help but feel anywhere from pettiness to outright anger at times that those who lived survived and that her husband --- someone they knew they needed had to go. It’s not always rational, but she can’t help it. She had spent years watching Tony almost die, sacrifice himself for everyone --- it feels unfair and sometimes she just lets calls go to voicemail; or pretends not to be home. Not always, but sometimes.

Pepper’s pregnancy feels harder than the last time. This time, she’s on her own. Truly on her own. Her emotional state doesn’t make things any easier. Her brother, Sean, takes Pepper and Morgan in once she’s put on early bedrest. Her brother and sister-in-law helping her as much as possible.

Once again, Pepper falls into Postpartum. She tries to hide it for Morgan’s sake; the girl has already dealt with so much. This time, Pepper takes her longest standing advice for Tony, and concedes into Therapy.  Pepper misses the farm, but it’s so big and secluded. She’s afraid to go back there for a time --- not doing so until around the time her second child is five years old.

She’s been off work, but not fully retired as CEO this whole time. Someone at the company whom she trusts and keeps her up to date has been Acting CEO while she takes this time. Pepper is more reluctant to let go, feeling as if letting go will let Tony down. He entrusted it to her. 

Ultimately, she stays with the Company for a few more years --- but makes sure that she’s able to be a mom too. She’s very much a public figure head and holds power, but she doesn’t manage the day to day things anymore. Slowly phasing out until Pepper officially steps down from Stark Industries. 

She always misses and loves Tony, but slowly she learns to move on. Not necessarily in a romantic sense, but she lives her life again. 

The Rescue Armour remains locked away, saved only for when the protocols initiate it functions by default once more.

Pepper eventually occupies her time with charity work; things that matter to her but also things she knew mattered to Tony.She begins advocating for more supports for single mothers and expectant mothers; more supports for families and individuals suffering from ptsd and loss. She begins working to achieve goals that will spare others from the hardships she and Tony both had to endure.

She doesn’t hold resentments forever, it’s too toxic to herself and she recognises how unfair she’s being. It’s not easy at times, but she lets herself move on and save friendships and form new ones.

SHARED DETAILS IN BOTH

Pepper lives until her late-nineties --- they cannot prove it, but she suspects her longer and healthier life than average is a lingering side effect of Extremis. She spends a few years enjoying herself in the social circles of Manhattan for company after her children have grown and husband has passed --- before eventually retiring by the sea along the West Coast shoreline that had always felt more like home where she passes away peacefully

Pepper and her brother Sean reform their super close relationship; Morgan gets to meet her cousins and they have a happy dynamic together

Pepper and Gina find a type of peace; they only really see each other on occasion --- but she’s learned that resentment is corrosive and she deserves better. 

Pepper eventually pens both a trio of children’s picture books lightly inspired by some of the crazy things ( and people ) in her life as well as a autobiographical bestseller.

She has at least one more child, but she doesn’t carry this one herself; after her second child is born --- she gets her tubes tied to prevent any further health risks.

Pepper remembers Natasha; she makes sure that her contributions were known. She makes sure she is as memorialised as Tony is. Natasha was her friend, she works with Clint to ensure whatever is done is as Natasha would have wanted it.

[tokutenshi]

Lineage - part 3 -

@alistairappreciationweek day 4: Family

(the conclusion. hope it doesn’t let anyone down \:D/)

The official story was that the king had fallen ill and designated Teagan to handle matters during his temporary absence. More important meetings and audiences were pushed back, but the arl was able to deal with much of the more common and tedious issues and was respected enough to not have every decision questioned. For the nobles that were unsatisfied and demanded the king's opinion, Teagan calmly informed them that he would bring the matter forward and get back to them. In truth, Alistair wasn't in any frame of mind to be hearing the, comparatively, petty problems of his citizens.

His world had changed in a matter of minutes, and there was no way to change it back. One of his most trusted advisors had acted against his wishes and destroyed their relationship for the good of the country. The country was still unaware of such betrayal as Teagan had secured Eamon in guest quarters and quietly sent for discreet healers to deal with the wounds before they became infected. As angry at Eamon as Alistair was, he couldn't deny that he would have regretted killing him. Eamon had been kind and understanding once and Alistair owed him much. All of that goodwill was gone now, but a calmer Alistair couldn't sentence the man who cared for him in his early years to the headman's axe.

He couldn't forgive him either.

When Alistair's head wasn't hurting too much to think straight, he passed queries along with Teagan and the answers he got back only made the throbbing in his skull and the churning of his stomach worse. Eamon's scheme – because what else could it really be called? - was far more elaborate and thought out than Alistair originally feared it was. He hadn't simply been drugged into submission and then tricked into laying with a serving girl for the sake of producing a child, and Alistair wondered if all that time being married to an Orlesian had forced Eamon to learn their insufferable Grand Game.

