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 ...]
(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)