#Like he benefits from not being a blood relative of Superman and not really having a claim to that name but still being Superman's cousin.

[thefaeriefeatherdark]

Personally a big fan of restoring Kon's "Human with TTK" thing but making him a clone of Lex and Paul Westfield so that he can be 100% evil divorced dad genetically, but instead of having identity crises over whether or not he'll become evil he keeps getting freaked out because he'll have the sudden urge to buy a Tesla or something.

[butterflydm]

The Untamed Rewatch (ep 9)

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NHS is really cute in this episode, you guys. It’s also a really good episode for the building of the partnership between Wangxian.

I like the tense vibe that we pick up with, having the shadow-bird fly across the moon and only very briefly showing the puppet-people. That's a good editing choice.

Nie Huaisang does come across as relatively sheltered in these scenes with LWJ and WWX. Even though they're all roughly the same age, he comes across as younger. Or more in need of protection, anyway, which is a vibe that he uses to his benefit much later. He's not a fighter. He never becomes one — even when he's at his most desperate, we don't really see him directly using violence against others, instead tricking other people to use violence on his behalf. I don't think it's a moral issue one way or the other; I don't think indirect violence is more morally wrong because it's sneaky or whatnot. It's just an interesting character note. I also think it's interesting that when NHS is panicked, he calls out both WWX and LWJ using the more intimate nickname form — he says Wei-xiong and Lan-xiong. He doesn't usually use that with LWJ, I think? But he does in this scene.

I like the little fire & ice vibe we get with the… are they called 'spells' in cultivation? LWJ pushes them back and it looks cold, then WWX pens them in and the form he makes looks more like fire. LWJ and WWX are all for charging out and poor NHS is just so panicked over the idea. Oh, honey.

So, this next bit is a really big thing that CQL changed from the novel! Wen Qing uses a flute to control the puppets and make them leave (or, wait, since she's blowing in the end, is it a xiao? But it's so much smaller than the one we saw LXC use, so maybe it's another woodwind of some kind? help, I don’t know musical instruments). As I understand it, in the novel, WWX literally invented all of this stuff, while in the drama, he doesn't invent it but does refine it beyond what it has been before. I'll probably have more feelings about that, one way or the other, once I've read the novel. When I was watching through the series the first time, all this felt like it flowed pretty naturally from the plotline that the drama had set up with the Yin Metal. It is one of the things, though, that makes CQL kind of an alternate universe version of MDZS rather than a straight (ha!) adaptation. None of the other practitioners of demonic cultivation in the drama, though, show the same kind of… ah, elemental mastery that we see WWX show. He becomes almost a force of nature in himself, feels almost like an avatar of death, when he's embracing the power. And we don't get that vibe with any of the other characters we see who try to master demonic cultivation. Other people may have dabbled with demonic cultivation in the past, was the vibe the drama gave me, but only WWX mastered it in the end.

The girl doing windmills with her hands while holding the basket kinda cracks me up. Maybe it's partly because her clothes are so bright?

Jiang Cheng comes in to add some levity to the atmosphere. He's actually quite sweet, almost but not quite confessing how worried he was about his brother. He does have a very hard time being emotionally vulnerable, though that's a trial for a lot of characters in the story, but Jiang Cheng covers it up with anger rather than a smile like WWX does. Different coping methods for different personalities. Jiang Cheng gets very indignant when WWX immediately moves to deflect any blame away from LWJ and onto WWX instead.

I really like the scene with WWX, LWJ, Jiang Cheng, NHS, and Wen Qing, because there are several different agendas and levels of knowledge at play, all butting up against each other. WWX and LWJ work very well as a team here, supporting each other's moves while they try to figure out the best plan of action. We know from the previous episode that WWX is already considering himself and LWJ as partners on this trip, and they really do get to act like it here. They're the only two people who are on the same page; everyone else has their individual agendas but WWX and LWJ are working together and with the same knowledge set.

I don't have too much to say about this next bit, but I do love it. I think it looks quite nice, they look very pretty in the fog, and I love seeing WWX and LWJ back to back and there's a bit of cute banter. And both WWX and LWJ get to contribute to the goal.

Oh, is that A-Yuan? The timeline is pretty short in the drama, then!

NHS continues to find WWX's brashness charming while poor Jiang Cheng is just so over it all. Even in the midst of the silliness of the three bros, WWX is thinking of his mission and partnership with LWJ, as he does pretty clearly take advantage of the chicken hunt to give LWJ and himself a chance to question Wen Qing.

Partners! Partnership is one of my favorite ship dynamics — Fraser/RayK (due South), Clois (Superman) — complicated, dynamic partnerships with affection and bantering is one of my great weaknesses in fictional relationships (and for a man who talks as little as LWJ does, he holds his own against WWX). And they have a moment of silent communication at the end of the scene, because they've come to know each other that well already.

The question of how much loyalty you owe to the people who adopted you gets brought up here with Wen Qing and Wen Rouhan, and of course the question always applies to Wei Wuxian in these cases as well. Like WWX, Wen Qing possesses great talents that mean Wen Rouhan give her more latitude than perhaps he would otherwise (in her case, she's an extremely talented doctor) and that the younger of the blood siblings shows jealousy of because of that latitude. Both Wen Qing and WWX act impulsively to do the right thing, even when it goes against the interests of their own adopted family. 

They part ways with Wen Qing (and possibly NHS, though we don't see a goodbye scene with him. Maybe he's still chasing that chicken), with another of the layering of the bittersweet almost-romance between Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng.

And it's been a bit of travel, because WWX has changed clothes between scenes. LWJ and Jiang Cheng still look the same, but WWX was definitely in dark blue in the previous scene and now is definitely in black. There's some interesting non-verbal interplay here between LWJ and WWX that poor Jiang Cheng must helplessly watch — WWX drinks some wine, but immediately stops when LWJ walks away from him, grabs LWJ's shoulder ribbon, drops it when LWJ looks at him, then grabs his arm, and then drops that when LWJ looks at him again. Just major push-pull vibes.

Oh, there's Nie Huiasang! He's meeting up with Meng Yao here! We don't get any Meng Yao in this episode but I really do kinda miss him and his dimples.

I love WWX's technique here so much: "Hey, any weird deaths happen around here recently? We are such big fans of strange death!" I mean, it works, so more power to him, tbh.

The scene here with Lan Zhan feeling the effects of the Yin Metal (and, hey, they told Jiang Cheng about it! He's not surprised! So that's nice) and Wei Ying trying to calm him through it is a neat reversal of the dynamic we'll see more often in the future, with Lan Zhan trying to get through to Wei Ying. I like that; parallels and reversals are fun.

The scene of the three of them walking into the Chang home is very eerie and has a good, strong tragic vibe. So, we're getting Xue Yang in this next bit, and Xue Yang dresses in black. It makes me wonder if that's part of the reason they had WWX change clothes — in the previous episode, they wanted us to associate him with the Jiangs, and Jiang Fengmian in particular, but now they want us to be thinking of Xue Yang, maybe?

Hmm.

Next episode: Xue Yang! Xiao Xingchen! Song Lan!

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[ed-edward-blackbeard]

long-ass fucking questionnaire

yoooooooo, I did it all.

I’m starting this at 1:15 in the morning.  Let’s see how long it takes me to finish.  cause I’m a masochist, apparently.

1: My name? do I HAVE to?  Okay, it’s Kelly.  But I really hate it, so usually I go by Kel.  A few lucky ones get to call me Kelly, but only because I love the way my name sounds when they say it.  There, my dirty secret is out.

2: Do I have any nicknames? A plethora.  Artie (after the fish), Fluffie (long story) Jellybean

3: Zodiac sign? The most Libra Libra that has ever Libra’d.

4: Video game I play to chill, not to win? I don’t play video games.  But I play a few online games, so Doctor Who: Legacy

5: Book/series I reread? The Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward (Series) The Harry Potter books Morgan Chase and the Gods of Asgard by Rick Riordan (series) Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett) Watchers (Dean Koontz) Insomnia (Stephen King)

6: Aliens or ghosts? I have nothing against either.  But I enjoy writing about ghosts more.

