#and also I like giving my thoughts and tumblr’s format works better for that for me

[quibbs126]

So I heard a leak about the new Cookie from the Mystic Flour story, the one with the peach

I guess if you don’t want to hear it, I’ll put it under the cut. It’s pretty minor though, it has nothing to do with the story, just something basic about the character

It included the name, but that’s not the most interesting part to me, since to me it seems pretty obvious with their design

No actually the more interesting thing I heard is that this Cookie is in fact a guy, which fully surprised me

We technically don’t have confirmation, and it could be wrong, but honestly I really hope it’s true, if only because it’d be surprising given the design

And also if it’s true, then this’ll be twice where with a Dark Cacao related character, I mistook them for female on account of the design, but later find out they are men. Just thought that was funny

Oh yeah, this is the original leak I saw btw. While as I said, the leak isn’t confirmed, I also as of yet haven’t heard anything to disprove it either

[5ummit]

New Mature Content Warning Overlay (And How to Get Rid of It)

More fun community label "features"! Unlike the new mandatory label for #NSFW, this one is a bigger deal to me because it affects my entire blog and it can't be avoided by just using a different tag.

Apparently on custom blog layouts, if you happen to post or reblog even a SINGLE post that's been flagged with the mature content community label, a full-page warning overlay will appear blurring out your entire blog that must be manually clicked through every single time the page is refreshed. At first I thought this was just a bug due to my older layout but I've come to realize it's not. It's a feature (as confirmed by this recent changes post) that affects all custom themes. The formatting will vary based on your own theme but here's what it looks like on my blog:

I don't know about you but I find this is stupid and annoying. If it could be dismissed once and never seen again that might be one thing, but that's not the case. The vast majority of my blog is not "mature" enough to warrant such an aggressive and invasive warning. I also think pop-ups are obnoxious in general and I'll be damned if tumblr's going to force me to have one on MY blog.

After some desperate googling for a known workaround and being unable to find even a single mention of it, I decided to take on the challenge myself. I'm not a theme coder, so apologies if there's a better way to do this, but luckily it only took me like 10 minutes to figure out a simple fix, which I'm now sharing with anyone else who may want it:

.community-label-cover__wrapper {display: none}

Just copypaste that somewhere in your CSS and goodbye pop-up!

If you're not sure how to access your theme code, check out this help article. You can also add the code via the Advanced Options menu, which is actually even better (if you can get it to work, it depends on how your theme was coded), because it will then automatically be reapplied to a lot of themes without having to remember to manually add it every time if you change your theme in the future.

Obviously this will only remove it from your own blog for anyone who may visit it. If you never want to see this warning again on other people's blogs you can also add this custom filter to your ad block:

tumblr.com##.community-label-cover__wrapper

Unfortunately I do not have an easy tutorial on hand for this one as the method will depend on your specific ad block app or extension.

Some additional notes:

After adding the theme code and saving the changes, give it a minute to update as it sometimes takes a little while for the page to refresh.

The warning overlay only seems to appear if a "mature" post is on the FIRST page of your blog, which is still annoying and makes the whole thing even more pointless and stupid because what if someone visits any other page of your blog, and oh no, happens to see "mature" content they weren't warned about?!

The warning also appears on direct links to "mature" posts.

This hack has NOTHING to do with entire blogs that have been flagged as NSFW. It only works for non-flagged blogs with custom themes that happen to have individual "mature" posts.

[roxtron]

Day 5: Rabbit, Reclaim

AGJGDFJF FINALLY IT'S DAY 5 SO I CAN POST THIS

For some reason everytime i draw him he looks so young because i'm accidentally overcorrecting since i'm used to drawing older characters. So unfortunately he looks way younger than i meant him to lol, whoops.

But wait there's more- AHAHAHA

While I did initially plan this for GGY week I eventually got the idea to use this as an excuse to draw other GGY designs, soo..

(Not sure why tumblr formatted it that way with 1 of them big but it doesn't matter lol)

I've been wanting to do this for a while, I put the tags of each person next to their design but ofc I'm still gonna tag them in the post itself so you can see their art for yourself if you haven't already. But I enjoyed each of these in their own ways so if you don't mind I think I'm gonna type a bit of text next to them..

@chipistrate This was one of the first I drew out of these, the design was pretty fun to draw but sorry if I messed up a few details, it was a bit difficult lol. The mask and goggles are really fun to draw and they make for a cool design, along with all the glowing blue. (and yes, I tried to subtly include the heelies lol)

@lunzi0 This was the first fursuit one I did lol. I adore the little stars in the design, they personalize it so well and make it really unique. I wanna try this design again since I feel like the other ones show my improvement a bit better, but I hope you can appreciate the effort I put in on my first attempt <3

@carouselrabbit This one was really fun to draw, I absolutely love the eye shape/lashes, it stands out and I always love drawing eyes with a bit of eyeliner lol, the daycare theme legwarmers is a cool nod to the balloon boy arcade machine being connected to them, and was just a fun addition in general lol, I like the style of legwarmers what can I say, fnaf changed my fashion sense a bit. also the subtle paraells to freddy's design is a nice way to connect a bit to gregory himself.

@puhpandas I can't remember if I talked about this design last time I drew it but, overall I'm really happy with how this came out, it's such an indicator of improvement since I started drawing this and I'm glad I was able to draw it better than last time lol. All the patchwork and similarities to Vanny's suit work really well, and the rabbit you chose to base it off of was a good fit, the colors make it a bit more difficult to shade for but i like detail lol, hope you like it too :)

@dykevanny I knew I wanted to do this since I started but I wasn't sure if I'd have time, and I'm glad I did! I hope you don't mind I combined aspects from the first design I saw and the second one you replied to my ask with, I liked the big purple sleeves lol. (I just realized after doing all the shading I forgot to include the oil splatter on his jacket, sorry!) It was definitely a bit difficult due to the head shape being so different but.. fluffy. i love drawing fluff. And the glowing swirl on the goggles, the shape of the ears, I love a lot about this design. :D

I have a hard time with writing compliments but I wanted to get some of those thoughts out, some of the things I like about these designs apply to multiple lol. I adore every one of these designs but I find it hard to put into words what I enjoy about them, hope the original creators are happy with these. <3

I also kept the ggys without as much lighting effects on a separate file, I felt like I should add them since they're a bit brighter lol, makes them look different.

Okay now that I've gotten all that- Sorry this post is so long! I didn't think it'd end up taking up so much space lol. Buut.. working on this drawing and thinking about it and potential context behind it gave me an au idea for it, but I'll put it under the cut since I understand most people probably won't care and just wanna see the drawings lol.

Idk if I'm confident enough to write for it but I'll give a bit of a summary.. I'll keep it under the cut for people who aren't interested and just wanna see the art though lol.

After the main events of SB and Ruin, now that the mimic's been set free, Cassie's taken control of by what's left of Vanny, using her as a new host. But with Cassie being the only human left alive down there, after being reawakened, Dr. Rabbit has nowhere left to go but back to his old host.

Vanessa, Freddy, and Gregory hadn't gone back to the Pizzaplex after ruin, but they were trying to figure out a plan to get Cassie back safely. One night after Freddy and Gregory disappear, Vanessa leaves to go find them. As dangerous as the pizzaplex is, it's her best guess for where they might've gone. She doesn't want to think about what could've happened to them, in denial for the worst case scenario. She tries to keep herself calm by telling herself they probably just left to go back for Cassie, maybe they didn't want her stopping them.. but deep down she knows it can't be that simple. She knows something's off, even if she's not ready to admit it.

When returning to the pizzaplex, she brought along her own V.A.N.N.I. mask, though unlike the one Cassie used, it was clear of the mimic's influence. After all, she was going to need some way to travel through potential blocked routes.

By the time she found Gregory, she'd still been wearing the mask, seeing him down the end of a dark hallway. He looked confused, afraid, his mind was a wreck of conflicting emotions. She started rushing towards him, happy to see him okay, until he finally spoke.

"You need to get out of here."

She stepped back, taking off the mask, only to be faced with the worst case scenario.

It was a wreck, covered in stains and tears, but it was still recognizable. He was wearing that old suit again.

As he waved, she could see Freddy's claws peeking out from the doorway, as the two stepped closer towards her.

So, she did what he told her to do, and started running. She could hear a faint voice coming from the mask, and put it back on before finding somewhere she could hide.

It was his voice again, telling her which way to go.

I guess that was the dramatic way to summarize the main idea behind it, lol. Basically Gregory and Dr. Rabbit work the way Sun and Moon work in Ruin, whichever one is in control in the real world, the other is left behind in the AR world. Or at least that's my interpretation of how they worked, considering Sun was always in mask-on scenes and moon was mask-off. I'm not too sure where the plot might go from there, and maybe I'll consider writing for it, I dunno. I've never wrote fanfic before because I get deadly afraid of writing them out of character lol, but maybe?? I have ideas for scenes and premise and stuff but I don't know if I have the confidence to write it.

But anyway! That was just more of a fun side-idea I came up with while working on this, if you read this far thanks, hope you enjoyed :)

here's some silly little lineless doodles as a reward for making it to the end hehe

now that's what I call an art dump

@ggyweek2024

[rivkadreamer]

Push and Pull.

a/n: I actually have no idea what is this, I'm sorry. This was supposed to be a short drabble since I've been wanting to post something to Tumblr for quite some time and then...I got carried away, ahaha. Also I'm posting this through my phone, so if the formating is weird...ops.

Warnings: None, this is not proof read.

Genre: Hurt/comfort (?), light angst, fluffy at the end.

Summary: Scaramouche isn't the best with words, but for you, he's willing to tone down a little.

Alternatively: where his darling is fed up with his bad attitude and give him a scare to make him man up lmao.

Words count: 1.18k

Imagine Scaramouche with a significant other who does exactly just what he asks for.

He tells you to leave? Sure, right off the door.

He tells you to not talk to him anymore? Okay, you stay silent like a mute person until he cracks and asks you a question.

He tells your presence is annoying? Watch him crawl back after weeks you went aloof, ignoring his presence in your life. Begrudgingly, he will start to tell you that he had some matters to attend in the specific area he found you, acting like it was a big coincidence you two end up meeting.

It's not as if you don't know that most of the stuff he tells you, he doesn't mean it, not really. You do know it, but that's the thing.

You are a human being, someone who has it's own thoughts, opinions and feelings. And since the beginning of this relationship, Scaramouche made a point quite a few times to ignore it, not trying to apologize or understand that even if you know he doesn't mean it, his actions still might hurt.

How did you two even got in a relationship, in the first place? You, yourself don't know. Sometimes it feels like he sees you more as a subordinate than a lover.

That's when you started taking the approach to stop reading between the fine lines of his words, trying to save some face and dignity he stole from you by crossing and neglecting the boundaries of your good will again and again, discarding your words when you tried to talk to him about it.

Honestly, he's similar to kid throwing a tantrum sometimes. Except he just narrow his eyes at you or gives you a hard glare when you fail to meet his needs. Scoffing when you not bother to try to understand the hidden meaning behind his harsh words, everytime he throws them rudely at your face.

The day he finally got your message through that stubborn head of his, was the day he blew up at your face and took his rage out on you after a particular stress inducing week.

Screaming at you how useless you are, how he didn't need you by his side and how you were a nuisance for foolish thinking he needed some kind of comfort. He told you such humans silly rituals and interactions where bellow him, to just stop nagging him and finding something better to do if this was what you interrupted his work for.

You tried to reason with him, saying that being here for him was just what you were for, what lovers do, they support each other. You just wanted to help him.

Then, he told you that you could help him by getting out of his life, since all you did was get in his way, distracting him from his goals by forcing your unwanted affection down his throat. His words cut deep and managed to finally shut you up, much for his relief.

You noticed that and frowned. You knew he didn't mean it, you knew that. But there's a limit to everything and you have reached yours. Getting the memo that he wants to be alone, you quietly left his office and made your way to his Fatui headquarters, determined to once more do just what he asked of you.

Scaramouche's blood run cold when he saw the empty room, devoid of any of your belongings or clothes. Many scenarios took a turn to settle upon his head, making his thoughts scatter all over the place as the initial shock wear down. The likely scenarios of you being kidnapped or leaving and abandoning him as many others did in the past, always betraying on the bitter end of everything, left him reeling and fuming on the very same spot he lost you.

He frantically searched for you all over the place, sending his Fatui underlings to look through every leaf and hole around the area, not leaving a single rock unturned.

When he finally found you, he was seething with fury, eyes practically bulging out of his face as he angrily demanded to know with a dark voice just what were you thinking and how dare you abandon him just like her did.

Scaramouche righteous anger quickly died down, however, when you threw at his face the same words he spoke earlier on his spur of the moment outburst, reciting letter for letter the painful words he spat like venom at you, wounding your heart in the process. That's when he noticed the hurt flashing through your eyes, a hurt dangerously alike to his.

His face fell.

He was quiet for a moment. Digesting your words wasn't easy. Scaramouche was never good with feelings and he always runs away from whatever situations that require him to face with the complex bundle of emotions that swirls just inside him. They're the moments he's forced to face the fact that he feels just as much as any human he so readily declares bellow him, feels.

And he hates himself for it. It reminds him too much of the time he was but a wandering vagrant of Tatarasuna, eyes sparkling full of wonder and curiosity. In all his glorified naivety, hopeful and yearning for the love of a family he could never attain.

But he hates your absence even more. It exudes such a gruesome, hollow emotion, it brings a hateful sting behind his eyes. Bringing himself to sit down by your side, and for the first time in all of the duration of your relationship, admitting that he was the one in the wrong. He apologizes and begs for you not to go, to not leave him alone.

He truly doesn't know if he can outgrow the pain of being without you, and surprises himself with how earnest he is being, realizing in the process he's much more attached to you than he initially thought.

His own metaphorical heart quivers with the notion, drumming forcefully and shaking the electric cords of his handmade body to it's core. It scares him, the vulnerability of it all, right now feels the same as being completely naked before your eyes. But the fact that you were about to slip away from his reach was terrifying, so he presses on...

After this incident, his behavior do not do an whole 180° turn, but he mellows out quite a bit.

He listens now. He stops with the unnecessary rude comments and have actual talks between the two of you, paying attention to your body reactions to assure himself he hasn't spout anything harmful.

The most noticable change is how he looks more for you and, how he doesn't push you away anymore, when you come to see him. He doesn't outrightly say he enjoys your presence, but he doesn't put a tough facade just to drive you away and prove his point about being "superior", either. He's still serious, but gentler. A soft expression on his face that is reserved for you and these quiet moments with you, and you only.

Talking and communication are still a sore spot for him, being truthful and honest about his emotions not coming as naturally to him as it comes to you.

But he's trying, and for the time being, that's enough for you.

"Where are you going? No, you can stay. You aren't distracting me, how arrogant of you to think so. Contrary to the bumbling fools I hesitate to call co-workers, your presence is much more calming. I feel reassured when you are by my side, so stay."

There's a quiet murmur at the end.

"Please, darling." ~♡

End note: My first fic ever posted on Tumblr 🎉 (PS: I have no idea how Tumblr works LMAO)

[@rivkadreamer on Tumblr, please do not steal my works.]

[britcision]

Gonna try and sneakily post after dnd let’s see how fast I can yeet this up 👀 new chapter!!

(I was kinda considering pushing out the porn parody to push me over one million words on AO3, but I have to be in the mood to write good smut, whereas I’m damn near always in the mood for crack, so here we are

The porn parody has been started though, and the first chapter is edging its way to completion. I will be starting an entirely new taglist for the porn parody though, so do say in the comments here if you would like to be tagged in the first chapter of that!)

I got to use a little of my actual real life work knowledge for once in my life, instead of my unending stash of random knowledge 👀 it’s a bold new world and I bet you ANYTHING Bruce never documents his code

Eleven million backup plans for if marshmallows take over the world, but someone else sits to debug the batcomputer? Zip. Nothing. Fuck them if they can’t read Bruce they aren’t authorised to touch it

As may be rather obvious… We’re right up in the bats again this chapter, and Bruce is going to make some Inadvisable Decisions 😈

I’m sure this will have absolutely no consequences whatsoever! This chapter also came in a little short, since there’s not quiiiiite enough space left to squeeze in our next scene, Danny Attempts To Make Jason Kill Him In A Motorcycle Accident

This means we should not brick ANYONES’ tumblr! (Like that’ll happen, my poor mobile using fellows)

Note: there is a reason why I’m choosing when to use our various vigi’s human names while they’re masked, I didn’t miss one on the “edit” that is formatting this mess for Tumblr 😁

First Chapter and AO3 link:

Previous Chapter:

——————

One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night

About twenty minutes after dropping Danny off at his dorm, Jason was suited up and ready to go.

Well, he’d stayed outside until he’d seen Danny shut the door behind him first. Jason had some fucking manners, though if pressed he couldn’t name who’d taught him them.

It was a habit older than the streets, watching to be sure his friends got to safety.

Danny’s dorm was about fifteen minutes from one of Jason’s better safe houses, as it happened. Jason had never been to a dorm, but from Danny’s stories?

A step below Teen Titans’ bunks, and those had sucked. Less privacy, smaller rooms, and more people? Who weren’t even part of the same team?

Maybe next semester Jason could offer to let Danny move in. He didn’t need need the safe house.

Red Hood could always buy the building. There were other apartments and while they weren’t luxurious, they beat half his other spots. The neighbourhood wasn’t bad either.

It’d be nice to pay Danny back a bit. Not have him closer. Just. Repay some of the debt by giving him a place to stay, rent free.

And maybe, just a little bit, the part of Jason that enjoyed the romanticism of his period novels kinda liked the idea. An estate for the king on your lands was a big deal back then.

A slightly more modern part of him thought being a landlord for his ruler would also be pretty funny. He figured Danny would enjoy that side too.

And it wasn’t like the guy could complain, since he’d literally given Jason back himself. Yeah, Jason was gonna pull that one out if Danny tried any familiar “oh I can’t accept this” on him.

Fixing his core was pretty damn god level on the favours spectrum. Jason could do whatever the hell he liked and Danny would just have to deal with it.

It cheered him up a little more, kept him in a good mood on the ride back to his safe house. It was more time where he couldn’t help Cass, but seriously?

Danny could change in a matter of seconds and be at her side not much slower. Walls, cars, goons, Jason had this feeling that none of it would slow Danny down.

And yeah, knowing that helped, but there was still a piece of him that only unknotted as he slid his helmet on and headed to the window.

“Hey, Black Bat. Busy?” He asked as the comms switched from earpiece to helmet display.

Of course he wore both. People kept trying to steal his damn helmet. That was also what the internal explosives were for.

The others all piped up when they heard him, Harper and Steph calling cheerful greetings around an ongoing conversation.

“Shit, Hood’s in, this mean I can go back to bed?” Bluebird teased. Spoiler cut her off immediately.

“Hell no, it can’t be a school night, Robin’s here! Great timing though Hood, we’re planning Red Robin’s eulogy and you have some experience there,” Spoiler chirped brightly, and Jason hesitated.

Sucked in a breath. He wasn’t gonna judge anyone else’s coping mechanisms until they got past “heads in a bag” levels.

Best to ignore it, since she wasn’t actually trying to set him off.

What the hell had Tim done since they’d left the manor?

Shaking his head, Jason settled into Red Hood and hopped onto the fire escape, scaling easily to the roof.

“Black Bat?” He repeated instead of answering, and half smiled when Spoiler groaned dramatically.

Black Bat answered in the considerate group pause.

“Not busy. Why?” She sounded amused, not even particularly tired, and Jason relaxed enough to slip all the way in.

“Thinking of going a little out of my way tonight. Wondered if you’d mind a tagalong?” Red Hood asked, hoping he sounded casual.

It wasn’t like he’d been planning to patrol the Alley anyway; his guys had already been told to handle it. He’d have to run around tomorrow night to keep the creepers scared, but he could have a couple off.

The tiny pause before her answer didn’t quite feel like judgement, but Jason muted before blowing out the sigh as she did. It wasn’t like the others needed to know he’d been stressing.

“Sure. Meet at library?” She’d had his tracker up. Hood nodded, turning and running for the edge of the roof.

“Sounds good.” And they’d probably wound Spoiler up enough, she’d start plotting vengeance for being ignored soon. “So what the hell did Little Red do?”

“Brought Too Fine to the Bat Cave,” Spoiler told him with relish, not noticeably put out by the delay.

Not necessarily a good sign, since she was also this enthusiastic while actively plotting against him.

Wait.

Too Fine was Tucker’s hacker name.

“But he doesn’t know about us,” Red Hood said with a frown, catching an outcropping and swinging on.

“Oh, now you tell me,” Tim groused while the others snickered, “what a shame you didn’t think to when it’d have actually been helpful!”

News to Hood that he was on, probably still in the cave.

“He knows now,” Nightwing chimed in brightly, probably also travelling from the slight strain in his voice.

Hood paused for a moment, letting that sink in before attempting the next jump.

“Is he on comm?” He asked warily, because if Tim brought Tucker to the bat cave, it was entirely possible that they were all outed.

And that Tucker might tell Danny he was Red Hood.

Shit, he still had to text Harley. Resolving to do it once he hit the library, he set back to running, throwing himself across another street.

Black Bat would probably take a little longer to get there.

“He’ll be back, he’s in the bathroom,” Tim explained with a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “It’s not all bad, he’s given me the full story on what happened in Amity Park. Witness account and all.”

“From a witness you let down to the bat cave~” Spoiler sang sweetly across the air.

Red Hood could hear Oracle rolling her eyes as she cut in.

“Tone it down, Batgirl. Bluebird, if you’re still thinking of heading in, could you swing past one last site on your way?” She said firmly, then lightening her tone for their current guest.

“Batgirl who? I’m Spoiler,” Spoiler grumbled, but didn’t push beyond that. None of them did when Oracle invoked the name she’d had before any of them masked up.

Bluebird snickered at her before answering the question, a hint of exertion suggesting she was on the move too.

“I’m not actually in a rush to go home, O, I got all dressed up so I might as well enjoy one last hurrah.”

Right, because she’d be going back to school probably when Danny did.

Harper had always been a damn good hero in Jason’s books, but she valued her retirement and none of them really wanted to ruin it. Unless, apparently, seven bats just had to stalk Jason’s new friends.

Hood would have apologized, but frankly if she’d said no, some of the others couldn’t have come to the gala to be a pain in his ass.

And then he couldn’t have had so much fun fucking with them.

Fine. One cool fruit basket for the Row household, and some rainbow cupcakes for Cullen. He needed practice on frosting roses anyway.

Although that also reminded him.

“Hey Bluebird, have the others filled you in on Phantom?” He asked, cutting off some more background chatter from Spoiler and Tim.

Nightwing and the girls had had hours by now.

“What, your new boyfriend?” Bluebird asked sweetly, and Hood rolled his eyes.

Probably hit the important shit then.

“Sent you a picture?” He asked instead, decidedly not entertaining that question.

Nightwing and Spoiler snickered. Hood flipped off their general directions, settling himself comfortably on the roof of the library to wait for Black Bat.

There was a short pause, the others now wondering what he was getting at. Good.

“In and out of suit,” Bluebird agreed, curiosity tinging with mild suspicion. Being out of retirement clearly wasn’t good for her.

Hood nodded, pulling out his phone and shooting Harley a quick text. It might be moot now, asking her not to mention Red Hood shit in front of Danny, but he might as well.

He still had to ask if Waylon knew. Might as well ask. And see if Tucker knew when he got back.

“I know you’re outta the game, but keep the light show to a minimum if you see him around, okay?” He asked, scanning quickly over the list Danny’d cleared for public discussion.

He didn’t know if Tucker would have mentioned it, but he might as well. Cause of death was good, but Jason personally would veto “and the effects it may have now”.

Because fuck Bruce and his need for everyone to show him their weaknesses.

Bluebird definitely sounded curious now, and possibly like she was punching someone.

“Oh? He not big on the electricity?” She wondered aloud, and Hood grimaced.

Because if they were both at Gotham U in engineering… there was actually a chance Harper and Danny would run into each other.

Danny was older, but Harper skipped a couple years and he had no idea what year Danny was in. Fuck, they might be in the same classes. He couldn’t believe he’d never thought of that.

“Not exactly. You mighta seen him around actually, he’s an engineer too. But he’s not a fan of the electricity flying around,” he explained, Nightwing making background noises that told Hood he hadn’t put the pieces together either.

Good. At least he wasn’t alone.

Bluebird made an interested hum, and probably a finishing blow considering the satisfaction when she spoke next.

“I thought he looked familiar. But then, he’s total Wayne-bait. Yeah, I can keep the good stuff under wraps if I see him around. Gonna guess he’s had some bad shocks in the line of work?”

Hood hesitated and in exactly the same instant Black Bat landed on the roof. Sam had given them all the warning about talking about a ghost’s death, so he could leave it at that.

But…

The way Danny had looked when he explained about Vlad. Yeah, he’d rather they took this seriously. He didn’t want any of his family to hurt Danny, even by accident.

“It’s how he died. He won’t spontaneously combust or anything, but it’s a bad memory.”

Silence reigned while the others absorbed that particular detail, Black Bat crossing to crouch on the roof beside him. Hood leaned over enough to bump their shoulders together.

He could almost feel concern radiating off her, which was an extra weird experience after literally feeling all of Danny’s emotions half the day.

Guess that was where Cass’s liminality was going. It made sense, kind of; despite her occasional trouble speaking, she was pretty much the clearest communicator in the family.

Having another back up way to make herself heard would only fit.

On a whim, he tried projecting comfort back to her. Black Bat didn’t seem to notice, though whether that meant more on her part or his was the question.

She leaned in and bumped him back, her expression unreadable between the full face mask and the shadows.

“Heard and understood, Hood,” Bluebird agreed after a minute, her tone unusually solemn. Hopefully Dickie would take it to heart too.

The odds of Danny running into Nightwing weren’t great if he stuck to Blüdhaven, but Dick was a nosy bastard and there was always one “emergency” or another.

Better than the odds of running into Bluebird, although Harper would almost definitely look him up at school.

Maybe Jason should warn him.

“Maybe you could build him a faraday suit,” Spoiler mused, and Red Hood snickered.

“Handy, but then we couldn’t contact him,” he reminded her and she groaned loudly.

“Hey, if we’re both techies he’ll probably have his own idea. I’ll look him up out of costume, it’s my turn to say hi,” Bluebird decided, and Hood shot Danny a quick text.

