#shield hero prompt except nothing in this includes the shield hero worlds

[shieldherostuffs]

Jade Blossom of Lan (Shield Hero/MDZS Crossover Prompt)

(Inspired by the MDZS/RotSH Crossover with Lan!Naofumi HERE. We're also going to ignore everything about Naofumi's name sounding nothing like everyone else, but he is Lan Naofumi here.

This turned into more of an overview of a whole fanfic than just a prompt. )

꧁*★°*:.☆.:*°★*꧂

Naofumi is the Third Young Master of the Lan Sect. He is only two years younger than Lan Wangji. He has less resemblance to his elder brother than they do to each other, as he came out with more of his mother's genes, giving his green eyes and more wavy black hair, apparently inherited from his grandfather and grandmother on his mother's side.

Therefore, Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen are still called the Twin Jades of Lan, while Naofumi gains his own nickname after people find out about a secret hobby of his.

Naofumi had first become interested in Fans during a visit from the Nie brothers, where he and LWJ were left to entertain Nie Huaisang. LWJ had quickly excused himself to study, while Naofumi decided to listen to NHS rant about fans and paintings.

After that visit, Naofumi tried painting fans on his own too, and during a visit to Caiyi Town, Naofumi found out about Veiled Fans and decided to get two white, pastel blue, and pastel green ones for himself, after watching a few dancers use them.

Secretly, Naofumi went to the back hills of Cloud Recesses and tried teaching himself by copying the dancers he saw. It's awkward and embarrassing at first, even if no one is nearby, but he slowly gets the hang of it.

Naofumi becomes incredibly good at dancing with veiled fans, after dressing down three of his six layers of robes.

During one of the yearly lessons at the CR, Naofumi meets L'Arc, a young sect heir. The two become friends, even though L'Arc is closer to LWJ's age, and one day, L'Arc takes Naofumi to Caiyi to meet his friend, Therese, since they can't see each other in the CR.

After months of spending lots of time together, and the two learning to easily read Naofumi's small expressions and wanting to see more of his bright smiles, Naofumi starts confidentially calling them both his Zhiji (I think that's what it's called, I just copied it from MDZS). And one day, Naofumi decides to take them to a secluded area a little away from Caiyi, and dance for them.

They're both in complete awe, at don't stop complimenting him until they return to the CR.

For months, there have been rumors from Caiyi about the Third Young Master of Lan spending a lot of time together with two sect heirs with ancestors of foreign descent. Therese's ancestors were traveling sword-dancers, hence her clan's love for jewellery, and L'Arc's ancestors were refugees of royal descent.

Their sect's small lands were bordering each other, and they often visited one another and became close, with the leaders usually forming sworn sister- or brotherhoods.

Because of the rumors, a few disciples had followed the three, and seen Naofumi dancing, and quickly spread the words with their friends.

As words spread of Naofumi apparently 'Dancing Like A Fairy', paired with his gentle and frosty beauty, he was nicknamed the Jade Blossom of Lan, though a few daring people even called him the Jade Fairy of Lan.

However, even now, the Wens are taking over the smaller sects to expand their territory and power. L'Arc and Therese's sects are some of the first to go, but L'Arc and Therese refuse to back down, even after most of their sects are dead. They refuse and fight back as much as they can, before Wen Chao, decides to reward them for their useless courage.

By throwing them into the Burial Mounds.

Rumors go all around, about how the two sect heirs that'd been so dear to the Third Young Master of Lan had been thrown to death in the BM.

When Lan Qiren gets confirmation of this, he decides to sit his youngest nephew down for tea and tell him the news. Naofumi is shocked, his face frozen and eyes wide as tears silently start streaming down his face. His hands are shaking as he holds the teacup unsteadily in his hands until LQR takes it from him and puts it down. Naofumi grips his robes tightly as he hangs his head low at losing two of the people he'd loved the most in this world.

Naofumi does not take the news well, and end up entering seclusion to process and mourn his love.

When LXC and LWJ as why their younger brother suddenly entered seclusion, when he usually enjoyed being with other people, even if he was generally pretty quiet unless the topic was something he was passionate about, they're shocked when they hear why.

The Love of a Lan is not something to be taken lightly, and something that only happens once. Naofumi fell for two people, and it becomes even harder. He lost his soulmates at such a young age.

Since the news, for the next few years, Naofumi has not danced even once. His favorite fans, gifted to him by L'Arc and Therese, are in pristine condition, but lay unused.

When the year Wei Wuxian and multiple Sect Heirs come for the Lessons at CR arrive, Naofumi exits seclusion, but he's different. Before he was more like a brighter, smilier version of LXC, but now, he's more like LWJ with an aura of sadness and mourning around him.

When the burning of CR comes, Naofumi flees with LXC, but they end up separated. While on the run, Naofumi ends up taking in and taking care of Raphtalia and Filo and teaches them as they travel together.

When Wei Wuxian is thrown into the Burial mounds, he end up finding himself being taken care of by two people in ragged clothing and bony bodies from too little nutrition, inside a Cave. L'Arc and Therese, they introduce themselves as. They've been trying to survive for years in the place, but they're getting weaker without their Golden Cores, and they've been unable to get out.

Wanting to help, and to survive without his Golden Core, WWX invents Demonic Cultivation.

In the end, he escapes the Burial Mounds with L'Arc and Therese in tow. The two decide to hide their identities during the Sunshot Campaign and act as sort of Trump Cards. They start using their lost sects' bloodline techniques. L'Arc starts using a scythe, and Therese starts using Sword Dancing.

After a while, Naofumi end up finding and joining the Sunshot Campaign, while leaving Raphtalia and Filo behind when he goes to the battlefield. He keeps sneaking glances at the two people who joined with WWX, who're either wearing hoods and veiled hats at all times.

The way they fight... It reminds him of L'Arc and Therese.

One day, the two get captured by the Wens, and when they returns, they're wearing neither hoods nor hats.

Naofumi silently breaks down upon seeing them, and as soon as allowed, rushes to the infirmary to see them.

The three reunite, which includes tears and kisses, and after that, they start fighting together on the battlefield, slipping into it almost seamlessly.

Canon MDZS happens as it happens. Naofumi notices LWJ's love for WWX, and tries encouraging his younger elder brother to communicate with WWX, but it's still hard for LWJ to say what he feels.

Naofumi does not fight in the siege at the BM, not against his younger elder brother in the cave, he refuses to and has to be held back by multiple senior disciples as LWJ is whipped 33 times. Naofumi allows no one but himself and one doctor to tend to LWJ's wounds. They betrayed LWJ, and Naofumi won't stand for it.

When LWJ wants to look for WWX's remains and properly bury them, Naofumi offers to do so instead, and makes LWJ stay in bed.

Naofumi flies to the BM, and find nothing but blood and cloth scrapes scattered all over, and a feverish A-Yuan clutching a crimson ribbon.

Naofumi takes A-Yuan back, and LWJ sheds a few tears upon seeing the boy alive. Naofumi relates to LWJ about mourning his love, and they bond a little over losing their loves, and then raising kids in the meanwhile.

While all of this happens, Raphtalia and Filo and traveling around for a bit with L'Arc and Therese as Rouge Cultivators.

A few months later, A-Yuan is introduced to his two adoptive cousins, Raphtalia, some years older than him, and Filo, around his age.

A-Yuan grows up with a few visits from his cousins, and his younger uncle often leaving the CR to travel with his family.

Naofumi is overjoyed for his elder younger brother when WWX comes back.

At some point, Naofumi leaves the Lan Sect to establish one with L'Arc and Therese after they Elope, named the Rock Valley Sect, where they include teachings from all their sects. Raphtalia and Filo are the first disciples, but then some refugees Naofumi saved during the SSC come, and decide to join as well, and their sect grows steadily.

꧁*★°*:.☆.:*°★*꧂

————— Tagging: @rosesinbloom7love, @ideas-of-immortality, @crypid-called-ash, @eli-elien, @bluelovestoship, @queen-of-carven-stone, @zachy-akaya, @wisdomismyloweststattm, @maloteddy —————

[questersrest]

apologies for the just talking about junk lately but my brain’s on infodump o’clock. i really want to talk about dq9 grottoes and alchemiracles. so here’s a wall of text that’s been in the back of my brain for around 9 years.

i always thought this stuff was insane and i’m dying for a remake so i can get into this again.

so.

quest #015 collapsus’ call

at the summit of the heights of loneliness, you will find a man, christopher collapsus, who climbed all the way to the top but collapsed just short of zere rocks. you need to bring him a special medicine. as a reward he will give you your first treasure map: granite tunnel of woe lv. 1.

a treasure map will depict a red X drawn on part of a map, this will be one of several locations on the overworld but it’ll be fairly zoomed in so it might take some thinking to figure out where it is. when you stand in that location, a prompt to press A will appear and when you do, a cave entrance will appear. these caves are called grottoes. inside you’ll find several floors with monsters and chests and then a boss floor.

when you beat the boss they will drop another map. it’ll be random but influenced by 3 factors:

a) the level of the map just beaten.

b) the hero’s max level. the hero’s level is stored separate for each vocation so if you’ve hit level 99 as a minstrel but are currently a level 30 warrior, your max level is 99.

c) the hero’s max revocation. when the hero reaches level 99 as a vocation they can revocate, resetting that level to 1 and gaining a little +1 next to the level. my max revocations was a +3 on gladiator.

there are like over 32,000 maps with over 200 quality variations if i remember right, the exact total is over 8 million possibilities with these varying features:

a) it’s location on the world map.

b) it’s environment theme: ruins 40%, cave 30%, fire 10%, ice 10%, or water 10%

c) the number of floors before the boss floor: 2-16

d) the layout of each floor including the placement of any chests. if you’ve ever played a mystery dungeon game you know what to expect with randomly generated dungeons.

e) the starting monster rank of the grotto. monsters appear from a pool, there are 12 ranks and each environment has its own pool of monsters for each rank. the monster rank can only start at up to rank 9 but it increases every 4 floors so to find rank 12 monsters, you’ll need a grotto that starts on 9 and has at least 13 floors. many monsters in the higher ranks are exclusive to grottoes so if you want to complete your bestiary... well i never in 700+ hours found a water grotto with rank 12 monsters. monster rank on each floor also determines what ranks of chest can appear there. there are 10 ranks of chest. each weapon used for making the 5 star weapons has a 1% chance to be in a rank 10 chest. there’s one for each of the 12 weapon types. but even on a monster rank 12 floor it’s not guaranteed to have rank 10 chests. (chests by the way refresh when grotto is closed and reopened).

f) it’s boss, of which there are 12 possible. each boss is more difficult than the previous and so it is related to the map’s level, so dw, a level 1 map can’t have the final grotto boss, you won’t be ready for that.

there is some lore to the bosses. the goddess celestria, daughter of zenus (who was slain by corvus at the beginning of the story), said her father must still be alive in some capacity or the world would cease to be. every grotto boss has some dialogue before the battle commences. fowleye specifically explains that zenus shattered into 10 pieces which took form as the first 10 grotto bosses. the 11th is the demon that the supreme sage sealed in a book with himself long ago, the supreme sage, still in the book, is a character who gives you the quests related to the sage vocation. the 12th is greygnarl who was slain by barbarus in the story but at the end his shadow was shown hinting at his return. in his dialogue he talks about himself, barbarus, and styrmling who remains somewhat of a mystery. greygnarl actually drops an yggdrasil leaf instead of another map.

each boss has 3 items they can drop. a 100% drop: another treasure map. a (i actually can’t remember, i think it’s 5 or 10)% drop chance: a certain pretty good piece of gear. a 2% drop chance for a piece of armour used for 5 star armour. most armour categories can be split into multiple sub-categories e.g. handwear that focuses on defence or deftness so there’s one for each sub-category: 1 shield, 2 headwear, 2 handwear, 3 bodywear, 1 legwear, 2 footwear. each boss has a specific one e.g. the first grotto boss, equinox, has a 2% chance to drop the vesta gauntlets: defence handwear. greygnarl is an exception to the rules, i don’t remember all the specifics and can’t find details at this time but i do remember is his 100% drop is an yggdrasil leaf and one of his drops is a certain legacy boss map, i’ll get to that in a bit.

treasure map names are clues as to the details of the map before explored but usually don’t guarantee anything (except a few environments, if it says “waterway” it’s definitely water).

