Fearless on my breath...

Yeah I'm still alive

2013-08-30T02:57:24Z

It's just that my fannish stuff lately has mostly consisted of reading OMG so much Thor fanfic it's not even funny so I haven't really been in a posting frame of mind.

But a couple of weeks ago tersa picked up copies of the Thor 2 movie tie-in comics for me and I've been processing the events of the second issue ever since. Even got into some great discussions with a couple of my favorite fanfic authors who'd made at least nodding reference to them. The thing is I think something that happened in issue two was massively important to the characters and plot of the film but am guessing since we got it in the comic we're not going to get it in the movie and it's making me even more intensely curious about the film than I already was.

So the scene I'm referring to is when Thor drags his brother's sullen ass back to Asgard and the gag is removed. Loki stands there glowering as mom throws her arms around his neck and tells him she's so glad to see him. But he tolerates it, which is a pretty big concession for a guy who's always so quick to claim the Asgardians aren't his family. It also goes a long way towards showing us Loki is, in fact, a bit of a mama's boy (no great shock to most of us).

Before she goes she whispers to him, "Be strong."

Then she's gone and it's just Odin and Loki. Now here's where things get interesting. I've read a literal fuck-ton of fanfic and it seems the writers basically fall into one of three camps:

1. Odin's a good guy and a good dad who made some mistakes (hey, who hasn't?) and just really wants his son back.

2. Odin's a massive douchebag who had Machiavellian plans to set Loki up as puppet king of Jotunheim (or for other equally nefarious ends) and he's been emotionally manipulating the kid from day one.

3. Odin's somewhere in between these two extremes. He started out wanting to be a good dad and wanting to be able to love Loki like his own son but due to his own prejudice against Jotuns and the need to be king first and dad second he started fearing his kid more than loving him. He's not proud of it, but he just can't trust the kid and some part of him maybe regrets the whole adoption on a whim thing as he put said kid way, way too close to the throne.

Now me, I've always preferred number three myself. It seems the most realistic, the most nuanced and the most believable explanation for most of what Odin says and does onscreen in the first film. I'll admit I also prefer it because it allows me to actually empathize with the character and adds a certain poignancy to the final scene on the Bifrost.

But, after reading the comic where we get Odin's real feelings about Loki expressed to the character's face and without any other witnesses around I've gotta' say it looks like the Marvel movie-verse is going with Odin the douchebag. This is...puzzling to say the least.

Now mind you in the comics Odin is a class A dick. The kind of thoughtlessly brutal, boorish asshole who probably does have a redeeming quality or two but I'll be damned if I can pin one down. He's a hard man who fought his way to the throne of Asgard, subjugating all the other races, and taking all their cool shit under the auspices of multi-realm peace. He's a dictator in shiny gold armor, and he runs his family in much the same way he does his kingdom. If Thor pisses him off he gets banhammered severely (if he's lucky), not the extended weekend "banishment" he got in the movie.

But movie Odin was pretty tough to pin down. Sure he had a temper, but he seemed a mostly rational guy trying to do right by his family and his kingdom. And if we took the flashback scenes as objective reality, then he was also fairly magnanimous in victory over a pretty brutal enemy. He said he loved his son during the infamous vault scene, but Loki didn't seem to be buying what he was selling. We either had to interpret Loki as bitter and massively insecure or take into consideration that maybe he had reason to believe that dad might not be entirely honest at that point.

Admittedly I've always given Loki the benefit of the doubt...mostly because I'm a big old unapologetic Loki fangirl. But also because his actions subsequently make a helluva lot more sense if he's grown up with plenty of reason to doubt Odin's words over his actions. And, well, Loki learned his cunning and duplicity from somewhere and it sure as shit wasn't the Frigga we see in the movie.

Ok, so back to the tie-in comic, first Loki starts snarking off at dad about how he was considering adopting himself a little Midgardian kid and raising it as his own (just to be a dick) and OMG what I wouldn't pay to see Hiddleston smirk his way through that tasty bit of dialogue. Odin shuts him down pretty quickly and pretty severely. He flat out said his son is dead, and that if Frigga weren't quite so deluded (he likens her to the mother of a drowning child) she'd see that too. Then he said if it weren't for Frigga he'd execute Loki right then and there. Then drops the "you'll never see your mother again" line (and what I wouldn't give for a cut shot of Loki's expression in response to that).

