#Tim definitely thinks that she’s just a meta or something

[asteriskemily]

Monster High x Batman Prompt #4:

(He was a sk8er boy, so was she)

Clawdeen is 13 when her dad told her they were moving because of his new job. She knew the truth, their neighbor saw her ears, so they had to leave town. They had to move to Gotham.

As always, Clawdeen was hidden away. She was homeschooled, she wasn’t allowed to go out to out to public areas. She knew her dad was just trying to protect her, but she was a restless pup who needed to get out more often then when her dad drove her out to the woods. (And oh my ghoul is it embarrassing that her dad has to take her on walks.)

Clawdeen lasts almost a month before she sneaks out while her dad is at work. She wears her beanie and her hoodie to hide her ears and a pair of sunglasses to hide her eye. She sticks her claws in her pocket and makes sure not to smile at anyone on the bus so no one can see her fangs.

She gets off the bus at a skate park. She’d been expecting it to be empty given that most kids should be at school right now, but there is one other kid there. He’s a maybe a year or two younger than her, he’s wearing a Batman and Robin hoodie and his board has superhero stickers all over the bottom.

She tries to ignore the boy, but it’s a bit difficult when they’re the only two people there. Evidently the boy feels the same, and Clawdeen nearly falls on her face when the boy suddenly induces himself as Tim and asks what her name is. Then he asks where she’s from (because she “doesn’t sound like she’s from Gotham,” whatever that means). Then he asks how long she’s been skating for, as well as about 500 other questions.

She tries to turn it back on Tim, asking why he’s not in school. He asks he the same, and when she tells him she’s homeschooled, he says that he is true. She’s pretty sure he’s lying, but decides not to push it.

When Clawdeen realizes how long she’s spent talking to Tim, she has to run to get back to the bus and get home before her dad knows she’s gone. Tim looks so heartbroken when she says she has to go that she agrees to meet him back at the skate park the next day.

Clawdeen is out of breath and exhausted by the time she gets home, but she beats her dad. Despite the exhaustion and the risk, she finds herself looking forward it meeting Tim again tomorrow. She’s never had a real friend before, but as long as Tim doesn’t find out she’s a monster, everything will be okay.

Meanwhile, back at Drake Manor, Tim is thinking about the girl he met at the skate park. He’d watched her run towards the bus stop, and there’s no way a baseline human could go that find. There’s something she’s hiding…

[hoodielord]

Green eyes in the fear fog.

For half a second, Steph thought today would be a decent day. But no, not in Gotham.

Steph's current events professor, who was also the head of student affairs, had offered extra credit to help give college tours. Look, she had to take the extra credit she had to, even if it meant that she had to be a tour guide. It wasn't hard, just annoying.

The group was small, only five people, but two of them stuck out. A brother and sister. The brother was the definition of adoption bait blue eyes, black hair, vigilante tendencies withholding. The sister was at least as tall as Jason. She had orange hair just like Babs, you'd think they were related.

Anyways, Steph's new mission was to make sure the kid and Dick never met. The kid would not stop making puns. Some of them earned him a laugh but some earned him a smack from his sister.

"Aw, come on, Jazz, it was funny."

"You can do better." she shrugged.

" Sounds like a challenge." A wicked smirk appeared on his face.

" Danny, please don't."

"Challenge accepted."

Yep, I'm definitely keeping him away from Dick.

But something was off about them other than looking at the crime capital's university. They could probably be metahumans. Their eyes seemed to slightly glow blue. They carried themselves as they had already expected danger. I mean, it pays to be prepared, especially in Gotham, but they aren't from here.

If the siblings weren't already on a list B has they should be now. Jazz had been almost ecstatic when we were moving through the psychology department. Danny was practically bouncing off the walls when it was time to go through the engineering and physics departments. Definitely should keep an eye on them.

It was reaching the end of the tour in the cafeteria. Another weird thing about the siblings was their reaction to food. They seemed to have this sort of optimistic curiosity like they were happy to have food to eat, but at the same time, they were poking to make sure it wouldn't attack or something.

Talking with the siblings was interesting too. Danny was buzzing about the engineering department. He went into a great rant about a project that Wayne Enterprises was working on in the aerospace engineering division. Maybe she should keep him away from Tim, too.

The conversation died quickly when a shriek rang out from down the hall. Steph turned quickly to see green fear toxin fill the cafeteria. Swarms of people ran for the exits knocking each over. She quickly dug through her bag and pulled out her gas masks, one for her and her backup.

"Jazz? Jazz, where did you go?" Danny called. They must have gotten separated.

Damn, she needed another one for the siblings. She shoved her spare into Danny's hands.

" Put the mask on and head for the exit."

"But I need to find Jazz."

"I'll find her. Put the mask on and go." Steph yelled as she went further into the fog. Quickly, she sent an alert to Oracle. Signal is on patrol right now, but more bats might show up.

It was dense she could barely see in front of her. There was some noise up ahead. Someone was screaming. The yelling grew louder as she rounded the corner.

"Stop! Get away!"

It was Jazz. She was practically growling. Her fist slammed into the concrete wall, leaving a deep impact. She was clearly affected by the Fear gas. A meta affected with fear gas, not good.

"Stop! Don't hurt him. He's not a monster! He's my little brother!" Jazz had gone from fury to sadness as she practically begged for her hallucination to stop haunting her.

If it wasn’t the meta thing it was whatever she was hallucinating that caught Steph’s attention. Definitely on B's list now.

"Isn't it interesting what fear does to the mind?"

Steph saw Scarecrow emerge from the fog.

"I saw you in the psychology department. Your eyes lit up like a fire. But now they are clouded with fear."

A chill went up Steph's spine. She quickly checked her mask for leaks but didn't have any. Turning her attention back to Jazz and Scarecrow, she saw something. Green eyes shifted inside the fog. They looked like a predator hunting its prey. For a second, they look like Jason's.

From behind Scarecrow, the eyes stopped, and a figure emerged. A baseball bat slammed into Scarecrow's face, knocking him to the floor. The figure came into full view now. It was Danny his eyes were glowing green.

He knelt down to Scarecrow.

"You really don't have any brains. Do you Scarecrow? If you did, you wouldn't have hurt my sister." His voice was downright, frigid.

He turned and rushed over to Jazz who was still trying to convince her hallucinations to stop.

"Jazz, it's okay. Come on, I'm fine. It's okay." His voice was soft and gentle as he helped her up. Jazz mumbled a little as she stumbled down the hall.

Steph quickly caught up to the siblings slinging Jazz's arm over her shoulder.

"Sorry, I couldn't help earlier," Steph spoke quietly.

"It's fine. Not everybody can be a hero."

Steph wanted to laugh at the irony of that statement, but she just nodded.

"Sorry about the tour too."

"It wasn't all bad."

" Oh, the rouge attack and poisoning wasn’t bad?" Steph asked sarcastically.

" Our hometown is haunted and our community college is funded by my godfather. And he is a rich fruit loop.”

‘Ghosts?’

“You know Gotham University is funded by Wayne Enterprises right?”

“Annoying crazy fruit loop or weird himbo? Hmmm. Yeah, I’m going to have to go with the himbo on this one.”

Steph laughed at that one. Bruce is going to want to hear about this but she’ll keep him away from these siblings for a little while.

[thekitsunesiren]

Dc x Dp Prompt #27

Technically speaking, despite all the teasing, Johnny 13 and Kitty really are Danny's ex's. No matter how short they dated.

So, of course Johnny and Kitty would be some of the first of Danny's rogue gallery to become more friendly with him. What he didn't expect for them were to be so couple like.

Fast forward a bit to where Danny moves to Gotham to go to Gotham U. He really isn't a hero anymore, but he still flies around as Phantom and gets to fights every now and then with a stray ghost. Sadly for him, the last fight he got into was with Johnny and Kitty.

The same Johnny and Kitty who were slowly riding alongside him as Danny walked down the streets of Gotham in his human form, head down to stop the embarrassed flush from being seen from others.

"C'mon, Danny, babe! It was only a bit of fun!" Johnny said to him as he kept his bike steady as he rode down the street. Though, with how chaotic Gotham is, he could probably crash into a few street signs and trash cans and no one would bat an eye.

"A bit of fun? Your 'bit of fun' left bruises all over me! Especially on my neck. I have to wear this because of you." Danny hissed in return, tugging on the long hoodie that he was wearing.

Kitty rolled her eyes from her spot sitting behind Johnny, leaning over and brushing a hand against Danny's shoulder before he pulled away deeper into the sidewalk.

"Don't be like that, hun. You know that they'll heal quick." She said, causing Danny to roll his eyes.

"Oh please. That's what you said last time. Honestly, it's like you guys try to get me as bruised as much as possible." Danny grumbled.

Johnny scoffed and looked away from Danny. "Bet you don't complain this much when you fight Ember." He muttered to himself. But thanks to Danny's advanced hearing, he most definitely heard it. of not by the glare he was giving the biker was anything to say about it.

"You see, this is why I broke up with you-" The argument between the biker couple and student continued as the three argued with each other all while keeping the same pace down the road.

Damian Wayne, having been forced to go out with both Tim and Duke for some sort of bonding time as Drake had called it, was confused with what he just saw before him.

He recognized Fenton from recently joining his school and found that while he wasn't social, there didn't seem anything that he found seriously searching into. But now, as he watched said classmate walk away while arguing with a seemingly known biker and his girlfriend. Both who were seemingly in a past relationship with him.

"Heh, look at that, Damian. Seems like you're the only one in your school who isn't in a relationship." Tim teased, ruffling Damian's hair. The young Wayne scoffed and immediately pushed Tim's hand away from him. "I have no need for such relations. Even now it seems that Fenton is facing his consequences. Whatever they may be." He said, walking down the street to return focus on what they were out for in the first place. Tim chuckling as he followed behind him.

The two made a few feet away before they stopped and turned when they realized Duke wasn't following them. "Duke? You alright?" Tim asked, turning and seeing that Duke was still in the same spot as before where they watched Damian's classmate disappear down the highway. But something about it had Duke's attention. And that had both Tim and Damian standing up straight in alarm.

"They were bright. Super bright." Duke murmured, rubbing his eyes as if he just had a staring contest with the sun. With how bright and opposing they were, they probably equaled the sun.

"What? The exes? What do you think then, some sort of meta?" Tim asked, thinking they would have to look into the biker couple.

"No-yes. Both!" Duke screamed, surprising Tim and Damian. "Both the couple and that kid were super bright. Brighter than anything I've ever seen!"

Edit: I just realized after writing this that the conversation could either sound like they had a fight or a rough night of sexy times XD

[thebucketpail]

When You Accidentally Kill a Clown pt. 3

Pt.1. Pt.4 Ao3

Woah part 3?? Crazy, enjoy!

Jason could hardly hold back his grin as Barbara hit play for probably the hundredth time. It was child's play for her to get ahold of a video of the Joker's death, and damn was it worth it. The footage was anything but high quality, which was a given considering it was in a random alley. But the Joker was unmistakable as he pulled a scruffy ravenett off the street at gunpoint. Luckily however, the camera was poised at the perfect position to catch the whole affair, in however grainy the imagery.

Only moments after Danny was pulled into the alley, a short struggle ensued, followed up by a bright flash of green light that threw Joker further into the alley. The video ended on a frame of a panicked Danny crouching by the body, checking his pulse.

“I need you to send this to me,” Jason said, his smile creeping every further.

“Already did,” Babs responded with a snort. “I also sent it to Harley, and I was going to send it to B, but I thought I'd let you break the news” Her own cheshire grin split as Jason nodded.

“Anything new on Danny?” he asked, nodding toward the screen.