there are a few other weird factors for the probability for monsters appearing on floors resulting in the ruby path of doom map that got extremely popular to share in japan and got referenced in dq11s because of the one floor with nothing but metal king slimes. i myself found a grotto which had a floor with absolutely no monsters whatsoever, it did however have 2 chests on that floor, at least one of which was rank 10.

now say you get one of these special pieces of gear, how do you make the 5 star gear?

agates of evolution are items than can only be made through alchemy and are only used for alchemy. the ingredients are 2x ethereal stone, 2x sainted soma, 1x chronocrystal. ethereal stones and sainted somas can be obtained through a few means but the easiest is through further alchemy with the ingedients being available through monster drops and sparkles found in the world. chronocrystals can only be bought, there is an npc in a cave that can only be reached in the postgame the only thing he sells are chronocrystals for 50,000 gold each, the most expensive item in the game.

there are a few special treasure maps, legacy boss maps, that lead to a grotto that is only a boss floor, a boss from a previous game. we have: dragonlord, malroth, baramos, zoma, estark, psaro, nimzo, murdaw, mortamor, nokturnus, orgodemir, dhoulmagus, and rhapthorne. the first you’ll likely come across is baramos’ map lv. 1 as a quest reward. the one greygnarl drops is dragonlord’s. when you defeat a legacy boss, they will return and ask to gain experience too, if you agree the map will level up. as a legacy boss levels up, the drops will increase in chance or change entirely. be careful as some maps you can only get once unless shared from another player, you could lock yourself out from some items. the key things they drop are armour to dress up as heroes from the previous games and maps of other legacy bosses. some legacy bosses are only available from the dlc quests or dropped by other legacy bosses that are only available from the dlc quests and since the online service was discontinued in 2014 they are now almost unavailable (if you’re genuinely interested bc you missed out, shoot me an ask and i can explain that one).

then there’s the orbs. every legacy boss can drop one of six coulored orbs. as their rarest drop, this won’t change, the chance can just be increased with their level, the only exception is nokturnus who changes which orb he drops with his level. it’s the same 6 orbs that appeared as a plot device in dq3, alongside a 7th in dq8, and would go on to appear in dq11. all six orbs are thankfully available among the legacy bosses available without online services.

each of the special items can be alchemised with an agate of evolution and a certain orb to make an improved version that looks identical. e.g. 1x stardust sword + 1x agate of evolution + 1x silver orb makes a nebula sword. getting the ingredients is both expensive and time consuming BUT it goes further. 1x nebula sword + 3x agate of evolution + 3x silver orb will make a further improved and identical but still only 4 star supernova sword. most of the time. see when you try to make this further improved item, krak pot will alert you he feels an alchemiracle coming on. he will state a chance as i think 10%, 20%, or 30% which i think can be influenced but i’m afraid i don’t know the details. you are then forced to save the game with the result determined so you can’t reset and try again. if it should succeed, you will make a 5 star item, the best item of that kind in the game, a stronger palette swap of the other items. e.g. the hypernova sword.

should it fail and you want to try again, you can alchemise the failed alchemiracle item e.g. the supernova sword with a rest stone to return it to the first item e.g. the stardust sword. reset stones can be bought from the mini medal collector of dq9 once you can reached the final reward.

so here’s the procedure.

1. grind grottoes and their bosses for this stupid rare gear. 2% drop rate has nothing on shiny pokemon, sure, except you do have to go through the entire grotto again every time.

2. grind legacy bosses for orbs.

3. grind materials for agates including money for chronocrystals.

4. pray to the rng gods once more for an alchemiracle.

5. cry because you spent 100 hours on this and it didn’t work.

6. give in to cheating via rng abuse, the hoimi table’s out there still.

have fun

[nekoannie-chan]

Not my world part I

Pairing: Steve Rogers (Captain America/Captain HYDRA) X OFC (Aryah Rumlow)

Word count: 1166 words. 

Summary: The intrusion of a certain being will wreak havoc on Steve's life, will Aryah be able to solve it?

Warnings: Mentions of smut, nothing explicit, mentions of alcohol. 

A/N: This is my entry to the @holylulusworld ‘s 10,000 Followers Celebration with the tropes:

“Parallel universes switching”.

Also my entry to @arrowsandmixtapes’ A better love story than Twilight with the prompt #10:

“What if I’m not the hero? What if I’m the bad guy?”

My native language is Spanish so I wanna improve my writing skills in English if you notice any mistake please let me know and I will correct it.

I don’t give any kind of permission that my fics be posted in other platforms or languages (I translate myself my work) or the use of my graphics (my dividers are included in this), I did them exclusively for my fics, please respect my work and don’t steal it. There are some people here who make dividers that anyone can use, mine is not this type, please look for the other’s people. The only exception is the ones I gifted ‘cuz now belong to someone else. If you find any of my works on a different platform and is not one of my accounts, please let me know. Reblogs and comments are always welcome.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Marvel’s characters (unfortunately), except for the original characters and the story.

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Add yourself to my taglist here.

My other media where I publish: Ao3, Wattpad, ffnet, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter.

If you like it please vote, comment, and give me feedback to improve my skills and reblog.

Tags: @sinceimetyou  @navybrat817 @angrythingstarlight @shield-agent78 @saiyanprincessswanie @pandaxnienke @real-fbi @smokeandnailz

Universe A

  Aryah stretched out and then saw the clock on the wall of her brother's office. Soon, the Helicarrier would arrive. That day, there was no training because most of the team had gone on a mission.

She got up and arrived a second before the helicopter landed. As soon as she saw her brother and her boyfriend come down from the helicopter, she smiled. By the expression on their faces, it seemed that everything had gone well on the mission.

"How was your day without me, shorty?" Brock said. 

"It was good; I already organized all the documentation you were supposed to do, idiot," she replied. The siblings looked at each other and then laughed. "I guess the mission was successful; will we celebrate tonight?"

"Sure, the same place as always."

After Brock left, Steve approached Aryah and kissed her on the forehead, making sure no one saw them.

"Did he ask you anything?" Steve asked, "No, not yet, but I think he suspects about our relationship; he'll probably keep an eye on us."

"Is the hero afraid of the ‘bad boy’?" Aryah asked.

"What if I’m not the hero? What if I’m the bad guy?"

"Steve, please, you're the nicest person I’ve ever known and a hero. Whatever my brother knows that I have a boyfriend; he just doesn't know who it is."

"Doll, maybe you should stop drinking; you're already very drunk," Steve said as he tried to take the drink out of his girlfriend's hand.

"It's just not fair," she complained.

"What's not fair?"

"You don't get drunk. How about we go to my house and..."

"Aryah..." 

She let out a giggle and hugged Steve tightly as if she wanted to prevent him from escaping.

"Come on, Steve, it's not the first time you..."

"Can you give me back my sister?" Brock said, who appeared behind them.

"Sure, I just..."

"Big bro’! Can you buy me a real-size stuffed Steve?" Aryah asked with amusement. Brock raised an eyebrow and shook his head as he grabbed his sister by the shoulder. "Then we take the real one to our home."

"No, Aryah, leave him; we're leaving; you're very drunk; I have to get you back to the house before you start using your powers like crazy," Brock said as she tried to get her to let Rogers go, but she hugged Steve tighter, and they continued like that for a few minutes. "Okay, Rogers, you come with us. "

"You'll sleep in the living room," Brock ordered.

"Nooooooooo, he will sleep with me."

"Anyway, just make sure she doesn't use her powers."

No one had an unexpected visit from Kang at night, which no one managed to detect at the time, but if he caused some alterations, which they noticed until the next day,

Aryah opened her eyes slowly; the headache was killing her. She turned around and didn't see Steve; she remembered everything that happened the night before.

"Oh no. Surely Brock must be interrogating him."

She left her room and headed to the kitchen. Brock, upon seeing her, offered her a cup of coffee without removing his unfriendly face.

"Where is Steve?" Aryah asked. 

"I guess in your bedroom, and I need explanations."

"He wasn't there when I woke up."

"Then he runs away."

"I don't think so; he's always very responsible."

Aryah shut up before giving more details and dialed his mobile phone several times, but Steve didn't answer.

"Steve's the boyfriend you refused to say his name to, isn't he?"

"Hmm. Well, you're my favorite brother," Aryah replied, avoiding seeing him.

"Shorty, I'm your only brother."

Universe B

  Steve opened his eyes; Aryah was not by his side; however, he observed his surroundings; it was not her room; the place where he had awakened was very different; he could even say that grim. He went out; he wasn't in the building where she lived or on his own; the place looked like a compound.

"You woke up late," Aryah said.

"How are you feeling? It looks like you don't have a hangover."

"Hangover?" 

"Yesterday, we were celebrating and..."

"The only ones who were celebrating in his room were my brother and Sinthea; the disadvantage of having him as a neighbor is that I heard everything."

"Sinthea?       Who's Sinthea?"       Steve questioned me confusedly.

"Brock's girlfriend, Steve, you're acting weird. I think yesterday's training headshot affects you; maybe you need to be subjected to another ‘treatment’."

"Treatment?"  

"Stop joking; we have a meeting with Zemo in ten minutes." Aryah left after saying that.

Steve started following her, but he stopped when, on one of the walls, he saw the Hydra symbol. Had he been deceived? How did it end up in that place?

"Aren't you going to put on your uniform?"

"HYDRA? Aryah, what does all this mean?"

"What do you mean? We work for Hydra, Steve; you're Captain Hydra; did you expect us to be on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side? You know they don't want to save the world," Aryah replied.

Steve was perplexed; there was a chance he was dreaming, and it also meant that maybe the Avengers counterpart was there too.

The woman had already turned around and walked back into the boardroom.

"Aryah, where's Natasha?" Steve inquired, and then Aryah suddenly stopped and returned to Steve's threatening way.

"Don't repeat the name of that fucking traitor bitch, Steven."

"Here you are!" Rachel exclaimed when she saw them in the hallway. "I decided to pick you up in case you were busy; I didn't want Zemo to interrupt you again."

"Who are you?" Steve asked. For him, everything was getting too confusing; he had to somehow find out what was going on.

"Rachel Leighton..."

"I think yesterday's hit affected him," Aryah whispered.

After Aryah and Brock spoke for a few seconds, Steve kept seeing around him.

"Cap, we have to go on a mission," Brock said.

"A, are you sure everything's okay?" Rachel questioned him before getting on the ship.

"There's nothing to worry about; we'll soon find out what's going on. I'm sure that's not my Steve but a S.H.I.E.L.D. spy."

Rachel smiled; she knew what her friend was referring to. They both got on the ship, and Aryah sat next to Steve and hugged his arm.

"So, what did you think of my proposal last night?" Aryah whispered in Steve's ear.

"Of course, whatever you want," Steve replied, trying not to sound nervous, yet he had no idea what he meant.

Steve also didn't notice when she signaled to his brother, and soon everything went dark for him.

Universe A

  When the brothers arrived at the Triskelion's gymnasium, Aryah immediately noticed something strange; he went to the dressing rooms.

"Steve?" Aryah waited a few seconds in silence. "Steve, get out wherever you are."

Steve showed up, grabbed Aryah by the arm to bring her closer to him, and kissed her passionately.

"You're not Steve; who are you?" Aryah was questioned when she separated from him.