Then there's the real biggie, he calls Loki "Laufeyson". The panel in which he does simply shows Loki's stunned expression. Yeah Loki's done some seriously nasty shit and it's not quite clear just what reception he was expecting but...well that apparently wasn't even on his radar.

So basically Odin has not only kicked Loki out of the family, he's outed him as Laufey's son and given the character no possible path for redemption. This isn't tough love, this is "No love for you", period. Loki is basically dead to him.

Which kind of makes me wonder...when Odin said, "No, Loki" on the Bifrost, did he do it with the intention of getting Loki to commit suicide? Did he see it as the best possible outcome? A way to avoid really having to face the consequences of a) his decision to adopt a Jotun kid and trick him into believing he was Aesir, b) hold said child up to standards he wasn't physically and mentally able to ever attain and withhold pride/affection because of that all too inevitable failure, c) in a fit of pique banishes his heir leaving said unstable Jotun kid as the only one to take the throne, d) said kid's inevitable mental breakdown leads him to try to wipe out his entire biological race so daddy might possibly love him again?

And does he prefer the idea of a dead failure of a son to that of a living one?

I've gotta' say that's the way this whole thing is reading to me. And if that's the case he's basically left Loki no way back, no future except that of an enemy of Asgard. Odin has, in essence, ensured Ragnarok...assuming he's aware of that prophecy and Loki's part in it.

I'm also wondering just how much of this is known to Frigga and Thor...to the Warriors 3 + Sif....and to Asgard in general.

So yeah, I've been...pondering all this. The emotional fall out of Odin's decision and his casual misogyny when it comes to dismissing his wife as basically "hysterical" when it comes to Loki, and how in the hell Loki doesn't end up either dead or imprisoned by the end of the movie. Of course I've also been folding in some spoilers and my own somewhat wacky theories.

Thoughts? Opinions? Am I reading too much into all this?

Wherein Tom Hiddleston walks away with Comic Con 2013

2013-07-23T01:59:15Z

One of the commentors described this video thusly: "God, it's like watching porn!"

Couldn't. Agree. More.

Oh lordy how am I going to make it 'til November?

2013-04-24T00:51:18Z

Have you watched the Thor: The Dark World trailer yet?

First here's the first look at Malekith. Dark elves in the hizzouse!

Of course Marvel makes you wait until the very end but goddamn is Loki lookin' good:

A New Mexican Physicist in King Odin's Court, or Jane in Asgardian armor, woot!

Finally, let us not forget that Frigga is actually a warrior as well as a hottie queen:

I'm thinking this is an opening night event, possibly in costume...

Well there's two hours I won't get back

2013-04-21T04:08:31Z

I'm pretty sure there was something like a plot going on but I swear to god I have no idea what it was. The most interesting bit is that I was raised on Greek mythology. Most kids were hearing about Winnie the Pooh I was sleeping in a bed covered in carved, painted renditions of the adventures of Theseus, Perseus, Heracles, the Minotaur and Kracken and of course the gods. So when I say I can't follow a film that is supposedly based on Greek mythology you know just how off-book this crazy mish-mash of a film was.

I'm not even making this up, I would step away from the TV for a second or two, look back and be like, "WTF? What just...Who is that? What the hell is going on?" We'd get some exposition from a character and by the end I'd be twice as confused as I had been in the beginning. For example:

Zeus: "So none of you gods are allowed to ever be seen by the mortals and you have to stay out of their affairs. They either stand or fall on their own. They must adapt to survive."

Some God in a truly goofy headpiece: "Um, question. Didn't you spend the first part of the film schooling him in the guise of an old man."

Zeus: "Well yeah, but I was disguised. And also I'm king of the gods. Further, you will not do this for...reasons. And in summation, because I said so."

Some God: "...Um, ok, but if memory serves Poseidon is kind of his dad so..."

Zeus: "No, nope, his mom was raped by some generic villagers."

Some God: "Woah, ok we're totally off book then."

Zeus: "Just go with it."

