#this wasp also maybe did not know i was alive though honestly
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i picked up a literal fucking yellowjacket with my bare hands today because i'm so desensitised to wasp interactions that it was hard to view it by its reputation instead of simply as an insect. i put her on a bush and it was no big deal at all.
#i've enjoyed wasp interactions on my front porch for several years now but i've always viewed it as being different bc those wasps know me#this wasp did not know me#this wasp also maybe did not know i was alive though honestly#that's so crazy#a yellowjacket!#one of my distant cousins literally died from yellowjackets!#it was a different situation though he ran over a humongous nest and was stung maybe like 80‚000 times#adam yaps
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What If....? season 2, episode 4. One post again due to more family gatherings. *SPOILERS*
So, in Captain Carter's universe, Wasp is part of the Avengers, and is fighting the Chitauri instead of Hulk? Bruce was mentioned later on so he's there, but why Wasp instead of Hulk in this scene? And where's Ant-Man?
Peggy and Natasha are besties which I don't mind. They do have a cool dynamic and friendship.
Since this is the alternate version of the Winter Soldier movie, I thought Sam would be in the mix as the trio. Unfortunately, he's not in it which is odd to me. Come to thing of it, the only other time Sam made one appearance in What If and that was as a zombie to be killed by Bucky. Since then, he never showed up in any other episode. What's up with that?
Speaking of Bucky, he's an old man now and this universe's Alexander Pierce (I think), except he's not an evil @$$hole and is good at his job. Also, he and Steve teamed up taking down Hydra bases. So, they still had their time together, even though it wasn't both of them who grew old. Honestly, I'm so happy that Bucky got to live a long life and is doing well. I just wish it wasn't at the cost of Steve's life being taken away and being used by the Red Room (I'll get to that later. Also, Brock Rumlow is in it, but I don't know if he's Hydra or not in this one.
There's a scene that also brought me feels and it was Old Man Bucky talking to Steve to get him to stop. He did manage to hesitate for a bit, but that was it. God, I wish we could've gotten more of these two, but this is Peggy's episode. She's gotta be the one to save Steve.
Yeah, it's not Hydra, it's the Red Room. Wasn't expecting this change in this universe, but I don't get why they need Steve along with the Hydra Stomper. Like, couldn't they have taken the suit? Is it because the suit is built for only Steve to pilot it? Maybe I missed something back in season one.
I thought Dreykov was the leader, but it's Melina instead. Yeah, she doesn't get a redemption and is evil. She gets killed by getting dragged back to the Red Room and the place gets blown up.
Red Room's base being an American suburban neighborhood is weird and creepy. The mannequins didn't help either.
So, Melina said that girls in Russia dreamed of being Captain Carter, which I thought was odd cause what about Red Guardian? Isn't he a super soldier too? Then again, this universe might not even have Red Guardian and I think a woman super soldier might be more appealing to Melina. It still feels odd though. Also, I'm guessing Yelena isn't in this one too.
Lots of Steggy in this episode. There was even a scene where they almost kissed. Also, is them talking about dancing is a different way of talking about sex?
The fight scenes were pretty cool. Natasha taking on a bunch of Widows, but almost lost to Melina. She still kicked butt. Peggy fighting the Hydra Stomper which she made a confession that got Steve to stop but only to fly to the Red Room to blow it up. It is different compared to Steve vs. Bucky in the Winter Soldier movie.
Yet, despite all that, she believes that he's alive. I don't know how, but okay. However, a cliffhanger ending where she's summoned into the 1602 universe by the Scarlet Witch....uh, okay? So, we're really getting another multiversal threat. But, we're not gonna get the 1602 episode untill after the Kahhori episode and the Hela episode.
Okay, this is gonna come off as critical, maybe even anti for Peggy, but has anyone else notice how much Captain Carter gets propped up in this episode? Probably more than any character in this series so far. Hell, the reason why she was summoned to another universe cause she's gonna be the one who'll save their queen and their world. Why though? I know that in the synopsis of the 1602 episode other characters are gonna show up, but the ending implies that Peggy's gonna be the one who'll save the day. Maybe I'm wrong and am making a big deal over nothing. We'll just have to wait see how the other episodes go.
Next episode is Kahhori, an original indigenous character in this series who'll get the powers of the tesseract, I think. I hope I'll like her and that she's a cool character.
#what if#what if...?#what if season 2#episode 5#episode five#what if series#what if spoilers#disney plus#disney+#marvel cinematic universe#mcu#mcu critical#just in case cause this might come off as critical
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i was tagged by fellow raven enthusiast @redstringraven, thank you! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Oops I trauma dumped in some of these what a surprise
share your wallpaper:
My phone lock screen is a alternating picture of my cat Sally, or her sister Jenny who passed two years ago. In both photos they look like super models <3
My computer wallpaper is a alternating slideshow of like over 100 landscape and animal photos. Idk I got them from the microsoft store free at one point. They change every 30 minutes. I like the variety.
last song you listened to:
For some reason when I got home today I decided to watch the amazing Reverse animatic and then since I am finally using a new browser Firefox it started auto playing and went to the Roaring 20s animatic, and my brain decided to listen to that on repeat the entire night. I do not know why.
currently reading:
SO MANY FANFIC and I'm behind on all of them
On my immediate list to catch up right now are
We'll Meet Again Soon by chiangyorange
all the ashes in my wake by paperxcrowns
Change of Perspective by characcoon
last movie you watched:
Honestly have no idea. Probably the Rise movie. In two weeks it will be Spider-Verse and I will not be normal about it.
craving:
Energy to be alive
what are you wearing right now:
Yeah I get home from work at 3:30, finish dinner before 4:30, shower and in my jammies by 5 pm. This is how I live my life haha. It is a bit cool today so I opted for my big pink sweatshirt from a campground.
how tall are you:
5 foot 4 inches just barely, which is 162.56 cm according to an online converter. I'm short.
piercings:
So my ears were actually pierced when I was like 3 or something by my parents' friend. No I don't think she asked permission haha. Anyway I had to have an x-ray done not a year later so the earings came out and never went back in. My parents religion we converted into though actually did not allow piercings, so I never got them repierced. No jewelry was allowed. Some of the more strict southern churches didn't allow even wedding bands.
tattoos:
None. Tattoos were literally the reason my mom made us leave the normal church and go to the cult one. Tattoos were not allowed. Maybe I'll get one some day but it's not something I really think I need. But nothing is stopping me anymore if I wanted to.
glasses? contacts?:
4 eyes that's me :) Got glasses in 6th grade yay. I'm not super blind but unless I'm pretty close I'm losing out on a lot of details. Had to buy special prescription safety glasses for my lab job. When I'm at home I don't wear them. Details not important.
last drink:
I literally only drink water. And I drink a lot of it. Gave up soda when I was like 8 because I was afraid of wasps getting in the can. I don't drink alcohol or juice. Maybe a hot cocoa or tea but that is very rare.
last thing i ate:
Sugar snap peas! I love them <3
last show:
Lets be honest it was rise.
favorite color:
I like a forest green. But also I love pastels. I do not like red. You can thank my mom for that.
current obsession:
Rise of the TMNT. Also Spider-Verse.
unrelated obsession:
Nature related strategy board games. My favorites are Wingspan and Everdell but I have so.many.board.games. I got into the hobby because it was the only thing I could tolerate spending time with my mom with but now I don't want to do that anymore, so the games have gone unplayed since Christmas.
any pets:
My 19 year old tortie Sally! She is deaf and a box of rocks and so expensive with her health problems but I love her to bits. She's my baby and has been with me through everything.
do you have a crush on anyone:
I mean I had crushes in school but, oh shocker I was never allowed by my parents to date. And even then it had to be a fellow pentecostal and I sure as hell wasn't going to do that. I was too bogged down with family issues to ever consider it even after I left. I don't know if I'm capable of loving someone? Idk I have always had a huge identity crisis of who I am and what I want. But I also don't want to be alone forever. It's complicated.
favorite fictional characters:
Ninja turtles, Rise Casey Jones, Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Peter Parker, Miles Morales, Spider Gwen, Snoopy, Cinderpelt.
the last place you traveled to:
Ugh, the bachelorette party of my nightmares this past weekend. It was in a tourist town a few hours away. Unless work counts cause I went to work this morning.
tagging I'm not going to tag anyone because this is a lot, but if you would like to do it I encourage you to!
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Okay, so it's actually Monday, but I was busy yesterday. :D
The still as of yet unnamed sequel to Closer and Closer Still has stagnated a bit during my struggle with an ongoing wasp invasion of my house (check out 'the wasp invasion' tag on my main for more details if you're curious) but there has been progress all the same.
Eobard’s heart was suddenly thudding in his chest too fast. Did Barry know what he’d just said? Just implied about his feelings for the Reverse Flash? Someone… someone he loved…
“Let’s get dinner.” The words just slipped out without permission. “My treat. You’ve had a difficult day.”
Eobard is all worried that Barry will deliberately slow his own progress to keep the Reverse Flash around, but maybe he should be worried about his own resolve to go home should Barry ever confess being in love with Eobard directly.
My Flash Finale Fix-it has also been suffering under the wasp invasion writing-block stress, but it's inching in the direction I want it to go so that's good. It's Westhallen endgame and Barry's not exactly being subtle about his feelings about Eddie. Though Eddie's not connecting the dots yet because he knows a.) Barry's married now and b.) Barry's always been in love with Iris. Just Iris. Right?
And then he asked, "what's the Negative Speed Force?"
Barry's turn to grimace. "Either it's an artificial Speed Force that Eobard created in the far flung future or it's the Negative pole to the Positive represented by the Speed Force I get my powers from. And, honestly, the first explanation makes more sense as Eobard's ego talking because he thought he created something that he actually just woke up."
That got a snort of amusement from Eddie. "When he kidnapped me, he ranted on and on about how I wasn't a scientist or a politician and didn't live up to his expectations. Sounded like my parents, like my achievements only mattered based on how they reflected on him. Or them. I hate to say it, but the ego is a Thawne family trait."
"Skipped you, then," Barry said, gently squeezing Eddie's hand in his.
Barry's been holding Eddie's hand the entire time they've been sitting on the couch in future!Joe's house.
By the time I get to Eddie's PoV, he's a lot calmer about what's going on than canon!Eddie was. He's been dead and it's not like he didn't realize it'd end up being Barry that Iris would most likely move on with in time - Eddie just hadn't expected to suddenly be alive in that future and it's being dropped in the middle of a point in time where he knows neither of them really need him that makes him sad.
I've also been working, on and off again, on the next entry in my Flash Back series. This entry would be set right after the now altered events of Flash Back in S2. In which Barry's memories of the new timeline have filtered in alongside his memories of the original (to him, anyway) timeline.
Eddie's alive now and still engaged to Iris. Ronnie is alive and gone with Stein to join the Legends, which is straining his relationship with Caitlin. But at least they're alive.
“Without me, Eobard Thawne couldn’t exist anymore…” And Barry can see those wheels turning in Eddie’s mind.
So Barry hugged him. Too tight, maybe. “If Eobard dogs my steps for the rest of my life, I don’t care. Not as long as you’re here and safe. You are worth more than you know, Eddie.”
Eddie hugged back, a shaky breath let out against Barry’s shoulder. “Got it,” he promised softly.
I didn't go in to this series intending Westhallen, but... I am a sucker for that ship. I can't guarantee it'll go that way, but the hints of it are there now. (All I really intended was one-sided EoBarry on Eobard's side and Barry recognizing that things between them are really weird for two people who hate each other.)
#six sentence sunday#okay so really six sentence monday (whatever)#the flash#fanfiction#barry allen#eobard thawne#eddie thawne#barry x eobard#barry x eddie x iris
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ANTMAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA SPOILERS
More unasked for thoughts on this movie. (Except this time I remember to put it on my thoughts about movie/shows blog instead of my main)
I wish the og? Kang had survived. Like, I’m sure the other Kang’s are cool, but I really liked him as the villain. Also, with Kang being the big and of phase five. (Is it phase 4 or 5? I honestly don’t know.) with him being the big bad though, I can’t help but feel like killing off the Kang that literally all of the other Kang’s were so scared of they banished him to the quantum realm was a mistake. Like, they already (most likely) successfully took down him, how are other Kang’s who aren’t as scary going to feel like much of a threat?
Especially since there will be multiple. Like, I realize the Kang we’ve seen so far could be an outlier, but I’m not so sure they wont be able to be divided against each other. (Then again, them being divided against each other would most likely cause just as much if not more damage then them working together, given the whole monologue at the end of Loki.)
Also, Cassie was great and I love her.
I’m not necessarily an expert on Modok but I liked the what they did with him. Also, the part where Scott asked “Shouldn’t it be Modofk?” was perfect. Ive literally asked myself the same thing ever since he showed up in EMH.
I really liked the family dynamic they had in the movie.
Hope and Scott’s relationship actually had like, some real substance to it this time. Granted, it is very little but their romance is still much more believable than in the previous movies. (Which I mean the bar could not be lower there and it still feels a bit like “what?” but not as much as in the previous movies. Their relationship is mostly like, subtly implied and definitely supported and kind of lifted up via the overall family dynamic everyone had, but it still felt a bit forced at the end. I am slowly coming around to it maybe though? Like, I no longer passively dislike it. Instead I passively accept it.
The side characters were great, fun to see, and I loved them. I actually teared up when torture laser beam for a head guy was killed.
There were a few brilliant scenes that I especially enjoyed or found funny.
First off, like, just put yourself in Scott Lang’s shoes for a minute. All sorts of things weird unbelievable stuff has happened in your life and now you’re in the quantum realm and you lost sight of your daughter after being captured by these strange quantum realm people. And then when he finally sees her, he sees this teenage girl with what looks like blood dripping down her chin and she just cheerily says
“Drink the ooze!”
And then the camera cuts away. Hilarious.
“Those buildings are alive?!”
“What, are yours dead?” said with genuine concern. Beautiful.
The surprise actor for Chidi and pretty much everything when it came to his telepathy.
“How many holes do you?”
*excitedly after being shot a lot* “I HAVE HOLES” and then turning into a vacuum cleaner and just straight up going eldritch something on these guys
Also, Darren’s death. My response to that entire conversation was basically to laugh and ask myself what the fuck? I’m pretty sure Darren said some of that stuff just to mess with Scott but I’m not sure.
I want revenge and im going to kill you and your daughter! “You’re being a dick.” “Yeah but I don’t know what else to do.” “…just stop” great idea, thanks. And immediately doing a 180 and helping your previous sworn enemies.
Also, Kang was great, and a good villain and I was actually like, a bit scared of him. I mean, I still havent seen Wakanda Forever (I know and I hate that about me too) so I can’t comment on Namor and while Killmonger was a good MCU villain Kang is a good villain. And like, those are two very different things. So that was refreshing to see.
Back to Kang I don’t know how the rest of this phase will play out. Like, how will the, for lack of a better term, council of Kang, react and what will they do? Besides maybe destroying the multiverse according to prime Kang. (Speaking of, the Kang in this is just like, a younger version then the one that Sylvie killed in Loki right? It’s never outright stated but it seems pretty clear.)
#antman spoilers#antman and the wasp spoilers#antman and the wasp quantamania spoilers#quantumania spoilers#mcu spoilers#spoilers
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No One Lives Forever Not Even God
Peter Parker x bisexual!reader
Peter Parker x fem!reader
Peter Parker x black!reader
Peter Parker x villain!reader
Warnings: Language, Insomnia, mentions of antidepressants, mentions of drugs, drug use, mentions of addiction, mentions of nazis, parental neglect, mentions of the dead, cemeteries, mentions of meltdowns, corrupt government, mentions of cancer, low self esteem, self destructive behavior, medical testing, thoughts of murder, mentions of injury, and mentions of knives,
Word Count: 6.1k
Songs: Mother- Pink Floyd, He Can Only Hold Her- Amy Whinehouse, A Pearl- Mitski, Me and My Husband- Mitski, Saint Bernard- Lincon, Why Didn't You Stop Me?- Mistki, Nuestro Planeta- Kali Uchis, You Know I'm No Good-Amy Whinehouse, and Love Is a Losing Game- Amy Whinehouse.
"I’ve been in a very poetic mood lately. I think it’s funny how anything could be considered poetry and something you relate too. Like Twitter or any other social media and the ongoing gag of people feeling the need to announce the fact that they’re making moves in silence. But that’s what I’m doing, making moves in silence. If anyone is in my business now I’m politely asking you to remove yourself from it before I make you.”
A/N: I only did one proofread so sorry if there are typos and this is just more of an infodump to set up other chapters so enjoy ig. I almost gonna start another series a social media AU let me know if you'd want to be tagged in either of these series.
Series Masterlist Previous Part Next Part
Nightmares come while I’m asleep but, when I’m awake the nightmares of the day just come for me then, so really I’m just stuck. I would like to say the antidepressants are working, it's just the insomnia that comes with them isn't working for me. I’m honestly starting to think mood stabilizers would do me better.
Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?
I’m not sure I could blame this all on the pills though. I’d have to give some of the credit to the massive bombshell that a certain ex Avenger had dropped on me.
It's almost like every five seconds a new giant secret about my mom is unveiled to me. Like sure I saw from the video that she’d left me that she had associations with some bad people like Kingpin but nazis?
SHIELD had apparently collapsed because it was infiltrated by Hydra but it was prevalent while my mom was still alive. Seems like she had worked for or with everyone who was anyone. I’m just gonna give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she didn’t know because up until two weeks ago I didn’t either.
Her and Natasha had been recruited at the same time and worked together but for someone who claims to have been so close to her you’d think she’d know that she was dead. “She went off the grid and that was the last I heard from her,” is all she gave me with a smile that even I could tell was fake and I’d just met the woman.
You know when grown folks come up to you and expect you to remember them because they met you once while you were like in the womb that’s kinda my relationship with Natasha. She knows so much about me and I know absolutely nothing about her save for the fact she's a spy meaning she’d be a great liar.
She used to babysit me sometimes if I could trust what she says that is. Apparently I called her “Auntie Nat”. For some reason no one ever thought it was a good idea to inform me that I had a godmother. Maybe they did and I just forgot.
I thought they were supposed to take care of you when something happened to your parents. And the one who’s alive is about as useless as the other. It might be fun to have another person that was considered family. Just maybe not a spy at least I’d know she’d walk out of my life so I won’t get attached.
Mother, do you think they'll like the song?
“Hey mom,” I sighed sitting down in the light dusting in front of her tombstone. “I know it’s been a while and I’ve got a lot to catch you up on,”
It took a bit of digging before I found what I was looking for in my bag. I ran my fingers along the cold surface of the small jewelry box. There was puffy white glue holding the larger pieces together.
I placed the box in the grass sitting next to the tombstone. I removed a purple coiled bracelet and sat it next to the box.
I tucked my legs under my body admiring the piece of jewelry.
“I brought you a bracelet,” I spoke. “It’s kinda like a friendship bracelet cause I have the other. I don’t know if I should leave it here in case someone steals it,” I laughed. “You’d have to be a real shitty person to steal from a cemetery though,”
I curse so often I didn’t realize I did it until I had already done it.
“Ah sorry! Excuse my French,” I chuckled.
“I met Natasha Romanoff and she said she knew you. She said she knew me too. I don’t remember her though…” I trailed off.
For someone who claimed to have a lot to say I sure was at a loss for words. I just didn’t know how to get any of them out.
“Oh! You’re not gonna believe me if I tell you but I got to meet some of the Avengers. Most of them were new though. You’d know some of them. Like Captain America I wanted his help but he couldn’t provide it,”
I had a bit of an episode when I was told no one knew where Thor was. I think it was justified though.
How the fuck do you lose two Avengers let alone the ones that can’t possibly be hidden. One is green and huge and the other leaves lightning bolts everywhere they go.
Mother, do you think they'll try to break my balls?
“The other is Natasha but I don’t think I really knew that yet. She went by Black Widow. I’m sure you knew that though. You probably know a lot,”
I wonder how many secrets she never told me about. I mean I could only imagine all the secrets working for the government would let you in on. Like she probably knew about big stuff like the Tesseract and aliens maybe she could’ve known about that.
“Okay I have a question. I have a lot actually but I think if you answer them I’m gonna get up and run out of here,” I joked.
“Number one is my middle name Natalia because of your SHIELD buddy? Like it might just be a coincidence but it could also be a godmother typa situation or something,”
It was a running theory. She would’ve known my mom before I was born. And if what I was told is true they’d be pretty close too and Natasha translates back to Natalia and I know she’s Russian. It makes sense.
Ooh
Mother, should I build the wall?
“Uh… there’s this boy,”
When was there not? It seems like there was always someone in my life. Carmen in therapist mode said it’s because I put my self worth into my relationship status.
“He’s really nice. Like really really nice. Nicer than anybody I’ve ever been associated with. It’s just he’s like…” I didn't know how to put the next part into words. “He’s just too nice. Too nice for me at least. Like he’s such a good person and I’m just me,”
“And it’s I feel bad,” I sighed. I was getting myself too worked up over this. “Like I keep playing like a game of tug a war with him where I let him in and kick him out again it’s tiring. I don’t even do it on purpose. I feel like we could be something maybe. But I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen. It’s a self defense mechanism. At least I think.”
I do it with everyone. I shut them out before they can get it. The less people you let into your life the less people that can walk out.
It’s a bulletproof tactic. At least I used to think it was. Never realized people could get hurt including myself.
“I saw dad,” I informed myself? I guess I’m not sure how healthy it is to have a conversation with someone you know can’t respond and isn't listening. “Like two days ago actually I didn’t say anything I freaked out and ran away. It made me think though,”
Mother, should I run for president?
Made me think about how I’d done so well on my own. Well I’m not gonna take all the credit, most of it was Carmen keeping my ass in line. I haven’t talked to her in a while. I haven’t talked to anyone in a while.
”I found a small studio apartment in Queens. It was the cheapest one I could find. I’m just renting it like an Airbnb right now. I need to find a permanent place and a job,”
I couldn’t find a permanent place at my age unless I had full autonomy which leads me to my next topic.
“So I was thinking about getting emancipated which everything would’ve been a lot easier if you were here then we could just go to court for custody cause you’d win for sure.”
Mother, should I trust the government?
“I know you never got to know how corrupt SHIELD was but do they like keep tabs on everyone who does anything to them or related to them? Because like I did a little snooping and I know they had files for all the Avengers and other people like Kingpin.”
I knew I was going to have to do more than sit here and ask a dead person what to do but ranting to someone who couldn’t spill my secrets was a start.
“I was just wondering how deep it went or if they had hidden stuff on me,”
Mother, will they put me in the firing line?
It’s probably common knowledge that if you mess with the government they’ll mess back. I’d like to think they were like bees. You leave them alone they’ll leave you alone. Only stinging when provoked.
But every branch of the government is like a wasp. They don’t die if they sting and they’ll sting you for no reason at all. They just like to see people in pain.
And I’m sure the energy research branch of SHIELD would probably be more than interested in a walking fire bomb that can move things without touching them.
I mean I’m not going to stop poking things around until I figure out what’s wrong with me. So might as well not complain.
“So I don’t have many things figured out right now and the whole you and SHIELD thing only confused me more so if you could just like come tell me what to do just this once that’d be great,” I laughed.
At first I was contemplating if this was weird or not but hearing me say that I now know this is pathetic. It always has been.
Ooh
Is it just a waste of time?
But I didn’t know if I should keep searching. Maybe I should just pretend like I’d never gotten introduced to the world of powers or mutations at all. For all I know Peter, Carmen, Felicia, Wade and I are just normal people who do normal people stuff.
Sure I wanted answers but I didn’t want to end up like those people who spend their whole life searching for an answer they won’t find any and end up never living at all.
Like a quote my mom used to say all the time “The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all,”
She really just used it so she didn’t have to listen to being put on bed rest but it obviously had a deeper meaning and she knew that.
I keep finding myself stuck on that phrase. That and the whole when the dust settles poem.
I’ve been in a very poetic mood lately. I think it’s funny how anything could be considered poetry and something you relate too.
Like Twitter or any other social media and the ongoing gag of people feeling the need to announce the fact that they’re making moves in silence.
But that’s what I’m doing, making moves in silence. If anyone is in my business now I’m politely asking you to remove yourself from it before I make you.
“Uh I don’t know if I should even tell you this cause you died before it was even a problem in the first place but…” I blew out a breath digging my feet deeper into the ground.
“I’ve been clean for like two weeks now. Which is actually a thing I’m pretty proud of right now.”
I’d stopped using everything except weed, nicotine because those weren’t drugs and even then I used it way less than before. Oh, and my antidepressants too but that’s obviously okay they’re prescribed.
I hated the word clean made me seem like an addict which I wasn’t. I’m many things but I wasn’t an addict. I just didn’t know of any other words to use.
I wasn’t an addict but I’d say the lines between recreational use and dependency were blurring just a bit. I had gotten it straight though. I’m good now. The antidepressants are helping.
Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry
“You have a superpower of just making people feel better immediately. I don’t know if it was the fact you were my mom or what but if you even just put a bandaid on a stab wound it’d probably stop hurting and disappear,”
I wasn’t even exaggerating there was this one time I got hurt at the zoo and she just kissed it and I forgot about the fact that I even fell.
I’m not sure how true that is though because I couldn’t actually recall the memory I was just told about it by my mom a few years after it happened. So I guess I remember not remembering then being reminded. Weird.
“I wanna see the giraffes!” Aaliyah cried, stomping her feet down on the concrete.
This was one of the only times mom didn’t have to work on the weekends and Liyah had to have her way like always.
“Mom!” I screamed “Tell her you said we could see the lions first,”
She just sighed. “Well since she’s the youngest do you think you could be nice and let her go first please?”
“Fine,” I huffed. I wasn’t doing it for Liyah, I was doing it for mom. Even a blind person could see how tired she’d been lately.
Liyah laughed at me sticking her tongue out. She’s such a brat.
“You’re so dumb.” I rolled my eyes at her.
“I know you are but what am I ?” She teased hitting my shoulder before running away.
I took off after her. She may have been fast but I knew I could catch up to her.
I almost had her when my foot got caught on something. It launched me towards the ground and I put my hands down to catch myself but I still hit my knee.
I slid on the concrete scuffing my leg. I didn’t scream because that would make me weak and it didn't hurt that bad. I just bit my lip and stood up.
I didn’t want to limp but it hurt too much to put pressure on my leg.
Liyah had beat me back to mom and when I reached them she was already apologizing.
Fake.
She was just scared to get in trouble. I wasn’t gonna snitch on her anyways.
“Let me see it,” Mom asked, grabbing my arm, pulling me to sit down on a stonehenge.
She reached into her purse and pulled out a first aid kit. She always had everything in her purse. It was kinda like a super power. The black Marry Poppins.
She wiped the scrape with an alcohol wipe and I just barely hissed. It didn’t even really hurt anymore.
She placed a bandaid on it, smoothing her hands on top of it before placing a kiss there.
“There,” She wiped her hands on her thighs before standing up “All better?”
I nodded my head and we went off to see the giraffes because I’m nice like that.
“In case you were wondering, Aaliyah still always gets her way even now. I’d say she’s got me beat on the manipulation game honestly,”
It’s fine though I taught her everything she knows not everything I know. I could still get one over on her if needed.
Mama's gonna make all of your nightmares come true
“I found your pendant, the SHIELD one. Which I guess makes all of this real no matter how much I want it to be fake. I just want this to be a poorly written book where I wake up and the past five years were all a dream,”
God knows how much I meant that. Well maybe I didn’t mean it too much because some people I’ve met in the past five years are people I don’t think I could survive very long without. Even though I kinda exploded on everyone so maybe I’m gonna have to test my theory on how long I can really survive.
“Hey Doc,” I greeted pushing up the door of the restaurant.
“Hey sweetheart, how ya been?” He queried.
“I’ve been better,”
“I hear ya,” He nodded.
Once we were in the back of the restaurant aka his office. I pulled out the diamond. Doc knew everything about everyone and anything. He could also make a duplicate of anything you gave him.
“Whatcha got for me?” He asked, rubbing his hands together.
“This, I’m not sure what it is,”
I placed the bird pendant on the desk. I found it in a shoe box filled with my mom's stuff.
“I was wondering if you knew,”
He lifted it up to his eye to get a better view, His eyesight so bad that his glasses were practically a magnifying glass.
“It’s a crest, I don’t think I’ve seen this before it’s most likely from a government branch,” He placed it back down on his messy desk. “I can do some more extensive research for you if you’d like,”
“Yes, that’d be great,”
“Stop by again tomorrow and I’ll fill you
I wish I never went back to Doc’s place or found out about flash drive, Vulture, SHIELD, any of it. Just when I thought my life couldn’t get anymore fucked up the devil came out the woodworks and spit in my face.
Mama's gonna put all of her fears into you
“I remember all that testing they did after I agreed to do whatever Stark needed me to do sooo badly. I still don’t really know what he did- or he’s doing with all that DNA and other stuff he’d gotten from me,”
Aren’t the Avengers and by default Tony Stark products of SHIELD so wouldn't that mean whoever’s behind all of that could’ve been the one to tell Tony about the fire thing in the first place.
That had been the main thing about the whole Stark situation that I still couldn’t figure out. Someone needs to tell me how he found out and they better tell me now.
“There are multiple lacerations 1-2 inches lining the upper and lower abdomen,” The doctor lady announced to her assistant. Before moving her cold hand away from my side pushing my shirt back down.
Okay that’s chill nothing I haven’t had before.
“We’re gonna have to do another X-ray is that okay?” Her assistant asked. I wasn’t going to bother to learn their names. I was planning to stay that long anyways.
What’s the point? They’re just going to come back and say the machine is broken and then do another blood test.
“Yeah sure,”
I was led into a much bigger room than the last. There was much more machinery too.
I was strapped down to a cold blue cushioned table by leather straps. Straps weren’t really necessary, not like I was planning on lashing out and mauling anyone.
I closed my eyes when the flashes of the machine went off. Apparently I had fractured three of my ribs and bruised my sternum.
You’d think they’d let me go now but noooo they need more blood and then when they were done drawing blood.
They had to hook me up to a machine to monitor- I don’t even fucking know what they were monitoring.
I just know I had all the pads with wires on my temples and chest and everywhere else. It reminded me of that one time I had to do a sleep study.
Except they didn’t have holographs to read off and fancy probably government funded tech then. They sure as hell didn’t have all this whispering either. Or maybe they did and I was just unconscious.
Still I didn’t even want to actually be here and I was cold for once.
“How much long do we have here?” I groaned.
“Not much longer. We just have and MRI left,”
Yeah right. I was gonna be in here for the rest of my life
“I could probably go back there if I wanted answers,” I spoke quietly.
“But I don’t want the government in my business like that well at least just not more than they probably are already at least and the tests are so invasive,”
Mama's gonna keep you right here under her wing
That’s not the only invasive thing in my life. Or should I say was in my life? I don’t fucking care really.
My dad was somehow the strictest and the most lenient person ever. I think he just wanted control.
I used to blame his alcoholism for everything he did but no really he’s just a shitty person. A shitty person who likes to beat on women and take doors off the hinges.
“You are so pathetic!” My mom screamed at my dad.
They had been at this all night. For so long that I’m seriously contemplating jumping out of this small window right now.
Sapphire had no qualms sleeping on the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. Aaliyah and I however were still wide awake.
I’m not sure exactly what was going on in her head but I’m assuming we're still up for the same reason. To kill our dad if he even touches our mom.
I had a kitchen knife in hand as I sat on the bathroom sink. I always had a knife every time my dad started yelling a little too aggressively just in case but this time felt different. Like I was really prepared to stab him this time.
I didn’t know what it was but something felt off.
“Are they done?” Aaliyah asked, rubbing her eyes. The apartment had fallen silent.
“I don’t know. Stay here,” I hopped down off the sink.
I should’ve known she wasn’t gonna listen to me. The kitchen was empty which means they must’ve moved to their room.
The next moment was the sort straight out of a family sitcom except the family was falling apart and the kids were going crazy but otherwise it could’ve very well been an “oopsie” misunderstanding moment. Where the younger child asks “Are mommy and daddy getting a divorce?”
Then the oldest child pulls them into their body and whispers “I dunno kiddo,” or “No they’re just going through a rough patch,” anything like that.
Except it wasn’t that. That wasn’t what she said and that wasn’t what Aaliyah asked me.
God how I wish that was what she asked me.
I have a bad habit of acting before I think. I opened the door opening my mouth to let out the words in my brain.
“You’re dying? How are you dying?”
They both turned to look at me like they were just noticing they weren’t alone.
My mom sighed moving closer to me grabbing my arm.
“I’m- Im not no ones dying,”
The door creaked as Aaliyah pushed her way into the room.
“But you said ‘I need you to step up you need to know how to handle it when I’m dead’,” She paraphrased cleaning out the cuss words.
“It didn’t mean literally dying right now,”
Now I could see how this could be us just jumping to conclusions from like two sentences but she had been weird lately. Like she’s always traveled a lot and been secretive but lately she’s been extra secretive.
And I could tell the secret wasn’t to protect herself so whos to say it wasn’t the fact she was currently dying. It actually makes perfect sense.
I’m starting to wish I wasn’t always right. Stage 4 Lymphoma. Basically we should go coffin shopping pretty soon.
If only she wasn’t so selfish and would get treatment for it. She couldn’t leave me here by myself. Who’s gonna take care of us if she dies.
I’d thought about it before and I decided I’d take on the role of caregiver for my sisters but then it was only a what if situation.
