#bruce gets several heart attacks when he first sees this

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Merfolk Edition!

Jason Todd is an Orca!mer who drowned when the Joker tied him up at the bottom of the ocean.

Tim Drake, an octopus!mer, stole his place in Bruce’s pod only a short few lunar cycles after.

Jason is going to make him pay.

aka. The Titans Tower Au but instead of just beating him up Tim is in serious danger of getting eaten.

[battymommastuff]

The Accident (Pt. 2)

Batmom x Batfamily Prompt: At least you did something...

TW: VERY DARK!!!!

Part 1

"She isn't making any progress. We've tried everything from electroshock therapy to simply giving her a journal to write her feelings." 

You could hear your personal therapist talking to your husband...well ex husband by now. Your marriage died the day he put you in this damn place. What place? None other than Arkham Asylum. At first he could live with what you did, he understood what you did. Everyone understood why you did it, but what happened after...he couldn't live with it. 

Bruce watched as his wife shut down. You became a shell of what you once were. The warm, welcoming mother that everyone knew you to be died. Something cold, and sinister was left in her place. The Gotham criminals began to fear you more than Batman himself. Batman held back...he pulled his punches. You...you didn't. You couldn't. This life, the scum of Gotham took your son away from you. How could Bruce just sit there and be okay with it? 

Everything came to a boiling point when he walked into the manor with his newest sidekick, Tim Drake...

"Y/N, this is Tim Drake. He will be assisting us in our...work." Bruce said and rested a hand on the young man's shoulder. Instead of a warm greeting or a smile that one usually got when meeting Y/N Wayne, Tim got a stone cold glare. 

"Jason's grave isn't even covered in grass, and you're already replacing him?" You growled as you stood from your seat on the couch. Tim flinched at your tone, and moved back a bit. He heard such good things about you. This wasn't how he was expecting things to go. 

"Good job Bruce, get another kid...let's see how long he lasts before he's in the grave too." You spat before storming off. That night, you chose to go on patrol alone. While Bruce and Tim were doing their own thing, you were spending your night alone. As you sat perched on a ledge, watching the city that you've grown to hate, all you could think of was Tim. How could Bruce just move on so quickly? You weren't surprised. He spent most of that night scolding you and lecturing you for nearly killing the Joker. Now the bastard was in a coma, and you wished he was dead. 

The sound of a woman screaming knocked you from your thoughts, and you looked down seeing the said woman blocking her young child from an attacker. You don't know what happened at that moment, but something snapped. You weren't going to let another mother's heart be broken, or the child's. No more families were going to be broken because of scum like this. You blacked out again, and this time you came to be pinned to the brick wall by Batman. Robin was hovering over the man you'd just beaten. He pressed two fingers to his neck then looked at Batman. Robin shook his head, and then looked at you. Instead of horror, or remorse...you smirked, "At least I did something." You whispered to your husband. 

Now here you were, wasting away in the cells of Arkham. Eating food that was stale, and cold. It made you miss Alfred's cooking. Several inmates tried to gang up on you, and quickly learned why that was a bad idea. 

"The doctors are beginning to fear her. She's got a rage inside of her that can't be tamed. Whatever set her off...doesn't seem to want to fade away." Your therapist looked over at you, chained to the table that you were forced to sit at. Bruce clenched his jaw as he looked at you. You'd lost weight, and your face was sunken in. You looked half dead. 

"Then we'll find something new. I'm not giving up on her. If you can't help her, then I'll have to find someone who can." Bruce snapped. He knew that keeping you here would kill you in the end. You weren't made for a place like this. He wanted you home with him and Alfred. It was where you belonged. 

Little did he know that the solution to his problem was going to be solved...

It would be several weeks later, close to when visiting hours would end. You were sitting in your cell with your back facing the door when you heard it open. 

"Mom?"

That voice made your entire body go cold. Yes the tone was deeper, and a little gravely, but you knew that voice. The Gotham accent...it couldn't be anyone else. Slowly your head turned, and you nearly fainted when your eyes met the ones staring back at you...

To be continued...

(I know most wanted a pt.2 with Jason's reaction, but I got a little carried away lol. I promise I will make a pt.3 with his reaction!)

[klbwriting]

Broken Prism

Chapter 2

Fandom: Red Hood

Pairing: Jason Toddxfemale!Reader

Warnings: none

Summary: Jason dies and then comes back, tale as old as time

Jason had heard stories about what happens right before you die. You see a white light, hear angels singing, everything goes black, you see your life flash before your eyes. What he didn’t know was that the only thing that you really thought about as you lay, body aching, blood pooling around you, was your regrets. He could see the bomb ticking down nearby, 3, 2, just before the 1 it felt like time stopped, his brain trying to process everything inside it at once before clocking out forever. He processed each image going through his head, not being able to stop his dad leaving, save his mom from ODing, times he couldn’t control his anger, times when he should have spoken but instead stayed quiet. It was maddening realizing how stupid he had been over the last 17 years. But the worst, God the worst images were the ones he had of you.

Jason hadn’t stopped watching over you after that hospital room visit. You hadn’t known but he had found you, when you were working your high school job, when you were sitting in the library, wondering why that boy a few tables down kept staring at you. You would put your book away and go to speak to him and Jason would be gone. He watched you when you walked to school, forgoing getting in early from patrol just to make sure you were safe. He should have used that time to talk to you, find out your name, your interests, your heart. Why had he let Bruce get into his head and stop him?

It hadn’t taken long for Bruce to figure out why Jason had hesitated, why he had followed the girl to the hospital after the attack at the high school. He had thought at first the boy just had a crush, it was the first time he had saved someone his own age and Bruce remembered how he had followed his first rescue around for a time, wanting to make sure they stayed safe. However, it didn’t stop. After a month of Jason losing sleep, skipping trainings, Bruce had went snooping. He talked to Dick who tried to skirt they question but he couldn’t keep lying and told Bruce about giving Jason the flashcards. That complicated things. Bruce tried to talk to Jason, telling him he should stop following this girl, wait until he was older and more controlled before seeking her out. Jason had rebelled at first, claiming he could do both, that he was in complete control, until he had been following YN home from an after-school activity instead of patrolling with Dick. Batman had to fly in and keep Nightwing from getting a broken skull and not just a broken arm. Beyond the guilt he felt Jason also felt pain from getting worked over by Bruce for so long. Extra drills, extra studying, extra sparring, his body and mind were drained completely for nearly a month. He stopped following you around, held himself back. He expected to be able to get older and find you again. He didn’t expect Joker and a crowbar and a bomb.

His blood was red, he knew that, but now he wished he didn’t. As he lay watching that timer tick to 1 he wished he couldn’t see that the numbers were red. Wished he didn’t know what any of these colors were. But instead of black and white he just saw the red and when the timer finally clicked 0 he saw the brown of your eyes before seeing nothing at all.

The rainbow was back. Green, lots of green, browns and blacks, rocks, red and orange and yellow, fire, bronze, the hand currently helping Jason out of the warm, acrid water pit he was in. He stood, legs shaky, feeling a blanket being put on his shoulders, which was nice considering he was naked and now could see several people in the room. He wasn’t sure what was going on, his brain muddled entirely. He remembered pain, almost nothing but pain, but there was something else, eyes, brown eyes, when he remembered those, he felt peace for just a moment before the pain came back. “Jason Todd,” he heard the woman who had pulled him out of the pit say. He didn’t look at her, wasn’t sure who she was talking to. Her hand grabbed his chin, and she pulled him to look at her. “Jason Todd, that is your name,” she said. He stared at her and then saw green, teeth baring as he moved without thought, throwing kicks and punches, anger surging through him. He was able to get past a couple of the other people in the cave before he felt a prick to neck, then he saw nothing again.

Unlike death, sleeping allowed Jason to dream. These dreams were violent, angry, a bat diving and soaring while he tried to attack it. It hurt him, it healed it, it hurt him again. There was some kind of blue bird, diving at him, sometimes helping the bat attack him, sometimes scaring the bat away. Jason wanted to spread his red wings and fly away, get far away from the bat and the blue bird, but he felt trapped, something holding him to the ground. His cries were drowned out by the screech of the bat as it came in for the kill.

Cold water rushed over Jason, making him sit up fast, head spinning. He tried to attack again but was immediately put under by whatever had subdued him the first time. By the time they woke him up again he had realized he needed to contain whatever this green rage was the filled him. When doused with he ice water this time he sat up and looked around slowly, observing. He didn’t know why but he paid close attention to the tiny details, the way someone stood, how the cave was laid out, exits and rocks that appeared loose in the walls. He knew, muscle memory, what to do if he needed to escape.

“Jason Todd,” the woman from before said. He looked at her, the name registering this time. Yes, his name was Jason Todd. He was from Gotham. He was Robin. Some pieces were starting to come together in his head.

“Where am I?” he asked, voice hoarse and scratchy. He didn’t remember sounding like this before. He cleared his throat but still felt the burn and itch, like he was growing new vocal cords. He coughed.

“You are with the League of Assassins, my father, Ras Al’Ghul, has decreed that you be brought back and returned to the Batman,” the woman said. Jason visibly recoiled at the mention of Bat. No, not the Bat, no more Bats.

“No,” he said. The woman looked at him hard, seemingly seeing through to his very soul, before she nodded. She said something in a language he couldn’t identify to another in the room. This person approached, helping Jason to stand and led him deeper into the cave, emerging on the side of a mountain. He was guided up roughly hewn steps to a large compound on the top of the mountain. The person was silent as they showed him a room and left him, locking the door. It was small, change of clothes on a very uncomfortable looking cot, but he wasn’t sure he had a choice at the moment, so he changed into the clean clothes and settled in to sleep again, his dreams still of being a red bird with a bat on attack.

Jason spent the next five years with the league of assassins, training, learning, and carrying out missions for their creed. He moved up their ranks but never reached the top, always a few rungs down on the later because he couldn’t always control the rage he felt. If he saw green, then everyone suddenly stopped working towards the leagues mission and just started working on getting him subdued. He was a liability until he could get it under control. That was, until Ras Al’Ghul himself met with him in his study. The room was finely furnished which always itched Jason the wrong way. Why did the man who said they were working towards a greater world for all, be so rich and mighty above his league? Jason also didn’t understand why Ras kept getting brought back from the dead. Ras had been in the pit several times, he knew the rage that Jason had, had been personally training him to control it, however, Ras didn’t seem to control it as much as he mastered it. He was able to use the rage to help him reach his goals, but he told Jason to contain the rage, not use it. It was hypocrisy and Jason hated it.

“Do you know why I have asked you here boy?” Ras asked, standing behind his desk, hands folded behind his back, appearing casual. Jason wasn’t an idiot, this wasn’t casual, there was a knife back there ready to go through his heart if he would step out of line. Jason shook his head.

“I really don’t,” he said, folding his arms, defiant. He wasn’t afraid of death anymore. He couldn’t imagine why he would be. He already had seen his regrets move through his mind in slow motion, he didn’t have a lot more to add. Nothing was worse than his regret of not finding you when he had the chance, so why would he be afraid now?

“I believe it is time for you to leave our ranks,” the master said. Jason wasn’t all that surprised. He was dangerous to anyone and everyone. He still had his triggers and if he was being honest, he didn’t try to fight against them in the field. He didn’t really care who lived or died, except for children. No matter what, children had to survive. “Do you have any argument?” What was the point?

