#but he doesn’t say anything at any point about that disqualifying tim

[avayarising]

So I’ve been reading The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul (thanks @lynzine), and…

Ra’s wants a new body to transfer his consciousness to, and has captured Robin!Tim and Damian. He says he can use either:

But later, once Ra’s has taken over the body of his son, Dusan, the White Ghost, we see this:

For the transference to work, you need a blood relative.

How is Tim blood-related to Ra’s Al Ghul?

[alixanonymous]

How A Demon Commissions An Angel ~ A Daminette FanFic ~ Chapter 10: A Discussion Of Demons

From the phone of Bruce Wayne:

Chat Name: Barbra Gordon

Barbra Gordon: Hey B, do you have a minute? There’s something you should see.

Me: Is this related to what we talked about earlier?

Barbra Gordon: Yes.

Me: I’ll be there soon.

Batcave - Gotham City, New Jersey

12:30 A.M., Nov. 11th

Bruce Wayne was well aware that taking his children out each night to fight crime in the deadliest city in America automatically disqualified him from ever winning a Father Of The Year award. However, as he looked around the meeting table at his sons, he wondered if there was ever any chance for him at all.

Dick Grayson, the first Robin and his first failure as a parent that had somehow turned out well anyway, was smiling around the table at his family like there was nowhere he’d rather be despite the fact that he’d had to make the commute from Blüdhaven on his night off while his ever increasing caseload was waiting for him back at the crappy apartment he called home.

Tim Drake was the son who others outside the family often considered to be his greatest pride, the one who he’d given so much responsibility to at such a young age. He was drinking coffee out of a thermos, larger than any seen before, working on a tablet Bruce couldn't remember the last time he’d put down, and occasionally glancing around the table as if wondering what would be so important to call a meeting on that he didn’t already know about. 

Oh and his greatest failure as a father? Just walked in.

Jason Todd, the son he’d lost due to his own pride that had returned nothing like the child he was when he’d died, came up to the table swinging a gun around one finger that Bruce had since realized was never loaded like that, as if Jason’s self preservation just barely overrode his need for people to know he was not the boy they once knew. How long had it taken Bruce to figure that one out? Too long, too late.

As he’s not one for awkward silence, Jason calls out “What’d the demon do this time?” as soon he reached the others.

Which brings us to the most recent chapter of “Bruce Wayne’s adventures in being a horrible parent.” Best get started then.

“After the incident the other day,” Bruce gives Jason a look and gets a smirk in return, “I asked Barbra to look into Damian’s communications with the French girl.” 

“Wait!” Jason cuts in, “You lecture me for going through his phone and then ask Carrot Top to read his messages? Gee, hypocrite much?”

“I’m sure Barbra would’ve monitored the situation regardless,” Jason scoffs at this and now it’s Dick who’s giving him a look. Bruce continues, “I only wanted her to notify me if she found anything concerning.”

He stands up to pass out the papers he’d brought with him. Normally, he’d just bring the files up on the BatComputer but Bruce Wayne is nothing if not addicted to self-punishment and he likes physical evidence of his shortcomings as a human being.

“These are excerpts from their messages over the last week or so.”

Since he’s already memorized everything in those packets and has every word imprinted in his mind, all that’s left to do is watch his sons read history repeating itself.

Tim, unsurprisingly, is the faster reader and as he goes through the papers, he has a look of confusion on his face that only intensifies as he goes on. Once he finishes, he takes a swig from his thermos like there’s alcohol in there instead of caffeine although with how he makes it, Bruce thinks it’d be equally strong either way. He then flips back to the start and begins to read it over again.

Dick’s smile is long gone by the end of the first page. As he reads on, the only way to describe his expression is heartbreak. His eyes become shiny and when Bruce sees this he can’t help but think it’s a miracle that the person who has been in this longer than everyone except him and Alfred can still manage to wear their heart on their sleeve in spite of the life they lead. His smile becomes a frown near the end.

Jason as always is the hardest for him to read. At some point early on, he stops spinning his gun around, placing it on the table as he hunches over to read closer to the papers. There’s a look of concentration on his face that Bruce hasn’t seen in a while along with something else. There’s an ache in his chest when he realizes that he doesn’t know this Jason well enough to know if it’s anger or pain. Once he’s done, he looks away from the table and stares off into space. Again, Bruce is unable to tell whether he’s just lost in thought or actively avoiding looking at them, him. 

Dick is the first to break the silence, “That’s it! I’m moving back in.” 

Bruce can’t decide if he’s relieved by the offer or angry at himself because he’s such a bad parent he needs his eldest son to raise his youngest.

Since this isn’t Dick’s first time making this particular statement, he expects Tim to shut him down like he normally does. When he turns to look at Tim however, Bruce finds him rereading the part he can easily identify as when Damian is explaining how he doesn’t hate Tim. He almost didn’t include it in the packets he distributed as he was sure Damian would not want them to find that out this way but something had compelled him to leave it in.

“So,” Jason starts and Bruce braces himself, “What’s the plan?”

They all turn to look at him expectantly.

“I brought you all here to get your opinions on what to do,” Bruce explains, trying to proceed with caution as he’s definitely the one responsible for this problem.

Jason lets out a bitter laugh, “No, of course you don’t have a plan already. Any one we come up with will probably involve you talking to your own kid and none of us would be here if you knew how to do that.” 

“Jason!” Dick reprimands, sounding a little exhausted. It somewhat works and Jason goes back to ignoring them in favor of his thoughts. The damage is down however and Bruce will add that moment to the others he uses to remind himself of his mistakes.

“Where is Alfred? What does he have to say about all of this?” Dick asks and Jason’s attention shifts back to the table.

Bruce was not at all looking forward to dealing with the disappointment from the closest thing he has to a father figure, especially given how many times he had been encouraged by Alfred to talk to Damian, only to push it back time and time again.

He answers, “He’s making sure Damian stays asleep and away from the cave. I’ll fill him in on everything later.”

