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ysabetwordsmithThis story is a sequel to "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," and "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," and "Birthday Girl."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, JARVIS, Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Mind control. Inferences of past child abuse and other torture. Current environment is supportive.
Summary: A mission in Russia introduces the Avengers to the Winter Soldier. Steve wants Bucky back and will stop at nothing to make that happen. Everyone else helps however they can.
Notes: Asexual character (Clint). Aromantic character (Natasha). Asexual relationship. Sibling relationships. Fix-it. Teamwork. Canon-typical violence. BAMF!Avengers. Bucky!whump. Vulgar language. Drama. Rescue. Hurt/Comfort. Emotional whump. Survivor guilt. Friendship. Confusion. Mind control. Memory loss. Slow recovery. Nick Fury makes stupid-ass decisions. Fear of loss. Arc reactor. Fluff. Nonsexual ageplay. Making up for lost time. Tony Stark has a heart. Games. Trust issues. Safety and security. Howard Stark's A+ parenting. Obadiah Stane's A+ parenting. Food issues. Multiplicity/Plurality. Sleep issues. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Yoga. Personal growth. Family of choice. ALL THE FEELS. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31. Skip to Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37.
"No Winter Lasts Forever" Part 32
On Sunday morning, Steve broke the coffee machine. Fortunately for everyone's sanity, he knew how to make coffee in a regular pot. Tony brought up a crate of new shatterproof glassware. He put it into the kitchen cabinets. Steve packed away the old glassware for donation.
Natasha arrived, walking under her own power if a bit carefully. She explained that Clint was still upstairs introducing Bucky to some of the fancier functions of the shower. She started dicing vegetables in hope of omelettes for breakfast. Phil headed to the refrigerator for eggs.
Then Tony blew up the coffee machine while trying to repair it. Phil sighed and used the CO2 fire extinguisher to put out the flames. He patched up minor injuries for Tony and Natasha. JARVIS turned up the fans in the air vents.
Bruce and Betty came into the kitchen, waving aside the last wisps of smoke. "Glad I missed all the excitement," Bruce said. He set about making the omelettes. His hands were deft and quick, never dropping a bit of eggshell into the pan.
Natasha borrowed Phil's pen to write Tony Stark: Yes on Tony's palm. It was a visible apology for how her initial assessment had spiked his conviction that nobody wanted him for himself, just what they could get out of him.
"Heard about my little meltdown from Clint, huh?" Tony said. He did not meet her eyes. Phil wondered if that had contributed to the kitchen explosion. Tony worked more intensely under pressure, which raised the accident rate along with the success rate.
"That one was partly my fault, so yes," Natasha said. "I misjudged you badly, Tony. I made the same mistake as Ten Rings: looking more at what you make than at who you are. There aren't many people who can fool a master spy; you're one of them."
"Survival skill," Tony said, his mouth moving in what looked like but was not a smile. "People can't guard against what they can't see."
"Well, at least now you know we're on the same side regarding your survival," Natasha said. "I'll keep repeating that until it sinks in."
"Would you like to help me with sit-down tasks today?" Phil asked her. "I could use a hand with the paperwork, in the interest of the city not clamoring for our heads after yesterday's irregularly scheduled property damage."
"Sure," she said. "Meet you in your office." She snagged a freshly finished omelette and walked out. Not in the mood for socializing, then.
"You know, Natasha is really protective of people she cares about," Steve said to Tony. "She just doesn't show it the same as most women do."
"If she hears you calling her a mother hen, she's more likely to kill you than kiss you," Bruce warned.
"I wouldn't say mother hen," Steve said. "I was thinking of those lady velociraptors in the movie who tore apart a bunch of guys to get their eggs back."
Tony chuckled. "I can see that," he said, "clearly." He rubbed his fingers over the fresh blue ink on his hand.
Clint and Bucky showed up then, both still damp from the shower. Bucky was moving slower today. He picked up an omelette without paying much attention to it. Steve gave him a worried look.
"I see it too," Bruce murmured to Phil as he sat down with his own breakfast. "I'll try talking to Bucky again tonight. He hasn't been enthusiastic about the previous options for getting to sleep. Maybe I can convince him to follow me in thinking outside the box."
"Hey, Tony," said Bucky. "I'm sorry for teasing you about setting the table the other day. That was mean and I shouldn't have said it. I'll work on acting like less of a jerk."
Tony gave him a too-bright smile. "No problem," he said. "It's not like my mouth has brakes either. So just forget about it. Really."