Part II

[toku-explained]

The Master Swordsman's End

SSSS.Dynazenon: Gagula continues to rampage while Kaiser GridKnight lies defeated. 2nd has no more Fixer Beams, but tries to ease Gauma's pain. As Kaiser GridKnight struggles to stand and fight, Koyomi is running. Juuga, Mujina and Onija are surprised there's another kaiju, and try to use Instance Domination only to realise it's Sizumu, and they call out, wanting to fight more, and Gagula consumes them, evolving. Gauma opens his eyes, but can tell he hasn't got long, he apologises to Yomogi and Yume for getting them involved in his Battle, Yomogi says it's only because of him they've made bonds, he thanks them and asks that they thank Koyomi too. Gagula breaks Kaiser GridKnight into constituent parts, Yomogi and Yume rush for DynaWing and DynaSoldier, Chise leaps off her train, DynaStriker lands in front of Koyomi. Gauma starts pulling himself up, intending to help finish Gagula to give his friends a future, and we see like Koyomi, Yomogi now has a scar similar to Gauma's. He thinks he's missed his chance with Yume, and leaps into DynaSoldier. As GridKnight struggles, DynaStriker rolls in, Mujina from inside angrily yells at Koyomi for touching her again. Yume falls, also getting a scar, and tells Kano she'll make it, DynaSoldier appearing to get her there. Chise sees Goldburn and calls out, he wakes up, and flies into shield mode to protect GridKnight, then DynaSoldier Wing Combine leaps in, and DynaDiver joins the fight Gauma piloting with help from 2nd. He apologises to the confused Koyomi, and tells Knight he'll help if he likes it or not. They form Kaiser GridKnight and fight. Onija declares his goal to destroy humanity, Yomogi rejects that, Juuga talks up how important Gauma is, which Gauma dismisses, Mujina claims Koyomi caused her to realise Kaiju was all she had, he can only apologise. Yomogi and Yune call out to Suzumu, but he refuses to respond. As Gagula overpowers them with a blast, Yomogi detaches Dynamic Cannon to try Instance Domination again as he flies DynaSoldier at Gagula. He gets a definite reaction, causing Gagula to point it Blast away from Kaiser GridKnight. They split, Dynazenon launching all it has at Gagula, followed by Goldburn attaching as wings to GridKnight, flying past Gaguka and wrecking the back, before riding DynaRex. Sizumu stays silent as Onija, Juuga and Mujina declares their hatred of the "false kaiju", attacking and met by the Grid Rex Roar, Gagula loses the clas and the heroes fly in to finish things. The Eugenecists die, Onija seemingly glad to die again, Mujina wondering if it's for the best, Juuga sure kaiju will have their day, Sizumu still silent. Gauma collapses, dying as he is sad he never met her, but glad he met his friends, understanding why he was entrusted Dynazenon. Chise watches everyone descend fro the remains of DynaRex, except Gauma.

3 months later, Yomogi and Yume walk together, meeting under the bridge Gauma lived with everyone, Koyomi has changed his look and is working, a healed Goldburn is waiting. Yomogi and Yume remember Gauma always said 3 things must be kept, Love and Promises, but don't know the third. Knight and 2nd prepare warp out of this world, taking Goldburn and the inert form of DynaRex with them, as the gang wave, Chise calls after the best friend she ever had, and the group vanish into Hyper World. Yomogi and Yume head to some planned meeting. Chise and Koyomi stand outside Chise's school, under repair, and it turns out Inamoto-san's husband got Koyomi his job, he insists she's not an ex but a friend, Chise now has her dragon tattoo uncovered. At the school festival Mei's photos include ones of Yume, who needs to do something. Yomogi tells his mother and Kamijo where to go, when his mother asks about Gauma he opts to explain he's banned from school grounds, before being dragged over to the waiting Awaki, Nazumi, Ranka and Kaneishi, telling him to find Yume while Mei just appears there. She's sat in a corner of the roof when he finds her, they're meant to be running the café now. Yume offers her hand and tells him to take her, and he hears Sizumu's voice from a Computer World environment, questioning why he "wasted" his potential to be a Kaiju User, arguing if he'd embraced kaiju and destruction he'd have experienced true freedom, questioning if he'll regret it. Yomogi isn't sure, but intends to live, and rejects Sizumu's philosophy that bonds are shackles, Sizumu doesn't get it. Yomigi comes back and helps Yume up, calling her by her first name for the first time at her prompting. They get to work at the café, hoping their scars stay with them. In Computer World, Knight looks at the seal from the statue, and DynaRex stands once more. Scarred Souls Shine like Stars.

Heroes' Odyssey: Zero looks at Belial's battle with the Ultras of the Land of Light, theft of the Plasma Spark, Zero training with Leo, Rei and the Ultras battle with Belial's army, and Zero's joining the battle to defeat him. He uses this to highlight another Ultra who struggled with his own darkness, showing the revival of Hudra, Darramb and Camaerra, and how Tiga Dark appeared to face the threat they unleashed.

Saber: Luna is lost, and Izaak is going full god complex, talking down at Storious, intending to eliminate the Swordsmen, he ambushes the Shindais and turns Durandal into a puppet, forcing him to attack Reika. Yuri hears from Tassel that Luna has appeared. Kento lends him Kurayami. Solomon uses his power to reach into Wonder World to seek Luna and attack Tassel, Sophia can sense his use of the Tome's power, as Sabela contacts Northern Base for help. Slash and Buster join Sabela as Durandal begs them to kill him. Touma, Mei, Rintaro and Kento reach Solomon. Saikou, in Wonder World, blocks the attempt to reach Luna and joins them, Solomon does something that causes him to vanish, and claims Kurayami and Saikou. Xross Saver Brave Dragon, Blades Tategami Hyoujuu Senki and Espada Golden Alangina face him. Tassel reaches Luna, introducing himself and promising to take her to Touna after she understands what she is. A Triple Rider Kick defeats Solomon, who attempts to use his spell to control Touma unsuccessfully, but uses it properly on Blades and Espada. Tassel explains to Luna that she is the embodiment of Wonder World, and her chosen one, Touma, will receive Wonder World's power and live their with her forever, she doesn't want to separate him from his friends though. Kento mocks Izaak for just manipulating people, and Runtaro notes his ambitions have caused him to lose all respect anyone ever held for him. He tries to drag them into darkness, but Yuri reawaken and brakes the attack and the spell, right before Durandal is made to kill Reika. Saber uses Lion Senki and Lamp do Alangina to form Special Edition. Combining their powers, they defeat Solomon, destroying Omni Force. At Southern Base, Ryoga collapses, to both siblings intense relief. Storious laughs. The injured Izaak crawls to a tunnel, where Omni Force reforms, but as he claims eternity, Storious appears, informing him his story is at an end, he reduces him to dust and claims Omni Force for himself, debuting a new outfit.

Zenkaiger: Boccowaus praises Gege, Barashitara grousing that he's treated better despite failing as well, Stacey is distracted by Yatsude reminding him of his mother, Boccowaus has Ijirude lend Gege another gear. Items are magnetised to everyone, thanks to Jishaku World, who disrupts the change by magnetising the Geartlingers, they do separate on changing, but attach to other things, and Jishaku World leaves them trapped until Zox arrives late. They get back to Colourful, there Stacey is having a snack, he gets them to pretend he's an acquaintance, Satoshi, not their enemy, but tension flares as soon as she leaves the room, but nothing happens before they realise the magnetic fields on the Kikainoids are getting stronger and making them flee the shop, Zox is waiting outside, as Magine is trapped Kaito and Secchan realises they need to stop Jishaku World fast. "Satoshi" helps Yatsude tidy up stuff that started moving, leaving but planning to come back, he runs into Kaito trying to get his help. Vroon is caught, and Gaon and Zyuran start pulling CrocoDaiOh, which only avoids crashing thanks to reverse thrusters. Zox argues to Stacey he should help Kaito since he's Yatsude's grandson. After Jishaku World reports to Gege, Stacey tells him the Zenkaigers might have found a way around his powers luring him to where Kaito and Zox are, they start fighting him as Flint keeps fighting to stop CrocoDaiOh hitting Zyuran and Gaon, who arrives at the battle running straight for Jishaku World, forcing him to reduce magnetism in the area so CrocoDaiOh doesn't hit him, and allowing everyone to move better. Zenkaiser uses Fiveman to access FiveRed's physics knowledge that lets him know heat will weaken Jishaku World. Shinken Form uses his fire abilities as Zyuran and Gaon join the fight, ZenkaiZyuran accessing his own fire and lending it to ZenkaiGaon, the 3 weakening him for Zenkaiser. Stacey leaves since he did as asked, Dai Jishaku World takes the field, separating Twokai-Oh, both ZenkaiOhs attempt to form, but are made the same poles. They use this to force Zyuran at Dai Jishaku World, so he pulls them in, only for them all to get stuck to him, but together they attack. Ijirude and Barashitara tell Gege he's not better than them, but he notes his involvement put Boccowaus in a better mood, so they'll now have more chances to try, and tells Stacey he knows what he did, but won't say for now. Yatsude asks Kaito about Satoshi, she could tell something was up when they met, Kaito admits they've fought, but makes clear he wants to be friends.

Dogengers Nice Buddy: Everyone returns to where they were before the distortion, the Dogengers are all asleep. Great Z uses an Affect System drones to warp them and Maid Shitsuji away. Tanaka wakes at home, Maid Shitsuji tells him he was dreaming. Yabai Kamen approaches Great Z, who acknowledges he hasn't been acting out of justice. Yabai Kamen goes to attack him, when Riku arrives in the stage suit to try and stop him, but it's clear Yabai Kamen has the advantagem winning as Riku yells his love for heroes and his father. Yabai Kamen steals one of the 2 remaining drones, and uses it to warp away. Riku and his father reconcile, Riku explaining he truly seeks to be a hero, after a talk, Riku puts his helmet on and Great Z transfers the suit to him, President Hanagata sees his son off. At breakfast, Yabai Kamen reveals he has the Affect System drones and declares they're enemies again and warps away, the rest of Aku no Himitsu Kessya say their goodbyes, thanking for the hospitality, and leave. At Fukuoka Dome Yabai Kamen is surrounded by the Dogengers immediately, and runs with 2 Karami, when the Dogenfers eventually corner him, Kitaqman Metal is thrown at the defeated pile he's making by the rest of Aku no Himitsu Kessya. A voice announces, as Yabai Kamen seems to have expected, the arrival of Great Z. Yabai Kanen crushes the drone using it to upgrade, in turn Gulf, Gallia, Uzagi and Nectaris unveil their own upgrades. Yabai Kamen mourns the loss of Shuraomaru, only for him to appear and unveil his new form.

[queercapwriting]

Endgame Fix-It

Prompt from Anonymous for a multi-pronged Endgame fix it (featuring an Agents of SHIELD crossover). The prompt and the fic are beneath the cut. 

Prompt here:  “Hey Cap, how’s it going? I was wondering if you could write an Endgame fix-it for Natasha because I feel cheated that the first female superhero in the MCU was not included in that final badass fight scene.”

They’d bonded almost immediately. Carol and Natasha. An assassin and a Kree lie, surviving through the end of the world.

The irony of it all wasn’t lost on either.

Because Clint was wrong, but he was also right: some of the best people disappeared in the snap, and some of the worst were left to survive.

Carol knew she was a hero: Natasha used to believe something like that.

But they’d both failed to stop this.

And it showed in their eyes.

So they’d bonded right away.

But she wasn’t heading off to change reality because they’d bonded.

She was doing it because it was the right thing to do, and Carol Danvers was nothing if not a sucker for the right thing to do.

“Okay Lieutenant Trouble. I’m trusting your intel here. You say this Fitzsimmons is the best?”

Monica giggled a little and rolled her eyes, fiddling with her NASA jacket the same way Carol had a habit of fidgeting with her Air Force one. “Fitz and Simmons, Ma. They’re two separate people. And yeah. They’re the best. They’ll be able to help you bring her back, if anyone can.”

Carol kissed her daughter - so grown, now - on the forehead and her wife on the mouth, deep and slow, until Monica threw a paperback at them and Maria and Carol devolved into the parents of a three-year-old, tickling their child all the way into the back of the couch cushions.

It was the first time any of the three of them had laughed like that in years.

And then Carol was off.

She hadn’t told Clint what she was going to do, on the off chance that it didn’t work.

She hadn’t told anyone except Maria, Monica, and Fury. Fury was the one who’d told her that her own daughter could give her some underground SHIELD contacts that would be able to help.

That kid might not be a kid anymore, but she sure was on her way to building her own spaceship.

And a spaceship was where she found one half of this Fitzsimmons, and the legendary Daisy Johnson. 

Because even across the galaxy, people whispered about Daisy Johnson.

“I found this pod in space, and I kind of thought you’d want what’s inside. Or um. Who’s inside,” she stepped back as Jemma sprinted toward the pod, Daisy close behind her.

She watched as they unfroze their best friend, their something much more, and she averted her eyes slightly as they hugged and kissed and apologized and forgave.

And sobbed.

Lots of sobbing.

She couldn’t blame them.

Her own reunion with her once-dead lover had included a lot of sobbing, too.

“Did Jemma say you flew through space? With... with just your body?” Fitz pointed and asked after a long, long while.

“Sure did,” she answered, tilting her head and wondering about the intensity of both horror and hope she saw in this man. In all three of them, truth be told.