Stephanie and Cass were patrolling Gotham tonight, covering for Bruce and Tim who’s turn it had been when the meeting was called. Barbra was across the room, directing them as usual from the BatComputer. She would catch them up upon their return.

There’s silence once again only to be broken when Tim finally joins the discussion.

“Did Damian tell you why he broke that girl’s hand?” Tim asks Dick, the most likely of them to be confided in.

Once more, Dick looks heartbroken as he shakes his head.

“Please, did you even give him a chance to?” Jason asks while looking straight at Bruce as if he already knew the answer to that, and he did.

While his youngest son had been suffering from a lack of education about boundaries, Bruce has been busy doing damage control, never once asking what had provoked Damian. It seemed being the World’s Worst Father trumped the title of World’s Greatest Detective.

Dick too already knew the answer to that so he didn’t wait for a reply before continuing the conversation. “How did we never notice how his idea of boundaries was so warped?”

“It’s right here,” Tim answers, pointing at one of the papers. “Damian usually scared everyone off before they got too close so it never came up before. We were too focused on pushing him to make friends to notice the problem was more than just antisocialness.”

If Bruce wasn’t certain this was all his fault, he might take a moment to curse Talia once more for just how much his ex-lover had screwed up Damian’s ability to live a normal life.

“Somebody’s going to have to explain that to him. He can’t keep going on thinking we expect him to allow people to touch him without his permission,” Dick says, looking towards Bruce and not noticing Jason and Tim raising their eyebrows at that behind him. At least two of his sons seem to know him well enough to doubt the possibility of that conversation going successfully.

“Yeah, but like how do we explain the nuance to him? I mean, yeah that girl messed up but also most people would just brush her off. That’s what we would do. He can’t attack every person who reaches out for a handshake and think it all counts as self defense,” Tim adds. Dick and Bruce both look thoughtful at this.

Jason looks frustrated with them as he states, “You’re treating him like he’s a kid. I think even the demon spawn can tell the difference between a handshake and someone getting too handsy. You guys acting like he’s always seconds away from going into full assassin mode is part of the problem. Jeez, ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy?”

Bruce looks at his other two sons and finds Dick looking sheepish and Tim looking down at the table. He just sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose before deciding that of all his children, Jason might actually be the most qualified to tell him how he failed as a parent.

“What would you have me do then?”, he asks and for a moment Jason looks like he can’t decide whether or not the question is sincere. 

“Well, I’d maybe start by not calling secret midnight meetings to talk about him behind his back,” he starts in a casual tone that is most definitely sarcastic, “Or no, actually let’s start by not going through his messages because you know at some point you’re going to have to sit down and talk to him about all this stuff and I doubt fessing up that you’ve invaded his privacy, compromised his safe space, and shared his deepest insecurities with almost the entire family will win you any brownie points.”

The other three people seated at the table freeze and take a moment to let that implication sink in. Bruce thinks he sees even Barbra wince across the room out of the corner of his eye. 

Jason’s not finished yet. He continues, “You know exactly what you have to do, you knew before you called us and before you even read those messages. Yet for some reason you still keep approaching this as Batman when really the kid just needs his dad to talk to him sometimes like he’s more than just another problem for you to solve.”

That was the biggest difference Bruce could see in him. This Jason didn’t hesitate to go for the kill. While subtlety was more Bruce’s style, no one could deny it was brutally effective.

Avoiding the obvious barb, he tried to focus on the advice. Talk? He could do that. Although…  Dick could probably do that better so maybe they should have him do it. He opens his mouth to suggest this but someone else is already speaking.

Dick’s saying, “Okay, I agree with that but it doesn’t look like B’s the only problem here. Little D seems to be feeling left out.”

Mistaking Dick’s meaning, Bruce recalls his reasons for keeping Damian away from Wayne Enterprise and wonders if perhaps he had been too quick in his decision making. There was no harm in letting Damian learn about the company.

Well as long as there was someone equipped to guide him.

“I’ll arrange an internship for him with Lucius Fox, or actually why not have him shadow you for a while, Tim? That might give you two a chance to see eye to eye on some things,” Bruce proposes. 

Tim looks uncomfortable at this but lucky for him someone is already jumping to shoot down this idea.

“Oh hell no!” This is Jason of course. “When are you going to finally see this whole ‘I’ll just let other people handle my son’ thing ain’t working out? Did you even read these before making copies for everyone and their mother? Damian clearly still isn’t over you giving away his ‘birthright’ to the replacement,” Jason says, making finger quotes at birthright. “Making him shadow Tim would be like rubbing it in his face.”

“Yeah, second that. That should be something you introduce him to, like you did with Timmy,” Dick agrees, smiling encouragingly before going on to say, “Although that’s not what I was getting at. I meant that he feels left out in the family, not just with the company. I just knew he needed more brother bonding time!” 

Both Tim and Jason grimace but it’s too late. No one can stop Dick Grayson when it comes to his family and so the last half of the meeting is just Dick mapping out his whole plan of ways to incorporate Damian more into the family including movie nights and a new group chat that’s  not BatBusiness related. 

Tim looks like he’s taking notes and pulls out his phone a couple times to cross check all their schedules because of course he has everyone’s on hand. Jason for the most part looks like he’s not paying attention at all only to then interrupt and shoot down an idea with very valid reasoning to back him up. Bruce just listens and follows their lead, only to be reminded every few minutes that he’ll also have to work on spending time with Damian on his own. He’s coming up with his own plan in his head that may or may not utilize some of their ideas as well.

They’re wrapping things up when Tim suddenly has a question. “What about the French girl? Should we be worried about her selling this to the tabloids?” he asks, holding up the messages.

Jason snorts and mutters something about bat paranoia although he is the only one to have personally talked to the girl and Bruce wonders if he would still share that sentiment if that weren’t the case. They all knew the lack of respect the media showed to their wish for privacy.