Barabara’s expression turned to something more teasing, “I’m not here to get you a boyfriend Jason. But I did get you some surface level stuff,” she said, cutting off his slight protest, as she switched screens, pulling up some documents. “Danny Fenton, He’s an Aerospace student at Gotham U, starting this semester. He just moved here from Illinois. He lives in dorm 206B in the Truman building on campus, and he currently has no occupation. There’s not much on his hometown, there’s some kind of blackout I need to get past, but his parents are scientists of some kind, and his sister and father are both documented metas. Overall I don’t think he’s much of a threat, just a kid who got caught in the wrong place.” Jason Hummed in response, reaching for his helmet.

“Thanks so much Babs, you’re a godsend”

Barbara smirked, turning back to her computer, “I know”

Jason slipped out the window.

---------

Jason didn’t often watch the sunrise. Usually he was too tired, or too busy. But today he was so awake he could practically feel the energy buzzing in his bones as he watched the sun rise over the docks of gotham.

He hadn’t been able to shake the feeling since he found Danny hunched over the dead clown. But something in his chest was pulling at the thought of them. An ache of something familiar yet so distantly unknown filled his thoughts. There was something about that person that had lodged itself in Jason’s brain and refused to leave.

Unfortunately, Jason was pulled from these thoughts by the loud crackle of his comm.

“Hood, report to the cave for debrief,” Jason groaned, just because he wasn’t ready to sleep doesn’t mean he wanted to haul himself across all of Gotham to the Cave. He stood slowly, taking his sweet time to reply and savoring the satisfying pops as he stretched.

“Hood, report”

“Yeah, yeah, don't go getting your cape in a twist. I’m coming. Though I don’t see why it's necessary to pull me across the whole city when an email could do.” he grumbled that last part to himself more than anything.

Jason took his time driving through the city, stopping muggings, taking care of stragglers on their way home from late shifts. And if it took him an hour longer than usual to get to the cave, well then that wasn’t his fault. When he finally got there, though, there was no doubt; this definitely could have been an email.

When he arrived B, Stephanie, Tim and Damian were going over various minor things from their patrols, that didn’t really affect him much to be honest, just the routine; drug rings, arms deal busts, and oddly enough; ghost sightings.

“Finally,” he heard Tim mutter, as Jason killed the engine in his bike. “B! He’s here! Can we start now?”

“Start what?”

“B, wants to touch base regarding the Arkham breakout,” Stephanie said, sending him a withering glare, probably for making them wait so long. “I think he’s just being paranoid because Joker’s been unusually quiet.” Jason had to stifle a snort. If he played his cards right, this would be the perfect time to tell about the new lack-of-threat to Gotham.

“Paranoia and caution are not the same thing,” The bat himself growled from his place at the computer. “It’s been a week since he broke out of Arkham, we should have heard from him by now. It’s uncharacteristic of him to not have a scheme cooked up and in motion by now.”

“Father is correct, we should be looking further into finding the Joker,” Damian said, “If any of you have information regarding this case, I suggest you share,’’ he sneered, and if he wasn’t practically three feet tall, it would have been fairly intimidating.

“We're doing the best we can, Damian, if Joker’s up to something we’ll know about it” Tim said.

Up to this point Jason had been watching the conversation, trying to hold back his laughter, but a few chuckles managed to escape and he folded into it. Everyone in the group froze and turned to Jason as he pulled his helmet off, still wracked with giggles.

When he had finally managed to calm himself down, wiping a few stray tears from his eyes, Damian piped up, sounding wary at Jason's sudden outburst.

“What is so funny Todd?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Jason said, fighting back another round of laughter before schooling himself into a more serious disposition. “Joker’s not up to anything, don’t worry.” He said. We watched as his family’s faces went from wary, to confused.

“And how do you know that?” Damian questioned further, bristling.

And this was it. Jason delighted in the way everyone’s faces fell when he said with icy diction,

“Because that motherfucker is dead.”

And everyone exploded.

-----------

By the time he managed to escape the cave (and the incessant questioning) all his earlier energy had been sapped out of him and Jason was ready for a very long nap. He was heading back to his apartment in Park Row when something caught his eye. Or perhaps someone.

“Twice in eight hours? I know you’re not from here but that’s still gotta be some kind of record,” Jason quipped as he tied up the assailant he’d just knocked out.

Danny Fenton stared down at him from his place pressed against the alley wall. His face set in an indignant frown. His ice blue eyes glinting slightly in the ever growing morning light that had finally made itself through Gotham’s thick smog.

“Well it’s not like I’m trying to get attacked,” He ground out, “I just wanted some fucking coffee.”

“At four in the morning?” Hood responded, raising an eyebrow under his helmet.

Danny’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he turned to collect his discarded belongings. When he spoke his voice was softer, “I wasn’t planning on sleeping anytime soon.”

Oh. Jason had forgotten that, even if it was an accident, even if it was the Joker of all people. Killing was a hard thing to deal with, and this must be weighing on Danny. Jason mentally kicked himself for not accessing them for shock. In retrospect all the signs were there, hidden just slightly behind the shaky facade. It was in the way Danny hadn’t touched their food at first. How they were despondent and their eyes kept drifting between empty and piercing, it was how they sat stiff as a board until Jason had mentioned their major. Until Jason had distracted them.

After a long pause that seemed as though it would last forever, Danny sighed.

“I should probably be going now,” He said, pushing past Jason to the entrance of the alley. “Don’t worry, I’ll be more careful this time,” He threw a half hearted grin over his shoulder, disappearing around the corner. Jason couldn’t even get a word in before he was gone.

++++++

Ack! Sorry if Jason is a bit out of character here, I haven’t actually gotten around to reading most (Read: Any) of his canon content yet, and I’m running mostly off Fanon and various character analysis I've read over the last few months.

What are your thoughts? This is only my second ever attempt at writing something to post. I promise I read every comment and they make me so happy to see people interact with my word vomit. Next bit will be from Danny POV. Let’s see what's going on in their head.

Fair warning; I don’t plan on doing tag lists for the future, so this’ll be the only one. If you want to see more I recommend following me (I promise I do other cool things too)

@always-be-a-stranger @dragonfirefeather @thatonegaybitch68 @uraniumwizard @ace-aro-as-shit @rosiea184 @amyheart19 @sadpersonmadeoffruitpunch @dat1angel @tkiesai @idkmrpianoman @crystalqueertea @bianca-hooks123 @blep-23 @stargirl1331 @sjrose1216 @thegatorsgoose @akikkobara @help-i-need-a-cool-username

[suzukiblu]

gotham

Kon's in Gotham, which would be less of a problem if it were the right Gotham.

Possibly his reality doesn't exist anymore, is the thing. He's trying very, very hard not to concentrate on that fact until he gets more information, though.

Currently, he's standing in the middle of an emergency triage center with a few hundred more refugees from varying dimensions, and he can't do anything actually superhero-ish or even too noticeably useful because he's wearing a fucking gala-quality bespoke suit that Tim bought him. So, like, way too nicely dressed for a refugee situation or really just any damn normal situation.

If he had to end up in another reality, at least he could've been wearing his superhero costume or his work clothes from the farm, but no, this particular interdimensional crisis just had to pop up during "suffer through another ridiculously fancy Wayne gala on Tim's arm in the name of charity" date night.

Why not, right?

So yes, Kon's in a triage center, waiting to get "processed" as a refugee and hoping to high hell that the local Batman doesn't hate Supers and isn't a supervillain. He'd considered sneaking out of the center altogether to go and get a better idea of what's going on firsthand, but people in the crowd keep randomly freaking out and everyone's tense as hell and he's a little bit concerned that something might be about to go down. Like, it's Gotham, and this whole setup seems like a very tempting target for people with dubious morals to swoop in and start shit.

As far as Kon knows, he's the only refugee in this specific center who's not a standard civilian, and it's hard to just clear out and leave everyone here to the tender mercies of whatever random assholes feel like making trouble for no good reason. There's just so many older people and so many kids, is the thing. Kon is . . . well, physiologically twenty-two, at least, and is a very clear outlier in the group. Mostly it's people over sixty and kids under twelve, for whatever reason. And a whole lot of the kids keep crying on and off and the older people are all clearly stressed as fuck.

Which is fair, since again, possibly all their realities are gone.

. . . technically he probably does count as under twelve, come to think.

Hm.

Eh, whatever.

Kon has spent a whole hell of a lot of time cheering up frightened little kids and soothing panicked adults in the four hours he's been in this triage center and it has been fucking exhausting. At this point, if any Gotham rogue shows their face and even looks at a single one of these people, Kon's going to just fucking deck them. Like, fuck whatever the local Batman's rules about metas and vigilantes are, Kon does not have the patience for anything else.

Right now, though, he's currently just focused on the very distressed pair of identical little girls on either side of him who are not twins and are absolutely terrified of each other.

"Hey, it's okay, Mallory," he says gently, and the girls sniffle in perfect unison.

"But she's scary!" they both blurt, and then they both whimper in fright, and then they both start crying.

Not ideal, Kon thinks. The local version of Mallory is in the awkward position of having had two alternates of herself pop up from two different realities and both land in her family's apartment, and the local versions of her parents are currently arguing with the aid workers about not separating them from their alternate daughters. Kon's half-eavesdropping–they're not that far away, the workers couldn't convince them to break line of sight–and they're both insisting on at least one of them being allowed to stay in the refugee center with the Mallorys. The local Mallory looks a little worried about things, but not as much as her displaced alternates do.

Well, she's the one currently with her actual parents and still in her own definitely-not-destroyed reality, so yeah, that makes sense. The other two Mallorys are just hiding from their other selves on either side of Kon, who can't keep his damn nose out of anything.

Really, actually, Mallory is a pretty lucky kid. Kon didn't even get this good a reception to showing up unexpectedly in his home dimension, and he's heard a lot of horror stories about people getting attacked or chased off by freaked-out locals already today.

Kon had just popped up alone in the middle of an empty ballroom, himself. He'd had to talk to a couple of security guards, but they'd had the news on already and the emergency broadcast had explained what the fuck was going on pretty quick. One of them had given him a water bottle and a candy bar while the other'd called the emergency hotline listed on the TV to figure out where to send him and they'd really both just rolled with the whole situation. That'd been pretty nice of them, Kon had thought.

People are awful, sometimes, but also amazing sometimes.

"Listen," he says reassuringly, dropping into a crouch between the Mallorys, who both clutch anxiously at his weird fancy Tim-chosen jacket as he puts a hand on both of their backs. "It really is okay. I know it's scary, but your parents are gonna make sure you get taken care of, and the aid workers are gonna help them out."

"But–" they both start, and then both make frightened noises again and cover their mouths with their free hands. Whatever realities they happen to be from, they are clearly very similar ones. The local Mallory wasn't talking in unison with either of them, but they keep overlapping each other without meaning to, and she's wearing a pink corduroy dress but they're both in the same black denim overalls. Different shirts, at least, but their hair's identically braided and beaded where hers is in afro puffs.

"This is weird and crazy, but you're not alone," Kon says firmly, patting their backs. "Your mom and dad have your backs."

He wonders what that would be like, having not only parents but parents who'd just roll with alternate dimension versions of you to the point that they wouldn't leave them in a government-sponsored refugee center, but quickly shoves the thought aside to focus on the actual issue.

Maybe Ma and Pa would come get him if they knew, he thinks for a moment, the thought slipping through the cracks, and then feels like an idiot. He's not a teenager anymore. Was never even a kid, technically. And also he's a literal superhero anyway.

That'd be stupid, for them to bother doing that for an alternate version of the guy who spent a couple years crashing in their real kid's old room before running off to San Francisco.

Hell, for all he knows, this reality's version of them doesn't even know him at all.

Seems likelier than not.

[lovelywritersgarden]

Hey, I wanted to request for Tim Drake where y/n has telekinesis and she’s Tim’s assistant. One day someone attacks and y/n kicks there asses without anyone’s help. Thank you <3 have a good day

After hours.

Tim Drake x Fem!Reader Oneshot

WC: 1708

SYNOPSIS: Y/N just wants a night off, is that so hard? From fighting crime to overtime at Wayne tech our favorite vigilante just wants to get some sleep, however sometimes annoying thugs get in the way of her night off. tch. Don’t worry, she’s got it under control.

