I have a very specific skill set

[purplefringe]

Two posts in two days, gosh. This one has a vid in it!

Wolf Like Me
edited by purplefringe
fandom: MCU
characters: Natasha/Bruce
music: Wolf Like Me by Lera Lynn
summary: My mind has changed / my body's frame
content notes: Canon-typical violence, needles, some fairly fast cutting

notes: HUGE thanks to my lovely betas: such_heights for her usual encouragement and soothing noises and reassurance that 'yes, there are some feelings in this vid', and usuallyhats for her patience with endless drafts and neurosis, and her wonderful nit-picking skills.


This is not quite the Natasha vid I thought I'd make. I've had a Natasha song in my head for a little over three years now, and this is not it. But that other song really requires an actual Natasha backstory film (WHY DOESN'T THAT EXIST OH GOD) and so I may never make it. This, on the other hand, struck me quite suddenly on my commute to work a little while ago, and then evolved the more I thought about it. I was v excited when the Ultron DVD came out and I could finally make it. I have a lot of feelings about Natasha. I know a lot of people were upset/bewildered/angered by the way she was written in Ultron, and I know a lot of people really don't get the Nat/Bruce thing, and yes there are certainly ways it could have been done better. But...I still enjoyed it, and somewhat to my surprise found myself shipping it. So this is partly a Nat/Bruce vid, but it is also mostly a Natasha character study, inspired by her lines about her 'very specific skill set', and her upbringing /training in the Red Room. Speaking of very specific skill sets, it only belatedly occurred to me that I have made this vid before. Twice. Possibly even three times. Oh dear. /o\



download: 68MB @ mediafire

stream:

"MCU | Wolf LIke Me | Natasha/Bruce" (Watch on YouTube)

Lyrics

Say say my playmate
wont you lay hands on me
mirror my malady
transfer my tragedy

Got a curse I cannot lift
shines when the sunset shifts
when the moon is round and full
gotta bust that box gotta gut that fish

We could jet in a stolen car
but we wouldn't get too far
before the transformation takes
and bloodlust tanks and
crave gets slaked

My mind has changed
my body's frame but god I like it
my heart's aflame
my body's strained but god I like it

My mind has changed
my body's frame but god I like it
my heart's aflame
my body's strained but god I like it

Charge me your daily rate
I'll turn you out in kind
when the moon is round and full
gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your mind
baby doll I recognize
you're a hideous thing inside
if ever there were a lucky kind it's
you you you

I know its strange another way to get to know you
you'll never know unless we go so let me show you
I know its strange another way to get to know you
we've got till noon here comes the moon
so let it show you
show you

Dream me oh dreamer
down to the floor
open my hands and let them
weave onto yours

Feel me, completer
down to my core
open my heart and let it
bleed onto yours

Feeding on fever
down all fours
show you what all that
howl is for

Hey hey my playmate
let me lay waste to thee
burned down their hanging tree
it's hot here hot here hot here hot here

Got a curse we cannot lift
shines when the sunset shifts
there's a curse comes with a kiss
the bite that binds the gift that gives

now that we're gone for good
writhing under your riding hood
tell your gra'ma and your mama too
it's true, true true

My mind has changed
my body's frame but god I like it
my heart's aflame
my body's strained but god I like it

My mind has changed
my body's frame but god I like it
my heart's aflame
my body's strained but god I like it

Comments

[purplefringe]

<33333

Firstly, apologies for the unforgivably late reply to these completely awesome comments. I have no excuse /o\. Secondly, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THESE COMPLETELY AWESOME COMMENTS! :-D :-D

This is the kind of thing that fills me with a warm glow of joy and delight, after I've worked really hard on a vid - a wonderful, in-depth analytical response from someone who has clearly got as much out of it as I tried to put in. So thank you! I'm really delighted this worked so well for you, in spite of the issues with the presentation of Bruce/Nat in Ultron. I was really trying to show the relationship as *I* interpreted it, which is not necessarily how Joss intended it, or how everyone else interpreted it.

The infertility thing is really problematic, and I ummed and ah-ed over whether or not to include that clip of Bruce with the cradle - but in the end I decided that it would work if I just left it like that, understated, and did not actively contrast it with the Barton family. I'm glad to hear you justify that decision :-) I think one of the things that link Bruce and Nat is their need to be in charge of their own bodies and lives, to control their 'monstrous' selves - and yes, that is linked to the fact that they can't have kids, but really that's only a very small part of it.

Thank you for your comments on specific moments too :-) The acrobatic fighty bits were super fun to vid (and surprisingly easy - apparently Nat is always shot from the same few camera angles!) and I really enjoyed bringing together all the parallels.

<3!