#sorry if everything is a bit overexposed and green

[koffing-time]

@paldean-ranger-brandy I've asked around a bit yesterday, but i couldn't really keep all the info in my head. So, uh sorry about that, but i'll try to summarize!

//headcanon incoming!

//disclaimer: i have very limited knowledge about trees :0

So basically the white forest is a special place in Unova, because it is blessed by landorus. A legendary Pokémon that makes the land fertile and stuff. Idk if you've ever seen a picture of it, but there is a big ass tree right in the middle of the place we call "white forest", which was apparently a small grove of trees like, hundreds of years ago. It was the only surviving thing after a big fight between thundurus and tornadus, two other legendary pokémon, and the humans that lived there prayed to landorus, who answered. And the answer was to jut fuse the few small trees into a big tree? and that made the land around it sort of fertile as well and also bright. Like, i can confirm, it is just brighter there than anywhere else.

[a picture is attached. It shows... a fucking humongous tree. It is taken from far away, as there is a whole forest closer to the ground. The big tree is easily 3-5 times as high as the others. The whole picture seems a little overexposed]

(btw i didn't take that photo, that's from the internet. I also don't remember the tree being so big? maybe that's perspective though...)

Also, the big tree now produces all sorts of leaves and fruit, because it is a fusion of this whole grove. Like, there are Maple leaves, and Oak leaves, and i think hemlock and birch and stuff. I'm not sure tho...

The rest of the forest also is made of mainly like, maple trees, and hemlocks and birch. I think they said something about sugar maples? The people living there are also tapping the trees because they produce an unholy amount of sap. Or probably a holy amount of sap. It's said to still come from Landorus blessing all these years ago.

The people there are kinda supersticious i think. They said something about being especially in tune with nature so landorus doesn't take its blessing away and keeping nature healthy. I'm not sure how that works, but you know, who am i to judge them?

Also the ranger school is there to have the students grow and learn in tune with nature in it' purest form. Like, 110% nature.

[another picture. it's a selfie of Tix in the middle of some trees. Some are indeed tapped. It's hard to tell from the perspective, but some are probably birch trees, the others might be hemlock? The important feature of the picture is that Tix seems just... normal, but the background seems a little bit overexposed. It is just a little bit too bright. The leaves are a little bit too pale, the bark from the hemlock trees is too light in color and the birch trees are almost perfectly white]

btw as proof i was actually there lol

//ooc headcanon as well:

//i think the white forest and black city are a region in unova that is very unstable between dimensions, not unlike the idea the games give. There exist multipe versions of both the black city and the white forest. The fundamental difference between the black city and white forest is that in "one" version, the people tried to return to nature and recieved landorus blessing, in the other, they took the opportunity and develop the land into a city after tornadus/thundurus fight.

//then, there are different versions, of the city and forest, depending on the people living there. In one dimension, they were absolutely 100% in love with nature and the white forest is like, this amazing forest where everything is perfect and bright and stuff. In another, they were bringing more technology and stuff into the settlement, and landorus took away a little bit of its blessing, causing the forest as a whole to shrink, the big tree to be smaller and stuff. In the same sense, there is a black city that is completely made from stone and metal, and one that has some parks and green places, and one that has a lot of them and stuff like this.

//based on your own ideals and stance between nature and technology/society, whenever you enter the area, you enter the version of BC/WF that corresponds to your own views. That means, you can technically visit both the black city and the white forest, but only few people do in their life. (if you visit as a group, you probably find a normal forest with nothing special there, like, some kind of limbo state)

//(take your guess were tix is on the spectrum)

[sieben9]

“souls of the departed” impressions

{Quick request to anyone reading: I’m watching OUaT for the first time, and I want to avoid spoilers. So, if you want to discuss something spoilery, I’d be grateful if you could start a new post for that. Thank you!}

With thanks to Photoshop’s “Colour Balance” option!

Today on Once Upon a— Jesus H. Christ, will you look at that lighting!

Just…

Why.

someone call the editing studio and tell them they left f.lux on…

Ahem. Anyway. Underworld. Gotta say, I liked this one a lot more than I’d have assumed from the end of the last (half-)season. (Someone mentioned it would be a Regina-centric, so I expected at least some good stuff, but this was still a lot better than I could have hoped.) Maybe not my favourite ever, but definitely a good deal above average. It also serves as what I hope is a good introduction to this season’s theme…

Closure!

Also, “letting go”, I suppose, but I’m not getting my hopes too far up on that count. More under the cut.

OK, first of all, before we get into the meat of this episode…

NEAL! God, I missed you, buddy. Emma, could you maybe pull a Hella Varal here, and just… take him with you? No? Oh, come on, do I have to write everything myself here?

I will also say that I didn’t buy that “I had no unfinished business” line for a second. Neal, you left behind your heartbroken (former?) love, the son you’d barely met and for whom you were willing to throw all your principles overboard, just to meet him again, and a completely devastated father you’d just reconciled with. And none of that counts as unfinished business? Yeah, pull the other one and all that.

Also, nice going on telling Henry that his dad is OK, but not Rumple that his son is. Yes, I know that we’re pretending like the two had nothing to do with each other, ever, but still. Let me get the bitterness out early.

Other than that, this episode reminded me of two things. Well, three. First: damn, but Regina can sure carry an episode when the plot lets her.