Extensive research was done on fertility remedies and which could be combined safely with aphrodisiacs,  hallucinogens, and wine – Eamon changing the concoction with each visit in hopes of producing results. It was always the same partner to keep the illusion and secret going and when Alistair asked what became of her after the child was born, all he got back was that she had been taken care of. Whether that meant she was paid off, shipped off somewhere, or killed, he didn't know, and frankly he wasn't sure he could stomach to. The woman had been carefully selected to resemble the queen as much as possible, because while an heir was important, it being passed off as a true heir was just as much so. That part made Alistair feel the worst.

Though he had been under the influence of Maker knows what, all it had taken was a body of similar build and the same haircut and he had given in. If he were truly an honorable man, if he truly deserved the love Kaedence had shown him, then he should have been able to spot the fake. Thinking on it, there were differences between the imposter and his wife, he was just too overtaken by his foggy lust to dwell on them. He chalked it up to being a dream at the time, but if he really cared for his love as much as he claimed to... Maker, how could he have been so weak?

What would Kaedence say when she returned? He had no excuse for what he'd done, nothing to say that could soften the betrayal. She was off working hard to find a cure for them so they could be together forever, and he hadn't been strong enough to resist a warm body he let himself believe was hers. Kaedence was always the strong one, the clever one, and he was feeling less and less like a worthy partner with each passing day.

The child – his son – had been taken away from its mother the near instant it was born and given to a wet nurse. To help perpetuate the illusion Eamon was creating, he had been collecting the babe and passing it to a new wet nurse every few weeks with a slightly altered story. This muddled chain of custody would make it virtually impossible for anyone to connect the child to its true birth and Eamon had planned to inform Alistair about everything when the boy was old enough to make sea travel sound plausible. Eamon's ultimate goal was for the public to believe their queen had given birth abroad and sent the child ahead where it might be properly taken care of. Alistair bristled at the idea immediately, as people would be more likely to think Kaedence had been unfaithful to him since she hadn't stepped foot in Ferelden for years, but then he recalled all of the political excursions Eamon had insisted he take just days after the “dream” and realized that too had been part of the plan. If the king was out of the country, who's to say he hadn't rendezvoused with the queen and the trip had all been a smoke screen for their meeting?

So many things taken into account, so many variables considered, but there was one aspect of the scheme that Eamon had no control of: Alistair's reaction to the child itself. While he was powerless to reverse any of the things Eamon had done so far, it wasn't too late to keep the child away. No one would have to know about the babe, Alistair didn't have to claim him, and the child could grow up out of the public eye.

Grow up without knowing its father or mother.

Grow up feeling discarded and unloved.

Grow up alone.

Alistair had gone through much of that himself, with the added bonus of knowing who his father was, but being unable to ever connect with him. Seeing his father and half-brother have a relationship he never could and being called bastard more often then his actual name had been heartbreaking and he couldn't figure out if not being told who he was would have been better or worse. Alistair hated his childhood. The one good thing in it had been far too brief to make up for all the bad, but the day that the good thing came back into his life had been one of the happiest he'd ever had. Kaedence had been a spark of light in his dark childhood and the sun itself in his life now, but the chances of something equally as fortunate happening for anyone else was beyond miniscule.

The question then became if Alistair could subject someone else to live as he had. But that was only part of the issue. Bringing the child into his life could be done in many ways; a secret that he kept under his roof, an acknowledged bastard, or the lie Eamon was hoping for. Hiding the child from the public would be far too close to his own rearing and a bastard, no matter how formally acknowledged or high-born, would always be treated with disdain. That left following through with Eamon's scheme and dragging Kaedence into the lie without knowing how she would react to it. Could Alistair do that to her? Could he really force a false child on her after all the struggling and heartache she endured in trying to have one of their own?

–

In the end, Alistair realized this was too big of a decision to make from his chambers and arranged for his uncles and a small contingent of trusted guards to go with him to see the child. One thing he had been able to figure out was the punishment Eamon would endure and Teagan agreed it sounded fair. Exile would be too public a sentence and cause a stir among the populous, raising questions as to what the much beloved man could have done to warrant it, so – like so many other things in his life now – Alistair resigned to hiding the truth. Eamon would be forbidden from returning to Ferelden, but he would be carrying out his sentence as an ambassador stationed in Orlais. As far as foreign postings went, Orlais was rather nice to the casual observer until they realized that Eamon was a key figure in ending the Orlesian Occupation and had killed more than his fair share of mask-wearers. Grudges could run very deep in noble lines and life would not be easy for him there.

Additionally, it would have been unfair to punish Isolde for her husband's actions. It was only her own fear and insecurities that pushed Teagan to confront his brother at all and if she had been even a bit complicit in the scheme, she never would have done anything to expose it. She, too, was an accidental victim and it seemed only kind to bring her closer to her long absent friends and family.

Eamon had been moving the child closer and closer to Denerim with each wet nurse switch, staying near ports to help support his story, and the place he'd come to currently rest at was none other than Highever. This was Kaedence's ancestral home, where her world collapsed the first time, and to hide the evidence of Alistair's infidelity here made him feel as though they were doing the same thing again. Despite the numerous invitations her brother Fergus extended, Kaedence couldn't bring herself to come back to the sight of her family's slaughter just yet and now Alistair was certain she never would.

