Who Started The Fire?
From the prompts list:
“That’s my emotional support entity of questionable moral standing.”
Batman stared down the two teens standing before him. The boy was pointedly looking anywhere but the Bat’s face, finding more interest in the dirt and gravel crunching under his shoes. Meanwhile, the girl stood with her arms crossed, head held high, meeting Batman’s gaze with a defiant glare that wouldn’t be out of place on any of his own children’s faces.
Behind them lay the smoking remains of what was once a warehouse that had been used as a front for a weapons smuggling operation that the bats had collectively spent the past few weeks investigating. Although their investigation had taken longer than anticipated thanks to this group’s rather impressive security, they had been so close to a breakthrough…when the place had gone up in an inferno.
When the Gotham vigilantes had first arrived on the scene the fire had been so intense that they’d had to put in their gas masks to avoid any inhaling any of the thick black smoke from not only the fire, but also whatever chemicals may have potentially been within the building that would have been released into the air.
Batman’s initial hypothesis had been that the group had become aware of their investigation and burned the place to avoid any evidence being discovered while they moved locations. However, that theory had been shelved when Red Hood had announced the presence of charred bodies amongst the rubble, and evidence of explosives having been used in multiple area where the building’s structure had been the weakest. Whoever had been inside had not had any warning of the blaze that had swallowed the building too fast for them to get to safety, and with the structure being compromised from the explosions all exists had been blocked, preventing the inhabitant’s escape. Red Hood and Nightwing had been discussing potential suspects as Batman and Red Robin searched for any evidence that could have survived the destruction, when a clattering sound followed by the sound of voices hushing each other had altered all of the on scene bats to the presence of possibly several unknowns.
The two teens had been apprehended quickly and ushered to the side, far enough away from the scene of the fire to avoid them overhearing details of the investigation and to prevent any potential tampering. Accidental or otherwise. The teens had been stubborn in their refusal to answer any of the bat’s questions to their presence. Nobody knew why they were there, where they had come from, and they had even refused to disclose their names. Oracle, unfortunately, was sick with the flu and had been gently ordered to rest by Agent A. Batman was nevertheless confident that they would be able to discover their identities quickly either once they had returned to the cave or if they could get the kids to talk.
He would have asked Red Hood to speak with the teens, he was the best with kids. And if caught up in anything illegal they often seemed to respond better to him due to his more ambiguous morals and reputation for ensuring kid’s safety. Both from rouges and in some cases, the rest of the bats and birds. But he had been needed in Crime Ally after he had been alerted to a gunfight breaking out between two gangs who had been more hostile and antagonistic in recent months. Nightwing had accompanied him, and Spoiler had diverted from her patrol route to assist. That left Batman and Red Robin behind to deal with both the police and the frustratingly stubborn teens.
Batman resisted the urge to punch the bridge of his nose as yet another question was blatantly ignored by both kids. The boy had begun fiddling with the sleeved of his letterman jacket and the girl had taken to checking her manicured nails for any dirt or imperfections.
Just as he was about to turn the questioning over to one of the on scene police officers, a writhing mass of shadow had emerged from the girl’s shadow. Two tendrils of black smoke reached out to wrap themselves around the wrists and hands of both teens, who had in turn glanced down at their hands and smiled.
“We’re fine,” the boy had muttered quietly, “no need to worry.”
“What is that?” Batman asked, eyeing the mass with a cautious suspicion. He wanted to believe it wasn’t hostile given the kids reactions to it. But this was Gotham.
The girl shot him another glare, one hand on her hip while the other remained in the hold of whatever the shadowy mass was.
“That sir,” she spat out the first word with such venom to her tone that Batman almost flinched, “is our emotional support entity of questionable moral standing.”
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⋆˚࿔ “i can’t…” prompts 𝜗𝜚˚⋆
¹⁾ “i can’t believe you lied to me.”
²⁾ “i can’t do this anymore.”
³⁾ “i can’t talk about it. i want to, please believe me, but i’m just not ready.”
⁴⁾ “i can’t sleep. mind if i join you?”