7: Writer I trust enough to read whatever they write? Stephen King

8: Favourite radio station? NPR, strangely enough.

9: Favourite flavour of anything? Lemon.  I still thoroughly enjoy chocolate, but my radiation therapy changed the way it tasted.  

10: The word that I use all the time to describe something great? Awesome.  Both with and without the addition of the adjective “fucking”

11: Favourite song? My standard answer is, ‘Everything Louder Than Everything Else’ by Meat Loaf, because I truly love that song, but lately I’ve been on a Game of Thrones kick, and i’m stuck on “The Rains of Castamere” by Sigur Rios and “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” because it’s such a Jaime x Brienne song.

12: The question you ask new friends to get to know them better? Bold of you to assume I have friends.

13: Favourite word? sycophant, gestalt, melancholy

14: The last person who hurt me, did I forgive them? After about, oh, ten years or so, yes I did.  It’s a new thing for me.  usually I hold grudges until the end of time.

15: Last song I listened to? “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin

16: TV show I always recommend? Current:  American Gods, Better Call Saul Cancelled/ended:  Hannibal (NBC), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

17: Pirates or ninjas? Drink up me hearties, yo ho!  Yo ho, yo yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.

18: Movie I watch when I’m feeling down? Usually something from the Disney/Pixar Ouvre.  Except UP.  UP makes me sob in the first ten minutes, so no.

19: Song that I always start my shuffle with/wake-up song/always-on-a-loop song? Du Hast, Rammstein.

20: Favourite video games? Puzzles and Dragons, Doctor Who: Legacy, Dragonvale

21: What am I most afraid of? Snakes, without a doubt.

22: A good quality of mine? I’m creative

23: A bad quality of mine? I don’t think before I speak, so i sometimes don’t end up saying what I mean to say and hurt/offend in the process.

24: Cats or dogs? Bi-petual with a preference to cats

25: Actor/actress you trust enough to watch whatever they’re in? Bruce Campbell.  Alien Apocalypse, anybody?

26: Favourite season? Winter

27: Am I in a relationship? No, although I do love someone very much

28: Something I miss? Being a kid, with all the possibilities of my life still ahead of me

29: My best friend? @mummyholmesisupset and @silvarbelle.  they tie.

30: Eye colour? Hazel-greenish, with a little bit of sunflower around the pupil

31: Hair colour? Normally, a pretty chestnut brown.  sometimes I bleach it or dye it.

32: Someone I love? @silvarbelle, she’s my sister-from-another-mister, and I will throw hands for that bitch in a heartbeat.

33: Someone I trust? @mummyholmesisupset because she’s earned it a hundred times over.  @silvarbelle because I love her like family.

34: Someone I always think about? My grandmother.  she died when I was seventeen, and I still miss her.

35: Am I excited about anything? My birthday

36: My current obsession? Gam of thrones, Doctor Who, Hannibal, the MCU

37: Favourite TV shows as a child? Thundercats, Scooby Doo, 60s Batman, My Favorite Martian, the Monkees

38: Do I have someone of the opposite sex that I can tell everything to? No, thank God.

39: Am I superstitious? Not overly, but I do have a few.

40: What do I think about most? Writing

41: Do I have any strange phobias? Is arachnophobia strange?

42: Do I prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? Behind it, dear God.

43: Favourite hobbies? Writing, reading, pinning things on Pinterest that I absolutely mean to do but probably never will

44: Last book I read? Watchers by Dean Koontz, and I’m in the middle of Fear by Bob Woodward

45: Last film I watched? Backdraft.  “You go, we go.”  

46: Do I play any instruments? Not since band class in the early 90s.

47: Favourite animal? Cat.

48: Top 5 blog on Tumblr that I follow? ???????  I don’t think I do.

49: Superpower I wish I could have? Manipulation of probability

50: How do I destress? Writing, watching Netflix, watching Mythbusters

51: Do I like confrontation? Like it, no.  Good at it, yes.

52: When do I feel most at peace? When it’s quiet and the only noises are the clicking of the keyboard and my cats’ purring

53: What makes me smile? Cute animals, stupid puns, comments on fic

54: Do I sleep with the lights on or off? Off, except for my TARDIS nightlight

55: Play any sports? Fuck no.

56: What is my song of the week? Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

57: Favourite drink? 1% milk.

58: When did I last send a handwritten letter to somebody? A few months?  It was to @mummyholmesisupset in fact.

59: Afraid of heights? Desperately so.

60: Pet peeve? Anchovies, people who don’t use coasters, and men who smoke in public places.  (yes, it’s a movie reference.  And if you get it, I will send you a shiny nickel)

61: What was the last concert I went to see? Black Sabbath’s Theater of Madness

62: Am I vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian? Fuck no.  I am, in fact, omnivorous and diabetic.

63: What occupation did I want to do when I was younger? To be Daphne Blake in Mystery, Inc.

64: Have I ever had a friend turn enemy? Yep.  Not fun.

65: What fictional universe would I like to be a part of? Hannibal’s.  I’m not rude for the most part, so I have a pretty good chance at surviving.

66: Something I worry about? My future.  Cancer has shortened my life span, my relatives are all 65+, and I am an only child with no children of my own (Thank Christ)  I haven’t worked since 2004 (been caretaking sick parents) so I’m concerned.

67: Scared of the dark? I love the dark, so no.

68: Who are my best friends? @mummyholmesisupset  @silvarbelle

69: What do I admire most about others? That they can do things, very well, that I can’t do.  What that is varies from person to person

70: Can I sing? Not very well, but I don't let that stop me...

71: Something I wish I could do? Write professionally.  I love writing fanfic, but I'd kill to be a real, published author.

72: If I won the lottery, what would I do? Pay off bills, go back to college, buy myself a car (pickup, Ford F-150 with fog lights and automatic steering), pay off my mom's bills, hire an aide to stay with Mom, move to my favorite city and hire a winter-time driver because I can't drive for shit in the snow/ice.

73: Have I ever skipped school? Nope.  Often wanted to, never have.

74: Favourite place on the planet? Asheville, NC.  Technically, it's Montreat, which is right outside of Black Mountain and is a township unto itself.  It's also home to Montreat Bible College, established by Billy Graham, and the Chapel of the Prodigal.  It is also home to Lake Susan, one of the most quiet and beautiful places on God's green earth, and I would live by that little lake if I could.  I have photos in my Google Drive, I need to share them sometime.  You'll see what I mean.  But I love Asheville, too, downtown and all.  

75: Where do I want to live? Asheville, NC.  Except I can't drive in the snow and ice, so there's that.

76: Do I have any pets? I have two cats, Samhain Murray (Sam) and Margaret May (Maggie, Maggie May, Margaret Ann)

77: What is my current desktop picture? On my laptop, it's Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) from Gotham.  On my tablet, it's the Superman logo.  On my phone, it's my cat, Sam.

78: Early bird or night owl? Night owl, given that it's 2:30 AM and I'm still working on this.

79: Sunsets or sunrise? Sunsets, please.

80: Can I drive? i don't know, can you?  I can.

81: Story behind my last kiss? I kissed my cat on his cold wet nose because he was headbutting me and so I kissed him.

82: Earphones or headphones? Earphones, sadly.  I prefer headphones, but headphones are uncomfortable because I wear glasses.  So, earbuds.

83: Have I ever had braces? Did you?  I don't know.  Did I?  Yes, I did, I fucking despised them.

84: Story behind one of my scars? in late 2004, I started getting very ill.  I couldn't keep food down, I was puking all the time, pale and everything, so I went to the ER and found I had a mass the size of a basketball growing in my abdomen.  I was shipped to the local cancer center because of the cancer markers, and at the tender age of 27, I got a hysterectomy.  I was cut from my navel to my diaphragm, old school, because the mass was twenty-four pounds.  Benign, thank goodness, but it had started to go necrotic and I was well into blood poisoning (the reason I was puking and sick all the time).  I still have the scar, and always will.

