Steve's Birthday Calendar Day 22: Underrated Steve Pairing
To be honest, as a Steve rare pair connoisseur, I think Stucky and Stony are so damn massive that almost every other Steve pairing feels underrated by default. That said...
SamSteve.
They've been partners for the better part of fifty years and across universes. Steve's as likely to crash out over Sam getting a paper cut as he is over Sam getting a girlfriend. The world's most adorable meet-cute in The Winter Soldier. That gaaaaze at the end of Civil War. Sam's voice being the thing that gave Steve hope during the Battle of Earth. Instant connection, unwavering trust. "Joined at the soul" this, "a man whom I love with all my heart" that. What the fuck do you mean they only have 3700 fics on AO3? And more than like half of them are the ship as a stepping stone, background fodder, or part of a polycule*? What? What?
People saying they're tired of seeing this or that type of fics on here... Like, stfu? If you don't like scroll past or if you want something different maybe try writing yourself?
Quit slagging what others might actually enjoy just because its not your particular type of fic.
I'm sure you care not in the least but it has been bothering me all week that I never got around to this one. The main delay being you asked me two things for which I could probably write 10k and not be done.
I did interesting fact already so skipping that.
Unpopular opinion - ok this is niche, I get that, but I have never had the opportunity to vent this particular pet peeve so you can have it...
It's not DIRT. Soil? Earth? Compost? The precious layer of organic matter on which all life depends? The 12 inches of top soil standing between the whole human race and starvation?
IT'S 👏 NOT 👏 "DIRT" 👏
Calling soil, laying in the garden, doing it's job, hosting millions of life forms and feeding the entire world "dirty" is like calling your bowl of soup "dirt" before you spill it down your off-white chinos.
This leads into my position on "weeds" but let's not get started...
Parenting advice -
Another thing I could say millions of different things about, all true and heartfelt. A big one being simply "don't". But after a week then one thing I come back to is
""no" means no."
Seems obvious but it's actually crucial and so many parents fuck this up. There's two sides to it...
First, if you say "no" about something, an outright no, then you HAVE to stick to it. Don't be nagged, persuaded, cajoled, distracted into letting that no turn into a yes. This is hard work. The little bastards can be persistent and they know every trick in the book to piss you off. It is much much easier to say yes than no in most situations. So when you say "no", know that you're going to spending energy in upholding it.
But that leads into the second part - only say "no" when you have to. It's going to take a load of effort so just, don't do it if you don't have to. They want to wear Christmas PJ's in May? So what. That doesn't need to be one of your precious "no"s. They want to swap seats with you in the cafe? They want to eat their butter separately to their toast (yes my kid actually does this!) just let it happen. If it's not harmful, just weird, just let it gooooo. Decide what your big boundaries are as a household and THAT is where the no's go. For us its just the basics of not hitting or screaming, safety around roads, water, electricity etc, and we have to get dressed and toothbrushed before we go outside.
The obvious benefit of this is your kid will learn that you can't be persuaded and will (somewhat) stop fighting so hard on those things. But also, "no" means no is a fundamental building block of consent, of treating people well and expecting the same in return. Which child is more likely to be suspicious of an adult who when told "no I don't want to get in your car" carries on trying to persuade them? The one who has been raised this way or the one who's parents "no"s often meant "keep trying, maybe".
Ugh, sorry I’ve got a bee in my bonnet. I’m just SO OVER the constant REALLY REALLY CRAPPY reposts of what are blatantly obviously Tumblr posts that take minimal effort to find. Fucking Pinterest has so much to answer for.
TFW your difficult-to-deal-with-but-well-meaning in-law is rebuilding your garage for cheap so you feel you own him but you know it’s gonna be a battle when it comes time to discuss siding cuz he’s assuming vinyl but you hate vinyl with the fiery burning passion of a thousand vinyl-melting suns and Do Not Want it you’ve done research and are pretty sure you want to go with LP Smart Siding panels so you can PAINT the damn things a color other than BEIGEY BEIGE and you are GEARING UP FOR THE BUT-VINYL-IS-NO-MAINTENANCE LECTURE THAT YOU KNOW IS COMING.
and the icing. the icING on the cake is when he asks your husband (his nephew) to go to his daughters house (your husbands cousin) to help with some stuff on her reno and husband tells you one of the things he’s doing is GROUT. GROUT
I DON’T THINK MY HUSBAND EVEN KNOWS WHERE THEY KEEP GROUT IN THE STORE.
HE HAS NEVER GROUTED. HE HAS NO IDEA WHATS INVOLVED IN A PROPER TILE INSTALL. NONE. NADA. ZILCH. ZERO.
I HAVE GROUTED. I HAVE TILED. I HAVE LAID BRICK. I HAVE ASSISTED IN BUILDING PATIOS AND RETAINING WALLS MY FATHER IS A GODDAMN STONE MASON.
I WAS NOT ASKED FOR MY HELP.