Wade has cancer and he’s not dead but that’s only because he got pumped with like super drugs shit.
Now I just needed to find some super drugs and figure out how to get her to take them.
Fuck Cancer and fuck my dad. Why couldn’t he have gotten the diagnosis instead of my mom. A life for a life type beat.
I guess that wouldn’t have made for a good tragic backstory would it. And what fun is life without a tragic backstory.
My only question is when does the backstory end and when does the actual plot begin because clearly I’m not there yet. It’s only tragedy after tragedy.
Maybe that is my story, just pain and suffering. Someone has to be the butt of the joke.
She won't let you fly but she might let you sing
“You always told me to surround myself with people who you could block out the rest of the world with. Peter’s like that so was Olivia she was one of those people for me. When we weren’t yelling at each other or crying, I mean. Still wish you could’ve met her though,”
“AH YES!” I exclaimed, pumping my fist. “I found it,” I waved the joint in the air.
“Alright come sit down then,” Olivia laughed, patting the seat on the couch next to her.
“Shit,” I muttered. “Where’s the lighter?”
She just laughed at me again. Before reaching into my pocket and slipping it out. I couldn’t help but smile at how intimate that action felt for no reason at all.
I quickly and lightly pressed my lips to hers muttering a quick “thank you,”
About three minutes had passed and I could feel the weed taking course through my system.
My head was in her lap until I abruptly shot up gasping at the beginning of Super Rich Kids by Frank Ocean.
“Dance with me,” I pleaded it didn’t take much convincing because here we were twirling around. Although it was much more giggling than dancing.
I bumped my leg on the glass coffee table and immediately apologized making Liv and I laugh so hard I almost peed my pants.
I was laid out on the soft white fur rug with Olivia laying her chin on my chest. I ran my hands through her hair.
It was actually very easy there were no knots my fingers just glided smoothly through.
“I mean shit,” I breathed “I know I can’t run from the rest of the world forever but until then? Bitch you can call me Flash cause I’m zoomin’.”
She giggled at that before speaking up.
“You don’t have to run you can just stay here with me forever,”
Her words were so genuine it made me want to cry. She basically just said “I love you” in more or less words.
“You know what? I think I might,”
She gave me a tired smile, turning her head to place a kiss on the top of my breast.
I smiled back at her and how adorable she looked right now. I just want to kiss her for the rest of forever.
When I glanced back down at her I could hear her breathing slow and her eyes had fluttered shut. She was asleep.
I felt all warm and fuzzy and at peace and I couldn’t tell if it was the weed or if it was just being in Olivia’s presence.
I wasn’t ready to say these words to her when she was conscious yet maybe I’d never be ready but I’d say them now. Just to get them off my chest.
“I love you,” I whispered.
I never really felt comfortable saying that to anyone. Probably a result of not hearing it enough as a child or something. My family’s never been affectionate anyway. That’s fine because I wasn’t my family, I was my own person.
Stroking her hair gently before drifting off to the land of dreams myself.
So much for forever huh?
It’s funny to think how I took times like that for granted if only I knew those were some of the only moments of normalcy I’d get for a while. I’d spent too much time thinking about what could’ve been with almost everything.
So much so that I didn’t take much time to actually be. Now I feel like I’ve made it to the point of no return. Not mentally but like with everyone else around me. I think I pushed people too far away this time. Not so sure I could get them back.
“Uh I can't really remember what I’ve already told you so I’ll run through it all. This vigilante or superhero Spiderman started doing his thing then I got caught up in his mess.” That was most definitely an oversimplification but what do I look like telling my mom I was a well known thief. “Then his relation to Tony Stark got extended to me so now I kinda do stuff for him but I don’t work for him.”
I don't work for him he might think I do, but in reality he works for me. I had almost everyone at the compound wrapped around my finger.
“I don’t think I really wanna work for anyone. I was offered to be an Avenger in training but that isn’t really my style. I will use his gym though.” I rambled on.
It was kinda weird how easy it was to rant to my mom like this because not like she could voice her opinions about anything. I guess I hadn’t visited in so long that I forgot what it was like.
Mama's gonna keep baby cosy and warm
“Oh!” I exclaimed remembering a very important factor that I left out. “Then we have the whole Staten Island fiasco that I told you about. I remember telling you that. I’m still searching for answers on how I did that too,”
Like some real answers not that radiation BS.
“Your phone’s broken,” I pointed out the cracked screen sitting on the wood.
“Oh shit!” Peter cried “May’s gonna kill me this is the second phone I’ve broken this month,”
I came off way calmer than I was feeling. I’m surprised I wasn’t running around screaming right about now. I was probably just paralyzed in fear.
How do you react in a situation like this in the first place.
“Okay how long are we going to be sitting here? What are we waiting on?” We’d be up here looking down at the fire crackling underneath the pier for like 15 minutes now.
“I don’t know actually,” He sighed.
“Uh…”
How was I supposed to respond to that? That was the driest response to anything in the history of the world.
“Well since I’ve already pinky promised I won’t spill your secret can I ask some questions while we wait for you to figure it out?”
“Sure, go ahead,” He nodded, shaking his arms.
“Okay number one did you think I had died or something because if someone burst into flames in front of me I’d probably think Satan was coming for me. I’d cry too,” I laughed but had to stop myself as the stabbing in my ribs ran through me.
“No, I didn’t think you were dead, you had a pulse,” He pointed out “Maybe I could’ve thought you were dying though. And I wasn’t crying,”
Liar. He so was crying.
“Aw you don’t have to lie I think it’s cute,” I teased if I didn’t feel like my body was falling apart I might’ve poked his side.
“Alright, second question: do the webs like come out of you? Cause that’s kinda disgusting,”
“No, I make them with chemicals ‘n stuff. I’d explain the science to you but I’m not sure how much you’d care.”
I let out a small laugh knowing what feeling would come if I laughed too hard.
“I mean you could explain it ‘m just not sure how much of it I’d understand,”
We both laughed at that.
“On the topic of the webs what’s there integrity like how well do they hold up or like how long,”
“Uh…” He blew out a breath running his hands over his face “As far as I know they last up to two hours. That is unless someone cuts them or something,”
I couldn’t help but wonder if Thorn was one of those someone’s to cut the webs maybe I was the only someone. I didn’t really need to ask the question. Aaron had already answered the question for me when he told me about the deal at the ferry. I just wanted to see what Peter would tell me honestly.
I spent the rest of the night asking questions and cracking jokes. I was talking for so long I didn’t realize how late it’s gotten.
It should be a world record how fast I managed to fuck up 5 friendships. Well it’s my personal best at least. Only took like 4 minutes.
I feel like that’s all I do is just fuck up everything. I used to believe there was a difference between being fucked up and being a fuckup but the older I get the more I realize that there isn’t.
It’s like someone built a self destruct button in my head and every time something good happens to me I feel the need to run away.
Like Peter he’s literally perfect he's smart, respectful, adorable, and selfless. He’s literally a fucking superhero for godsake.
I was trying so hard not to fall asleep. I really was but all the Trigonometry chapter was doing was mixing with the sound of rain outside and triggering the urge to fall into a deep sleep.
“Okay,” Peter tapped his textbook with his pen. I wish I could be confident enough to do math with a pen.
“So sin is equal to the opposite of whatever angle you’re trying to find so first you have too…”
He droned on, I knew he was talking about the math problem lying on the bed in front of me but I wasn’t listening. Maybe if I sat at the desk I could actually be paying attention right now.
“Y/N?”
“Hmm?” I sat up on my elbows yawning.
“Are you tired?”
I just hummed again. Until I realized what the question was. I reached for my phone and it was already 9:03 that woke me up for sure.
“Oh shit! I gotta get back,”
Not like I’d get in trouble or anything but Carmen would get on my ass about the fact I didn’t come back when I said I would then she’d make something out of nothing.
I scrambled around trying to find all my things to put them back in my bag.
“Wait it’s raining though,” Peter pointed out.
“Yeah,” I chuckled “It’s New York it’s always raining,”
“Yeah but it’s cold and wet and dark so if you tried to skate you’d probably get hurt,”
I knew what he was doing and it was working because frankly all his excuses were shit because one I don’t get cold and two I could just walk and there are lights everywhere but I was gonna stay anyway. I was too tired to argue right now.
“May!” Peter shouted.
“Yes?” She called back.
“Can Y/N stay for the night?”
“Yeah if her parents are okay with it,”
That’s how I ended up wearing some shirt with some dumb science pun sitting on the couch watching Aladdin for like the millionth time ever. I was singing along to One jump ahead when I felt eyes on me.
I turned my head but before I could make eye contact with Peter he acted as if he was watching the movie the whole time.
“What?” I giggled. Fuck, I hadn’t like genuinely giggled in the longest time.
“Nothing,” He replied, turning back towards the TV again.
This time I was the one to stare at him wondering what was going on in his head. Not even the fourth song in and I was already yawning struggling to keep my head up.
This goes to show how much willpower I had because I couldn’t even stop my eyelids from falling shut. I deserved to sleep though I’d been exhausted lately.
There’s only like 6 people on this planet that I trust enough to fall asleep around and surprisingly Peter had become one with like 5 months of knowing me.
I would still trust him if given the chance I’m just not sure how much he trusts me right now. I understand though. I don’t deserve anyone’s trust.
Taglist:
@tomdiddlyumptious
#peter parker#peter parker fanfiction#peter parker x reader#peter parker imagine#reader x peter parker#peter parker drabble#Peter Parker x Vigilante!Reader#peter parker x you#peter parker x fem!reader#peter parker x y/n#peter parker x black!reader#peter parker x bi!reader#peter parker x bisexual!reader#peter parker x poc reader#peter parker x#peter parker x villian!reader#spiderman x villian#spiderman x thorn#peter parker x thorn#MCU x Y/N#mcu series#mcu x reader#mcu#Thorn Series#thorns prick
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Watched the Latest Marvel What-if
I don’t know why I opted to watch the dark and scary episode during Lunch when I’m stressed but I did. And much regret.
Not that it was bad! I actually genuinely enjoyed it. I’d seen a lot of gifs on Tumblr that made me go ‘huh’ and so I had to watch it and see for myself.
Spoilers beneath the cut:
So admittedly it was DARK. Like I remember people going into it like ‘Pft, Disney going to pull all the punches’
Hahahaha, nope. I’m not a big horror/gore fan but it felt like the right dose for me. I mean yeah they weren’t GRATUITOUS but they definitely had some on screen deaths. Played up the horror. Didn’t solely rely on jumpscares.
The only one really was kind of Peter accidentally jumpscaring Kurt which was great XP.
I did get spoiled that Vision was feeding people to Wanda. But when I read that he fed T’Challa to her... I thought ‘Well RIP T’Challa.’ but instead I’m like ‘OH YAY! You’re ALIVE!’
I was DEVASTATED when Hope died. I was like ‘no girl NO.’
And then she dies after going giant I’m like ‘Well... you do realize she’s going to become a giant zombie- oh we’re just leaving her there. Okay.’
And admittedly it didn’t hit me until AFTER the fact, but man they killed off ALL the ladies! Like we couldn’t have kept Okoye?
Like we couldn’t have Vision yank her from Wanda at the last minute rather than have her just be BOOM dead.
I admittedly can’t pick which of the guys I’d RATHER have died. But I just would’ve liked to have at least ONE lady survive with them. Just one!
I will say having Hope do the Antman strat everyone on the net joked about... is it dark that it was like ‘yes this is what likely would’ve happened.’
I’m actually shocked they did that.
I mean yeah they didn’t focus on it, just ‘suddenly Wasp’
I do wish it hadn’t led to her getting infected though :(
I mean I guess in theory Captain Marvel is still in existence in the Zombies universe so we’ve got A female hero? Maybe? (Plz).
Though admittedly that ending... oof.
I couldn’t tell if Thanos was already IN wakanda. The shield was still up so I assume no. But it was hard for me to tell tbh.
But seeing zombie thanos with the gauntlet just. The dread skyrocketed. He has all of them EXCEPT the mindstone, and we’re down to 2 avengers with T’Challa down a leg.
REALLY wish they’d had Okoye survive!
at least then we’d have three... not sure how that evens the odds but it’d make me happier.
Anyways I do REALLY love Bruce’s send off telling Peter to ‘Avenge us’. I LOVED that. It felt so good.
And I also just loved Hulk vs. Wanda. Since it seemed Hulk can’t get infected and we know Wanda’s OP sure. But we don’t SEE Hulk bite the dust so maybe.
Bucky though I think he’s gone. Considering that Wanda went for Hulk.
That’s another thing that bugs me, we see all three women die pretty conclusively but the men it’s more up in the air, though highly unlikely (I mean Scott survived despite being ground zero so y’know XP).
A lot of people are noting that Hank Pym is doing a LOT to the MCU. I like the comparison to Reed Richards XP. We don’t have him yet so we need one, and I’d honestly rather Hank Pym over Tony Stark.
Tony had to be the one to take the fall for making Ultron in the MCU.
I’m down to see Hank Pym being the one to mess stuff up in What if?
Though who knows whats to come XP
Overall pretty spoop gonna need to chill after all that.
#marvel what if#Marvel Zombies#Much Spoop#Almost too spoop for me#I enjoyed it#but there were some critiques#The women need a bit more love#Seriously
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The Tithe
TW: bugs, worms, mild body horror (nothing heavily described).
Wasps buzzed along the winding rock path.
A solitary figure trudged along it, surrounded on both sides by thick clouds of yellow and black. The insects darted among the yarrow and monkshood, the bluebells and sego lilies, antennae and eyes alert as a stranger to their land passed by.
Nestled in a valley between two peaks, the path led to a town so old it was almost part of the land itself. All its signs were weathered and worn with sun and rain, replaced only when they began to crumble.
The traveler paid the fluttering wasps no mind. They didn’t see the few white ones hidden among the yellow, black, and gold. The white ones saw them instead, faceted gazes following them without pause. These few creatures waited, buzzing among the flowers that braved the growing alpine chill.
The traveler looked over the town before they walked down into it - even the buildings were shaped like wasp nests, roundish wooden structures with hexagonal windows.
Someone certainly had picked a theme and run with it. Maybe the place belonged to some wacky entomologist.
People in the town spoke with accents the traveler hadn’t ever heard, and they had traveled quite a while. The townsfolk said it was because few of them ever left. They never felt the need; they were well taken care of, anything they could want brought to them.
By who? The traveler asked.
The people only smiled. Stay, and you’ll meet her, they assured them.
Golden wasps adorned the doors, gleaming under the light of old-fashioned street lamps. The traveler didn’t ask, hoping to figure it out themself. It was more fun that way. Perhaps this caretaker kept the living ones to defend the place from the rest of the world.
Everyone in town always seemed to have as much food and comforts as they wanted, lacking for very little. Everyone seemed to have someone for company, and as much as they needed without excess. No trash blew in the wind, no houses were abandoned.
Everyone wouldn’t answer any further questions about their caretaker. It was waved away with a smile, with an indifferent shrug. She’d come eventually. End of the month at the latest. No rush.
The traveler was pretty sure something really weird was going on by this point, because they weren’t a complete idiot.
They also felt bad after discreetly drinking blood from a lot of these people (it wasn’t like there was anyone else for miles, and they preferred that to going feral from hunger, thanks). It would be nice to maybe see if there was anything they could do in return for using them as snacks (assuming they weren’t all in some kind of evil bug cult).
If everyone turned out to be too cuckoo to bother with, well, they could always leave.
So, what do you folks most enjoy?
They’d asked one night, feet up on the table. They leaned back in their chair, arms bent and hands cupped behind their head.
Getting piss drunk, one man had said. Another person elbowed him, and a few people laughed. Then a young woman piped up, fingers running over a beautiful amber necklace she wore.
It’s always nice after the tithe. We celebrate, and she brings us presents. It’s a little festival.
A few older townsfolk sighed at that.
It’s not about presents! One scolded. Yes, she’s very kind about it, but it’s our most important duty.
Yeah, yeah, grumbled the young woman good-naturedly. You see how righteous you are when she brings your new stuff.
Their ears pricked, the traveler said nothing, hoping to hear more about the tithe. But no one spoke of it further, the conversation turning to other things.
Well, that didn’t bode well, yet they were morbidly curious to see how this would all play out.
There was a big fountain in the center of town (guess what lived there? More wasps) that they liked to sit on the benches near and work on repairing or designing clothing at. They’d mended some things for the people who kindly let them stay, baffling in of itself that they were so trusting. How did they survive, honestly.
When a fleet recruiter came to town trying to drum up soldiers and did not even get to open his mouth a second time before wasps ate him alive, shedding a bit of light on that particular question.
The bones were picked clean so white there wasn’t a scrap of meat left, collected by townspeople who acted as if they were merely picking up some trash blown in the wind. Townspeople who merely shrugged and rolled their eyes as if it was all quite routine.
Which left the traveler with a fairly obvious question: why hadn’t they been attacked?