Second, Barbara Hershey is a very handsome woman, and third: I want to resurrect Cora, just so that I can kill her again. You kind of forget what an astoundingly terrible person she is when she’s not around for a while…

OK, touching reunion over, now take your hands off her or so help me…

This whole plot did something I really like on this show, which is “take a tertiary character and flesh the hell out of them” (no pun intended). Henry Sr was mostly there to fill a specific role in Regina’s backstory so far, and while we got glimpses of his character, I wouldn’t have called him “well-developed” by any means. Which is perfectly fine! You do need that supporting cast to carry a story. It’s still nice when those people get their time to shine, and this was Older Henry’s opportunity.

…OK, bad example. look, it’s Once Upon a Time. sometimes these things happen.

This episode also reframed his actions during Regina’s childhood in a way that made him more sympathetic to me. I mean, he was always a genuinely nice person, and his death was awful, but while I liked him well enough, I had a hard time respecting him, because… well, we only ever saw him as “Regina’s dad”, and he seemed to fail his parental duties rather thoroughly.

Look, this whole topic is steeped in issues I am in no way an expert on. Living with a violent spouse (meaning Cora, in this case) is hell, and I assume different people deal with that differently. I didn’t blame Henry Sr because he never stopped Cora’s abuse of their daughter, mostly because I don’t think he could have. I blamed him because the narrative made it seem like he never even tried, instead just standing to one side, wringing his hands, because gosh, there was just nothing he could do, was there?

Anyway, like I said, this episode reframed a lot of that, both in the sense that he did, in fact, try, and in that he knew how badly he’d messed up, and wanted to see that made right.

And while the whole thing was obviously subject to time constraints (theoretically, I wouldn’t have minded a three-episode arc where Regina and her father come to terms with the good, bad, and ugly of their relationship and make peace with all parts together, but I realise that’s not really feasible), I really liked that this episode gave both of them... wait for it... Closure.

Even back in s1, Regina killing her father was never framed as an act of malice, but one of desperation, and it was made clear repeatedly how much that decision haunted her. I also just liked Henry getting to meet his grandfather and namesake.

“Thank you, Grandpa. For believing in her like I do.” “Thank you, Henry... for being there when I couldn't.”

no snark here, i just really loved this dialogue

I’m vaguely confused about Cora’s fate, I admit. Also about Hades’s zero-mistakes policies. How many hyper-competent evil people do you have around this place that you can send her off to Miller Hell for that one single tick of the clock? Just wondering...

In any case, I’m happy they seem to be picking up the “Regina is the saviour, but coming from the other direction” thing as Emma gets... honestly, who even knows what’s going on with Emma, these days.

In “just little things I liked”: the cameos. Just. All of the cameos. Loved hearing Cruella in the background, loved James in all his sleazy, awful glory, and especially loved the return of this little shit here.

welcome back, eyebrow boy! touch any of the characters i love and i will beat you with a cactus : D

Also, Regina eating pie.

Just. Yeah. Congratulations on finding what is probably the least heterosexual way to eat pie, and that’s saying something.

Oh, and as mentioned in my one liveblog-post: Rumplestiltskin, Dark One and grumpy tour guide to Hell. That man is so Done™ with everything and everybody. He spent six weeks in a coma, got kidnapped, beaten up, chased by bears, beaten up again, had his heart broken, was threatened with horrible death, was re-Dark One’d (which I can’t imagine is much fun, even if it was on purpose), got shagged within an inch of his life (one presumes), and blackmailed into going to the underworld for a guy he hates. What I’m saying is: let this man rest for maybe five minutes.

“I’m out” yeah, i hear that…

And, of course, the short-but-sweet (bittersweet, really) Rumbelle scene in the beginning. Look, Rumple, bud, if you could just tell her? Maybe just this once? …yeah, didn’t think so. You two are still cute and do some of the best goodbyes on this show. Please don’t mess each other up too badly this time around.

i really, really love these two idiots…

Meanwhile, in “setup” news… uh, Hook’s not looking his best, is he? Did he just fast forward all the way to Actual Hell, or what’s going on there? I mean, I’m sure I’ll find out whether I want to or not, I’m just trying to get myself interested in the alleged main plot.

And Hades, my guy, that hairdo is not doing you any favours whatsoever.

just… no.

They're going to have him be evil, aren’t they? ::incredibly long sigh:: Alright. Bring it on.

[otp-holic]

The one place (where something happened) (A03)

“In your life there are a few places, or maybe only the one place, where something happened, and then there are all the other places.” Alice Munro. (or the one where they receive a letter from a familiar name and we go into 4Ks of fluff around a lost afternoon in France)

4K. Lamely explicit at one point. Fanfic + Pictures Inside. Trigger for FLUFF as the main plot. Part of the Never let us lose what we have gained series (AO3)

This was supposed to be a manip with 200 words of bantering and it's now 4Ks of fluff with a few pictures. I've decided to leave them inside the cut because I feel they work better with its context there. I'm sorry for the hassle, but I really hope you give this a chance... unless you have cavities, only like fics with amazing plots or are allergic to shameless fluff.

Please do not repost the pictures, I know this is futile, but… I try :)

DAGUERROTYPE, France 1944 Private Collection.

Steve is cooling down from his very early run, enjoying the feeling of the pink sunrise looming over the awakening Brooklyn streets as he walks the last couple of blocks on the way home, when his phone beeps.