ANOTHER FEELING
when while working on said garage the only things you’re ever asked to do is fetch coffee or forgotten tidbits at Lowes even though it’s CARPENTRY SHIT and between you and your husband YOU ARE THE ONE WHO KNOWS CARPENTRY SHIT.
But you know i have tits so like what do I know or whatever.
And then THAT OTHER FEELING when uncle-in-law feels the need to EXPLAIN TO YOU HOW TO USE A MITER SAW
YOUR MITER SAW
THAT YOU BOUGHT
AND USE REGULARLY
TO DO MUCH MORE COMPLEX TASKS THAN THE TASK OF CUTTING FUCKING 2X4′S IN HALF THAT YOU HAVE BEEN TASKED WITH THIS DAY. A MONKEY COULD DO THIS. BLINDFOLDED.
BITCH I BUILT A TABLE WITHOUT ANY PLANS WITH THIS SAW. KISS MY KILN-DRIED ASS. WE’RE REBUILDING THIS GARAGE TO SERVE AS MY MOTHERFUCKING WOODSHOP.
I was lucky enough to see a screening of Season 4, Episode 2 on Friday night and I’ve been mulling it over carefully for the last four days. I wanted to think about things carefully before writing a sudden knee jerk reaction to it, but I haven’t changed my mind about things so here goes.
The Strain, as it’s very obvious, is my favorite TV show, so maybe my disappointment in the first two episodes is because I’ve held it to higher standards than it really deserves.
I considered giving a review on 4x01, but after seeing the strange volume of undeserved praise it received, I didn’t see a point in really voicing anything negative. At the end of the day, this is the last season ... So what good can come from anything said now? Instead, I decided to just sit back and watch the disaster that is has become unfold before my eyes quietly ...
BUT what happened in 4x02 rubbed me so badly that I’ve got to say something about it, but first ... a tiny confession ...
I’m going to say something that isn’t enthusiastically admitted in the Strain fandom. I like Dutch Velders. Not the Dutch from Season 2 or 3 or ... obviously 4, but I like WHO the character was supposed to be. I am in love with her potential.
However, what the writers have done with her has made her one of the most loathed characters in the series. I’ve spoken to many, MANY, MANY other fans of the Strain, and very few people like anything about her at all.
So, First:
I absolutely love the potential of Dutch Velders:
Dutch Velders is a fucking genius.
Dutch Velders is a world class hacker.
In a nutshell, that means, Dutch Velders specializes in scrutinizing complex systems of security, finding its weaknesses and EXPLOITING those weaknesses for her own gain.
Let us go over that last part one more time ... read it slowly.
Dutch Velders is an expert at scrutinizing complex systems of security, finding its weaknesses and EXPLOITING those weaknesses for her own gain.
Dutch Velders would NOT need to (yet again ... YET AGAIN) use her sexuality to gain the upper hand. She would NOT need it to escape from a minimum security prison. While it can be argued that her USING her sexuality to blackmail the guard to sneaking her out WAS exploiting a weakness, I find the entire concept of that not only disappointing, but also boring and god damn cliché.
The Strain: you built up an intriguing and powerful character in Dutch Velders. I entirely bought into her being a fucking intellectual badass. She had the potential of being a strong and incredibly intelligent female character who could drive parts of the story by her technological abilities ALL on her own, and yet, you relegate her to be a sex toy, season after season after season.
Second:
If you are going to send someone out to find the nuke, who do you send? You send Quinlan, of course, because he is the muscle. But, I’m sorry, you don’t send Fet. You send DUTCH. You send the technological GENIUS, who specializes in digital communication systems. The world class HACKER who can get past security systems. You send the ONLY person in your party who MIGHT BE ABLE TO FIGURE out how to trigger / use the fucking nuke.
Let me reiterate again to really push the absurdity of what was written. You don’t send the EXTERMINATOR to help you retrieve the nuke; you send the HACKER.
Gif by @5disilk
Conclusion
The Strain is a show written about Fathers and Sons for Fathers and Sons. Their continued treatment of the women characters is staggeringly embarrassing.
All the women seem to be entirely inept. In 4x01, from taking men prisoners to do manual labor to Fet tricking his way out of their imprisonment in less than 10 seconds is ridiculous. Other than the inept femi-nazis, Charlotte is useless. She does NOTHING in the episode but be a sexy lamp. And, of course, as the Strain always does, they felt the need to sexualize her immediately and the only thing that I really remember about her character is that everyone thinks she has pretty eyes. Thanks.
In 4x02, the only woman who seemed to be realistic and capable at all was the evil doctor. From the women who just accept their fate, to the woman happily painting to the woman who goes insane from claustrophobia. And don’t worry, Ephraim set his woman straight too.
Oh my god, let people speculate what they want to about the marvel films and quit being such fucking killjoys and shitting all over things people enjoy or would perhaps like to see. Not everything has to be picked apart and branded problematic by the fucking fandom police, ok?
I’m so here for level-headed discourse about things FYI, but some of y'all are so aggressive and downright cunts to people on here for the smallest, most innocent things.
I’ve never seen a such a bunch of privileged, sanctimonious gits in my life…