“And you brought us back Fitz as, what, some kind of exchange for helping you bring a friend back?”

“Not an exchange,” Carol shook her head at Daisy. “Nothing ulterior. But yeah, Jemma told you right. I do wanna bring a friend back. From the Red Skull’s clutches.”

The looks the three of them exchanged, even as Jemma fussed over Fitz’s vital signs, over whether someone named Enoch had set him up with enough nutrients and testosterone to last the journey, told Carol that they’d had their fair share of experience with Hydra.

“And how would we be able to help with that?” Jemma asked, simmeringly polite but just as protective as Monica had described.

“I heard you got brought back from the brink with Kree blood once,” Carol nodded at Daisy. “Me too. I was hoping we could use that to create a solve for the woman that saved the galaxy.”

She watched Jemma work on the biology, and she watched Fitz work on the physics.

She watched Daisy work on hacking the databases the two needed to keep their work going and she watched time go by with all these people around her, these people who were chosen by this life just like she was.

She watched until they had enough to give her instructions and best wishes and invitations to come back, because Jemma definitely wanted a chance to learn more about her biology.

Carol arched her eyebrows and smirked, just as Daisy and Fitz did, thanking them before flying toward Vormir.

“Your logic is flawed,” she told Red Skull before he had the chance to identify her, to tell her why he thought she’d come. “If someone willingly murders someone they claim to love to get their hands on a Stone, they don’t really love them, do they? And even if you argue that they do, if they’re willing to kill someone they love for the Stone, what else are they capable of? It should make them unworthy to retrieve it, if anything.”

“You cannot reverse what’s been done,” Red Skull warned her, and he opened his mouth to say more words.

Except, Carol was done hearing words out of the mouths of Nazis.

She was faster and she was stronger.

And his sick little guardian game hadn’t counted on Carol loving herself.

She hurled herself down, off the cliff and into oblivion. Not flying.

Falling.

The moment before rocks broke her fall - just next to the body of her old friend, still broken, still bloody, but miraculously, perfectly, there - she injected herself and Natasha with the serum Fitzsimmons had come up with.

Everything hurt, and then nothing hurt, and the waiting began.

It was Natasha who woke her up.

Natasha, looking none the worse for wear. 

Carol laughed and whooped and pulled her in for a hug, even as her own body burned with having died and then having not died.

“Science, biatch,” she remembered hearing Fitz mutter as he’d worked, and she laughed some more.

“Let’s take you home,” Carol slung her arm around Natasha’s shoulder as they both stood on shaking legs. 

“Did we beat him?” is all Natasha wanted to know.

“You better believe it,” Carol smirked, transferring her helmet to Natasha’s head and speeding them both back to Earth.

[dwollsadventures]

TyrantisTerror Prompt: Lesser Drake

You’ve heard of Smaugust, now get ready for… Smovember. Smauvember. Starting on the 31st of October. 

All right, bull-shit aside here’s the deal: Sword and Shield is coming out in 16 days exactly, and I need to distract myself from the leaks, if/when they happen.  To keep my mind free of distraction, I’ve decided to do an abridged version of Tyrant Is Terror’s 31-Day Dragon Prompts. But, I’ll only be doing the first 16 days, firstly because that’s the time-frame for Sword and Shield’s release, and also because prompts 17-31 deal with creatures based around either abstract elements or different popular culture stuff. But, because I am me, nothing is going to be what it seems. Many of the prompts listed give a little description, using the specific names of these creatures to mean a body-plan. Instead, I’ll do my usually thing of diving way too deep into the etymology and history of that creature. Most of these are going to be simpler drawings, in a similar vein to the previous wisps collage, because school. 

The first of these is the Drake. Though listed as a four-legged, wingless dragon, the word drake is ultimately derived from the Greek drakon, which means both dragon and serpent. Both their serpentine bodies and their piercing eyes were considered their defining traits, and through the Romans the word was spread across Europe, appearing even in the Old English Beowulf, where the dragon is referred to as a “draca”. But, because I’ve drawn a lot of drakones, here is a drakaina, or dracaena. Literally the word is the feminine form of drakon, but can also be used to described monstrous goddesses with the bodies of serpents, like Keto and Ekhidna. These seem to be the exception though, as the more common drakaina are more like their male relatives; monstrous and animal-like in their behavior. The drakaina pictured here is Sybaris, a mountainous dragon whose territory included Mount Cirphis. She caused significant damage to the surrounding countryside, until the hero Eurybarus killed her, tossing her from her mountain perch onto the rocks below, making a spring. Dragons are often prone to causing shifts in the environment, as befitting creatures descended directly from the primordial creators of the world. 

also happy halloween

[wardog-of-the-endless]

Wardog’s Fic Masterpost

You can find nearly all fics through my AO3 account, but here’s a list of links!

MARVEL

IronStrange- Tony Stark x Stephen Strange

Wishes (Better Left Ungranted)

General-  Tony makes a few wishes, but some are better left ungranted.

‘Till Then

Mature- Stephen Strange is trying to work at Kamar-Taj when his boyfriend texts him... from his Malibu bed. Stephen opens a portal to talk to him about it and they wind up, not really talking about it. ( Tony Stark Bingo Explicit Card A4 KINK: Masturbation)

The Theory of Magic (Series)

General- A get together series in which Stephen Strange has a crush and actually makes a movie. Stories are Complete but the Series is Ongoing, available for expansion via prompts when open.

Remind Me

Study and Practice

Burden of Proof

Absence Makes the Heart

Time Heals All (Series)

General- Stephen Strange and Tony Stark are married. A little Team Cap antagonistic. Part 3 is a little Dark!IronStrange.

What the Doctor Ordered

Cloak and Dagger

Break Rules (Not Oaths)

IronPanther- Tony Stark x T’Challa

Hot Chocolate

General- (Fluff and Flirting)- So a combination of a prompt and a ship. From jacarandabanyan "Hot Chocolate" and bash-it-all's "IronPanther".

WinterHawk- James Barnes x Clint Barton

Nesting On Knives (Series)

Teen- Tumblr Prompt: 1.“Would you ever write WinterHawk?<3″ . Birthday Fic + Tumblr Prompt: All Avengers, clock, poking (+ Tony Stark) 1. Well-Armed (To Hold) 2. A Meddling Affection

WinterIron- James Barnes x Tony Stark

Children of Light

General to Teen- Slowbuild to WinterIron. Deals with the Death of JARVIS, the first activation of FRIDAY, and JARVIS’s eventual resurrection. (Note that J is the “Major Character Death” referenced.) This is angsty because I have FEELINGS about the loss of JARVIS and the fact that we never mourned him in MCU. Stories and Series ongoing.

Son of Stark

To Lose a Child

A Child’s Initiative

I Will Always Find You

General- Tony as Snow White, Bucky as Prince Charming in an AU snippet of OUAT.

Collision With a Dream

General- Bucky's walking along arguing about Russian Lit when he literally runs over his dream guy. Tasha does what she usually does, she makes it worse. That's alright, Tony's apparently the forgiving sort.

(You Wanna) Date My Dad

General- Featuring Harley Keener! "Would you ever write a fic where Bucky meets Harley?"

To Cure a Hangover (You Need Espresso and a Date)

General- Prompt: "Would you ever write: WinterIron with age difference? Like teacher!Bucky with Student!Tony? :P"

I Was Promised a Flying Car

General- Prompt: Would you ever write a fic where Tony and Bucky is bonding over being nerds/loving science? (And doing all kinds of wacky, mythbuster-esque experiments that Tony whips up any time Bucky begins a sentence with "I wonder what would happen if...?")So it's not "science" driven, but science nerd Bucky did spend his last night before deployment at the Stark Expo, staring at a flying car...

Mechanics, Millionaires, Models & More

General- Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are friends from childhood. When Tony as a single dad catches the eye of the model James Barnes, there’s some mutual Instagram-Stalking and a lot of flirting.

Tony’s First Friend

Coping for An Age

(Walk Walk) Fashion Baby

Milkshakes and Motorcycles

Teen- Bucky, second to the Captain for the Howling Commandos, hears a scuffle around the corner and finds himself with an armful of just about the prettiest little lost lamb he's ever seen. Since Tony don't seem too keen on his now-ex, Bucky's gonna buy him a milkshake, wrap him in a leather jacket, and hopefully show him a good time.

Coffee, Curses, Kisses

General- Tony Stark drags himself out of his workshop on a regular Thursday morning. Well, mostly a regular morning. Except for Clint Barton lying on the breakfast bar in themed underwear. The theme is new, the rest is depressingly familiar. Ok, so maybe the rose petals are new too. (What the hell, Clint?) It's enough to make a billionaire grateful for the Avengers Alarm. Wait a minute, magic too? Fuck, this is just not Tony's day. (Until it really, really is.) (This is a Fill for Tony Stark Bingo 2019 S4: FIRST KISS)

Riding Roughshod

Teen- The Heroic Captain America wakes up in a world that is integrated far beyond what he would have dreamed of when he went into the ice, though he never expected to be a part of it. A pioneer of mixed-race teams back in his own day, the last thing he expects is to be called upon to do so once again, this time gathering a group of heroes from some rather unlikely places. If that weren't enough to worry about, there's a wild-card Soldier with a familiar fighting style making trouble at top-security bases all over the world... and a shiny red and gold suit that doesn't seem to answer to anyone. That's to say nothing of the kid genius that's supposedly behind it. ( This is a Fill for Tony Stark Bingo 2019 R4: Centaurs / This is a Fill for Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019 K3: Tony Stark/ Iron Man)

Love Like Knives

Mature- Winter wakes up Tony when he wants someone to play rough with.This is a Bingo Fill for Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019- U4: [Image: Winter Soldier holding a knife.]

California Dreamin’ A Beach Bums Verse

Teen- Note: A Special Collaboration Series! This is a WinterIron get together with puns, angst, fluff and more! Note that some fics may include Losers crossover characters! Also make sure to read my partner maevee’s stories!

Don’t Tell (Secrets) -Losers Crossover Fic

(Everyday Is A) Winding Road - Losers Crossover Fic

Mai Tai (Offer You A Drink) 

When You Wish Upon A Stark -Maevee

We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Bucky -Maevee!

Adorato

Teen-James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, has been out of the ice and Hydra’s hands for a month the first time he hears a familiar voice. (A SoulMate AU)

True, Strong and Brave

Teen- Bucky Barnes moves into the tower and receives help from an otherwise elusive Iron Man. But when the team gets called out and things go wrong, Steve gets a reality check as to what has been done in his name. Bucky steps up, he's one of the few who can. (Team Cap Critical; Anti-Wanda)

Tired

General- From a Prompt on Tumblr: Random Sentence- “I’ll do it for you.”

(Were) Whisperer

Mature- In a world where Aliens rain destruction from portals through space, ancient Gods arrive on beams of light, and a certain Billionaire Philanthropist darts around the world in a metal suit: there really is a very high bar for what is considered "weird". Shapeshifters hardly register, having been long known. You’re either a Human, a Were, or a Whisperer. Most people can prove whether they’re the first or the second, a few will lie about being the third. Alternately, there's Tony. Tony Stark is one of the few people pretending the first and burying the third, and he’s more or less in the clear with it until Steve Rogers catches up with the Winter Soldier, and brings him home to Avengers Tower. Tony doesn’t have to say a word, the Wolf knows differently.

An Attraction

Jurassic World AU-  Write... a crossover/au of the last non-marvel movie you saw and marvel (if ships, winteriron?). Essentially Jurassic World & Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Snippets with WinterIron. Originally Posted on Tumblr: Expansion Pack for AO3 Rolling Out Now!

Next Year Will Be Better

General- Just a quick story for Tony’s birthday. Pre-Slash Tony Stark/James Barnes, and Tony acting as IronDad to the Spider Son and his Potato Gun Son.

