usedshield
NO, YOU MOVE.
THEY SAY THAT OLD SOLDIERS NEVER DIE.writing blog for unitedwestandhq.
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Conscience 'n cowardice are really the same things.
during the war, what’d they say about bucky --- he was doing all the things captain america couldn’t, wouldn’t, shouldn’t do? the words seemed a reflection of that, of those times before ( before everything, before nothingness, before the new century could claim them ), and they sat in the air between the men for a beat too long. maybe steve thought they’d outgrown that; maybe he’d thought their roles had switched now that the blazing star rested solely on bucky’s chest. or maybe steve was living too far in the past. maybe the words were just words.
“you really believe that?” he finally said. it seemed the safest question, the one that gave the least away.
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There is nothing that art cannot express.
at one point in his life, steve might’ve agreed with the statement. there was something to be said about the strokes of a painting, the sketched outlines of a pencil --- they captured the artist’s frenzy as much as the piece of artwork did. there were a hundred secrets in any form of art; there were countless emotions, wrapped up in color and negative space. how many times had he taken to drawing something he couldn’t say --- that he didn’t dare say?
but he knew better now. she’d taught him that much. what was art, to saving each other --- to relying on that safety in the midst of violence? what was art, to the first time he kissed her? he could capture a moment in a sketch, he could capture the abstract world of feelings; it would never do it justice.
“i can think of one or two things,” he answered, half a smile on his face.
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@ailesdefaucon !!
“i gotta be honest, pal ---” the scene they were involved with was far too near to the last one, the one where it all went wrong. all the same, steve was falling into pre-mission banter with a familiar ease. this would be different because they’d make it different; the team had suffered enough failures, enough hardships. he slipped on his gloves. it was time. “i’d rather be here than at that gala.”
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The Picture of Dorian Gray sentence starters
Stolen straight from Oscar Wilde’s novel courtesy of @spoilers-ahead-647 ! Feel free to change pronouns/tense.
There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.
A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.
I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.
It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue.
What nonsense you talk!
He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.
To realize one’s nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for.
People are afraid of themselves. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to oneself.
Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it.
The bravest man amongst us is afraid of himself.
Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us.
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
You know you believe it all.
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.
Don’t frown.
It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.
Live! Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations. Be afraid of nothing.
With your personality there is nothing you could not do.
The moment I met you I saw that you were quite unconscious of what you really are, of what you really might be.
Man is many things, but he is not rational.
Ah! This morning! You have lived since then.
I wish I could trust myself.
What I want is information; not useful information, of course; useless information.
I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.
I can sympathize with everything, except suffering.
The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional.
Humanity takes itself too seriously.
If the caveman had known how to laugh, history would have been different.
People like you—the willful sunbeams of life—don’t commit crimes.
To have ruined oneself over poetry is an honour.
People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves.
Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.
Medieval art is charming, but medieval emotions are out of date.
I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.
One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.
The one charm of the past is that it is the past.
Conscience makes egotists of us all.
There is nothing that you, with your extraordinary good looks, will not be able to do.
This world and I are on excellent terms.
Moderation is a fatal thing.
I never quarrel with actions. My one quarrel is with words.
You and I are what we are, and will be what we will be.
The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it.
Your cynicism is simply a pose.
Being natural is simply a pose, and the most irritating pose I know.
I had a strange feeling that Fate had in store for me exquisite joys and exquisite sorrows.
She is a peacock in everything but beauty.
Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.
You like everyone; that is to say, you are indifferent to everyone.
I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.
He is all my art to me now.
There is nothing that art cannot express,
You might see nothing in him. I see everything in him.
My heart shall never be put under their microscope.
I find a strange pleasure in saying things to him that I know I shall be sorry for having said.
You can’t feel what I feel. You change too often.
Those who are faithful know only the trivial side of love: it is the faithless who know love’s tragedies.
The rich would have spoken on the value of thrift, and the idle grown eloquent over the dignity of labour.
The world is wide, and has many marvelous people in it.
Would you think it awfully rude of me if I asked you to go away?
He has a very bad influence over all his friends, with the single exception of myself.
I suppose he has been paying you compliments.
You mustn’t believe a word that he says.
Always! That is a dreadful word. It makes me shudder when I hear it.
He won’t like you the better for keeping your promises. He always breaks his own.
If a man is a gentleman, he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.
Most people discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.
All I want now is to look at life.
You may come and look at it with me, if you care to.
People know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.
You filled me with a wild desire to know everything about life.