Our movie begins not too terribly unlike the original Conan the Barbarian, swerves into Clash of the Titans then zips into Helms Deep from Two Towers (with a bit of Stomp thrown in, again, not making this up). There's something about a really bitter king who's after a magic bow, which as it turns out, is straight out of the old CBS Dungeons & Dragons animated series. Yep, it's basically Hank the Ranger's bow.

Good guy finds bow, good guy loses bow, there are some 300-esque slow-mo battles, the virgin oracle sexes up our hero because she's apparently tired of being able to see the future and, you know, stop crazy bad shit from happening. Or something. Big bad goes to Tartarus (an actual city sitting behind what kind of looks like the Hoover Dam) to free the Titans because why the hell not? Zeus kills Ares(?) who intervenes to save the goodies with his sledgehammer of justice (again, wish to god I was making this up) but not his blonde hottie daughter, Athena, who gave our heroes a couple of rockin' horses...though the horses do die :(

The titans are released and the gods show up in cute matching gold armor to fight them and I can't help thinking it might not have been such a clever idea to kill off the god of war because he was a bit naughty. Still, getting to see Athena doing more than standing around pouting like a supermodel was kind of nice. Would've been cool to actually get introduced to them before they got into the boss fight with the titans so you'd actually feel something for them except for, "Hey, do you suppose that was Poseidon? I mean he's fighting with a trident so..."

Finally it's Theseus versus Hyperion/Olympians versus Titans/Hellenic army versus Hyperion army. Things are looking grim for the good guys who, like in any good Jackie Chan film are getting the snot beaten out of them in their respective boss fights. All the gods save Zeus get their asses handed to them so Zeus goes all "Fuck you bitches!" and pulls the mountain down on the titans (taking his hot daughter's body with him - and the sexual tension between the two is off the charts creepy at this point). Said mountain destruction also takes out Hyperion's army, the Hellenic army, Theseus but apparently not the oracle hottie 'cause she goes on to have their son. Zeus again goes down to earth 'cause he gets to meddle and then we're treated to an up-skirt battle in heaven sequence where there are gods and titans and some guys in red capes and apparently everybody who died in the last boss fight is back and...

Credits.

I'm kind of torn between getting this film out of my house as fast as I possibly can and keeping it to inflict upon others because this pain should be shared.

Decisions, decisions.

ebonlock @ 2013-04-15T20:32:00

2013-04-16T03:32:34Z

Ok who watched the premiere of Defiance and was it just me or are the two leads basically Han Solo and Princess Leia? Despite the fact that the series blatantly (though, arguably, lovingly) steals from Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and any number of other series/films, I quite liked it and am even considering playing the game.

Thoughts?

ebonlock @ 2013-03-31T17:59:00

2013-04-01T00:59:26Z

First a big thanks to everyone who attended my first annual International Tabletop Gaming Day event. Many games were played and much fun was had...then we all went out for a fantastic veggie Indian dinner and then the ladies stuck around to watch Skyfall. The latter was the only disappointing portion of the evening as I'd be crushing on the new Q until he did something so profoundly stupid (because the audience demanded it, natch) that we were all yelling at the screen. I just couldn't respect him enough to even want to go read some of the oodles of fanfic out there.

Also James Bond is Batman? Did not know that until I watched this flick.

Wow

2013-03-02T04:01:52Z

I've already watched this vid twice and will probably do so at least a couple more times tonight because...damn...

ebonlock @ 2013-02-27T17:16:00

2013-02-28T01:16:41Z

I've been pretty under the weather lately due to a rather unfortunate combination of hormone medications, defective reproductive organs and a propensity to slide into anemia at the drop of a damn hat. On the plus side it has given me the time to watch a good deal of anime and more James Bond than I've ever watched in my life. The latter has clued me into the fact that there is at least one film in existence that contains both Michelle Yeoh and Joe Don Baker ("Tomorrow Never Dies" for those playing at home).

I'm not sure I needed to know this, but there you go.

It's done...it's finished...

2013-02-12T02:57:46Z

You know that scene at the end of "Return of the King" where Frodo is lying there next to Sam on the slopes of Mount Doom stunned that his quest, his impossible, awful quest is finally at long last over. In a weird way I sort of know how he feels. My own version of chucking The One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom was finishing the longest fic I've ever written in a fandom I had, until April of last year, never dared write a word in.

