#DID I ANSWER YOUR QUESTION RIGHT

[detectivenyx]

i hate cinemasins so much you would not believe

[aurorangen]

Thump. Thump. Vincent couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had a feeling there was something off about Isaac, with his constant questions about his personal life. If this was true, then all he intended was to get to know his brother better. He put a firm hand on his shoulder and looked at his face. Just like their Dad, they had similar facial features. Vincent wanted to clarify by asking him a question. The question was ridiculous, but it wasn't shared with the media during his disappearance. Only his family would know his habits, "What football club did he support?" Isaac turned the other way.

"Arsenal. That bastard never missed a match!" an immediate response. He tried to hide his anger and gritted his teeth, "Look, Vincent. I lived as Isacco Romano in Italy. I worked my ass off there to become a lawyer" he paused, "Now that I've found you, let's uncover the truth and give our Dad the end he deserves." Vincent knew at that moment, that they shared the same goal. They were both certain that their Dad was still alive.

[damianwayne-thebloodson]

I found a coyote can I bring her to the gala

Is she well behaved? Does she carry any diseases?

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

https://x.com/captainh4ndsome/status/1774282734288138451?s=46

I saw this series of quotes and why do you think that hat has three stabs from buggy? Is it truly connected to shuggy? Could shuggy really be that important???

so, here are the tweets in question. (one of which is from @goingbuggy! hi there! this is, what, the third time someone’s asked me to talk about your tweets? i guess at least one of my anons is a fan.)

i have wondered a time or two whether in oda’s early planning it might have been buggy who gave shanks that three-slash scar. (i’ve heard that oda originally had a five year plan for one piece, though i’ll admit i’ve never sought out a direct source for that.) in that case, the slashes through the hat might have been intended as foreshadowing.

but since buggy wasn’t the one to make that scar, instead it leads us to draw comparisons between these characters who both have wielded three blades on one hand. and maybe it’s just because they were both written as foils to luffy, but i find comparing buggy and blackbeard very interesting!

similarities:

former warlord of the sea/current emperor of the sea

devil fruit user

served on a big name’s crew back in the day

intentionally went under the radar/overlooked for years

doesn’t really buy into concepts like “loyalty” or “honor,” happy to turn on a crew mate or backstab an ally if it’s to his advantage

used to wield three blades but these days prefers explosive-adjacent weapons

not happy to see red-haired shanks at marineford

differences:

fell into those positions by chance/years of plotting to get into those positions

a devil fruit with zero combat utility (besides avoiding damage)/possibly the devil fruit with the most combat utility? (though, unusually, he can take damage while wielding it)

their reasons for going under the radar (fear of being hunted down/working towards a secret goal)

the consequences for overlooking them (for shanks: losing buggy/losing to bb, or at least taking a very bad wound from him; for others: misinformation on a global scale/the literal paramount war)

buggy is a strong believer in the captain-crew bond, which bb absolutely does not buy into

type of three-bladed weapon (three throwing daggers, suggests flexibility, hidden motives, a preference for distance fighting; claw weapon, suggests light-footedness, straightforwardness—you know when a claw wielder is about to start fighting, he’s gone and put the claws on)

type of explosive weapon (bombs, suggests pre-planning, a preference for distance fighting, maximum damage for minimum effort; guns, suggests a flexibility on distance vs melee range, a willingness to threaten rather than kill outright)

why they didn’t want to see shanks (ugh, that guy pisses me off/i think that guy might literally kill me lmao)

[abbeyofcyn]

Good day,

What other fictional universe are you a fan of outside of TMNT?

Pfff excellent question... there are so many films, series and even books I love. I'll just name a few below.

I think I'll forever love avatar the last airbender. I can still watch it and enjoy it and my mum loved Sokka's mushroom quote. She'd sometimes say it randomly while cooking or something.

I never drew much fanart but when I did it was Kingdom hearts, final fantasy 10 and 7, undertale, and death note.

Besides that I always seemed to have loved the spiderman movies. Spiderverse just made me love it more.

Also adored assassin's creed, mostly the ones with Ezio (I'd kill for Leonardo da Vinci and I did)

And maybe something random but I love the Asterix comics.

But it's different from the love I have for rottmnt. I'm not sure why.