Don’t be afraid. There are exquisite things in store for you. This is merely the beginning.
The longer I live, the more keenly I feel that whatever was good enough for our fathers is not good enough for us.
Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away.
Experience is of no ethical value. It is merely the name men give to their mistakes.
Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.
You are much better than you pretend to be.
Love is a more wonderful thing than art.
There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has a right to blame us.
It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.
You call yesterday the past?
The past can always be annihilated. But the future is inevitable.
Society, civilized society at least, is never very ready to believe anything to the detriment of those who are both rich and fascinating.
Even the cardinal virtues cannot atone for half-cold entrées.
I am tired of myself tonight.
With such blood as he has in his veins, how could his record be clean?
You have chattered enough about corruption. Now you shall look on it face to face.
Each of us has heaven and hell in him.
You have done enough evil in your life.
You would be a set of unfortunate bachelors.
I give the truths of tomorrow.
I prefer the mistakes of today.
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@cfbartcn !!
“this one’s going to go better than last time.” steve would be more careful this time, less driven by stark anger. ( this was a new threat, a new worry, a new chance. ) he felt less like he was made of ragged edges. they weren’t in any less danger, but they had a plan. they had clear heads. “everyone else is busy. i don’t see any other option.” he let out a sigh. yes, it was up to them to find the red hood; no, it was none of them alone. “ --- are you ready?”
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maxhimov·.
HONESTY IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE, but that does not stop men from believing they can force it to be something it isn’t. Or force it to exist at all. Or force it to be nothing.
❝ And it is hurting to you. ❞ Again, Steve wears the blood of his own honesty proudly as he had the star on his chest ; again, Wanda wonders if he’s chosen that, or if it was simply placed upon him as that same star had been. She finds herself quite suddenly unwilling to pursue the questions she’d so feverishly sought an answer to. Instead, she lays a hand upon his arm, too - warm and dry and solid where perhaps it would be expected to be slight. ❝ Do you not trust them ? ❞
he shifted --- for all the truth lived between them, it was not always a comfortable thing. ( he did not want to admit the hurt. for what was, for what never would be. he had learned to live with a hundred different versions of this hurt. what would admitting to it do now? ) her hand anchored him, and he placed his own on top of hers. “i trust them. i do.” some of them. “but it’s like with shield. the entire organization was built in the image of hydra, whether we knew it or not. and there were good people with shield --- there’re still good people with shield. but ultimately, it shouldn’t exist anymore. it’s been compromised in a way you don’t come back from.”
he pulled back from her touch. “you don’t need to hear this,” he concluded. “we should focus on our mission.” he flashed her a half-smile, recalling her earlier words. “the dirty work.”
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Keith Haring Journals, February 15, 1989
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grccnanger·.
Damn it Steve.
Bruce stopped his tracks and pulls steve in an alleyway so they can talk. “Rodgers, you of all people should know that I don’t need help. I’ve been doing fine on my own.” he replied. “You didn’t have to come here, im not worth it.” Bruce meant that dearly, almost like he was begging him to just go on with whatever he was doing to and to just completely disregard him.
Bruce sighed as he rubbed his face in frustration, though the damage have been done. It’s been years since he actually talked to any of his old teammates. Bruce didn’t know if he was glad Steve even gave a damn about him or if he was angry that he of all people were looking for him. “You know…for a soldier, you’re not very good at the ‘keeping a low profile’.” the scientist remarked. “ How did you know i was here?- I made sure none of you…including S.H.E.I.L.D knows where i was.”
“you might not need it, but you might want it. this isn’t a good time to be alone.” bruce was smart, strong --- he was everything he needed to be to survive. but there was something more than survival to be found, even if he couldn’t see it at the moment. steve reached out, resting his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “we were on the same team once. i don’t just forget something like that, pal. let’s just talk for a few minutes, alright? then i’ll leave if you want me to.”
bruce’s remark earned a grin, and steve crossed his arms over his chest, giving a half-shrug. “i’ve never been much good at that --- used to frustrate the hell out of the commandos.” and while he certainly had gotten better at it, he was never meant to have the subtlety of a spy; there was a time, a place, and a person for that. sometimes the best approach was more direct. “i’m not a part of shield anymore,” he explained simply. “besides, i’ve showed up at more than one spot thinking i’d find you and found nothing at all, so i’d say you’ve done a damn good job of it. but you can’t run forever, doctor. none of us can.”
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maxhimov·.