And it's now done, Ingenue wrapped up at just over 95,000 words. Not a huge amount I suppose, but it sure as heck felt like an uphill slog to me. But it did allow me to prove to myself that I could actually finish something that long without being prodded by anything more than the occasional feedback comment. The other thing it did was give me a daily practice that allowed me to easily produce 1,500-4,000 words per week. Not, perhaps the highest quality words every single week, but the momentum was really important. I missed precisely one week of posting and that was entirely intentional over the holidays, other than that I posted every single week, even with aelfsciene's wedding stuff and two surgeries to deal with. Gotta' admit I'm proud of that.

The other thing it did for me was prove that I didn't need to go into a story with every single element of the plot worked out. Indeed with this one I knew where I was starting, writing an Anthea backstory in my case, and where I was ending, giving an explanation for the end of Scandal in Belgravia that made more sense to me. But the rest I made up on the fly, creating a variety of characters, embellishing a bunch more, and even offering Sherlock series canon scenes from a different perspective. I ended up answering questions I didn't even realize I had about the series and more often than not I was just as surprised by the answers as my readers probably were.

In other words I stepped way outside of my comfort zone when it comes to writing and just sort of...winged it really. I think it worked, I certainly didn't get much in the way of negative feedback and a good deal of positive. Not too bad really.

The only problem now is that a big part of me wants to just take some time off and give myself a break from writing...the other part thinks "Don't lose your damn momentum!" and wants to keep going with, well something. The question now is, do I play around with the Avengers fic I've been considering, go back to my Snupin novel-length sequel to "Scale of Dragon..." or get to work on my damn original novel. Decisions, decisions.

The end is near...

2013-01-27T02:52:48Z

...of my fanfic Ingenue, and in honor of finally finishing the monster (I will stay under 100,000 words, I'm sure of it) I uploaded my accompany fanmix:

That's not my name... from ebonlock on 8tracks Radio.

Downton Season 3

2013-01-08T03:26:47Z

Downton marriage *squee* Also you go Lady Edith! And god Shirley MacLaine as the mother-in-law from hell (or America) vs. Maggie Smith the dowager grand mama just made me so deeply and profoundly happy.

Sob

2012-12-31T22:09:10Z

Ok if y'all heard a loud crack earlier it's because I just finished watching "Thor and Loki: Blood Brothers" and my heart broke into tiny little pieces. Apparently Marvel Knights also put out an X-Men DVD written by Joss Whedon...tempting.

Rounding out the team

2012-12-29T21:42:39Z

For Asgard! A Mighty Thor Mix

2012-12-02T01:56:38Z

For Asgard! A Mighty Thor Mix from ebonlock on 8tracks Radio.

Another mix, god help me

2012-11-21T23:11:02Z

Someday I will stop making Avengers mixes. Really. Until then:

You May Be Right: A Tony Love Pepper Mix from ebonlock on 8tracks Radio.

ebonlock @ 2012-11-08T20:38:00

2012-11-09T04:38:14Z

Very quickly, the election is over and I can now pay attention to things other than politics at least somewhat. I'm currently doing the work of both myself and my manager at work while my boss is in Florida living it up for three weeks. Cannot wait until he gets back next week, seriously, the amount of nonsense he has to wade through daily is almost appalling. Wow.

Anyway, aside from that the epic fic that has eaten me alive pretty much this entire year is topping 65,000 words but has finally reached a major crisis point and I haven't quite managed to break it yet. Maybe, just maybe, I'll squeak by with my plot points intact. Not sure I'll make my goal for finishing it by year's end but I have to cling to my hope. I've enjoyed writing it, don't get me wrong, but I'm really kind of ready for it to be done.

I'm also in the process of wrapping up a few more fanmixes including a Fem!Tony and Lady Loki mix because...oh hell I don't even know aside from the fact that I listened to a fun Toni/Loki pocfic and apparently I can't control my fanmix habit any longer. Well, first step is admitting you have a problem I guess.

