#technically MCU. but only in ways I personally think are cool and interesting

[faeriekit]

head ampty new chapter

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Peter’s ugly, smelly car looks better now.

It doesn’t smell that much better, but it gets Cass to and from the grocery store when they need food, and it gets them to and from Bigger Bat’s nest when he gets lonely and wants company in his big huge empty nest. That is good enough. It only has to be a car.

Trips to Bigger Bat’s bigger house let Cass and Peter eat house food. The food is not so much better than the food in their nest, but there is so much more variety that it only makes sense to have a second dinner at Bigger Bat’s big table.

Cass is an omnivore, she knows. She likes variety.

So Peter’s ugly, smelly car is now only mostly ugly, and a little bit smelly; Cass makes the experience more bearable by buying a cardboard tree that smells like Bigger Bat’s cologne.

“Cass,” Peter says from ten feet out from the open door, one hand over his nose, “I can’t drive with that.”

…So Cass tapes the plastic back on the little tree until only a little of the smell comes out. “The car smells so bad,” Cass points out, Peter’s single eye on her as she signs.

“Sure,” he signs back, taking both hands off the wheel once he’s in the car. “But not like [    ].”

“What?” Cass signs, eyebrows together.

“Mint,” Peter says out loud.

Oh. Cass knows what that is. It’s the sharp-smelling flavor she eats in little chocolates sometimes. They sit in little bowls at fancy restaurants, and Cass will eat one or two as she prefers. The only other time she smells it is when Alfred is spraying for—

Cass’s smug smirk doesn’t go unnoticed. “What?” Peter signs one-handed, half looking at her, half looking behind him as he backs out of the car spot.

“Spider,” Cass signs without looking at him, flicking the word off with one hand. Peter groans, eyes on the road.

“Laugh it up.”

Cass will. She absolutely will. “Spider only likes stinky stuff,” she hums teasingly, the car and the spider well on their way to taking Cass to the grocery store. “No good smells”

He waves a hand at her without looking away from the road. Cass cackles hoarsely.

There is a grocery store nearby that sells food Alfred likes, and there is a grocery store nearby that sells things that Cass likes that Alfred does not often cook with—very spicy sauces, meat meant to be eaten raw, and bags of rice bigger than Cass’s torso. They visit the second today.

They buy two bags of rice.

(Cass feels bad for the lonely workers at the store who watch Cass and Peter haul huge sacks of rice on their shoulder, bags in their other hands; many of them wish to be their kissing-friend, but Peter never notices them beyond a smile and a wave.)

(Cass sometimes winks at them, and they turn bright red, if their color allows them to. That her spider will laugh at openly.)

(And if Peter plays 'fainting and falling' when Cass winks at him…well!)

The ugly car is full of groceries that want a cold fridge and a Cass who wants the cold air in their apartment and a Peter who is working on getting them both when something slams into their car at a red light.

Both their heads jerk in synchronicity—

—But it’s Bigger Bird. Bigger Bird in his regular human clothes, even, with Baby Bat under his arm as he tries to get into their car.

Cass immediately unlocks the car doors with a little button at her elbow. Peter’s face pales; he shifts the car stick so that the car will stop moving as soon as he recognizes their faces.

Bigger Bird hops into the car as fast as his body lets him. He’s straining—something’s wrong with his hip. Baby Bat comes with him. Bigger Bird clicks his own seatbelt and then Baby Bat’s. Baby Bat doesn’t move.

“Drive,” Bigger Bird commands sharply.

It’s an emergency. Cass isn’t going to be mad about how rude he is. She locks the door, and Peter puts the car back the way it was, and goes faster than he usually does.

Something popopopops in the distance. Cass winces.

Peter pushes the car to be faster than usual.  

“Grab,” Bigger Bird chokes out, only to give up on words as Peter swings the car around a corner. His hand shoots out to latch onto the bar above the windows. “You—Tim, you good?”

“Hkjhghjk,” says Tim, which isn’t English. His face looks pale. “I’m—yeah. Yeah, all intact, Big Bird.”

“Great!” Bigger Bird’s smile is strained. The POPOPOPOPOPs are getting louder. And closer.

Cass turns herself all the way around, even when her seatbelt is on. There are people on roofs, and on corners, who eye their car with hungry eyes of predators.

They have guns. Cass does not like guns.

“Enemies,” Cass says, sharp and loud. Peter hisses.

“There’s—Cass, in the door, I’ve got a couple of—oh, yeah, those. Pull out the pins and you get two seconds.”

There are four large, metal spheres in the doorway with little plugs in them. Cass pulls one pin, and it starts smoking. Both Baby Bat and Bigger Bird turn ash pale. “Is that a bomb?!” Baby Bat yelps, hands on Bigger Bird’s hips.

Cass. Shrugs. She rolls down the window and tosses the thing outside.

Her flight-brothers shriek.

Cass knows that her favorite spider doesn’t injure people without remorse, and isn’t surprised when all the thing does is blow a huge cloud of smoke behind them. It’s a nice cloud. Cass admires the size with a whistle. Peter glances over his shoulders in concern, baffled. “You thought I kept explosives in the car?”

“Are smoke bombs any better?!” Bigger Bird asks, face pale.

Blood is seeping through Bigger Bird's fingers. Cass can smell the iron in the air. She whirls to stare at Peter. “Bigger Nest,” Cass demands sharply.

The spider, in his human skin, nods. He flicks open a little door on the panel in front of him, and suddenly the world outside the car begins to glow. It’s very impressive, and Cass has no idea what it does. The sound of the car kicks up to be twice as loud as Peter starts clicking buttons and switches she’s never seen him touch. “Cass, there’s more smoke bombs in the doors; Tim, there’s a flash bang somewhere back there—it might be in the cup container? Warn me before you pull it, but Dick’s window is the only one that can currently roll down, so—”

Something rams into the side of the car, and everything shakes as the car begins to ride on two tires instead of four. Baby Bat yelps. Cass, meanwhile, has made full on eye contact with a sniper on the roof.

She uses a dirty gesture that Red Brother taught her on accident, and throws another smoke bomb.

“This thing’s connected to the radio somehow, so uh, don’t get startled when that turns on—but buckle in! I think I can pull 200 in this, maybe,” Peter announces, deeply serious and a little nervous. The steel-blue glow turns into a mechanical hummmmmm that rattles the car around them. Cass tugs on her seatbelt until it tightens more firmly around her. “Launching in three, two—“

Cheery, loud beeping comes out of the stereo. Cass likes this song. One of the ballerinas she dances with played it at her wedding. Peter kicks on the car, and suddenly they are flying.

Cass laughs. The world around them disappears—and Cass leaves them with a patch of smoke as a consolation gift.

“Is that the freaking Vengaboys?” Baby Bat hollers. The music almost drowns him out, but it can't hide how scared and bewildered he is. Bewildered is better than scared; Cass will take it.

Peter drives.

The closest experience Cass has to being in Peter’s ugly-but-fast-car is being tucked away in the back of Bigger Bat’s shiny Bigger Car as he chases bad guys who go fast, seeking to make the night obey him as he stampedes himself and his big machine down even tiny alleys and over ramps and bridges. The colorful lights always click to match him as he drives.

(She-who-watches-always is very careful about driving safely)

Peter’s car is bigger, and uglier, and louder, and twice as fast. Cass shrieks with joy, and she can’t even hear it; when the car makes a full turn through a stop light, sliding and slipping until they catch their footing again, the world is still too blurry to see. They turn with a long stroke of the wheel, end up pointed in a whole new direction, and fly off into the tangled jungle of Gotham as soon as Peter kicks on the gas.

This is great. Cass throws another smoke bomb through the cracked window and behind them, and the world becomes dense with clouds.

“I thought you said this was your junker project?!” Bigger Bird shouts, hand shaking on the handle. They are going very fast, but they are not very stable—Bigger Bird can handle very fast cars and very fast planes with wings like a birds, but her spider’s ugly car is not very smooth, and shakes harder the faster they go. He is unsteady. He is unhappy. He is hurt. Cass would empathize with Bigger Bird’s distress, but…she is very sorry for him, but she is having fun. If it is not safe to go outside and remove the threat to her flight-brothers in her day-skin, Cass will make sure they can fly very far and very fast to get away.

“What?!” Peter shouts out over the music and the rollicking of the car— Gangnam Style is simply too loud and too catchy to be heard over. Cass knows the dance moves to this song too, but that’s not important now—so Cass quickly leans over to sign Bigger Bird’s question into the rearview mirror. “Oh! Yeah, it is. Cool, huh?”

“The speedometer says we’re going two hundred and fifty miles per hour, Peter! That’s not normal!”

“Well!” Peter shouts back, and then loses focus to swerve onto a sidewalk without hitting anyone, dodging the explosion that bursts through the street seconds later. “That’s just where the speedometer ends! I’m trying to save up for a better one!”

Cass whistles, and Peter spins the car into another turn—the ground around them tears up, but the second attempt at artillery also misses. “Man, is this what people keep complaining about when they say that guys just follow rich people around all day? This sucks; I’d hate to be rich.”

Baby Bat wheezes. “It’s not usually this…explosive,” he offers, and Bigger Bird’s blood is seeping through his hands. Cass double-takes with worry.

“Faster,” Cass demands, mouth dry. She can visualize how much blood a body needs to lose before it dies, and she doesn’t like the visions playing inside her mind. Her thoughts conjure the sight too easily. Peter hisses through his teeth, and hits another switch. His eyes scan the roofs above them, looking for enemies.

He sees their predators before their predators see them do. “Tim,” Peter demands, eyes on a spot between buildings. “Soon as that flashbang goes off, we’re going. Tell me when you’ve pulled the pin.”

…Cass can hear her littler flight-brother scrabble for the weapon with blood-soaked hands, and the gentle pop of the pin. “Two seconds.”

Peter squeezes his eyes shut. Cass does the same—

The world behind her eyelids erupts into an unbearable, solar light.

Peter is still driving, with his ears alone. Cass blinks, and they are on the bridge—out from their Purple-Friend’s territory and onto the bridge toward Bigger Bat's nest, on open water underneath.

“Clear,” Cass mutters, baffled. She looks around on the empty bridge; there are usually cars on this road. Where are the cars?

Peter cracks open soft brown eyes too. “Hey, sick. Ten minutes out, then.”

“…I’m bleeding out in the back of your super-car, and you’re playing Call Me Maybe?” Bigger Bird realizes, sleepy with lack of blood. It’s bad; blood should be inside, not outside. The song is good. It is peppy. Cass likes peppy.

“It’s good,” is all Cass can say. It sounds nice. Cass likes this song. They will get to Bigger Bat’s nest and Bigger Bird will be okay, and he will listen to 'Call Me Mayb'e with her, and they will eat dinner.

Peter keeps driving—but with a short glance into the back mirrors, he flicks off the switches that make the car very fast instead of just regular fast, and now they just ride in the spider’s ugly, smelly, old car that he loves. They putter onwards. “Yeah; it just autoplays whatever we were on the last time I was driving. This is our usual date night playlist.”

“…I hate you,” Baby Bat decides firmly, baffled and upset for several reasons. “I need you both to break up. Right now.”

“Aw!” Peter protests, dismayed, but Cass only says: “Nope.”

She stole this spider on purpose. He’s hers now. They are adults and they can listen to 'Uptown Funk' and Ke$ha all they want, and Cass will kiss him at the end.

“Pleaseeeee,” Baby Bat groans, holding in Bigger Bird’s hip with all his might. “It’s for the sake of my sanity. I need to live.”

“Live stupid,” Cass offers easily as a compromise, toying with her seatbelt until it sits normal on her chest again. Peter cracks out a laugh before he can hide it.

By the time they roll into Bigger Bat’s Bigger Nest, Peter softly humming along to Barbie Girl as he turns into the path, Bigger Bird is very sleepy, and Baby Bat is breathing very hard.

Alfred is very good at taking care of people though—by the time Peter makes the car stop, there is already a seat for Bigger Bird to lie in at the door, and Alfred at the handle.

“Hello,” Cass offers with a wave, and Alfred quietly nods.

And then he is gone, Bigger Bird with him. Baby Bat darts after them.

…Cass and Peter share a look.

“There’s blood in the back seat now,” Peter points out. Cass is very kind does not say that there was also blood in the back seat before now.

“There are groceries,” Cass signs back, because their trunk is still full of them.

Cass and Peter look at Bigger Bat’s big house.

“…Go home, play video games?” Cass finally suggests, fingers tapping across her face, too out of her routine to think of something better. Bigger Bird will be fine. He will be awake and complaining in only hours.

“You’re not worried about your brother?”

Cass lifts both her arms and shoulders into a loud, eyebrows-raised shrug.

…Her spider, who understands her very well and is very generous, turns the car back on. “You know what? That’s fair.”

Bat and spider amble down the path home, determined to make it there unscathed; the groceries are probably a little warm now, and Cass hope that the trip back is sniper free, but she looks forward to a warm bed and cup noodles and a video call from Bigger Bird, and that is more than enough to warm her on their drive back.

When Peter tangles her fingers in his, Cass’s heart bursts with joy.

Oh, Mickey you’re so fine; you’re so fine you blow my mind! Hey Mickey!

Quiet Respite 🕸️❤️🦇

find the whole thing on Ao3 or read the previous updates here on tumblr

A DC x MCU fic inspired by Dark Matter, Cassandra Cain meets Peter Parker in an exploratory romance slash “mystery” fic. (If you’ve read a lot of these before, you pretty much can tell what’s going on in the background.) Features: Cass’s turn as POV character, use of sign language, the flimsiest timeline you’ve ever seen, teen romance, hurt/comfort, implied homelessness, fight scenes, Cass’s teen rebellion arc, Spider-Man villain arc?? (whoopsie), and a good deal of sneaking around. Updates on tumblr before ao3.

Previous updates are listed above, so if you don’t want to start off with ch 15 below, click on those. This is just to consolidate a big post into something slightly smaller. Anyway, enjoy the continuation of Peter’s trauma-induced depression arc.

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The next day is dance class.

Keep reading

[raifenlf]

Why Loki’s Sylvie Is A Mary Sue

So I am firmly in the camp that Sylvie on the Loki series was/is a Mary Sue.  The last episode made me feel better and like maybe the show was doing a thing where they were faking you out that she was a Mary Sue only to show she was actually sort of a bad guy and I liked that.  But all the recent interviews make me think the show wants to go back to her being a Mary Sue.

But I feel like when I call her out for being a Mary Sue people tell me what are you talking about, she’s not a Mary Sue, bad things happen to her, etc.  But that doesn’t actually make her not a Mary Sue.  

Also, before we start, I know some people find Mary Sue sexist.  But I personally use the term for guys and girls. I don’t use the term to belittle women.  I use the term to criticize a poorly written character.

And I know Mary Sue is often used to describe fanfic characters.  But to me, this series is kind of like a fanfic because the writers took a character who had been in canon MCU material for ten years and then created characters around that character.  So, I kind of review it like I would a fanfic.  It’s very different than if the writers had created a brand new show with all of their own new characters.

Anyway, if you are not totally familiar with the Mary Sue term, then check this out:

I know the term Mary Sue probably means different things to different people.  But I have always used these guidelines when I write my own fanfic to make sure my characters never come off as a Mary Sue.

This article really gives you a full scale of what a Mary Sue is.  If you start reading it, you’ll immediately see why Sylvie is.  But I’m going to take out the parts that most fit Sylvie just to highlight why I believe she is a Mary Sue.  I apologize for this being so long.

Mary Sue Character Traits

Personality

Erm... what personality? The typical Mary Sue doesn't have one per se, because she isn't meant to be a character; rather, she's an entity by which the author makes cool stuff happen.