Just a heads up.

A picture of Harper, captioned “beware of sibling. May be looking you up in class”. Black Bat giggled beside him, head cocked to watch the screen.

Harper wasn’t technically one of the Waynes, but if Waylon counted she definitely had to, and it wasn’t like Bruce picked his family. Asshole.

A few minutes later he got a message back from Danny.

‘DannyP: !!!!! I know her! 😳😳🤯 She does the cool nanobots! Half our year is betting if she’s a rogue or a vigi 👀 inside info??’

Which was fair, since just knowing Jason wouldn’t be much of a hint either way.

“He knows you,” Black Bat reported to the others, Bluebird immediately bitching that she’d been ratted out.

Red Hood mostly ignored her, texting Danny back.

‘JTodd: Neither anymore. She was a vigi, but she’s retired and getting her degree. No idea if she’ll come back after.’

“Odds you’ll change sides and go rogue, Bluebird?” He asked into a pause, and very much enjoyed the momentary stumped silence. “Apparently there’s a hefty bet.”

Momentary, because everyone had an opinion on that and had to share it. Everyone except Bluebird herself, who seemed to be thinking it over.

“What’re the odds for rogue?” She asked thoughtfully, immediately defending herself as the group booed. “What! I have student loans!”

“You are my villain arc, Red Hood,” Spoiler declared as solemnly as she could through laughter.

“I’m my own villain arc thank you so much, go find your own,” he refuted with a half grin.

“Ask Phantom,” Black Bat advised Bluebird in the meantime, which was probably fair. They weren’t good at staying on topic.

She then gave Hood another gentle nudge, probably for the same reason. Flicked off her comm for a moment.

“Wanted to talk?” She asked, and yeah, they probably should get back to it.

He gave a shrug, hauling himself up and holding a hand back down to her. Definitely not feeling guilty.

They’d tell her before anything became relevant. It just.

Well.

They were a family of fucking detectives, who could never leave well enough alone, and Jason really didn’t want them questioning his humanity.

Just once, he’d like to know something about himself before anyone else did. To have time to understand and come to terms with what he was before Twenty Questions.

Cass was very good at not asking questions though. And Black Bat turned off her comm first. Tim was distracted, probably with Tucker coming back because he’d been quiet.

No better opportunity was likely to come up.

And really, she deserved the same courtesy. Knowing about herself before the others did.

Maybe she’d have some ideas on how to tell them.

Making up his mind, Hood tapped his comms and hauled Black Bat up with his other hand.

“Hey O, gonna be offline for a minute. Text if you need me or BB, we gotta be radio silent.” There were enough possible reasons for that, he didn’t bother giving one.

Just so long as they knew.

Usually he’d just turn the comm off and swear at her if she turned him back on if he wanted peace and quiet, but… well, it was nice to hear the background chatter.

Nicer when the big Bat himself wasn’t in the field to tell them to focus.

“I always need you, baby!” Nightwing called just before he clicked off, and Red Hood rolled his eyes under the helmet.

Dramatic bitch.

He looked back to Black Bat, wondering where would be the best place for this talk. She was watching him patiently, not moving.

It had been her patrol.

“Is there anywhere on your route we can talk privately?” He asked softly, a little surprised at himself. He’d been the one who wanted to wait.

But that just made it his call who he decided to tell what, and when. And Cass… he trusted Cass.

Besides, it wasn’t like he was liminal. It’d give them something to think until he was ready.

Black Bat regarded him for a moment longer, then nodded and made her way to the edge of the roof.

“Follow.”

**

The night was wearing on, but Bruce was darkly satisfied that they were finally making progress.

Constantine’s pacing (replacing his smoking; Bruce may not have bothered arguing in the cave, but even Constantine knew better than to light a cigarette in space) had finally slowed.

Something terrible had happened in Amity Park, but even the magician was grudgingly admitting it was probably over. Left permanent scars, but getting no worse.

Unless it was on a cosmic level and would be a slow seeping problem for millennia, but Alfred had Opinions about Bruce concerning himself with issues on that time scale.

There was only so much they could do in the moment.

Another survey of the city was required, and in person since even the League’s best couldn’t take clear pictures of Amity Park.

A fact which didn’t seem to have stopped the Amity Parkers from photographing and sharing pictures of each other, according to his children. Constantine hadn’t actually argued when Bruce compared it to background radiation, so it must be close enough.

He also hadn’t done more than grimace when Bruce asked if he wanted to undertake the survey personally. That was as good as an enthusiastic agreement.

First, though? First they needed to call a meeting of the Justice League, primarily the heroes located in North America.

They had been horribly uninformed of what was going on right under their noses, and if Constantine was right… Amity Park’s problems had begun to spread.

To Gotham.

To his children.

Constantine’s grumbling that it was the miasma of death that hung over the city drawing them in had not inspired confidence, and Bruce resolved to have Zatanna over at her soonest convenience to explain.

Helping Constantine put together a report on Amity Park itself had more than convinced Bruce not to ask Constantine, even if he could have done it today. The man was…

Well. Bruce wasn’t looking forward to having to run him through the JL’s classification system again. Maybe one of his children would want to go and handle the technical side.

All he had to do was finish preparing the presentation, call the League, and he could rest. It would likely take a day or two to put a full meeting together, but he could at least fill Clark and Diana in tonight.

He could sleep in between. Just for a little while.

Right after he showed Constantine how to configure the alerts from Amity Park to direct to the Justice League Dark, not the spam folder. They hadn’t sent one in years, but he was determined not to miss any changes.

That should have been the easiest part of this whole mess. It was just a simple form, with a basic test button to ensure it worked.

Nothing too complicated even for a man who’d decided “no reply needed” meant the same thing as “too dangerous for anyone but JL Dark”.

Fine. It was fine.

Bruce loved making training videos to highlight the most basic functions of a system and ensure that people actually understood what the various controls meant. Wonderful.

It meant that they could work in parallel for a while, Bruce on the presentation for the League, Constantine to fix his mistake. In a blissful silence, even.

It couldn’t last.

“It’s not working, Bats,” the magician declared, pushing back and away from his computer. Probably to pace again.

Bruce closed his eyes, breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, and made his way across to frown at the monitor.

“Did you save your changes?” He growled, doing his best not to let the irritation show. It was getting harder every time.

Constantine rolled his eyes, definitely not helping, and pointed at the screen.

“See for yerself. Look, JLD Top Priority, like ya said. And then ya hit the top button to save, and the red button to test it, and nothing happens.”

He waited impatiently while Bruce clicked through the buttons, seeing it for himself.

Constantine wasn’t wrong. That was unexpected.

Brows furrowing under his cowl, Bruce checked the deleted requests. Three test messages from “Amity Park”.

“Hn.”

“Someone’s fucked ya system,” Constantine commented dryly, sounding unduly pleased that it wasn’t his fault.

Something other than his haphazard filing had apparently been causing some of their problems. Bruce… just didn’t have the time tonight.

He nodded over to his screen instead, pulling up his wrist computer to send a private message to Tim in the cave. How long could a tour take?

Tim could find what was going wrong long before he’d have the time.

“I’ve compiled most of the presentation on creatures of the Realms. Is there anything important I should add?” He asked gruffly and Constantine sighed dramatically and flounced over.

Bruce firmly ignored Steph’s voice in his ear.

Not because he didn’t agree, whatever a “woobie” was.

He just needed Constantine’s once over to confirm he had all the pertinent information, and then he could call Clark and Diana.

Head home.

Get to bed.

“Looks fine. I should check yer damn revenant some time soon too though.”

Bruce froze, finger just above the send button on that tech request to Tim.

His fucking what.

**

Black Bat led them easily across the city, along what was probably her normal patrol route. Taking her cue from Red Hood, she didn’t rush, but soon indicated that they turn off into a small alley between two warehouses.

Hell, not even a proper alley. A gap where the buildings hadn’t quite smushed together.

Red Hood recognized the area from Nightwing’s bitching; there’d been a bust here last week, and something had cloaked the whole block from surveillance.

These days, he was almost tempted to check what Danny knew about it. Ghosts fucked with technology in ways none of the bats would find.

Black Bat stopped them half way down the gap, feet braced against one wall and her back to the other, leaving her “sitting” about twenty feet off the ground.

Hood matched her a little further down, grumbling a little at the crush. Almost a foot taller, it wasn’t exactly a comfortable position for him, but he’d held worse.

They were stable, and damn near impossible to observe. This was as good as they’d get.

“So,” he began, and immediately realized he had no fucking clue what to say.

Black Bat’s flat, expressionless mask was not helpful.

Hood wished he could pull his helmet off, just to run his hands through his hair. But they were on patrol.

Black Bat just waited, silent and patient while he wrestled with himself. Finally he decided to just spit it out.

“Danny died, and came back,” he said in a rush, glancing over to her.

Black Bat nodded.

“Like you.”

“Like us,” Hood corrected, groaned, and switched off the voice modulator. Actually, fuck it, he had his domino on.

He pulled the helmet off, balancing it in his lap. He could shove it back on if it came time to go.

Black Bat was beside him now, almost close enough to touch. Close enough to lean in and bump their shoulders together.

“One main difference,” she noted thoughtfully, then tapped her chest, “no skin change.”

Which, yeah, Jason had been hoping to emphasize before any of the family got too far down the right track.

“Right,” he agreed, leaning back to stare blankly into the smog of Gotham above them.

Fuck. How do you even say it? How do you tell someone they’re not fully human anymore?

Someone like Cass, who’d been raised to believe she’d never been human, by force. Just a weapon.

Her hand was in his now, and he couldn’t be sure if he’d reached out or she had. He stared down at their laced fingers instead.

“You know how people get when they spend too long around the pit water,” he began slowly, trying a different path.

Cass had been raised around the League of Assassins. She knew.

And took the change of topic fully in stride, nodding and giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Erratic,” she mused softly, her face tilted to the wall across, “unpredictable, especially if they went in.”

No one was going to say Ra’s Al Ghul was an unstable mess of a man, but no one had to. Still, how controlled he was was impressive, especially after you saw what mere exposure to the fumes did to other people.

Red Hood nodded, sighing softly.

“Danny’s parents kept it in the fridge. He was… exposed long before he died,” he explained quietly.

If he was talking about himself, he’d say “contaminated”. Hell, it was the word Danny used when explaining it to the bats.

Jason just couldn’t use it about Danny. It just wasn’t right.

Black Bat stilled, almost enough to be mistaken for a statue instead of a living being. Was that her liminality too? Or just her training?

Red Hood couldn’t stand it either way, giving her hand a gentle tug.

“He told me… being around it too long can change a person, even if they never get dunked,” he said slowly, trailing off again.

“We got dunked,” Black Bat said quietly, her hand curling more tightly around his. There was no hint of emotion in her voice, and Jason hated it.

Pulled her closer, doing all he could to project comfort-sorry-concerned-love you. Wishing he’d asked Danny to teach him to do that first.

Neither of them had really considered he’d need it, since Danny was so good at reading him. But he needed her to know she wasn’t alone.

Her shoulders hunched suddenly, body tensed to spring until her head snapped round to focus on him.

He could… he could feel surprise from her. Maybe it was working.

He gave a graceless half shrug, grinding his shoulders against filthy bricks.

Tried to project yeah it’s weird for me too, but wasn’t sure how well it came across. Anything beyond pure feelings was a little tricky for him to push, though he could usually work out what Danny was saying.

“We got dunked,” he agreed quietly, resolving instead to wrap her in love-protect-safe-safe-safe, “and sometimes… that changes you even without a flashy transformation.”

It was an awful explanation and he knew it, could practically feel her eyes darting all over his face, his posture, reading things he probably wasn’t aware he was showing.

Then she relaxed all at once, settling in and leaning part of her weight on him as well as the wall. He braced automatically to take it. He wouldn’t let her fall.

“He called it being “liminal”,” he explained softly, working an arm around her shoulders above the wall to coax more of her weight onto him. “I don’t know what it means for you yet, BB. But nothing bad. He was sure it wouldn’t be bad.”

Black Bat made a soft humming sound, obediently shuffling so he could wrap his arm around her. Looking down at their still twined hands.

“Can feel you,” she said softly, hand rising to tap gently against the red bat on his chest. “Big brother.”

It startled a bark of laughter out of him, because… well, yeah. A good way to sum up everything he’d wanted to tell her without words.

Felt a quick rush of satisfaction from Black Bat, and tried to answer it with relief-agree-protect.

“Yeah, that’s the fuckin’ weirdest part,” he agreed dryly, almost felt the rush of her giggle more than he heard it. “Apparently some liminals get this… aura around them. Sharing what they feel. I didn’t know if you would…”

What? If she’d notice? If she’d be able to feel the same things?

Black Bat nodded, head tipping up to meet his gaze once again.

“Robin? Batman?” She asked, and Jason hesitated.

He couldn’t talk to either of them about it. Not yet. Bruce would fucking push, he always did, and wouldn’t stop until he tore the secrets out of him. Damian would just run to Bruce.

But it was a valid question. And they did sort of deserve to know just as much.

For now he took refuge in what he knew, shrugging it off.

“Danny thinks they’re liminal, but… not as far along as we are.”

Not as close to death. Not as close to not being human, although technically they were both legally non-sentient, so that was fun.

“D’you really think either of them have the emotional bandwidth to share?” He tried to joke, covering the moment.

Black Bat just stared at him until he fell silent. Then nodded.

“Should tell them. No rush,” she added almost before Jason could tense, leaning back in and resting her head on his shoulder, “have been for a while, yes?”

Jason paused a moment longer, shook his head, and snickered.

“Cannot believe I ever doubted you’d be able to do the whole “emotional telepathy” thing,” he grumbled good naturedly, and Black Bat glowed with gentle amused.

“Better than you,” she told him archly, sounding for a moment like Steph when she was teasing Tim. Jason gave her a squeeze.

“Don’t I know it. But yeah, it’s not a new thing, and won’t mean anything to anyone unless one of us dies again.” Which he wasn’t going to think about.

Shit, someone said Robin was out tonight.

Nope. Not thinking about it. Robin had been patrolling for years, and as much as he whined about his solo patrol route, he never deviated.

Not after Oracle had highlighted his route on his wrist computer for him and proved she could see every footstep. She wouldn’t necessarily tell Bruce, but she’d always know.

Black Bat nodded, resting against him for a moment longer before sitting up again.

“You want to wait.” It wasn’t a question, but he felt compelled to answer.

Picked up his helmet, turning it over slowly in his hands. But of course she’d understand. She always did.

“I want to know what this means to me before I have B poking and prying into every part of my life,” he said quietly, staring into the eye slits of the helmet.

Black Bat ruffled his hair.

“Can wait,” she agreed gently, switching her position to have a hand and foot on either wall. Ready to move on. “No rush.”

Red Hood pulled his helmet back on and matched her, the pair climbing quickly out of the crack between the warehouses. It almost wasn’t worth saying, but…

“You can tell the others if they ask. I just…”

“Don’t want questions,” Black Bat agreed lightly, flipping up onto the roof. “Can ask Danny when the time comes.”

“Yeah,” Red Hood agreed, crouching beside her. “Mind if I stick with you on patrol tonight?”

He sort of hoped she’d think it was unrelated, but another moment of stillness passed across her as she regarded him.

“Until we die again,” she repeated his own words, and Hood was pretty happy she couldn’t see his face anymore as he grimaced.

Not that it mattered, another shot of amused shooting between them, followed by a much softer appreciated.

At least she wasn’t judging him for being a mother hen.

“Understand.”

**

Tim and Tucker had made quick work of the interview, and Tim was pretty much running out of questions when the batcomputer pinged with an incoming message.

Tucker gave it a longing look and Tim chuckled softly, wheeling himself over.

“Hang on. Might be one of the others out on patrol,” he explained, right clicking to pull up the monitor that tracked the bats’ various dominos out and about.

Tucker stared up at it politely, diverting his attention from what Tim was doing on the other screen, no matter how curious he was. Showing trust and all that.

It was actually really cool too; he’d not really seen a map of Gotham, and having one superimposed with little glowing lights of the various heroes on patrol was really cool.

It wasn’t really zoomed in enough to tell if Bluebird was actually in a fight, but the little blue dot seemed to be the only one standing still, so Tucker assumed she was.

How cool would that be? Watching just normal human vigilantes fight and take down bad guys?

Although off the top of his head, he could already think of a couple of things to add to the monitoring program. They might already be there, he hadn’t clicked around, but like.

Vitals were all well and good, down in the corner next to each hero’s name and the colour of their dot, but just the heartbeats? That wouldn’t tell you enough.

Tucker preferred brainwaves, because then you could tell if they’d been hit with something or overshadowed.

Although maybe it was because he’d spent his time keeping track of a guy who pretty regularly did not have a heartbeat. And it also gave him more data points for some of his cooler side projects.

Understanding the different brainwave patterns an individual made in different situations was a key part of neural mapping, and adding it to the bat’s routine would get him a ton of data.

And then they could really play Mariokart.

He’d have to ask Tim if they tracked any of that later. Not all the bats wore helmets or cowls that would support the electrodes, apparently. Although if Danny could get his hands on a domino…

Tucker was snapped back to the here and now as Tim pushed back from the batcomputer, a wry grin on his lips.

“Actually, I think this might be something you could help with, Tucker. If you don’t mind a little work on your night off?” He teased, back to Tucker’s complaints about a night of fun and tech.

Like getting to play on the batcomputer did not absolutely count as fun and tech.

Tucker beamed, excitement welling up in him and cracking his knuckles. It’d be pretty cool to assist a human vigilante too. And on a tech problem!

Gotham was fucking great. If Tim really meant it about getting him an internship, Tucker might have to see about switching schools.

MIT was great, but it wasn’t Wayne Enterprises, personal meetings, or personal tech demonstrations with Tim Drake Wayne!

“Sure! What’s going on?” He asked, shuffling over to look at the other screens now that he had permission. Making sure it was obvious he hadn’t been looking.

Resisting temptation had been hard. He deserved credit.

Tim nodded to the screen, and that? That was a message from Batman. Bruce Wayne. Batman.

Tucker scanned the message, eyes widening even as Tim spoke.

“Wanna help debug the Watchtower?” Tim asked, and Tucker clutched at the back of his chair as his heart leapt, swooning just a little.

The Watchtower. The actual Watchtower. In space. Oh he was shoving that in Danny’s face for not telling him he was friends with the Bats!

There was only one real question left.

“Will Oracle be here?” He asked eagerly, looking around the rest of the screen.

A soft chuckle played from a speaker in the bottom corner, and Tucker jumped half a mile as a masked voice spoke.

“You boys have fun with this one, I’ll keep an eye on the city. If you finish early you could walk me through that server of yours?”

Oracle.

The Oracle.

They were real, they talked to him, they wanted to talk about his locked down servers! Tim lunged to catch him as Tucker collapsed, knees giving out under the swell of emotion.

All of his dreams were coming true, all at once.

He’d never been happier.

**

Danny was having a pretty quiet night in. That didn’t used to be unusual while he was in Gotham; having time to himself was still pretty much a novelty, and he wasn’t exactly a party boy.

Of course, it was a night in with some of his parents’ inventions and recently one or two of his own, so the actual “quiet” part was negotiable.

Quiet enough not to piss off his dorm mates, but luckily most of them were engineers too. They may not always know what he was doing, but they were usually interested.

Tonight, he was alone, most of the floor still being home for the holiday. That had been one of the things he’d looked forward to most about staying behind, but…

Well, after his noisy and action packed few days… he was lonely.

He wished he’d asked Jason to stay. Just because he’d said he was going to bed didn’t mean he had to do anything of the sort.

It was just that Jason had been… tense. He’d not even gotten off the bike when they arrived, just pulling over and chatting for a minute before heading out.

Like he wasn’t fully comfortable going into Danny’s place, which was kinda fair. Unlike Jason’s apartments, Danny’s dorm was a communal space.

Even if most of his dorm mates weren’t home, there was still a chance one of them might turn up. And then Danny would have someone else bugging him about his “boyfriend”.

Nope.

Besides, he’d see Jason again at 11am (he had this horrible feeling Jason might be a morning person), so it wasn’t even all that long. He should probably just go to bed.

He should check his class schedule, actually. Work out what days he’d have free, work out when he and Jason could skip to the Zone for fight club.

Wait.

Would Jason be free.

What the hell did Jason do for a living? He’d have to ask at some point, Danny mused, logging in and taking a screenshot of his class schedule for the new year.

For now, it was probably best just to send Jason the picture so he’d know when Danny was free, and then Jason could work out a good time for them to go and it wouldn’t be Danny’s problem.

Excellent. Sheer genius.

Humming happily to himself, Danny pulled up Jason’s number and sent the picture of his schedule, with the caption:

‘Let me know when ur free for field trips 👊🏻💥👻’

Eyes closing for a moment, Danny let his awareness drift out across the city. It wasn’t something he’d done a lot; Gotham wasn’t his haunt and he didn’t want to step on any toes.

Usually he’d just expand his conscious aura if he was looking for someone, but knowing how much Jason didn’t like it… well, his passive aura covered most of the state, so reaching through the same city couldn’t be all that hard.

Right?

Frostbite could find anyone, anywhere in the Far Frozen with little more than a thought. And was convinced Danny would be able to do that with the entire Zone, some day.

Danny was a little less convinced. Past the background awareness that he was no longer in Amity Park that had taken months to fade, he’d never really paid attention to his passive aura.

It’d be too tempting to feel out the rogues, or at least react to the sudden surges of aggression and danger. But he hadn’t had anyone to protect before, and he knew Jason would feel better knowing Danny could.

That was kinda why Danny hadn’t mentioned how theoretical this particular ability was, although he had no doubt he’d recognize Cass’s energy if she came close to death.

Which meant he should totally recognize it while she was alive, well, and had more energy, right?

He had no idea where she was, which parts of Gotham fell on her patrol route, but that kinda helped. It meant he couldn’t trick himself by focusing on a particular area.

Surprising precisely no one though, he found Jason first. The other halfa almost glowed when Danny was focusing on his energy, a bubbling little ball of yellow and red.

He… was maybe with Cass? Danny’s brows furrowed, nose scrunching as he tried to focus without changing his aura.

He was definitely with one of the liminals. And that quiet little light, almost blue, felt sort of like Cass. When he forced himself not to be distracted by Jason’s brighter glow.

Eyes snapping open, Danny’s concentration broke and he frowned up at the ceiling.

Well, that explained why Jason was in a hurry to get going. He was no expert in Gotham herself yet and had no idea where the two of them were, but if he tried again he could probably work it out.

Did Jason still have a suit? Or did he call Cass in, find something he could do as a civilian to have her help?

Shrugging to himself, Danny dismissed the question and hauled himself up. Might as well get to bed; they’d be back together in the morning and he could always ask.

**

Tim was scrolling through the code for the alert messaging system itself while Tucker went through the sections that pertained to Amity Park specifically on his PDA when the other boy made a sudden, startled squeak.

Tim considered pretending he hadn’t heard, but there was a chance he’d found the answer. So he glanced over.

“Any luck?” He asked, noting Tucker’s sudden strained expression. Maybe the guy needed the bathroom actually. They’d been down here a while.

Tucker laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“So… uh… what exactly does the bug we’re looking for do?” He asked in a small voice, looking more embarrassed than Tim had ever seen.

Which… was not a proportionate response for that noise. And a question that they both probably should have thought of sooner.

He’d meant to mention it, since they’d have to explain it to the Amity Parkers at some point.

“So… remember how the Justice League never responded to an alert from Amity Park?” Tim asked not a little sheepishly himself.

Tucker nodded, not actually looking any less embarrassed himself either. That was definitely a great sign.

Tim sucked in a deep breath and forged ahead.

“So, it turns out there’s a bug in the Watchtower’s systems, where anything coming in from Amity Park gets marked as spam and funnelled straight into trash. We fixed the marking as spam thing, which I guess was user error, but it’s still-”

“All going to trash,” Tucker finished with a sigh, grimacing and shaking his head, “aaaaand I think I know why. But the timeline doesn’t make sense?”

That… that wasn’t even on the same continent as what Tim’d expected he’d say.

“The timeline?” He asked, brows furrowing, sliding over to peek at Tucker’s screen.

Tucker shook his head again, angling it so that Tim could see… a section of code that shuddered faintly in and out, almost disappearing entirely every few seconds.

That.

That was not a thing that should be happening.

Tim would have loved for it to be a simple screen glitch, but it was only that one small section of code. The lines above and below were fine, and Tucker could move the flickering chunk up and down.

“Yeah, this is your problem,” the Black man sighed, wiggling the section demonstratively, clearly aware of Tim’s shattered hopes.

Heartless man. Genius man.

“You’ve had ghosts in your back end. Probably wouldn’t even show up on an uncontaminated device. Which, by the way…” he trailed off, and Tim shook his head immediately.

“Not tonight. No changes to the batcomputer without Bruce’s say so,” Tim said firmly, since he’d already fucked up once. Might as well limit the damage.

Tucker shrugged and nodded back to the section of code.

“Okay. But this… this was definitely Technus. And that makes no sense? He’s a spirit of technology, we’ve fought him a bunch of times, but if he got into the Watchtower’s code he wouldn’t just… hide,” he tried to explain, adjusting his beret fussily.

It totally wasn’t adorable.

Tim did his best to keep up though, nodding along and thinking back over everything they’d been told about ghosts so far.

“You think we’d have noticed?” He asked, and Tucker snorted.

“He likes making giant robot bodies out of toasters, you’d definitely have noticed him on your space station,” he agreed dryly, then sighed.

Frowned down at the tablet again.

“I mean, Danny could make him do it and behave himself now, but if these changes were active during the whole Pariah Dark thing… I dunno, Technus should have been a way bigger problem. He’s not subtle.”

Tim frowned, thinking about what Tucker had said and then pausing.

“Danny could make him behave now?” He asked and Tucker pulled another face. Like he hadn’t meant to say that.

“Well, yeah, Danny’s miles out of Technus’ league now,” he tried to brush it off with a laugh, “the guy knows he’ll lose any fight so he’s really not a problem anymore. We have hackathons,” he added and Tim really wanted to know more about that.

There was just. Something off about Tucker’s answer. Not the content itself, just the way Tucker clearly wasn’t saying something.

That was a problem for future Tim though. Present Tim had a job to do.

“So can you fix what he did?” He asked the important question, and Tucker made another face.

