#oh the joy of stars goes back to infinity

[mortalsouldreaming]

[rosierocks30]

Hidden: Ch. 21

Chapter 21: The Infinity Witch 

(Mikasa)

Mikasa was kneeling on a comfortable cushion while some of the ladies were doing makeup and her hair for the wedding ceremony. Earlier, she and Reiner had gone to see Lady Kiyomi talk about wanting to be married as soon as they could. 

(Flashback)

The sun barely peek out from the horizon. The sky was colorful with purple, orange, and yellow as the stars slowly vanished. On the deck of the ship Lady Kiyomi was sipping her tea enjoying her early breakfast along with Mikasa and Reiner. Both couples arrived an hour ago to have a traditional Hizuran breakfast with the ambassador. The ambassador was happy to have them joining her for a nice morning meal. 

“I’m so pleased that both of you stopped by to have breakfast with me.” Lady Kiyomi smiled at Mikasa and Reiner. 

“Thank you for having us here to join you even though we came by unannounced.” Mikasa bowed her head in respect. 

“No, my dearest. It’s alright for you to come anytime especially now you’re our sovereignty. I should be thanking you for wanting to join me for breakfast with me, my Empress.” Lady Kiyomi said while bowing back to Mikasa. 

Mikasa was still not used to taking the role as a ruler yet. It would take time for this role to sink into her mind. If she can use her new position to have a quiet ceremony to be wed to Reiner, then both Reiner and her can be at peace to fight to end this end as a married couple. They don’t know how long this war will last. It’s best to do the things that you want to do now before the war gets too heavy and difficult to do anything. 

“Ambassador Kiyomi, we have a favor to ask you if it’s possible to make it happen as soon as it can.” Mikasa said. 

“Oh my, this must be serious. Of course, whatever it is; as empress your wishes will be granted without questions.” Lady Kiyomi said as she was curious about this favor both of them wanted to ask. 

“As we’re in war and with Commander Reiner’s curse, he only has 11 months left until it’s affected; we want a wedding ceremony. We’re in love and I wanted to be Reiner’s wife when he passed away. Could it be possible to have a wedding to be ready tonight or tomorrow?” Mikasa was a bit nervous asking her kin about this. She doesn’t know enough about the culture if it is appropriate to have a sudden wedding ceremony especially if she is now Empress. 

The Hizuru’s ambassador was silent at first, this gave her a mixed feeling. She doesn’t have against her young empress taking a non Hizuran man as her consort, but doing this in a rush? The people and the government might take this as an insult. The elder woman could understand why Mikasa and Reiner wanted to be wed as soon as they could. Their situation was a bit complex especially Reiner is the holder of the Armor Titan with only less than a year to live. Besides, they are at war. If Mikasa dies; once again the nation will be left without an heir to take the throne. To save her nation from that fate again; Lady Kiyomi will need to use her cunningness to persuade the councils to allow both Mikasa and Reiner to be wed by tonight or tomorrow. If they had an heir, it would be born not out of wedlock. 

“Hmm, I will make sure the government approves your request and hopefully by noon or night I’ll let you know what they say.” The ambassador gave her a serious expression. 

Of course Mikasa and Reiner understand there’s a chance the government might not accept it, but if they don’t accept it; she will personally write a letter to them saying that they are fools for not accepting it. The nation will be in jeopardy as she will not marry or have heirs unless Reiner is her husband, consort, and the father of her children. She can be stubborn when she needs to be. After all, for years being with Eren by his side; she had grown some stubbornness in her. 

“Thank you so much. We are grateful for your help.” Reiner humbling bow at the ambassador. 

“It’s no problem, Commander. It warms my heart to see you’re the reason why Mikasa is smiling often.” Lady Kiyomi chuckled heartily. 

Reiner couldn’t help it to be blushed a bit from Lady Kiyomi’s comment. Sometimes he asks himself what Mikasa sees in him. 

(End Flashback)

“Your majesty, what do you think? I think you look like a beautiful bride.” One of the servants complimented her while she handed Mikasa a mirror for her to observe her new look.  

Mikasa had to snap her thoughts and glanced at the mirror. Even though their makeup ceremony is traditional and had different meanings based on the colors, she felt her skin gasping for air. If she didn’t know about the meaning behind the make up style, she would have thought herself looking like a clown, a pretty one. In fact, any makeup style looks ridiculous in her opinion. She preferred no makeup at all. 

“It looks nice. Thank you for your help, ladies.” Mikasa turned her head to glance at the girls who beamed with joy to have the opportunity to get an empress ready for her wedding. 

“No your majesty, we thank you for giving us this opportunity to prepare you for your wedding.” One of them said as they all bow respectfully. 

Mikasa nodded and slowly got up as the traditional wedding outfit was heavy and she didn’t want to lose her balance. Her helpers quickly helped her up and made sure there were no wrinkles or misplaced areas of the outfit. The newly Empress mumbled, thanking them as they all walked away from the room to go to the other location where the ceremony will be held. 

Reiner was waiting patiently at the altar where a high priest was blessing and mumbling chant prayers. Lady Kiyomi was by his side quietly waiting for the bride as well. He doesn’t know how Lady Kiyomi pulled it off in having the council members agreeing to Reiner’s and Mikasa’s request, but by noon she gave them good news. It's the least they can do properly because Mikasa deserved to have the best in his opinion. Finally the doors open to reveal his girlfriend in a traditional Hizuran bridal gown. Reiner couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She is the epitome of beauty as Mikasa walked towards him.

Mikasa looked around to see how dim the room was. Only candles were lit to make the room as visible as possible to see. Under the veil she’s wearing, barely could see Lady Kiyomi, the priest, couple officials, and most important her love, Reiner. All eyes were on her as she made her way walking to her groom. 

By that time, she had reached the altar. Reiner goes towards her to hold her hand and lead her to where the priest stands. He helped Mikasa to kneel on her knees since her wedding dress was heavy with layers of robes wrapped around her body. The Paradisian assassin glanced at her husband who was kneeling beside her. She gave a small to ease him. Reiner was feeling anxious but happy also. When he noticed Mikasa gave him a sweet smile, his anxiousness had been lifted. The priest began to chant in Hizuru native language while cleansing both bride and groom with sage smoke. When he was finished both couples bowed where their forehead touched the floor. Mikasa barely understood what the priest said. She could understand the part where he was asking the gods to bless her and Reiner with good fortune, prosperity, good health and fertility. Of course that part made her blush. Yes, she may use to having amazing sex with Reiner, but it does made her shy after and before.  

Once again the priest chants to wear off negativity, bad spirits and energies then the couple bows again as this has become  repetitive until they finally stop. The priest bowed in front of them and spoke in Eldian with a heavy Hizuran accent. 

“May your reign be blessed and live long, my empress and your highness.” The priest said. He had concluded the ceremony which made Mikasa happy because this outfit was heavy and hot. She needed to get out of these layers of robes. She saw Reiner's hand to help her get up from the floor. 

She smiled as her now husband gently pulled her to him. “How are you feeling, my wife?” He whispered softly. 

“I feel the most happy, my husband.” She whispered back. Now the newlyweds felt this will be a new beginning for them. They know there will be obstacles both have to face together like ending the war and retaking the island to give back to the Paradisian. Later, both and the rest of this half side of the world will work on peace.  

(Levi)

The horse ride to meet the rest of the soldiers and assassins was long and irritating. Levi was caught up with Rick and Reggie telling him what had happened to the Scouts which the MPS and Garrisons were working together with the Survey Corps along with the assassins. He hoped Historia could wait a bit longer until they marched in and retake their island. This island was his, Historia’s, most of the soldiers' home. Also, this land will be safe for his son to come back home and be raided by him and his queen.

The silent ride was too long for anyone's liking. Levi noticed they passed through the gates of Wall Sina, Rose, and Maria. They are now in the open area where many years ago, this land was roamed with Titans. So many tragic memories reminded the captain of the expedition days when Commander Erwin was leading them. Of course, this had saddened the raven haired Ackerman. He was a devoted soldier to lead humanity into freedom from titans. 

“How long is the camp?” Levi said. 

“We’re almost there, Captain.” Reggie said. 

Levi focuses closely to see faded smoke in the sky view. Tch, making a campfire was not a smart move as it can give out the location from their enemies. He also understands why they did that. It was cold as hell so it’s instinctive to make fire to keep the soldiers and assassins warm from the cold. The trio made their way into the dense trees. Once they reached there, Jean spotted them. He ran towards the trio to greet Captain Levi and the two men. 

“Captain Levi! Welcome back.” Jean gave a salute gesture to his higher ranking officer. 

Levi gave a nod but didn’t say much as he got off his horse. “Are the rest of the squad made it out here safely?” The dark haired man finally spoke. 

“Yes sir, everyone is here in this new location. Sasha is still in New York guarding the young prince. We got a letter from her recently. I will give it to you once you’re settled.” Jean said. 

“Very well.” Levi said then paused to glance back at Jean. “Where’s grandfather and Hange?” 

“Oh both Mentor and Commander are in the tent with most of the top assassins and soldiers in a meeting. Both other Commanders are with them as well.” The light brown soldier said to his captain. 

“Alright, I’ll go join them.” Levi goes to a big tent. In front of the tent, there were two soldiers guarding. When Levi stood in front of the two guards, both guards were startled by his presence and stepped aside for him to enter.  

Levi entered the big tent to see most of everyone he knew. His grandfather, William Miles sat on the head seat on the left while Hange was sitting on the right of the head seat. Both Commanders Brzenska and Dok were sitting opposite each other. The rest of them were filled by soldiers and assassins.

The tent became quiet when everyone stared at the silver-eyed man. If it wasn’t the years he dedicated himself as Erwin’s captain during the expeditions to win against the titans, Levi would get awkward from being stared too long for his taste. He may still despise getting attention but he’s used to it. 

“Levi, you’re safe. You reckless, boy!” The male Ackerman felt arms being wrapped around him as he was being pulled to a big hug. At that moment, Bill held his oldest grandson. The elder man was worried ever since Levi ran off to go save Historia. 

Levi embraced his grandfather’s warm hug. “I know..I know..” He mumbled. 

“Welcome back, Levi.” Hange gave a smirk at her captain which Captain Levi in return smirked at the commander. 

“I see for once Jaeger was keeping his word.” Commander Brzenska said. 

Levi took a quick glance at Rico then made a tch sound. Ackerman goes to the head on the table where his grandfather was sitting before. 

“Listen everyone. From the weeks I have spent being their lab rat, the only reason these motherfuckers are here is because they’re looking for a stone.. no six stones.” Levi said as everyone began to mutter what he said.  

“What do you mean six stones? What’s so special about these stones?” Dok was curious about what Levi said. 

“Each stone is part of the cosmos of the universe. When they’re used together chaos and crazy shit will happen and no one will be safe.” The raven haired man glanced at Nile. 

“Levi, how do you know about the infinity stones?” Miles interrupted. 

“Huh so those colorful stones have a name? I had a bleeding effect while I was resting at the dungeon cell. All I remembered, seeing images of the stones and what they're capable of doing. SO many used it to literally wipe out people, land, and unknown worlds.” Levi resumed. He was terrified of the power it could cost. He wanted to do whatever it takes to find them to hide them away from any beings no matter their good or bad intentions. 

“I see…” Bill was concerned about his grandson’s bleeding effect episode. If it’s not under control it leads Levi into madness until he takes his life away. It had happened to some using the Amius far too much in which it caused the Bleeding Effect. 

“Ok so all we need to find these stones but the world is a big place so how are we going to have time to find them before the templars find them and use it on us to rule the world?” Rico had a point. Time is a luxury now. They still have to take back their homes. At least Marley proves it’s possible to have victory.

“Actually, an old friend of mine can help us to find them.” The Assassin Mentor said. 

Everyone looked at the Mentor. “That’s good news. Who is it?” Hange said while glancing at her boyfriend. 

“Nick Fury.” William said. Everyone including Levi were curious but clueless from not knowing this Nick Fury guy. But if this will help to find these stones then Levi will accept any help and resource before it’s too late. 

(Natasha)

Natasha looked around to see the view in light purple with neon blue. She sees a big tree on top of the pinkish hill. Did she wake up in a fairytale world? The young woman looked down to see her elegant but revealing gown from the ball charity last night on her still. Maybe this is a dream...right? The woman from the future mentally said to herself while walking on the grass. The pink grass felt so real. It was wet and cool. Her feet were bare which it’s why she knows it’s wet and cool. 

As she went a bit further, Natasha saw a stone table instead of the tree. Huh? That’s strange. She could have swore the tree was there. She shook her head to keep walking until she had reached the top. Gently, Natasha placed her hands on the table stone to rest a bit. Sometimes pregnancy makes easy tasks like walking difficult. 

She widened her eyes to see six beautiful glowing stones. The more she glanced at them Natasha heard voices. 

“With great power comes great responsibility…”

“I am inevitable.”

“And I’m Ironman…”

This began to startle her until another distinctive voice whispered in her ears.

“This is part of you..”

“You are now the Infinity witch. Only you are able to harness them. Unlock them. It’s your destiny.” Natasha shaking her head in fear. No. She doesn’t want to use them. She had promised her grandmother she would never use the stones even if she was born with them hosted in her body. 

“NOO! YOU WILL NOT MAKE ME!” She screamed. 

It’s who you are...girl. Embrace…

These other voices are coming back and it’s driving her insane. Suddenly another voice was calling for her.

Natasha...Natasha...Natasha…

Finally she blinked her eyes as it opened to see familiar emerald green eyes staring at her with worry. 

“Hey doll face. Are you ok? What’s wrong?” Eren caressed her cheek as tears streamed down from her eyes. 

“It’s nothing, baby. Just a silly little nightmare.” She gave him a small smile which Eren frowned as he didn't seem convinced.

“Natasha, it doesn’t sound anything from the way you were screaming. I won’t be surprised if the neighbor would yell by the window at us. Come on, you can tell me, baby.” Eren was trying to persuade his fiancée. 

Natasha doesn’t know what to tell him besides that she’s wielding all six infinity stones . In fact, she was the first ever known to be immune to the power of these stones without having consequences like Thanos and her late grandpa; Tony Stark. Only certain people like her grandma, Pepper and Director Maria Hill. It was best no one knows about her true abilities. No one knows how she had the stones inside her body beside her mother. If Natasha could talk to the dead, she would talk to her mother to have these questions be answered. Her titan was able to adapt because Natasha was born to have these stones inside her. 

“I’m scared...that I will lose you too.” She whispered. Even though her statement was true, she needed to distract him to change a different topic. Eren already has things on his plate. She doesn’t want to overwhelm him with her having powers to cause chaos and destruction. 

“Babe, I promise nothing will stop me being there with you, especially the birth of our kid.” Eren was already hovering over her. His green eyes were staring into her silver ones.

“What about if I did end up back in my time and gave birth there? Will you be alive to be in our lives?” She said in wanting to feel reassurance. 

Eren’s smile was full of warmth and comfort. “I’ll make sure to keep on fighting to live just to be with you and our baby in the future. You two are what kept me from finding a different path to freedom for our people.” His lips lightly brushed against hers. 

Natasha smiled while feeling Eren’s kisses on her neck. “If I do end up going back, I will find you. I promise.” She whispered to him. 

After the ball, both Natasha and Eren had been working on their fragile relationship to the point they bought a home outside of the palace. It’s in Mitras which it’s perfect for them. They are near the palace but they have their privacy. 

It’s been a month since the ball had happened. Today it’s their first appointment to the doctor since the discovery only one of the twins survived of th miscarriage. She had asked to have today the day off which it’s one of the perks working closely to the queen. Speaking of doctor’s appointments, what time is it now?

“Eren, what time is it?” She said while her boyfriend was too occupied kissing her neck and shoulders. 

“It’s almost 8 am.” He mutters while being attentive on your body as his lips over lower to the valley of your breasts. 

“Mmm E-eren...we have an appointment in an hour. I don’t think we have enough time-” She was cut off with his tongue licking on her nipple. A moan was let out from her lips. Her hands grips on his hair.

“Don’t worry doll face, we’ll make it on time.” His tone became husky. Natasha glanced up to see his green eyes were clouded by lust. 

Eren latched on to one of her nipples to suckle while traveling his fingers below where he could hear her wet folds waiting to be attended. He slowly strokes her throbbing clit as her panting escalates more. Before he could insert his fingers into her hole, Natasha grabbed his hand to stop him. Eren stopped sucking her nipples to look at her. In a sudden move, she wrapped her legs around his pelvic waist to flip their positions. Now she’s on top of him. The heiress felt his cock poking her. 

“Time is luxurious, my love.” She smirked then removed her nightgown to reveal her changing body as her baby bump had grown a bit more than the last doctor’s visit. Eren chuckled while his hands gripped on her hips to gently lift her up enough to have her insert herself on his hard cock. While feeling his length entering deep inside her, she grips her hands on the top of the bed board. Slowly, she took the lead by rocking her hips on his cock. 

Eren let his hands wander around her body admiring the way her hips rolled on him. Morning sex were one of the best to start the day. Natasha starts to increase at a fast pace. Both parties were already panting as their bodies became hot and sweating. It won’t matter since the pleasure and adrenaline made it feel euphoric. 

Even though they could last longer like they usually do, this time they needed to wrap it up. The brunette heiress felt she was at the peak of the climax. It wasn’t that long when Eren released himself inside her. She took in the last pleasure before her orgasm came. After their high from pleasure came down, Natasha looked at the clock to see more than half an hour had passed. Her eyes widen from the time and pull off the covers from her. 

“Oh shit! Eren, we’re going to be late.” She got off the bed and ran to the bathroom to clean herself quickly. 

On the other side of the bed, Eren groaned in annoyance from realizing his girlfriend won’t let it go on them about being late. If only their day off was just laying in bed for the rest of the morning, but nope; the doctor’s appointment is in the morning. Why didn’t Natasha schedule for later in the afternoon? It doesn’t matter now since he saw her coming out of the bathroom looking fresh from showering. 

“Come on, my love. We only got twenty-five minutes.” She sighed at him from still laying on the bed. 

“Fine, fine. I’m up.” He finally got off the bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready. While Eren enters the bathroom, Natasha goes to get clean clothes for Eren to wear. She lay them on the bed. Finally, she put on her outfit. The maternity clothes in Paradise Isle only have long skirts or dresses. They really need to add comfy trousers. By the time she was ready, Eren walked out. 

“Babe, just wear the clothes I laid on the bed.” Natasha pointed to Eren where the clothes are. Eren nodded and thanked her. Once Eren was ready, both couples head out to see the doctor. 

Barely they made it to the clinic by three minutes from the actual appointment. The pregnant woman from the future stopped to take a long breath. Eren was behind her. 

“Eve! I told you not to run. I don’t want you to have more reasons to be in the hospital.” Eren looked at her with concern.

“I’m fine, Eren. Besides, think of this as a cardio workout.” She chuckled to brush it off.  

“Stubborn woman.” He muttered. 

Natasha rolled her eyes with annoyance then walked to sign in and wait for her name to be called. The green eyed titan shifter followed her until they sat on a chair to wait. It’s a good thing there weren’t many people today. Soon her name was being called and both of them got up to follow the nurse to a room to meet the doctor.  

After checking her vitals, the nurse left to get the doctor. Now, Eve and Eren are alone in the small room. The room was old and made out of bricks and wood. She forgot most of the buildings on this island are old since a century from the last king brought the rest of the Eldians from the Great Titan War. The silver eyed woman glanced at her lover to see his expression looked conflicted. What is he thinking right now?

“Eren? Are you alright? What’s bugging you?” Her tone was soft and compassionate while placing her hand on top of his. 

Eren came out of his deep thinking. “Huh? Oh yeah, I guess.” 

“You guess? Tell me, my love. I’m here for you if you are worried about something.” Her fingers intertwined his fingers to give him comfort. 