WARNINGS: Violence, gunfight, Y/N being disrespectful to batman (even tho he deserves it) , swearing

Tic. Tic. Tic.

The clock that hung on the wall was making it painfully obvious to Y/N L/N that time was passing ever so slowly. As much as Y/N loved her job at Wayne Tech, this was the first night this week she didn’t have to stay for overtime. You can’t blame her for being excited to go home.

4:56. Okay, only 64 minutes to go. I can do that. She thought, tapping her pen against her mahogany desk. She had a nice private area to work, beautifully furnished, and it sat just outside her boss Tim Drake’s office. And there she sat, waiting for time to speed up and impatiently bouncing her leg under the desk.

Y/N continued to fill the time by filing her boss’s paperwork and finishing up contracts for tomorrow’s early meetings. She took messages from incoming calls and filled out Tim’s schedule for the week. Then she felt a buzz in her pocket.

Shit.

Something else that should be mentioned about Y/N. She has a rather dangerous after hours hobby.

Being a metahuman vigilante in Gotham came with its challenges. There were always going to be the usual criminals, creeps and bad guys. However the biggest thorn in your side was the big bad bat himself. He has… territory issues.

And he has an automatic prejudice against metas. It wasn’t your fault that you were hit with a particle accelerator blast and woke up with telekinesis. Nor was it your fault you looked damn good in black spandex. You weren’t sure if that last part pertained to Batman’s focus on you, however maybe he’s jealous you’re hotter. Oh, definitely.

So here you sat, your communicator alerting you of a nearby attacker. Your eyes snapped up to meet the clock once more. You glanced over at the door separating you and Tim just to make sure it was still securely shut.

You pulled the communicator out of your pocket and read the warning.

ATTEMPTED CRIME IN PROGRESS:

LOCATION: WAYNE TECH

ARMED OFFENDERS APPROACHING

POLICE: 7 MINUTES OUT

Just as you finished reading, the emergency alarm began to blare and the muffled sounds of gunshots rang out from floors below. You immediately stood up. As if you moved in sync, something very common within soulmates, Tim Drake’s door swung open. He stepped out wearing only a white button up, black slacks and a tie. His jacket must’ve been discarded in his office. A look you think he needs to sport far more often. Not the time, Y/N.

“Stay here.” You said unanimously.

You narrowed your eyes at him. Men and their egos.

“With all due respect, you have no idea-“ He began.

“Please Mr. Drake,” You raised a hand to him. “We can argue about this at a later date.” You rolled your eyes at him and began to make your way down the hall. He stumbled after you.

The lights above you flickered and you pulled him to the side of the hallway behind a pillar. Out of the elevator eight- rather large- criminals stumbled out. Tim pushed himself in front of you as the criminals filed down the hall.

“All we need is the girl. Tracked the locater here. All we gotta do is hit her once with this, grab her, and we can beat it.” One of the thugs said, holding a metal blaster in his hand.

Ugh. You recognized him. This is so tedious. These guys were after you for their higher up. Some mob leader you took down a while ago wanted vengeance, but couldn’t exactly get the best quality help while he stuck in Belle Reve. You rolled your eyes and pushed Tim off of you. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, he grabbed you and forcibly dragged you back towards him.

“What the hell?! Do you have a death wish? Help is on the way, just stay calm and don’t make any rash decisions.” Tim aggressively whispered. He knew he couldn’t blow his cover with a civilian present, especially one who worked for him. It would only endanger you more, however, Jason and Bruce had been notified and would be there any minute. All he had to do is make sure you don’t get yourself killed in the meanwhile.

Your eyebrow rose at his tone.

Jeez, someone needs to get this guy anxiety medication…

“Listen, Tim.” You rubbed your face in annoyance. “I kn-“

“What could you possibly say to convince me to let one of my employees, and friends, go out to armed assailants?” He crossed his arms. It’s true, you and Tim were friends. You had become rather close with the late nights in the office. Though in order to keep things professional, you didn’t see each other outside of work unless it was on ‘accidental’ terms.

Your eye twitched in annoyance. So instead of talking to him like a sane person, you decided to give him a taste of his own attitude. You slid past him and made your way down the hall.

“Y/N!” Tim whisper-shouted. You waved him off.

“Yo morons. What the hell are you doing here?” You asked, crossing your arms.

“S/N. Tch. We knew we’d get to you eventually. You see-“

“Can we cut the monologue? Sorry, but it’s late, I’m supposed to be off work in like 15 minutes. So let’s get this over with. Large bad guys with a weapon to attack with, you get your asses handed to you by a hot superhero,” You flipped your hair over your shoulder. “And you guys go back to prison, but not Belle Reve because you guys aren’t that big of a deal.”

The main guy pointed the weapon at you. You rolled your eyes and telekinetically drew it to yourself. As you examined it, you realized it was significantly more advanced than the stuff that these guys ever messed with.

“Where the hell did you dufases get tech like this?”

Three of the men lunged towards the device. You dodged downward, out of the way of the first guy, pushing his shins, using the force from your knees to flip him over your head. You ducked and punched the second guy onto the ground. The third man smirked and pointed his gun at you. You smacked it out of his hand and hit him with the bottom of your palm causing his nose to bleed profusely. He dropped the gun to grab at his face and you kicked it away from him.

When you turned back to face the rest of them, you realized Tim had his hands up in surrender from the other side of the hall. In the commotion he had stepped out, and currently had a gun pointed in his direction. Just as the BANG rang out and the bullet left the gun, you lifted your hand up and stopped the bullet in its tracks, forcing it to fall to the floor. Tim’s eyes widened in surprise. You exasperatedly flung your wrist in the direction of the gun, and it pistol-whipped the guy who was holding onto Tim, allowing for a quick getaway.

“I’ve had enough of this.” You pushed your arms out and felt your body pulsate with power as the rest of the men were thrown against the wall. You continued looking at the small blaster that was definitely intended for your capture. You looked up for a moment to see Tim with his mouth agape.

“What?” You asked, feigning innocence.

“You- and then- the- What??” Tim asked, running a stressed hand through his hair. “Four years I’ve known you! Three years I’ve been searching for S/N! How have I not figured it out?”

“Not sure, I figured out you and Batman’s identities a while ago.” You continued to fiddle with the blaster trying to break the back open. “Also for a masked vigilante, you almost got shot pretty quickly.”

“Don’t tell Batman that, he’ll throw a fit.” You smiled as you managed to pop the back of the blaster open and saw a glowing blue power device.

“Weird. I haven’t seen anything like- Ow shit!” The radiation from the power burned your skin. You dropped it and it clattered to the ground. Tim carefully picked it up, but felt no radiation.

“New biotech. Must be attracted to metahumans. I’ll get Batman to do an overview of it and get back to-“ Just as if the name summoned the devil himself, Batman and the Red Hood crashed through the window, weapons drawn.

Though you hadn’t formally met the bat in person, rumors of his glare flooded the streets of Gotham, and they were absolutely true. The bat’s eyes narrowed at the bodies surrounding you and Tim.

“You revealed your identity?” His gruff voice sent chills down your spine, but you held your composure.

“No, Bruce.” Yikes, perhaps that wasn’t the best decision you could’ve made. Well too late now, might as well go with it.

His head snapped towards Tim.

“Explanation. Now.” He said, his patience evidently running thin.

“I took the guys down. They’re some low level thugs sent out to find me. The question is, how did they get ahold of sophisticated tech like this. My guess would be Cadmus.” You stuck your hand out.

“Y/N L/N sir, also known as S/N.” He glanced at your hand. Jason took it.

“Red Hood!” He smiled. “You’ve been pissing off bats here for a while! Pleasure to meet you!”

You raised an eyebrow, but smiled nonetheless. Since the bat continued to silently stare at you, you turned back to Tim.

“Alright! Well, I’m going to head home because I am,” You checked the watch on your wrist, “Officially off work! I will see you tomorrow, Mr. Drake. Please update me on the weapon and if you have any questions, I'm sure you can reach me now. Have a good night.” You smiled and began walking out.

You were finally going to get home early! You made your way down the elevator and towards the large spinning doors of the lobby however you were stopped when you heard your name get called.

“Y/N! Y/N!” Tim said. “You uh- forgot your jacket upstairs.” He stuck your jacket out towards you. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, let you walk in the cold without it.”

“Thanks Mr. Drake.” You took it from him, fingers grazing his as you sat in an awkward silence for a moment.

“I guess I’ll see you later then.” You turned to leave, but he grabbed your wrist.

“Wait!” He swallowed. “Would you like to grab a coffee with me tomorrow? Before work?” Your gaze softened at him.

“Yeah. I’d actually really like that.” You smiled at him.

“Great!” He smiled widely. “I’ll pick you up around 8:00. Also, it’s just Tim, Y/N.”

“Alright Tim, I will see you tomorrow.” You put on your jacket and turned to walk out. Tim smiled as you walked out.

Once you got out the door you made your way down the street towards your apartment complex. As the building came into view, you were pulled into a side alley and a gun was held to your neck.

“Gimme all the cash ya’ got, and I wont hurt cha’ doll face.”

“Oh brother.”

Of course, because god forbid you could just get the night off.

———————————————————————————

A/N: Hey guys! First request and first published oneshot! I am so glad I finally got the courage to post this and once school is out I will be able to post much more! Thank you so much, love, for requesting this fic <3 Enjoy!

[starseneyes]

Chenford - Lucy Chen / Tim Bradford - The Rookie - Season 5 - Ep 21

"Going Under" AKA "Going Down in the Laundry Room"

We made it home just in time for the episode, but I was too worn from the events of the day to finish last night. So, here it is, your Meta.

SPOILER ALERT: Look, I don't spoil those who want to remain unspoiled, which is why there's a cute "Read More" button. But as soon as you click that, you're on your own. You will be spoiled. Sorry, not sorry.

All squared away? It's time to dive in!

Lucy and Tim Brief the Team

There's something very powerful about seeing Lucy and Tim standing up there to tell everyone about the Op.

It throws me back to Lucy's first Under Cover assignment when an angry Tim perched outside the door, arms crossed, while Lucy sat as a member of the briefing.

Now, Sergeant Second Class Bradford and... what the hell!?

Where's Lucy's promotion, dagnabbit?!

Look, I'm really not trying to complain after the feast we got in this episode. But, it really does strike hard when you're thinking about earlier seasons and how far Tim has come professionally.

I really hope the "Lucy wants to make Detective" story line continues this season or beginning of next.

"Which is where Officer Chen comes in. She'll be going undercover..."

It's good that Tim's the one who's introducing this, and we're continuing our thread of, "Tim is trying to be okay with this."

Also, again, a long way from Tim being pissed about Lucy going UC. The growth has been massive. I think it's important to acknowledge that even as we spend this episode highlighting how much further these two have to go.

The need for continued growth does not cancel out the growth already achieved. Work is work, and when you put it in, it matters.

"Until further notice, if you see Officer Chen out in the world, don't acknowledge her."

And, I'm thrown back to Lucy's Op at the end of Season 3, when Tim and Jackson came across her with the traffic stop. I remember Jackson asking Tim how to play it, and Tim coaching him through.

"I called Hard Luck." "Really? He's such an unreliable CI."

Gosh, I love how these two talk to one another. Again, we've come so fucking far.

And I know I'm waxing nostalgic, a bit, but I think that's natural for an episode of this magnitude. Lucy hasn't done more than a short stint undercover op in many seasons.

And this is the first time we get to see these two handle it as a couple.

Every other time they've done this, Tim was a TO or a coworker. Now, he's Lucy's Shower Sex Sweetie and Quality Quickie with a dash of Down-And-Dirty-All-Night-Long-Hottie.

It's bound to change the dynamic. But one thing that I love about this scene is how equal they are.

Sure, Lucy doesn't have the rank, but she's no longer "sir"ing Tim (unless he asks for it in the bedroom... or shower... or wherever role playing activities might transpire).