Hey speaking of fic, I really need to point people at Pareidolia which is a WIP (be forewarned) but is absolutely amazing so far. Seriously, I'm tempted to ask the author if she's actually a published author and just posting some fun Marvel fic on the side:

That morning in Central Park should have been the end of it. Should have been the end of Loki and his Chitauri horde and threats of destruction from alien universes. Tony Stark has approximately ten hours of believing that’s true. Ten glorious hours of believing that all might be once again right with the world or least on the path to being. But things rarely go as they should, much less as he’d hoped they would. The woman with the bright green eyes proves that when she appears on his doorstep with her unconscious burden.

Something is moving in the darkness, a new threat that could destroy them all and soon Tony discovers that not only do things rarely go as the should, but sometimes the most unlikely of all men hold the key to salvation. Trying to trust an enemy is never easy though, not even when your life might well and truly depend on it.

If you want some quality story telling with incredible characterization you've got to give this story a look-see. I mean the story starts with Loki falling and you get to experience it through his eyes. Then there's Tony snark, and OMG Bruce being all paranoid and brilliant and god I need more of it right the hell now! Go read it. Seriously. Now. Go!

ebonlock @ 2012-10-24T18:09:00

2012-10-25T01:09:53Z

Hi, my name is Ellie and I'm a "Call the Midwife" addict.

Ok I knew the series was going to be good 'cause I'd heard nothing but good things about it, it hits my sweet spot when it comes to BBC period dramas and has a fantastic cast. So yeah I expected to like it, I just didn't expect to like it this much. Seriously it's the only thing I rush home Monday nights to catch on TiVo. I'd watch it real time on Sunday but...well, it's on at the same time as The Talking Dead...and...yeah.

If you aren't watching "Call the Midwife" please let me say do so, you will thank me for pointing you at it and bullying you a bit. Trust me. Just stick with the show until Chummy shows up, she's one of the greatest TV characters you will ever fall in love with.

ebonlock @ 2012-10-23T19:23:00

2012-10-24T02:23:56Z

First and foremost, if you haven't seen it yet go check out Iron Man 3 trailer and then join me in mourning the fact that we must wait until May of next year to see the full film. Also can I just say EXTREMIS! Also it looks pretty darned dark, I mean seriously grim...but then Extremis wasn't a happy fun storyline. Still, man...

Also while I'm thinking about it I've got a couple of Loki fic recs to share that kept me happily ensconced on my couch last week while I recovered from surgery.

First:
The Other Gods by
The_Lionheart
After the end of the Avengers movie, Loki is captured. It is not particularly fun for him.

This is a seriously fucked up Loki, like batshit insane and loving it Loki. Well, loving it until SHIELD gets its less than tender hands on him and then things go down the rabbit hole. Think One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with more torture and no lobotomies...yet. The story is a WIP which is frustrating 'cause it hasn't been updated since March and the author's left Loki dangling over the mental abyss.

Second:
The Many Doors of Níu Heimar by nixajane
In the weeks before Thor's coronation, Loki almost dies, not once, but twice. (An AU in which events conspire to keep Loki from the choices he made in Thor, a war is on the horizon and the chosen battlefield is Earth, and the Avengers assemble with an extra teammate and one less villain to fight).

So Loki finds out what he is under decidedly different circumstances and his story takes another road entirely, actually a pretty darn heroic but believable one. The Avengers come together over the discovery of Thor's Hammer rather than the Tesseract (well, ok, kind of both) and the big bad in this one aren't the Chitauri rather the Frost Giants. The characters ring beautifully true throughout, the author's Tony voice is DEAD ON. Fer realz. A fascinating AU. Also a WIP but the author is promising to get back to it soon.

ebonlock @ 2012-10-21T14:19:00

2012-10-21T21:19:26Z

So my 5 day enforced vacation (otherwise known as second surgery on my back) is coming to a close. I didn't get everything I'd hoped to done but I did do a lot and I'm rather pleased by that. Got my absentee ballot filled out and mailed, much of my Xmas shopping done, the latest chapter of my ongoing Sherlock fic (now over 60K words!) posted, my TiVo cleared off and all my errands run. In addition I put together my low key Halloween costume (black jacket with SHIELD patches and T-shirt that reads "Loki'd" - I'm going as a mind controlled SHIELD agent and yes I'm the only one who will get it). I decided I wasn't going to do anything major with stitches in my back.