Eren leaned his back to the chair as he sighed. “I was wondering what would happen if my mom and dad were still alive. How excited they will be knowing they will be grandparents?” 

“Yeah, I have always thought about that too. Probably my mom would shriek in excitement and my dad would try to choke you to death.” Natasha chuckled from imagining the scene of her parents’ reaction if they were alive.  

Eren also chuckled from that thought. “ Oh shit, I think I’m more scared of Levi being the one who will try to kill me.” He heard a snore from her. 

“Oh god, I found out about my grandparents’ reaction. They would make you shit your pants.” Natasha doesn’t know how she will tell them if she gets back to her time period. 

“Levi I can understand, but Historia? She’s too sweet and nice to hurt a fly.” Eren said. Of course, Natasha laughed at his statement. 

“Oh babe, you will be in for a rude awakening. My grandmother is not the same person as she is here.” She glanced at him. 

“How bad is it?” Eren looked at her confused. 

“In the future, she’s firm and assertive. If anyone tries with her, they will face consequences. Both grandpa and grandma are different but similar. It makes sense because they both compliment each other.” She continues.

“Historia? The good girl Historia? Huh, I mean she did told her father to fuck off and humanity while kicking his ass.” Eren wondered what event that led her to wash away her good girl attitude. 

“I’m surprised that you weren’t aware of her many sides. Weren’t you guys comrades or you had a thing for her?” The last statement made Eren scoff irritatedly. 

“I never liked her like that. Why are you bringing it up when I had alright explained it long ago?” His tone was stern. She had pushed his buttons to bring up this topic. 

“Eren, I didn’t mean that-” She was trying to justify her statement. 

“Natasha, I know you enough when you haven’t let go of something. What’s next? Still paranoid about Belia and I?” He whispered harshly.

She was about to say something but decided to close her lips. Seeing Eren angry was not something she was in the mood for to deal with. 

“Exactly what I thought.” He said that it pissed her off too. Before she was about to give a piece of her mind, the doctor walked in with a cheery mood.  

“Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Jaeger. Are we excited to see how your baby is doing so far?” The doctor closed the door and sat on his stool. 

“Morning Dr. Dobber and it’s actually Ms. Potts. We’re not married.” Her comment made Eren glared at her. Tensions start to build up between them. 

“My apologies, Ms. Potts.” The doctor chuckled awkwardly. 

“Tch. You didn’t need to apologize, doctor. Either way she will be Mrs. Jaeger soon.” Eren said. 

If it wasn’t for this appointment, she would have walked out of the clinic and given him the silent treatment. Right now, she wants to be away from him. Her temper was simmering in her. 

“I see. Natasha, from the looks of your vitals; it seems everything is in order. Do you still have enough prenatal vitamins?” The doctor had changed the subject as it was getting too tense or his liking. 

“Yes, I still have some left.” Natasha answered the doctor’s question. 

“Very good. Let’s have you lay on the bed to check on your growing child.” The doctor got up to drag his stool to a machine to do an ultrasound.

Natasha didn’t bother to acknowledge Eren as he tried to help her out. She quickly got up to go lay on the bed and rolled up her blouse to expose her baby bump while the doctor poured the cool jelly on a hard small object. He placed it on her belly as an image on the screen started to show. 

Eren saw the image of a forming fetus. It’s still tiny. He was amazed how it’s possible to see the baby growing in the belly. This moment was so surreal. He forgot their heated argument, but the moment got ruined when her hand pulled away from him when he tried to give a loving gesture. He leaned back on the chair as his arms crossed over his chest with a sour mood on his face.

After the doctor checked the growing baby, he cleared them to go. Once Natasha finished adjusting her blouse properly, she headed out leaving Eren behind. Ugh, the nerve of him! She just needed to be alone for a bit. Due to her mind being clouded by anger, she wasn’t able to pay attention where she was going. She bumped into three men. 

“Oh sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” She said with embarrassment. 

“Well well look what we have here guys? A pretty doll face standing before us.” The leader said with a mischievous tone. 

Well shit. She was not in the mood to deal with them. “Listen, I’m not in the mood to have a chat.” 

She was stopped by one of them and grabbed her arm to pull her back to them. All three trapped her.  Natasha observed her surroundings to notice she was in the dark alley. 

“That’s too bad because we want to chat with you.” The leader had his hand caressing from her cheek down to the valley of her breasts. The dark haired woman was disgusted. 

“Don’t fucking touch me.” Her tone was dark. The men laughed as they thought it was hilarious. 

“Oh boss, we have a feisty one.” One of them commented. 

“My men and I love feisty women. We can do this the easy way or the hard way, doll face.” The leader gave her an ultimatum. Eve’s eye has twitched from being called doll face. The fact only Eren was allowed to call her and not anyone. Seriously, that name really pissed her off.   

“Fuck off!” She growled in anger and slapped the leader’s cheek hard. The leader fell on the ground which surprised him and his men. This woman was strong. 

“Listen you bitch. You’re just asking for it.” One of them shouted at her. They charged at her and she gave one of them a roundhouse kick. One of the men fell on the ground from the impact. The unharmed man ran towards her to try to knock her down. Instead, a punch in his nose was met. His nose was bleeding from the force of her punch. 

The suck part was her stamina was not great from her pregnancy. Her energy was mostly low and she had taken small naps between her breaks or days off. She should have seen this coming when the leader recovered and wrapped his arms around her before she did any more damage. 

“Now you can’t do anything to us. So give up.” The leader said. Of course, Natasha was struggling under his grasp. 

Fuck now she’s in huge trouble. This is what she gets for letting her anger clouded her sense of direction. 

“I am warning you. Let go of me.” She warned him. The two men that were on the ground had recovered and followed their leader to the deeper alley. The female Ackerman was getting exhausted as she was being dragged. She was now pinned to the dirty ground as their hands wandered around on her body groping and touching. Her silver eyes glared at them with hatred. 

“Let go of me. Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. ME!” She screamed. It’s like the atmosphere had changed. All three men felt a force knocked them away frm her. They were surprised. When they tried to get up, their bodies were being lifted which reality hit them as fear took over. 

“W-what are you?!” He stuttered when he saw her eyes glowing with different colors. Natasha used her glowing hands to use her abilities to pinned them on the wall. 

“I fucking warned you, didn’t I?” Her tone was cold. Slowly, she made crushing hand gestures to make them suffocate in a slow death. First her argument with Eren and now these assholes think they can just try to assault her and get away from it? No. Now they must pay. 

All three begged her for mercy. She scoffed at them while resuming causing them pain. Just feeling the power of the infinity stones makes her alive and in control from others. The adrenaline in her blood kicked in to watch how they beg for their lives to be spared.

“Natasha! What are you doing?!” A familiar voice caught her attention. It was Eren. 

“They deserved the pain of the women they caused pain….what my mother had dealt. Men like them deserve to die in agony!” She yelled at Eren. 

Eren was a bit scared at what she’s doing to these men with her powers. This shocked him from more secrets his lover had kept from him. He was a bit hurt for her not to trust him of her powers. His feelings needed to be set aside to calm her down. She looked like on the verge of a mental breakdown. 

“Natasha, baby. I understand these men deserved to be punished but not like this. Your hands will be strained by their blood. Please, let them go and we’ll get the military police involved to charge them.” Eren was trying to convince her to stop torturing them. 

“Ha, that’s rich coming from you. Didn’t you plan on wiping most of the global population for the sake of Eldians to have a peaceful life? Besides, my hands had been stained as a child. How do you think the men that raped and murdered my mother and baby brother were slaughtered? By my hands...and I don’t feel any remorse.” She told Eren while letting out a laugh. 

It’s true. What gave him the right to judge her when he was about to commit a genocide. All she wanted was to give justice to the people like her mother, baby brother and the victims from people like these disgusting men in front of her. In a way, both Eren and Natasha are like-minded people. They think the same but in different situations. 

Slowly, Eren gets closer to her. “You’re right. What right do I have telling you what to do? Natasha, that’s the thing. We both have so much in common watching our mothers die before our eyes. I am so fucking sorry you had to go thorugh that. I know the pain and anger you are feeling, but please for our child’s sake; let them go. This isn’t you. You’re the compassionate one.” 

She understood what her boyfriend was trying to say but her mood hasn’t calmed down. She dropped them as they fell to the ground. All three were unconscious. The superhuman turned to glare at him. “What do you know about me? You can’t dictate what’s not me or what is?!” 

“Babe, you’re right. I didn’t mean it that way. Your feelings are validated but hurting others won’t change the situation. Please, let’s get home and have a warm tea while you lay to rest on the bed.” The titan shifter noticed his words slowly calming her down. She was hovering midair until her feet landed on the ground. The grey clouds started to disappear. Her hands stopped glowing. Her eyes changed back to silver. 

“I’m fine...I’m not tired.” She said stubbornly. Her body yearned to rest from using so much energy that her powers had drained her. 

“Uh huh. You don’t have to be alright. Let’s go home and we’ll talk about it.” Eren said as he gently reached out to hug her. 

“Hold on, I need to do something.” He didn’t want to let her go. Natasha looked at him. “Please at least trust me on this.” She said to him. 

He let her go as she walked towards the unconscious men and used her two fingers to place on their side of the heads to erase their memories of encountering her. With the soul stone power she was able to wipe their memories of meeting her and seeing her power in action. 

“What are you-” Eren saw what she did. 

“Relax. I’m just erasing their memories of meeting me.” She said then went towards him. Once she reached Eren, her body collapsed on her. With the last energy, she erased the men’s memories. Luckily, Eren caught her in time and carried her in bridal style. 

He looked down at her as she fell unconscious. “You really are full of surprises.” He whispered. The green eyed titan shifter walked out of the dark alley to get to their home.

What they didn’t see was a shadow figure hiding from their view to watch everything that just happened. The figure walked while using a communication device. 

“Sir, we know where the stones are. It’s our lucky day for the templars.” the mysterious figure said. “Guess who has them. It’s Eren Jaeger’s girl; I think Eveline Potts. Yeah, the queen’s personal handmaiden.” The templar man reported to his superior.  

(Nathaniel) 

Finally it has been mostly a month since he had left for Europe on a business trip. Nathan exited out the vehicle and right in front of him the two people he was happy to see. Both Historia and Gilbert had greeted the king. 

“Husband, welcome home. I hope the trip went smoothly.” His queen spoke with eloquence and grace that he forgot she still despised him. At least her pretending to play her part had gotten better. 

“My beautiful queen and wife. It’s good to see you again. I heard the ball was successful! I am pleased with the work you put into it.” Nathan said with a joyous expression. 

“My king, I can’t take all the credit. Lord Gilbert was the one who contributed the most.” Historia humbly spoke. Gilbert looked a bit surprised from the praise he was received. 

“Your Majesty, I couldn’t have done it without you to make the ball successful.” Gilly said quietly. 

“I’m glad everything worked out while I was gone. Thank you both.” Nathaniel smiled. 

The false king had big plans as he received a message from one of his spies that the mythical infinity stones were found. Once his men capture the handmaiden, he will try to gain its powers and eliminate obstacles like Levi, the assassins and the Grandmaster. Nathaniel will conquer the world and no one will stop his ambition. 

A/N: Wow, I know I took too long to update this chapter. All I can say is, life just happens so I can’t promise you guys I’ll update like I usually do; but it will be at a slow pace. I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter. Let me know what you guys think?! Don’t forget to comment and kudos please. See ya in the next chapter!

[wlw-lovestruck-fiction]

Ok, this Onyx and Yvette romance has me HOOKED. Can we have a first time touching without any barriers? Like first kiss or whatnot after Yvette somehow gets a cure or stay of curse?

Written by @an-awkward-ghost

It had started as yet another walk through the park, far away from our troupes or anyone who could recognize us. Any moment I spend with Yvette is a tender one, but this one is special because it’s our first date without Yvette’s curse weighting down her every action. She is free at last: free to discover the world without a satin barrier, and free to touch and show affection like she longed for so many years…

We were holding hands as we walked. I still can’t get over how soft her skin is, how light her touch is. She is still being careful, which I understand. She’s even carrying a small leaf on her other hand, twisting it around her fingers this way and that in an absentminded sort of way. She glances at it once in a while, as if making sure the curse hasn’t returned. It’s a small, shy gesture I can’t help but find incredibly adorable, and I can hardly wipe the grin off my face when her eyes travel back up to meet mine, shining with joy and relief.

I’m hit with an unbearable need to hold her close each time she does that, to shower her with affection, but she needs time to get used to all of this. To this aspect of the world that’s been out of her reach for so long… And so, I swallow the feeling for the fifth time that day, burying it deep within me, and squeeze her hand as I tell her about the new ideas I had gotten for an outfit. She listens patiently, even offering a few comments which I deeply appreciate. She, in turn, tells me about the puppy she had gotten. How mischievous and playful she was. I can’t help but coo over her stories. Her bright laughter as she recounts a fun anecdote of her puppy has me mesmerized.

She has a very beautiful laugh; the type of laugh people wrote poetry about. The type of laugh that was so carefree and true, it was impossible not to get lost in it.

Eventually, we come to a slow stop.

“Onyx, if I may…” One of her hands cups my cheek, soft and slightly warm. Her eyes drop to my lips, and suddenly I’m very aware of how close we are. There’s only one thing she must be asking for. I grin at her, suddenly a bundle of delighted nerves. Yvette returns my emotion with a smile and a slight blush.

“O-oh! A-are you sure?” I bit my lip, wondering if that came out wrong. I want her, more than anything in the world, but I want to be sure she isn’t pushing herself. “You’ve had enough time to adjust?”

She chuckles. “Yes.”

“And… Y-you want to do this with me?”

“Yes.” She answers simply.

I shiver.

“Yvette, are you sure? Wouldn’t you want to save this for someone who you’ll truly be happy with?”

My words make her pause. Her eyes burn with fiery passion.

“It would appear…” She says, slowly, holding my gaze. The hand that was holding my cheek goes to rest over my chest. Over my heart. Her thumb traces the exposed skin in a way that makes me feel like she’s trying to carve her words into my very heart. “That I’m looking at that person right now.” Her eyes are honest, displaying nothing more but fervent adoration.

My breath hitches. My face warms with a shy blush, and Yvette wastes no time in cupping my face again, with both hands this time. I giggle when I feel the leaf against my skin and Yvette blinks down at it, as if she had forgotten she was holding it in the first place. With an embarrassed chuckle, she moves that hand towards my waist.

“Yvette, do you really want this with me?”

“More than anything in the world.” My heart flutters warmly at her response. “Onyx, I want to do this with you. Only you.”

“O-okay.” I mumble, breathless. “I want this, too.”

Yvette gazes down at me with nothing but wonder. After one last, furtive glance at the leaf on her hand, she leans in.

The kiss is soft and hesitant on Yvette’s part. She breaks it for a second, checking my face for the slightest sign of discomfort, and when she finds nothing but pure adoration she leans in again, almost desperate. As if she can’t live without the sensation she just discovered. As if it’s something more precious than air.

I throw my arms around her neck, pulling her closer. She tenses for a fraction of second, her grip tightening around my waist as if to make sure I’m still there, that I’m turning into ash. I pause in case she needs time but she quickly demonstrates that’s not the case. She continues her efforts to learn the shape of my mouth, knowing we have to part eventually and trying to make the most of what we have right now.

Her eagerness it’s incredibly endearing. I find myself returning her passion, every moment etching into my memory like a prayer, comforting and exciting all the same. This wonderful moment seems to stretch into infinity, ethereal in everything it represents. Freedom. Love. Safety. Acceptance.

I smile into the kiss, elated, and she grins as she leans back, breathless. The sight of her flushed face makes my smile widen.

“How was it?”

“I… I don’t think I have the words to make the feeling justice.” She murmurs. Her eyes shine like little stars, filled with wonder and a joy so vast they are impossible to comprehend. It stirs a cascade of emotion within me, and I laugh sheepishly when Yvette’s wonderful expression crumbles with panic and worry. “Onyx, why are you crying? Did I-?”

“N-no, I’m… Y-you’re just…” I sob harder, and throw myself into her arms while she stands there, frozen, not knowing how to react. I’m aware of how much she needs an explanation, so I try to calm myself enough to speak. “Your expression right now, i-it… it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, I’m-”

Yvette laughs lightly. I feel how she relaxes in my embrace, and I see how her face flushes with color. “So, I just moved you to tears?”

“Yes! Don’t you dare tease me about it.”

I realize too late that was the worst thing I could have said. Her slow smirk it’s the only warning I need for the incoming teasing, so I do the only thing that comes to mind to shut her up.

I kiss her again.

[need-a-fugue]

We Grow Together (18)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Tessa Sullivan (OFC)

Chapter Summary: A romantic getaway goes just a wee bit awry…

Summary: Relationships can be tough, especially when one person is a recovering-from-being-brainwashed-and-tortured former assassin and the other is an overworked mutant scientist. But hey, every couple has their struggles. Right?

Tony’s house is absolutely amazing. Of course, it’s far more than just another getaway spot for the billionaire. It’s the first of several planned (extremely) high-end villas in one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the world. “He’s actually going to start a resort,” Tessa hums in awe as they enter the ocean-side palace.

“That is correct,” says a voice coming from… somewhere. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” the slightly accented voice goes on after noticing the startled response from Bucky. Tessa is too busy exploring her new surroundings to pay much attention to the computerized creation. Besides, she talks to Friday so much that having a voice in the walls somehow seems completely normal to her. “My name is Nisa.”

Bucky grunts in response. “Makes sense,” he mutters. “When in Rome…”

“Oh, you are not in Rome, sir. You are in Baa Atoll, the Maldives.”

“Thank you,” he deadpans as he finds the master suite and drops off their luggage.

“You’re welcome. Would you like to know a bit about the area?”

In unison, both Bucky and Tessa respond… he with an adamant “No,” and she with an excited, “Yes, please.”

“Perhaps I’ll give you some time to settle into the villa first,” Nisa suggests. “Your chef will arrive at six to prepare your first meal.” Chef, Tessa mouths to Bucky, a look of pure joy on her face. “Until then, you have the villa and surrounding beach to yourselves. Please do let me know if there’s anything I can assist you with.”

“Thank you, Nisa!” Tessa flops down on the king-size bed, splaying her arms and legs out as far as they’ll go. “It’s huge,” she breathes out, turning to roll over onto her stomach. She looks over at Bucky, who’s standing nervously in the doorway, and wiggles her eyebrows at him. “Wanna take it for a spin?”

“It doesn’t make you nervous at all? All of the… tech? The disembodied voices?” He pushes off the doorframe and moves to the side of the bed.

She army crawls over to him and reaches her hands around to grab onto his upper thighs. “Nope,” she says, tugging at him.

He lays his hands on her shoulders to steady himself, seemingly unfazed by her attempts to get him into the bed. His eyes ping suspiciously around the room. “I feel like Stark could be watching us.”

“Ugh,” she lets out dramatically, dropping her hold on him and sitting up onto her knees. “That’s gross.” She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him in for a long, deep kiss. When she releases him and sits back on her heels, she can see that his face is only a teeny bit more relaxed. She rolls her eyes. “Tony’s a lot of things. But he’s not a voyeur.” She scoots to the edge of the bed and jumps up. “His life is far too exciting for him to care about what other people do with theirs.”

“Where are you going?” He spins around to follow her as she glides through the double glass doors. Just outside of the bedroom is a large deck that overlooks the ocean. At the edge of the deck, built into the steep rock face is an infinity pool surrounded by the most beautiful tropical garden.

“I’m dead,” she states, standing stark still in the center of the deck. “I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”

She turns around and takes in Bucky’s expression. He’s gazing out over the serene blue waters, the bright white beach that lies below. He doesn’t seem quite as awestruck as she is, but his face is noticeably more relaxed, and intrigued. He shifts his gaze to her and his face softens even further, a genuine smile taking over. “We should probably go for a swim,” he states simply, a glimmer in his eye.