“No,” he said, letting the word fall between them. Ras nodded, unsurprised, but disappointed. Somehow, despite death and years with assassins and barely any decent memories Jason remembered that face on Batman…Bruce…Batman…Bruce. He took a breath and stopped his mind racing. Jason didn’t wait for anymore from Ras, turning and heading to get the few things he had. He found them already by the door of his room, packed and ready. Least he knew where he stood here. There was no fanfare to his departure, no one even looked his way as he walked out into the world.

He hitchhiked to the nearest town, finding the first bar, wanting to drown himself in anything he could before he found what to do next. He glanced at the TV, not really listening to what the broadcast was saying, focusing only on the two caped crusaders soaring on the screen. Batman and Robin. But…he was Robin. Batman…Bruce…Batman, had replaced him? The glass shattered in his hand, but he barely felt the cuts from the shards. He threw down the little bit of cash he had and headed out. He had something to take care. He needed to get back to Gotham.

[wrencatte]

I don't know about you, but that "I'm so scared." panel is haunting me....

Please excuse all the weird errors of all kinds. I once again wrote this on my phone in tumblr drafts...at work (😅😅).

I won't know how many words this is until I can get it in a doc and clean it up for ao3 posting

Bruce closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, steeling himself.

Dick had a tendency to go high. Jason's tendency is to go low. He tucks himself under tables and in small spaces that adults usually can't fit into. The Cave has a lot of places to hide under (and has a lot of places to climb onto, high into the sky where fear is just a memory and your parents bodies seem so far away) and Bruce has scoured the more obvious places before finding this one: the work table, where he dismantles and fiddles with gear.

And where Jason has taken to messing with his own gear, absolutely fascinated by the intricate mechanisms that made it all work. The kid is an absolute gearhead along with his love for literature, several books on different engines and vehicles have started to migrate to his room.

So Bruce crouches on his knees and peers under the table. The table is deep for toolboxes and a set of drawers on top, and Jason has managed to shove himself in the darkest corner, curled up in the smallest ball possible. He's hit a slight growth spurt in the last few months, leaving his elbows and toes sticking out from the shadows. His face is tucked into his knees. His breathing frantic and hitching - but still so impossibly quiet, like he's spent years teaching himself to cry silently and Bruce's heart breaks all over again at the reminder

(This isn't the first time Jason's cried since he came to live in the Manor, and every single time Bruce never knows unless he's right there when he starts or if he walks in on him mid-sob. And Bruce hates it.)

Bruce's broad shoulders block the light, and Jason flinches into a tighter ball, toes disappearing in the shadows.

"Hey," Bruce starts then stops and doesn't continue for a long moment. Jason stills like a rabbit caught in a fox's gaze, barely perceivable quivers. He exhales slowly. His knees ache on the worn thin rug that's meant to keep dropped things from rolling away. He settles down, legs crossed, hands up on his knees to show he's unarmed, though who knows what Jason's actually seeing. "Want to come out from there?"

Jason shakes his head.

"That's alright," Bruce assures him even though it can't be comfortable down there. "You don't have to so anything you don't want to do."

Jason's next breath is the loudest thing he's ever heard since he got hit with the fear gas. A new batch, more potent than the last. Half a dose could give an adult a heart attack. Jason got one-eighth of a dose via a broken mask and a second too late realization. Hell, they didn't even know he'd actually gotten hit until they made it to the Cave and Bruce turned around and he was gone, the analysis beeping behind him with the announcement that their current anti toxins would be ineffective.

He has a new anti toxin slowly being pieced together by a program and under Alfred's watchful eye, but that does nothing for him right here, right now, with Jason too terrified to make a sound.

Bruce doesn't talk much - he's never needed to - but he sits there and he starts talking. First about a case, of a long ago Rogue that had a funnier gimmick than most and did surface level property damage more than anything else - but eventually he found himself talking about the Justice League, about their unprecedented expansion, about various antics some of the newer heroes get up to.

He doesn't know if Jason's listening or even hears what he's saying. The boy doesn't uncurl. Doesn't make a sound. He hopes that he's breaking through the living nightmare somehow, but he also knows that hope doesn't mean anything.

But he keeps talking anyway.

During a lull, when Bruce's mouth is dry and his throat hurts and - Jason shifts just the tiniest bit. He peeks out from behind his knees, eyes glittering in the dark, and stares at Bruce with pupils blown wide from fear and drugs, chin trembling. Bruce feels like the kid is looking into his soul and finding him lacking, but he opens his mouth anyway and croaks out,

"I'm scared," soft and wavering, thick with tears and the type of brokenness that lends itself to helplessness.

It's a little bit like a confession. An admittance he doesn't want to make but he has no choice but to make it.

"I know," Bruce says gently. "We can fix that, though. It may seem like it, but you don't have to be scared forever."

He holds out a hand, warm and inviting in that same way he did towards the kid sitting across from him at a rickety outdoor picnic table, one who'd just finished inhaling a subpar batburger and fries, one who'd just fifteen minutes ago had even caught jacking the batmobile's tires and had the moxie to whack Batman in the stomach with a tire iron.

The kid then had eyed it warily. And didn't take it, just took a sip of his drink and quietly agreed to let Batman set him up in a warm house with warm meals and clean clothes and the most comfortable bed ever with the 'person I trust the most' - which isn't Bruce Wayne, but one Alfred Pennyworth.

The kid now eyes the hand warily. And takes it. Lets Bruce help him from under the table and lets Bruce fold him into a tight hug, his face tucked against the man's neck, breaths sobbing and hitching.

"I'm so scared," Jason repeats.

"Not for much longer, Jaylad. I've got you."

"I'm so scared," he says out loud, but there's no one around to hear it.

Jason's both grateful for it and collapsing inward when there's no assurance that'll all be over soon, that it won't be forever, that dad's got him. He drops to his knees with a gasp, heart thudding so hard he can feel it in his throat.

He's alone.

He's alone and there's a fear in his chest, invading his lungs, burrowing in his bones. It's going to be there forever. Forever and ever until he dies from it because this isn't a new life, this isn't a gift or love. This is a death sentence. Jason puts a hand to the ground to heave himself up but the thought of walking onto those streets makes him gasp and choke and the fear cycles in on itself from fear to adrenaline to fear fear fear. Never ending. Ramping up bit by bit the more Jason breathes and trembles and, fuck, he's terrified.

Jason scrambles backward on his hands until he hits a shelving unit that rattles. It feels like a knee to the spine, holding him down, driving in, and he sobs quietly. Quiet like he always is when he cries because there's never been a point in being loud about it. Being loud just got attention and attention was always bad.

And he's back to where he was fifteen minutes ago before Marquise - Scandal - showed up and dismissed him and walked away before he could explain. Knees tucked to his chest, arms around his legs, trying to convince himself to stand up, to just go already. His chest heaves. The space gets humid from his tears. He feel like he's going to pass out, dizzy and nauseous.

He's too exposed like this, Jason thinks. Realizes. Fears. (And that fear feeds back into itself, and he hates, hates this so much, but that's not enough. The hate isn't enough to override it.) The room is half trashed and covered in rubble, and he's a whole foot taller than he'd been as a kid, but there, right there -

Jason fits there. Here, under a metal table that has his mask sitting innocently on top. It got wedged against a wall, propped up slightly by some concrete. He tucks himself under it and stays there.

And thinks about - nothing. Because if he thinks about anything - like Batman across the rickety picnic table, offering him a warm house and warm food. Like Batman scolding him for doing something reckless and scaring the shit out of him. Like Bruce sitting on the floor, so patient and understanding and telling him that this fear is only temporary.

Like Batman throwing batarang and the thick spray of blood. Like Batman throwing a punch hard enough to shatter his helmet. Like Batman ripping the insignia off his chest and dragging him across a rooftop.

Jason can't help the whimper. He tips over to lean against a table leg and gasps around the vice around his lungs.

He won't make it out of here. He'll hyperventilate himself into unconsciousness and someone will find him, wearing most of his Red Hood suit, and that person will kill him. Or they'll call the cops and he'll end up in Arkham and he'll die there. There is no normal life. No identity in Metropolis for him. Even if he did make it there, he'd be dead at the first villain attack, unable to defend himself as his aderenaline surges and the fear sets in.

He never expected Bruce to be this so fucking naïve. Cynical idealism? Sure. But not this.

"Hood?"

Jason doesn't acknowledge his name, or the voice. Purposeful footsteps crunch on debris, announcing their path from the hole in the wall to Jason, getting closer and closer.

And closer.

Until there's a shadow of legs blocking the scant light. Until the figure crouches down and there's Nightwing, peering under the table with wide, concerned eyes. He's not wearing his domino, Jason notes almost distantly. His body doesn't feel like his own anymore for all that he can feel the cool metal table against this temple and the rough feel of his pants in his clenched fists.

All there is, is the fear.

"Jason," Dick says with his own kinda fear.

He's reaching under the table, not holding a hand out for Jason to take, for Jason to choose for himself - and the man doesn't know the significance of that, but something in Jason settles anyway at the stark difference.

Dick goes all the way, cupping Jason's face like he does with them all - a pinkie under the jaw for the faint hint of a heart beat, a thumb across the cheek for comfort, his palm to lean into and let him carry the weight. And Jason does lean into it, trembling and shuddery, wet eyes closing.

"C'mon, let's get out from under here." He guides Jason forward until he's spilling into his brother’s arms, face pressed into his shoulder. The Nightwing suit is too tight to grip so Jason wraps his arms around Dick instead, clinging to him tightly. Dick hugs him back just as hard, rocking back and forth.

"I'm scared," Jason whispers - an admittance he has no choice but to make.

Dick hugs him tighter, pulling him into his lap like he's a child. Under a difference circumstance it would be comedic - Jason is broader and taller than Dick - but right now he's just small.

"I've got you," Dick says gently.

He doesn't know why, but that juat makes Jason cry harder.

[jinxquickfoot]

So I finished my Age of Ultron rewatch. It's been a couple of years since I last saw it, and here are some random thoughts I had on it:

Things I will maintain I like about this movie:

It has some of my favorite jokes in the MCU, and they're usually the little moments. The little nod of validation Rhodey makes after getting a laugh at his "Boom! You looking for this?" story. Clint telling Steve he's no match for Ultron and Steve replying with, "Thanks, Barton". Clint's "Yeah, you better run" after Pietro has long since disappeared with Wanda, there are loads of them.

I like Vision, Wanda and Pietro. Despite being secondary characters with not a huge amount of screen time, Wanda and Pietro feel like real people with real backstories, and Paul Bettany is wonderful the first time we see him as Vis.

It's the only movie we get to see the Original 6 hang out as friends.

I love that Fury randomly shows up in the middle and is like "let me make a sandwich while we discuss how not to let the world end also by the way hi Tony I really care about you"

Other casual appearances of other MCU characters, something that is so lacking Phase 4 onwards. Sam being at the party and Thor going to Selvig for help makes the world feel lived in.