I feel like that is Sylvie in a nutshell.  She doesn’t have a personality.  I feel like even though she ate screentime, I still don’t really know her at all.  The writers love to say she’s badass.  That’s not a personality.  

Sometimes when I am writing stories for fun and creating new characters, I like to take surveys as my fictional characters.  Like the kind of surveys you’d see in a magazine, like personality types, what’s your dating style, etc.  I figure if I don’t know what my character would do in any of those situations, then I need to keep working on my character.  And if I was trying to fill out a survey pretending I was Sylvie I would have no idea what to answer because she doesn’t have a personality.  She’s just “cool”.

What little personality a Mary Sue has isn't as important as how other characters react to it. No matter how shy or socially awkward Mary Sue is supposed to be, other characters will be inexplicably drawn to her

This is so Sylvie.  Loki falls in love with her...why, exactly?  He falls in love with her in the big Nexus event moment...why?  Because she had a tough childhood?  Mobius spends like two seconds with her in a car and goes from hating her to saying she’s his favorite Loki.  For. No. Particular. Reason.

She's extremely persuasive; everyone finds her opinions to be better than their own

She enchants Hunter B-15 and then immediately Hunter B-15 makes it her whole entire life mission to back Sylvie up.  

And occasionally she'll be a complete asshole...This can manifest itself in several ways...The author wants to write a badass but doesn't know how. This leads to a character who mistreats everyone around her and is never called out on her abrasive, casually abusive behavior.

Sylvie talked down to Loki and treated him like garbage for all of episode three, but it was never portrayed as a bad thing and we never got any impression Sylvie later felt bad for the way she treated Loki

The author doesn't know how to hold back the character, meaning that she will succeed at practically everything. This means that when she encounters rules or authority figures who would otherwise prevent her from doing what she wants to do, she rolls right through them (and they praise her for her "boldness" in defying regulations). If a bad guy is violent and aggressive, she can beat him by being more violent and aggressive (with all that entails). It's impossible for her to go overboard because she's protected by Protagonist-Centered Morality.

Sylvie is shown as a kid to immediately be able to grab a Tempad and run away.  And she can kick ass way better than Loki, for no known reason.  She is always able to fight back against the TVA when they attack her.  And she can kill lots of innocent TVA agents but it’s okay because TVA bad, Sylvie good.

Skills

She will always be superior to the canon characters, regardless of what canon has established they can do or whether it makes any sense.

Whose skill was needed to defeat Alioth?  Sylvie’s.  Of course.  Sylvie needed to teach Loki her skills in order for him to succeed (!).  And again, she is literally called the superior Loki.

Relatedly, there's no effort to her skills. She never actually trains or learns anything to become more powerful; she just wins the Super Power Lottery, or is a freakish natural learner, or is just Inexplicably Awesome

We’re told Sylvie literally taught herself magic.  She literally taught herself to enchant people.  That. Makes. No. Sense.  Like, I have so many questions.  Like, why would it even occur to her to teach herself that?  And how????????????  This is really lazy writing.

Canon Character Relationships

Mary Sue is often designed to hook up with another character, often as a form of Wish Fulfillment. This isn't that bad in and of itself (okay, it is kinda weird), but Mary Sue accomplishes this without any sense of realism. She just grabs her lover's attention straight away, and their relationship will never face any obstacles or tension; it's true love from the start and nothing else. The biggest giveaway is if the love interest is explicitly the author's favorite character, and she essentially "cures" him of all the angst that ails him (at the expense of his characterization).

Yeah, so...this one should be pretty obvious to anyone who watched the show.  Loki literally falls in love with Sylvie immediately, and then he suddenly turns from “villain” to “hero” just because of loving her.  And this was definitely at the expense of his characterization.  And Loki just knows he falls in love with her.  There’s not even any moments of hmm what do I feel for this person?  It’s just true love, immediately.

She will be related to a canon character in some way. This (marginally) helps explain such phenomena as her being a Copy Cat Sue and other characters accepting her so easily.

Sylvie is a Loki variant.  They use this to help explain why Loki is drawn to her and why their falling in love immediately “makes sense”.

Most characters give her more heed than they normally would. The good guys never stop praising her

Seriously, it was so over the top and OOC for Loki to gush over her.  He literally tells her she’s amazing.  They don’t even make it subtle.

Characters' previously established personalities change in reaction to her. Proud, arrogant gimps suddenly acknowledge her superiority in everything. Reckless youths will listen to all her advice. Responsible leaders will defer to her instead. Villains will obsess with her to the detriment of all else. Extremely competent characters will become stumbling buffoons who require her help to do anything. Sweet, mild-mannered characters whom the author doesn't like turn evil and insult her. They all become unnaturally focused on her in some way.

Again, Loki’s whole personality changed in reaction to her.  He became a buffoon who needed her help to enchant the Alioth because of course he couldn’t do anything without her!  Hunter B-15 goes from doing whatever the TVA said to fighting the TVA just because of Sylvie.

Story Elements

Mary Sue is without exception a single-person Spotlight-Stealing Squad. The entire story hinges on her existence; if you removed her, there would be no story. 

Sylvie undoubtedly drove the whole story this season.  It all became about HER meeting the TVA heads because of HER trauma.  Loki’s life was only saved at the beginning because the TVA was trying to capture HER.  And SHE was the one who started the whole multiverse (!).

Mary Sue is The Chosen One, even if the setting already has one. There are many ways she can accomplish this: she can be a Sailor Earth type who "shares" the position with the canon hero; she may be vaguely "destined to help the destined one fulfill their destiny" (i.e. do all the work except the final blow so that the prophecy is still technically correct); or the canon hero may be revealed to be a Fake Ultimate Hero all along. Being the Chosen One doesn't necessarily involve her being a God-Mode Sue, especially as authors become aware of the phenomenon and try to avoid it, but it does make her critically important to the world and allows her to continue stealing the spotlight without the "god mode" label.

HWR wanted Sylvie to come with Loki in the end, like she was chosen all along right alongside Loki.  Like one of the most important characters in the entire MCU is now this character who we only met a few episodes ago.

Most Sues have an unusually Dark and Troubled Past. It's often used to create a Sympathetic Sue, but any type of Sue can have one

They tell us, over and over, how hard Sylvie’s life was because she was kidnapped by the TVA in order to create sympathy for her.

She almost never does anything wrong. In the rare instance that she does, it's usually; (a) a way for the author to disclaim her being a Mary Sue by introducing a single imperfection (that has no bearing on anything anyway), and (b) designed to show her smarts by making her feel instant remorse, and she'll be Easily Forgiven anyway:

So this one hopefully will not come true, as a lot can change between now and when the show is taped. But if the show goes on the way the behind the scenes team is talking, Sylvie immediately felt remorse for betraying Loki, and Loki has already forgiven her and is desperately looking for her.  Ugh.

Alternatively, she is more than capable of doing something wrong, be it in general moral terms or something that goes against whatever code she abides by, and she maybe even frequently does so, but don't expect the other characters or the narrative to ever acknowledge or comment on it in any real capacity. If the other characters do call her out, expect them to be treated like they're the problem for daring to criticize her at all.

Mobius calls her out for killing people, but Sylvie immediately says he’s a bad person and then Mobius agrees, because, of course.

She will often suffer from Special Snowflake Syndrome; i.e., she has a trait or backstory that sets her apart from her group or race.

She is the only female Loki, thus making her the special one among all the Lokis in episode five.

Presentation

In visual media, the camera just can't stop staring at her.

The camera would follow her in fight scenes rather than Loki.

Mary Sue Tropes

Okay, so there are specific Mary Sue tropes that Sylvie is.  One of those is Copy Cat Sue, which I think was referenced before.

Copy Cat Sue

A lot of fanfic writers...start to write something because of their passion for this character, but they find something about the character that doesn't mesh well. Maybe they're the wrong gender or are otherwise not close enough to the author's expectations...In any case, rather than put them through the Possession Sue process, they just get a Clone-O-Matic™ and out pops a Copy Cat Sue...the character might be intended as a replacement for the canon character, but without whatever icky traits the author hates. They'll then rob the spotlight, prove the canon character to be unworthy of his/her position, and either relegate the character to obsolescence or, perhaps, even remove them entirely.

Sylvie is basically a clone of Loki, she is a variant.  But she absolutely robbed the spotlight of Loki’s, and they literally call her the superior Loki.  I mean, they are literally not even being subtle about this.  And there was a feeling by myself (and a lot of other viewers) that Sylvie might ultimately replace Loki in the MCU. 

Black Hole Sue

Much like a black hole, this is a Mary Sue who "sucks in" the plot and characters to her. Characters will behave outside their personalities, logic will be defied, and rules will be broken for her sake.

Sylvie really does suck up all the plot and Loki definitely behaves outside of his personality just to fit the Sylvie show.

Jerk Sue

A Mary Sue who is mean or maybe even cruel, but are still treated as an ideal person.

Once again, Sylvie is basically a jerk all of episode three, but you’ve got Loki falling over himself to call her amazing in just the next episode.

Relationship Sue

A Mary Sue who exists to be the perfect mate for a specific character...this character has everything in the plot conspiring to enforce this One True Pairing...in Fanfiction, they are the perfect beloved of a canon character.

They literally have Mobius speculate that Loki falling in love with Sylvie is so extraordinary that it causes an entire Nexus event, that’s how huge this One True Pairing is (!).  And Sylvie is the love interest of Loki, the only character who had been around before the beginning of the series

TLDR: Sylvie has all the tropes of a classic Mary Sue character.  So calling Sylvie a Mary Sue isn’t being sexist or just randomly hating on the character.  If you use common Mary Sue characteristics to examine the character, she just has too many of these characteristics to ignore.

[zibaldone-di-pensieri]

So I watched Eternals 👀

And I immediately say that it's already one of my favorite MCU movies

I liked all the characters, I liked the plot and how it was developed

I like the fact that it's not too much full of comic jokes, there are some, not like Thor Ragnarok 👀

Anyway, I want to say two things about this movie

Obviously there may be spoiler, so jump the post if you want to watch the movie but still didn't

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First this one...

They referred twice to DC Comics, once with Alfred and Batman and the other time with Superman

Dear Kevin Feige, what are you trying to say? Is the DC Comics canon inside Marvel? Are you making fun of DC Comics? Or you're just saying that inside the Marvel universe there are the comics of the DC? So technically DC exists in Marvel?

Well idk what else to say but my mind already started thinking about a lot of things and YES

I WANT A CROSSOVER BETWEEN MARVEL AND DC ONE DAY 🥺🥺🥺

Anyway let's move over

Second thing

I want to analyze the main characters

They're all unique and interesting, I like them all, they gave different powers and personalities 😍

We have:

This is clearly superman, he flies, he shoot lasers from the eyes, it is said that he is the strongest, he wears in blue

(yeah I know what you're thinking, Homelander too👀)

Then there is

The queen 😍

But, if you maybe fight a little bit, a punch maybe or a kick, I would appreciate it

Nothing?

Come on do something more :/

She seems having great powers but I wanted to see more from her 😭

Anyway...

A sort of King Mida more or less 👀

Great powers, but I liked more her personality

Now we have my favorite 😏

Kingo 😍

Or as I like to call him, Son Goku 👀

Come on that one is clearly a Kamehameha 🌀

I totally love his ability 😍

Who's the fastest superheroes?

Flash? Quicksilver? Ew

Makkari 😏😍

One of the more interesting character

Watching her "talk" made me think about Hawkeye obviously 👀

Also, a hero with superspeed isn't just someone who run all the time, who can just run fast

I mean, the way she attacked Ikaris was really great 👏👏👏

It's the turn of the genius and inventor

He's not just a "politically correct" character, or at least I hope so, right Marvel? 👀

A great man, he made a family, he's a really good person

But when he uses his power, he seem to like a lot the rings and all the things with circular shape, so I call him a sort of Shang Chi but cooler 😎

Then we have this little super cute kid 🥺🥺🥺

She has strange but really cool powers, can I call her a sort of Martian Manhunter? 😂 Or maybe just Tinker Bell? 👀

This one instead I don't know how to call and I didn't understand a lot his power

So you just give strong punches? Just this? A sort of Thanos with the Gauntlet but without the gems 🤔 mh okay...

Maybe he is really strong, physically he is the best but I want some more, or he is just another Hulk-like :/

In this case too, I liked more the personality

Okay this one maybe is more for the actress but...

I used to don't care a lot about AJ but after this movie, I like her more

I mean she did a great job

Her character is wonderful and interesting

Her mind was a little bit confusing but at the end we understood why

She remembered everything

She is a great warrior, like Wonder Woman 😏😏

She makes a great use of different... (I don't know what is the exact translation in English) sidearms? Melee weapons? Anyway I liked that.

Finally we have a "controversial" character 🤔

I mean, what he does, in my opinion, isn't exactly good and right, because people don't fight but anyway you force them to do what YOU want

He can do "only" this and he does just using his eyes

So, mind control, eyes power 🤔

I think I'll call him Uchiha 👀

And that's all folks!

Who's your favorite eternal? What do you think about this movie? Let me know!

[lastingphase]

Okay, sorry in advance, this may turn into a rather long ramble because I have literally been thinking about it for months.

So firstly, I was not actually aware of the whole headcanon/theory about Thanos torturing and/or mind-controlling Loki until I read a fanfic (I think it was Porcelain). And initially I thought "that's a cool interpretation, but it's definitely not canon compliant".

Then I read a few meta posts and realised it's actually a widespread thing in the fandom - or at least in parts of it.

Then I rewatched Thor 1 and Avengers 1.

And my conclusion is: Loki has always been a messy character. Most other Marvel character fit pretty neatly into a category: hero, anti-hero, villain, etc. Loki doesn't. Even in Thor 1, he's a weird mix of villain and victim. Because even when he does something that is definitely evil (trying to destroy a planet) you can still kind of understand why he does it. So narratively he's the villain, but in terms of... I don't know, emotions? he doesn't feel like a villain.

Avengers 1 only complicates things more. Because there he is definitely the villain. The speeches and posturing are like a flashing neon sign that says 'Bad guy'. At the same time there is the Thanos story going on in the background though. I think the main problem with it is that it takes place in the background. Yes, there are clear signs that Loki is being coerced into invading earth. But those signs are only clear if you're watching the movie with some degree of analysis.

My dad and I have had multiple debates that stem from the fact that we watch movies very differently. I watch to pick apart; I'm here to dissect and analyze. My dad mostly just watches movies for entertainment. He prefers plots he doesn't need to think too hard about. Most people who watch superhero movies are like my dad. They're watching to be entertained and for that purpose it's better if the characters they see clearly fit into 'good guys' and 'bad guys'.

Some people are like me though. They pick apart and examine. They speculate and write lengthy meta posts about character motivations. These are usually the people who pick up on subtext. On things like the fact that yes, Loki stabs Thor while the two of them are fighting, but he stabs him in the most non-lethal way possible.

Avengers 1 does a really great job of setting things up for the MCU. It establishes the Avengers as a team; it ties together a lot of previously disconnected stories into a whole. And it begins to hint, though very vaguely, to Thanos and the conflict of future movies. It also does a really good job of setting Loki up as the link to Thanos.

But then Thor: The Dark World happens. And none of that set up pays off. In fact, all the hints in Avengers 1 get completely ignored. Why? Because Loki is the character equivalent of a Leatherman (I'm using this reference and hoping everyone knows what that is; if you don't - it's a multi-purpose tool that combines pliers, screwdriver, knife, etc.) His role in each story changes according to what the story needs. In Thor 1, he's an antagonist - a brother turned traitor. In Avengers 1, he's a villain. In TDW, he's a redeemed villain. In Ragnarok, he's comedic relief (technically everyone in that movie is comedic relief). And in the Loki series, he's a goofy, bumbling idiot.