Tessa takes no time at all stripping down, flipping her flats off and launching them across the deck as she shimmies out of her pants. She doesn’t bother to undo the buttons on her linen shirt, opting instead to yank it off along with the tight tank top underneath. But she somehow gets caught in the two shirts and Bucky has to come rescue her.

He’s laughing like a maniac as he helps to peel the clothing off of her. In the process, some of her hair gets stuck between the metal plates of his palm and she screeches in pain. That only makes him laugh harder. “Hold on,” he says, somewhat out of breath. “Just give me a sec.” And he works the clump of hair loose with his right hand.

Once she’s free, she shakes out her hair and reaches around to undo her bra. “You’re still dressed,” she chides him, noting that he hasn’t so much as removed his shoes.

“Yeah, well, I was going to go inside and change. I didn’t realize we brought bathing suits for nothing.”

She tosses him her bra and shimmies out of her panties. “You heard the disembodied voice. We have the whole place to ourselves.” She cocks a single brow at him and puts her hands on her naked hips. “There are no clothes needed in Heaven,” she says. “So I plan to stay naked all day.”

He breathes out deeply, wide smirk on his face. “I have never loved you more than I do right now,” he says before quickly shedding his shoes and running full force at her. She squeals with surprise as he grabs her and leaps into the pool.

They spend the next several hours either in the pool or right beside it, laughing, kissing, talking, and baking in the sun. They lose all track of time until Nisa calls out to them to tell them that their dinner is ready and waiting in out on the front terrace. Tessa throws on a T-shirt and nothing else. And Bucky can barely focus on anything but that fact… until he actually takes a bite of the food.

“Oh my God,” Tessa moans out, mouth full. “I feel so bad eating this, but it’s soooo good.” She looks over at him and sees a similar look of delight on his face.

“Is it the fact that it still has a face that makes it so much better than other fish?”

“It’s staring at me,” she says, tearing into it with her fork. “But I can’t stop.”

It may well be the best meal either of them has ever eaten.

They head back to the pool after and watch the sun set from matching lounge chairs. Just as Bucky’s about to drift off, he hears the creak of the chair and feels the weight of his girl in his lap. She squeezes her knees tight around his hips and leans down to nibble at his neck. “Wake up,” she whispers in his ear as her fingers lazily drift around his waistband. He grins and sighs contentedly, but doesn’t open his eyes. “I’m naked again,” she singsongs, sitting back on her heels.

He brings both of his hands up to the small of her back and slowly blinks his eyes open. The moon is very nearly full and almost every star is visible in the sky. But all he can see is the beauty sitting before him, her skin luminescent in the moonlight. He runs his fingertips delicately up her sides and tenderly cups each breast. But he makes no move to sit upright, or to speak, or to do anything other than silently gaze up at her.

“What, baby?” she asks with a small frown. “What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head and lets out a little laugh. “Absolutely nothing in the world,” he tells her before wrapping her up in his arms and carrying her inside.

000

The rest of their trip is… less than ideal.

They begin Day 2 by waking to crisp, warm sunshine beaming in through the glass doors. Another day in paradise. They decide to start the day with a shower. Together. But the huge rain shower is freshly minted with the smoothest of granite, and the moment that Bucky makes a move to hike Tessa up around his hips, his heel slides out from under him. They both go down. Hard. Bucky splits the back of his head open on the corner of the built-in bench and bleeds everywhere.

“Just stop,” Tessa tells him as he tries to stand back up. “Wait.” She hurriedly tries to scurry over him to get out of the shower and grab some towels. But her feet fly out from under her as well and she drops a knee into Bucky’s gut, knocking the wind out of him.

By the time she manages to get him into bed, the bathroom looks like a murder scene. He refuses any sort of medical treatment – it’ll heal on its own – so she quickly dresses the wound with some gauze from the first aid kit that Nisa directed them to, and positions a towel behind his head in case the dressing starts to weep.

Tessa spends the next hour and a half scrubbing the bathroom. Bucky spends the rest of the day lying in bed, watching as the ceiling spins above him.

That night he starts to feel better, so they take dinner out on the terrace again. It’s amazing and delicious and absolutely perfect. And it seems that their shit day is about to become just another sad, silly memory. Bucky’s already joking about how the worst part was her knobby knee collapsing his diaphragm.

At the dinner table, Tessa embarks on a journey of self-discovery. First, she unearths a new favorite food.

“How have you never had mango?” Bucky asks her.

“I don’t know,” she replies with cheeks full of the sweet, succulent fruit. “But I’m never gonna stop eating it.”

Just a few short minutes later, she makes another discovery – she’s deathly allergic to mango.

They spend the next several hours at the closest hospital. It is not the nice tourist hospital where westerners are treated like the rich near-royalty they often are. This is the place the locals go, and poor locals at that. Neither of them are at all convinced that they’ll make it out of there without a raging staph infection. By the time they finally get back to the villa, it’s almost sunrise and Tessa has so much Benadryl in her system that Bucky has to carry her to bed.

Day 3 consists of Tessa, still somewhat puffy, tossing and turning and scratching at hives while Bucky hangs out by the pool. He falls asleep in the mid-afternoon sun, his metal arm uncovered as it lies beside him on the wooden lounge chair. No big deal. Until he shifts in his sleep and rolls over onto the arm, giving himself a massive second-degree burn across his torso.

Day 4 starts out with Tessa demanding that they get out and do something fun. “Let’s go snorkeling!” she tries.

But Bucky hates the water. Well, he hates the idea of being under the water. Ever since Steve almost drown at Coney Island and he went in after him and got sucked out by a riptide. So… “No. No way in hell.”

The compromise, it seems, is to sit on the beach together all afternoon, silently stewing.

The moment they arrive back at the villa, Nisa tells Tessa that she’s had several phone calls and texts come in from New York. “It’s Claire,” she tells Bucky, as though mentioning the name of her assistant is enough to explain why she has to spend the next four hours combing through some sort of statistical analysis of something on her laptop.

And how is it that the laptop is even here? “I thought I took that out of your bag,” he says, watching her from the doorway to the sitting room. His arms are folded over his chest, his face drawn and pinched.

“You did,” she responds shortly. “Which was rude.” She looks back up at him, takes in his almost threatening posture, and lets out a long, frustrated sigh. “I repacked it,” she says simply, turning her focus to her work.

They do not eat dinner together on the terrace that night.

Day 5, the final day, begins with Bucky waking to find the bed empty, save a note that says simply, Went for a swim. He heads to the far end of the deck that overlooks the beach below, and he sees her lazily floating on her back about thirty feet out. Every so often she rolls over and freestyles against the current for several minutes before pausing to catch her breath and bask in the early morning sun. Then she lets go again and floats closer to the shore. He watches her intently. Observes how relaxed she seems as she lets the ocean guide her, falling back against the waiting water so it can pull her back to where she started. Then, all at once, she’s at it again, fighting the tide, straining to move forward, struggling to get… somewhere.

He shakes his head and lets out a strange, small laugh. “You and me both, babe,” he mutters under his breath. “You and me both.”

[kloolass-larspawn]

Complete Union - Chapter 6

The Ceremony

     The room went quiet as Lattice stood up with her violin and began playing music.  P walked down the aisle first with a pillow that had two klay strips on it.  When the little toddler reached Hoborg and Tommynaut, Klaymen and Vivianna started making their way down the aisle as well, followed by Klaus and Kittynaut.  Once everyone had taken their places at the alter, Lattice changed the song and everyone but Kruithne stood up and looked to the back of the room as Ottoborg and Yvonne began to make their way to alter.

     Tommynaut’s jaw dropped at the sight of Yvonne and said “Wow!” under his breath.  Yvonne looked at Tommynaut and started giggling quietly in excitement, unable to stop herself.  All the nervousness the two felt before had melted away almost instantly, and all that was left was the pure adoration, love and unbridled excitement for each other and for what was about to happen.  Once they arrived at the alter, Ottoborg lifted Yvonne’s veil over her head and gave her a light kiss on her brow before he took his seat.  Hoborg cleared his throat and Lattice finished her song.

     “May everyone please be seated.” he announced.  Everyone that was standing sat down and gave their complete focus to the front.  The ceremony had begun.

     “Family, friends and fellows of the Neverhood, Ixen and beyond.  We are gathered here today to bare witness to the beginnings of this eternal bond between Yvonne Theremin and Tomas Oliver Naut.  These two have found a deep love for each other that goes beyond any regular companionship.  This love proves that, despite one’s beliefs and practices, a mutual understanding can indeed be reached, and could even become something more if both parties allowed.” Hoborg looked to Yvonne as she handed her bouquet to Viv.  “Yvonne, your vows please.” Yvonne nodded and took Tommynaut’s hands in her own as she looked into his eyes.

     “Tom,” she started, “I vow to always listen to you when you need to vent.  I vow to be a shoulder for you to cry on when others push you to your limit and you couldn’t do anything else.  I vow to always be there for you, because I know... all too well how awful it is to be alone and in pain... in an unknown place with no where to go and... no one to turn to... A-and I vow to always love and support you, because even if you don’t believe it... you deserve all the good things this universe has to offer.” Yvonne had teared up and was weeping quietly.  Tommynaut smiled to her warmly and gently wiped her tears away.  She took a deep breath and smiled to him.  Hoborg nodded and turned to the groom.

     “Tommynaut, your vows please.” he said.  Tommyanut nodded and cupped his hand on her cheek to look into her now glistening eyes.

     “Yvonne,” he started, “I vow to make you happy when you feel scared or sad.  I vow to always be here for you when you need to be in a quiet place, be it to concentrate for the next performance or to cool off from an argument with a customer... But most of all, I vow to help you feel safe.  A-after everything you’ve been through, you deserve the happiness and joy one finds in a safe haven.” He took Yvonne’s hands into his own and held them close to his heart.  “It’s what I found in you when I first came here, and I want to be the same for you no matter what, because I love you, Yvonne.  And I vow to love you always.” Ottoborg and Kruithne sniffed.  Yvonne teared up again and laughed quietly.

     “You forgot your vows, didn’t you?” she asked with a smile.  Tommynaut’s expression dropped and he sunk his head before he nodded.  The room laughed a little and Yvonne brushed his cheek.  “Don’t worry about it.  I forgot my vows too.” The room laughed again as Tommynaut looked at her.  They soon joined the laughter quietly and Hoborg chuckled.

     “Those vows were truly genuine to the both of you, then.” Hoborg said, then turned to P.  “The bands, please.” P lifted up the pillow and he took one of the strips.  He then gave it to Tommynaut.  “Tommynaut, I need you to take this band and tie it to Yvonne’s arm.”  Tommynaut nodded and took the band as Yvonne held out her left arm.  He place the band just above her elbow and Hoborg nodded.  “Repeat after me.  Yvonne.”

     “Yvonne.”

     “With this band, I tie on my devotion.”

     “With this band, I tie on my devotion.”

     “I tie on my commitment.”

     “I tie on my commitment.”

     “And I tie on my promise to you.”

     “And I tie on my promise to you.”

     “To be by your side.”

     “To be by your side.”

     “Until the final star novas.”

     “Until the final star novas.” Tommynaut finished tying the band and tucked the ends under the knot, which looked like the symbol for infinity.  Yvonne’s face was sore from smiling so much, but she couldn’t stop.  She started crying and he brushed her tears away again as he started tearing up himself.  Hoborg took the second strip and gave it to Yvonne.

     “Yvonne, I need you to take this band and tie it to Tommynaut’s arm.” he said.  She didn’t take the strip right away as she was still wiping her tears away without ruining the makeup too much.  Hoborg turned his head to her.  “Are you alright?” Yvonne laughed and sniffed as Tommynaut rolled up his left sleeve.

     “I’m fine! I-I’m just really excited.” The bride hugged the groom and whimpered.  “I love you so much, Tommy!” The room awwed.  Ottoborg blew his nose and Kruithne hugged Walter.

     “That’s so sweet!” Kruithne squeaked quietly. Walter hugged her back and kissed her.  Yvonne eventually calmed down and let go of Tommynaut.  She took the band from Hoborg and Tommynaut held his arm out for her to place it just above his elbow.

     “Repeat after me.” Hoborg started.  “Tommynaut.”

     “Tommynaut.”

     “With this band, I tie on my devotion.”

     “With this band, I tie on my devotion.”

     “I tie on my commitment.”

     “I tie on my commitment.”

     “And I tie on my promise to you.”

     “And I tie on my promise to you.”

     “To be by your side.”

     “To be by your side.”

     “Until the final star novas.”

     “Until the final star novas.” Yvonne’s hands were shaking the whole time as she finished tying the knot and tucked the ends underneath like Tommynaut did.  She couldn’t stop herself from laughing and crying at the same time, and soon he was the same.  Hoborg chuckled and the couple held each other’s hands.  He first turned to the groom.

     “Tomas Oliver Naut,” he started, “Do you take Yvonne to be your soul’s eternal partner, through fate’s curses and blessings, through time’s blind march forward into the unknown reaches of space, until your bodies fade and become stardust?” Tommynaut nodded.

     “I do.” His voice cracked and tears slowly started streaming down his face.  Yvonne wiped his tears away as Hoborg turned to her.

     “Yvonne Theremin,” he started again, “Do you take Tommynaut to be your soul’s eternal partner, through fate’s curses and blessings, through time’s blind march forward into the unknown reaches of space, until your bodies fade and become stardust?”

     “I do!” Yvonne cheered, making herself and Tommynaut laugh.  Hoborg lifted his head to the crowd.

     “If anyone is opposed to this union, please speak now, or forever hold your tongue.” he announced.  The room was quiet, safe from the couple’s laughter.  Hoborg nodded.  “Then by the power entrusted to me, in the witness of all of you here today, and by the blessing of Quater’s good will, I pronounce this union complete.  The couple may seal this newfound bond with a kiss.”

     Yvonne leapt into Tommynaut’s arms and kissed him.  Tommynaut caught her and dipped her down as he kissed back.  The room erupted into applause and the bridesmaids and groomsmen cheered and whistled as the couple held each other.  They stopped kissing and Yvonne’s face was bright red and full of happy surprise.

     “Oh my Quater, Tom, where did that come from!?” she laughed as she cupped her new husband’s face.  Tommynaut smiled as he lifted her back up to her feet.

     “Eight long years of waiting for this exact moment.” he answered with a sigh.  He took her hand and gave it a much lighter kiss.  “Too much?”

     “No, I just didn’t think you had it in you! You really know how to make a girl swoon!” Yvonne answered, then chuckled.  “Think you can do that again in our private time?” she asked with a wink.  Tommynaut’s face went red.

     “I’ll... uhh... I’ll keep that in mind.” he stammered, smiling shyly.  She giggled and took his arm as they turned to the cheering crowd.  Tommynaut turned his head to his new wife as Viv gave back her bouquet.  “I love you, Yvonne.” Yvonne smiled and turned her head to look back up at him.

     “I love you too, Tommynaut.” she said, and rested her head on his shoulder.  Lattice stood up and started playing her violin again and the couple made their way backup the aisle followed by the bridesmaids and groomsmen.

     Hoborg took a deep breath and announced loudly and clearly above the crowd’s cheers and applause:

     “Congratulations to the joined eternal spirits of Mister and Missis Naut Theremin!”

[weartirondad]

irondad writers we ❤️ you

‘cause sometimes you just gotta spread the love.

Disclaimer: This will obviously not entail every single amazing writer but feel free to reblog with your faves and show us (and everyone else) what we’ve been missing out on.

Now, without further ado, here are some of our favorite writers in this fandom in no particular order:

@theoceanismyinkwell with everything he writes really, but especially the A Little Unsteady series is a masterpiece. The characters come to life in his stories and they struggle and fall and always stand back up again.

@ironfamjam and her truly magnificent work Filling The Gaps have redefined co-parenting and it’s a joy to read these long ass chapters while hoping they never ever end.

@geekymoviemom is more than her fantastic story Sins Of The Fathers but it’s definitely one of the most beautiful works in this fandom that is sadly almost over. Watch us cry and already miss our favorite Monday evening read.

@losingmymindtonight of course, how could we forget? There’s really no one story to get just how amazing a writer she is because her way with words enchants you and captures you until you’re halfway through And You’ll Blow Us All Away for the third time that week. Or, you might tell yourself it’s okay because you’re actually learning about hormones and sleepwalking (the research she puts into it is actually awe-inspiring)

@itsallavengers oh where to start? While mostly Steve/ Tony (honestly, we’ve never loved them as much as we do in her stories) she does have an amazing series dedicated to our favorite father-son- duo, aptly called Listen Up, Kid

@xmypandabear and her The Publicity Verse series never fail to surprise us and make us question everything we’ve ever known. Stories full of flawed characters that always end up teaching us new things about ourselves, truly inspirational.

@caraminha while clearly an all around genius whose unique writing style we adore in every single work, one story we always come back to has to be oh, come ON now that has two MCU dads talk, really talk, for the first time ever.

@jbsforever can’t not be on our list and while the stories are usually a lot angstier we’ll leave you with Mission Christmas for now ‘cause dis the season and it doesn’t matter anyway, whatever she writes will find your heart and make it feel all the feelings anyway.

yesyeshyes ‘s story What They Saw is a fantastic take on how other characters in the MCU view irondad and it is magnificent to read whenever you just need some wholesome family love.

@parkrstark / @parkrstarkwrites because there’s no way you’re listing irondad writers and she’s not on there. This woman knows how to work the whump and the curls and the cuddles and there’s honestly not much she can’t write (even cavity inducing fluff, we’ve seen it!). There’s no way we can mention every wonderful thing here but her Asexual!Peter series is one of the best things out there.

Nickygp knows exactly how to hold your heart, keep it safe and warm, only to then break it with one swift motion, brought to you by Because I said so: Adventures in Parenting (with commentary by Peter Parker)

@iron--spider and the rattle universe really is one of our all time favorite series set after infinity war and this writer really goes all out in making you go stir crazy over their stories because you cannot get enough.

@ironwebbs is another genius in breaking hearts and while hindsight might be her most well known piece of whump, literally every little thing she does is terrific like Then I will carry you

@edibna will take you from tutorials on hugs to conspiracy theories over to the wonderful We’re gonna have to do this together series. She hits all the right tropes and follows our favorite duo to exceptional places!

StarryKnight09 has gone all out in creating the wonderful Out of darkness series that centers around the makeshift-family’s struggles and achievements and we might have reread it so many times we may have lost count.

@camelot-queen knows how to make her writing squeeze your heart. Her stories Who Saves The Hero and i'm the satellite (and you're the sky) are some all time favourites and  Goner gives us the chills, no matter how high the temperature.

@emma--anacortes has a gift with how skillfully she strings words together to form heartbreaking pieces of art. Especially her story Accepting the Tides makes you go through a wild rollercoaster of emotions. Tension buliding, plot twists and wonderful insight to the characters really make this one a joy to read.

Lady of Lorule holds a special place in our hearts because When the World Changes was one of the first stories we read in this fandom! Not just Irondad but Avengers family love and Peter right there in the middle of it all where he belongs.

grilledcheesing will make you laugh and cry and laugh again and you won’t see the next twist coming. Her 5+1 stories are insanely good and a personal favorite is 5 Times Peter Made Tony Laugh Out Loud. Since it’s december we also highly recommend Twelve Days Of Peter Parker.

@keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars will keep you wondering whether Peter is Tony’s biological son or not throughout all of her stories but in the end, does it matter? Fact is this is a girl who hands out the H/C with capital letters in her Peter Whump Dump series and when little Peter calls for his dad again you can’t really keep yourself from weeping for the little family.

[medeafive]

BuckyNat prompt: Post-Endgame (or maybe AU Infinity War where he didn't get snapped to dust), Bucky sees Natasha again and she (finally) has her red hair back.

(Still not sure if this makes sense, but here it is.)

Coming back is just like coming out of the ice.

All of a sudden, reality comes crashing onto him, hard, heavy reality, noises and light and colors and feelings. He can’t remember feeling. It’s all raw. Hammers on his nerve endings, every single one. One moment, there’s nothing, and then there’s everything.