[sharkneto]

Hey, sorry if this is a bit of a personal question - and feel free to ignore it if it is - but how did you know you wanted to start hrt? I am someone who IDs as transmasc and knows in an ideal world, I would've loved to have been born a guy. But the idea of going on hormones is terrifying because I can't figure out if I really want it... I worry about regretting it, or it making me 'unappealing' physically, or my friends judging me for it. Did you ever struggle with similar worries?

I think every person thinking about and starting HRT goes through this. A rite of passage, if you will, and also not a bad thing to do. HRT is a big step, some of the changes (especially on T) are irreversible. It's good to think through if it's a choice that's right for you or not.

That said, it's also Just A Thing You Can Do. I first started really questioning my gender at the end of 2020 (thank you, Elliot Page, for coming out and making me go "oh shit, you can do that?"). I got a therapist to talk about gender... Mid 2022? And started hormones spring 2023, top surgery a year later.

Before getting the therapist, I spent over a year Just Thinking About It. And a lot of the thoughts were around the changes on T and if I'd like them or not or if I'd regret them. If I'd be ugly, after being conventionally attractive as a woman.

It hits a point, though, where eventually you have to pull the plug one way or another. I spent a lot of time thinking about how my body would change on T. A Lot. With longing. I caught myself putting things off Until I Knew For Sure and because I didn't want to do it while being perceived as a woman. I was sitting, treading water for a hypothetical Later that I could start moving towards at any time. I was scared for the Teenage Round 2 phase, and didn't want to spend months being "ugly and awkward", but then the months passed anyway and I was still in the same spot.

HRT isn't an all-or-nothing thing, you can ease into it on a low dose. My doctor started me on a low dose and we ramped up over months. Some T changes can start pretty quickly (voice dropping, bottom growth - this isn't true for everyone, but was true for me). If these changes excite you, make you feel good - great! Keep going! If they scare you, feel wrong - stop. Assess. Figure out what about it isn't right (a gender therapist for all of this process is a Huge Help). In early days if you stop T, the changes can revert, for the most part. But you can always stop at any time.

The bigger thing I actively worked to wrap my head around before starting HRT is - Who Cares If You're Wrong? What's right for you now might not be right for you later. The idea of detransitioning was scary to me, society has such a weird spotlight on it, the Right uses people who have detransitioned as props against transition. But it shouldn't matter. At the end of the day, if I do change my mind, I'll know myself better, and I don't think it's wrong to chase and find comfort in your own body.

A year+ on T, I've mostly made it through the ugly duck phase, I think. I was lucky, I didn't get bad acne or get too oily or anything (after having horrible acne in my first puberty). Most of what I dealt with was the chronic baby face, where I was getting read as male but a teenager - I'm almost 30 and a woman wanted to card me over a free T-shirt at a baseball game because it had beer logos on it. After some middle months of changes and going "oh my god what am I doing" and not feeling confident in how this was all going to turn out, I think of myself as relatively attractive and I think I'm just going to get more vain as my beard comes in. Some of that is physical, sure, but I think a significant amount of that is me feeling more confident in myself and liking the body I'm in more. I was never a selfie or picture person, now I am. I joke I'm like a budgie, always looking at myself if there's a reflective surface nearby. I'm more excited to exercise, I'm interested in lifting weights for the first time, I'm curious what my body on T can do and become. Keep your eyes on the pieces that are going well, the changes exciting you, and let the rest catch up.

My social circle helped a lot. I'm very lucky and blessed to have great friends and family, all of whom are supportive. If you don't have friends who are supportive of you, that are judging you for exploring yourself rather than lifting you up for it, it's a sign to expand the social circle and find ones that are. Family is harder, but that's a thing you have to navigate for yourself and find your own boundaries for.

So, there's no ~one moment~ where you're 100% certain that medical transition is right for you. It's a huge unknown and you're changing the body you've had your entire life. At some point, though, you just have to jump and see how it lands. Part of being alive is making mistakes and doing things you might regret.

That said, the regret rate for trans people is something like 3%. The regret rate for knee surgery is something like 20%. Trust yourself.