"He knows it's important to me." "Aw... undercover love." *giggle*

Y'all, I'm giddy. Like, legit was grinning like a fool. And after the day I've had, that's no small miracle.

Also, it feels like Eric Winter almost broke, and like Melissa O'Neil did. I have no intel on this, and I might be completely off-base, but there was something about his little quirk of the lip and double-take that would definitely have set me off if I was working opposite him in that scene.

"Jamie Hall." "You all set up Jamie?" "Yeah, all good."

So. Fucking. Cute.

I just love that Tim's the one outside keeping an eye on her (even if my subconscious is trying to connect the dots between IA paperwork, possible liabilities of Tim overreacting or losing his cool, and what happens if he uses the wrong name by accident, etc).

He is the protector. And being involved in the Op is easier for him to handle than not being involved.

Think about it... we know that Isabel would go away for months at a time and Tim felt like he couldn't breathe the whole time. He didn't know about the people she met. He didn't know anything.

He told Isabel that Lucy was different, and I think we all can see that Chenford can be different. But without communication, they're doomed.

Golly, that sounds dramatic. Like that old shipping commercial where everyone is doomed. Yeah, like twelve of you reading understand that reference, and I'm leaving it anyway.

But, I truly believe communication is the foundation to a strong relationship. And I'm not just saying that because I happen to hold two degrees in communications.

Tim and Lucy have the benefit of an established relationship based on trust and respect. But learning to effectively communicate your needs, wants, fears, aversions, and desires as a couple is completely different.

"Are you good? .... "Are you good?" "Do you mean do I miss you already? Nah, I'm fine." "You are such a jerk."

This is so me and Matt coded. And, yes, I'm Lucy in this scenario. Can't tell you how many times I've affectionately called Matthew a jerk and he's shared that same satisfactory smirk on Tim's face afterwards.

"Hey, will you keep an eye on Tamara for me? You know, just check in on her every once in a while." "Of course. Yeah, don't worry about her. I'll keep an eye on her. You just focus on the job."

Tim is really trying to be amazingly supportive for her. And I love this little reminder that Tim does have his own place.

Yes, for production purposes we're spending a lot of time at Lucy's (that I head-canon is because she lives closer to the station).

Also, Tim doesn't hesitate to watch out for Tamara. There was a time he only referred to Tamara as "Lucy's Puppy", but now they're family.

"How long do you think this will take?"

Excuse me, we're getting a montage!?! Like, a montage with voice over provided by our intrepid duo? Be still my beating heart!

Y'all don't understand. I was a Voice Over artist for two decades. So, when I see actors who can also do voice over well, I get super hyped.

Melissa O'Neil and Eric Winter decided to make me gawk at their talent even more tonight. Gee wiz! Like, it's possible they recorded their audio together, but more likely they were each in comfy clothes in the booth solo on completely different days.

And the chemistry. still. freakin. works. That's talent, my friends.

Look, some people crush VO and some people don't. Just watch (or don't watch... maybe with shrooms nearby) the Star Wars Holiday Special animated section to see what I mean.

I'm not gonna name names, but it was really easy to call which Star Wars actor was going to go into voice work later and which one really shouldn't have been asked to do that long VO for Blade Runner.

"Oh, do not finish this season of Top Chef without me." "I can't make any promises."

Y'all, this is so me and Matt coded! Now, Top Chef is my show and not Matthew's. I even keep it on in the background when I'm working or writing a screenplay.

Yes, I know most people don't work that way. I'm weird. I've come to terms with it, and I like me—weird and all.

But we totally have our shows where we say, "You better not watch this without me!" And, usually, I'm the one to screw it up. Mostly by accident!

Matthew always reminds me of Mean Girls. He wanted to see it in theaters. I said to hold off. Then we were in the video store (yes, we're old) and he offered to rent it, but I said to hold off. The third time was a year later when he remembered we hadn't seen it.

Except I accidentally caught it on TV totally forgetting we said we'd watch it together. Eep!

Also, after Lucy complaining about her ex watching too many cooking shows after his wrists were slit, I find it interesting she actively watched them with Tim.

Just goes to show cooking shows were never the problem. *cough* dead weight puffed chicken *cough*

"You ever wish you has a normal job?" "One where people don't shoot at you? Not once." "Yeah, me, either."

I love how easy their conversation is. These are the little things that add up to big things when you're building a relationship. And some mastermind in the Writer's Room thought, "What if we advance their relationship while advancing the episode's story via VO?"

As much flack as VO sometimes takes (and I'm actually a VO fan), I adore this choice.

We don't need to meet all the people in the office and establish relationships with them. It doesn't service the story or our core characters. So, we're letting Tim and Lucy—two characters we adore—carry us through via the VO. It's bloody beautiful.

Also, I love the pacing of this episode. Love it. There's an effortlessness to the timing of the edits and the passage of time via wardrobe change is so beautifully done.

I know we have the Super giving us time stamps via dates, but those are almost superfluous because we can visualize the journey via other cues. It's stuff like this that makes me bloody giddy.

"Making any friends?"

This. Is. So. Cute. Tim is actually keeping Lucy sane, here, I'm convinced! Remember her last UC assignment where she had to check in via phone? She was bored out of her mind.

"Is the monotony getting to you?" "I don't mind it... I just don't want it to all be for nothing."

This is so interesting to me. The word choice, I mean. This is how I felt about the infertility drugs... it couldn't all be for nothing.

I'm not going to get into the whole thing, here. But, I dealt with multiple years of infertility for my kids. For a while, I had to be on this medication—letrazole. Most people have minor reactions on it. I had almost all the weird/severe reactions.

But it got my follicles to optimum size for ovulation. It wasn't all for nothing.

There are things we put ourselves through willingly, sometimes, that to an outsider might seem strange. But we have a reason for what we're doing—and a hope that it's the right thing to do.

"Why don't we go for a walk?"

It's not Chenford, but I gotta call out my on-screen bestie for using her brains on this one to prevent Frank from taking her to a second location. Well done.

Tim Pretending to Be On the Phone

Fierce protector is there. Now, I'm turning off my subconscious brain on this one, and I'll explain why at the end. But, I did think it was a nice touch to have Tim on the phone, here.

There's something about this episode that felt like a dash of Alias was sprinkled onto the souffle. It's already an abundant hour that could feel bloated, but instead is rich and decadent. But that added spice is palpable in the shooting and editing, especially.

That over-the-shoulder shot of the landscape when Tim's watching them feels hand-held, giving us that sense of something being off-kilter and unstable.

When Tim hangs up, it's a shot of his torso, out-of-focus, with the real action behind him. There are layers to how this is shot, and it's so reminiscent of a spy movie in the best ways.

The whole episode is already elevated by Michael Rooker. But the script and pacing and directing and editing all feel like they've risen to the occasion, too.

"I was bored to early onset rigor mortis."

But this is a part of UC life. It's the "hurry up and wait" that is strangely a huge part of life in the film/television industry, as well. Like, a huge part.

It could be waiting for the sun to set so you have the perfect lighting, waiting for an actor on set, waiting for notes, or even a Writer's Strike if it comes to that.

UC often means embedding for months at a time before getting what you're going after. It's something for which Tim and Lucy must prepare. And I feel like this episode is the perfect vehicle to get us there.

"Like a date?" ... "odds are he's hoping for a little something-something."

Tim is having a hard time, and Grey knows it. I love how he casts a glance Tim's way on this line, sensing his unease.

Let's be real—Grey saw Chenford coming before they did. And he's the one really tuned into Tim, here.

Tim can't help walking her to the door, holding it open for her, even if he knows he can't touch her. He's concerned.

"You okay?" "Five by five." "You gotta treat this like any other op and treat Lucy like any other UC." "I know."

I'll be honest, when I first watched this scene, this is what I wrote: UGH. I don't like what's being set up. Please don't let Tim fuck this up. Please don't let Tim fuck this up.

I have never been so happy to be wrong about my read on a scene. I seriously worried we were setting it up for Tim to be the liability in all this, and I'm grateful that's not the direction it went.

This show has a history of showing couples working through bad times, tough situations, close calls. The core couples suffer as much as any Austen heroine—and they come out alright in the end. I'm grateful to see that tradition continue with Chenford.

"Okay."

First off, I have to admit that I giggled when Lucy's head popped up. I know it's a completely inappropriate response, but all I could picture was one of those Whack-A-Mole's at the Chuck-E-Cheese growing up. She was like a little prairie dog, and I haven't been able to watch the scene since.

Anyway, back to what I wrote when this first aired: Tim sees Lucy and he can breathe, again. She knew. She knew he'd be looking for her.

And Tim knew he couldn't breach. If he went in, that'd give away everything, and someone needed to go after that car.

He's doing everything right. But it hurts like hell.

"Gun was empty. I got lucky. Otherwise..."

And you can see it hurts. Look, Tim has faced a lot worse in his time in the military and working Patrol. But everything is raw right now.

The woman he loves it in danger. She was nearly killed by that same weapon. Both of them had close calls with the same gun and lived to tell the tale.

"Hey, you okay?" "Yeah. I am now.... meet me at the laundry room in your building." "Yes. See you in 30."

I love the touch that Lucy's hand is on the phone before Frank even pulls away. She needs to touch base with Tim. She needs to hear his voice.

And I love the emphasis Melissa O'Neil places on "Yes". It's a heart cry for its soulmate. There is no question that they need to see one another.

Tim has always had this need to protect Lucy, even before romance was on the table. And Lucy has always had a need to protect Tim, too, in her own way.

Lucy watching out for Tim with Isabel. Tim doing whatever it took to save Lucy from a serial killer. Over and over, these two have a need to know the other is okay.

I remember not so long ago Tim was asking Nolan, Nyla, Angela... asking if Lucy was okay. He needed to know. Then, he finally had the direct line as a friend. He could text her to get the details.

Now, they need to see each other. It's that same need, but it's grown along with their relationship.

*hug* "That was really scary." "Yeah, I almost had a heart attack."

Lucy launches herself up into his arms and he nestles into her shoulder. Tim's right hand is splayed across her back, as though he wants to hold as much of her at one time as he can.

It's another one of those "Eric Winter act all the way through his fingers" moments. Tim's whole body is reacting to holding her, safe in his arms, down to those fingertips.

These poor babies. This is the first time they've had to do this deep since Lucy's S3 arc. And they've never done it in love, before. Not with each other.

Tim knows what he lost with Isabel. But this love is different, deeper, developed from the gradual building of trust. Layers upon layers of caring. Lucy is the love of his life—and he's run raw from witnessing the shootout, and skirting death moments apart.

"If you need to tap out-" "No."

Tim is trying to give her an out, and there's a mix here of professional and personal. She's shaken. So is he. But this is the job.

And he knows that. He does. But we've already established he can't be objective where she is concerned.

"Has he tried anything?"

This is a scenario that's run through my mind a million times—what would Tim do if someone violated Lucy... and what would he do to that person?

The way Eric Winter plays this moment is so heartbreaking, too. There's a vulnerability in Tim's eyes that is completely personal, void of professional. He's a man worried about the love of his life.

He knows she can handle herself. It's not a cognitive issue. It's that part of him that cries out Fierce Protector whenever she is in danger.

Lucy gets that, and she grabs onto his jacket with one hand, almost pulling him closer to her.

"Alright, now is not the time to talk about this-"

It's easier for him to change the subject on her than to acknowledge how much they both need to have this conversation at some point. They've been talking around it and avoiding it.

It has to be addressed at some point. There is no way forward without it.

"If you're good, I'm good." "I'm good." "Good."

I'm having a bit of a Court Jester moment, here, and it's cracking me up. "Get it?" "Got it." "Good."

But also, "Good" is kind of their word. Tim used it post-DOD with her in the workout room, and again when he was happy she didn't change her mind about dating him.

I don't know who made the choice—whether it was a writing thing, first, or an actor choice in the moment, but it somehow makes it more personal and lived-in. And I love that.