He shakes from it, all these blows, all this sudden pressure, too much, pulled apart, squashed together, and he wants back. Too much information. Back. Just back.

He can’t crawl out of his body, as much as he’d like, can’t crawl out of this world, this experience. He tries to detach from it, goes in and out, shaking, watching himself shake, shuddering, too much, out, back-

Then he blinks and realizes it’s okay, actually. Living. His body is made for that. Breathing. That’s what being alive feels like. It’s okay. You can handle it. It doesn’t feel nice but when has it, in the last 70 years? Breathe.

He blinks. There’s a face. Happy face. He blinks.

Steve rushes forward and pulls him into a hug.

He moves into the Avengers compound, or whatever it’s called these days. Nobody seems to care. Sam rolls his eyes every time he sees him, but that doesn’t count. Steve is genuinely happy. All the smiley faces make him miss, for a few weeks, that Steve is actually at the end of his line, worn out, chewed through by this world and spit out. After a few weeks, the joy of having everyone back fades and it becomes clear that Steve, Captain America, is fucking done. Last dance. He apologizes when telling him that he’s going to move out, somewhere quiet, and lay low, but really, there’s nothing to say when it’s so obviously the only possible decision.

It’s okay anyway. He likes it at the compound, kind of sealed off, just people around who know about him. He strikes a tentative companionship with Wanda but not her robot boyfriend. Freaks him out. Sam is bearable most of the time. Others flutter in and out, Barton checks in once, Stark half a dozen times but avoids him diligently, instead commiserating with Steve how they’re so, so ready for retirement. Romanoff usually arrives in the dead of night and is gone in the morning, her presence only evidenced by the coffee ground she leaves in the sink. Thor comes by twice, seeming generally upbeat and content. Banner lives here, figuring stuff out with Wanda, but you don’t see him around often. The blonde, glowing girl stops by three times, twice with Fury. On such a big compound, it’s easy to not meet anyone if you so desire, for days even.

After a while, it occurs to him that Romanoff is actively avoiding him. Takes him long enough because why would she mind anybody else’s presence? He lets her. Least he can do. After everything, everything that always seemed to land on her back.

However, when he steps onto the rooftop one night, for lack of sleep, she’s sitting right there, tense. He stops. Should go. Keeps staring at her. It takes him another moment to realize he hasn’t seen her in, what, two years? Never once saw her after coming back. Interrupted by her snorting. “What, frozen in place?”

He lets go off the door handle automatically, only regretting it when it falls shut. “Didn’t know you’d be here.”

“You don’t sleep much, do you,” she remarks, letting her head drop back, looking up at the sky. It’s far out here, few lights around, mostly the stars.

She knows the answer already, so he doesn’t say anything, sitting down on the edge several feet away from her. Maybe she’d prefer if he left. Can’t get a read on her, as most times. Her shoulders are still a bit tense but nothing clear-cut. “How was it?” he asks tentatively. “When everyone was gone?”

She smiles wryly. She looks old somehow, even with the moon light softening her features, maybe just because of that. “What do you think. Total fucking disaster.”

“Barton lost his entire family for a while,” he remarks, trying to figure out where he’s going with this. “Can’t imagine that. Everyone who’s close to you…”

She rubs her nose. “Hard to imagine, right? Being so close to someone and then losing them. Everyone was devastated, but I… I was livid. I was so mad. Not for what it did to me, but for what it did to everyone else.”

He smirks. “And I thought you didn’t want to talk to me.”

She snorts. “Believe me, the prospect was a lot more uncomfortable than actually doing it. Even though you stare at my hair like a weirdo.”

“I like it better in red,” he offers. Like she would care. “Not that it matters. But it does feel like… you’re not trying to hide anymore.”

“I’ve been hiding pretty much my whole life,” she reminds him. “No matter the hair color.”

It doesn’t make sense, no. “Still. Feels more like… you.”

She bites her lip and it takes him a moment to realize she’s holding back a smile. He’s so slow these days. “Old habits die hard, right?”

“That’s just me clinging to the odd happy memory,” he replies. “Don’t feel constrained by that.”

“Ah, I don’t know.” She stares off into the distance. “Since you must have so few of them…”

“The past is the past.” He shakes his head, hair flying around. Should cut it, really. “I guess it’s okay now.”

“Then again,” she prompts. “How can it ever be okay?”

“Well, it’s okay if you can handle it,” he argues. “And if it takes letting people close but not super-close… then that’s that.”

“Hard to pour your heart into something when you don’t have one,” she mutters. “No, wait, that sounded way too dark.”

“Maybe talking is worse than the prospect of it,” he suggests cheekily. “No, seriously, I can leave if that’s easier for you.”

“If one of us should go easy on the other,” she interrupts, “it should be me.”

“Oh, seriously.” He snorts. “I fucking tried to murder you. At least three times, just off the top of my head.”

“Me too,” she returns. “I was just less successful.”

He smiles. “You know what, I really like the red hair. Suits you. Always suited you best. I may have never known your name, but… you were always that. Red.”

[dmydfilmreviews]

MARVEL MOMENTS

 So what they really did, as well as making a good load of films, was actually make a vast tapestry of genius interwoven moments like flicking through a big comic book! Ten years! Twenty something movies! A load of rubbish images at the end of the list because the last three films weren’t officially out on Blu Ray! Avengers assssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Tony Builds the First Suit

 Really it was a stroke of brilliance to start the whole shebang with Iron Man the self-made superhero. The backbone of the whole universe is that of Tony making himself and that all kicks off here, in a sequence that’s hugely thematically satisfying given what comes later. There’s also the fact that back in the day all this construction stuff was just fucking cool, a Nolan-lite bedrock for a blend of realism and fantasy that comic-book cinema had never quite nailed before. Seeing Tony improve his tech step-by-step is a quiet pleasure of these movies, the suits getting more and more outlandish but staying absolutely believable, just like the films, and that all kicks off here with one guy and a non-magical hammer.

Pepper Pulls Out Tony’s Heart

 I noted these all down before Endgame, honestly. Sob. It was always his story really. The best example of the foundational relationship of the MCU: They finish each other’s sentences!

‘Truth is… I am Iron Man.’

 They knew what they’d got from the very first. This ballsy coda sets the tone for the whole MCU, one of backed-up swagger, a willingness to fuck with the source material in the name of story and the general feeling that Robert Downey Jr. was God. All in like two hours. That they flipped the egotistically iconic line into an era-defining declaration of responsibility, growth and heroism a decade later is nothing short of remarkable.

Hulk and Betty in the Rain

 It’s uh… it’s a nice comic-book visual of a classic comic book romance, I guess? Look, Hulk came a long way later, but his forgotten love for Betty was the closest they ever came to the source material outside of the Hulk generally smashing and being awesome. It was sweet!

The Bit Where Hulk Suplexes a Giant Zombie Wolf on the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard

 wait was this in the Incredible Hulk

I’ve Successfully Privatised World Peace!’ ‘Fuck you, Mr Stark.’

 They got Garry Shandling in these movies!

The Suitcase Suit

 Now that is a cool-ass adaptation.

Black Widow Kicks Asses

 Yeah, after a whole movie of being reductive eye-candy she was still reductive eye-candy here. But the scene as a whole’s basically a perfect realisation of her moves in the comics, and showed Marvel were capable of doing someone who wasn’t Iron Man. Then they did EVERYYYYOONNNNNNEEE bonus points for Happy taking out that one guy and yelling ‘I got him!’

Tony and Rhodey in the Japanese Gardens

 Look, they just look cool, OK? No one said this was going to be deep.

Tony and Pepper as the Stark Expo Explodes

 They haven’t managed a lot of great romance, but this one hella works: Tony’s overblown mess of a movie expo exploding behind the true love of his life is a visual so great that Shane Black nicked it wholesale for the climax of Iron Man Three: Christmas in Croydon.

The Frost Giant Throwdown

 Wait, what’s happening? I thought these were the movies where Jeff Bridges rode a Segway? Are we in SPAAAAACCCCCEEEE?

Thor Can’t Pull It Off

 Out of the big three Thor’s arc of mythology to humanity might be the deepest and most satisfying of all. That starts here with his tearful inability to be worthy of his father, his world and, crucially, himself, leading directly into the first great Thor/Loki exchange, then a whole host of movies that eventually put him through the emotional wringer to self-acceptance. Hopefully?

Thor and Loki Battle on the Rainbow Bridge

 Yeah, it looks kind of goofy, but this is pure sixties Kirby, shorn of the irony the series would develop later. Beautiful.

Erskine Points To Cap’s Heart

 That’s it. That’s the character.

The Star Spangled Man!

 Who’ll hang a noose on the goose-stepping goons from Berliiiin?

That Whole War Montage That Ends With Bucky Falling From The Train

 Just smash after smash after smash of wartime Cap goodness that we’d never see again, ending with the ‘death’ that’d define the rest of his story. Steve lost as much as Thanos in his quest for peace but, y’know, he wasn’t a total fucking intergalactic dick about it.

‘I gotta put her in the water!’

 Man alive he waited for that date... whether you think the ending of Endgame ruins the moment somewhat (it doesn’t. sort of), this was still the biggest heart-tugger in the MCU at that point, and defined the characters of Cap and Peggy for years to come. Watch Agent Carter! Just bloody watch it!

'Lemme Put You On Hold’

 The stand out moment of The Avengers is basically all of it, but let’s start with the moment Black Widow finally becomes a character, a sequence of broad-strokes skill from Scarlett Johansson and Joss Whedon that begged for a movie she finally got way too long later. Bonus points for possibly the greatest Coulson reaction shot in a history of great reaction shots.

The Helicarrier Ascends

 OK, shit – this is series is big now.

The Whole of Stuttgart

 Whedon’s love of classical posh entertainment is seen in Angel’s superior ballet episode and his fondness for Sondheim, and he even gets a bit of the ol’ jewellery rattling in here in a perfectly pitched Loki-loving sequence that culminates in some fantastic bits for Cap before Iron Man AC/DC’s all over the place. This is where the comic book stuff really kicks off.

‘YOU COME HOME!’

 This Hemsworth’s fella’s really got something...

Forest Bro Down

 Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. The first real Avengers mash-up is just wonderful. This is where the wish-fulfilment really begins, in a quiet clearing, where three superheroes nearly beat the shit out of each other in classic comic-book style. The Avengers assembled.

The Whole Fuckin’ Helicarrier Sequence

 An absolute masterpiece of blockbuster juggling that had never been done before, this could be the third act of any other film. Over what plays out weirdly like a piece of theatre we get terrifying Hulks, mewling quims and awesome heroics, all expertly laced with wonderful character mash-ups and action we’d never seen before. Then Coulson dies. This is what Joss Whedon does.

‘There was an idea…’

 Fuck shit yeah there was, and it made for a hell of an Infinity War trailer six years later.

ALL OF NEW YORK

 Yep, all of it, but if we’re being picky it’s Hulk v Loki for the comedy side, the tracking shot for the action. As a sequence it’s never been bettered in the MCU, even in the open-mouthed joy-gush of Infinity War and Endgame. FIGHT ME

Go Fish

 Iron Man Three is a wonderful movie that works best as the sum of its parts, but there’s one bit that’s up there with the pantheon: the sky-diving rescue above the bay is such a joyous subversion of the usual third-act super-fisticuffs that it’s like something out of a 70’s Superman movie, only with a hilarious capper at the end where Iron Man explodes under a truck. Beep beep!

Running the Lemurian Star

 The Russo Brother’s action calling-card for their incredible MCU run, this sets up their vision of Cap’s super-subtle-super-serum-super-moves. From the off it’s a game changer in the way action’s shot across the MCU, clean-cut raid-alikes becoming the order of the day. AND THEN HE FIGHTS BATROC ZE LEAPER

Elevator Throwdown

 Yeah, yeah, we all know the actual bit in the elevator that’s spoofed to tremendous effect come Endgame, but remember this sequence ends with Cap TAKING DOWN A FUCKING QUINJET SINGLE-HANDED. The look on his face at the end says it all.

The Winter Soldier Street Fight

HE FLICKS A KNIFE MID PUNCH

Come and Get Your Love

 We’d seen a lot of cool shit from the MCU by this point, but this was something else again. It’s funny! It’s funny as fuck! What the fuck is this movie? And again, they know their own best bits: the return to this in Endgame is top drawer. What a moron.

The Kyln Sequence

 This whole breakout is the Guardians at their very best; squabbling in space, reluctant teamwork, loads of cool shit and leg theft. The bit where it all goes anti-grav is a treat.

WE ARE GROOT

 That’s it. That’s the movie.

…Stark…

 It’s a shame they didn’t delve deeper into Scarlet Witch’s hatred for the man who murdered her parents, but her barely contained rage is the keystone for Age of Ultron: deeper, nastier, more questioning of it’s heroes and their heroism. This one they brought on all by themselves.

Sun’s Gettin’ Real Low

 Yeah, maybe it’s for the best the slightly bumbled Hulktasha relationship was forgotten about, but this moment was pivotal in the character development of both. Beautifully shot, and leads to a primo Ragnarok gag.

Lift That Hammer

 You genuinely could have made a whole movie of these characters hanging out at an open bar. The Stan cameo’s great, the War Machine story bit gets an Endgame alien planet boost much later, but it’s the drunken worthiness competition that’s the real highlight, a seemingly fun throwaway that actually almost single-handedly sets up the whole character of Vision and the most fist-pumping moment of Endgame, a movie nearly entirely composed of fist-pumping moments.

Hulk vs Hulkbuster

 Pure comic-book wish fulfilment again, and how. From Hulk spitting out a tooth to Tony desperately pleading ‘go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep’, this mad clash of science pals knocks every Transformers movie straight through a freshly-bought-building. Veronica!

Well Done.

 Alright, Vision’s no one’s favourite Avenger, but he’s one who’s the satisfying product of several movie plots, one beloved supporting AI and the combined brains, magic and cool red capes of his team. Whedon performs his own mad-skillz level script trick to make us accept this fucking weirdo, first by giving him Jarvis’ voice, then having him stare out at a world and see his reflection in it, then having him lift an unliftable character-establishment hammer. None of this could be done by any other film series.

The Geometry of Belief

 Ultron’s climactic church-a-maggedon is short but perfect, a swirling mass of splash-page insanity that culminates in a glorious trinity of Vision, Iron Man and Thor blasting the shit out of their mad son like a magic triangle. The Avengers at their peak.

Vision and Ultron Have a Chat

 Whedon pops out these gems of detached humanism from time to time, and his sundown final exchange between The Avenger’s success and failure is a doozy. The most poetic little scene in the whole MCU, voiced by two creatures who look like nightmarish dildos. ‘A thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts’ is an all-timer.

Big Bathtub

 Ant Man’s bedrock might be its family values, but it’s the shrinking that makes it stand out. The first time Scott drops into tiny-town is a Pixar-esque fun-burst akin to Stephen Strange’s nutso jump into infinity later, with deadly bath taps, thunderclap vacuum cleaners and mid-day apartment raves (?) all bringing a new level of threat and adventure to a series already teeming with variety. They should carry these ones on foreverrrrr

Cassie’s Room

 There’s something about this scene that sums up Scott’s whole character and hopefully sets up his daughter for future ant shenanigans: he is (was) unique as a hero with a family, and no matter how many Pym Particles he stuffs into his suit he’s always looked like a giant to his daughter. Plus, y’know, Thomas the Tank Engine.

Some Guy Crashes a Car at Night

 The catalyst for the great middle schism. Civil War is a masterclass of twisting, gut-churning reveals, and this is the quiet moment that starts it all.

QUEENS

 The perfect Marvel character, introduced into the perfect realisation of the Marvel Universe, perfectly.

Running Into Each Other At The Airport

LITTLE MAN IS BIG NOW I’M CLINT WE HAVEN’T MET YET I DON’T CARE WHERE YOU FROM KID QUEENS BROOKLYN I’M YOUR CONSCIENCE WE HAVEN’T SPOKEN IN A WHILE YOU GUYS KNOW THAT OLD MOVIE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK HOW OLD IS THIS KID ETC ETC OH MY GOD MY BRAIN HAS EXPLODED

Cap vs Iron Man

 ‘I don’t care. He killed my mom.’  

The Big Brain Burst

 They keep doing bits to expand themselves, and this is one of the best, with the most potential for the future. Fleeting, but dazzling.

New York Mirror Fest

 If the next Strange movies delve into this deranged nonsense then they could end up the greatest of all of them. This is the tip of the iceberg, and it’s still unlike anything else being done in mainstream cinema.

Mr Blue Sky

 In a movie that frequently reaches big and misses, at least it hits the spot at the beginning. This glorious celebration of family, space-craziness and genre subversion is everything Guardians does best. The Gamora / Groot bit is adorable.

Peter’s Civil War Adventure

 The perfect tone-setter for the story’s most-average joe, this ground-level view of the universe’s biggest clash acts as a whippet quick intro to Peter Parker’s world in the big bad MCU. It’s always a thrill to see him where he belongs.

The Homage to Getting Buried Under a Tonne of Crap

 Homecoming’s riffs on classic Spidey-lore are generally pretty subtle, but when it comes time to show what Peter’s really made of Watts rips directly from the best, first with the iconic Parker/Spidey face split and then with him holding up a whole fucking building like he’s nerd Hulk or something. The added ‘come on Spider-Mans’ are the adorable icing on the homage-o-cake.

Anytime That Immigrant Song Plays

Another!

Thor vs Hulk

 Yeah, it’s not perfect and it’s a little CGIey. But it’s Thor fighting the Hulk in a fucking galactic gladiator arena place run by Jeff Goldblum and it smashes and it’s full of fun callbacks to previous movies. Yes! That’s what it feels like!

Thor and Loki Do Get Help

 The perfect encapsulation of Waititi’s irreverent-but-with-tonnes-of-heart freshgasm on the story of Thor, this bit of hilarious dumb shit acts as amusing action beat and neat character resolution all in one. They’re friends again! They’re brothers! Thor throws him around like a rolled up carpet!

What Are You The God of Again?

 Oh right, so he’s the best Avenger now.

Killmonger in the Afterlife

 The bloody heart of the most emotional Marvel movie, when Erik Killmonger enters the Wakandan afterlife he finds himself in his own tiny Compton apartment, exiled with his father forever with the plains of eternity just out of reach beyond the window. Heartbreaking, and brilliant.

Thanos Arrives

 The opening of Infinity War is another example of their absolute mastery of tone; after the megaton funblast of Ragnarok we’re thrown into the end of that movie being ripped apart, before Thanos appears, dragging a battered Thor into frame, beats seven shades of green shit out the Hulk and murders two beloved supporting characters, all without breaking a sweat. If you weren’t excited before you were now.

New York Tussle

 The opening New York section of Infinity War is all very clever, acting as the only grounding Earthy moment in what’s a pretty out-there narrative in terms of existential stakes. You get Tony and Wong helping people off the sidewalk and Strange winking after halting the space-death-machine, but from there on out it’s full-bore comic-book smackdown fun, clashing characters who’ve never met and providing top-drawer banter about wizards and children’s parties. This is the page, up there on screen.

BRING ME THANOS!

 BRING ME THANOS!

The Thanos Fight

 Jesus fucking Christ. Up there with the end of Avengers and the Civil War airport battle, this is a perfect realisation of superhero action, with a bigger dose of high-level insanity courtesy of the Infinity Stones and Doctor Strange. Sublimely realised, incredibly satisfying, with real weight and thought put into the spectacle, it’s also fantastic in the narrative of the film, the culmination of its themes of desperation and inevitability. The first time you saw them try to rip off the gauntlet was unbearable.

The Snap

 Well, yeah. You’ll never get back the first time you saw this. And imagine seeing it as a fucking kid.#

Just a Girl

 Sure the big level-up CGI fest at the end is good, but it’s the comedy smackdown on the Kree ship that’s the most satisfying part of Captain Marvel, the shit-eating joy on Carol’s face as she discovers she’s way more powerful than the assholes who’ve been holding her back. It’s corny sure, but it’s hella fun.