Also have my Halloween candy ready to hand out. The house is tidy (mostly) the laundry is done and tersa will be giving me a hand with the litter boxes later on so that should be that. I get the stitches out just before Halloween which makes me profoundly happy. The fact that the biopsy results came back negative makes me pretty happy too ;)

It's Avengers Eve!

2012-09-25T01:25:56Z

Technically the movie comes out on video tonight at midnight and, yes, I was considering heading to a Best Buy to enjoy the release with my fellow Marvel-nuts...but I'm resisting. Barely. To help with that, it's the final day of fic recs.

First one I totally didn't expect to fall head over heels for: Amateur Theatrics

In which Thor’s primary problem-solving method (a mighty blow from Mjolnir) fails to have the desired effect on a magical artifact, and his secondary method (a mightier blow from Mjolnir) proves to be actively disastrous.

Why you should read it: It's a wonderful Clint POV fic where he alone manages to avoid the magical fallout from Loki's latest plot. I won't give away most of the antics, suffice to say Tony is just about the only one who actually enjoys his outcome, but it is a de-aged Loki story and little Loki is adorable and yet still quintessentially Loki. It's charming, fun and has great characterizations of everyone.

And continuing the fun recs I have to point you to Candy Shop:

Calling the Avengers Tower an "embarrassment of riches" is a shameful understatement.

Why you should read it: Pepper and Natasha talking about the boys, comparing notes, and tossing around a few theories. Because The Avengers is so a chick flick, just my kind of chick flick.

One last one, Curving Like the Ocean:

"You want me to have HR arrange some team building for you?" Fury sounds incredibly skeptical.

"No, no. God, no." Tony shudders at the thought of trust falls and talking about his feelings. "Pool party in Malibu. I've already got Darcy working on it."

Why you should read it: Hilarity from start to finish, also Darcy and Tony plot to throw the sexiest pool party in history. Tony and Darcy are a combination that should be front and center in more stories, they really just should, they're sort of like a snarky force of nature. Speaking of:

"Mmmm--Clint--wait--" Clint backs off a little. Darcy almost melts at the hot look in his eyes, but she has a mission here. Nookie can wait for a few. "I need to run something past you so that you don't have a jealousy melt-down."

Clint looks suspicious. "Does this have something to do with Stark?"

"No, I keep telling you, it's like he's the Darcy from the genderswap AU universe. The two of us would collapse the space-time continuum if we tried anything." Darcy huffs an impatient breath at his baffled look. "Anyway, it's not Tony. I just wanted to give you a heads-up that I'm going to grope Captain America. For justice."

Also the Clint/Darcy stuff? Hotness. And it contains my all time favorite OT3, Tony/Pepper/Bruce, so yay!

Black Widow Mix: Red Ledger

2012-09-23T23:05:18Z

I'm ridiculously proud of this one, it just came together *so* beautifully. Seriously, would love some feedback if you get a chance to give it a listen!

Red Ledger from ebonlock on 8tracks Radio.

Fic-rec-a-thon Day 3.5

2012-09-22T02:14:03Z

Yeah ok I missed day 4, mostly because of dance practice so sorry about that. In order to make it up I've got not only fic recs but a piece of insanity shared with me by tersa.

First the crazy: This Loki & Thor Snuggle Blanket Puts You In The Middle Of A Norse God Sandwich. It truly must be seen to be believed. Don't suppose they make one with just Loki?

Ok so let's get back to the funny tonight with That was Mean. Why you should read it: the original prompt was what if Bruce was actually the most effective troll in the history of trolldom? I will just say Tony has a spit-take in this one and I very nearly did the same thing when I read that bit of the story. Seriously funny stuff.

“Steve, you know I’ll catch you up on anything you want to know, right? It’s the least I can do,” Bruce purred. Tony stared at his lab partner, trying to figure out what his game was.

“Well… there is one thing,” Steve opened up, spurred on by Bruce’s sweet guileless expression. “How does the internet work?”

