#except to say that possibly getting a concussion is not THE harrowing thing that happens to jonathan

[heavencasteel420]

WIP Wednesday

From Tomorrow's a Long Way Off:

“Why would they give a hook hand to a mental patient, anyway?” she asked Jonathan and Steve. Steve scrunched up his eyebrows, but Jonathan didn’t miss a beat. “They wouldn’t,” he said, with an earnestness that would’ve made her laugh if her brain had been in one piece. Then he turned a bloody-toothed grin on Steve. “And I’d know, right?” “Oh, my God,” Steve said on a sigh. “You both have brain damage. Look.”  He held up his index finger. “One,” Jonathan said promptly. Steve groaned. “No, dumbass, follow my finger with your eyes,” he said, with no venom. “I’m trying to see if you have a concussion.” “Oh,” Jonathan said. He watched Steve’s finger move back and forth. Robin wasn’t sure what Steve was looking for, so she examined his face for signs of alarm or dismay. Instead, his face broke out into a smile. “You’re fine,” he said. “Good thing, too. When I tell people I was there the night Jonathan Byers went Rocky on a couple of seniors, I don’t wanna have to end the story with ‘and he died in his sleep that very night.’ Brings the whole thing down, you know?”

[starberry-cupcake]

we're back!!!! and oh boy did things happen in this one

previously, in nona del 9:

this happened

this is the general recap tag

CHAPTER 16 (a building?? a tower?? I mean, considering how things go to hell, the tower is correct from a tarot standpoint...)

nona is unceremoniously woken up from her nap time by honesty coming in like a thunderbolt, announcing necromancers are putting on a show

everyone has opinions, except for kevin, who only says "ugh" and wants to be left alone

we love kevin

I think kevin could kill the emperor in like 5 minutes

born in the morning...I'm sorry, born in the morning

(still not over whatever that was)

says that necromancers are lying because they can't do anything to them due to varun

there are mixed opinions on this

angel teacher tells the kids not to go to the necromancer movie screening because it's dangerous and doesn't want them to end up hurt or taken in by authorities

she says "that's going to add to the fracas"

idk what "fracas" means and I couldn't find it either

everyone promised not to, except nona (who wasn't asked)

but sriracha girlie crossed her fingers, so clearly she's up to no good

and nona is onto her

angel teacher is very responsible and looking out for the kids, making sure they're protected and that they're properly picked up by family or staying somewhere safe

nice to see some responsible adults

I think abby the fifth would have done the same

abby and magnus adopting all these lost boys

in an au in which they weren't part of the people who are enemies to these kids

and they were alive

but things aren't nice and cozy for long, because camilla is late to pick up nona

I'm worried af about that, where is my wife

palmolive istg if you made her bleed again...

angel teacher notices that nona is distressed about that, so she tells her to take out noodle

sriracha girlie offers to go with her and so does honesty, but honesty has to sit tf down

honesty wants to do business and quit school but also wants to draw and open windows and go take noodle outside, there's a lot going on with honesty today

my guy is overstimulated over here

sriracha girlie tells nona, as they take noodle out, that the person in the car that dropped angel teacher checked all the doorways and entrances of the opposite building in a professional fashion

which sriracha girlie considers sus

very in character with her nature of jumping into the worst possible situations, sriracha girlie wants to escape to watch the necro movie with nona

nona disagrees and says that, if they do that, angel teacher is never going to trust them again

to which sriracha girlie replies "the asset doesn't have to trust you"

*sriracha girlie shoots me in the head*

the masterplan is to put a note in noodle's collar and make him go upstairs while they go watch the necro movie show

nona feels uncomfy with the plan but, once she decides to go, she thinks she'd better be in it 100%

and she remembers someone telling her "Once you've stepped in, you're in. This isn't the Hokey Pokey"