Not that they could bleed, of course, their skin and outer appearance a facade for their parasitic insides. Did the predatory wasps recognize something they couldn’t eat, and thus let them pass? Were they intelligent enough to be security guards? They certainly didn’t seem to harm the locals.
Though they certainly followed them everywhere. No one walked without a wasp or two trailing them, and they’d seen them crawling in the buildings. No one ever commented on this. Flowers grew in abundance, treated reverently, and people polished their little door wasps as reverently as if they were being paid to do it.
Okay, so the town was there to serve the wasps, probably. But why? Who put them here, what were they protecting? Was there something worse than them around, demanding some sort of tribute for their services in the form of this ‘tithe’? That’d be depressing. On the upside, the ensuing fight would be fun and guilt-free.
It was a cool, brisk night with the starlight sparkling off the fountain stone when the whole town gathered around it.
Only the stone. The water had been drained.
The traveler was really not looking forward to what that meant or why everyone was holding a small knife engraved with a wasp in their hands, looking eager.
Hey, so, what happens for the tithe? They said, trying to sound casual and like they didn’t have a loaded gun, smoke bombs, and explosives hidden in case they needed them.
You’ll see. It’s such a small thing, really, our way to give back to her.
Her. Doesn’t she have a name?
She’ll introduce herself when she comes. She’s very nice.
The traveler was placing their bets on just who and what she was when people started slitting their arms and bleeding into the fountain, blithely lining up and walking away when done, chattering about nothing in the meantime.
One by one by one.
One by one by one.
Even as a parasitic blood drinker, the traveler was alarmed as the fountain filled with drops from obediently slit veins, bandaged up afterward by those who had already gone, or were waiting.
Why did they do this willingly? What could possibly make this worth it?
It had to be another vampire; they hissed in anger at the thought. Definitely worth fighting, at least. If they could kill them, even better - one less was better for everyone, and this one was clearly far worse than they were.
This tempting smell was almost overwhelming despite their own feeds -
Oh god. Had they weakened their victims too much to bear the cost of the tithe? Out to lunch as these people might be, the traveler didn’t want them dead. They’d probably been brainwashed their whole lives.
One fell over and was caught by their fellows. Another fell as well. A third.
The traveler felt a tug of guilt at their writhing insides, no matter how useless and contradictory that feeling was. There was no changing what they were, and they’d had no idea this was coming.
The blood in the fountain steadily rose, lapping and staining the fountain’s edges, and a hot wind cut through the cold air.
A low buzzing surrounded the gathering as the last local made their cut.
Everyone fell silent, and every person that could turned and bowed.
The traveler crossed their arms, annoyed.
A woman stepped up to the edge of the crowd, who parted for her like water, moving back from the stranger in their midst so that they stood alone. She wore an old scuffed hat in the style of a cowherd. Her long legs were half-covered by boots with silver spurs, a poncho over her shoulders and dust on her worn jeans.
Her eyes were covered by a faded tan bandanna, but she seemed to stare straight at them as she put her hands on her hips.
“I see you’ve been swipin’ at my supply, sugar cube. That’s just plum rude. How would you feel if I did that to you?”
They threw a smoke bomb at her and went for her throat. If they could just -
Wasps covered them mid-leap, stingers poised around every inch of their body, a great buzzing prison surrounding everything but their face.
The woman waved her hand, and more wasps came to fan the smoke away with their wings.
“I don’t need to see you, honey. I can feel you. I’ve felt you since you rolled in here, and I know something ain’t right. Something’s different about you, even for your kind.”
The traveler snarled, as they'd about had it with all this idiocy.
“Face me like an adult and stop hiding behind your pets.”
The smoke fully cleared, and the woman stood with hands on her hips, smiling.
She opened her mouth and white wasps poured out.
The traveler stared.
“No.” They whispered. “No. It can’t be.”
All throughout the shell of their body, their own white worms shuddered. They had always thought - always hoped - they were the only one of their particular type of blood drinker. The only thing of such wretchedness in the entire world.
Bugger to that, apparently.
They watched, immobilized, as the woman’s swarm flew to the blood-filled fountain, drinking much of it, but not all. After they went back into the woman, townspeople came and collected the rest, reverently placing it in refrigerated coolers.
The traveler looked at their fellow monster.
“Who are you?”
“Name’s Rhyssa. Now who are you?”
“Tuuya.”
“Well, Tuuya, how’re you gonna pay me back for that blood you nabbed? Don’t be a pill, we can still settle this proper like gentlefolk. Hell, I’ll even let you stay for the festival! It don’t gotta be like this.”
The vampire stared, still suspended by the buzzing swarm.
“How are you going to pay these people back for deceiving them into being your willing smoothies for their entire lives? I don’t owe you anything.”
Her face twisted into a scowl.
“Y’don’t get it. I take care of them. They’re my people, I protect them, Protect them from the likes of you.”
They rolled their eyes.
“Oh, how absolutely genial of you to - ”
All their limbs were ripped from their body at once and they screamed, worms flailing as they were exposed to the air without warning and stung by the pitiless insects. The squirming white invertebrates died by the dozens, helpless against the scourge.
Then it stopped.
Nearly blind from pain, they looked up blearily to see Rhyssa putting her hands over her mouth, rigid in what they could only assume was shock.
“I’m - I’m so sorry - no, no, how can this - no, you’ve gotta be a fake - ”
Tuuya wasn’t in a state to do much more than groan.
The wasp drinker pulled on her long hair in agitation, walking up to them and kneeling down on the grass.
She whispered a word, a name they barely heard as their worms struggled to repair themselves from the onslaught. Hlayos. Who or what was that? It probably didn’t matter. They were going to die here, to some obnoxious wasp woman who didn’t have the right.
Then...they felt themself healing. The wasps crawled over their body, somehow mending the worms they’d stung, helping them regrow or fuse back together.
They saw more wasps healing those townsfolk who’d fallen from blood loss and injured themselves, but that didn’t make sense. It couldn’t be. They had to be hallucinating from pain. Parasites couldn’t mend. Theirs couldn’t.
The townsfolk retreated, taking the coolers of blood with them. The yellow and black wasps departed as well, none left buzzing around the fountain.
Its water began to flow again, washing away the stains. In the deep quiet broken only by the trickle of liquid, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
The worm drinker couldn’t see the woman’s eyes behind the bandanna, but her shoulders shook as she held herself, rocking gently.
“It’s you. It’s really you...except...no. You died.”
Her words were empty nonsense. Tuuya waited until they healed further, their limbs re-attached as worms knitted together, and they pushed themself up.
They couldn’t fight her. They knew they had been spared for some reason beyond their comprehension, and didn’t feel like pushing it. Something about being ripped apart and stung repeatedly made a person a little tender.
Rhyssa’s head tilted, seeming to look up at the other vampire.
“Don’t go.”
A quiet, desperate plea. Tuuya turned, ignoring it, walking away quickly before breaking into a run.
“Don’t go!”
A desperate cry, followed by a word they fled from, a word that spurred their strides into leaps, scrambling away in such desperation they nearly fell on the rocky path leading out of town and back down, as far away as they could get.
A single, terrifying word that couldn’t be true, but settled in their head and wouldn’t leave. It sunk into their every thought, dragging them down, tearing apart the truth of their life.
A word that must have been what saved them, yet damned them in the same breath.
Sibling.
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The Short Second Life of Amy Peterson
Oh boy, Peter was worried about Charley, not even a day ago he’d gotten a frantic call from the young hunter about a rumor of bodies being found around the seedier parts of Vegas with all of their blood drained, along with some rumors that his girlfriend Amy, who, because her body had never been found, had been classified as a missing person after Jerry had attacked her, had been spotted lurking around the aforementioned parts of the city at night. However, despite having the police about the potential missing person sightings no one was able to find any trace of her or who might have been responsible for the alleged serial killings. So he was freaking out, both slightly terrified and worried about the potential that Amy could still be alive and that’s how he and Peter found themselves walking around an area of the city that was well known for being full of druggies and dealers, searching for any sign of Charlie's girlfriend.
“This’s stupid” Peter grumbled, keeping his hands in his jacket pocket, one of them grasping the small revolver he was hiding in it
“I know” Charley said, looking around the street, holding a can of wasp spray “maybe we should split up”
“What?” Peter asked, grabbing Charley by the back of the shirt to keep him from leaving “why the fuck would we do that?”
“So we can get out of here quicker” Charley said, getting out of Peters grip so he could cross to the other side of the street
Taking a tighter grip on his spray, Charley descended down the closest alleyway he could find, ever vigilant for any sign of movement, human or otherwise. He was really hoping that the woman people have been seeing wasn’t actually Amy and people were just seeing someone who happened to look like her from a distance because if it really was Amy, that could only mean that she’d been turned. Groaning a bit in the back of his throat he was frantically scanning his surroundings, searching desperately for any sign of his girlfriend or really just any woman that had blond hair that was lurking around the area. Unfortunately, the blonde he did find wasn’t who he was looking for though. It was Jane and he was positive that she would absolutely murder him if she knew she could get away with it and now they were alone, in an alley- together. The moment his brain recognized her and the potential danger he was in Charley stumbled backward and into a row of garbage cans, knocking them over as they fell on top of him. With flailing arms, he managed to knock away the bags that were covering his face and only saw Jane smiling sweetly at him before she left, obviously enjoying the reaction she’d gotten from him. Letting out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding Charley leaned back into the trash, resting his head back on the can his upper half was laying on, eyes shut.
“Hey, Char Char” A familiar feminine voice called to Charley “whatcha doin’ down there?”
Casting a death stare at Charley as he walked away Peter thought about either ditching him or just staying right where he was, waiting for him to come back, and not help him look, but then he remembered what happened with his mom a few weeks back when she showed up out of the blue making him realize that Jerry was probably just incapable of finishing off his prey. So he began walking in the same direction as Charley on his side of the road, not really making it that far before he heard something moving around in the alley next to him. Grumbling to himself about how he was going to kill Charley for talking him into agreeing to any of this Peter took a firm grip on the handle of his gun as he turned down it. He’d barely even taken a step into the alley when he bumped into Felix, the two just staring at each other in a bit of shock as neither one was expecting to see anyone else that quickly.
It’s that fucking guy. Felix thought to himself as he looked down at the hunter.
He had no idea who Peter was, he just knew that for whatever reason Jane and Alec went to his house every time they had a mission in America and never once did they tell him or Demetri about where they were going. Really the only reason he recognized Peter was because after one mission Demetri had tracked the twins down to his house and, from a bit of a distance, they both saw them in the humans living room, Jane clinging to Peter as he and Alec were talking. Neither one of them had spoken to Aro about what they had seen and he has never brought up the subject to them so they’d both figured that he wasn’t a threat. Peter didn’t know who Felix was either, he’d never really asked Aro much about the members of his coven, so he was absolutely ready to shoot him with his holy water-soaked bullets he’d loaded into his gun, but just as he was about to pull the gun out of his pocket he spotted the Volturi necklace around the vampires neck. So neither one was willing to strike the other and neither was willing to take a step closer to the other, so they circled each other, not breaking eye contact as they backed away from the other; Felix backing out of the alley entirely and Peter further into it. With Felix finally out of his sights, Peter turned around just as he walked past a dumpster, glancing at it and spotting Alec, alone, sitting on the ground next to it.
“What the hell’re you doing?” Peter asked looking down at the young vampire
“Jane, Demetri, Felix, and I were tracking down a vampire and somehow we got separated and now I don’t know what to do” Alec said, looking up at Peter
“Well don’t sit there!” Peter said, pulling Alec to his feet “these alleyways are disgusting, you could literally be sitting on a spot someone’s taken a shit on”
“Did you see anyone?” Alec asked
“Yeah, I just saw a really tall bastard right before I found you”
“Felix?” Alec asked talking Peters's hand
“He went this way” Peter said pointing to where Felix had just gone
“Amy?” Charley asked, looking up
She looked exactly how he remembered her and was even wearing the same white dress she’d had on during the attack, but she’d added jeggings and knee-high boots to her legs, full length gloved to her arms, and had wrapped a large shawl around herself so that it was shielding her upper body and head from any sunlight she may come in contact with. She also looked like she hadn’t bathed in a few days, and oddly enough like she’d lost a noticeable amount of weight, even though that really shouldn’t have been possible in her current state, her blue eyes were wide, bloodshot, and her pupils were extremely dilated. She was also frantically looking around her surroundings like she was expecting someone to jump out of the shadows any minute now and snatch her up, her body was also shaking like she was suffering through tremors, and she was scratching her arm furiously like her skin was crawling with ants.
“You’re still alive. Mmmm” Charley said regretting his choice of words
“I guess” Amy shrugged, hovering over Charley as a small drop of thick black substance, that was probably blood, began creeping out of her nose
“Uh” was all Charley could articulate as he watched his girlfriend's odd behavior, pointing at his own nose in hopes that she’d get the hint
She did and quickly grabbed the end of her shawl and used it to wipe away the blood, her head whipping towards the entrance of the alley.
“You need to get out of here Charlie!” Amy whispered leaning in closer to Charley “they’re coming for me”
“Who?” Charley asked, sitting up a bit “who’s coming for you?”
“I don’t know who they are. I just know they’re vampires and I think they want to kill me”
“I can help you” Charley said
“You can’t” Amy whispered, her face only a few inches away from his “I’ve been trying to get away from them for the last few days but they keep finding me. I can’t put you or your mom in danger”
Stepping out of the alley Peter and Alec ran across the street to the side that Charley was on and down the alley, he’d disappeared in.
“Charlie!” Peter yelled when he saw Amy standing almost on top of the young hunter
With a look of pure panic on her face, Amy straightened up quickly, taking a step back over one of the fallen trash cans, wanting to get away from Alec and Peter but still not wanting to abandon Charlie. Peter was pretty sure he recognized this vampire; even after all the time that had passed Charley still had Amy’s picture as the lock screen on his phone and when they first met it seemed like he looked at it every five minutes, so he’d seen it quite a few times so he had a decent idea of what the blond looked like and he was pretty sure this vampire was her, but he knew there was still a possibility he was wrong.
“Hey, Peter” Charley said trying to sound casual
“Hey, Charlie” Peter said, moving Alec a bit behind him “whatcha. Whatcha doin’ down there?”
“Oh, you know. Just chillin’ here with Amy”
“...That’s Amy?” Peter asked pointing at the blond “Amy as in your girlfriend who was killed by Jerry, Amy?” he tried to suppress the smile that was spreading across his face
“Yeah” Charley said
As much as he tried to stop himself Peter couldn’t help it as he fell into a fit of laughter that was so hard his sides had almost instantly started hurting and he slowly collapsed to the ground. In the midst of the older hunters laughing fit Jane, Demetri, and Felix appeared at the mouth of the alley; all of them honestly looking confused about what was happening in front of them with Charley still in the garbage, Peter dying of laughter, and Demetri and Felix just standing there wondering if they should be worried about what could potentially happen with Peter there. Feeling the sense of pure terror flooding into every nerve of her body Amy wanted to run away but she still couldn’t bring herself to leave Charley behind. Just as the other vampires took a step towards Amy and Charley everyone, including Peter, felt something similar to a tingling sensation filling the air and suddenly they were no longer visible to the vampires, the trash cans even looked like they’d never been disturbed; like she and Charley had never been there.
“...She’s still there” Demetri said after a few seconds of confused silence
“Shit” Amy growled as the scene around her turned back to normal
Breathing heavily, with air that she didn’t need Amy turned her panicked eyes towards Felix and made intense direct eye contact with him as he walked up to her. Feeling a small chill going down his spine Felix reached the blond in a few steps and attempted to restrain her so she couldn’t escape again, but this time she was able to match him in his impressive strength. Before it seemed like she was no stronger than an average human and was only able to escape because of her ability to create illusions. Realizing that he wasn’t going to be able to overpower her like last time Felix used his imposing height to his advantage, taking a firm grip on the back of her shirt, lifting her into the air when she tried to run away, at a speed that made it seem like she didn’t have the enhanced speed of a vampire. As he watched the vampire approach Charley felt conflicted because he still loved Amy and wanted to protect her but it was obvious that she’d been eating people and if he just sat back and let this guy do what he needed to do, then he wouldn’t need to be the one that pulled the proverbial trigger. Because of how much of a fit of laughter Peter had fallen into he wasn’t aware enough of his surroundings to realize what was going on, until Aro joined them in the alley, obviously also a bit confused about what was going on. Somehow his brain was able to focus in on his lover and despite how hard he was trying to explain to Aro what was happening he couldn’t, so he grabbed the vampire's hand instead.
“Oh, dear” Aro murmured, keeping hold of Peters's hand “set her down Felix”
Doing as he was told Felix released his hold on the back of Amy’s clothes and let her drop to the ground, but moved so that he was standing behind her to prevent her from escaping again.