85: Favourite genre of music? instrumental celtic.

86: Who is my hero? I don't know that I have one, as such

87: Favourite comic book character? SUPERMAN, BABY.  SUCK MY DICK BATS

88: What makes me really angry? Mistreatment of people and animals.  Abuse of people and animals.

89: Kindle or real book? Both have their benefits, but I love the weight and feel of a real book.  I love the portability of a Kindle.  

90: Favourite sporty activity? Marathon TV-binge

91: What is one thing that isn’t tight in schools that should be? There's NOTHING RIGHT in schools

92: What was my favourite subject at school? Creative writing

93: Siblings? Nope, my parents saw their mistake and decided never again.

94: What was the last thing I bought? A pair of Sperry deck shoes with Han Solo and Chewbacca on them.

95: How tall am I? 5'6

96: Can I cook? yes, I can.  perhaps not well, but I can cook enough to feed myself and my mom.

97: Can I bake? Yes, I can.  I'm a SLIGHTLY better baker than a cook.

98: 3 things I love? Writing, my cats, Christopher Reeve

99: 3 things I hate? So many things.  Um, spiders, snakes, creepy clowns

100: Do I have more girl friends or boy friends? at the moment, girl.  when I was in school?  boy.

101: Who do I get on with better, girls or boys? General rule?  Boys, or girls that are kind of not-ultra-girly.

102: Where was I born? North Carolina, that hotbed of conservative bullshit.  I'm actually ashamed to admit that's where I'm from.

103: Sexual orientation? I'm working on figuring that out.  Let's call it bisexual for now, and I'll update you as it happens.

104: Where do I currently live? North Carolina, sadly.

105: Last person I texted? @mummyholmesisupset

106: Last time I cried? Today.  I was watching WALL-E on STARZ, and UP came on while I was finishing dinner.  By the time Ellie was miscarrying, I was bawling.

107: Guilty pleasure? I'm not really guilty about my pleasures, but I do have a soft spot for mind-candy romance novels.  Like Johanna Lindsey, Nina Bangs, Harlequin, etc.

108: Favourite Youtuber? I hate Youtubers.

109: A photo of myself. uh, no.

110: Do I like selfies? fuck no.

111: Favourite game app? Doctor Who: Legacy

112: My relationship with my parents? It varies from moment to moment.  My dad never really understood me, and after he got sick and was in a coma for awhile, it changed him.  so there was never really a chance for him to try.  My relationship with my mom is... complicated.  Sometimes we're BFFs and finish each other's sandwiches, and other times, we hate each other's guts and would gladly murder each other and bury the bodies in the backyard.

113: Favourite accents? Spanish, English/Scottish, all the Asian ones (the gentleman that runs my local Chinese restaurant speaks Cantonese and Mandarin both, and I could listen to that all day.)

114: A place I have not been but wish to visit? London, Dublin, Cork, Kerry, Scotland, Italy, Greece, New York, Japan, Los Angeles

115: Favourite number? 15

116: Can I juggle? Nope

117: Am I religious? Eh, not really.  I go to bible study mostly because I have half a crush on the preacher.

118: Do I like space? YES.

119: Do I like the deep ocean? Not so much.

120: Am I much of a daredevil? NO

121: Am I allergic to anything? Ciprofloxacin, IV contrast dye, Mobic/meloxicam, Zofram/ondansetron, and a ton of fragranced products (I have sensitive skin that breaks out at the drop of a hat.)  

122: Can I curl my tongue? Yep!

123: Can I wiggle my ears? Nope!

124: Do I like clowns? Yes, if they're cute.  NOT PENNYWISE, I HATE PENNYWISE.  But I love Tim Curry's Pennywise.  But that's because Tim Curry is awesome.

125: The Beatles or Elvis? Elvis.  I'm an Elvis chick.

126: My current project? "By Inches We Fall," a Game of Thrones fanfic that's Jaime Lannister x Brienne of Tarth.  I'm also working on some Christmas projects involving spray paint and recycled K-Cups

127: Am I a bad loser? Horrible loser.  I hate to lose.

128: Do I admit when I wrong? sometimes.  depends on who I'm talking to, and the tone of the discussion.  if it's a civil discourse, yes I will.  If we're shouting?  I'm not backing down.

129: Forest or beach? Forest.  A forest doesn't leave sand in your butt crack.

130: Favourite piece of advice? Mind your own business and you won't be minding mine

131: Am I a good liar? I used to be.

132: Hogwarts house / Divergent faction / Hunger Games district? Slytherin/what the fuck is a Divergent/12

133: Do I talk to myself? i do, and sometimes I answer

134: Am I very social? HAHAHAHAHA NO.

135: Do I like gossip? sit by me and pour that tea, bitch.

136: Do I keep a journal/diary? I do, on paper, and you'll never read it.

137: Have I ever hopelessly failed a test? i failed every physics test I took in high school.  after becoming a Mythbusters stan, I retook an online physics test and passed it.  

138: Do I believe in second chances? depends on the situation and the person, but generally not.  i have been known to give them, though.

139: If I found a wallet full of cash on the ground, what would I do? oh man.  I'd like to say I'd turn it in untouched, but.  I also know I've got medication pay for (mine and mom's), her insurance to pay for (i'm uninsured), groceries and gas to buy, so in all probability?  I'd keep the cash but return everything else.

140: Do I believe people are capable of change? No.  People are who they are.  they might change what they think or what they believe in, but who they are?  No.

141: Have I ever been underweight? AHAHAHAHAHA NO

142: Am I ticklish? ...there's no good way to answer.  If I say no, you'll tickle me to prove it.  If I say yes, you'll tickle me.  But yes, I am.  especially my feet.

143: Have I ever been in a submarine? WTF?  No.

144: Have I ever been on a plane? Once, and never again

145: In a film about my life, who would I cast as myself, friends and family? Rebel Wilson as me, America Ferrera as @mummyholmesisupset, Kristen Bell as @silvarbelle, Jessica Lange as my mother, and I can't think of anyone else.

146: Have I ever been overweight? Always, am currently, though I'm working to lose it.  I've lost about 50 lbs in the past year, so I'm doing okay

147: Do I have any piercings? Three in my right ear, two in my left.

148: Which fictional character do I wish was real? Hannibal Lecter.

149: Do I have any tattoos? nope, but I want a couple.

150: What is the best decision I have made in life so far? .....i haven't made a single good decision....

151: Do I believe in Karma? it bites me on the ass often enough, so yes I do.

152: Do I wear glasses or contacts? Glasses, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to switch to bifocals next time

153: What was my first car? 1979 green Dodge Aries K

154: Do I want children? If they're furry and four-legged, sure.

155: Who is the most intelligent person I know? um, probably my uncle with two frigging masters degrees

156: My most embarrassing memory? I met John deLancie at a Star Trek con once, just coming down the stairs from his room to the con floor.  And I fell all over myself talking to him because I was like, fourteen or something and he was tall and handsome and genuinely happy to be tthere and I was basically every fangirl's nightmare.

157: What makes me nostalgic? watching old TV shows I loved as a kid, or reading books I haven't read in years.

158: Have I ever pulled an all-nighter? Yep

159: Which do I value more in others, brains or beauty? brains.  i'm practically a zombie.

160: What colour mostly dominates my wardrobe? Purple and fuschia equally.

161: Have I ever had a paranormal experience? Not as such, no.

162: What do I hate most about myself? Everything?

163: What do I love most about myself? I like my hair.

164: Do I like adventure? only the ones in books.

165: Do I believe in fate? not really.

166: Favourite animal? Felis cattus

167: Have I ever been on radio? nope

168: Have I ever been on TV? nope

169: How old am I? 42

170: One of my favourite quotes? "Lock the door.  And hope they don't have blasters."

171: Do I hold grudges? you bet your bippy I do.  (what is a bippy and why are you betting it?)