LET ME BRING BACK MY THEORIES

I mentioned in my last recap that a third option was that this could be ice cube barbie aka annabell lee aka alleged alecto in harrow's body

this additional data would fit that theory, because the hokey pokey being dropped there sounds like something either dr reverend emperor john asshat or a lyctor would say

it sounds like such a dr reverend emperor john thing to say, actually

I'm gonna add the hokey pokey as a point for ice cube barbie

that sentence out of context would get me checked for a concussion

the girls get into the place where the screen is being set and there's a sea of people in there, which sounds like a full on nightmare to me

it reminds me of the overcrowded planet from star trek

the overcrowded planet called 'gideon'

necromancer music festival vibes over here

so, at first there's no image and only a disembodied voice who is talking about terms of surrender or, how they're framing it, "negotiation"

one part I'd like to point out from the whole initial speech is that they state that if one fraction of the population goes against the terms, everyone will be considered accountable for it

textbook oppressor move to put the oppressed groups against each other, especially in times of internal turmoil

so, the screen turns on finally and immediately, by nona's description, before any additional information, I know this is yandere twin

"their huge screen-magnified eyes were quite pretty, Nona decided: blue, with brown bits"

yeah, absolutely yandere twin

yandere twin continues listing demands and the last point of them is that those who belong to the houses and didn't make themselves known

(aka our gang, coronabeer and judith)

have 24 hours to turn themselves in

she introduces herself as "Prince Ianthe Naberius the First, the Lyctor Prince, the Saint of Awe"

but, we've got bigger problems

because next to yandere twin is gideon's body in a very peeta-mellark-taken-by-the-capitol situation

"the only alive thing about this second person was their hair, neatly arrayed with a wreath of fingerbones and white, springlike blossoms: wildly red hair, red enough to make the electric hexagons struggle with it. It was the face of the girl in her dream"

so, let me just say one thing

HOW DID WE LOSE GIDEON'S BODY, PEOPLE????

THIS IS THE TRUE "OVERSIGHT BODY"

WE HAD HER, SHE WAS WITH CORONABEER AND JUDITH AND CAMILLA

HOW TF IS SHE THERE NOW

WHO'S FAULT IS THIS

"Her Most Serene Highness, Crown Prince Kiriona Gaia, heir to the First House, the Emperor's only daughter"

(Most is written with emphasis)

I want to gut this secondhand god alive

if we can't kill his ass, we can surely pull a prometheus on him

chain him to a rock and have a mythological creature eat his guts every day

let him regenerate, do it all over again

maybe we can try that

let kevin loose on him

not only because they have gideon's very clearly not responsive body, also because they're forcing her to present femme

how dare they

"gaia" I get, because goddess of earth, the personification of earth, the mother of all things

I don't know who "kiriona" is and I'm not gonna search because I can get spoilers

"curiously, Nona noticed she didn't even seem to be breathing"

yeah, we've got a classic case of soulless body

the video ends and sriracha girlie is shook

she says "they're not people" and "they're not real"

a real pain in the ass is what they are, these lyctors

lyctor, singular, sorry, Lyctor Prince Im-The-Only-One-Left-So-I-Can-Get-A-Title-For-It

remember when there was a competition thing to become one of these assholes? we were young and didn't know better

thank god camolive dodged that bullet

ANYWAY

nona uses the techniques to help others calm down that she learned with camilla to assist sriracha girle through her panic attack

she does really well, I'm proud of her

pat in the head for nona

she deserves a treat for this

(which reminds me, I found my puppy chewing a pencil yesterday and nona came to my mind like that scene in ratatouille)

nona maneuvers sriracha girlie through the dense crowd of arguing people, but then someone fires a gun

all hell breaks loose, sriracha girlie activates and they escape through very unsanitary passageways

nona cuts her hand

thankfully, in comes angel teacher in her sus car and picks them up

angel teacher says kevin was in hysterics

why are we putting kevin through bad situations, he should be our priority

now that our top priority of preserving gideon's body HAS BEEN RUINED

WHO FUCKED THAT UP

sriracha girle and angel teacher try to check out nona's cut and nona is very insistent that they don't, so that they don't find out that she has regenerative powers

which is another point in the thing I was saying before, that this wasn't the Secret she shared with sriracha girlie

otherwise, she'd be crucified in the square right about now

but this provides further confirmation that this wasn't it

so many freakin' lose ends and clues for later and breadcrumbs I have to pick up

unknown baby driver apparently has a good handle of House

and is freakin' pissed with angel teacher for having to drive around, collecting kids

they ask where they can drop nona off and when she says she lives in "the building" "really truly" baby driver almost dislocates their head trying to turn to stare at her, exorcist style

baby driver and angel teacher proceed to have a sus conversation

"Pretending you can bandage bipeds? Teaching snot-nosed kids about particles?" "If people knew this was how you spent your time, Aim—" "Now I see. Chance to be her, huh? A little independent living for once?" "It is my enormous privilege to be they."

is angel teacher some kind of politically or militarily important figure? a very important vet? why the change of pronouns? who's her? who's they?

