#good fucking lord it took me forever to make this comic

[thelooniemoonie]

Well, things could be worse!

A continuation of this

[obeiii-mee]

Hi there! Im back, tysm for doing my HC ;;/ it was super cute, i really liked Mammons and Satans!! If you dont mind if i ask for another? Hdjsks Recently, i slipped while walking home with some pals and scrapped my knee. It wasnt too bad, but it sure looked bad lmao If you can could you do HCs for the boys reacting to MC slipping and scrapping there knee while walking w them? Im sure Mammon would have a heart attack hfjd Tysm!! Keep up the good work♡

Thank you so much! I hope your knee gets better and that it wasn’t too painful! The brothers would all be panicking in their own way but I agree, Mammon would faint or something lmao.

Hope this was OK.

————————————

The Brothers with an MC who fell and scraped their knee:

Lucifer:

-It was a miracle you managed to convince him to come out on a walk with you at all

-The man doesn’t know when to take a break from his work

-He’s more likely to accept if it’s you asking tho, he has an obvious soft spot for you

-The others call him a suck up behind his back because of it

-You were so happy that you managed to pry Lucifer away from his desk, you were basically skipping alongside him

-Long story short, you tripped over your own two feet and fell

-Luckily, your knees and palms were the only things that got a bit scruffy

-Well, actually your right knee looked as if someone tried removing your entire knee cap with a scalpel, skin and all but adrenaline was kicking in and you couldn’t feel much

-You’ve never seen Lucifer freeze the way he did then

-His mind just drew a blank

-You were about to shrug it off and call it a day, get up and continue your walk but daddy Lucifer can’t have that

-He has six younger brothers (and a younger sister at some point) he is pretty experienced when it comes to treating injuries

-You aren’t walking for the rest of the day, let me make this clear

-He will carry you back to the House of Lamentation no matter how much you protest

-In case it wasn’t obvious already, Lucifer gives off massive dad vibes and now he’s bandaging your leg while you’re laying down on his bed

-While the rest of the brothers watch the two of you from behind the door frame because they are all equally worried

-Get ready for the three hour lecture coming your way

-He’s pissed and amused at the same time tbh

-Silly human, falling over like that and hurting themselves

-Lord Diavolo forbid you try to get out of that bed, he will drag you back and make sure you stay there until your knee is better (kinky)

Mammon:

-He was on his merry way to the casino to blow off all of Lucifer’s money and you tagged along solely for the purpose of making sure he didn’t spend all of Lucifer’s money

-You’d both be done for if he did

-But I guess fate really had it out for you on that day since your foot slipped on....something and you tripped

-Both of your knees looked bloody and damaged as hell but you were more irritated than anything

-Mammon on the other hand did a fucking double take and almost passed out

-He screeched his lungs out

-One look at your injured knees and he was ready to drag you all the way to the human realm on foot to find you a doctor

-“MC ARE YOU OK WHY THE FUCK IS THERE SO MUCH BLOO-HOLY SHIT STAY STILL DON’T MOVE! THE GREAT MAMMON WILL FIX THIS...SOMEHOW.”

-It was very dramatic, he cried

-You stood up to prove that you were alright because you thought he was going to have a seizure soon enough

-OK, that helped him calm down a little

-At least now he knew your legs weren’t about to get torn off and you weren’t on the verge of death

-Fuck the casino, you were going home

-Like Lucifer, don’t expect you will walk home by yourself

-He will carry you, a bit embarrassed by his initial freak out but still eyeing your wound, concerned

-As soon as you get home and the other brothers help you out because he’s shit at bandaging, he just sits in his own pool of misery and guilt

-Your poor knees wouldn’t be so jacked up if you hadn’t come along with him today

-He was so determined to make it up to you, he stayed by your bedside like a loyal puppy with a wagging tail (flashback to the animal event)

-Overall, he almost went into cardiac arrest and was too panicked to realise you were fine

-You thought he was smothering and overprotective before? Good luck for the rest of the week

Levi:

-“See, this is why I don’t like going out. There’s always some normie laying on the groun- OH MY LORD DIAVOLO, MC IS THAT YOU?? ARE YOU OK?”

-HIS HENRY ALMOST DIED ON THE NEWLY POLISHED FLOOR OF AN ANIME CONVENTION, HE HAS VERY MIXED EMOTIONS

-You fell knees first and hurt them quiet badly but you could stand, even if the pain made you twitch a little

-This confused Levi because you looked fine even though your knees certainly didn’t

-You told him you felt alright and it wasn’t that big of a deal and he absolutely rolled with it

-But you guys still went home after that

-He said it was because you bled all over your cosplay but that’s just him being a tsundere

-Levi is usually very shy when it comes to physical contact but he firmly insisted that he help you walk home

-I mean, he knows you said you were feeling OK and maybe humans just have a lot of tolerance for injuries like that

-But he still felt it was necessary that he took you home and checked out your injuries

-He kept the mood light while disinfecting you’re wound with some help from Satan by talking about how the convention went

-High low-key relieved seeing you walk around like normal two minutes after that

-He started bitching to you about how you made him miss his the event but he didn’t mean any of it

-“Stupid normie, making me miss my favourite Ruri-chan event. You’re lucky I love you and think you’re cute....did I just say that out loud??”

Satan:

-Oh dear, why would you go out for a walk in the middle of a rainstorm? What were you thinking?

-Actually, it was Satan’s idea

-He may be a demon and the prince of Wrath no less, but he is such a sappy, cheesy bastard at times

-He definitely thinks that walking and kissing in the rain is very romantic (bet he read something like that in an erotica)

-You know what’s not romantic blondie? Slipping on a very small puddle and potentially fracturing your leg

-It was just a scraped knee but you were frustrated enough to be extra

-He’s helping you up before you even have the chance to realise you fell in the first place

-Your knee was looking pretty bad so you guys went home just to avoid any further casualties

-He’s actually chuckling all the way back while you playfully glare at him because how dare he laugh at your misery?

-Date night was ruined but at least he got to take care of you

-He knew your knee must have hurt and he felt bad but he couldn’t help but giggle a bit to himself because your fall was so comical

-Ah but he does enjoy fussing over you for the rest of the night a bit too much

Asmo:

-You thought Mammon was melodramatic?

-Take a look at this fucking guy

-He actually screeches even louder than his brother and probably falls to his knees too (but not really because those pants were expensive)

-His screams definitely got the attention of at least 10 random passerbyers

-He’s actually on the verge of crying

-I mean, can you blame him?? Look at your beautiful knees!! They were ruined

-He felt so bad for you, he actually babied the hell out of you that day

-“Asmo, it’s fine. It’s just a scrap.”

-“A SCRAP, MC IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR KNEE IS ABOUT TO FALL OFF YOUR POOR SKIN-“

-It was just a scrap but Asmo’s secret talent is being extra as fuck

-He totally spilled all the tea to the rest of the brothers when he got home

-And then he ushered you into his room

-Funnily enough, he’s pretty good with injuries. Not as much as Satan and Lucifer but still

-He pampered you for the next few hours but that image of your skin being all grazed like that will forever haunt him

-How can you not be so bothered by it?? He’d die if he was in your place

-I love Asmo just because of how dramatic he is

Beel:

-Your shoelaces were undone and of course that meant a fun little trip to the floor of Hell’s Kitchen

-Beel didn’t notice you fell at first, he was concentrating on his food and assumed you were next to him

-But then he realised that you weren’t and for a moment he thought you disappeared or something

-Before he turned to find you laying on the floor, curled up because life was pain and you were suffering

-“Are you OK? Or are you just tired? Belphie does that a lot when he’s tired.” Or depressed one might say

-But for real, he’s good at identifying serious wounds and less serious wounds since he’s an athlete

-He can tell your knees were bleeding way more than they should have from just a simple scrap

-He slinged you over his shoulder and carried you, calmly, back home, with a burger still in his hand

-He’s actually really collective and talked to you while cleaning up your injury to take your mind off the pain

-He knows humans are a little more fragile than demons so even though he knows it’s not a big deal, he can’t help but worry

-It’s kinda hard falling around him tho because chances are, he will actually catch you even if he happens to hold something

-He’s sad if you’re sad so please don’t cry he will bandage your scraped knee do you want the last bit of his burger to make you feel better?

-Comfort hugs afterwards!

-Which is awesome because Beel gives out best hugs :)

Belphie:

-Ah yes, another beautiful day at RAD

-Walking alongside with your grumpy and sleepy boyfriend when a random demon bumps into you

-Wel not bumps, more like shoves you so hard you fall down and tear the fabric of your pants

-While the dude shrugs it off and speeds away

-You were a bit pissed off because rude

-But Belphie was fucking fuming

-He felt so offended on your part

-I mean, the nerve of him

-He was tired as shit but he wanted to chase after him and throw hands, possibly fill his pillow with rocks and hit him over the head with it

-He forced himself to focus on you first before hunting the moron down

-He was a bit concerned when he didn’t see you come back up after you fell

-Turns out, you scraped your knee pretty horribly and now you were bleeding all over the floor

-He’s even more quiet than usual as he helps you up and half carries you to your next class

-He starts taking care of your knee in the middle of DevilDom history he doesn’t give a flying fuck

-He’s still furious by the time he gets home and most of his brothers know to leave him be when he makes that scary ass face

-No talk to him

-He angy

-“Does your knee still hurt?”

-“A bit but it’s not-“

-“Come nap with me.”

-“Why?”

-“Naps shall cure your pain.”

-“...”

-“Nah but for real come take a nap with me.”

-Next day at school, the dude from yesterday walks by him and Belphie smashes his head against the wall

-Before walking away as if nothing happened

-I stan protective Belphie

These HCs are really bad but I love them anyway

Al~

[catchester]

Guardians of the Galaxy, Ragnarok, and Classic Loki

I was discussing Classic Loki's costume with someone online and I admit, in the small teaser, I was really disheartened.

Yes, it was a faithful copy of a classic Loki costume, but comic book costumes are ridiculous, especially older ones. And if that wasn't bad enough, his pants looked like a nappy.

I'd been mostly impressed with the mixture of drama and comedy but this outfit was just a step too far for me. I was not confident in where the series was going.

Then in the next episode, they took this walking visual joke and gave him not only a full, but a fulfilling character arc.

I admit, Classic Loki is my second favourite variant, just pipped to the post by alligator Loki.

And isn't that weird? Alligator Loki is objectively more ridiculous, not in his costume but in his whole character. He's a freaking reptile FFS! But I love him.

And that reminded me of a discussion I'd had with a Ragnarok fan who would hear no wrong said about her movie. The points i brought up with her had nothing to do with Loki, I chose the slavery

It's on Sakar

Valkyrie is a slave trader selling people into certain death because no one wins forever, but somehow a hero,

And that Odin build Asgard using slave labour.

And there's the colonialism, related to the third point.

Both of these issues went totally unaddressed in a movie that didn't even need them. They could have written it a different way and still had a good movie.

I mentioned how T'Challa went into the afterlife to berate his father and ancestors for their wrongs and promise to correct their mistakes, while Thor went to his colonising, slaver father and... asks for advice? Really? That's like showing Thor asking Robert E Lee for advice.

She of course, argued that they were making entertainment, not the colour purple or 12 years a slave. Of course that's a straw man argument, but I reminded her that Black Panther had plenty of humour, and GotG literally sends itself up all the time, and even has a goddamn dance off with the villain, yet it still made me care enough to cry about the death of a tree!

Ragnarok had me wondering why Thor tortured his brother, do heroes do that now? Thor isn't even an anti-hero, he's just straight up hero. That scene just left me cold, it wasn't funny and because it was played for laughs, I didn't empathise with Loki. I mean, he just looks constipated.

You all know how much I love Loki, I've written enough stories about him, after all, but Ragnarok Loki is just meh. I care that he was being tortured from an intellectual perspective, because it feels wrong for the hero to do that, and his betrayal of Thor cam out of left field, but I don't feel sympathy for him. I can't relate to him, I feel neither love nor hate for him, I'm just indifferent (to all the characters actually).

The only thing that rouses any emotion in me is Taika and the rage his mishandling of important issues and dismissal existing character arcs brings out in me.

Contrast this torture scene with GotG, which had me sympathising with Nebula while she was being tortured because, sure she's a bad guy, but she's also a well rounded character and her torture wasn't being played for laughs. We know she's been tortured, in one way or another, her whole life. Yes, she's bad, but I can relate to her because I understand her.

Then this Taika fan said something that was more telling than she knew, and was actually 100% correct. Taika thinks comic books are ridiculous, and he's out here making a Road Runner movie.

And it suddenly hit me, she was right.

Everything in Ragnarok is treated the same way an anvil falling on Wile.E.Coyote's head is treated. There are no consequences. There are no lessons learned. There are no character arcs. At the end of the Road Runner series neither the roadrunner or the coyote had changed in any way. They were 2 dimensional, both literally and figuratively.

Unfortunately for her argument, 30 years ago we had what is still arguably the best cartoon Batman series ever, Batman the animated series. It took it's two dimensional animated characters and gave them three dimensional personalities. 30 years later it's still hailed as brilliant.

And I think that's why Classic Loki and GotG can take utterly ridiculous characters (let's face it, all superheroes are ridiculous to some extent) but while some even acknowledge how silly their comic book heroes are, they actually take the characters, the story, and the issues raised seriously.

Yes, Classic Loki looks like a joke, but he's never viewed as one from the crew's perspective.

Alligator Loki is even more preposterous! Who even made his horns, and who puts them on for him? But while the show acknowledges how silly he is with our Loki's questioning, he's a Loki and everyone treats him as a Loki. Yes, he injects some comic relief, but the laughter is never at his expense. He's even shown to be able to hold his own in a fight.

Rocket is a talking raccoon, but he's never laughed at. In fact he's even pitied once you learn what happened to make him that way. He's ridiculous, but he's not a joke. And yes, he makes jokes about how ridiculous they all are (bunch of jackasses standing in a circle) but while a comedic character, the joke is not on him. He's a fully formed, well rounded character. We care about him.

Yes, Star Lord is an idiot at times too, but his heart is in the right place and he wants to do the right thing. So you think he's gone mad when he has a dance off with the villain, but you quickly realise he's being an idiot for a very good reason and is playing to his strengths (and using idiocy as a strength is clever). I think we also understand, because he's a fully formed character, than his humour is a defence mechanism. He plays the fool because that's the niche he's carved for himself to help him cope, but that doesn't mean he is a fool.

Ragnarok wanted to be GotG, but Taiks forgot the part about while it's ridiculous and fanciful, the characters aren't a joke.

To Taika, if it doesn't get a laugh, it's not important. The few serious or touching moments we get are as a result of the MCU bigwigs forcing changes in reshoots, or forcing Taika to stick to the script.

There are no character arcs. You could argue that Loki goes from villain to hero or anti-hero, but he's already been through that journey in Dark World. Why did he regress? Who cares, it's not funny, he's just a bad guy again, forget about the plot holes and just laugh at the guy being killed smelling like toast!

Thor turning away from his father's teachings, like T'Challa did, would have been a wonderful character arc. Seeing his dad, realising his dad was wrong that and he needs to do better, and calling on his own inner strength to protect his people. That would have been a fulfilling arc. Instead he still needs advice from his colonising, slaver father. And this is actually one of the few scenes that wasn't played for laughs. It had so much potential, yet Taika just didn't care enough to reach for it.

Ragnarok is a road runner movie where our heroes toss a series of ACME anvils and dynamite at each other and the bad guys, but like the RR cartoon, there are no consequences. Just like Wile.E, they get straight back up again and lob another anvil at someone.