"Lock the door first."

Did they just.... have sex in there? Oh my GOSH they pulled a Java!

But what I really love about this is how it feels like a callback to 5x01 and the airplane bathroom. Not only is it a small space where they are covertly meeting to discuss the mission, but it's also a parallel to Lucy needing grounding and Tim being the one to do it.

In 5x01, Lucy was shaken by the Rosalind news. She made an excuse to kiss Tim, to wrap herself in a moment that was a release. Remember Isabel talking about how great it was to unwind in that hotel room and not be on guard for a bit?

Lucy needs this. She needs to be with Tim and wrap herself in the life they are building. Even if it's only a little while, it's going to sustain her while she's pretending while thinking on three levels to not get killed.

He grounds her when she's flailing. And she envelopes him when he's crumbling. Tim and Lucy have built a relationship of mutual respect, love, and protection. And, damn, is it great to get to see it on-screen.

"Miss you." "Getting coffee. 1 Minute." "911."

Shit. Of course this is the one moment when something goes down.

But I love the fact that Lucy was having Laundry Room Sex less than 12 hours earlier and she's already texting her boyfriend because she misses him. No wonder he practically lives at her place, already.

Also, now we know she finally has him listed as "Tim" in her phone. Now, he was "Tim" at the end of S4E1, but I think that was an oversight. So, officially we've graduated to first names.

"Hey. Why are you here?"

Oh, GPS tracking, how I hate thee in real life and love thee on TV.

"You got ten seconds to convince me you're not a cop."

Annnnd, there it is. This guy's not a moron. This isn't his first rodeo. And now he has a gun trained on our girl.

"I'm not a cop I... " "Then how the hell did you know they were coming." "A police scanner app. I can show you."

Well. Done. There are folks in my area who have scanner apps and are constantly posting things online.

I sometimes forget about it because when I worked in a newsroom, we had a guy whose whole job was to listen to the scanner. Still boggles my mind anyone can do it these days!

And Lucy. Gets. Him. Monologuing. And it's beautiful. Lessor actors would have bungled it, but Michael Rooker is a bloody master of the craft, and Melissa O'Neil holds her own opposite him, which adds such richness.

Before we move on, I have to pause and just fawn over Michael Rooker a bit. He's just such a gem of an actor, and that whole interaction there between Lucy and Frank is elevated by his presence.

He pours so much life into a character we've barely known five minutes.

I met him once upon a time. My mother was the Key Makeup Artist on a movie called Deceiver. While I was visiting Mom on-set, I had the opportunity to run lines with him.

He treated me like a working actor, which was crazy to a kid like me.

I remember him running me through this one line over and over. It was a three-word line (which of course I can't remember), but he was trying to teach me how inflection and intention can completely change the meaning of a line.

I carried that with me, and applied it to my acting, writing, and VO work the rest of my life.

My mom said he told her that I acted like a pro. And that's just so bloody special to me. I never had the body or the face for the big time, ya know? But, an actor I admire thought I had the chops. And that's super cool.

"Where are you?" "I'm outside the cover apartment. Frank just dropped me off."

One thing that is a minor thing, but really cracks me up about their dialogue is when they see each other in person, there's almost always a "hey" breathed under their breathe. On the phone, they just get to the point. It's so minor, but it makes me smile.

"I think this op is done." "You sure? " "Yeah. I mean, he's got no crew, no product. It's over." "That's too bad." "Why?" "I was looking forward to another laundry room hookup."

You. Idiots. And I say that with all love! It's so nice to see these two really enjoying their relationship, dagnabbit.

"I need a big meal, a hot bath, and some quality sexy time and then I'm gonna sleep for 24 hours."

Lucy runs her hands down his stomach, but Tim's quick to grab her hands. He rubs her arm, as though reminding himself that she's real.

"What what is that? What? " I just... Isabel used to always crash after a long term assignment. It took her months to come back to life."

I have three children. The first two are twins. And they were born just a few months after my best friend had her first. Her second child was born about six months before my third child.

Yes, I have a point. Gimme a second.

I have dealt with two very different children from day one. I don't know what it is to be the mother of a single child. That was never my reality.

But my bestie was shocked by how different her second child was compared to her first. She'd only known one thing for three years, so she assumed that's how all babies would be.

It was simply lack of experience that led her to lean into her previous understanding thinking it was all she needed. That's Tim, here.

He knows that Lucy is different... but they've never done this before. He's never been the one she came home to after a UC assignment.

He's not equating everything to Isabel because he thinks Lucy is Isabel, but because he has no comparisons. Tim and Lucy are going to build that together, yes, but he honestly doesn't know how to do that.

We know that Isabel shut him out. Tim is terrified Lucy will do the same, even though he hasn't verbalized it... yet.

"You know what, I do have to come clean about something, though. I know I made you a promise to not watch Top Chef without me but I couldn't wait. I'm sorry." "Bad girlfriend." "No! No. I'm sorry." "Horrible!"

I'm sheepishly hiding my face because I'm so Lucy in this moment. My on-screen bestie and I have way too much in common.

Also, we needed that bit of levity to break up the scene. Because it's about to get heavy.

"So... Why didn't you tell me you almost died chasing down the shooter at the restaurant?" "Because I didn't. Who told you?"

It's shocking Lucy thought she would ever be able to keep the Five Player Trade quiet considering how quickly gossip moves through that station. Gee wiz!

"The gun was empty, right? So this is much ado about nothing."

A Shakespeare reference? Now I know our girl's been rubbing off on her man.

"Besides I know for a fact you don't tell me everything that happens when you're undercover." "No. you know for a fact that Isabel didn't. If this is gonna between us I need to know you can see the difference."

Here we go. They are finally having the conversation they need to have. Tim told Isabel that Lucy was different. We know he knows it. But he has to believe it, too.

"... listen, I need you to take it seriously if I ever sound the alarm about something. Otherwise the pain of what I went through would have been for nothing. And I can't lose you the way I lost her.

That "for nothing" is coming back around. It can't be for nothing.

And he can't lose her. He survived losing Isabel. Yes, it broke him. It broke him for a long time. But I don't know if he'd ever recover from losing Lucy. True love can have that effect.

"You won't. I'll walk away before it gets close to anything like that. Okay? I promise."

There we go. This was the piece Lucy was missing last week when she tried to broach the subject. She approached it as though it was something he needed to deal with. But relationships only work when we get through together.

This conversation doesn't make everything all better. They are still going to face obstacles and issues. But they are finally being open and honest in both directions about Lucy doing UC.

Tim and Lucy embrace, but this is different than any of their other hugs, and I wonder if it's intentional. Tim has always nestled into her right shoulder. Lucy usually has one arm up and one down.

This time, she almost scoops in underneath as he wraps both arms around her. She's nestled in his wings as he's held up by her strength.

"We can build a house away from here," the song says. And they could. They could both walk away. But we've established that this is the life they love, dangerous as it is.

And the more they fall in love, the more they both have something worst living for. And that's terrifying.

Have you ever been in love? The kind of love that reciprocates and grows? It's amazing. I've only experienced it once, with the love of my life. It's difficult, at times, but it's also rewarding.

And it amplifies the big stuff. Because you're now a part of something so much bigger than the individual. And for Tim and Lucy, putting their lives on the line means there's someone who will be destroyed if they die.

There's all the more reason to live, but that can't get into the decision-making process in the moment. "You have to keep your head in the game," Tim has said often.

Love conquers all, right? Sometimes, it merely complicates.

I'm grateful for this episode. The pacing and directing were so on-point all around, and I felt like all the on-screen characters had moments to shine without it feeling over-bloated. Just beautifully done all-around.

Thank you for reading, loves. This week has been a hard one in my life as I drove back to Wilmington to say what may be my last goodbyes to one of my best friends who I've known since we were 11. Cancer is the B-word.

Cherish the ones you love. Tell them often that you care. Make memories. Build dreams. Chase hope. Live this life, dagnabbit. I believe in you.

[mllemaenad]

The Magnus Protocol: Give and Take

Huh. It sounds rather as though Chester has some opinions about barging into other people's space in the workplace.

I must admit, I don't go in for a lot of worrying about whether a piece of information is somehow a red herring and doesn't really mean what I think it means. Mostly because I don't think The Magnus Archives really worked like that.

It had a lot of complex world building that it revealed in pieces, and its central conceit was that its protagonist was a man who had an urgent need to understand the mechanics of the world but, as the villain of the piece was actively denying him access to that information, he had to drag it out of horror stories one weird fact at a time.

I don't mean to say that there was never a misdirect: in season 3 the characters really needed to believe in the threat of the Unknowing, and so for the duration of that story arc it was a threat. It had a reasonably plausible explanation for why the rituals had always failed – that if it wasn't Gertrude Robinson blowing them up it was the servant of some other rival power – and you could just go along with it. But when the story wanted you to think about the rituals, it immediately and clearly started saying that actually, they collapse on their own all the damn time.

By and large, if something seemed weird it probably was. If you heard the same name twice, you'd probably keep on hearing it. The lady infested with bugs you learned about in episode six, and who definitely freaked John out, was in fact going to be a problem. And so on. I don't mean this as a criticism: stories with endless impossible-to-guess twists are often just annoying. Solid world building that makes more and more sense as you go on is a positive.

It's possible that The Magnus Protocol is a different kind of story, and is actively trying to mislead its listeners. But that feels like a problem for a later me, should evidence of that arise.

It does deal quite differently with the way information is distributed across its cast, though. I mean – Jonah Magnus/Elias Bouchard absolutely hoarded information, but otherwise it was fairly well distributed. If another character found out something important, John heard it on the tapes. Martin also listened to the tapes. And honestly, John was reasonably forthcoming if he knew a useful fact the others didn't. I'm not disputing the time everybody forgot to tell Tim about an impending apocalypse for a couple of weeks ... but even that got resolved by Martin realising and telling him about the impending apocalypse.

Here, though ... everyone is following a different thread, and nobody is sharing what they know. That creates a very different atmosphere.

And the story ... I mean, it's mostly about a workplace getting wildly out of control.

It's interesting that Alice seems to like Chester, but dislike Norris. I suspect that there's mostly just a meta joke there, as the episode was penned by Norris's voice actor. But still: it's hard to imagine the sense in which Norris could be a "whiny little toad" when his personality fluctuates with the cases he reads. And Chester's case, here, was definitely someone having a whine. Don't get me wrong: Dianne had a horrible experience. But she is very much here to complain about it.

You could argue, as a starting point, that the whole case reads like a broad summary of how things went in The Magnus Archives:

Got dropped into a managerial role following the long absence and eventual death of my predecessor

Did not receive any reasonable training or oversight during the transition period

Found the place completely empty of staff and had to just deal with that

Completely winged it on actually running the place

Direct line manager was unhelpful and almost gleefully unresponsive to requests for assistance

Several people just ... signed up to work there, with no process whatsoever and nothing that even had a whiff of a related skill set

Then there were monsters everywhere, which was just great

The situation was very much out of control

Was very much in peril of being actually be crushed to both despair and actual death by the sheer number of monsters and other weird crap that had taken over my world

Everything was on fire

Sitting on the floor and screaming does feel like a reasonable response to all of the above

Even Dianne's mild officiousness (she keeps ... listing her bachelor's degree. Why on earth?) is reminiscent of how John could sound when he wanted people to think he knew what he was doing.

That said, it is a relief to encounter a character who had a supernatural experience and reacted by noting that this was some horrible bullshit and leaving.

Of course the primary difference between this and The Magnus Archives is where the threat came from. The archival staff could be a cantankerous bunch, but they were never in themselves the problem.

Dianne's weird volunteers remind me most of the eerie students in Anatomy Class. Which isn't to say that they're the same – just that it has the same kind of feel to it, where the point is that their behaviour is almost recognisably human. And as the working situation spirals out of control in the story, you feel it also deteriorate in the OIAR.