“Check your actual mailbox, we dropped something for you there. I think you should appreciate us making it old-fashioned just for you, grandpas!”

Steve smiles at Sam’s text and as soon as he arrives at their building he snaps a picture of the very common and flat envelope with “Barnes&Rogers” scribbled on top of a Stark Logo, to send along his response.

“Nice try, but this is inaccurate. A letter would have never made its way to us without an address or stamp. We’ll send you a proper thank you card to show you how it’s done.”

He can’t help but chuckle at his own joke rereading the text while he opens the door, and when he looks up from his phone and into the kitchen, he is received by a sleepy Bucky looking at the coffee machine like he looks at Steve during their most soft and embarrassingly cheesy moments.

“You love that thing more than you love me, confess it.”

“In the mornings? Yes. I don’t even like you in the mornings most of the time,” he answers matter of factly. “Want some?”

Steve playfully wiggles an eyebrow.

“No way. Your sweaty self is tempting, but coffee smells better. I might join you in the shower later.” Bucky offers him one of the two cups he has poured and he notices the envelope Steve is holding. “What is that?”

“We’ve got mail!” He hands it to Bucky. “I have no idea what's on it, but Sam texted me to say they had something delivered to our mailbox and there it was. Open it.”

Bucky leaves the cup on the counter, face sparked with a curiosity that makes him look twenty-one (and Steve weak on the knees), and goes for it.

The content is a bit underwhelming at first glance: Another envelope, white, no Stark logo, but topped with a bright green post-it with a note on Pepper’s script.

“This got to me via PR. We analyzed it and checked with the source (no peeking, I swear) and it seems legit. With that return address, it’s likely to arouse your interest. Love, P.”

Bucky tears off the post-it and the letter is revealed to be addressed to Steve Rogers at the Stark Tower, but it is when they turn it around when everything goes still for a second.

The return address is some street in Marseille, but what has Steve’s mouth dry and Bucky’s hand trembling just a bit is the combination of the place and the name written on top: Emmanuelle Jaques Dernier.

“Boom?”, Bucky says, trying to cut through their heavy hearts and taking Steve’s hand. It’s a terrible terrible joke, but Dernier would have loved it and he grins.

“That’s a terrible terrible joke,” Steve verbalizes, “but I think at least we’ve reached the same conclusion.”

“Elementary, my dear Steve,” Bucky answers as he opens the second envelope, only to reveal a folded letter and yet another envelope. “It’s a fucking vault of paper!”

Steve takes the letter from him, unfolds it, and quickly scans it (normal office paper, printed, hand-signed) before he starts reading it out loud to Bucky’s undivided attention.

“Dear Mr. Rogers,

My name is Emmanuelle Dernier and I am the great-grandson of Jaques Dernier of the Howling Commandos.

First, let me tell you that we all in our family grew up with amazing stories and praise for you, Sergeant Barnes, and the rest of the team. I never got to meet my great-grandfather or any of them (you), but I’ve always felt like I did.

In fact, that’s the ultimate reason behind this letter: I ached to honor him and I’ve been putting in order all his remaining letters, pictures, and memories so they don’t get lost forever, and there are many things I’m discovering through this journey. So many pictures and tiny details… and amongst them, you and the rest of the Commandos appear at the most random and memorable moments. Nothing that’s going to make it into history books, more like the stories my grandpa used to share with us over and over again, those important tidbits that make him more human.

Anyway, I was going through the pictures he kept when I came across some war photos that didn’t seem to match the 40s timeframe. Typical daguerreotypes from the 20s in a very bad state, probably taken with a camera from the era in 1944 and developed on a later date by somebody who clearly didn’t master the technique.

They were in a very bad state and hidden inside an envelope that said “Terribly drunk soldiers in France making idiots of ourselves in unique and creative ways. Fun evening, horrible hangover. About 20 miles west of the Maginot Line. Autumn ‘44”. I’m attaching a photocopy of that, I hope you can understand my decision to keep the original.

After restoring the daguerreotypes with some experts, all I got were five very bad pictures with silhouettes of people apparently having fun…. but there was one that got a lot better in the cleaning process that feels important somehow. I’m sending the original, as well as the restored version I got.

I, of course, don’t have the whole context, but I hope it brings back a good memory. My great-grandpa might be in the picture, but I don’t think this one belongs to my family or to a museum.

Thank you for your service, I really hope this letter finds its way to you.

E.Dernier.”

“I can’t believe… Steve, most days I’m convinced that day and that place are a figment of my imagination,” Bucky smiles, remembering. “When I think of a moment of pure joy during the war, I think about that afternoon in France, and it always feels unreal. A bubble of air and laughter while we were so surrounded by death.”

Steve nods, reminiscing about that warm and humid September morning when they arrived at yet another abandoned and destroyed little village, this one about twenty miles west of the Maginot Line. They had orders to lie low and wait for twenty-four hours before they started the maneuver to wipe another Hydra base off the map, and that little town was perfect for that.

Among bomb debris and fallen walls, they found one small building miraculously standing next to the remains of the church, so they decided to set camp under a roof for a change since the weather was being a little flickery with the rain, and they had the rare luxury of time.

The inside of the tiny house was as unusual as the outside: nothing was destroyed beyond being dusty and worn by time, and everything they found (furniture, kitchenware, and even fabrics) belonged more to Steve and Bucky’s early childhoods than to 1944, a living museum frozen in time.