Thor Goes For The Head

 Endgame is a shocking, disorientating blur to begin with, all the characters you loved acting in strange, desperate ways in a super-hero version of post-traumatic stress disorder. Tony’s meltdown is bad enough, but it’s when Thor just straight up fucking murders Thanos that you know this is going to get dark and serious. It doesn’t, it remembers it’s a Marvel movie, but the shot of him walking out into the blurred alien sun, cape aflutter, is a fitting goodbye to a more innocent time of heroics.

Ant Man and Cassie

 A moment that could be worthy of a whole movie itself, a desperate Scott Lang meeting his five-years-older daughter gives a joke character a serious moment in the same way Infinity War did for Guardians. It’s very odd, very sweet and very Marvel.

Love You 3000

 Morgan H. Stark is almost a little too on the nose as a wrap-up for Tony, but hell, she’s still sweet as all hell and a perfect capper to his story of fatherhood and responsibility. It’s a mark of the work they’ve put in that we’ll almost immediately accept the tired trope of kid-taking-over-mantle when she inevitably puts on the armour in a few years.

Steve and Peggy / Tony and Howard

 This is the bit in Endgame where I finally started tearing up: a lot of it is too-neat fan-service, but fuck it, they’ve put in so much effort that it works. This is the scene where you realise both of these long arcs are coming to an end, the resolution of Steve quietly making his decision to go back to Peggy and Tony getting the closer of discussing parenthood with his unknowing father. It’s corny sure, but so are comic books, and setting the whole bit at the height of seventies Marvel Comics mania is a loving nod to the imaginations that made all these crazy possibilities possible.

Widow and Hawkeye

 There’s a theme here. All of these moments are kind of cheesy and rely heavily on callbacks to previous bits… but at the moment it doesn’t matter because ENDGAME WOW. Maybe we’ll look back at it as a corny misstep, but for the moment, Clint and Tasha having one last, ludicrously overblown tussle for who gets to live is a sweet capper that never goes as deep as the others because they’re supporting characters. It still stings, and it’s a neat mirror to Gamora and Thanos in Infinity War. The red’s gone from her ledger! It’s on the rocks! Urrrgh

Nebula Kills Herself

 Again, they’re so good that they can spend a big chunk of time in what’s ostensibly the last big movie for their most beloved characters on making a lesser character beloved. Endgame spotlights Nebula even more than Infinity War did Gamora, using her self-hatred and fear of her father for compelling, wibbly-wobbly plot and character beats. The resolution of her story and her newfound place with her team should make for a whole different Guardians before we even get to Fortnite-Thor joining up.

Cap Wields The Hammer

 ‘I KNEW IT!’

Thanos’ Army

 One last escalation of scale. When Thanos’ army finally arrives it’s like something out of those apocalyptic Turner paintings, where the hordes of a ship-wrecked hell confront eternity under skies ripped from heaven. Only this time they’re facing one guy called Steve, and they’re fucked. Incredible.

Avengers… Assemble

 It almost lives up to what you always had in your head. The Marvel Universe, somehow done right.

Tony Hugs Peter Back

Awwww!

New Avengers Run the Gauntlet

 A surprising amount of Endgame’s grand finale is given over to the future hopes; while Strange gets stuck in with holding back a Biblical flood it’s up to Black Panther to grab the Infinity Gauntlet from Clint in a delightful callback to Civil War, before embarking on an intense relay race across the entire battlefield that begins with Scarlet Witch crushing the shit out of Thanos’ testicles and ends with Captain Marvel engaging the Mad Titan in a bone-crushing show of super-strength. And along the way if finds time to have Peter Parker dragged through the air by Thor’s hammer which was thrown by Captain America before landing on a Pegasus flown by Valkryie across an exploding sky of alien whales. Maybe the most satisfying run of action since the first Avengers.

I am Iron Man

 It was always going to be him really. Bonus points for Downey Jr. originally telling Thanos to ‘Fuck off’. Did anyone else keep thinking he was going to wake up and quip and everything would be OK? That’s how you make movies.

The Funeral

 It looks a little weird actually, like they weren’t all on set. But they were! The Marvel Universe again, holy smokes.

The Kiss

 Now that’s how you end ten years and twenty one movies. They’re movies! It was romantic! It was exciting! It was fun!

For TEN FUCKING YEARS.

Swing a Ding Ding Sir

 After five movies of fresh shit they've finally starting dumping some classic Spider-Man on us; the Euro stuff's fun and all, but it's Far From Home delirious climax that sees Spidey and MJ thwipping through the canyons of New York before bumping into ugly ol' J. Jonah JJ Jay Jay likes it's a freakin' comic book or something. Delightful, and also serves as a wonderful image of hope and joy post-Endgame.

What a fuckin’ ride. Here’s to the next... seventy six? Seventy seven?

wait did I leave any out

[indomitalis]

"Dun play me fer a fool, Bee," his tone was sharp. Harsher than it had ever been in regards to his little Angel. "I seen the way ya look at him, seen how yer eyes catch tha' glimpse o' curiosity," he was digging his own grave deeper. His own words stung more than he ever thought they would. "Jus' lookin' at him makes ya wanna smile, don'tcha?" but worst of all, he truly believed it. Truly believed in what he preached, "I always told you, you deserve the best 'n if he's it, go fer it. Be happy." 

weep for the rejected heart ; there it goes, away, away

   THERE IS A hole where her heart used to lie. Metaphorically, yes, but physically? YES. Her heart, black box, lies with another---everything that she is, every line of code, every evolution && step she has made towards defining herself is stored there. Every memory, every emotion that she has && has yet to analyse, compiled && compressed into something small enough to fit upon the palm of one’s hand. It is her weakness. The one thing required to be destroyed to end HER. && yet, that space in her remains empty. How could she? It belonged to another, after all.

   THERE IS AN ache now, there. Distantly, she is aware of the fact: it is not due to a lack in her, but instead, perhaps... this is what it feels to truly lose a heart. Wonders, distantly still, where the labored gasps could be coming from. Why the Earth tremors beneath her, why her head feels as if it is empty && far too full at once. Oh, she thinks, shock. It is her. Gasps, shaking, tenseness. It is her. IT IS HER--

   Is this... her fault as well? IT IS HER--

  [ define , rhetorical :  asked in order to produce an effect or to make a statement rather than to elicit information . ]

   “You’re... doubting me.” Where should a question be placed? Where should emphasis be pressed into? It is a statement, it is a truth, a question rhetorical in nature. TELL NO LIES, he once told her, && even now he tells no lies. Thoughts, chaotic as a storm, cast shadows && darkness into her mind---what had she done to warrant his words, his truth? His words are an accusation, a confession boiled down to a single point. Here, the sun to her moon, the light to her own darkness, the stars that hung above to the night sky below... believes her to want ANOTHER. Another, who knew nothing of her, cared nothing for her, whose smile did not elicit such responses within her, whose warmth did not feel so much like safety, someone who did not love her. “Fuji, it’s... not. Not...”

   She breaks, for that thought. What had SHE done to make the one that she had given her heart to doubt her? IT IS HER--

   Her mind physically reboots itself, attempting to rid the system of the shock that wracks it. A battle unit, born for the task of confrontation. IT IS HER-- && yet, in that space, that echoing thought, confrontation has never felt more of a stranger to her. “...you’re. Telling the truth.” Oh.

   Her gaze, drawn to the being described, had been as curious as he had described. How could she not be? She was created in the image of these beings. Her programming was made to mimic them, to evolve as theirs did in that in-explainable && paradoxical way. She is curious about ALL OF THEM, && only now realized that she was allowed to be. Suppression is no longer necessary with the threat of YoRHa removed, && she had dearly wanted to learn more about these humans in a way she never could. Perhaps she could finally understand their thoughts && motives... perhaps, perhaps, she could find something else to make him happy.

   Ulterior motives, yes. It was not something she had ever expected to commit to, but for once, she wanted to. Reconnaissance, information gathering, all to find something else... to make Fuji smile.

   Ah. It really is her--

   There are downfalls to being an android. Never had she expected to discover one, but. Her archives have already captured his features, lovely && fierce in the setting light, angled && sharp in their delivery. His words are knives that dig into her, filling the space where her heart once was. They rattle around, gleaming && sharp. She could almost physically feel the way her body slowly crumbles inwards with every breath, curling around her chest. Draws her hand there, to the place where it ACHES, && no. No. She does not feel happy.

   Tears well, fall. She wishes her gaze could fall with them, forget the way the red of his gaze stares into her. She wishes her gaze could be ripped away, && never have fed into his insecurities of her loyalty.

   She wishes...

   But wishes have never done anything for her. The stars will fall, the petals will wither, && all before her wishes were granted.

   Frozen into time, stilled by what had happened, she physically stumbles back. Eternity would be too short of a description for the time she felt, caught in the eyes of his. Infinity could not wrap itself around the well formed in the pit of her chest. She knows she should be explaining herself---should be logically setting out where the miscommunication has occurred, where his biased view has led him towards the wrong conclusion.

   Unfortunate, then. His words could not be taken as anything other than the truth. Analysis: he perceived her to be a fool. Analysis: he perceived that she lacked in faithfulness. Analysis: he perceived that her joy at another meant a decrease in a joy for him. Analysis: he perceived that she was not the ‘best’ match for him. Analysis: he perceived-- he-- --- he. That, she was unhappy.

   These tears, silent, fall. No, they are not happy.

   ...how could she convince him of something that he believed to be true? Conclusion: impossible, he was entitled to his opinion. &&... his opinion is true, at least, as it applied to him. TELL NO LIES.

   No closer to controlling her emotional reactions. No closer to replying in a logical manner to counter his words. No closer to discovering a solution. She is affected. Her body moves before conscious thought could be sent towards it---she dives from their location, falls && flies for another. Could not stand to be near him, his truth is a knife, && so retreat remains the only action left. Could not erase the image, his pained look, how he pushed her away. Was her heart... worth so little? Were her actions that much of an indication, so much so that he would refuse her now?

   Report: this dilemma was due to a misunderstanding. IT IS HER-- ---

   IT IS HER FAULT.

   She runs, && feels as if there is nowhere safe to go.

⇢ ❝ fallen ; diamonds glow where she walks // unprompted sadness accepted ... // @immxrtalizatixn.

[the-irish-mayhem]

Okay so I just realized reasons that makes me really hate the Marvel killing characters for cheap shock value. One, it's for cheap shock value. Two, we are not given any time to mourn or come to terms with the deaths, it's all onto the next explosion. Three, since so many people have fake deaths/come back from death, I'm left in a cycle of waiting/hoping for my favs to come because it MIGHT happen. Four, it's always my favs that stay dead. Five, it is rarely if ever necessary for plot.

Another reason I hate the marvel deaths is this isn't the shit I signed up for? I started Marvel because they were fun and exciting and sure you worried but in the end you knew none of the main characters would die. Plus it really feels lile they're killing off people because they don't want to deal with them anymore and it feels like a big FU to the people who loved those characters.

Sorry about the anonymous ranting. Marvel got me through some tough times so to see what it's become is just devastating to me.

Of the deaths they had in this movie, I actually thought they weren’t as much for cheap shock value as it just showed a.... lack of imagination, I suppose. Plot-wise and emotional trauma-wise, yeah. I get why they chose to kill Nat and Tony. They didn’t want the team coming out unscathed because that would undoubtedly create “unrealistic!” cries from the fanboys, and as a storyteller you want to create stakes so that your audience gets invested; for this movie, everyone went in nervous about who was going to die. But I think it kind of goes to show a larger pattern in movies as a whole that the threat of death is becoming the go-to for audience investment in the stakes of the plot. I wish we could reframe it somehow so that the stakes could be something a little less doom and gloom.

Oh yeah, the “bringing people back to life” has absolutely fucked up my ability to properly mourn things in movies. Like, in Infinity War, I never really got sad about the people who died because I was like “they’re literally all gonna be brought back anyway.” And they killed my boy Heimdall and I never got to properly feel sad for him!!

The “not the shit you signed up for” gets me too, because these movies are supposed to be ultimately, as you said, fun and exciting. It sucks a lot of joy out of the viewing experience when you try to not get attached to too many characters because they might die. It’s a strange kind of exhaustion, in a way. And if you do get attached and they die, it’s like losing a friend.

Rant away, my friend. As you can see from my blog title, I am no stranger to rants, nor do I discourage others from ranting. When something can be as frustrating as Marvel, it’s therapeutic to get it all out there.

Ultimately, these characters are stories. They aren’t dead because there’s probably another comic coming out with them in it next month. There’s going to be at least a few fanfics written starring them. With the MCU deaths, it’s like.... those characters are now being released to the fans from their canon obligations. This is how I’ve been coping with both Natasha’s death. She’s not gone. I’m still in the middle of writing my version of her origin story. Dozens, hundreds of authors out there have her in their sights, and there’s going to be so much Natasha content in the wake of this. It’s the same with Tony. You bet there’s gonna be hundreds of Endgame fix-its just waiting to fill the void canon left behind, where he lives out the rest of his days in his cabin with Pepper, raising Morgan and having Uncle Happy and Uncle Rhodey come visit. Sure, those things didn’t happen in the MCU, but since it’s fiction, well. How can we say it never did?

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #373

Top Ten Thoughts on Avengers: Endgame

Spoilers ahoy!

It’s the end of an era as Avengers: Endgame is finally upon us. As I write this, I’m less than 24 hours out of the cinema and it’s still all percolating within my brain. This Top Ten, then, will be an almost stream-of-consciousness outpouring of my joy, sadness, and occasional twinge of disappointment at what is unquestionably a phenomenal end to the Infinity Saga, a satisfying sequel to Infinity War, and a whole lot of fan-service.

Like I said: SPOILERS AHOY.

“Five Years Later”: it was a long film. Three hours long. but crucially, it does not feel three hours. It feels big, weighty, epic, but it does not feel long. to say it’s considerably longer than the previous Avengers movies, it just flies by. In this way, it’s similar to the Lord of the Rings movies; breadth and depth but still a lot of pace.

“Move on”: the five-year time-jump was a little bit of a surprise (I didn’t think it would be quite that long), but it helped sell a universe torn apart by the aftermath of The Snap. What I was not expecting was for them to live with it. Okay, so the departed people came back, but won’t that cause its own problems? This is not the world we entered in 2008 when Tony Stark was blown up in the desert; it’s not even the world we left in 2012 after a stunted alien invasion of New York. Some people will have tried to move on, perhaps forging new relationships, just to find their old lovers returned. Younger siblings will suddenly become older siblings. People will have lost jobs and houses. It’s rather fortunate that, from the looks of things, Peter Parker’s entire class was snapped out of existence and then returned, otherwise he’d be a lot younger than his co-stars in Far From Home. Anyway, not just undoing the time-jump was a brave decision and sets the stage for some potentially interesting stories going forward.

“It has to be me”: I went in expecting deaths, and I was surprised. I was expecting a bloodbath, and it was actually relatively muted. I was surprised that Vision didn’t get resurrected, less surprised that Gamora (sort of) did, astounded that Nebula survived, and blindsided by Black Widow. I don’t think it’s just because she’s got her own movie out next year, but I honestly thought Black Widow would become the lynchpin of a post-Captain America Avengers team. Hey, who knows? Maybe she will…

“I really tried to bring her back”: this is actually my mum’s theory (she’s a big Avengers fan), but what if Bruce was successful? When he snapped his fingers, he wanted to resurrect Natasha, but claims he was unsuccessful. What if he’s wrong, and she is back, somehow? Perhaps compromised, perhaps changed? Maybe her solo film will be about bringing her back to the light.

“I knew it!”: I was practically crying with giddy joy when Cap lifted Mjolnir. The fact that Thor had expected it, and was actually pleased by it, was just delightful. But Cap’s fight with Thanos, armed with both his shield and Thor’s hammer, was just a fantastic piece of fan-servicing fantasy cinema. I kinda wished they’d gone whole hog and given him his own Iron Man armour to boot.

“Your majesty”: Thor’s development in this film was interesting, as he was almost used as comic relief. His depression made total sense given not only that he blamed himself for not stopping Thanos in time, but also the scale of the loss he’d suffered prior to, and during, Infinity War. All the same, it was a bit of shame to see the character he’d developed in Ragnarok rolled back a little bit, even if it does set him up for some nice solo adventures down the line (perhaps he’ll feature in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and I really hope Taika Waititi gets to make another Thor solo movie too). But considering how Loki stole the show in the first Thor and Avengers movies, and how The Dark World and Age of Ultron were a little disappointing (in different ways) in regard to the God of Thunder, the strength of Thor’s story arc and what’s being asked of Chris Hemsworth in the role is a huge improvement and bodes well for the future.

“I am Iron Man”: if I’d put money down, I’d have said Cap dies for-real in the film, but Tony gets his own stand-alone Logan-esque swansong. That was not to be; Cap survives, sorta, and Tony really does make the sacrifice play and die saving the world. Whilst I’m disappointed he didn’t get to say goodbye on his own terms, as far as last stands go, that was phenomenal. A great call-back to one of the most famous moments in the MCU, a brilliant use of his OP armour’s capabilities, and just a really cool image. Totally Tony, totally Avengers, totally the end. Sob.

“You gonna tell me about her?” Steve Rogers totally deserved his happy ending, and if he hadn’t somehow ended up with Peggy Carter, then I’d have been a little bit disappointed. But I just don’t buy that Captain America would choose to retire. Did he get stuck in the past? Did he decide to fight crime in the 40s and 50s? And if so, did he try to do anything about Bucky or Hydra? Or did he know that that future was his past and so, as Bruce and Nebula explained, he was powerless to change it? Regardless, the fact that what we saw in the film was, essentially, Cap quitting, it left a slightly sour taste in the mouth, even though him handing the shield to Sam was a triumphant passing of the torch. Oh, and one more thought on this topic: in the Russo brothers’ first film for Marvel (The Winter Soldier), Peggy says something about how Steve was even instrumental in introducing her to her husband (I paraphrase); I wonder if, even back then, the endgame (ho ho) for Cap was always going to be “go back in time and marry Peggy”?

“That really is America’s ass”: let’s not get too mired in the mud here, despite my “Cap don’t quit!” niggles. Because as big and epic and tragic as the film was, it was also hilarious. I really didn’t expect it to be quite as funny as it was (I’m not sure why, all the previous Avengers movies have been pretty funny). I was quite pleased at how much humour Captain America was given; his exasperated “I know, I know” when his younger self trotted out the “I can do this all day line” was another delight.

“Assemble”: just like Cap wielding Mjolnir, there’s a certain geeky thrill just to hear him say those words. But the army of Avengers emerging from Strange’s portals was a phenomenal sight to behold, and it’s really exciting to see where the MCU goes from here. Captain Marvel has essentially declared her domain to be space; likewise, Thor is off with the Guardians for the time being; Black Panther is busy being King of Wakanda; Iron Man and Black Widow are dead. So who do we have, the next time the Avengers need to Assemble? Sam Wilson’s Captain America; the Scarlet Witch; Spider-Man; And-Man and the Wasp; The Winter Soldier, maybe; I guess Doctor Strange; perhaps Valkyrie? And then save the big guns for when they’re needed? Anyway, it’s just fun speculating at this stage.