"Well ... I was going ask about the special glasses," Bucky said, looking aside. "I don't want to take them away from Steve and Bruce, but I could use a set of my own. I kind of tend to break things." His metal fingers clenched.
"Can you feel the difference when you're squeezing too hard?" Tony asked. He picked up Bucky's left hand and prodded the fingers gently.
"Sometimes. It depends on what I'm holding, how the shape of it touches my hand," Bucky said. "If I get upset or distracted though, it doesn't matter."
"Huh. Wonder if there's a short or something," Tony muttered. He let go of Bucky. "As for your glassware, I brought up some new stuff already. It's in the cabinets."
"Thanks, Tony," said Bucky.
Tony waved him off and went back to poking at the remains of the coffee machine. Phil pried him away from that, not wanting to see another fire started. Bruce chuckled at the brief tussle. Then Tony retreated to his lab with a smoothie and promises to produce a new coffee machine. Bucky claimed some breakfast for himself, but it didn't seem to give him much energy.
"Steve, why don't you take Bucky to the gym today and see how his muscle memory holds up?" Phil said. "Based on what we've seen so far, I think that's in much better shape than his memory of events. Maybe try a little hand-to-hand sparring." It was taking advantage of the situation a bit, but the exercise might help Bucky wear out enough to get some sleep.
"That's a good idea," Betty said with a nod. "Amnesia often affects personal memories while leaving some other types intact."
"His aim still works," Clint said. "He did fine on the shooting range, even learned the new guns pretty fast."
"They needed my physical skills in working order. They wanted me for my body, so they couldn't mess with it too much," Bucky said softly. "They just ... didn't want me in it."
"You're a good man. They wanted a mindless assassin. Stands to reason they'd have to get you out of the way, for that," Steve said. "You must have fought them so much that the only way they could control you was to erase your memory and replace it with something else."
"I hadn't really thought about it like that," Bucky said.
"Excuse me," Bruce said faintly and scurried out of the room. Betty hastened to follow him. Phil trusted Betty to take care of Bruce -- this touched on an old fear of his -- allowing Phil to keep watch over Bucky's evolving situation.
* * *
Notes:
Omelettes make a nutritious and versatile breakfast, easy to customize for different people's tastes.
Fire extinguishers come in several types. The CO2 version that Phil uses is good for electrical fires and leaves no residue. The tower has a plentiful supply of fire extinguishers, usually stocked in sets in the main rooms and labs.
Deceit can be a defense mechanism. Parents influence how their children perceive truth and falsehood. Intelligence, domineering parents, and harsh discipline all contribute to lying. Adult survivors of child abuse often rely on deceit as a routine survival skill. Consider how badly people respond in canon when Tony tells the truth, and you can see why he hesitates to do so.
Repetition helps secure a message in the mind. It's especially useful to change negative thoughts to positive ones, or to help negative people gain a positive outlook.
Velociraptors are dinosaurs appearing in all three Jurassic Park movies. The egg plot appears in Jurassic Park III. You can see how Steve is beginning to acclimate to modern life by using cultural references in conversation.
Sleep deprivation can have short-term and long-term impact on functionality and health. Bucky's symptoms gradually get worse the longer he stays awake.
Physical activity can help overcome insomnia, especially aerobic exercise.
Forced dissociation is a fundamental part of mind control. Psychological trauma can lead to dissociative disorders. Notice how Bucky displays all five of the core symptoms of dissociation: amnesia, derealization, depersonalization, identity confusion, and identity alteration. The history of mind control spans many attempts, with varying methods and success, to knap and influence thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. A sophisticated, deliberate effort such as applied to Bucky and Natasha can produce deeper and more precise results than ordinary child abuse like Bruce suffered.
[To be continued in Part 33 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Hulk, Steve Rogers, Betty Ross, JARVIS, Bucky Barnes, Nick Fury.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Mind control. Inferences of past child abuse and other torture. Current environment is supportive.
Summary: A mission in Russia introduces the Avengers to the Winter Soldier. Steve wants Bucky back and will stop at nothing to make that happen. Everyone else helps however they can.