Bruce took a deep breath, “That’s a really good question, Steve. Not dumb at all. The answer is that we really don’t know all the details, but basically the internet runs on something called ‘The Force’, which is an energy field that surrounds us and binds the universe together. Does that make sense?” Bruce asked the last question with an air of didactic concern, which would have made Tony reflect that he’d probably been a great college professor if his mind hadn’t been so busy reeling from the fact that under that sweet slightly rumpled exterior beat the heart of a stone cold troll.

“Yeah… I guess…”

“Now, some humans have special abilities to control the Force, and they’re called Jedi. They’re very powerful, and very good. You should actually see if you can get Fury to give us a couple for the team. I’d ask myself, but…” Bruce gestured at himself self deprecatingly, as if daring Steve to say Fury would pay attention to the ideas of a tipsy scientist/monster in a second hand suit.

Second is May the Fourth: So Tony invents lightsabers. Yeah, lightsabers. Clint and Tasha demand the first two prototypes, it just gets better from there.

When Tony arrives on the helicarrier the next morning, the Imperial March starts playing over the PA system every time he passes through a doorway.

Tony is going to find the person who arranged for that and offer them any job they want at SI, up to and including his own.

"Seriously?" says Bruce.

"Everything is proceeding as I have forseen it," says Tony, and sweeps off to find another door to enter.

I Can Haz Avengers Nao? Fic-a-thon Day 4

2012-09-20T01:52:33Z

TV please stop teasing me with the fact that Avengers comes out on DVD/BR next week 'cause I know. I KNOW. I pre-ordered like the day after I first saw it. I'm going to be completely useless next weekend because I'm going to be doing nothing but watching the movie and the special features over and over again.

In the meantime more fic. Today I'm going dark with a couple of my favorite Bruce depression fics. The first deals with Bruce getting low and actively trying to work out a way to end his own life. If suicidal ideation is triggering for you please skip this one. Why should you read it? This is one of the most realistic and well written glimpses into a depressed mind that I've ever read. How the team finds out and how they pull together to deal with it, especially (oddly enough) Thor is amazing:

Team--Depression

Second is an equally dark, if not darker story that really delves into the friendship between Tony and Bruce. The story starts with Tony suffering from a mystery ailment, the cause is enough to drive Bruce to absolute despair and Tony to desperation. Why you should read it: this one I've re-read at least half a dozen times and it makes me tear up every single time. Warning, depression and character death.

Decay

Avengers Fic-a-Thon Day 3

2012-09-19T03:53:23Z

Continuing my "God why isn't The Avengers out already?!" fic recs I give you: Silvertongue, a more lengthy and serious piece than I have been recommending thus far. I actually listened to the podfic version which is absolutely fantastic and highly, highly recommended.

Why you should read it: this fic manages to fix pretty much every plot hole in Thor and explain most if not all of Loki's actions in Avengers as well. And yeah, ok, so the story also pretty much redeems Loki and I may have a soft spot for Loki fic where he not only comes out as brilliant, three steps ahead of pretty much everyone, snarky, manipulative, petty, devious, driven and...kinda heroic. And uh, yeah I did cry at the end.

Frigga looks at Loki, and in her eyes he sees sadness, he sees loss, he sees grief... and love. In Frigga's eyes, Loki can see understanding, and for that he smiles again, grateful. She masks her expression, replacing it with a mask of polite disinterest, the quiet dignity of the crown. In silence, the Queen of Asgard turns her back on Loki.

In that moment, Loki feels blessed.

"Brother," Thor says. He is weeping, tears tracking down his cheeks. "Why... why are you doing this?"

It is the easiest lie that Loki has ever told.

He meets Thor's gaze, squarely, the bitter smile in place on his face, and Loki tells him, "Because I hate you, Thor. I always have." His gaze stays steady, unwavering, until Thor is the one to look away.

Fic-rec-a-thon continues

2012-09-18T02:26:53Z

Ok I just hurt myself laughing at this fic, seriously curled up fetal, couldn't breathe, the works:

Without the Usual Cost of Labor

“Okay,” Pepper says, loudly. “Moving on. What’s her name?”

“Baby,” Tony says.

“Princess America,” Thor says.

Bruce coughs. “I might have told him that,” he admits, when Natasha tilts her head.

“No,” she says.