DON'T TELL ME

when they get into the gate for the building everyone kind of minds their business and looks away from them

nona thinks maybe it's because of the grille

idk though, everything about these two is strange

angel teacher asks nona to promise to go to school the next day, because it will be a safe place for them

bless angel teacher, someone doing something to protect the kids in these trying times

baby driver should respect that

nona tells angel teacher she loves her before going into the building, though she didn't mean to say it out loud

when she comes in, camilla is there, waiting anxiously

THANK GOD, I CAN'T TAKE MORE PROBLEMS RIGHT NOW

THANK GOD YOU'RE ALRIGHT CAMILLA, MY BELOVED

but not everything is good because pyrrha was supposed to pick up nona from school and never showed

gosh darn it, pyrrha

so much chaos and I still have a lot of book left to read

how is there so much happening at all times

JOHN 19:18

"There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle."

well, alright then

starting out strong over here

dr reverend emperor john is scared of water, apparently

I don't know if this is the River or otherwise

there was a part of the River that almost gets his ass, so it could be that

he's talking directly again to alleged!harrow, who might not be harrow and might be ice cube barbie, but idk yet

"every time you breathed funny, we wet ourselves"

he says some people flaked from the whole thing but he didn't care as long as he had his diehard soon-to-be-lyctors with him

and his two toy corpses

on that note, he says that he was frustrated that they were unable to respond, even if he could make their hearts and brains work

because they don't have a soul

like gideon right now, who's kinda like these two, sitting there but looking dead

he can revive the body but not the soul

they didn't know about the river yet

they keep arguing with the authorities about their project and its limitations, including maternity, which seems to be a problem

mercygirl was against a plan that "incorporates reproductive injustice"

the authorities wanted to evacuate the whole population and had managed to find a way, but it wasn't really tested and they argued that it might not work

the plan was to send one ship first and then use it as a tugboat to get the rest

dr john god says he should have killed the conspiracy theorists instead of the cows, because they are using the cows as a way to protest that he's unhinged

(at this point in the recap process there was a massive power outage and I almost lose everything, so thank you hellsite and thank you tab)

augustine and mercygirl say that this is all lies and the billionares are probably gonna bolt in the ship and leave everyone behind

which checks out not only with disaster films but also with reality

augustine said that they were going to use things they came up with to leave everything behind

and then, dr reverend emperor john butt says

"They left you, they left you. They saw you suffering on dollar-shop life-support, and they didn't look back. They didn't give a fuck about trying to save you. They left." "I don't remember" " I can't forget"

is he talking about the Earth? like the planet? is this like some sort of personalization of the planet or...????

it feels like he's talking about the whole planet and not just one person but what do I know

gonna have to put a pin on that thing I said about gaia and the personification of earth that I mentioned before, I guess

don't make fun of me, my theories and my process please

thank you

and that is all for now!!! starting day four next time!!!! things are happening!!!

[iamtheotherdarkknight]

Make Right (BruDick RP)

In Response to “It’s Killing Him” 

@notyouraveragedickgrayson

If Bruce had to choose a moment when things really started to fall apart, he’d say was the day he pulled Jason’s still, broken body from the rubble of that abandoned warehouse. That surreal, numbness lifting as Bruce peeled away Jason’s mask to see his face for the last time.

That’s when the pain really hit him.

It was just like watching his mother and father bleed out in an alley - except it hurt so much worse. Maybe it was because parents aren’t supposed to outlive their children… And blood or no blood, Jason was his first child.

Watching strangers lower his boy – his son – into the ground that day is what finally broke him. By the end of the funeral service, it was just him and Alfred. Like it’s always been. And perhaps that has been Bruce’s mistake – maybe this is the way things were supposed to be. Maybe this cruel act was the universe’s way of reminding him of his place. It didn’t matter how long he trained, how much he learned or how many resources he devoted to his mission, he had to walk this path in solitude. ‘… or else…’

That night, Bruce stopped fighting the darkness - the Batman consumed him.