Only it was not a museum, but the parish house left untouched and non-raided: old-fashioned clothes, outdated church books, yellowing clergy collars, and, of course, the wine cellar. Oh, that wine cellar… the havoc it unleashed.

“I remember the absolute excitement when Falsworth found all those bottles of old unscathed mass wine from the parish,” Steve brings his memory to words, looking at Bucky, “I’m still a little convinced that we are going to hell for drinking them.”

“Not for that, probably, but it was a wonder nobody died on the spot of wine poisoning, it tasted like sweet vinegar, ugh.”

“But it did his part, right? Took our minds off things; got us drunk, bold and silly.” Steve answers.

“Apparently not all of us,” Bucky says very seriously, looking at Steve.

“Technicalities… I got drunk by proxy. Seeing you all so happy made me giddy and tipsy, too.”

“I came and went… I remember being a little surprised at the clarity of my thoughts at some moments there when some of the guys were basically drooling on the floor. Now I understand, of course.”

Steve squeezes his hand, not much to be said there.

They were already way too drunk by the early afternoon, drinking to the sound of a sudden rainstorm pouring outside. All of them scattered across the small dusty living room and its adjoining kitchen while they went through all the bottles of wine they had been able to find. Cheering for the foregone priest every time somebody raised a glass, and laughing as if there were no ruins or war on the other side; just silly men (boys, really) laughing their hearts out.

“Earth to Steve… I don’t know about you, but I’m dying to see what the hell that envelope is hiding. Especially now that we know about its time stamp.”

“I’m sorry, me too! Gabe drunkenly handling that old camera and those glass plaques the way he did? I’m honestly impressed that he was able to take any pictures at all,” he muses. “Shit, is it weird that I’m nervous?”

“I’m gonna save us the bantering because I’m nervous, too,” Bucky answers in all sincerity. “Truth is, Steve, I remember everything about that day.”

It’s a new admission, a newly opened door for them because for some reason, they have never talked about that peaceful surreal afternoon, and Steve nods in recognition as he silently goes for the envelope one-handed, not wanting to let go of Bucky’s hand because his surface is way cooler than his wrenching insides. Maybe the picture is an overexposed french wall but maybe…

The photo he extracts from the envelope is clearly the original and damaged one Emmanuelle specified in his letter. Anybody else looking at it would see nothing beyond Dernier’s blurry profile, but since Steve and Bucky were there when this was taken, they know exactly what moment Steve is holding in his hand.

“Buck,…” is all Steve can say, struck by the blurry keepsake.

Later in the afternoon when they had already consumed most of the wine and there was not a single coherent thought left in the room, one of the guys took the parish books and besottedly announced that there was a wedding set for today… thirty years ago. Alcohol fueled a goofy idea that escalated at the speed of light, with Morita saying they were going to a wedding because they deserved a celebration, Dernier confessing that he had once considered becoming a priest, and Dum-dum bringing out all the old fashioned clothes from the wardrobe and deciding they were getting nice and clean for the festivities.

“That’s clearly Dernier in the picture killing it in his priest role, right?” Bucky says, half smiling and interrupting Steve’s thoughts. “You know, I went all-in with that fake wedding party. I was laughing to tears when I saw you put on that ridiculously long and ill-fitting jacket from the 10s, feeling weightless and silly for the first time since sailing off, and God knows we all deserved that. And it was all safe and light-hearted until fucking Morita decided you had to be the groom, and...”

“Were you jealous because I won the dashing groom competition?”

Steve’s attempt at a joke is weak, but there’s truth behind it: Morita chose Steve as the groom (“Cap, you are the most dashing and the least drunk”) to a chorus of excited voices cheering for him. Somebody else, most likely Dum-Dum, chose the rest of the roles (Sarge, best man duty; Jones, camera; Morita, keep the wine flowing; the rest of you, misbehave!) and in the blink of an eye, they were all going outside laughing under a light rain, and about to celebrate Steve’s fictional wedding to nobody.

“How could I be jealous?” Bucky cuts in. “Do you remember all you said to me that afternoon? During World War II and in front of a battalion of men?”

“I was drunk.”

“Fuck you!” Bucky disentangles his hand from Steve’s to use both of them to hold Steve’s face and kiss him with violence. “Tell me. Do you remember what you said?”

As if he could ever forget. He can recall every step he took from the house to the makeshift wedding spot amidst the trees where his best man (looking dapper even in that ludicrous jacket) was laughing along Dernier. He can still smell the petrichor, can still sense the blush coloring his cheeks while hoping nobody noticed and can still hear the beating of his heart when Bucky handed him a battered umbrella (“You don’t deserve to get rained on your wedding day, punk”) and a fucking ring made out his shoelaces (“You’ll have to buy something a little more permanent.”). And then…

“Dernier started the ceremony and he wanted to know if I had somebody in mind and I said ‘of course’.” He replays, his voice barely a whisper. “I said I’d had my eyes on a brown-haired Brooklynite since before I could remember. I said that I was pretty sure those blue eyes were set on mine too and that hopefully those eyes would be set enough to want to marry me even if I had never dared to ask.”

He’s been holding Bucky’s gaze the whole time, and he’s far from over yet, but he needs to fucking breathe before he goes on. Neither of them has moved a muscle for the past minute.