“Dude… whoever or whatever made Technus do this, will probably notice if we fuck with it,” he said warily, and Tim shrugged.

“Whoever or whatever made Technus do it couldn’t do it themselves. How would they know?” He shot back, and Tucker chewed his lip.

Shook his head.

“Lemme text Danny. He’s the ghost expert, he’ll know how much we should worry about this,” he explained quickly, pulling out his phone and shooting off a short message.

Tim gave him his very best deadpan expression.

“How much we should worry about technology ghosts getting into space and fucking with Justice League HQ. I have the feeling the answer is “a lot”?” He offered sweetly, and Tucker snickered.

“Yeah, well, we’ll see. Might actually be alright, if this is all he touched. And, since you won’t let me juice the big computer, we’d have to scan the whole thing through my PDA. Every line of code,” he added, like Tim wasn’t already dreading it.

Tim sucked in a slow breath, weighing his options.

Touching the batcomputer? Ultimate no-no. But Tim’s personal laptop… it had access to the Watchtower’s systems, and was under Tim’s personal control.

And would let Tim go through the sensitive data himself, which the core code of the Watchtower was full of. The question was, did he trust Tucker not to install anything dangerous?

That question had been answered the second he asked Tucker to help him debug though. Clearly the guy could already put what he wanted, where he wanted, and with their current tech?

None of the bats would ever know. At least if Tim’s computer got the update, he’d have a chance at spotting ecto-infused code.

There were other computers they could use of course, old or unnetworked computers that Bruce would probably insist they start with.

Which wouldn’t be able to access the Watchtower’s servers, and couldn’t hold the whole thing to be able to run a useful check.

The answer really was kinda obvious.

Tim looked to Tucker, who’d been texting away while he thought things through.

“We can’t do the batcomputer, but is there anything you could do for my laptop tonight, or do we have to wait on Danny still?” He asked, deeply regretting that they’d gone to video games instead of the tech upgrade.

At the time he’d been planning on having a burner laptop done though, so it probably wouldn’t have been as useful.

Tucker shrugged cheerfully and slid his phone into his pocket, cracking his knuckles.

“Well, I can’t give you the full infusion to let you open Amity’s encrypted data, but I can write you a little something that should expose Technus’s code even without it,” he offered, and Tim brightened up.

“How long?” He asked eagerly, wondering if Tucker would let him watch. It’d be fair if he didn’t, Tuck had been cool about not looking when Tim played on the batcomputer, but…

Tucker smirked, flicking open a new screen on his PDA.

“How long will it take you to get the laptop down here?” He asked smugly.

Tim booked shit to the elevator.

**

Private Chat: DannyP & TooFine

2:15am

‘TooFine: Danny when tf did u have Technus hack the JL’

‘DannyP: ……. 👀 u cannot prove i did that 🚫🚫’

‘TooFine: I’m helping Tim debug the Watchtower’

‘TooFine: double fuck u for not telling me about Batman btw’

‘TooFine: someone sent all the Amity alerts to trash’

‘TooFine: if we keep talking about this I might accidentally send something to the group chat 🤨’

‘DannyP: FUCK FINE DONT TELL SAM 🏳️🏳️🏳️’

‘DannyP: after the pd thing’

‘DannyP: cw called’

‘DannyP: they hadnt been reading the messages anyway i just’

‘DannyP: shitty people track the jl y’know? and i didnt want em knowing about us’

‘DannyP: let em all think its a joke and then no one else comes an tries to use our portal to harness the realms and blow up superman or whatever’

‘TooFine: dude u fucking told me to tell them what actually happened??’

‘TooFine: pretty sure anyone tracking the jl will work that out now’

‘DannyP is typing’

‘DannyP is typing’

‘DannyP is typing’

‘DannyP: ok so maybe i didnt think that through 😔😔😔’

‘TooFine: no shit. I’m fixing the code in case any new alerts come through but it’s not like they’ll bother to call’

‘DannyP: not like they need to, frighty’s got em covered 🗡️🗡️🎃’

‘TooFine: yeah yeah. I’ll set it to ping u too’

‘DannyP: ur the best tuck 🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️🙇🏻‍♂️’

‘TooFine: better than u deserve’

**

Across the city, Red Hood and Black Bat had stopped for smoothies. Patrol was quiet, and word on the street was that Bluebird was mostly to blame.

Nobody wanted to know why she was back and taking no prisoners, so even the docks were almost deserted.

Then again, with Riddler and Waylon snapped back off the streets, Penguin lying low in fear of Harley, and Batwoman making Two Face’s life a personal hell?

Yeah, no wonder the smaller players were lying low.

Hood had pulled his phone out to check in on the Alley in case they’d be more useful there when he noticed a message from Tucker’s private chat app.

It was from Danny.

Danny had sent him his class schedule. Told Jason to let Danny know when he was free. Like class was the only thing that’d stop Danny from wanting to see him.

Jason was so lost in staring at his phone, utterly swamped in the implications, that he didn’t even notice Black Bat finish her smoothie and swap out her empty cup for his.

Danny wanted to see him again.

He’d have to work out a proper schedule of his own.

**

Bruce was having a Bad Day. An extended bad day, one that was fast approaching 48 hours long.

As if everything with Amity Park wasn’t already bad enough, both in the past and the present, now Constantine believed there was something wrong with Jason.

That his son wasn’t fully human anymore.

Now, Bruce’s best friends weren’t even a quarter human between them, and no matter what everyone seemed to think he was perfectly happy with meta humans.

So long as they kept themselves safe.

Preferably where they wouldn’t be mind controlled, kidnapped, or held hostage every few days. Frankly being a meta was probably stressful enough even in a normal city.

But he’d keep Gotham’s metas as safe as he could, just like Duke.

But Jason… Jason had been born human. Had lived as a human, died as a human, and Constantine seemed so sure he’d come back as something else.

“Revenant” the man had called him. An animated corpse that haunted the living, powered by rage.

Bruce might even have believed it two years ago, when Jason first returned. Jason had been so angry, intent on destroying Tim when the other was just a child.

When Jason was little more than a child.

But… that wasn’t all he was. He was himself, truly Jason Todd in ways Bruce hadn’t wanted to believe. He’d fought his rage and won every day.

Most days.

And being around Amity Park, being around Daniel James Fenton, might be enough to push him back over. To drag Jason closer back to death.

Halfas could act as psychopomps, bringing lost souls safely to the other side.

Jason had only just become himself again. They had only just begun healing the rift between them.

Bruce couldn’t lose him again.

They had to keep him away from Amity Park. It was as simple as that really; something in Jason’s resurrection had gone wrong and they all knew it.

Even Jason himself wouldn’t argue with that. Something about his death clung to him, poisoned him with that violent green rage.

His children’s reports told him that Danny was claiming to help with the pit rage because he had also been exposed. But what if he was just helping the pit?

Even if he didn’t mean to, exposing Jason to that much power that closely tied to death couldn’t be good. Constantine hadn’t exactly said as much, but Bruce could read between the lines.

Death magic was contagious between those who’d been infected. Who’d died and come back.

That wasn’t fun to know. Not with how many of his children, his friends had all died before.

Even he himself had. He’d have to investigate Amity Park personally. Take the risk himself, to keep it from the others.

Tim and Duke could help, but they were both so busy with their own lives. He would have to wait and see.

His meeting with Clark and Diana hadn’t gone well either. They’d both been gratifyingly concerned with what he’d learned and had recognized the threat.

Clark had promised to keep an ear out for Jason, to listen in on his heartbeat and make sure he was okay. Bruce would have been grateful, if Clark hadn’t also told him that Jason’s heart was noticeably slow.

Easy to pick out, even if they hadn’t spent much time together.

Just how close was his boy to dying again?

Diana had advised caution. Wanted to speak to Danny herself, see the hero who had shouldered the burden of this small town. See if he had turned under the pressure.

Pressure that should never have been his. Pressure they should all have shared, protecting the child and the town together.

It would be his fault if Danny had broken. Had given in to whatever in the Infinite Realms had stolen a whole town away.

Bruce knew that with a leaden certainty, felt the weight of it settle in his chest. The same way he knew he was responsible for most of his rogues.

He could see the wisdom in letting Diana talk to the man first. She was wiser than most of the League, and a good judge of character. Even without her lasso, it was hard to lie to her.

But if what Constantine said was true, he didn’t want to tip their hand. Zatanna and Shazam had both agreed to attend tomorrow and give their own opinions.

They could afford to wait one night. Perhaps two, if Danny couldn’t be found tomorrow.

Just about the only thing Bruce wasn’t worried about was Danny running. If he had ill intentions, he wasn’t the sort to give in and disappear so easily.

He’d threatened Bruce to stay out of things between him and Jason. And certainly wasn’t afraid of a fight.

Bruce was also quite sure that he and Diana could take the boy if it came to it, even with the abilities Constantine ascribed to the realms. He would find a way.

But not tonight, he reminded himself firmly as he strode into the zeta tube. Tonight he would go home, update his children, and get some sleep.

Maybe waiting a day or two to speak to Danny directly would help. This concussion had passed frustrating and was beginning to affect his decision making.

Shaking his head to clear it, Bruce hit the button to send him home. Soon he could rest. At least for a little while.

**

A gentle buzzer went off in the cave and Tim yelped like he’d been stung, clutching at Tucker’s arm in an entirely unmanly way.

“SHIT he’s back hide the candy canes!”

Tucker stared at him wide eyed, but to his credit the other man didn’t hesitate to sweep the pile of different flavoured canes off the desk and into the front of his shirt.

“Where?!” He asked, and Tim hesitated for half an instant.

The zeta tube was down by the cars. Bruce would be up in less than a minute. Spinning Tucker by the shoulders, he shoved him towards the infirmary.

“Get in there! Don’t come out til I say!” He hissed, already hearing the zeta tube’s door whoosh open.

Tucker obediently scurried away, and thank fuck he was quick on the uptake enough to drop his voice below a whisper.

“What?! Tim, what?! Am I not supposed to fucking be here?!” He hissed, and Tim pulled the infirmary door almost shut before darting back to the table.

He’d cleared it with Bruce, had texted about giving their guests a tour, but since it turned out that Tucker hadn’t already been in the know… well, he wanted to prime Bruce with the good news first.

The tube only pinged once though, so Constantine hadn’t come back with him. That was probably good. Bruce would be less cranky.

Tim wasn’t exactly back in his seat by the time Bruce reached the batcomputer, but he was close enough to watch him note the second chair.

Tim didn’t let him ask.

“I have a first hand witness account of what happened in Amity Park.” That was the important thing, right? That they had answers.

Bruce stared at him for a long moment, eyes narrowed and the whiteouts narrowing with them. Tim stared him down, refusing to look away.

He’d fucked up just like, a tiny bit. But he’d gotten results. Better results than anyone else. So was it really a fuck up?

He watched Bruce’s eyes widen as he realized, and was a little surprised when the man’s shoulders slumped. He dropped gracelessly into the swivel chair, elbows propped on the table and his head cradled in his hands.

Tim was growing a little alarmed now, hurrying forward to Bruce’s side. Was he injured? Had something happened?

His hand was just reaching out to touch when Bruce sighed and sat back up.

“Tim. Who did you bring to tour the cave?” He asked in a tired, heavy voice, and Tim’s brows furrowed.

What? He’d said, hadn’t he?

“Tucker Foley?” He said cautiously, wondering if he should call Alfred. Maybe switch out Bruce and Tucker and get the big guy into the infirmary.

Bruce was very still. Tim forged ahead, hoping to get to the good news.

“He was a vigilante back in Amity Park, part of the support team. I have his statement going back to the beginning of the ghost attacks, and he’s already answered most of our questions.”

Leaning past Bruce, he hit a couple of keys and brought up the sound file of Tucker’s interview.

Bruce was still a little slow as he turned to look, but it seemed to hearten him. Which was when Tim realized.

“Wait. Who did you think I was bringing?” He asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

Bruce shot him a sidelong frown, pulling off his cowl.

“Not a stranger,” he growled, though his heart clearly wasn’t in it. He just sounded tired.

Tim carefully patted him on the shoulder, still thoroughly confused.

“What? But I said…” he paused, pulling out his phone and staring at the texts.

Nope. No he didn’t.

Oops.

Groaning, Tim let his head drop.

“Ah fuck, and I thought we were doing so well!” He sighed heavily and Bruce made a grunt that might have been a laugh. “Alfred’s going to be unbearable.”

That shut Bruce right up, as it should, and then Bruce sighed again. They were moving past it then. Probably for the best, since Alfred would lecture them both on the importance of communication later.

At least it wasn’t only Tim’s fault. The only person who wasn’t a stranger or a bat had been Harley, and he wasn’t actually sure if Harley had cave privileges.

Well. She did now. Since that was what Bruce must have thought he was asking.

Then Bruce straightened, eyes determined and steely.

“I have new information from Constantine. The risks of the Infinite Realms.” It definitely heartened him to talk about, skipping straight to the debrief part of the day.

Maybe they could just skip right over the Tim-fucked-up-and-brought-a-stranger-to-the-cave.

“I need you all to keep away from the Amity Parkers until I know more.”

Ah.

No then. Nope, not skipping over it, because Tucker was actively still fucking in the cave. It was for the best that they’d hidden him then.

Tim shook his head firmly, hoping that if he seemed certain that would help.

“That’s not gonna work, Bruce. I couldn’t have fixed our Watchtower problem without Tucker, and we can’t look at any of the Amity Park data without an Amity Park device.” It was the theory they’d been running with, but they’d had it confirmed now.

Never mind that Tucker had already downloaded most of what was publicly available for them. Bruce would always want a primary source anyway.

Tim pretended it didn’t affect him when Bruce’s head jerked, eyes narrowed as he scowled at Tim.

“You let him into the code for the Watchtower?!” He exclaimed in a hiss. Which was interesting, since Tim had kinda figured the bat cave thing would be more personal.

Then again, the Watchtower could compromise more than that.

“Bruce, read the report on Tucker. We literally couldn’t stop him if he wanted to hack in, because his tech runs on levels that slide right past ours. Tech he’s already sharing,” he added sharply, reaching behind him without looking to hook his laptop forwards.

Bruce, mouth already open to argue, quieted at once. Yeah, new toys always helped. Tim nodded to the batcomputer.

“The update’s ready to go live, but I waited because you need to see this. Open the third window,” he nodded over, pulling up the corresponding section of code on the laptop.

Bruce’s expression pinched but he did as requested, clearly not willing to put another step between himself and the answer. A quick glance up to confirm, and Tim nodded to himself.

Fuck, he needed a laser pointer.

“So it all looks good up there, right?” He pushed and Bruce frowned, but nodded, eyes scanning quickly across the screen.

“Is this your update?” He asked but Tim was already shaking his head, pushing his own laptop towards the man.

Bruce’s eyes widened at the glitching sections of code. Tim nodded, satisfied he’d gotten Tim’s point.

“Tucker Foley wrote me a program so that I could access this ghost code. In half an hour. From scratch,” he added for emphasis, and yeah, he could already hear the lecture about “compromised tech”.

He tried to shut that one off too, pointing up at the screens.

“That? That’s apparently the work of a ghost. One called Technus, who likes to possess technology, and now Tucker and I are going through every line of the Watchtower’s code looking for changes.”

Bruce’s lips thinned to a tense line and he gave a short, harsh nod. He very obviously didn’t like it, but the presence of a bigger threat did wonders for calming him down.

Tim patted his laptop.

“We’re waiting on you to upgrade the batcomputer, but we’re gonna need to check every program on that too. Everything, Bruce. These ghosts could have been rewriting everything. And we’d never know if I hadn’t asked Tuck to help me with the Watchtower.”

Honestly, Tim was just hoping none of their rogues had made any ghostly connections. The implications made his head spin, but he stubbornly kept himself on track.

They needed Tucker’s help. Never mind that the ghosts themselves were reportedly allergic to subtlety and would always go big over going home; that was a tendency, not a guarantee.

Hell, if Tim had a say, he’d get Tucker’s upgrades for the ghost code, improved firewalls, and Danny’s ectoplasm into all his own gear by tomorrow.

He wasn’t going to, Bruce’s paranoia being what it was, but he was already uploading Tucker’s program to his suit’s wrist computer. It wasn’t like there’d be any hidden malware.

Tim had watched over his shoulder as Tucker wrote it, direct on the PDA. And watching him work had been… it was just…

He so rarely got to talk to anyone that was actually on his level. Rarer still that they weren’t a direct member of the family.

And Tucker, for all he currently had a tech advantage? He’d invented that advantage himself. All on his own, he was incredible. Maybe even better with some aspects of software than Tim himself.

The things they could do together… even the internship was pretty much a formality at this point. Just get Tuck through college and see if he’d accept a job at WE.

Hell, if he wanted to found his own company Tim would invest. That kind of brilliance deserved everything it needed to grow.

He had to wrench himself back to the present moment, the “introduce new genius to Batman” step still looming large, but honestly? Tim wasn’t worried. Bruce would see the potential.

Here and now Bruce’s gaze had gone distant, and Tim could easily have kept going, but he stayed quiet. Let the man absorb new information, stop and think.

And if he still wanted to make dumbass decisions, well, Tim could argue with him literally all night. They’d all picked up Bruce’s stubbornness too.

**

It was hard to focus on the screen through the throbbing of his head, the lights too bright even at their lowest setting. He’d checked.

Luckily, it was an issue he’d been dealing with for years, and Bruce pushed it aside with the resigned acceptance of long practice.

He’d pay for it later. That night of sleep was probably going to be a day of sleep at this rate, but he’d get at least six hours. More if Alfred caught him.

For now… Tim felt very strongly about this. Had good reason to, if he was even half right about the scope of the problem, or Tucker’s uses as a solution.

After hearing from one member of the Justice League Dark, Bruce was desperately hoping Tim was right. They sorely needed an ally, one they could trust to guide them through these dangerous waters.

Of course, Fenton and Foley were close. That may skew his judgement, but it could be accounted for. Wasn’t worth more than an ally whose skillset Bruce understood, and could trust.

Tucker Foley was a tech expert, which put him above any occult master in Bruce’s book. Magic had no rules, not that could be relied on, and Bruce wouldn’t touch it if he didn’t have to.

And Tucker’s tech would work with his own.

There’d be a review period of course. He’d have to meet Tucker himself, speak to him a little, get a sense of the man. See how far his opinions would be based in fact, not feeling.

Tim’s vouch was a good first step. As little as Bruce liked that Tim had brought an outsider down to the lab. And then let him use Tim’s computer.

And honestly, it certainly wasn’t Tim’s fault that Bruce hadn’t asked. He’d been lax, not checked properly, and it was that damned concussion slowing him down.

He needed sleep. His thinking was dangerously clouded. But one thing was always true: he trusted Tim’s judgement. Probably more than he trusted his own at the moment.

They could review the situation in the morning, come up with some suitable punishment and protocol to introduce new vigilantes to the cave (which they’d never needed, because other heroes usually came through the League and were already vetted).

A thought struck and Bruce almost smiled. It would be a fitting solution on three separate sides. Maybe the punishment would be easy after all.

“Alright. I’ll need to speak to Foley first. And you will be writing out fresh protocols to address when a new hero but not a league member can be introduced to the cave,” he added, and Tim groaned loudly.

Bruce ignored him. That was just the start of his troubles.

“You will also be responsible for running John Constantine through the full reporting system, and updating the training materials so this doesn’t happen again.” It was a weight off his shoulders, really.

And a fitting punishment, because Tim would definitely think twice before pulling this stunt again. The man himself threw both his hands into the air.

“What?! Bruce! You said you fixed it!” He whined, and Bruce resisted the urge to smile.

“And I fixed Amity Park. But I highly doubt this was his only error, so the two of you will have to review every case he’s reported on before you go back on patrol.”

It was probably several hundred since they’d had the new system alone. Tim groaned like Bruce was sucking the soul from his body.

Bruce levelled him with a stern look.

“I take the secrecy of the cave seriously, Red Robin. This will not happen again.”

“Because I’m gonna die of old age sitting at a desk with Constantine,” Tim grumbled, folding his arms and scowling.

It wasn’t even something he could write a program to fudge for him; every case would need Constantine’s personal input to be sure it was filed correctly.

Bruce was quite pleased with this solution. But he made sure to hide the smile from Tim, who wouldn’t appreciate it right now.

“Tucker Foley may end up working out for us all, but that’s no guarantee a future mistake won’t be fatal. And Tim…” even if it was a formality at this point, he had to ask. “Do you trust him?”

The answer was obvious, this was Tim’s personal laptop, this was the Bat Cave, and as expected Tim nodded immediately, the sulk from his punishment vanishing.

“He’s a good guy. He’s even made a clean set of Amity Park data you can look through until Danny fixes the batcomputer.”

Ah. And there was the problem. With a solution wrapped around it though, so Bruce focused on the cleaned set of data.

If Tucker was anything like Tim, it’d be extensive enough to keep him busy until the Justice League came to a decision.

Until he could speak to Danny. Speak to Jason.

He was so tired.

Bruce nodded, leaning back in his seat.

“Alright. Tucker Foley is exempted, but I need you and the others to stay away from the rest, and particularly Danny Fenton until the League has made a decision.”

It was just a little heart breaking watching Tim’s face fall from hope and happiness straight back into worry.

“But Bruce… he’s helping Jason with the pit, he might need to see him,” he argued, arms folding again.

Bruce shook his head. That was exactly what he was afraid of.

“I know… and I know how Jason feels about following orders. I’ll tell him myself, tonight.” Luckily he was still in the batsuit, if not the cowl.

Raising his wrist to his face, Bruce activated his secondary comm on the group channel. He’d turned both off when his children headed out, fully aware Oracle would override it if they needed him.

He didn’t need to be distracted by the noises of a normal night.

“Everyone, return to the cave before heading in please. There have been developments I need to update you on.” Nothing to worry them, but hopefully interesting enough that Jason would still drop in.

No talk of protocols or anything. No, that was Tim’s future.

Tim, who was looking at him oddly.

“Who told you Jason went out tonight?” He asked, and Bruce frowned. Looked up at the batcomputer, and realized that the tracker screen wasn’t open.

That could be a problem.

“Didn’t he?” He asked, really not looking forward to asking Dick to ask Jason to drop by tonight. If Jason was actually home, actually sleeping…

But Tim shook his head, that odd expression still on his face.

“He never said he would, but he called in after taking Danny home. He’s out with Black Bat,” Tim added, and Bruce frowned.

Why even bring it up if Jason was out? What did it matter?

Tim, clearly seeing and understanding his confusion, groaned and tugged at his hair.

“Bruce. Please, just… listen to me. Danny isn’t the threat here. He’s been nothing but helpful. He’s the one who picked up the ball when the League dropped it, who dealt with all the ghosts we can’t. He saved that town-”

“We don’t know that, Tim,” Bruce cut him off, shaking his head sharply. “We can’t take that risk.”

He could see Tim getting frustrated, temper flaring, and in an odd way, it made him feel better. Calm. In control.

“Bruce, you stubborn… so what? We just tell Jason to keep away from the only person who makes him feel better?” Tim asked sarcastically, and Bruce could see exactly how he’d missed the point.

This was what he’d have to watch for with Tucker Foley. But the technical advantages would be worth it.

“We don’t know that he’s making the pits better,” Bruce said darkly, and fuck it felt good to even voice the thought aloud.

Made it feel real, less like paranoia.

Tim gaped at him, but didn’t argue.

Bruce raised a hand, counting the points off on his fingers.

One.

“None of us heard anything about him a week ago. Not even a few days. Fenton has been here over a year and only just ran into Jason?” It wasn’t possible.

It didn’t make sense. Gotham was a large city, sure, but for two people apparently so closely linked? No.

A second finger rose.

“Danny himself claims that he is helping with the pits.”

“Jason agrees,” Tim cut in, clearly looking to break his train of thought. Bruce silenced him with a stern glare.

“Danny claims he is helping with the pits. Jason claims to have noticed the same thing, but we already know the pits affect his mind. He may not understand what’s being done to him.”

That? That made perfect sense. The pits had driven Jason into those uncontrollable rages, made him do things he’d never have wanted to.

Who was to say they couldn’t have a more subtle influence? More dangerous? More like Ra’s himself.

Even Tim couldn’t argue with that, and Bruce nodded his satisfaction at the boy’s silence, raising a third finger. This… he wasn’t looking forward to this one.

But its weight had been sitting in his chest since the possibility came up, and he didn’t want to hide anything from his boys. They deserved to know the risks.

No matter how much he’d rather protect them from it.

“The little f… Constantine believes there is a chance that even being close to Danny may have dangerous side effects for Jason, purely accidentally.”

Tim’s eyebrow rose at the aborted description, and Bruce was glad he’d clamped down on it. Couldn’t quite meet the boy’s eye as he continued to explain.

“Danny’s connection to… his death,” the words were hard to even speak, another child lost, “is what gives him his power. It’s strong, and may have radiating effects Danny doesn’t even know about.”

Because that was kind of the worst part. There was a chance that Danny truly meant everything he’d said in earnest. That he was Jason’s friend, wanted to protect him.

Wanted to help Jason come back to himself and be free of the pit rage. That they did truly care for each other, and wanted to make each other better.

And none of those good intentions would matter if Danny’s mere presence risked Jason’s soul.

He could see Tim realizing it too, eyes widening and the aggression slumping from his shoulders. But he’d decided to be honest.

Clear, open communication. They could try.

“The way Jason came back… we still don’t know how it happened, or why. But anything half living and half dead can have side effects on the world around them, especially for those who have already died.”

Danny might be here to take Jason away. Back to the dead.

He’d meant to say the words, to lay it bare, but in the end he choked on them. Couldn’t even face the thought.

Tomorrow. After he slept. If they still needed convincing, he’d try again tomorrow. Which did neatly bring them to point number four.

Steeling himself, Bruce shifted his gaze back to Tim, raising his pinky finger.

“And if you are right, if Danny really is helping… it’ll only be for a few days. I meet with the League tomorrow. Zatanna and Shazam will both be there to give their opinions.”

Suddenly Bruce just felt tired. Tired of arguing, trying to make people see things his way. All he wanted was a couple of days. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.

Tim raised an eyebrow again, shifting slowly to lean against the other chair.

“Then why will it be a few days? Why not tomorrow?” He asked cautiously and Bruce chuckled.

Of course Tim knew him well enough to know there would be something else.