You know the saying 'too many cooks spoil the broth'? The same thing applies to stories. Every person who tells a story tells it differently. Because the MCU is written by a bunch of different people, it's full of a lot of different interpretations. While that's great for creating unique and diverse stories, it's not so great for creating consistent characters.

The problem for me with canon Loki isn't so much that he changed. It's that all of the most interesting things about his character never really get dealt with because at the end of the day, even if he is popular, he's not the main character. There are a bunch of loose threads that canon just never addresses. Like the fact that Loki is a Frost Giant. Or the fact that he tried to murder his entire species. Or that he attempted suicide. Or Thanos. Or even - and this is a big one for me - whether or not he faked his death in TDW.

So to conclude a long ramble into something more concise: I don't think any of us are insane. It is possible to have wildly different interpretations of a character - canon itself proves that.

I'm really starting to worry if my corner of the Loki fandom (og 2011-2013) are actually just insane. Are we like Destiel from SPN, insisting something is there that was never written into the text only hinted at, but we wanted it there anyway so we put it there? Like even if we don't like Loki from the series, that's how Loki's character is going to be now. We adapt or we die. We don't get to be mad about something we made up, right?

Like I genuinely just. I don't know. As I've released my anti Loki series video essay to YT more and more people have told me I've made up his og character and Im mad about something that never existed in the first place. Did I just... Make something up and then other fans liked that and we all huddled together in a dark corner of the internet as everyone else laughed at us? Like. God I feel absolutely insane right now.

Like I love the version of Loki that my corner of the fandom talks about. But did he actually exist in canon to begin with?

[missroonilwazlib]

So I was just randomly thinking about cool ways they could reintroduce AoS characters into the new Marvel tv show lineup, and here’s a few I thought about. (Only going to focus on the original first season cast for now, although I might share my thoughts on where I think characters like Mack and Yo-Yo could go later.)

-Coulson, well this one I could see them doing very easily. In fact, there are technically two ways I could think of that they’d bring him in. Obviously, there’s his Chronicom/LMD version as it stands in the sort of current timeline (obviously not sure how they would explain some of the timeline discrepencies, although that could easily be explained by the quantum realm, as depicted in the show) either way, they could just bring that version of him in to one of the shows (like the Hawkeye show for instance.) in that scenario, they wouldn’t even have to explain to the wider non-AoS audience, how he’s alive, because of the whole “it’s actually a robot version of him” but it would also be rewarding to AoS fans to do it that way.

The other way they could bring him in is through the multiverse, which we already know it’s going to be a thing. While bringing an alternate universe version of him would be the nicest because he would actually be brought back from the dead rather than just brought back as a robot, it wouldn’t be as rewarding to the AoS fans, since he probably wouldn’t have all the AoS history intact. Of course, we could always get the best of both worlds and have both versions of Coulson show up at one point or another in a future Marvel show. I do think that if it’s the second version, the best place for him to show up would be in the Loki show, since that seems to focus on alternate timelines. (Would also be interesting to see Coulson coming face to face with the guy who killed him the first time.) Alternatively could imagine him in a future season of WandaVision, assuming the Multiverse is something it’s heading towards. If it’s just the LMD version, then I could definitely see Coulson showing up in Hawkeye probably.

-Melinda May, another easy one, being that she teaches at Coulson Academy, which probably means she still works for SHIELD. Could see her showing up pretty much anywhere, except for maybe the Loki show. Best place would probably be Hawkeye, or if a tv show spin-off of Sword happens (hopefully starring Monica Rambeau, Darcy Lewis, and Jimmy Woo,) then I could definitely see her as something of a recurring character. (Especially since it was implied in the show that Melinda May knew Woo personally.)

-Daisy Johnson, definitely could see her joining one of the shows with the new superheroes or any shows involving Sword, assuming that’s where she’s working now. Ms. Marvel in particular would be a good place for her to have a recurring role. Could also see her being the character who branches off to the movies, too, along with Coulson.

- Fitz and Simmons, now this one’s a little more tricky because they’re basically semi-retired and have a child. Also, don’t think any of us want to see them put through the ringer after everything they went through in the show. That’s why I’m thinking the best place to have them show up would be to make them recurring or guest star characters in a more comedic show. Which means definitely not Falcon and the Winter Soldier or Hawkeye, which I assume both would be on the more serious side than some of their other lineups. Now, if there’s ever a spin-off series featuring Monica Rambeau, Jimmy Woo, and Darcy Lewis solving crimes, like I mentioned earlier, then this would be by far the best place to reintroduce FitzSimmons to the wider audience. Not only would that keep them out of harm, but it would also allow the actors to return to the old school humor of the first season, which is something I’m sure us AoS fans would like to see. In fact, I feel like that would be a good show to have any AoS character show up in, like May, but I feel as far as which AoS characters would be the most ideally suited to showing up in that kind of spin-off, it would have to be FitzSimmons.

Also, random aside, but another interesting thing I wouldn’t mind seeing, at least with Fitz, is have that evil Doctor version of Fitz show up in something like Loki. De Caestecker did a great job in that role (as much as I hated seeing Fitz be evil in any way.)

-Grant Ward; yeah, sort of a forgotten character in comparison to the others, but he was part of the main cast for the first three seasons, and I almost feel like, if they bring back AoS for another season, he should be integral to it, and it was kind of a missed opportunity not to have him show up anywhere in the last season during all of that time traveling. Now, unlike Coulson, or really any character I mentioned so far, there’s really only one way you COULD bring this character back, and that’s through the multiverse. However, don’t think they could reintroduce him anywhere but in a season 8 reboot of AoS. In fact, if AoS is rebooted, I feel like the focus this time around would have to be on the Multiverse, because while they certainly toyed with the idea a lot in AoS, they were never able to truly explore it, most likely because of what they were and weren’t allowed to do because of the MCU. But since they would be working more closely with Feige and company, then there’s no reason for them not to, and that’s where I think Ward would fit best.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. As I said, I’ll probably do another separate post about where I think Mack or Yo-Yo would make the most sense to show up. Hope you all enjoyed reading my musings, though.

[captainofwonder]

OK I NEED TO SHOUT THIS THEORY INTO THE ETHER:

OK SO I GOT A COUPLE OF THEORIES

1. Why the show is a sitcom show.

So I was thinking about Wanda's character and how her subconscious has made this whole world up. But why would she chose sitcoms, especially old sitcoms from 1950s-1980s(where we are now as of episode 5) ? Well my theory is that she used to watch them as a kid in sokovia as well as with vision when they were together for their 2 years in infinity war. She never really had a family of her own so she would dream about the perfect family that you so often see in sitcoms. Getting a life with Vision that they planned to have but never got. Perfectly domestic, nothing ever goes wrong in a sitcom, so it would make sense that her subconscious chose that as a safe place to be forever. But as we know that is starting to crumble which brings me to my next theory,

2. Who is actually behind this whole thing.

Up until episode 4 we are led to believe that everyone is trapped in the world, including Wanda. Then after episode 4 we as the audience is led to believe that Wanda is the mastermind behind it all. But even that doesn't seem to be true as Monica, a key character in the show, knows that Wanda doesn't really mean any harm. ALSO it is stated straight from Wanda when she has her fight with vision that She didn't even know how this whole thing started. So the first part of this theory is that I believe that whoever is truly behind it all came to Wanda either directly or subconsciously and offered her a way to bring vision back and live the life she always wanted. That's why she went to find Visions body willingly and why she is technically "in control" of the story. So then, who is the mastermind coercing Wanda to do this?

Well I believe that it's the man in all of the commercials.

Think of it this way

Every show has a showrunner. And every show also has a producer.

The person paying for it all. How do you do that? With advertisements :)

I feel as though the ads are more than just simple Easter eggs for us the audience.

I believe that Wanda is the showrunner, dictating how the story is going, while the PRODUCER is the one making the show run, i.e. the big giant reality tearing field over Westview.

Also explains why Pietro is here. When things in the show aren't going the way the producer wants you see often time shows suddenly change plots or characters. That's usually because the producer wants to change something in the show to make more money. That's how a lot of beloved sitcoms have been ruined in that way. SO when Vision started to catch on and try to tell Wanda to stop (he's probably the only one who can make her stop as well) the producer throws in a distraction AKA Pietro and of course MCU Pietro is dead so this Producer has to get a new Pietro from a different universe.

(I could be completely wrong about the producer being the dude in the advertisements but I think it would be cool and an interesting commentary on TV show production :) )

[moku-youbi]

MCU’s Lazy Post-Snap Writing (Thanks Disney...)

This could be potentially spoilery for the first episode of Falcon and Winter Soldier, but it is just a general discussion of the world-building post-”snap” or whatever in the MCU, nothing specific about plot. So last night I was watching the first ep, and briefly getting my hopes up when they mentioned how soon after Endgame this is set, I thought okay, maybe we’ll finally get to see some of the fallout from all these people returning 5 years later. 

(Because let’s be real, WandaVision quietly killing our lesbians off screen with Maria Rambeau apparently dying from cancer while her daughter was snapped away without so much of a mention of Carol being the only consequence of the snap is a fucking joke. And EVERYTHING that was Far From Home, please. Sure, all the right people just so happened to be snapped away so that you could still have Peter and all his friends be the same age and this one character as a joke that used to be younger and is now the same age...right...)

So, great. Sam’s been gone for 5 years and then immediately lost his best friend to another awful writing decision, but alas. For whatever reason, male pride? IDK, he’s insisting on claiming his ownership over his sister’s home and boat that they technically both inherited, even though she’s a widower who’s been raising two young kids alone during the whole snap era in (I think) the NOLA area, and is just trying to keep her head above water by selling. It’s a strange turn for Sam, who has in the past seemed to be a sensitive and understanding guy, to keep flexing on her about how it’s partially his, even though prior to the snap he’d been living based out of the DC area, and superheroing and/or breaking international treaties around the globe, so...

It seems like an excuse to have him attempting to secure a loan, which proves a difficult proposition for someone without work history for the last 5 years, in a time when apparently banks have been inundated with loan applications following the sudden return of billions of people. Okay, cool. I appreciate that the latter would be a nightmare situation, and it’s this sort of detail that might get overlooked in the films that starts to hint at the major ramifications of Tony’s decision to bring everyone back without rewinding time.

However, the problem (beyond the ridiculous “no work history while you were literally nonexistent” which, if the banks are receiving loan requests from people just returned, would be EVERYONE), is pointed out BY the loan officer, and there’s no real good explanation--Sam is a hero. Even if we somehow accept that the US government isn’t scrambling to do some sort of relief bill, or special loans or grants for those returning to existence, Sam’s situation is different. He has a high-profile job with the military. He is loved the world over. And most importantly, he was dusted in the process of defending the world from Thanos, then assisted in his defeat upon his return. You’re telling me there isn’t payment for that kind of thing? 

Even IF no governments around the world are willing to compensate these heroes, you have people like Tony and T’Challa who are incredibly wealthy, and it makes NO SENSE that they aren’t compensating the heroes who work alongside them or helped defend Wakanda. I absolutely refuse to believe that Pepper would be creating some sort of grant, even if there weren’t a regular salary or whatever, for those returning in particular. And it especially doesn’t make sense when you see Tony basically handing over the keys to the kingdom to Peter, and Pepper giving big checks to Aunt May’s charity, or Vision (and Wanda) who has no way of earning income EXCEPT from his superheroing, purchasing a home. How DID they support themselves running around Europe prior to Infinity War if they’re not receiving money from some Avengers fund? And even supposing it comes down to some kind of pride on Sam’s part, even if Pepper had come to him with some sort of restitution payment or compensation for his service, and he was all like “I can’t accept charity,” Pepper would have happily said, “let’s call it a low interest loan, then.” There’s NO REASON he should have to go to some random bank begging for a loan.

Except...the MCU writers are lazy af. They want that drama to be there, they want this to be a motivation for his character, so they ignore the world and the rules already put in place by the past 20+ films/shows. The same as the utter laziness of insisting on keeping the 5 years with no real good justification for it besides Tony Stark wanting to keep his daughter (and even if you’re not big on the theory that Pepper was already pregnant at the time of the snap like I am, I think we’d all agree that Tony Stark would put the greater good ahead of his personal life. He’d know damn well that huge cost of bringing everyone back and it would tear him apart, but he’d DO THE RIGHT THING)

It was incredibly insulting to viewers, and tragically lazy writing. They wanted to have their cake and eat it to. So when they want to jerk some tears, when they want the drama, they make the snap have huge consequences, and when they don’t want to have to deal with the consequences of the snap, they basically pretend it was nothing -- a BLIP, for fuck sake -- that everyone’s already over with and life’s moved on.

I get it, you didn’t want that dark, heavy tone in the Spider-Man film, but you have a chance to explore it with Sam and Bucky. I mean, that’s cool and all, but the problem with insisting on having all your films and shows being part of the same canon, is that you have to MAKE THEM ALL PART OF THE SAME CANON. And while I think they pulled it off beautifully for a while, beginning with Infinity War, it’s started to unravel. The whole setting Captain Marvel in the past of an already established universe didn’t work well and hobbled the story, turning something that should have been good into a clunky vehicle to excuse any potential holes in the story going forward. Endgame was a nightmare, and the tonal shift of FFH after Peter’s journey so far, and questionable characterisation is worse. It makes me worried for Black Widow, which is already suffering from Covid pushing it back. That’s a film I’ve been looking forward to for over a decade, and I’m worried by setting it in the past, it’s going to suffer the same way CM did.

I just find it incredibly sad that the Disney Plus series’ put an end to the Netflix MCU, because those were so well written with create internal consistency, character development, and world-building. They could have been a great way to explore the fallout of the snap, especially with the efforts they went to to distance them from the rest of the MCU while still, technically, being a part of it. Now instead we have Disney churning out flashy, but ultimately hollow content as a cash grab, instead of any real interest in telling meaningful stories. 

I will say, snap politics aside, I hold out higher hopes for the remainder of Falcon and Winter Soldier. There are some parts I obviously didn’t like, but on the whole it felt of a higher quality than WandaVision by far (which is sad, because I love that comic and was really looking forward to some surreal, zany fun there). 

But on the whole, where I used to be so excited and the first in line for every new MCU film (literally), these days I’m just feeling “meh.”

[punkcupcakestyles]

Love Song

Part 15

Catch Up!

Sofia Welsh-De La Rosa and Timothée Chalamet will star in new Amazon series and, honestly, I won’t talk about anything else ever again

Amazon Prime has just announced the release of its new original series set in 1970’s New York. According to Hollywood Reporter, the new series will be lead by Sofia Welsh - De La Rosa, Timothée Chalamet, and Logan Lerman, and will be produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out and Us) and directed by Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey). The ambitious project is in talks with some other big names in Hollywood, such as Meryl Streep and even Robert de Niro, to join the series.

Honestly, I’m gagging. 

This might come as a surprise as both Sofia, who has been enjoying lots of Oscar’s buzz for the third year in a row, and Timothèe are on the prime of their movie careers, as two of the most prominent young actors in Hollywood, but according to many sources, Sofia has been looking for a way to work with Peele for a long time, while Timothèe is excited to add some action to his resume, after his role in Hostiles and The King. Also, rumor has it, Amazon is willing to pay a hefty (and I mean hefty) amount of money to sign the young stars. 

As for Logan Lerman, this is his the actor’s first TV role since 2005 and is set to be his comeback after his career faded a bit to the background. With the star-studded cast, Amazon is hoping this to be the platform’s next big hit. 

There is no doubt that Sofia, Timothèe, and Logan are three of THE most talented young actors today, with Sofia being the reigning queen of the pack. Recently, the actress has played a pirate, a thief, a devious courtesan and a feminist writer trying to bring down love, and she’s been rumored to have just signed a deal with Disney to play her very own princess, as well as an undisclosed character in MCU’s highly anticipated Black Widow. She truly has the range, Darling!

