Uffish Thought

When inmyriadbits gleefully abandoned me for her vacation, I sent her off with some of the fluffier end of Avengers/Captain America fandom, since she's been avoiding the angst fest in favor of Les Mis fandom. IRONIC I KNOW. But that fandom's all about the denial AUs, apparently. I don't judge, but I do try to kidnap her back into my current addiction. Because that's what sisters do, right?

Post-Winter Soldier stories

Clint Barton’s Home for Wayward Mind Wiped Assassins (gen)
In which Clint rents one of his apartments to a guy who's clearly a traumatized ex-assassin trying to go straight, but fails to connect him to Steve's missing friend Bucky. If it was any other Marvel character, this would not work, but Clint's unique mix of being a good guy and being painfully clueless at human relationships makes it perfect. It's also not cracky, as I initially thought - Bucky doesn't just show up at Clint's by coincidence, and the story deals with both of the boys' grief and trauma quietly and well - but it is funny and sweet as hell. (ETA: there's now a second chapter that is a little cliffhanger-y and abrupt? avoid as your taste desires)

Oasis (gen)
In which Bucky takes up rooftop gardening at Stark Tower. Oh my god, I need a million more stories where Bucky and Pepper make friends over being involuntarily experimented on, and choosing to create things instead of destroying them.

Bucky And Mister Rogers (gen)
Bucky accidentally becomes a surrogate brother to half the neighborhood, purely via the power of PBS. Right in my Bucky-as-protector feels, plus I know how most of ya'll feel about well-written small children.

Strike (gen)
Steve, Bucky and Sam take a break on their roadtrip to the Grand Canyon to go bowling. Any fic that takes sniper!Bucky and defies-the-laws-of-physics-regularly!Steve and applies both of them to bowling is just comic genius to start with, but it's also got a hysterically funny and perceptive Sam POV.

AUs of adorable

The Coffee Bandits of Greater Manhattan (Clint/Coulson)
I often get bored reading AUs where everyone has normal jobs, but this one has the great twist of Clint and Natasha being rogue unlicensed food truck operators in NYC, being chased by food inspector Phil Coulson, who really really believes in heroes good food. Adorable and well-written with some fun use of the background ensemble (Tony as high-tech parking mogul and coffee patron particularly kills me), and the Clint-Natasha friendship is just as important as the slash, which is important to me.

You Were Standing There (Steve/Bucky)
PTSD-suffering vet!Bucky accidentally breaks into the wrong house while drunk, and meets Steve Rogers, Natasha's seemingly-perfect neighbor. Hit right in the sweet spot of 'Bucky thinks he's worthless' and 'Steve is quietly fucked up' for me. Plus, the writing is vivid and atmospheric without being out of character for Bucky. (This annoys me a lot in the CATWS fandom, when people shovel their lyricism onto a character who's traumatized and has a lot of depth, but is fundamentally a practical, direct sort of person. It's that all-important distinction between 'observant sniper' and 'sounds like a hipster poet'. YMMV.)

*****

And a couple of utterly adorable Leverage vids, since I just re-watched the series and know some of ya'll are also enjoying the whole shebang being up on Netflix now. Spoilery for the whole run of the show, FYI:

Long After You're Gone (team)
Team vid of delight and warm fuzzies, with just a touch of OT3. Some uncut diegetic sound in a couple of places -- technical issues? deliberate choice? It's annoying but minimal, anyway. And I love how it encompasses the relationships, the competence and con shenanigans, *and* the failboat dorkiness of the characters, plus a dash of meta at the end. ♥

Parachute (OT3)
OMG YES. The song is perfect (can any other show match I don't need a parachute, baby, if I've got you to so many actual clips of people jumping off things and having trust moments? I think not), plus fantastic editing, structure, and full of delight. Ugh, I love their faces, Parker/Hardison/Eliot is the best fictional threesome, hands down. I will fight you. (Don/Cosmo/Kathy from Singin' in the Rain are a close runner-up, but they're not word-of-god canon)

I've seen that movie meme going around:

Anyone who feels like it should post their ten most CRUCIAL CRUCIAL CRUCIAL-ASS movies, like the movies that explain everything about yourselves in your current incarnations (not necessarily your ten favorite movies but the ten movies that you, as a person existing currently, feel would help people get to know you) (they can change later on obviously).

I actually did this on Tumblr first, but on reflection (and since it's no longer 3AM)(just 1AM), I have revised it thusly:

1) The Philadelphia Story
2) District B-13
3) The Shawshank Redemption
4) The Sting
5) Spider-Man 2
6) Trash Dance Aliens
7) Matilda
8) Bull Durham
9) Apollo 13 The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking (my go-to rent-this-for-me-when-sick movie at age 6)
10) Anastasia

Technically, if these are supposed to be formative/representative films, this should *also* include the *other* movie I watched a million times when sick as a child -- but for the life of me, I cannot remember the title. I vaguely remember that it was about a fairy who granted those "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight" wishes. She was lonely and overloaded, so she ended up recruiting a team to help her, and then there was something involving a villain who attacked their castle and took the original fairy captive and the team had to rescue her. I wish I remember what it was called, because clearly I imprinted on it with regards to someone being lonely and unloved, teams becoming found families, wish fulfillment, and h/c rescues. And groups of awesome ladies.

****

In other news, everything is Bucky feels and therefore everything hurts.

If you are looking for a WIP to read for your daily dose of emotional agony, check out Out of the Dead Land, written for the prompt:

Sam and Steve find the Winter Soldier and begin the process of deprogramming him. At first his progress seems to be astounding -- it's like having Bucky back again. But there's little cracks in the facade, and Steve catches on that Winter Soldier doesn't have his memories back. He's just studied up on how to be Bucky. He's memorized facts about the Howling Commandos, their old neighborhood in Brooklyn, even personal details about Steve himself, but it's not *perfect* and it's not truly *Bucky*, it's the Winter Soldier playing at being Bucky. He wants to be Bucky very badly.

SO GOOD. It's gorgeously written Bucky POV, and hitting every 'Bucky is emotionally broken but still uber-competent, yet doesn't know how to handle his Steve love' button that I have. Plus, there's a cool plot that I won't spoil, and her Natasha may be the best Natasha I've found post-movie.

The author-anon says it's two-thirds done, so you could wait, but man, sometimes I just like torturing myself in this fandom.

So I pulled an all-nighter last night finishing the draft of my Bucky post-movie fic. I...haven't ever done that.

Well. I did take a break and write a mini-essay on Mary Pickford, so it was sort of like film school.

I also had a thought about Steve and Natasha: ( Read more... )

I have now seen this movie three times in the space of a week. (I didn't have to pay for the second one at least? :D? Ugh, Marvel, just take out a lien on my paycheck, alright? Ya'll already own my soul.)

( slightly more coherent thoughts this time around )

STILL have not seen SHIELD (LINDSEY I'M LOOKING AT YOU), but I'm liking this whole ( wild speculation, minor Cap 2 spoilers )

*shrugs* I am probably already jossed on both of these, but no one tell me yet!

YAY THAT WAS AWESOME WHEN CAN I SEE IT AGAIN NOW CAN I SEE IT NOW

Okay, well, no, I resisted temptation and am making myself wait ( spoilers )