Hulk has been murdering innocent slaves for quite a while now, but he doesn't care. You'd think Bruce Banner might care about what his alter ego has been up to but no, this good, gentle, introspective, intelligent and caring man doesn't give one single fuck, because it's ACME Hulk and murdering innocent slaves has as many consequences as crushing them with an ACME anvil.

And I think that's the difference. Yes, your characters can be utterly ridiculous, but the crew must take them seriously and make them fully rounded characters who face consequences. Consequences are how we learn and grow.

And if they don't take the movie or characters seriously, you end up with a 2 dimensional story that no one cares about, because you haven't given them a reason to.

I don't care why Wile.E is trying to kill RR. I don't care what his motivation is. I don't care when he gets squashed or blown up, or falls off a cliff, because he's not a character, he's a caricature.

Ragnarok is just a collection of caricatures.

[batarangsoundsdumb]

yet another ask dump yeehaw!

do you ever think that jay's mother was one of those bitch who believes in horoscope and tarots and things like that and so he believes in these things too, or it is just me projecting?

sheila haywood took one look at jason's birthchart said 'nah this won't do' and left.

Wait, but what happens when the justice league does find out that Bruce and John fucked? Lmao it sounds like it would be hilarious, really, I don’t want a justice league that doesn’t make fun of Bruce for like his entire life.

barry runs out of the meeting immediately and comes back with an entire sti testing kit. diana fully seriously wants bruce to get tested while bruce is sitting there like 'come on guys, you're being ridiculous, i already checked twice'

john is standing in the corner clearly offended while bruce is just like 'don't even say anything, constantine, you fucked a shark'

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

on the one hand, good for him, on the other hand, bro, how do you still have a secret identity when your superhero name is just your last name,,,,

Your fic on ao3 was GOLD PLEASE CONTINUE I loved Dinah's cameo btw ( @purple-vixen

thanks so much! i already continued but this ask is like 10 years old because i'm a notorious procrastinator (also yes! i love dinah so much aahhhhhhhhhhhh)

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

bruce internally: holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit holy fuck holy shit bruce externally: get out of my city, alien

AHHH ur multimedia fic is the only thing that brings me happiness anymore continue it forever pls

uhh thanks, but can't continue it forever because my attention span is that of a toddler on crack on a good day and i can't function without at least 10 things going on at the same time and music in the background

Oi, so I'm getting into dc and watching batman the animated series, and they use fruitcake a lot. Which I thought was very funny and wanted to share w you - Denilla

wait like fruitcake (food) or fruitcake (derogatory) ?

young justice 🤝 teen titans slut shaming batman

tim drake and dick grayson to their respective teams 'you guys stop it, that's my dad'

Happyhoganon: If an eighty year old Batman had fought crime in Gotham City for decades and the only threats to him and the city lately are a wheel chair bounded Penguin, your usual purse snatchers and a few con artists popping up every now and then, how well could the Dark Knight do in maintaining the peace in Gotham despite him being just somewhat fit to do that as an elderly man (which says A LOT given how old he is)

uhh he'll probably do what my grandpa does and that is ruthlessly prank them until they die of shame.

in the death in the family interactive movie there's an ending where Jason is tasked with raising Damian and he decides he's gonna raise Damian to take down the waynes and al ghuls which uh maybe isn't great BUT the idea of Jason raising Damian... PRICELESS. CHAOTIC. I just need more people to know about this :)

yes i saw that wow holy shit but jason would accidentally drop damian on his head one (1) hour in and jason just yeets him into the lazarus pit.

Headcanon: The Penguin has a really hard time fighting any of the Robins because of his avian obsession means there's always a small part of his mind that's like "Birb. Child. Protect" ( @subspacecadet )

as soon as dick becomes nightwing the penguin is like 'you know what, fuck this dude' and shoots at him.

Y'all talking about King Shark dating Constantine, let's not forget about John literally hooking up with Satan

listen there's a clear difference between monsterfucker and satanfucker in that king shark is literally a shark and satan still looks like a normal dude

Does everyone in Gotham think Batman is a teen dad?

everyone in gotham thinks batman has been around since gotham was founded, but they do think that bruce wayne is actually a teen father and dick grayson's biological dad.

why. why would you do that fancast when you know it will only hurt people

what? i loved my fancast it was really well done. i did it with good representation in mind and i really managed that with alfred pennyworth being ✨italian✨

Seeing james charles a jason gave me psychic damage how dare you i need to wash my eyes

well that's a you problem isn't it?

do you think dick grayson thirst tweets about nightwing just to annoy his family/cause problems on purpose in general?

he thinks nightwing is hot, next question.

holy jiminy cricket batman, its as cold as the good lords ass crack in here!!

i- what? this is why i don't fuck with english expressions it's way too goddamn weird

Brooooooo, your teen dad!Bruce au is soooo good. I've got brainrot.

Honestly if you ever write anymore, I'd read that shit twice. Sign me the fuck up. Good stuff, Good Stuff.

uh yeah i'm thinking about writing a fic, but i have exams coming up and i don't wanna fail because that would suck. but after i'll certainly be writing more tho

your teen dad AU is so great! bruce acting like a big brother for all of like a week before he's telling everyone about his son. what if in the AU dick meets the JL because they need to rescue him? maybe he's in trouble/kidnapped at a gala and bruce starts calling for JL. clark finds him and has to fly with dick to bring him home - that's how dick and clark meet and superman becomes dick's fave hero. he goes around the manor thinking he can fly with a red blanket draped around him like a cape.

actually- if you want a young dad! bruce fic with like that kinda stuff(just with damian) go check uhh- in for a penny by cdelphiki. it's really good and bruce is like 24/25-ish. (and dick's there!!!)

This account has solely convinced me that Tim is a trash goblin ( @hamilcat-and-magic-turtle )

because he is. that boy has slept in dumpsters on multiple occasions even if he is the son of a billionaire.

Okay but when you said victory dance I did think of the whole justice league defeating the big bad and then they all start flossing

well that's exactly what hal jordan does and that's why batman uses a gun now. no but the victory dance in my opinion is like the 'we're all in this together' dance from high school musical.

The horrors in Invincible s1 was nothing compared to the comics, I cant wait for s2

oh well okay, i mean i personally react to horror and violence by laughing awkwardly so i can't wait to be called a monster for accidentally laughing at a mass murder.

I'm currently watching Batman: The Brave and The Bold and- Bruce is just talking about Oliver like he's an old love (@nightwings-kid)

okay im going to watch that lmao that's totally and completely in character for him tho.

The invincible comic is like super gratuitous with its violence so much so I'm shocked the show was able to adapt it in a faithful way! Anyway had the show been live action it absolutely wouldn't have the same impact as it does as an animated show and I'm so glad so many people agree with me on that

also because a live action casting would've been like uhh amanda stenberg for amber, the dude- the guy from the supernatural but with a mustache for omni-man, and scarlet johanssen for debbie grayson

Debbie grayson is a milf, yes. You're welcome for the invincible propoganda, now you can questions your life. Bruce def seems like the perfect father next to Omni-man. Like they really took a rip off justice league and I was like well, now I'm attached even tho I was like hah I know who they're supposed to be. And then bam- death gore death gore gore gore sad Mark grayson just had to have daddy issues. Why does every character have daddy issues. I'm sick of the attacks

because daddy issues make a person arguably funnier, that's why i'm not even remotely funny (haha good dad flex). i liked that it was dark contextually, but not in the colouring, bc i hate when it's like 'uh yeah graphic murder and now a shot so dark you have to sit in a dark room and squint at the screen to faintly see the characters. (like dcau ugh)

About the Wayne insurance, for a moment I thought you would put the video with moans over the waves.

i mean- i could've done that, but rick rolling seemed more family friendly.

Its the first time in forever that im surpise rickrolled, i usually expect it. Congratulations (i really should know better this is tumblr)

i get rickrolled so often but i actually like the song so i dont really give a fuck

Actually, my information about Damian and John's kids is outdated because it was revealed that the old men telling the kids stories about the Supersons were actually Jon and Damian the whole time. I was blinded by my thirst for Grandpa!Bruce Wayne but I was wrong... I liked my version better, tbh (@artemisa97)

fair enough. but i'd honestly like to see damian and jon getting together, just because it's a really fun dynamic and their friendship was really cute when they were kids. (also idk maybe it would be nice to have one (1) main batfam/superfam character that's not cishet)

How am i JUST finding your blog skdskfkd you're so fucking funny and ur takes are hot

i thought u were calling me hot :( but youre not :( crime detected (but lmao thanks)

So I have depression and I swear that your memes are one of the few things that have made me laugh so thank you 💛🥺 (@katekanebadass)

aw you're welcome, and i hope you're doing okay!

The metropolis memes are so funny, I love them 💀😌

i think metropolis is also so fucking funny it deserves more attention imagine having your entire police force being upstaged by an alien from kansas and his kids

as an american i feel your complete lack of knowledge of us geography is just so sexy (platonic) ❤️

thanks so much (i also don't know any other geography, i'm not kidding, like you can tell me you're from hungary and it will just blank, there will be nothing that comes to mind)

In the DC universe they don't say "Can't have shit in Detroit" they say "Can't have shit in Gotham"

this just reminds me of that guy whose porch got stolen like the steps to his door, and i'm thinking of people living in gotham and waking up without a front door and going "can't have shit in gotham"

honestly all i know about chicago is the bean, so. what would gotham's famous sculpture be?

gigantic gargoyle statue in front of one of the police precincts because a villain thought it was a smart way to keep the police inside, but it's too heavy to move.

why tf do people go on about how batman "works alone" or how he's the "lone wolf" when he like 38290202 members in his family

bc people think it's cool that a grown man in his 30s has no friends or family instead of calling it what it is (sad)

Bruce is gotham's sugar daddy

why would say something so controversial yet so brave.

my favorite batfamily fanfictions are the ones where they use their shitty codenames, unironically, in any context

dick: gerard way are you in position, gerard way are you in position

tim: for the last fucking time, my codename is 'totally not count olaf' this week, abbafan 3000

dick: shut up my codename isn't 'abbafan 3000'

dick: it's 'abbafan number 1' and you know it

I have a feeling Tim drake is ur favourite batfamily member but okay u don't have favs if u say so ok

i mean he is, i won't deny it. but i love each and every one of the batfam just the same, i just have a weak spot for short dumbass nerds, because i'm a short dumbass nerd.

Omg i fuckin love boy meets world too fam shsjkfk

bro boy meets world was the shit!!! it was just fire and awesome and so fucking great like bro. it was so good im not even going to be accepting criticism

you know I find the whole "joker completes batman" thing a bit disgusting considering the horrendous stuff the batfamily went through because of the joker and let's not get started on the "joker has a point" thing like yeah he's this cool complex villain but he's absolutely batshit crazy

like yes! i get what you mean the joker just fucking sucks man he doesn't do shit for batman's character or the batfam he's literally just annoying as fuck. like the joker has a point' shit is so stupid. i will accept 'magneto was right' because he fucking was and i think he didn't do anything wrong, but joker? he's just like that. he's not even cool and complex he's just a weirdo with a bleach kink at this point.

ALSO YOUR RACISM POST- SO TRUE BESTIE

thanks bestie, i'm glad you agree.

in today's essay of why I think cass should become batman- I was thinking Tim would probably be the most efficient batman in many ways but I also think he wouldn't want to be batman tbh none of the batfamily members would want to be batman because they're trying to outgrow him but cass is the one who wants to represent the symbol that is batman

absofuckinglutely i will say it again and again that cass represents the batsymbol more than anyone in the batfam, in batgirl (2000) she literally didn't care about anything else than bruce's oath to not kill, she thought the batsymbol was more important than anything in gotham. she's just an excellent character because her motivation to not kill is not 'i'm scared i can't come back from it' or 'well my dad says no murder so i'll go along with it' but that she's killed somebody as a young child and she never wants to kill a human ever again and that's so fucking beautiful for a new batman like yes.

need more cass, duke and tim inclusion in gothamite memes

yes yes, a tall order of cass, duke and tim coming up in 1-14 business days

oldest to youngest batfam members cus I'm confused as shit

okay order of being taken in: dick, jason, tim, cass, damian, duke order of age: alfred, bruce, dick, cass, jason, tim, duke, damian (though cass and jason are around the same age general consensus is that cass is a little older)

I'm so confused Steph is a redhead?? like how was it that hard to get this right? the source material is literally right there and free

cw is jared, 19

do you receive anon hate? if so, how do you deal with it

uh no, i'm not remotely popular enough to get anon hate and i also don't say a lot of things that would attract anon hate, but i do send anon hate to @the-real-peter-parker because he forgot about the specialists from winx club

Wait how many languages do you speak??

uhh- 5 if you include latin, but that's a dead language and i'm really bad at it. but english, my native language, german, and french also, tho german and french not fluently.

You can mix aguaepanela with aguardiente 😈 and is tasty

okay but now i'm curious if the liquor deserves the 😈 emoji or if that's a you problem. but i googled it and it looks like something you'd take one sip of and then not remember the rest of your evening.

[haikyuuwaifu]

Miss Independent

Genre: Crack, Humor, Drama, NSFW, Mild Angst

Warning: Mild Angst

Kenma x Osamu x Suna x Reader Poly

Masterlist

D & Y/N| K & S| O& Y| Suna & Yui

‘Supercut’-lorde

Suna & Yui

He met her, the summer before his first year at Inarizaki. Her name was Yui and she had just moved into the neighborhood. Rintaro’s mother offered for her son to show the new girl around, and that summer was the best summer of his life. He had never spent so much time laughing, or just existing. As the summer ended he knew,  that she was someone he wanted to get to know more. So get to know more he did.

Rintaro and Yui started their first year of high school as boyfriend and girlfriend. Things weren’t so hard in the beginning, because they managed to spend almost all their free time together, but then Rintaro’s friend Atsumu convinced him to join the VBC with his twin, and suddenly their unlimited amount of free time was squished down to hardly any free-time at all. 

But Yui didn’t mind. She loved watching Rintaro get excited about something, so a few weeks after he joined the club, she applied for the position of team manager. Rintaro didn’t show it, but he was pleased that his girlfriend was willing to do something like that for him. It meant a lot to know that she was interested in his interests as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The couple spent the rest of high school that way. Fighting was rare between the two because they knew each other so well. Yui knew when Rintaro needed space, almost always after a heavy loss. The same way Rintaro knew she needed comfort when she didn’t do well on one of her exams. They were considered the “ideal” couple through the whole of Inarizaki. They had been together for all of high school and the future looked promising. 

Suna had already given Yui a promise ring the year before. The loss to Kurasuno the year before was difficult for Inarizaki, but she had been there for him; and in that moment as she held him when he cried he knew...He knew that Yui was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, so that summer he worked to save up and presented her with a promise ring; on the first day of their last year of high school. “I promise baby, when we finish school, and I make it pro I’m going to fucking marry you.” he had told her peppering her face full of kisses as she had giggle against them sliding the ring on her finger. 

Everything for Rintaro was perfect.

“Rinta! We did it!” Yui smiled squealing as she launched herself into the arms of her future. Suna pulled her close dipping his head down to pull her in for a soft kiss. “I am so proud of you baby.” he whispered, rubbing his nose against hers. “Honestly, I didn’t know if I could do it, but I’m glad I had you there to support me.” she whispered, fingers playing with the stray threads. “Oi, love birds! Kita is here and he wants a group picture of his “children” for his little group of mother hens or whatever!” Atsumu shouted arm coming around Suna and Yui’s shoulders. Standing next to his two best friends Suna smiled as he posed for the camera. Yui was behing Kita, smiling widely at him not a care in the world. 