“No, she doesn’t seem to be cause for concern,” Bruce assures the other two, leaving out the fact that Ms. Dupain-Cheng didn’t even know his son’s last name. He knew that would only lead to more questions from them and since he’s already ruined so much, he refuses to also spoil the surprise Damian had in store for them for Christmas. He already made sure to have Barbra prevent the others, namely Tim, from accessing the rest of the messages as Bruce is positive he was planning to.

Sure enough, Tim gives him that look that directly translates to “Nevermind, I’ll look into it later”. Bruce doesn’t acknowledge it or encourage him.

Jason doesn’t seem satisfied with his response and launches his defense of the girl. “Yeah, no. None of you are allowed to mess with Spitfire. She seems like the only person the demon spawn’s got on his side that actually respects his boundaries. So don’t screw this up,” he finishes before getting up and leaving the cave, but not without a pointed look to Bruce. Tim follows after him, thermos and tablet in hand now alongside the packet of papers.

Bruce expects Dick to make his exit too so he doesn’t wait to do what he’s wanted to since this disaster of a meeting began which is bury his head in his hands and sigh. He’s surprised but doesn’t startle at the hand that lands on his shoulder. 

“It’s not your fault,” Dick starts and Bruce just gives him a look. 

“Yeah, okay so it’s kind of your fault,” he huffs out a small laugh before continuing, “But it’s not something he can’t come back from and it’s not an excuse for you to go into your ‘I’m a bad parent and my children are better off without me’ mode.” He’s the one getting the look now, the one that says “You know I’m right”.

And Bruce does know that yet he still feels the need to argue, “I-” is all he gets out before he’s cut off again, which may be good since he really didn’t know what he was going to say.

“Stop. Just stop, B. That kind of thinking is what got us to this point in the first place. Okay? Now the rest of us we get it now but Damian, he’s too young to figure out that you’re not rejecting him so much as trying to save him from yourself, for some stupid reason that I’m sure you think makes sense in your head. And yeah, I know you still feel guilty for how he spent his childhood, you know with the League and all but Bruce, at some point you’re just gonna have to get over yourself and realize he’s here now. He’s safe. He’s got us now and we’re going to fix this, alright?” Dick says, pleading and Bruce guesses he’s not the only one needing this pep talk at the moment.

So he says the only thing he can say to that which is, “Okay.”

Dick gives him a small smile and a pat on the shoulder before also making his leave, but not without saying goodbye to Barbra of course. 

After he’s gone, Bruce feels a wave of exhaustion wash over him and decides to do what he so rarely does and leave whatever work he has left to go over for the morning. The talk with Alfred can wait till then too he figures.

He makes his way out of the cave and up to the manor. While the lights are on upstairs, there’s no sign of Alfred and no need to track him down at the moment so Bruce heads straight for his bedroom before stopping along the way in front of a door that’s not his own. 

It’s been awhile since he’s done this and he’ll probably dwell on why that is later but he quietly opens the door and checks on his son, taking care not to wake him. For some reason unknown to them all, Damian almost never turns out his light when he sleeps so the picture Bruce gets is a clear one. His youngest is curled up on his side around his Great Dane, Titus while Alfred the Cat is sleeping at the foot of the bed. Bruce wonders if it’s also a coincidence that he’s angled toward the phone resting on his nightstand. 

He used to do these late night check ins more often when Damian first came home. It took him a while to fully believe he’d had a child for so long that he hadn’t known existed so he’d check in every night as if afraid the boy would disappear. Even now, he’s still surprised by how young and untroubled Damian looks in his sleep. Not wanting to disturb the peaceful picture, he gently closes the door and heads to bed.

Wayne Manor - Gotham City, New Jersey

6:30 A.M., Nov. 11th

The first thing Damian always does when he wakes is take in his surroundings. This had first become the case in the early days after he had come to live with his father, back when he would wake up forgetting he had left the League. It was why he refused to turn off his lights at night if he didn’t have to, despite being raised in the shadows and continuing to work in them to this day. It was now a subtle reminder to himself that he had escaped the past and a little act of rebellion against his upbringing.

Alfred the Cat was still sleeping at the foot of the bed but Titus was nowhere to be seen which meant Pennyworth had probably let him out already. He gives himself a few minutes to get his bearings before checking his phone. The only notification is for a sappy “Good morning! Have a good day at school!” text from Grayson which makes Damian wonder if he has what he’s heard other people refer to as “empty nest syndrome”, whatever that means. He also sees the texts he exchanged with Marinette the day before and in the privacy of his room, smiles while remembering parts of their conversations. 

Twenty minutes later he heads down to breakfast, dressed in his school uniform with his phone in hand on a singular mission to get a picture of Drake’s coffee for the girl he… didn’t want to disappoint. 

It’s here! Yay! I feel like this took forever and a day but I’m happy with it finally! AO3 comments might’ve also restored my confidence in my writing so if you left one thank you! :) Now I’m off to relax and reread comments over and over again (while giggling stupidly) since this stubborn and stressful chapter is finally done! Till next time! <3

Master List

[sam-roulette]

rip to the alt Sasha survives s3 “the slaughter ritual is a battle of the bands wherein one of the 4 main mechanisms albums has the key to ending the world” crack au for being quite literally impossible to write 

so here’s how it was meant to go down:

- Jon gets kidnapped by Alfred Grifter himself and when he’s returned to the archives he has all 4 Mechs albums and also punches Tim in the face in a slightly slaughter-induced haze

- Jon immediately snapping out of it and being so apologetic he tells Tim to punch him back so they’re even. Tim, tiredly, tells him that no. He is not going to punch him back. “You don’t have to worry about if it hurts,” that’s. Not The Point.

- there’s some slaughter juice on the albums so everyone starts getting a little bloodthirsty, a fact that becomes apparent as the Archives splits along party lines- Jon is convinced High Noon Over Camelot is the world-ender, while Sasha insists that it’s The Bifrost Incident. Tim’s on  Sasha’s side; Martin says he’s impartial but implies Jon may have a point, and only chooses Once Upon A Time to keep up the veneer of not being biased. 