RDJ's never dropped the ball as Tony but his performance really stuck out to me here, god he's good

Steve and Thor have multiple moments of teaming up and working together, what an underrated duo

Hulk vs Iron Man suit inside an Iron Man Suit fight

The Avengers do their best to evacuate Sokovia before Ultron attacks, which does not excuse the amount of damage caused there, but I do think is a plot point everyone forgets about (myself included)

And things that annoy me (skipping over the stuff everyone talks about like the Natasha/Bruce plot):

I hate how Joss Whedon writes Steve, both here and in Avengers. He only feels like Steve when he's being given jokes, otherwise he is so self-serious and stiff, the core of Steve is his heart and it is nowhere to be found in this movie

The movie spends so long setting up character arcs that feel promising and have no payoff. What is the point of Laura telling Clint the Avengers need him if he's going to retire at the end of the movie. Steve has several references to finding home in a way that doesn't go anywhere (Until Endgame, I guess). Don't get me started on Natasha.

It's trying so hard to have a theme but it never says anything unique. Bruce, Tony, Natasha and Vision all refer to themselves as monsters. Ultron decides that the Avengers are the bad guys. Steve has a speech all about proving they're not the monsters Ultron says they are. Based on WHAT? What is the message of this movie?? That the Avengers are better than the evil AI who wants to kill everyone?

(I half-feel there was a previous draft where Clint was their heart, or something, or he died and they were like whelp Phil Coulson 2.0 let's go avenge him, and the random pieces of that are still floating around the script with nowhere to go)

NO ONE is remotely concerned enough when their friends are getting hurt (maybe just the hurt/comfort lover in me, but still.) Natasha comes across as the only person who cares when Clint sustains a life-threatening injury. No one seems to be bothered that Natasha is being held captive by a psychotic supervillain. Tony shows more emotion over a fictional future where they die than when someone is actually in danger.

They really could have had a premise where they weren't allowed to access technology at all and could have gone retro with everything and they didn't and that just feels like a wasted opportunity. Clint and Natasha digging out old spy tech. Steve being like "Yes! This is familiar! I got this!" Tony making genius inventions out of tech from fifty years ago. Come on, it was right there.

[hopechan16]

MY PERSONAL BATMAN UNIVERSE (1)

I've mentioned several times before that I wrote a fanfiction and it was extremely long. Besides, that's a bit the principle of my blog, it's my personal Batman universe, even if sometimes I mention the official comics.

I would like to publish it one day, I would, but as I want it to be well written and well translated, it won't be right away. That said, I wanted to give you a summary, so that you understand a little better what I draw, because ultimately I don't draw a lot of fanart strictly speaking.

Summary Batman: Through the Looking Glass.

Batman is sent into a magic mirror that the gods created thousands of years ago, and which will confront him with a reality that can either save him or lose him forever.

In this mirror his whole world seems reversed. He's not Batman and he never lost his parents.

There he meets Jack Napier, the Joker who never fell into the toxic vat, who became a comedy star and a popular actor, all thanks to a great evening where Bruce Wayne and the little actor were able to link their destiny.

He discovers that he is a wonderful man and the most disturbing thing is that he ends up realizing that he is the person of his dreams, the person he always needed and who Gotham needs. But now, once back in his reality thanks to a relentless and retrospective investigation of his subconscious, in the company of Jack….Batman tries to pretend nothing happened. His reason pushes him to continue his life, and he tries to reassure himself as best he can in his habits, except that he will end up making serious mistakes. In truth he can no longer get Jack out of his head. As much as he wants to forget everything and stay lucid, it doesn't work. Forced by events, he will have to face his worst enemy, whom he no longer sees quite as before. Well, he's going to break down, think he's going crazy, until he realizes that the key to his problems may have been simply in front of his eyes all this time. Did the mirror send him a message? For the first time he really seems to see Joker as a weakness, a human being, more than a creature, at least this is the first time he objectively admits it to himself.

If Batman sees in his reversals a spark in Joker, Joker sees himself very distraught but not for very long, since he sees here the opportunity to dream of destroying his adored Batsy, he bets it with Harley. It will be his most Machiavellian trick, the Bat eats out of his hand and his heart will be broken forever. Above all, Harley sees Joker as blatant denial and bets that Batman will put an end to this doom clown once and for all. The bet is launched.

Well, Batman is not fooled, he suspects the Joker's jokes except that now he is determined to believe in him, or rather to believe in Jack, convinced that it is indeed this man he must save from the clutches of the Joker. But a how?

Sans follows Batman's various maneuvers to free the man in his life from a curse for which he blames himself and a Joker who pursues his evil designs, until memory problems plague our great detective... where Is the Joker card hanging in the batcave? To overcome his sudden memory lapses, Batman searches through his files and comes across old articles of his parents' deaths, but nothing seems the same anymore? A young boy is found in crime scene photos? Who is this boy ? He had never seen it before! Nothing is going right anymore, Batman feels lost, he is starting to believe that he is still in the mirror, or is it this crazy clown who planned everything? Mad with rage, he attacks the Joker, against all the promises he had made about him, right at the moment when the latter was almost convinced to abandon his future crimes. Too disturbed, Batman collapses, a great light invades him.

He's actually in a hospital, Gotham Children's Hospital, and he's the one who's hospitalized.

His parents died recently. Harley, his psychologist, takes care of him; he appears to suffer from serious personality disorders. While his friend Jack tries to keep in touch with him despite this imaginary world that he invented to protect himself from the reality that terrifies him...

After which the story is built in two stages: 1) in Batman's universe, and the other in Bruce's reality.

In total there are 10 major chapters: Which deconstruct all the issues of the Batman universe, with the survival of Gotham at stake in the face of relationships: Batman/Joker, Batman/Bruce, Joker/Jack, Batman/Jack and Bruce/Jack. And of course ! All this against a backdrop of investigations and intrigues of all kinds, that’s Batman! If most of the story is centered on Batman and Joker/Jack, the fact remains that I take care of all the most cult characters: Cat, Ivy, the batfamily, The Mad Hatter, Justice League, Two-Face, Maroni, Falcone, the Penguin, Killer Croc, in addition to the characters I invented for the story.

[magentagalaxies]

Kids in the Archive: Episode 1

as most of you know, recently bruce mcculloch let me help organize some kids in the hall related artifacts that had been sitting in his storage for the past 30 years. i was even able to keep a few original scripts from kith projects, including iconic sketches, unaired sketches, and an original script for "brain candy" then titled the drug.

i've decided to start a little series going through some of these scripts and sharing the biggest changes between script and screen. today's sketch we're looking at is Armada's Future from S5E21, aka the Armada finale sketch

while "armada" wasn't my favorite recurring bit on my first watch of the show, i've come to really appreciate these sketches, especially as i've become privy to the interpersonal and creative dynamics of the troupe in real life. bruce himself has said armada was often a way for them to satirize their own creative process dealing with each other's egos (and the fact that some people would never "arrive having eaten"), and while these dynamics have certainly evolved over the years, there is something almost prophetic about this final armada sketch, which i will get into more later. but for now, let's get comparing.

The Opening

For the most part, this sketch's opening is the same, though the video version's dialogue is a bit more streamlined. In this version of the sketch, prior to the angel reveal the band is playing "trampoline girl," but otherwise the beats are the same.

The Angel

As this stage direction states, Chris Robinson would be nice - and that's exactly who they got! For more information on how he found his way to playing the rock and roll angel, see bruce's youtube video above.

the angel segment is largely similar, but with a missing beat. in this version of the script, we never cut back to the band in their 60s again, and as a result never seen bruce's character's heart attack and several iconic lines are lost because of that.

The Ending

this script includes an extra ending beat where the previous events are all revealed to be a daydream of young-kevin in 1994

overall, this script has the characters much more self aware of their own faults, so it's clear why these changes were made in the final version. there's doubt in their convictions here, versus the trademark "but do we make it?" optimistic in its pure obliviousness. i prefer the ending they went with on the show. even though by all accounts armada is not going to make it, the characters' refusal to believe that is infectious. ending on the question "but do we make it?" somehow leaves you asking it as well, even with all the evidence presented.

what i love about this sketch is that all these years later, that's a question still being asked by the kids in the hall. while all 5 have gone on to have very successful and creatively fulfilling careers, there's still a sense that every new thing the troupe has done from this point forward, whether it's brain candy or death comes to town or the amazon revival, has still been a question of do we make it? while most mainstream comedy icons can coast on their star power to shield them from these creative risks, the kids in the hall embrace that idea of breaking new ground in everything they do even if it's not always successful. this question of "do we make it?" is a force of creativity, and even when the answer is clearly no, sometimes the question itself is enough to drive you forward.

[lazydoodlesandfanfic]

Helping Through A Breakup (Tony Stark X Male!Reader)

Characters: Tony Stark X Male!Reader

Universe: Marvel, Avengers

Warnings: Drinking, mention of break up

Request: What about a stark x male reader. Where the male reader is Tony’s crush cut tony didn’t tell him because he was in a relationship with a girl but one day when the male readers girlfriend cheats on him the reader gets drunk and is all sad and tears and the team try to calm him down so tony takes him to his room and cuddles him till he calms down and you decide if you wanna continue it or end it there :3

Tony had been hyper aware of the buzzing of his phone in his pocket as he gave his speech during the meeting he was in, and as he sat back down and listened to others. If it was anything else, he’d have his phone out, trying to figure out who was messaging him and why, since everyone knew where he was and what he was doing- but this was a meeting with several internationally important people and he was vouching for the team to still have unhindered access to and around their territory for missions. It was important, and so he had to be on his best behaviour, and that meant less attitude and not acting disinterested by being on his phone. However, as his phone continue to buzz, with him being able to tell the difference between a text and a call, he knew this was probably serious, and each time he felt it, his felt his heart drop a little more, until eventually the meeting came to a wrap and as soon as he was out that room, he had his phone out, and he had to scroll to see all the messages. 

The first one he saw was from Bruce, and it immediately told him a lot. ‘I know you’re busy, but have you heard from Y/N recently?’ Alright. They didn’t know where you were. Hadn’t heard from you in a while, probably just a miscommunication. That was until he scrolled to the next text past several calls from Steve, reaching a text from Natasha. ‘Tony, call me when you get out of that meeting, it’s urgent.’ 

At that point, he didn’t bother reading the others. Natasha rarely texted him, only with important stuff, and so he didn’t waste time in calling her number as he made his way down the stairs to the bottom floor. She quickly picked up after only two rings. “Tony, how fast can you get back here?” 

“What happened?” He responded with his own question as he was already calling a suit to come get him. 

“No one’s heard from Y/n since yesterday afternoon. I’ve already checked his home- he hasn’t been there for a while it seems, it doesn’t seem like he slept in his bed last night, and his phone is here.” She explained to him. Nearly every word she said set off a red flag in Tony’s brain. You were bubbly and talkative, it was unlike you to not talk to people for a long amount of time or to not let people know what you’re doing if you were going to be unavailable. You hadn’t told anyone about you going somewhere that would be over night, and furthermore it made no sense for you to leave your phone behind. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. 

“Have you got into his phone?” Tony asked as he got outside, looking up at the sky, seeing his suit coming in for a landing, immediately attacking itself to him, and he took off immediately, connecting the call to the armour. 

“Yeah, his last actions on the phone was from the night prior, just before midnight. He’d sent a text to his girlfriend telling him to not bother calling him, but nothing in the conversations prior shows anything to what he was talking about, so it probably happened in person. Clint’s tracking him down now. The only other person he talked to before that is you, Tony.” She explained, and he felt several emotions in those few short seconds.