This summer was supposed to be their last summer as kids, before the stresses of college life would begin. Suna, Atsumu, and Osamu had all applied to schools in Tokyo, and luckily enough they had gotten into the school Kita had gotten into. Yui was going to be going to college in Sendai. As much as she wanted to go to Tokyo, Sendai had a better program of study. A few weeks before graduation, Yui found out she got into Sendai, but that she needed to go on a trip for the summer related to her program study. That impromptu trip ruined all the plans the couple had for the summer, but Rintaro didn’t mind. Yui had been sacrificing things for him their entire relationship, so with his okay he had sent her off. 

Yui would be spending most of the summer traveling and working with relief programs, to help get a better understanding of the world outside of Japan. She wouldn’t have her phone and writing letters would be impossible considering she had no permanent address. So, Suna and Yui spent the summer doing their own things and preparing for their own futures. His was filled with packing up his life in Hyogo and making the move to Tokyo. Instead of staying in the dorms, he and the twins found an apartment with a fair rate; thanks to Kita’s photographer friend. He and Atsumu spent most the summer in training prepping for the college season and fulfilling the requirements needed to go pro. He thought about Yui often and he missed her like crazy, but he was sure she was doing fine without him, and he only needed to wait a few months for her to come home.

What was meant to take 2-3 months ended up taking an extra 5 months bringing it to a grand total of Yui being gone for 8 months. Around the 3 month mark, she had managed to get a letter to him, explaining that she would be staying on longer and that she loved everything she was learning; she couldn’t wait to show him everything she had seen. At the bottom of the letter, she wrote down the time and the place that she would meet him at the train station; and Rintaro counted down the days.

The day of their planned meeting Rintaro was nervous. He had opted to dress nice, and he had a ring box burning a hole in his pocket. The 8 months apart was hard for him, but it made him realize that he was sure that she was his future. He didn’t care where he was in life, so long as she was there with him. Sitting on a bench he waited knee bouncing nervously as he watched passengers coming and going through the train station. 

30 minutes after he sat down Rintaro heard the sounds of a laugh he knew all too well. Standing up he turned in the direction he heard it form, and made his way towards it only to stop in his tracks as he watched Yui, being carried off the train. He took in every new thing he noticed about her, she had changed; and yet she hadn’t changed hardly at all. Yui giggled at the man who carried her off the train and settle herself on her feet. Picking her head up, her eyes widened comically as they came face to face with Rintaro standing in front of her. “W-What are y-you doing here Rin?” she stuttered out, hands coming to mold around her small protruding belly. Suna’s eyes followed her movements and widened themselves as he noticed the swell in her midsection. “Peaches, who is this?” the man behind her asked softly, as he pulled their luggage with them. Yui waved her hand dismissively, “This is just an old friend darling, you go get the rest of our things while we catch up.” she murmured kissing his cheek softly. 

Turning towards him, Yui spoke, “What are you doing here Rin?” she murmered arms crossed over her chest, her stance steady. “I thought I was coming to meet my girlfriend after 8 months a part. I thought I was coming to see the love of my life as we agreed in the letter you sent...instead I come to the station to find you pregnant and with another man Yui...what the actual fuck is happening here?!”he seethed hand crushing the flowers he had bought for her. “It was hard being away from you, not being able to talk to you, and I did a lot of soul searching Rinta.” she mumbled eyes looking out into the sea of people ahead of them. “Going on that trip has changed my life.” she smiled softly. “Changed your life? What about our life Yui? What about the life we had planned and our promises?!” he snarled. She snorted softly rubbing her belly. “You didn’t really think you could make it pro did you? You’re good Rinta, but you’re not that good.” she murmured. “ Tachi-chan is a good man, and he gets me in a way that you never could Rinta...and we’re meant to be. We’re soulmates.” she sighed wistfully. “We eloped, and we’re expecting.” she giggled showing off the shoddy little band they had purchased from a street market. “ We’re on our way to his parents house to stay with them, until we can get a place of our own...we...Rinta...we were never meant to be forever, and I see that now.” she hummed rocking on the balls of her feet. Hearing her name being called, she smiled and waved. “I hope everything works out for you Rinta, but this is where our story ends.” and Suna Rintaro watched, as the love of his life walked away; into the arms of a man she had only met months ago. Heart shattered and trust completely broken.

-Rintaro ended up returning the ring, and locking himself away for a few days. His entire life had been shattered in a matter of moments and no one could pull him out of it. 

-When he finally made his way out of his room, his friends were there to help him work through it. Osamu was more help, as he’d been through a very difficult heartbreak as well so the two of them slept their way through college without a care in the world.

-Rintaro focused on his studies and on volleyball. He ended up proving Yui wrong when he was recruited by the EJP Raijin and later traded to play with his best friend for the MSBY Black Jackals; but at that point Yui, was just another blip on his radar.

@dabilove27 @amberisnotcrazy @elianetsantana @cloudyxlay @exosehun-94 @deaththekidwantsyou @sempiternal-amour

[mandoalorian]

Holiday with Maxwell Lord

DAY ONE: Holiday with Maxwell Lord [Requested by anon] 

Taglist (let me know if you want to be added!)

Permanent: @supernaturalgirl​ @phoenixhalliwell​ @ah-callie​ @luvzoria​ @stardust-galaxies​ @wickedfrsgrl​ @goth-topic​ @nerdypinupcrystal​ @wonderfulfluffer @kiwi-the-first​ @pedroepascal​

December Writing Challenge: @mandos-blaster​ @silent-and-resigned​ @valentinasubmarina​

December Writing Challenge Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Word count: 2k

Warnings: None

Rating: PG

The bracelet was beautiful, a gold bangle that fit your wrist perfectly. Maxwell gently clipped it in place, his thumb grazing your skin just enough to send a tingle up your arm. You admired the way it sparkled under the amber morning light and you couldn’t wipe the smile from your face. You bolted onto Maxwell, wrapping your arms around him and nuzzling your head into the crook of his neck. Taken by surprise, he wrapped your arms around your waist and sat you on his nap. 

“I love it so much.” you beamed, your eyes sparkling with excitement.

“I’m so glad you like it.” Maxwell chuckled, and you pressed a small kiss into his jaw, your arms squeezing tighter around his body - never wanting to let go.

“I love it so so so much.” you repeated excitedly, tracing your finger along the bracelet and holding your wrist to the window so the rays of sun bounced from it.

“That’s not all.” Maxwell whispered in your ear and your head snapped towards him, eyes comically wide. He handed you an envelope with your name written on it. Your eyes went from looking at the envelope, to looking at him, to looking back down at the envelope in bewilderment. Maxwell had a tendency to go overboard when it came to treating you to gifts and presents, especially on occasions like Christmas. He looked even more excited handing you the envelope than he did handing you the bracelet.

You hesitantly opened the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Maxie, did you write me a letter?” You were trying to hold back a smile but it became near impossible as you felt your cheeks warm up with love. He shrugged and you bit your lip, unfolding the piece of paper.

My love,

I know you have always said that you wished to travel the world. I’ve had the privilege of going to many countries, but I would like nothing more than to return to them with the love of my life. The past year has been amazing and I just know that this coming year will be even better. Which is why I have booked for us to visit twelve capital cities all around the world, one every month. It’s going to be a busy year but I know we can make it together. I love you so much darling.

Yours truly,

Maxwell

You were speechless. You didn’t know what to say. Your hands were shaky and you looked up at him with glazed eyes, your lips parted slightly from shock. “We- you- I-”

Maxwell smiled, reaching over to your wrist and covering his hand over the bracelet. “I want this year to be one you will never forget. So with every country we visit I’ll get you a little charm for your bracelet, to remember.”

“Max,” you exhaled, exasperated. “I don’t need a charm to remember travelling the world with you. I can’t… I can’t believe it. I can’t…”

“If you’re overwhelmed we don’t have to do it,” Maxwell said calmly, tilting your chin up with his finger so you were looking into his eyes. “It was just an idea.”

“Best idea you’ve ever had!” you screamed, tears spilling from your eyes as you pressed your lips to his. “I love it so much. I love you so so much.” You cried, your tears dampening his own cheeks as you pressed your forehead against his. He cupped your face and wiped away your tears. “Max,” you sobbed. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what-”

“You don’t have to say anything,” he affirmed, smoothing your hair out of your face. “C’mon, let’s get up and get started on making the Christmas dinner.” he grinned, taking your hand and pulling you out of bed.

Maxwell lived for the phrase 'go big or go home'. “Next year you're going to struggle to beat this year's Christmas present!” you nudged him playfully. 

"Oh honey, I already have next year's present planned." he smirked suspiciously, but you just brushed off the comment.

The festive season was never an easy one for Maxwell Lord. Celebrations were always rife in the Lord manor, until Maxwell's father passed away on Christmas Eve when Maxwell was only sixteen. After that, Maxwell was thrust into corporate business bullshit without a choice. No more fun for Max, not even on Christmas.

Before you, December's were usually the same every year. A couple of charity Christmas galas here and there and a good fuck from one of his assistants or secretaries. Plenty of alcohol to drown out his sorrows. It had been about twenty five years since Maxwell enjoyed a traditional, hearty, Christmas dinner.

You were his angel. His saviour. His own little Christmas miracle. As you set up the kitchen utensils and preheated on the stove, Maxwell put on a Christmas record. You tied your apron around your waist and threw another apron over a begrudgent Maxwell. "You don't want to get your suit messy, do you?" you teased, giggling as he sighed in defeat and let you tie the cloth around his body into a pretty little ribbon.

"I can't believe I'm actually making Christmas dinner." Maxwell shook his head in disbelief and you shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"It's not that hard. Your housechef will appreciate Christmas day off and I promise you'll enjoy the meal so much better knowing that you worked your own blood, sweat and tears into it." You rubbed his back and gave him a small peck on the cheek.

"Blood?" Maxwell gasped, his eyes widening in horror. You rolled your eyes and approached the sink, washing your hands.

It was January second when you and Maxwell set off to your first destination— London. The city lit streets were still lapped in thick pearly white snow. "London is one of my favourite places in the world," Maxwell told you, taking your gloved hand in his as you walked through Hyde Park. Trees were lit in sparkling gold lights and the ponds were completely iced over.

"That doesn't surprise me," you shivered, Maxwell wrapping an arm around you. You knew he was a city boy at heart. "Can we go to the palace now?" you asked, blinking your glazed eyes.

Maxwell smiled so hard the corners of his eyes crinkled. "Of course darling." he promised, pulling you out of the park and along Downing Street. 

If Maxwell was anything, he was a man with a plan. He knew you'd be absolutely enamoured by the beauty of Buckingham palace. You stood by the gates, trying to grab the attention of the beefeaters and squint into the windows. "What do you think the queen is doing right now?" you asked Maxwell curiously.

"Uhm, I don't know honey." Maxwell responded, only paying half attention to you. He was too busy rummaging in his deep coat pockets for your gift. The first charm on his list of twelve promises. He brought out the red velveteen box and presented you with it with a charming smile. "Surprise!" he grinned.

You took the box and slowly opened it, revelling in what was a beautiful gold charm of the exact palace you were standing outside. "Oh Maxie," you whispered in shock. "It's beautiful." you began to feel yourself tear up. You hadn't had an easy life, but Maxwell knew how to spoil you. He never failed to treat you like the princess he saw you were.

"To remember London." he told you, taking the charm out of the box and clipping it onto your gold bracelet. You smiled, standing on your tip toes and pressing a grateful kiss into his soft lips.

"I love you so much." you told him, hugging him tight.

Maxwell kept his word. Each month, you found yourself in a brand new destination with your boyfriend. A place you had never been before. In February it was Rome, then Paris, then Madrid, Vienna, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Cairo, Berlin, Mexico City… and before you knew it, you had an almost full up charm bracelet and it was back to December.

You frowned, leaning over the sofa and switching off the news. There was a blizzard and you were back home, completely snowed in and unable to leave Washington DC. But for Max, it was perfect. You looked at your charm bracelet, wondering if you could even fit on a final charm. Not that it mattered anymore. It looked like your plans were out the window.

"Darling?" Maxwell called from the balcony. You sighed, standing up and padding along to the double glass doors. Icicles hung from the roof and little snowflakes were gently falling from the sky.

"Everything ok-" your eyes widened when you saw Maxwell down on one knee, little pearls of snow laced in his dark blonde hair. He was holding an open ring box with the most stunning diamond ring inside.

"I never imagined myself doing this. I gave myself a whole year to prepare. Sweetheart, this was always the plan. I knew from the day I met you I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. You make me the happiest man on the planet and everyday I wake up feeling completely undeserving of you but so thankful. You changed me for the better and you gave my life more meaning than just fame and fortune. I wanted to do this some place nicer than here, some place you'd never been before. Finish our adventure with a bang. But there's no place like home," Maxwell smiled as happy tears began to spill from your eyes. "I'm sorry it's not a charm," Maxwell sighed, taking your hand in his. "But if you'd do me the honour of wearing this ring for the rest of your life…" Maxwell's eyes were filled with nothing but hope and adoration. Nervously, he breathed your name. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes! Oh yes Max I'll marry you." you cried and Maxwell chuckled happily, taking the diamond ring out of the box and sliding it onto your finger. He stood up and wrapped his big arms around you as you sobbed happily into his chest.

"I love you so much darling," he whispered, pressing a kiss into your hair. "I'll love you forever."

[antoxsmith]

Reality

Warnings: smut, some praise kink, slight fluff

Pairing: Negan x Reader

Summary: Negan appears inside your appartment as you watch The Walking Dead. He is everything you wanted, and more.

NEGAN MASTERLIST

Inspired by:

Tik-fuckin-tok.

You looked at your digital watch hanging on the wall next to the television, impatient, waiting for the episode to start and hoping work didn’t call you in again. After that long, horrific week that you just had; this was the highlight you needed so you could finish your Sunday in happiness; wrapped in the sweet arms of The Walking Dead’s plot.

When you finally saw the commercials come to an end, you shifted into a comfortable position and started to eat the chocolates, eager. After a second you choked; Negan’s face all over the screen in a cocky smile that you could see he was giving to one of his lieutenants.

“Lord. Have mercy.” you whispered as you drooled for the fearless leader of the saviors. After almost a season you just couldn’t have enough of him, his features, the way he spoke…Fair to say that he was your favorite character.

As the episode went by you couldn’t do much but thank God for blessing you with so many Negan scenes; all while throwing chocolate into your mouth until you finished the bowl. Just after that, you began feeling the weight of the week in your shoulders and eyelids; threatening to fall asleep.

Before you could; the episode went back again to Negan. You chuckled in tired awe; seeing how he raised Lucille to kill someone. Then; out of nowhere, he disappeared. You looked confused at the nicely done effects; as the saviors too; looked confused; still kneeling.

 “What the-” you mumbled; you had read the comics. Negan wasn’t a sorcerer of any kind.

“Oh shit!” you heard from the kitchen; a familiar voice shouting. Your eyes opened widely, quickly and quietly moving from the sofa to stand next to the TV. You heard loud footsteps from whom you thought was here to rob you, coming to the living room. You felt goosebumps on your spine as you quickly called emergencies; but still, you weren’t scared. That voice…

Just as someone picked up; the footsteps came into the living room your heart nearly stopped at the shock, your trembling fingers stopping the call. “Negan!?” you gasped out loud with your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, your voice making him take a step back in surprise; but his gaze quickly changed to a mostly stern one. He had Lucille, wore that leather jacket; even had that fantastic salt and pepper beard you loved to stare at; and he was right fucking there.

He looked at you as if you were crazy or stupid. Maybe both.

“Where the fuck are we; doll?” He asked, looking around. “I was about to bash someone’s head in; and having a hell of a party!” He grinned with a trace of anger.

When you didn’t answer fast enough; he looked back at you with piercing eyes, impatient. “Speak when you are spoken to.” he imparted, his loud voice making you flinch. Your hands weren’t trembling anymore, but they sure as hell were sweating; even more as he slowly walked closer to you and invaded your personal space.