172: Do I trust easily? No.

173: Have I learnt from my mistakes? I hope I have.  But I suspect I haven't.

174: Best gift I’ve ever received? A single cupcake and a rosebud, given to me by the nurses at the cancer treatment center because it was my birthday and I was having radiation and felt absolutely shitty.  so they surprised me with a little cupcake and a rose for my birthday and it made me feel better.

175: Do I dream? Yep.

176: Have I ever had a night terror? Yep

177: Do I remember my dreams, and what is one that comes to mind? I remember some of them, like the Continuing Adventures of Roxy, the Pink Police Poodle.

178: An experience that has made me stronger? My breakups.

179: If I were immortal, what would I do? Sleep a lot, read even more, learn everything that I never had before.

180: Do I like shopping? I do!

181: If I could get away with a crime, what would I choose to do? Bank robbery.

182: What does “family” mean to me? family is a group of people, not necessarily related by blood, who have chosen to band together in love and support of each other.

183: What is my spirit animal? According to my meditation quest, it's a wolf.  But I'm not really comfortable saying that because it wasn't a real vision quest, I'd have to go to the res for that (i have Cherokee blood on my father's side) and I haven't.

184: How do I want to be remembered? As someone who tried to be good.

185: If I could master one skill, what would I choose? Woodcarving.

186: What is my greatest failure? I dropped out of college in the 90s, when I had an accident that broke my ankle.  I never went back.

187: What is my greatest achievement? five-year survivor, cancer-free!

188: Love or money? Money, sadly.

189: Love or career? love

190: If I could time travel, where and when would I want to go? Am I an observer like the Doctor?  If yes, then I would go back to the Globe Theater and see all of Shakespeare as it was originally performed. Am I living there, stuck?  Future, please.

191: What makes me the happiest? Writing.

192: What is “home” to me? Where I lay my head.

193: What motivates me? How I feel, what I see, something that fascinates me.

194: If I could choose my last words, what would they be? Wake me up when it's over

195: Would I ever want to encounter aliens? Depends on if they're hostile or kind.

196: A movie that scared me as a child? The Dark Crystal.  I love it now.

197: Something I hated as a child that I like now? V-8 juice

198: Zombies or vampires? oooh, both.  But vampires.

199: Live in the city or suburbs? Suburbs

200: Dragons or wizards? Dragons all the way, man.  I love dragons.

201: A nightmare that has stayed with me? Its always the same.  I'm being chased by someone/something, it's always getting closer, and it sounds like a loud, roaring motorcycle.  And I'm always running or racing through the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks (the place with all the red curtains and the black/white zig-zag floor.  That place freaks me the fuck out, and ever since the show aired, it's been in my nightmares)

202: How do I define love? Love is not love, that alters when it alteration finds, nor bends with the remover to remove; O no, it is an ever fixed mark, that looks on tempests and is never shaken.

203: Do I judge a book by its cover? sometimes.  I've found great books in the bargain bin that way.  I've also found a few stinkers.  Come to think of it, I've found a few people that way too.  Some great, some stinkers.

204: Have I ever had my heart broken? I have.

205: Do I like my handwriting? i do, actually

206: Sweet or savoury? Savoury

207: Worst job I’ve had? Market research interview administrator.  I was one of those assholes that flagged you down in the mall and made you watch a commercial or a movie trailer, or try a snack product and then asked you a billion and five questions about it

208: Do I collect anything? Funko POPs, Superman memorabilia, Star Wars and Star Trek memorabilia, penguins, mooses

209: Item of clothing or jewellery you’ll never see me without? my dragon ring, my pocketwatch

210: What is on my bucket list? I don't have one

211: How do I handle anger? Depends.  I sometimes hold it in, but most times I blow like a firecracker.  hot and hard, and then I cool off.

212: Was I named after anyone? my dad's uncle Kelly, and my mom's father Ray (i'm Kelly Rae)

213: Do I use sarcasm a lot? me?  sarcastic?  Perish the thought.

214: What TV character am I most like? Dobie Gillis.

215: What is the weirdest talent I have? I can twirl just about anything like a baton and not drop it

216: Favourite fictional character? Ashley j. Williams

3:24 AM.  Son of a bitch.

[bluboothalassophile]

Give Me Back My Mind! I'm

Missing Bats, Dead Bats, New Bats

“You’re really going to break into Shadowcrest?” Constantine asked ludicrously.

“What’s the problem, it’s not like I’m robbing the House of Mystery, and she double crossed me first,” Jason growled lowly as he sipped his beer.

“It’s not that, it’s… I thought you were done with magic,” John sighed.

“I am a thief,” Jason repeated. “I was contracted to steal the book, I did, I even had a pissed off demon after me, and I got paid for stealing the book. However, as in the terms of agreement for acquiring my services, no double crossing or the other Red comes after you.”

“No, I get it, but I just… are you sure Z took the bloody book?” Constantine asked.

“It’s my fucking starting point, and I’m relatively certain she hired me to steal it,” Jason stated flatly.

“Well, I’m always up for a wee bit of mischief, but I’ve got my own problems to handle, I’ll help you with Shadowcrest, but then you’re in my debt,” Constantine warned.

“Fine,” Jason waved off. He didn’t mind owing John a favor, it wasn’t like John’s favors were all that horrible. “Whatever you want pal.”

“You do know my friends die, right?” Constantine said with dark humor lacing his tone.

“You do know I’m allergic to death,” Jason countered. Constantine was laughing then as his head fell back.

“Yeah, here’s the Shadowcrest blueprints, but you did not get them from me. And tell your sorceress that the house doesn’t take too kindly to demons,” Constantine waved his hand and a set of scrolls materialized.

“I never…” Jason started and John gave him a hard look.

“The Gem of Scath is an elusive demon, and a hell of a sorceress but she’s a demon all the same, Jason, a very powerful one at that,” Constantine said firmly as he sipped his drink. Jason lifted a brow.

“Gem of Scath?”

“She’s the daughter of Trigon, a king of demons, she was born to rule at his side, a Princess of Hell so to speak, no doubt if she were to be in her father’s realm she’d be a Queen. The Azarathians who sheltered her and raised her, they supposedly taught the Gem to control her demon. The Azarathians prophesized her opening the door which would bring Trigon to earth and destroying all worlds mortal. They were right in a manner of speaking, but Azarath will never know that.”

“What is Azarath, I know in the League files it’s listed as a dimension and that book as the last relic of Azarath, but I’ve seen a good portion of the multiverse and never heard or saw it,” Jason said.

“Not surprising, lad. Azarath was sort of behind the veil of all multiverses, all seeing, all knowing behind the veil of the universe. It was said they were a peaceful world, and spiritual, practicing mystic arts we could only dream of, I’m sure if Fate were here he’d have more to say on the Azarathians,” John said as he sipped his beer.

“What happened to them?”

“Azarath was destroyed, by Trigon,” Constantine said indifferently.

“How?”

“The Gem of Scath, she’s a conduit for Trigon, a very powerful one at that, she accidenitally opened a door to Azarath and Trigon came, destroying it all; she was merely a child, and then Trigon stole her away to his realm, after that, somehow, she came to be on earth. I don’t know the whole story, just the whispers and rumors of what I have heard from other demons and sorcerers,” John shrugged. Jason frowned as he stared at his beer.

“’Side’s the silly prophecy came and passed already, she was powerful enough to banish Trigon back to his realm, saving us, can’t be all bad if she banish a demon as strong as Trigon,” Constantine chuckled.

Jason shot him a confused look. “I thought you wouldn’t like demons.”

“They aren’t all evil, a bloke I know is merged with a powerful one and he’s not all bad. Demons are just… dangerous. They’re like a wild animal, impossible to predict, and very dangerous, but dangerous isn’t always bad. The Gem of Scath, from what I’ve heard, is a passive creature, while her nephew, the bloke I was telling you about, he’s aggressive,” Constantine shrugged.