“I’d like to talk to him myself first. Perhaps have them meet him directly. Just to be sure what his intentions are in the city.”

“And with Jason,” Tim put in flatly. Bruce just nodded. The boy was right.

“With the city and with Jason,” he agreed, looking back up at the large screens of the batcomputer.

Pulled up the location tracker for his bats and birds, watching their little trails of light run across the city. He wouldn’t let any of those lights wink out.

Tim sighed and shook his head, coming to lean against the back of Bruce’s chair instead. Not quite tall enough to rest his chin on the top of Bruce’s head, and not likely to grow much more at nineteen.

“I still think it’s a bad idea,” he said bluntly, eyes tracking the Red Hood dot in particular. “You’ll only push Jason further away by trying to control who he sees.”

Bruce shook his head, leaning back just a little more into the presence of his son.

“I don’t care if Jason hates me for the rest of his life, so long as it’s a long and healthy one,” he said softly, and Tim snorted.

Pushed away from the chair, and for a moment the distance ached.

“Yeah, well. When it blows up in your face, I told you so. Did you wanna see Tucker tonight or tomorrow?” He asked, and Bruce’s head snapped suddenly around, scanning the cave.

“He’s still here?”

**

Shaking his head, Tim made his way across the cave to the infirmary, pulling out his phone where Bruce couldn’t see it. He shot off a quick text, not looking down.

‘J. Don’t come back to cave. B has mega bitch face just let him cool down’

**

Across the city, the message flashed in the corner of Red Hood’s helmet visor. Groaning to himself, Hood kicked a goon’s gun into Gotham bay and waved to Black Bat.

“You good? I gotta send a text.” He called, deeply offending the eight goons still standing, armed with knives and fucking pipes, and tussling with Black Bat.

Which only got worse when she shot him a quick thumbs up, sat on a particularly tall goon’s shoulders before throwing herself back so far the guy toppled, twisting them in the air so she still somehow wound up on top.

Hood nodded, pulling out his phone one handed.

“Hey! You can’t just text! We’re not done!” A goon protested, rushing in at Red Hood.

Who pulled his gun and shot him in both kneecaps, sending him sprawling to the slick planks of the dock.

This was why he always took out their shooters first. Batman could preach hand to hand all he liked, it was way safer when the bad guys had holes in their hands and no guns.

“Anyone else?” Hood asked rhetorically, pointing the last gun on the dock at the remaining goons in turn. In unison, all six focused their attention solely on Black Bat.

Not because they thought they’d win, but well. She didn’t have a fucking gun.

“Yeah, thought so,” Hood grumbled, sending a quick message back to Tim.

Paused to take a picture when Black Bat actually got three heads at once into a leg lock, because that had to be a record.

‘Is it to do with your big fuck up?’ Cuz honestly, what else could B be pissed about?

The answer came back though, fast and weird.

‘As hard as I also find it to believe this, no. Magician’s got him all twisted around about Phantom. Wants to forbid us all from seeing him.’

The phone creaked in Jason’s grip as he read the last words, a low rumbling growl spilling from low in his chest.

The remaining standing goons whipped around and exchanged startled looks.

That. That definitely wasn’t fucking good. No way.

Black Bat took another to floor as they paused, and the last three fled. Didn’t quite make it to the door.

Jason didn’t notice until her hand landed gently on his shoulder, concern radiating off her. His head whipped round, and he was suddenly glad the full helmet covered his face.

Couldn’t see the way he fucking snarled at her.

Black Bat didn’t move, her head cocked to one side as she regarded him.

“Eyes. Glowing,” she told him carefully, reaching up to touch the side of his helmet.

Jason jerked back in shock, but he could already feel the green rushing away. Receding until his vision purely his own again.

He hadn’t even noticed the green haze.

Black Bat inspected him again, then nodded, going on tiptoes to pat him on top of the head.

“What’s wrong?”

Red Hood sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment to recenter. He’d never felt the rage come on that fast, from nothing to all consuming before he even felt it.

Even thinking of the messages made angry green tides again.

We will not be kept from the King!

And it was talking to him again. Lovely. Why couldn’t that part have been his imagination?

Shaking his head, he focused on Black Bat’s question instead.

“Just B bein’ an asshole again. I’m gonna pass on the cave tonight, tell him I went to bed.” It was about as much as he thought he could talk about it without screaming.

Almost forgot that Black Bat could read him too, her aura still soothing and open to him as she nodded. Rested a hand gently on his shoulder.

“Go now. Rest,” she told him firmly, turning back to the downed and groaning goons.

Red Hood hesitated, looking around the dock. It was getting early, nearly time to turn in anyway, and they were done here. Just a routine drug shipment.

The last lot too dense to be cowed by the mood on the streets, or counting on the hour to mean the bats went to bed. Cuz that went so well for them.

He nodded and moved to help her, flipping the biggest goon over and zip tying his wrists to his elbows, and then his ankles.

“After I help you wrap your presents,” he agreed, heard Black Bat let out a soft huff of laughter.

One of the still conscious goons shot him a glare.

“Y’could at least pretend to take us seriously,” she grumbled, then yelped as one of her fellow goons kicked her in the shins.

Clear message: do not push the crazy bat.

Red Hood snorted.

“I’ll take you seriously when you’ve fuckin’ earned it,” he told her, going for the next biggest body.

Black Bat could take every one of them out of the fight, but bagging and tagging a dead weight was much less fun for her. He could handle that part before turning in.

He had a big day tomorrow.

**

Private Chat: DannyP & TooFine

4:30am

‘TooFine: dude Tim just shoved me in a closet I don’t think Batman knows I’m here?????’

‘TooFine: dude’

‘TooFine: dude wake tf up I might need emergency evac 🚨🚨’

4:35am

‘TooFine: that fucking Constantine guy’s put a bug in Batman’s ass’

‘TooFine: told u we shoulda hunted him down 😤’

‘TooFine: and after all I did to help!! Ungrateful bat!!’

4:46am

‘TooFine: okay Batman fucking hates u specifically ur screwed 😳’

‘TooFine: I’m good tho 😇’

‘TooFine: I think he likes me now 😏’

‘TooFine: he wants all my sweet tech upgrades’

‘TooFine: they’re gonna let me play on the batcomputer!!! 😳😳😳’

5am

‘TooFine: u are missing vital updates bitch’

‘TooFine: he’s gonna fucking ground Jason from hanging out with u’

‘TooFine: AH SHIT HE KNOWS IM HERE ABORT ABORT ABORT’

8am

‘TooFine: u may have been right going to bed early man this shit sucks’

‘TooFine: didn’t even get to see what happened’

‘TooFine: they sent me to bed like a naughty child! 😤’

‘TooFine: I’m changing all his ring tones to Funky Town’

10:59am

‘DannyP: okay miette’

11:02am

‘HalfBitch: OKAY IM SORRY TUCKER AT LEAST TAKE THE MAGIC MIKE THEME OFF’

——————————

Next Chapter:

Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @trickerdi @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @idkmrpianoman @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778

[wonderwithin-us]

The dream you're looking for is in the work you're avoiding ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Guess who got their phone broken 💗 but it's alright, it's all ok now & I noted down all I did in the past 3 days. My exams were a little bad, really bad to be completely honest, but it's alright, it was my first time giving exams this semester and I learnt what I need to do.

11th of July, 2023 💕

100 days of productivity — day 5, week 1

Economic exam preparation ~ I was so confused, there were so many concepts I'd missed because of my sickness but I tried YouTube and notes online. Procrastination really did get the best of me. I need to lessen my use of insta, seriously, I think Tumblr is more safe in that regard.

Microeconomics — Introduction & Consumer's Equilibrium

Statistics — Introduction & Organisation of Data

I need to work on my graphs, practice more and overall concepts of microeconomics. Also, clear up my concepts on stats. It's easy, but revision is needed.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

12th of July, 2023

100 days of productivity — day 6, week 1

Economics exam, yikes. Next exam was Psych the next day, so I was really nervous because I wanted to score well in it! ❣️

However.

Procrastination got to me, again. I studied for a while then thought it was too easy and I could do it at night, which, evidently, I couldn't.

I think rather than seeing easy topics as something to skip studying or take easy, I should put more effort in them so I can get them perfect and let it pay back to me.

What is Psychology? & Methods of Enquiry

I need to work on my basic concepts, esp in ch-2, and notes. Visual learning works best for me, and making my own notes is essential to my learning 📖

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

13th of July, 2023

100 days of productivity — day 7, week 1

Dear god, I think my psych exam was the most terrible. Which hurt me the most.

I really did lose hope after this. Not only did my incredibly unclear concepts and no notes not help, but the exam was extremely tough, the questions were really vague and I didn't understand them, and the worst of all, I literally forgot I had a whole section to do as objective even after rechecking. I lost 5 marks from that, maybe more.

That really hurt.

Tomm was English exam! I had seen what had happened in the last papers, so I really worked hard here.

I mostly focused on literature, since the creative writing formats were mostly very easy and took less than an hour.

Chapters with details are hard!

Anyways, I was really anxious until the end, and kept a few detailed chapters to the morning after to revise.

I really need to work on studying chapters I've missed before the exams come. It was so messy and frustrating trying to understand all these chapters with online notes and summaries, especially when the chapters are so open ended and the teacher is so strict with answers 💌

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

14 of July, 2023

100 days of productivity — day 8, week 2

WAR!!! IS!!! OVER!!!!

Final exam day, I was nervous but it was actually quite alright!

I absolutely need to work on my speed, though.

Also, I almost always exceeded the word limit in answers. So, I need to practice my creative writing more, not just in my head, but actually on paper, and be more perfectionist in my answers in literature.

I went out with my big brother to eat street food and it was all very lovely 🍝

I also wrote a lot of poetry, which I'm really quite proud of. I also received some really good news! 💕

New week! The first week was really, really overwhelming, and I don't want my future self to end up like that again. It was exhausting and hurtful and I want to get better.

In the end, I've got a lot of stuff to work with and I'm really proud of my self to survive all this! ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* I hope nothing but peace upon my future.

[blueparadis]

▏CAN'T PRETEND ▏M.SANO ▏

+. content warnings — afab-reader, college au, modern au, college boy!Manjiro and college boy! Draken, enemies to lovers, angst, mention of Draken, Baji, Kazutora, Mitsuya, Emma, OCs, explicit smut, oral acts, mature language. ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

+. synopsis — Draken, it was all draken; it was his fauilt that Manjiro came to know about your feelings for him but you didn’t regret it, you regretted what happened afterward. ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

+. notes — HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SUNSHINE BOY ( I LOVE EVERY VERSION OF HIM) & this piece is a part of “begrudging beloved”, hosted by @hishalo .

— you can also read this in ao3. It took hours for me to format this post because tumblr decided to thrash my remnant energy.I'm so very tired that I feel stoned.

⌗ tags —» @fueledbysano @michiphoria @cursedmoonchild word count — 10k REBLOGS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED | tap here to view my works.

Manjiro Sano, the heart and sunshine of the college. He was good at sports, quite fertile-brained in academics, and always managed to be in good books with the professors even though he was the pioneer of anything that could sprout into a chain of never-ending trouble.

With Ken Ryuguji on his side all the time, he seemed unreachable yet he had a bevy of girls around him. Most girls swooned over him and he did not exactly enjoy the stares but never bothered to shoo them away. Why would he? He didn't have to do much for their attention; better put it to good use rather than throw it all away.

He was the most outspoken among his friends. Something about him stirred an affinity among most hearts. Was it his smile, his kindness, his mischievous acts? you couldn’t tell. He was a boy full of dreams and the heart wrecker of your soul.

He excelled at keeping up roses and sunshines reputation of his but when you first saw him it shattered too much to mend by itself. He was at the infirmary getting his cock sucked by a senior of his. Boxers gathered at the foot, the jersey tossed aside while his hands were rested on the bed.

There were rounds of practice matches on that day that provided him the perfect opportunity to sneak out. His skin glowing in dim light, soaking in sweat. Eyes closed, the head was thrown back and you exhaled a sharp breath when he flipped his head in the front followed by a husky groan.

At that moment, as you watched him struggle with his breath, gasping and panting heavily, his eyes fell over you. And you immediately vanished in the nearest girl's washroom almost under the reflex.

Sick. Horrid. Who does he think he is? It's not like no one's stopping them but why here? why here of all places? Unfortunately, that wasn't the last encounter. Since your art class was on the fifth floor, opposite the playground it gave a great view, a subject to think about, for most students but you, it turned out to be your maddening distraction.

Classes were fine and with a friend like Naomi, you couldn't ask for more. She was the principal’s daughter but she never exposed the flag to show dominance, to have her way with everything. And that's why you liked her.

Who the fuck cares about the talk going behind your back? And knowing Naomi, she couldn't bother to give a flying fuck who spewed nonsense into her ears, saying that you were trying to use her, to be in good books with her to clear semesters and blah blah blah.

“What’re you going to have for breakfast Nao?”, she peered through her eyelashes pouting a little trying to give thought to you.

“Unlike you, I eat my breakfast and don't stay up late either. So. . .”

“Yea! Yea! Yea! Got it. I'll be right back then.”, rolling your eyes heavenwards, you quickly ended her trail of talk otherwise she'd soon start sounding like your mom.

That was your routine and you never go out of it since this was the only time when you could know if he was absent or present, playing a match or not, having a practice study session, or just detention.

Somedays, Mitsuya, Naomi’s boyfriend came with snacks and you could still find yourself searching for him, Manjiro. It's a good thing that you've English in common with Draken otherwise it's like a circle in a spiral just to get a glimpse of him.

And without Draken, Manjiro hit like a cold wave washing over your soul every time you crossed paths with him. As you reached the food court, you beamed and your heart leaped with joy finding Draken at the usual spot. He was friendly, and well-mannered unlike his friend; why couldn't you just like him instead?

“How was the first class?”, Draken said as he grabbed his bag to put it near the foot of the table.

“The usual. I’m glad I pulled the all-nighter otherwise I would have lost this scholarship”, you quipped adjusting yourself beside him.

“ Da faq ”, Draken screamed. His eyes focused on your body, eyebrows growing closer with annoyance as you try to figure out his awful usage of words, that too in the morning. It's way too early for this.

“God! Sometimes I don't know whether you're careless or just thoughtless. ”, he gives his jersey to you gesturing to put it on. And as you did, you realize that the high-neck ivory top didn't do a great job hiding your bra color. The bra lining was perfectly visible if it were to be against the sunlight.

“I was in a hurry so…”, Draken's eyebrows jumped at your feeble try to put up an explanation as if he hasn’t heard thousands of lame excuses of yours, “Yeah, I’m sorry.”, you amended instantly putting those strained focused eyes of worry at ease.

After the first period, both of you had a free class and he has always been the first to hit the canteen since he has grown accustomed to your ways and habits — of being punctual even if it meant skipping your breakfast. Hence, he is always ready to pay for your breakfast. He is nice and kind but he isn’t witless. He knows which button to press to impress you, which to piss you off and which to use to get to his girl, Emma.

“I’ve one more class, that too a self-study one, then all classes are dissolved...Ah Shit”

“Why are you like this y/n?”, Draken tried to imitate your tone. silencing the call that lit up his phone he apologetically asked, “no but seriously y/n. Why are you so irritated?”

“I did not just come for a single class, well, it wasn’t all in vain . . . ”, of course, it wasn’t. Only two classes and the rest are dissolved. What could be more time-captivating than to watch him play while all you do is sit at a lonely corner of a bench to watch his current ‘fling’ being all over him?

She wasn't the one who had given him a blow job. She was different, a brunette and this one was a blonde bitch. Sometimes you just wanted to scream from the bottom of your lungs to tell everyone how much of scum is he but you couldn't just do that. It's not like he has come after you or harmed you but such a foul act of violating the rules made you snap every time you spotted him with a girl.

“Ken-chin.”, a high-pitched voice. “I knew I’d find you here”, created ripples in your pool of thoughts. It was him. The person you managed to avoid throughout the semester and you were successful if he hadn't just showed up in your favorite place. As much as his presence made you restless from afar, his very presence next to you boiled your blood oozing out annoyance, sometimes anger. He was way too full of himself, the only flaw you could pin till now.

Manjiro sat in front of his friend and before he could take a good look at you, you tapped Draken’s shoulders and left immediately. No words were exchanged and you wanted to keep it that way.

Even though you wanted to know him, you never wished to catch his attention simply because first, you wouldn't stand a chance against those popular girls he has been with or might not fit his needs or probably you're not his type.

Second, why would he even bother to look at you when he has a horde of hot chicks just a tap away? Moreover, it wouldn’t end well for you. While he’ll remain unscathed you’ll become more mutilated than before since there’s no coming back if he ever initiates the first step. After all, just like most of the girls you too had a crush on him.

That day at the infirmary when you saw him you knew you’d be treated just like others, a page to turn over. You could never blame him for that even in all your sanity. He dated girls, he fucked them witless, probably some relationships were broken because of him but you still didn't think he was bad.

They did say love is blind but if that was the case you would at least try once to be in his vicinity thinking he might be kind enough to pick a withering flower like you. But, he would never; Manjiro would never be the one to pick you because you are bad for his health, too pure for his bad habits, and, that he’ll know with just a glance.

Even if he accidentally picks you, all your emotions will come crashing down like a castle of sand struck by his wave of crude, cold tactics. There was no other result of such borrowed love.

Everyone was kind of aware of his flirty behavior but none knew he fucked girls witless in the changing room after winning the match except his team, the girls he tossed to Baji and then to Kazutora after a while getting bored with them.He hated losing. Miraculously, his team never lost official matches. He was always very passionate about what he wanted, be it victory or you.

“Na Ken-chin !…who’s that girl wearing your jersey?, Manjiro asked while his eyes watched you fade into the group of students like a hawk. “Tell me who is she.”

Draken has known him since his childhood and knowing Manjiro, he won’t stop chaffing at him throughout the day until he gets what he wants. Ryuguji lets out a sigh as his thoughts come to an end.

“She is y/n y/l/n. Arts major. quite quick on the tongue but doesn't talk much. she's good at sports too … and she likes to wear light-colored tops, mostly one-pieces. ” Draken states everything with a straight face except that you’re close to Emma since it would be troublesome for both of you. His eyes are focused on his plate that is getting emptied by Manjiro as he robotically spills every single detail he knew about you, that he has noticed since you've been friends with him from the beginning of the year.

And then, he pauses noticing his empty plate before finally adding the finishing touch for your introduction. Manjiro gives up searching for that familiar jacket in the crowd as his eyes finally focused on his friend.

“and today she's wearing a red bra.”, Draken utters meekly as his eyes dart onto his friend’s pale face from the empty plate. His cheeks flushed at his comment.

“Da faq Ken-chin”, Manjiro coughed covering his mouth with the length of his arm. “what’s it have to do with who she is?” He starts to cuss at him which does nothing but brighten up Baji's day who was watching all of these from the corner of the food counter.

Baji was sure taken aback when Manjiro showed interest in a girl. From what he has observed, he never had to take the first step, that is, to gather intel because it’s always the girls who lurk in his range like a moth. Manjiro was more than ready to burn their wings. But Alas! You were a butterfly, so very far from his range yet so tempting to his insatiable ways of hunger.

Draken tossed his bag over his shoulder leaving Manjiro in absolute dismal as he exclaims with a grin, “she’s too good for you. Don't get attached.”, before leaving the table.

Manjiro doesn't get to talk back much since he's still trying to recover from his thought about you since he has seen enough naked girls have an idea how you would be, under that white silk dress with red lingerie set.

But why the fuck Draken would notice such detail about you? You are just some random girl whom he has often seen around himself in breaks. Not that he was much bothered

But Manjiro always wanted to believe that it was a lot more than just some lucky coincidences. And, even though he knew you had seen him in the infirmary he never thought it would be wise to make you aware that he recognized you the very next day.

Still, he was hoping too much. After all, he has seen a lot of his friends going haywire in emotions, affections or love, or whatever they prefer to call it. To him, you were another passing cloud but for you, he was the whole sky full of grey hues, devoid of rainbows and sapphire serenity

“Emma you’re here? Don’t you have classes?”, Naomi’s voice was audible through the corridors. You smiled to yourself since it’s rare for her to come and visit your class. Thanks to whatever meeting the teacher’s council was having, the students could finally breathe freely and even fly.

“Well, it’s all dissolved and I know you two have another class which is more of a self-study period. So, I came to visit. I was getting bored.”

“I’m back”, Naomi and Emma were startled by your excitement. You quickly got rid of Draken’s jersey and handed it to Emma. At first, she hesitated but when you both of you smirked wiggling eyebrows towards her at a rhythm, she could not help but take it with a grin plastered on her face.

“Let me take some pictures”, you muttered taking the phone out of your pocket.

“Woah! You’re quick-witted. And good at this”, Naomi praised as Emma put the jacket on. It was double her size. Still, she looked so adorable.

After taking a few pictures Emma warned, “Do not show them to Draken.” “Aye Aye Ma’am”, you and Naomi, both said in unison perfectly making it clear, that Draken is getting those pictures before her. He’ll get a boner if he sees Emma in his jacket.

The clouds started to cluster at the bosom of the sky while the boys were at the peak of playing volleyball. You glanced through the window and it first fell on Manjiro, then on Mitsuya. You didn’t seem to find Draken, not yet.

“It might rain soon. The forecast said there will be a heavy downpour. Emma, why don’t you go home? I’ve car so I’ll drop Y/n home and we’re staying for a bit to work on our projects.”, Naomi suggested.

Although, Emma didn’t seem to like the idea. She agreed but she needed to inform her brother that she was going home early.

She faded into the corridor while you picked up your palette knife. Keeping the cake crumb in your mouth you started to paint the blank canvas. Naomi was talking to her mom. You noticed Emma running through the field to go to his brother.

“What the actual fuck?”, it took a while to connect the dots; Manjiro Sano, shortly Mikey or Mike. You were aware of both of his nicknames but Emma’s Mikey and the heart-throb of this college would be the same person was a tough fact to digest. You could feel your heartbeats against your ear drums while you watched Manjiro nod at his sister’s predicament and smile at her.

Now, that’s new. You’ve been watching him for months now, well you had to. If you could change your college you’d do it in a heartbeat but that’s impossible so as this; to get a glimpse of him smiling so happily. Even when he was with his friends it was close to scoffing or smirking.

You watched Emma run towards the school building with a grin on her face and when your eyes went back towards Manjiro, his eyes were already on you. Nerves stilled, breathing seemed to stop, you counted your heartbeats sitting like a statue eyes settling on him.

You pondered. Perhaps, he was watching someone else but when you looked towards the coach at the sound of the whistle, he immediately averted his gaze. He was looking towards the net, where players were yet to take positions and the coach was standing.

Damn, he was watching you. It was just a mere fraction of the moment like a flickering light yet it recoiled back to the first eye contact you had with him, vile yet exhilarating! You spotted Baji, Kazutora, and Draken as your eyes scanned the field.

The time flew faster than you imagined. Naomi was busy with her project and judging by the splotches on her dress she got stuck with her art project. Your canvas remained empty since every time you tried to give a shape to your thought his face would appear as well as vanish instantly. Your mind was restless, and so was your soul and you cussed him for that.

The rain had just started pouring. All the boys were still playing except Manjiro. It is not that hard to pick a blonde boy with a short stature among all of them or maybe he rubbed off on you. You scoffed as the thought of being bound to him by anything other than hatred crossed your mind.

The corridor was empty and devoid of the normal chatter. The only sound that prevailed was of the splattering raindrops against the window pane. Manjiro was merrily whistling walking through that lonely corridor and texting his friends to come over to Izana’s place.

Izana, Izana Kurokawa; his step-brother. He was still studying with the aid of scholarships. Unlike his brother, he wasn't very athletic. He was all brains and beauty. He graduated three years earlier than Manjiro. The smile in his yearbook photo declared that he could win many hearts in an instant.

Manjiro had no problem arranging for a place to chill and relax since he gets a little shy in front of his eldest brother, Shinichiro. It’s not the place, it’s the person, he would say. Being ten years elder than him, Shinichiro was like his dad. So, he was always confined in Izana especially in the matters of heart and girls because he believes Shinichiro wasn't like them;

While he held the ability to attract butterflies even though they never seem to come back, Izana and Manjiro were always the flames that would burn their wings. Such was their jealousy, their possessiveness.

Albeit, it would be less tedious to bring a girl over to his house rather than Zana's but Shinichiro had an idea how much it would mean to a girl while his gem of a brother would remain oblivious to such blooming emotions. So, Shinichiro declared a straight no to such habits.

“Listen, Zana. Emma went home early. We’re coming over to your place. Did you score?”

“Yep. How many are coming today?”, Izana exhaled as he checked the watch, 7:30 pm.

Manjiro paused. Draken went to drop Emma. Mitsuya would get busy with his girl.

“It’s just Baji, Tora. Two.”, he wiped his body with his jersey.

“No, make it three” He ended the call immediately and quickly hid against the turn of the corridor as he saw you standing absent-mindedly staring at the rain. There she is, the girl in red.

Without much thinking, he strolled towards you.

“Do you know where”, if he didn’t grab your hand you’d have bashed your head against the floor? His fingers remain clamped around your wrist. You exhaled strongly at such a surprise and before you composed yourself properly as he asked again, “Do you know where Draken is?”

“He went along with Emma to drop her home.”, It’s odd that he has to ask since you clearly remember Emma being all giddy while mentioning that Manjiro insisted on taking someone with her, someone as in Draken.

“Leaving you all alone…”, you quickly detached your hand from his hold and tucked it behind your waist. Your eyebrows congested at his remark.

What did he exactly mean by that? Why? Why would he leave me alone? First of all, why the fuck does he think we’ve something that might end up with him leaving me?

“Well, if you’re free you can come with us.”,

“She isn’t”, Naomi slipped in. Perfect.

Being Mitsuya’s girl as well as the daughter of the principal she was desired by many, perhaps Manjiro too but only to fuck her up. There is nothing he hated more than when he didn't get what he wanted and when his ploy gets an unmendable deviation.

“She is coming with us. I’m going to drop her home after Karaoke”

“What? When did that happen?”, Mitsuya’s jaw dropped because in this weather he would rather spend his time with Naomi rather than along with her friends in karaoke. Manjiro noticed how the love birds talked in eye codes and let out a short throaty chuckle. His pitch black pupils shun in thrill.