[virtuangel]

the complete eri guidebook (2023) full version under the cut ♡ pdf ver. happy birthday @xiaojuun !! <3

credits. with the help of: meg (@hozierbyrne) // brina (@aquablues) // aléks (@possession1981) // vianey (@souladies) // lili (@ninqz) // aweks (@awek-s) // miha (@jaebeomtual) // rachel (@gnanii) // mare (@dongkwan) // ro (@sunghanbin) // rosie (@kimjiwoong) // lulu (@fushigojos) // sofi (@yukuz) graphics: gift boxes // broccoli // orange fruit watercolor // lip print textures // notion-style scribbles // healthcare vector icons // human anatomy icons // film cutouts pack // 3d travel icons // drinks vector icon set // coffee outline illustration pack // baby vector icon pack

[the-whispers-of-death]

if criminal!stone failed a mission that mafia boss reader gave him, how would he feel?

(hypothetically cause i dont think hes able to not do whatever the fuck mafia boss tells him right)

Hypothetically, Criminal!Stone is coming back from that mission/job and giving you his gun so you can kill him.

Because how could he fail you like that??? He thinks he doesn't deserve to live knowing that he failed you. You deserve a right-hand that can get the job done, there's no room for failure. So if he fails you, he must die.

He's dramatic and loyal like that.

[iguessitsjustme]

Hello everyone! So I’ve been working on something for a good ass minute, and while it is not done (alas that full-time employment), that doesn’t mean I can’t post it. Sooooooo

This year, I have met some really awesome people here through BL and honestly, y’all have made my year so wonderful so I wanted to do something for the BL community here. For the month of December, up until Christmas, I will be using polls to do a Choose Your Own BL Adventure (this is basically just a BL dating sim but we’ll all be playing it together don’t worry about it). There will be some common BL tropes thrown into the story as we progress. Each day, a new poll will go up based on the results of the last poll. I also want to state that it will not always be clear what/who each choice is for, but each choice does lead to a different story. There will not be a specific time for each poll because I can’t guarantee when I’ll be done with work, but I am going to do my best to make sure that the next poll with the next section of the story goes up between 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CST.

Later today (don't ask me what time I don't know), I will be posting the set up for the first poll. I want to give everyone a day to read the set up before the first poll goes live, which is why I’m posting this today instead of tomorrow when it starts. I will be using the tag “#2023 choose your own bl adventure” for each post related to the game and god willing, I’ll be able to link that tag on my blog.

This is my gift to all of my friends who have made this year truly spectacular and I hope you all have fun with me while this goes on (and there might be a little Hanukkah surprise for y’all later as well). So look out later today for my post that will explain the beginning of the story and I'll try to link it here after it goes up.

Thank you all for a fantastic year and Happy Holidays!

Edit: I posted the beginning of the story.

[szappan]

im also increasingly sure that im autistic but we'll never ever confirm that </3

[kinaesthetiqueer]

(follow-up to this)

having grown up in atlas, weiss is very familiar with the academy's team anti-frat policy and gets very hung up on just how much trouble they could get in if anyone thinks they're dating.

(which they're definitely not doing. no, sir. absolutely not, sir.)

so better safe than sorry.

(except winter has eyes. and also doesn't care.)

[cluescorner]

Randomized Robins AU - Ages + Worst Trait Exercise:

Steph (25):

Says her worst trait is her murderous rages (she is exaggerating for dramatic/comedic effect, she’s killed 3 people tops and for very good reason)

Thinks her worst trait is her spitefulness (one of the few traits she definitely got from her father + one that prevents her from fixing her relationships and living her best possible life. She’ll refuse to interact with someone she dearly loves after an argument (happens significantly less after Tim’s death) or will say things she knows are hurtful just for the sake of having the last word. This trait will worsen in some ways as the list of people who have wronged her and those she loves grows, but will also ease up as she matures and realizes the harm it’s doing to her relationships with those she loves most.)

Her worst trait really is her spitefulness

Cass (26)

Says her worst trait is her self-righteousness (she believes that her goals are righteous and, as a result, she is righteous. Cass becomes very defensive whenever someone questions the mission and often does not second-guess herself. This is a trait she only develops later in life as she grows closer to Bruce/learns to understand herself more/starts to love herself more. But she knows she isn’t perfect and when somebody she trusts criticizes something she is doing she is willing to listen. She just usually isn’t the one to START the introspection.) 

Thinks her worst trait is her self-righteousness. 