The carnage that followed Jason’s death couldn’t be called justice. Just needless bloodshed that falling short of killing. Violence that knew no shame. Batman wanted the Joker and he didn’t care what he had to do to get him. Batman had to make him hurt the way Bruce hurt. Torture him the way he tortured Jason. And the darkness only crept in further the longer Joker hid. There was nothing left to separate Bruce from the Bat anymore, no anchor. Just all-encompassing rage and an empty pain he prayed never went away. He needed that ache more than he needed food or air; it was the only thing getting him out of bed anymore.

Bruce couldn’t blame Dick for staying away. He deserved better than an emotionally crippled, hypocrite. How could he dare hold Dick accountable for his actions towards Zucco? Bruce knew full well what would happen when he finally found Joker. Arkham wasn’t enough. Blackgate wasn’t enough. Bruce knew that, and still couldn’t stop himself. That was until a young Timothy Jackson Drake appeared at his door, venti Americano in one hand and a tablet with a litany of evidence of Bruce’s double life in the other. More than that, the kid deduced Dick and Jason’s identities as Robins.

It was strange. All the information the young man had amassed over what had to be years – the eerily familiar singlemindedness Tim displayed in his pursuit. And all he wanted to do with it was convince Dick to become Robin again. “Because Gotham needs Batman. And Batman needs Robin.” The words rolled off the boys’ lips like an obvious truth he repeated one to many times. Like all whole world’s issues were nothing more than an uncomplicated problem to be solved over a cup of coffee and a few strokes of the keys.

A petty part of Bruce expected Tim to fall apart after failing to reunite the ‘Dynamic Duo’, Nightwing making it clear that he could never take the Robin mantle again. Imagine the Wayne’s rare look of shock when Tim came down the stairs of the cave, fully fitted in an altered Robin’s uniform. And when Bruce tried to protest, Tim simply shrugged it off and told him it was Nightwing who suggested he take the uniform. Tim would just have to do until Bruce found an adequate replacement… And if he resisted Tim’s help, he’d blow Bruce’s cover right out of the water.

It’s been years since that fateful day. Bruce would have loved to say that in that, he’s gotten better over time. That he had found a way to overcome the wounded savagery that overwhelmed him. That he didn’t slip back into those dark moods and was learning to be whole after having his heart picked apart, racked with guilt, shame and fear he concealed in anger. But that would be a blatant lie and nights like this he just didn’t care enough to keep up the front.

Tonight’s patrol had been taxing for the Bats.

The night ended early with the successful sabotage of Black Mask’s weapon shipment, but the win didn’t come without a fight. Batman had no idea where Sionis found the revenue to hire the mercs he had, but there was no way the people he and Robin encountered on that freight were anything ex-military. If it weren’t for his own decades of experience and Red Robin’s help tonight, the mission would have failed.

Damien left the fight with a concussion, Bruce ordering the boy go upstairs and rest. Tim, per usual, proved more resistant to his first dismissal, but his cracked ribs and broken arm and leg won out in the end. Between that and the three days Tim spent without sleep, operating the Bat near impossible. Not at Bruce was fairing much better. By the time they returned to the cave, the man sported several burns, bruises, and gashes from the explosion. The only way Alfred could get Bruce that stay still long enough to clean and dress the wounds when Bruce was sitting at the computer, typing up the reports for tonight. That was when Bruce saw the comm flash on his screen. The call came from Dick’s encrypted number.

… But he could feel ice in his veins when he heard the voice on the call.

“It’s me.”

And Bruce knew that voice anywhere.

It was a sad fact, but because couldn’t bring himself to open-up to Tim or Damien the way he had with Jason. Bruce had let his guard down with the young man and let himself be a father to him – something he could never bare to be to Dick. He could never presume to fill the void John Grayson left in Dick’s heart when he passed. Seeing Jason grow as an individual and Robin, principled and proud in the face of adversity. It always filled Bruce with pride… Perhaps that’s why seeing Red Hood stand over a fresh corpse, baring the face long dead son left him numb. Seeing that viciousness in Jason, felt like a cruel sick joke. Bruce’s only solace in Jason death was knowing the boy he cared for so much left this world with cleaner hands then him. But seeing Jason returned from the dead to become what felt like a reflection of Bruce’s darkest hours.

I was like he failed to save him all over again.