- Sasha manages to convince Tim to grab Ulysses Dies At Dawn so that none of the other possible combatants have it Just In Case that’s the one that ends the world so that she can stop him. Tim questions who’s gonna stop Sasha if he can’t get close once Red Signal starts and she says not to worry, I’ve got a plan

- the plan is she gets Not!Sasha out the basement to be her bandmate, promises it that it can eat her after the competition and (it can’t because of ) threatens it with a suspiciously high voltage taser. She has no plans to let it eat her later. She is a liar 

- Tim, predictably, does not take this well. Sasha tries joking that he doesn’t get her “artistic vision” and Tim says he doesn’t know what he’ll do if Sasha gets taken again. The argument gets more heated from there.

- Turns out, things between Sasha and Tim didn’t get magically better once Sasha was spat out the table at the start of s3

- and in fact Tim has been more distant and unsure of how to act around her, since even if she’s His Sasha, he has NO memories of her- just what Sasha says and vague half-recollections that he can’t tell if its something the Stranger put in him or if its the hazy remnants of this woman that he loved once. 

- Sasha finds herself being treated like a stranger by Tim, and while it’s not really bad per se- Tim isn’t cruel to people- it still Hurts when she tries to reach out to him, when it looks like he’s obviously hurting, and he just. Doesn’t Open Up. It doesn’t help that he can’t be in the same room as Jon for long and that he can’t look Martin in the eye, and it doesn’t help that it’s only after Literally Threatening To Leave that Jon cracks and admits everything that happened in s2

- The day of the contest is getting nearer. Martin is suddenly very suspiciously good at the violin despite never having lessons growing up, which he jokes is a “natural affinity for strings”. He’s been on the phone a suspicious amount.

- The day before the contest and tensions are high in the Archives. Jon’s locked himself in his office to do “vocal exercises”. Martin hums everywhere. Tim and Sasha are coordinating on The Bifrost Incident, but Tim keeps it strictly professional and terse, and it’s slowly driving Sasha up the wall.

- Finally, Tim says, “During this... we won’t hurt each other, right? While we’re in there- we can keep our heads on straight.”

- “Of course not.” Sasha replies, immediate. “You’d never hurt me.”

- “... Right.”

- The day arrives and it’s revealed that Jon, Martin, Sasha, and Tim are the Only combatants. It was Grifter’s game to get them to fight each other the entire time, in a strictly organized battle-like way. Not!Sasha gets a pass as Sasha’s “pet” and Sasha very quickly steps on its foot to keep it from saying anything that might disqualify them.

- Listen the actual battle itself ? Is messy as fuck to figure out. like we never actually properly figured out the rules. we have a spreadsheet of like which number placement every song in all 4 albums were and everything and while some combinations would’ve made for some SICK turn based combat would’ve been an absolute Nightmare to actually carry out

- each song actually has an effect and transforms both the stage and audience as the show goes on- so there’s a bit where Jon has The Hanged Man Rusts and that garners complete silence as it accidentally prophesies the rest of the story, Thor causes Sasha to actually begin to spark with lightning, cool stuff

- the only truly comprehensible bit was round 4. Hellfire, Sirens, Cinders’ Song, and Sigyn.

- Hellfire sees Jon give into the Slaughter energy more than any other point as the entire audience starts fighting each other in religious ecstasy, the other stages where the assistants are isolated beginning the melt and warp. Sasha helps Tim back up just before he slips into the flame below and Martin tries to climb higher as the hands of congregation reach for him, or past him, or to grab Anything

- Sirens cuts through the last bit before it all goes truly to hell as Tim picks up a guitar and starts lulling everything down to a sense of normalcy. There’s a moment, at the intersection of when Jon stops trying to scream the last dying cry of Gallahad’s maddened ramblings and the audience returning to their seats and his voice acapella filling the hall- we can chase away your worries- where there is Perfect Clarity. Tim could stop after this moment. Before the end of the verse, he could stop, and maybe it’d put an end to this.

- His eyes land on Sasha. Before he can stop himself, the verse is finished. Sleep in peace and serenity. Then he can’t stop singing anymore, and Sasha watches the drowsy smile suddenly bloom across Tim’s cheeks

- It’s when Martin, never once looking in Jon’s direction, jumps from his platform to Tim’s that Sasha knows something’s wrong. Because she wants to do the same thing. So she takes a page out of the real Ulysses’ playbook- she has the Not!Them tie her to one of the beams on her stage and promise, no matter what she says next, to never untie her. Not until someone else starts singing

- Just as Sasha predicted, she starts getting odd herself. Tim is looking in her direction, so longingly as he sings that she Knows it could only really be for Her, that he wants her to just lay in his embrace and be well taken care of- and she stops wanting anything beyond it. So she struggles. She hisses and bites and kicks and screams to try and break free of the rope while Tim smiles, beckoning, so they can finally have that reunion they’ve both wanted. The one where they hold each other and say that it’s okay, that they have each other, that it’s Safe

- Someone unties Sasha. It feels like Tim’s arms around her and she melts, no longer recognizing the pretty man singing on stage. Not!Tim looks back at Tim from across the gap, holding Sasha tenderly, and grins. Tim stops singing, for just a moment, surrounded by legions except for the sole person he wants to see most in the world, in  the arms of something that doesn’t even look remotely like him

- The moment’s enough and, as Martin sees Jon looking strangely adoringly at Tim, he realizes that wait a fucking minute. And immediately gets so jealous he hijacks Tim’s spotlight and restores actual equilibrium with Cinders’ Song. Tim is once again left alone on stage, strangely desolate against the large setting.

- Sasha regains her balance and tries to answer it all with Sigyn, but the Not!Them refuses to stop looking like a mockery of Tim. Jon is kind enough to take Lyf’s narration while Not!Tim is “kind” enough to take Loki’s lines. Sasha tries to appeal- why back away? This time I’ll stay; come stand at my side as we make them pay... 