They arrived at a well kept inn a fair enough distance from the harbor to make it respectable and left the guard outside. Alistair, still uncertain of what he would do, kept his travel cloak tight and his cowl on, silently following Eamon as he lead the small group through the establishment. The king felt nervous – anxious – and feeling only got worse with each step that drew him closer to the room . He felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping his progress, and turned to regard Teagan.

“Let us wait here for a moment,” the arl said softly, directing them closer to the wall and positioning Alistair's back to the targeted door. Eamon knocked and entered the room, his deep voice conversing with an unfamiliar feminine one in a short exchange. A woman walked past the pair in the corridor without a hint or recognition or hesitance and after a brief pause to ensure she was gone, Teagan ushered Alistair forward again.

Eamon stood over a swaddled form resting in a woven basket on the bed, expression soft as he watched the child sleep. He turned to the others as they entered and closed the door, securing the space for speaking once again. “This is him,” Eamon introduced in a near whisper, unconsciously trying to not wake the babe. “All of the travel has had no ill effects – he remains healthy.”

Alistair crept closer to the bed, the nervous feeling threatening to overwhelm him as he peeked over the reed rim, expecting some maniacal looking figure wringing its hands. After all, the child had been created and exposed to so much subterfuge that surely it had picked up on and adopted the deceit as second nature. What he saw was nothing like that. There was just this soft, squishy looking being with puffy cheeks and dainty wisps of hair.

He pushed back his cowl and stopped just short of bumping his knees on the mattress, eyes fixed on the child that had caused him so much grief, yet was blameless of the entire mess. “Can I hold him?” Alistair asked without thinking in a voice he didn’t recognize as his own, surprised as the words left his mouth.

Eamon carefully picked up the bundled babe and laid him in Alistair's arms, adjusting his limbs to show him where to support. The child was so light, so frail, that Alistair feared both dropping and crushing him. “He's so tiny,” Alistair mumbled in concern. “That woman who passed us didn't exactly look young. What if her milk's spoiled and its making him sick? Are you sure he's really healthy?”

“Quite sure,” Eamon chuckled. “He looks just like you did at that age.”

“Really?” Alistair looked up briefly to check for any signs of deception, not that he'd be able to tell with Eamon any more, then back to the child. What faint hair it had did look sort of ginger, but everything else was so... little that Alistair couldn't tell one way or another. In that moment, the child stirred and opened its mouth wide in silent yawn, blinking its bright eyes to stare into a matching set. “Oh,” Alistair started, completely caught off guard, “um, good morning. No, its past noon by now, uh, good afternoon?”

The child squirmed against the secure swaddling in an attempt to free its hands and Alistair could actually feel the ice that had encased his chest since Eamon came clean melt away and puddle his heart along with it. Part of him knew he should take more time to think, but the larger part that won out screamed that no matter how or why the child had come into the world, it was his. He  felt it in the raised hairs on his skin and deep in his bones, saw it in the way the child was trying to reach for him. It didn't matter who the mother was, because he was the father, and there was no doubt about that. This was his child, his son, and he never wanted him to suffer as he had.

“We should write ahead so the castle can prepare for our return,” Alistair said suddenly, placing the babe back in the basket.

“Alistair?” Teagan gently prodded, uncertain what decision had been made.

“Because he'll need things, right?” The king picked up the basket in its entirety and looked around the small room for other items that seemed baby related. “Little guy can't sleep in this forever. He'll need a room set up and a wet nurse – like I said, I’m not so sure about the one he has now. And a nanny, but nannies are for later, aren't they?”

Eamon rubbed the back of his finger across the child's cheek, then lightly touched Alistair's shoulder. “I'll contact the next wet nurse I had on standby and dismiss the rest. I am sorry it had to be done this way, but-”

“It didn't, Eamon, but it is done.”

The older man nodded and left to do as he promised.

A few moments of quiet passed, broken up only by the random, soft noises of the babe. “So,” Teagan began, trying to keep the darker parts of the situation from muddling the one bright aspect. “Who shall I say is returning?”

Alistair had no way of reaching his wife. She moved around too much during her quest and never gave instruction on how he might reply to her letters, but he could only hope she would understand he was not making a decision on what was best for saving face, but what was best for the child. None of them had asked for any of this, but the child was blameless and to be punished for being born was something far too cruel for either king or queen to condone. When Alistair could finally tell Kaedence about what happened – because he was most certainly going to tell her everything the very moment he was able – he would accept whatever punishment she dealt him for betraying her twice over and seeing Eamon's plan to completion. All he could do was hope she wouldn't hold anything against his son and maybe, just maybe, be able to accept the child as her own.

“Well, there's you and me and Eamon.” Alistair paused to adjust his hold on the basket just a little. “And his royal squishiness, Prince Duncan, son of Alistair and Kaedence Theirin.”