“Where is he?” Bruce demanded, his voice low and fierce. The logical part of his brain knew better than to think Jason would hurt Dick. In fact, the only person Red Hood hadn’t reconciled with was Batman. But Bruce didn’t always think rationally when it can to his first ward. Jason knew that better than anyone….

“With me and doesn’t wanna talk.” He clarified, adjust his hold Dick’s shaking form. “I’m calling a truce, old man. Let us in.” There was the briefest pause before Bruce overrode the security protocols and allow Jason to enter the cave. Bruce didn’t know could have happen to have Jason, of all people, to knock on his door and call for a truce, but he would be prepared it all the same. In the five minutes in took Jason to traverse the tunnels to central area, Bruce had covered his injuries and erased at trace of weakness. Not that it mattered once Jason ascended the steps to his platform.

Bruce’s stoic façade fell apart the minute his eyes came upon a harrowed Dick, bundled up in Jason’s arms. It’d been months since the he last saw his former ward – the two of them not necessarily on speaking terms. In fact, he and Dick had been on the outs ever since Bruce budded in a case in in Blüdhaven, stating under no uncertain terms what he thought of his ‘partner’, Catalina Flores. The actively avoided one another ever since.

Before Bruce could demand an explanation, Jason locked his green-blue eyes with his silently warning. It was always amazing how the two of them could communicate with out uttering a single word. It was part of the reason they worked so well together. So, when Jason eyes narrowed and gestured past Bruce, the man stepped aside and waited for him on the other side of the room. Once Jason was finished propping Dick in the same chair Bruce had occupied before their arrival. Despite Jason’s best effort, Dick still slumped over the edge like a ragdoll. And he was coming apart at the seams. It’s all Bruce can do, his brain running through every possible scenario, trying to deduce a reason for Dick’s state. Jason could come to him soon enough.

“He a panic attack.” Jason finally explained, his pulling a cigarette out of his pocket, but not reaching for his zippo yet. A nervous tick, just wanting something to chew on while he organized his thoughts.

“…What triggered it?” His mentor asked cautiously, trying to understand. His former ward had attack in the past. Bruce would care for Dick through the worse of them in the beginning, whenever the boy would have a nightmare or close call. But this was the first he’s ever seen the Dick since he became an adult. He was practically catatonic.

“You.” Jason spat out, as if to apply it was obvious. “Like it or not, all of this,” Jason gestured toward Dick. “Is on you.”

Without give Bruce an inch, Jason unloaded, recounting all that Dick confided in him. The young man’s mental health was in shambles and Bruce, whether he realized it or not, had only made it worse pushing Dick away. Especially when Bruce fired Dick. The older man had to admit, he was blinded with anger the night he fired Dick and all but kicked him out of the manor. Anger, and if he were being totally honest, fear. Fear of the unknown as Dick grew into the man, he was becoming, fear for the way he was started to see Dick. Because in all the years he raised Dick, he couldn’t see him as a son. And that terrified him to the core. Bruce had only realized the terrible mistake he made when the heard the Dick pulling out of the driveway for the last time.

And then Jason and the bomb happened…

“Pull your head out of your ass, old man. Your hot-and-cold attitude might work for the ladies, but that man behind me, feels fucked up enough about wanting you without your mile-thick wall of bullshit. And I know you heard me. Now, something has to change because I am not kidding around when I say that this situation, this denial, whatever ego or pride is in the way of you two... its killing him”.

Bruce was at a loss. Looking at Dick again, he felt a surge guilt run through him. Was it his fault that Dick developed this infatuation with him? Did he somehow poison the younger man’s mind and manipulated him -

“Stop, I know what you’re thinking old man. Stop making this about you and just make this right. If either of you were as sick as you think, you won’t be so scared of this.” Jason hissed, making his way to the stairs from where he came. “He’s in your care. Make it right, Bruce.” Jason repeated, warning the older man.

Bruce waited until he couldn’t hear Jason’s footsteps, steeling himself before approaching Dick for the first time in so long. He looked so out of it. Depressed and tired and just… gone. Bruce would have given anything wrap his arm around him like he had back when his thoughts towards Dick were innocent. But right now, it wasn’t about what Bruce wanted. It was about what Dick needed.  So he knelt down on the ground before Dick so they were at eye level. Dicks eyes were downcast, but Bruce didn’t make a thing of it. Just spoke in the clearest voice he could manage, hoping that Dick would respond to him.

“Dick. Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?”