Okay, there we are, ten thoughts off the top of my head. It’s funny sometimes that a movie can be so bloody good but the thing that sticks is the niggles (like, where was Lady Sif at the end?! And I feel bad that they couldn’t find room for Paul Bettany just so he could get a lovely little pictorial send-off in the credits). It’s such an achievement, the likes of which I don’t think we’ve seen before and I wonder if we’ll see again. Just in the same way that Avengers united several heroes who’d (mostly) starred in their own movies, and we got to see them join up and interact in a way that cinema hadn’t shown before, Endgame gives us an epic series finale of a film, one that is dependent upon the 21 films that came before it and the hours and hours of character development devoted to its stars. Where do they go from here? Which heroes get their sequels, which new heroes do they recruit? Will we ever see more of Steve Rogers? Will a new generation – Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, Ironheart – take centre stage? What will be the over-arching connective tissue that, in ten years’ time, leads to another epoch-shattering Avengers smackdown? And how – how, how, how – do they incorporate Deadpool, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men?! I’ve no idea (well, I’ve got lots of ideas but they’re probably wrong) – but it’ll sure be fun finding out.

Oh, and there’s still no sign of Death’s Head.

[lady-literature]

In the Sky We Fall

Made for the Sanders Sides Big Bang, @ts-storytime

Summary: Names have power or Virgil might be a little in love and a lot scared.

Pairings: platonic/pre-relationship Patton/Virgil, established Patton/Logan/Roman

Warnings: Swearing, self doubt, slight unreliable narrator, non-graphic attempted suicide (I gloss over it a bit)

Apart of the same series: All Hail the Consort of Darkness | Roman’s Daughters | Ease My Pain and Soothe My Worries | The Gods are Dead

Read on Ao3

The Sky Court is a new place. Or, well. It’s an old place, Virgil can feel the deep thrum of ancient magic, older than Time himself and that says much more in the way of the Court’s age than Virgil can express. But it’s a new place to the gods. Two in specific.

Him and Spring. Or rather, Night and Day here?

Virgil doesn’t know, but he think he likes the sound of being called ’Night’.

His duties always seemed to be the worst when he was merely a Season. He must control the harvest and the crops and make sure the humans had enough food to survive the winter and also a little extra so they could worship him so he could continue protecting them and make sure that the balance was steady and he was dropping temperatures just the right amount and a million other things. It was a tiring and taxing duty and he is eighty-five percent sure that the other seasons didn’t have nearly as much work.

Painting the leaves is nice despite the repetition, but he finds little joy in his other duties as Autumn.

But now he wished he could go back to when he had the worst job.

Corralling the night sky is not easy by any means. The stars are fire and heat and ice. They refuse to sit still and only by sheer force of will can Virgil contain them to their seats so travelers may find their way across the great Earth. The moon is heavy in his hands as he holds it up, slowly, ever so slowly, carving it’s path across the night sky. He alone, stays awake when other sleep. Spends his time in suffocating silence, only the monsters rattling through the forest below to keep him company. His Night is a lonely time with no one to speak with. Though, it’s not like anyone speaks to him when they’re awake anyway.

And for a fourth of the year he must do all of this while continuing as Autumn.

His mantel is a heavy one to bear but he would never complain about it. Would never say a word on how its too much despite how he feels he’s breaking under the weight of his duties.

Because now Spring suffers under the burden he bears and it is so much worse. Virgil would give anything to take it from him but he can’t.

Spring has become the Solar Queen, God of Daylight. He’s become a god of Many Things and now has a Name, he is now a true god.

Virgil doesn’t remember ever not having his Name. And still, the humans keep giving him more things to look over.

He is Autumn, the Protector, King of Stars, God of Night, the Ruler of Shadows. He is so many things. So many roles. He wishes the humans would stop giving him more to do. He is very tired.

Virgil has told no one what his name is. As much as he cares about the other gods, they care little for him. He does not trust them but he will protect them with his life. He protects his own. He protects what is his.

Except right now he is failing. And he wants to pull out his hair and destroy a mountain because Spring is burning and tired and the sun refuses to settle. To be controlled.

And Spring must pay the price. Spring, the kindest of gods, the god who was the most broken and yet he is so bright and kind and amazing. And now he burns because Virgil couldn’t do his job.

Spring ends the day tired. His hands blistering and skin blackened and peeling and flaking off his arms in a sickening manner. He is a god and so he heals but the pain within the mind will stay. And the scars that cover his palms are a constant reminder of his painful position in the Sky Court.

Spring never cries, the heat of the sun dries the moisture in his eyes before he could even summon the thought of tearing up. Spring doesn’t cry, but sometimes Virgil can hear him scream. He screams and whimpers and shouts until his voice is hoarse. He sobs without the mercy of tears when he thinks no one is around to hear him. They are horrible, earth shattering feelings. Sounds that should never leave the mouth of such a wonderfully light being.

But there is nothing Virgil can do about it and it grates against him like a symphony of sour notes. Screeching inside him and setting his teeth on edge.

The best he can do is pass along as much power to Spring as possible. He leaves tree branches and flowers steeped in his magic on the throne of the court. Gifts for his equal in godhood. A symbol of good grace and well wishes. Magic told him once that it was a custom performed in the human world. Perhaps not something so personal, but a gift is a gift.

He doesn’t know the scientific properties of the plants he leaves, that’s more Winter’s area. And he certainly doesn’t know what they mean because that’s Spring’s, but he leaves them all the same. They’re gone the next night when Virgil shows up to raise the moon and confine the stars, so he hopes Spring likes them. Hope they give him the boost he needs to get through the Day.

He’s not sure if their magic is compatible, but he hopes all the same.

In the beginning there was nothing. Only the darkness of universe. Only molten rocks that were not yet planets and clouds of gas that were not yet stars. Only Space.

And then, from this nothing and Space, stepped out Time.

They were the first and pushed everything into motion, no longer were things stagnant. No longer were things still.

Suddenly, everything was moving and the Beginning of Things fired off in rapid succession.

Everything tumbled and crashed and exploded into a million different beginnings. A million different things. Everything had started and it would be so very very long before they once again stopped. Before everything ended once more and began anew.

But for now, in the beginning, Time became the ruler of Light, Space grew to infinity and oversees all, Mother Earth bloomed from the dust of scattered stars and molten rock. Magic burst from the core of a dying star, and Wisdom flew into existence and granted the others with awareness and control over their violent powers.

Many others would join the ranks of the Benevolent, and many of the Benevolent would change and grow. But not until after the earth.

Not until the Humans came.

It’s one day, as Virgil leaves his customary gift of magic upon the throne, that something changes.

During the night the Court of Sky is bathed in deep blues and calming purples, black accents detailing small pieces and bio-luminescent rocks and moss lighting the walls.  It’s simple and homey. The throne was the most elaborate piece within his Court. It was silver and intricately carved with his favorite constellations and the many phases of the moon. Plush velvet the color of lilacs covered the seat and pillows of the darkest blue were nestled into the corners. The Throne was unnecessarily fancy but it was comfortable so Virgil couldn’t complain.

Virgil doesn't know what Spring’s Court looks like, but he knows it changes when Day arrives.

Virgil still doesn’t know what Spring’s court looks like. Can’t, because it’s only when Spring is alone does the Court fully shift. But what Virgil does know is what the in between looks like.

He knows this because as he sets the flower upon the seat--some sort of orchid Virgil doesn’t know the name of--in-between the space of one blink and the next, the lilac of the cushion turns to creamy pink and the silvery night sky carved into the back has shifted to the early morning sky in rose golds.

Virgil tenses and spins around, flower grasped in his left hand, miraculously uncrushed, while he calls upon his magic in the other. Calls the shadows to lengthen and curl into the palm of his hand, thick and heavy and inky black.

Before him stands The God of Daylight himself. A wide smile gracing his lips despite the surprise displayed clearly in his terribly expressive eyes.

He looks different than what Virgil remembers him to be. Spring is greens and blues and purples. Flowers tangled in his colorful hair, and laughter dancing around him. Spring is joy and wonder and growth.

Now, he is bathed in golds and white and rosy pinks like the dawn sky he’s stood against. Upon his head sits a crown of golden sunlight, spun into the shapes of flowers. His cape shimmers with magic, shifting around him despite there being no wind to move it.

Stood before Virgil is who the humans call the Solar Queen. He finds that he would like to be anywhere else right now.

The Solar Queen tilts his head to the side, smile shifting into something different but no less happy. His eyes seem too knowing with their golden glow and Virgil thinks it is entirely unfair because he certainly doesn’t know what’s happening right now.

“My King,” The Solar Queen says, curtsying, his golden tea-length dress shifting in mesmerizing ways and wow that was not what Virgil expected him to say.

“I- what the hell?” The smile falls from the Queen’s face and Virgil feels like he’s kicked a puppy and dammit look what he did this time-

“Oh no! Did I do it wrong?” The Queen worries, “Winter said that it was a customary greeting between monarchs, though we aren’t really monarchs, I guess? But we didn’t really know what you’re like. So we guessed formal would be a good start. Was it not? Did I make you uncomfortable? I’m sorry! Oh, I can’t believe I messed it up already. Summer's going to laugh at me and-”

Virgil blinked in the face of The Queen’s rambling. He was… not what he expected. Not what he remembered.

Though, it has been a century or so. And the last major interaction they had, well… it wasn’t a great to say the least. Wasn’t good for any of them really.

“No, no, no. It’s fine! I was just… surprised.” Virgil pauses before saying fuck it in his head and goes for it. He bows at the waist, as he’s seen human rulers do on occasion. He’s pretty sure he’s doing it wrong but too late now he guesses. “My Queen.”

When he straightens again, the sunshine smile is back his counterpart’s face and Virgil gives him a half smile in return because he doesn’t have the strength to deny him anything and wow again because where did that thought come from?

“Is that for me?”

Virgil is surprised by the change in topic and he must see it because he continues, albeit shyly.

“The flower? Is that for me?” the smile he now wears is small and uncertain. Virgil’s eyes widen when he realizes that yes he is still holding the flower and yes this is in fact the most awkward moment of his life and boy would it be a great time to just jump off the edge of the Court right about now.

Instead of jumping off, (because, while Virgil isn’t positive, he’s fairly certain it would be seen as rude and that is the last thing he wants or needs right now) Virgil holds the flower out to the Queen. It’s practically drowning in his magic, the flower’s colors darker than they should be but little bits shimmering out like stars.

Delicately, he takes the bloomed orchid into his hands. Gentle in a way Virgil has never seen anyone behave before. A small smile tugs on his lips as he looks at Day, who is lightly touching the petals with a glowing finger. After a moment he places the flower in between the other flowers of sunlight that make up the crown he wears.

After a moment, Virgil watches, eyes widened in amazement, as the orchid starts glowing a deep purple before a brilliant gold begins to bleed into it, brighter than the other flowers and shimmering with a life of its own. Then, it began to dim, becoming solid streaks of sunlight nestled into Day’s hair like the rest of the flowers.

Day takes in a deep breath as the last of it turns, before releasing it in a puff of sparkling air.

His eyes open and they are a brilliant golden, honey color. “Thank you.”

Numbly, Virgil replies, “My pleasure,” before disappearing in a burst of shadow because he doesn’t know what just happened and he can’t stand there anymore.

He hopes Day doesn’t hate him for leaving without so much as a goodbye.

When Time was a young god, not yet fully in control of his powers, not yet wise enough and much too kind, he fell in love for the first time.

And with a human no less!

The name of the mortal was lost to time, but it is known that he was a sailor. Born on the sea and bred with salt water in his veins, the Ocean as his first love. He was nothing special–a nose too big for his face, honey colored eyes, dark brown hair worn in braids. Nothing that should catch the attention of a god.

But the human was kind. And for Time, who sees cruelty again and again, kindness was enough. The two lived happily for many years. They had a cabin built along the shore, a boat that Time learned to sail on, and a mortal name for Time. A name Time wouldn’t change for as long as he lived.

But kindness is not enough for the Ocean and she eventually claims all who love her too much.

The loss of his first love broke Thomas, who was unused to grief, unused to sadness. The earth broke beneath his sobs, the four winds howled along with his cries, the clouds mimicked his tears and flooded the land.  Chaos rained upon the earth and no one escaped the suffering.

The pain in Thomas’ chest grew until he couldn’t handle the pain anymore, he’d rather be empty. He’d rather be gone. He’d rather be dead.

And so Thomas ripped the still beating heart from his own chest, gold dripping from his hands and a scream tearing from his already raw throat. Thomas threw it upon the ground.

His heart shattered upon impact. Splintering and scattering across the sand.

Mother Earth–who had been watching Thomas, worried and sympathetic–was horrified by what she saw. To rip out one’s own heart is to sentence oneself to emptiness. She couldn’t let him share the same fate as her sister, and so poured her life magic into the pieces. Hoping beyond hope that she could save him.

But her magic had unseen consequences. Instead of stitching the pieces together, she created something new. A garden bloomed from the smallest pieces. The gladioli, ambrosia, the snake and many other things. But from the four biggest pieces, came the Seasons. Young and new and wide eyed with knowledge they shouldn’t have. An entirely new creation. Manifestations rather than true Gods.

The four Manifestations came into the world in silence. Their faces young and childlike and exact copies of Time. Their eyes wide as they remembered memories not their own, Emotions not theirs. Pain sharp and biting and the first thing they feel.

And then came the cacophony of noise and pain. Their harsh broken sobs and choked off screams heard all across the world.

The Seasons were born from the largest parts of Thomas’ heart. They were created from the remnants of a broken heart, shattered pieces and jagged edges. Sharp and barbed and crooked in the most horrible ways.

Winter was curled into the ground hands clawing at his head trying to get rid of the images pounding against his skull. The memories and the sounds and the sights and smells and and- He lacked the feelings that went with the memories but everything was still so much. Too many details. Too many things. It was too much makeitmakeitSTOP!

(When the onslaught of information settles, Winter will promise to never fall to the emotions that join those memories. He will bury himself in logic and facts, discarding frivolous sentiment in hopes of protecting himself. Because if the sights and sounds are so painful, how could he possibly survive the emotions that go with them?)

(The answer is that he won’t.)

Summer was the only one able to stand, he was bred from fantasy. The might-have-beens and the what-if’s. Summer wasn’t sad. Summer was angry. His young-too-old eyes burned with the strength of his wrath. The future was torn from them and he was furious. He screamed his anger at the sky and the ground blacked beneath his flames. Volcanoes rose with his fury and cities were bathed in fire.

(Summer buries himself in fantasy and the beds of mortals. He hopes he can find another like his-Time-Summer’s first love. He searches for centuries.)

(He eventually stops looking.)

Autumn had curled into himself, making himself as small as possible. The quietest of the four, he hadn’t made a sound besides a whimper when it first came crashing down on him. The area around him had blackened. Turned to dust and acid and smoke. He brought death with his grief, with his guilt, with his fear. Autumn was terrified and jumped at every noise, flinched at every movement.

(When he’s able to get his wits about him, he will be too scared to let anyone near him like that ever again. He will push others away, snap and bite and claw at everyone to make sure he keeps his heart safe and untouched.)

(He will only succeed for so long.)

Spring was the worst. He was screaming and sobbing and broken. His form flickered and jumped and cracked like he wasn’t actually there. Spring was the biggest piece of Thomas’ heart. He had been created from the feelings of the lost love. The happiness, the love, the grief, the loss, everything. Spring was supposed to be the creation of new things. Beautiful things. But the things he created that day were grotesque. Twisted and horrible and aggressive. He’d created monsters in reflection of the pain he felt.

The monsters still wander the earth to this day.

(After, Spring will promise to never let himself fall that far from control again. Never feel that helplessly sorrowful. Never again create such horrible things.)

(He will not be able to keep that promise forever.)

Mother Earth was horrified that she had created creatures born from pain and she raced to help them find peace. To dull the pain, but there was little to do about mental and emotional distress. You cannot heal the heart with magic.

No one knows how long it took to calm down the young Manifestations. But eventually they grew into their positions.

Mother Earth’s plan had worked. Though she regretted the pain she caused that day, she could not bring herself to regret the creation of the new gods, to regret saving Thomas’ heart; his soul. With Thomas’ heart living on in these new gods, and woven into her very soil, Thomas could still feel joy and anger and sorrow. He would still be kind and empathetic. He would still be the shining light she knew and loved. And he would stay that way until the earth died. Until she herself shattered and splinted apart.

The Seasons are tied to Thomas by life. By emotions and personality and pain.

None of them would have it any other way.

The next time Virgil sees Day, it has been months, perhaps even years. The two are busy gods, and to not see another for that long is not unusual, at least for Virgil anyway. A decade is the blink of an eye for gods, merely a heartbeat in the grand scheme of things. But when the two cross paths again, Virgil simultaneously feels as if it has been an age and still not enough time.

Day is still there when Virgil arrives one evening, standing next to a pillar, looking out over the mortal realm below. His skirt is singed and his hands are still smoking. He looks bone weary and tired but when he turns to Virgil his face lights up.

As if Virgil is something wonderful.

As if Virgil can make someone happy just by being around.

“Night!” Day moves toward the other god before stopping halfway, a blush spreading across his darkened skin. “Oh, or would you.. Uh- My King? Or Autumn? I don’t really…” He trailed off, with a nervous laugh. He tucked a length of hair behind his ear before reaching up to fiddle with the lily nestled in his hair.

“Call me Night,” Virgil said, eyes following the movement of his hand before blinking harshly, wrapping his arms around himself protectively. “If you want to, that is. I’m not saying that you have to or anything! I just- I thought you-”

“I like Night,” Day said, cutting into his rambling before it got to out of hand. “I like Autumn too, but I think it fits here.” he waved a hand around the court, a small smile of his face. His smile grew wider, “You could be a Night in shining armor!”

Virgil blinks. Did- did Day just make a pun?

Day is stood there, eyes shining with mirth and a wide shit eating grin on his face.

Oh, dear gods he did. The Solar Queen, God of Daylight just made a gods awful pun.

About him.

Virgil chokes on his laughter, disbelief in his eyes as he raised a hand to cover his mouth. Mirth leaking into his posture as he giggled.

Day’s smile grew impossibly wide at the sight.

“That was awful,” Virgil stated when he stopped, hand still over his mouth. “I also wouldn’t call myself the type to wear armor.”

Day waved a hand, “That’s fine. Summer likes the knights more anyway. You though!” Day closed the distance between them. Walking around him, poking and examining his cloak. Virgil subtly curled in at the attention. “You remind me of the mortal magicians. Or the druids! They like wearing cloaks too. Too bad, Magic already has a claim on the magic folk. I think you’d like them a lot!”

“Thank you? But why would-”

“Oh!” Day interrupted looking down over the edge of the Court. “Sorry, Night, but I have to go. It’s been wonderful talking with you!” he grabbed his hands and all Virgil could think about was how rough and warm they were. “And thank you for the flowers, see you in the morning!” And with that he was gone and the Court melted into Nighttime.

Virgil stood there for a moment longer wondering what had happened before deciding it was best not to question the other gods. He wouldn’t understand their reasoning anyway.

Instead he decided it was better to just get the night over with, he had a job to do.

The Shifting Period.

A time between seasons, lasting a few weeks before the solstice or equinox. The Manifestations use this time to rest and organize. To spend time with their lovers whom they can only see so many times a year.

Summer arrives with heat and fire and love. He overtakes Spring with passion as temperatures rise and Spring gladly passes on the helm with a kiss so tender and loving it makes Summer melt. Giggles and spins and stories pass between the two light hearted manifestations. Summer wraps himself around Spring, rejuvenating him before filling the world with heat and sunshine and laughter.

When Autumn falls it is with hesitance, with shaking hands and harsh words softened by familiarity. With gentle kisses and clutching embraces. Hushed reassurances that all will be fine, that autumn will come as it must no matter what he does. That everything will be fine and that you will do amazing, my color. My Tree, my love. I believe in you and all your capable of.

Winter shows up abruptly, walking in late with papers under his arms or early with everything planned for the next three months. There is rarely an in-between stage for the wisest of Manifestations. Autumn shrugs off his power with relief, and winter takes it unceremoniously. Reassurances pass through pale lips and soft touches are traded as Winter ushers Autumn to rest with soft kisses to his head.

Spring returns with love and light. Rosy nicknames and sunny laughter. Flowers grow in his wake and bloom as Spring takes Winter in his hands and melts the frost from his heart and the ice in his gaze. Spring lavishes Winter with hope and color and Winter will never speak of how much he loves these moments but he holds them dearly.