Sofia was seen having coffee with Timothèe early in the week, before the show’s announcement, which sparked rumors that the actress had ended things with Harry Styles after he had dinner with his ex in London. She was also seen leaving the James Corden Late Late Night’s studio with Logan...

@BobbyC I’m sorry but all of them are gay...

@Peanutbuttah Eh, she can’t act anyway

@Loveisloud @peanutbuttah She can act, she has been in commercial and art-house movies and has received rave reviews every time. You just don’t like her because she’s dating your fave. 

@Arewethereyet she’s an sl*t. So glad Harry’s done with her…

@Soph Are you drunk Buzzfeed? One does not leave Harry Styles for anyone!

****

Harry was cooking. 

The air smelled like garlic and butter and I breathed in deeply, just realizing how fucking hungry I was, as I followed him to the kitchen. It just occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten anything that day, other than a cup of coffee that Harry had made me in the morning. It was a little strong for my taste, I liked mine with sugar, even when my mom kept telling me I was being violently disrespectful to coffee. I didn’t care, not one bit. 

I never really ate on interviews or auditions days, it made my tummy feel funny and I was usually afraid that my clothes wouldn’t fit like they were supposed to after, so, no food for me, thank you. Usually, D would force-feed me as soon as we were done, practically shoving fruits, nuts, and salads down my throat (sometimes even a burger!), but today I was way too anxious and excited to even pay attention to her efforts. I was going on a date with Harry, I couldn’t care less about anything else!!!

And now, I was fucking hungry and it smelled even better in the kitchen.

“I didn’t know you cooked,” I smiled, looking at the pasta that was boiling on the stove and the bubbling alfredo sauce. Grilled prawns and a green salad were carefully plated in rustic blue and gold plates.

My eyes traveled to him, and I saw him hesitate for a second before he gifted me with a shy smile. He was so lovely, it was no surprise that my head became fuzzy every time I was around him. Even the most superficial thought struggled to grab a hold to my brain. I wondered if anyone could keep their wits around him, but somehow, I doubted it.

“It takes my mind off of things,” he finally said. “And I kinda wanted to impress you, I guess.” 

The admission made my heart soar in my chest and I beamed at him as he stood in front of me. I admired his beauty for a second, his skin was slightly tanned and it looked almost delicious against the white fabric of his shirt, and his smile was warm, making me feel giddy as he trapped me against the counter with his arms on each side of my body. 

I wanted to kiss him, so so badly, but instead, I let my fingers brush over his neck until they reached the tips of his hair. It tickled and he laughed softly with the most wonderful smile.

“Really?” I asked him softly, cause I didn’t want to break the intimate moment we were sharing. 

“Yeah. A bit silly, innit?”

“No, it’s not silly. But, if you wanted to impress me, then you should’ve made a chocolate lava cake,” I teased. “You would’ve gotten me, then.”

“Chocolate, uh?” The right corner of his lip shot upwards, and an adoring feeling hit me right in the chest like a tidal wave. 

“Yeap.”

“I’ll keep it in mind for next time,” Harry muttered, his words getting lost in the air as he leaned down to kiss me.

I realized that it was all I wanted: To kiss him slowly, maybe even for hours. But I knew I had to stop him. I was under his spell and there was nothing I could do about it, nothing I wanted to do, anyway. But even I could admit that this was just a dream, one that I wanted to remember every second of. So when he was gone, I would still have those memories. 

So before his lips could brush mine, before he could melt my brain with his kisses, I pressed my forehead to his and dropped my hands to his chest, right where his heart was beating rapidly. 

“Sorry,” I said shyly, casting my eyes down so I wouldn’t have to look at him, not a few more seconds, not until I had gathered the will to stand strong by my decision. 

“Is there something wrong?” His voice was full of sincere concern, a little bit rougher as well, which made his accent more noticeable. 

“No,” I shook my head, finally looking into his green eyes. “Everything’s perfect.”

“You just don’t want me to kiss you?”

“It’s just...I want to remember every bit of tonight,” I said, as I tried to ease the utter embarrassment that was crawling over my chest. Who said stuff like that? Writers in cheesy movies or bad teen shows. Fuck. 

“Except for my kisses?” He insisted, almost like a little boy fishing for reassurance. I brought my fingers to his cheek and grazed them it until he smiled at me. 

The answer was “fuck, no”. His kisses were a memory I wanted to carry with me forever. But I also wanted to have that night, so I could carry it with me, and compare it to every other date, every other person that would come my way. 

“I want to remember the little details,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “The dinner you made, which is really close to burning, the grandpa pants…”

“Hey! These look cool! And the sauce, I have it under control!”

“If you say so,” I sneered mischievously, twisting my lips into a mocking smile as he pretended to be offended. “And I want to remember everything you did to make me feel special”

Harry’s arms looped around my waist as he pulled me to his chest and I hugged him back and looked at him, battling the need to just lean in and kiss him. His lips were so pink. 

We both sucked at the whole “no kissing allowed” thing, and somehow that made me feel a lot better. For once, I wasn’t the needy, dreamy one. 

“What do you think?” I asked in a whisper, smiling against the brush of his lips as he bumped our noses together.

“I want to kiss you, Sof, all fucking night long,” he pouted. “Been thinking ‘bout it all day.”

“I’ll make it up to you. Just...lemme have this, yeah?”

“Why?”

“Cause…” I laughed embarrassedly. “I already have your kisses in a little folder in my brain. Now I wanna have this.”

“Is it just me in that folder?” Harry asked, suddenly interested in some other thing that frowning. Curiosity and amusement were burning in his stare and I rolled my eyes at him, almost scoffing at the fact that was the only thing that had managed to catch his attention. 

“Mostly you…” I conceded, even though the petty part of me was all for rolling out with a long list of names before I got to his name. “And Sebastian Stan…” I said, not being able to resist it. 

“Bucky Barnes?” His eyebrows twisted in confusion and he looked at me as I licked my lips, considering just how weird I wanted my answer to be.  

“And the cartoon, too...” I replied, a little bit too casually for it to go unnoticed, but Harry didn’t seem to notice, cause as he was nodding thoughtfully, his hands traveled to my neck again, making me look at him as he dipped his head down to reach the curve of my neck. 

“That’s a bit greedy, baby,” He whispered against my skin, pressing soft kisses down to my pulse point. I wasn’t sure if that was technically a kiss, and I didn’t care, it felt so good. “Someone else?” He was cheating, and we both knew it. I could feel his smile growing bigger, and I sighed as he grazed his teeth over the curve of my neck and let his tongue soothe my skin. “Babe?” He insisted, just to tease me. It was hard to think, and he knew it, but I wasn’t going to admit it just yet. 

“Uh.” I licked my lips and struggled for a second, as I struggled to remember what was it that I was going to say. “Chris Evans, “ I began. “and uh, Michael B. Jordan. Mmm… and Logan Lerman.”

“Isn’t that the guy you’re gonna work with?” He asked, stopping suddenly to look at me. I fluttered my eyes open and smiled when they could finally focus on him. 

“Yeah, him and Timothée Chalamet.”

“Mmmm...I don’t know if I want to share my folder with them,” Harry pouted, which made me laugh. I realized it was no laughing matter, but still, a warm, almost giddy, laughter kept bubbling out of my tummy. 

“Why? Does it make you jealous, H?” I teased.

“Should I be?”

“Mmmm...I don’t know. I honestly think I would let Logan fuck me...those eyes, man.”

“So funny, S…” Harry rolled his eyes. He was not as amused as I had expected him to be. 

“You shouldn’t be,” I said softly, looking him in the eyes, serious and sincere.  

“You sure?” He asked and I was sure he wasn’t talking about Logan Lerman anymore. 

“I’m sure, baby.” I wasn’t even lying. “So, who’s in yours?” I asked, cause maybe that’d take attention away from myself. I didn’t think things through though, cause he had a whole bunch of options for his answer. Who could it be? One of his supermodel exes? His singer ex? This wasn’t a fun game at all. 

“You.”

“Oh, so THAT’S how you answer that kind of question!!” I exclaimed, which made him laugh, and, as he did so, his dimples showed on his face, making him look a little boyish. He was fucking pretty, Jesus. 

“I’m not even trying to be a good boyfriend here,” Harry chuckled, and I relished on the way the word `boyfriend” sounded out of his lips. So pretty, so fucking pretty. “My folder is called “When Sof’s not around”, and I think we need to fill it up, so I don’t run out of thoughts.”

“Oh, we don’t want that,” I scrunched up my nose and shook my head at him as a smile played on my lips. I was so fucking happy and I couldn’t even figure out why. 

“No, we don’t.” The tip of his tongue lapped across his pink lips, and I followed it with my eyes, taking a second or two before I peered up to him again. “I was hoping we could kiss all night,” he said softly. “and maybe I could eat you out by the pool.”

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit…”

“You wouldn’t need one, baby,” Harry laughed, a mix of mischief and endearment lacing with it. I couldn’t stop staring at him, and my knees wobbled a bit as he leaned down, bumping our noses together one more time, as the soft brush of his lips against my skin made me shiver. 

“Don’t cheat,” I whispered and his soft laugh echoed down in every inch of my body. His lips grazed over my forehead, as he pressed a soft kiss to my skin. 

“Ok, baby. We’ll do it your way.”

“Thank you.”

“I think it’s silly, y’know?” He started, pushing me back so he could look at me with his bright green eyes. “We’re just starting, Sof.”

****

I wanted to kiss him. 

I looked at him, licking a spoonful of dessert with my head propped on my hand as I listened to him talk, but all I could think of was how much I wanted to lick the trace of chocolate out of his lips. 

“Is there something wrong, S?” I noticed there wasn’t much concern in his voice, not like there usually was when he asked me if I was ok. This time, there was a hint of mockery, almost as if he knew exactly what I was thinking and that all I wanted to do was to sit on his lap and press soft kisses from his jaw to his lips. 

Fuck.

“No,” I smiled sweetly, cause I wasn’t one to go down without a fight, and I took his hand in mine and pressed it to my lips before I looked at him again. 

“Were you distracted?” His smile was turning more devilish as the seconds went by and I felt myself get warm as he leaned closer, his hands dropping to my thigh and pressing softly to it.

He wasn’t gonna win. I was not going to let him. 

“Nope,” I said, letting the ‘p’ pop between my lips. “Tell me about your album, I promise I’ll be a grown-up about it.” 

“Nice save…” Harry chuckled. “I think you’re gonna like it.”

“I have recently discovered that I’m a very jealous person. I don’t think I’ll like it, but I’ll be happy for you.”

“You shouldn’t be jealous.” A smile tugged on his lips and I felt warm, so warm inside, I couldn’t help but smile as well. “And I think you’re like it, especially since I made a few last-minute changes, against Jeff’s will.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he kept saying I had the guts, the audacity to change the album when we’re about to drop the first single.”

“What changes?” I insisted, because Jeff’s feelings were the least of my concern at the moment. 

I wished I could have played it cool. Maybe that would’ve made me look more interesting, aloof, unapproachable, and all those things a girl should be in front of her crush. But my heart was racing and the world was turning chaotic as my head ticked, like a tiny little bomb. 

I needed to know. 

Tick, tick. 

“You’re already sure you’re not gonna like it,” Harry smirked, surely unaware of the mess inside my head. “You might as well wait for it.”

No!!! TIck tick. 

“Oh, please, please, pretty please?? What’s the advantage of this if I can’t get a tiny sneak peek?”

“Well, for instance, you get me to cook for you…”

“It was delicious, thank you.”

“And you get me to eat you out at night when you’re not being stubborn and imposing kiss-bans.”

“I like that very much, too,” I giggled, looking at his green eyes as he got just a bit closer, just an inch away from me. 

“So it’s not such a bad deal, is it?”

“I guess not.”

“Good.” His bottom lip rolled into his lips and he bit it thoughtfully for a couple of seconds as his eyes kept burning little holes into my soul. That’s how it felt. “Let’s watch a movie, baby. Are there any bans on cuddling?”

“No, not yet.”

His fingers squeezed mine and he got up swiftly from the table, smiling brightly as we covered the few steps to a different room near the pool, where a giant screen awaited for us. There were a bunch of individuals blue chair, blue and velvety, and a larger one, that was meant to comfortably fit two. The room was dark, only lit by the lights coming from the screen, and I followed him blindly until we were sitting side by side. Slowly, we found each other, and as Harry sat against the armchair, I settled between his legs, cuddling up to his chest while his large hand rested on the curve of my waist. 

He smelled like a lazy Sunday morning when the rain is lightly tapping on your windows and all you can hear are the chirping birds when still early, so the world hasn’t woken up just yet and you get to focus on that feeling, on the promise of what’s coming. 

He also smelled like pasta and chocolate, and I didn’t mind that at all. 

He felt soft, comforting, and sweet, but above all, he felt safe. I was safe with him. 

And, I struggled for a bit, trying to understand what came next, what was the warmth and giddiness that settled in my tummy every time I looked at him. 

“You ok, baby?” Harry asked and I nodded absentmindedly, not ready to let my thoughts go just yet. What was it? “Wanna watch Set It Up?”

“Yeah, whatever you want. your choice.”

“Are you sure you’re ok? You don’t say that often.”

“Oh, shhh, Harry I always do whatever you want.”

“We definitely have different definitions of ‘Whatever Harry wants’” He mused and I propped myself up to look at him, almost suspiciously, almost angry.

“Do we? What do you want?” I asked. 

“To kiss you. And for you to stay the night.”

“I have a bed, y’know?” I quirked my eyebrow, looking at him as I had already won the argument. 

“Yeah, unfortunately…”

“And we promised we would behave tonight.”

“You can stay in a different room,” he offered. “Or I will.”

“What’s the point then?”

“You won’t have to miss me in the morning…” he shrugged. I laughed out loud, despite my best efforts to look offended. “And I won’t have to miss you.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Love. 

He looked a lot like love. 

And love looked a lot like him. 

***

Harry Styles and Sofia Welsh were out grabbing Fro-yo and I’ll never be as cool as either of them

Yes, I know what you’re gonna say: Are they paying you to write this sh*t? And the answer is yes! someone’s paying me to write this sh*t! Alas, neither Harry nor Sofia is. I wish. 

The usually private couple, and bear in mind I am using the word couple loosely here as they haven’t confirmed to be dating, gave the world a glimpse of their relationship as they stepped out in Los Angeles to grab ice-creams and bubble teas, along with friends.

Ever since the rumors of their relationship spread around, the couple has been mostly keeping a low profile - which is not very surprising as Harry Styles is not very open about his personal life since he was a member of One Direction and a large part of his fans believed him to be romantically involved with one of his bandmates (that was a mouthful! And also very true, there has been a lot of conspiracy theories about it)

Sofia, who’s in the middle of an Oscar campaign (and has been showing us just how much designers adore her), sported a pair of leggings, a crop top, and a large blazer, a perfect outfit for the ever-changing LA weather, and looked happy and relaxed as she waited for Harry to get their orders. Both stars took photos with fans and left together in Styles’ classic car…

****

We were made out of good intentions. 

We slept together that night and every night after that for an entire week. We didn’t do much, we kissed and cuddled, and spent our mornings lazily together until one of us had to go out to the real world. We even went out and we kept stealing looks and smiles at each other, like two little kids that were too shy in front of their crushes. 

Photos were taken. Articles were published. Midge was elated. 

Harry’s new single was coming out that night, and there was going to be a party to celebrate it. If it was a hit, they were going to celebrate their success and all the hard work that went into it. It was a flop, and it was not going to flop, they were going to drink for better times ahead. 

“Fuck!!!” 