⁵⁾ “i can’t stay with [name] when i still have these feelings for you.”
⁶⁾ “i can’t wrap my mind around why it happened.”
⁷⁾ “i can’t be the only one who sees how she looks at you.”
⁸⁾ “i can’t keep putting you in danger! being with me isn’t worth your life- you must realise that!”
⁹⁾ “i can’t find it in myself to care anymore.”
¹⁰⁾ “i can’t watch.”
¹¹⁾ “i can’t stand by and look on while you keep putting yourself through this.”
¹²⁾ “i can’t keep this from them and you knew that when you told me!”
¹³⁾ “i can’t stop seeing it. every time i close my eyes it’s like i’m right back there, reliving it over and over with no way to change the outcome.”
¹⁴⁾ “i can’t believe you remembered.”
¹⁵⁾ “i can’t face them on my own- please come with me.”
¹⁶⁾ “i can’t be with you like that. not anymore.”
¹⁷⁾ “i can’t tell you how much i appreciate this.”
¹⁸⁾ “i can’t break the lock! how are we going to get out of here?!”
¹⁹⁾ “i can’t stand him. please bail me out of this, i’ll owe you forever.”
²⁰⁾ “i can’t shake the feeling that something bad’s about to happen.”
²¹⁾ “i can’t keep lying to everyone… it’s killing me.”
²²⁾ “i can’t possibly ever tell you just how much i adore you, but i’ll damn well spend the rest of our lives trying to.”
²³⁾ “i can’t bear that prick.”
²⁴⁾ “i can’t believe you drinking straight bourbon in a paddling pool isn’t the weirdest thing i’ve seen this morning.”
²⁵⁾ “i can’t get to you, and neither can the team. you’re- you’re gonna have to make it out of there on your own, kid.”
²⁶⁾ “i can’t get passed over for this promotion again, not after working myself like a goddamn dog to see it happen.”
²⁷⁾ “i can’t be expected to feign interest in a conversation whilst you look as good as this, now can i?”
²⁸⁾ “i can’t walk in there dressed like this- in your clothes!”
²⁹⁾ “i can’t shake the feeling that something bad’s about to happen.”
³⁰⁾ “i can’t believe a bullet wound still isn’t enough to get you to lay off those stupid pickup lines.”
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"I pledge to you my life-"
"wh-what?"
"As your protector and knight"
"wait stop. No-"
"to serve you-"
"please stop. Not like this"
"and stand behind you"
"No- stand with me n-not-"
"I pledge to you my loyalty and from this moment on. I shall honor and protect, put your liege before my own-"
"stop. I bid you to take it back!"
"From now my life is yours and I shall serve you with honor"
"This is no oath I ever desire from you!"
"I shall become the sword that will protect you"
"There must be another way-"
"I will aid you to the top"
"There's no height I will reside upon without you by my side!"
"I am your loyal servant"
"No- you're the only one who isn't. You're my companion, my love, the only one by my side. Don't do this, please"
"who will reside behind you until my bones turn to dust and my heart sets to a stop"
"N-no.....please"
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Whenever Mu Qing swears in canon it’s always “What the fuck? What the actual fuck?” followed by Xie Lian saying he’s caught Feng Xin’s language.
There could be other reasons of course but I like to think now that Mu Qing spent so much time with Feng Xin while both of them were looking after Xie Lian that he actually started using Feng Xin’s phrasing. Like how in real life, if you hang around someone long enough you’ll steal each other’s language quirks and even be able to speak completely in sync.
I like to imagine them both rubbing off on each other. Feng Xin starts being seen rolling his eyes, followed by a horrified look as he Realizes. Feng Xin responding to Mu Qing’s goading with sarcasm and no swearing and Mu Qing has to take a moment.
“Finally stopped cussing up a storm at everything? How mature of you, Nan Yang.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Feng Xin retorts, face going red.
Neither of them talk about the fact they’ve picked up these habits from each other. They’re both aware, but don’t want to be the one to say it first. The one to admit how close they’ve become.
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