Firstly, he felt his chest hurt a little at the mention of your partner. You’d been in a happy relationship for nearly as long as he’d known you, and it seemed that right as he had caught feelings for you and was ready to ask you out, you brought your girlfriend to one of his parties to introduce them. She seemed nice, very bubbly and social, and she had been attached to your hip the entire night. At this point Tony was waiting with dread for you to tell him you were planning to, or had proposed. His next emotion was worry about that text. What did it mean? What happened? What the hell happened between you two to ask for her to keep her distance when you seemed so close? Next, he felt panic as he tried to recall his last communications with you.

“We were on a call late afternoon, around 7pm I think- for about an hour. He um… he told me he had some stuff to do- some plans. I asked what but he told me nothing big and was vague but he didn’t tell me where he was going and if he was meeting anyone- all I can think is maybe a date with his girlfriend?” Tony suggested in a rushed tone. He just knew he needed to get there quickly and find you even quicker, before a thought came to him. “He has a favourite restaurant down the road called Garcia’s- check there for any cameras that might have caught something.” He suggested.

“Alright, I’ll go check that out. Steve, Thor, Sam, Wanda and Vision are searching the area for any sign of him. I’ll call you back if I find anything.” Natasha hung up the phone, and Tony focussed on getting to your place to help look for you. His worst fear is that you hadn’t left on your own accord- it sounded extreme, but you were an avenger, and it wouldn’t be the first time one of you had been kidnapped, and he knew if that was the case, what probably came next after that.

He soon arrived on your street, landing just outside your home, and immediately let himself in to search for his own clues. “Friday, search for anything useful. Fingerprints, blood, anything strange and not evident to the naked eye.” Tony requested as he looked around slowly, his suit scanning the area as he walked through your home, soon coming to your bedroom, before it flashed, and focussed on something, highlighting it for him. He walked over, picking it up and examining it. It was a wrinkled up piece of paper, just missing the trash can beside your bedside table, and he opened it up, finding it was a handwritten letter. It was messy, scribbled, several words crossed out, and scribbles ultimately all over it, even ripping the paper in some areas, but through it all, Tony could read most of the words. The first was your girlfriend’s name right at the top, and right below it, your rambled rushed words. 

‘If you’re reading this, I think you know exactly what this means. I know. I fucking know about him. How could you? I loved you. I trusted you. How fucking dare you! I wish I never met you-’ 

Your rambles continued, fueled with anger and betrayal, and Tony could feel it in his bones, and he now understood completely. You’d caught your girlfriend, the woman you no doubt had planned to spend the rest of your life with, with another man. He didn’t know if this was something you’d known for a little while and sat on for a while, but all your actions pointed to you finding out last night. You found out, came home, wrote that letter, became too infuriated to finish it, sent that text, maybe packed a few things and left to cool off, forgetting nearly everything in a haze. It helped calm him to know that he could now rule out being kidnapped, but now it opened a new door to panic. It didn’t help track you down now, and it’s been hours. An entire night. You still could have met foul play, gotten into some sort of trouble. Tony thought long and hard. Where would he go if his partner cheated on him and he needed to cool down? It was a simple question with an obvious answer. “Friday, tell everyone to focus their attention on nearby bars for any cameras or sightings.” 

With the word out, Tony started flying to the bars a little further away than the ones the others were searching, asking for access to the cameras from the night before, if they remembered you, and when Iron Man shows up at your bar quite frantic, you answer his questions. However, after the 5th bar, he was starting to think he was on the wrong track. That was, until he got a text from Clint, asking him to go back to your apartment. He didn’t hesitate.

When he got there, he found Steve and Thor carrying you home with each of your arms around their necks, pulling you towards your front door where Clint was holding it open waiting for them. “What happened? Where was he?” Tony asked, retracting his helmet after landing, before his entire suit retracted as well, letting him walk freely to help them manoeuvre you into the building, starting to head up the stairs. 

“A small bar down some stairs, out of sight. I only thought of checking it because I remembered him talking about it a while ago. He passed out in a booth alone.” Clint answered. He noted the absence of Natasha, Wanda and Vision, and looked around briefly for them, and Clint spotted him looking. “Wanda and Vision are prepping in his room for him, Natasha’s gone to get more answers from his girlfriend.” Clint told him, before you mumbled loudly, but still they didn’t catch you. Everyone stopped to look at you, including Thor and Steve. Your head hung low, your feet practically dragging against the floor unable to hold yourself up, and everyone had presumed you’d drunk yourself unconscious. 

“What was that?” Steve asked you softly. You answered him, speaking up a bit. 

“Ex. Ex girlfriend.” You corrected him. Tony remembered the note, the note that led him to telling them to search for you where they ended up finding you. She cheated on you. “I don’t want to see her.”

“Don’t blame you. Make sure Natasha’s aware of that.” Tony asked Clint, who nodded, getting his phone out to message the red head as Steve and Thor carried on carrying until they reached your bedroom, dumping you in bed. Wanda came in from the kitchen with a tray with some snacks, some meds, a bottle of water and a hot drink. 

“He should probably get a bit of sleep to be more conscious before we get him to take anything, but he should have a  bit of water first.” Wanda recommended. 

“Someone should also probably keep an eye on him- he might become extremely ill as he’s resting and not be in a state to help himself.” Vision added as he always came into the room. 

“I’ll stay with him.” Tony immediately volunteered.

“Alright, if you need anything, let us know. I’ll go make sure Nat doesn’t have his ex pinned to the wall by the throat.” Steve told him, and everyone followed in Steve’s steps as they left the apartment.

With them gone, Tony let himself relax a little, letting out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping as he dragged his feat around your apartment to grab a chair from your dining room table, dragging it back into your room so he could sit and watch you. Tony wasn’t one to half-ass things, especially when it came to people who he cared about, and he really cared about you. He’d long accepted that he loved you, and that you were unattainable, and he’d grown to accept it, bite his tongue, and just be happy that you were happy. But now, that was not the case. Here you were, miserable, heartbroken, in the worst state he’s ever seen you. 

“R’ you still there?” Tony heard you mumble into your pillow, and he looked at you. Your eyes were still shut, and you looked like you were asleep. He wasn’t sure how you were still conscious, but he remembered what Wanda said, and he reached over and tried to get you to take the water bottle. 

“I’m here. Can you have a quick sip of water for me?” He asked, receiving a grumble from you, but you begrudgingly turned and sat up a little to take a sip of water, eyes still shut resulting in it taking a few attempts to line your mouth up with the bottle’s top. After a few gulps you sloppily handed the water bottle back to him, mumbling a thank you and slumping back down in bed, but not bothering to roll back over. You let out a long sigh. 

“What did I do wrong?” You asked in a whisper, mostly to yourself, but Tony heard you and frowned. 

“You did nothing wrong, Y/N. I think you’re anyone’s dream man. Anyone would consider themselves lucky to call you theirs, I think she just grew blind to all that and I promise you, she’s going to regret that decision for the rest of her life.” Tony assured you. You hummed at his comment, letting silence come over you both. 

“Hey Tony?” 

“Yeah Y/N?” 

“Am I your dream man?” You asked, a rather cheeky smile rising onto your face, though your eyes remained shut, and Tony could hear you were growing tired from your voice. Tony felt his heart get stuck in his throat at the question, but he cleared it quickly. 

“Yeah. You are. Now go to bed so I can ransack your fridge.” 

Hope you like it! If you have any questions, please send them in! 

*Not my gif

TAGS:  @klanceiscannon14 @marvelhoeingismyhobby-blog​ @bellamyblakemorley @dummiesshort  @freyathehuntress​ @abbybills22-blog​ @mutantjediavenger​ @theoraekensnotsosecretlover​ @alicedanganh @sleutherclaw @sleepy-coffee-bean @stawwpp  @rebellionofthecattle  @hello-love-youre-pretty  @courtneychicken  @graysonmalfoy @bellero @originalpottervengerlock @supernatural-pan @esoltis280 @lady-of-lies @lenaswritingandstuff @macbetheliza @mandywholock1980 @cdwmtjb8 @caswinchester2000 @determinedpines @huntheimpossible @automaticbakeryfreakshoe

[twistedtummies2]

Year of the Bat - Number 26

Welcome to Year of the Bat! In honor of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Richard Moll, I’m counting down my Top 31 Favorite Episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series” throughout this January. TODAY’S EPISODE QUOTE: “They’ll never slip past me again.” Number 26 is…Lock-Up.

While many of the great villains who appeared in “Batman: The Animated Series” – and, indeed, throughout the DCAU in general – were taken from the comics, there were quite a few baddies that were original to this universe. Some of these villains became so popular, they later were adopted into the comics themselves. Harley Quinn is, by far, the most well-known example of this, but she’s far from the only one: case in point, Lyle Bolton, a.k.a. Lock-Up. In his titular episode, Bolton is introduced as a recent new Chief of Security at Arkham Asylum. He gets his job done well: breakouts and other disasters in this home of the criminally insane have become increasingly rare. HOWEVER, after apprehending a recently-escaped Scarecrow one night, Batman & Robin soon realize that Bolton’s success is coming at a dangerous cost. At an inquest into his time as head of security, the inmates are at first too scared of confessing their fears…but finally, when Bruce Wayne suggests perhaps Bolton should stay on the staff for a while longer, they break their silence. It’s revealed that Bolton violently abuses the inmates, even threatens their very lives, whether they’ve done anything wrong or not. Enraged, Bolton tries to attack those who have singled him out…but is restrained and kicked out of Arkham, terminated immediately. Before leaving, Bolton makes a point that, before his arrival, Arkham was a revolving door for many of the worst people Gotham City has to offer. His methods, brutal and wicked as they might have been, kept the rest of the city safe. Upon being fired, Bolton decides to seek revenge on the ones he believes are TRULY responsible for all the chaos he’s tried to keep contained: “the gutless police, mindless bureaucrats, and coddling doctors.” He thus becomes the supervillain Lock-Up, hoping to bring his own brand of justice to Gotham City. Lock-Up is a great villain – and his episode a great story – because it taps into a fundamental question about superheroes, one which has been brought up many times, perhaps ESPECIALLY in the world of Batman: how far can one really bend or even break the law before they step over the line from hero to villain? Bolton is not someone who seeks power or money, but rather sees what he does as something that SHOULD be done: in his mind, he’s just helping to keep Gotham safe. Batman, of course, will take extreme measures (not AS extreme, but still beyond the norm) towards the same basic goal, and can be quite violent on his own terms. The difference, however, is that Bruce recognizes the value of human life: even when people are terrible, horrible people, they are still human beings, and considering the ones Bolton targets are also people who are mentally deranged, and are supposed to be on a path to rehabilitation rather than simple punishment, he cannot allow Lock-Up to do what he does. He certainly can’t allow it once Bolton decides to go after other people who, really, are not responsible for any great wrongdoing. In a way, I feel like Bolton is a great example of who and what Batman should NEVER be: Lock-Up is more interested in punishing wickedness, and takes sadistic pleasure in what he does. He is a cruel person at heart, despite his preaching of wanting to do what is just and right. Bruce is the opposite, and always should be: underneath his dark demeanor, past all the punches and kicks, he wants to help people find a better life, no matter who they are, something which the series touches on several times. Lock-Up is a nightmare vision of who Batman could have been, if he had not retained some semblance of humanity in his quest to avenge his parents’ murder; we don’t know why Bolton is the way he is, but I’m certainly glad Bruce didn’t end up the same way.

