Story: "Birthday Girl" (Part 5 of 18)
Apr. 27th, 2013 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis story is a sequel to "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," and "Touching Moments," "Splash," and "Coming Around."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Inferences of past child abuse. Current environment is safe.
Summary: Doombots crash a beautiful spring day in the park. The Avengers clean up the mess. This includes Natasha's rather confused longing for something she never had: a birthday party.
Notes: Asexual character (Clint). Aromantic character (Natasha). Asexual relationship. Teamwork. Canon-typical violence. Friendship. Confusion. Hulk is a genius too. Fluff. Making up for lost time. Birthday. Cultural traditions. Games. Gifts. Cake. The cake is never a lie! Tickling. Trust issues. Safety and security. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Personal growth. Family of choice.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Skip to Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18.
"Birthday Girl" Part 5
"Of course, Bruce," said Phil. He rubbed slow, soothing circles over Bruce's shoulder. Phil didn't want to push Bruce hard enough to break him, or worse, provoke Hulk into thinking it was necessary to come out and protect Bruce from mean old Agent. "It's been a hard day. Take your mind off it."
"Sure, it's a good movie," Clint said. He curled up on the floor where he could reach Bruce, content to stay there instead of returning to his chair. Bruce handed down a spare pillow for Clint to sit on.
The Starkpad in Phil's hand vibrated in the distinctive thrum-thrum-thrum that JARVIS used for silent communications. Phil checked the screen.
I believe I have isolated the cause of Black Widow's distress from the footage of today's battle, JARVIS said in crisp text. Do you wish to view it now? Below those lines, two buttons appeared: (Yes) (No)
Phil glanced at Natasha. The movie held her attention, a relaxing diversion after the earlier stress of combat and conversation. She was completely engrossed in Remy's explanation of how different flavors combined in magical ways. It seemed safe to watch what JARVIS had to show him without worrying about Natasha noticing. Besides, Phil might need the information sooner rather than later. He touched the (Yes) button.
The video showed the party scene moments before the attack. The birthday girl sat at the head of the picnic table, a froth of scarlet curls barely contained in two pigtails. Her friends clustered around her in their party dresses like a flock of fairies.
The Doombot came out of nowhere, splintering the table. Screaming children scattered. The mother bashed the robot with a lawn chair. It staggered back from the children.
Black Widow arrived on the scene -- and froze, for a split second, staring not at the Doombot but at the birthday girl clutching an obviously broken arm. The robot moved toward them.
The assassin unfroze and threw two knives through its camera lenses. Blinded, the Doombot stumbled aimlessly and fell prey to a precise shot from Iron Man. It collapsed into the forgotten cake.
Black Widow surveyed the area to make sure the civilians had escaped. The park was a mess of fluttering paper and bobbing balloons, small unpredictable motions that would be difficult to filter out quickly. A fresh Doombot dropped toward her from above.
Hulk snatched Black Widow out of the way just in time. He smashed the robot high into a tree. Leaves and loose parts rained down.
Black Widow swept one last glance over the ruined picnic. Then she whipped around to see a cluster of Doombots. They had just pinned Captain America under a truck and were now closing in for a kill. She dashed toward them.
* * *
Notes:
JARVIS is using Morse code S (three dots) for Silent/Secret.
Startle response concerns sudden motion or noise. PTSD tends to heighten that. Flapping or drifting objects can be difficult to distinguish as safe or unsafe, especially in a combat situations. This also happens with horses, who may be trained to ignore fluttering things, but there's a limit. The brain has filters to process and discard irrelevant input; too much can overwhelm the filters, creating a sense of confusion. It's a bit like using chaff to confuse radar with nonsense information.
[To be continued in Part 6 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Inferences of past child abuse. Current environment is safe.
Summary: Doombots crash a beautiful spring day in the park. The Avengers clean up the mess. This includes Natasha's rather confused longing for something she never had: a birthday party.
Notes: Asexual character (Clint). Aromantic character (Natasha). Asexual relationship. Teamwork. Canon-typical violence. Friendship. Confusion. Hulk is a genius too. Fluff. Making up for lost time. Birthday. Cultural traditions. Games. Gifts. Cake. The cake is never a lie! Tickling. Trust issues. Safety and security. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Personal growth. Family of choice.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Skip to Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18.
"Birthday Girl" Part 5
"Of course, Bruce," said Phil. He rubbed slow, soothing circles over Bruce's shoulder. Phil didn't want to push Bruce hard enough to break him, or worse, provoke Hulk into thinking it was necessary to come out and protect Bruce from mean old Agent. "It's been a hard day. Take your mind off it."
"Sure, it's a good movie," Clint said. He curled up on the floor where he could reach Bruce, content to stay there instead of returning to his chair. Bruce handed down a spare pillow for Clint to sit on.