“So, if you change your mind. Let me know. I’ll be at the changing room”, he crossed by you leaving you in utter anger and disgust.

“I won’t. I won’t change my mind every time you ask.”, you bit your bottom lip inwards to control your anger but it was in vain.

“And as for Draken, he asked me before leaving with Emma.”, you lied and when he looked back at you, his aghast gaze was the greatest victory.

You walked away into your room leaving Naomi and Mitsuya baffled at your behavior. They kinda knew how you hated him but they happen to believe it’s the otherwise.

Manjiro didn’t realize he was grinning at your sharp display of wit until Baji smacked at the back of his head exclaiming that he looked like a stuffy toy, like Mickey mouse. He let out a trail of throaty chuckles this time gaining Baji’s stares.

“One, two”, Izana searched for number three as he held the door open with a cigarette pressed in between his teeth. He was barely dressed. “Where is number three?”

“Not coming.”, baji and Hanemiya followed as Manjiro stomped through his lavish apartment and sat in the middle of the sofa.

“She’s not easy.”, Baji added

“Ah, it’s a She”, Izana said with a dragging tone earning Manjiro’s stare.

“Yeah, she isn’t easy. Any girl would have jumped at an opportunity like that. How close is she with Ken-chin?”

“Quite close!”, Kazutora added as he started to roll a joint. Manjiro’s eyes flared at Baji and then to Kazutora who seemed too focused on his joint than usual.

“How close are they?”, Manjiro’s voice was stern, bold laced with possessiveness. At first, Baji hesitated, but when Izana nodded at the way he gave in.

“Well, word around the campus is y/n has a crush on him.”

“We all know about Draken but no idea about how he feels about y/n”, Kazutora finished Baji’s thought as he sealed the joint with the tip of his tongue.

For the first time, Manjiro felt awful about himself. Not for craving you only for himself even if that would last only for a few months, but because you saw right through him. He never bothered too much to find answers for why. He thinks those bring more trouble than lies. So, he didn’t give a flying fuck why he was so hooked on you. He just wanted you.

“What are you doin’?”, Draken asked from the other side of the phone.

“Ah! Cursing myself to death”, you said as you gazed at the imprint Manjiro Sano left on your right hand of his hold

“Ya’ know y/n Mikey was asking about you… and”

“And you told everything you know about me?”

“Fuck, at least be a little happy. At least you caught his eyes”

“Why? Why would I be? He is … forget it. I don’t wanna talk about it”

“Oh, c’mon do you think I wouldn't notice how you look at him? ALL THE TIME? ”

“I don’t know. You’re not getting those jersey pics of Emma's. Good night”, your cheeks flushed at his remark. Yes, you watched him. You watched him every chance you would get but if only Draken knew that you could never have him the way you wanted, only yours. So, you had to bury the feeling of liking him before it would bloom into love.

The next day, you couldn’t spot him anywhere on the campus. Even Draken didn’t know his whereabouts. Emma was hard to find too but since she was finally making some progress with Ken, you swallowed your curiosity, your bubbles of worried thoughts about him. Baji, Kazutora - those two were your only option since Nao as well as Mitsu would rather leap with joy thinking you’ve finally come to terms with their opinion. Sometimes, they’re so mom and dad to you.

It has been almost two weeks since you stopped going to the canteen; three since you didn’t spot Manjiro. The former had hurt you more since watching Draken and Emma soaked in happiness and with promised roses, it made you aware of how lonely you were. It is not that Emma stole your place; you never had a place, to begin with. You knew that from the very beginning but to see it all play out was such an eyesore.

At last, you decided to drop by the changing room. You could hear different male voices overlapping with each other. It was difficult to recognize. The moment you entered the volleyball court, there was a silent wave that washed over both of you as you spotted Manjiro spiking the ball. He noticed you since you leaned against the railing over the balcony. It is the last set and surely it wouldn’t hurt to wait and watch him play.

One more score and then the practice match would be over. It was Baji’s turn to serve. You inhaled a deep breath as you started to walk toward the exit but a sharp voice made you jolt. Still, it didn’t stop you.

“Hey the girl in red” “Hey y/n”, it was his voice, Manjiro. you searched for him and as your eyes landed on him he smiled brightly. Your heart leaped into the core of your throat.

“Wait for me. Please. Till the finish the game.”, with all the loneliness and sadness piling up inside your body, you barely could bite back like most of the time and hence you had to wait.

As the game finished you stood near the entrance of the changing room. Kazutora left without much fuss but Baji eyed you up and down, then looked at Manjiro before leaving.

“Thanks for waiting!”, he quipped as you offered him your insulated water bottle still trying to figure out your actions. If you still had a place to go after the first period, as you had a few weeks ago; perhaps, you wouldn't have been here. Thanks to Draken.

“Did you tell anyone?”, Manjiro noticed the confusion in your eyes. “About what you saw at the infirmary last semester?”, your eyebrows jumped as the memory flashed at the back of your head.

He emptied the bottle over himself and drank the rest of the cold water as his dark globes scanned you.

Manjiro was at his limit, cautious around you since he never dealt with your kind. The kind that would look breathtakingly beautiful while drowning in vulnerability. He didn’t know that until he noticed you coming day in and day out at the canteen. Watch you stare at Draken and Emma as you grabbed a packed food and then leave without a word.

Manjiro knew you were friends with his sister and secretly he was thankful for the friendship that kept you from being the third wheel in her relationship. But what he couldn’t digest was how you looked at Draken.

It is such a vicious cycle how Manjiro will never know how you looked at him, thought of him, and pushed him out of your soul before you gave in to the illuminating flame of affection.

“No” His eyes were pale. “My turn. Did you seriously make me wait to ask this?”

Even though Manjiro wanted to slam you against his closet, hold your thighs tightly to kiss those soft lips of yours, he couldn’t. Manjiro banged shut his closet making you a jolt.

“Sorry. Did that startle you?”, you felt awful when he thrashed your question just like Draken slowly forgot to buy food for you.

“No. your behavior did”, you tartly spoke and vanished from his sight as soon as possible. He watched you as your faded in your off-white dress. She likes to wear dark-colored inners.

It was almost the end of another semester. All were busy preparing for their exams and at a boiling moment like this, your phone rang in that familiar ringtone. It was Draken.

“Yes, what?”

“I need your help y/n”

“With what? Notes? We’re from different streams Draken. Plus, I’m sure Emma would be happy to help you with that. She knows everyone, bye”

“Wait, wait wait. I need your help” and that tone alone declared that he still hasn’t confessed his feelings. You rolled your eyes since even without the confession they looked like they made it official.

Around four o'clock in the morning, the call ended. He was complaining about how you stopped coming to the canteen and when you came clean, he was so nice to apologize at length, probably overdid it.

The day exams ended, Emma and Naomi insisted you on attending the party at Izana’s penthouse, more like dragged you in it saying it would be fun but here you are standing on the lonely balcony while others were dancing, drinking, and enjoying their youth to the fullest.

After the end of every semester, this was a must. And all thanks to Izana. After his mom died he inherited all the wealth. Even though, he was adopted he inherited all the property as well as the alimony. At first, he didn’t want it. Cursed money he’d say to Ran but the rumor has it a certain girl changed his devilish heart. They’re not together though; It is a wonder how a devil let go of his angel who was ready to soak all his sins.

As soon as you entered the room where DJ was set up, Draken pulled Emma after nodding in your direction. You smiled as you knew what he meant. He is going to confess today. Emma dragged you into the crowd. Emma is not much of a freestyle dancer, she wished to pursue ballet so she stood in a corner watching both of you go wild. You felt a bit remorse thinking she might misunderstand but then again you can’t say explain yourself not when she has not asked for it. It would backfire.

But when Manjiro saw you, you were already swinging your hips along with Ryuguji who seemed too absorbed in the moment. Naomi went to search for Mitsuya. You spotted a guy with a sleeveless vest, headphones around his nape moving his body in rhythm. His tattoo was glowing in the dim light. He looked so hot. You searched for a familiar stature since Rindou was never alone, he always had his brother, Ran by his side even if they were polar in every way.

As you skimmed through the crowd you bumped into Kazutora. He was a bit handsy, and so were you. You still couldn’t spot Manjiro which was a good sign. “Sorry Y/n”, his breath was refreshing non-alcoholic unlike other guys but his eyes declared how stoned he was.

You grabbed his hand and pulled him to a side where it’s less crowded. His ear-spread smile was enough to let you know how thankful he was. A dark-haired boy with emerald green eyes came to his savior. Kazutora immediately wrapped his arms around him and you excused yourself as you noticed the eyes of the other guy. Some would say he’s high but you tend to believe it was little more than just friends.

“Wanna paint your body y/n ?” speak of the devil. You turned your gaze towards Izana who just finished painting Manjiro’s body. A face of a lion on his back. No wonder Izana was selected as a guide for the previous art exhibition. Unfortunately, you missed it since you still hadn’t enrolled in this university.

Manjiro started complaining about how there’s no point in painting his body if he can’t see it. Izana ignored and nudged him to move aside. You hesitated at first, but when you noticed most of the girls were in short tops, you swallowed your inner thoughts before slipping the shirt on the floor.

Now, you were just in a skirt, a pant, and a lacy black bra.Izana grinned. He tapped the cigarette as he kept the brush in the paint bucket. He looked at Manjiro and then towards you before leaving. Great, so everyone knows how you hated him, liked him, or whatever.

Manjiro stood in front of you with that brush in his hand as every sound seem to fade. Can’t you just live for once? Can’t you just have him? Just for once? What could he possibly do in the remaining two semesters?

The moment he was about to say something there was a power cut. A shrill cry of disappointment echoed through the room while you thanked the heavens. You wanted to go away from this place as soon as possible and this seemed like a perfect chance. “Just stay.”, a feeble voice reached your ears while Manjiro pulled you to an adjacent cubicle where the moonlight fell over your face.

The power was back up, and so was the music. He still had the brush in his hand. “Why were you dancing with Ken?”, eyes boring into you as he cornered you more. “Because your sister dragged me”

“Half-sister”, he corrected.

“I don’t care. Move”, you raised your voice as you felt your pulse rising.

“What if I don’t ?”, he blocked the exit with his arm having your naked belly brush the length of his arm. “Look at me”, his lips brushed your ears.

“What if I don’t?”, but your words were responded with action. Manjiro swiftly pulled you against his firm chest. His skin was burning. You froze at his audacity and were ready to scream.

“You’re free to do anything you want”, his limb grazed your boobline. “And so am I”, he murmured before turning you around.

It happened within a blink of an eye. Your hands were above your head pinned by his, one of his legs shoved under your skirt as he sucked your lips. You wanted this, wanted to have him. So what if he forgets after a few months and calls you just for sex? You were not bound to answer him, were you?

“Do you still want me to move?”, he asked. Breathing perfectly normal while you struggled to inhale. You looked at him since his question is so baseless given the fact that he still held your hands above your head. “Right ‘course”, he let go of your hands. As he was about to walk away, you grabbed his toned muscular arm. He is strong. He turned around and nothing need to be said since he noticed your soft parted lips. And just like that, a butterfly was ready to burn its wings in fire, like an ordinary moth.

When you opened your eyes, you were in an oversized shirt, your pants and wrapped in his arms. Manjiro was still sleeping, his blonde strands of hair curled at the bottom. His back was half-clad with the cover. You removed the quilt from him in an instant as the last night’s impulse twinkled like a star. Thank god he is in boxers.

No discarded condom packet was lying as you scanned the floor and the dustbin looked intact. But that still doesn’t mean you didn’t do it. Your chest heaved at the thought of waking him up. You extended your hand and then retreated, then again extended it near his cheeks and instantly curled it in your lap.

“Woah! That was hard to watch”, Izana was so loud or maybe it was the booze that still fazed your senses. He majestically stomped into the room and smiled as he exclaimed, “This is my favorite part”

“Wake up Mikey.”, he grabbed his arms to jerk him a bit. He groaned and curled against your thighs. You never looked so lost before. What exactly you could do when your crush is still asleep beside you while his step-brother wakes him up?

“Shin called me ten times”

“T-E-N times ?!”, Mikey sprung up on the bed.

“He falls for it, every damn time”, Izana quipped looking at you before leaving his brother in absolute horror. Mikey jumped out of the bed and as he turned around he noticed you sitting like a good girl at his display. He swallowed hard noticing the bite marks near your inner thighs and neckline. “Just gimme two minutes, I’ll drop you home”

“No. Thank you”, and that surely woke him up if a lie like that didn’t. He sat near the edge of the bed. “I know girls like you”, he mumbled tapping your nose. He is not even sorry that he tosses girls so easily. You peered through your eyelashes, he continued, “Who thinks it’s a mistake, who thinks it’s bad to do something like this, who thinks they are bad to enjoy their life before marriage.” Your heart flipped inside your ribs as those very lips that spouted such sweet talk dashed on to your lips.

Yes, he knew everything. He knew how easily you would give in, how you were so stubborn to avoid him because this is what scared you the most; to be just another girl to him. If he remembered you as Emma's friend that wouldn’t be a bother but you lost the chance yesterday when you kissed him back.

You pushed him away saying, “I’ve to go” and didn’t pay any heed to his pout. You dressed in the bathroom and before leaving you remarked, “Good luck with that” pointing towards his boner. You smiled as he quickly covered himself.

Manjiro enjoyed this as much as you regretted it, for him, he had won this. He couldn’t care less about you, your silly crush on Ken-chin, or that you’re Emma's dearest friend. He had won the bet.

A new semester began. Naomi and Mitsuya were no doubt in utter shock at such vivid progress. You just had to go through another semester, then you don’t have to see him anymore and he would never know how much your heart ached for him. But things weren’t that easy. While you tried your best to avoid him, he used to pop now and then. He even stopped seeing other girls and the most shocking part is you didn’t even ask for it.

Most of the girls envied you and talked behind your back which made you feel awful since you didn’t ask any of these. You barely kept in touch with him. Sometimes, he would take you for a bike ride and talk about his dreams, and his friends but he neither asked about Ken nor Emma.

He was certainly curious about Naomi but you were lost in him. Those moments however seemed unpromising meant the world to you. Why? Because you had fallen in love with him. You no longer loath him with every beat of your heart. You now desired to let him burn your wings so that you could never leave him, even if your sane voice told you to.

The semester ended way too early or so as it seemed. And like a tradition, most of the familiar faces gathered at Izana’s penthouse. Baji mentioned that he saw Mikey on the balcony with Izana but when you reached there it was empty.

“Looking for Mikey I guess”, a boy with strangely symmetric scars at the edge of his lips asked you as you entered the lift. He followed. You searched his face trying to place if Mikey ever mentioned him in his talks. “Haruchiyo?”, you muttered gaining a wide grin from him. When you looked at him a little too long, he wore his mask. You wanted to apologize but the moment the door of the elevator opened, you stopped as you saw the blonde boy. He was sure with Izana; that was correct but Baji got the wrong floor.

“So, you’re gonna ditch her? Just like that?”, Izana asked.

“ I mean. We’re not together. We are not even official or anything like that. I’ll just walk when I’ll feel like it”, Manjiro puffed out a ring from his drag, as he continued, “I wouldn’t have bothered to do this if Haruchiyo didn’t point it out … that how close she was with Draken. I mean I would ruin everyone who would break my sister’s heart.”

“Still, she needs to know Mikey. It's better that way. She is different ya’know, she is …” Izana absent-mindedly glanced in the direction of the elevator.

There you were standing with blank eyes with Haruchiyo by your side who had no idea that his silly comment would turn into an obsession and eventually end with such an awful heartbreak. Izana was staring at you with parted lips.

“yep. She is different.”, Manjiro added following Izana's trail of vision. You snapped into reality and immediately took the stairs as your eyes met his. That was your last eye contact with him before you walked out of his life.

“Fuck Haruchiyo, move !”

“Mikey? You get most of the girls here and you pull this shit? When you talked about her to me over the phone I thought you changed. You didn't...”

“Fuck, fuck fuck…just move”, Manjiro pushed Haruchiyo aside and ran as fast as he could.

“y/n you're gonna hurt yourself. You're gonna fall off the stairs.”, Manjiro shouted as he ran through the stairs pushing through the crowd. When he reached near the pool area he saw you in a yellow dress running towards the main road.

“y/n STOP. Listen to me. ”, he panted as he saw you pause. “I can explain.”

“Manjiro Sano. I don't want your explanation. You're free now. So, stop following me.”, with that you slowly walked towards the mouth of the main road to catch a bus without looking back. For the first time Manjiro knew how heartbreak sounded. It sounded as if a wounded creature wailed all night till it was dead.

“For the first time in my life, I've seen you interested in a girl.” Manjiro shot his hazy gaze upwards.

“Ken-chin!”

“told you she was too good for you.”

“fuck you.”, Manjiro hissed as he took Draken’s hand to stand up. She indeed is different.

The next day was normal and the day after was too. You didn't speak of him to Naomi. Even, Mitsuya’s visits became less frequent. There were quite a lot of spectators so it's quite normal for people to know about it. Mikey's girls were smiling again but not for long. It was a week.

It was a week everything was like this. Slowly, people started to talk, blame you for Mikey's cold behavior, and hold you responsible if Mikey was absent. Naomi couldn't defend you anymore.

Rumors and lies spread like wildfires. Some even said that he left you because you cheated on him with Haruchiyo. It broke his heart when he saw you in the elevator with Haruchiyo. You pretended not to care while he did the same.

Haruchiyo was easy to find. He was a transfer student at your university. He always wore a mask most probably because he didn't want to catch anyone's eye but you saw him without his mask, that day, more like he let you. Why would he do that?

“Y/n what's wrong with you?”, a shrill high pitched voice gained your attention enough to make you look at the face of the person. You’ve been avoiding people’s faces lately.

Emma. You knew this day would come. You've prepared for this day. You exhaled deeply before she started to cuss at you but all you heard were words of apology.

“Why didn't you tell me? I could have talked to him. I could have talked to Shin— she was on the verge of crying because she held herself responsible when she heard every ounce of truth from Izana. Izana sure is all beauty and brains.

“Emma. Relax. Breath.”, you cupped her hands. “I knew it from the very beginning. I knew it all along. Just pretend that I was one of his easy fucks. that's it”

“is that what you tell yourself?”, Draken quipped. You wondered how long he had been standing near the door but he sure looked concerned, not sure for whom exactly — was it you, Mikey, or Emma?

“No. Because we never fucked each other ”,

“Rrrrr-right!”, he nodded and stared at you.

“We just like had … make-out sessions and bike rides...”, you trailed off when Emma and Draken both were shocked at your words. They couldn't believe it. “Why are you two looking as if I'm lying? Did Mikey already brag about how he fucked me or did he already tell that I was clean so that others could have me...after all I was Mikey's girl ?”

“This is serious.”, Emma remarked.

“Indeed.”, Draken nodded three times. “Mikey doesn't take anyone for a ride, for all the girls he has fucked and he is ...

“what Draken is trying to say is that he is himself with you.”, Emma picked up his cue, and before she could tell you to mend the broken ties you let out a snort.

“Emma. I'll talk to you later. I've classes today”, another lie along with a few thousand others. You checked your watch and quickly walked towards the exit. You headed towards the music class since it was empty at this time.

You were sitting near the window facing it at the music class when you spotted Haruchiyo playing baseball. You watched him through the window as he hit the ball flying across the field. He seemed happy. maybe he still isn't aware of the rumors.

“y/n, do you have class here?”,

“Yes. no. I'm sorry. I'll leave.” when you turned around you noticed a blonde guy and a familiar dragon tattoo peaked through his collar. Manjiro Sano. of course needed a change. He couldn't even look at you.

“We didn't have a proper chance to talk...I’ I’m sorry for all of these. I didn't realize it back then...

his words seem to fade. he seems to become hazy. You felt a burning sensation near your temple before you almost lost balance. you grabbed the handle of the chair but alas! the ball hit you hard enough to make you faint.

When your heavy eyelids opened, you noticed Emma sitting near your feet. Draken's bag was near the bottom of the door. The beeping sound slowly helped you regain your senses. You turned your head only to find Manjiro sleeping as he held your hand. His cheeks were pressed against the back of your hand. You didn't feel his warmth. The sedatives and painkillers were to blame.

You tried to move your hand a little as you tried to remember the last thing before you fainted. You remembered how Manjiro’s voice slurred as he held you in his arms, as you tried your utmost to say I love you too.

You closed your eyes thinking he might just act out of pity. After all, if you hadn't seen him at the infirmary, if he hadn't acted on such an impulse thought, if you didn't know Draken he wouldn't even give a fuck about you, maybe he still doesn't but the way he was grasping onto your palms screamed how desperately he wanted you to stay in with him, only him. You drifted to sleep again.

Damn ! the pills and baseball players. damn Haruchiyo. damn it. fuck everything...

It was night when you woke up in your vivid senses. Your parched throat ached for a drop of wetness. You manage to stand but with that slipper, you were bound to fall and it would surely knock you out forever with such weakness in your body.

The corridors were silent, devoid of bright lights. Your room was engulfed in darkness except for the light perforating through the glass windows. “You never learn do you?”

If it wasn't for the fall, you'd have died out of a heart attack. Who on earth does that?

“I’m thirsty.”

Draken switched on the lights. He texted someone. Probably his dearest friend, Mikey. Before leaving the room he handed you a bottle. You cursed how weak your body was since you were unable to open the cap. Fuck you Draken. You tried a few more rounds and then gave up.

“Here”, a small bottle finely opened with a straw dipped in it. “It’s chilled. Just like you prefer”, you knew that voice, those rough hands, long fingers with a firm grip. You couldn’t seem to get the name properly.

“Izana?”

“Uh…no”, he cleared his throat, “You don’t remember me? It’s Manjiro. Your Manjiro” You tried to gain your composure but finally gave in to his adorable ways, his long eyelashes that reeked of loneliness and surrender; his pink lips that slightly parted and trembled at the possibility of losing you. You had no idea you could wield such power, power to see him vulnerable, to see the Manjiro Sano on his knees. You started to drink the cold mineral water using the straw. Sitting on the bed, having him standing near your knee you left him bobbing like a broken boat with the greatest trail of confusions.

What if the concussion was too much? What if she seriously doesn't remember me? What if she thinks of Izana as me and me as Izana? Oh my god fuck! That’s even worse.

You noticed his grip stiffened and clenched the bed sheets. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m fine Manjiro”, you uttered giving him an apologetic look. His eyebrows knitted close. And so you kissed him clearing all his doubts, soaking all his waves of anger and disappointments, absorbing every bit of loneliness from his frail body.

“You shouldn’t have done that”, he remarked as you pulled away from the kiss. His hands were underneath your thighs while yours curled around his slim nape.

“Mikey. Control”, and both of you flew away from each other. Mikey even bashed the back of his head against the wall. He glared at Izana but a bigger stature appeared. It was Shinichiro.

“A word Mikey”, Shinichiro scanned you with suspicious eyes.

As both the Sanos were talking outside, well Mikey was on the explaining end that included lots of hand movements while Shinichiro listened keeping his hands folded in his chest. There was no doubt that they were discussing you since at every other minute Shinichiro looked at you with surprise in his. At each glance, the surprise kept swelling until Manjiro turned him around to make him face his back to you.

“Remember that rumor, that I changed myself for a girl?”, Izana gave you a lollipop because the way Shinichiro shook his head declared that it’s gonna take a little while.

“Yeah…”, you supplied as you took the lollipop.

“Well, it wasn't. It was him”, he popped out his lollipop and smiled looking at you. You raised your eyebrows at him.

“He is so handsome”, and Izana almost choked on his breath since he knew Mikey’s pout would last weeks long because of this. Both the Sanos left in a hurry after Shinichiro got a call. But Mikey came back to say. “Izana watch her. Just watch her”, no one would suspect Izana of being a tease the way he nodded his head like a good boy.

“Do you know why he got that dragon tattoo similar to Draken and Mitsuya?”, Izana asked but he rolled his eyes noticing your curious globes.

“He felt lonely. He was happy for Emma and Draken, for Mitsuya too. No doubt about that but he missed them. He couldn’t exactly roam around the campus like he used to” he looked at you pulling out the candy into his mouth and discarding the stick into the bin. “And then he met you. You whom he thought had a crush on his friend, Draken. So, trust me when I say that handsome brother of his might do the same what Manjiro has done with you.”

“I know I got lucky but that doesn’t change the fact that he is an asshole”

“A valid fact”, he shook his head. He took a few steps towards the exit. “Try to think”, he slipped before leaving you in all sorts of confusion.

When you were discharged from the hospital, it was Izana who came to take you. He brought his car.

“Your mom drained your father in alimony”, you remarked looking at his black Lamborghini. He simply smiled. It smelt of pride and confidence. The car ride was mostly silent but your mind was not. It was a pool of questions, questions like where is he taking you? Why did he come? Why Manjiro didn’t come? Is he angry? Or is he sick?

“I think you’re taking the wrong route”

“Ha-ha. No no. y/n. Mikey couldn’t come. He was nervous since he kinda blames himself for your accident. Plus, the doctor asked you to remain under watch. So, Mikey thought it would be better to take you to my house” Izana noticed your denial as you frowned. “Mikey told me you wouldn’t like the idea” and that softened your expressions.

“Your house? House as in your penthouse?”

“House as in my house”, he corrected. A staff got all your bags while Izana guided you up to your room.

“Wait here! Mikey will be here shortly” and with that Izana left the room.

You pulled the curtains and gasped at the view. The whole city was drenched in rain and the glass became foggy. You wrote, “I love you Manjiro Sano”, and felt childish about it.

“Can I come in?”, you immediately pulled the curtains back and turned around.

“Mikey. It’s you”

“You never call me Mikey,”, his eyebrows grew closer but this time there was a curve at the edge of those pink lips. “What did you do?”, he was wearing a black suit and his boots clicked against the wooden floor as he approached you.

“Stop right there.”, you exhaled “Tell me something, are you planning to take me somewhere and then marry me and then keep me somewhere away from everyone-

Manjiro walked towards you even with your disapproval. You closed your eyes, the curtains clenched in your fist hold as his body grazed yours while his hands swiftly made you release the hold on the curtains.

“I might!”, he whispered as he drew the curtains. “I think I’ve to if you keep doing things like these”

You grinned at him as his eyes bored into you without blinking. Your smile sublimed and a low gasp evaporated through your lips as he pulled you against him, his hands stilling around your waistline. Your nose crooked as he brought his face closer to yours.