Tomorrow we move on to Number 25! Hint: “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like you to meet the great Batman! He’s here because he hasn’t got a clue!”

[freedvmrouge]

MYTH/FABLE.

fandom: dc comics.

character(s): jason todd, bruce wayne.

word count: 1,840.

tags & warnings: pov jason todd, post-doom that came to gotham, child trafficking (implied), prostitution (implied), homelessness.

summary: jason's being chased by child traffickers and takes cover in an abandoned apartment building.

masterlist.

The night is falling and Jason cannot get out of here fast enough. There are few things scarier than the pimps that keep trying to snatch him off the streets. A large, flying bat-like creature attacking you in the dark is absolutely on that list.

He's never seen the creature before, he doesn't even know if it's real, but he's not sticking around to find out.

He shimmies out of grasp and runs to the nearest alleyway. Getting shrouded in darkness might be his only chance of losing these bastards. It's light enough that he doesn't expect the big bat to chase after him. Jason's unsure what the bat's parameters for attacking are, but he's not going to risk it.

Shouts continue behind him as the pimp gets his minions to follow his orders. Jason's heart is practically beating out of his chest.

He keeps running as fast as he can. He slips and glides through the alleys and nearly crashes into a wall every time he turns corners. He doesn't even think, he just lets his feet take him where he needs to go. Knowing the streets of Park Row better than the back of his hand is the only thing really keeping him afloat right now.

When he finds a fire escape to a building that may or may not be empty, he doesn't have the time to second guess himself and starts his climb up. Scaling a building always sounds easy until he starts doing it, though. Gravity is always working against him, and he hasn't eaten enough to have the energy to go any faster.

Jason catches the sounds of his pursuers as they get closer. His breathing spikes and all he can think of is, "Please don't see me, please don't look up."

He tries to focus on getting in through the windows, but the first two don't budge and he's starting to lose hope. He might need to get up to the rooftop and then... and then, he doesn't know what he'll do. There are still several more floors to climb.

"There he is! Up there!" One of them screams, and Jason looks down on instinct to his dismay. They're definitely talking about him.

Please, please, please.

As he climbs another floor and tries the window, he starts to hear screams of agony from below. Jason fights his instinct to look. He needs the milliseconds. Then thankfully, fucking thankfully, a window on the sixth or something floor gives and he can quickly slip inside.

Jason continues to hear screams below, but their volume rivals the beating of his heart. He frantically looks for someplace to hide in the off chance that they manage to come up. He should probably find another empty apartment to hide out in, though. He can't think straight.

His breathing gets too heavy and he's starting to feel lightheaded. Shit. He recognizes this feeling. Jason fights himself from passing out, but as he crawls into a walk-in closet space, dusty clothes and all, he blacks out.

...

When Jason comes to, the pitch-black darkness startles him. He tries to remember where he is and upon feeling a dress shoe beside him, he breathes out a sigh. The door to the closet is still closed, too. No one has gotten in or found him. He's safe.

It'll probably be best if he finds another place soon. But he must say, this abandoned building isn't too bad a shelter.

Figuring that he probably won't be able to go back to sleep, he quietly opens the closet door. He should look for food, too. He's starting to cross that two-day streak and the chase took a lot out of him.

It seems quiet and safe when he gets his full face out of the door. But then he catches movement to the far corner of the room. The brief bit of light coming from the window he climbed through is just enough to see... the bat.

Jason can't help but yelp and push himself back into the closet. His back hits the door to keep it closed as if that's really going to help keep a probably-mutant bat creature. The creature is actually a real, living thing and not some myth created by scared, superstitious Alley folk.

Tears start to trickle down his cheeks as he thinks that this will be his last night alive.

There's a noise that puts the fear of something in him. It's similar to a whine, his delusional and malnourished mind believes. Then there's a bit of clawing or scratching against the door. He thinks he might as well get it over with then. This is a walk-in closet. He has nowhere else to go.

After taking a deep breath, he steps away from the door and stands there in the dark.

The clawing continues every few minutes, but the door never caves in. Jason knows for a fact that the bat is strong. He's seen a couple of aftermaths of its attacks before the police came. But the door never moves. It never opens.

At some point, he falls back asleep and wakes up to light shining underneath the door.

Bats aren't awake during the day. They're nocturnal and the sunlight is too bright for them to see. At least, that's what he remembers being told. He's not sure if that applies to this bat, though. He's not sure about a lot of things.

Jason peaks out of the room slowly and quietly. The light blinds him momentarily. But then he finds the room completely empty. No bat creature or anything. He swallows as he finally steps out into the room. He clocks the window that's still open and the room door that's also open. He's not sure if it was open all along.

As he gets closer to what he figures used to be a bed, he finds a brand-new packet of shortbread biscuits. Jason picks them up and finds that their expiration date isn't for another few months. He eagerly rips it open and starts eating a few biscuits. He doesn't know where this came from, but he's entirely too grateful for it.

He stays in the apartment for another half hour before leaving. He should find some odd jobs around.

What he didn't expect, however, was three dead bodies laid out in the alley below. It's the pimp and his minions. Jason swallows, pulling his head back in, and closes the window quickly.

Shit. If the bat's real, then... then that looks like the bat's work. The bat was also here last night. The bat didn't kill him.

Jason doesn't know what to think. Instead, he goes to find another way out of this apartment and tries to get as far away as possible.

Unfortunately, the universe has decided that now is the optimal time to run his luck. The bat hangs in the far, shadowy corner of the greater apartment space. It's not moving. It's just... hanging there.

Jason clutches his packet of biscuits closer to his chest just in case he needs to run. That's when he feels little indents on the packet. He takes his eyes off the bat momentarily to satiate his curiosity.

They look like bite marks. Like a dog's bite.

A whine comes from beyond him and he snaps up to attention.

The bat seems to stare right at him for a moment. Jason can't seem to look away either.

With a jolt, the bat lets go of whatever perch it found on the ceiling and stands upright. The pitter-patter of its feet hit the floorboards. Jason doesn't even realize that he's been backing up until the bat abruptly stops and tilts its head, as if curious.

"Are you gonna kill me?" He asks, even though he doesn't really expect an answer. Maybe talking to it will make him feel better. He doesn't know.

The bat leans forward and then roughly sways its head left to right repeatedly. Wait, what?

Jason furrows his brows and licks his chapped lips in confusion. Did the bat just answer his question?

"Do you... do you understand me?"

With less hesitation, the bat carries its head up and down repeatedly.

"Holy shit. Okay." He rubs his face aggressively, still in utter disbelief that he's in this situation.

He looks at the bat again as it steps a bit closer to Jason. He flinches and the bat stops moving. In fact, the bat steps back a step.

Then, surprisingly, the bat seems to sit down. He's not completely sure how it works. It's still really dark here with only just enough light from the other room to see. He's just amazed this is happening at all.

Jason doesn't know what to do. The bat is still big enough to loom over him. It's bigger than any person he's ever seen, though, so that's not saying much.

"Can... Can I call you anything?" The bat continues to stare at him. "Do you... maybe have a... have a name?"

The bat slowly nods its head.

"Okay, uh, how do we do this... Maybe if I... I can say the alphabet and you can tell me what letter it is?"

The bat nods again, a bit more eagerly.

Jason proceeds to go through the alphabet five times, stopping after every time the bat taps on the floor. What he ends up with is, "Bruce."

The bat nods again, a bit more eagerly.

Jason proceeds to go through the alphabet five times, stopping after every time the bat taps on the floor. What he ends up with is, "Bruce."

This seems to excite the bat so he says the name again, a bit more confidently. The resulting yip makes him smile.

Don't get him wrong, the bat still scares him, if only due to its size and strength. But if he takes those things out of the equation, he's starting to get used to its presence.

"Oh, my name's Jason, and uh." He looks down at the crinkling his hand is making with the packet of biscuits. He thinks about the bite marks and looks back up, eyes wide. "You gave me this, didn't you?" Bruce nods. "Thank you. I was really hungry."

Bruce comes closer and Jason tries his best not to flinch this time. He only marginally succeeds, but he tries to offset it by smiling at Bruce.

Once they're practically side by side, Bruce slowly raises his arm. Jason watches intently but doesn't say a word. The wing soon covers his entire being, leaving a mere crack of light. His heart is beating out of his chest, but a second passes and then two. Bruce doesn't do anything but keep his wing there. Jason realizes that he feels warm. When was the last time he felt warm?

Jason ends up sitting down, hugging the biscuits close, and Bruce simply readjusts.

It doesn't take long before he's dozing off once more. This time, he feels a lot more safe than he's been in a long while.

[dairy-farmer]

okay random idea but-

Janet as a notorious gold digger, she hangs around rich people events and lets guys hit it raw, she's the original baby trapper in Gotham

and maybe Bruce is a mix of drunk and depressed but he knows he has to keep his cover (or could also be pre-batman!) so he just... indulges when a hot lady is luring him to a side room

and maybe it even happens a few times! Bruce doesn't even need to bother learning her name, he just catches a glimpse and knows the deal

idk if Bruce or Janet will disappear first but either way, by the time Dick is Robin, Janet has dyed her hair (trying to escape her reputation?) and settled down with Jack while Bruce is busy redefining his life, etc

this is really all leading up to Tim as Bruces bio kid eventually taking his mother's place as Bruce's party slut

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay but say jack dies early, unexpectedly. janet traveled alongside jack both as a partner and as a trophy wife which she was happy to do because she got to see more of the world than she ever would stuck in gotham.

jack gets sick or maybe has a surprise stroke or heart attack. he IS old...er. much older than janet. she's in her mid 30s while jack was in his early 50s. quite the age gap but she didn't mind (especially given how he'd showered her with lavish gifts and made her promises he always followed through on.)

janet is sad. of course she is. her once upon a time sugar daddy and husband was now being flown home to gotham in a casket.

and things are...complicated. financial wise.

jack didn't leave a will. sure janet was his wife and normally everything that was his was now hers but jack wasn't even cold in the ground before every half cousin, distant aunt, or childhood friend were all crawling out of the woodwork claiming jack had left them this or that.

a lot of the money gets drained just paying the legal fees. janet's safety net is holding on by thin ropes because she was never in charge of the finances! this was never her job!!

jack was kind to her, cared for her. more than any man ever had before.

she's battling with the grief of his death plus now being in charge of a large estate plus now being the only parent left to a young child.

janet knows she's not capable of managing the company or the family properties. she wasn't a corporate executive like jack so she puts her trust in drake industrie's CEO. phil marin.

that trust is misplaced. a few months later and the IRS arrests phil and several other executives. they seize assets and freeze nearly every account janet has.

she's lucky. lucky that the news is far more preoccupied with something going on about the batman than to care about yet another corrupt gotham business.

janet protests. she knows jack wasn't dirty. every dime he earned was earned honestly. but it seemed he put his faith in the wrong man as well because phil marin was nothing but a no good rat who laundered money for the mob in his free time.