Let’s Go Dancing

General- This is a Marvel Universe-Center Stage Fusion AU that no one asked for and everyone is getting anyway. Tony dances for the American Ballet Company as their featured ballerino, performing under the name Antonio Carbonell. James and Steve are two of the ABC’s newest students, and James gets a chance to meet his crush on his first day. Just his luck, Tony is even better in person. (Natalia may have been setting them up all along.) This is a Fill for Tony Stark Bingo 2019- S1: Dancing

The B Team

Teen- Pepper Potts has had a long day that isn’t over yet, as Phil Coulson has just arrived on the doorstep of Tony’s Malibu Mansion to discuss Iron Man joining a new team. In most instances, it wouldn’t be enough to let him in the door, except he’s brought James Barnes along with him. Of course, he was probably expecting that James would be helping them talk business… But all the Soldier seems to want to do is get busy. (WinterIronWeek Day1/ TSB S2: [Image: Tony Stark working on IM in Workshop]) 

Done

General- Tony has just started prep work to remove the old arm and install the new one he's built, and already James is impatient. Or maybe he just wants to needle his boyfriend a little? Tony gets pretty cute when he's annoyed. (WinterIronWeek Day 2)

A Second Take, A First Impression

General- A drunk Tony Stark meets his Soulmate at a college party, but James is a gentleman (and Rhodey is scary) so nothing can happen until they’re sober. Tony wakes up at an ungodly hour of the morning, confused at his current predicament, and meets his (very attractive, very shirtless) Soulmate all over again. (He wishes he could forget all of this.) (WinterIronWeek Day 3)

Hunting For (You)

General- The Soldier has cleared the last of his required therapies, been gifted a new arm, and turned loose. The first thing he wants is to show Tony, up close and personal. Of course, there's a certain winged pest that is going to interrupt. (WinterIronWeek Day5)

WinterWidow/RussianRoulette- James Barnes x Natasha Romanova

No Fics Currently

Stony- Steve Rogers x Tony Stark

A Guardian of Light

Teen- a.k.a. that time Steve sank the Valkyrie in the Arctic and became a spirit-walking wolf to guide Tony, at Frigga’s suggestion.

Shield Studios Ltd.

General Audiences- All the Avengers in a non-powered voice-acting AU for an animated show called "Assemble" staring their Marvel counterparts. Tony/Steve have a mutual admiration/crush but it's not actually romantic and can be read as gen.

Assemble!

Phil’s Failed Plan

You’re Welcome to Try

The Vague & The Unmistakable

General Audiences- Looking back on it, there are several things that should have tipped Steve off that today was his Birthday. (Starting with the fact that it's suddenly clear Tony engineered every one of them.)

Stucky- Steve Rogers x James Barnes

No Fics Currently

Stuckony- Steve Rogers x James Barnes x Tony Stark

On The Wing

Teen- A Wing AU for Stuckony. Stories are Complete but the Series is Ongoing, available for expansion via prompts when open.

Fluttering

Turtledove

(I’ll) Be Good

Mature- So when the tumblr prompt "Would you ever write...ABO winterironshield with alpha Tony?" meets my Kink Card S2 Square "Alpha/Beta/Omega Society" this is where we end up.

Allergic to Coddling

From the Prompt: "Would you ever write Tony Stark having an allergic reaction to something and the rest of the Avengers babying him to the point of ridiculousness because they just love him so much?" Sort of Stuckony, sort of Everyone is Poly Because Avengers? Your choice.

Poly Avengers- Everyone Loves Everyone

Everybody Loves Me

From the Prompt: "Would you ever write a TonyXEveyone fic? Not exactly everyoneXeveryone, but everyone *in love* with Tony only?" Note this is a Partial Fill which may be expanded on later. Featuring Tales of Suspense Hawkeye/Comic Clint Barton, aka deaf and a dumpster kid until the end.

Non Romantic- No Shipping

Shut UP, Bucky!

Teen-  From the hellscape of Discord Discussions I bring you: QueenWuppy: "During World War II condoms were not only distributed to male U.S. military members, but enlisted men were also subject to significant contraception propaganda in the form of films, posters, and lectures. A number of slogans were coined by the military, with one film exhorting "Don't forget — put it on before you put it in." "guys i was doing research and and steve and bucky were subjected to this". AKA Bucky makes SO MANY COMMENTS about Super Soldier Sized Protection. So many.

The Most Powerful (Pillowfight)

General-  In which Carol and Tony (aggressively) support each other and then do battle (with pillows) for their honor. Or each other's honor? It's unclear, things got out of control. (James Rhodes loves these idiots way too much.) (This is a fill for the TSB 2019 Square: T2: A BATTLE/FIGHT/CONFRONTATION)

We Can’t Plot Murder All The Time

General Audiences- From the Prompt: "Would you ever write Deadpool/Tony (IronPool? DeadMan? IronDead? Dunno their ship name :b)" AN: I don’t ship them so this is a non-romantic.

The Losers

A Touch of Grace

Gen to Teen- Cougar has a bad feeling right before the Fadhil operation, and he admonishes Jake to be careful. Jake mostly pays attention, but Cougs is pretty distracting. (Slight D/s tones and Subspace.)

If I Touch You, Will You Listen? (Cougar’s POV)

If I Listen, Will You Touch Me? (Jensen’s POV)

Tag (You’re It)

Teen-  Jake hacks a new system for the express purpose of getting the Losers prank dog tags printed and delivered. Mostly because his Unit is full of people that make bad decisions, himself included. And also? To flirt with Cougar. Jake is willing to do stupid, stupid things in order to flirt with Cougar.

You And Tequila (Make Me Crazy)

Teen (and Up)- Fortalvarez Tequila is a family business that's been in operation for a hundred and fifty years. Currently, under the management of the family matriarch Constanza, the business will soon be passed to her beloved grandson Carlos. The problem is, Constanza does not care for modern technology or the fact that all of her grandbabies (but especially her favorite) are single. Her solution is a single advertisement for a new Social Media Expert, which is about to be answered by the very handsome (and rather impulsive) Jake Jensen. 

[letsperaltiago]

If you don’t mind, I’ll walk the line |Jake x Amy|

I Love You-prompt request #42: Is this okay? 

Requested by @phxntom-pain! 

Look, I’m a sucker for pining pre-relationship Peraltiago and also new-relatiosnhip Peraltiago, soooo here we go! Hope you like it! 

Also this isn’t proof read yet, so sorry in advance for typos and other mishaps!

Word count: 2.5K

It’s all the little things he has to get used to. All the thoughts, words and gestures he had to hold back before; he’s now actually allowed to put them all into motion. Yet, it’s still new and he still somewhat feels uncertain. Mostly because he finds it hard to know where to start and where to stop. The last thing he wants to do is to cross the line. Amy Santiago is too damn important for that.

They’ve only been dating - considering the evening where they finally said “screw light and breezy” as the actual starting point - for a bit over a week. It’s still brand new. And though Jake absolutely loves it, already considering it the best thing that has ever happened to him, it also manages to keep him on his toes. Not to say that he doesn’t feel comfortable around Amy. On the contrary: he’s sometimes afraid that he feels too comfortable around her. It’s only been a week, right? That exact thought strikes him a lot; more than he’d like it to. Guess Sophia did leave some scarring, though he hated to admit it. The last thing he wanted to was to compare them, but he also knew very well that Amy and Sophia were nothing alike. Yet he couldn’t help but hear Sophia’s haunting words from their last day together, whenever he felt like bursting with love in front of his new girlfriend.

“I just don’t think I accidentally love you back…”

Honestly he hadn’t thought three months with Sophia had been too soon, but her reacting the way she to his three accidental confessions of love did affect him. Jake wasn’t stupid though. He also knew very well, looking past what happened with Sophia, that one week was way too soon for an “I love you”. But man, did he feel like exploding every time Amy was within his sight. A zoo had moved into Jake’s stomach. Exactly, not just butterflies. Amy Santiago made him feel the whole damn Bronx zoo. Today was no exception. Tuesday. 10 days after agreeing to screw ‘light and breezy’. Yes, Jake kept count of the days and if the whole world wouldn’t judge him for it, he’d throw him and Amy a 10 day anniversary-party. Then again, Jake had a filter a knew that he’d have to wait for them to cross the one month-mark. At the very least.

Anyways, it was Tuesday and time for lunch. The squad had decided to get some food from the Chinese take-away place down the street from the precinct. Being the good friend that she is - also in need of fresh air and more steps for her pedometer -  Amy had quickly offered to pick it up and save the delivery expenses.

“The delivery is only a couple of bucks, Santiago. Don’t worry about it,” the sarge had gently brushed off her offer.  

“I want to though. It’s just a few blocks and I could use a brisk walk.” She had already picked up her coat, and put her hair in a signature ponytail in order to keep it intact in case the weather outside was windy. Always prepared Santiago-style.

“Just let her go, Sarge. It’ll make her day,” Rosa added without looking up from where she was currently stirring milk into her fresh cup of coffee. Amy smiled widely at the sound of her friend’s comment, lowkey enjoying the support though she also knew the curly-haired detective’s comment contained a certain amount of mocking.

Enhancing his already huge muscles, their sergeant shrugged in defeat before dealing the number and placing the phone to his ear. He wasn’t getting anywhere with this. “Sure… Go ahead, Santiago.”

“Awesome! See you in a bit,” and with that said, Amy rushed out the break-room and through the busy bullpen before suddenly bumping into a firm chest, as she was too busy wrapping her scarf around her neck.

“Wow there!” The chest uttered.

“Oh, sorry! I wasn’t-“ she looked up to meet a couple of familiar brown eyes. Her before nervous o-shaped lips suddenly transitioned into a calm smile.

“Should I be worried that you’re fleeing the place as soon as I step in? Also… A scarf?” Jake squinted his eyes at his girlfriend’s (his girlfriend!!!) choice of outwear, adding a teasing smile for the sake of it.

He hadn’t expected anything else, so of course he got a pair of rolling eyes back, Those were also attached to a smile, of course. “Mock me if you will, but we’re in October and the weather is unpredictable.”

“Just admit that you’re constantly cold, Santiago.”

This little comment showed that he actually knew her a lot better than most people - including herself - thought and it caused blood a rush of blood to her cheeks. Befor she could even think of objecting, she was nervously tugging a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. Jake could only stand and look, fighting the urge to pull her in for a kiss right then and there in front of the entire buzzing bullpen. A  cough of his broke the tension, saving them both from further yearning and problems with HR.

“Anyhow… Where are you even going? Isn’t it time for lunch?”

“Oh, I’m going to grab lunch for everyone,” she suddenly remembered how they’d ended up here in the first place, both still standing by the bullpen’s gate. Something immediately clicked in Jake’s brain. Though he’d been outside since the early hours, chasing some idiot perp who thought he could get away with robbing a delhi, he was willing to take another walk if it meant spending time with Amy.

“Care for some good-looking company?”

The fact that this question followed her statement without hesitance only made Amy’s heart pound faster for the man. There was honestly no one else she’d rather spend time with than him, and the fact that he felt that way too was very soothing to Amy. Dating and dealing with anxiety hadn’t always been a easy cocktail to drink, but Jake made it easier. So far so good, right?

“Sure,” she sent him a warm smile, automatically reaching for his hand but soon enough clenching her fist and diverting it. Professionalism was key and they were still very much inside the precinct.

15 minutes later, the two detectives were waiting in line for their order. Apparently, the rest of the precinct and half of Brooklyn had had the same exact  idea for lunch. The Chinese eatery was buzzing like a fairground, and both Jake and Amy could recognise at least a dozen of faces from around the city: colleagues from their own and neighbour precincts, old suspects and other random acquaintances.  

“Damn, what is up with Brooklyn today?” Jake frowned as they got into the back of the line.

“Payday was yesterday,” Amy stated matter of a factly, checking her phone for the order number that the sergeant had texted her.

“Ah, yes. Makes sense, ‘cause there’s no way in hell Anderson from PR can afford both Chinese for lunch and the new Dragon Quest Heroes-game…” After a few seconds of silence that’s when he realised the other detective was no longer looking at her phone, but instead him and this time with a confused frown.

“Okay, I had to drop by PR to see Holt and while I was waiting for him, I got in real deep with Anderson. Don’t judge!”

They took a few steps forward, feeling people joining the line behind them as Amy let him off the hook with a smile and a shake of the head. A comfortable silence between fell over the two, momentarily shielding them from the noise around them. The shorter of the two, whose scarf had blown into a messy ,’hanging on for dear life’-type of positions around her neck, suddenly started fidgeting with the long piece of black material. Still very much caught in this bubble, where only the two of them existed, Jake stared mesmerisingly as the black-haired got her hands all caught up. There was something so stupidly capturing and naturally beautiful about her - even as her eyes shot daggers at her scarf and nose scrunched with displeasure. Small grunts anf sighs escaped her tightly sealed lipped as to keep herself from cursing, which Jake knew she definitely could though she wasn’t proud of it.