The Starkpad in Phil's hand vibrated in the distinctive thrum-thrum-thrum that JARVIS used for silent communications. Phil checked the screen.
I believe I have isolated the cause of Black Widow's distress from the footage of today's battle, JARVIS said in crisp text. Do you wish to view it now? Below those lines, two buttons appeared: (Yes) (No)
Phil glanced at Natasha. The movie held her attention, a relaxing diversion after the earlier stress of combat and conversation. She was completely engrossed in Remy's explanation of how different flavors combined in magical ways. It seemed safe to watch what JARVIS had to show him without worrying about Natasha noticing. Besides, Phil might need the information sooner rather than later. He touched the (Yes) button.
The video showed the party scene moments before the attack. The birthday girl sat at the head of the picnic table, a froth of scarlet curls barely contained in two pigtails. Her friends clustered around her in their party dresses like a flock of fairies.
The Doombot came out of nowhere, splintering the table. Screaming children scattered. The mother bashed the robot with a lawn chair. It staggered back from the children.
Black Widow arrived on the scene -- and froze, for a split second, staring not at the Doombot but at the birthday girl clutching an obviously broken arm. The robot moved toward them.
The assassin unfroze and threw two knives through its camera lenses. Blinded, the Doombot stumbled aimlessly and fell prey to a precise shot from Iron Man. It collapsed into the forgotten cake.
Black Widow surveyed the area to make sure the civilians had escaped. The park was a mess of fluttering paper and bobbing balloons, small unpredictable motions that would be difficult to filter out quickly. A fresh Doombot dropped toward her from above.
Hulk snatched Black Widow out of the way just in time. He smashed the robot high into a tree. Leaves and loose parts rained down.
Black Widow swept one last glance over the ruined picnic. Then she whipped around to see a cluster of Doombots. They had just pinned Captain America under a truck and were now closing in for a kill. She dashed toward them.
* * *
Notes:
JARVIS is using Morse code S (three dots) for Silent/Secret.
Startle response concerns sudden motion or noise. PTSD tends to heighten that. Flapping or drifting objects can be difficult to distinguish as safe or unsafe, especially in a combat situations. This also happens with horses, who may be trained to ignore fluttering things, but there's a limit. The brain has filters to process and discard irrelevant input; too much can overwhelm the filters, creating a sense of confusion. It's a bit like using chaff to confuse radar with nonsense information.
[To be continued in Part 6 ...]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-27 07:03 am (UTC)Yay!
Date: 2013-04-27 07:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-27 08:36 am (UTC)You're welcome!
Date: 2013-04-28 02:18 am (UTC)Yes. It was a confluence of factors, really -- a child who looked a bit like Natasha, the idyllic scene trashed by villainy, the distracting wreckage, Steve getting seriously hurt, etc.
>> Natasha may be highly trained and very tough, she's still a human being, and quite young. I think anyone can be blindsided. <<
Yes, that's true.
>> Also, maybe the team work and age play they've been doing has lowered her defenses, and she's ready to face a little more of her issues? <<
Precisely. The Red Room trained her to focus only on the goal and nothing else. That made it easier to hit the target quickly, but difficult for her work with other people or minimize collateral damage. Now her teamwork is improving, and she's in a healthier place mentally, but cost is a slight slowdown in speed because she's factoring the civilians and her teammates. There are chinks in the armor so once in a while something gets through and it hurts.
That tradeoff is freaking her out.
>> I love discovering the new chapter each day, it's great - thank you! <<
Yay! I'm glad to hear that.
birthday girl
Date: 2013-04-27 02:27 pm (UTC)The whole Avengers family is wonderful :) You keep it fluffy (I like that) and you write of the psychological problems they face.
great work!
grtz
Greysh
Re: birthday girl
Date: 2013-04-28 04:44 am (UTC)Thank you! Yes, I have more written after this story.
>> The whole Avengers family is wonderful :) You keep it fluffy (I like that) and you write of the psychological problems they face. <<
The tone varies from one story to another. "Splash" was fluff, "Coming Around" went quite deep, then "Birthday Girl" is fluffy again. I try to maintain a balance, but as the characters mesh with each other, more issues keep coming up, so it's getting deeper over time. What I focus on is not just fluff, but an overall positive undertone: that no matter how bad things get, the team will be there for each other to help people get through it.
>>great work!<<
*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-27 08:56 pm (UTC)Bruce and Natasha are both breaking my heart in this one. I've been in Bruce's shoes, realizing that something you knew, absolutely, to to be true is wrong. It leaves you needing to re-think everything in your past, which is both terrifying and exhausting. He totally deserves a mindless movie night before trying to deal with this new, improved Hulk.