"That day if I would have looked you in the eye and said those things, perhaps you wouldn't be so hurt..."

"That day if you looked me in the eye, I would have fled out of your sight", there was a smile on his face, a smile that wouldn't wither away. He took your hands in his and kissed your palms as he continued, "I'm...I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was such an asshole. All I cared about was winning, winning at everything and anything until I lost myself. I think I love you"

"You still think...?"

"Hey, At least I'm trying...", he muttered softly while your eyes darted to the view outside.

"I think I love you too", you murmured as he wrapped his arms around your belly pulling you close to his body. You were now facing the view again as his lips started to work its wonder.

“I remember how you told me that you’d win every match if I take you to arcade games”, his hands slipped under your dress. “You were so drunk that you barely let me do anything; I wasn’t drunk drunk but I’m glad it was your pussy that I tasted while going down on someone”

“Oh my god! Please stop talking right now.”, you palmed your face in embarrassment but he wasn’t going to stop, not anytime soon.

“And, when you talked about Draken and Emma, about how happy they were, about how lonely you were, I felt that too. It was so hard to hold myself back”, Manjiro sat at the edge of the bed having you in between his legs, his hands still clamped around your thin torso.

“Don’t tell me we did it while I was drunk”, you uttered in dismal.

“No, we didn’t.”, he chuckled as he swung sideways. “You almost cried saying that you’re strong, that a one-night stand doesn’t define you, and that you’re gonna prove Nao wrong”, that it is just a dried leaf of autumnal fall.

“So, try to trust me when I do this…

“Do wh-at …ah aH”, your hands flew back on his thighs. With a firm grip, you gasped as one of his hands massaged your boob while the other rubbed your feminity. You were squirming in his hold but that didn’t faze him. “Man-Ji-ro”, you moaned and it was responded with a harsh bite against your pulse point. He brought his slick wet fingers near his lips. You watched him lick it clean as his other hand rested over your tummy.

Your palm dived into his soft strands of yours as you kissed him instantly. You could feel his smile through the kiss. His hands gave a squeeze on your waist muscles. Manjiro felt you relax as he pulled the elastic of your panty and then released it. It made you flinch and immediately pull away from the kiss.

That was his chance, the only chance to turn the tables around. Within a blink of an eye, you were underneath him. “Fuck, you’re so gorgeous”, he murmured staring at you. You noticed the gleam in his eyes that roamed all over your body and stilled over your excited nipples. You got rid of the red dress that Emma brought you before the day you were discharged.

This is the first time he has seen you naked. You were far more angelic than what he had imagined. Manjiro latched his lips around your pebbled nipple as he interlaced his fingers with yours. You squealed as he sucked too hard before biting your flesh.

“Mikey”, and he rolled along your side. It was Shinichiro's voice. Thank god the door was closed.

He cupped your cheeks and rubbed his thumb over your flushed cheeks.

“MIKEY”,

“Yea! Coming”, he responded. He checked his watch. “Gimme fifteen minutes” and before you could ask him not to stall his brother further he positioned his mouth near your clit. He pushed aside the cloth and gave a broad lick.

A smirk laced his lips because it would take less than fifteen to make you cum. It turned him on as he smelt your arousal.

“Fu-ck! Don’t stop”

“As you wish babe”, his mouth kept altering between broad licks and strong sucks. He paused as he felt you struggle for breath, wraith under his touch till you came.

“May I know where you’re going?”, you asked as he stood motionless staring at your naked body that was glistening in sweat.

“Get dressed !”, he pointed towards your bag. “And stay close to me. Don’t go around jumping all over the place”

You frowned thinking how much of a child he thought you would be. You couldn’t exactly blame him since all he knew about you was from Draken. Mikey had no idea about how a lover acts when they’re around the people they fancy; After all, you are his first love.

networks — @tokyometronetwork

[datrb]

afternoon boss

I got a few questions regarding your CG designs (get as nitty gritty and as detailed as you want lmao)

Firstly i notice you use a lot of turtleneck (or turtleneck-like) designs when it comes to clothes for the CG. Any particular reason why? or do you just have a preference for turtlenecks?

Second off, p e l o

When it comes to designing characters I'm a bit of a hair nutjob and i like to believe that hair reflects the personality of a person. Obviously, the colored streaks in their hair are a given, but besides from those, is there any reason you picked the hairstyles you did for the CG? Anything based on personality or purely for aesthetics?

(also ig this is a follow up question but do you ever plan on doing summer clothes for the gang what with the season coming up?)

CG hair headcannons

Oh, Anon, you have no idea what you have brought upon yourself... I swear, when it comes to the designs i become the ultimate yap lord, so brace yourself.

I'll cut this post right here because my blog is already cluttered enough with my yapping.

Okay. First things first, the turtlenecks... Imma be entirely honest, i didn't even notice it myself until you pointed this out, but yeah. They indeed do almost all have some type of a turtleneck or turtleneck adjacent thing as the base layer.

I don't have an actual reason aside, maybe, the fact that turtleneck is really a no-brainer type of base layer and, well, i do actually wear then quite a lot irl, so that might play a role as well. (Hell, i am literally wearing one as i am writing this post)

HOWEVER, among them there is one who has a proper reason for that to be a part of his design. That character being Second. More observant probably would've already noticed and heard me mention it, but all mainline hollowheads have this zip-up type of thing as their base layer. Victim, Chosen and Second all have this same exact thing. Only difference being the sleeves or lack there of. That one's intentional. Others... I was just a bit lazy and, well, i will probably change those since i am working on doing some changes to their designs.

But yeah the HAIR hehehehe, oh i can detail their hair routine down to the amount of product they use, so you better get yourself somethin' to eat, because we're here for a while.

But before we dive into it, i wanna note that the coloured streaks aren't "a given" if i wanted, i could've gotten along perfectly fine without them at all. But i actually made a set of "rules" for designs in my interpretation. And one of those rules dubs "Every stick has at least one streak of hair of their respective colour. Rest of the hair can be any colour." This applies to literally all of my designs. King, Victim, Dark, even mercenaries. It's a rule that i cannot break.

Also, i will touch on other characters as well because, well, i finally got a chance to and at least King is an especially interesting case in that regard.

I'll do in a list format because it'll just be easier.

TSC (Second) - Second has very soft and FLUFFY hair. It's straight, rather thin, but very fluffy. There honesty is no proper reason behind his hairstyle other than "general vibes" and "what hairstyle would give off an early teen vibe?".

Red - Red's hair is a bit wavy, but it's practically unnoticeable, it's rather soft, but doesn't seem like it due to it being rather thick. I gave him this little ponytail, because i wanted to incorporate the yellow team's headband into his design, but thought putting it on the head would be too basic, so why the hell not. Also, this ponytail helps balance the "animal lover" and "highschool football team" vibes.

Yellow(why does Tumblr not have yellow colour for text??) - Yellow has hard, thick and almost uncontrollable hair. No wonder the moment he got the goggles he started using them as a hair band to keep it at least somewhat in check. For Yellow i tried to go for a "math student" vibe, but it eventually turned to the more "that one engineer that built a time machine in his garage" type of thing. Oh and also by doing that i was trying to avoid the "karen" hair he had originally. I still can't look at his old ref sheet with a straight face.

Green - Green most definitely straightens his hair and styles it a versy specific way. You cannot convince me otherwise. His hair is thick and almost curly, but it's also very soft. For his hairstyle i wanted to give him more of a DJ vibe, which would bean some crazy hairstyle. This one seemed like a good blend of something a stereotypical "speedster" character would have as well as something you would see at a 2010's rave party.

Blue - Blue has thick, almost curly hair that likely really doesn't like to be styled at all. It just has a mind of its own and you can't tell it what to do. Pretty much like Yellow's, honestly, except here you have curls and not just a paintbrush. Blue's hairstyle came from my wish to give his otherwise almost cottagecore type design this little sprinkle of madness. And what's better way than to give him uncontrollable curls, am i right?

Purple - Purple has curls. His hair is soft, a bit fluffy and rather thick. Purple having long hair is widely accepted that it's basically fanon at this point, i don't think i need to explain my decisions here. I do think that he has an undercut tho, because i believe him to have A LOT of hair. And, speaking from experience, it gets very hot.

King - King i believe to have rather thin, soft and perfectly straigh hair that would not be able to hold shape if you tried. I decided to give him long hair because i HC his wife to be dead, so it would make sense for him to start growing it out as a way to remember her (he literally wears it the same way she used to. At least after the redemtion. Before that it's too messy). Also, i believe his hair to have lost a fair share of colour due to stress, making it almost grey.

TCO(Chosen) - Chosen has the same hair type as Second BUT his is not as fluffy because it's not as well-maintained. They also share hairstyles, except Chosen's longer, as he didn't really have much options in terms of how to cut it. This one was intentional and while designing Chosen i unironically only had one directive: "Make Second, but old and edgy." I think i delivered.

Victim - I already mentioned that Victim's entire appearance was heavily influenced by my friend who suggested him looking like a ninja in the first place, and that also applied to his hair. Although, now i stepped away from it, but one can never go wrong with a "slick, sassy and extremely cunning villain". Victim's hair silky smooth and is extremely soft. And much like his workers, basically never goes out of line.

TDL(Dark) - I believe Dark to actually have quite hard but rather thin hair. It's very spiky when not tended to. He actually has the most hairstyles among all of my designs, standing toe to toe with King, for whom i have 4 hairstyle designs. His AvA5 appearance (the most commonly drawn slick back) actually came from the most stereotypical cartoon-ish villains. The design i ended up giving him was not intended as Dark it was just a random sassy looking character i drew as practice while working on overall artstyle for my human designs. But then i looked at him, made a few minor adjustments and there he was.

So yeah. I believe that's the most important ones. Lemme know if you wanna hear more, i'll make sure to also provide examples next time, because i am actually writing this on the go, so i don't really have access to my laptop.

I actually thought very little about WHY they would wear a certain hairstyle other than "it fits their vibe" which imo is usually the exact way people go about their hair, so it does kinda fit. (At least that's the way i go about my hair...)

[maislovebot]

Top 10 bsd characters oral scenarios: Mushitaro Oguri

After putting this off for a very, very long time I’ve finally decided to begin cross-posting this on Tumblr after procrastinating because Tumblr formatting is weird. These are originally posted on ao3

(Shameless plug here)

If you wanna see the original posts or some other works of mine I haven’t posted on Tumblr be sure to check it out:)

Featuring: ofc oral, afab reader, no pronouns, a sort of sub Mushitaro, but also kinda not.. depends on your interpretation tbh, established relationship, desk/chair oral, vaginal fingering, slight overstimulation, hair pulling, slight hurt/comfort and slight angst with a happy ending!

Poor Mushitaro was pitifully bored. I mean, when your beloved partner has been doing nothing but sitting around all day, you begin to get so bored you’re willing to trace the lines along the popcorn ceiling. Mushitaro didn’t want that, he just wanted his beloved partner to pay attention to him, and for them to take a small break. Mushitaro knows all too well what happens when people overwork themselves from having many, many in-depth conversations with Yokomizo. Yokomizo has told him that overworking oneself is similar to a fire that has been burnt out from a rainstorm, it gets burnt down so fast yet it takes a very long time for the fire to be able to light again because the cinders are still wet.

Mushitaro doesn’t want that to happen to you, and considering what happened to his beloved friend Yokomizo, he wants to try and avoid you acting like him in as many ways as possible. He doesn’t want you to share the same fate.

It’s too bad you’re just so damn stubborn .

Mushitaro planned to come up with an effective way to get you away from that damn paperwork, even if you were slightly annoyed by him because of it

Mushitaro waited for the perfect opportunity to set his plan into action. He walked into your office quietly, and noticed that you were rubbing your throat with your hand slightly.

“Are you thirsty, my love?”

“A little.. could you get me something to drink?”

“Of course, will water do?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

The responses you were giving were bare bones, and in all honesty, it was making Mushitaro a little nervous. Whatever, it’s fine he’s going to get you to take your mind off of your work no matter what.

Off Mushitaro went, to get you some water.

‘ Well, that was anticlimactic, ’ Mushitaro thought as he returned to your office with a small glass cup in hand.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks, Oguri.”

The water hitting your dry throat felt amazing, and you felt just a little bit better. Maybe that metaphorical storm was beginning to hit less harshly, and the small smile that reached your lips confirming this brought a smile to his face as well.

Mushitaro sat down in the corner of the room on the chair you had for moments like this. You didn’t always have a spare chair in your office, but now that Mushitaro was your beloved fiancé, he demanded attention even when you were working.

He sat still for about thirty seconds before he sat up again and crept towards your back. He leaned down from behind you, with you sitting in your plush office chair, and kissed the top of your shoulder. Your breath hitched and you turned your back towards him.

“What’re you doing?” You questioned.

He didn’t respond, and instead walked around to the side of your desk and stood there for a few seconds. Clearly confused, you shook your head slightly and kept working. It didn’t take very long for you to zone out and practically forget Mushitaro was even in the room in the first place, which is clearly what Mushitaro wanted, because once you had begun focusing on your work again, he slowly made his way down to his knees and crawled beneath your wooden desk, bending his back a little bit because he was too tall for such a confined space.

You were focused, but even then you could notice Mushitaro slightly groaning at being shoved in such a tight space.

“You good under there?”

“No, could you move your chair out a little so I can move forward?”

You took this as Mushitaro asking you to completely move out of the way, so you sighed and laughed a little, wondering why he went under your desk in the first place just to crawl out mere seconds later, but you were met with his hands grabbing the sides of your chair once you had made it just far enough for you to let his head peep out. Mushitaro gave a smirk, and you were finally beginning to understand just what he was trying to do.

“Oh come on, can’t you at least wait till I’m done with work?”

Mushitaro sighed, and shook his head.

“Normally, yes. But you’ve been working even longer than usual, and I want to help you out before you get so burnt out you can’t even work hard again for god know how long.”

“Oh come on, that’s not gonna happen.”

“It happened to Yokomizo.”

Suddenly you felt bad, considering that he went as far as to bring up his late friend. Was he really that worried? He laid his head on your knee, and you ran your fingers through his unkempt hair. It was sweet to see this side of him, considering how much effort he put into his appearance, it was nice to see him without his typical suit and hair gelled to perfection.

“I’m sorry, Oguri. I made you worried. What do you want to do now? You have my full, undivided attention.” You replied to his previous statement with slightly sorry eyes.

Mushitaro nuzzled into your touch, and he kept his head on your knee for a few seconds.

He had you now. Now he just needed to make use of it.

“I do have a way you could make it up to me..” Mushitaro trailed off.

“Do what you were planning on doing before I so rudely interrupted you.” Considering what you were getting yourself into, you had begun to feel a similar heat beginning to form.

Mushitaro smiled, and you felt everything was resolved now.

He took little time to ask you to lift your hips so you could take off your bottoms, when Mushitaro suddenly looked confused.

“Why’re you wearing nice underwear to do office work? ” Mushitaro questioned you, smiling in confusion a little.

“Don’t ask me, they’re the first ones I found.”

Mushitaro giggled a little, and removed your underwear as well, leaving you completely naked from the waist down. You closed your legs just a little bit too much for him to access you, leaving him confused.

It’s not like he hasn’t eaten you out before, but still, it’s hard to not get a little shy when he's at face level with the most intimate part of your entire body.

Realization hit Mushitaro, and his smile turned to a smirk before talking.

“There’s no need to be shy.” Mushitaro looked down and to the right, then played with a little bit of his hair to make light of the situation.

You blushed, and Mushitaro smiled again. “No, but really.. get comfortable. I’m gonna help you out.”

“Alright..” you slowly opened your legs again, and Mushitaro grabbed your hips lightly, so lightly in fact you could still move if you tried. He was more trying to comfort you more than hold you in place, and it was nice.

Mushitaro moved his head up just a little, and confirmed with you one last time.

“So, you’re really okay with this? I’m not getting in your way or anything?”

“No. You’re fine. Please, touch me.”

Mushitaro could feel his face heat up at the request. Sure he had started this whole ordeal, but you being so straightforward caught him off guard. With that, Mushitaro leaned forward and gave a small kiss to the inside of your right thigh, before moving his face up more and moving his hand up at the same time. He temporarily rested his right hand on the front of the chair, where the gap between your legs was. He brought his face forward just a little more and left a lick up your heat, and once his tongue landed on your clit, he rested there, licking at it and simultaneously licking up the precum that was leaking from you.

You threw your head back at the sudden touch and you let out a small moan. Mushitaro noticed your pleasure and brought his finger up to your entrance and pushed his index finger inside of you, making you jolt a little, with your head still leaning back.

“A-ah, is this okay?” Mushitaro questioned.

“Yes, keep going.”

Mushitaro felt his pants tighten at the demand, and went right back to it. He pulled his finger out to the tip and brought it back, while still licking at your clit. After a few moments, he added another finger and was curling his fingers up slightly, making you cry out.

You gripped the arm of the chair with your left hand, and gripped the side of it with your right. Mushitaro’s pace was slow and steady, and it was driving you crazy . Just how much would it take to make him speed up, even just a little? With that, you thrust your hips forward slightly so you could hopefully meet his tongue and fingers faster, and Mushitaro didn’t stop you, clearly wanting you to find pleasure however you saw fit.

Mushitaro could feel his face beginning to get wet with your precum, but he was loving every second of it. When Mushitaro’s fingers curled forward and stayed there for multiple seconds, you cried out and moved your hand to the top of his hair and pulled it.

The storm was beginning to die down, and was becoming more of a sprinkle if anything. However, the drizzle was remaining consistent, making your work still cloud the back of your mind. You didn’t want this. You had to make him move faster. Your fire was hanging on by a thread before, but now it’s slowly rebuilding, going against the water dripping down onto it.

“Keep—ah-going. Don’t stop.” You whined, and Mushitaro obeyed. In fact, he finally decided to pick up the pace. He began to finger you with more drive than before, and he was beginning to alternate between sucking and licking your clit, making you jerk your hips forward more often.

You felt the familiar feeling of release beginning to rise, and you warned Mushitaro.

“Oguri, I’m cl—ose. Please, keep going. Keep fucking going. ” Mushitaro was beginning to get painfully hard, and he moved his hand down to palm himself through his pants, hoping for some sort of friction. Any kind of friction. You didn’t try to stop him, you were too worried about yourself at this point, no matter how selfish that might sound.

The storm was gone, now all that ever implied there even was a storm in the first place was the wet feeling of the ground and the smell of rain lingering in the air. To make things even better, your fire was almost back to its original state.

You pulled his hair even more, and with a cry, you came. Mushitaro went back to only licking your clit, but he didn’t let up. He kept fingering you at the same pace and you began to tear up just a little.

“Plea—ah, please, it’s t-too much,” Mushitaro moved his hand up to your clit and ran circles on it. “P-please! It’s—”

“Alright, alright, sorry. I’ll stop now.” Mushitaro pulled away, and pulled his hand away from himself too. Too worried about your current state right now, less worried about his current problem.

Now all evidence of the storm was gone, and your fire was actually bigger than average, fitting for the overstimulation Mushitaro had decided to perform.

“Now, tell me, are you stressed at all? Still on your way towards burn out?” Mushitaro said, smirking knowingly while laying his arms out on your legs and putting his head on top of his arms.

“Nope, it actually did help a lot. Thank you.”

The sudden praise went right to him, and he was reminded of his borderline painful hard-on.

“Looks like you need some help now, though.” You smiled and cupped his face, moving your chair back, implying that he should stand up, which he did. When he made it all the way down, you grabbed his arm and pulled him down to your chair, and kissed him. You rubbed circles on his hip, making him gasp a little, giving you room to bring your tongue inside his mouth. Mushitaro melted into the kiss, and sat down on the chair to straddle you, before bringing his hands down to grope you lightly.

Just then, you ran out of air so you pulled away. You caught your breath for a few seconds before teasing him.

“Wow. You really are desperate.” Mushitaro looked away, before removing his hands from you and twirling his hair in his right hand again.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You laughed, and kissed him on the forehead. It was a quick kiss, as you pulled away almost as soon as you connected with him.

“You wanna know what you are as well?” You teased him, and he looked you in the eye.

“What is that?”

“Dramatic.”

Mushitaro gave a fake offended gasp, and replied.

“I am not dramatic! How could you insinuate that? How cruel you are.”

You looked at him with an all too knowing look, and blinked a few times.

“You came up with a whole plan to get me away from my work. That’s pretty dramatic if you ask me.”

“Well, you’d be wrong.” Mushitaro rolled his eyes, dare you say it, dramatically.

You sighed and replied, “you literally just proved my point..”

Mushitaro’s eyes got softer, and you smiled at this.

“You know.. I’m really really happy we’re getting married. I love you, and I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else.” The tips of Mushitaro’s ears got red because of his confession, and you were about to respond before he kept going.

“I’m not just referring to sex like this. I can’t picture waking up and turning over to see any face other than yours, or getting home from the dry cleaners and seeing any other person sitting on the couch waiting for me.”

“Oguri, I—you’re so sweet. You know, the feelings are mutual. I can’t picture anyone else distracting me from work and sneaking under my desk. It’s like you’re built for the job.” You replied, whispering a little. This moment was nice, you didn’t want your voice to interrupt the gentleness of it.

Mushitaro was clearly still a little traumatized by the abrupt exit of his friend, but he was coping, and he was trying his best to get over what was going on for you.

“ Do you think we’ll be in love forever? ” He questioned.

You wore a shocked face, before feeling your eyebrows becoming upturned again. “Of course we will. Look at us, we’re perfect together.”

Mushitaro nodded his head. “Yes, we are. To be more straightforward, what if it’s out of our control? What if something happens to us? Or to you? ”

You took his shoulders and shook them gently. “I’m not gonna leave, I’m not Yokomizo. I promise. You’re safe here, I’m safe here. Please, believe me.”

Mushitaro looked hesitant for a moment, before he looked into your eyes and saw the genuine determination in your them, and he gave in and nodded. “Alright, I believe you. I love you.”

You moved your lips down to lightly kiss his neck. “I love you, too.”

You sat there for a few seconds, not in an awkward silence, Mushitaro was just enjoying the feel of your body heat against his. With the sudden comfort and intimacy, Mushitaro had begun to get a little desperate, and he rolled his hips into yours.

“Oh poor you, I’ve been neglecting you, haven’t I?” You gave a pitiful look, and brought your hand to his.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you with that.”

Wc: 2.4k

The next part will be posted sometime tomorrow, the chapter will be on Kunikida

[ashenmind]

Under the Third Eye

A while back, I wondered "What would have happened if Koishi had won in SA's extra stage and brought back a pet, like she threatened? How would anyone deal with that?"

Well, here is my answer, in all it's 4681 words of glory. This will be on AO3 once I have an account (T-12 days), but I'm not waiting that long.

Future note: This is now on AO3! Go read it there, the formatting is better.

Authors note

This is my first fanfic, but I have done a reasonable amount of original writing. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. As silly as the premise is, I tried to approach it fairly genuinely, and it ended up being more emotional than I expected going into it. I tried to be fairly faithful to the characters, though some of them haven't been developed much in canon, so I did what I could.

The work is PG-13 overall. In terms of content warnings, the premise is based kidnapping. The only other thing that comes to mind is a brief allusion to self harm, which could be upsetting to some readers.

The formatting is a bit off (non-standard indents mainly) because tumblr, but not too bad as far as I can tell. (the "<>"s are intentional).

Satori stared at the paper in front of her, or rather, she stared through the paper. Do I really have to decide this today? The answer was yes, as it had been 15 minutes ago. That was the trouble with conflict; someone always had to pick up the pieces afterwards. In this case, the trouble was staffing. With so many of her pets having been injured, ensuring Former Hell was properly managed after the incident was quite the balancing act. Things would get easier over the next few days, but that did little to help now.

The door to her study, which was never fully closed, opened wider to allow a two-tailed cat with black-and-red fur to enter. Casually, she made her way to Satori, leaping into her lap and curling up snugly. Satori reached down and stroked the cat absently. She considered asking Orin about her current dilemma. While the cat had a quick wit, especially compared to many of Satori's other pets, she wasn't good at seeing the big picture. Alas, this burden was Satori's alone. 

<Koishi's back. She seems to be in a very good mood> Orin thought.

"Oh, did something interesting happen?" Satori asked. Satori's ability to read minds was greatly appreciated by her pets, whatever anyone else thought.

<She didn’t give me much of an answer, but it sounds like she got herself a new pet, from up on the surface.>

Satori continued stroking the cat for a moment, before pausing. Wait, from the surface? She generally liked that her sister took the initiative to acquire new pets from around the underground. After all, everyone needs company, and she often got too caught up in her work to spend time with Koishi. Satori also didn't mind her taking trips to the surface. Her sister was capable of taking care of herself, as much as she worried otherwise, but taking pets from the surface was something she'd had to put a stop to. Too many of them weren't well suited to the subterranean palace and its surroundings, while others would be too sorely missed above, which drew unwanted attention. Koishi had generally heeded this request, so why the sudden change? What exactly had she brought back?

Deciding this was more pressing, and likely more interesting, Satori carefully removed the cat from her lap and headed towards her sister's room. Rin followed close behind.

The pair arrived at Koishi's room, and Satori knocked.

"Come~ in!" Koishi called out in a sing-song voice, a habit that Satori could only assume came from observing people on the surface.

Like most in the palace, Koishi’s room was quite large. It was lit by blue crystals that hung from the ceiling, as well as by a set of windows that let in light from the courtyard beyond. As usual, the room was cluttered. Though some of her pets were tasked with keeping the place tidy, Koishi had a habit of just setting things down on the nearest flat surface when she was done with them. This had more than once led to a rather bemused Orin being placed on a shelf. 

Satori was not focusing on the decor however, instead she stopped in the doorway as soon as she saw her sister's newest pet. Rin, seeing an opportunity, ran through the door to Koishi, who immediately broke into a wide grin.

“Orinrin!” she cried, squishing the cat's face in her hands. The cat seemed to enjoy this at least as much as Satori’s more gentle approach. 

A few moments later, Satori finally managed to speak, “Koishi, what… how? What did you do?” The cause of her surprise was a girl with dark hair and a large red bow, who was currently asleep in the bed, covered by the duvet. A gohei, a long piece of wood from which hang two zig-zagging paper streamers, was leaning up against the wall nearby. Satori recognized the girl immediately, as she had met, and subsequently fought her earlier that very day.