Then, without even thinking like it was a deeply rooted instinct within himself, he took a step closer to her and grabbed the two ends of her scarf. She froze at his sudden closeness, just momentarily, before letting go of the tricky ends and tilting her head upwards to look at him. Currently busy fixing her scarf for her, he wasn’t looking directly at her face, but she was definitely looking at him. He could feel it. Right then and there he wished fixing a scarf was harder, just so he had an excuse to stand this close to her for a bit longer, but his hands eventually stopped moving when he realised he’d succeeded the task. No matter how unnatural or weird it might’ve seemed to the bystanders in line, he couldn’t get himself to let go of the fabric around her neck.  So he just stood there, holding onto the two ends with his hands as he finally replaced his vision to look straight back at her.

Like gravity he slowly started to pull her in closer by the scarf, slowly ducking his head to reach her few inches shorter height. Though they were very close by then as Amy just let him use her scarf to draw her in, Jake still had a pretty good sight of her face and he could tell that her eyes were wandering. They weren’t focused, itching for him like his was for her, but looked rather… anxious. This very small act, though probably unconscious on her part, drew him out of the moment and caused him to freeze nose tip to nose tip with his partner. It was all it took to pause his instincts and get him way too deep into his head.

It took him back to a few months prior, when he was with Sophia, and reminded him of how any kind of PDA was a no-no with her. He somewhat understood and agreed, since they professionally speak were enemies, but it still hurt. Every time he wanted to kiss her or even just grab her hand at or anywhere near the courthouse or her office, he’d have to stop himself. He couldn’t help but consider that maybe he was just the one who was a bit too all over the place with his feelings, and women actually didn’t like this kind of stuff. Maybe it was just better to keep feelings and the public space as separate things. Amy wasn’t his object to prance around with, even if he simply did it out of care and envy. It was not like actually cared whether or not people saw them. Sometimes he just craved her attention; her touch - just to make sure that she was indeed real and no longer a dream,

He swallowed, silently but prominently, as if to prepare himself for a crash and burn. Their noses were still pressed against one another; his hands were still keeping her close by the scarf and her eyes were still wandering around his face.

“Is this… okay?” She couldn’t help but notice how his breath hitched as he said it.

A huge frown immediately crept onto her beautiful face and it felt like a kick to the gut. “What do you mean?”

“This.” He pulled back, causing bridge of her nose suddenly feeling empty, to look into her eyes with grave sincerity which honestly almost scared Amy a bit. “Like, I know we’re out in public, but I wasn’t thinking straight and I just-” he took another deep breath, having run out of air. “I think I just, even unconsciously, want to like… Hold you and hug you and kiss you all the time. But I know it’s also kinda inappropriate-“

“Peralta. Shut up,” she giggled amusingly, shaking her head at him as she grabbed the sides of his open leather jacket to pull him into a kiss. Keeping in mind that they were in the midst of a few dozens of people, Amy allowed her lips to gently dance across his, letting him know that they were more than okay. Unable to grab her scarf, since her hands were in the way, he quickly found an alternative in putting his hands on her hips to pull her in close. The kiss had an entire firework factory explode in his stomach, still not understanding both why he had the coolest girlfriend or how she was actually her girlfriend. Though still pressed against hers, his lips spread into a wide grin and he could feel hers smile back; which without a doubt was the best feeling in the entire world. No doubt. So into it that the world disappeared, he barely notice her lips leaving his, when she slightly drew her head back to look him in the eyes.

“I know us being colleagues is a matter that we need to be careful about, but when we’re not back at the precinct or out on duty, then don’t…” She paused, running her tongue across her upper lip in thought and almost killing Jake, before continuing. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just me, okay?” Her right hand let go of the zipper on his jacket, only to slide up his collarbone, neck and ending on his cheek. She smiled and immediately reassured him. “Do whatever you’d done with any other girlfriend. Grab my hand, play with my hair, kiss me in line for Chinese take away in front of random people… It’s okay.”

A heavy, calm sigh escaped his body. “I just didn’t want to do it, just because I’m such a damn smitten fool, if you felt weird about it. I guess I’m still high on this whole us-thing.”

“You think I’m not? God, Jake. The only reason why I rarely do anything PDA-ish or sometimes look nervous when you initiate some is because… I can’t believe it’s you, you know? I can’t believe that I can do all these stupid, cute things to you without it being weird or wrong. And I can’t believe that I’m the girl that you can do all these stupid, cute things to. Doesn’t mean it’s not okay… Okay?”

“Okay,” he smiled, feeling like a heavy burden was lifted from his shoulders. The line moved, so they eventually had to let go of each other and go along with it. She felt him grab her hand, intertwining their fingers and couldn’t help but smile to herself. It’s stupid how such a small gesture could make her feel so giddy. Next thing she knew, he ducked his head to reach her ear’s level.

“Expect a lot of me smacking your butt and calling you sickly cute names from now on, Santiago. This is boyfriend-Jake and you’re getting the full experience from now on.”

“Jake…”

[winterironspringfling]

Spring Fling 2017: Complete Gift List

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported the WinterIron Spring Fling this year. No matter if you created a gift, helped out as a beta or pinch hitter, shared our posts, or cheered us on, you all helped make this exchange a tremendously fun and exciting experience.

And now, without further ado, the thing you’ve all been waiting for: the complete gift list.

Enjoy!

Of Dates and Journalistic Investigations by JustAnAvidReader for hiirokumo

Prompts: Modern AU no powers. Bucky works as a cashier at the supermarket Tony frequents. Bucky will switch with other cashiers. Tony notices bucky’s laboured breathing. “were you running?” And: 5. Superman!bucky and lois lane!tony Tony is a investigative journalist and Bucky is cashier at the supermaket Tony frequents (or is he?) The superman au you never asked for, but got anyway! WinterIron Srping Fling 2017

Dearly Beloved by EchoSiriusRumme for Niki

His first undercover mission after being benched, and it was with the man he had been trying to avoid.  Not only that, but they were supposed be newlyweds (where does SHIELD get these ideas?)  Complicated didn’t even begin to cover Bucky’s situation.

Domesticity (is not all that bad) by Briz for Zola9612      

If 16 years old him could see him now, he would be seething with anger for his life choices.

‘Til The Sea Itself Floweth In Your Veins by catZY for MegaraNoelle    

Tony is hiding out at his private beach house after dropping the bombshell that he isn’t making any more weapons. While walking along the water, the finds an unconscious and injured man with a fish tail.

Bucky is a merman who was nabbed by some crazy scientists. He has finally escaped, though unfortunately losing his arm in the process, and is so close to the sea he can taste it. But he isn’t strong enough to swim home and gets washed back onto shore, which is where Tony finds him.

Steve is Bucky’s childhood friend who has been searching frantically for him ever since he’s been snatched. Will he ever get Bucky back?

Firestarter by Amonae for Shi_Toyu      

“So it’s the fires, again? And we’re sure it’s not a rogue dragon?”

“No, we’re not sure,” Steven says, sounding exasperated. “Since no one’s seen it, well, a beast that large wouldn’t exactly go unnoticed.”

“We have any guesses?”

“The usual; a wyvern, an overzealous clutch of fire lizards—Peter has his money on fire toads.”

James wrinkles his nose. “Those don’t exist, Stevie.”

Making Friends In High Places by Sophelia for Arboreal      

Howard Stark died childless, leaving behind a multi-billion dollar company and an extremely elaborate will doling out portions of his estate to bizarre causes. Luckily for the Avengers, this included giving them a place to stay in the top of Stark Tower.

Tony, like most Stark Industries employees, did his best to ignore the superheroes living above him. That was, until he met a metal-armed super soldier who for some reason keep wandering down from the upper floors.

Put A Label On It by LeilaEracktor for ChaoticDemon      

Tony and Bucky bond over Avengers Academy

Prompts: Avengers Academy is a mobile game in the MCU.  The Avengers play it.; Soulmates

See Me Through by dreamingdarkly for tringic 

The prompt from my giftee: One of them is invisible and the other is the only one who can see them.

Bucky Barnes has spent his entire life hiding, first as a sniper and then as The Asset. Over the years, he discovers Tony; the one person he doesn’t have to hide from.

Love Goes Through A Man’s Stomach by fynndin for SailorChibi      

Bachelorette parties are basically expected to go a little above and beyond the normal. That Carol would deem it necessary to reveal her super powers to the Avengers on hers, that the stripper she hired as a cheesy joke would get into a gunfight with a HYDRA agent or that Captain America would turn up still was beyond Jennifer Walter’s imaginations for even the worst of worst case scenarios when she had agreed to be the maid of honor and organize the party. In hindsight, mixing up a good alcohol-free punch seemed like a rather manageable task.

Worlds change, but people don’t by JenJo for mitochondrials      

Chapter 1: Tony and Bucky have a date at a cafe. They are also witches.

Chapter 2: Tony & Bucky’s pining is so legendary even the Time Fog gets involved.

In Which There is Much Attempted Wooing by hiirokumo for EchoSiriusRumme      

And so our two main protags are not so secretly harbouring feelings for each other, which is obvious to everyone else but themselves. Wil they end up happily ever after? Only time will tell.

Winds and Waters by ChaoticDemon for eustassya    

“It’s alright, you know,” he says, “I’m not going to be mad.”

Seeing things (for the first time) by tringic for justanotherpipedream      

Tony learned at a young age that it was better not to be different (Unless you were better than everyone else, then it was okay), and he’d always been grateful that he’d learned that before he learned that not everyone could see the red strings.

A Lone Wolf by Niki for Amonae      

“Before was pack and Steve and family, safety and warmth and purpose. Now is loneliness and pain and hunger and cold, and soon is when he’ll reach the source of that incredible scent reminding him of home.”

The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Lunatical for Kellen 

When the light disappeared, he opened his eyes again to find the witch gone, together with her monsters… and a little girl with bright red hair standing where Natasha was just a second before, Widow’s catsuit pooled around her, barely hanging on one of her shoulders.

“Ahhh, shit,” came Clint’s voice over the comms “that looks bad.”

This time, even Steve’s “language” sounded weak.

Stealing the First Kiss by MassiveSpaceWren for JustAnAvidReader     

AvAc first kiss.

Burn and Boil (Through the Skies) by justanotherpipedream for MassiveSpaceWren   

Tony was used to running. From Alliance soldiers, raiders, you name it, Tony’s outrun them all. He’s a man on a mission, and can’t afford to fail. Not even for the devilishly handsome Bucky Barnes, smuggler, rogue and all-around space pirate.

A Firefly/Marvel story of space, explosions and falling in love.

Up Close and Impersonal by Hanh for Fluffypanda      

“This rickety cot was not made for two people, big guy. …Bucky? You there?”

The Monsters in Our Pasts by Zola9612 for Lunatical      

When Stark Tower is damaged in an attack, the team is forced to move into Tony’s childhood home. It is there that Tony’s many secrets start to unravel.

Cat Parenting (and Other Meet-Cutes) by singingwithoutwords for DreamcatchersDaughter      

Of all the ways Bucky could have finally gotten a chance to speak to his crush, why did it have to be his cat getting Tony’s cat pregnant?

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know by Shi_Toyu for InsaneJuliann    

“Friends Natasha and Steve decide to set up their friends Tony and Bucky on a date, since both have had bad luck with dating for a while. Unfortunately, these planned blind dates keep going wrong, so that one or both end up not being able to make it. Meanwhile, Tony and Bucky keep running into each other without realizing they’re the “friend” that Steve/Natasha are trying to set them up with, and grow closer, falling for each other.”

Ass Out of U and Me by DreamcatchersDaughter for Sophelia    

Bucky finds he likes being wrong a lot more than he thought he would.

Different by black_wings for catZY      

“Tony pictured his husband, and he couldn’t be more thankful for destiny. Because despite fate working in strange, mysterious and often painful ways, fate had brought him the one thing he’d always craved for: the love of his life.”

Or, Tony never became Iron Man and instead he starts helping Make-A-Wish Foundation fulfill wishes to meet heroes.

Misremembered by Arboreal for sushicorps      

When Loki smirked at Rogers in the middle of a battle and told him he would give Rogers what he wanted most in the world, the mind of his old friend back, Tony had a very bad feeling.

