Bruce was being watched. Again.
He didn’t know where it was coming from, and that was a problem at the moment. He was hosting another gala, intent on putting on the “Bruice Wayne” mask for the public. None of his children were attending, unfortunately, but everything was going okay so far.
Then he kept feeling a cool breeze on the back of his neck. His hairs stood on end, and he shivered randomly. Someone mentioned that he looked cold. But Bruce wasn’t cold. He was Batman! Batman is never bothered by something stupid like the temperature. It just felt like there were multiple pairs of eyes staring at him from all directions.
Bruce tried to catch whoever it was, but when he looked, there was no one there. He even made extra laps around the room, easily slipping between socialites and chatting his way through the crowd. He scanned the tables, checked the stairs, peeked outside, and even snuck at glance at the chandeliers for fuck’s sake! There was nothing. No cameras, no lingering eyes, nothing.
Bruce could feel his heartbeat quicken. There was something in the room. Something dangerous.
Eventually, the source of his anxiety came to him. The gala was small, being in the middle of the off-season for social events. It was a relatively quiet gathering. Still, Bruce flinched when someone tapped his shoulder from behind when he was making another waltz around the room. He turned, and was faced with a boy no older than 16, but no younger than 14. It was hard to tell his age. He wore an ill-fitted navy suit and scuffed dress shoes. His tie was no where to be seen, and the boy had a platter of finger foods balanced in one hand. He hadn’t heard anyone approach at all.
What made Bruce freeze, however, was the fact that the boy looked exactly like the portraits of the young Thomas Wayne that were hanging innocently in the Wayne family home. His crystal blue eyes seemed to glow in the overhead lights as they bore into Bruce. It felt like the boy could see his soul. The air was more chilled than it had been all night, and everything in Bruce’s mind was screaming DANGER!
“Y’know…” Bruce’s breath caught in his throat as the boy spoke. His midwestern accent was heavy, and the boy took a slow moment to polish off a baked feta bite before continuing. “You look like the kinda guy to have a secret basement. The bloody kind. Nice party, though!” With that, the boy disappeared back into the crowd, taking the cold air with him.
Bruce never got out a word.
———
Danny sees all the wandering souls and shades attached to Bruce Wayne, and comes to the obvious conclusion that the billionaire is a serial killer.
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here's the thing. jack is a gentle person who was forced into being tough and strong and fierce by circumstance. his hands are calloused and his knuckles are bruised when he picks flowers to display in the window by his bed and when he wipes away tears from a younger boy and when he braids the hair of a little girl who can't do it herself. and davey is a fierce, angry person who has learned to be gentle and quiet and pleasant by circumstance. he isn't used to being in a fist fight but when he stops trying to be otherwise, his words are sharp and pointed and direct even when he's offering comfort and kindness and wit. jack has never had the chance to just be gentle without fighting for it. davey has never allowed himself to exist without a filter.
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I think that Levi's following orders without questioning them, in a way being a dog of orders, is one of the biggest disrespect to himself.
Even Erwin asks for his opinion and thoughts before asking him for something, but Levi has lost his self-respect to the point that he only wants to be ordered around. Before Survey Corps he was really a free individual who could make his own thoughts, choices, decisions. Survey Corps really destroyed his mental health to the extent that he lost his personality, his self-respect.
Because of the way Isayama portrays him, fans/shippers/fanartists always portray him as humiliated, dragged on the ground next to they favorites.
Particularly by reducing him to a "promise" by injuring him and throwing him away in S4 just because an important side character died, he throws away his huge potential.
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When I came across that "joke" from Tav to Quill and Z'rell's comment (plus Halsin), I had to take a minute to process what happened. Gale might be a bit silly and eccentric but he's the kindest, sweetest and most passionate character in that party. No wonder the poor man has deep insecurities to solve, so many people reduce him to an easy target! Ofc one of the side effects would be overconfidence and ambition as a defense mechanism. He's obv lonely; only Tara and Morena ever loved him for him.
his eccentric nature might be a part of it. he is loquacious, outgoing, and doesn’t see the point in hiding his enthusiasm. he is considered to be the weird one. naturally, wizards in general being seen as somewhat squishy and physically weak might also add to it.
personally, i really don’t like the implications of the (widely considered) autistic-coded character being the one who faces the most ridicule by far by other characters and fans (and larian) alike.
some might disagree with me on that, but i don’t find it funny by any means either. mostly it just makes me feel bad. “he deserves it. cocky, arrogant, hubris-ridden wizard needs to be taken down a peg” like he isn’t… y’know… already at his lowest. it also disregards the fact that much of his bravado is part of his carefully curated Great Wizard of Waterdeep™ persona that he has skillfully adopted to mask his general feeling of being defective. being fiercely proud of your skill and knowledge and being doubtful of having something truly worthwhile to offer are mindsets that can coexist. according to fandom, gale is either secret hubris incarnate that is only waiting to be unleashed upon the world or pure baby that can do no wrong. instead of a character that is just as flawed and traumatized as all the others, but no less deserving of genuine love.
to me, the constant ridicule just reads as further feeding into his deep-rooted insecurities and his belief that he (as gale, the person) isn’t someone who holds inherent worth. it really, really doesn’t sit well with me.
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Deacon def knows all the companions but as like another person.
That guy Hancock spent a day hanging around with that had the oddest pair of shades? Deacon. The humble merchant Danse asked for directions and sent him on his way? Deacon making sure the BoS wasn’t close to RR HQ. That rando heckler that would weirdly know how to personally throw Cait’s opponents off their game? Deacon.
It’s like he’s not intentionally following them, not all of them at least but he’s stumbled into some and decided to be a little mischievous. This goes doubly when if they already encountered the Soul Survivor and just hadn’t traveled with them yet.
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