I stared at the ceiling, willing my body to move and failing miserably at it as every little muscle in my body contracted painfully. My arms hurt, and my legs felt like they were on fire. 

I just needed 5 more minutes before I got up and got ready to leave. 

It was day 4 of “my new life” as my trainer liked to call it, and after another lunch of grilled chicken and steamed broccoli, I was ready to quit. I had trained and dieted before for different roles, but this time, I had a feeling she wanted to suck the life out of me. It even made me reconsider if I needed to be in a Marvel Movie. Would Midge kill me if I quit?

“Sof…” The male voice scared me just a little, as I thought I was alone in my house. I turn around just slightly, as much as my tired poor body could handle and smiled as I saw Sam standing by my door. “Can I come in?”

He was holding a tray, with something that looked like a sandwich, coffee, and a glass of water, along with a white bottle of medicine. I nodded, grunting even at the soft movement, and he walked quickly to my bed, setting the tray down before me as he stood awkwardly. 

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” I struggled to ask while I propped myself up and sat criss-cross on my bed. I sounded angry, and maybe I was, why would he bring me a sandwich? It was all I wanted to eat and all I couldn’t eat at the same time. 

“I’m off work today, and I wanted to check on you. Cat told me you’ve been feeling under the weather. I called your mom and she told me you should “just eat a sandwich and take an aspirin”, so here they are,” he said, offering me a childish smile as he pointed the tray with a little too much joy. 

“I can’t eat a sandwich,” I sulked. “And I need to get ready, I have to go to Harry’s.”

“You can eat a sandwich. And he can wait 5 minutes, you’re always there.”

I realized we hadn’t talked about the kiss, not really. I avoided being alone with him, and whenever the occasion presented itself, Sam would go out of the room, giving me space and maybe waiting for me to be the first one to reach out. I had never done that. Honestly, I didn’t think I would.

“You’re right, Sammy,” I said, picking the sandwich in my hands and noticing that he had already cut the crust off. “Thank you.”

It was weird between us, tense and quiet, and I didn’t like it. I bit into the bread looking at an empty spot on the wall as I waited for him to say something. Anything, I would take it. But Sam remained silent, pressing his palms on his thighs as he went to get up. 

“Sam,” I called for him and I smiled shyly when he finally turned around. He took his time, though, and for a moment there, I was scared he was going to leave. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s not what you want to hear when someone you like kisses you.”

“I shouldn’t have…”

“Did you want to?”

“Yes,” I breathed and I realized I wasn't lying. I did want to kiss him, there was no use in denying that. 

I put the sandwich down on the plate and moved closer to Sam until I could see the golden freckles that were hidden in his light brown eyes.

“Do you remember that night when you came through my window and stayed the night with me?”

“Yeah, I heard your dad scream, and I wanted to be there in case…”

“I know, Sam. I’ve wanted to kiss you ever since then,” I admitted and he kept staring at me as if he was considering what his next move would be. Would he kiss me? Did I want him to kiss me?

“You’re not being fair to me, Sof.”

“I know. You haven’t been fair to me either, but here we are.”

There was a moment of panic, cause for a second, I thought he was going to kiss me. He leaned over me and I held my breath as I looked at him, not able to stop him just yet. But as his lips brushed over my forehead, I closed my eyes, smiling as he pulled away from me. 

“Eat the fucking sandwich, Sof,” he replied and it wasn’t enough. I took his hand before he could leave and I licked my lips, peering up to him with something more than just fear pressing up to my chest. 

“Are we good?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess we’ll talk about it again when he gets back with his ex.”

That was a low blow, and we both knew it, but I just stayed quiet as he left the room, wondering if I deserved it. 

****

It took me a while to get ready, so I was late for Harry’s party. I went straight to the pool, where a large screen had been set up and the new video seemed to be on a loop. I couldn’t find Harry anywhere, but at the same, he was all I could see. I stared at the screen, looking at his golden skin as he was surrounded by the adoring crowd, at the way they kept touching and the expression on his face as he leaned into them. The song didn’t even matter, cause all I could focus on was his stupidly beautiful green eyes. 

I mean, I had watched his videos before. I had seen him fly through the sky and be surrounded by kids, but this was different. Those were entertaining and beautiful, and I felt the emotion in my tummy simply because it was him, and somehow, just seeing him made me happy. But in this one he meant to capture your attention and a little bit of your soul. He wanted to be desired and to be free along the way. And it was such a fucking sexy video.  

I lost count of how many times I allowed myself to watch the video, but it was probably too many times. After a while, I decided it was time to look for the real Harry, who was still nowhere to be seen, so I left the pool, smiling and greeting everyone as I passed by. 

I hoped he was alone, cause I wanted to fucking kiss him like no one else was looking. I wanted to tell him how lovely, talented, and amazing he was. I was going to kiss him a lot and praise him, it couldn’t get better than that. 

I looked for him in the living room, where a small crowd was throwing back cocktails and beers and went out to the front door, where people were lounging about, a bit drunkenly. But he wasn’t anywhere, and I was starting to feel uneasy. 

It took me more than a few minutes to make my way to his room because people kept getting in my way. I did my best to smile and engage in silly conversations about nothing, but my heart was growing heavy and my brain was too anxious to even remember if I had succeeded. 

I heard him talk even before I stood by his door. I couldn’t quite tell what he was saying or who he was talking to, but I noticed that his words were a little bit slurred, and his accent dripped thick in his low voice. The door was slightly ajar and I pushed it open and stood by the frame as I saw him talking on the phone. He had his back to me, so he didn’t notice that I had arrived, not that it mattered. 

“C, you’re drunk,” I heard him say and I wished he had just said a different name. “No...I know I told you it was just a PR relationship...Cause I need time to figure out...Really, C? Wanna know if I still love you? You’re not being fair...” The last part came out as a dry laugh, and I knew I had to leave, it was rude and inappropriate, but, most importantly, it was breaking my fucking heart. But my feet seemed like they were made out of cement, and my legs had chosen that moment to numb out of pain. So, I was still standing there when he turned around, and probably saw the tears that were threatening to spill down my eyes. 

I wanted to know the answer too. Could I know it? It’d save us a lot of pain. 

“Bye, C.”

He dropped his phone to the bed and I looked at him as he walked quickly to me. He looked flustered and worried, but it all seemed so distant, that it didn’t matter. 

“Baby,” Harry said, but that wasn’t my name. Did her call her baby too? He probably did, he was a ‘baby’ kind of guy. “Are you ok?”

“Yes, I was looking for you cause I wanted to check if you wanted me to post something on Instagram,” I lied. “D already drafted a tweet, it’s really simple.”

“Sof, how much did you hear?”

“Nothing. I’m gonna get a couple of photos and uh, I’m gonna go home, I think I need a rest day.”

His hand went to grab mine, but before he could do it, I turned and walked away rushing down the stairs until I could get lost in the crowd. 

Fair? None of us was being fair. 

[pocketmouse18]

Thank you so much to @herosofmarvelanddc @cloudypaws and @mtab2260 for the tag! This was so much fun to think about :)

(fair warning, I wrote too much for many of these...)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Just 2 :)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

450,577 if I did my math right!

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Officially? Just 1 - Agents of Shield (two, I guess, if you count MCU as separate, since I use characters from both...). Off the record, many more than that! I have lots of bits and bobs from other fandoms that I tinkered with when I was younger, still getting the hang of writing, not brave enough to post things, etc. etc. Some of those include X-Men, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, the Fosters, Star Wars, the Hunger Games, the 39 Clues, and a few others I can’t remember. None of those will likely see the light of day, mostly because they’re unfinished, not very good, and just not reflective of who I am as a writer anymore, but they were fun to play around with at the time :)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I just have the two, but The Important Thing is to Try wins, hands down, with 1227. Shoulder to Shoulder has 95, though, which I’m also very proud of! Important Thing has a definite advantage, being as long as it is, so I don’t know if that’s really a fair comparison between them.

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes! Or at least, I always try to! I just can’t believe someone would be kind enough to take the time to tell me what they thought of my story, so I always want to take the time to thank them and return the favor :) Plus, as I’ve learned, it’s a fantastic way to get to know some really lovely people!

6. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Well... I technically only have one story that has an ending, at least on Ao3, and it’s not an especially angsty one, since it ends in Phil and Melinda getting married :) I have some angsty chapter endings in Important Thing, if that counts? I’m not even sure if any of my unpublished fiddlings have angsty endings (most don’t have endings at all lol)... I don’t mind writing angst, but I don’t know if I’m capable of making something without a happy (or at least hopeful) ending.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've ever written?

Not really, unless you count AoS/MCU crossovers (which I guess technically count, but also I would argue it’s not a true crossover since (and I will die on this hill) AoS is a part of MCU canon). When I was younger I was a fan of playing around with crossover AUs more so than the actual characters crossing paths (so like, what if these characters from XYZ were demigods or went to Hogwarts or what have you, and not so much what would happen if the X-Men met Luke, Leia, and Han on one of their space adventures). I started writing a crossover between AoS and the Marvel Rising cartoon once (which again, not sure if that’s a true crossover, since Daisy was in Marvel Rising, but I digress), where Coulson tasks Daisy to work with Kate Bishop and Rayshaun Lucas to collect and train a team of young Inhumans, starting with Kamala Khan, but I ran out of steam pretty quickly when it got too plot heavy.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don’t think so. I’ve had some people not understand some choices that I made, but they asked it in a way that I thought was perfectly nice, and I was happy to talk about it with them. Sometimes people get “mad” at me when I cause pain and suffering, but I know that’s all in good fun :)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope, not for me. I don’t read it or write it, personally. Writing a kiss is hard enough!

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! Important Thing is probably too long and unwieldy to ever steal :P

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Someone once asked me on FFN if they could translate Important Thing to Russian, which was basically the coolest thing I’ve ever been asked!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A fic, no. I’d love to try sometime! I had a friend in college who I co-wrote with A LOT, though, so I know I enjoy that process, given the right partner. We wrote several short plays together (ranging from ~15-50 minutes in length, including one that we wrote in a single afternoon!), selected scenes from a larger (unfinished) play inspired by historical letters we found in an archive that were sent between a man from Massachusetts serving in the American Civil War, his wife, and his 8-year-old son, and several scripts for TV sitcoms (2 pilots for 2 different shows, plus additional eps for those pilots, and a couple of later eps for a different show that a classmate of ours wrote the pilot for - we were trying to practice what it would be like to be on a staff with a showrunner haha). The sitcom scripts in particular I’m very proud of, and could talk somebody’s ear off about if asked (one’s about ghost hunters and one’s about a DnD party!), but maybe that’s better saved for another post ;)

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

That’s a very hard question for me! Mostly because shipping stuff is usually one of the last things to register for me when I’m thinking about shows/books/movies I like haha... I’m always a sucker for Philinda, and younger me was rather taken with Percabeth, I suppose.

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Hmm, several, really. The aforementioned AoS/Marvel Rising crossover I think could be really cool if I got it to work, but I don’t think that’ll ever happen. I also have a WIP that’s like an angstier version of a Hallmark Christmas movie AU where Daisy has to come home to her small town right before Christmas and figure out what she wants out of life, but I’m a little stalled out on that one, mostly because I’m waffling on who the charming love interest should be and because I don’t have enough of a plot, just lots of feelings about coming back home to a place you thought you had left behind lol.

I’d put Important Thing and it’s (as of yet) untitled sequel on here as things I want to finish, but I’m much more determined to see those through, so I don’t think they qualify for the “never will actually write” part of this question :)

15. What are your writing strengths?

I don’t know if other people agree with this, but I think I write pretty decent dialogue. My “training” (if you can call it that) is in, as you might have figured out by now, script and screenplay writing (those were the only creative writing classes I took in college). So having a sense of the rhythm a conversation needs to have and how to write dialogue that sounds mostly like how people really talk (but shined and tightened up enough so that it’s not actually like verbatim dialogue, which is far less interesting to read!) is something that I feel like comes pretty easily. I also think I do okay with similes and metaphors - my brain tends to work in that way. It’s easier for me to think of stuff (feelings, especially) in terms of comparing it to more familiar things than to just think of the thing directly, if that makes sense?

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

If I was being honest, this would be a very long section, but I know it’s not fun to read a big ol’ paragraph of someone self-criticizing, so I’ll keep it to one or two items ;) A big one for me is pacing, I think. I tend to write more than I need to and to over-explain things, so my chapters get very long and sometimes don’t really go anywhere? Until all of the sudden, they DO, because things need to HAPPEN! I’m a pretty rigorous self-editor, but I do have a really hard time cutting out sections (unless they’re really just not working), so even if it would help the pacing to leave out this conversation between character A and character B, I often can’t make myself cut it. I also think I struggle sometimes with balancing my ‘showing’ and my ‘telling,’ especially in the sense of me over-explaining certain things - like when it comes to feelings/facial expressions/etc, for example. I compensate for that in Important Thing by making it a part of a few people’s POV, but it’s not really a good habit to have in general. Also spelling! I’m really bad at spelling and run my stuff through robust spellchecks and text-to-speech before I post anything to make up for it :)

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I do it with some regularity, although I always get nervous about doing it wrong! It’s hard to avoid in AoS, where characters are spies and should (in theory, at least) have a working knowledge of multiple languages (”We’re spies, I thought we all learned languages?!”). Even in an AU, where characters aren’t spies, I like to try and pay homage to that, plus pay homage to certain characters’ native languages or just general multilingualism. I’ve spent a fair amount of time around people who speak more than one language, so I feel like it’s a natural part of groups of people to have more than one language spoken. I have a pretty good handle on written Spanish, a patchy idea of French, plus I know some Russian phrases from my dad and some German words from my grandfather, but I do rely on internet translation a lot. I usually run stuff through google, then run it backwards to see just how far off the initial translation was, then consult some actual, like, language learning sites to see if there’s particular idioms or common phrases that use different words than what google will give me, then run those words through backwards in the place of the original words to see if I can massage the whole thing to sound reasonably competent. Languages like Russian or Mandarin (which have their own alphabets/characters) are the hardest, since I have to also try and do a transliteration. I always try to put an apology/disclaimer in the notes any time I write in a language that isn’t English, because I’m sure I make lots of mistakes.

Also, I tend not to italicize words that are in other languages, because it looks weird on the page to me to set the other language apart like that (and because I italicize mainly for internal thoughts or emphasis, and usually what’s being said in another language isn’t internal or being emphasized). I put a rough translation at the end so we don’t have to pause the story for a parenthetical translation, but because the translation’s not right there, I try to either put in enough context clues that a person can still understand what’s going on, or I make sure that what’s written in another language isn’t critical to the overall understanding of the scene.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Officially, it’s AoS, since that’s the only fandom I’ve published for. I think the first true fandom I wrote fic for was probably either Harry Potter (entirely populated with OCs lol, I just liked using the world/setting), Percy Jackson (a mix of OCs and canon characters), or X-Men (all canon characters). I was a bit of a latecomer to fanfiction, though, like, I wrote a ton as a kid, but mostly original stuff, because I didn’t know that fanfiction in its current form was even allowed until I was in high school lol.

Oh! I almost forgot one! I’m not sure if this really counts as a fandom, but it’s definitely the earliest version of fanfic I wrote haha... I was like 12 and I wrote more than one story of an OC joining Robin Hood’s band of Merry Men, and then also one of that same OC becoming a knight of the Round Table, so like... do what you will with that information haha.