Just One Look At You by Stark-N-Barnes for black_wings  

Tony’s life changes on his first day at MIT when he meets Bucky Barnes. He’s never met anyone quite like him.

Running Towards Something by InsaneJuliann for LeilaEracktor    

Prompt: After months of tiptoeing around each other Tony and Bucky confess their feelings and get together. So when Tony goes missing the next day Bucky doesn’t know what to think. Has Tony been abducted or is he having second thoughts?

The one that got away (and stayed with them) by Kellen for singingwithoutwords      

When the Avengers’ space ship comes across a stopped Ten Rings frigate looking like they were having trouble, they first hesitate to do something about it. But there is someone in there, someone the Ten Rings are holding captive and the Avengers can’t let that be without doing something about it now, can they? A rescue mission it is.

The thing is… it didn’t go as predicted and when the prisoner revealed to be more dangerous than expected, they don’t know if the person they’re saving is about to kick their ass along with the Ten Rings’ or if they can expect some cooperation. Well, until Bucky meets them.

Deceptively Simple by mitochondrials for fynndin    

Bucky figured finally opening up about his kinks would have been relatively easy. He should have known nothing’s easy with Tony, except when it is.

there and back again (to find you) by SailorChibi for celtic7irish      

Hydra has a plan to go back in time and kill Steve before he becomes Captain America. Tony foils them, and in the process finds his soulmate.

Silent Confessions, Grand Gestures by MegaraNoelle for Karinna_Universe

Who knew that it would take a small Hydra faction to bring Tony and Bucky together? Now Steve is stuck babysitting his best friends, and dealing with them being in love, and not being shy about it at all.

Heart and Mind by Estelle for JenJo      

Bucky is a new student at the university, coming back to studying after the army, and still adjusting. Tony is finishing his fourth PhD there, and when they meet, let’s just say it doesn’t go over too well. It takes them a while to find out they have a lot in common.

Soft Touches by ZeeK for Hanh      

Bucky loves when Tony touches him.

Words Fail by Karinna_Universe for syriala    

This work was for the Winteriron Spring fling! Prompt: Arc reactor failing 

Wild Rose by celtic7irish for ZeeK    

Modern AU - Bucky is on a much needed road trip and his car ends up breaking down while passing through a small town. He knows a bit about engines but definitely not enough to fix whatever is wrong. The only repair shop in town turns out to belong to a secluded engineer.

ab ipso ferro by Fluffypanda for Stark-N-Barnes    

King Anthony Stark holds a ball to find a bondmate. Someone unexpected walks into his life.

Coffee Date by Potrix for Estelle

It’s just a silly crush, anyway, and Tony will get over it eventually. He’ll stop tripping over his tongue whenever Cute Delivery Guy flashes him one of his rare smiles, he’ll stop with the awful nervous jokes, he’ll stop having the urge to offer to replace the Hammer Tech prosthesis with a superior Stark Tech model, he’ll stop wondering how Cute Delivery Guy’s seemingly permanent five o’clock shadow might feel against his own cheeks, he’ll stop staring at Cute Delivery Guy’s ass when he leaves, and he’ll throw out his pathetic cup stash. Eventually.

It’s not as if Cute Delivery Guy’s two minute stops in his workshop are the highlights of Tony’s days, or anything embarrassing like that.

Mirror, Mirror by Shi_Toyu for dreamingdarkly

Tony doesn’t know how long he’s been stuck in this mirror since Obie’s betrayal, but he’s glad that the guy who found it is willing to help him get out.

[maddiebiscuits]

Maddie’s Big Gigantic Breath of the Wild Write-Up Where I Talk About Things I Like and Things I Didn’t Like

And regrettably, there are many things I did not like. But that doesn’t make this any less of a fantastic game that I enjoyed - I just wanted to put all my thoughts down in one spot. And yes, there’s spoilers.

--------------------------------------| Things I Like | ----------------------------------------

You can read any review for the game and that’s pretty much this section. There’s not much to say about the core game that hasn’t already been said, dozens and dozens of times, by professional or at least more knowledgeable game reviewers and critics out there.

Breath of the Wild (BOTW) is a big return to the uttermost classic Zelda feeling, of being a plucky hero in a big world that’s yours to traverse and discover, and get through on your wits and skills alone. But I’d actually argue that BOTW does the sense of open world and exploration far better than any other Zelda game comparison, not for the size of the maps (and man oh man they are big) but in that it gives you all the tools you need to explore within the first area and then kicks you out the door into the world. Any and all Zelda games, including the first, regardless of how “open” and non-linear you think they are, have a formula in that to progress through certain points, you must find an item that allows you to do so. BOTW dismisses that notion entirely and teaches you the core game mechanics and gives you the tools to explore wherever you want after the first area, and that’s a good thing. I spent the first several hours (upwards of a collective 20 or so) getting lost and just exploring, cooking food, finding side quests, fighting monsters, scaling mountains, and in a big way that’s sort of how the game is intended to be played. It’s full of creatures to hunt or befriend, hills to snowboard down on your shield, an expansive and hilarious physics engine to exploit, NPCs to meet and quests to be found and completed.

I like the provinces on the map, they’re either classic Zelda locations or call-backs to places from past games that weren’t always in Hyrule (large Majora’s Mask vibes, which makes sense, as this game takes place within the Child Era timeline). Even places that seemed the same at first ended up having subtle or severe differences, and of course the crisply-rendered graphics make the world vibrant, bright and inviting. While I miss the big orchestral scores I’m used to from other big console Zelda games, the subtle atmospheric music ended up being very nice and tonally appropriate, with familiar tunes sneaking in here and there in fun and sometimes beautiful ways.

NPC designs are unique, expressive, and full of character. Towns and hubs have a real sense of being lived in, with their own culture and way of life. Locations have their own passive dangers and benefits that make the world feel exciting and treacherous, and you can take any kind of approach to all kinds of situations. You can make special buff food or elixirs (one of the most fun things to do because I love watching the little food bits jump around in the pot) to brave the elements or give yourself extra bulk, or you can wear specialty armor or clothing, or do both. You can dye most outfits too, and tame and register your own horses and customize them. While a part of me misses the iconic green garb, being able to traverse Hyrule on a jet-black steed decked out in skulls and tattered leather while my Link was adorned with sleek black armor and cloak is kind of the best (and you can get the garb later, and then just build a custom green outfit yourself, which is how I went into end-game) Any weapon is fair game to wield as well, which was another part I greatly enjoyed and gave an added sense to exploration and that “get by on what you can find” survival aesthetic the game provides.

There really is a kind of subtle, almost accidental thoughtfulness to this game’s incarnation of Link. The background plot of the game describes, shows, and in some areas at least implies that Link was not a plucky hero from humble beginnings that the series is used to - Link was a prodigy in BOTW, a son of a proud and excellent knight who was to follow in his father’s footsteps to defend the kingdom and the royal family. Since he was a child he was groomed for this roll, despite the stress it caused him, until he became a trained and powerful warrior, even going so far as becoming the knight appointed to Princess Zelda, and wielding the Master Sword. He was the Hero from the beginning and was raised and trained his whole life to fulfill that role.

And he failed.

For all intents and purposes, Link in BOTW more or less dies (well, it’s implied he’s just unconscious and on the brink of death, but for my joking need to continue this “Link is the Chosen Undead” Dark Souls joke, yeah, he died). All the pomp and circumstance and careful, strict training surrounding his life ended up meaning nothing in the final grand scheme against Calamity Ganon. And this narrative carries not just to Link, but to the other cast of characters and Hyrule as a whole - years and years of careful planning and preparation was not what was needed to defeat Ganon.

The game starts with Link being resurrected, with no memory of what happened 100 years ago and nothing to his name but a shirt and some shoes (and the Sheikah Slate I guess). But it’s this Link, stripped of everything, who has to cross the wilds and adventure, working his way up from scratch, completing test after test and trial after trial laid out by the ruined Hyrule and the ancient Sheikah sages in their shrines, who reclaims the Master Sword, earns the green garb (or doesn’t - you only get it if you complete all 120 shrines, which I think fits tonally because I wouldn’t exactly dub a guy who failed the first time a hero until he’s been thoroughly re-tempered for the task) and defeats Ganon. It’s not a bunch of strict, stately training given to a person who’s told their destiny from a young age and forced immediately to live up to it that makes a hero in Zelda games - it’s the plucky adventurer coming from little, courageously taking on feats bigger than them for the good of Hyrule and the people within it, working up to the final encounter.

Hyrule and the NPCs you meet echo that tone as well. It’s a world that’s had to pick up the pieces since Ganon re-emerged and laid waste to their world. Descendants and spiritual successors of champions from the past risking themselves for the good of their people, unprepared and outmatched compared to what they’re up against, but coming out on top with determination and follow-through in the end. The main story of BOTW has a bittersweet, but ultimately powerful and true-to-form Zelda tale that, on top of the immersion and pure fun the game provides is why it’s so easy to see why people have rated it so highly.

Unfortunately, extended playtime with this game revealed a ton of flaws and personal nitpicks, because despite what these scores claim, no game is perfect, and neither is BOTW.

----------------------------------| Things I Didn’t Like | -----------------------------------

BOTW gets...repetitive, and at times annoying and even vacuous. I’d find a lot of really cool places during my exploration of Hyrule, but found that a lot of them just ended up being set-pieces to the world, with maybe a Korok hiding there (or maybe not, which was just super frustrating, climbing to a high mountain peak to find nothing up there). The game became measurably more enjoyable when I upgraded to full three stamina wheels, which took a lot of my early shrine upgrades to do, and that ugly, ugly little green wheel just constantly reminded me of how much I loathed it in Skyward Sword. I’d climb and climb and climb, usually not finding much of anything at the top later into the game. I’d find a set of interesting ruins, clear out the same enemies I’d fought 200 other times during the game, and not really find anything of interest within them. And god the enemies are repetitious. the same three core enemies in different colours, the same four or so core world bosses in different colours, the same Lynel and Guardians in different colours with ridiculous health bars that hit for 12 hearts a strike to impose the illusion of difficulty, when you end up just hitting them with ancient arrows, or using upgraded Stasis on them, or some other cheap trick because the combat and the difficult-to-time parrying and dodge/flurry attack prompts are not fun to activate (and if you fight them “properly”, especially the Lynels, get ready to run through all your resources).

When I go to a new area I want to see new enemies. Where are things like...I don’t know, Gibdos? Redeads? Poes? Darknuts? Skulltulas, Deku Babas, Gohmas, Armos, Dodongos, Aeralfos, Peahats, Likelikes SOMETHING ELSE besides these damn Lizalfos that keep JUMPING AROUND. I had one amazing encounter with a serpent dragon on an icy mountain peak, and had thought that I would have similar awesome encounters with the other two dragons in the game. Turns out the other two just sort of float around in locations and you don’t do anything with them except try to shoot them to farm items, no special encounters. Why.

I’d find a weapon I’d love but it would break quickly, so I ended up forming this habit of hoarding good weapons, bows, and shields, thinking I’d have to save them for later for fear they’d break, then ran into a problem where I was constantly getting showered in weaponry and had to play min-max on their attack numbers to decide what I was taking with me and what I wasn’t. I’d run into Koroks constantly to upgrade my storage space, but over time the malaise of searching for them after about 270 (out of a grand total of 900 Koroks) became too tedious and I stopped doing hyper-thorough canvasing of areas, especially because the canvasing didn’t really yield anything that exciting. I began, less and less, taking my horse places with me, because I could fast-travel and paraglide to locations I wanted to explore, and very often they were places I couldn’t even take my horse to. Armor variety, which I liked, ended up making a big chunk of food and elixir buffs superfluous and I no longer really felt a sense of danger or need to prepare for big exciting ventures into the bitter cold or so on. And upgrading armor ends up being a nightmare, as high-end stuff requires farming very precious materials, and if there’s one thing I did not like about Skyward Sword, it’s farming for materials.