Of course though, it had not always been this way.

Back in the beginning, when the gods were young and yet to truly find there places in the ranks of the Benevolent, the passing of seasons was a rocky one. Filled with hesitance and sharp turns and volatile weather patterns.

“I just don’t understand why you’re so interested in him, Patton. It’s obvious what he thinks of us. He’d rather hang around the dead.”

“Perhaps they are quieter company. The Heavens know I would enjoy some.”

Roman huffs from where he was adjusting his adjournments in the mirror, a sour look twisting his features as he looks over his shoulder. “I take personal offence to that.”

“He’s lonely,” Patton says from his place looking out the window, interrupting the squabble before it can begin. The three gods are sitting in the one of Logan’s libraries, the one that Patton doesn’t think has an end.

Behind him, Roman scoffs. Patton spins around to look at him. “He is.”

“Autumn has made little effort to befriend any of the pantheon as far as I know. If he is lonely would he not seek companionship?” Logan offers from where he is lounging, scrolls floating around him listlessly as he jumps from one to another.

“I… I don’t know. He’s different than us, it’s like he assumes the worst. Like he’s… scared.”

“Scared? We’ve hardly done anything to scare him,” Roman says, laughing incredulously as the mirror vanishes with a flick of his wrist.

Patton worries his bottom lip, eyes turning to look out the window again. Quietly, he says, “Maybe he was created scared.”

Roman and Logan stop breathing and the air in the room turns stale.

“Patton, that- We don’t know what he-”

“Exactly! We don’t know.” Patton stands and flowers sprout up from where he’d been sitting. “We act like we know everything about him but we don’t know anything! He’s hiding from us and I want him to know that he’s safe with me. With us.”

Logan and Roman share a look. The one where Patton knows they’re agreeing to humor him but they don’t really understand. And-

Ugh!

Why is he the only one that cares? Autumn is a piece of them. He’s a season, they are tied together by fate and life and thousands of other things. Patton just wants all four of them to have cuddle piles and kisses and happiness! Autumn deserves happiness. Everyone deserves happiness.

And Patton knows that he can give it to him. He knows it like he knows how to make flowers grow and push the sun across the sky. Knows it with every fiber of his being, it burns in him. How do the others not know--not feel this certainty?

Roman opens his mouth to placate Patton, to soothe him with empty promises and sweet words.

He doesn’t stay long enough to listen to him.

Virgil was one of the four Seasons, a fragment and a god in his own right. He ruled over the Void, he commanded shadows, he brewed the storms that rocked the seas. He ruled the Darkness itself and held it in his hands. The shades of the underworld called him confidant, friend, brother and he returned to them regularly.

It was no secret he was a god of unnatural things. That he didn't neatly fit into the hierarchy of the gods sacred pantheon.

Most humans believed him to be an unfavorable god. That his temper was like the storms he looked over, his heart as black as night.

But there were few, the followers he gained that worshiped him, those that loved him more than their own lives, those that had heard the stories whispered in back alleys where the desperate hide. Those that were wise enough to know that what you do is not necessarily who you are.

They knew otherwise.

Virgil housed the lonely, the forgotten, the outcast. He befriended the abused, the suicidal and the grief stricken. He took in all whom others refused and he gave them a home and friends and a family. Those who would understand their pain and hardship without looking down on them.

He helped them when others wouldn't. And because of who followed him, he would visit as much as he could. Grant as many prayers as possible.

Eventually, his followers became known as The Protectors of Meus, a nomadic cult with him as their attentive, patron god. They were a secretive cult, closely holding the identities of all members to their chests in fear of the ridicule they might face. They feared what those who didn’t understand would say about them, how they would react.

And still, they welcomed all new comers with open arms, as their god would wish them too. They were fiercely loyal to their fellow members and made sure to protect those who needed protecting. They supported each other and were more of a family than most had ever known.

Virgil gazed upon his following and thinks that this might be one of the few things he did right. That he made a home for people so different and so similar to connect and grow and support one another. He looks down on them and feels a burning in his chest, a fierce love unrivaled by any other in the pantheon. And he felt, at the base of his skull, how they loved him equally as much.

For his followers he would do anything. Even lay the burning earth at their feet if they so asked.

And it was this love, this passion that killed him. It broke and beat him down time and time again.

His cult was a loving one, but it was built on the love for others, by those who don’t know how to love themselves. His cult did not sacrifice, and still it saw the most death despite that. They were feared for the trail of burning pyres they left in their wake. Outsiders see it as a warning, but to members, it’s a reminder of sadness and pain.

He has lost so many followers. Felt their final moments like acid at the base of his skull, felt their tears burn down his cheeks and the sting of the knife in his skin.

In the beginning he’d fall to his knees sobbing and scared and alone. He’d wonder what he did wrong, how he could’ve been better, wishing he’d done more.

But then the pain would fall away and he’d know it was over, that it was too late. Always too late.

He’d stay on the ground, sobbing and shaking and gasping for breath he didn’t need. He’d stay and mourn for another one lost. Another soul he’d find among the crowds in the land of the dead. Another friend he would make too late.

Now, he carries the pain like the armor Roman wears. Wrapped around him as a reminder and a protection. The pain is always there, in the back of his mind, screaming and clawing and painful. But he has had many years to get used to the endless pain.

It never stops, but he thinks that he might have contributed to it not being so much. Thinks he might have slowed it down.

At least, that’s what he hopes.

The meetings became a pattern.

Every morning and evening they would stay a little later, or show up a bit earlier to speak with each other. It was something that Virgil found himself looking forward to. Day was the only other god besides Thomas -and occasionally Magic- that talked to him without getting upset or angry.

Their interactions couldn’t last long. A few minutes, a half hour if they pushed it. Day would greet him with a joke or pun and they would talk about what was happening in the mortal world. Or, Day would talk. Virgil preferred to listen to him speak, he found it calming.

And it’s not like Virgil had much to say anyway. He didn’t spend much time around the others or in the mortal world. If he wasn’t in the Hall or Court, he preferred the Underworld. Most stayed away, but Virgil liked the peaceful atmosphere. The cozy feeling of the blue fire torches and the glow of the spirits. The giant cavern that echoed and the stones on the ceiling glittering like stars. Stars that Virgil didn’t have to coral.

And the dead made surprisingly good company, though most didn’t seem to think so. Virgil thinks those people are stupid.

But one evening, when Day was just about to leave he suddenly stopped and turned back to Virgil. For the past week, the conversations between them had been stilted, what with Virgil having just taken on the Mantle as the Crowned Season until winter comes. He had to make sure everything on earth, as well as in the sky, flowed smoothly and was working double time as a result. Working was never something he enjoyed, but the beginning of the season was a particularly painful time for Virgil.

His relationship with Summer had never been good as far as he was concerned. Summer seemed to have this innate dislike for the nebulous god. Seeming to think him unnecessary and overly gloomy. He had even accused Virgil of not being a true Manifestation of Thomas’ heart in an argument once.

That particular declaration had killed Virgil on the inside but it’s not like he would show it. He is the protector, not the protected.

Which made his relationship with Summer so much worse. Summer who loathes to even be near Virgil, is a part of those few that Virgil must protect. It’s his purpose, the first he was given. He was born a Season, but he was chosen for this. Chosen even as he stood motionless in the garden, paralyzed by the fear and grief.

Summer was a reminder that even those he’s meant to protect, those meant to be his, don’t want him. They don’t trust him and certainly don’t like him.

But the past few months with Day had been nice, and Virgil had almost forgotten. Had almost started to hope.

But then autumn came and with it Summer, and all that hope was shattered like glass, spread out around him in shards and pieces. And Virgil was reminded of where he fit in the pantheon, in the ranks of the Benevolent.

All the way at the bottom, where no one would care if he was there or not.

He had to remember that, even though Day stood there, looking at him with such concern and sadness in his eyes. It wasn’t real, or at least not the way Virgil wanted it to be. Day became his friend out of pity or some sense of obligation or just overexposure wore him down eventually.

“Night, I-” Day started. “I know you don’t seem to like us very much-”

Virgil had to hold back a strangled noise he felt crawling up his throat. He didn’t like them?

“But I just- I want you to know that we… that I-” Day opens and closes his mouth before making a frustrated noise, unable to find the right words for what he’s trying to say.

“Spring, are you-”

“You always seem so- so scared . And I don’t know why, and you don’t have to tell me but I- You have to know that I--that we-- care and- and you may not really believe me when I say that but, it’s true. It’s true and I’m not- I don’t really know how to prove it other than…” Day takes a deep breath. “Patton.”

Virgil furrows his brows, not understanding what Day is trying to communicate and the brighter god continues. “My name is Patton.”

It happens in an instant. The power settling over him and seeping into his very bones. Wrapping itself around his own magic, into the shadows of his heart and mind, and filling the remaining spaces with light. The warmth floods out from his heart, filling him up in all the empty cracks of his being. Heat seeps into his… everything  and it feels like he’s on fire. But he is not burning.

Virgil doesn’t think he’s allowed to burn anymore.

“You don’t have to say yours.” Day-Spring- Patton’s (Patton. Patton, Patton, Patton. His name is Patton. He told Virgil his name and its Patton.) words echo within him. They fill him up with warmth and light and happiness and suddenly Virgil has to try very hard in order to not cry.

“I’m not going to force you into anything. I wouldn’t ever think of trying! I just- I want you to know that… I trust you, okay? I trust you even if you can’t trust me.” Patton smiles, wide and hopeful and happy while Virgil still stands there dumbfounded and unable to move or speak, before suddenly he’s gone. Disappeared in a flurry of sunflowers and lilies.

And Virgil is left alone in the Court. Unable to fully understand what had just happened. Unable to truly believe that Patton had just given him his Name.

But he did. He did because Virgil can feel the pulse of his magic, can feel the life tied to his now.

Oh, Earth Mother, save him, what has he gotten himself into now?

[annarosewriting]

Why The Hell Do You Like Bucky Barnes So Much?

We’re good friends at this point, we’ve had a few laughs, shed a few tears, I think it’s time to talk about what’s really important and that is Bucky Barnes. 

You’re probably all aware of the fact that Bucky Barnes is my pride and joy. What you’re probably still confused about (other than everything about me) is why.

He’s a secondary character! He’s said a total of maybe 50 words in all four movies he’s been in! He killed Tony Stark’s parents! His eyeliner skills leave something to be desired! Anna, why is this the one character that you’ve laid your loyalties down for? 

Because Bucky is the sad, tired boy of my dreams.  

Just kidding, it goes deeper than that. 

The Oscar-Nominated Film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (CA:TWS) is The Best Marvel movie in my own professional opinion. Marvel could not have chosen a better movie to introduce their Second Phase. The Second Phase of Marvel movies focused less on origin story and more on character development and growth. And CA:TWS gives us a chance to strip away the “Star-Spangled Man with a Plan” facade and to see Steve for what he really is. A good man who wants to do right. 

CA:TWS changed the entire tone of the MCU as well. It humanized the Avengers, let us see the friendships that had formed between them. We got to experience the inside jokes, the day-to-day minutia that we don’t get to see when they’re busy saving the world. It was so different than anything Marvel had done up to this point that I wanted the Russo Brothers to be in charge of every Marvel movie for forever. 

And then I saw Infinity War and I took that that wish right back. The Russo Brothers will be receiving my therapist bills for the emotional damage they caused to my person after having to see my favs turn to dust in front of my own TWO SEEING EYES. 

But I digress, we have other things to talk about. For those of you who haven’t seen CA:TWS, go watch it right now and don’t come back until you’ve finished it. But for a quick recap, CA:TWS is about how someone is trying to take out Directory Fury and dismantle SHIELD. It’s up to Steve and Friends to figure out who’s behind this and take them down. 

In one of the biggest plot twists of all time, it turns out that the individual behind all of this is, SPOILER, Bucky Barnes. Captain America’s BFF. We got a bit of Bucky in the first Captain America movie, enough to know that Bucky went to science fairs for fun and that Steve would cross into Nazi occupied territory for him. (Which, honestly? Same.) 

People liked Bucky in the first movie, I was a big fan from the moment I saw him in that goddamn uniform, but it wasn’t anything like this. TWS was everywhere. My social media feed was consumed with pictures, fanart, and gifs about TWS.

And it just didn’t make sense! Bucky’s not Bucky in this movie! He’s a highly trained assassin! He’s dangerous! He’s got a sick metal arm! He’s armed to the teeth and only cares about killing! He’s got the best smoky eye I’ve ever seen! It’s wild! 

So why was I (and lots of other women) tagging our posts with TWS with tags like “my poor sweet bby”? 

It’s because after Bucky failed to take out Steve, Hydra’s briefing him. Alexander Pierce is slapping him around and yelling. After a few minutes of this they force Bucky back into submission and wipe his memory. 

They’ve been doing this to Bucky since they captured him in the 40′s. Bucky hasn’t had any autonomy over his body, his mind and essentially himself for the last 70 odd years. 

So did women just feel sympathetic because of our “mothering tendencies”? Nah. We were sympathetic because we related to him. 

We know what it’s like to not have agency over our bodies. What it’s like to be told what to do by men in power and not have a choice. What it’s like to have our minds and memories tampered with. 

We knew this pain, not to the same level Bucky has experienced it, but to a certain degree, we recognized it. We understood it and we wanted to treat it like how we treated our own pain. 

So we gave Bucky the care and love he deserved. Whether it was through art, (I’ve seen so many drawings of Bucky in a blanket and drinking tea) writing, (the amount of stories of Steve and Bucky having the heartfelt reunion they deserve warms my cold dead heart) or, if you’re me, you just yell at anyone who listens how Bucky deserves a NAP FOR GODS SAKE. But there was all of this and more as we tried to give this victim the recovery he deserves. 

Here’s the thing, it’s hard for me to explain in a non-heartbreaking way why I love Bucky as much as I do but I’ll do my best. 

To me, Bucky represents hope. Hope that I can come out of the other side of the trauma I’ve experienced with loyal friends, soft luscious hair and all of Wakanda backing me up. 

I’ve had to deal with my own emotional trauma, I’ve had to rebuild my life from the ground up. I’ve had to grapple with some regrettable actions from my past and learn how to forgive myself for those actions. Granted, these actions are more me having been an asshole and not so much MURDERING people but still, we’re working with what we’ve got. 

I sympathize with Bucky’s story and how he works so hard to overcome his past. I mean, I wish I didn’t relate to him in the “oh we both have pretty rough mental trauma’s we’re trying to come to terms with and deal with” and that we related more in the “we both have long beautiful hair and Steve Rogers would start a civil war for us” but again, we’re just working with what we have. 

It makes me hopeful when I see Bucky get the chance to grow, to get a second chance, to have friends like Sam and Steve, to have Shuri help him and to probably show him Vine compilation videos, to have T’Challa recognize that he’s a victim not a villain (AS IT SHOULD ALWAYS BE). 

Bucky helped me realize that your past does not define you, it shapes you, but it’s what you do moving forward that really counts. 

So next time someone asks why I like Bucky so much, instead of giving them the thoughtful, emotional answer I gave you, I think I’ll just look them dead in the eye, say “who the hell is Bucky” and then disappear in a cloud of smoke. It’s what Bucky would want. 

[arhn-man]

You’re home. You’re safe.

A son!peter and dad!tony Infinity War fix-it fic. 

WARNING: Infinity War spoilers ahead!! 

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“Mr. Stark? I-I don’t feel so good…” His voice unsteady.

“You’re alright.”

“I don’t know what’s h-happening, I-.” Peter looks at his hands, slowly turning to ash, right before his very eyes.

“Oh, Peter-” Tony’s voice cracks.

Peter’s legs becoming weaker and weaker by the second, he stumbles forward and falls into Tony’s chest, desperately wrapping his shaking arms around the man he had come to think of as his dad.

“I don’t- I don’t want to go, I, please, Tony, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go!” He sobs as he feels himself fade from life.

Peter falls onto his back, Tony following him down, but hovers above him.

“I don’t, I, I’m sorry.”

And he’s gone.

But then he opens his eyes.

He���s, in his room in the Avengers Tower…

Peter’s muscles are stiff, like they haven’t been used in weeks, maybe months.

And he’s hungry, and thirsty, and eager to get out of this bed, but he can barely even make a sound, let alone sit up. It’s almost as if he’s not quite whole, yet. Like parts of him are missing, but slowly coming back together.

Suddenly, he’s shooting out of bed, breathless, now standing next to his matress in his pajamas.

“Wha- what the hell?”

Peter slowly walks over to the window of his bedroom. He looks down at the streets 10’s of stories below, only to find them almost empty. No traffic. No horns blaring from impatient drivers, only a much smaller amount of cars on the streets and pedestrians on the sidewalks. Peter looks out over the horizon. The air looks… clean. No haze, no polluted skyline. How? There is no way this is the same New York he’s lived in his whole 16 years of life, but…

And then, he remembers.

The spaceship, the wizard, the battle on Titan, and the fight against Thanos. One moment he was webbing up the one with the antennas and the big muscular guy, and the next, Mr. Stark was sitting on a rock with pain, disbelief, and defeat written all across his face. Another thing, the wizard no longer had the time stone. Only a few minutes had passed when…

Peter shuddered, taking in a sharp breath, a sinking feeling in his chest and a shiver crawling its way up his spine.

They died.

He died.

And he felt all of it.

A strange pull to another place. An unexplainable place. It was dark, but there was an ominous orange light to it all. He could sense that he wasn’t the only one there. The air was hot thick and hot. It made him feel weak, powerless. Around him, others started to appear out of nowhere, just as he had. Peter could recognise some of them Titan and back from Germany.

Had they all died, too?

Had they really lost? Half of the entire universe was here?

Peter started to walking toward Star-lord and his friends, when someone grabbed his strongly by the shoulder and spun him around, easily dizzying him.

“Hey, Peter, right?”

It was the wizard. Peter noticed how anxious he looked, like he was unsure of something.

“Yeah, wh-where are we? What happened?”

“I can’t answer any questions right how, I’m sorry. We don’t have much time left.”

“Huh? What do you mean? What’s going on? Time for-”

“Peter! Listen to me. I have to send you back. I’m not even sure if this is actually going to work, but it’s the only way. We have to try.”

“Go back? Like, to Titan?”

Strange sighed, “Not quite. I’m not sure where you’ll materialize, but it should be somewhere you’ve been before. Now, we have to do this quick, I don’t know how much longer we have left”

Peter just stared at the wizard for a moment, trying to process everything he’s been told after just being taken to this new world.

“Um, okay, what, uh, what do I need to do?”

“Just close your eyes, hold your breath, and count down from 10.”

“Is that all? What’s- why do I have to hold my breath? Can’t you just tell me what’s going on?” He was getting more and more worked up by the second. “ I mean, what if it doesn’t work? What’ll happen to me then? I don’t know if-”

He gets cut off once again.

“Hey! Don’t worry about any of that, you just have to trust me, okay? I… I promise I’ll get you back. You’ll be fine. Now, close your eyes…”

Peter closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and starts counting down in his head.

Dr. Strange puts his hands on either side of Peter’s head and applies just a little bit of pressure.

Then, everything starts to feel light, like he’s being gently handled, his mind being moved somewhere else, but he can still feel Strange’s hands on his head. Then, the wizard lets go.

And that’s all Peter can remember before waking up, back in his bed in the tower. Feeling very much alive.

The kid whips back around and stares at his door. He’s almost scared to see what might be waiting on the other side.

But then, he hears a voice.

A voice that brings tears to his eyes.

Tony. Tony is here.

Happiness swells in Peter’s chest.

He starts taking small steps toward the door. Too overwhelmed to move any faster or he might just collapse into an emotional mess right there.

He manages to keep it together as me makes his way out of his room and towards his mentor’s voice. The familiarity of the hallways making his feel all the more at home. Safe and sound.