“Uh at… my… my house?” you mumbled, your legs feeling like jelly for the way he looked at you and his approach. You knew that look; the one he gave people when they were making him angry after fucking up; in silence, but scarier than you thought. “It’s… 2020. We are in the real, the healthy…” you mumbled, and he raised an eyebrow expectantly, “...world.”

He looked at you for what felt like forever; and then, out of nowhere… he smirked.

“Look, honey. Sweet cheeks as ever; by the way-,” he started, making you chuckle as a teenager in love, suddenly forgetting everything else. He noticed and his eyes darkened; but you didn’t mind. “You might want to tell me the truth, or I-” He stopped himself, as he heard Rick’s voice, looking past you into the TV.

Now that  was a confused Negan. His lips were even parted slightly as he looked at the characters in the series planning their attack to the Sanctuary, not able to understand what was going on.

“Oh, some cock-sucking information on Rick the prick!” He said out of nowhere, taking a seat on the sofa. You stayed still, disbelieving his disconcerting behavior. Wasn’t he taken back at seeing the working plasma TV with people talking about him in full definition? 

His voice snapped you back to reality. “Hey, sweetcheeks.” He spoke without turning to look at you. You hummed questioningly in response, knowing he was talking to you. “Come sit next to me.” He said almost kindly, but you knew better. This was an order.

You did as you were told and even as much as you wanted to look at the screen; see what was he so mesmerized about, you couldn’t take your eyes off of him or the weapon on his lap. At this point you were convinced that you were lucid dreaming. What a great imagination.

“Doll?” he mumbled.

“Yes?” you almost whispered, too scared to wake up if you spoke louder. His jaw was tight, his hair taken back and you wondered how did he manage to smell so fucking good in the middle of the apocalypse; the tangy aroma filling your nostrils.

“Are you enjoying the view?”

Your cheeks turned red, but you giggled and nodded. “Actually, yes. A lot.”

Just then, he looked back at you, raising one of his full eyebrows. A smile appeared on his lips after a minute and he chuckled at your sweet giggles. “So, you spend your days like this? Looking at… us, I guess?” He asked, tilting his head and motioning to the TV with a nod. You nodded cheerfully.

“Wanna see something?” you asked, already looking for the Netflix page on your phone. He looked at you, confused; and waited. However, you did not fail to see his hand leaving Lucille aside and his other arm going over your seat, barely touching your shoulders. “Here’s you.” You showed him a picture of him in the last episode. He quickly read over what you showed him, taking the phone from your hand. You smiled at his proximity.

“A comic?” He asked, looking up to you from the screen. “And how the hell do they know about Lucille? My last work, too?” He kept on asking as if you knew.

“Eh, well you are… you are a…” You traced off, your voice getting smaller. You took the phone from him; scared of him seeing his fate. “A character?” You failed to seem sure. He laughed.

“Alright. That’s a good one.” He said cockily. “This one was good. Did someone at The Sanctuary put you up to this?”

You looked at him and just gulped.

“I could ask you the same.” You answered.

He stroked his beard, not seeming too worried about it. You weren’t, either. Just very fucking confused. He didn’t stop looking at you; his chin up and shoulders back.

“Alright… If you are telling the truth, then… Can you order italian food?” He asked as if he was tempting the grounds.

You giggled and nodded. Without thinking too much about it, you called your favorite restaurant, feeling his eyes set on you as you ordered spaghetti and rolls. He raised an eyebrow at the fact that you knew that; and you chuckled, smiling proudly to him while still on the phone.

The next hour; you spent answering his questions and telling him about the modern world; the things that changed from before. He didn’t buy it, until…

“Holy shit I am in another dimension!” He shrieked, spaghetti and rolls in front of him on the small table you had in the living room. Just then he did believe you. You chuckled and nodded. “You really think that corona-whatever-the-fuck stuff is like the flu? Maybe the world is going to shit again. Wouldn’t like to be here for that again.”

“I guess. Work has been awful because of it.” You mumbled, trying not to think about that too much. “Hey, you asked me a lot of stuff. Can I ask you now?” you said as you began to eat.

“Sure. Why do you ask for permission?” He said, and you just looked at him in silence. Really? “Okay. I get it.” He understood that look, and you giggled. “I am not that fucking bad.”

You hesitated a bit, but then you spoke. “You killed Glenn and Abe, and everyone hated you because of that. I don’t.” you shrugged, unaware of Negan’s lingering eyes and mesmerized smile. “Rick killed a whole outpost. But that’s a conversation no one is ready for; yet, I guess.” You looked down at your plate and sighed. “Then you have a sense of humor that kind of relaxes me. A bit evil; like that time you killed Carson and laughed about it; or when you burned Mark’s face. People used that kind of thing to say you are a monster.” You kept on talking, never knowing when to shut up; but Negan liked it. He didn’t even touch his spaghetti anymore, all of his concentration set on you. “But then again you have morals. Not like the Governor or Alp- Well, not like others. You steal stuff, so that makes you the bad guy; but I kind of get it, somehow. You feed hole families; the Sanctuary even has a system for points and shit. And your wives; well. They are there for their own sake really. I don’t know why they act as if it was something bad. I mean, look at you-!” you shut your mouth, your cheeks turning red. You looked up from your plate just then, hoping he wasn’t gripping Lucille or something. 

Instead, he was resting his chin on his hand with a playful gaze while staring at you, smirking softly. “What about me?” He asked leaning forward, dilated pupils. You instantly felt your thighs clenching from the way he was looking at you.

“You are… quite… handsome?” You answered nervously. He laughed out loud, but didn’t move.

“Anything else?” He asked.

You bit your lip. You wanted to tell him everything you really thought about him and the times you had fantasized about him, but you couldn't. You were too shy.

He noticed how you felt, and he sit back on his chair again, staring at you as if he could see straight into your core. Then he licked his lips and moved his fingers signaling you to come closer, making you clench your thighs together again.

Without hesitation you got up and walked towards him, stopping next to his seat. He looked up to you and you found weirdly pleasant how he could be looking up and still be the one dominating the situation.

“Sit.” He mumbled.

You grabbed the closest chair, but he stopped you; smirking: “Not there, sweet cheeks.”

Then you got it. You bit the insides of your mouth nervously, thinking about it for a second but… hell. It was Negan. If there was a man you couldn’t say ‘no’ to, was him. You forced yourself to move and placed your body on his lap insecurely straddling him, trying not to put all your weight on him.

You heard his subtle laugh just before his arms went over your body, tangling on your waist and pressing you hard towards him, making you whimper involuntarily and look at him through your lashes.

“Tell me more. What was that you were saying? Oh, right. About my wives being lucky.” He grinned, looking down at your lips seductively.

You gulped, trying to relax your body. “I… well, I think that you benefit them a lot.” You mumbled. He looked as if he approved what you said, so you kept speaking. He kept holding you close, running a lingering hand on your back. “And you never force them to any-“ you stopped talking as Negan approached your neck, the tip of his nose barely grazing your skin. He hummed questioningly for you to keep on talking, and you obeyed. “Y-you could make any of them happy if they saw past your façade and I…” you gasped softly as you felt him kiss your tender skin. You placed your hand on his shoulders. “I think you…” you tried to keep on talking, even though it was hard to think as he slightly bit your skin, “… you are amazingly good at leading people and…” you moaned softly as he ran his tongue through your collarbone and sucked, leaving a hickey right where your bones found each other in the middle of your collarbones. “Negan…”

He looked up to your eyes and his smirk was gone. Instead, he licked his lips in a languid expression you couldn’t quite recognize, but he kept looking down to your lips and then back again to your eyes. “You think you know me?” He asked, demanding.

You held his gaze and slowly nodded, looking down to his lips too. “I do.”

“And?” He asked, recognizing how you were holding back, his fingers on the small of your back slowly moving up.

“And I- I think you are everything anyone could ever want.” You mumbled feeling terribly cheesy. He chuckled at your sweetness.

You looked at each other in silence, his only movement being the hand on your back. Just then you were able to notice something hard pressing against your bottom. You came back to reality as his fingers touched your hair, locking onto your nape and bringing you down to him.

As his lips pressed roughly against yours you felt as if your stomach was boiling, melting against his touch. You placed your much more relaxed hand and locked it over his bearded cheek, just as his tongue pushed past and made you squirm, your tongue rolling warmly with his.

You felt his hands feeling your arms, your thighs, as if to believe you were really there before daring to do something else. You were too mesmerized, as if into another dimension. You decided to take one step further; breaking the kiss and kissing his neck almost sweetly, if it wasn’t for your tongue going over his skin softly and your hips moving roundly over him.

“Such a good girl.” He grunted, his hand leaving your hair and going down your spine, his fingers trailing down your ass. You smiled proudly and kept on sensually assaulting his neck, while your hands undid the zipper of his leather jacket. You could almost feel his grin as he helped you take it off and toss it aside. Just as you were about to go back to his neck, you felt him grip your thighs and get up. You whimpered softly but locked your hands on his shoulders as he slammed his lips against yours again.

He sat down on the sofa you had been on earlier and pulled you closer again, not breaking the kiss as he lifted your shirt softly and touched your naked skin. His fingers were hot and strong, making you take off your shirt yourself.

“No bra, sweet cheeks?” He asked provocatively, making your cheeks turn red once again. “You are fucking perfect.” He said as one of his hands kept lingering on your back, while the other softly trailed over your torso. You were on cloud nine, feeling him hardening against your bottom. You tilted your head to the side, as he began kissing your neck again, this time much softer; going down to your collarbone, and unexpectedly taking your nipple into his mouth, sucking and twirling his tongue around it until it was hard and perky; his stubble leaving little marks over your skin.

“Negan… can I…” you mumbled, shyness washing over you once again. But the look he gave you, full of lust, was enough to get you going. You separated from him and stood up, your curvy body making him lick his lips.

You unbuttoned your pants, taking them off slowly and moving your hips provocatively; your pink panties showing. When you looked back at him, his jaw was tight, as he tried to control himself. Just a second later, you kneeled before him, licking your lips.

He smirked widely, understanding now. “You are going to have to tell me what you want, baby.” His thumb touched your chin, softly, keeping you in place. Just when you thought you were about to chicken out; you pushed yourself a little and wrapped your lips on his finger. You would’ve smiled at the look he gave you; but instead, you twirled your tongue around it and sucked softly.

“Please, Negan.” You pouted, your hands going over his crotch already.

“You know the magic words.” He smirked to you, undoing his pants but not giving you what you wanted. “Say it.” For the way he looked at you, this time it was an order.

“Please let me suck your cock, daddy.”

Negan chuckles, his brows raising as he hears the nickname. “Ask and you shall-fucking-receive, darling.”

He unzipped his jeans and you bit your lip as you finally saw his length. Wasting no time, you lean forward, your tongue tracing the underside of his cock. He licks his lips and carefully takes your hair into his hand, helping you get it out of the way. You kept on teasing him, your tongue running over his length countless times. Negan looks at you, and he knows. He knows how bad he needed this. To be just a fucking man; not a savior, not a leader. Just a man with a woman that actually understood him.

He was taken back from his thoughts when you took him into your mouth, his size only allowing you to go halfway. He moaned softly and looked down at you. “That’s my good girl.” He said, meeting your sweet eyes, mouth full, and you hummed; feeling already wet from how much he teased you, and now from his words. As you sucked on him, he took off his white shirt.

You pulled back and movde your mouth up and down slowly, your hand helping you touch the rest of his length. Negan grunted as you took him down your throat and kept looking at him deliciously. “That’s it, keep looking at me, baby.” He ordered, as you pushed a bit further into his length. “Oh, fuck, princess…” His words dissolved into a throaty moan as his neck arched in pleasure.

Your other hand slowly came down, and you feel yourself. You were creaming over him, your panties wet in your arousal. You moaned softly and circled your fingers over your sensitive, wet skin, your mouth going up and down his length just as far as you could take it.

He looked down at you and tiltted his head to the side, spotting your hand inside your underwear. He stopped your sucking, and griped your hair softly; taking you off him. You pouted, and he smirked. “Who the fuck said you could touch yourself?” He asked, taking your hand and bringing you back up to his lap.

You bit your lip. “I am s-sorry.” You mumbled, but you felt his cock just right there pressing against your bottom; your underwear being the only thing that kept you from feeling him. The eagerness made you roll your hips and quickly he thrust up, making you feel him against your clitoris. “Please.” You plead; your red, parted red and swollen lips making him groan.

“You touched yourself. I have to punish you now, baby…” He said, but you are simply too much for him to not take right now. His hands gripped your ass and you rolled your hips again.

“Please, daddy.” You plead again, and that’s where he loses it; punishment leaving his mind. He could take care about that later.

He moved your panties aside and you whimpered in expectation, as his fingers gently touched your folds. “You are so fucking wet for me, sweetcheeks. What have you been thinking about?” He asked as if he didn’t know already, while circling your swollen clitoris slowly and keeping his eyes on yours. He just fucking loved eye contact.

“A-about you, Negan. About you fucking me...” You moaned, your eyes closing in pleasure. He smirked as he saw you give yourself to him, melting under his touch. He positioned himself and you only notice when he pushes inside, making you open your eyes and moan loudly, gripping onto him as he thrusts all of his length into you. The little pain you feel is completely washed over by the pleasure he gives you; kissing your neck as he waited for you to relax.

“Fuck, honey. Where have you been all my life, huh?” He moaned as your walls held him tightly, as if your body didn’t want to let him go… ever.

“Please. Please, Negan…” you gasped, looking at him with narrow eyes and parted lips.

“What, honey? What do you want?” He asked as he kissed right under your ear.

“Please fuck me.” You moaned, too lost into what you feel to be shy anymore. You didn’t care; you needed him.

He smirked and you once again came back to reality as his fingers touched your hair, locking onto your nape and bringing you down to him just like the first time. You kissed back, and suddenly felt the intense fear of losing him. However, it went away when he started thrusting up into you slowly, taking your moans into his mouth. He felt amazing inside of you and completed you just as you needed and imagined; making you squirm and moan his name as the wet, sinful noises turned you on a little more.

When he felt your hips moving with him, he groaned and let go of your lips. Still, he holds you in place and looked straight into your narrowing, greedy eyes. “Fuck, baby. You look so beautiful with my whole dick inside of you.” He praised and you moaned loudly. “Oh, you like that? You like when daddy tells you how fucking lovely you look when he pounds into you?” He asked and you shamefully nodded too many times. He chucklds lowly and you felt his hand let go of your nape; now his fingers locked on your hips. With that he started moving faster, harder, and you felt yourself clench onto him. “So fucking good for me, princess. I am going to cum inside of you, so, so much. You’d like that, baby girl?” He asked between his own throaty moans and grunts, the noise of your skin slapping his making you feel your whole body as if you were in fire.

“Yes! Please, please! I need your cum inside of me.” You moaned and he smirked, amused. Then he stopped moving; out of nowhere.  “W-What… Negan, please.” You mumbled as you moved your hips but it wasn’t nearly as enough friction.

“You want something else. I can see it in your eyes.” He said, making you bite your lip in shyness. It’s hard for him to keep himself from pounding into you but he felt like he needed to give you the best sex you’ll ever have. He knew you were too shy to ask for what you wanted yourself, so he does. He kissed your neck once again, and you finally felt your body relax again. “How do you want it, princess?” He asked into you ear, and you squirmed. “Show me.”

You smiled softly and kissed his cheek, taking him by surprise. He was used to the kinky, to the pain, the foreplay... but not the sweetness. Noticing his surprised gaze, you got up and took Negan’s hand. He obeyed, even though he was still a bit taken back by your gesture. He didn’t have too much time to think about it anyway, because you climbed back up the sofa, on all fours; your body asking for him to fuck you like that.