Notes: Asexual character (Clint). Aromantic character (Natasha). Asexual relationship. Sibling relationships. Fix-it. Teamwork. Canon-typical violence. BAMF!Avengers. Bucky!whump. Vulgar language. Drama. Rescue. Hurt/Comfort. Emotional whump. Survivor guilt. Friendship. Confusion. Mind control. Memory loss. Slow recovery. Nick Fury makes stupid-ass decisions. Fear of loss. Arc reactor. Fluff. Nonsexual ageplay. Making up for lost time. Tony Stark has a heart. Games. Trust issues. Safety and security. Howard Stark's A+ parenting. Obadiah Stane's A+ parenting. Food issues. Multiplicity/Plurality. Sleep issues. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Yoga. Personal growth. Family of choice. ALL THE FEELS. #coulsonlives.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27, Part 28, Part 29, Part 30, Part 31. Skip to Part 34, Part 35, Part 36, Part 37.
"No Winter Lasts Forever" Part 32
On Sunday morning, Steve broke the coffee machine. Fortunately for everyone's sanity, he knew how to make coffee in a regular pot. Tony brought up a crate of new shatterproof glassware. He put it into the kitchen cabinets. Steve packed away the old glassware for donation.
Natasha arrived, walking under her own power if a bit carefully. She explained that Clint was still upstairs introducing Bucky to some of the fancier functions of the shower. She started dicing vegetables in hope of omelettes for breakfast. Phil headed to the refrigerator for eggs.
Then Tony blew up the coffee machine while trying to repair it. Phil sighed and used the CO2 fire extinguisher to put out the flames. He patched up minor injuries for Tony and Natasha. JARVIS turned up the fans in the air vents.
Bruce and Betty came into the kitchen, waving aside the last wisps of smoke. "Glad I missed all the excitement," Bruce said. He set about making the omelettes. His hands were deft and quick, never dropping a bit of eggshell into the pan.
Natasha borrowed Phil's pen to write Tony Stark: Yes on Tony's palm. It was a visible apology for how her initial assessment had spiked his conviction that nobody wanted him for himself, just what they could get out of him.
"Heard about my little meltdown from Clint, huh?" Tony said. He did not meet her eyes. Phil wondered if that had contributed to the kitchen explosion. Tony worked more intensely under pressure, which raised the accident rate along with the success rate.
"That one was partly my fault, so yes," Natasha said. "I misjudged you badly, Tony. I made the same mistake as Ten Rings: looking more at what you make than at who you are. There aren't many people who can fool a master spy; you're one of them."
"Survival skill," Tony said, his mouth moving in what looked like but was not a smile. "People can't guard against what they can't see."
"Well, at least now you know we're on the same side regarding your survival," Natasha said. "I'll keep repeating that until it sinks in."
"Would you like to help me with sit-down tasks today?" Phil asked her. "I could use a hand with the paperwork, in the interest of the city not clamoring for our heads after yesterday's irregularly scheduled property damage."
"Sure," she said. "Meet you in your office." She snagged a freshly finished omelette and walked out. Not in the mood for socializing, then.
"You know, Natasha is really protective of people she cares about," Steve said to Tony. "She just doesn't show it the same as most women do."
"If she hears you calling her a mother hen, she's more likely to kill you than kiss you," Bruce warned.
"I wouldn't say mother hen," Steve said. "I was thinking of those lady velociraptors in the movie who tore apart a bunch of guys to get their eggs back."
Tony chuckled. "I can see that," he said, "clearly." He rubbed his fingers over the fresh blue ink on his hand.
Clint and Bucky showed up then, both still damp from the shower. Bucky was moving slower today. He picked up an omelette without paying much attention to it. Steve gave him a worried look.
"I see it too," Bruce murmured to Phil as he sat down with his own breakfast. "I'll try talking to Bucky again tonight. He hasn't been enthusiastic about the previous options for getting to sleep. Maybe I can convince him to follow me in thinking outside the box."
"Hey, Tony," said Bucky. "I'm sorry for teasing you about setting the table the other day. That was mean and I shouldn't have said it. I'll work on acting like less of a jerk."
Tony gave him a too-bright smile. "No problem," he said. "It's not like my mouth has brakes either. So just forget about it. Really."
"Well ... I was going ask about the special glasses," Bucky said, looking aside. "I don't want to take them away from Steve and Bruce, but I could use a set of my own. I kind of tend to break things." His metal fingers clenched.
"Can you feel the difference when you're squeezing too hard?" Tony asked. He picked up Bucky's left hand and prodded the fingers gently.
"Sometimes. It depends on what I'm holding, how the shape of it touches my hand," Bucky said. "If I get upset or distracted though, it doesn't matter."
"Huh. Wonder if there's a short or something," Tony muttered. He let go of Bucky. "As for your glassware, I brought up some new stuff already. It's in the cabinets."
"Thanks, Tony," said Bucky.
Tony waved him off and went back to poking at the remains of the coffee machine. Phil pried him away from that, not wanting to see another fire started. Bruce chuckled at the brief tussle. Then Tony retreated to his lab with a smoothie and promises to produce a new coffee machine. Bucky claimed some breakfast for himself, but it didn't seem to give him much energy.
"Steve, why don't you take Bucky to the gym today and see how his muscle memory holds up?" Phil said. "Based on what we've seen so far, I think that's in much better shape than his memory of events. Maybe try a little hand-to-hand sparring." It was taking advantage of the situation a bit, but the exercise might help Bucky wear out enough to get some sleep.
"That's a good idea," Betty said with a nod. "Amnesia often affects personal memories while leaving some other types intact."
"His aim still works," Clint said. "He did fine on the shooting range, even learned the new guns pretty fast."
"They needed my physical skills in working order. They wanted me for my body, so they couldn't mess with it too much," Bucky said softly. "They just ... didn't want me in it."
"You're a good man. They wanted a mindless assassin. Stands to reason they'd have to get you out of the way, for that," Steve said. "You must have fought them so much that the only way they could control you was to erase your memory and replace it with something else."
"I hadn't really thought about it like that," Bucky said.
"Excuse me," Bruce said faintly and scurried out of the room. Betty hastened to follow him. Phil trusted Betty to take care of Bruce -- this touched on an old fear of his -- allowing Phil to keep watch over Bucky's evolving situation.
* * *
Notes:
Omelettes make a nutritious and versatile breakfast, easy to customize for different people's tastes.
Fire extinguishers come in several types. The CO2 version that Phil uses is good for electrical fires and leaves no residue. The tower has a plentiful supply of fire extinguishers, usually stocked in sets in the main rooms and labs.
Deceit can be a defense mechanism. Parents influence how their children perceive truth and falsehood. Intelligence, domineering parents, and harsh discipline all contribute to lying. Adult survivors of child abuse often rely on deceit as a routine survival skill. Consider how badly people respond in canon when Tony tells the truth, and you can see why he hesitates to do so.
Repetition helps secure a message in the mind. It's especially useful to change negative thoughts to positive ones, or to help negative people gain a positive outlook.
Velociraptors are dinosaurs appearing in all three Jurassic Park movies. The egg plot appears in Jurassic Park III. You can see how Steve is beginning to acclimate to modern life by using cultural references in conversation.
Sleep deprivation can have short-term and long-term impact on functionality and health. Bucky's symptoms gradually get worse the longer he stays awake.
Physical activity can help overcome insomnia, especially aerobic exercise.
Forced dissociation is a fundamental part of mind control. Psychological trauma can lead to dissociative disorders. Notice how Bucky displays all five of the core symptoms of dissociation: amnesia, derealization, depersonalization, identity confusion, and identity alteration. The history of mind control spans many attempts, with varying methods and success, to knap and influence thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. A sophisticated, deliberate effort such as applied to Bucky and Natasha can produce deeper and more precise results than ordinary child abuse like Bruce suffered.
[To be continued in Part 33 ...]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-11 11:46 am (UTC)Yes...
Date: 2013-06-12 06:49 am (UTC)It will help, but that's going to take time. Bucky is just starting to identify his feelings about what happened to him. So that's a big bubbling vat of crud to deal with. One good thing is that he's in a supportive environment immediately, which means there won't be added damage from external victim-blaming and people will be prepared to counter his negative views of himself. All the Avengers have gone through various experiences of helplessness and violation, so they know what it's like.
>> He was re-programmed and Natasha was programmed from the start. How do you recover from that and reinvent yourself?<<
For Bucky, that means rediscovering who he was before the trauma, and then integrating his more recent experiences with that. He was a whole person and a good man. He's got plenty to work with; it's just a matter of finding it, which is a lot of work, and fitting it together with the later stuff, which is tricky.
For Natasha, she has no such foundation to build upon, very little memory of her life before the Red Room, and a toddler's self-image is barely beginning to form. (This is a real issue for anyone who experienced abuse at a very young age: it tends to pre-empt certain developmental steps.) So she has to start almost from scratch, discovering or deciding what kind of person she would like to be. She has a hard time identifying her emotions. Plus the masking effect of all the cover personas really obscures who she is inside, although it has let her explore many different traits.