It's all about intruders. Celia is the least obvious intruder – the new hire, who has a much reason to be here as anybody else. But there's the sense that she may have come here from very far away indeed, and like the volunteers in the story, she brings odd things with her:

Celia Is there any way to look up specific files? Alice Like what? Celia Oh I don’t know. Every case about being buried alive or meat or… whatever. – The Magnus Protocol: Give and Take

Celia seems to be very much referencing the entity categorisations from The Magnus Archives. So you have to wonder – is that relevant here? She might operate as an audience insert here, with preconceptions about how the world works that ultimately won't help her.

I don't think it is necessary to throw out everything you know from The Magnus Archives to enjoy this story. It's hardly unusual for a sequel to be accessible to a newcomer but provide a richer experience to anyone familiar with the original. Gwen Bouchard likely has some interesting connection to Elias Bouchard that will come up eventually. If you listened to The Magnus Archives you know the name and can anticipate and be curious about what that means. If you didn't – well, they'll tell you when they get there.

But this is more about the nature of reality. Robert Smirke's fourteen was one man's attempt to categorise, explain and control a nebulous collection of supernatural experiences and beings. It continued to be relevant in The Magnus Archives because many of Smirke's associates were still around. They set up cults and organisations around their own personal obsessions, and taught younger people to think as they did. The broken world was largely the fault of an assortment of privileged men from the heyday of the British Empire literally defining the rules of existence.

Here – well, the existence of The Magnus Institute implies the existence of a Somebody Magnus, if not necessarily a Jonah. But the fact that it's located in Manchester makes it quite clear that the early events from The Magnus Archives could not have occurred in the same way. So are there different people involved? Different obsessions? Different rules?

None of the items were fit for sale. I specifically recall two large, soiled Crinoline dresses, a Chaise Longue with cushions filled with some sort of coarse sand, a taxidermied vulture, a rusty antique printing press and a collection of old medical equipment that had seemingly been recently used. There were many, many additional items but I was unable to take a full inventory as the shop floor was overfull. – The Magnus Protocol: Give and Take

There's a lot going on, and it's all creepy and wrong. But how do you sort and make sense of it all?

And then there's Sam, who finally pushes his way into Colin's private space. There's the question there about relevance again. Sam has come to ask about a weird email (and as an aside, I am going to amuse myself imagining that Alice has a filter on her inbox to send anything from that address to spam, and every one of the hundreds of affected emails says "stop calling me Chester"). Colin does not care about the weird email, although he cares about being recorded enough to assault Sam and break his phone.

Sam brought something weird and unwanted – the phone with is internal microphone, and the audience can be certain Colin is right: it's listening.

While I have no doubt there are weirder things in the world than internal emails from people who don't work at the OIAR, it does seem like a strange thing to dismiss out of hand. Sam has received mysterious forms from a supposedly "automated" process, and a peculiar email from a "John" who does not exist. Alice has received a security notification regarding Sam's search activities. Gwen has received a recording of Lena attempting a murder, and apparently information from a "source" indicating that Lena hid that information from her superiors.

Someone or something is listening, and someone or something is communicating. It could even be multiple someones – but nobody at the OIAR is comparing notes to find that out. If Colin knew about the other instances, would he care more about the email?

There even seems to be disinformation being spread, as Alice explicitly told Celia the search does not work:

Alice Well, there’s a search bar, but it doesn’t actually do anything. You’d have to dig through them all manually. – The Magnus Protocol: Give and Take

But we already know that it does from Sam's research into The Magnus Institute:

Alice Apparently you tried searching for files with the terms… (checking printout) "Magnus” and “Protocol"? Sam That’s what this is about? I mean, yeah, okay, I got a case referencing the Magnus Institute and then I looked it up and found a few files on the system that mentioned using “The Protocol”. Why would that be restricted? – The Magnus Protocol: Taking Notes

I don't know why she did that, aside from her general aversion to digging into the cases she assesses, but it does make it harder to keep everybody on the same page.

And then Gwen, who both unceremoniously bursts into Lena's office, and apparently blackmails her way "in" to the true business of the OIAR. She too brings something unwanted: evidence of Lena's attack on Klaus-the-presumably-former-IT-guy-whose-fault-it-is-the-damn-code-is-in-German.

But what does "in" mean, and what does an "external liaison" do? The most reasonable assumption seems to be dealing with these Starkwall people, who were also likely the people who charged in to the Hilltop Centre and dealt with a messy situation by a) shooting everybody and b) setting things on fire. I see now why the first word Sam associated with those people was "massacre".

It's interesting to consider what Gwen might be trying to get out of this. Lena keeps referring to her as ambitious, but a managerial role on the night shift at a creepy data warehouse isn't exactly reaching for the stars. Obviously there is more than that going on here – but how and what does Gwen know about it? And if Starkwall deals with everything the way they dealt with the situation at Hilltop Centre, what could standing next to that mess gain a person?

Finally there is Hilltop Centre itself. It's interesting that in both universes the place seems to have latched on to charity as a cover: Hill Top Road's most notable incarnation was as a halfway house, and Hilltop Centre is a charity shop. The former gave the owners access to discarded people; the latter to discarded objects. It also suggests, though does not prove, that this is not the same reality from which Anya Villette hailed. Of course, the house could have been repurposed since her cleaning job in 2009, but it does seem a stretch since at that point in time it had been newly constructed as a private residence. It is also interesting that it was once again destroyed by fire.

So what was this "good cause" the volunteers were so diligently serving? And – if it was Starkwall and the OIAR that dealt with the situation there – who called it in? Dianne's report is clearly after the events, so this is not the case that summoned them.

I'd be interested to hear what did, and what they thought was going on.

[xylathesilkwing]

played the Time-Breaker DLC! confusing and both enlightening experience- spoilers under the cut below! It is my feverish ramblings and not professional at all, enjoy

-SAM LAAAAKE I thought you were evil Mr Lake but I only had you for a moment I miss you come back

-JESSEEEE JESSEE jessse hi. hi Jesse (insane)

-no fr though Petri Alanko confirmed that the music that plays during Tim (Shawn?? Jack?? I’m gonna say Tim) and Jesse’s introduction was supposed to be a 1:1 recreation of the music that plays in Quantum Break with Jack and Beth, and I just think that’s neat (going feral)

-the insane scribbling on the whiteboard in the trailer resembles the scribbling the real (original? currently dark place) Tim’s notes:

and since I think it’s confirmed that the DLC episodes are just attempts at Alan Wake trying to escape the dark place, did he see the OG notes and go “oh yeah, I could probably write something with that”? Did he predict what Tim would write that without ever meeting him? Is the multiverse real??

-also, “red headed woman” in both images. obviously in the DLC it’s Jesse, and probably is the same in the actual game (especially with the polyhedrons) but it’d be so cool if he also remembered Beth or those other versions he had seen

-this image alone down below?? listing off names??

obviously we’ve got Jesse, plus Dylan (Faden? possibly her brother?) and someone named Savage, but we’ve also got Lisa, Elisa and Liz being nicknames for Elisabet/related to it. Just sayinnn Beth could be part of that tooo (delusional) (hasn’t finished quantum break yet)

-anyways we continue

-the ocean view hotel is so freaky cool in this world??? The clocks leading you to different rooms, the FBC being present and posting notes on doors and cannonly being there, plus the ENEMIES? I’m afraid of the shadows in Alan Wake’s playthrough but these were also pretty freaky

-JESSEEE I’m sorry I’m just genuinely so insane about her im glad she returned

-while I can’t remember the name of the place she works for, i find it pretty funny she still works for a concealed/unknown agency involved with secret forces. went from supernatural events to the multiverse girl

-the time-sea-whatever outside?? insane. cool. wicked awesome

-“and another version of me got super powers” and it’s her lifting a forklift!! Love the control references, especially the Alien Guardian Angel one.

-“as you say, characters in a video game” METAA

-okay I had to put this here but Tim/Jesse shippers.. I see you. like I’m an avid Jessily shipper but genuinely I see the appeal

LIKE? Obviously this is most likely an homage to the fan theories of Jesse and Tim being echoes of Beth and Jack, but it’s also so interesting Alan-wake wise. I could probably make a separate post for this but like- imagine you’re Jesse and you’re seeing all these versions of a man some variant of you loved die gruesome deaths, and you’re feeling these feelings that aren’t actually /yours/, it’s. I’m insane it’s so freaky and cool and sad and ARGH

And for Tim!! your other versions were trying to find this girl and when you get there you realize that the feelings you feel for her aren’t actually yours either! just some version of you and some version of her that probably didn’t work out! I’m gonna go insane!

-the arcade game sequence was INSANE and I love it so much. I wish we saw more of that universe

-the universe with all the empty time-core-thingies?? insane, freaky, perfect.

-THE VOID? THE TEXT?

-okay so I might be weird for this but instead of thinking about The Master of Many Worlds I thought about the red headed woman I’m so sorry. definitely got caught off track but the way her name is LIS like the names list?? and she’s a DANCER? <—— I’m a dancer

-it was so freaky when all the text and numbers turned into Alan Wake at his desk?? but also so meta and cool?? insane DLC

-awesome DLC! North Star is my favorite so far but tbh this one was super meta I loved it

[goatbutter-writes]

Ranking the batfam on their ability to handle spice

Tim: baby. He can’t handle spice at all. His tastebuds are like a frail Victorian child and they will combust if he comes into any contact with spice. This boy finds ketchup spicy and can’t even look at a chilli flake -10/10

Alfred: He will be polite about it but he also cannot handle spice. He’s used to a life of bland English food and that’s what he finds comfort in. He will occasionally try something spicy to please others but will always refer it later 0/10

Dick: you’d think that being well travelled as a child in the circus would mean that dick would have al developed a greater tolerance, but at his heart he is still baby. (This is also a lil based on the clip from teen titans go where he is also portrayed as having 0 spice tolerance). All his other superhero buddies make fun of him for ordering all his food extra mild. 2/10

Babs: babs has a fairly normal spice tolerance. She won’t go out of her way to eat anything that ridiculously spicy, but she spends a lot of late nights working on cases and loves her some food with a lil flavour to make nights more fun 4/10

Steph: she has a very mid-level tolerance but she will pretend it’s higher and eat spicy foods just to bully and make fun of the weaker siblings. When she isn’t tormenting her siblings she has a reasonable spice tolerance as a normal human being 5/10

Damian: damian has a stronger tolerance than most children his age due to a childhood training as an assassin that helped him to learn how to get past the pain of spicy foods. However he is still a child with sensitive tastebuds 5.5/10

Duke: he won’t brag or make a big deal about it but he has a p good tolerance and loves him some spicy food. A week after he moved into the manor Alfred caught him smuggling in hot sauce bc he didn’t want to offend Alfred by saying his cooking was bland. Will always get extra hot sauce on the side tho. 7/10

Bruce: after years of training and the fact that he feels empty inside, Bruce has a great tolerance for spice. His tolerance for spice is something that baffles and confuses the people around him and only further leads to ppl thinking that batman MUST have some meta powers. He went on an episode of hot ones as Bruce Wayne and astounded everyone with his inhuman tolerance 20/10

Jason: the pit definitely affected Jason’s tastebuds and his resistance to foods he didn’t have before like spicy ones. He also very deliberately trained himself to eat spicy foods so that he could destroy Bruce in a hot wing eating contest. He loves stuff insanely hot and keeps emergency hot sauce in his gear that he has used in fights before 50/10

Cass: cass is all powerful and can smoke everyone else when it comes to spice eating contests. Nobody knows how or why but her spice tolerance is bordering on meta-human. She tends to keep this power secret until an opportunity arises where it can be useful to her 100/10

[radioactive-earthshine]

Wait.

Conner was homeless and Cassie didn't help him?

Weren't they dating at the time?

Where was Clark?

Tim?

Bart?

I have so many questions.

I avoided reading all of Superboy because of the unforgivable sexism but now I'm figuring that might have been a mistake.

1.) Conner was homeless and Cassie didn't help him?