janet would likely never recover those millions of dollars. not unless she could account for every single sale and prove it was earned legally.

janet is desperate. she knows she won't have enough money to support her lifestyle or that of her child.

a decade ago it wouldn't have been a problem. a decade ago janet could've gotten into any major event and gotten what she needed from anyone who was there.

but a decade ago she was in her twenties. a decade ago her body was tighter, slimmer, better.

she's aged past her prime. even though jack would always tell her about how gorgeous she was she knew he'd only married her because she'd been the only woman who understood any of his archeological rambings. her degree certainly helped in that aspect, lord knew it never did in anything else.

tim's private school tuition fees have increased since the previous year. he's going to need a new set of uniforms for the school year plus the cost of dorming there.

janet can't afford a private driver anymore, nor a gardner, or a housekeeper.

janet certainly can't drive him, she's never even had a license before.

that's when she recalls who their neighbor is. she's never given him a second thought. not after jack proposed to her the night they met.

she knows who bruce wayne is, knows the kind of man he is.

most importantly. she knows what he likes.

tight little bodies and soft little tits that peeked out the top of a sweet heart neckline dress.

he liked fucking pussies raw and he liked cumming deep inside moaning girls without any regard for the conseqeunces.

janet looks at tim sometimes. she looks as his dark hair and blue eyes. she thanked her lucky stars that she'd started going through a 'black is back' phase when she met jack. ever since then she'd taken to periodically dying her blonde roots.

jack had blue eyes and janet had black hair. together they could've plausibly created their sweet timmy.

her tim who was just as small-statured and cute as she'd been. he definitely took after her all soft jaws and big eyes with long lashes.

janet's suddenly empty bank account is not public knowledge. what is is her husbands recent death given the influx of general sympathy cards she gets in the mail as well as flowers arriving weeks too late.

gotham high society has weekly parties for whatever reason.

bruce wayne is spotted in at least half of those.

if janet had any other option she wouldn't be doing this. but every other man she'd been with before jack were either very much married or uninterested in someone like tim.

but bruce wayne is a freak if the rumors of him with his kids are believed.

tim alone should be scratching that itch he must have inside him.

so janet moves forward with it.

she spends their limited funds on new clothing for tim. tight strappy dresses that hugged the soft slop of his body and cupped his little tits beautifully.

she tutored him in things bruce would like.

she was surprised to learn that her tim had something of an...interest in bruce.

she'd call it a crush but the look in his eye was far too devoted to be the fleeting feelings of a young boy.

janet sprays her perfume on tim's slim neck, rubbing it in just the right spot where bruce would buried his nose as he bottomed out inside her son.

maybe janet is a sick woman. disgusting for knowingly setting her child up to seduce and become the toy of the man who is likely his biological father.

maybe janet's ambition from her youth poisoned something in her. made her the kind of person who would do this without a second thought.

then months of tim attending nightly parties pass and tim returns to her one night, makeup streaked and half stumbling. bruce wayne is going to be covering tim's tuition the coming school year, he's heard about how janet is going through some financial issues. he'd also be more than happy to drive tim to school every morning! he'd be more than happy to in fact!

janet notices dried white stains on tim's shirts and pants when she does laundry. she notices that tim has taken to wearing the skirt version of the uniform when school starts up again. she watches him bend down to tie his shoelaces one morning and sees how he's not wearing any underwear.

bruce wayne is fond of timothy drake is the thing that spreads through the circles. they're often seen together at the parties after all.

janet finds out that some out-of-state branches of drake industries are still churning away and need her signature on a few things.

tim tells bruce and he instantly messages janet, volunteering to take tim for the week. after all tim is a good kid. well-behaved and sweet. bruce would be honored to take him off her hands.

some part of janet should be horrified. it should be disgusted and sickened and desperate to chase this man away from her child.

but then she looks down at the email with a hotel booking made for her, a first-class flight ticket, and a number of activities she could do that would keep her out of gotham for longer than a few weeks.

nobody would understand if she said anything.

they wouldn't get it.

because ethics don't matter when you're just trying to survive.

[themculibrary]

100k+ Masterlist

part two, part three

20 questions (ao3) - bevioletskies gamora/peter T, 118k

Summary: Wasp has a new competition in store for the students of Avengers Academy, and there’s money involved. So obviously, Peter and Gamora have to pretend to be a couple in order to win. Wait, what?

Anthony of Asgard (ao3) - RenneMichaels loki/tony M, 109k

Summary: After several years of being housed in Stark Tower as a state prisoner of Asgard, Loki is recalled to Realm Eternal. Devastated Tony is now minus a lab partner, wingman and a snark buddy for movie night. Pepper has moved to the west coast and married, SHIELD is doing some crazy shit and with the exception of occasionally seeing Bruce, Tony doesn’t have much interaction with his former team mates. He wonders how it is possible to feel so lonely in a city so full of people. However he's and engineer and a genius... he can fix this. All he has to do is convince Queen Frigga and Odin All Father to go along with his plan. - Sequel to Queens Grace but you do not have to have read it to follow this story. I wish you would, but it isn't necessary. COMPLETE

blondie (ao3) - luckybxrnes bucky/clint, steve/tony, wanda/natasha, pietro/peter T, 188k

Summary: when james buchanan barnes and clint barton meet for the first time, it ends with clint in a dumpster and a broken hearing aid.

maybe it wasn't his best idea to yell at another assassian and try to fight him on a rooftop.

eight years later, clint is a little smarter and james is trying his best to be okay.

Captivated (ao3) - missbecky steve/tony M, 281k

Summary: When Tony sustains a life-threatening injury, Steve takes him to a world where magic can heal any wound. But their happy ending swiftly becomes a nightmare when slavers attack, and Tony is captured and taken away. After months apart, they are finally reunited, but the quest to save Tony is only just beginning.

Catching Lightning in a Bottle (ao3) - sabrecmc steve/tony M, 120k

Summary: College student Tony meets janitor Steve at MIT and they fall blissfully in love, until Howard happens and things fall apart. One divorce paperwork snafu courtesy of the ever-helpful Jarvis, and ten years later, Tony has to get re-divorced from Steve.

This does not go as he imagines.

Or, the Sweet Home Alabama AU that no one--well, okay, a few of you--asked for.

Cold Hearted (ao3) - Xythia loki/tony E, 132k

Summary: Sometimes the best defense is indeed a good offense. Which means, if you ask Tony Stark, that you should give the most Machiavellian, twisted and ruthless bastard you've ever met every reason to act in humanity's best interest.

Deep in the Heart of Me (ao3) - Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar) steve/tony E, 244k

Summary: Veteran single dad Steve runs a tattoo shop. Pepper arranges for Tony to get that tattoo he always wanted, and he winds up with the mother of all crushes instead. Jumping out of airplanes is one thing, but love requires real courage. Steve struggles with letting someone into his life. Tony tries to keep his heart intact while Steve works on his issues.

Craving a realistic depiction of a romantic relationship featuring PTSD, mental health issues, and characters who discuss their problems? This might be for you. No magic fixes here but a happy ending is guaranteed!

Grow To Be (ao3) - Sororising sam/bucky M, 110k

Summary: Sam flops back down onto the bed, shoving a few of the pillows behind his head and upper back - there’s way too many for one bed; if you multiply that by thirty bedrooms there must be -

“I can’t do math when I’m drunk,” he says mournfully. “Bucky, come here and help me do math.”

Bucky lets out a small laugh. “Bet you say that to all the girls.”

Sam doesn’t know how to unpick that sentence. He isn’t even going to bother trying; he just waves his arm around in Bucky’s general direction, hoping that he’ll make contact eventually.

I'll Keep You Safe Here With Me. (ao3) - sara_holmes bucky/clint M, 110k

Summary: Yes, Clint is avoiding the other Avengers. No, he does not want to go back to New York. But then again, he didn't exactly want to be kidnapped by the Winter Soldier either. Really, he just wants to go back to bed.

i would do anything to see you smile (ao3) - fyeahnatasharomanoff (MykaBeringWells) steve/natasha E, 124k

Summary: Natasha has been a straight A student since elementary school. All the teachers at her school know her, and know what to expect of her - only good things. So when she learns she will have a brand new teacher for AP Lit that year, she sets out on the first day to introduce herself … and what follows is not a life either of them ever thought they’d find themselves living, but they wouldn’t change it for the world.

Join the Club (ao3) - HashtagLEH pre peter/wade T, 143k

Summary: Homeless and mute after everything Peter has been through, he somehow makes friends with Deadpool, as Spiderman. And then he meets the Avengers, as Peter.

Or, alternatively: “Spidey and Deadpool: the Mute and the Motormouth” (a title by Deadpool).

leave the gun on the table (ao3) - Myrime M, 185k

Summary: Tony meets his soulmate under the worst possible circumstances. It is not just a kidnapping gone wrong. It turns out Steve and his gang picked him on purpose and they want some personal revenge. If only he had managed to say the words written on his soulmate's arm before they threw him back out into the streets.

Nameless (ao3) - AvaKelly bucky/clint M, 101k

Summary: A gun is pointed at him before he can even move from his position, the Soldier's metal arm steady in its aim. Clint sighs.

"Nemo," Clint says. "It's tattooed on your wrist, right here," he lifts his right hand and taps his left index finger where his palm ends.

The Soldier's eyes widen. "How do you know this?"

"I put it there."

peter's stars (ao3) - IronPengu, parkrstark steve/tony T, 175k

Summary: Steve and Peter lose their apartment and are kicked out on the streets. Steve has to juggle between jobs to earn whatever money he can, take care of his son while resfusing to let him realize how much they're trouble in, and keep them warm and safe on the city streets in winter.

So, he really doesn't have time to date the billionaire that flirts with him everyday as he buys his cup of coffee. Even if he did, he can't let himself fall for the man. Because if he knew that he lived from a backpack and showered in a public bathroom there's no way he'd still want him...right?

Start Here (ao3) - howlingbuchanan (penmarks) steve/bucky, sam/bucky M, 110k

Summary: "Tell him you will never know any better. Pretend to understand why that isn't good enough."

or

An exploration of grief and trauma through Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson, who also happen to be accidentally, absolutely, and unconditionally in love.

Stetsons and Schoolteachers (ao3) - NotEvenCloseToStraight steve/tony, bucky/natasha, clint/sam, pepper/happy E, 136k

Summary: Alpha Sheriff Steve Rogers doesn’t know what to think of the new school teacher in his small town.

Omega Tony Carbonell is a quick witted, sharp tongued, sarcastic Omega with a butt that won’t quit– and a temper that won’t quit either.

Every attempt the Sheriff makes to get close is met with rolled eyes and snarkiness, but finally Tony gives in a little bit and the pair spends a few moments together that leaves the Alpha panting, desperate for more.

But there’s a layer of secrets beneath the Omega’s attitude, and the more Steve pushes, the more Tony pulls away.

When Tony’s past comes back in a terrifying way, Steve learns more about the Omega than he ever thought he would, secrets that make him rage, stories that break his heart, and when Tony is kidnapped, the Sheriff saddles up to bring his Omega home.

But Tony doesn’t consider Wildrock home, and he certainly doesn’t consider Steve his Alpha.

How can the Stetson wearing Sheriff convince the stubborn Schoolteacher that they are meant to be?