>> (it's hard enough to do with a "normally neurotic" upbringing!...) <<
Yes, that's true. However, I'm using materials for conventional rape, child abuse, prolonged-duress stress disorder, etc. in formulating the pattern for how Bucky and Natasha manifest effects from their mangled histories. I draw on the similarities to create a plausible story.
>> I enjoy reading and following them as they progress and learn! Thanks for this :) ! <<
You're welcome. I'm glad you like it.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-11 01:48 pm (UTC)Phil has a mountain of paperwork explaining the grape ape disaster -- all he needs is a query from the zoo asking if they could possible manage to get one next time.
Yes...
Date: 2013-06-13 02:45 am (UTC)Gosh, it really is, though I didn't notice it until you mentioned this. I guess even superheroes have Days Like That.
>> Tony must not have gotten any sleep either if he has a set of unbreakable glassware already. <<
Well, since the pattern already existed and he has fabrication facilities in the tower, he could have just had it fabbed automatically. But this is Tony, who has no circadian rhythm and can't resist upgrading the Iron Man suit every time he has to bench it for repairs. So he probably did stay up making glassware.
>>Bruce is feeling stressed and tired.<<
Poor guy, he spends a lot of time like that.
>> Phil has a mountain of paperwork explaining the grape ape disaster -- all he needs is a query from the zoo asking if they could possible manage to get one next time. <<
*laugh* I could not resist adding this brilliant idea to a later chapter.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-11 08:45 pm (UTC)-RockafellaSaint
P.S: I curious, because you make a point of Clint and Natasha's sexuality, and you mention Cap, Betty, ans Bruce's- what about Tony and Phil? Even in canon Tony reads as Bi to me, with some pretty severe intimacy and commitment issues, but as of the Avengers move he was in a steady relationship with Pepper, yet she is barely mentioned in this series. I'm just wondering if there was a reason for that? And Phil, other than that vague mention of a cellist in Portland, has no canonically stated sexuality at all. I realize these issues are not central to the bond you are attempting to show forming within the team, but I still can't help but wonder. :P Sorry for the random tangent.
Thoughts
Date: 2013-06-13 04:52 am (UTC)Thank you! There is more to come.
>> I'm glad you aren't focusing solely on Bucky, but instead have realized, and chosen to deal with, the inevitable backlash his situation will have on the others. Both as individuals and as a team. <<
Bucky is the centerpiece of this story, because it's his introduction. But bringing him in necessarily hurts Steve and Natasha, to see how badly he's been abused; and it rouses issues for everyone else too, in various ways. He throws a lot more weight on the net in ways that change the team dynamics, contrasted with Betty who slipped in quietly. So there are ripples going through everyone, and that requires attention, along with showing how Bucky gradually settles down.
>> Keep up the fantastic work! :D <<
I hope that I'll have time to continue the series.
>> P.S: I curious, because you make a point of Clint and Natasha's sexuality, and you mention Cap, Betty, ans Bruce's- what about Tony and Phil? <<
Tony is opportunistically sexual; he doesn't seem to exclude anyone based on their meat, and his other standards can be pretty lax. I don't think he has a very healthy attitude about sex. Some people with boundary issues will just hump anything, and that's how Tony acts in the movies. He might be aromantic, and just trying to form romantic relationships because he's confused about having been told it's expected. He might be romantic, and doing a crappy job of it because he's emotionally messed up. But either way, Tony is not currently capable of sustaining a romantic relationship, and not fluent with other kinds of relationship either.
>> Even in canon Tony reads as Bi to me, with some pretty severe intimacy and commitment issues, but as of the Avengers move he was in a steady relationship with Pepper, yet she is barely mentioned in this series. I'm just wondering if there was a reason for that? <<
Not all characters fit into all series. It's common in fanfic -- I gather because the Tony/Pepper relationship in the comics is on-again-off-again -- to write Pepper out of Tony's life. I just don't see him being able to hold that together. So my premise is that they tried but agreed they made better friends than lovers.
Most of what this series covers is the kind of deep emotional territory that Pepper ... really isn't great with. She's a brilliant organizer and a great businesswoman, but when Tony spills his personal life on her, she tends to flinch and/or nag. (Not to mention the fucking epic FAIL with Tony's PTSD nightmares in Iron Man 3 which is non-canon for this series.) I may bring Pepper in at some point if her skills fit the plot, but in general, they don't much. I have used her in other fanfic.