Nope. Dan Didio did her extremely dirty.

Superboy #94 I don't even want to show the whole page of this because it is severely gross, but Cassie basically tells Kon to leave, despite Young Justice's HQs being more than large enough to accommodate him, and for some reason he was sharing a room with Slo-bo.... when it was more than large enough to house him.... idk.

"Stop depending on others" when you are BOTH sixteen and are in a TEAM where you HAVE to depend on each other to me sounds out of character for her, or at least in poor taste as it strips the compassion from her.

Didio decided this was the route to go with her, I'm not sure if he forgot these were sixteen year olds, or if he just didn't care, because either way it's not fair of a move to pull. You can argue that it's definitely something a teenager would pull but I think Cassie would at least have compassion here for Kon, even if she is a little high strung at this time and also dealing with PTSD (likely).

Cassie did recognize later in the issue that she was "rough" on him and it ends on a hopeful note that a new start for Kon would be good, but it doesn't bode to be a positive experience. His move was done on a sinking raft.

In a hypothetical situation where things go better and Cassie recognizes that it is unfair to demand that Kon leave when she herself has a home, a mother, and a large support system to protect her, I feel like she would allow Kon to stay at Young Justice like she allowed Slo-bo to stay.

2.) Weren't they dating at the time?

Nope. They didn't get together until later, they were flirting at this time in varying intensity. They both clearly liked each other but neither really made the push to make it anything more than being friends and annoying the hell out each other.

3. ) Where was Clark?

When Kon was actually homeless and looking for a place to live he was not present. A relator thought Superman was logically Kon's father but Kon quickly corrected that assumption and it cost him a place to live.

In issue #100 Clark reveals that sometime during the time Kon took up residency in Metropolis in the apartment complex he was working/living at, he had Jimmy filling him in on the chaotic events going on, but other than that he was not involved.

Clark did here what he should have done a long, long time ago. You can write a lot of meta, analysis and critiques for why it took Clark so long to act in this moment, and it would all be fair, but in the end he did finally help Kon.

Clark does eventually involve himself and save Kon from exploitation and a second homeless situation, thus ending Kon's comic series. He was too late, but he did solve the issue.

4.) Tim?

He had taken a leave of absence from Young Justice directly after the Our World at War story arc that preceded Kon's homelessness, so it's likely he didn't even KNOW this was going on.

Kon and Tim got into a huge fight as well, and it contributed to Tim's motivation for quitting because he didn't want to stay where he wasn't trusted (PTSD thanks to Granny Goodness as well).

Kon also did not know Tim's identity at this time, and he doesn't find it out until after The World Without Young Justice arc that takes place around Superboy #99. They're not really on speaking terms here from issues #94-#98, and in the majority of Young Justice they have more of a peer-based relationship than a friendly one. They do CARE about each other, but it's not this deep wholesome best friend relationship that Geoff John's made it into in TTv3 right out of the gate. They're not there, yet.

Tim comes back on the team AFTER the World Without Young Justice arc when his identity is revealed via Matt Stewart's meddling with events, by this time Kon is in Kansas with Ma and Pa Kent and the situation is over, his series is over.

In the hypothetical situation where Tim did know that Kon was homeless, I'd think he'd probably reach out to Dick over Bruce at this time and ask what they should do. Tim more often sought Dick out for these sorts of things than he did Bruce, and I feel like it would remind Dick of when Donna was homeless during his time as a Titan.

It would go from there I think, and Kon might have actually had a swifter response from Clark or maybe Kara or someone else with Dick sounding the alarm, but that's just one angle and all a "what if" and we cannot hold this as fact because... it's hypothetical.

It would make a GREAT premise for a fix-it fanfic.

TLDR: He just likely didn't know and they weren't close enough for Tim to know, but if he did he'd most likely ask Dick "WHAT DO?"

5.) Bart?

Bart left Young Justice at the same time as Tim did due to PTSD, however Kon knew exactly who Bart was at this time and they were very close friends. Out of everyone on Young Justice, they were the closest. Even so, Bart (likely) would not have known that this was going on with Kon as he had distanced himself from his teammates.

There was a point during one of the Impulse comics that Bart needed help for one of his cases, and he briefly considered reaching out to Young Justice but STOPPED because he had quit, he felt it was not a viable option, therefore it is logical to assume he was not communicating with anyone from his team.

Also to note, during this period of time of 2002, cellphones were not readily available (yet) and email, instant messaging and direct (expensive!) phone calls would have been the primary way to keep in touch over long distance, for them they of course could just meet up and chat but the comics don't show this happening when Bart left the team.

Kon likely never reached out for help, because Cassie told him to "stop depending on others" and it pushed a button for Kon to be stubborn and try to fix his own situation so he probably didn't even think to say "Oh hey btw I'm homeless!" (in fact the word 'homeless' doesn't even come up).

Had Bart known Kon was homeless and needed help, he might have asked Max for advice on what to do like Tim might with Dick, and Max has shown that when children are in peril (like with Cissie being abused by her mother) he will act.

I feel like Max would probably pull what Bruce did with Clark in YJA and tell him that he NEEDS to be there for him, NOW. It would likely be a push to get a more prompt reaction. Again though, this did not happen and is speculative.

Also, Max's 'death' almost overlaps Kon's homeless situation so another factor that can contribute to Bart not being able to help, or knowing, was that Bart himself was in crisis and in a full new transition from one household to another.

TLDR: Bart and Kon were extremely close at this time, but due to personal circumstances they likely just did not communicate well enough to convey the situation.

6.) I have so many questions.

Me too, why was Didio allowed to write anything, why couldn't he just remain a producer? He produced the Orion solo and that was amazing.

7.) I avoided reading all of Superboy because of the unforgivable sexism but now I'm figuring that might have been a mistake.

No, not a mistake. Not wanting to come across a lot of the more gross and unsavory themes that are depicted all throughout Kon's comics are a valid reason to skip it, however it is unfortunate that in order to really grasp him it would be extremely advisable to read it. If you are really deeply triggered by those gross themes, then don't hurt yourself, but if it is something you can consume to glean the rest of the events that are formative to Kon, I would suggest it.

[fire-fira]

A Non-Exhaustive List of My Fiance @radioactive-earthshine​‘s Impressions of the 2003 TMNT Series:

First up--

MIKEY

Her favorite

He screams in such a wonderful way.

10/10 would be friends with Bart Allen/Impulse online (where they’d talk about Star Trek, both headcanons and meta).

The cute one

Precious

GIVE! HIM! FRIENDS!

He definitely needs to hit up Roy Harper/Arsenal in New York to join his team, Titans East.

RAPH

He experiences a LOT of male-bonding.

This turtle isn’t straight. (He’s masc for masc.)

Dramatic

He needs his boyfriend (meaning Traximus) around more.

While his brothers were all being traumatized in various ways during the arc that included SAINW he was off in a bike-race with a hottie on another planet.

Would absolutely swear more and probably only censors himself around his dad.

He’d be friends with Jason Todd/Robin II/Red Hood.

DONNIE

The Kirby episode with him was one of her favorites.

Tim Drake/Robin III/Red Robin’s friend.

Why is he sitting on the couch like that? Sir, why did you put the couch like that before climbing onto it to sit?

He’s not straight because he sits on the couch like that. He’s not straight either.

Hasn’t made much of an impression. (Sorry Donnie, you don’t get a full 7 points.)

LEO

O O F.  SON.

Ah, he’s a bi disaster.

He needs to get together with the rabbit.

Wants him to behead people more. Wants it to be a running gag that he beheads Shredder every time they encounter each other. (”Go apeshit! Do it again!”)

He needs to stop chasing Karai, she’s a bad choice. (”She’s hot, but son that’s a CHOICE.”)

✨T H E R A P Y✨

Her watching every moment between Leo and Usagi: “That’s gaaaaayyyyyy~.”

Orion (of New Genesis) would get along with him.

SPLINTER

Unhealthy obsession with wanting to see him naked. (Seriously, she wants to see this rat without his robe on constantly.)

Wants to see him brushing his fur.

Is married to the Daimyo.

Wants him to have tea with Alfred Pennyworth. (Where they could go back and forth over hellion children.)

Where are your teeth? (”He’s a opossum!” -brings up google images- “Look! That’s a opossum! He doesn’t have rat teeth!”)

You’re one fucked-up rat.

Regularly quotes him as saying “Oh, you were so cute” about his sons.

USAGI

Leo’s (long-distance) boyfriend

“Is he a lop-eared rabbit? If he takes that tie off will his ears just flop over?”

Ah, another disaster-bi.

A much better choice than Karai.

“You exchanged swords? That’s gay.”

“I do not want to see him naked ever.”

“Where are your teeth?!”

“Real original name.” 🙄

KARAI

I have no thoughts about her-- no wait.

If I had that name I’d Karai too.

A terrible choice.

Hot though.

Needs to figure out her shit.

You don’t need NO MAN.

CASEY (MOTHER FUCKING) JONES

CANADIAN????

It’d be hilarious if how he died in SAINW was something really stupid, like choking on air, or tripping into something, or choking on a muffin. Nothing impressive, just embarrassing. It’d be hilarious.

Fun to watch.

You’re too disastrous to not be bi.

I need him to handle all my retail returns.

He needs to use a baseball bat more.

Dumbass™ (because of his terrible hiding skills)

APRIL

“I haven’t changed my outfit in over 10 years because I made a vow when I lost my Uncle Auggie to never change my wardrobe until he came back home so he’d recognize me!”

MOOD

You’re just as much of a dumbass™ as Casey, and that’s why you deserve each other.

GIRL, are you BARBIE? Because you have a lot of careers!

-a la Jurassic Park- SHOOT HER!!! SHOOT HER AGAIN!!!

LEATHERHEAD

I WANT TO BOOP THAT SNOOT.

Wants to pet his snoot too. (”I think he’d like it.”)

Also would get along well with Orion of New Genesis.

✨T H E R A P Y✨

Deserves better.

SHREDDER

wATch OUt fOr ShrEDdeR!!!

Can’t take him seriously and starts laughing every time he’s on screen.

Wants him to be beheaded constantly by Leo.

Mocks him by giving him Bane’s voice from the Harley Quinn animated series and pretending he has a fixation on cheese and shredding cheese. (”Soooomonnne! Give me the cheddaaaarrr!!! I’m so stressed!”)

Sometimes calls him Cheddar.

Desperately wants someone to call him a Kitchen-Aid attachment to his face.

HUN

Hun. Hunny. Honey. (Absolutely must mock his name.)

“All the men call me Hun.”

Vaguely implied that the Purple Dragons were his harem??? (My fiance is wild y’all.)

Clearly smarter than Baxter Stockman.

BAXTER STOCKMAN

HE NEVER LEARNS!!!

“I want him to call Shredder the Kitchen-Aid attachment.”

Her favorite line from him: “You’d make a horrible scientist.”

WOOOOWWWWWWW

Clearly not as smart as Hun when it comes to shutting his damn mouth.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

double-asking for the roadtrip au because *heart eyes emoji*

the roadtrip fic has hardly and solid plot or a working title yet but heck it's fun akskdjfhskfns

"Where's Jason?" Asks Duke, flat-out on a plush hotel bed that feels like a freaking cloud. Tim stretched out along one side of it, and if it doesn't say something about how big these beds are that the two of them, him and gangly Tim Drake, are both sprawled comfortably in the same one, Duke doesn't know what to say about that.

Tim doesn't look up from his laptop. "Probably pissing off Cass," he replies.

Duke raises an eyebrow, which Tim doesn't see, because he's staring at the computer screen. "On purpose?"

Tim shrugs. "Probably not, but also? Possibly. I don't think the whole thing with Steph is on purpose, though." Duke watches upside-down as a corner of Tim's mouth quirks up.

"Alright, I'll bite. How does Steph play into this?" 'Cause it's not like Duke hasn't noticed the rivalry between Cassie and Jason, they're not that subtle about it. He just hasn't asked. Not his monkeys, not his circus, right? He should use that one around Dick, see what the former circus kid thinks of that very appropriate saying.