Negan smirked and wasted no time, positioning himself in you entrance. Sharply, he thrust inside and you both moaned as he held your waist. “It’s like you were fucking made for me.” He snarled, just as he started moving.

You moaned loudly and gripped onto the sofa, arching your back in pleasure as he pounded into you hard and fast, just as you wanted. “Negan… Oh, God- Negan…” you cried out as he moved even faster; as if your moans of his name light up something on him. “Don’t stop, please, don’t ever stop.” You plead and he grunts, the sound of your skin slapping not enough for him. He slapped your ass; not too hard, not too soft. Just fucking perfect, making you feel your walls tighten around him and your eyes roll back.

“Fuck, sweetcheeks, you tighten so good.” He moaned as he kept on moving. “Come the fuck here.” He gripped your hair, yanking you back until his chest was pressed against your back, moving your head aside until you are able to look at him. “I swear, angel; you look so fucking beautiful while I fuck you.”

You moaned as he looked into your eyes and thrusted into you, making your legs tremble. He didn’t stop even though he noticed, and you felt his hand leave your hair, instead wrapping around your neck. “Oh, daddy!”

“Are you going to cum for me, baby girl?” He asked, but you don’t need to answer as you screamed his name over and over again as well as some profanities, your walls clenching around him. He knew. He knew you were so close. Out of mercy, his fingers left your neck and instead circled your clitoris. Once, twice. The third time, you screamed his name and your thighs trembled, reaching your orgasm as he whispered into your ear how much of his good girl you were and how beautiful you looked.

Your sight was blurry, and after a few seconds you realized the tears of pleasure leaving your eyes as Negan continued to push into you, the overwhelming sensations making you grip onto his hands. You wished you had wanted him to stop, but you didn’t. You just wanted more.

“That’s it baby girl” He groaned as his thrusts got sloppier, harder. “Fuck, I am gonna cum inside your pussy, sweetcheeks.” He managed to say and a moment after, he was holding you in place as he came deep inside you, groaning and mumbling every profanity you had ever heard. You felt your insides pulsating and coating under his seed; making you moan once again, in satisfaction.

After a sweet, lingering minute, he came out of you, panting. You turned around, exhausted, but you couldn’t stop looking at him. He smiled softly and even though he was very fucking tired too, he lifted you up in his arms once again. “To the right, the first door on the left.” You mumbled as you rested your head on the crook of his neck, the feeling of him cum coming out of you not bothering you at all.

Once you were there, he set you down on the bed and slowly laid next to you, looking at the ceiling, the sound of a firework from the distance reminding him of where he was. You smiled softly; your eyes threatening to shut, but you managed to rest your head on his chest and pay close attention to the sound of his heart.

“Why don’t you sleep?” he asked as he noticed you were still up even though you were clearly exhausted, looking down at you as he traced your arm with his fingers.

“I am scared you might not be here when I wake up.” You mumbled.

“I don’t want to go either. I don’t even know how I got here.” He chuckled and you smile. “Just in case, I…” He sighed, and looked down at you; words trying to come out unsuccessfully.

“Uhm?” You mumbled, and rose from his chest just enough for you to look at him straight in the eye. You stayed there, the moonlight reflecting in his eyes as you once again were proven that he was really there with you.

“I think you are pretty damn amazing, sweetcheeks. I hope you never let anyone make you think you are not worth it. If you do, just look at your comics or the TV and well… y’know. I’ll always be there.” He said, feeling weird about the comics thing. You smiled to him sweetly and once again you kissed his cheek.

“I hope you know, if you are back there again; that there’s someone that still loves you.”

That’s the last thing you remember, that... and the little, honest smile he gave you after you said it. When you woke up, there wasn’t a trace of him. Not his clothes, not his scent, not even his cum. Nothing.

You felt weird. The first thing you did in the morning was cry a bit; missing him as if he was dead. It was the strangest feeling you had ever felt; and it stuck with you for hours, for days, for years.

While you took a long, hot shower to try and stop thinking about what you now thought was probably a long dream, you felt a bit of pain in your chest. When you looked down you couldn’t have smiled wider as you saw a hickey right in the middle of your collarbones.

[javisjeanjacket]

Green Light : A Great Gatsby AU - (maxwell lord x reader)

PART TWO

A/N: Fun fact: theres a new book out that’s a prequel to Gatsby and I just finished it and it is mmm some good fucking content. This part is based on chapter 6 of the book if that helps with visuals!

Warnings: alcohol, angst, yearning, feeling left out, cursing

Word count: 2.1K

The first of Gatsby's parties that had been attended by the Buchanan's stands out in your mind from every other exquisite, over the top, row the mysterious millionaire had thrown. Maybe it was Daisy with her restrained wonder or Tom with his pouting bottom lip and ballooned chest. That night held the same promise as every other, the same never-ending drinks and the same enthusiastic attendees, but there was a strange feeling in the air. A hollowness in the happiness.

Tom and Daisy Buchanan arrived at twilight and you caught a glimpse of them as they appeared on the outer courtyard balcony.

You waved and tried to motion them to yourself, but the world of Max Gatsby and his rancorous parties had overwhelmed them. You took the staircase upwards as quickly as you could until you reached them. A half-drunk smile on your lips, you gently touched Daisy's arm. "Hello, cousin."

"Nicky!" She exclaimed, grabbing your hand tightly and the awe on her face turning into a beaming smile.

Tom turned his head to you and nodded a hello, his look of disgust making his lip pout even more.

"These things excite me so," Daisy said. Her eyes lingered on the flappers dancing around the emerald pool and for a moment you wondered if she envied them. "Have you seen Max yet?"

"I haven't. But I've only just arrived so-"

"Buchanan's!" Max's voice boomed from behind Tom.

The trio of you turned to face him and your heart fluttered at seeing his form in such a crisp, black suit.

You held out a hand towards him as he moved closer in your direction; reaching for a handshake or a hug or a quick brush against his broad shoulders or anything really.

Max, instead, moved his hand across Daisy's shoulder and seemed to forget that her husband was right next to him. "Look around." Max said, his dark eyes looked hot and fiery through Daisy.

"I am looking around. I'm having a marvelous-" Daisy began, her cheeks flushed and her back pressed against the balcony handrail.

"You must see the faces of people you know." Max added, his gaze and his hands on her unrelenting.

"My wife and I-" Tom began and took a step in between Max and Daisy, wrapping a possessive arm around Daisy’s waist. "don't go around very much." He smirked cruelly. "In fact, I was thinking that we don't know a single soul here."

Daisy cast her eyes downward and Max clenched his jaw, a muscle in his face working. He looked from Tom to Daisy and then back again. He pulled the ends of his suit jacket straight and cleared his throat. "Well, you must know that lady." Max said, pointing a thick finger over the roaring party and to a ghostly woman dancing on the lower steps of the courtyard.

As Max turned to show the Buchanan's the famous actress, he noticed you standing to his other side. He nodded his head quickly in your direction and said, "Hello, old sport."

As much as you wanted to stop your heart from leaping at his pet name for you, it did all the same. You gripped your champagne flute tighter and smiled weakly, "Hey." You whispered.

"Oh yes!" Daisy exclaimed, looking over the woman. "She's lovely."

"And that man bending over her?" Max smiled and looked back at the Buchanan's. "That's her director."

Daisy gasped dramatically and Max beamed at her. "I'll introduce you to every person here, Tom. Then you will know every single soul here." Max pointed a finger in Tom's direction and the well-built man frowned so deeply it was almost comical.

The trio pushed past you and started down the stairs, but not without one last, "Stay, will you, old sport?" from Max.

You smiled brightly and nodded enthusiastically. "Of course." You perched up in the balcony, one hand on the railing and the other on your champagne. You tried to busy yourself with the other party goers; tapped your foot in time with the music and chatted to those who lounged near you, but you could not deny the anxiety brimming in your chest at Max’s absence.

Every few moments, you would search for his blonde hair in the crowd and swallow tightly when you found him and his hand resting on Daisy's back.

The trio made their way through the party like that, nodding and shaking hands and making cheers with as many people as the arrogant Tom could stand. Max took them down the lower courtyard steps and showed them his beach, pointing across the bay to their home and the steady green light blinking at the end of their dock.

Eventually, they returned and with a kiss on the cheek for both Gatsby and you from Daisy, the Buchanan's left.

Max watched Daisy leave and then bit his lip. He looked down at his hands for a moment and then reached a hand out to clasp the side of your shoulder. "Stay, old sport. I must take care of some business first, and then I will return to you."

You nodded and smiled weakly, emotion poured off of him in waves and it was dizzying trying to keep your head afloat.

Max smiled at you kindly, his dark eyes softening in your gaze and with one final squeeze, he walked back through the foyer and up the staircase to the private rooms.

Hours passed. You danced with the flappers and laid on the cold beach with Klipspringer, who was an alleged descent of Beethoven. You drank so much champagne you got tired of it. You dropped your feet into the green pool and waited. And waited. And waited.

You had your arms crossed over the railing of the balcony, a forgotten gin and tonic in your hand, and were turning Daisy and Tom and Gatsby over and over in your mind. You thought of Max with his wide smile and the dimples in his cheeks and how brightly you ached to shine for him, how desperately you wanted to earn his affections.

Your cousin Daisy hadn't had to earn his affection. However they had met before this had been more than enough for Max to show his fondness for her in front of her husband. Daisy was wide-eyed and beautiful and an intoxicating cocktail of clueless and polite. 

You clenched your teeth and bit your lip. It was easier to think now that the impassioned hundreds of guests had slowly filtered out of the house, leaving only the too drunk to move and Gatsby's staff in the courtyard.

Max emerged from his castle, walking swiftly across the lower level of the courtyard and towards the beach.

Careful to watch your step as you descended the marbled courtyard steps, you took another swig of the gin and tonic in your hand. The liquid burned and warmed your insides as it ran through you, a contended smile appearing across your features.

"She," Max started as you neared him. He picked up a forgotten stream of shimmering decor and rubbed it between his thick fingers. "She didn't like it."

You swallowed the pooling emotions in the pit of your throat. "Of course she did, Max." You downed the rest of your drink and sat it on a nearby table.

"She didn't like it." He repeated, biting the end of the phrase harshly. "She did not have a good time."

He shook his head, the bleached strands shifting under the deep blue of the night sky. He flung the decoration he still held in his hand into the colored pool. "I feel so far away from her." His breath stuttered as he ended. "It's hard to make her understand." He ran a hand over his face and looked down to his loafers.

Your heart panged at his need for her, the ache so devout within him that it resonated within you as well. It shifted and changed inside you to become a kind of defeated longing, a reaching out towards something you would never be able to touch. "You mean about the party?"

Max scoffed and snapped his fingers, as if to absolve every party he had ever thrown from the record, "Old sport, the party was unimportant." He continued, "She has to tell Tom that she never loved him." Max wagged his finger as he spoke, passion burning within him and singeing the tiles beneath his loafers. "She needs to break the bond with him completely so that we can go back to her house in Louisville-" He made two fists and turned them, as if to break a piece of wood in his hands.

"You don't want to ask too much of her." You interjected. The ferocity of his need for her overwhelmed your thundering heart. How high he held her in his mind and how delicate the pedestal she rested upon. The more emotion that he gave you, the more you realized you would never be able to usurp Daisy's place in his mind. Even the incomparable Daisy would never be able to usurp the version of her he had created in his head. The sudden urge to cry overwhelmed you and you choked back the tears in your vision.

Max groaned and twisted on his heels away from you, chuckling as he did, and then turned back to face you. "She doesn't understand." He clasped his hands together and looked out across the dock to his left. "She used to be able to understand." He waved his hands as he spoke, the golden rings on his fingers glittering under the moonlight. "We'd sit for hours -" His train of thought departed without him and he began to chew on the meat of his lip. "You know old sport, Daisy and I were walking home one night, this was back in Louisville, and we stopped under this street light." A nostalgic joy rose from him, pulling at his cheeks to smile. "I looked at her and it was like I knew." He looked from his memory back to the present and to you. "I knew that when I kissed her, I would be forever wed to her." He nodded, happy with the frivolousness of his devotion. "I knew my mind would never romp again like the mind of God."

Your eyebrows furrowed even deeper than they had been before and a half-hearted smile flickered upon your lips before it was quickly replaced with a grimace. A feeling of light-headedness shot through you and you reached for a forgotten chair next to you and sat down before you could fall.

Max did not see the momentary lapse in your facade and continued on, "So before I kissed her, I waited. I looked up to the stars to make sure she was, in fact, my destiny." He took in a deep breath. "I looked into her green eyes and when I kissed her, she blossomed for me just like a flower."

You swallowed and looked down at your hands, your heart hammering against your ribcage. "Daisy has blue eyes, Max."

Max slipped his hands into the pockets of his black slacks and took leisurely steps down from the courtyard and towards the dock. The fog was so heavy upon the water that night that the green light wasn't visible, it was only present in it's shadow that cast a hazy glow over the dock. "Old sport, you are mistaken. Her eyes are green. And the light from them is too holy a sight for poor old Tom, I'm sure."

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion and hurriedly added, "You can't repeat the past, Max." and stood to follow after him doggedly.

At your claim he stopped and pivoted from his spot on the stairs. His eyebrows shot up in shock, and his head tilted to one side. "Can't repeat the past?" He chuckled and reached a hand out from his pocket to cup your cheek. "Why of course you can." He smiled softly at you, his dark eyes jumping anxiously from one of your features to the other. The two rings on his hand were lukewarm against your skin and the feeling sent a slight tingle down your spine. "I am going to fix everything just the way it was before." He leaned forward to press a tight-lipped kiss to your forehead.

Your eyes fluttered closed and you could hear your heart thudding so loudly in your ears you were sure Max had heard it too.

"She'll see." Max nodded as he pulled away from you. He continued back towards the dock; it's wooden arm stretching out into the dark of the night.

Your heart sank to the bottoms of your heels and as he walked, his form shouldering your hope atop him. As you watched the black of his suit disappear into the black of the night, you knew just as Max had known with Daisy, that your mind would never romp again like the mind of God. A piece of it would always remain here, with him and his glittering parties.

He continued across the frigid beach and onto the dock, through the uncharted mist and towards the green light he believed would be blinking for him at the end of the dock.

He knew it would be.

It had to be.

MAX TAGLIST: @artsymaddie​ @okilover02​ @demigod-dragonrider-schoolidol​ @mrschiltoncat​

GENERAL TAGLIST: @softly-sad​ @over300books​ @autumnleaves1991-blog​ @phoenixhalliwell​ @ntlmundy​

[ladywhaiyvern]

Musings of An Otaku #9- On Thomas Oliver....

Being a fan of Power Rangers since the beginning back in 1993 and watching it religiously till Power Rangers: Wild Force. Then having an on-again and off-again to pretty much now. I pretty much watched a few episodes (out of every incarnation) of the Disney-era, got bored or disgusted by the looks of how they approached it and stopped watching. Had hopes when Saban purchased the rights back from the mouse but found myself once again, doing the same thing. Watch a few episodes out of the current series, get bored or disgusted by once again how they approached the series and stopped. Saban passes the torch to Hasbro and I have not picked up watching a single episode at all. Even going back and watching all the Disney seasons to see if my opinions have changed and tried not to compare them so-much to the original source material. However, this is not what this muse is about. It’s a season by season breakdown. Or an American comparison to the original Sentai. No. 