The Underwater Basket-Weaving Society of America (ao3) - thisiswhatthewatergaveme loki/tony E, 130k

Summary: Loki's crash landed, which is great. Only what do you do with a powerless, power-hungry ex-god looking for retaliation?

Tony’s Girl (ao3) - Crosshairs pepper/tony M, 130k

Summary: When Tony Stark finally opens his eyes after being rescued from Siberia, he isn’t the same man anymore. What happened in that abandoned Hydra base has broken him in ways that even Afghanistan hadn’t.

But Tony is famous for his innate ability to fix things, even himself. Slowly, with the help of friends old and new, he learns to deal with his new status quo, picks up the pieces of his destroyed existence and rebuilds it from the ground up.

Until an unusual accident puts a new, interesting spin to his already interesting life.

Wings of a Broken Hero (ao3) - Sexy_Avengers17 bucky/clint, steve/tony N/R, 132k

Summary: Bucky Barnes is the Winter Soldier no more. Out of Hydra's grasp, he now lives at the Avengers' Tower alongside the Avengers themselves. His life becomes a roller coaster as he balances the guilt he carries on his metal wing and arm, the craziness of living with superheroes, and stopping a bio-terrorist attack from A.I.M.

Also, the winged pain in his ass known as Clint Barton is too difficult to ignore. Looks like this is what Bucky gains after seventy years of fuckery.

Winterheart (ao3) - orphan_account loki/tony M, 144k

Summary: For his crimes, Loki’s punishment began in a lonely and endless winter. For Tony’s sacrifice, his imprisonment began with a rescue.

A story of ugliness and beauty, inside and out, and learning what the word ‘monster’ really means.

[dzpenumbra]

3/24/23

I just accidentally titled this "3/24/56" and had the eerie thought that... hopefully... at some point in my life I actually will date a document with that date. That's a weird goddamn thought. Best not to linger on it too long... XD

I had my first human contact in several days today. My therapist, of course. It was good. He kept sorta... correcting me on my extrapolations that the shit I was dealing with the other day skating... where I was convinced I was pissing people off and something bad would happen because of it... I was trying to kinda... connect the dots that it was trauma related. He made a big point to emphasize that it was anxiety, and really hammered into that point. He clarified a few times with me to check whether it was panic or anxiety. And... well... I guess I can call myself lucky.

I'm starting to discern the difference between anxiety and panic. Again. For the millionth time. Because apparently it's my fate to just... keep forgetting shit. So... I made a point to share with him the parallel that I found recently to remember the difference. Phobos and Deimos. Terror and Dread. There's a distinct difference, and... from my understanding... they're actually different parts of the brain that are lit up? Maybe I'm off on that, I'm clearly not an expert in that field. But yeah, I'm definitely dealing much more with Dread than Terror.

But... Terror is what's unleashed when I smoke weed. Terror can come out in nightmares. Terror came out when I watched Bo Burnham's "Inside" with some random chick I met on Bumble who put her head on me when a song was playing that sounded like it was literally talking directly to me and I had one of those Truman Show moments. Those moments, those are fucking Terror. Like my life is a big fucking lie, this is just an experiment, we've been fucking with you for 20 years, see? Look, here's the cameras! Haha! Or the fun classic that I'm guessing sourced from my extensive history watching psychological horror movies - you're actually dead and you don't know it! Like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense (sorry for the spoiler but like... come on, you have to have seen it by now).

Those are fucking panic attacks. Like... something bad is actively, imminently happening. A meteor is crashing towards Earth. You're having a heart attack and are going to die. The world is actually ending, and you're just being notified, and now you need to figure out what to do. And moments like that? Those are horrific to go through alone. Trust me.

What I'm going through are anxiety, he's been reminding me. And I was trying to push a bit deeper with it, saying this is... trauma reinforced. That's why I was saying it was kind of a PTSD thing, mostly because of the sense of... lack of safety that I felt. That was a big resonant thing that I associate with PTSD, not feeling safe when you are safe. And a cohesive theme behind that, that tracks to traumatic events. But again, I'm not the professional here. Either way, it's anxiety, and it's clearly "inspired by" past experiences. So... I'm guessing the miscommunication there was just... nomenclature.

He gave me the same kind of advice I usually get, to challenge the thoughts and seek evidence. And... I kinda automatically do that. I just... didn't really dismantle his argument because I wanted to hear what tools he was going to offer at the end of it. Finite time, you know?

He said "do you have any evidence that you were upsetting people?" Well, I had headphones in, but someone did yell at me at one point, didn't hear what they said. And when riding by people, they very obviously don't seem... pleased... They're not excited, they're not stoked, they're not curious, they're not "oh wow, what's that, it's like a skateboard but it's moving on its own... weird..." I get "annoyed" vibes from them. I don't have clear confirmation of it because... you know... I'm not in their heads... but it lingers. And I try to shrug it off, right? Because... it's like... I could be jumping to conclusions. I get what he was getting at, and again... I do that! I do challenge the thoughts! But what really set me off that day was... evidence. Evidence to prove the anxiety right. The no-skateboarding sign, with the big fine on it. Then looking up the bylaws. I can keep that "I might be pissing people off" stuff at bay, it's hard but I have the tools. What gets me... and again, this is where I really think he started to understand the challenge I was dealing with... what gets me is when that anxiety gets one fucking morsel of concrete evidence. "You are clearly pissing people off, because what you're doing is illegal." "Of course your landlords are going to be pissed at you, there's a giant hole in the wall" "Duh your retired neighbors are judging you, you're smoking weed on your porch at 1PM on a Monday afternoon when everyone else is at work."

It makes me insecure about like... snowskating at the park and making a bunch of noise on the maintenance door. It makes me go back to when I was skating on the sidewalks in that blizzard and the cop was watching me, because what I was doing was technically illegal and I could be fined for it... And after sharing this with him, I'm just like... I think he started to get it a bit. That this is actually a pretty reasonable fear. And not quite as simple as just... dismantle the anxiety and it goes away. In this case... the law had been clearly crafted to (in case of snowskating) combat people unsafely sledding on the sidewalks of steep hills, and (in the case of skateboarding) grinding the curbs, ollieing into traffic, bombing hills, shit like that. But the laws are very general and prejudiced against all forms of riding period, not just the specific types of dangerous riding they want to prohibit. It's not "no smoking within 20 feet of the establishment" it's "no smoking at any time, ever, anywhere". So... it kinda just... fucks me over when I try to use my board practically. Or when I have 15+ years experience riding my snowskate and want to practice or even film some tricks in my neighborhood.

Professional skateboarders still deal with this when they film their parts for their actual full-time fucking job. It's been over 30 fucking years of this bullshit.

Like... I went to get pizza delivery and a package from the package room today in my yoga pants and a hoodie, no shirt underneath, no socks, haven't showered all day. And I used to be super self conscious about smelling bad. And yeah, it can take a push sometimes, but today I really didn't give too much of a shit. I can dismantle that mental argument pretty quick - "who fucking cares?" "So what, someone thinks I smell, they're being judgmental, they don't know what kind of day I'm having, let them fucking judge."

But when it comes to me... albeit negligently... breaking the law? It puts me in a bit of a quandary. I guess this is where I bring out the DnD alignment sheet and explain my shift.

So DnD alignments are personality spectrums. Chaotic -> Lawful. Evil -> Good. With neutrals in between. I have never been in the Evil camp, honestly. It's just not in my nature, it's very repulsive to me. But in my past, I had definitely willfully been more in the Chaotic Neutral camp. I loved the spontaneity and excitement of Chaos, I found it more exciting than boring old Order. The Joker is just funnier, cooler and more entertaining than Batman. Sorry, Batman. But... Chaos just brought me to Evil people. And often planted the idea in the heads of others that I was... innately self-interested and potentially Evil.

In my reformation, after my life collapsed and I grew a ton and really woke up to who I am and what I wanted to be in life... I started leaning much heavier towards actively pursuing Good rather than being on the Neutral fence. Meh, the more I think about it, I was more on the side of Good than Neutral... I've just stayed Neutral because I just don't want to be actively involved in the fight, honestly. My heart has always been aligned with Good. But I started to drift much further away from Chaos the past several years. And now, I'm probably getting closer to Lawful Good. Which is... not what I ever expected. Going from a Han Solo kinda character to more of an Obi Wan.

Lawful, in this case, not just meaning loyalty to social policies or a faction, but... orderly, structured, disciplined, predictable. And god knows a lot of that is being socially pressured. It's really weird, because... I mean... it's 4:30 AM. Literally no one else in my gigantic apartment building is awake, I guarantee it. I have barely any structure, I live on the fringe and have for a very long time. I prefer spontaneity and my career and daily life are built around pursuing creative impulses as they occur. I have deliberately shaped my life around this, which is like... literally Chaos! XD And yet... I'm more orderly than I have been in the past. I do yoga daily, I do chores, I do weekly takeout? Kinda? When I know what day it is? XD Can you tell how confusing this is for me?!

This is really my first time putting myself and my older self on the alignment grid. And... I'm really not sure where I'm at. Maybe I'm more around Neutral Good. Or even Chaotic Good. I'm clearly not Evil inclined, and clearly have a serious problem with Evil... I just... don't want to combat Evil... so I have never seen myself aligned with Good because of that. Like... I'm a pacifist... I refuse to cause harm even to Evil... And that character quality is kinda why I've gotten chewed up and spit out so much by less-than-Good people...

So, honestly... I'm pretty Chaotic. My orderly habits keep me sane and keep me in tune, but I really can't say I'm structured just because I do yoga first thing every day. And that, in itself, is not a slight against me. And fighting my Chaotic nature... has historically caused more problems than good. My Chaos is not bad. It's just... randomness. Quirkiness. My typing right now is Chaos. It's just thoughts coming straight out of my head with no editing at all. But... there's this stigma I've been around in my life. Maybe it's cultural, maybe it's my family, I don't know. They feel like if you're not "structured" and "disciplined" and all that blah blah boring bullshit... you're a bad person. You're doing it wrong. And often, you're unpredictable and dangerous.

When I last lived in this city - a few lifetimes ago - I wanted to do some kind of project (which I would consider at this stage in my life a performance art piece) where me and my friend would go undercover as homeless people for a day or two. See what life looked like from that side of society, as like... a method acting experiment. And, at the naive age of 21, I would've gladly done it if my friend agreed. I really just didn't fully process how fucking dangerous that was, and how fleeting and fragile life really is. But, there are artists that have done that kind of thing and been fine. And maybe I'm being super paranoid by even thinking that if I were homeless, I would be murdered within 24 hours. Right? I mean... isn't that... anxiety?

That switch got thrown. Whatever that is. The self-preserver. The "yeah, you better be cautious, you could die at any second." "You know what, let's go to the store tomorrow, wouldn't wanna risk... something..." "Yeah, let's not call the vet when we only got 6 hours of sleep, we might 'fuck it up'... somehow..." THAT shit. That was a big shift in me. And... I thought it was PTSD. It's definitely trauma-sourced. My therapist told me today it's anxiety. He directed me towards "Polyvagal Theory" again. Here:

Makes sense in a lot of ways. And I rarely cross that line into "I can't" anymore. I just go into evasion, procrastination, shit like that (with going to the store, or the skatepark, or calling a place because I'm nervous or something). Like... it rarely even gets to panic anymore. Anxiety and Irritation, yeah, I get that a ton. And it lingers. So... I'd see that as really good improvement. I just see all that shit on the other side way down below... and I fucking miss it, man. Connection. Safety. Social Engagement. I miss that shit.