As Peter turns around one last corner, he is relieved to see, the one and only, Tony Stark, chatting away with what looks to be the back of Natasha. Tony is smiling and laughing, the two of them obviously having a pleasant conversation. It fills Spidey’s heart with joy, to see the man he’s considered his dad, even though he never told him, looking so happy and carefree.

Peter creeps a little farther into the great room, still holding his arms, anticipation making his heart pound in his chest.

He opens his mouth, clueless as to what he should say when Tony’s eyes drift behind Natasha, and locks eyes with Peter.

Stark’s face turns to one of complete shock as he released his glass and it shatters to the dark wood floor.

“Oh my god. Oh my god, Peter!”

Tony is practically sprinting across the room, while Peter takes a few clumsy steps to help close the distance.

“Tony?” Peter’s voice small and already cracking.

The boy lets go of himself, taking the last few short steps before Tony is crashing in to him, wrapping his arms around the kid he thought he’d lost.

Peter throws his arms around his mentor, grabbing fist-fulls of the back of his shirt and burying his face into Tony’s chest as he cries.

Together, they slide down to their knees, while Tony moves one of his hands to hold the back of Peter’s head, the other still wrapped around the kid’s torso, feeling every unsteady and shaking breath.

Tony lets silent tears cascade down his face, his eyes tightly closed.

“Oh my god, Peter, I thought-”

The man can’t help the sob that escapes his mouth as he holds Peter tighter.

“I missed you so much, kid. You know that?”

He can’t help the cracks in his voice and he lets it out.

“I missed you too, I…” Peter pauses, finding it hard to talk for too long before more emotions are bombarding him. “I was so scared.”

He chokes out the last few words, more tears and sobs following close behind.

“I know, I know, kid. You’re okay now. You’re home.” Tony reassures him, rubbing Peter’s back, hopefully calming him down.

After a few more seconds, Tony releases Peter and holds him by his forearms to help them stand back up together.

Tony then moves his hands to Pete’s shoulders as they return to taking in the fact that they’re actually standing in front of each other.

It’s not long before Tony is pulling Peter back into another hug and kisses the top of his head. And it feels so right. He’d lost his son, and now he was back, right where he should be.

Peter’s breathing had become much more relaxed, as did Tony’s. Maybe a few sniffles from Spidey, but they’ were both relatively composed now.

“Where in the hell did you even come from?” Tony asks with a chuckle, as the two separate again.

“I second that question.” Natasha pipes in from the kitchen, where she’s sat at the counter.

Tony turns back to Peter, waiting patiently for any kind of explanation.

“I, I died. Then, I kind of woke up in the really weird place. Everyone else was there, too. And then the wizard said he was going to send me back but he wasn’t even sure it work. He, he told me to close my eyes, hold my breath, and count down from 10. So I did, and he put his hands on the sides of my head, and then, I woke up in my bed. I don’t know what he did exactly, but it worked. I’m back.”

Tony had never been so happy to hear his kid’s rambling as Peter looked back at him, a content smile on his face.

“Is that all that happened?” Natasha asked, looking quite confused. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of time.” Tony added, also a little stumped at Peter’s explanation.

“No, that’s everything that happened, why?

Tony looked back at Nat for a moment, before turning back to face Peter, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Pete, it’s been two years since, since we lost.”

There was no way.

“Wh-what? Two years? You’ve gotta be kidding, I was only gone for like an hour!”

Tony looked closely at Peter, trying to read his face, seeing everything going his mind.

“You gonna be alright, kid?”

“I, don’t even know, I mean, there’s no way…”

“How about we go sit down, yeah? Take a break?”

Tony brought Peter closer and wrapped his arm around the kid’s shoulders, walking them both over to the couch.

Peter plops down first while Tony goes over to the kitchen to grab him a glass of water.

When Tony comes back and sits down next to Pete, he looks a lot less confused,and much more like he’s thinking hard, but starting to understand.

He starts out slow, “I guess it’s possible that wherever I was, time goes by a lot faster that it actually felt.”

Peter accepts the glass from Tony’s hands and takes a few sips before chugging the rest, like he hasn’t had water for months, or in this case, years.

“That would make sense.” Tony agrees as he takes the empty glass back and goes to fill it up once more.

From the couch, Peter turns his body to face Tony in the kitchen.

“What, uh, what is today anyway?” He asks somewhat hesitantly.

“It’s June 23rd, 2020, if I’m correct.”

“Holy crap.” Peter stretches his body out along the couch, staring at the high ceiling, not quite sure what to make of all this.

Tony comes walking back around the couch, this time placing the glass on the edge of the coffee table in front of the both. Peter pulls his legs toward himself to make room for his mentor to sit back down, only for him to pat his thigh, letting Peter stretch his legs back out over Tony’s lap.

“You gonna be okay, kiddo?” Tony asks as he pats Peter’s shin.

“Yeah, I think so. I’m just- I’m thinking about all of the stuff I’ve missed.” There’s a bit of sadness in Peter’s voice and it does not go unnoticed by Tony.

“Hey, it’s gonna be alright. You’re here now, which is crazy, but I’m takin’ it. And who says you just have to move on? You can still do a lot of the stuff you missed, ya know?”

Peter nods and smiles at Tony, feeling much more at ease.

“Huh, I guess I’m 18.”

“That you are, kid.”

Peter chuckles to himself before taking a deep breath and letting himself really relax.

It’s not long before his eyes are slowly drooping, and he’s asleep before he knows it. Safe and sound.

Yet, he can’t help but feel that there was some bigger reason for the wizard to send him back. He decides to let his subconscious dwell on that for a while. He deserves to rest.

[sagarbiswas]

#MAR #MAKAUT #lockdownactivities #MandatoryAdditionalRequirements Name of Activity: Review a Movie Name of the Movie: Interstellar

My Review: To infinity and beyond goes “Interstellar,” an exhilarating slalom through the wormholes of Christopher Nolan’s vast imagination that is at once a science-geek fever dream and a formidable consideration of what makes us human. As visually and conceptually audacious as anything Nolan has yet done, the director’s ninth feature also proves more emotionally accessible than his coolly cerebral thrillers and Batman movies, touching on such eternal themes as the sacrifices parents make for their children (and vice versa) and the world we will leave for the next generation to inherit. An enormous undertaking that, like all the director’s best work, manages to feel handcrafted and intensely personal, “Interstellar” reaffirms Nolan as the premier big-canvas storyteller of his generation, more than earning its place alongside “The Wizard of Oz,” “2001,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Gravity” in the canon of Hollywood’s visionary sci-fi head trips. Global box office returns should prove suitably rocket-powered.

We begin somewhere in the American farm belt, which Nolan evokes for its full mythic grandeur — blazing sunlight, towering corn stalks, whirring combines. But it soon becomes clear that this would-be field of dreams is something closer to a nightmare. The date is an unspecified point shortly, close enough to look and feel like tomorrow, yet far enough for several radical changes to have taken hold in society. A decade on from a period of widespread famine, the world’s armies have been disbanded and the cutting-edge technocracies of the early 21st century have regressed into more utilitarian, farm-based economies.

“We’re a caretaker generation,” notes one such homesteader (John Lithgow) to his widower son-in-law, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former NASA test pilot who hasn’t stopped dreaming of flight, for himself and for his children: 15-year-old son Tom (Timothee Chalamet) and 10-year-old daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy), the latter a precocious tot was first seen getting suspended from school for daring to suggest that the Apollo space missions actually happened. “We used to look up in the sky and wonder about our place in the stars,” Cooper muses. “Now we just look down and wonder about our place in the dirt.”

And oh, what dirt! As “Interstellar” opens, the world — or at least Cooper’s Steinbeckian corner of it — sits on the cusp of a second Dust Bowl, ravaged by an epidemic of crop blight, a silt-like haze hanging permanently in the air. (Some of this scene-setting is accomplished via pseudo-documentary interviews with the elderly residents of some more distant future reflecting on their hardscrabble childhoods, which Nolan films like the “witness” segments from Warren Beatty’s “Reds.”) And as the crops die, so the Earth’s atmosphere becomes richer in nitrogen and poorer in oxygen, until the time when global starvation will give way to global asphyxiation.

But all hope is not lost. NASA (whose massive real-life budget cuts lend the movie added immediacy) still exists in this agrarian dystopia, but it’s gone off the grid, far from the microscope of public opinion. There, the brilliant physicist Professor Brand (Michael Caine, forever the face of avuncular wisdom in Nolan’s films) and his dedicated team have devised two scenarios for saving mankind. Both plans involve abandoning Earth and starting over on a new, life-sustaining planet, but only one includes taking Earth’s current 6-billion-plus population along for the ride. Doing the latter, it seems, depends on Brand’s ability to solve an epic math problem that would explain how such a large-capacity vessel could surmount Earth’s gravitational forces. (Never discussed in this egalitarian society: a scenario in which only the privileged few could escape, a la the decadent bourgeoisie of Neill Blomkamp’s “Elysium.”)

Many years earlier, Brand informs, a mysterious space-time rift (or wormhole) appeared in the vicinity of Saturn, seemingly placed there, like the monoliths of “2001,” by some higher intelligence. On the other side: another galaxy containing a dozen planets that might be fit for human habitation. In the wake of the food wars, a team of intrepid NASA scientists traveled there in search of solutions. Now, a decade later (in Earth years, that is), Brand has organized another mission to check up on the three planets that seem the most promising for human settlement. And to pilot the ship, he needs Cooper, an instinctive flight jockey in the Chuck Yeager mode, much as McConaughey’s laconic, effortlessly self-assured performance recalls Sam Shepards as Yeager in “The Right Stuff” (another obvious “Interstellar” touchstone).

Already by this point — and we have not yet left the Earth’s surface — “Interstellar” (which Nolan co-wrote with his brother and frequent collaborator, Jonathan) has hurled a fair amount of theoretical physics at the audience, including discussions of black holes, gravitational singularities and the possibility of extra-dimensional space. And, as with the twisty chronologies and unreliable narrators of his earlier films, Nolan trusts in the audience’s ability to get the gist and follow along, even if it doesn’t glean every last nuance on first viewing. It’s hard to think of a mainstream Hollywood film that has so successfully translated complex mathematical and scientific ideas to a lay audience (though Shane Carruth’s ingenious 2004 Sundance winner “Primer” — another movie concerned with overcoming the problem of gravity — tried something similar on a micro-budget indie scale), or done so in more vivid, immediate human terms. (Some credit for this is doubtless owed to the veteran CalTech physicist Kip Thorne, who consulted with the Nolans on the script and receives an executive producer credit.)

The mission itself is a relatively intimate affair, comprised of Cooper, Brand’s own scientist daughter (Anne Hathaway), two other researchers (Wes Bentley and the excellent David Gyasi), and a chatty, sarcastic, ex-military security robot called TARS (brilliantly voiced by Bill Irwin in a sly nod to Douglas Rain’s iconic HAL 9000), which looks like a walking easel but proves surprisingly agile when the going gets tough. And from there, “Interstellar” has so many wonderful surprises in store — from casting choices to narrative twists and reversals — that the less said about it the better. (Indeed, if you really don’t want to know anything more, read no further.)

It gives nothing away, however, to say that Nolan maps his infinite celestial landscape as majestically as he did the continent-hopping earthbound ones of “The Prestige” and “Batman Begins,” or the multi-tiered memory maze of “Inception.” The imagery, modeled by Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema on Imax documentaries like “Space Station” and “Hubble 3D,” suggests a boundless inky blackness punctuated by ravishing bursts of light, the tiny spaceship Endurance gleaming like a diamond against Saturn’s great, gaseous rings, then ricocheting like a pinball through the wormhole’s shimmering plasmic vortex.

With each stop the Endurance makes, Nolan envisions yet another new world: one planet a watery expanse with waves that make Waimea Bay look like a giant bathtub; another an ice climber’s playground of frozen tundra and sheer-faced descents. Moreover, outer space allows Nolan to bend and twist his favorite subject — time — into remarkable new permutations. Where most prior Nolan protagonists were forever grasping at an irretrievable past, the crew of the Endurance races against a ticking clock that happens to tick differently depending on your particular vantage. New worlds mean new gravitational forces, so that for every hour spent on a given planet’s surface, years or even entire decades may be passing back on Earth. (Time as a flat circle, indeed.)

This leads to an extraordinary mid-film emotional climax in which Cooper and Brand return from one such expedition to discover that 23 earth years have passed in the blink of an eye, represented by two decades’ worth of stockpiled video messages from loved ones, including the now-adult Tom (a bearded, brooding Casey Affleck) and Murphy (Jessica Chastain in dogged, persistent “Zero Dark Thirty” mode). It’s a scene Nolan stages mostly in closeup on McConaughey, and the actor plays it beautifully, his face a quicksilver mask of joy, regret, and unbearable grief.

That moment signals a shift in “Interstellar” itself from the relatively euphoric, adventurous tone of the first half toward darker, more ambiguous terrain — the human shadow areas, if you will, that are as difficult to fully glimpse as the inside of a black hole. Nolan, who has always excelled at the slow reveal, catches even the attentive viewer off guard more than once here, but never in a way that feels cheap or compromises the complex motivations of the characters.

On the one hand, the movie marvels at the brave men and women throughout history who have dedicated themselves, often at great peril, to the greater good of mankind. On the other, because Nolan is a psychological realist, he’s acutely aware of the toil such lives may take on those who choose to lead them, and that even “the best of us” (as one character is repeatedly described) might not be immune from cowardice and moral compromise. Some people lie to themselves and to their closest confidants in “Interstellar,” and Nolan understands that everyone has his reasons. Others compensate by making the most selfless of sacrifices. Perhaps the only thing trickier than quantum physics, the movie argues, is the nature of human emotion.

Nolan stages one thrilling set piece after another, including several hairsbreadth escapes and a dazzling space-docking sequence in which the entire theater seems to become one large centrifuge; the nearly three-hour running time passes unnoticed. Even more thrilling is the movie’s ultimate vision of a universe in which the face of extraterrestrial life bears a surprisingly familiar countenance. “Do not go gentle into that good night/Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” harks the good Professor Brand at the start of the Endurance’s journey, quoting the melancholic Welshman Dylan Thomas. And yet “Interstellar” is finally a film suffused with light and boundless possibilities — those of the universe itself, of the wonder in a child’s twinkling eyes, and of movies to translate all that into spectacular picture shows like this one.

It’s hardly surprising that “Interstellar” reps the very best big-budget Hollywood craftsmanship at every level, from veteran Nolan collaborators like production designer Nathan Crowley (who built the film’s lyrical vision of the big-sky American heartland on location in Alberta) and sound designer/editor Richard King, who makes wonderfully dissonant contrasts between the movie’s interior spaces and the airless silence of space itself. VFX supervisor Paul Franklin (an Oscar winner for his work on “Inception”) again brings a vivid tactility to all of the film’s effects, especially the robotic TARS, who seamlessly inhabits the same physical spaces as the human actors. Hans Zimmer contributes one of his most richly imagined and inventive scores, which ranges from a gentle electronic keyboard melody to brassy, Strauss-ian crescendos. Shot and post-produced by Nolan entirely on celluloid (in a mix of 35mm and 70mm stocks), “Interstellar” begs to be seen on the large-format Imax screen, where its dense, inimitably filmic textures and multiple aspect ratios can be experienced to their fullest effect.

[quintessenceofdust73]

Here’s the scene that inspired the fanart:

“Come here,” he said, and he offered her a hand to help her to her feet. “I want to show you something.” He led her to the edge of the mesa and pointed to a very bright light near the horizon. “Do you see that?”

“There’s a planetary conjunction visible tonight,” Pidge said. “Much like the Star Of Bethlehem planetary conjunction that guided the Magi on their journey to find the Christ Child. That’s Venus, over there, near the horizon, and— “

Lance squeezed her hand to get her attention. With his free hand, he drew a small box from the pocket of his leather jacket and handed it to her.

“I have one more gift to give you,” he said quietly.

“For Christmas?” she asked, noticing the bright wrapping on the box. She pulled at the shiny cord that held it together.

“No,” he replied.

“For Epiphany, then?” she asked as she pulled the shiny golden paper off and tucked the wrappings into her pocket.

“Not exactly,” he said with a subtle smile.

“Well, It’s too early for a birthday present,” she began as she opened the cardboard box to reveal a ring box inside of it. Lance took the ring box from her and opened it, revealing a delicate ring with a stone made of the same rare blue-green crystal gem as her necklace.

“I’m giving you the gift of a lifetime,” he said, removing the ring from the box. “Yours. Mine. Ours.” He went down on one knee.

“Katie Holt, will you marry me?”

She was crying again. “Yes,” she sobbed. “Yes times infinity,” she said as he slipped the ring on her finger.

Lance stood up and she embraced him, sobbing tears of joy against his chest.

“Pidge,” he began. “You know I’m not very good at math. What does ‘yes times infinity’ mean?”

“A ‘yes’ that goes on forever,” she said, looking up at him.

“Oh. Well, I love you times infinity,” he said. She saw that his cheeks glistened with happy tears as well. He cupped her cheek to wipe one of her tears away with his thumb. He appeared happier than she had ever seen him look, and her heart beat faster because she knew that she was the reason why.

“I love you, too,” she replied. “Times infinity.”

Lance kissed her beneath the canopy of stars, and as she melted into his embrace, Pidge felt that, in that brief shining moment, all was well with the universe. She kissed him back with a fierce passion as he embraced her, and then kissed him softly, with a lingering, gentle affection before they finally broke apart.

I commissioned this art from an artist who accused me of “fandom wank” for tagging her in a post without getting permission first. and then I was blocked. I am posting it on my blog because I paid for it and because I can no longer reblog or comment on the original post. If the artist wishes to unblock me, then I will be able to tag them here. In the meantime, I will do what I like with this art because I paid for it. I was the first person to donate money to an artist in need even though I am struggling myself. Fanfic writers rarely get commissioned and we often don’t get as many reblogs as artists do. Since this art is based on a holiday fic that I wrote last year, I am including the link to it here as well.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28003866/chapters/68595150

Summary:

During the Christmas holidays, Pidge decodes a secret message, learns what true love is, and comes to terms with the depth of feeling that she and Lance have for each other.

This multichapter fic was originally written for the 2020 VLD Secret Santa Event as a gift, but in truth, it is a short novel I wrote as a gift to everyone in Plance fandom who loves fluff, mystery, humor, and good old-fashioned romance.

Merry Christmas!

💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙

A fan on another website told me that this her favorite Plance fic ever and that she loved seeing art based on it. She also told me that she likes Lance’s little mullet. 😂 I like it too! 💙 I want to share all the positive feedback with the artist, but since I am blocked, I can only post about it here.

Anyway, if you are an artist receiving commissions, don’t bite the hand that feeds you. I meant no harm to the artist by what I did. I made a post about how some people in this fandom dislike me for absurd and nonsensical reasons and may not reblog a fanart just because it is inspired by one of my stories. That is the truth. This actually happens to me.

There is a portion of Plance fandom that won’t allow me to participate in certain fandom events. For example, a Tumblr was created for an event a few months ago and I was blocked from it so I couldn’t participate in the event, not even as a reader or viewer, much less as a writer.

Last Christmas I wrote a cute story for a Plance Secret Santa event, and my giftee would not acknowledge the gift or thank me for it. I was blocked by this person after the gift was sent. I wrote that little fic to the best of my ability, and to this day I have received no acknowledgement from her even though the event mods know about it and the giftee was notified. The giftee was originally tagged on AO3, but I have removed her name since then. This story became a prequel to Decoding a Christmas Mystery. Here’s the link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27910291

I am a very hardworking and creative person. The way I have been bullied and excluded in VLD Plance fandom is sickening, and it speaks volumes about the self-appointed fandom gatekeepers who have treated me like trash. I am not a perfect human being. I apologize when I make a mistake. I am a flawed but nice person, and I am always thankful to every single person who has ever had a positive interaction with me in this fandom.