There’s one Ranger in particular that every single person seems to be fascinated with. Someone that everyone seems to worship the ground that he walks on. He’s somehow the most powerful Ranger that has ever walked upon planet Earth. Everything seems to revolve around him. And it’s not just the fanbase. Lately, it seems like Hasbro can’t get off of Tommy’s dick either. Every piece of nostalgia has to be Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. There are a Shit ton of other Rangers out there that deserve the same treatment. He is not an omniscient God 

Now, okay….before I go any further, I am not in any way shape or form dissing Jason David Frank. I love the guy! No, no, no, this is about the character that he portrayed. Unlike some people, I see both JDF and Tommy as two different individuals. Two different people. Like both could reside besides each other in the real world. 

 This is just about Tommy. And NOT the Tommy from the Boom Studios comic series. Cause...oh my god...yes, he is one powerful son of a bitch. No. No. This is just about the television series, Tommy! No alternate universes being thrown in. 

Let’s step back in time for a minute. When Tommy was first introduced into the series and became the evil Green Ranger- I enjoyed the character. I loved the struggle he faced between being good or being evil. Yes, while under Rita’s spell he was pretty powerful but one has to wonder if he wasn’t her power that was enhancing his power and abilities. Any Ranger with the help of an evil witches power can become a pretty strong opponent. 

The entire evil Green Ranger saga ends and Tommy joins the side of good (obviously…). Tommy didn’t single handedly defeat Rita in the end because she was banished to the depths of space in another dumpster by Lord Zedd. Moving into season two, obviously we have Lord Zedd taking over and the entire Green Candle saga starting. When he loses the Green Ranger power, it’s understandable. Things do not last forever. Power can’t last forever. Sad to see him leave the Ranger team but I wasn’t devastated. Yes, it was a complete shocker to see the White Ranger power being created. Awesome, new Ranger, new Power. HOWEVER, I knew Tommy wasn’t up and done completely being a Ranger. I had a slight feeling he was going to come back for that. His story as the Green Ranger may have been finished, but this new chapter was just starting. 

What I did not like though, was when the Power Transfer took place and he just pushed his way into the leader position. He did not even give Rocky a chance. In Ranger-lore the Red Ranger is typically the leader (no matter what character type they possess). Yeah, Rocky may seem a little aloof (and he’s completely different from Jason), but he still should have been given a chance to prove himself in the position. Was it alright for Tommy to just push him aside without allowing that chance? Why was everyone else so chill with this decision? It was kinda a dick move there, Thomas. 

Zeo comes trotting along and almost all the storylines are still focused around Tommy. Granted, yes..he’s finally the Red Ranger. In my eyes, he finally has the mantle to be leader of the group. But still, why was he singled out. I thought the Rangers implored teamwork. I thought to fight evil, they had to fight together- all of them- together. Not this, “Oh! If we just attack Tommy- the others do not matter.” Poor Adam and Rocky were just kinda pushed towards the back burner in this season. And I won’t even get into the strange relationship that seemed to be going on between them. It’s not like Tommy single handedly beat Rita and Zedd. They hightailed it out of dodge when the Machine Empire showed up on their doorstep. Not like he single handedly defeated the Machine Empire either. Shit, the Zeo Rangers did not even destroy the Machine Empire. Zedd and Rita came back to give them their just deserts. 

Shifting into Turbo, we see Thomas once again being given the mantle of Red Ranger. Shocker. By now the Rangers are getting ready to graduate (except you, Justin…). This is obviously foreshadowing things to come and another power transfer. Also noted here is where Tommy mentions that when he graduates, he mentions something about becoming a racecar driver or something to that line. If that is the case, then why the hell did years later he show up with a fucking PHD in Paleontology. I would still LOVE to see the look on Billy’s face for that one! He was the science nerd. IMHO, he should have been the one in that role. But nooooo...his character had to be sent off to an all water planet to never be heard from again. In my eye’s the character of Tommy will never be related in any way shape or form to Science. I honestly saw him opening up a dojo of his own (whether it be on the other side of Angel Grove or some other town). When I think of “Tommy” my mind connects that to martial arts and fitness. In a way, he could have been a mentor to a young team of Rangers (a team that revolved around martial arts and not Dinosaurs). 

But seriously, I digress. Where within the television tropes did he become this all power being that all of fandom and marketdom has to worship?!  Many other Rangers have shown time and again that they have faced similar situations (that he had gone through) and prevailed. What makes him so special? I mean seriously, cut me some slack! ANDROS FUCKING SACRIFICED ZORDON’S LIFE TO SAVE THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!!! He did not want to swing that Drill Saber and end Zordon's life, but he still did. He may not have been the best leader. He was kind of a pissy asshole (but I loved him anyways and still do). But this isn’t about Andros. Why is all the attention drawn to this one single character though? Not everyone can relate to Tommy, so why is so much emphasis in Ranger history based around him? 

Tommy Oliver is an overrated individual and as the series went on, I became more and more distant away from him. As a character, I only enjoy him in the very early Green Ranger days. I tolerate him from then on. As a leader, yes, I liked Jason. I liked Rocky for his goofy side and he should have been given a chance to prove himself as a leader. In the alternate universe of the comic book series- I absolutely love Tommy. Lord Drakkon, Shattered Grid, pure evil, pure insanity, pure mayhem. Yes! Jason David Frank- is an amazing person, a great actor, he did a good job portraying a character that I love to hate.   

[popculturebuffet]

New X-Men Xtrospective Part 2: Germ Free Generation (Annual, #117-120)

Hello all you happy mutants! And welcome back to my look one of my faviorite runs of one of my faviorite super teams by one of my faviorite comic book writers!

For those of you just joining us.. it’s been a while. I did the first instalment of this retrospective back in early January as a present to my friend for christmas, as he had never read E is for Extinctoin and what with this run being vital to the current, utterly brilliant Krakoa era of X-Men. But with both Black History Month and Valentine’s day, February had no real room for this one and march ended up being just as crammed with me doing essentially the entire della arc of ducktales in one month. I didn’t mean for this retrospective to get pushed so far back, but since I gave up doing weekly coverage of Final Space I had some room on the schedule so this retrospective is back with a vengance with two entries this month and hopefully at least one a month afterword to keep it at a decent clip. 

Last time I covered the background of this run and didn’t really find much for the issues after, so I won’t have to spend as much time on background. 

So since i’ts been a few months, a refresher is probably in order

PREVIOUSLY, ON X-MEN:  Our merry mutants enterted a marvelous new era. As Charles redidciated to the dream with new equipment and a new uniforms our hero encounter a new villian: The Mysterious Cassandra Nova, a powerful telepath who used an uwitting patsy from the trask family and a defucnt sentinel factory to slaughter the mutant nation of Genosha, killing 16 million mutants in the most horrific act of genocide against mutants ever known. And the fact there has been more than one genocide against mutant kind MIGHT, just MIGHT be the reason they blackmailed for peace with life saving drugs instead of helping willingly and freely in the current comics. Just maybe. 

Cassandra was captured by the X-Men soon after but escaped and nearly got a hold of Cerebra only to be stopped thanks to a combination of former enemy, genoshan resident at the time of the genocide, and that bitch Emma Frost who snapped her neck and Charles himself who uncharacteristically shot Cassandra in the head. That night Charles took a bold step over that would change the X-Men forever and told the world on live tv:

While all of this was going on we got caught up on the team’s personal struggles, currently consisting of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast and Wolverine with Emma joining as of the issue we’re about to cover. Beast is grappling with a secondary mutation that makes him look like Aslan, the jesus of narnia and all lions. Meanwhile Scott and Jean are grappling with their non existant sex life as Cyclops possesion by Apocalypse shortly before this story has severely rattled him and caused him to close himself off emotionally. 

So that’s where we pick up. Our heroes are now no longer hiden saftely in the shadows from a world that hates and fear them but are out front and center with the world watching. And we’ll see both how that helps their cause and how it puts them directly in the cross hairs under the cut.  Content Warning: This review discusses Transphobia and a scene involving a school shooting. If either of these are a trigger for you or something you do not want to read about  please skip this part of the retrospective for your own well being. Thank you and have a lovely day. 

The Man From Room X:

We have three stories today: an annual that introduces our final team member and the main villians of our next arc, a one off that moves the main plot for the first 12 issues along, and a three part arc about said villains.  Before we get into the Annual, I have to talk about it’s weird gimmick: The issue is entirely sideways. I don’t mean it’s bad though some parts are problematic I mean when bought it’d be on it’s side and in my trade I have to flip the whole thing over on it’s side to read it. It’s just a .. weird choice. Not the weirdest thing about this issue somehow but not unexpected from Grant as they like to play with the formula. 

We open in said Room X, a location in China where a mutant named Xorn is kept and showed off to a mysterious group of dickweeds in suits representing “Mr. Sublime”.  His jailer, General Aao Jun,, shows him off as most bad guys would : By undoing his helmet and thus disntegrating two innocent children just by looking at them. Sublime says they have a deal. 

Meanwhile also in China the X-Men are there for a funeral and Emma and Scott trade insulting questions back in forth: She mocks him about his lack of sex with Jean lately and he brings up her criminal past. As for why Emma’s still with the x-men.. it’s out of pragmatisim. WIth Genosha gone, the x-men are the saftest faction to throw in with. 

As for why the X-Men are in China, Charles has rapidly expanded his operations now he’s public by setting up X-Corps, a multinational humantarian aid organization dedicated to helping mutants in need wherever they sprout up. He’s set up offices in Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Mumbai and Melborne. 

He’s also half assed it, at least for the Hong Kong office and only gave them two employees: Domino, who those of you not as familiar with the comics may remember from deadpool and Risque.. who I honestly had never heard of before New X-Men and frequently forget existed. I just looked her up for the first time and she’s a minor mutant who was an associate of X-Force and Warpath’s love intrest. She could compress matter causing it to implode. My assumption here is that Morrison simply picked a minor mutant at random for the job. 

But yeah naturally with only two mutants charged with, according to domino “All of asia” went horribly and the x-men are there for Risque’s funeral and to find out what happened. Unsuprisingly it’s tied into our cold open: Risque had found evidence of a mutant trafficking operation and died fighting them off and Dom is naturally f eeling in over her head since said operation involves the chinese goverment, who according to her exccute most mutants at birth and John Sublime and his cult. 

We soon see a press confrence from this asshole and find out what his deal is: Sublime is the head of the U-Men, a group that belivies they are a “third species” of mutants trapped in human bodies that deserve to have the surgery to make them into mutants, and thus wear weird suits until the world is pure and allows them to have surgery for it. 

Yeahhhh this.. this is really fucking uncomfortable and is going to be present throughout today’s piece so let’s just go ahead and rip that band-aid off:  The U-Men come off as HIGHLY transphobic. They use terms similar to trans people call themselves trans species and are trapped inside a body they don’t belong in. It’s VERY uncomfortable to read as a result and something that hadn’t really sunk into till thsi reading but once it had.. oh god does this not age well. 

The one thing that keeps this from runing the run and Grant Morrison as a whole for me.. is that I do not think for one second it was intentional. Grant themself is genderqueer, nonbinary and a cross dresser. None of this means they CAN’T be prejudice, being Queer does not magically make you immune to being prejudiced. But before this Grant had the genderqueer sentient street Danny the Street over in doom patrol and a trans main character in his book the invisibles, Lord Fanny. And given New X-Men’s biggest flaw as a whole is clumsy early 2000′s unforutnate implications such as a good chunk of the things about Cyclops affair with Emma, we’ll get to that at the right time, Angel in the next arc and Dust, who was introduced as from afganastan wearing an outfit not seen in the country and speaking a language not spoken in the country. Grant didn’t make these mistakes TWICE, it’s why I still have respect for them, and this won’t be the first or last comic i’ve forgiven for being stupid for it’s time. But I will still call Grant out when I see it. Just because I respect an author just because they changed my life does not mean I won’t call them out when they fuck up. And if they prove to be truly vile, have harmed someone or what have you I will cut them the fuck out of my life. I’ve done it with JK Rowling, Warren Ellis, Brad Jones and Joss Whedon. I would do it with Grant if I truly belivied they were transphobic and instead didn’t just write something very stupid without thinking the metaphor through 20 years ago. 

So anyway back to the comic book bollocks as Wolvie and Dominio prepare for an infiltration and flirt a bunch. We also find out Jun is a mutant himself with a power only Grant could dream up: his skin, hair and what have you that falls off him turns into a naked golem for a bit before expiring. And if you hadn’t read this issue before reading this review, yes that actually happened. While the first arc had a BIT of Grant’s trademark batshit insanity, the series REALLY starts to pick it up from here: This issue has a mutant with functioning star for a head, a poorly thought out bucnh of sci fi new age organ theives, and a general whose power is “makes naked clones out of his dandruff”. Oh and his fondest wish?

I just... I don’t know how to respond to that. I don’t know how you respond to an old man’s weird murder fetish that he tells a somehow even creepier cult leader while said cult leader is paying him to buy a star man, and their both surronded by the creepy old guy’s skin golems that weirdly look like mudokons. Look i’ve  read Grant’s entire utterly bonkers run on doom patrol. I’ve seen a man who looks like a question mark use a bicycle that makes everyone high like their on LSD for president. And THIS is what breaks me. 

So while.. THIS is going on, Dom and Wolverine plan to do it all night long on the professor’s credit card, no really he gives all his professors carte blanch to use school fun, and inflitrate, Dom through the elvator this horrorshow just took place in and Wolvie james bond style. Also I gotta say I REALLY love how Morrison writes Domino. She’s wittiy, entertaining and her power is as awesome as always, super luck if you didn’t know. It’s a real shame he didn’t add her to the team: She wasn’t on any other x-teams, with X-Force having been rebranded into X-Statix by this point. She would’ve been a fun addition to the cast. 

Naturally wolverine is found out.. but that was the entire plan, for him to serve as a distraction then cut his way to domino while she steals something from the vault. As for the rest of the X-Men, Cyclops, Beast and Emma are all downstairs in the parking garage and find a secret entrance. Jean is not on this trip and that’s a major plot point for this run. This is where Risque died.. and it only get’s worse when Hank goes inside, finding a bug like child, basically htink a giant caterpillar but with tons of human arms inttead of legs with her wings cut off. 

Thankfully as Logan and Dom escape above, the U-Men are dumb enough to storm down bellow.. and while they incapacitate beast with some launched tiny knives, designed to incapcicate but leave them in tact for harvest, Emma beats the shit out of them and get the info out as only she can....

Granted she could’ve just turned back to normal and used her telepathy.. but what fun would that be? Plus they have blockers and you know CUT UP A FUCKING CHILD. SO yeah fuck them, let emma have her fun. 

Thanks to her they find out the U-Men are a front for illegal organ harvest, and while they can’t prove sublimes attached Emma suggests killing him.  Good idea but Scott suggests the lighter approach and we find out what Dom stole, a key, something Emma can psychcially scan. She warns it might take her a bit to get something.. only to be flooded instantly and we find out who the man in the box was. Shen Xorn... i’ll let emma tell you more herself. 

It’s stuff like this why, despite some serious flaws like the U-Men debacle and some stuff to come, some I mentioned above other that’s just with the plot that i love this run. Morrison just gets how to really tell an x-men story and the real tragedy of being a mutant. That just for being diffrent, you get shut out, or in this case thrown into a box when you could’ve and should’ve been something more. As emma turns herself to diamond to deal with the psychic backlash, Beast has some solemn words to share. 

That night Scott rests in his bedroom while presumibly hearing some truly horrific and sexy things next door while talking to jean before clocking out.. only for Emma to head in in a sexy dress with champagne. What happened? Well we won’t know for sure for most of the run. 