19. What's you're favorite fic you've written?

I can’t choose between my two darlings :( I mean, okay, technically it’s probably Important Thing. That story’s my baby. It’s huge and I’ve been working on it for almost 2 years, and I’ve poured a lot of my heart and soul into it. I’ve fallen in love with the universe I built in it, so much so that I wrote an entire prequel and have very concrete plans for a lengthy sequel. But I can’t not crow about Shoulder to Shoulder (the aforementioned prequel!), too... I’m just really proud of that one - it has a lot of firsts for me. First completed story. First romance-focused story. First foray into expanding the Important Thing universe. But yes, if I have to choose, then Important Thing wins. That’s a story that I started writing exclusively for myself - to give myself characters I could relate to and to explore a style of AoS fic that I loved reading - and that’s a story I will always and forever be proud of.

I think most people have probably answered this tag game at this point, so I don’t want to accidentally retag anyone! If you haven’t yet, and would like to join in, please do! This is your invitation <3

[vancampemily]

Emily VanCamp on Sharon Carter’s Return in ‘Falcon and Winter Soldier’ and the Mysterious Power Broker

SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses events from Season 1, Episode 3 of Disney Plus’ “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”

The last time Emily VanCamp appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, she was illegally aiding Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War” — and stealing a kiss from him for good measure. Sharon’s actions force her to go on the run; she doesn’t return for either “Avengers: Infinity War” or “Avengers: Endgame.” VanCamp never expected she’d appear in the MCU again.

While shooting the Fox medical series “The Resident,” however, the 34-year-old got a call asking if she was interested in reprising Sharon Carter in the Disney Plus series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” starring her “Civil War” compatriots Anthony Mackie (as Sam Wilson) and Sebastian Stan (as Bucky Barnes).

“Marvel, when they call, you always answer,” VanCamp says.

In 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Civil War,” Sharon is an idealistic young agent who is always keen to do the right thing — she’s the niece of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and Marvel) legend, agent Peggy Carter, after all. But when we meet her again on Episode 3 of “FAWS,” titled “Power Broker,” Sharon is a changed woman. She thinks nothing of gunning down a series of goons when she swoops in to Sam and Bucky’s rescue in the (fictional) lawless island nation of Madripoor, where Sharon’s been holed up since “Civil War.” She scoffs at Sam’s idealism, telling him, “You know the whole hero thing is a joke, right?” She lives in a posh penthouse that doubles as a showcase for major stolen art. And she is curiously well-connected within Madripoor’s network of villainy, so much so that some began to speculate that Sharon could be the as-yet-unidentified Big Bad of the season, the Power Broker.

Understandably, VanCamp couldn’t outright spoil whether Sharon is indeed the mastermind behind the sudden proliferation of super soldiers on “FAWS.” But she did have some revealing insights into her character, as well as what it was like to return to the MCU after so many years away.

How did it feel to be invited back to play Sharon Carter?

Great! I was thinking about it the other day and realized it’s been about eight years since I started on this journey in the MCU, which is crazy. It’s amazing to get to jump back in in this new medium, because with the movies, you’re trying to fit in so many characters into two hours, and with the streaming, six hour version of this [show], you get to tell the story with a little bit more depth.

It always felt like there was so much left to explore. The last time we see her, she had kissed Captain America and then disappeared.

I know! There was quite a bit of backlash about that. With Sharon, it was always trying to fit her in and these movies are just too big, and it’s completely understandable. To get to see who she’s become over this long period of time, and independent of Captain America as we know him, is really interesting to me. The intrigue for me was to see who is Sharon now.

You mentioned the backlash to that kiss. What did you make of that?

I mean, look, you have to laugh. Some of these storylines play and some of them don’t. But, you know, I thought that was an amazing film. It’s just one of those things.

Personally, I thought that the chemistry between you and Chris Evans was pretty evident. I was a little surprised by how strongly people felt about it.

Yeah, I think we all were. I mean, we certainly did our best. And I think one of the best things that came out of that scene, to be honest, with this amazing dynamic between Sam and Bucky. You really do get this glimpse into the Falcon and Winter Soldier buddy dynamic. You want to see more of that, and we get to see it, which is fantastic.

How specifically did Marvel pitch Sharon on “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” to you?

When [executive producer] Nate Moore called to pitch the idea, what I love is he’s been on the journey, too, and I think had a very similar perspective as to what we’ve seen and we haven’t seen for Sharon. Because obviously, she’s had to be on the run. We don’t know where she’s been. All of these kind of crazy ideas to explore.

It was surprising to see how disillusioned Sharon had become since “Civil War.” How did you develop for yourself how she got to that particular point?

Through a lot of conversations, because it could have really been anything. What we do know is she sacrificed a tremendous amount for the cause. When she’s on the run, we don’t know where she’s been, but certainly you can imagine there would be some sort of, you know, I mean — how do I put it? There’s quite a bit more edge to Sharon than we’ve ever seen. She’s not that wide eyed young agent anymore. She’s a little rough around the edges. Do we find out exactly what she’s had to do in order to be where she is now and survive? No. But we get a sense that it hasn’t always been easy, and that the sacrifices she’s made weren’t always worth it in her mind. That was kind of cool to see that chip on her shoulder that we never really did see before.

It’s quite a different approach to Sharon, who I don’t think ever really got to be that dark in the comics. She was always a do-gooder kind of character in a lot of ways.

And that’s where you trust Marvel at the MCU, which is different than the comic books. They give you this Bible for your character of the different versions of the character from all the different comic books. It gives you a jumping off point, but really, the beautiful thing is they allow you to kind of create your own version of the character within the MCU, and they do that with the story as well.

You get this fundamental idea of who the character is, and I tried to implement into films who Sharon was — that deep respect, and sense of integrity and loyalty that she has. Then to strip away that after being in her mind quite wronged — to put that on its head was just a really fun idea to me. There’s still a few more episodes to see where we go with that, but it was just fascinating that we would take a different route completely with her.

When did you realize that you have a lot more action to do than you ever did in the movies?

It was talked about while the scripts were being written, like, “Well, you’re gonna have to do fight training. We’ve got some sequences for you that are going to be a little harder than maybe you’ve done before.” That always excites me. And the training was definitely much more intense than it’s ever been. We had the best stunt team and they take such amazing care of us and just really prepare us for those moments. In Episode 3, there is a crazy Sharon fight sequence. She’s kind of on her own. It was just really fun to tackle that. In that version of what we were doing, you can’t really hide behind weapons or superpowers. It’s just really gritty fighting, and so that was that was super cool to learn all these new techniques and kick some butt.

How much training did you have to do?

As much as I possibly could fit in. I was shooting “The Resident” at the same time. Luckily, both shot in Atlanta. The great thing is Marvel has a special stunt stage on its own. They’re all in there every day making choreography and teaching and training, and kind of just leave it open for whenever you can be there. So whenever I wasn’t shooting “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” or  “The Resident,” I would be in there as much as I possibly could. We went through several different versions of how she fights now versus who she was as an agent. It’s fun to figure out how to give her that raw edge, but also show that she’s a trained fighter. There’s a mix of scrappy street fighting with her technical background. There was no way around putting the time. As much as you may only see little glimpses on air, you have to be ready, or else you really will get your butt kicked.

The show has yet to reveal the identity of one of the main villains, the Power Broker. So what would you say to people who noticed several signs in this week’s episode that the Power Broker could be Sharon?

Well, that’s a good question. I mean, the Power Broker could be anybody. Also, there are several characters that have yet to be seen. So, I mean, I can’t say anything.

I know that you can’t spoil anything, but I’m sure as you’re reading the script for this episode, you’re also seeing the possible signs about who Sharon could be. As an actor, how do you figure out how to metabolize all that into your performance?

I think for Sharon, the biggest goal — as you see in Episode 3 and we’ll continue to see — is she wants to be pardoned. She’s been on the run. Enough is enough. She’s sacrificed enough. And — if I’m talking about reading the scripts in sequence — that’s her main goal, and rightfully so. She comes from this bloodline of agents and has this tremendous love for her life that she had, and now she’s stuck in this sort of pirate land, and doing things that she’s probably not really wanted to do. So I think that’s her main goal, to get back to some semblance of the life that she had, if that’s even possible. I mean, that was my biggest take. This is her ticket. She sees [Sam and Bucky], and as much as in her mind there are many reasons that she would just want to lash out and ruin their lives, they’re also a ticket for her to get her life back. So that’s an interesting dynamic to see as well.

I have to ask about a different show you were on, “Revenge.” There was some talk of a possible revival of the show with a new character who would be guided on their revenge plot by someone from the original series. Would you ever want to revisit that world as well?

It’s been talked about, and I know that they were going to revive maybe in a different way, and I was super supportive and excited for that, too. I just don’t know that they really found a way that makes sense or that they really want to do yet. But, listen, I mean, if I’ve learned anything in this industry is never say never. I do feel that, you know, in terms of Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke, her story really did come to an end. But again, you never know. I mean, I honestly didn’t think that I would be playing Sharon again, and here I am.

Source : Variety.com

[metalgearkong]

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier - TV Review

5/1/21 ***spoilers***

Created by Malcomb Spellman, directed by Kari Skogland

Out of all the announced Disney+ MCU shows, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier seemed to be the most out of left field. Two sidekicks from the later 2 Captain America movies pair up and get their own show? What made their bormance so special? I mean, I like them well enough, but what is it that warrants a show? With all of it now said and done, this show is not what I expected, in a good way, but I can't say it lived up to its own potential. It brings up a lot of controversial subjects--stuff I really found interesting and progressive, but it doesn't fully commit. That being said, I'm glad it exists, and it takes many steps in the right direction.

6 months after Avengers Endgame, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) are returning to every day life, and the problems that come along with it. Bucky in particular is attending strict therapy to repair mental damage from decades of being Hydra's Winter Soldier. Sam is working with his sister and her boating shrimp business. As it turns out, the Avengers didn't technically receive a salary. Strange beings who they worked with, and i assumed Tony Stark or government funding supported the Avengers. Who built their base, made their suits, equipment, and how have the Avengers gotten by so far? The idea is brought up, but the show never comes around and fully explores this interesting point.

The Falcon the the Winter Soldier is only 6 episodes long, compared to WandaVision at 8. I feel like this show needed to be as longer for the numerous ideas it brings up and doesn't have time to flesh out. The main conflict of this series is the fight against the Flag Smashers. A revolutionary group, they want to return the world to what it was during the "blip." They want a worldwide policy of nations without borders. This is a really cool concept and something I could get behind, but yet again it's an interesting idea that is never sufficiently fleshed out. What (according to the Flash Smashers) was so great about the state of the world during the blip? What did nations do around the world that makes the Flag Smashers want to return to the way of life? Did people receive more finances and property? Did socialism thrive? None of this is ever expanded upon.

I also didn't care much for Karli Morgenthau, the leader of the Flag Smashers. Apparently their whole side story had to be changed last minute due to the covid-19 pandemic, and their inconsistent dialog and motivation shows this fact. I never bought actress Erin Kellyman as a revolutionary which thousands of people would follow and kill for, nor did I buy her as a juiced-up super soldier. The best character to come out of this show is John Walker as the government approved new Captain America. Wyatt Russell plays the character extremely well, and it's engaging to see a villain which so easily could have been one-dimensional develop into a more rounded person. He did however get a stupid small redemption in the final episode, but this "good guy" moment is wedged between him brutally killing an unarmed person in public, and joining what looks to be a "Dark Avengers" squad. For a show with progressive ideas, John Walker killing a civilian in a fit of rage should have been a point of no return.

My favorite aspect of The Falcon & the Winter Solider are the racial aspects it brings up. Finally we have a big mainstream company and mainstream show directly making light of the unfair bias and poorer treatment of minorities, especially black men. To see it happen even to an Avenger (Sam) was really cool, and fourth-wall breaking. Sam also discovers a man named Izayah who was a test subject, along with other black men, for the original super soldier serum in WWII. Izayah's mistreatment and his disenfranchised view of the United States is some of the best stuff in the entire show. Everything is all about living up to the legacy of Steve Rogers, but Izayah thinks no black man should even want to bear the stars and stripes. I hope this trend continues as it hangs a lampshade on something broad entertainment should address.

The action and cinematography also evoke my favorite corner of the MCU: everything directed by the Russo Brothers. The fight choreography is visceral without having to be flashy or larger than life (until the end). It was also great to see Sam Wilson reject the shield at the beginning of the show, thinking he would never live up to the mantle. His humility and growth throughout the show is also some of the best stuff to see. He truly is a man of the people, and the next best person besides Steve Rogers who truly can be and deserves to be the new Captain America. Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) also reemerges from Captain America: Civil War, but his character is totally retconned into being a Baron (comics accurate) with huge amounts of wealth and resources. I didn't like his character as much as I did in Civil War, as an everyday soldier tearing the Avengers apart is more compelling than a rich and powerful supervillain doing the same thing. He also had a dumb moment where he wore his purple ski mask for literally one action scene (less than a minute or two) and took it off never to be seen again.

Sharon Carter also makes an appearance, but I don't think the character, nor her twist being the Power Broker meant anything to me. It could be this show going a bit too far with its story threads. Carter has never been a charismatic character to me, and I'm wondering how they'll keep her interesting in the MCU going forward. She is the icing on the cake for too numerous and too weak of villains in this series. I also didn't think it was consistent of honorable of her character to go down a bad path especially knowing the lineage of Peggy Carter. I'm curious where this aspect of the story will go, but I'm not holding my breath. I wish this show cut out some of its threads in order to focus on some of its very good core ideas, especially only at 6 episodes.

The Falcon & The Winter Soldier has a lot of interesting ideas and brings up a lot of important ideas. I didn't expect this show to be critical of racial treatment, police brutality, and government overreach. To eventually see Sam evolve into the new Captain America and believing it down to the atom is the best thing to witness about this story. Bucky gets the short end of the stick, and while he does go through healing, I wish he had more great action or dialog scenes. The Falcon & the Winter soldier sets up future stuff, as the MCU does best. Sharon Carter might be some kind of bad guy going forward, the Dark Avengers seem to be forming, and Sam Wilson as Captain America may go on to lead a new generation of Avengers. The show is far from perfect, and sadly doesn't commit to some of its best ideas. I would watch another season, but hope it would have a slightly sharper script.

7/10

[spidercakes]

How about SIM being manipulated by an evil and/or mischievous Peter? SIM is all hard and borderline crazy, but what about an even crazier Peter? Firgurative King and Prince of the world with Peter being the one to actually call the shots.

Oh, I love the idea of manipulative Peter being the one to technically call the shots! I went for a very manipulative Peter that’s just this side of in character for him in canon. Like MCU Peter if he were slightly unhinged.

*

Peter finds Tony in his office, predictably drinking coffee and looking something over. He sighs, walking over to him and settling his hands on Tony’s shoulders. “What’s going on baby?” he asks, kissing the space under his jaw. Tony lets out a soft hum as he tilts his head to the side to give Peter more access.

“Deciding what to do with one Quentin Beck. You know of him?” he asks, turning in his chair a little and Peter gives the picture of him Tony has on his screen a dirty look. “You do, then? Should I consider him a problem?”

No, Tony is smarter than Quent will ever be but he could be a right pain in the ass in the meantime. But Peter won’t even need to get that far with his analysis of the situation. “Yeah, we dated,” he says and he can feel the way Tony goes cold.

“Problem, then,” he decides easily enough. Peter smiles because Quent used to think he could do whatever he wanted with Peter but look who’s laughing now.

“You might want to take that cloaking tech from him, he’s proficient with it and that will be a pain in the ass to deal with,” he murmurs, pressing another kiss to Tony’s jawline.

He snorts, “I’m the one who helped him build it,” he says. Hm. Well, Peter didn’t know that but of course he wouldn’t, its not like Quent would have thought that was relevant information to him.

Peter lets out a soft hum and circles Tony’s chair to sit in his lap. “Can you do me a favor, baby?” he asks as Tony wraps his arms around him, cool blue eyes regarding him softly.