“Then he asked me to repeat the wedding vows after him and…”

“And you said Buck, right?”, Bucky interrupts, voice winded. “You fucking whispered I take you, Buck, as my lawful wedded husband till the end of the line. I heard, Steve. Even if the rest of the world didn’t, I did. But you never said anything, so I always deemed it impossible, a product of the corniest nook of my mind trying to outweigh all those bad things, because not even you could be as bold, reckless, and mushy as to do that,…it’s my fucking fault, I should have known better!”

“Not completely reckless, pal. I was scared shitless as I said those words, but what else could I do? You were right by my side about to put a ring on my finger as my “best man”, everyone, including you, supposedly drunk past recollection, and everybody else too far away to hear my whispers. It was such an easy choice in the end because truth should always win over fear. And those vows were. The truth.”

“You have always been too honest for your own good, Rogers,” Bucky is breathless and exasperated and goes for his mouth again, bringing in all he (they) couldn’t in 1944. “You destroyed me, Steve. My knees were as weak as a teenager’s in front of his first crush. I wanted to kiss you so badly when I heard you say all that there in the open… and I couldn’t even acknowledge it.”

“I know. And for what it's worth, I really thought you didn’t remember.”

It is too much. Is it normal to feel this much? Steve would blame it on the serum enhancements, but he was already overwhelmed at 16, so that’s clearly not the answer.

He craves, no, he needs touching, grounding, closer. Bucky. There’s too much space between them even if they are back to kissing like they would have that day in 44, and at any other time if their own lives wouldn’t have stolen those moments from them.

“It happened.” Bucky whimpers, biting on Steve’s lip who abandons his own stool to straddle him, both of them gasping in sync at the feeling of their cocks, hard against each other’s through their soft pants.

Bucky soon ups the stakes by carding his metal hand through Steve’s hair pulling his head backwards to help himself into that spot on his neck.

“Same two moles as when you were tiny, as when we were at that war... Your cute vampire bite. Favorite spot.” He licks on them with the tip of his tongue. Steve growls on cue and Bucky giggles. “Favorite chain reaction.”

“Buck, you cheater, you know what that does to me!” Steve cries out followed by Bucky’s evil chuckle.”Bed, couch, countertop,…I don’t care, but naked. Now. Stained pants due to heavy petting are too much of a trip down memory lane for me. Let me keep a bit of my dignity.”

Steve stands up liberating Bucky from his grip but aching at the loss of contact.

They are naked and making out in the middle of the kitchen in no time; Bucky steadily pushing him against the refrigerator while fiercely grinding against his crotch.

“Hey, ‘teve,” Bucky pants. “The way this is going, it’s my dignity now that's at risk. I don’t think I can make it further than the floor before I come.”

Steve groans into his mouth just at the thought and they start sliding to the floor the best they can until he’s a human blanket moving over Bucky. With no lube at hand, and no time, that’s their best option.

They kiss and kiss and kiss, his hands not leaving Bucky’s sweaty hair. Bucky’s hands on his ass, forcing their groins closer with one while he (almost absently) plays around his hole with the other, driving Steve crazy in the process. Dicks left to do their own thing through pressure and friction. Everything is working. And fast.

“Oh, fuck!” Bucky exclaims “Can you promise me all this stuff with the letter was real and not a long-con plan to assure your fragile masculinity that I love you more than I love that espresso machine?”

That. That silly unfunny excuse of a joke that screams Bucky all over is what pushes Steve all the way over the edge. He fucking laughs as he comes making absolutely embarrassing sounds, pressing their foreheads and noses together until it hurts, and shaking from head to toe without stoping his pressure on the stupid and smug man under him. His lover. His partner. His unofficial husband. His best friend.

His Buck.

“There’s still too much blood in your brain if you can play that dirty,” Steve states, placing one hand between them grabbing Bucky’s hard cock. “Let’s see if I can do anything about it.”

“Your hand, usually so helpful, but I was already following you after that sound you make when you come and laugh at the same time, shit, it always goes straight to my dick, I’m,…” he keeps talking with difficulty between breaths and moans until he leaves his speech unfinished coming all over Steve’s fist.

They kiss on the lips breathing into each other before Steve rolls over. They are sticky and panting in silence, spread on their kitchen’s floor, Steve’s shoulders crushed between Bucky’s and the dishwasher. Domestic bliss at its most literal.

One lavish fuck and two showers later they reemerge into the kitchen in search of something to eat: Bucky is in charge of the food today, while Steve cleans the mess they left a couple of hours ago.

He’s decluttering the counter when their damaged picture laying there puts a smile on his face but also reminds him of the restored version presumably still waiting inside the disregarded letter, so he grabs the envelope to retrieve its contents: one photocopy (from Dernier’s original writing), and the promised photo.

And it is restored. Everything is clear where it was blurry before: Dernier (so deep into his priest impersonation that he’s not even looking at them), the trees, the battered umbrella, the ridiculous jackets… and them.

“You had the nerve to call me reckless and mushy, Buck?” Steve laughs as he stares at the picture where a very young Bucky is about to put a ring on his finger with the least subtle lovestruck expression he’s ever seen (“and it’s for you”, his brain proudly reminds him) “Wow, you might as well be kissing me there, anything would be more subtle than this!”

“Don’t shame me, you punk, especially not when you were the one responsible for breaking my brain back then!” Bucky answers coming from behind and stealing the picture from his hands to scrutinize it. Goofy grin and raging blush quickly taking over his face. “But you’re one to talk, Cap. You are gazing at that shoelace’s ring as if I were handing you a diamond tiara!”