- When she sings “remember your wife!” Not!Tim says, “I don’t recall,” playfully, mocking. He mocks when he says “She’s still enthralled,” one part disgust for Sasha’s feelings and one part gleeful accusation to Tim- look what you did to her. She still feels the effect of your song, even now.

- anyway long story short everything gets more and more screwy as everyone is magically made to forget that they’re supposed to be stopping this thing and start only wanting to be the one to get to their finale quickest. Blood and Whiskey sees Sasha nearly lose an ear from a bullet. Underworld Blues has Tim nearly causing hell to freeze over with his chilling plea as Orpheus. No Happy Ending signals the first of the audience member deaths.

- It also signals when Grifter leaves weapons on the stage and has the team go at it. It’s not really so bad, at first- Jon and Martin forget about fighting somewhere along the way and kiss, Sasha is knocked out for a few seconds and is somewhat conscious, which is Not a good state to enter Red Signal in, and Tim is trying desperately to figure out where to go next

- Tim has Ties That Bind as a last attempt to gain control of the situation and very nearly manages to snap Sasha out of the absolute maddened hell state she’s about the enter. If only he could find it in himself to omit some lyrics- if only he could find it in himself to be less bitter when singing I was betrayed by the one I was to wed.

- There was no more love there - my heartstrings long since cut...

-There was no more love there.

- “Ah.” Is Sasha’s last coherent thought, “I see.”

- “So that’s how it is.”

- Martin’s mic cuts out. Jon’s mic cuts out. Tim’s mic cuts out on the last line.

- Sasha picks herself off the ground, slowly. Far more slowly than the words falling out of her mouth. Not words- an incantation. A Chant.

- y’ai ngah Yog-Sothoth...

- turns out Jon’s not the only one who can do a mean incantation. And unlike Jon, Sasha’s had some vocal training at some point in heavy metal. Make of that what you will

- The guitars kick in at the end to dive straight into Ragnarok I and Alfred Grifter announces that the winner is Sasha James amidst the screaming and destruction of the roof caving in reverse, showing a blood red sky. The Not!Them has disappeared, presumably already running into the faceless crowd to find a new body for the incoming new world Jon’s trying to get to safety and Martin’s begging Tim to hide, that there’s not gonna be getting through to Sasha now

- But Tim knows the album because he worked with her on this. For this scenario. Just in case. He knows it’s safe enough to move when Sasha-as-Sigyn questions I know this man, why is he here...? Knows to hold still, make himself as small as possible, when she begins Ragnarok II. The crowd isn’t so lucky and they melt into each other, a mosh pit of rock n roll violence that flashes and gleams with pocket knife and piercing and heels and nails. Just barely manages to make a run for it as Sasha takes on the final lines as the Void.

- Envy your dead for now unfurled / this madness follows to consume / your world. 

- Tim is just close enough in ear shot to yell, not even attempting to sing at this point with a throat as dry as his is, “You- don’t I know you?” The world tries to skip Ragnarok III to get to IV. Tim tries to be louder even with the rubble giving way under his hands, “Weren’t we friends?”

- The gentle piano kicks in instead. Tim could nearly cry with relief when Sasha turns his way and, even if she doesn’t look like she fully gets it yet, answers, “Once- I remember. And now, when it ends...”

- In harmony. The first they’ve managed in a long while. Where are you going?

- “For vengeance...?” Sasha left uncertain. Answered in a songbird lilting voice, “For love.”

- There is no mention of death. Only an immediate harmony as they both sing Perhaps that’s enough!

- The guitar that comes on isn’t the end of Ragnarok III. It’s the lonely riff of Thor as Sasha hauls herself up with a drum mallet she steals from the broken down remains of backstage. Sung, almost like a tune a soldier marches to, fury like thunderbolts burns in my veins...

- She smashes Grifter over the head and feeds him into the mosh pit to be torn to shreds. As his shriek of laughter echoes off of the walls, she takes the mallet to the lonely speaker at the back of the hall, playing the final riffs, and destroys it.

- The world stops ending. Everyone is left in the wreckage, passed out and bloody. Jon pokes his head out from a trap door in the ground. Martin mutters from offstage somewhere. Sasha is heaving out breaths as she stares at the broken equipment, still clutching the hammer she threw in the works.

- Cue the moment where she finally turns to face Tim. They look at each other. Then, they’re grinning, and they’re starting to run. They end up toppling onto the ground together, laughing with wild relief, arms tight around each other the entire way through as Tim’s the first one to let loose the first catharsis tears.

- Tim tells her that was the coolest damn thing he ever did see. Sasha says she’s sorry for almost ending the world to have him see that, and Tim’s just going are you kidding ??? This was the best way this could have ended up!

- And Sasha says that it wouldn’t have happened if not for Tim stepping in like he did. And Tim says he’s sorry too, for everything. For the way he acted, and Sasha says that none of them were in their right minds, but Tim still insists that being in right mind or Not, he made some shitty choices there-

- and of course Sasha kisses him. Tells him he was simply brilliant. And Tim grins and kisses her and tells her that no no no SHE was absolutely brilliant, she had TRUE star power-

- and it’s not like before. Tim still can’t remember everything, and the memories Sasha has of the Archives before the Not!Them leave a sour taste in her mouth after she’s released. Tim is gonna need a long time before he can really go back to being his cheerful self, and Sasha needs time to come to terms with missing so much of her own life. But 

- But at least they can lay together at night and find a little peace and serenity in the interim.

[theliberaltony]

via FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): We’re back with a snake draft of 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, but this time with a twist — we’re picking the … VICE PRESIDENT.

I know — we don’t know who the presidential nominee is yet. But let’s face it: Even if the primary field grows to 20-plus Democrats, only one can win the nomination. So we might as well talk about who would make a desirable running mate (if not commander-in-chief). And before you scoff, a candidate’s choice for VP can signal a lot about what he or she prioritizes or considers to be a campaign weakness.