Tim sighs. "I mean- you might get caught in the middle of it too. Cass is frustrated enough to stop pulling punches, at this point."

How Tim knows that, without a single word from the Batgirl in question for the duration of today's drive, Duke definitely won't question. If Tim is some kind of potential mind-reading meta, he's not going to be the one to out him.

Tim finally closes the laptop, looks at Duke. "Cass... does not," he emphasizes not, "Like Jay. I won't call it hate, because hate would have to have love to reflect from, but... it's close. It's the killing."

"I figured."

Tim nods. "And Jason hates being hated. They really don't get along in the best of circumstances, and, like... Cass can't turn off her abilities, you know?" He frowns. "Being stuck in an enclosed space with the entire family and all our emotional crap? Sucks for her and I don't think she expected it."

Duke remembers the excited, emoji-filled messages he'd gotten from Cassie about this trip the past few weeks. He doesn't think she expected it, either. "And Steph?"

Tim looks him directly in the eyes, which is freaking unnerving because Tim has those icy blue eyes like Bruce that look like he's staring directly into you sometimes, when he's not looking at you from behind messy-long hair. "Come on," he says, almost abruptly, then relaxes back against the cushiony headboard of the massive bed.

He sighs, loud and grating in the quiet of the room. There's a gorgeous view out the window, but the quiet, free of road noise and navigational conversational chatter, might be the best part. Duke stares out the window, overlooking a shockingly blue lake, watches a floating dock bob in the wind instead of watching the thinly veiled emotions crossing Tim's face. Tim is like a steel trap a lot of the time, expressionless as Red Robin but when he's himself, really, he doesn't hide so much. Duke doubts he really wants him to see all that, though, if he could even parse it all out.

Finally, after long enough that it almost makes Duke jump, Tim speaks again. "Steph has been spending a lot of time with Jason lately." Something about his tone, or maybe the words themselves, sounds weirdly deliberate. It takes Duke a minute to figure out why.

He pushes himself up on an elbow to stare at Tim, not upside-down. "They've got something going on," he fills in, and, yeah, that checks out.

Tim snorts. "Heck if I know. I don't think they're, like... dating? But there's... definitely something there."

"Mutual crush," Duke fills in again, because that definitely fits with what he's seen.

"Something like that," Tim says. "If my ex girlfriend, who's currently one of my best friends in general, and my brother have a thing for each other... who gets the shovel talk?"

Duke, to his credit, doesn't burst out laughing like he wants to do. "Hell if I know," he replies, then laughs because he just repeated what Tim had said a second ago. "So Jason is pissing Cassie off by hanging around with Steph?"

"Yep," Tim replies, popping the P. "I wonder if B is aware of this whole thing," he mutters.

Duke grins. "Tell him. Then he can handle the shovel talk."

Tim looks at him, startled and considering at the same time, then grins back.

[mephestopheles]

Okay, so this meta is a kind of catchall but it didn't solidify for me until episode four. Spoilers ahead.

So while I don't think Capitalism is the actual bad guy of this season, I do believe, autonomy and choice is at the forefront, not just the importance of Story, which is definitely present, I think Brennan is kind of interrogating not only the role of Story narratively speaking but also how things like fate and destiny are you used as shorthand for 'plot'. The fairies of the neverafter have decided that something is very wrong if the characters and 'people' of the neverafter don't follow their required paths.

Now look at each of the characters and how they're interacting with Story.

Gerard wants to get back to his story. He's the one most likely to follow the wishes of the fairies and do what they want because he just wants to get back to what he believes he's owed. Yes, it is terrible that he was turned into a frog as a little boy and then expected to understand how to rule a kingdom when he's full grown and the curse is lifted. Yes he's going to have a very black and white view on what the expectations of his life 'should be'. So, of all the people who are going to follow the rules of the fairies, he's the one that will have the hardest time going against his own nature and whatever pull Story has on him. He's comes across as a spoiled prince and a coward because he's an adult.

But his entire worldview was set when he was very young and then he spent who knows how many years living in a pond waiting for a princess to break the spell.

Rosamund is another character that is still very much tied to her Story. Again, another young character cursed and locked away from any kind of growth and developed the expectation that a prince would come to save her. She still very much believes that a prince will find her and save her even if she's becoming disillusioned by events of the narrative so far. Her talk with Cinderella is hopefully going to have lasting effects for her but narratively, the "main story" has strong vines.

Pinocchio, poor Pinocchio. I think it's an easy guess that stepmother is one of the fae. Not a witch, but kind of like an archfey. I wonder if she's also the evil fae who cursed Rosamund. Her having many roles in the stories holds to how Brennan seems to be plotting this. I absolutely didn't know that in one version of Pinocchio, he kills the cricket. Yes Pinocchio wants to be a real boy again, but I think he's much less inclined to follow the narrative if he can get away with things he might start pushing back. See the broken off nice as an example. Also his relationship with Pib is interesting. Despite the terrible story where he met Pib with a fox. Pinocchio has trickster qualities that might help Pib more than stepmother, although she does have Pinocchio's father under her thumb.

So I had an image stuck in my head of the entire crew and I think I got them all. I think I'm conveying this correctly, like this is where we start Neverafter off and these are the current positions after EP 4.

Tim is a fence sitter, I get stronger "do it for others" vibes from him than Gerard, but not as strong as Ylfa. Ylfa is not pulled as much by the story as she is by needing family, especially her grandmother. If she has to be in a story for that to be possible then she might go for it, but she's the first to put herself on the line to help others so she has a bit more of a selfless vibe to her.

Pib is very self driven, the vibe of a shit head cat, what pot can I stir to make this fun for me? That's our scrappy little kitty right now. The meta stuff might fade a bit but he's still so much out for himself he'll torpedo a story if something is cooler on the other end.

Pinocchio is on the line, waffling all over the place at the whim of his fae patron.

Overall it's going to be interesting how this resolves. I don't think they'll end up all over into the meta selfless side. In fact I can see Ylfa learning to take care of herself, and Pib is at the end of the day a trickster and he may learn something but not quite enough to apply it somewhere else.

The really cool thing about all of it is that several of these stories begin when they were exceptionally young. Rosamund was a baby when she was cursed and she had to grow up with the knowledge of the curse her entire life. Gerard was a young boy when he was cursed, same as Pinocchio. Ylfa is twelve and is a werewolf. Pib is a cat that defies placing any official age and once again trickster. Tim is kind of outside the narrative by being mother Goose, a storyteller in his own right.

[yjwhatif]

With Black Mary and supergirl being teased for season 5. Do you think the outsiders will be shown more since their more close in age to mary than the others. And I have to ask, how do you think bart and Ed will fit in season 5. Cause I definitely need more of the two lol

First off, big SAME on needing more Ed and Bart - they give me life!! In terms of how they’d fit into s5, I think there’s potential for Bart to be struggling in some way as the events with Lor and M’comm still cloud his mind. For whatever reason he just can’t let go of what happened or he’s throwing himself even harder into missions to avoid dealing with whatever trauma it’s brought up from his past… everyone has a breaking point and unless they reveal that Bart has actually opened up to someone about the hells he’s faced - I cannot accept that Bart is an exception to that fact - not in yj. The lack of focus on what happened to Bart - as in the levels we all expected there to be with characters worrying and searching for him - makes me think it was more a setting up for something that will have a greater effect that’s explored later… or at least that’s my current thinking…

With Ed, I’d like to see him dealing with the Taos vs Markovia stuff - that was something that was definitely getting set up for further exploration at a later date. I would love to see what’s potentially pushing the metas away from the MHYC and see what effect that’s having on Ed - he is pretty passionate about making sure the teens feel supported — so why are they fleeing to markovia? (If that is what’s happening). Also a reluctant team up with brion would be quite cool to see or even Ed hitting boiling point and going up against him in some way after maybe learning what Jace and bazovvi have been doing to the metas who come to them. I wanna see some angry Ed returning to my screen - it’s been too long!

Now, my current thinking for Mary and Kara (based on no knowledge of either character or them being furies) is that they could be used to infiltrate one or both of the younger based teams. I guess similar to what the light tried doing with Tara but Mary and Kara would be answering to darkseid instead - I’m suddenly really wanting to see Mary’s dynamics with those who were on the team when she was - would that include Tim and Cassie? who are now outsiders (that could be wrong - I’ve yet to check when she was actually was on the team compared to those still around) anyway, it’s gonna be interesting how deep Mary’s fury goes for the heroes and how far she’s willing to go in the name of darkseid… and that’s about as far as I’ve got with theorising for those two — though I am intrigued with what could come with them… I sense a lot of deceit and betrayal coming the heroes way - and I can’t wait to see it! (Y’know… so long as we keep getting content #RenewYoungJustice!)

Anyway, these are some of my random thoughts - I doubt any of them will actually come to pass (my thoughts never do) but I would love to see these things happen in some form — they’re all such compelling characters worthy of development!

LB

[bikelock28]

Your meta posts on Sirius and Remus and Wolfstar were just 👨‍🍳😘! I’d love to know any in-depth meta or headcanons you have on Jily (or James and Lily separately). In particular I’d love to know your take on their patronuses, their relationship, and whether you feel Lily should actually have been with Snape / whether Snape’s patronus means that Snily were actually soulmates. (I’m a Jily fan so I’m hoping the latter isn’t true, but I’m willing to be open minded).

Thank you so much again for those excellent posts!

Thank you so much. I've had one of those weeks at work where you think "why on Earth do they let me do this job, I am hopeless at it". So it is really cheering to know that, at least in the world of HP Metas, I'm doing something right. Thank you :)

Don't worry about what it or isn't true- first because these are just my thoughts and you can disregard them completely. Second- none of this is true! It's a story, it's fiction!

I don't have many of my own Jily headcanons. A few vague ideas, maybe I will write more about them when Pluto is wrapped up. The wonderful @blvnk-art went though a lovely Jily phase and I have headcanoned a lot of their work.

Thought on Lily, James, Snape and Patronuses:

Lily shouldn't have actually been with Snape, because Lily didn't want to actually be with Snape. End of.

2. The Patronus thing is not proof that a couple should be together romantically:

We only hear of one case of A Couple With Matching Patronuses: Jily. Good for them, how lovely. But there are plenty of other couples in HP, who don't have Matching Patronuses. So it isn't a prerequisite of compatibility or romantic fate.

We only hear of 2 cases of Changing Patronus: Snape and Tonks. Snape was never an item with Lily. We don't know when Tonks' Patronus Change occurred, but when we find out about it she is not an item with Lupin. So neither couple are together romantically when we see their Patronus changed. Therefore it's possible to interpret a changing Patronus as a negative thing- a display of obsessive love or a reaction to heartbreak. Even if you don't view it that way, there are plenty of other people falling in love in HP whose Patronuses don't change. So we can conclude that it's something that occasionally happens, but not always. Therefore it's proof of emotion, but not fate.

3. I don't even think soulmates or romantic fate are A Thing at all in the HP universe. Fate- yes. Souls- famously. Love (including romance) being a force- certainly. But I don't remember soulmates ever being mentioned. When magic permits connection between people who are romantically involved/attracted (Amortentia, Ron finding his way back to Hermione via the Deliminator) these are feelings/connections which already exist. Because Harry is a dumbass, Amorentia feels to him like a sign whacking him over the head telling him he fancies Ginny, but it isn't treated as conclusive proof that they are absolutely definitely soulmates 4eva and eva. It's perhaps more of an indication of something he hasn't consciously realised/accepted.

All of the above is to do with the power of love (cue the music!) and choices. Which are of course also big themes in the books. If any type of "soulmate" exists in the HP verse, it's couples who have chosen to be together, who have developed a connection/attraction/love over time, rather than some idea of pre-determined compatibility. And in my view that is much, much more romantic.

Or, to put it another way, listen to this song by Tim Minchin: