Story: "Hairpins" Part 5

This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," and "Green Eggs and Hulk."

Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, JARVIS, Clint Barton, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanova, Bruce Banner.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: This story is mostly fluff, but it has some intense scenes in the middle. Highlight for details. These include dubious consent as Phil and JARVIS discuss what really happened when Agent Coulson hacked his way into Stark Tower, over which Phil has something between a flashback and a panic attack. They also discuss some of the bad things that have happened to Avengers in the past, including various flavors of abuse. If these are sensitive topics for you, please think carefully before deciding whether to read onward.
Summary: Uncle Phil needs to pick out pajamas for game night. He gets help from an unexpected direction.
Notes: Service. Shopping. Gifts. Artificial intelligence. Computers. Teamwork. Team as family. Friendship. Communication. Hope. Apologies. Forgiveness. Nonsexual ageplay. Nonsexual intimacy. Love. Tony Stark needs a hug. Bruce Banner needs a hug. #coulsonlives.

Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Skip to Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10.

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Thoughts on Disability

Here's an interesting look at disability in RPG characters. 

I realized -- I don't think I've been in a serious game without at least one character with a notable disability.  Whether I'm gamemastering or playing, whether it's my character or someone else's, it's just been a running motif.  Doesn't even matter if the character generation system had a mechanic for that, I know how to work it in.  It always adds an interesting challenge, because done right, you have to think about things very differently than usual.  

Part of the fun in gaming is to be someone else  for a while.  Maybe at first, you're really kind of playing yourself in badass armor or robes or whatnot.  But as you learn how roleplaying works, you get the hang of experiencing the world through someone else's perspective.  This can really, really improve your problem-solving skills, and sometimes, your social skills too.

Standard rules apply: Have fun.  Don't be a dick.  Don't make fun of other people.  Do your best.  And remember to bring the snacks when it is your turn.


This article is about underrepresentation vs. misrepresentation of wheelchair users.

I have some characters in wheelchairs.  Brenda Cochlain in P.I.E. uses a variety of manual chairs, from a lightweight everyday model to a more robust combat model designed after rugby chairs.  She actually has partial mobility, but is far more agile in a chair than upright.  She wrecked her legs in a kayak accident.  Dr. Doohickey started with a hospital-issued chair, immediately hated it, built one that didn't suck, wasn't satisfied with that either, and invented a gizmotronic antchair instead.  This is after he lost his legs in a death trap that didn't finish killing him.

One thing I've noticed that I do differently from many writers is that, if a character has a disability, I often want to know how they got it because that defines what they can and can't do.  For bit characters, I don't always go that far; but for focal characters, usually.  Not only does it make for more precise and representative writing, it lets me reuse the same basic motif (character in a wheelchair) in very different ways.

Last Day to Vote!

This is the last day to vote in the 2014 Rose & Bay Awards for excellence in cyberfunded creativity.  If you haven't already voted for your favorite projects, please do so today. 

Story by Sharpeningthebones

sharpeningthebones wrote this ficlet based on my prompt about nonsexual hair service.

Female Villains

Here's an interesting discussion of female villains.

I don't actually write a lot of villains, per se. More often, I write about life challenges or characters just getting in each other's way. Let's see what I've got, though ...

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