Remember, we’re trying to pick someone who’d make a good second-in-command, although our picks tend to diminish in quality as the rounds wear on. The rules are as follows: Four rounds, so between the four of us, 16 potential 2020 Democratic veeps. Let’s determine the order. (I’m going to write our names on paper and recruit someone in the office to draw them out of a hat while Nate orders some Chinese takeout.)

natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): I’m pretty excited about this, I gotta say.

(The VP draft, not just the Chinese food.)

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): All about a well-balanced meal, or presidential ticket.

sarahf: The lineup:

Clare

Nate

Geoff

Sarah

natesilver: Pretty happy with the No. 2 pick here.

sarahf: I can’t believe I have to go twice in a row. I hate

drafts. Anyway, get us started, Clare!

clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): mmmmk

Cory Booker

natesilver: bad pick

sarahf: good pick

clare.malone: Here’s my reasoning:

I’m going to operate for a moment on the premise that the “electability” factor that Democratic primary voters say they are going for in 2020 is a stand-in for a centrist-type candidate, and probably a white person. Under those conditions, a white candidate would want to pick Booker for his identity and ability to appeal to black voters, which is a big part of the Democratic primary electorate. But Booker also appeals to the establishment wings of the party and has the sort of resume where you wouldn’t mind setting him up to run for president someday in the future, but with a West Wing office.

geoffrey.skelley: Booker would have been my first pick, too.

sarahf: Still think it’s a bad pick, Nate?

clare.malone: Yes, he does on principle, which I respect.

natesilver: There are two obvious picks, and Booker was maybe the third-best pick after those two obvious ones.

sarahf: Well, then. I don’t suppose I should delay the draft any longer.

You’re up, Nate!

clare.malone: I’m on tenterhooks, with bated breath, etc.

natesilver: I’m going with … Robert (“Beto”) O’Rourke.

clare.malone: bad pick

(I, too, have my principles.)

natesilver: No, it’s a great pick.

geoffrey.skelley: You guys are on a roll.

natesilver: Here’s why: 1) There’s about a 55 percent chance (per Betfair) that the nominee will not be a white dude. 2) If the nominee is not a white dude, the VP probably will be a white dude. 3) The other white dudes are too old (Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders) or would cost Democrats a Senate seat (Sherrod Brown). Hence, Beto.

sarahf: Hmm, I think Beto’s lack of resume disqualifies him (section IV in this article) as VP material, but not necessarily for a presidential run because in that case, charisma matters more than experience.

clare.malone: Nate is just coming at the likelihood of who will be at the top of the ticket differently than I am.

O’Rourke is the right pick if you’re doing Nate’s reasoning of a minority candidate being the nominee.

In that case, O’Rourke is popular, white and young, which would make for a good VP.

natesilver: See, I thought the lack of a resume would make him even more qualified to be VP since it’s a job where you don’t really do anything. He could go around the country eating ice cream and staying at weird motels and blogging about it.

sarahf: Maybe, but I’d argue that VPs have historically been a pretty overqualified bunch.

clare.malone: What do you think is his motel chain of choice?

natesilver: Lol, Beto doesn’t stay at chains, Clare!

clare.malone: You don’t think he’s racking up Holiday Inn Express points?

geoffrey.skelley: A corollary to the craft beer track is the local motel track.

clare.malone: (I love a Holiday Inn, by the way. Always my preference on the road. As is McDonald’s over Burger King.)

BRAND LOYALTY IS IMPORTANT AS AN AMERICAN

sarahf: OK, Geoff, take it away with pick No. 3.

geoffrey.skelley: I made up a little rubric for leading presidential contenders to get a rough calculation of who might best balance a ticket or meet some missing criteria for the major contenders. And this will shake things up, but I think Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth best hits the mark of the remaining options out there.

sarahf: Interesting pick.

Do tell us more.

natesilver: “Interesting” is a euphemism for “bad” where I come from.

geoffrey.skelley: She’s got one hell of a story.

She’s the first disabled congresswoman, having lost both of her legs while serving in Iraq as a helicopter pilot. And she is someone of mixed ethnicity from the Midwest.

Outside of Biden, I’m not really sure of the foreign policy credentials of any of the other Democratic presidential candidates. Booker is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but Duckworth’s military experience would be an asset.

clare.malone: I’m going to offend Foggy Bottom here and say that people don’t care about foreign policy all that much anymore.

geoffrey.skelley: I think Duckworth could be a presidential candidate someday if she doesn’t get involved in 2020.

natesilver: She was born in Thailand, to a U.S. citizen, so there would probably be debate about her eligibility, a la Ted Cruz.

And I did have her on my list, as I think she’s one of the more plausible nonpresidential contenders who could become VP.

But … like … the fact that she hasn’t expressed any interest in the presidency — doesn’t that also mean she might not want the vice presidency?

sarahf: Her military background is definitely a win for Democrats, but like Nate said, I’m not sure she wants so high-profile of a gig.

clare.malone: She also just had a baby, which might have something to do with not wanting to run right now.

sarahf: OK, I’m here with picks 4 and 5! And I think you all will agree I have some very good picks.

First of all, Vice President Julian Castro.

natesilver: Not bad.

One of my top 2 is still on the board, though.

sarahf: I’m a little surprised no one has claimed him, but my thought is that Castro already has the grooming as a former Cabinet secretary. And I think his message as a Latino American challenging Trump is powerful.

That said, I don’t think it’s powerful enough to win him the nomination. (I just don’t think he has enough name recognition.)

geoffrey.skelley: I wrote Castro’s theory of the case and agree there’s definitely an “I’m running for VP” vibe.

clare.malone: He seems sort of a dull penny in a race filled with shiny pennies.

natesilver: But sometimes that’s what candidates are going for. Tim Kaine is in the “dull penny” bucket. Mike Pence, too.

clare.malone: I agree he has experience and the resume, but there are lots of other people who might make a more interesting choice with similar resumes.

And this is true, Nate, but are we in that era?

geoffrey.skelley: Castro would probably be a decent choice for Biden, Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

natesilver: Democrats could also talk themselves into thinking they need to double-down on the Hispanic vote.