Her worst trait actually is her obsessiveness (she gets it from Bruce and, while not as bad as him, she will easily become preoccupied with her night-life and the mission if someone isn’t there to pull her back. She will do this to the point of self-destruction and it hurts her relationships with the people she loves, especially Steph.)

Tim (24)

Says his worst trait is his spitefulness (he actively rejects the idea of mending his relationships with the older members of the family and this causes him to also lack good relationships with the younger ones)

Thinks his worst trait is his obsessiveness (similar to Cass, if he gets fixated on a task or idea he will neglect everything else in his life in order to dedicate more time to it. Unlike Cass, he will almost never be dragged away from it unless Pierrot snatches control of the body and forces them to take care of themself.)

His worst trait actually is how manipulative he is (the KING of guilt-tripping and using people’s emotions against them. He’ll do whatever he needs to do to get what he wants, he’s not above crocodile tears. And he will do it to whoever he needs (or wants) to with little care for how his actions impact others.)

Pierrot (Insists: “Age doesn’t apply to me! And even if it did, I'd probably be the oldest. Or the youngest! I’d never be a middle child, though.” Mental assessments by the Bats have put him around 21, with a margin of error of 3 years. Pierrot has called this “blatant character assassination by my eternal rival!”)

Says his worst trait is that he is an irredeemable psychopath without any regard for the wellbeing of others (this is a lie and everyone who's important to him understands this). 

Thinks his worst trait is his parasitic nature (he literally would not exist had Tim not suffered the way he did. Plus he is a living reminder of one of the worst things that happened to many of his loved ones. He is a parasite injected into a functional person's body and contributes to his continued suffering. This is also a largely incorrect judgement of himself, caused by his actual worst trait.)

His worst trait actually is his limited sense of self (he doesn’t really know who he is outside of ‘inheritor to the legacy of the Joker (a man he despises yet also views as a father)’ and ‘chip in Tim’s brain that became sentient’. He slowly develops an identity over the course of his life and relationships with other people, but he lacks the foundations of identity that most people have. Pierrot will often almost become a caricature of himself and what others perceive him to be because it's the only person he knows how to be. This causes wild swings in how he behaves and relates to others, sometimes to the detriment of himself and others.)

Dick (17) 

Says his worst trait is his clinginess (he is a very extraverted person who likes to be around others, which mixed with his fear of abandonment after his parents died means that if he goes a few days without seeing/talking to a friend he will get very anxious.)

Thinks his worst trait is his anger issues (he gets ticked off very easily and will explode on people. He’s kind at his core and is usually very nice, but he has a temper that can escalate significantly. Spoiler (and later Twist) help him channel this anger into something positive.)

His worst trait actually is his anger issues.

Barbara (18)

Says her worst trait is her disability (internalized ableism, she thinks of herself as less valuable than the other Bats because she cannot be out there in the capes like they can. She will grow out of this as she matures and as she learns how invaluable her support for the team is.)  

Thinks her worst trait is her disability 

Her worst trait actually is her overly-independent nature (In an attempt to overcompensate for everything she can no longer do, she has resolved to do literally everything that she possibly can without any help from others. This results in many instances where she either takes on too much and winds up not being able to fully realize any of her tasks or where she makes her life and the lives of others significantly harder by refusing help when offered/not asking for it when she needs it.)

Damian (16)

Says his worst trait is his perfectionism (he is overly critical of both himself and others, taking any flaw or problem and amplifying it to an absurd degree. This is due in part to his life with the LoA (where even a brief misstep could lead to death), in part to how others treated him initially as Spoiler (any flaw was fixated on and used as a reason to either mistrust him or portray him as unworthy of the mantle), and in part due to the fact that he is Bruce’s son (the only person with worse perfectionism problems than Damian). Gradually, Damian has improved in this regard but it’s still a massive barrier to both his own happiness and his relationships with others.)

Thinks his worst trait is his perfectionism 

His worst trait actually is his perfectionism

Duke (16)

Says his worst trait is his definitely-real secret evil side (says this as a ‘my dad is a villain so who knows??’ joke)

Thinks his worst trait is his impulsivity in his words (Sometimes he will crack a joke or say a remark without thinking it through, leading to a LOT of hurt feelings and drama. He’ll say something without thinking it through and wind up seeming insensitive. This isn’t done because of malice, rather because Duke is someone who’s quick to act and speak. But while the mantle of Insight and his awakening powers have helped him with his actions, they do not always help with his loose tongue. As such, Duke gains an unfair reputation in the media as an instigator and will accidentally cause family drama through what he says.)

