#amelioratrix

Holiday cards, holiday cards, covered in glitter from the holiday cards! 

Santa on a rocket -- it’s captioned “Houston, we have a problem!” is from @rsfcommonplace, thank you for the Hannukah wishes! The one creature stirring (I think I may hang that card up in my kitchen, over the KitchenAid) is from Ishmael aka @mooseman13579 -- the kittens say hello and thank you! @traykor sent me the fun glittery blue Season’s Greetings, and @tehcoah sent me the glittery reindeer Season’s Greetings, both lovely; Tehcoah, I’m so glad you enjoy Trace so much! 

The dinosaur Santa -- IS t-rex santa trying to eat his reindactyls? Who can say? -- is from @yannrens, and I have definitely petted Deebs and Dot in your honor :) The wonderful red and green flowers card, supporting the Breast Cancer Network Australia, is from @amelioratrix -- thanks for the good wishes! The city postcard of downtown Toronto is from @booksnchocolate -- thank you for being such a loyal reader, and I’m glad I could be such a positive influence for you! 

And here is part two of my Post Office Holiday Extravaganza! :) 

Clockwise from upper left:

Joy To The World from @amelioratrix. This was a terrible year, but I’m glad I could help :) 

A very unique Aussie Christmas card and a lovely koala sketch from @kessira -- your art’s going on my cubicle wall! 

A tartan tree in silver and gold from @geekgirl76 -- amusingly, a little hole wore in the envelope right where the tree topper is, so it looked like it was peeking out at me :) 

A very cool 3-D card with gingerbread cookies and nutcrackers from @agentpaxieamor -- it’s been good to see you around again :) I share your hopes for 2017...

The brightly-colored snowflake card is from @guinea-goon -- I included the wax seal so that you could see that I opened the envelope around it, since I thought it was lovely. :D And an S, which makes it even better!

The man being destroyed by rats is a FRANKLY AMAZING card which reads “This holiday season be kind to those less fortunate -- because some hoboes can control rats with their minds.” I cracked up laughing. :D Lillian, I can’t quite read your username in the card because I am old but I believe it’s @lillianb -- please let me know if that’s wrong and I’ll correct it! 

THOSE ARE SOME BUCKNEKKED SUPERHEROES, and the card is from @karadin, and I believe the art is also? Hit me up with a link if you posted it and I will definitely reblog :D (Sam looks especially smug.) 

The Dia De Los Muertos skulls are from @la-rainette, a very apt theme for the holidays I’ve always thought, given how DARK so many christmas carols can be. So it might not be seasonal, but it’s still thematically appropriate :)

And in the middle, some GLITTER PENGUINS from @bookfanatic -- I hope the holiday is everything you’d like it to be too! 

Thanks for your lovely cards and good wishes for the new year. I have high hopes for 2017, as insane as that sounds as we drag ourselves out of 2016. And what struck me reading these cards is that it seems like other people do too. It’s been a terrible year and we face a frightening and uncertain future, but what I see in people most clearly is hope. Possibly desperate hope, but hope nonetheless. :)

"That'll be all, Ms. Rushman." 

She nodded, wide-eyed and innocent, turned and walked for the door. 

"Ms. Rushman?" 

She turned and looked at him, one perfect brow arching in curiosity. 

"When you worked for Mr. Stark...what was he like? Did he respect you? Treat you as a valued member of the team? Because I hate to think of someone harassing you. Someone looking at you and seeing you as something he was entitled to. Tony has issues with entitlement. Thinks he deserves everything he wants whenever he wants it." Hammer's mouth was sullen, even as his eyes were avid, and Natasha knew he was both envisioning Tony touching her, getting off on it, and hating it at the same time. Hoping he could go one better, prove himself the better man either by comparison or achieving something Tony hadn't.

Even f it hadn't been a disgusting prospect - which it was - it was far, far too early in the game for him to think she'd let him in her pants. Any increase in accessibility to his private files and possessions would be offset by him thinking he could be inconveniently close whenever he wanted; as thick as he was, he might stumble over something that way that would alert him to something off about her. 

No, that wasn't happening. This one could set them up for life--not that she was looking to retire while she was still having fun but there was something to be said for a safety net, for being able to hide out in Provence when things got hot rather than an uncomfortable few weeks in Jersey on Steve's couch. 