Environmental hazards that could not be overridden with food or armor, particularly rain, halted my gameplay. I’d be trying to scale a cliff and, whoops - it was raining, which means you slip all the way down or exhaust your stamina trying to force through it. I’d have to go somewhere else and halt my progress on that spot, or attempt to find a place to make a fire and wait out the rain, which seems realistic in theory, but disrupts gameplay in practice. There’s also this weird abundance of cold areas in the game, but only really one hot area and only one “you’ll literally catch on fire here” area. A lot of shrine tests revolve around the same combat trial against the same enemy with a fluctuating health pool and do not get me started on the frustrating motion control mechanics for a few. I played the game on the Wii U as I did not want to get a Switch just yet, and suffered draw distance, framerate and even freezing issues. I figured this was an issue with the Wii U hardware, but hilariously it turns out this is an issue on the Switch as well (as an aside...it’s not really a good idea to have your flagship launch title with your new console be a game that the console can’t even run...)

Then there was the story. I know I just talked a lot of good about it, but the thing is, the tones and storytelling I was talking about come across as...accidental, a sort of side-effect of the game as a whole. I don’t really play Zelda games for top-tier story - let’s be real, Zelda games do not necessarily provide enriching, unique narrative experiences. They are fun, generic adventure games with action-RPG elements, and that alone is enough to make them classics beloved by so many. But it’s been 25 years and the world of Zelda has expanded into a deep-reaching and ridiculous lore, enough that it has enough content to provide for a hard-cover art book, a historia featuring a collective timeline with three branching routes, and an upcoming encyclopedia. As years go by, narrative elements in Zelda games, such as story and character development, become larger and more prominent as the series develops. This is not a bad thing, and as a huge Zelda lore nerd myself it gives games a bit of extra appeal for me personally.

The issue with BOTW, and maybe the Zelda series as a whole, is that it’s kind of “blooming late” on the story and character narrative department in a generation where huge arcing epics with deep and relatable characters run regular in a lot of mainstream triple-A titles. BOTW, for example, is the first Zelda game to feature voice acting, something I was very wary about when I first heard about it, and ended up being rightfully wary. No it’s not terrible - the cast is doing the best they can with the stilted dialogue and passive direction they clearly had to work with, but it creates a very underwhelming and at times embarrassing experience that shouldn’t be so in a time when English dubbing/voice acting and localization is at some of it’s best (though not always of course), especially for a big-name title like Zelda from a big-name company like Nintendo. If this was the first time they were going to try voice-acting, this doesn’t really inspire me to look forward to it being a repeated trend in other titles. And even then, there’s actually only a handful of scenes that are actually voice-acted, with the rest of it being the usual textbox scrawls with some vocal sounds over top like in previous games, which begs the question as to why they bothered to go with the voice work at all.

BOTW does something I refer to as A Plot and a B Plot, the A Plot being the main over-arching story of the game and the B Plot beside an over-arching side-story of the game. Typically, A Plots are the here-and-now of a form of media, it takes place in the present, with the B Plot being in the past, the future, or behind the scenes but being woven into the A Plot. When I set out to play BOTW, I thought that the failings of the past and it’s events would be the B Plot, with the A Plot as the here and now, focusing on new characters who would pick up the mantle of those who had fallen and see me into battle with Ganon. I thought I would follow the trials and tribulations of Princess Zelda in the A Plot, as well as the four champions, but it turns out, I was wrong.

When the game starts, the four champions are dead, and Princess Zelda is keeping Ganon trapped within Hyrule Castle, her power about to expend. At first I thought this was tonally appropriate - after all, they did fail, and it is supposed to paint a bleak picture of Hyrule. But this also meant that the only way for me to really learn or care about these characters was through optional flashbacks, and flashbacks are not really good tools to tell a story most of the time. I went and collected every memory, but didn’t really end up learning anything particularly new or exciting about any character other than Zelda herself - a wonderful character and incarnation of the classic princess, who is, honestly, a nerd. She’s an insecure scholar, burying herself in research to escape the stress of her failed ability to use her magic (Triforce, Light Force, I don’t know - the Triforce doesn’t feature at all in the game), the loss of her mother, and her honestly mean and scornful father and the doubtful whispers of her kingdom. She’s in over her head, and while her abilities and passion are best suited for studying the ancient technology and the Divine Beasts, at every turn it seems that she is forced away from this and told to focus on her destiny, that of using her sealing power to trap Ganon away. It plays again on that theme that pre-conceived notions and strict preparation in the name of prophecy and destiny and what have you still lead to failure, and that it’s through the heart of adventure and discovery that heroes that can defeat the darkness are forged. I expected that new champions would rise to replace the failed ones of the past, born from the adventure and sudden struggle of Ganon suddenly re-emerging, without any preparation beforehand. I expected Zelda to get her big moment where she proves that she doesn’t need old rituals and prayers to unlock her power, and that her inner strength comes from her true passions, and uses her research and scholar prowess to find ways to balk Ganon and use her power. I expected new heroes to rise and take control of the Divine Beasts in the steed of the failed champions of the past.

Well that doesn’t happen. The Divine Beasts get piloted by the ghosts of the fallen champions, who are ultimately dull and kind of not really likeable save maybe one or two. The new characters who help you get onto the Divine Beasts, which act as the “main” dungeons in the game, fall to the wayside and are forgotten after, apparently unable to become champions themselves (as only “champions” can board the beasts, apparently) despite the trials they face to assist Link and fight back against Ganon to save their people. The main dungeons lose their luster quickly too - they’re puzzle-based, requiring the same mechanic for each one (find five terminals, beat the boss at the end, each boss looks kind of the same). Something I thought was interesting was that each beast can be controlled from within, and you use that mechanic to solve puzzles. Two of the beasts end up using the same tilt mechanic though, and three beasts require shooting arrows at it to board (two of which are bomb arrows), and with the beasts’ interiors all looking the same it just sort of gets...a bit dull after a while. Been there, done that, done this, again. I really do miss more classic Zelda dungeons if just for the cheese factor, but this game does not have them.

Since the game has to use flashbacks instead of a continuous story to show the development and relationships of the characters (where dialogue is delivered unnaturally), the original four champions seem very one-note, defined by maybe one or two traits. The case of Revali is especially frustrating. Why is he so mean to Link? Is it his pride, did something occur between them, is it something else? We don’t know, we never learn, because primary characters introduced are not developed, he’s Just The Rival character, to fulfill the trope. His introduction in a mandatory flashback comes from Link literally looking at a bunch of planks of wood on a flight landing (I’m serious), and Revali is more or less an arrogant jerk to the end because That’s His Character I suppose. While we’re on the subject, the entirety of Rito Village is a wash - NPCs talk about how there’s nothing to do there, the Divine Beast is not causing any serious harm, it’s just not letting the Rito fly as high as they like and is being a general nuisance, the Rito that helps you board is just Some Guy and you don’t really see him again unless you want to do yet another optional and inconsequential mini-game. The dungeon is easy, borrows a boarding scenario from another beast, and borrows its in-dungeon mechanic from another beast. The whole area is such a let-down.

And then there’s Zelda, my poor, poor Zelda. She fails, just as everyone does, and I thought, and hoped, and prayed, just as I said before, that her inner strength would come through in the form of doing things HER way, using her research and her smarts, sticking it to the father and the people who didn’t believe in her by succeeding with the very methods they disapproved of. Well no - she activates her sealing power at the last second to protect Link because she loves him. It’s “tru wuv” that sparks her big character moment, where she does exactly what destiny pre-determined she do, not some awesome defiant moment where she pools her strength and self-confidence through her research and herself. She doesn’t even get to research and discover for herself that the power is apparently so closely linked to her “heart” or whatever generic nonsense works the magic this time - gotta love The Boy, that’s what makes you strong. And this is not extrapolating - when you complete all the shrine quests Kass the Rito bard gives, you can see him at Rito Village, where he tells the story of his teacher and the events just before the Calamity, and how his teacher fell in love with the princess, but the princess was in love with her appointed knight. The song his teacher taught to Kass after his teacher witnessed Zelda unlocking her powers was how her love for her knight was what brought it to the surface. Even the Zora champion Mipha, who I guess was supposed to be some callback to Rito from Ocarina of Time in a way, hints that her amazing healing ability is born by “thinking about who she cares about most”, and that’s not her family or friends or anything, that’s Link - who she loves and adores and wants to marry because that’s the Rito callback I guess.

I was so angry, it’s trite and tropey and ruins half the tone the game manages to do so well. Show me a BOTW Zelda who overcomes after failure not through “true love” and all the pre-destined nonsense that lead them all to failure to begin with, but the scholar she is using her research, her passion for knowledge, her wisdom, to unlock her power, to stop the Guardians, to seal Ganon.

Oh and then there’s Ganon. “Calamity Ganon”, now a non-character - just an amorphous, shadowy entity of no real interest. I suppose you could say that after the events of Twilight Princess or Four Swords, Ganon(dorf) is really no more, no longer a proper physical entity, no longer the Gerudo man who had ambitions or menace or a tangible presence when he entered a room - that person was long since defeated properly, and it’s only the lingering malice, that sort of twisted essence of the primordial Demise from Skyward Sword, that remains. From a lore perspective that works, but it doesn’t make for an interesting villain, just like flashbacks don’t make for interesting storytelling and character development. The final battle in and of itself is hugely underwhelming too. Calamity Ganon’s first form is an apparently “incomplete” gooey, robotic spider...thing...it’s very ugly as a design in a game that’s had largely strong character and enemy designs, except for the Divine Beast bosses which, I guess fits tonally. And unlike other enemies where you can kind of take multiple approaches to the battle, you MUST bounce the laser beams in the second half of the fight back at the boss with either a shield parry or the Master Sword, which I think is the game trying to do the old “tennis mechanic” callback but it’s really...kind of janky and often unresponsive? The second form LOOKED much cooler and more tonally appropriate, with a huge, flaming Dark Beast out in Hyrule Field that I’d ride around on my trusty steed fighting. But instead Dark Beast Ganon just faces one direction only, shooting lasers at nothing. Your horse sort of meanders around and you just ride updrafts or stand safely beside it waiting for Zelda to shout very loudly and clearly about the GIANT GLOWING TRIFORCE-SHAPED WEAK POINTS you can hit with your Light Arrows - it’s all an exact, even easier version of all the “boarding the Divine Beast” scenarios you did earlier in the game.

Zelda re-appears, seals Ganon, gives these really wishy-washy smiles and lines. The ghosts of the king and the Champions linger in the silhouette of Hyrule Castle and say nothing. We get no closure on the king and Zelda, who as far as the game wishes to imply in flashbacks and a hidden diary the king left in the castle, parted on extremely tense and unfavorable terms. the Champions get no final word in either. Zelda is shown after the credits kind of just...acting like everything’s a bit “back to normal”, saying her and Link need to go to Zora’s Domain to give the king closure on Mipha which...it’s been 100 years he’s...more or less made peace with the death of his daughter by now as was shown earlier in the game. Zelda says she can no longer hear the “voice” in the Master Sword and admits her powers must have weakened over the course of 100 years, but she’s actually okay with that for once, which I think would have been a bit more powerful of a statement to her character if she’d previously shown that her own determination and smarts were her true strengths all along, and not this HUGELY powerful magic. There’s a shot of the Silent Princess flower at the end, a flower that in the game Zelda comments on, saying that it cannot bloom in captivity and only in the wilds. Again, it would be a very thematically-appropriate metaphor for how Zelda’s true strength came from her journeys in the wild, focusing on her unique strengths and not those pre-determined by her destiny, but the game has her...literally in a state of “captivity” holding Ganon back. If anything the Silent Princess flower metaphor makes a stronger thematic statement for Link, not Zelda, and that’s really telling about how inconsistent and weak a lot of the story-telling is in this game. It was clearly supposed to really be about the relationship between Link and Zelda and their character development, but since they spend the entire game separated and only show shallow interactions of them together in short flashbacks that only really serve to develop Zelda (as well as her diary entries found in the castle), things end up feeling...vapid, forced and ultimately weak.

And I just...want to fight. A Darknut. One damn Darknut and have a cool sword fight. Or a Poe. Not another dAMN LIZALFOS. LET ME CLIMB TO THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN AND FIND A WHOLE DUNGEON UP THERE.

I MISS.

HEART PIECES. AND UPGRADES.

AS REWARDS FOR EXCELLENT COMPLETION OF MINI-GAMES. IT INCITES. YOU TO REPLAY THEM.

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

In summary, Breath of the Wild is excellent. But I’m a huge nerd and it’s clear that a lot of people who reviewed this game only went in for about 20 or so hours and didn’t complete it before passing final verdict. I hope Nintendo builds from this game’s strengths and learns it’s weaknesses.