The next day the U-Men prepare to load and we get some scrap of what the idea was supposed to be: John talks to Ao Jun about his procedures. We see wings crudely sewen to his back and his throat implaants hurting “But one day I will fly”. THe IDEA is their supposed to be lunatics, people who envy mutantkind but don’t actually respect their culture or their sense of personhood. It’s not the worst idea and had Grant not used trans termnology for htis, it would’ve been a great one. I think he INTENDED for them to be coopting the idea of being trans and what not to maks their true intentions.. which is problematic due to debates like the ones on bathrooms where a lot of transphobic asshats make the bad faith argument a bunch of people are going to pretend to be trans to assault people. 

We’re.. we;’re not even to the main storyarc yet. 

But things soon go wrong as Xorn’s starhead starts to collapse into a black hole, with no solution as the x-men took the key to his helmet.. and assault the compound. Turns out the star collapse thing is Jun’s revenge on humanity for lockig him down here and he gets his neck snapped.  Scott has a solution though.. and it’s stuff like this why I fucking love Scott Summers and get annoyed when people call him “boring”: He realizes Xorn is comitting sucicide.. so he’s going to talk him out of it. Not just for everyone else but he deserves to live. And while Emma points out only logan among htem knows chinese and she can’t get through to Xorns’ head due to the way his brain works, Scott has a simple workaround: Use the nearest chineses speaker to teach Scott chinese. So.. with that he talks to Xorn. 

And that my friend is Scott Summers. A man who faced with powerful man whose given up, whose lost all hope... convinces him he can still go on. That living’s better than dying.. and that it does get better. The issue closes with Xorn basking in the sunlight for the first time in decades while Domino sweats having an extremley powerful unknown mutant out in the world. Scott’s already thought of that.. and signed him up with the x-men. Granted it won’t be until our next article that he actually fully joins the team, but w’ell get to that next time. 

This issue is great... while the U-Men stuff is pretty bad and isn’t going to get better, the tale of xorn is excitiong, Aao Jun is an intresting antagonist and the sideways gimmick suprisingly works. So now we’ve finshed our apitizer let’s get on to the main course. 

Danger Rooms:

We open in well.. the Danger Room with Beast training a new student. 

This is Beak. Beak is my faviorite character Morrison came up with and one of my faviorite X-Characters. Beak is a bird like boy who can fly, it’s just a struggle and due to looking diffrent and not having the most impressive power has very low self esteem. It’s also part of something Morrison took a concerted effort to do: introduce more mutants with genuinely odd apperances and drawbacks. Like we saw with Ugly John last time and Aao Jun in the previous issue, Morriosn really likes adding weird mutants but he also uses it to give a genuine downside to being one. While this isn’t NEW to x-men, Morriosn upped the scale and number of characters like this with weird powers and apperances. We see a bunch of human passing ones too but the backgrounds just jammed with all sorts of unique designs and students. It’s also the point where the school became far more crowded like the movies, a good call on my part both to help those coming in from the movies, and to help sell the mutant baby boom going on. After all it wouldn’t make sense if the school was just about 5-7 students and a bunch of grown adults doing superhero stuff like usual would it.

But we get to see that Hank is a good teacher, as he reminds the boy that he’s getting better and won’t be an x-man overnight, and worries about him to the professor, wanting the boy not to slip through the cracks, figuratively, and not to feel like an outcast.. especaily here. But Hank dosen’t feel blue for long, metaphorically he was blue long before he became the lion minus the witch and the wardrobe, as he has a date to night.. and so does Charles. 

Or rather he did.. his girlfriend trish, a long time love intrest of his and a reporter.. breaks up with him. Over voice mail. While in washington. And the reasons she gives are not great

Yes Hank’s transformation is radical.. but not only was it not his choice... she’s being a coward, sending the message it’s okay to dump someone because hteir a mutant or because they happen tobe diffrent and that efffects your career. Again it’s moments like this that make the run soar over the more awkward bits. 

Meanwhile Logan’s off doing logan stuff, i.e. gazing at a deer. Wow. Jean followed him. Both notice a space ship: Despite recently outing himself as a mutant, leading to an increased number of students and a bunch of rioting morons at the gates, Charles has decided NOW’S a good time to take a vacation to the Shiar empire. As for why Jean’s really out here, her marriage to Scott isn’t doing so good and while Logan encourages her to stay it’s just not that simple: Her telekenisis is coming back, stronger than ever. She feels the most alive she’s been while he’s shutting her out and feeling his deadest. She tries to turn to logan for comfort but he shuts her down. Just wait two decades jean... he’ll open up to a threesome. In all seriousness though having Jean try and come onto Logan .. will backfire slightly on later storylines. But we’ll get to that eventually. 

In the basement Hank is studying Cassandra or rather a virtual version of her since her body is naturally in storage. And he’s found out something disturbing: She’s Charles Genetic Twin.. oh and it gets way worse. The Professor’s weird behavior? Barely staffing the hong kong office, leaving suddenly with rioters t the gates, outing himself? About that...

Cassandra tourtures Hank with the possiblity he’s devovling and then tries to mind controlli him into cleaning himself with his diploma when Beak enters. The good news is this allows hank to shake off her control and tackle her, showing off why hank mccoy is fucking awesome in the process. 

That is the Hank McCoy I know, love.. and miss dearly. The one we’ll probably never get back sadly after what others did and what Percy’s had to do to reconclie with all they did. 

Unfortunately beak being around means cassandra can force him to beat beast into a coma with his bat. She plans to tear Charles dream down around him and make him watch.. and cryptically says he tried to kill her. She then cheerfully leaves Jean in charge.. and talks about just how much damage one could do with an entire interstellar empire in the wrong hands....

This issue is also excellent and sets up the next two arcs nicely while giving us a nice peak in hank’s head. Great stuff. The artist also hid the word sex in a lot of the images see if you can find them. 

Germ Free Generation Issue 1: 

So now we get into our main story for today. This story and the one before it were drawn by Ethan Van Sciver whose a talented artist.. but also highly contrversial for being a conservative. I myself.. don’t know what he’s said or did, though calling himself “Canceld Superstar’ on twitter really isn’t a good sign. So I really can’t comment on it but I also know someone would mention it if I didn’t bring it up and if you know what he did please enlighten me. 

So we open with a school shooter who also scooped out a guys eyes and is part of the U-Men. He get shot by the swat team while making his speech> it’s an effective opening but one that’s become more uncomfortable to read with each passing day due to school shootings going up and up in number. And mass shootings in general and I... I need a second. I need something to relax me

Thank you Stoopy. Your doing Odd’s Work. 

So the news reports on this and we soon see how Jean watches the news.. by using Cerebra to read the minds of every person on the planet. Neat. Everyone’s talking about them. We also get a hint for later as we hear on the suicide of one martha johanson who wrote the note in her own blood. She’ll be important later.... and I mean that both in the context of this retrospective and for the fact she’ll go on to be part of x-men in perpetuity. 

This is also where another great concept of Morrison’s pops up: Mutant culture. After all mutants are a minority, they should have their own culture. It’s something Hickman’s era has taken and ran with, but it’s a damn good idea and one that it shoudln’t of taken almost 20 years for someone else to use given Decimation was undone way back around 2012 in Avengers Vs X-Men, aka that event half hte articles on the mcu around the fox sale used as either their image for the article or asked about happneing. And yes that is a pet peeve of mine: while I do think like Civil War AVX could use a movie version to make it better, I don’t think it’s an event that could be done right away and would have to be almost entirely redone anyway given the context for AvX is entirely couched in decimation i.e. something NO ONE wants in any x-adaptation. 

So it turns out while watching the news in a next level way Jean is also talking to Logan. “Stay out of my personal fantasies”. Yeah I .. I don’t think your ready for a hairy canadian dry humping a transformer.. specifically killbison. And yes.. that is an actual transformer and why yes, I have been waiting to bring him up. 

And he is , and I am not making any of this up, part of a group of decpticons known as the breastforce. Your life is better for knowing that and you are welcome. 

Anyway as you’d imagine a genocidal old woman in her brothers’ body leaving the X-Men to fend for themselves after having a teenager bludgeon one into a coma after publicly outing them with a rabid bunch of bigoted morons at the gates has not gone great. Henry is still out and despite the short staffing Jean needs logan to stay where he is as he’s close to an emerging mutant and within range to go get her. 

Emma of course has never been so fucking irate in her whole life and is plotting various forms of psychic tourture with the help of her proteges the Stepford Cucokoo, 5 teenage mutants who functoin best as a unit and are easily some of MOrrison’s most prominent additions to the x-cast. Unlike a lot of the x-kids, they’ve been featured prominently in every era of x-men after this including the current one. 

Jean decides for a less “Make them hate us even more” approach, but no less pissed off, opening the gates and going out directly to chew out the assembled bigoted morons, pointing out the ones carrying “Mutants Go Home!” signs are especailly dumb as this IS her home. And while she dosen’t point this part out, it’ the same for all of them: most of the mutants are either adults who choose to live here, teenagers who along with their parents choose to live here, or in the majority teens who have no where else to go due to either being abandoned by their families or it being way to dangerous for said families for them to stay due to bigoted assholes like the ones holding mutants go home signs. 

A member of the press asks if she’s willing to talk to the media and she refutes most of his bullshit allegations: He asks if their building an army, she and Scott respond they are not and are simply educating mutants and protecting them. When he counters with the fact their living weapons and wearing uniforms... she counters with the fact she’s wearing them to protect herself, rightfully, from people like her, and the x-men are an aid orginzation going where needed to protect the world and while asshole points out no one apointed them.. jean shuts him down by pointing out there are no mutants in goverment and a genocide just happened, so someone has to do the job. Another random asshole tries to pipe up with “Genosha declared war on us” and Emma senses this is just going to go round and round and round and simply presses the assembled mob’s “bliss buttons” in their brains to knock them out. Non violent but honestly warranted: A dangerous part of bigoted assholes is they’l bring up racist bullshit to try and couch it like an actual conversation. None of these complaints really hold water if you looked at the x-men’s history for more than 5 minutes. Yes Charles is training them to fight and yes hte ingial class was an army but every class since has only been trained for self defense: they still got into adventures and what not, but it was usually by their own choice or because they were thrust into them by circumstance. Xaviers is exactly what jean said and endudgling these morons, while good on paper, only makes them seem legit. 

Jean retreats to the infirmary where she’s on the verge of breaking down from the sheer weight of everything. Cyclops proves that despite not being the best husband right now... he still loves his wife, offering to go look into Sublime with Emma and hoping Hank wakes up. Turns out his mind for now is a big blank room.

So she can’t get any info off his skull, and neither of the two think what happened with Beak adds up. Something is up here. Their also coming down with colds which will be important later. And just as important.. Magneto is becoming a symbol among people and merch sales with his image are on the rise.  We then get this. 

So Jean is trying to be a supportive, honest wife, and while the questions incredibly insulting.. his answer is equally so. Spoilers, as mentioned we do get an answer long after this.. and they did not. So Jean is wrong to be suspcious, at this point, but is at least trying to be polite about it and gave him the benifit of the doubt.. and Scott basically said he slept with her without actually saying it despite not having to. You could’ve said “no we did not have sex, we simply talked all night”. It’s not ENTIRELY better given the horrible state of their relationship right now, but it’s still better than HEAVILY implying he rocked her body to the break of dawn for no damn reason. 

So we meet our next major addition to the cast Angel Salvador, an abused teen who is a mutant.. and whose abusive and molesting step dad beats her and throws her out over this. The scene’s a bit overdone, coming off like an after school special.. but it’s what happens AFTER that’s truly heartwrenching. 

A poor scared teenager clutching herself, finding herself homeless alone and desperatly wishing she wasn’t what she was. It’s just a striking image and shows how well Grant uses the mutant metaphor. I could easily see myself in that position had my parents not been good peopl and had I come out far sooner as bi. The idea of desperatly hoping your not what you are simply becaus eof what hell it brings, despite all the joy it can bring too. . it’s heartbreaking to hear. 

Naturally though things don’t get much better as the next morning the U-Men have found her, calling her a freak and successfully kidnapping her.. if only because while she uses acid spit to escape, she flies into a power line. 

We then get Sublimes meeting with Emma and Scott and a BETTER use of teh u-men as while Grant made the horrible mistake of calling them “transpecies”, seriously what the fuck were you thinking, the way sublime frames it here is a MUCH better, much less accidently bigoted concept. 

The idea isn’t bad: A group of humans jealous of the mutants powers, blatantly ignoring the horrible downsides and mountain of persecution that comes with being one. Grant just made the mistake of couching in in Trans metaphors, clearly trying to have the U-Men steal from Trans People too as a way to make themselves seem legit. And I say if you want superpowers.. fine.. wanting to be a superhero or a mutant is fine, the issue with the U-Men is their copoting a culture, trying to be part of mutantkind without having any of the drawbacks and by actively butchering them. It’s why the concept HAS shown up elsewhere; it’s not TERRIBLE, Grant just made a bad creative choice that’s only gotten worse as Transphobia has ramped up further and further. 

Sublime denies it when our heroes bring up Hong Kong.. but naturally he’s simply just keeping them talking long enough to bring out his trump cards, an army of u-men and a brain in a jar he uses to incapacitate them.. and announces his plan to use the school as an organ farm for his third species. 

Meanwhile Logan finds the U-Men in their truck preparing to rip angel apart.. and given he snikit’s soon after.. i’ts very clear whose REALLY about to get ripped apart. 

Germ Free Generation Part 2: 

Part two begins wth Sublime monologoging about how Mutantkind are just cattle to them and reveals the brain is martha’s, her sucicide having been faked and her brain currently being controlled to use as a weapon. 

So while Johnny monlogues we find out what happened with Wolverine last issue he didn’t cut up the guys yet as they fired their little flichete guns at him... it was about as useful and effective as you’d expect and the massacre you were expecting occurs. Though in a nice bit of reality the fact wolverine’s soaked in blood and just killed a bunch of blood shockingly does not make the already frighttend teen feel he’s safe and she spits acid on him. Logan pours some stuff on the acid, figuring rightly a black ops murder farmacy would have something to counteract it and tells her she’s safe now .. and tells the guy behind him not to try it. He’s stupid and does anyway and likely gets a claw to the head off panel. 

They go to a diner to eat and find a local asshole who threatens them with a shot gun to leave once angel uses her power to digest and goes on a rant about how he snapped his own son’s neck to prevent him being born a freak. Just.. fucking hell this arc is not good for my depression. We get some more angst from Angel and whiel her dialouge is not the best, i’ts a too bit mark millar flavored edgelordy for my taste and if I wanted that i’d go read Ultimates or Ultimate X-Me, her pain is real and Logan helps her through it. 

Back at the Mansion the U-Men are on their way to strike, whlie Jean unaware continues to buckle under the weight of all the shit she’s had to deal with, feeling SOMETHING is making them weak with the colds and something worse is going on and thus tries going to Beak’s mind instead and gently helps talk him through it, showing her grace and empathy.. and in return finding out Charles was the one responsible. The alarms flair up and Jean tries calling the police now that’s an option.. but it goes exactly how you’d expect. 

Also a second artist took over for this issue and the next Igor Kordey. He’s fine, but not nearly as good as Quitely or Van Sciver and it shows. Meanwhile Beast awakens and heads for the body drawer with Cassandra’s body, and professor’s mind in it. 

However Jean’s finally had enough and got her second wind. She’s outgunned, outmanned and left to her own devices. And she’s fucking fed up with it. She steels herself and assembles the students. This is obviously a last resort.. but some of them can defend themselves and their going to need to. But today they won’t be learning.. they’ll be teaching and as the U-Men call them defensless Jeans simply asks “Are you sure about that?”

Germ Free Generation Part 3:

So we come to the finale of this arc. Angel is once again an ungreatful brat to logan and he opts to just leave her there if sh’es going to be like that pointing out being a mutant sucks, it’s going to keep sucking.. and she needs to deal with it instead of lashing out at him and herself over it. 