STEVE’S ENERGY ALWAYS FEELS LIKE THE AFTERMATH OF A RAINSTORM, unmistakable, powerful, calming but never calm. She will sit and feel the force of it roll off him like waves of springtime humidity and see without looking. He reveals more, always, than Wanda thinks he means to.
A change in tack, or rather : a different line of questioning entirely. ❝ — — And what was it meaning ? Before ? What did they not understand ? ❞
he didn’t say anything for a while. there was always a truth between him and wanda, always something that existed that said, let us be honest, in all its heartbreak. finally, he shrugged, a half-hearted gesture. “we were trying to do better; we needed to exist because we were the only ones who could do that.” there was something there --- history, he supposed. “they’re calling themselves the avengers because they think it’s the name of a team. i don’t know if they realize it’s as much a promise as anything else.”
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grccnanger·.
he didn’t know if he was born with the worst possible luck in the world or fate has been toying with him form the start, but the last thing he wanted was to run into one of his old co-workers. let alone, steve rogers. “shit.” he cursed to himself, rogers why did you have to so damn oblivious.
“i don’t know who you’re talking about. leave me alone.” banner didn’t want to bring out too much attention, but it sure didn’t help with steve being around. he needed to get away, so with that bruce started to speed walk away from the man. it wasn’t like he didn’t want him around, steve and him used to be in The Avengers…they were both on the run.
but bruce wasn’t taking those risks, no, not now or ever. he was good, he let go of the whole hero freak-show act.
banner felt himself getting stressed out, he can NOT get caught again, but he also felt the guilt eat him alive. Steve was a friend…..right?
“Used to be.’”
That was Joe (aka: The Grey Hulk), one of the few alters in bruce’s head, banner groans in frustration, he didn’t want to deal with any of the others bossing him around; bruce just needed to get as far away from rogers. “it was for his own good” he said to himself. the doctor could hear Joe say “the past always gets back at you, banner.”
god he hated he was right.
well, that wasn’t great --- there wasn’t much worse than greeting someone and hearing shit in answer. and it only seemed to get worse, each statement from the man building on itself. it shined on bruce’s face, and steve let him run through it. hell, steve would have let him run off if he needed; he wasn’t looking to start a fight he couldn’t win in a town they both wanted to remain anonymous in.
“i’m not here to bring you in, bruce,” steve said softly. he had never been good at this, at being the kind of friend that bruce needed. ( he liked to think they were friends, but then again, he had thought of tony as a friend too. ) steve followed after bruce, keeping his distance and never walking too quickly.
“i heard you were here.” steve kept every part of himself non-threatening, let the golden truth come through him. “i thought you might need some help.”
#grccnanger#10 yrs late i'm sry!!!!#also no icons rn rip#also this is SO funny#steve: hello#bruce: [SPEED WALKS AWAY]
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maxhimov·.
❝ AM I WRONG ? ❞ Despite her tone, she is truly asking. ❝ Why are they calling themselves THE AVENGERS now if we are still to be doing the dirtiest of the work ? ❞
@usedshield· !
“they’re hoping the name still means something.” steve tried to keep himself from having a tone to match hers, but it was harder than he would have thought. “’course they never did much understand what the name meant in the first place.”
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Falcon here. WSC event a bust. Credible threat pending against S.H.I.E.L.D. facility near Bedford, NY. Rendez-vous coordinates 41.1989988,-73.657528. 21:00 HRS. Confirm when message received.
He shouldn’t have been surprised; god knew he shouldn’t have been surprised. Alexander Luthor had a special talent of twisting situations to his advantage --- hadn’t they learned that at the gala? ( And Steve was really beginning to doubt the man didn’t have something to do with this. ) Steve read the message once, twice, and let out a sigh. They’d prepared for this. It was the reason they had remained unregistered, after all. He returned the message with one word: CONFIRMED.
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xoxosuperman·.
Steve did not look the least comfortable with the request that he stay out of the investigation, but it was a attitude Clark could only sympathize all too much with. If he was Steve’s shoes, he would find that mightly difficult as well, if he didn’t have Lois. But hopefully, Steve trusted him nearly as much, trust him enough to let them see it through for him, because this was once situation now where doing nothing was going to do less harm.
There’s one more thing. Clark raised his brows at that, then knitted them as he took in Steve’s word attentively. Then he smiled, albeit with a touch of melancholy. “So the Cap’s noticed it too huh? That’s reassuring. I thought some of us were getting paranoid for bit there - we’ve certainly got nothing worth writing about yet, but yeah. We’ll be careful. Leave no stone unturned.”