His worst trait actually is his impulsivity in his words

Jason (14)

Says his worst trait is his bad manners (he grew up on the streets and has no idea how rich-people society works, which he’s pretty insecure about considering he’s now the youngest kid of Bruce freaking Wayne). 

Thinks his worst trait is his reactiveness (Jason never got the privilege of planning ahead for various events in his life, so he instead needed to rely on being swift and harsh in how he could react to situations. It’s saved his life on multiple occasions and helps significantly in his role as Spoiler, but it can also lead to extreme overreactions (accidentally causing kidnapping scare after Jason ran away following a fight with Dick) and a struggle to plan things out ahead of time. As he grows more secure in his place in the family and in life, this trait will lessen but never fully dissipate.)

His worst trait actually is his reactiveness

[roobylavender]

im really sorry if this question ends up being repetitive: but, if not for bruce’s over reliance on dick to regulate his thoughts and emotions, why would dick grow up into feeling like he needs to repress his emotions so much and his eagerness to act as people’s support? i know youve spoken about wolfman and his altering of their relationship but if ntt is generally an accurate portrayal of an adult dick, to me this nevertheless sounds like the consequences a parent-child relationship where the responsibilities are titled too much towards the child

i suppose this could also segue into asking for recs that would help me better understand your interpretation of their relationship 👀

not repetitive at all! to me the irony of wolfman's depiction of dick lies in that it is simultaneously something you can logically ascertain from prior canon but not for the reasons actually presented by wolfman. if that makes sense. he does extra work that isn't actually necessary to help explain why dick would act the way that he does because there's plenty of reasons for it without rewriting his history with bruce to have always been suppressed and edgy and dark. to me it makes far more sense to capitalize on the inevitable disconnect between bruce and dick as an adult and a child. batman: full circle is a good example of that dichotomy (and although it was published in the early 90s it built on mike w. barr's prior understanding of the relationship between dick and bruce that he wrote into the early 80s). bruce's primary concern for the people he works with is never standards or finesse but safety. he worries constantly about others coming to harm under his watch and with a child in particular those worries were exacerbated. he ran a tight ship not because he believed dick had anything to prove but because the only way dick could keep being robin was if he went about it safely. that was obv easy for an adult to understand. but not so much for a child

to bruce these worries were practical and par for the course (as well as an expression of his love and protectiveness) but for dick their consequences formed the crux of his entire world. as a child he idolized everything about bruce. his heroism. his work ethic. his skill. his resolve. his preparedness. if dick couldn't live up to the standard he set for himself in idolizing bruce then what could he ever hope to amount to? that was the thought constantly going through his head. and it's why the bulk of his childhood and primary tenure as bruce's partner was so precariously protected by the fact that nothing bad ever really happened during it (and admittedly this framing is convenient because even chronologically speaking nothing very significant happened in their history with each other until dick left for university in 1969) (i know dixon opted to write that whole shtick with dent in his version of events but personally i never found it necessary to do so). there is enough there in the idea of dick working hard for the course of a decade to embody who he believed bruce to be that lends itself to it eventually being difficult for him to healthily express himself once the rift between them actually began to emerge

because what about bruce was there to actually see that was broken and dark before dick became an adult? i know a lot of dick fans hate batman #408 because they don't like that it enforced "retirement" upon dick (which i personally believe is a conclusion they come to because of the way batman #416 re-framed the same scene) but to me that's an inaccurate reading of the text. batman #408 was about bruce (admittedly far too belatedly) recognizing that he could not in good conscience continue to ask dick to go out and be a vigilante on what he considered to be his own "orders". he viewed dick's close call with death at the hands of the joker as something directly of his own making. although their tenure with each other had been wonderful if dick wanted to continue to be a vigilante it had to be on his own terms and of his own volition. obv that was logical to bruce and it was something dick managed to accept in the moment. but it's still hard to go from always having a purpose alongside someone you idolized to finally being entrusted entirely to forge your own

in general i like the idea of dick the adult becoming privy to all of the personal problems and conflicts that come with being a vigilante. he was conveniently shielded from a lot of those problems as a child because all he had to do was be bruce's partner and hope to live up to the title. bruce had no reason to trauma dump on him or talk about his worries and concerns at length with him because it was never supposed to be dick's job to field those worries and concerns in the first place. he was a child. the only thing bruce wanted to do was to help channel his emotions through an outlet and provide him with a home to grow up in. but when you become an adult often that dynamic shifts. you're still not responsible for fielding those worries and concerns but you can perhaps be trusted with them. that's why i like the framing in batman #408 of dick now being a man. it's a subtle way to frame the double-edged sword of adulthood. the world is in your hands now but so will be the horrors that come with it. coming to terms with the real world that bruce lives in should be hard for dick. coming to terms with who bruce is when he's not perfect should be hard. coming to terms with how quietly bruce kept his grief because he did not see fit to overwhelm a child with it should be hard. that dichotomy of dick both wanting to be bruce's brother and his son should form the crux of their conflict with each other because you can't hope to be someone's equal and someone's protected at the same time in that kind of relationship. for dick to transition into the position of equal he has to expose himself to the fact that bruce is not in fact an idol but someone irrevocably human. and that should interfere significantly with his head and his own standards for himself

[the-lark-ascending69]

I need more android robin whump!! Is robin ever gonna come across one of her previous owners who mistreated her (maybe billy) and have to face them again ??

What would Nancy do if she ended up getting hurt ?

I love this au a lot it's so interesting

!!! Hi anon! I have a few thoughts on this... mostly about the time she finds out Nancy's brother is friends with Billy's younger sister, Max.

Now, she and Max had a complicated relationship. Max never had much interaction with her other than to give her orders (which whe did very rarely, mostly just to tell her to leave her alone). Max didn't know Robin was sentient and she didn't see a point in talking to something that was basically a laptop on esteroids. She didn't care about being nice to her, but she could never really bring herself to be too cruel. It felt like punching a teddy bear - it can't feel anything, but why would you do that? It's just mean.

She always hated how Billy treated her. Neil supposedly got her after his psychiatrist recommended it to treat his violent impulses, plus he thought Billy might be gay, and he liked the idea of having a "hot girl robot" to "change his mind". He really didn't care much about Billy's mental health, and he didn't want to waste the money, but he was being pressured by Billy's school's authorities, by the social worker in their case and by his own wife, Max's mother, who was secretly relieved, because she thought Billy would stop taking his anger out on Max if he had a different target, one who couldn't feel anything. Now, Max knew Billy was a horrible human being, and hearing Robin's cries and begging when Billy beat her was unbearable. Soon, you could never see Max without her headphones. When she found Robin curled up inside a closet, her arm bent in a strange way, looking small and terrified and crying... well, Max wasn't stupid. Brutalizing an unfeeling android was one thing, but illegally implanting tear ducts in her because she didn't look hurt enough... Billy was just cruel, sick and sadistic and she hoped he died.

But she was really more concerned with Billy's evil than with how Robin got hurt. In fact, she was relieved, because Billy mostly left her alone now. She wasn't proud of that, but whenever she heard Robin's desperate cries of "please, don't!" and "wait! It hurts!", all she could think about was... that could be her instead. So she never intervened and never tried to stop it, lest Billy turned his attention back to her.

Robin never expected anything else from her. She didn't blame her. She knew what it looked like, and part of her was relieved, too. At least Max didn't get hurt.

In fact, protecting Max like this was the main reason it took her so long to run away, but when she overheard Billy talking to the technician at the illegal repair shop, and learned that he wanted to basically turn her into an adult toy, she couldn't take it anymore. She left that very same night with only the clothes on her back.

So when Christmas comes around and the whole gang gathers to celebrate at Steve's, she sees a familiar face, and they both freeze. For a moment Max thinks this girl just looks very similar to the old android - or maybe she'd happen to be the inspiration for her design? Was she a model? She certainly couldn't be that odd robot that called herself "Robin", because she had her arm linked with Nancy's and she was smiling and telling jokes and she looked so alive - but then again, the old robot looked alive, too.