“Passive my ass,” he snorted. “Thanks for the blue prints.”

“Jay, be careful in that house, Z isn’t a weak one, and she hates the Gem of Scath,” Constantine warned.

“Her name is Raven,” Jason warned lowly. “And Zatanna is only on my shit list because she double crossed me. That makes her my enemy, and if Raven’s my ally, I think Zatanna should be the one worrying.”

“Agreed, I won’t be warning her if you’re concerned about that,” Constantine said slowly. “Azarath sorcery belongs to the last Azarathian, not to anyone else.”

“Thanks Constantine, I owe you one,” Jason said as he walked out of the bar then and made his way to his safe house.

He frowned at the paintings on his floor, the wax, the candles, the scent of inscents and the faint scent of blood. However, he ignored it as he carefully moved around all the paintings; not willing to fuck with magic and end up in another dimension or turned into a bat or something.

He made it to his sleeping room and saw Raven sound asleep on a bedroll, Damian claiming the mattress. Sighing he stripped off his clothes and pulled on his pajama pants; snagged a shirt as an after thought and stretched out beside Raven.

For such a powerful demon, she was tiny, he thought as she shifted on her stomach and scooted into him on her own. Exhaustion claimed him as he yanked a blanket over him and Raven and he decided he wouldn’t be childish about sleeping with her. It was chilly in the apartment after all.

~~~*~*~*~~~

He was too fucking exhausted after dealing with Superboy the day before and yesterday that he had collapsed in his living quarters on his bed and opted to sleep for a year. Between talking to Superboy the day before, and having Tim sit there and talk to Superboy, Dick had spent most of yesterday trying to figure out how to talk to Superman about the existence of the clone; it was exhausting.

Life was exhausting as of late.

Not in the bad, depressing way, but rather in the ‘there’s one of me, eight of you, a thousand things to do, have patience, I’m working on it’ way. When Damian had shown up earlier this year and they had sorted everything about the League of Assassins, the Pit, Slade Wilson, and where Damian would be staying, Dick had decided he’d have to step up more as a big brother. With both Tim and Damian. And while he and Tim were good; had been since Tim had donned the mantel of Robin, Damian was a different story.

Damian was a handful to say the least, he was so unlike any other child that there was that it was a bit ridiculous to try to treat him as a child. However, Damian was ten, and he needed to be a child. And after all the shit the kid had gone through, both before being dumped on Bruce by Talia al Ghul, and after, the kid needed… family. And the Bat family was perpetually dysfunctional as hell. Also, by taking Damian out of Gotham he was out of the reach of both Talon and Talia, and Dick would do anything to keep his baby brother away from the psychos of Gotham and the League of Assassins.

But aside from Tim and Damian, there was Bruce to worry about; not that he had to worry about Batman, but Bruce he had to worry about. Bruce was the not-great-but-still-trying father who was paranoid that something bad would happen to them, Bruce was the father who had lost his son, and who didn’t know how to be a father but tried all the same.

And to add to his exhaustion of life there was now Barbara and Kori to deal with. He and Kori had a nice thing going, steady for a year, not quite boyfriend and girlfriend, but more than just friends with benefits. Truthfully, until Bruce had insisted on the Titans having technical support and Barbara being said support, he had been planning on taking Kori on an official date and uncomplicating this part of his life. But with Barbara here he wasn’t certain about this, or how to proceed. Dick had loved Barbara, and he still did in a way, for a long time, she’d been a dear friend in a moment of his life where he’d been in hell, and she’d helped save him. But whatever spark, whatever flame had been between them in their youth, it had extinguished when the Joker had broken her and she had shut him out and he’d let her shut him out.

But with his family, and confusing relationships, also came all the work he did as Nightwing, Dick, Richard Grayson, and a member of the Titans and the League. It was exhausting to try to keep up with all that.

And perhaps it was this exhaustion which had made him miss it. Perhaps he hadn’t noticed because he was already stretched so thinly and he had come to rely on Raven to be there to keep him propped up. Raven was good like that, she was like a sister to him and she was his savior where Damian was concerned. Perhaps it was the fact he was so comfortable here in the Tower that he hadn’t noticed it. However it had slipped his notice, even as he cracked his weary eyes open at the sound of his ringing phone and an empty bed.

Yawning he reached for his phone and looked at the caller before sighing, wincing, sitting up and looking around his room for Kori. She wasn’t here, he felt his cold bed and groaned as he fell back; complicated! For about a year, whenever he was in Tower or in San Francisco, he and Kori shared a bed; and right now she wasn’t there.

Groaning he got out of his bed, noted that it was five in the morning, the only two who would be up would be Raven and Damian. Damian got up and four-thirty every morning to train; unless the Titans had had a ridiculously late night mission. And Raven would be getting ready to meditate at five, they always shared a morning cup of tea and coffee at five.

Walking out of his room with his phone in hand he made his way down to the kitchen and noted the absolute silence, not even the hum of the holographs running, which had him sighing as he walked to the coffee. Raven hadn’t made it, frowning he just did it himself as he waited, waited for both the coffee and Raven to materialize from the shadows.

She didn’t show, he just shrugged it off to her being exhausted as he sat at the kitchen table and dialed back Bruce.

“Dick I need you to do me a favor,” Bruce started when he answered the phone on the second ring.

“Morning Dick, how are you? Oh, I’m good, just exhausted, Supes has a clone, I haven’t slept well in four days, and I’m exhausted. Also, my alien girlfriend, the one you’re not overly fond of, is mad at me for letting my childhood sweetheart live here, and I woke up in my bed here, alone for the first time in a year after having a steady thing with Kori going, thanks for asking though,” Dick sarcastically filled in his guardian. As much as he loved Bruce, Bruce wasn’t his father, no one would ever be able to take his father’s place in his heart or mind, and Dick refused to entertain the idea of calling Bruce ‘Dad’. But Bruce was a guardian, and Bruce was alright with that.

“Sorry, Dick,” Bruce sighed.

“It’s alright, we’re still training you,” Dick shrugged; he had Tim in on him with the correcting Bruce on how a father was supposed to be, hopefully Bruce would be a better father for Damian. “Now, what’s so important you’re calling at five in the morning?”

“I have some news,” Bruce started.

“Of course you do, else you wouldn’t have been calling,” Dick stated as he sipped his overly sweetened coffee, it was so warm, and good, it was like coming to life again.

“I’m going to need your help talking to Damian and Tim about this,” Bruce said firmly, but the undercut of uncertainty was what had Dick sitting up straight in his chair.

“What is it Bruce? You’re officially scaring me. You’re not dying are you!?” Dick felt the panic coming at the thought of losing Bruce; he wasn’t ready to be an orphan again, and he was not ready to be shoved into the mantel of Batman; and he didn’t want it. No, Dick was happily waiting for Damian to be all grown up to take the Batman mantle.

“I’m not dying,” Bruce stated firmly.

“Oh thank God,” Dick sighed as he fell back in his seat. “So what’s up?”

“Selina’s pregnant,” Bruce stated and Dick burst into laughter; it couldn’t be helped. From the age of thirteen Bruce had been hounding it into him to use protection, to be safe, to be smart, to accept the consequences of sex if protection failed and to never treat a woman as anything less than a lady; regardless of what she did for a living or how she acted. And now, in the span of a year, Bruce was telling him that he had not only sired one baby, but two; it was priceless!

It also revoked Bruce’s lecturing rights on protection.

“After all the lectures you gave me!” Dick laughed. “You have a ten year old show up on your door step, and now Selina in less than a span of a year! This is great! You can’t lecture me anymore about protection! I’ve never even had a pregnancy scare! This is great!”

“I will still lecture you so you do not get to being my age and have a ten year old showing on a yacht not the doorstep,” Bruce grounded out.

“Nope! I’ve never had a pregnancy scare, and my current girlfriend and I haven’t even had to worry about the possibility. And yacht, doorstep, tomato-tomata,” he shrugged. “Congratulations are in order I take it.”

“Yes,” Bruce said uncertainly.

“Tell Selina I said hi, congrats, and welcome to the family. Oh, and I want a baby brother,” Dick stated happily. “She is going to be a part of the family, right? I like Selina, why better than that manipulative bitch Talia.”

“She’ll be happy to hear that, and we’re working that out,” Bruce sighed. “Also, you know you cannot make requests as to the gender of a baby, right?”

“I know, but face it Bruce, we have no idea what to do with girls, Barbara’s Barbara, and Cass is a former assassin, and Stephanie’s Cluemaster’s daughter, both girls are more of Barbara’s than ours,” Dick pointed out.

“Still can’t will it to be a boy,” Bruce pointed out.

“I can hope, also, is this why it was suddenly imperative that Tim and Stephanie join up with the Titans? I get having Damian here, and I get that those three need to work on being a team, but your push was sudden,” Dick pointed out.

“The reasons of needing them to be a unit are also true. And after Wonder Girl, Supergirl, and Superboy’s near death attempt at a mission is also a true factor in my pushing them to join the Titans. But yes, the pregnancy was a private factor as well, Selina and I will work this out, without interference, but Dick… I’ll be in San Francisco next week, I would like to sit down with all of you and talk about this,” Bruce carefully and the wheels in Dick’s head spun.

Damian wasn’t overly fond of Tim and he barely tolerated the rest of the adopted clan and preened over being Bruce’s only blood son and rightful heir. There could be problems forming with this announcement and Damian’s attitude.

“I’ll talk to Raven, see if she can help me with talking to Damian,” he sighed. Raven was perhaps Damian’s only friend outside of the family, Dick was hoping this would change in time, but it was a good start. Also, Raven was a good role model for Damian, Dick would have sworn she was like a big sister or mother to Damian with how she had taken to treating him.

“Raven?”

“I need reinforcements, and Raven’s good at getting through to Damian, you know this. Besides she’ll keep it all to herself, Raven doesn’t gossip,” Dick pointed out. He was pretty certain that all of Damian’s calls home had elements of Raven in them.

“Just… don’t have the entire Titans know, else the League will know and everyone will know,” Bruce grouched.

“I get it, how far along is she?”

“Ten weeks.”

“Hey, wasn’t that after…” Dick started and frowned. “How long have you two been officially, secretly dating then.”

“Since before Damian came here,” Bruce answered.

“Wow, almost a year then,” Dick said in awe. Brucie tended to be frivolous in his dating life, Bruce Wayne sought to stay single or have a connection, and Batman couldn’t have attachments or love. Dick was impressed. True Bruce and Selina had been dancing around each other since before he’d ever even known Bruce, but to actually hear that they were a couple… it was impressive.

“Congrats, send Selina my love and try to do right by her,” Dick grinned at taking over the father role at the moment.

“Talk to Damian,” Bruce pleaded.

“No worries, baby bird will be ready to be a brother before I’m through with him,” Dick announced. “Call me when you want to arrange that sit down, I’ll make certain Tim and Damian won’t kill each other before then.”

“Thank you, Dick,” Bruce sighed.

“Talk to you later Bruce,” he smiled as he hung up and then stared up at the ceiling.

Another sibling…

Another spawn of Bruce Wayne, with Selina Kyle as the mother, the world wasn’t ready for that but Dick was kind of looking forward to it. If Jason were alive to be here he’d have been excited, Tim was going to be nervous but thrilled, and Damian… Damian was a wild card. Hopefully Dick could coax the youngest Robin around to the idea of being a big brother; this was going to take a lot of help.

Thank God for Raven, demon or not, Raven was an angel for putting up with him and his family being shoved on her. Finishing his coffee he noted the time and decided he’d go find Raven and talk to her about helping him with Damian and getting Damian to like the idea of being a big brother. After making his way back up to the living quarters he walked the hall, pausing outside of Kori’s door he was tempted to walk in and join her in bed for some more sleep, however, he needed to talk to Raven. He’d talk to Kori later. Walking to Raven’s room he lightly knocked, there was no answer. Slowly he walked in, careful of her wards, and left the door open just in case her room decided to pitch him out.

“Raven?” he called out, he stopped at her bed and frowned at the man’s leather jacket on it and the empty bed. Where was she? And who’s jacket was this? Picking up the jacket he slowly walked out of the room; careful not to touch anything. Coming into the hall he quietly shut the door and looked up when Victor emerged from his room.

“Hey, Cy, have you seen Raven?” he asked.

“Who? What!? I don’t know anything! Rae’s out!” Victor scrambled and Dick’s eyes narrowed on his giant friend.

“Victor, where is Raven?” he repeated slowly and clearly.

“Uh… She’s tracking Red X! He broke into her room, stole something and she’s been tracking him down, Damian is with her, I insisted she didn’t do this alone, and obviously, I can’t leave else who’d be in charge of her team!? You’re too busy for the training stuff, and Damian volunteered to go with her! I don’t know anything else! I swear!” Victor balked.

“Raven chasing Red X! And my baby brother is out there without protection!” Dick paled at the thought; Talia wanted Damian back and the League of Assassins would go after him now that he was out of Batman’s protection! Oh shit!

“He’s with Rae,” Victor pointed out.

“That’s not the point! The League of Assassins, Talia al Ghul, wants him back!”

“What!? Does he know!?”

“No! Bruce and I thought it was for the best if he wasn’t tempted to return to them!” Dick snapped.

“Oh shit,” Victor paled more.

“We have to find him before the Assassins find out he’s out there on his own with only Raven to protect him!” Dick shouted.

He also had to find Damian before Bruce found out he was missing; else Dick was dead.