“You know what they say: it’s not paranoia...” If they really were out to get you. Nonetheless, it was a relief that others had noticed and that, even now, even despite the news against him, there were still those who sought the truth. ( The only question was --- could he really keep himself out of it before he next heard from Clark Kent? ) “I’ll send you any more information I manage to find out. And --- thanks.”
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cfbartcn·.
CONT’D ❱
The corner of his mouth tips UP, the beginnings of a GRIN that borders on WRY. ❝ Been practicing it in the mirror when I can’t sleep –––––– ❞ A joke, but he’s certain they could all use a little bit of HUMOR these days.
❝ Wish I could say I’ve got something BETTER than THAT … ❞
@usedshield· !!
“well, go on then --- i’m here.” steve gestured the man forward, his tone light and halfway teasing. some days, it felt like the whole world was pressing down on all sides; some days, you had to make a bit of a fool of yourself. “you might as well get your practice in. i could use a few inspiring words.”
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slvicshdow·.
[ ENCRYPTED COMM / SR ] give me a day
[ ENCRYPTED COMM / SR ] i’d rather talk about this in person
OR LESS , dependent on her ability to slip away unnoticed. ( An ability she is gifted with, as told by a countless number of side-hobbies and freelance jobs picked up over the last few months ). The desire to steal away time requires pushing aside all thoughts of how odd it is she would be drawing closer to this man, left without a country. “ ——- Don’t ask if I’m going to arrest you, okay? The joke is getting old. ”
“ --- aw, but it always gets a laugh.” for a moment, he did not want to think about what her visit to him might mean. ( things were, it turned out, always more complicated than he would care for. ) he simply took a moment to look at her, to check for new bruises or scars that might give him a hint as to what she had been involved with. and finally, when he could see that she was alright and that she was there, he smiled, the gesture small and soft. “it’s good to see you, natasha.”
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grccnanger·.
banner blended in within the crowed streets of a small town he had just visited, lucky for him there wasn’t a lot of government security here but that didn’t mean the doctor had to lower his guard. he adjusted the cap he was wearing to make his face less recognizable and walked his way over to a nearby motel. he checked himself in (thank god for pit pocketing) and made his way to his room. Once he got there, Bruce made sure to check the windows, to make sure they were locked until he covered them with the curtains.
Once that was done, bruce finally sat down in the old bed and pulled out his tape recorder. he pressed record. “personal journal of dr. robert bruce banner continued. after a long journey, i finally reached civilization, a small town in canada,i have yet to find out where i actually am, but it should be safe enough until the time being.” bruce said. “ it seems quiet and peaceful, hopefully i’ll leave my part in this town before i head out.” the scientist sighed. “ the downside would have to be the small town itself, everyone is familiar with one another and new people tend to stand out; but that shouldn’t be a problem for me. i’ll know what to do.” and with that bruce stopped recording, he puts away his tape recorder and finally leans back in the creaky bed. getting as much rest as he can possibly get.
a couple of hours passed by, and bruce couldn’t drift back to sleep. great, it was beginning to get nightfall anyways. for starters, bruce needed weather appropriate clothes. using the stolen credit cards, he should have enough money to get the things he needed. Bruce grabbed his bag and got himself ready before heading out into the streets of this small town.
It was not coincidence that brought Steve here; coincidence did not exist in their world. It was a lot of favors, some good luck, and more than a few laws broken on Steve’s part. ( Being a fugitive crossing into Canada being the least among them. ) With all that said, it was coincidence that finally had Steve running into Bruce --- Steve had been taking a walk of his own, debating about when to make contact, when he glimpsed the familiar silhouette.
Steve walked up beside the man, waiting until he was only a few feet away before clearing his throat. He wore a too-large coat and a cap pulled low over his features, but he didn’t want to frighten the man. ( He especially didn’t want to frighten the man. )
“Banner?” His voice sounded too loud in the uncrowded street. God knew he felt he was getting worse at this. “It’s been a while.”
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slvicshdow·.
[ ENCRYPTED COMM / SR ] it matters to me, steve.
[ ENCRYPTED COMM / SR ] because you’re right
[ ENCRYPTED COMM / SR ] it’s not a team, it’s a business arrangement. and the name is powerful, and something people want to believe in again.
[ ENCRYPTED COMM / SR ] where are you?
[ text: NR ]: Think it’ll work this time ?
[ text: NR ]: Someplace new. I’ll send you the coordinates..
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