“Oh, this is Reimu. You know her right?”

Satori nodded weakly as she entered the room. She turned, and carefully closed the door behind her. She took advantage of facing the other way to close her eyes and think. My little sister, whom I love and support, has brought home that damn shrine maiden… as a pet... and I'm the only one with enough sense around here to understand why that's bad… What did I do to deserve this? Resigning herself, she turned back to the rest of the room. 

“I ran into her on top of the mountain,”  Koishi continued, beaming.

 I could use a little more than that, if I’m being honest. Also, what is that look for? Satori mirrored the smile. It wasn't very convincing, but Koishi was easy to convince. What exactly am I supposed to do about this? I'd considered what to do if it was a human, but not this human. She took a deep breath. Right, process of elimination. Killing her would raise all kinds of hell nowadays. Should I dump her on the surface and hope that’s the end of it? Maybe, though she'd be pissed. Apologize and let her go? Same problem, and she's not exactly the type to wait for explanation anyways. 

She had been staring at Koishi this whole time, though the girl was entirely unperturbed. Why does she have that look? Is that... pride? Then, her own words from earlier in the day came back to her: "That girl's power would certainly be useful around here." Damn, is this my fault? Of course Koishi would take that literally; she's Koishi. She thinks this is what I wanted, which would explain the smug look… But wait, she found and defeated Reimu and brought her all the way back here just based on that? That's... a lot for someone who can’t really plan things. What’s gotten into her?

Koishi had turned her attention back to the shrine maiden, who she was staring at with rapt attention.

 But... that was the point of the pets, right? To get her to care about others, to get her to take an interest, so that she would...?  Satori realized that she was still holding the fake smile and let it drop. She turned to look at Reimu herself.

Was it just what I’d said earlier, or does Koishi have her own reasons for doing all this? Is there something special about this shrine maiden? Damn, I’d need her awake to figure any of this out. Perhaps dumping her on the surface isn’t so great an idea, as much as it would simplify things. That just leaves talking and... Koishi's plan... if you can call it that. Lovely.

"Koishi, would you mind heading down to the kitchen and helping them get dinner ready?" Satori asked, trying not to sound like how she felt.

"But... I want to stay here... with her!" Koishi said, pointing, as if Satori wasn’t sure who she was talking about.. 

Satori sighed. "She needs her rest. Besides, I bet she'll be hungry when she wakes up. You remember what I said about feeding your pets, right?" She didn't like being dishonest with her sister, but it was convenient. Koishi paused, then smiled, and nodded. She left the room in a rush. Rin narrowly avoided getting her tail stepped on, then looked to Satori. 

<You’ve got a plan?>

“Always,” Satori lied, "now go find where Okuu is napping. I want her in the palace, just in case." In case of what, I don't know, but like it or not, she probably has the best chance against Reimu if things go bad. Well, Koishi actually won, but she’s not exactly reliable. That human may have been the one pushing for non-lethality, but she’s still a human.

With the room now to herself, aside from the slumbering Reimu, Satori sat in the chair and thought. You could have at least waited a day, Koishi.

 At last, she reached a decision. The best one, I hope. She focused her third eye on the sleeping figure, peering at her mind. Ah, so Koishi put her under hypnosis. I thought she might still be able to do that, closed eye or no. No matter, it would be easy to undo, at least from the outside. 

Not long after, Reimu stirred. <Bwuh..? Where... am I?> she wondered. Reimu sat up slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"The Palace of the Earth Spirits. Welcome back." Satori replied. Reimu turned and stared, all traces of drowsiness evaporating. She leapt from the bed, reached into her sleeve and pulled out several paper talismans. With her other hand, she grabbed Satori by the collar and lifted her into the air.

"Your sister kidnapped me!" Reimu shouted, "Don't give me a 'welcome back'! Where is the brat!?" 

Satori dangled limply in Reimu's grip. "Seems you lost fair and square, shrine maiden. Don’t be a sore loser.” She paused as it looked like Reimu might throw her. “As Master of this palace, I wouldn't mind a rematch though. I'd even let you go free, if you won."

Reimu’s brow furrowed. "And what’s your stake?" <Wait, she's challenging me? She didn't put up too much fight last time, but my body hurts like hell, and she seems more confident than ever.>

"Expecting to lose?" Satori asked, smirking slightly. "I’d just want you to do me a favor for me. I’m not sure your human body would withstand it, but there’s no reward without some risk."

<What’s this girl’s problem?> "Fine, I'll fight you again," Reimu said, releasing the girl, who fell backwards, taking the chair with her. <I thought she'd at least catch herself. Oh well, she deserves it.>

Satori got back on her feet. If she was upset at Reimu's roughness, she didn't let it show. "Let's go out to the courtyard. The flames from below will serve as an excellent backdrop."

The Palace of Earth Spirit’s central courtyard was quite magnificent. Windows looked down on it from all sides, many of them stained glass, depicting scenes of both the underworld and the world above. There was a garden lining the outer edge of the courtyard. It contained plants rarely seen on the surface, as well as a number of fruit trees. The source of their energy seems to be the large vent which dominated the space. It led down into the underworld’s flaming depths. Great mechanical shutters allowed the upward flow of heat to be regulated. At present, the shutters were three-quarters closed. Even this small opening allowed enough light from below to fill the courtyard and a pillar of hot air, traced with wispy flames, to ascend towards the surface. 

The two combatants took their places to one side of this vent. They stood forty feet from each other, Reimu armed with the tools of her trade and Satori with nothing but her mind.

"Ready?" asked Reimu. She had her usual look of determination, now tempered by anger.

"Ready," replied Satori, calm as ever. The two rose a few feet into the air, then Reimu launched forwards, wasting little time.

"I forfeit," called out Satori, dropping back to the warm stone of the courtyard.

<I've got her- > "WHAT?" Reimu staggered midair, trying to slow her momentum. She came to a skidding stop directly in front of her opponent. "What do you mean you forfeit? We hadn't even started. You can't do that!"

Satori stared at her coldly. "It means you’ve won. That's what you wanted, so why are you complaining?"

"I want to fight you! You think you're so high-and-mighty, and now you've got and forfeited!?"

"I said it before, but I'm not fond of violence."

"You're just a coward! Too scared to face me again."

"I have more important things to worry about than your ego. If you want to sait your oni-like thirst for violence, I'm sure Okuu over there would be happy to oblige." Indeed, the hell raven was sitting on the inner edge of the vent, oblivious of the heat. She was gazing into the depths below and swinging her feet through the fiery air. The right one, weighed down by its rocky exterior, swung out of time with the left.

Reimu’s tirade derails slightly. <I beat her earlier, but it was kinda close. Somehow I doubt she's as tired and worn as I am. Damn.> "You’re the one who said we should fight in the first place. What was about that favor? Giving up on that so easily?"

"Were it just me here, perhaps I would fight for it. But I don't need any more damage to my palace or my pets right now," Satori replied. "If you must know, I was going to ask to have you for dinner-"

"YOU WERE GOING TO EAT ME?!" Reimu shouted, anger reigniting. Satori stared, eyes-wide for a moment, then began to laugh. It started out as a chuckle, but rapidly became uncontrollable. The girl bent double, holding her knees. Although laughter is rarely considered a skill, Satori was bad at it. The sounds coming from her were fitting for Former Hell. Even Okuu looked over at the commotion.

<What on earth... what's funny about this?> Reimu thought. There was another thought, too quiet for either of them to fully notice: <she look so different when she laughs.> 

"As a guest, Reimu," Satori managed to get out at last, "not an entrée. Oh my word." She pulled herself upright and wiped a mirthful tear from her eye. "My sister and I aren't much for eating people."

<...and your pets?> "Ah, I… I see. I guess that's a relief,” Reimu said, uncertainty entering her voice for the first time since woken up.<Where the hell do I go from here?> “But uh, you said the favor would 'push my body to its limit', so I got the wrong idea, I guess. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Well... we have some sake that we sto- acquired from the oni and it's been kinda in the way lately. If you wouldn't mind drinking some of..."

"You stole sake from the oni? You?" <They'd rip you to shreds.>

"Well, Koishi did. I ask her not to steal, but I figure the oni are fair game," Satori explained, ignoring Reimu's afterthought. “We’re not heavy drinkers, so I figured you might be able to stomach some of it?”

Reimu took a moment and pretended to consider the offer. <Is this girl OK? Her loss I guess.> She stood a bit taller as she spoke, "As a show of uh, goodwill, I would be willing to relieve you of your sake. After all, if the oni found out you had it, I'm sure they'd cause you no end of trouble. Best I drink it instead, to be safe." 

"Ah, what a good idea. How very… selfless of you." This girl's mind is like a lock; you find the right key and the whole thing flops open. Not sure why she's talking like that though… Is it some lingering effect of Koishi’s hypnosis or the fumes? Oh well.

For dinner, they were joined by Koishi, who was overjoyed to see Reimu again, as well as Okuu and Orin. The two sisters sat on one side of the table, while the three pets sat on the other. Okuu and Orin started devouring some eggs and pieces of raw meat, which Reimu tried not to look at too closely. The other’s had more ordinary fare.

<Maybe this was a bad idea… At least the two idiots aren’t staring at me.> 

"Koishi, do you have something to say to Miss Hakurei?"

The younger sister hesitated a moment before speaking, “I’m sorry for attacking and kidnapping you.” She put on an almost theatrical expression of remorse.

<She says it so bluntly> “I… appreciate the apology. I didn’t mind fighting you, just… don’t knock me out afterwards, alright? It’s kind of a d- not nice thing to do. It also causes trouble for your sister.” Koishi nodded at this, looking serious, then went back to her food, smiling to herself. Trouble indeed, mused Satori, though you're not one to talk, Reimu.

“Say Koishi, do you spend a lot of time on the surface?” Reimu asked, “I’m surprised you were able to find your way to the Moriya Shrine all by yourself.”

“Oh, I do! I like to see what people are up to and hear what they are talking about. I travel all over the place.”

<You’re ok with this?>  Reimu thought. 

Satori shrugged. “I couldn’t stop her if I wanted to, so she’s generally free to explore. Besides,” Satori said, smiling slightly, “she can hold her own.”

<You’re pretty smug for someone who lost. Twice>

“You should come down here again sometime so we can fight again! It was really fun!”

<Yeah, but this place kinda sucks.>

“I’m sure Reimu is plenty busy with her shrine,” Satori explained, aiming a dirty look at Reimu.

“Shrine?”

“Of course. It’s easy to forget, but Reimu is a shrine maiden. She looks after the Hakurei Shrine, near the human village.”

“Oh, that place!”

“Have you… been there?” Reimu asked, returning the look.

Koishi nodded. “I followed some kids up from the village. There were a lot of people and stalls. I got this!” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small charm, on which was written “bullet evasion” in familiar handwriting.

<Ah... Wait, she goes to the village too?>

“And by ‘got’, do you mean ‘stole’? I’ve told you about taking things without permission. People might not notice you, but they notice when things go missing.”

Koishi nodded, though she didn’t look very apologetic.

“Next time you’re in the area, you can visit the shrine and pay me back. I can even give you a tour.”

Koishi’s eyes lit up. “Really? I’ll come by tomorrow!”

<Great, I was hoping to take the day off, maybe try out the new hot springs…>

“I’m sure Reimu will be very busy dealing with the aftermath of the incident. Best let her work on that first.”

<That mind reading is not so bad when she’s trying to help you. Still creepy.> 

The conversation quieted down from here, with everyone focusing on the food.

<When’s the right time to ask about the sake? Getting kinda thirsty here…> Satori reached under her chair and pulled out a large jug, placing it on the table. 

I meant to get it out at the start, whoops.

As dinner started to slow, Koishi spoke up, “Can you tell me more about your fights earlier? Satori kinda made them sound boring, but I want to hear from you.”

“I’m sure she did. Alright, it started with me heading into a cave…” Reimu then recounted her earlier adventures. Satori interrupted occasionally, cutting through some of Reimu’s boldest exaggerations, though Koishi didn’t seem to care much whether a given detail was true or not.

At last, once they had finished, Koishi gave a round of applause. “Wow, that’s quite the story. It’s way cooler than my sister's version,” Koishi said, beaming at Reimu. “But how did this all this start? Seems you just kinda wandered into things. Like me!”

All eyes turned to Okuu, who continued eating eggs, before noticing the sudden attention.

“Huh? Uh dor rea oh,” she tried, before swallowing, “I don’t really know. There was some woman who wanted the strongest bird, then I felt real weird, then I had all this power. I’m not really complaining, to be honest.”

“We think the Moriya Shrine is involved, but I wasn’t able to ask because you attacked me,” Reimu explained, looking pointedly at Koishi.  

“Ehehe…whoops. I said I was sorry...”

“Alright, I think that’s enough for dinner. If Okuu eats any more eggs she’s going to be sick. Besides, you should get to bed Koishi.” Then, as Koishi moved to protest, “You can see Reimu off in the morning.”

<Morning?>

“What, were you planning on going through Oni territory and half of Gensokyo in your state? In the dark, no less?”

“How ca-”

“We have clocks, you know.”

<Ah.>

Koishi left, but not before giving Reimu a hug. After she was gone, Satori walked to the other side of the table. Okuu and Orin stood, and their master addressed them in turn.

“Okuu… it’s good to have you back. I know things are a bit… complicated, but I’m sure we’ll manage.” She reached out and patted the girl’s head. 

“Orin, you did well today. Thank you,” she said, kissing the Kasha on the forehead. “You pets don’t have to tackle things by yourselves, you know. I won’t be mad if you need help.”

With the cat and raven gone, Satori returned to her seat. 

<You really care for them.>

“Of course. Aside from my sister, my pets are all I have.”

<I mean, the palace…>

“Few places are as lonely as an empty palace, Reimu.” There was a pained note in her voice that Reimu hadn’t heard before. There was a heavy silence for a moment, then Satori grabbed a cup and poured herself some of the sake. When she continued, her voice had returned to its usual tones.

“I’m not typically one for strong alcohol, but I should probably taste some before you finish it off.”

“Wait, you made it sound like you had a whole bunch.”

“I lied, of course. It’s almost as useful as mind reading.” Reimu considered this for a moment and Satori elected to let her finish this time. 

“What is this all about?” Reimu asked, gesturing broadly.

“‘This’?”

“You know what I mean. First I think you’re trying to keep me here as a pet, then you’re asking me to leave, then you're getting me drunk and telling me to stay the night. Why can’t you just say what you actually want?”

Satori sipped her sake a moment before speaking. “‘Just tell me the truth’ is something often said by people who are bad at accepting it, but very well. The truth is that I don’t really like you Reimu.” She held up a finger, forestalling Reimu’s interruption “I don’t mean that as a personal slight. I can see why people put up with you.”

<Gee, thanks.>

 “That being said, mind reading isn’t like reading a book; it’s more like listening. Some thoughts are easy to ignore, while others… aren’t. Emotional thoughts are by far the loudest and you…” Satori continued, “...are a person driven by emotion. Again, that’s not an insult; I think it’s probably what makes you so good at what you do, but it does make being near you… challenging.”

“So then why get me to stick around?”

Satori sighed, looking into her cup. “Koishi, really. She’s a bit obsessed with you. I gave my sister pets in the hopes they would help her like they helped me. I needed quiet, simple companionship, but my sister and I aren’t very alike. Or at least, not anymore…” Satori seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment, before continuing. “But she seems fascinated by you, more so than by any pet I’ve given her. Perhaps your thoughts are loud enough to reach even her, or perhaps she just finds you worth listening to.”

Two sat in silence, the words hanging in the air “Are you… trying to get her to open her third eye?”

“Yes.”

“Why? She seems happy as she is.”

“How would we even know? She closed it because she felt that the world, or rather, other people had little to offer her. When your ears only hear hatred, your eyes only see fear, it can be tempting to get rid of them.  I want her to hear and see beautiful things, to find value in others.”

<Have you considered doing this? Oh, I didn’t mean...>

“Of course I have. Things were... bad, but I remembered when we were young. Satori are social creatures; being able to communicate so directly is an incredible thing. I’m not sure a human could really get it, but I want that back…” Silence fell over the table, again.

“Why not explain all this from the start?”

“You wouldn’t have listened, that’s not who you are. So I tricked you. Figured you wouldn’t turn down a challenge. Worst case you at least got out of my hair.. Don’t look so upset, you got Oni sake out of it, after all.”

<Don’t treat me like one of your pets.>

Reimu yawned. “Well, I’m not sure how much I can help, but I suppose if she wants to come visit, I don’t mind. Not that I could stop her anyways…” <I don’t really want another mind readers about, but…man>

“I appreciate that,” Satori said, getting to her feet, a little unsteady. “Best we both get off to bed before this stuff hits us too hard.” She waved the now empty jug.

“I suppose so. Oh, and thanks for stopping Koishi from making me her pet”

“I’m sorry?” Both girls stared at each other, blankly.

“You… you told Koishi she can’t have me as a pet, right? Like, she understands that, right?”

“I just told her that it’s not really a pet if they run and don’t come back. That seemed to satisfy her.”

<ah.>

The next morning, the two sisters saw Reimu off. Koishi was a little upset, but it didn’t last once the prospect of a shrine tour was brought up again. The great doors of the Palace of the Earth Spirits closed with a thud. The two sisters stood in the lingering silence.

<I can’t wait!>  The voice was quiet, but Satori loved it all the same.

Epilogue

In the end, Reimu’s visit actually ended up helping Satori with her decision. She elected to grant her pets a holiday, as reward for their hard work. It would create problems later, but such was life. It also gave her a chance to take care of another matter.

Aya Shameimaru worked away at her typewriter. This edition had gotten quite large, what with all the events of the last day. Even this morning there had been critical updates that just couldn’t be left out. This was looking to be one of the best editions of  Bunbunmaru Newspaper in years!

She heard the door to the office open and called out, “Yeah, just leave it on the table. I’ll get to it in a minute.”

“I’m… not here with your lunch,” said a voice. It wasn’t a tengu’s. Aya turned to see Satori, standing right next to her.

“Ay!” she cried, nearly falling out of her chair, “I ah, I don’t s-suppose you’re here for an-an interview?” she said, a look of almost manic hope on her face. <Ayayaya…>

“Not quite. I was curious what you had written in your paper there.”

<Well all kinds of things, about the incident, the palace and it’s master, about her mysterious sister and how she kidnapped Reimu and how Reimu just walked away the next morning all embarrassed and oh how do I stop thinking!>

“Alright! That’s enough,” Satori interrupted, closing her eyes. Damn tengu. “I don’t mind you writing about the incident, but leave my sister out of this.”

“But…” Aya stalled a moment, then recovered her usual tenacity, “your sister poses a real threat to Gensokyo. It’s my duty as a reporter to infor…”

“You want to talk threats?” Satori asked.

<aayyaa.> ”Y-you can’t threaten me! We’re surrounded by tengu! You’d b-be in real trouble!”

“Yes, but that doesn’t help you much, does it? But I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not fond of violence. Instead, my threat is this: If you write about Reimu losing to my sister, or her disappearance, I will end your newspaper. Not by force, but by making my own paper. Do you think you can compete with a mind reader? One who can pull out even your secrets?”

<N-no.>

“Then we don’t have a problem. Pleasure doing business with you.” Whoever decided to make tengu smarter than birds should try talking to one for 5 minutes. 

[painsandconfusion]

okay what it the difference between ; and ,

and - and —

thank you

Great questions! These ones are pretty quick, so I'll give the basics.

There's two main instances where you use a semicolon: when you're joining two independent clauses, and when you're making a list of three or more things proceeded by a comma.

Okay quick refresher on dependent vs independent clauses. independent clauses can stand on their own. They're a full sentence in and of themselves. This means they at least have one (1) noun, and one (1) verb that that noun is attached to.

So. Basically. You use them when you want to make two full sentences into one coherent thought. Usually, this could just as easily be achieved by popping a comma and a conjunction in there, but sometimes the sentences are more complex or separate, and a semicolon works as kinda an in-between version of commas and periods.

I'll do some examples with commas, semicolons, and separate sentences so you can see how similar they are. It's usually a stylistic choice.

I went to the store today, and I got three dozen eggs. I went to the store today. I got three dozen eggs. I went to the store today; I got three dozen eggs.

In that example, all of them work just fine. It's more a matter of how long a mental pause you want your reader to have between 'went to store' and 'got eggs'.

(quick reminder that 'I went to the store today, and got three dozen eggs' would be incorrect because your comma cuts off the verb 'got' from the noun 'I'. Either repeat the noun to make the phrase 'got three dozen eggs' independent, OR just drop the comma. 'I went to the store today and got three dozen eggs' is also grammatically correct. I will go more into nuances like this in the comma post).

The other way you use semicolons is in lists, but specifically lists that are proceeded by a colon. You usually want to use a colon list when the listed items are more complex and likely to have commas of their own.

Here's an example.

I need to go to the store today to buy eggs, apples, milk, and bread.

That's a simple list with simple elements. But when the elements get more complex, using just commas gets confusing. For example...

Some of my favorite books are Farenheight 451, Girl, Interrupted, Arcanum Unbounded, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

See how messy that gets? Is 'The lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' one book or three? They read less clearly, so require a little more precision.

A better version of this sentence would be...

Some of my favorite books are: Fahrenheit 451; Girl, Interrupted; Arcanum Unbounded; and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

By using semicolons, you're able to better separate complex list elements, and the colon lets the reader know to be reading it as such. It's just a little neater. Like a folder inside a folder to help find things easier.

.

Em dash (--) and En dashes (-) are pretty simple. They're called that becuase the double one (which tumblr won't format right, but it's the -- one) is the length of an m and the single one (-) is the length of an n.

Anywho.

En dashes go between words that are being used as one word, while em dashes are used between phrases.

Em dashes are more stylized, used between phrases to expound on the first -- like so.

En dashes are used more practically. When two words are being used as a single adjective. It's just a way to quickly and elegantly compound words to create an image.

A blue-clad knight. Pent-up anger. Ever-falling snow.

En dash (single -) will always be shoved between words without spaces on either side. The em dash (double --) will always be between phrases with a space on both sides.

.

As a disclaimer, I usually just do n dashes instead of m when I write on tumblr purely because the formatting sucks. In more formal environments, I make sure it formats correctly.

Hope that helps!

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

genuine question: how can we use this website to be less annoying to others?

Glad to give my thoughts. Like I said, I’m very petty and most of this stuff probably isn’t as big a deal to most people. Anyway I’m bad at being brief so I added a readmore. Here are my personal rules:

1: Don’t add anything to the body of a post unless you have something that you really feel will add some degree of value, meaning, humor, context, or at least something to people further down the reblog chain.

This is the most important rule. Adding something to a post makes it longer, it makes it so everyone who reblogs it in the chain after you has to see it. If you have nothing to add but “wow” or “holy shit” you are lengthening the post for no reason. Those reactions can easily go in the tags.

This is also the reason I think gimmick blogs are so annoying. It’s one thing for a “heritage post” blog to reblog things related to its respective gimmick. Simply reblogging them puts that thing on their blog, so anyone looking at it or following them because they want to see “heritage posts” will see it. But they go a step further and add “X heritage post” for no real reason other than to brand the post as theirs.

When I see a post that I like that has useless additions that take up space while adding nothing I get mildly annoyed and go to the reblog of the person who reblogged it before they did just to trim the useless comments off. But if that person deactivated then I can’t trim the comment. Tumblr lets you trim to the original post without any of the additions regardless of if op is deactivated or not with the little X on the reblog menu, but only to the original post. It’s better than nothing though

This whole point is, to me, a bit of tumblr etiquette that makes it so you don’t have to see unrelated comments from someone you don’t follow just because they thought to add a pointless comment way up the chain. This definitely is petty, but if you remember how the old tumblr formatting worked, this was extremely important because each addition took up even more screen space with the line to the next persons url and squished the original post into smaller and smaller spaces. So that’s probably why I feel so strongly about it even though it doesn’t matter as much anymore.

2: The tags are mostly your free space to say what you want, BUT try and respect that OP will likely see them.

A LOT of communication done on this website is done through talking in the tags. That’s not what they were originally meant for but that doesn’t matter anymore. People will likely be looking in their notes to see tags by their mutuals.

The original poster can and will see every tag on a post, unless they delete the post or mute notifications. Mute notifications seems like it doesn’t work, but that’s because it only mutes future notifications on the post, the tags in your notes before muting will still be there regardless

This is to say that in most situations, if the op is someone like me who uses their notes to communicate with their mutuals and others in their communities, your irrelevant tags might also be there and annoy them. So use courtesy when tagging. Thankfully tumblr cuts off tags after a certain point on the notes page but still keep it in mind. I go overboard writing mini essays in the tags all the time, and while I do think that is a little annoying I do it anyway so I can’t blame people.

3: Keep blorbo tagging to a minimum if you can help it.

This is probably my most controversial stance, but blorbo tagging can be really annoying in certain circumstances.

The biggest offender to me are tagging make characters on posts about women. I don’t care that you think he’s your babygirl or whatever, I find this extremely annoying. I get it, sometimes a post fits your character really closely but the gender is wrong, but usually it doesn’t and they’re just doing this on any post even slightly related to a single aspect of a male character they care about. Often because most tumblr fandom people couldn’t be bothered to care about female characters if that was the only way to escape a saw trap alive.

There are other blorbo tag type things that annoy me, and again I’m a petty bitch, so take it with a grain of salt. But to me this one is a little personal (for lack of a better word). One of my first big posts on this blog was about wizard girls leaning in to kiss and having the brims of their hats get in the way. I didn’t mind the blorbo tagging about men that much, but they got less and less related to the post that it was annoying. The last straw before I deleted the post (back when I didn’t realize mute notifications actually worked. It might not have at the time) was a tag about their male blorbos leaning in to kiss and their belt buckles got in the way???

Idk I just find blorbo tagging in general mildly annoying and only do it when the post is an extremely perfect fit for on the characters I care about. I often block people for blorbo tagging about characters from things I dislike, I’m petty and the block button is fun for me to press, so I do that often. :)

4: NOT EVERY POST IS ABOUT YOU!!!

If you see a post that isn’t about you or your demographics or gender or whatever, you really don’t need to make it about you. That will very likely annoy op, especially because no one would have anything against you if you went and wrote your own post inspired by whatever the post in question said.