That, and it would be a sin and a shame if Pepper couldn't afford Louboutins; there was something about the flash of murder-red sole with demure little business suit that felt like a secret kiss, the pirate inside the princess that only she could see. When she'd confessed that to her the first time, Pepper had stripped down to JUST the Louboutins;  they'd torn the sheets to shreds. 

It had been BEYOND worth it, Natasha thought, pulse speeding up at the memory of all that white skin with its delicate scattering of freckles, the illusion of cool sweetness and the black leather classic pumps with heels just a LITTLE too high and pointed, the way she'd smiled, as innocent as a flower as she'd slid up her body and pinned her hands to the headboard with hers...

She was waiting, leaning against the car, and Natasha blinked. "That's a risk, don't you think?" she said and Pepper smiled as she opened the door for her before getting in. 

"You're sweet for worrying, but I was in the mood to celebrate; I found his offshore accounts. By this time tomorrow, we'll be ready to move." 

"I love stealing from tax cheats. It's so philosophically satisfying," Natasha sighed as Pepper's fingers curled into hers and they pulled out of the garage, "when they can't complain to the government and don't have the balls to do their own dirty work." 

Pepper smiled back at her. "I thought we might go shoe shopping. afterwards." 

Natasha's hair spilled across the floor like a splash of blood as the bastard put his foot on her back. "Archer, you have a choice to make," the velvety voice crooned, mad green eyes fixing on him. He can't see you, he told himself fiercely, you're in the shadows. He can't touch you, he's too far away.

Nat, something deeper in him cried out. 

Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades, but his hands were steady as he nocked an arrow.

"Ah-ah, do that and you'll only worsen things." Loki's grin widened as he pointed his staff at Natasha's head; she was still underneath his foot, too still, crumpled like a doll. 

He let fly and watched the bolt sing through the air with fierce satisfaction - except it wasn't an explosive or gas payload, but a milky quartz point like the one he'd found long ago and far away in a streambed. It glistened like glass, like the blue-drenched haze of a door that opened both ways, then crumpled and shattered in the inhumanly fast grip of a mailed fist, and he could feel his heart freezing over...

"Clint. Clint, you're dreaming. Clint, wake up." She was smart enough not to touch him, but her voice was insistent. 

"M'wake," he mumbled, hands aching and cramped with the strength of his grip as he became aware of his surroundings, fingers fisted with desperate strength in the bedspread.

"Open your eyes and look at me." Natasha reached over and touched the side of his face, her fingers cool and soft as they brushed the place where desperate tears had tracked unnoticed. " Was it Lo--"

He reached up and lay his fingertips against her lips, unable, unwilling to hear her say it. Superstitious, probably. Asgardians weren't REALLY gods, after all. There was no reason to believe that the name would summon the man. It still made his gut clench, made him look in the shadows for things that he couldn't see even if they were there.

She closed her eyes, turned to rest her cheek against his hand before climbing up to sit next to him, arms around her knees. She looked small and soft and deceptively breakable in black tank top and pajama bottoms; her toenails were painted with something transparent and soap-bubble bright, shifting from green to gold to pink as she moved. "You should try to go back to sleep." 

"I will if you will." He lifted the corner of the sheet; with a sigh, she stretched to turn off the lights before slipping under the covers and nestling in, head on his shoulder, hand on his chest. "When did you start wearing nail polish?" 

"I haven't, really. I'm deciding if I like it." 

"Do I get an opinion?" 

She kissed him on the chin. "No." 

amelioratrix replied to your post “miss-ingno replied to your post “Answers About Combat Class” "keeping...”

Now I'm imagining Steve offering to sleep with Tony so Iron Man doesn't have to do it anymore.

OH MY GOD FUCK YOU SO HARD

When Steve offered, he wasn't expecting laughter, and for a second he didn't know what it was. Sometimes it was hard to tell, with the voice modulator box in the armor.

He'd pulled Iron Man aside after the Avengers meeting, during which he had once more said "I'll talk to Mr. Stark about this" as a way of solving a problem, and Jan had looked at Steve, and so had Wanda, and Clint had winced. 

So he'd said "Iron Man, a moment?" and had prepared for Plan Alpha (Alpha was okay, and not as difficult as Beta, which involved covert coercion if not outright murder). 

Oh hey, I just realised it comes with one of those free digital copy codes for Marvel app. You want mine? I don’t need it.

Black Widow’s definitely out this week. Ms Marvel not till later.