“You know I’ll do anything for you,” he says and yes, Peter knows that. He’s one of the very few people Tony cares about in any kind of genuine way. Most people are puppets to him in that slightly unhinged way he has about him but Peter has never been that to him. Probably because he’s good at appealing to Tony’s humanity, what little of it he has, and now Tony is his puppet not that he choses to exercise that control often. Just enough that he can get whatever he wants whenever he wants however he wants. Like now.

“Tell him Peter Parker says hi, and give him a couple minutes to let that sink in before you kill him,” he says sweetly.

Tony gives him a soft, chaste kiss. “Oh, I’m sure I can do better than that,” he murmurs and Peter had been hoping he’d say that.

*

Flash brings Peter his drink in silence, handing it off without a word and scurrying off even when Peter gives him a smile. He’s sure that’s worse for him, wondering when the shoe was going to drop. It won’t, Peter has no intention of actually hurting Flash and hadn’t even when he sweet talked Tony into hiring him a personal assistant. What he wanted to do was give Flash a nice show of power, let him know he’s not about to pull the shit he did in high school on him now and he gets a good wage for it so its not like he was in a position to turn it down. 

So now he serves Peter drinks, gets his dry cleaning, and does whatever Peter decides is important for him to do that day. He thought he might get bored of toying with him after awhile but he’s learned that he kind of likes the power in that. Not the same way Tony does, he likes to terrorize people for his own amusement, thinks the way they react is funny, but Peter has no taste for that. He’s more interested in the subtle nuances of pushing someone to do something or in the case of his relationship with Tony leveraging someone else’s power in his favor.

He’s lounging in the sun when Tony finds him looking pleased with himself in a way he only does after he’s gotten a particularly satisfying task done. Peter suspects he’s taken care of Quentin but he’ll confirm that in a moment. “You look like things are going your way,” he says, smiling up at Tony.

“Up,” Tony tells him and Peter gives him a pouty look but he complies. Tony sits in the spot he’d just been occupying and pulls Peter into his lap. “He thought you put me up to it,” he murmurs in Peter’s ear. “Claimed you were manipulating me.”

Funny that this is probably the first time in his life Quent has been right about something that wasn’t a math problem. “And what’d you say, hmm?” he asks, arms circling around Tony’s neck as he snuggles into his lap.

“I killed him,” Tony says casually, “I have no interest in listening to his lies.”

Peter kisses Tony soft and slow, letting out a small noise of pleasure as Tony slides a hand down one of his thighs, fingers flexing a little. “Um,” a small voice says, interrupting the moment and causing Tony to give Flash a dirty look when the interruption causes Peter to pull away some.

“How’s this one working out for you anyway?” he asks, eyes narrowed on Flash.

The blood drains from Flash’s face and his fingers curl tight around Peter’s drink. Peter doesn’t pay much attention as he pries the drink from Flash’s fingers, “oh, he’s great,” Peter tells Tony. “Always punctual and he’s somehow never managed to mess up. You can go,” he adds to Flash, who all but runs off before Tony has the time to decide to kill him anyway if Peter were to guess. He smiles, settling back into Tony’s body satisfied that Flash isn’t about to forget who has the power here, who will always have the power here.

“I love you,” Tony murmurs, kissing the top of his head softly. “And let me know if you need that assistant replaced.” Peter hums noncommittally and takes a sip of his perfectly made drink. He’d lied about Flash never messing anything up, he couldn’t make a damn drink to save his life when he’d first been hired but he’s sure Flash knows that if he makes a mistake now its his funeral.

*

Happy is driving him home silently, considering the road and Peter knows he’s got something to say but he’s letting Happy take his time. “Hey kid,” he says and Peter looks up. Happy is looking at him through the rear view mirror, “if I ask you for a favor you won’t get me killed, right?” he asks.

Oh, he can’t make any promises but he does happen to know Happy is loyal so he doubts it’d come to that. “Sure, Happy, what’s up?”

“If I give you a name, can you get Tony to rough the guy up? I don’t need him dead, I just need him scared. Think you can manage that?” he asks.

“Of course I can, even if it’ll be a pain in the ass to get him to not kill your guy,” Peter says.

Happy lets out a soft laugh. “Yeah, he’s a bit trigger happy, hmm?” Peter nods and sits back in his seat. “And thanks, I appreciate that,” Happy tells him, smiling at him through the rearview.

Peter smiles back, “oh no problem. Thanks for recognizing who actually has the power here.”

Happy lets out another sharp laugh, “oh, everyone with eyes knows you run the show, Peter. But I gotta admit, getting on Tony’s good side like that was a solid plan. Pretty sure he’ll never let you go.” He won’t need to and Peter has made sure he’ll never want to. Tony doesn’t even like him more than thirty minutes away without brining him along and Peter is more than happy to cater to that codependence to get whatever he wants.

[doomonfilm]

Results : The 93rd Academy Award Film Nominations (2021)

After weeks and weeks of speculation, rumination over nominees, streaming service deep dives, high-priced rentals and brain-bending predictions, the moment of truth has finally arrived.  This year, despite the ceremonies being split between the Dolby Theater in Hollywood and Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, the presentation was wonderfully cohesive.  Several stars stepped up to preface each award, present the nominees and name the winners, and in-between these moments, Questlove had my dream gig as Academy Awards DJ.  For one of the first public forays in a world creeping closer to a post-COVID-19 reality, the show came off exceptionally smooth and well-presented. 

Cicely Tyson, Ian Holm, Max Von Sydow, Cloris Leachman, Yaphet Koto and many more were recognized in light of their respective passings in 2020 courtesy of Angela Bassett and a moving Stevie Wonder selection, As.  Tyler Perry and the Motion Picture & Television Fund each received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for their long-established efforts, especially those during the COIVD-19 pandemic.  Announcements were made for a Steven Spielberg-directed update of West Side Story, the long-delayed In The Heights and Summer of Soul, the directorial debut of Questlove (who also provided his DJ services for the evening).  The show even had a couple of hilarious moments, including Daniel Kaluuya embarrassing his mother on national TV and a quiz show turned censor’s nightmare involving Questlove, Lil’ Rel Howery, Andra Day, Kaluuya and Glenn Close.  Several of the evening’s awards also allowed for stars and crew to voice their opinions, concerns and wishes about cultural ills, the lack of inclusion and how we should treat our fellow man.

While we all look forward to seeing what surprises each Academy Awards ceremony holds, what we really come for are the awards.  This year, I put in the work more than ever, and even I found myself surprised by some of the evening’s outcomes.  Here are my thoughts on the evening and the winners.

Best Picture

Winner : Nomadland Prediction : Minari

While I’m not surprised that Nomadland took the top award of the night, I am a bit sad that Minari ended up having to walk away almost empty-handed in light of this, especially seeing that Another Round took the Best International Feature award.  Hopefully Minari can find an audience in light of this snub, but despite how bitter I sound, I am happy for the success that Nomadland has found this award’s season. 

Best Director

Winner : Chloé Zhao, Nomadland Prediction : Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Chloé Zhao has been the belle of the ball this award’s season, and her successful run culminated in a strong showing at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.  With her next venture being a step into the MCU via The Eternals, let’s see if she can bring her sensibility (and award-winning credibility) into the world of the popcorn flick. 

Best Actor

Winner : Anthony Hopkins, The Father Prediction : Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

As Joaquin Phoenix said so prophetically prior to handing out this award (and I loosely quote), “it’s a shame that only one person can win”.  That being said, as great as Anthony Hopkins was in The Father, it’s amazing to me that this award did not go to Chadwick Boseman.  Some might say that giving it to him posthumously would not be sincere, but cards on the table, Boseman gave a powerhouse performance that deserved continued recognition right up to the top award.  The Academy Awards has a long history of “interesting” choices, and this is one of the most memorable to date.

Best Actress

Winner : Frances McDormand, Nomadland Prediction : Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

After Andra Day upset the balance at the Golden Globes, I had my doubts that the formidable Frances McDormand would garner any awards for Nomadland, despite her stellar track record.  Viola Davis looked like the frontrunner headed into the night, as she was poised to make Oscar history, which further narrowed McDormand's chances.  Once Nomadland won Best Picture, however, it seemed like the wave had shifted, and sure enough, the statue went to McDormand.  This was a monster of a cateogry, and her win was certainly a well-deserved one. 

Best Supporting Actor

Winner : Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah Prediction : Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

In one of the most controversial categories leading into the evening, Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield found themselves battling one another in the Best Supporting Actor category, which raised the question of whether or not Judas and the Black Messiah even had a lead.  This was further muddied by what seemed like a sure-thing victory for Chadwick Boseman in the Best Actor category (which ended up being quite the surprise category, to say the least).  With Kaluuya having the momentum coming into the night via a series of previous wins for his role as Fred Hampton, his win on the night was not a surprise victory, and his presence definitely helped make the show a memorable one.

Best Supporting Actress

Winner : Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari Prediction : Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari

In what ended up being my favorite moment of the night, Yuh-Jung Youn helped save Minari from a wholly disappointing showing with her formidable victory in the Best Supporting Actress category.  Her acceptance speech was what the Oscar ceremony is all about, with her sincerity and appreciation being massively sincere, including a wonderful acknowledgement of getting to meet award presenter Brad Pitt.

Original Screenplay

Winner : Promising Young Woman Prediction : Promising Young Woman

Had Promising Young Woman walked away empty-handed, it would have been a pure travesty.  Its subject matter, however, not to mention its unforgiving approach, made it a tough choice for any of the top awards outside of Best Original Screenplay, but in my opinion, it is exactly those same aspects that made it the shoo-in win for this category.  Hollywood has a long way to go before it can be honest about the type of people it supports, but giving a film like this one a spotlight can help make that a reality. 

Adapted Screenplay

Winner : The Father Prediction : The Father

As one of the last films I ended up seeing in my pre-Academy Awards research, I was very curious to see how The Father would end up in regard to successes, and this was one of the categories that felt like a sure thing.  The passion and time spent on this play turned screenplay is evident for anyone who has seen this incredibly moving film, and while its other award of the night was definitely a shockwave of a closer, this award was certainly well-deserved and possibly expected.

Animated Feature

Winner : Soul Prediction : Soul

If there were a sure thing for the evening, this was the category.  Soul was the heavy favorite going into the night, and it did what it set out to do, which was win over everyone who had the pleasure of seeing it, including members of the Academy.

Production Design

Winner : Mank Prediction : News of the World

My curiosity of what kind of showing that Mank would have on the evening kept me in anticipation leading into the show, and while it didn’t garner any of the big awards, I am happy that the work put into capturing a bygone era was rewarded via its technical awards.  This one came as a surprise to me, but it was certainly not a bad choice.

Costume Design

Winner : Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Prediction : Emma

This award not only stood as a show of inclusion (something that the Academy has had to be aware of in the recent past), but a harbinger of possible results in the top acting awards.  Anytime that a film like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starts cleaning up in the tech spots, I start to look at it like a sort of consolation prize, and after the film’s leads not receiving awards for Best Actor or Best Actress, it seemed that this practice is still in effect.

Cinematography

Winner : Erik Messerschmidt, Mank Prediction : Erik Messerschmidt, Mank

As mentioned before, the aspect of Mank that really stood out to me was how David Fincher made his film feel authentically of the era it presents to us.  This immersion was created with the visuals and the sound, but with Sound of Metal being such a standout film centered around auditory stimulus, Mank felt like a longshot for that, but a sure shot for Best Cinematography.

Editing

Winner : Sound of Metal Prediction : The Trial of the Chicago 7

Sound of Metal had a very impressive night, and while it won the award everyone expected it to, seeing it win the Best Editing award as well only stands as a testament to how well put together the film is (no pun intended).

Makeup and Hairstyling

Winner :  Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Prediction : Pinocchio 

As mentioned in my Best Costume Design thoughts, while this award was well-deserved, it felt like a possible setup for a letdown later on in the evening,  It’s tough to think of an award in terms of what it may mean for a future loss, but that’s the way the award show cookie crumbles.

Sound

Winner : Sound of Metal Prediction : Sound of Metal

If Soul didn’t exist, then this award would’ve been the one that felt like the most obvious choice.  Capturing the world of deafness in film is not only incredibly difficult, but daring as well, as audio is one of the key aspects to creating the immersion needed to appreciate a film, but the sound design of this film brought us into a world many of us may never experience directly, and for that, it deserves to be awarded.

Visual Effects

Winner : Tenet Prediction : Love and Monsters

Tenet couldn’t go empty-handed this awards season, and with much of the competition being on a different cinematic and studio level (outside of Disney’s Mulan), Tenet certainly had the highest profile.  It is cool, however, to see a film (and director) so dedicated to practical and in-camera effects win the highest award in the game.

Score

Winner : Soul Prediction : Mank

In what continuously became the most hilarious occurrence to me from award show to award show, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross once again found themselves playing second banana to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.  While I have no issues with Soul winning this award, I think time may find that Mank’s incredibly period-authentic original score was overlooked in its brilliance.

Song

Winner : Fight for You (Judas and the Black Messiah) Prediction : Fight for You (Judas and the Black Messiah)

After a disappointing snub at the Golden Globes, it felt like H.E.R. my find herself walking away empty-handed for her standout work in the creation of Fight For You.  The song is not only a strong performance and recording by its own merit, but it captures the spirit and essence of Judas and the Black Messiah in a way that the other nominees fall short of. 

Documentary Feature

Winner : My Octopus Teacher Prediction : Collective

While a compelling film, I find myself baffled at the continued victories that My Octopus Teacher has racked up for the year.  Despite my lack of connection to it, it is impossible to ignore how deep and vast the film’s connection to the populous at large has been, and with an Oscar under its belt (along with the numerous other statues it has collected), it stands to likely grow a bigger and more supportive fanbase. 

International Feature

Winner : Another Round (Denmark) Prediction : Better Days (Hong Kong)

Not only was Minari robbed of wins in both the Best Picture and Best International Feature category, but the film that did win the Best International Feature category felt like a bit of a superficial choice.  With a film about bullying, a film about the failures of the healthcare system and a film about the lack of humanity during war all in the running (and all pitch-perfect films, to boot), a film about a group of entitled alcoholics being a poor influence to kids became leader of the pack.  Categories like this one are a chance to broaden American awareness of international art and culture, but this award feels like one of the bigger missteps of the evening.

Animated Short

Winner : If Anything Happens I Love You Prediction : Genius Loci

While Genius Loci was the more moving piece to me, If Anything Happens I Love You is certainly a film with a nuanced and artistic approach to an American epidemic that is public shootings (a school shooting, in this case).  While my heart feels the loss of this choice, my head is happy that such a moving and heartfelt film may get the chance to touch the lives of a broader audience.

Documentary Short

Winner : Colette Prediction : Do Not Split

First and foremost, all respect to Colette for the story it tells and the spotlight it puts on both its titular figure and the way that people of multiple generations dance around facing the Holocaust head on.  All that being said, Do Not Split was way too important of a film to go unawarded, especially in light of rising violence against members of the Asian-American community.

Live-Action Short

Winner : Two Distant Strangers Prediction : Two Distant Strangers

Definitely one of the categories that got the winner absolutely right.  Sadly, the film becomes more and more relevant with each passing day, with several Police-based shootings having taken place since the George Floyd trail conclusion.  Bravo to Joey Bada$$ and company for making such a brave and bold piece of art.

I ended up predicting of 9 the 23 films correct, which is not nearly as good in comparison to how confident I felt going into the night.  There were lots of surprises throughout the evening, especially in the final stretch, and I’m sure these decisions will be debated heavily for the next few weeks.  Luckily, we’ve got ourselves plenty of months to start taking in the 2021 releases, and with two-thirds of the year left to look forward to, it’ll be fun when we all reconvene to do this again in 2022.