~~~*~*~*~~

Bruce felt a bit more confident about broaching the whole family thing with his children now that he had talked to Dick and Dick had been excited. Truthfully, though he had suspected Selina was pregnant, he hadn’t officially known until yesterday when he’d met up with her for lunch and he’d never been more scared. Well, except when Talia had shown up and presented Damian as his son, finding out about Damian had scared the shit out of him. But he loved that boy, just as he loved all his sons and he was striving to try to be a father to Damian and to teach his boy that there was more to the world than the Assassins who had brainwashed him and were now seeking him out.

Sighing he leant back in his seat as he contemplated how this could work and tried to predict how Damian would react to the news. Of all his children Damian was the most difficult, and the most like Jason; more serious than Jason, but Damian still possessed the same anger, rage, temper and views on killing and going off alone. Bruce was trying to reign him in, trying to stop his youngest’s reckless behavior, but found it difficult.

At least until Dick had decided to move Damian in with the Titans.

True Damian was still reckless, still violent, still brash, but he was calmer. Bruce figured it was Raven’s doing, all of Damian’s calls home were filled with the demoness’s words, her advice, her help, and just Raven. He’d have found it amusing that his youngest had a crush on the Titan if not for the fact that Raven was a demon. And while he trusted Raven with his family completely, he was also well aware that she had dangerous powers she chose to keep to herself that no one in the League knew about.

Dragging a hand through his hair he took another steadying breath before standing, buttoning his suit, grabbing his needed files, and walking out of the office to head for a board meeting. Tonight he and Selina would be talking, and Alfred had the night off. It was all quiet in Gotham, and if he hadn’t known where all the lunatic criminals were at this moment, he’d have thought it too quiet. Like the calm before the storm.

Still, Bruce couldn’t shake this uncanny feeling that trouble was coming despite the world all but telling him it was at peace.

Something bad was about to happen, he could feel it in his gut.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Raven was not surprised to wake with Jason again, or to have his heavy arm tossed over her back, or for him to be so close. He was very warm, and she was very comfortable where she was. Turning her head she looked up on the bed to see Damian staring at her with curious, unblinking eyes; a habit from his father and brothers no doubt, Dick and Tim both did this look as well. A low moan escaped her as she stretched out a bit on her stomach, not dislodging Jason, and then she sighed before giving Damian her undivided attention.

“Morning,” she breathed in a hushed tone.