But then Robin recognizes her, and she debates between greeting Max or running away. Nancy feels her freeze by her side - and before she can ask what's wrong, Robin makes a decision to say hi. She introduces herself to Max - oh god, it really was the android - and she asks if she remembers her. She asks how Max is doing, and she doesn't dare ask about Billy but she desperately wants to know if he's still around.

Max then looks at Nancy, about to ask why the hell did she bring an android as her date, but it's like Nancy read her mind, and her death glare was enough to shut her up. Everyone else is there, including Hopper and Joyce, who are old and wouldn't understand, and even then, the idea of a sentient android is so outlandish that so far, only Steve and tona lesser degree Dustin and Suzie buy it. Convincing everyone else she's not crazy won't be easy and she does not want to ruin Robin's first Christmas. So Max bites her tongue and goes along with it. It actually makes Robin so happy - she thinks Max finally recognizes her as sentient.

She talks to Nancy in private, later, while Robin is playing some kind of videogames with Mike and his friends on the console - she tells her that was her brother's old android. She callously tells her everything in detail - the alterations, the beatings, the screaming... Nancy does her best to keep a calm exterior, but her heart breaks with every word. Max just wants to know what was she thinking bringing her to a Christmas party. And it takes some convincing - pretty much all night, and Max does not want to believe it, because that just means she let a helpless girl endure terrible abuse alone when they could have protected each other. But Nancy is so confident and so insistent and so sure of Robin's self-awareness, that Max can't help but accept it. She cries in Nancy's arms, apologizing over and over again. She didn't know. She didn't want to leave her alone. She didn't want to feel relieved when Billy went after Robin and not her. Nancy just holds her, and tells her she was just a child. She can talk to Robin some time. She's sure she'll appreciate it.

Max and Robin eventually become good friends, actually. Almost sisters. Robin learns that Max hasn't heard of Billy in a long time, and that's very reassuring - he's far from them, now. And Max has Lucas and Robin has Nancy and they have each other now, and they're building a new life away from the horrors.

So when she hears a rough knock on the apartament's door at 3 AM, and hears his voice... she thinks she's hallucinating. It happens sometimes, when her circuits are not working well, but it's rare and she's never so awake when it happens. She runs to Nancy's room and shakes her away. Her whole body is trembling as she says "I think there's someone outside."

Might be getting ahead of myself with the Nancy lore, but she still has a gun from her teenage years, when she and Jonathan had to protect themselves. She hasn't forgotten how to use it.

She doesn't recognize the man when she goes out into the hallway, she only knows he smells like beer and piss, but she can guess who he is from the way he calls for a "robot wh*re", and if she's right, then she hates that she has to meet him in the hallway, where everyone would hear if she put a bullet between his eyes (she's killed people before. It wouldn't be hard).

She's not sure how much he understands - he's leering at her when she comes out - but then she presses the barrel of her gun up against his throat, and tells him to never, ever come near Robin or Max again, or it would be the last thing he does.

He calls her a bitch, but he leaves. Nancy has the feeling it won't be the last time they'll have to deal with him.

Robin is nowhere to be seen when Nancy goes back in - her heart is in her throat, pulse picking up - "Robin? Robin, are you okay?" she calls with a trembling voice. She looks for her everywhere - bedrooms, bathroom, under the bed... she finds her curled up inside a closet, knees against her chest, face hidden in her arms, tears trailing down her cheeks. Nancy realizes she's still holding her gun and places it on the nightstand so she can gather this girl into her arms. She brings her to her bed, tucks her in and holds her tight. She could swear her body doesn't stop trembling until sunrise. All Nancy can do is to hug her tight, stroke her hair, rock her back and forth. Tell her she won't let him touch her again. Promising she'll protect her. She's safe now. Nancy promises.

Indeed, that's not the last time they see Billy, but that's something for another dayyyy

Oh and Robin meets Brenner again at one point, but she doesn't remember him 🤭🤭🤫

[ink-asunder]

Having demand avoidance in a medical setting is literally hell. Like, patient autonomy is already absolute ass. It's only made worse when doctors CONSISTENTLY tell you what to do and act like you HAVE to do it instead of consulting with you first like normal fucking people.

[dyrewrites]

It's fun to see people shut down when they ask what you do for a living and your answer is, "I write stories."

"Oh, you're an author, anything I'd know?"

"Do you like indie horror shorts?"

*the conversation has ended*