[amandajoyce118]

Agents Of SHIELD S7E01 “The New Deal” Easter Eggs And References

In the season seven premiere, most of the team ends up in 1931 New York thanks to some time travel shenanigans. We love shenanigans, right? The is the last season premiere ever, and it’s bittersweet, but I’m diving right in.

As always, if you don’t remember this from the last few seasons of me writing up Easter eggs (posts are tagged aos easter eggs if you want to read old ones), this list assumes you have seen the episode. There will be spoilers.

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Again, spoilers. Turn back now if you don’t want them. Okay? Good.

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The Episode Title.

It’s a reference to FDR’s political work. I mean, Coulson even references it and says the episode title in the show. I kind of love when show’s do that? This show didn’t used to, but they did it a lot more the last two seasons, so maybe it’s a thing now.

The Title Card.

I feel like it’s unfair to call this an Easter egg, but if they didn’t put a 1931 timestamp on the top of the episode, the title card could have told you what era the team was in. Whoever was in charge of designing it did a great job making it look like a classic film title card.

Faceless People.

Okay, so the chronocoms erase the faces of the people they wish to resemble. This isn’t really a thing in the comics, but there is a character called “Faceless One.” He happens to be an alien who wants to conquer Earth as well, but is basically a big yellow ball with legs, so I doubt there’s any connection other than the cool effect.

Coulson’s Data Flood.

Okay, we get that literally everything Coulson says when he’s not talking to Daisy, Mack, and Jemma are quotes from previous seasons, right? Good. He even downloads the information on Ghost Rider, his own death, last season, etc.

Deke Has A Workstation.

Okay, not an Easter egg, but I think we need to take a moment and appreciate that Jemma built Deke a workstation and Fitz left him the tool we saw way back in season five. Why? Because Deke never feels like he belongs and he wants so badly to be close to his family, and now, we see that they thought of him while upgrading their ship. He has a place. And it’s right next to Jemma.

Elena Is Quarantined.

That’s because she was infected by the shrike in season six, not because the writers are psychic and knew there would be a massive epidemic going on when the show premiered. (Sorry, typed that before I realized Jemma was going to actually say it in show, so it’s staying in.)

Gemini And Koenig.

Gemini is actually a pretty popular name/codename in Marvel Comics, so it being used as, supposedly, the code name for the person in charge of the speakeasy made me laugh. It’s much more likely here that the bartender didn’t react wrong to the use of the word, that it’s used to weed out pretenders, hence the double barrel shotgun he affectionately calls the twins. I also like that it’s a tease for a Koenig appearing since we initially thought the Koenig siblings were twins and it turns out there are too many for us to count at this point (not really, I’m exaggerating, but great that grandpa or great-grandpa Koenig looks exactly like the modern day Koenigs. I mean, come on, they’re clones or something, right?).

“It’s not exactly your first time being separated by space and time.”

Okay, look, if you have to keep inserting meta humor into a show about how often you separate your main couple, maybe you should stop separating your main couple. (Yes, I know, Iain de Caestecker had another job he was working on in seasons six and seven, but seriously, it’s not funny. Your audience is tired of it.) I mean, to be frank, Fitz is one of my favorite characters in the show, but I didn’t really miss him in this episode? That might sound bad, but I don’t think they needed to comment on him being gone so much considering Jemma told them at the end of season six she didn’t  - and couldn’t - know where he was.

Wilfred “Freddie” Malick.

Daisy explains who he is, but look, it’s the father of Gideon Malick, the same Gideon who became the leader of Hydra after a broken SHIELD (and the Avengers) decided to squash all of its heads, the same guy who got Ward interested in visiting an alien planet where he ended up as Hive. He’s, like, ancient school Hydra, not just old school Hydra. What doesn’t make sense here is that they’re saying the SSR forms in response to Hydra. Technically, the SSR forms, and then they learn about Hydra, unless I’m misremembering, which is totally possible.

The Substance.

So, I gotta wonder… what’s in the test tubes? The earliest we go in the MCU is Captain America, which is still a whole decade after the events of this episode. Prior to that, Hydra experimentation did create the Red Skull, but… still not sure what’s in the tubes. I don’t really have a frame of reference from the comics to speculate either since Hydra was into literally anything and everything. 

New York.

Okay, so I’m curious if anyone knows where they filmed their 1931 New York scenes. I have questions. Because they use the same couple of blocks for all their outside scenes, which makes me think it’s a studio backlot (which would definitely help keep the script quiet) and they’re going to use a different part of the lot next week. A friend asked me if I thought it was the same as the one used for Captain America when he’s in Brooklyn in his first movie. Cap’s first movie’s Brooklyn scenes were filmed on a Universal Studios lot where they had New York building facades and street signs. If you’ve been to the theme park, you basically know what it looks like without the 30s/40s dressing. I think it’s the same lot, and I say this because I actually kept thinking that they used the set pieces Disney used for The Newsies movie in 1992 while watching the episode. Do you know where that was filmed? On the Universal Studios backlot’s New York street set up right after it was renovated in 1991. Huh.

So, Mark Kolpack basically answered this on twitter when discussing VFX. They filmed their New York street scenes on the Warner Bros. backlot, not the Universal one, so I guess the people in charge of designing the set pieces did a great job because they look pretty much the same.

This Picture.

This boxing poster was shared by Jed Whedon on instagram. Honestly, I didn’t spot it in the episode, but that could just be because I have a small television screen and I can’t read the signs unless I pause on a computer and zoom. I have bad eyes, guys. Sorry. Usually signage is something I spot on a second or third watch, but according to Whedon, this is set dressing in the episode somewhere. Probably on the street the characters walk down multiple times. 

Let’s break down the names. Kitson is George Kitson, a story editor, writer, and production assistant on the show. He wrote this episode, and, actually, next week’s episode. The planet Kitson was also named for him. Titley is Craig Titley. He’s a producer and writer for the show, probably best known for writing “4,722 Hours” at this point. Brown is such a common name, but I’m going to guess it’s for Garry Brown who has directed a handful of episodes and is also a producer on the show. Bell is, I’m thinking, Jeffrey Bell, one of the producers and writers on the show. Tancharoen is for Maurissa Tancharoen, one of the showrunners, or you know, maybe her brother, who has directed several episodes (including this one!), or her father, who is in charge of transportation to sets. Gierhart is, I’m assuming, Billy Gierhart, who has directed a lot of episodes of the show, though I don’t think he’s directed any since 2017. (If you look at the matchups, it ends up being writer vs writer, producer vs producer, director vs director when you assume the Tancharoen is Kevin.) It says there are four main events though, and only three are listed?

Not sure if the October 15 date is intentional, but if it is, that’s the day “Eye Spy” aired in season one? Steve Roger’s mother dies on October 15, but in 1936. Not sure if that’s even canon since it’s in a promotional comic, not in anything on screen.

I’m sure there are more, and if you guys spot them and tell me, I’ll add them in. If I notice any on a rewatch, I’ll add them in as well. Who’s looking forward to the time traveling this season?

[there-must-be-a-lock]

it's fresh and exciting, and I love it, and more than that, I love it for YOU. / And of course your writing has always been GOOD it's not about technically ability. I just feel like we are seeing a different side of you. // And maybe just maybe what you're working thru isnt quite so dark any more. It's still deep, and beautiful, and thank you for sharing! / But.... I hope you can hear what I am trying to say. DO you have any thoughts?

Hooo boy. Okay, so, I’ve been thinking about this some, because I’ve definitely noticed this in my own writing! I had a thought, the other day, that I should apologize to the people who originally followed me for smutty SPN reader inserts… because that is NOT the majority of what has been happening on this blog lately. Oops. I’m not actually sorry though. 

Basically, a couple things have changed. 

1. At the end of January, I finished Marked. It was the most time-consuming (over two years) most serious (meaningful and personal) and longest (83k) thing I’ve ever written. For the two years I was working on it, I think everything else I wrote was mostly filler: romance, smut, whatever, all of it basically served as a palate cleanser between deep difficult dark excursions into Marked. So when Marked was done, I felt really satisfied, like it would be okay if I never contributed anything else of substance to the SPN fandom, because I was proud of that one thing I’d accomplished. I also felt more confident, because I’d proved to myself that I could tackle a project that big and actually follow through and finish it. Most importantly, though, I felt like I’d worked through a really major trauma, and moved through a major step in my healing process, and I could move on with my life. Now that the Big Trauma was purged onto the page (doc, whatever) I could free up some brain space to think about other serious life experiences and delve into other dark nasty corners of my psyche. Wheee! 

2. I joined a lovely little Slack chat full of smart, supportive, talented, creative, kickass ladies, whose opinions I respect beyond measure. Finding that community of people who are always there if I need criticism or brainstorming or support or whatever else is a huge, HUGE boost to my creativity. I used to have random “oh it’d be funny if…” thoughts and I’d kinda brush em off and let them go. Now I share them, and there’s somebody there to come back with “that’d be hilarious, and also this should happen, and also here’s a picture of Harry Styles in a collar, now WRITE THE THING.”  

2a. One incoherent flail from one of the Slack crew always means more than any number of reblogs from random people. Not that comments and messages don’t feel good, always, but it means so much more coming from someone whose work I admire and whose opinions I value, and who I care about on a personal level. 

3. I realized that reader engagement was seriously down, and that there was no way anything I wrote was going to get as many notes as it might’ve two years ago, and that the amount of time and energy I put into things is never proportional to the amount of notes those things get. When I realized that, I took my one last fuck I’d had to give about notes or whether anyone would read something, and I chucked it out the window. Defenestrated that fuck. I have zero fucks left. 

So, where does that leave me? Fuckless and happy. 

No, literally though, fuckless. By which I mean, thanks to the Womanizer and some soul-searching, I’ve realized that I’m very content on my own. I’m just not particularly interested in sex right now, and I think that’s come through in a major way in my writing. Not that I haven’t written any smut, but it’s all had an underlying theme/issue/twist to it. Finally was about consent and communication and how difficult it can be to be honest with a partner. Envy was about, um, envy, and how ugly it can be. The most romantic, “normal” smutty things I’ve written were probably Five Seconds and the Everything quarantine ficlets, and those were pure escapism, because 2020 sucks and so I rewrote some of it. We are in a shitty situation and I wanted to imagine it less shitty for a minute. 

One thing I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is psychology, and very specific, darker facets of the boys I’d never really taken the time to dig into before, and through them, some of my own issues. Prey was a really weird twisted adventure into Soulless Sam and the way his brain worked. Set Yourself On Fire was about what I assume was the darkest time in Sam’s life, and it ended up being about my own depression and addiction issues. Quitting, also about addiction, and the way we perceive ourselves and hold onto patterns. Sharp Edges was about a personal headcanon I have about Sam, which is that he’s a very reluctant sadist who feels guilty about what he needs, but it ended up being just as much about the general psychology of BDSM and kink and the ways we hide from other people. When I stopped looking at the Winchesters as romantic leads, I found a whole lot of interesting material for other stories. 

Crossovers have been a ton of fun. I realized I imagine crossovers in my head all the time: what would these two have to say to each other, what do they have in common, wouldn’t it be funny if Valkyrie from the MCU met Gail from Sin City (“My warrior woman. My Valkyrie.”) or if Buffy and Dean had a pissing contest about who could sacrifice themselves the most. Again, there’s SO little overlap of fandoms for some of my favorite characters (see also: the Sam Winchester/Frank Iero fic) but I’ve just stopped caring (see #3 above) because they are so entertaining for me to write. Take a couple cool characters! Smush em together and see what happens! It’s like a chemistry experiment. Let’s see what explodes. 

And then there’s Fluff Friday. I’ve always had a tendency to put a lot of pressure on myself and to make everything Deep and Meaningful and Important, but I’ve realized that tropes exist because people fuckin love them, and I fuckin love em, and why the fuck not write a millionth “there was only one bed” fic, because I always love reading those. I’ve been allowing myself space to just do whatever the fuck makes me happy, and I’ve been taking requests because it’s also nice to make other people happy sometimes too. Even if there isn’t a real plot, even if it’s just 300 words where nothing really happens… those little moments can make someone smile. Like I said, it’s 2020. We all need some fuckin smiles. 

Tl;dr version: I stopped putting pressure on myself, I stopped worrying about notes, and I started writing the things that interest me. I’m having so much more fun writing these days. 10/10 would recommend defenestrating your remaining fucks.  

Thank you for still reading, and for noticing the change, and for sticking with me and my unpredictable brain. Your friendship is one of the best things that’s come out of this whole fandom deal. 

[caesarclowningaround]

Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by @heroofshield thanks dearie!!!

Tagging: @pigsinablanketfort, @raptorwhisperer, @thenightisfullofangels, @theresatvjoe, aaaaand anybody else who wants to do it!!!

Name

Fandoms

Most popular oneshot

Most popular multichapter

Actual worst part of writing

How you choose your titles

Do you outline

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?

Callouts @ Me

Best writing traits

Spicy Tangential Opinion

Name: notmyyacht on ao3, ofc gavotteangel here on tumblr. Or just Jess if you wanna get personal~

Fandoms: I’ve written for so many fandoms over the years. My biggest ones have tended to be for Law & Order SVU/Hannibal/Trouble in the Heights/anything for the Raúl Esparza fandom(s), Marvel/MCU, live action d*sney which tbh blows my own mind how much i’ve written for, and most recently The Old Guard

Most popular oneshot: According to ao3 if I’m looking at kudo and hit counts, my barisi fic A Word, which I wrote when Mike “My Father the Inventor of the Toaster Strudel” Dodds first came onboard on SVU. ah, simpler times...

Most popular multichapter: Ao3 says it’s Runts Make Petty Kings, which is the Loki/Jane Foster space adventure enemies to friends to lovers semi-epic that i originally wrote for NaNoWriMo a few years ago. It’s still technically the longest fic I’ve ever written (we’ll see if Violet Skies takes that crown by the time I’m finished with it LOL) and I’m still amazed I wrote it. 

Actual worst part of writing: Probably getting stuck on something. This is pretty broad, but it really is the worst. Whether it’s because it’s an important scene and you don’t know how to make it interesting cuz to you the scene isn’t interesting but it’s important to the story so you can’t just cut it. Or also when you’re stuck because you want to get a specific idea across and you can’t seem to manifest it into words in the same exact way it lives in your brain. And you know once it’s properly on the page it’ll be amazing... but you just can’t get it right.

How you choose your titles: Song lyrics/titles or poetry lines are very helpful. Sometimes a play on a phrase or idiom. Or I’ll take something from the theme of the piece. 

Do you outline: Only my big multichapter ones and they’re always vague. For instance, Runts Make Petty Kings had a very loose outline for its final chapters (mostly cuz it was Nano and i was in a time crunch and figuring out where i wanted to go ahead of time was very helpful). Violet Skies also has an outline just cuz i had so many ideas and me jotting those ideas down somehow became the outline. 

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice? SO many. I have a good chunk of Jafar/Adam ideas I probably won’t ever write. A couple of TOG fic ideas. More than half a dozen Loki fic ideas that would be cool, but I don’t have the time or energy to ever write.

Callouts @ Me: Why do you take so long to update??? STOP STARTING NEW WIPs!! sooo many niche crossover ships.... 

Best writing traits: I think I have a good handle on how certain characters act in specific situations and managing to keep them in-character even when presented with a situation you’d never expect them to be in. That’s one of the reasons why I think I’m pretty good with writing crossovers and finding ways of making those worlds work together even when they obviously shouldn’t. Also I think i’m pretty good at world building.

Spicy Tangential Opinion: This isn’t very original but... everybody (myself included) needs to be reblogging fics more. And leaving kudos and comments. If you liked a fic, let the author know. A kudo means you read and enjoyed the thing. Great! A comment, even if it’s a simple “i liked it” could make the author’s day!!! Feedback means the world to fic writers and we all should be doing more to give it to them.