“When are we moving on Shadowcrest?” the boy asked.

“Tonight,” came the mumbled reply from Jason who was sleeping on his stomach, facing away from them. “Go to sleep.”

“I can’t there’s gunshots across the street,” Damian hissed.

“Go to fucking sleep! Cops will take care of it!” Jason hissed.

“This is a very unsafe place to have a safe house, worse than Crime Alley,” Damian wrinkled his nose a bit in disgust and Raven chuckled as Jason came awake then and propped himself up beside her.

“Not all of the world grows up in palaces with guards, tutors, and money Damian. Be grateful, and this is a perfectly safe, safe house!” Jason growled lowly. The sound of sirens blaring had Raven rolling onto her back as she stretched and sat up.

“How about tea and breakfast then we’ll discuss Shadowcrest,” Raven yawned.

“Please don’t cook,” Damian pleaded.

“I’m cooking twerp so shut it, sunshine’ll make the tea,” Jason groaned as he stretched and sat up too.

“You can cook?” Raven and Damian asked at the same time.

“Yes, and I’m an excellent cook,” Jason stated.

“I doubt it,” Damian snorted.

“Just cause you can burn water does not mean the rest of us mortals are inept at cooking,” Jason sighed as he got to his feet and left them in the bedroom. Raven looked at Damian who was now looking a bit more curious than angry.

“Why is he sleeping with you?” Damian asked.

“You mean aside from the fact it’s cold, there’s one mattress with good blankets, and I have the bedroll?” Raven clarified.

“He did it in the hotel too,” Damian pointed out.

“Because he wanted to sleep on a bed, and now, probably because it’s cold,” Raven admitted. She doubted there was another reason she and Jason had taken to being so close so quickly.

“Grayson shares a bed with Kori,” Damian said so innocently Raven felt like she’d been creamed by a linebacker then.

“That’s different,” she assured him.

“I know, but I thought that’s why people shared beds,” Damian snorted.

“Damian, worry about it when you’re older, for now, Red seems intent on sleeping on a bed or with a blanket, though he’s a furnace,” Raven sighed as she dragged her fingers through her hair.

“If he tries anything I will disembowel him,” Damian said firmly.

“Good to know, let’s get breakfast,” Raven decided as she stood up and stretched. She was still in her pajamas as she walked into the living area.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Damian wasn’t a fool, he knew why people slept together and what they wanted; he’d walked in on his grandfather once, and his mother was not shy about the men who came to her bed. Dick and Kori slept together, Damian had snuck in one night before the dawn curious as to what Grayson’s relationship with the alien was and found them sound asleep. And he’d seen his father sleeping in Catwoman’s bed before too. He knew what people wanted when they shared beds, and what that usually meant.

Waking up to Jason and Raven together was different though.

It was comfortable. Damian had waited until they were awake before speaking, he did not want to disturb the peace he felt around them.

And now he was sitting at a battered table as Jason made batter and Raven made tea. Was this what normal felt like? To just sit at a table for breakfast and have people be calm? Damian didn’t know, he didn’t think there’d ever been a calm moment with the Titans or the Wayne family. And despite the obvious chaos outside, it was calm in here.

“Vanilla?” Jason yawned.

“Here,” Raven said as she waved her hand to have a bottle float out of a cabinet.

“Thanks.”

“What’s for breakfast?” Damian asked.

“Waffles for me and little bird, you like pancakes so you’ll be getting those,” Jason informed him.

“That is acceptable,” Damian decided.

“It’s too early for the prince shit,” Jason growled.

“Knock it off Damian,” Raven chided and he just blinked at her as she made him a mug of tea. It was comfortable here, he kind of liked it as he accepted the mug Raven placed before him and she sat, Jason continued to make batter.

[skittelsen]

My Secret Origin as a Super-Fan

*This post is my personal story. It does not represent the opinions or views of NetherRealm Studios, WB Games, or DC Entertainment. 

What a week!

My first game as Narrative Lead, INJUSTICE 2, launched worldwide, and the response from fans and critics has been overwhelmingly positive—as in I feel overwhelmed by all the positivity. This week also marked the tenth anniversary of my NYU graduation. Finally, there’s the MOST important milestone of all, my son’s third birthday. For me, all these events are connected.

Of all the reactions to Injustice 2 out there, I love most when someone remarks that the people who made this game must really love DC Comics lore. Trust me, they do. Everyone on the I2 team has a favorite DC character, from the iconic to the obscure. My favorite is Superman.

It might come as a surprise that the Narrative Lead on a game in which Superman is portrayed as a lethal tyrant would profess to be a Superman fan, but I am. 

Here’s why. When I was about 4 years old, my parents told me that I was and would always be their son, but that I didn’t come out of Mommy’s tummy like my sister. I was adopted. My birth parents, whoever they were, couldn’t raise me, so they sent me away to find a family who could provide a better life for me.

This kind of news can really mess with a kid’s head. I was an indoorsy, deep-thinky emo boy, and I would dramatically stare into the bathroom mirror and wonder whose eyes were looking back at me. Fortunately, my Mom and Dad were a real life Ma and Pa Kent, equipped with big hearts to manage my drama. They loved my sister and I as much as any kids could be loved, and they never treated me any differently on account of my secret heritage. 

Superman: The Movie was on TV a lot in the 1980s. I don’t remember when, but at some point not long after my parents told me I was adopted, I made the connection that Superman was adopted. Superman was just like me! 

From then on, my personal identity as an adopted kid was still fraught with complications and insecurities, but it wasn’t always a source of trauma. In my mind, I had a secret origin, a source of strength. And how cool would it be if I found a spaceship buried in the basement? 

My parents reinforced this imaginative coping mechanism by indulging my every superhero fantasy. They took me to every comics and collectibles shop in upstate New York looking for special issues and rare action figures. Mom sewed more than one Superman cape (and a few Batman capes, too), and she and I binge-watched George Reeves in Adventures of Superman. For my 18th birthday, my Dad bought me the S-shield tattoo that’s still on my shoulder. A year later, he got the same S-shield tattoo on the same shoulder as me. He sat in the inker’s chair wincing from the needle, quoting Marlon Brando as Jor-El, “The son becomes the father, and the father becomes the son!” 

Without my parents’ support, I may never have gone to Metropolis for college at NYU. They were so proud at my graduation, but I wasn’t proud yet. I wanted to be a writer, but instead, I found myself working as the Corporate Files Administrator at the HBO Legal Department and taking an LSAT prep course by night. I was lost. 

Then, two things happened that set me back on course. First, I was hired by an indie producer to write a screenplay, enabling me to quit my job at HBO. Second, at my wife’s urging, I sent a fan letter to one of my favorite writers, author and educator Douglas Rushkoff, asking if he needed any help.

They say don’t meet your heroes, but in Rushkoff, I found a mentor and a lifelong friend. Working as his editorial assistant was a dream come true. I learned more in one year working Rushkoff than I had in four years studying at NYU. 

Then my screenplay deal fell apart, the global economy tanked, and like a lot of recent college graduates, I faced the real possibility of going broke and moving back in with my parents. Rushkoff couldn’t pay me a full time salary, but he offered to help me get an inside track at DC. 

Applying for a job at DC Comics without a personal recommendation is like throwing rocks at the moon. For years, from sophomore year of college on, I had applied for every DC internship and entry-level position available. Never got a response. Rushkoff recommended me and I got a call from WB HR within a few hours. It certainly helped that I now had a few more bullets on the CV. It also may have helped that the person Rushkoff recommended me to was Paul Levitz, then President and Publisher of DC Comics.

An extensive interview process later, I was hired as Assistant Editor - Interactive at DC Comics. My family was with me when I got the phone call. We all went out for dinner and celebrated, and I got so drunk, I ate a bowl of unpeeled shrimp with the shells intact. That hurt in the morning, but it’s still one of my favorite memories.

Little did we know how much that job would change things. Less than a year after I started at DC, Paul Levitz stepped down and Diane Nelson arrived as President. DC Comics became DC Entertainment, and the office was split between New York and California. 