>> And Phil, other than that vague mention of a cellist in Portland, has no canonically stated sexuality at all. <<
I think Phil is just busy with other things. I don't read him as ace. I suspect he has a low enough sex drive that occasional hookups suffice. He may have friends-with-benefits. He probably doesn't feel safe having a relationship outside of work, and would be hesitant to mix business and pleasure, which really limits his options. So I doubt he's monosexual.
I haven't done much with sex in this series because of the childhood focus. I'm more likely to handle it obliquely than directly. Phil in particular is more likely to be left unspecified because he's the grownup. Tony's sex life has already been specified as a problem, so that may come onscreen at some point if he crashes.
>> I realize these issues are not central to the bond you are attempting to show forming within the team, but I still can't help but wonder. :P Sorry for the random tangent. <<
It's okay. Discussion is good!
Not everything will fit into every story, or even series. I try not to overcram things; I've seen a lot of stuff ruined that way.
Awesome
Date: 2013-06-12 04:05 am (UTC)Re: Awesome
Date: 2013-06-13 06:45 am (UTC)Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying this so much.
>> I love your characterization, and writing style. <<
In fanfic, I typically start with canon examples, backtrack to see what would logically have caused that, then move forward with a new storyline. So the characterizations tend to stick close to canon. With writing style, you can see how I'm experimenting with different techniques in different stories.
>> I love the conversations, I love the age-play. <<
Yay! Ageplay is a new thing for me in this series.
>> I especially enjoy your explanations at the end of every chapter. I feel like I'm getting the best of two worlds. I'm getting a well written story with great author commentary and a great emotional education as well. <<
That's wonderful. I like writing controversial topics, so I feel that doing the homework is important if I'm going to do them justice. That's true across all my work, although in this series fans went nuts over the footnotes so I have expanded that feature. I have some others that also run to footnotes such as Schrodinger's Heroes, Hart's Farm, and Fiorenza the Wisewoman.
>> I am in awe of the research you must have done to put this together, and I am so very thankful to have found your work. <<
*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service. Wordsmithing is my dayjob, so I'm long practiced at research.
>> Thank you for writing, and sharing as well. <<
You're welcome!
>> I look forward to reading more (all) of your work. <<
*chuckle* If you mean the fanfic, a good chunk of it is on AO3, and some here. If you mean in general ... I have thousands of poems on my blog alone, dozens of stories scattered around, and a ton of nonfiction. You can ask me for pointers if you've a taste for specific things, or just Google my name some time when you have some hours to kill. It's likely worth your while to keep reading; if you like the themes of nonsexual love, teamfamily, and making the world a better place in this series, those appear widely in my writing. Along with everything else that's ever caught my attention, because -- ooo! Butterflies!
Re: Awesome
Date: 2013-06-18 03:38 am (UTC)Still loving this series heaps and catching up!
Re: Awesome
Date: 2013-06-22 05:06 am (UTC)Alas, Love Is For Children is the first and so far only thing I've done with this topic. It's not one of my regulars. I might try it somewhere else if an idea catches me, though.
Some related themes I handle frequently are nonsexual love, hurt/comfort, caretaking, families of choice, and community. If those are things you also like, then you might enjoy:
Schrodinger's Heroes
Monster House
Hart's Farm
Fiorenza the Wisewoman
>> I went and looked for all the other AO3 stories with that tag but there are predictably few and it's something I adore :) <<
Then you've probably seen most or all the ones by other people that I have found. There is almost nothing on this topic in fiction, or even nonfiction. Which is sad, because a lot of people would benefit from reparenting.
>> Still loving this series heaps and catching up! <<
Yay! That's good to hear.
Re: Awesome
Date: 2013-08-18 11:55 pm (UTC)This. In spite of studying patterns I learned to recognize in my life: codependency, being an Adult Child of Alcoholics, having to learn i have a tendency to pick partners who were verbally abusive... And a few other issues... I'm sure learning that I still have more to learn about living as a healthy primate in relationship with other healthy primates.
Thanks, Ysabet.
Re: Awesome
Date: 2013-08-19 06:18 am (UTC)I'm getting more interested in literature as a way of modeling functional lifestyles. I think it helps my work stand out because so many heroes, especially in modern work, are not just fucked up as individuals but also terribly isolated. Superheroes are often shown as unable to compensate for the job factors that make relationships challenging. While that makes for some entertaining stories, it's a hazardous and depressing message to send to people who may be struggling with similar issues. So I like to write about how people work through their challenges.
I'm glad folks are finding this helpful and entertaining.