Maybe Sanders or Warren, Geoffrey. Biden might need to pick someone who is more identifiably to his left?

geoffrey.skelley: Fair point regarding ideology — where Castro stands on a number of issues is a big unknown.

The Electoral College would also complicate — if not exclude — a Castro choice if O’Rourke were to become the nominee.1

sarahf: Guess that means no O’Rourke-Castro ticket in our future.

But OK, my next pick is Amy Klobuchar.

geoffrey.skelley: arrrrgh

Probably could’ve waited on Duckworth and taken Klobuchar, but the first pick is fun and splashy.

sarahf: Klobuchar’s Midwestern chops make her desirable electorally.

And with four women already among the major candidates, if a woman is not at the top of the ticket, she needs to be in the second spot.

natesilver: My suppositions are that 1) there will not be two women on the ticket; 2) there will not be two people of color on the ticket; and 3) there will not be two white men on the ticket.

But you could have a white man and a nonwhite man, e.g. Biden and Booker.

Or a white man and a white woman, e.g. Beto and Klobuchar.

sarahf: In which case, Nate’s first scenario could render my pick useless, but I’m not so sure a woman will win the top spot.

Also, at this stage Klobuchar is the highest-profile “moderate” to throw her hat in the ring, which could help someone like Kamala Harris or Sanders if they were to win the nomination, although I probably agree with Nate that two women on the ticket is not going to happen.

natesilver: Klobuchar definitely has the electability thing going for her, she’s not too old, and no big issues re: her qualifications.

sarahf: OK, remind me how snake drafts work … Geoff is up again?

geoffrey.skelley: This is kind of tough — I have a pick in mind, but I think she’s unlikely to take the No. 2 slot, so I’ll wait. So I’m going with Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet instead.

natesilver: ehhhhh

I guess he’s in the Kaine category of nonshiny white dude.

sarahf:

But TBF, there are several possible nominees that fall into this category.

geoffrey.skelley: If the nominee is a woman and/or a minority, he’s a sort of bland Kaine-esque pick that might be needed. He hails from a battleground state, is Western and went viral recently with his floor speech during the government shutdown. Who knows, he might even be eying an under-the-radar presidential bid.

clare.malone: dull penny

But I guess a dull penny is still legal tender.

natesilver: Is Colorado really a battleground state anymore? Probably not with Trump on the ballot.

clare.malone: My favorite part of that Bennet floor speech was how uncomfortable Alabama Sen. Doug Jones looked to be caught on camera sitting next to the rant.

geoffrey.skelley: I get the dull penny point, but it’s also worth remembering that the presidential nominee is NOT going to want someone who outshines them.

sarahf: Fair.

natesilver: Is it my pick now? One of my top two — the one who isn’t Beto — is still on the board.

sarahf: Well then, take ’em off, Nate. Who is it!?!?

natesilver: Kamala Harris

clare.malone: fuck

You stole my pick.

And it doesn’t even go with your theory!

Not fair.

It goes with MY theory.

geoffrey.skelley: Well, I was tempted to take her both times. But I don’t think she’ll take it unless it’s as Biden’s VP. She can camp out in that California Senate seat, which isn’t up again until 2022, and wait for another chance in 2024 or 2028.

natesilver: I mean — I said earlier there’s a 55 percent chance that the nominee isn’t a white dude. That means there’s a 45 percent chance that it will be a white dude.

clare.malone: Wait, is that how percentages work??

natesilver: Clare, the way percentages work is that if you say something has a 29 percent chance of happening, that actually means there is a 0 percent chance.

clare.malone: ahhhh

natesilver: Biden-Harris is a very natural pairing, especially since Biden will have to shore up support on his left.

Beto-Harris could also work. It’s a bit more of a Clinton-Gore dynamic.

The thing is, though, that we could also very easily wind up with an unnatural arrangement where a deal is brokered on the convention floor.

So I like Harris’s VP chances partly because I like her presidential chances to win, but also to be one of the runners-up if she doesn’t.

clare.malone: OK, I’m up.

Stacey Abrams.

natesilver: Hmm

clare.malone: Since Nate stole my pick for my theory of the case for this chat — that the top of the ticket will probably be white — I’m going with Abrams as a popular black candidate who’s a rising political star.

Although I know there’s buzz about her running for the Senate.

natesilver: “Hmm” isn’t passive-aggressive like “interesting.” I’m generally hmm-ing about whether I like the pick.

clare.malone: But Abrams would be a really interesting, bold move for whomever the nominee ends up being. And Abrams would get a huge boost in national profile.

sarahf: Plus, even though VPs don’t necessarily help the ticket carry their home state, it could be an interesting move for Democrats to pick someone who hails from the Deep South.

geoffrey.skelley: Beto-Abrams: Losing to Win.

natesilver: But are there going to be questions about her experience level? Especially since a black woman isn’t likely to get the benefit of the doubt?

clare.malone: Definitely a criticism that would be leveled.

Then again, maybe we are in the midst of busting up the experience paradigm in presidential politics.

natesilver: Last full round, then a lightning round?

We used to go six rounds back in my day.

But we can treat this as a semi-lightning round, a “thunder round,” if you will.

OK, Clare, we need another pick from you.

clare.malone: I know, Nate. I’m thinking.

geoffrey.skelley: Lot of boring white guys out there.

clare.malone: I’m going to switch my theory of the case midround and operate with the theory that a minority will be at the top of the ticket, so I’m going with the wunderkind of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg.

A lot of the top tier people are taken, but he’d be an interesting Midwestern pick … despite his experience problem, obviously.

geoffrey.skelley: For what it’s worth, Abrams has more experience than Buttigieg — she served in the Georgia House of Representatives for about 10 years and was that body’s minority leader more than half that time. Buttigieg has been mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for seven years.

clare.malone: Well, she’s been picked and the pickings are slim!

sarahf: Potential VPs like Buttigieg, Abrams and Beto are all challenging my notion of the kind of experience a VP should have as an elder statesman or stateswoman.

clare.malone: Brown is someone you’d WANT to pick here, but the possibility of losing the Senate seat is obviously a big problem.

natesilver: So … uhhh … do we think a presidential candidate is going to feel safe picking a gay/lesbian/bi VP candidate?