Not every post about lesbians needs to be made about gay men. Not every post about trans women needs to be made about trans men. Not every post about women needs to be made about men. And probably most important:

Not every post needs to be made about white people!

I know you might be thinking how writing something in the tags about your experience as a white person relating to what op is talking about, but I promise you they don’t want to hear it from us. They almost certainly are seeing tags from other white people because for some reason we can’t seem to see someone posting about issues of racism without having either the “I’m sorry for being white” or “white devils advocate” voices appear in our heads, just ignore it. Bite your tongue and reblog or move on for the love of god stop pestering the op.

Obviously the lesbian, trans women, and women ones are the ones I see in my notes that are annoying. But I can’t pretend I haven’t seen other white people say some really unnecessary shit in the tags / haven’t seen posts by nonwhite people who are clearly annoyed about how we always make everything about us.

Remember, you can always write your own post!

5: OP didn’t “turn off replies”

This feels like something that wouldn’t happen that often, but multiple times when I’ve made even mildly controversial takes about like video games or whatever, people will either add in a reblog or send me an ask complaining that I “turned off replies because I was afraid of hearing them disagree” usually followed by them calling me a coward. It’s very simple, I have reply settings so that people I follow and people who have followed me for at least like a week can reply, that’s it. I don’t have replies from everyone on because most people outside of those categories I don’t care about their opinions and they are annoying. If you can’t reply, that’s probably why. And if they actually did turn off replies, that’s because they don’t want replies, especially from people like the ones I just described.

6: I actually don’t have a problem with spam reblogging

This might seem backwards given my other stances on things taking up unnecessary space like useless comments, but I really don’t mind spam reblogs. I frequently do it when I see art I really like or when there’s a post that really resonates with me. Yes, it is annoying! No, I probably won’t stop. I do it so I can’t judge other people who do too. I am trying to keep it to like 5 times at most though, any more is just overkill.

7: OP is a stranger, not your friend

This one applies basically everywhere on the internet, but unless the person who made the post is someone who is like a mutual or someone that’s you’ve interacted with a lot before, they’re probably a stranger. Don’t try to be “playfully rude” or overly familiar. It’s annoying and weird and you will get blocked.

8: If you’re sending an anonymous ask, remember that OP is not going to take you in good faith most of the time

A lot of anon asks aren’t meant to be malicious, but a lot of others are. Bait, hate mail, insults, you name it, there’s a very good reason people like me assume every anon is sent in bad faith for some purpose. If you are going to send an anon ask, try to make it clear that you genuinely just want to ask a question and that you aren’t trying to trick op into saying something you can use to write a callout post against her or whatever.

You did that in this very ask thing and that’s why I’m writing out this long post instead of deleting it or letting it rot in the inbox.

9: Prev Tags etiquette / “Peer Reviewed” Tags

The usage of “prev tags” is controversial, a lot of people have different opinions on it. But with all the changes they made last year that made it harder to see the tags of the person before the person who’s reblog you are viewing, I think prev tags etiquette has changed.

My personal rules for prev tags are to copy the tags into my own tags, and then follow them up with a tag that says “<- prev tags”. Unfortunately tumblr tags convert dashes into spaces for some reason so it ends up looking like “< prev tags”. I’m stubborn and don’t want to like use an emoji arrow though. Anyway, tumblr mobile conveniently allows you to copy the tags of the person you are reblogging from surprisingly easily which I appreciate.

Unlike previous tags, which stay in the tags and don’t turn into an addition to the post, “peer reviewed” tags as they are sometimes called do get added to the post permanently for the remaining blog chain.

The unfortunate truth about this website is that some people have bad opinions on what qualifies as being meaningful enough to be cemented as an addition to the post via “peer review”. As such, the phrase “how could you leave this in the tags 🤣” has essentially become another “you sir have won the internet 🤣”

The shitty part about that is sometimes there are good and meaningful additions in the tags that are worth being added to the post as a whole. But you can add someone’s tags to a post without saying “how could you leave this in the tags”. Anyway this one is more subjective and hard to define so I hope I got my point across at least somewhat.

Anyway, there are probably a few other rules I personally follow that I’m not thinking about right now, but just follow general internet etiquette and try to keep in mind that op is a person who will likely read whatever you type, that covers most things tbh! Thanks for reading if you somehow read this far. Hope this helped! If it didn’t, oh well, I did try and warn you I’m petty and have strong opinions about things that usually don’t matter afterall

[oleandertrees]

overactive spectatorship in the yj fandom

thank you to everyone who has filled out the google form so far!

i'm mostly a twitter user so tumblr is very much a foreign thing to me (i didn't even know how to properly put a link on here..Thank you to my friend mekenzie who pointed it out to me and then told me how to link it) but i appreciate very much all of you non-twitter users who filled it out. tumblr and twitter are the social media platforms i'm most interested in looking into because it gives the greatest opportunity for analysis and such!

i've only shared very briefly the idea behind this project on twitter so i thought i would explain a little bit about it here since i have more space LOL

i'm a third-year film student with a concentration in screenwriting, and i'm currently taking a critical studies class where we study a variety of different film theories. this (you guessed it!) includes spectatorship theory. to put it very briefly, there are two major types of spectatorship theory: passive and active.

passive spectatorship is, in essence, the belief that the audience doesn't have much say in what happens to them when they watch a movie. the film is merely something that happens To Them against their will. this can be very closely associated with the ideas of sergei eisenstein, who believed that audience reactions could be carefully engineered and predicted by using certain filmmaking techniques. passive spectatorship is also often tied to psychoanalysis, so it's very much involved with the freudian ideas of the subconscious. i personally was taught it under the lens of psychoanalysis and feminist film theory, so we also talked a lot about the voyeurism of the male audience member, the passivity of the female both on the screen and in the audience, and the oppositional gaze of the non-white female audience who takes a deeper look into what they're actually consuming.

which then brings us into active spectatorship. this is the idea that, no matter what, the audience is an active participator in what they're watching, even if they may not actually be aware of just how active the process of spectatorship is. for example, there are physiological processes going on in your brain that make it so you can actually perceive a film as a film, rather than just as a series of still images being projected in rapid succession. we cannot physically make ourselves see the film as images without slowing it down, because our brain is actively working to prevent the illusion from being broken. while this may be an unconscious process (rather than a subconscious process, like in passive spectatorship), it is still active. or, (and i think this one is really neat), to give another example, if you watch a film that is presented in a non-linear fashion (take oppenheimer, for ex.), and someone then asks you to recall the story of the film, you'll tell the story linearly even though the information wasn't presented to you as such. your brain is automatically and actively working to reconstruct the events as you consume them.

furthermore, your brain also builds up a library of references over time from all of the many films, television series, books, etc. you've consumed that enable you to better understand each and every thing that you watch. MEDIA LITERACY FTW! so, to give an ex. here, imagine taking someone who had never seen a slasher before, sitting them down, and making them watch a slasher. they're not going to have any baseline knowledge of what they're watching, so they won't be aware of tropes, references, etc. that are included in the film. there likely wouldn't be a high level of predictability for them, b/c they don't have anything to base their hypotheses on (and the formation of hypotheses are a big part of active spectatorship). contrast this with someone like myself (who loves slashers, watches a lot of them, and loves reading horror & slasher film theory) watching a slasher, who is (whether i want to or not) going to be picking apart every part of the slasher because i have this library of references up in my noggin that i'm pulling from.

sorry for that very longwinded explanation before actually getting into what i personally am doing, but i feel like it is important to know and (i think) it's pretty interesting so hopefully you got something out of it anyhow.. SO! the morning i was doing my readings on active spectatorship for class, it just so happened to be the day after the timeline from the yellowjackets scripts were released, and there was a great deal of conversation about this timeline and particularly about jackie's birthday. this all seemed to me to be a confirmation that spectatorship, indeed, was very active. but the more i thought about it, the more it seemed to go beyond just active spectatorship and into a sort of "overactive" spectatorship.

this is something that i find to be most prevalent (at least from my own fandom experiences over the last ~9 years of being in online fandom spaces) in the yellowjackets fandom. never have i been in a fandom where people spend as much time picking apart every little detail and going to such great lengths to analyze each and every thing that is shown (or not shown!) on the screen. hence why i included questions on the form specifically about analysis and headcanons (i think fanfiction would be another interesting thing to look at, but i think inherently headcanons fit much more along the lines of analysis than a lot of fanfiction does! coming from a fanfic writer..Please don't take that the wrong way...i am a fanfiction lover).

so, to make a long story short, i want to look at (and write about) the ways in which the yellowjackets fandom takes active spectatorship to the extreme and turns it into overactive spectatorship through the analyses and deep conversations that are had about this series on social media spaces. it may not always seem like it, but fandom can be a legitimately important thing, especially within the spheres of theory that i'm talking about here. it can be incredibly illuminating in understanding the ways in which people interact with the media that they consume! and i think that the yellowjackets fandom is an immensely fascinating little slice of all of this, and (hopefully) this project can be something that people can get something out of and learn from.

i'm stupidly busy as the semester is starting to near its close, so this is just the beginning of a very long process, but i once again want to thank everyone who has already filled it out (and especially to those who have provided links for me to their analysis and headcanon posts!). and, if you haven't filled it out already and would like to, i'll link it again here. :)

[beingatoaster]

Thanks for the answer about the Tumblr backup, I had never heard of that :o I always thought about my Tumblr as a "may disappear at any time, we don't know". If you don't mind me asking, in what format is the backup? How can you open it if not with Tumblr itslef?

It downloads as a zip file that, unzipped, contains all the data for your posts: images and html files, which you can open in any browser! I'll take a couple of screenshots, it's easier than trying to explain the file structure. XD;;

This is the main folder, e.g. what I can open from my downloads folder. The 'media' folder is all of the images that have ever been in any of your posts (whether originating with you or reblogged by you). The 'conversations' folder contains DMs, which you can also open in a browser and read; because they are DMs and thus quasi-private I won't do a demonstration screenshot of what that looks like. But I will give you two screenshots from 'posts':

The HTML page there labeled 'posts_index' there ostensibly opens an index of your posts on your browser, but the links from it don't work. Classic Tumblr fail. What you want to do is click the folder called 'html', which gives you this:

The 'submissions' folder contains the unanswered submissions and asks in your inbox, each as its own HTML file. The rest of those HTML files are your posts! In chronological order, but otherwise a pain to sort through since that index above doesn't actually work. XD The point is, though, that they're there, and you can thus eventually track down any you want to look at. Then you open them in a browser, and they'll display like this, with the content but none of the Tumblr CSS:

(Sorry if this is an overly detailed explanation! I just keep getting posts across my dash about people not understanding how file folders and such work, and I figure it's better to over-explain than under-explain. I also have no idea if it applies to the method used by the person who reblogged the original ask with a different back-up method--I don't know anything about theirs, I just use Tumblr's own backup tool.)

[coldresolve]

Please engage with this anon ask in good faith. I know I'm almost repeating what another anon said but I'm giving my own opinion on this topic, and hopefully in a more concise way.

I personally think you're clashing with the whump community or being ignored by people who follow you on the torture apologia post due to a difference in how whump is seen by you and your audience.

For exemple, I don't know your instance on people who write rape erotica, stalking erotica, or kidnapping erotica. People who write this stuff to exclusively jack off are not writing it as a realistic portrayal of these topics, nor do I think they're rape, stalking or kidnapping apologists for writing the way they do. Hell, visit the yandere erotica side of Tumblr and you'll see that.

It's engaging in bad faith and not engaging with the genre properly to read this kind of writing and then accuse them of being apologists. 

Now the whump community, as someone who has been here regularly in the last few years, feels in it's majority as a non sexual torture porn community. With that I mean they write whump in the same way one would write a torture erotic scenario, except in a non sexual way. If you see how people talk about whumperflies you will see it's true. I'm not the first to point this out. 

I would say 30% of the community writes whump as a serious deep dive into torture and it's effects, 60% as a non sexual "kink" way, and 10% as actual kink. Engaging with this 60% of the community that writes almost to “jack off” in a way (and the 10% that writes it as an actual kink) and expect them to write what they do the way you, a serious thriller writer, does, it's almost like going at people who write dark, fucked up and unrealistic erotica and holding them to the same standards as realistic romance. It's just not how it works and it's engaging with the work in bad faith. 

Unless you also think the people who write that sort of fucked up erotica should also stop and only write it realistically. Then my bad, I don't agree but I hope you have a nice day and find people who agree. Because I don't think you will find them with the people you're trying to reach and you will keep getting frustrated because you're not being heard.

I don't think I will change your opinion due to you being dead set on it, but I hope you at least give it a thought instead of just saying "don't engage with my content if you don't agree" while also asking yourself why you're being ignored.

the very first sentence of your ask seems to accuse me of taking all your buddies in bad faith, and as a guy who famously can’t spot the blatant irony in a move like that, i guess i’ll just take it seriously. after all, some people are reading what i’m saying right now with the notion in the back of their heads that i might be deliberately dishonest or unreasonable, and i’ve barely even started talking yet. so thanks

it’s not that i don’t engage in good faith or aren’t willing to change my opinion if i’m presented with a genuinely better viewpoint, it’s that people who disagree with me just tend to have such shit non-arguments, so goddamn consistently, i’ve started being able to predict the bullshit before it even registers as conscious thought to them – and then they keep fucking proving me right. you included, not to muddy the waters or anything cough, payback

being kinda mean about it is not the same as misconstruing someone’s position, for the record. so with that in mind, here’s 2100 words of, genuinely, good faith arguments mixed with the occasional jabs of a guy who refuses to infantilize people over how little they’ve thought things through. 

i know i literally just insulted your intelligence - which was in response to you sewing doubt about my credibility, idk if i mentioned that part – sarcasm aside though, the bar is genuinely set so low here, and you are one of the few people who seem to at least know how to construct something that looks like a proper criticism. your formatting is terrible, please don't do 3 paragraph breaks in a row all the time. it's got some structure issues, you repeat yourself a bit, and go on tangents that aren’t quite connected to anything, but, with that said, all the necessary elements of an argument are in there. credit where its due, and all that

to prove to you that i’m responding to you in good faith, im gonna start out by giving you the strongest interpretation of the core of your argument as i can, in my own words, so you know exactly what i’m responding to. you called your version concise, prepare for something concise-r. and let me know if i misunderstood anything.

by criticizing whump writing for the use of torture apologia, i am ignoring the conventions (aka the set expectations between writer and reader) set by whump as a genre.

a core convention of whump as a genre is that it is not meant to reflect reality.

therefore, my criticism of whump writing is not applicable.

the rape kink subgenre of erotica features rape apologism. (i know you mentioned a bunch but let's just stick to the rape kink for the sake of brevity)

a core convention of the rape kink subgenre is that it is not meant to reflect reality.

since i criticise the whump community for torture apologia under the same premises, i must also be critical of rape kink content.

now for the acknowledgement of common ground: i agree with points 4 and 5.

moving on. i’m gonna start upfront by addressing a part of your ask that i didn’t mention above, which is the similarity you drew between the physical response to reading whump (“whumperflies”) and the physical response to reading kink (sexual pleasure). not to burst your bubble right off the gate, but the reason i didn’t include it as part of your argument is that it literally means nothing. any genre of fiction can do this. music does it. eating tasty food does it. a roller coaster ride does it. having sex does it. i don’t know why people treat this like some kind of valid argument in and of itself, what you’re describing here is the release of endorphins. this is enjoying things 101, welcome to the human experience, it’s not all bad.

on to my response to your actual argument, which is where things take a turn: i don’t believe that “whump” can be classified as a genre.

the following fucking 1000 words - no im not kidding, im on good faith behavior here - are fundamentally tedious. it goes into some literary theory and some longwinded explanations as to why i hold this opinion, and also lays out my views on the rape kink stuff. skip to the red part for my conclusions if you’re not interested in the nitty gritty.

the term “genre” is hard to pin down, and you’ll find different definitions of it online. i think you, anon, would agree that a core part of a genre is that it’s a category of media that has specific socially developed conventions, which is another way to say that writers expect their readers to approach their work in certain ways, and readers in turn expect the work itself to feature certain components. for the latter, this can mean things like tone/mood, subject matter, motifs, composition, conflict type, writing style, or what have you. a genre is defined by the many different expectations, or conventions, that we have for it. convention is a fancy word for "an agreement about how this thing is usually done".

let’s take mystery fiction as an illustrative example, because the mystery genre is pretty straightforward. a mystery writer expects the following things in their reader: curiosity and a desire to know more, attentiveness, a willingness to ask questions, and to be skeptical of the information that is given. in turn, the reader expects certain things from mystery fiction, especially the following sequence: an event occurs, the protagonist wants to find out whodunit, the mystery is unraveled little by little as the protagonist looks for clues and gathers evidence, until it is finally solved with a big reveal in the climax of the story. the central driving factor within every mystery is the protagonist’s aim to find out what happened and why. this is inherent to mystery fiction. you cannot write mystery without it.

this is just to give you a solid grasp of what these conventions usually look like. now, uh. i’m sex repulsed, so please excuse my lack of familiarity with this next bit.

the genre of erotica has the following conventions: something sexy is gonna happen, and i think that sums it up. the most important expectations tied to erotica, i would argue, are actually held by the author, towards the reader. being fully aware that the sexiness of things is exaggerated for the sake of atmosphere, erotica authors expect their readers to understand that their work might not always reflect what reality will be like, and that it serves the sole purpose of a sexual fantasy. in the case of kink/fetish content surrounding rape, this expectation increases exponentially – so much so, that just to be absolutely sure everybody’s on the same page, a lot of these writers go out of their way to remind their readers out-of-text, all the goddamn time, plastering disclaimers all the fuck over their writing and bios, that their writing does not reflect reality, that no, your typical rape victim isn't secretly into it, that consent is always mandatory, etc.

it is my strongly held passionate belief that this is ok lol. erotica is not for me but i have nothing against people with rape kinks, like you're implying. it’s about the very, very strong nature of the conventions associated with this genre of content, which is evidenced most clearly by the many serious discussions about rape and rape apologism that happen out-of-text in these communities, that makes me pretty confident that they’re fully aware that they’re engaging in fantasy. just so we’re clear on that.

while we’re on that topic: no such discussions happen in the whump community in regards to real life torture or torture apologia, at least i’ve never seen it happen. and i find it more than a little bit sussy that ive gotten this many asks over the last few days asking me if brainwashing is real or not. this staggering lack of awareness about what torture can and can't do should be concerning to people, but for some reason, it is not. your overall approach to the subject of torture hasn't given me the impression that you guys can tell fact from fiction, that you are even aware of where reality ends and where the fantasy begins. but i digress.

you can see solid proof that whump is not a “genre” just by going through the community tags here on tumblr. the genres that people use and engage with through fandom here vary from superhero movies to medical dramas, historical fiction, action thrillers, horror, musicals, anime, fantasy, etc. the list goes on and on. and i get that genres can overlap, and that you want to counter right now that someone writing “fantasy whump” is a combination of two genres, but… then there’s all those gif blogs. and what do we do about those? this type of fandom whump doesn’t create content in this one unifying “whump genre” – it pulls content from a wide breadth of genres and staples that same exact label on it, whump.

here's what that means: emotional or physical distress.

that’s not a genre. it’s a subject matter.

and it includes all the so-called “subgenres” too, by the way, from the hurt/comfort (drama, action, often romance) to pure torture porn (thriller/suspense/horror) to more in-depth explorations of trauma and recovery (psychological realism) to pet whump (ffffucking magical realism) to sickfics (drama, medical drama, often romance). the expectations you have as a writer and as a reader, the socially determined conventions, are fundamentally inconsistent among all of these different genres. its why you guys kept fighting – im assuming you still do, its been a while since i checked – over what the fuck “whump” even means.

if you as a reader approach a recovery arc in the same way you do the torture porn, both of which are whump, you’re going to get bored very quickly, because your expectations and the expectations set by the author are incompatible. you're expecting something quick-paced and intense, something extreme and graphic. instead you're met with a much slower pace, a subtler form of character exploration. the dialogue is more subdued. the writing style is different. the scene structure is different, the story beats are different. there’s an attention to inner conflict, to symbolism and metaphor, to long sequences of dialogues and silences between characters which just aren’t there in the torture porn. the tonal shift alone should give it away easily. this is because these two things come from different genres. the subject matter - emotional or physical distress - is the only common thread here.

homicide is a subject matter, and how it is portrayed and explored depends on the genre it inhabits. a homicide in mystery fiction sets up a mystery, some puzzle to solve. homicide in slashers is extreme and gory, over-the-top, served for shock value. homicide in psychological fiction isn’t sensationalized in the same way – it’s grim, somber, something you have to think about. depictions of homicide in comedy or parodies tend to serve as gallows humor. in action – well, those are the bad guys, they fall over, and that’s about that.

homicide as a subject matter serves vastly different purposes across genres, and because of that, it can't set up any expectations in the reader, other than the somebody-gets-murdered part. it doesn't have a convention as to how it will be presented or portrayed, what the mood is going to be, which part of it you're supposed to be paying attention to as an audience member. subject matters have no conventions. they are just "the thing you are portraying."

and this is also true for emotional or physical distress. your only expectation is this: someone feels emotional or physical distress. that's about all you're gonna know about a work from reading the word whump alone - the rest comes from the genre it inhabits. whump itself is just not a literary genre.

the first point of your argument hinges on the idea that whump follows a specific set of social conventions. i disagree with that, for the reasons i hope ive managed to lay out well here. whump has no conventions, because it is not a genre.

and if you think im wrong about this – plot twist, that doesn’t even actually matter. i made you read all of this shit for nothing. this was all just an excuse for me to trick you all into my needless literary theory nerd shit, get got

see, the second point of your argument hinges on the idea that a fundamental convention set by whump as a “genre” is that it is not meant to reflect reality. but you provided me with an interesting statistic, and while i recognize that you literally just pulled it out of your own ass as a way to give yourself a vague air of empiricism, i just want you to keep in mind that you yourself brought this up. 

I would say 30% of the whump community writes whump as a serious deep dive into torture and it's effects, ...

do you see why i think people keep accidentally proving me right? this “serious deep dive into torture and its effects” by a staggering third of whump writers, according to you, sounds an awful lot like they are aiming for realism – something that should not be possible within the conventions of this “genre”. what the fuck, huh.

i’m just guessing here, so take this whole paragraph with a grain of salt, but this reads to me like someone who made that convention absolutely the fuck up as a last minute resort to absolve themself from the criticism of apologia, specifically, because they saw this convention work for rape erotica. which is why y’all bring that particular subgenre up so much in this discussion. but because you don’t actually view this “it’s not meant to reflect reality” convention as fundamental to whump in any capacity, in the same way it is with rape erotica, well. it just slips out, yknow.

not to mention that thing i said about you guys not even being able to distinguish fact from fiction in regards to torture, regardless of the many, many posts yall make about "realism in whump" - which also kinda dulls your point. but whatever anon, you made my argument better than i could’ve

your third point hinged on the validity of the first two, which i’d like to think i’ve demonstrated, in good faith, at the very least are based on questionable premises - one by me, and one by yourself. the sixth point is null and void for the same reasons.

alas, i have to conclude that your writing is not absolved of my criticism quite yet. A for effort tho. at least i had fun with it

[trilobi-te]

Chipspeech Twitter Archive Update

Hi I should have done this months ago.. I do not know when (or if) I am going to finish that website lmao. So I am just going to share my notes from Google Docs. Should be easier to read than the original posts and helpful as a starting point if anyone else decides to make a website :3

The documents are all on commenting mode so feel free to make comments to bookmark things for yourself or write your thoughts or whatever. Under the cut I have put some formatting notes.

It's a folder, each year of Twitter posts is its own document (I tried to compile them into one but it lagged too much). There is also a document with all of the original Tumblr posts (from the accounts I could find, no tags yet but I will go back and get them eventually, also no dates but they're all from 2015), and one with the bios from the official website for ease of access.

The formatting is a little (a lot) weird and there are probably pictures that need resizing/transcription but I figured it's better to give people access now. The text is small (to keep the page count as low as possible) so you will have to zoom in.

It goes by day, organized with a bulleted list. The top level bullets are each character that tweeted that day. The second level bullets are original tweets/retweets by that character. The third+ level bullets are comment threads under that tweet, the organization here is inconsistent but imo still readable (if you think something needs an edit for clarity let me know and I'll fix it).

For each character's section of the list, normal text is that character's tweets/comments. Italicized text is anyone who is not that character. If it is labeled with unitalicized text, it is that character/important account (e.g. the official Chipspeech account), otherwise it is a fan. I also included some labels and/or clarifying comments for Vocaloid producers I like, they're not central to the story though

I got rid of the line breaks within the tweets when copying them down because it was easier to format. Sorry about that. Idk how to fix it other than going through everything again but it doesn't take away from the story so I'm leaving it for now.

If something came from a website other than Twitter, I tried to provide the link (unless its content was deleted). I did my best to transcribe the Clyp posts that were not deleted.

If something is a text-only retweet, it is marked with [retweet]. If it includes an image, it's probably a screenshot of the whole thing. I only included retweets that felt story-relevant (so no miscellaneous cat pictures, Apple-related aesthetic images, etc.), but if people really want it I can go back and add the rest.

Deleted tweets are noted with [deleted tweet], with the characters they came from if applicable. Idk how Twitter works but it the person in the thread is replying to the username of a certain character, I assumed it was that character's tweet that had been deleted. If something says [deleted Dandy thread], assume there is a deleted Dandy tweet in between each of the listed tweets (or another character, but it's usually Dandy). That was meant to be a temporary time-saver and I've gone back and fixed the ones I've found, but there's probably more I accidentally skipped.

Anything not in English is translated in a comment. Except the X-Sampa (I will fix that sometime but there's not much of it). Also it was done with the built-in Google Translate feature so it may be a little incorrect. Unclear pictures and whatnot also have clarifying comments. I can add more clarifying comments (or image IDs) if anyone needs them.

I tried not to include any unattributed fanart but there are some that I forgot to copy the handle for (I am also fixing these when I find them).

As for any future updates to this folder as a whole, I kind of want to go back through each account's liked tweets to see if there's anything funny in there but idk when that will be. That would probably be its own document.

Honestly I should have given everyone access back in June.. oops. If you have any questions you can put them in a comment on this post (or reach out to me another way, idk). As I mentioned before, feel free to use all of this as a starting point if you're making your own website.

I'll pin this post so it's findable in the future. Also sorry for disappearing for several months (it will happen again).