Steve laughs softly at that and moves his right hand to his pocket, feeling the weight of the little compass he had retrieved earlier from one of his drawers. He used to carry it with him everywhere for comfort, but he has a better option now.

“Didn't you know that shoelaces are forever?” He asks, taking the compass out of his pocket and holding it in both hands as he opens it, nudging Bucky with his elbow to get his attention.

Bucky is confused for an instant while he looks at his young face staring at them from inside the little box. Of course he knew that (he made fun of Steve for days and days) but Steve detects the change in his expression when he notices the other thing.

“Wow, you gigantic sap,” Bucky says, taking the compass out of his hands to double-check he is seeing what he thinks he’s seeing. “You saved my shoelace.”

He had. While they were all celebrating his wedding under the rain dancing to no music, he quietly slipped the little string off his finger and tied it to the most secure place he had back then.

“It’s not a shoelace, you jerk, it’s a symbol. A declaration.” He laughs, stealing the compass back to safely pocket it again.

“You are delusional,” Bucky snorts, kissing the top of his head. But he’s widely smiling and lost in thought as he goes back to their sandwiches.

Steve stays on the spot enjoying the peace in their silent companionship, his focus on the latest news showing up on his phone, the text he’s writing to Sam and the comforting sounds of Bucky moving around the kitchen.

“You might have married me, but I never actually married you.” Bucky blurts out of the blue a bit later, sitting by his side as he hands him a plate with a sandwich and some grilled greens on it. “Do you want mayo with that?”

“Uh?” Steve forgets all about the news and the text and looks at Bucky in confusion.

“Mayo, do you want some?” Bucky repeats nonchalantly.

“No mayo, thank you; but I was actually more interested in the other part, you know, that thing about marriage?”

Bucky looks him in the eye: earnest, blushing and with the same look of smug adoration he had on the picture.

“Oh, that part.” He jokes. “You apparently married me in 1944, but I never married you back. And I would like to.”

“Marry me?” Steve asks and Bucky visibly nods.

“I’m sorry for throwing the idea at you like this, books tell me I'm supposed to have candles, music, and a ring, but you showed me that restored picture and I couldn't stop thinking about it, about proof,” Bucky speaks uncharacteristically slow and very softly, voice trembling here and there while he claps his hand with Steve’s finger by finger for reassurance and as a distraction. “A single photo had the power to transform a moment that existed just as a made-up happy place inside my mind into something tangible and real. Something that would be tangible and real for anybody getting a hold on it and looking at our stupid faces.”

“So stealthy,” Steve says, and they both laugh together.

“Proof, Steve. I was slicing tomatoes and thinking how there’s so much evidence, thousands of files! out there proving that all the stuff that fuels my nightmares were real, but nothing solid about this. Us.” Bucky stops for a moment collecting his thoughts, still smiling even with the heavy subject he just dropped into the mix. “Sorry, I believe I put more time into these sandwiches than into thinking this all the way through so I’m…”

“Take your time, we’ve gone from mayo to marriage to nightmares in five minutes so don’t worry, you have me hooked here.”

Steve makes Bucky laugh again as he intended, and he feels their calloused laced fingers immediately squeezing closer.

“It’s stupid because it doesn’t change anything for us but,.. I don’t fucking know, Steve, I think that picture has messed up with my mind! I instantly found comfort in the idea of people finding facts beyond the nightmares now or in the future. An easy to understand, universal and oversimplified proof of how much I loved you and how much I was loved in return.” Bucky takes a breath and stares at him sporting a million-watt smile. “Marrying you,… I would really love that. And for real this time.”

“Ok, Buck.” Steve instantly replies, eagerness winning over thoughtful and heartfelt declarations. He tightens the grip on their joined hands to drive them to his lips and seals the easiest answer he’s ever had to give.

And it's done!Sorry for the cavities, for going on with the fic when it should have ended and for ending it where it might have had to keep going. It was painful and fun. I'm free!

[dnpsuck]

hello! your gifs are so sharp and vibrant! could i ask how you make them - is there a certain method you use or do you change it for each gif? (thank you for sharing your gifs!) (feel free to not answer if it's a trade secret tho :D)

oooh thank you so much! it took me a long time to feel comfortable with my gifs tbh i’ve been learning for 6 years now! but anyway, pretty much everything i do to make sure my gifs look the way they do:

FIRST:

i use Photoshop CS5 because i personally prefer the end result for gifs in CS5 rather than CS6 but it’s just a detail, whatever you have is good;

it’s not really a full-on tutorial, i just explain what i do in each step for my gifs to look like that;

it requires basic gifmaking knowledge and some familiarity with photoshop but overall i think (and hope) it’s easy and understandable;

BASICS: 

high quality videos (1080p is ideal, 720p works for most gifs) and good lighting help A LOT. 

if you’re using kmplayer to capture your frames make sure you have ‘every frame’ selected in the ‘frames to extract’ section. 

it’s very important to respect the tumblr dimensions to avoid stretched out/blurry gifs (the column in the middle of the a 3 columns gifset is 178px instead of 177px):

SHARPENING: i still use this sharpening action and apply it twice to the original layer (sometimes i have to adjust one of the ‘smart sharpen’ options to make it look better). if you don’t like to use actions, just apply ‘Smart Sharpen’ in these settings (most commonly used but you can changed it to fit your own personal taste, add more sharpening if you think it’s necessary):

let’s start with this, then (i’m using the sharpening action):