“We aren’t here to harm you, my dear” Aro said softly, taking a step closer to Amy “may I?” he held out his hand for her to take
Taking a few deep breaths, Peter managed to calm himself down enough for him to be able to get back to his feet and tousle Jane's hair when she approached him. Right as Charley and Peter were about to start their search for her Amy had stumbled upon them and, knowing that the Volturi were still in the area, she'd kept close to her boyfriend and saw how the two were interacting with each other. So, even though Charley seemed to be afraid of Jane, watching Peter be so at ease with three out of the five vampires made her feel a bit more comfortable with taking Aro's hand.
“My” Aro said, letting Amy take her hand back “you’ve had quite the year
“Yeah” Amy said scratching her arms again
“Let’s get that tainted blood out of you” Aro said gently, leading Amy away from the trash cans
“Why’re you still sitting in the garbage?” Jane asked looking at Charley
“Good question” Charley said
“Maybe we should get you to the hospital” Peter said, noticing that one of the bags that had been torn open was full of broken glass
“Yeah probably” Charley said, fighting his way out of the trash “I actually think something might’ve cut me so I’m pretty sure I’ve got, like, all of the diseases now”
Helping Charley to his feet the two started walking back to the car when Peter started chuckling.
“Stop laughing you ass!” Charley exclaimed
“After all the shit you’ve given me I’m gonna laugh at this until the day I die”
“...Do you think she’ll be safe with them?” Charley asked once they got to the car
“Oh yeah” Peter said getting into the car “she’ll be fine”
“Will— will I ever get to see her again?”
“Maybe” Peter shrugged “I imagine Aro’s taking her to my house to get that drugie blood out of her so he’ll probably let her say goodbye to you at the very least and depending on where she’s put in the guard then maybe she’ll be visiting America sometimes”
“I don’t know what to do Peter” Charley sighed as Peter pulled away from the curb “I still love her but I don’t know if I can deal with this”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You still love her and that’s a good start”
“I hope you’re right” Charley sighed, slumping into the car seat
#peter vincent#aro volturi#charlie brewster#jane volturi#alec volturi#demetri volturi#felix volturi#amy peterson#fright night 2011#twilight#michael sheen#david tennant#vincturi#vampire x vampire hunter au#ineffable husbands au
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Rock/Queentober 2020, Oct. 12th: Perdition
Perdition: Hell, eternal damnation, complete destruction.
Assigned lad for this prompt: Brian.
Synopsis: Gender Neutral Reader/Brian. A rewriting of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in the modern world, set in 1978. The question, of course: can Brian succeed where Orpheus failed? Can he bring the Reader back?
TW: Death of the reader, though there’s not too much detail. Mentions of an allergic reaction to a wasp sting. Mentions of blood.
I found this song while writing this, and it sums up like this entire fic so well (also Sampha has an absolutely divine voice, so y’all should give this a listen while you read this): https://open.spotify.com/track/6mtnu7p8tkUzlDO3KOoaTY?si=KQv2LxbWQs2UQ65zjmf5lQ
My love to all who read/like/reblog!
It wasn’t just the guitar-playing that drew you to him. It was attractive, of course, that he could compose things that brought tears to your eyes. Tears, and joy, and a hundred other feelings in between. Not just to you, but to anyone who heard him.
It was how he helped command the stage with Queen, as well. And those moments, when you were able to come on tour and witness them, were gorgeous.
But even more gorgeous were the moments where he was here with you, and it was only for you. Where you got to see the bits of him no one else did; everything else that made him the man you fell in love with.
“Do you like it?” Brian asked softly as the last note rang out.
“It’s beautiful,” you replied, and leaned to give him a kiss.
The two of you were sat on the lawn in the back garden of your home. It was cool, but not too chilled. The leaves were bright in their changing, as was Brian’s smile.
That’s what you would remember, just as the wasp stung you.
You had no idea you were allergic. You’d never been stung before. It was pure, horribly unlucky chance, all of it. Including that the reaction was so strong, so quick.
There were maybe, if you had to estimate, all of ten minutes he had to try and save you. But how, and with what? He had nothing to soothe the hives, nothing to fix the swelling of your throat until it cut off your breath.
Not that he didn’t try.
And not that he wouldn’t try, again, and again, and again, in his dreams.
He wanted you back with all his heart. And though you knew it wrong, had been told so by no less than Death itself, you wanted to be back with him too.
“This will be a foolish errand,” Death told you, as you watched Brian mark up the wooden floor of your bedroom, according to the instructions in the archaic book on death and the occult he’d bought (of the many he’d bought in the last three months, much to the disturbance of his bandmates and friends.) “He will not succeed.”
“And how should I stop him from trying?” you asked. “He cannot hear me. Cannot see me. Cannot feel my touch upon his face while he sleeps. Cannot feel my presence when I try to enter his dreams. How now would you have me force him to halt his task?”
Death said nothing. Death knows when to speak, and when there are no answers, and only silence is acceptable.
Brian’s hands shook as he set the book aside, and you wanted to reach forward to calm them.
But you couldn’t. Your hands phased through his, as he used the small knife to prick his finger, letting the blood drop onto the marks.
It was like a slap, the harshness of the force as he slipped from his body, and it dropped back onto the floor of your room.
And then he was there, in front of you.
“I didn’t think it would work,” he whispered. “Oh my god, I can’t believe-”
You let him wrap you in his arms, kiss you deeply. It felt as good as it had while you were alive, as vibrant.
“You know you can’t just take me back,” you murmured softly. “I wish you could-”
“No, I followed everything,” Brian protested. “I can, I know I can, I just have to convince Death...”
His eyes widened, and you knew Death was behind you. You couldn’t know exactly how it looked to him. It was different for everyone. Varying degrees of either comfort or fear or some combination or something in between.
He swallowed hard, and nodded. “And I’m not going back until I’ve convinced you. Y/N is coming back with me. I’ve done it all right. You can’t stop me.”
Death cocked its head.
You turned to face it. “I want to go back. I know...it will feel different. Lesser. It won’t be exactly the same.”
Death nodded. “Food will be dull. Senses, less sharp. Emotions, muted just enough for you to know there is something missing.”
“We know,” Brian said. “We don’t care.”
“You could stay instead,” Death offered. “You could be together, here.”
“You took Y/N too soon,” Brian said with a shake of his head. “You can’t take me too soon as well.”
Death nodded again, slowly. “There shall be an agreement.”
“I-”
“If you want them, you will listen,” Death intoned heavily, and Brian’s mouth closed.
“There shall be a hall. Long. It will seem endless, though it is not. You both must walk it. You can talk, but you cannot look back or touch, either of you. If you do, then you give me permission to claim you, permanently. And no ritual will be able to bring either of you back. Most people don’t even get the first chance, for that,” Death continued. “Do you agree to this?”
You shared a glance with Brian, then you both nodded.
“Very well,” Death said, and pointed.
The hall was dark, as you followed Brian into it. You longed to reach out to take his hand, but resisted the urge.
Your footsteps did not echo, but his did. The sound was a comfort.
“Wonder how long this really will go,” Brian mused as he walked.
“I’m sure there’s no way to measure it,” you smiled. “We probably wouldn’t want to know how long, even if we could find out.”
“Enough exercise for a lifetime,” Brian chuckled.
“Something like that,” you laughed. “Since we have the time...I have to ask.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve tried,” you sighed. “So hard, to reach out to you. Have you felt me at all, heard me? It seemed like you couldn’t, but...I just need to know, from you.”
Brian’s right thumb worried the palm of his hand. “Honestly? I thought I was losing it. Even after I started reading up, trying to find out if I could bring you back. But-”
His voice cracked, and you could hear the tears even though you had no way to see them. “I felt your hand on me, sometimes. At night, I would swear I could feel you watching me sleep. Was all that helped me sleep, some nights.”
“I know,” you replied, tears of your own falling. “I’ve missed you so much.”
It was even harder then, not to rush forward and wrap your arms around him. You could feel it from him too, how badly he wanted to turn.
But you both kept onwards, tears dripping and drying on the endless black void of the floor of the hall.
“When we get back,” Brian finally said, sniffling. “I’ve got all these different medicines, that the doctors say could have helped you. Could help you, should you ever get stung again. There are tests you’ll be able to take...well. Tests they’ll bring to the house, I suppose.”
“How are we going to explain this?” you asked hesitantly. “Brian...people know I died.”
“I know,” he said.
“My funeral...they had pictures of you at it in the papers,” you continued.
“Freddie’s had ideas,” Brian said. “We’ll lie, say it was for someone else. That the papers lied, and claimed it your funeral, when really you were just away on an extended work trip. They’ve done it before, lied about things like that. Your parents...”
You nodded. “Didn’t answer your calls. Didn’t respond to any letters. Didn’t show up to my funeral. You’ve no idea if they even know that I’m dead.”
“Yeah,” Brian said. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. I did try to tell them.”
“It’s okay,” you replied. “I visited them...after. They didn’t care. Still upset with me, after years of not seeing me. You think death would absolve old grudges, but no.”
Your feet had started to ache.
“I could try and stay out of public sight for awhile too,” you continued. “We could move to a different part of the country, as well. Not too far away, of course. I’d miss London too much to go too far. In addition to Freddie’s ideas, which I like, that should help things, I would think.”
“Exactly,” Brian agreed. “We give it a few months, and the story will hold up. Your work was independent to begin with, so it makes sense a work trip could be three plus months.”
“Away, writing journal articles and researching them,” you added. “On location, all over the world. No one would have time to see me elsewhere, all my time spent in libraries or a hotel room, writing.”
“Perfect,” Brian said, and you could hear him smile.
Another few minutes passed. Or maybe it was an hour, you couldn’t know for sure. The urge to look back and see if Death was following you was painful to ignore.
But you ignored it.
“Wonder if we can take a break,” Brian pondered aloud, then shook his head. “Probably not. Can’t do much except keep going, judging by the other rules.”
“Feet hurting?” you asked softly. “Mine are too.”
“Yeah,” Brian said. “But worth it. All of it. Any other pain that might come, too. God, everyone’s excited to see you again. I don’t think Roger and Deaky and Fred believed me fully, when I told them about the ritual. But I was insistent, and they said they’d be happy to see you if I could really bring you back. They’re going to be so wonderfully shocked.”
“I can’t wait to see them,” you smiled. “I’ve missed them too. It feels like it’s been years.”
“How does time move, here?” Brian asked. “It feels...off.”
“Sluggish,” you replied. “You know time is moving normally for anyone living, but each moment, each hour, each month...feels like decades passing. But you can’t catch them as they pass. They go past you, and you can reach out and touch them, like touching waves in water. But you can’t hold them like you could while you lived.”
Brian nodded. “Interesting.”
Your feet had gone numb, and your legs started to ache. You feared you might crumble to bits and pieces before the hallway would end.
Brian winced and flinched and gave off soft little moans of pain, the longer on it went.
You wanted to be able to stop, to rest, to take turns massaging each other’s feet, before going on.
But you couldn’t.
The hallway started to feel like it was closing in on you, and you swore you could feel your throat closing like it had the day you died.
Then it hit you. Your steps had started to echo. You were feeling.
“We have to be getting close,” you whimpered.
“I hope so,” Brian said. “But if we aren’t, that’s okay. We can go as long as we have to.”
“What if this was some horrible joke?” you wept. “Maybe Death won’t let you take me, no matter what, and we’ll just keep walking, and walking-”
“I would rather walk forever with you here, then live without you back in the world,” Brian interrupted, his voice rough with tears falling anew. “If that’s what this is, then I can be happy with that. Even if we can’t look at each other ever again.”
“I want to hug you so badly right now,” you choked out.
“I wish we could,” Brian sobbed. “We will, at the end. Hug, and kiss, and more.”
You giggled through the tears. “So much more.”
“We have lost time to make up for,” Brian said, and you could tell how hard he was trying to cheer you on, to keep your spirits up.
As time and the hallway dragged on, the talking fell away, as both of you fell to the floor, crawling forward as your legs gave out.
As you crawled behind him, you could see the blood soaking the bottom of his socks, and you wept at the pain you were causing him, all to bring you back. Hadn’t your death been pain enough? Was this really worth it, would it even work?
“I see light,” Brian moaned. “Oh god, there’s light.”
You didn’t dare look up. “Don’t look at it anymore, just look down. Don’t look up until we can’t see the hall anymore.”
“Okay,” Brian agreed, and kept on, even as bloodied handprints joined the blood that seeped from his feet still.
You could feel Death’s rage as the floor of the hall disappeared, to be replaced by the wooden floor of your and Brian’s bedroom.
Then, it dissipated. “You won. But not forever. If it had not been the wasp, it would have been at 70. Hit by a car, while crossing the street.”
“Will it still be that?” you choked out as you crawled the last bit out of the hall, still looking down and following Brian.
“That is your punishment, for beating me, fair though you both did it,” Death replied. “You will wonder, the rest of your life. Will it be that, at 70? Or will it be sooner, or later, by some other method? And you will not know for sure, but you will remember the cold and stuck place that awaits you.”
The walls of the hall disappeared, Death was gone, and you both stopped.
Slowly, Brian turned back, a terrified look on his face that eased as you did not disappear.
You climbed into his lap as he sat on the floor, both of you covering each other in bloodied handprints as you touched and kissed.
You were warm again. You felt, and breathed, and smelled the scent of his aftershave, the taste of the coffee he had drank before he had begun the ritual, as you kissed him.
It didn’t matter that it wasn’t as vibrant as before. It didn’t matter that you would always wonder how much longer you truly had. That, you could deal with.
He had got you back, and you knew now exactly the depths of his love, and you had never thought anyone could love you so much, or that you could love them back as deeply.
About eleven months later, you would have a fall wedding. Nothing showy, or big. Just you, him, Brian’s parents, some friends, and of course, Roger, Deaky, and Freddie. Done in the back garden, though Brian’s parents would remark that all the flowers that commonly attracted bees and wasps had been pulled, others left to die.
But it was beautiful all the same to you and Brian, and that was all that mattered. Death of no kind could bother the two of you now.
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Essential Avengers: Avengers #205: Shadow of the Claw!
March, 1981
"... And the CLAW shall inherit the Earth!” isn’t even what the villain plan is, come on, cover copy person.
Yellow Claw was going to have a bunch of kids, make them fight to the death, and then the super child was going to inherit the Earth.
The actual cover is neat though. I like how all the red draws attention to the center where red is not.
Yes, I am good at talk about art.
Anyway, last time on Avengers: a woman named Shu Han who had been brought to Yellow Claw’s island to be one of Yellow Claw’s many wives (despite being a genius physicist athlete and could honestly be a superhero in her own right with those skills) sent out a distress signal which was eventually received by the Avengers. A lot of goofy stuff happened, Vision got captured like a dingus, Wasp did none things, a cyborg slime kraken was fought, and eventually Yellow Claw was like ‘whaaaat Shu Han doesn’t love me? Fine, begone!’ and told the Avengers to gtfo his island so he can start living his harem anime protagonist self-insert fic and also take over the world.
Which brings us to now.
After his dingus-like capture, Vision needs to be recharged because photons are his sweet calories and he never diets.
In fact, weirdly, he’s hungrier than usual this time. Sixty-seven whole additional solar units more than usual hungrier.
I don’t know how much a solar unit is. Even as a ballpark. But Iron Man finds it noteworthy so I’m noting it.
Meanwhile, in the only one person sitting room, Wasp retcons some actual actions into the last issue so that her entire screentime wasn’t pointless.
Maybe I should learn to be more patient on multiple part stories.
No. No, its the comic writers who are wrong.
Anyway, while Wasp was spying on Yellow Claw, she noticed some weird equipment in the research lab, including a lot of tubes filled with odd, sparkly mist.
Unfortunately, that’s all she managed to see before Yellow Claw told the Avengers to gtfo his island.
Which leaves them without much they can do about Yellow Claw.
Sure, they suspect he’s up to something. Hell, Iron Man would even admit that they know he’s up to something.
But being able to prove it is a different matter. And since Yellow Claw’s island is in disputed waters, moving without proving could lead to political fallout.
Captain America: “Iron Man is right. If we had proof that the Yellow Claw poses a global threat, international law would allow us to investigate. But as it is, we don’t have a single, tangible clue to--”
And then Jarvis walks in and tells them that the Yellow Claw’s top assistant, Dr. William Liu, is here to speak with them.
The timing this man has. Outstanding.
They scan the man to make sure he’s not walking in with a bunch of laser guns stuffed down his pants and then let him in.
And Dr. Liu pleads for the Avengers to help him. Cap asks why they should help or even trust one of Yellow Claw’s men.
Dr. Liu: “I could no longer live with the horrible nature of the master’s plan! That is why I secretly left the island, hoping that my absence would go unnoticed until I could reach you, and tell you of-- AAAGGHH!”
He doesn’t get to finish his warning because his crotch suddenly explodes.
I don’t know how else to describe it.
Apparently Yellow Claw rigged his assistant to explode in case of treachery or just for funsies. A barely alive, crotch exploded apparently a cyborg all along Dr. Liu realizes that Yellow Claw must have remotely activated his destruct code.
He gives the Avengers some coordinates in Australia and begs them to stop Yellow Claw.
Dr. Liu: “... Y-you must stop... the Claw! Y-you’re the only hope for... the children...!”
And then he dies. And based on panels, it seems like his chest exploded more than his crotch. His pants are intact.
This was the proof the Avengers needed to act, so as soon as Dr. Liu’s body is carried away by ambulance, the Avengers prepare to leave.
But Jarvis finds a note on Vision’s door begging leave from the mission.
Vision: “I regret that I have not yet recuperated to the point where I may participate in Avengers’ activities. Please understand. I do not wish to be disturbed.”
What an oddly formal ‘I’m sick, don’t come in’ letter to pin to your door.
Iron Man is perplexed since he oversaw Vision’s recharge himself and the solar gas tank should be full. But Scarlet Witch says that Vision has his reasons to do things and they should just carry on without him.
So off they go in the Quinjet.
But as soon as they take off, Vision goes to take the second Quinjet.
Why, he’s not sick in his room at all!
Hours later, the Avengers arrive in Australia, of course passing over a kangaroo, or else how would we know its Australia?
And at the coordinates poor exploded Dr. Liu gave them, they find a cave. And in the cave they find a secret base where that sparkle gas Wasp saw being loaded onto three missiles.
Y’know. I think I gave Vision too much shit last time for his stealth fail. Because the Avengers as a whole get spotted while they’re scoping out the missile cave.
Black Panther needs to give them all some refresher learning.
MEANWHILE, though. Back at Yellow Claw’s island, Vision ditches his Quinjet and intangibles into Yellow Claw’s base.
When he reaches Yellow Claw’s throne slash harem room where Yellow Claw welcomes him back and asks him how the hell he discovered he had been tampered with.
Vision explains: 1) that he required extra power to recharge, 2) that he detected ultra-wave radiation being emitted from Dr. Liu when he blew up, 3) detected the same radiation from his own bad self. Thus he deduced that he had been altered to be an unwitting mole through which the Yellow Claw could spy on the Avengers and that the alteration was what was draining extra power.
Also why Vision ditched the Avengers and came here instead.
And it was all a very smart move up until it was a dumb one.
Yellow Claw was prepared that Vision might figure things out and show up again so the doorway had a Vision trapping trap installed in it and now Vision is trapped in the Vision trapping trap.
After all his ‘I’ve come alone to defeat you’ bravado, Vision can now only defiantly claim “the other Avengers will turn your dreams into dust!”
You Tried, Vision. You Tried.
But Yellow Claw isn’t done having been one step ahead of things yet.
See, he let Dr. Liu escape and warn the Avengers because based on the broken into vent he knew that Wasp had been in his base and probably saw enough to suspect something was up. The coordinates Dr. Liu gave the Avengers was a trap!
A trap of three strong mooks with really dumb names.
Bludgeoner, Transformer, and Compressor.
Guarantee these guys won’t be recurring.
Anyway. Iron Man and Jocasta repulsor and eyeeeeee beam at the three so Transformer can readily demonstrate why his name when he absorbs the energy and blasts it back at them.
And Bludgeoner and his big hammer hands bludgeon Wonder Man and Captain America.
And Compressor, why if you guessed that his big ol cheese grater hands compress the air between them to put the squeeze on anyone stuck between, ... wow. That’s a really good guess.
You’re good at comic books, friend!
Scarlet Witch uses a hex bolt to drop a stalactite on Compressor to free Beast but the fly swatter hands man crushes the rock and shoots the shrapnel back at Scarlet Witch.
And Wasp is as useless as she often is. Sigh.
Iron Man tries to swing behind Compressor and repulsor him but Compressor blasts air and sends Iron Man SKRRUURRUNCH into the cave dirt, carving up a furrow.
Sure, this has been only two pages but this is a bad showing against three dinguses with dumb names. I mean for crying out loud, a man named Compressor just bodied a guy called Iron Man.
Back at the Claw Cave... no, wait, that’s confusing. The Avengers are fighting in a cave. The Claw Condo? Back at the Claw Condo, Yellow Claw tells Vision that hey his friends are going to die gruesome and frankly embarrassing deaths but maybe Vision could eke out a little win for himself.
Claw has long platonically admired his construction and capabilities and with Dr. Liu exploded, he does need a new second-in-command.
To sweeten the pot, he’ll even explain his villainous plot because I’m sure we’ve all been wondering about that.
Yellow Claw: “You see, my line was created to rule this planet -- though mankind has stupidly resisted that inevitability. But now, despite the chemical concoctions that prolong my existence, I grow old. My years are numbered. And that is why I selected these women, exemplary in both body and mind, to assure a form of immortality.
For each shall bear me a son, and in time those sons shall fight each other to the death! The survivor, the fittest, shall then fulfill my fate by becoming supreme ruler of the Earth!
Though I swear, he’ll not be subjected to the same obstinacy, to the blind sense of human freedom that has frustrated me for these many decades!
For within those cryogenic storage banks is genetic material gathered from the world’s most physically and mentally perfect humans! And from that matter, my heir will create a new order, a new population, all raised to obey by a single edit: unswerving reverence to my son!”
Vision: There is a flaw to your logic, Claw. You seem to forget that there are already several billion people on this planet -- people who will never serve the likes of you.
Yellow Claw: Ah, once more you underestimate me. For at this very moment, the missiles at my Australian launch base are being readied for take-off. Once in orbit around the Earth, they will dock with my private spacecraft.
Then at my command, they will release a specially formulated vapor, one which will permeat the entire planetary atmosphere, rendering everyone on the globe -- except for those here in my closed-environment sanctuary -- irrevocably sterile!
With no children being born, the Earth will be barren in the space of a few generations -- barren save for the followers of the new Yellow Claw!”
Okay, so, credit where it’s due.
That’s a VERY evil plan.
Sterilize planet, replace humanity with genetically servile slave race, make babies fight to the death for the right to rule that whole shebang.
In terms of a dick move that's a major league one.
So when Yellow Claw asks if Vision will become his new number Liu, Vision answers: “Perhaps, miscreant. Perhaps I will join you... in hell!”
Yellow Claw isn’t too bothered by the refusal and even decides to let Vision have a front row seat to his plan being fulfilled.
And I don’t mean tying him to the front of one of the missiles.
I mean, Yellow Claw’s throne room launches from his base as a hot rod pink spaceship, sold separately.
Back at the Avengers fight, Wasp does a thing.
Honestly, its a pleasant surprise.
Her powerset of ‘be small, shoot tiny lasers’ not being much of a help, she thinks outside the box. She scoops some dirt from the cave floor and jams it into Bludgeoner’s arm joints to slow him down.
And then Wonder Man clocks him in the face. Who bludgeons the bludgeoners indeed.
It does go to show that a ‘useless’ power like Wasp’s can actually be very useful if you write her smart. A superhero team should be more than just big punches, more than just spectacular powers. Wasp has great combo potential for playing things strategic and that should be something the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are too.
Beast realizes that Wasp had a really good idea. The Avengers outnumber these three jokers so why not gang up on them with teamwork? Besides, they’re not working together in any way so the Avengers might as well.
So Beast grabs Transformer’s shield arm to leave him open for Jocasta to OPTIC BLAST!
And Cap throws his mighty shield to know Compressor’s arms apart so Iron Man can kick him in the face.
Which is impressive since Iron Man was flat on his ass in the immediately previous panel.
Apparently this was a gaffe caused by the pages being edited separately and the error not being caught before the book went to print.
As far as things go, not the worst error! I didn’t even notice it until it was pointed out.
Anyway, in a fit of pique from his dumb name dudes losing the fight, Yellow Claw kliks a button. The goons join hands or whatever weapon they have passing for hands and then they blow up.
Yellow Claw: “It is done. It cost the lives of three worthy operatives but at last -- the Avengers are dead!”
Ah, villains. Always ready to flip the board if they start losing.
And with the Avengers totally dead for realsies no foolin’ Yellow Claw is free to launch his missiles full of sterility vapors.
Actually, he could do that by remote so I don’t know why he had to wait for the Avengers to be explode. He could have just launched the missiles while they were busy fighting.
Anyway.
With the Avengers dead I guess the book will be about- can’t think of a good one for that recurring goof. So yeah, the Avengers aren’t dead.
Scarlet Witch used her powers to shield the team just in the nick of time.
Captain America: “Thanks, Wanda. If you hadn’t cast that protective hex sphere around us just in time...!”
Scarlet Witch: “Don’t mention it, captain. I rather enjoy being alive myself!”
Although, I didn’t know she could just shield people with her powers like that. Unless she altered the probability that explosions hurt so that they didn’t. Yes, that sounds plausible.
The two flying members of the team, Iron Man and Wonder Man fly out of the cave after the missiles, still determined to save the days as heroes often do.
The missiles launch into orbit and then something really goofy happens.
I’ve been saying missiles because the comic has been saying missiles and I guess they are technically missiles. But if I asked you to imagine a supervillain launching some missiles full of a chemical weapon, would you imagine this?
When the missiles launch into orbit they link up with Yellow Claw’s hot rod pink spaceship.
When I first saw this, I thought: is he going to launch them again from his spaceship? A bit of an unnecessary additional step.
But no. That is not what is going on here.
The man is just super committed to his iconography. The missiles join the spaceship and then bend to make it clear its supposed to resemble a claw.
That’s the kind of goofy nonsense I’m here for.
Iron Man and Wonder Man show up, to Yellow Claw’s alarm, and try to attack the hot pink spaceship but bounce off uselessly. The thing is protected by a strong force field.
Yellow Claw probably goes ‘phew’ internally and gets on with his evil plan.
With the missiles bent, as missiles are known to do??, to resemble claws, they can begin to spray the sterility gas into the atmosphere.
Yellow Claw: “Soon, it will be over! When enough vapors are released to mingle with the entire atmosphere -- the shadow of the Claw shall cover the Earth!”
And with things looking grim, Vision decides that things are down to him. I mean he did go off alone and is now stuck inside the enemy’s spaceship. He’s in a good position to mess things up.
So stuck suspended in a trap, he increases his density and mass to his limit and beyond! One ton, two, further!
The energy bubble holding him gives way to his weight, allowing him to make contact with the deck of the ship. Adding his weight to that of the ship and throwing it out of orbit.
The ship will crash into Earth and at this point, it can’t be stopped.
Yellow Claw is fairly pissed.
He smashes the device holding Vision captive and then starts trying to kill him with his bare hands.
And he’s capable of hitting Vision when he’s intangible because he studied Vision while he was a prisoner, the first time he was a prisoner. And created circuity to his metal sleeves that lets him tangible the intangible.
And thus he tries to strangle Vision.
I’m not sure he needs to breathe. Probably why Yellow Claw is punching him instead in later panels.
Vision points out that this fight is fairly pointless and that Yellow Claw could be using this time to escape but Yellow Claw is determined that he get something accomplished today.
And then the ship crashes into the ocean.
A short time skip later and the Avengers have parked the Quinjet on the ocean (it buoyant) and are searching for the Vision.
How did they know the Vision was here? Didn’t they think he was recuperating back at the mansion?
Apparently another gaffe but one that could be handwaved. Earlier in the issue when the three dumbnames appeared, Yellow Claw appeared on a monitor to taunt the Avengers and Vision was visible behind him. Captain America even appears to be pointing at Vision like ‘hey I know that guy from work.’
So conceivably they knew he was with Yellow Claw when his ship crashed.
Iron Man gives up on searching the ocean, not being able to find the Vision in the water but Vision just peaces in from the sky. He intangible’d out the ship just before the crash. He’s totally fine.
Scarlet Witch: “I am glad that you are safe, my husband. And I’m glad that the danger has ended.”
Vision: “No, my love. Though it is true that the Yellow Claw is dead, that he will no longer plague us with his particular form of madness -- there are too many others like him, others who would rise to power by crushing the freedom that is every being’s birthright.
And as long as any of them remain unchallenged -- the danger will never end.”
With that, Vision sort of stares out across the ocean moodily. Because a true Avengers story ends with someone staring at something moodily.
And I dunno! Maybe it was the extended break from doing this liveblog but this two-parter wasn’t as bad as I dreaded.
Supposedly, part of the impetus of the story was to do a last hurrah story for Yellow Claw and then shove him under some furniture because his yellow peril character concept was growing increasingly awkward.
After one more story in Marvel Fanfare with Cap, Yellow Claw was shelved for nearly three decades.
And man launches sterility gas missiles into space to form a giant claw to make it so that his successor can repopulate the Earth with a new, freedom hating breed of humanity is pretty great as far as comic book nonsense goes.
Although, in retrospect, I’m realizing that this was basically the same plan the Sentinels that kidnapped Scarlet Witch had.
Sterilize the planet with Wanda’s magical uterus and then replace humanity with a genetically engineered kind that could not mutate.
Comic books are weird.
Next time: Human Torch guest stars. Everything is on fire.
Follow @essential-avengers or like or reblog or send me questions or tell me I’m doing an okay job or do nothing. There are many choices available. But I would appreciate feedback.
#Avengers#the Vision#Yellow Claw#essential marvel liveblogging#essential avengers#Wasp#Jocasta#Beast#Wonder Man#Captain America#Iron Man
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For the ask game marvel
Thanks for asking! ^^
Top 5 favourite characters: Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Janet van Dyne, Okoye, Carol Danvers
Other characters you like: Ororo Munroe, Gwen Stacy, Miles Morales, Darcy Lewis, Hope van Dyne
Least favourite characters:MCU!W@nda
Otps: Loki/Tony, Bucky/Tony, Thor/Tony
Notps: Tony/Pepper, Peter/Michelle, MCU!Steve/Tony, Steve/Bucky, Valkyrie/Carol, honestly it’s actually a pretty long list so we’ll leave it at a Top Five
Favourite friendships: TONY AND RHODEY!!! Also Peter and Miles in a “they’re the same age”-setting
Favourite family:THE IRON FAM
Favourite episodes: doesn’t have episodes
Favourite season/book/movie: listen, it may be basic but Avengers. The first one. Like, that was all the MCU was about. Forming that team. It may not be the best movie by various definitions, but it’s my favorite because it sums up what Marvel should be all about for me
Favourite quotes: not really a quote-kinda-gal. Like, there are these often quoted quips and stuff from the MCU but nothing that I’d really say means a lot to me
Best musical moment: an Avengers musical would be awesome :O
Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: That hero shot. In the first Avengers when after all these years, those heroes all came together and we got that shot of them all together
When it really disappointed you: *cough* so often. But the worst offenders are Age of Ultron and Thor Ragnarok. Like. Just. Everything about these two movies. AoU’s only redeeming quality was Vision and Ragnarok just flat-out didn’t have any redeeming qualities.
Saddest moment: WHEN TONY DIED. I CRIED. A LOT ;-;
Most well done character death: If I am allowed to use the deleted scene instead of the one that ended up in the movie, then Tony’s death. Because him dying and everyone kneeling before him was amazing??
Favourite guest star: JARVIS. JARVIS IN THAT ENDGAME
Favourite cast member: Kat Dennings
Character you wish was still alive: ANTHONY EDWARD STARK
One thing you hope really happens: that Captain Marvel makes Carol/Maria canon, because Marvel promised more LGBT rep, with new AND existing characters and if you wanna retcon anyone into being rep, genuinely NONE from the MCU offer it better than the two women who raised a child together, lived together and spent the entire movie being each other’s anchor??
Most shocking twist: that Captain America was wrong in his own movie :D man I was dreading Civil War because if it’s Civil War but Captain America then surely they will give Steve the moral high ground and have Tony be in the wrong - and then they just made Steve the fuck-up and Tony the reasonable one and it still feels like a blessing (though I still think this shouldn’t have been a Captain America movie. It should have been an Avengers movie...)
When did you start watching/reading?: I watched it when Iron Man first came out, but like... casually. I only started caring - and caught up with the ones I was missing - when Avengers came out
Best animal/creature: are... are there animals in this franchise...? Because I just genuinely do not recall any, aside from Valkyrie’s outta-nowhere pegasus in Endgame...
Favourite location: ooof Wakanda probably?
Trope you wish they would stop using: miscommunication and distrust. Like. The Avengers movies were supposed to be about a team, but we didn’t have A SINGLE actual Avengers movie where they were just a team. Every single one had miscommunication, distrust and betrayal among the team and it was tiresome and stupid. There should have been at the very least ONE proper Avengers movie where it’s the Avengers, united as one team, facing a threat together
One thing this show/book/film does better than others: the interwoven universe. I mean, these phases lined up pretty well while so many other franchise attempts fail because they can’t build it up and rush it too much
Funniest moments: the majority of things Tony Stark says :D and also Okoye, just her being a whole mood
Couple you would like to see: I’d be over the moon if, once they introduce the X-Men, T’Challa/Ororo could become canon? Also the further above mentioned Carol/Maria. And when they’re giving Valkyrie a girlfriend next Thor, I really hope it’s gonna be Sif
Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: Freema Agyeman as Ororo Munroe. She’d be the perfect age to be with Chadwick’s T’Challa, she is a gorgeous badass and I really want to see her in it??
Favourite outfit: that Infinity War nanotech Iron Man suit
Favourite item: the Cloak of Levitation
Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?:uuuhm... Huh. No, I actually don’t...
What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: I would be a human. Maybe working for Darcy? :D
Most boring plotline: ...Ant-Man and the Wasp, like I genuinely can’t remember what that movie was about, beyond getting Janet out...??
Most laughably bad moment:ooof there were so many, most of them in Ragnarok, really. That movie was one laughably bad moment after the other
Best flashback/flashfoward if any: mh, I don’t know??
Most layered character: Tony Stark, unsurprisingly so considering who you asked xD
Most one dimensional character: the majority of villains
Scariest moment: not really scary
Grossest moment: can’t think of one?
Best looking male: M’Baku
Best looking female: Gamora? Sif? Okoye? Hope? Why would you make a weak-minded lesbian choose
Who you’re crushing on (if any): Hope and Okoye
Favourite cast moment: I don’t really care for these things ^^°
Favourite transportation: flying with the Iron Man suit?
Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): I don’t know
Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: I mean there are probably a ton, to be quite frank, and most are linked to the flusterfuck of timetravel Endgame put in there :D
Best promo: I don’t really follow these things; I don’t even watch trailers if I can avoid them
At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: Avengers, that team-shot
IN DEPTH FANDOM QUESTIONS
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Here is my list of unresolved questions/mysteries in The Raven Cycle, in no particular order:
What was produced at Monmouth Manufacturing?
Was Ashley spying in the Gangesy’s quest? If so, does she have a connection to one of the magical artifact hunters? If not, did she know about Declan’s magical dealings? She seemed smarter than she was letting on...
Why did Artemus disappear when Blue was born? Was he with the unmaker that whole time?
What is the joke that Ronan wrote on the rock in Cabeswater to signify to himself that it was him that wrote it? Also what was his joke that he made on the board in Latin class? Same joke??
Do the tree-lights in Cabeswater know that Blue is Artemus’s daughter? They only mention that they recognize her for being the psychic’s daughter, so do they know that she’s half-tree-light? Did any of them live through the unmaker’s slaughter? Does Blue have any other tree-light relatives in the world anywhere?
Blue and Gansey find Noah’s body somewhere that’s not directly on the ley line and nowhere near his Mustang, so did Whelk move the body?
Why did Gansey’s mom think he wanted the Camaro?
Is the dreamer/greywarren stuff always genetic? Was one of Niall’s parents a dreamer?The Gray Man makes a comment about Niall also asking if he killed his father - what does this mean?? Was his father also a dreamer that was murdered for his power? What about Kavinsky? Were one of his parents dreamers? Another theory: Niall’s stories about when he and Ronan were born involve earthquakes. Do earthquakes happening on a ley line when someone is born cause them to be a dreamer, or does a dreamer being born cause an earthquake on a ley line? Cabeswater says “many thieves, one greywarren” - so only Ronan is a greywarren? Did Niall treat things the same way Kavinsky did, by stealing instead of creating and asking? How many other dream thieves are there out there?? Did Niall also use Cabeswater or did he have his own dream forest or did he not need one? When exactly did Ronan dream Cabeswater and what was it before he gave it shape and where were all the tree-lights when it wasn’t ... what it was?
What exactly is the reason Niall decided not to let his sons on the Barns after he died, until Ronan could figure out how to fudge the will? Why were Ronan’s powers treated as such a freaking mystery? Why wouldn’t he have trained his son in how to control and utilize that power, explain to him how it worked - instead of just telling him to never talk about it and then forcing Declan to run his business and never allow them to talk to one another about what was happening? Why did Aurora never bother to clue her sons in? I have so many questions about this! What about that devil creature he saw his dad with when he was a kid - was that Niall’s nightmare creature? Did Niall know Ronan saw that? It seems like Ronan knew/remembered/suspected some things and not others ... IDK ...
Also, like. How did they keep doctors and insurance people and such from questioning what was going on with Aurora after Niall died? Or all the cattle on the land? Like, someone must have been tasked with tending to that stuff, so WTF? And Declan was for sure sneaking onto the Barns to get dream objects to sell. What a hypocrite.
Dream creatures are sort of PART of the dreamers, right? This is less creepy when thinking about Chainsaw or cattle. But Aurora was a part of Niall? Matthew was a part of Ronan?! How does that ... work??
That fucking Camaro wheel under the lake on the ley line that was hundreds of years old MIRITE?!?! And how is it related to the shield boss? They were both left behind? Calla talks about both Gansey and Glendower as people who reuse time, so ... uh ... the fuck?
Gansey DOES abandon his spare wheel at the airport to make room for Malory’s things - is that somehow connected??
What is with Gansey and sucking on those mint leaves anyway?
When Adam and Gansey are at that party and the lights go out and everyone hears that “Make way for the Raven King” stuff - wtf? Was that Cabeswater? Noah? Glendower? Someone else? Why that and then and there? Is the Gansey family mansion on a ley line??
Why does no one ever notice an entire fucking field of white Mistubishi’s with knives painted on the sides and odd fuck-ups in the design?!
Where was Ronan sleeping that Kavinsky saw him when he had his bad dream where he woke up all bloody? Just like ... in the street??
Why is Ronan paralyzed when he comes out of his dreams but Kavinsky isn’t?
What is the actual deal with Kavinsky’s family, speaking of? Like is his mom an addict or does he just drug her to keep her compliant? Does she know what he is? What happens to her after he dies? What about the whole story with his dad? Did he really kill him? Did he then copy him like he did Prokopenko?
Is Kavinsky’s creature also a night horror to him too? Or was it once? He seems able to control his, even though Ronan can feel the hate coming off it like he can with his own. Ronan’s creatures eventually stop hating him because he stops hating himself. Kavinsky clearly had a death wish, so how is he so comfortable controlling his creature?
Is Henrietta just kinda like Sunnydale and they all know something is a bit off and that’s why no one ever freaks out and calls, like, the FBI when actual fucking dragons start fighting in the sky?? (Also did the Gangsey have to bury Kavinsky’s creature that night to make sure no one found it?? What did the authorities think about Proko’s sleeping body??) Or like when Noah started throwing shit around in the counselor’s office - what did she think ... happened?? Or when there is water dripping off of a picture in the hospital waiting room - does ... does no one else see this stuff? NOT TO MENTION when there’s like a primal scream and an ancient beast appears in the street and then hordes of birds of all kinds start swooping about and flying cross country!??!
So.... this whole three sleepers thing. The unmaker was the one NOT to wake. Gwen was Maybe the one to wake or Maybe the one in the middle or Maybe not even a sleeper since she was never fully put to sleep. Glendower was ... actually fucking dead so not a fucking sleeper at all? Adam thinks, symbolically, that he was the sleeper to be awoken, which is nifty, but prolly not what the ladies meant. Are there OTHER sleepers still?!?
Okay. When Maura disappears, who becomes Blue’s legal guardian? I would think maybe Jimi, being her aunt? But it seems like Calla is the most responsible/parental one so perhaps Maura had already designated her as a guardian if something were to happen?? I’d love to know, honestly. I need so much more about this household,really.
Was it one of the Fox Way psychics who came to sage the Greenmantle’s rental place? I wonder which one...
Is the sleeping that the dreamed creatures do when their dreamer dies somehow connected to the sleepers referenced on the ley line??
WHAT is the story behind the time Blue ran away and they had to call the police?!?! When did this happen?!? I need details!
Calla seems to recognize or sense something about Jesse when she meets him - what’s that about?
It seems like Gwen and Artemus, as tree-lights, can live a really long time and Gwen lived a long time not-really-asleep with no food or water or anything. Does this mean Blue will get to live a super long life?
Can Persephone’s ghost come and go the way Noah’s does? Is that how she communicates with Adam? Why only him?
WHAT is the story behind when Jimi punched Calla??
Did anyone ever tell Declan that his mom got to be alive again for awhile in Cabeswater and how pissed was he that he never got to go and see her?
How does Gansey’s voice command thing work, and how is it/he connected to Glendower? I’ve got a LOT to work out about this one....
Which Laumonier is Piper’s dad? How did that all work? Did they all raise her as one? Does she even know which one is technically her dad? Why are they ... like that??
Who is the dead person in Calla’s life that Noah reminds her of when he’s doing the creepy 6:21 stuff? I want THAT story, too.
Are all of the Asian kids at Aglionby from Vancouver? Is that... a thing??
Here’s one: is Declan even Aurora’s kid or did Niall have him with a human person? I don’t know why I strongly suspect this so much, but I do.
How much does Matthew know about his weird-ass family? Any of it??
What is the story behind Blue dumping the stuff over the kid’s car at school? Also what’s behind the Not Your Bitch nickname the other kids have for her? Gods, tell me so much more about Blue being a badass trouble maker okay!
Also, omg, going back to the Lynch’s - so we talk about Chainsaw and Opal as being sort of part’s of Ronan’s psyche, right? So ... is that what Aurora is? Was she, like, Niall’s psychopomp??? That is so weird.
When Blue has her tree-dream ... was she actually integrating into the tree?? Did she really take Gansey in there with her?!
The unmaker is a wasp. Gansey was killed by bees. Coincidence?!
That woman who comes to the Barns in Opal’s story RIGHT?!?!?
Also, gods, I have SO MANY QUESTIONS about Glendower and Artemus and Gwenllian and all of those folks. Why did the magic of putting Glendower to sleep not work? Or did it? Did it wear off? Did the kids just find another false grave and he’s still yet to be found? Did they just not do the right things to wake him? Will they come back to that? Did Artemus purposefully not put Gwen to sleep-sleep? If so that is seriously fucked up, dude. Why is Artemus so messed up after they find him again - so much lesser, I think, the narrative says? Is it because of having been down with the unmaker for so long? It feels like there’s more to it than that. Gwen seems simultaneously really ticked at her dad and really wanting for him to be found - what is their story?
When the Fox Way ladies do their big reading at the start of TRK, they ask “does this mean she’s still alive?” - I’m guessing that’s about Neeve. And then “does this mean she’s leaving?” - probably Blue? And then “does this mean she’s coming back?” - could this be about Persephone? Is she gonna come back in some way PLEASE SAY YES, PLEASE SAY YES.
Also, omg, Persephone’s whole backstory is one giant mystery that I want uncovered. I mean - all of the lady’s stories are, really, but hers, especially. It’s said a few times how she never tells anyone anything about herself and they’re just not sure about anything about her, etc. She is so vague all the time and never answers questions about herself so ... yea, that means I wanna know everything.
I don’t know, folks. I have just so many other questions. Some are mundane things I just wanna know about the characters. Some are deep mysteries that there are probably clues to that I just have yet to piece together after my 20 re-reads thus far. Some are left hanging on purpose so we’ll have different theories and interpretations, probably. SOME ARE HOPEFULLY GONNA GET ANSWERED IN THE DREAMER TRILOGY?!?!? But this is long enough. Feel free to add to this or answer me if you think you’ve got one answered!
#the raven cycle#trc#maggie stiefvater#trc questions#trc meta#trc mysteries#the dreamer trilogy#i honestly just need so much more in this world#i need help
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Endgame
--HOLY SHIT what a movie
--if you don’t want spoilers, stop reading
--this is gonna be a mess and out of order probably, not sorry.
--I got one hour of sleep but by god it was worth it
--ok I kind of wished they had kept the Stan Lee Marvel intro for this, that would have been really sweet
--I am SO glad I went to a midnight premiere with at least one other big fan (henceforth referred to as “K.” I didn’t get to go to a midnight or even opening weekend showing of IW and that sucked; the audience type really does make a difference.)
--K and I were so excited and nervous that we started grabbing each other’s hands during the freaking IMAX countdown. The movie hadn’t even started yet.
--Also, IMAX was cool in someways (it really did feel like I was in the spaceship at times) but it also weirdly disproportioned everyone’s bodies, a lot of the time it was like looking at a bunch of Luther’s from UA.
--Ok, Hawkeye losing his whole family? So damn sad. Also kind of took me out of the tragedy just a bit - the whole “fifty percent” but Hawkeye is the only one of his family to not get dusted?
--Tony and Steve’s reunion was handled so well, like at first they are like “lets just get through this” (and the line “I lost the kid”; my heart cracked) but then they get to the real issue: Tony warned them of this, He and Steve split. And Steve wasn’t there when Tony needed him most. Both are responsible for their actions in CW, and neither are really to blame here, but they realize they could have done better.
--THANK GOD PEPPERS ALIVE
--When they full on killed Thanos I was like wait. what. what is the plot then. Its been five minutes. What.
--”FIVE” K and Me: No..... “YEARS” K and Me: No no no....
“LATER” K and Me: Oh shit
--Thor was a god damm treasure in this movie and anyone who says elsewise can fight me
--So that whole “One in 14 billion chance we win” all depended on...a rat accidentally letting Scott out? Damn. Stephen really was taking a gamble.
--Ok I’m sorry but wasn’t Cassy like 7, maybe 8 in Wasp? It’s been five years why does she look like she’s 16 or 17 if not older? I legit thought it was her mother at first.
--Nat is doing so great trying to keep everything going. I love it, I love how she and Steve support each other, everything about this is good.
--Rhodey and Nebula were the surprise Brotp of this movie and I approve
--Ok let’s be real we all thought that was a doghouse and Tony and Pepper got a dog at first right?
--Oh shit we really are doing time travel aren’t we
--PETER AND TONY
--K and I nearly jumped out of our seats in excitement when we revisited that first Avengers 360 pan
--LOKI. (For a moment I really did think that him disappearing with the stone meant that he was going to be able to show up in future movies, but I was reminded later that the timestreams were fixed by Steve.)
--I really thought they stunt doubled Natalie Portman until we got up close, like damn they did a good job keeping that under wraps
--I spent this whole movie waiting for Harley to show up; I want you to know that
--Revisiting these points in the past was so nostalgic, K and I kept being like “ohhhhhh yesssss”
--watching Starlord’s dance from the outside was hilarious “so basically he’s an idiot” Rhodey is so done with everyone except Nat, Nebula and Tony
--OK the 2012 flashback was cool but it also just made me want an entire season of Avengers:Covert Ops because it was so fucking smooth
--For a moment, I got my details mixed up and thought that the date and place Tony mentioned to get the tesseract and Pym’s forumla was when Bucky killed his parents and guys I was terrified and ready at the same time.
--K and I could not stop moving around out of antsy anxiety the whole damn movie; good thing we were in the front
--We literally clutched each other’s arms when Thanos was beating the shit outta Steve because we really thought this was gonna be it for him and we were NOT READY
--Legit the moment Thor dropped his hammer I started muttering “Cap pick it up pick it up Cap Cap Cap pick it up” like a manic religious fanatic. K wasn’t bothered, but I felt bad for the guy on my left - until he started checking his phone every 5 minutes. Its 3 am dude, who the fuck is texting you
--I SCREAMED when Sam called. Thankfully, so did the rest of the theater
--K and I did not stop clapping for about ten minutes straight and my hands still hurt when I got home an hour later
--Steve: Avengers...
The whole damn theater: ASSEMBLE
--that scene though. We didn’t get the full 360 redo like I hoped for, but that aieral scan of EVERYONE was just. So amazing. Beautiful cinema. Those colors oh my god
--Look I clapped, exclaimed/shouted, and had my heart swell pretty much every single time the characters returned, it was an emotional mess. K cried. If my tear ducts weren’t removed by the Empire, I would have too
--PETER PARKER FINALLY GOT HIS HUG
--I’m vaguely aware of yelling “YES QUEEN” when Scarlet Witch showed up and kicked Thanos to Knowhere and back. It was either me or K. Or maybe both.
--We went in a group of mostly women (in a theater of mostly guys) and we screamed SO LOUDLY at that badass woman warriors scene
--doesn’t make up for how angry I was that after killing Gamora, the Gaurdians’ one female (Mantis doesn’t really count for me yet, she just joined them in my head) they went and killed one of the few female superheroes, the sole female original avenger, and one of two females in this mission. I ranted about that under my breath for a long, long while
--I am going to need to rewatch that fight scene a good thousand more times because I just could NOT keep up with everything
--K yelled “ITS OVER ITS FUCKING OVER” when Captain Marvel showed up
--I AM IRON MAN *SNAP* look our theater rioted ok.
--WTF
--look there really was a moment there where I whispered “wait...are they giving us a happy ending” and K was like “no way” and then they did the face close up and GOD DAMMIT
--Ok look I REALLY thought Tony was going to be safe! I was CONVINCED he would be safe! I was like “Ok, Steve is 100 percent going to die fighting” but I was SO SURE they wouldn’t kill off Tony. Maybe he would get really injured. He absolutely would retire afterwards, for good. But they wouldn’t kill him off. Not after they intwined him into the Spiderman movies, and as many other movies as they could. They built this franchise off of him. He was, if not everyone’s favorite, a top tier player. I was convinced Marvel wanted to keep him alive so that, if they were ever worried about a movie turn out, they could throw Tony in there for a few scenes. They wouldn’t kill him. Absolutely not. Steve was gonna die fighting. OH DAMN WAS I WRONG
--look my optimism played me and after being a GOT fan for so many years I really should have known better
--oh hell they did NOT make such a big deal about Harvey coming back just to throw him in at the funeral screw y’all
--Thor joining the Guardians was an unexpected gift god bless Hemsworth
--Steve’s ending was so sweet but I do kind of wonder what Bucky is gonna do now. Stay in Wakanda? Partner with Sam? Oh damn I want a Bucky, Sam, and Tchalla team up movie, with Wanda popping in occasionally to be like “you idiots need a hand?”
--I’m devastated about Tony and Natasha, and I feel for Wanda, but honestly good call not bringing Vision back outta all the options; I truly even forgot about him till Wanda started going after Thanos.
--look we clapped so much for the original six but everyone stood up and cheered for RDJ (which, yes SJ/Natasha also deserved but the dude STARTED this franchise)
--This movie emotionally ruined me and I want to watch it six more times today.
#so many tags#theres so many damn avengers now#endgame#endgame spoilers#avengers#avengers spoilers#mcu#tony stark#iron man#steve rogers#captain america#black widow#natasha romanoff#hawkeye#clint barton#bruce banner#hulk#thor#peter quil#starlord#gamora#drax#rocket#groot#mantis#nebula#steven strange#peter parker#spiderman#antman
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bringing an era to a close (avengers endgame spoilers)
Avengers (2012) was the movie that got me out of a decade-long fandom hiatus and back into fandom and fanfic, and today I went to see Avengers: Endgame, so I feel like I need to make some kind of comment on the Avengers era coming to a close, though clearly the MCU era isn’t done. My thoughts on the movie (WITH SPOILERS) behind the cut. But, in spoiler-free summary, I laughed some, cried a lot, and enjoyed the action. The best movies of the MCU thus far though? Thor: Ragnarok, Spiderman: Homecoming, Iron Man (1), and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Shout out to Ant Man too, and I haven’t seen Ant Man and Wasp yet. Also I will preface this with: I have not read any other fandom discourse on this movie at all yet.
Okay so first off. The actual plot? Made NO FUCKING SENSE WHATSOEVER GODDAMN IT WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS GARBAGE??!?!
Like okay time travel is always terrible, always, no matter what, because the cases where someone manages to make a time travel closed loop are so rare that they barely exist (shout-out to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure for that though). My problem really is when shows and movies that SHOULD have logical rules DON’T. I can suspend disbelief for fantasy universes that don’t even attempt to make a scientific explanation, but when they TRY to make it scientific and then they make it garbage, it just really pisses me off.
NAMELY: they didn’t develop the theory of parallel bifurcating timelines enough to actually explain anything, they said they had to return the infinity stones to the moment they were taken from to avoid changing the past because they wanted to preserve the past five years....AND THEN THANOS CAME FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE AND NEVER WENT BACK AGAIN, THEREFORE ERASING THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THIS TIMELINE. Like this is the same level of complete nonsense as why freaking Eobard Thawne looks like Harrison Wells and is also still alive in the Flashpoint future on CW’s Flash.
What about Gamora?? She didn’t go back to the past. She didn’t get dusted (I presume). What the actual fuck happened to her?
The infinity stones can CREATE ENTIRE UNIVERSES FULL OF LIFE but they can’t bring back Natasha and Vision? Why the fuck not? Why are the people who came back after five years via the gauntlet not five years older? Unless all of Peter’s friends were also dusted, why the hell are they still in high school five years later?
If STEVE went back and STAYED in the past then HOW DID HE END UP IN THE SAME FUTURE. He disappeared and then oops there’s an old dude who must have walked there and been wandering around this whole time attending this goddamn funeral and nobody fucking noticed. What the actual fuck.
Like if they hadn’t tried to explain it at all, maybe I could suspend disbelief and be like “okay superhero magic whatever,” but they tried and that makes it worse.
ANYWAY
Let me try to think of what I liked about this. Valkyrie, of course, who was badass as hell and I LOVE that Thor was like “nah I’m not gonna be king, you’re already the king,” and did you notice nobody said the word “queen” in there? She’s fucking awesome and I love her.
I liked Tony’s kid, who was adorable, and also my kids have literally said to me “I love you three thousand” so like, that’s very believable. I liked that Tony didn’t want to erase the past five years because that would erase his own daughter out of existence.
I liked the joking about Steve’s ass, because yes, I appreciate a healthy objectification of men to match the objectification of women, and he does have an amazing ass.
I liked that Steve got to have his happy ending and dance with Peggy on one level, but I also didn’t like the way it happened at all, because the time travel made no fucking sense and also: WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO SHARON CARTER. I get that I guess it wasn’t playing well with audiences, and I can only imagine they did the same thing with Bruce/Natasha because hello that romance storyline got NO kind of closure whatsoever in this entire series, but the fact that they just left the thread hanging is really what drives me nuts.
Oh, but I did love the “on your left” callback, so good job there guys.
I liked the story with Nebula a lot, though it also didn’t make much sense at all. I liked Thor’s buddies, though I didn’t like the kind of fat-shaming “Thor’s let himself go” thing? And not just because I was disappointed at not having a shot of Chris Hemsworth looking sexy, but like, I don’t like that Thor was kind of reduced to comic relief.
idk there are so many characters in this and there was so much stuff that I can’t even remember what I liked anymore.
As for Natasha, man, I don’t even know. I liked that Clint went on a murder spree after his family got killed. I like that Natasha wanted him to get back with his family. I didn’t like that she had to die for it to happen, or that she didn’t get any real action at all, or that we never fucking found out ANY OF HER BACKSTORY. Remember how great she was in Avengers 1? What happened to that?
Who fucking knows what happened with Loki, nobody ever explained any of that. Did Steve ever find out that it was Red Skull guarding the Soul Stone?
...........was Thanos right to remove half of the universe’s population? Like, there’s that line about the pod of whales, and I definitely had times in the first infinity war movie where I thought about it, but like . . . yeah there are other solutions besides random killing half of life but randomly bringing them back also doesn’t solve the problem.
Anyway Captain Marvel was awesome and badass and I appreciated the scene with all the ladies teaming up, even though it felt kind of like it was forced in and Extra, just like the huge clash of the armies scene which was basically like “HERE IS A MOVIE POSTER ISN’T THIS DRAMATIC.”
Honestly also though: why didn’t they let Thor wear the gauntlet? He’s Asgardian, he’s not human. If he could handle that ~power of an entire sun~ thing in Ragnarok he can probably handle some infinity stones.
Okay, maybe I will have more to say later but that’s what I’ve got for now. Mostly I think I’m just disappointed that for a movie that made me cry so much, it was largely unsatisfying because of the gaping plot holes?
#lita watches avengers#here are some#filler tags#and antoher#and another#this time spelled right#avengers endgame#avengers endgame spoilers#endgame spoilers#avengers spoilers#lita talks about herself
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Ok so I never do movie break-downs/reveiws but Endgame is a one in a million type of thing, not only the end of an era, but the end of the era that started the enture connected-universe film genre, so I'm allowing myself because this moment is literally something we'll never have again, there is never going to be a "first" end of era again, sure some day the DCEU will do this, The Conjuring verse may do this, Arrowverse will actually do this next fall with Infinite Crisis, etc, but... this truly will be the only "first" time we get this end of era and I have Opinions so follow me down the rabbit hole
I'm only touching on a few points, as a head's up, and I generally really enjoyed the movie! I don't have the time or patience to type out everything I liked about it so there may seem like there's more criticism than praise but I promise you, I thoroughly enjoyed this and thought it was the best of the four Avengers movies by far
-I think my biggest complaint is the bullshit about the soul stone, for two reasons:
1. As a plot point, the soul stone decision being irreversable is just kind of ... weird, mostly because we don't have that much information on how it works, so it feels a little "stakes for the sake of stakes" to me
2. Are you really telling me that the only two people that had no chance of coming back are two of the only main female charectors the MCU has? Are you really, honestly, telling me that?
The MCU has gotten some more supporting female charectors and that's great but Nat and Gamora were only two of a very small feild of actual female LEADS, Mantis and Valkyrie and The Wasp and so on are great charectors but they aren't leads, and I feel like it was just a really bad decision on the filmmakers' parts to choose specifically those two and ONLY those two, it would have eased things a little if they had either brought back the original Gamora (and I'll touch on why this bothers me later) or if they had had a male involved in the Irreversable Soul Stone Death thing, it just feels frustratingly like fridging (I know it isn't but it feels that way) because there really honestly were other ways to go about it, Gamora being sacrificed in Infinity War was pretty unavoidable, but they didn't have to do Nat like that, and even if they did- because I do understand from a story perspective why they would- the ideal thing to do would have been to literally trade one soul for another, the soul stone only needs one soul to operate right? So when Natasha died, shouldn't Gamora have come back out of that thing? That would have been the ideal way to shift it in my opinion, it would create the kind of paradox that would make it impossible for Natasha to just snap back to existence (thus providing real stakes) but without the frustration of our only Gamora being AU!Gamora
And AU!Gamora is a PROBLEM
All of the development Gamora got in the first two Guardians movies is gone now, what she had with Peter is gone, what she had with Nebula is gone, her feelings of having a real family is gone.... and even if AU!Gamora builds those relationships anew, it's not going to be the same, she's working from scratch so she may as well be a new charector, and the fact that the Guardians and Nebula are already established makes it impossible for Gamora to form into the team the way she originally did, she's no longer one of the founding members with Peter, she's now an outsider being pulled into an existing group, she'll never understand the pain Nebula had been in when they fought because Nebula cares about her now and isn't going to fight her and thus express those feelings, she's never going to see just how badly Peter's father fucks him up or watch Peter sacrifice himself (ish) for the power stone because both of those are resolved issues now.....
The Gamora we knew and loved IS dead, we're working with a new one, and although I feel like Guardians 3 is going to be about finding and recruiting her, it still won't be the same and that's very frustrating
-On the topic of how things work, are you really telling me that after all of the "We have to be very carefull not to mess with the past" discussions, Steve just....... Did That? He really just lived an entire ass life mucking around with the past and having exactly zero consequences? Particularly, with Peggy, who we know for a fact was involved in major ways with Sheild? Like, I'm not speaking as a Captain America fan when I ask this, I'm legitimately confused as to why there was so much emphasis on "don't mess with the past" only for people to repeatedly do that, but ESPECIALLY Steve, it can kind of be excused to allow things like Tony talking to his dad- who doesn't know who he is- or Thor talking to his mom- who made it clear that she wasn't going to fight her fate even though she could- but Steve is just a big ol' block of confusion
Not only the Peggy thing, we could maybe excuse that, but he told his past self that Bucky was alive and his past self just... what...? Forgot??? How is it that he made such a significant change to his former self and there was exactly ZERO consequence at all? Not to mention Nebula killing past!Nebula but I can sort of hand-wave that one as having to do with actually creating a split universe (as proven by the Gamora and Thanos duplicates) but Cap ... Cap would have gone on, having had this weird encounter and being very "!!!!!!!!" about Bucky and done... what, nothing?? And if he did do something, why did that have no impact on the future at all?
I'm also conflicted on Captain America's ending as a charector, I'm glad he lived, but I almost would have preferred him having gotten stuck in the past by some Time Travel Bullshit Reason because it seemed OOC for him to leave his found family, put down his sheild, and risk the ENTIRE FUTURE by going to live a life with Peggy, even if that was a split universe, it still feels very .. I don't know the word for it, not "cop out" but too pushed I guess
For his entire journey to have centered on Steve changing as a person and getting used to living in essentially a new world, not to mention finding and saving Bucky and keeping him close, for him to completely regress and go back to America as it was, go back to the life he used to want, go live his future in the past, it all seemed really counterproductive of his journey and I actually would have preferred him going to retire elsewhere if he really needed to
-Tony's death was probably the most avoidable thing to me because they laid out a perfect way for RDJ to exit: Retirement
I know that it was very "full circle" for Tony to begin the MCU with his life and end this era of it with his death and the ultimate form of charector growth for him to sacrifice himself, but it still felt really cheap to me when they had gone to the trouble of setting up his retirement so thoroughly and then still choosing to kill him off, I feel like it was more about "needing" to have an enormous death and choosing to "surprise" everyone by making it Tony instead of Steve versus what actually worked best for the story, Tony retiring to a quiet life that had nothing to do with money or fame or saving the world would have been equally showing of his growth in my opinion
These were my major complaints, but I have one plotline in particular that I really have the utmost praise for and that's Thor's
I know that alot of people are upset that Marvel treated his PTSD as a joke with the beer belly and the drunkness shennanigans but I don't personally veiw it that way, I don't think it was played as a joke, I think it was largely taken seriously, ofcourse I think Marvel DID put alot of the humor to ride on "lol Thor is fat and lazy now" wich is .. unfortunate, but I don't think it was as bad as alot of people are saying
Thor's conversation with his mother is probably my favorite part of the movie, Thor is consistantly shown to be a very sensitive, vulnerable person, wich is a MAGNIFICENT quality for someone who's also supposed to be the poster-boy for hypermasculinity
Thor is everything that Toxic Masculinity loves- He's a literal GOD who's gorgeous and gets attention from the ladies and beats shit up with a hammer, and he drinks, there is always EVERY opportunity to make him the living emodiement of A Fuckboy, but instead he's consistantly shown to be the exact opposite
He's sweet and compassionate and good-natured, he's openly affectionate and not afraid to cry in front of others or to wear his heart on his sleeve, he's gentle and supportive and loyal and a complete mama's boy in all of the positive uses for that term, and Endgame only reinforces all of that
Yes they made it a laughing point that he's gained weight and is an even bigger alcoholic than usual, but they also made it a point that out of everyone who had the opportunity to try to change the past, Thor is the only one who took it, because he simply couldn't stand being without his mother, not Tony who could have tried to tell his father to spend more time with him, or Steve who could have tried to see Peggy, but Thor, who just wanted his mom back
They made a huge point again and again over the fact that of everyone, Thor was taking this loss the hardest, that he had lost the most and felt the most responsible, and ultimately he also grew the most from it, he actually gave Mjolnir to Cap, gave New Asgard to Valkyrie (wich by the way is perhaps my absolute FAVORITE thing about the future of the MCU) and finally stopped trying to live up to what Odin wanted from him by trying to have a pissing math for leadership, he even "gave" Peter leadership of the Guardians, even if it was played for a joke, he never *actually* contested Peter, wich is a big step for him
Marvel isn't known for playing with trauma well, but as Marvel goes, I think Thor was handled well
I also have to say that I'm not mourning Loki yet, I feel like the after-credits scene for Guardians 3 is going to be Loki walking onto the ship going "Hello brother, did you miss me?"
Loki is in a unique position where he really could survive without having been a death from The Snappening, we KNOW that he knew something fishy was going on with the two Caps in the past and Loki is a sneaky devil who wouldn't just let something like that go, he probably devised a system for himself to come back to life or to have escaped Thanos in the first place once he realized in new-2012 that something was wrong, and unlike Tony and Steve, there are no story or contract reasons for the MCU not to include Loki, especially since the Disney+ Loki series doesn't have anything to do with post-Endgame, atleast, yet to be mentioned
Sure split-universe!Loki would have the same problems that split-universe!Gamora has in that his development with Thor and his personal development caused by encounters with people like Hela are now moot, but unlike Gamora, Loki is still an anti-hero, he's still an asshole, and his relationship with Thor is a centuries-long one that has had many ups and downs, meeting Thor later in another villainous position wouldn't be OOC and he and Thor reconnecting over a new enemy would be fairly easy to recreate as opposed to Gamora re-experiencing a relationship with Nebula that has now permenantely changed, becoming a "new" member of the Guardians vs a founding member, and witnessing everything with Peter's family that happened Guardians 2 that can never be recreated- ever
Loki has also never been a leading role in the MCU, a core role yes, but not leading, it wouldn't be a problem for Tom Hiddleston to pop in and out of the MCU as he likes wile his primary series is on Disney+, and as that series is more of an anthology (Loki Screws With History: A Memoir) versus a chronological story to follow Endgame, Disney+ and the MCU don't even have to really consult with how the two stories would mesh, they're virtually strangers to eachother
There's, ofcourse, alot more I liked about this- the all female team-up, the importance placed on Ant-Man, everything to do with Nebula, and more, but this is all I really wanted to discuss or vent on
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