(I love your Hulk voice, BTW. He's very child-like, in a lot of ways, but also very smart and self-aware.)
And Natasha, desperately wanting the childhood experiences she never had, but not even really sure what those experiences are supposed to look like.
I love this 'verse! Thanks so much for sharing these stories with us.
Meg
You're welcome!
Date: 2013-04-28 06:51 pm (UTC)I think the world could use more family-flavored stories, which is part of the inspiration for this.
>> But somehow I didn't realize there was a series! I spent all last night and this afternoon catching up. <<
Yes, there is plenty more. I have another story drafted and ready to go after "Birthday Girl" concludes.
>>Bruce and Natasha are both breaking my heart in this one.<<
Yay! I'm glad you found it so touching. I think hard about what it will take to knock superheroes off balance, and it's different for each of them.
>> I've been in Bruce's shoes, realizing that something you knew, absolutely, to to be true is wrong. It leaves you needing to re-think everything in your past, which is both terrifying and exhausting. <<
Yea, verily. This is a long plot arc because the topic is so complicated. It has fluffy moments and heartbreaking moments ... sometimes at the same time, like Hulk with the balloons.
>>He totally deserves a mindless movie night before trying to deal with this new, improved Hulk.<<
This is an aspect of hurt/comfort plot dynamics. You can drive the tension higher if you push and release, rather and push and hold. Also I'm trying to get away from the Marvelverse tendency to leave people on duty forever with no real opportunity to relax or recover from emotional damage, because that way lies burnout. I prefer to show heroes being heroic, getting hurt, patching each other up, and then going out to be badass again.
>> (I love your Hulk voice, BTW. He's very child-like, in a lot of ways, but also very smart and self-aware.) <<
One thing I love about Hulk is how easy it is to interpret him in different ways. This version is a combination of parts of the mind that Bruce doesn't use: child self, primal self, artistic self, etc. So Hulk holds most of their feelings and instincts, while Bruce holds most of their thoughts and logic. It makes Hulk childlike without the limitations of interpreting him exclusively as a child. Because I also consider that they're sharing a genius brain, therefore Hulk must be a genius too -- just in different areas than Bruce. And Bruce is about as good at emotions as Hulk is at logic.
>>And Natasha, desperately wanting the childhood experiences she never had, but not even really sure what those experiences are supposed to look like.<<
Yes, exactly. She is so hyperspecialized that it's hard on her to move outside that area. Then she gets confused very easily. At least now Natasha has people to help her learn things that are new to her. Nonsexual ageplay is a terrific way to fill in the gaps from a deprived childhood.
>>I love this 'verse! Thanks so much for sharing these stories with us.<<
*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service!
(no subject)
Date: 2013-04-28 12:35 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2013-04-28 06:37 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2013-04-28 11:03 pm (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2013-04-28 11:15 pm (UTC)Yay! That's good to hear.
>> Do you have suggestions for resources, or even other similar stories? I'm thinking especially for around age 10? <<
The best resources I've found on related topics are already linked in my notes.
There are very few nonsexual ageplay stories; people cite that as a reason for latching onto this one so hard. However, AOL does have tags for ageplay, nonsexual ageplay, and no sex. It's worth searching there.
Within my own work ...
For fiction about family dynamics, teambuilding, and fixing what's broken, I recommend Schrodinger's Heroes. That includes both fanfic crossovers and straight-up original work.
For poetry with a strong family/community flavor, some of which is suitable for young readers, try Fiorenza the Wisewoman, Hart's Farm, and Monster House.
For poetry about rebuilding a life after a pile of hardships, check out One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis and Path of the Paladins.
If you can give me more detail about what you're looking for or why, I might be able to come up with some other stuff.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2013-04-29 12:39 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2013-04-29 01:07 am (UTC)Yay!
>> If I'm understanding right, the tv series is entirely imaginary? <<
That's how it started. Interest is building though, so it might get filmed someday. Basically I described the kind of television I'd like to watch, that I rarely find anything even close to. I can't film TV myself, but I can write, so that's what I did.
>>Are you familiar with Shadow Unit?<<
I have heard of it, yes. Interesting concept!
>>I will definitely go back through and check out your links more systematically for resources.<<
It's not rare for me to footnote things in general. The series Love Is For Children quickly gathered fans who love footnotes, so I started making a point of including more of them. Thus as the series progresses, there are more and longer footnoes, and as I'm reposting on AO3 I'm trying to add some where there weren't any earlier.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2013-08-07 07:59 am (UTC)Via that series I also started reading Elizabeth Bear's blog (matociquala.LiveJournal.com) and picking up some of her novels. She does good world building.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2013-08-07 08:20 am (UTC)