COLORING: that can be a pretty tricky but it’s mostly personal taste. i like bright, contrasting and vibrant. another thing that is very important to me is making sure the person’s skin doesn’t look all fucked up and overexposed. sometimes i fail. but anyway, i tend to focus my coloring process on highlighting the whites and blacks and making colors pop.

for this blog i mostly gif dan and phil who are pretty pale and have dark hair so it’s easier to apply my coloring preferences on them, but when i gif people of color i change my process to avoid whitewashing them and to make their skin color pop (there are a few tutorials on how to color poc out there like x and x)

when i don’t use psds (pro tip: ALWAYS save the psds of the gifs you make, even if you don’t like the coloring. save it cause you may want to use it later) and do my coloring from scratch i usually start by darkening the blacks. for that i’ll use the ‘Levels’ adjustment layer:

and then i’ll start adjusting their skin tone in the same ‘Levels’ layer:

some brightness and contrast to add some shine:

and hue/saturation to adjust the colors:

and from this point on i just keep adding more adjustment layers, changing colors until i reach a result the pleases me:

CURVES: i subtly drag the line upwards to enhance their skin tones, depending on what you’re giffing you may need to drag the line higher or drag different points of the line to adjust the contrast.

EXPOSURE: i add some light ‘Exposure’ (if you add too much it kind of ruins the skin details, for this one i added +0,10); then i darken the dark areas by moving back the ‘Offset’ arrow (-0,0287 for this one) and in ‘Gamma Correction’ i moved the arrow to 1,12 to adjust their skin tone.

HUE/SATURATION: you can use to increase saturation and change colors. in ‘Master’ settings i usually only move the arrow a bit to the right to subtly change the red in their faces to a more yellow-y tone. to change the color of phil’s hoodie i switched to ‘Magenta’ settings and moved the arrow until i found a color that i liked (pink) and for a better result i did the same with the ‘Blue’ settings. if you don’t want to change a color but just make it pop (for example, blue) you can select ‘Blue’ and just enhance the saturation until you think it’s good enough.

SELECTIVE COLOR: i use this adjustment layer in all of my colorings mainly for the ‘Blacks’, where in the ‘Black’ section i increase it as much as i can without ruining the coloring to make sure the darks are Dark for that good contrast. for this specific coloring i also went to ‘Reds’ and dragged the arrow in the ‘Black’ section to the right to highlight the curves/lines of their faces and their lips. and then in ‘Neutrals’ i keep changing it depending on how i want my coloring to look like. if i think their skin tone is too magenta-y i enhance the ‘Yellow’ section, etc. 

COLOR BALANCE: does what the title says, drag the arrows in the different sections until you’re satisfied. for this one, in the ‘Midtones’ i slightly enhance the ‘Green’ and ‘Yellow’ because their skin was too magenta for my liking.

VIBRANCE: i don’t usually change the saturation here (i usually do it in hue/saturation) and i focus on vibrance just for a special final touch.

my final result:

AS YOU SAVE YOUR GIFS:

make sure they’re under 3mb! if they’re not you can crop the timeline before saving or delete frames after saving and re-save (you’ll probably have to re-save anyway as i’ll explain later)

these are the settings i (and most gifmakers) use for saving gifs:

after you save, the frame delay in your gifs may switch to ‘0,07′ it always happens to me and i believe it’s because i use the animation timeline to make my gifs so i always open the gifs i just saved and i see them at a 0,07 delay:

however 0,07 is too slow for me (this one gif doesn’t really help but trust me, it’s kind of really slow) and i prefer 0,05 or 0,04 delays. i’ve been using 0,04 more often recently because imo they look closer to the real speed in their videos but sometimes i think they’re too fast and switch back to 0,05. in general, i think 0,05 is a safer bet:

then i re-save the gifs the same way i’d save a normal gif (’Save for Web & Devices’) and i replace the old gif.

doing this will NOT affect the quality of your gif as you can see in the gifs above!

take in consideration that these delays (0,05 and 0,04) work for gifs that use every frame instead of every 2 or 3 frames. in that case you might need to readjust the delay to different numbers. test it as many times as necessary.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS:

i started making gifs in a time where most gifsets were pastel and desaturated and i personally really disliked the style back then and wanted to see more bright/vibrant gifs again so that’s why i started making gifs, to see what i wanted to see in gifs, not what other people wanted.

even though i just gave a bunch of instructions here it’s important to remember that there are no rules to gifmaking just common sense (don’t steal, don’t just edit someone else’s gifs and call it your own, don’t whitewash poc, etc.). do whatever you want with your own gifs, try all the styles you like, change the colors, make it thermal, make it slow, fast, etc. just do what you like.

not all gifs/colorings will be winners and it’s ok. keep trying.

it’s okay to ask your friends for help! and make sure to help your friends when they need it!

we are all learning here

we are all doing it for free

i wasn’t expecting this answer would end up being this long hehe sorry! but i hope this is helpful! if you need anything else feel free to ask me again and i’ll do my best to help you!

[smkkbert]

You don't think it's kinda weird that had Tina and Oliver's second chance talk in the exact same place that Olicity had their talk about going out and finding something real? Even with the bright light and everything

Hi, Anon!