Ugh... well, I've got tons of "homework". Affirmations for myself. Kind reminders of who I am, where I am, and what I choose to be. And I'm reading them for the first time, and they're actually really nice, and really helpful. I remember times when I was younger when I would be the "cool" kid who would scoff and turn his nose up at this kinda shit without a moment's consideration... god, that's so embarrassing... Like being judgmental is cool or something. Like fucking Roger Klotz or something, ugh. Here are the mantras:

This feeling is only temporary. I inhale peace and exhale worry. I am safe and in control.

I feel like those are going to be helpful. And the first thing that ran through my head when he told me about this was to make a piece of jewelry for myself around this. Something I wear every day, I referred to it as the "tattoo method", which he... didn't seem to connect with. I guess it's a cultural thing. Meaning... something on your person that is symbolic of a very important reminder to yourself, so that when you need it, it's always there. Like my tattoo on my chest that I can read in the mirror that reminds me that when I feel chest pains in that location, I'm not dying, it's just anxiety, and it's caused... by me. It really does help.

It's getting late. I got most of the line work done on the hoodie, there's only shading left now, then the outer ring... whenever I decide what to do with it. No rush on that. Big victory there.

And I decided to play music tonight, first time in a while. I actually recorded. Two guitar parts and a bass part. Very brief, one riff, a harmony riff and underlying bass to kinda... camouflage the hum of incredibly old pickups. It was a really cool riff, I'm very proud of myself for writing it on the fly, and without any paper or anything. Just me and my guitar, Elisha. Like the old days.

I'm inspired to keep going with that and see where it leads me. Listening to Baroness always makes me want to record 20 albums worth of guitar music, I swear! XD

Bed time, be well.

[indianatrust]

Fall fall fall fall cherub

Fall fall fall fall cherub skin#

Norman Large was once a CHERUB agent after his parents died in a fire. Surprisingly, though he abuses his students, he loves his job very much, as he is brought to tears when he resigns. He lives with Gareth and his adopted daughter, Hayley Large-Brooks. He especially enjoyed seeing the agents tortured. Large is described as being a homosexual, angry man that was very good at his job. Large is described as a huge man with red hair. Despite wearing the biggest size CHERUB t-shirt, his muscles still look like they are trying to burst out of his t-shirt. In a flashback, he oversees the Malaysian tsunami with Kyle Blueman and Dante Welsh Large, after leaving CHERUB, becomes a security guard for the local ASDA. However, as soon as she leaves the room, he cries. Large then resigns after getting kicked out by Zara. Lauren knocks Large out, yet again, with a spade. Zara Asker is the CHERUB chairwoman, she has high security at her home, and CHERUB security officers are at her house within minutes, but not before he tries to kill Kyle. Large then tries to break into the Askers' house to kill Meatball. Lauren then goes to Large and shows him the photos saying that James was going to dump her and break her heart, but lots of other boys on campus would be interested. James went on a date with Hayley and Bruce took lots of pictures of them snogging. Their plan involves Large's daughter, Hayley. Meryl says she will see what she can do, but Lauren and Kyle come up with their own plan. Lauren goes to Kyle about it, who in turn goes to Lauren's handler, Meryl Spencer. Meatball is the dog that Lauren gave to the Askers after rescuing him at a dog testing lab. He goes to Lauren and threatens to break Meatball's back if she didn't lie and say that he wasn't drunk. In Mad Dogs, Large is still suspended from his job. Getting annoying because of this, Lauren Adams hits him over the head with a spade making him very angry. Norman Large also fell off his stretcher in confusion when he had the heart attack. Lauren calls him an old saddo beacuse he sang a song that her dad always sang when he was drunk. He also laughs at the thought of the agents having to drag huge granite blocks up a hill. Large is suspended from all duties in this book. In The Fall, Large gets drunk and has a heart attack while in charge of lots of CHERUB's, undergoing basic training to become agents. Dana Smith complained to Mac about the injustice. James team had the second least eggs left, but Large said that the eggs that Lauren, who was in James' team, had, shouldn't count as the eggs said Lauren on them, but Large said her name was "puke". However Mr Pike, another training instuctor stepped in and said that he was being brutal. The losing team would face humiliation, and would have to go on a multiple mile run.

Fall fall fall fall cherub skin#

This training exercise involved Eggs However, instead of using boiled eggs, the CHERUB's were using stimulated metal skins, which penetrated the skin a lot more than normal ones. In this book, Large is in charge of a rapping exercise. She jumps in naked and her body freezes. However she does succeed and puts Large into a very bad mood, after which he brutalizes her in a board game Norman Large has a cameo in this book while Lauren was in basic training, in the first chapter he brings the Trainees to an unknown country. Bethany had a sore back and was slowing down, and Mr Large was screaming abuse at her, saying she wasn't good enough to become an agent.He was hit with a shovel and suffered severe pain. Large made Lauren and Bethany dig a grave and fill it in again. Large has a tiny bit in this book when Lauren whacks him over the head with a shovel for bullying her friend, Bethany Parker. He also made fun of Nicole for being flabby and told her to "get rid of that wobbly ass or you'll never make it". Every time James' foot touched the ground, Large would hit James with a baton. James was two and a half hours late, so Large makes all the recruits crouch for that time. Large dislikes James even more when, they didn't quit even when James and Kerry Chang were forced to strip and sleep outside on Christmas Day, therefore losing him a £50 bet with Mr. He made James stand on one leg with a bucket on his head. He punishes James on the very first day for being late to Basic Training. Large is first introduced in The Recruit, when putting James Adams through Basic Training.

[batpham-discord-highlights]

Twins AU - Danny Adopted Seperately

Source: #ghosts-and-bats

DS

….imagine a Damian and Danny are brothers au, but Danny gets adopted completely independently from that, so when they’re introduced for the first time as “adoptive” brothers it’s just

A

Damien: What do you mean you did not know Danyal was your son, Father?

Damien: Was no blood work done?

Damien: Does he not look like you?

MF

Danny: To be fair I am not healthy.

A

Bruce: Damien, all my sons look like me

MF

Danny: Ectoplasm food sucks

DS

Damien: “did he not tell you ??”

Danny; “do i look like i remember things ??”

A

Bruce: Also, Danny's meta abilities affect his blood so we could not do blood work

I

lol just reminds me of Bruce who forgets that all his kids are adopted

MF

for example trying to figure out genetic diseases

and heights

A

Damien: Danyal is a meta??? Since when?

MF

Danny: Since I half-died

A

Danny: (to himself) well it's not like there'll be a better time to tell them

DS

dami : “since you WHAT”

A

Exactly!

MF

Danny: Yeah, it was electrifying

DS

Tim: “hey, let’s be fair here… he’s not used to seeing your face smile, he wouldn’t know what to expect!”

-----

S

The idea that Danny's adopted² now

(Adopted by the Fenton’s) + (Adopted by Bruce & co.)

Is hilarious

MF

double adoption™️

L

They won’t notice. Then Dami accuses him of being a clone

DS

“Nah, but i do have a clone”

S

The idea that Danny can fool Batman that he isn't Phantom for this, until it's right in front of his face it Danny outright tells him, would be hilarious.

MF

"I have several clones actually."

I

most dissolved into goo all except one

S

Especially if Bruce ends up being the last to know somehow

L

Bruce now has to find the missing clone: it’s another child i needs to care for them- shush I don’t have a problem

I

Bruce too busy trying to reconnect with a child he also didn't know was his and is hurt by his former parents

to connect the dots

DS

Danny: “haha, yea, i spend a lot of time with ghost kids cause most of ‘em are orphans and don’t have much parental influence of any kind”

Bruce: *heavy breathing*

S

Danny: you know it's funny because I call you "Dami" but I have a mini-me called "Dani" and she's cool, actually you 2 would probably get along I should get her over here-

Tim: wait,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "mini-me"? 👀

MF

Danny: She's my clone, cloned by a fruitloop.

DS

Danny: she was trying to kill me for a while haha, but we talked her out of it :>C

S

"Was it L Luther?"

Danny: lol no, my guy had hair.

"Who is it then?"

Danny: that's classified 😎

"Why protect their identity if they cloned you?....... Was it your parents?

Danny: (Hah!) No 😎 stop asking 😎

SK

People in the batfam (Bruce) would be having heart attacks!

DS

Danny; “sorry, can’t say, they got blackmail on me”

“THEY HAVE W H A T”

S

Dani shows up (portal travel courtesy of Wulf) and they realize she just has a Cain instinct a mile wide and it went from threat to just regular "sibling" behavior.

ND

Tim : opens Bat Computer We counter blackmailing that bitch

S

Danny: good luck with that; but just so we're clear you learn nothing about who it is from me 👀😎. Plausible deniability 😎😎😎

[early20sfailingplenty]

A positive rant about sharks because I don't think they get enough appreciation.

I was 12 the first time I watched Jaws.

I rooted for the shark the whole time; it's not shark infested waters. Sharks live there naturally. We are the ones invading their space and most shark attacks are because they confuse us with seals or something similar (look at a human in a wetsuit in a big body of water from underneath them and to a shark, we do look a bit like water prey). Most bites are curious; they don't mean to hurt us (most of the time) and they don't purposefully hunt us.

Anyway, I got really upset by what the characters did to the shark and how the film demonised the species overall (and don't get me started on what it did and continues to do to real life global shark populations). The only redeeming feature I can find about the Jaws franchise is that the creator didn't realise what his film would do to the global shark populations and he spent the rest of his life making up for it by helping sharks and trying to repair the damage his later regretted work had done. The following day, when I was still very upset, mum took me to the nearest aquarium the day after to go look at some real sharks. I still feel like she was apologising that day by doing so; it was when we realised how truly sensitive I am about animals.

Mum spent the whole day teaching me about all the different types of sharks, and even called over one of the staff members to tell me things they knew, too. I even got to go and witness a shark feeding; I was enamoured with the sharks and couldn't ask enough questions or get my nose close enough to the glass. We spent hours in that one portion of the aquarium and to this day, the shark section is the one I make a bee-line towards. I get the most excited about sharks in all the animals in an aquarium. I don't really mind about other sea creatures - I just wanna see the sharks. Then I'll go see other animals. Mum bought me a shark soft toy - which I still have, and for anyone curious, his name is Bruce - and we spent several weeks after that day watching shark documentaries and we bonded over this amazing, majestic animal.

Sharks have been my favourite animal - next to cats, alligators, crocodiles, koalas, bees and snakes - ever since. I absolutely adore sharks. I get so happy looking at them that it brings me to tears. Pretty, beautiful sharks. So, so gorgeous, unfairly demonised. You ever seen a wild shark ask a scuba diver for a belly rub? No? You ever seen a shark in an aquarium ask for a cuddle? No? You ever seen a shark wanting to be stroked? No?

And finally, have you ever seen a shark be affectionate? No?

I'm watching these videos as I link them and I'm in tears, my heart is so, so full. I love sharks so much, holy shit. For anyone curious, my favourite species of shark is the Great White. I adore every species, of course, but the Great White Shark was my first love.💖