It was a great deal of change in a relatively short period of time for a company invested with decades of tradition. That made for a controversial and upsetting time for many of the employees who had been at DC for years. I had the benefit of being the newbie, and my wife grew up in California, so were were excited to relocate to Los Angeles, even though it meant leaving our beloved city and so many wonderful friends behind. I accepted my offer to join the new team in Burbank, and off we went.

Working at DC was a dream job. I considered my colleagues like family members, and I got to work with more talented creators than I can list here. One of my favorite collaborators, though, was NetherRealm Studios. 

Working with NRS on Injustice: Gods Among Us felt like a big deal. Mortal Kombat was a formative games franchise for me growing up, and the team was just coming off an amazing 2011 reboot of the MK franchise with an incredibly ambitious cinematic Story Mode. 

Plus, this would be the AAA game in which my favorite hero, Superman, could finally take center stage. He would be the villain of the story, but a villain motivated by good intentions in response to a horrific tragedy. 

The results were nothing short of awesome. From that first game through five years of comics and a blockbuster mobile adaptation, the Injustice universe took off like a bullet train. 

I left DC before Injustice launched. It was a dream job, to be sure, but I still had that other dream of being a writer, and for HR reasons, that wasn’t possible while I was a DC employee. So when a Burbank creative agency offered me a leadership role, a better salary, and the freedom to write for anyone I wanted, I knew it was time to go.

Leaving DC felt like a big risk. It doesn’t get bigger than Superman. What would I find in the great beyond? But after getting comfortable in my position at DC, disrupting my routine and transitioning to games marketing was a challenge I needed. My partners and I built a crack team of creatives and account managers. That team pitched and executed campaigns for clients all over the world, and went on to win award after award after award. 

My risky marketing venture was now a successful career. It was possible to envision a future where I never wrote again, living comfortably off all those marketing dollars. I had co-written a screenplay since leaving DC, but apart from that, I no longer made the time to write. My wife was pregnant, we’d just a bought a house, and I was traveling on a weekly basis. There were only so many hours in the day, and I needed to make those hours profitable.

But all the money in the world couldn’t fulfill my goal to be a writer. It was at this time that some close friends challenged me to write. Well, not just to write, but to finish something. One comics editor friend put it to me, “If you can’t write a 12-page backup, what can you write?” That put the fire in me. So I wrote a short story that editor, then a short story for another. Then I sold an original comic series (still upcoming!). And then I got a call from an old colleague.

At DC, I worked with an incredible woman named Victoria Setian, or as we call her, Tory. She had been part of Team Interactive with me, and since I’d left DC, she’d also moved, across the street to WB Games, where she was a budding producer on Mortal Kombat X, which of course was being made by some of our favorite developers, NetherRealm Studios.

Tory asked if I wanted to throw in a pitch for an MKX comic series. I knew the lore, I knew the team, what did I have to lose? So, in between agency work and preparing for a new baby, I wrote my pitch.

Then my son was born. A big deal for anyone, an extra big deal for an adopted person who’s never laid eyes on a blood relative before. My son opened his eyes, and for the first time, I saw myself in another human being. The experience was psychedelic. Becoming a father profoundly changed me in ways I’m still figuring out.

Everyone who knew me knew that I wanted to name a son “Clark” someday. Didn’t want to force that on my wife, though, so we came up with an alternative name, and she picked from both names once she saw the baby and got a sense of his personality. He was quiet for a newborn, a little gentleman, she said. She named him Clark Eric, taking his middle name from my father, which was an added surprise. Suffice it to say there wasn’t a dry eye among the Kittelsen men that morning.

The call from my editor at DC came that week while I was still home with the family. I got the gig. How soon could I turn around a new outline?

Thus began the most difficult summer of my life. New house, new baby, new writing gig, and I still had to pitch, travel, and manage the creative team for the agency. There was pressure coming at me from every direction. I became depressed. Something had to give.

Alan Moore gave an interview once where he talked about taking the leap to freelance. He came home to tell his wife he was quitting his industrial job, but when he got there, she told him she was pregnant, so he went back to work. But in time it occurred to him that no matter how poor his writing career might make the family, the baby would survive. They’d find a way. The only question was, would the baby grow up with new shoes and a miserable father who resents his lot in life, or with secondhand shoes and a father who can honestly tell that child she can be anything she wants to be.

This was the choice I faced. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make it alone. I had my wife, my partner, to work it out with me. She drafted a household budget, figured out how lean we could live, how long we might survive, and together we put together Humble Wordsmith, LLC, my freelance business.

I quit the agency job, reduced my monthly expenses to bare minimums, and started working from home. Beyond the comics, I had freelance gigs as a copywriter, a marketing consultant, whatever I could get paid to do. I busted my hump, but no matter how hard I tried, I never seemed to build momentum. That first year, our household income went down by over 75%. 

Things picked up a bit when I got hired by WB Games to write story and in-game content for the DC Legends mobile game. With that under my belt, I looked for more games writing gigs, but they were hard to come by. I focused more of my time on Feral Audio, a start-up podcast network was growing steadily. 

That’s when I got another call from another old colleague, Senior Producer Adam Urbano. NetherRealm Studios was looking for a writer to join their team and work on the story for Injustice 2. Would I be interested and available? After years of working with NRS on various projects in various capacities, this was the ultimate compliment.

The rest, as they say, is history. Writing for the game is the best dream job I’ve ever had the privilege of working. There was so much work to be done, I handed off my Feral Audio duties to my partners at the network. For the first time since I graduated from college, I could focus on one job title: Writer.

Becoming a father was wonderful but disruptive. Writers are selfish people, we like having lots of time to ourselves to “think” and “be creative” and sometimes even to write. But I can’t be selfish anymore. So with each year since I started freelancing, I’ve worked harder at balancing my family life with my work. The more quality time I spend as a Dad, the more fulfilled I become. I’ve been around for all Clark’s achievements, from walking to talking to his first tantrum. At the agency, I feared I would miss all those priceless memories. Now I have a treasure trove.

As if all this weren’t enough, there was one more surprise waiting for me in the lead-up to launching Injustice 2. 

**MINOR I2 SPOILER WARNING** In the game, Superman meets his cousin, Supergirl, for the first time. It’s the first time he’s ever laid eyes on a blood relative. The first time he sees himself in someone else. Just like the first time I saw Clark.

Writing that scene was obviously somewhat personal and emotional for me. Now, a couple years later, I get to live that scene out for myself.

See, ever since my wife became pregnant, I’ve been taking DNA tests, trying to decode my secret origin. They never yielded any close results, but the ethnographic results they provided me were interesting, and I never knew what they could yield, so I kept taking them. Then, just this March, I got a match to a distant cousin. On a lark, I sent her my adoption info, and within hours, she sent me the name of my maternal grandfather. Then we found my grandmother.

We did not find my birth mother. In a soap opera twist, my birth mother was given up for adoption, just like me, so her identity is still a mystery. But I can’t complain. I’ve found new uncles, aunts, and cousins, they’ve welcomed me to the family with open arms, and they want to help find my birth mother. 

By finding the birth family my mother never knew, I’ve found another missing piece of myself. Now I can look in the mirror and see the pieces I gave to Clark, as well as the pieces my grandparents gave to me. Sometime soon I’m going to meet my cousins in person for the first time, four Supergirls who share my blood. The game becomes the writer, and the writer becomes the game.

So there it is. My life story as a Superman fan, a writer, and a father. This week I got to celebrate as all three. Remember when I said I graduated from college and my parents were proud of me, but I wasn’t proud of me? I’m proud of me now. I just checked off my bucket list by the dozen.

How am I possibly going to top this experience? I’ll have to figure that out. For now, I’m going to savor this moment with gratitude and satisfaction. After 10 years of professional ups and downs and always searching for the next opportunity, I’m happy where I am, and on the whole, I think it’s just swell. ;)