I guess you are referring to the following part in this reply: 

I don’t think it was anything similar to Olicity’s scene in 5x05 because while Olicity was bathing in dazzling light, like really when you watch the scene it’s like you need sun glasses or you wonder if the whole thing was overexposed because people didn’t know what they were doing (they totally did because that light was there for good reasons!), the light in the scene between Oliver and Tina in 5x11 was much more the normal light that comes from the window. Only half of their faces were lightened by it, while the other was in the dark. For me that just looked like two people who both have some darkness still in side of them, but who also still or again have some light. And as the scene comes to an end and the camera is outside of the window it focuses on the light part of them because they agree to work together and do good. For me that whole scene was just showing how Oliver shared an absolutely non-romantic moment with someone very similar to him, inspiring this person to become better and focus on the light like he does this season.

Like I said there already I don’t think the light was the exact same and I also said what I feel the light was supposed to mean in 5x11 (which is why I am just not going to repeat that). 

I know what you mean, though, because of course there is some similarity with both scenes taking place in the office and light playing a role in both of them. I think the similarity is there because these scenes are mirroring the same theme: 

HOPE

This seasons is a lot about hope which includes giving up on the past, move forward and giving second chances. In these two scenes this theme was adressed. The office is where the man Oliver Queen and not the vigilante Green Arrow is operating. The light is the symbol of hope and the life outside the secret lair in the basement of his old office. 

If this season is all about Oliver finally finding his way out of the darkness and being an inspiration for himself and for others (as I think it is), then the mayoral office is the key location. That is where Oliver does good without the suit/mask, stepping out of the shadows and into the light. It is integral for Oliver's hero journey because as long as he will prefer the Green Arrow above Oliver Queen, he is never going to be able to inspire people like he wants to and he is never going to do good as he wants and most importantly he is also never going to be as happy as he wants and deserves to.

So I do think the light and the office aren’t meant to parallel the scenes in the way that the Dream-LL/Oliver scenes mirrored scenes of Olicity (”I think I already answered that.” *waving with the ring*). The light and the office are much more utilized to show a hopeful Oliver Queen, who’s not giving up and who’s inspiring people.

That being said, I don’t believe they refer to the same [enter a fitting word that I have tried but failed to find in the past 15 minutes, even in German]. I did a very short analysis to show what I mean about how the two scenes adress the same theme but in different [yeah, I still don’t know a word, sorry]:

5x05 showed hope for Oliver & Felicity that they can be happy again, even if they are apart. It showed that they are both giving themselves and each other another chance of love. It shows that Oliver is not holding onto the past anymore but does what is the only right thing in this moment - letting go and moving on.

Oliver doesn’t sit back like in season 3 and thinks he doesn’t deserve love or a life outside the hood. This is, as painful as it is for an Olicity fan to watch him with some other woman, is integral for his growth. Oliver believes there is a future for him and that makes him different and so much better than the man Felicity compared him to in 4x16, the man who came back from the island alone and who would always go back to doing things alone. That was the man who hurt her and the man who made the mistake of lying to her which caused their breakup. As a consequence this growth is also integral for Olicity to get back together. 

Oliver deciding to give himself another chance of love is integral for Oliver’s development and for Olicity’s reconciliation. 

Oliver deciding to give himself another chance of love is a good thing.

-- Side note on that because I can’t not write it: Of course we all know that Oliver and Felicity won’t find that kind of love in anyone else as long as the other is still alive. To say it in the words of Downton Abbey: 

Oliver will never be really happy with any other girl as long as Felicity Smoak walks the earth.

Felicity will never be really happy with any other guy as long as Oliver Queen walks the earth.

We all know that they belong together and they should be together. We just need to give them a little more time and occasionally roll our eyes (or close them when other LIs are around) for them to come to the same conclusion. Not everyone can be as smart and quick as fans are. --

5x11 showed hope for Oliver that he can inspire people to use their abilities to do good. It showed that Oliver is getting a second chance to have a BC on the team and maybe support her right. It shows that Oliver is not holding onto the past anymore by putting LL (very much literally) on that pedestal but does what she wanted him to do and finds someone to take her place in the team. He is letting go of one BC and taking in another one. 

For the past episodes since LL died it was all about What would LL say? Oliver was holding onto the idea of her as much as onto the idea of her coming back eventually. It’s why he accepted BS’ story so quickly. Now Oliver accepts that she is gone and not ever coming back, but that her legacy (whether or not really it was/is hers) can still be taken by someone new. 

Oliver allowing someone to take Laurel’s place in the team, again, is very important for his growth. 

What I am trying (and probably failing) to say is: 

5x05 was about Oliver accepting he can have a life outside of being the Green Arrow. He deserves a life as Oliver Queen, a life with love.It’s about Oliver has hope for himself.

5x10 was about Oliver inspiring someone who really needed convincing to try overcome their own darkness and use their abilities for something good.It’s about Oliver’s hope inspiring others. 

For me to see a romantic connection between Dinah and Oliver there is something missing. I am not saying that it will never happen. I really don’t believe it will, but of course I can’t know until the last scene of the last season aired. I promise that if I ever see a romantic connection between Oliver and Dinah, I will say so. Right now that’s just not the case, but people see different things looking the same scene, so this really is just my current point of view on this. 

I hope I answered your question. I feel like I lost my train of thought somewhere, at least a little bit. Sorry for that! I promise I did my best!

xoxo Kathi