The country is progressive, but it isn’t that progressive.

This is also relevant to Tammy Baldwin and Kyrsten Sinema, both of whom would also be interesting choices.

clare.malone: Yeah, Tammy Baldwin is maybe a better choice, actually.

And yes, Nate, that’s an open question for sure.

natesilver: OK, my pick?

sarahf: Yup.

natesilver: I am going with …. Pennsylvania Sen. Robert “Bob” Casey Jr.

sarahf: Deep cut.

natesilver: From a crucial swing state, but a Democratic governor would pick his replacement.

He also seemed to at least flirt with the idea of running for president, so he’d probably be interested.

geoffrey.skelley: Abortion politics make him a problematic pick, although the geography makes perfect sense.

And Tim Kaine’s personal pro-life position didn’t foul up Hillary Clinton, so maybe Casey would work for someone like Harris, too.

natesilver: I do agree the abortion thing could be an issue, although his record has shifted to the left over the years.

And he’d be the choice of a candidate who wanted to pivot to the center — someone like Warren. The Harris-Casey fit seems weird, but in theory that could work, too.

Booker-Casey is also not crazy.

geoffrey.skelley: All right. I’ve got some swing state women in mind — I’m going with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.

natesilver: Very deep cut.

geoffrey.skelley: Latina from a battleground state with a Democratic governor who could appoint her replacement.

natesilver: Yeah, it all makes sense.

geoffrey.skelley: Not a well-known name, but again whoever is at the top of the ticket may not want a high-profile pick. Instead, he or she may be looking for balance.

natesilver: O’Rourke-Cortez Masto really rolls off the tongue

sarahf: OK, I’m up. One “thunder pick” and then a “lightning pick” to take us home.

My thunder pick is: Sherrod Brown despite reservations about picking him earlier.

natesilver: Pretty good for the Thunder round.

Sorry, thunder.

(Reading too much NBA stuff so was thinking about the Oklahoma City Thunder.)

sarahf: He has the policy chops and geographical pull a ticket might need — Senate seat be damned.

geoffrey.skelley: He would make a lot of sense for many candidates.

natesilver: Brown has a real crossover appeal between the left and the “beer track” that makes him very interesting.

But it would help if Ohio weren’t soooo far gone as a swing state, or seemingly so.

Like, I think he’d put Ohio “in play” but not necessarily make the Democrat the favorite there in a 50-50 national race.

sarahf:

LIGHTNING ROUND

Gavin Fucking Newsom

natesilver:

geoffrey.skelley: Say wut.

sarahf: Look, he’s got the ambition: two-term mayor of San Francisco before a quick stint as California’s lieutenant governor. And now he’s the governor of California! Depending on the tone Democrats want to strike in opposing Trump, he could be a formidable foe.

That said, I freely admit he’s a wild card. And a bit of a trollish pick from me.

clare.malone: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I have to say something here.

The recent New Yorker profile of him was fucking amazing

sarahf: It was, Clare. And may have inspired my choice.

clare.malone: I have very rarely seen the bald insecurities of a politician so perfectly laid out.

sarahf: But enough of my nonsense. You’re up, Geoff.

geoffrey.skelley: Sticking with Tammys, I’ll take Sen. Baldwin of Wisconsin.

sarahf: Nice. She’d made my list before I went renegade.

geoffrey.skelley: She said she isn’t interested in running for president, but maybe the VP slot? She would be a battleground senator from the Midwest, and as one of the most liberal senators, she’d be a friendly pick on the left of the party.

sarahf: Democrats are going to need that Midwestern cred.

natesilver: Clare claims she can predict my pick.

clare.malone: I think I know…

natesilver: It’s a pretty boring pick.

Kirsten Gillibrand.

clare.malone: booo

Not who I thought.

natesilver: Gillibrand’s just … I mean, out of the various presidential contenders who aren’t too old, she was the one left standing.

geoffrey.skelley: And she’d take it, too, I suspect. Unlike some of the others.

natesilver: Which is a bit damning with faint praise. But she’s theoretically got appeal to different parts of the Democratic base. She’ll probably raise a lot of money.

clare.malone: That’s a BIG thing, I think.

Very useful to have that fundraising know-how around.

natesilver: She has to perform reasonably well in the primaries. Have a “surge” at some point, even if she doesn’t win any states. If she totally flames out, I don’t think it works.

clare.malone: OK, I’m going to pick who I thought Nate was going to pick because I just want to.

natesilver: Haha, OK. I’m wondering if you’re going to pick who I thought you’d think I’d pick.

clare.malone: …

Doug Jones.

Nate used to LOVE talking about Doug Jones as a presidential nominee.

And Jones is a moderate, up for a tough re-elect in 2020.

Why the heck not!

geoffrey.skelley: It’s going to be hard for him to hold on as a red state Democratic senator, so why not?

natesilver: Haha, I thought you’d pick Dougie J.

He’s a classic Nate last-round pick.

clare.malone: Yes, he is.

natesilver: And I was probably going to take him if Gillibrand weren’t still on the board.

clare.malone: In that case, I feel somewhat vindicated.

sarahf: A final look at our VP-2020 teams. Tweet at us whose lineup you like best:

2020 Democratic vice presidential draft

February 2019

Round Clare Nate Geoff Sarah 1 Cory Booker Beto O’Rourke Tammy Duckworth Julian Castro 2 Stacey Abrams Kamala Harris Michael Bennet Amy Klobuchar 3 Pete Buttigieg Bob Casey Jr. Catherine Cortez Masto Sherrod Brown 4 Doug Jones Kirsten Gillibrand Tammy Baldwin Gavin Newsom