We get back to the U-Men, one of whom is utterly flabergasted they want to him to cut of Cyclops head... only for Emma to awaken.. and take back her regular form meaning she has her telepathy back. The only reason they were able to get her ealier is she was in diamond mode which is stronger but lacks that, a nice way to check and ballance her new powers. She quickly takes them out and disables Martha. 

Back at the school we get one of Jean’s definting moments for me and a true chance to show how badass she can be. Before this while Morrison wrote her well, and his version’s still my favoirite, she didn’t really get to do much and was motly in the background. This arc has been her time in the limelight, having trouble grappling with all the stress of running this place by herself.. and emerging from it stronger, more capable and ready to kick some racist weirdo ass. She tries a few diffrent tactics first, having a mutant with a voice power project it to make them think their san invisible army and having the cuckoos fuck with their heads but when both fail, Jean REALLY gets to show off. Thier blade ammo gets turned into a cool looking 3 dimensioinal shape with her telekneisis, and in a cool moment and a wise use of something gross makes the only one of them with useable powers throw up, before issuing a badass boast, wreathed in flames all while she crumples their guns into uselessness. and tears open their suits. 

Bad ass.. and logan and Angel arrive just in time for the cecendo as hte u-men flee in terror

The Phoenix has been Reborn. Jean Grey has risen from the ashes and returned to full power. 

Meanwhile Sublime is pankcing.. and it gets worse when Emma shows up, fully enraged after all of this and has some words for him. 

Iconic. Emma prepares to drop him out of a building but Scott rightly tries to get her to back off, pointing out the pr nightmare it’d create and the fact that they have enough evidence ot shut him down. Martha however has other ideas and gets him to let go of his own accord, falling to his death.. but given he’d aranged a stunt for the press apparently this gives our heroes deniability and Martha her revenge. 

So we end this three parter as Jean revels in her new power, and Beast returns with an announcment:

Final Thoughts for Germ Free Generation:  This arc is pretty good if forgetable. The struggle of Jean to run the school herself and her rising from the ashes of her own pain at the end with the power of the phoenix at the end is fantastic, finally both giving her a chance to shine.. and a worrying sign for her friends given what her phoenix force copy whose memories she has a copy of, long story, did is awesome. The other parts are okay and ehhhhhhhhh though. Scott and Emma’s investigation into the u-men while having a really good climax, is pretty standard x-men stuff, and Wolverin’es trek with angel is just okay with Angel being highly intolerable during this arc, with Morrison trying a bit TOO hard to make her a “realistic” teen instead coming off as horribly unplesant. She’s supposed to just be lashing out but comes off obnxious as a result. That said this arc does furhter a lot of Morrisons best idea and introduce more, and is a great setup for our next arc, which we’ll get to in two weeks. Soooo

Next Time On X-Men: We find out just what the hell Cassandra Nova is, what her plans are, and what happened with her and charles as our heroes come down with a cold as the might of the shiar empire bears down on them. It’s IMperial in two weeks. 

Next Time ON This BLog: Speaking of long Delayed Projects, I finally return to The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck as a young Scrooge starts his prospecting career, learning the ins and outs from a rich new mentor, and finding the price tag striking it rich comes with. Raid a copper hill with me tommorow. 

If you liked this review, subscirbe for more, join my patreon, and if there’s a comic you’d like me to cover suggest it in the comments or outright comission a review from me via ask. See you at the next rainbow

[habibialkaysani]

rules: answer the questions and then tag 10+ other creators to answer the questions! 

I was tagged by @barryallenis - thank you!

first creation and most recent creation of 2020: first creation (gifs of the clock tower on arrow and gaatc which I did like) and last (black siren and halsey songs) tho there might be some others before the year ends

one of your favourite creations from 2020: maybe this black siren one to this is the world we made

a creation you’re really proud of: this andy one took aaaages to colour lmao but also it’s to a quote from my fave ever play

a new style you tried this year and a gifset that uses it: ooh! so I did five immortal husbands gifsets in this style as a kind of series of “immortal husbands according to tumblr” and it was received very well I think and also it was me doing a copout bc I didn’t know how to colour this movie at that point

your favourite colouring: I find it reallllly hard to do two colours consistently in a gifset but I think I sorta did it in this one (an admiration of dinah laurel lance with rings on)

a creation that took you forever: oh. my. fucking. GOD. this lauryssa gifset was tough bc I tried to do the two colours thing again, but also, that last one, good lord. I had to do that several times over bc I was soooo stuck on how I could make it go from colour to grey (usually I do that effect the other way round so I was v confused about how to reverse that and then I figured out I just needed to reverse the frames!!!!)

your creation from 2020 that received the most notes: this immortal husbands one which had me chuffed to bits bc the old guard fandom does validate me and I love that

a creation you think deserved more notes: this one, because I love making hurty dutch gifsets and it actually doesn’t look that bad

a creation with a favorite scene/quote: this one!!!! it’s to one of my favourite poems ever, ghazal by mimi khalvati :)

a new fandom you joined and a creation you made for it: the old guard! made this immortal wives gifset which is hopefully one of maaaany

a creation you made that breaks your heart: this andy one that ppl were yelling at me in the tags for :D

a ‘simple’ creation that you really love: maybe this one? it’s just one of laurel on tv, simple in concept but still neat?

a creation that was inspired by another one: honestly I’m not sure I can think of one for this category???

a favourite creation created by someone else: god, so many. this dinah drake set by @canarei has wonderful colouring. really vibrant colouring of iris here by @westallenfamily; this laurel set by @joharvell hurts a lot and has an excellent font; this gifset by @flashandtheholograms with e1 laurel and e2 dinah is soooo pretty. I also love rainbows so seeing iris (by @iriswestallengifs) and westallen (by @izzyllewis) in rainbow colours as well as dinah in birds of prey (by @nyssalance) was a++++. @shinylightblue has some really gorgeous stuff including this format for immortal wives and immortal husbands; @lauricity knocked it out of the park with this dinah lance gifset which has such a cool effect on it. I’m nowhere near done, but I’d be here all day if I listed every single gifset i love by others, so I will limit it to two more, this lauryssa gifset with pretty colouring by @nyssalance and this westallen set by @miriammaisel has such a great font and colouring.

some of your favourite content creators from the year: oh so many! @joharvell has some of the best colouring I’ve ever seen; @nyssalance always has really sharp hq gifs that I am genuinely in awe of, @shinylightblue has some really creative and pretty styles combining stills with gifs, @strangehighs has a wonderful series of gifs for the old guard with gorg colouring, and now I’m getting sleepy so I will just list several more blogs I really adore the gifs of: @seance, @marwankenzari, @wickedpact, @findsilver @westallenfamily @swallowedabug, @laufire, @barryallenis, @flashandtheholograms, @lauricity and so many more

a for good measure, another a couple more creations of yours that you love: gay immortals being gay and immortal on killjoys and the old guard, immortal wives to the tune of the colour purple, kc in cover versions looking dinah af, black canary tattoos, the obligatory “oh gods we are a family” killjoys hugs, the genuinely surprising similarities between comics dinah and arrow (e2) dinah, my obsession with halsey songs and the flarrowverse, my obsession with updos and I’m gonna stop there bc again, we’d be here all day.

if I’ve tagged you somewhere here, please take that to mean I tagged you to do this meme! but with no obligation as always okay <3

[melyaliz]

Yellow Umbrella pt 1

Fandom: Marvel 

Summary: Demon Lord Loki needs distraction from the mundane life he lives. You need to figure out who you are now that your boyfriend left you. (AU where Loki is a Demon mafia lord.) 

Pairing: Demon!Loki x Reader 

Warning: This is NSFW - lots of sexual content 

Story notes: The character’s name is Yue because I hate Y/N I feel like it takes you out of the story. (This is my creative way around that) 

My Notes: Loki won the contest! But that doesn’t mean Jason won’t show up… I have some saucy plans so don’t you worry. I also tagged everyone who liked/commented on the post. If you don’t want to be tagged just let me know and I will remove you. 

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

DONATE or REQUEST

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Every story has an ending. That moment when you are sobbing on your best friend’s bed asking her why this happened. He was supposed to be your everything, he had promised you forever. He WAS your everything. You couldn't picture your life without him. Without his morning text, checking in during the day, his opinions on your life. 

He had promised you forever.

How could he just leave like that? 

As if those 3 years of constant meant nothing. 

As if you meant nothing.  

In those moments it feels like it’s the true ending. What could possibly happen next? How could life even go on? What would it even look like? How does one go on after such a shift in their reality. 

The problem is this is life. There is no ending, no rolling credits. No large THE END on the last page of the book. The beginning to life is when you are born and the end is when you die. During that time there are a million different shifts and changes.  

And even then people have lived before you and will live after you. 

So when moments like this happen, how do you start over when your entire life has ended? 

When your entire life breaks up with you. 

-----

Loki sat in his boardroom. And he was bored, bored in his boardroom. 

Someone come kill him.

Too bad he was a demon and couldn’t really die.  

The king of demons actually. 

Well A king really. The world had gotten just a bit too big for one organized faction and demons had never been very good at the whole “following a god” sort of things so many hundred years ago they had given up and did their own thing. The most powerful ones taking weaker demons and building factions to rule over. 

Think of it like an underground mafia 

And Loki was lord of one of the largest powerful territories.

Which was great, unless you had to be stuck in these endless meetings. Sure they were important, he needed to know what the werewolves had been up to and if the vampires were starting to group again. 

But it was all so trivial. (Just send an email or something.) 

That was why he had underlings. To deal with these things. 

“We have a few spies among their ranks so we will keep you updated.” the man, Yash,  droned on, did they intentionally get the one demon with the most boring voice to run these things? Where was the pazazz? They were demons after all.

Next to Loki his secretary Clover shifted. Her black mini skirt pushed up under the boardroom table so that the demon lord could draw lazy lines up her leg just brushing over those crotchless lace panties she had dawned just for this meeting. 

She was a good secretary. 

 “But… the good news is souls are up and our borders have never been stronger.” 

“And on that note,” Loki gripped Clover’s inner thigh  before standing. Taking his beautiful scepter that his assistant Jeff had gotten him as a gift last year he tapped in against the floor. The sound echoing across the room. “Let’s take the rest of the day off and celebrate!” See Yash, pazazz 

The room erupted in cheers as he added “drinks on me.” 

Which is was what led them all to a beautiful speakeasy in the heart of San Francisco. The drinks were strong and the bartenders hot. 

Just how Loki liked it. 

One in particular caught Loki’s eye. A busty blonde who smiled brightly as he walked in. Leaning forward Loki licked his lips as the woman matched his stance, showing off just a bit more of her beautiful cleavage.

“You’re new.” 

“Just helping out for the night.” 

“Well I would love to learn more about you before you must leave Cinderella.”

“I'll be here past midnight don’t you worry.” she said shaking his drink. Her body bouncing with the rhythm of the movements.  

Loki licked his lips, “Perfect” 

She smelled of tequila and seltzer as he fucked her in the back. The cold night air coming out in little clouds as he lifted her up pushing against her. She was impressed by his super strength, humans always were, and the cold night air made her nipples perky as he let his tongue run lazily over them.

“God your beautiful.” she said running her fingers over his thick black hair. 

“God’s got nothing to do with it baby” he growled thrusting into her again causing her to let out a cry of pleasure. 

“Adriana?” 

“Shit.” 

Loki’s fingers gripped the curvy girls ass digging into the soft flesh. “Friend of yours?” 

“Boyfriend…” 

Turning Loki instantly knew why she had cursed. The boyfriend wasn’t alone. Four of them stood there and they didn’t look nice. 

He had send his own men home assuming he would just have one quick fuck and then leave. 

After all everything about that woman had screamed single and desperate.

I guess you never judge a book by it’s cover. 

Not that this wasn’t his first time dealing with a jealous lover. 

--------

It was raining out. Thick sheets of torrential downpour as Yue walked home. Her soft yellow umbrella taking the brunt of the storm as she sloshed down the street. She really shouldn’t have even been out in it but when you wake up at 4am with a cough that won’t let you rest there is nothing you can do but run to the local 24 hour mart and grab some NyQuil. 

This cold air and rain wasn’t helping the cough but there wasn’t much she could do. 

After swigging some of the blue liquid Yue started her trek home. And that was when she saw him. Leaning against the wall heavily. At first she thought maybe he was throwing up but as she got closer she realized he was bleeding.

“Are… are you ok? Do you need me to call 911?” 

Her phone was out to show him she could call the police even if he tried something.

“Not much good they can do.” he said turning to her. His dark lined eyes smudge from the rain, black hair flat against his face giving him a very emo boy band look. 

Welcome to the Black Parade anyone? 

Holding out her umbrella the man took a step under it. “Nice boots” he said pointing to the matching yellow boots Yue had on. His eyes lifted up meeting hers with a wiry smile. He had a split lip and a few other cuts and bruises on his face. He also had a few previous scars on across his left eyebrow and one that was under the same eye down his cheek.

That coupled with the way the light of her phone seemed to make his pale skin glow gave him a little unworldly look. As if he was some fallen angel right out of a Gothic comic. 

“So little yellow boots where are you taking me?” 

“A hospital?” 

“That’s no fun.” he drawled, running his thumb over his split lip.  

Her response was a few muffled coughs eyes watering. He studied her taking in her flushed cheeks and red nose along with the 7-11 bag she was holding. “Sounds to me that you need  it more than I do.”

“Well I was about to take some NyQuil and pass out.” 

“Well I won’t keep you.” 

She took a step forward about to leave him. She didn’t owe this mysterious stranger anything. But something nagged at the back of her head. Pausing she turned to him, “If you walk me to my door I’ll let you take my umbrella wherever you need to be.”

“What?” he looked down at her surprised. 

“I’ll let you take my umbrella.” 

He looked her over, his breath thick with the smell of whiskey. “Ok.” 

They walked in silence, the only sound was the echo of the rain hitting the little sunny covering over them.

Once they approached her small apartment complex she stopped turning to him. His eyes lazily looking around, hands in his pockets giving him a very laid back look. She had no idea how he had gotten beaten up but it really didn’t seem to affect him much. 

Holding her umbrella up she flashed him a slightly painful smile. Her mouth was so dry from this dumb cold. 

“Here” 

He leaned forward looking down at her, taking her in for a moment that same lazy smile on his lips that he had worn their whole walk back. His fingers wrapped themselves over hers for a moment, the cold steel of his chunky silver rings sending shivers down her already sensitive skin. 

“Thank you love.'' His voice thick and smokey. Dangerously sexy, sending a shiver down her spine that wasn't from the cold. 

“Good night.” 

“Night” 

And they parted. Him down the street disappearing into the stormy night and her into her complex to drug herself into a peaceful slumber. 

Little did they know on that rainy night under a sunny umbrella that a new story was about to unfold. A moment that shifted in time changing the course of their lives forever. 

--------

-GET TAGGED!- 

Forever tag:  @the-shadow-of-atlantis @coffee-randomness @0hmydeku @xx3fsxx @daisyboobear  @jason-redhood @hello-i-lovespiderman-blr  @pinkwitch21 @tomhncharliep  @cdwmtjb8

Loki: @wayward-hell @winterssoldierrs

Story:  @irwin-hood @hit-th3r0ck @cruel-kitten @boofrarti @i-miukimiuki @mmimagine-40 @mynameofuser @pia-1000 @angelgl16 @the-fifth-marauder03 @plutos-deamonchild @frenchfrostpudding @carydorse @neverleturheartshow2 @sebhiddleston @probsjosh @dracaryspowpow @andrea20967 @saiyanprincessswanie @olive-tini @albinotigerpython

[hobbitsnapes]

The Red Hoods Protègè chapter 17

Older Damian Wayne x ofc

(Photo made by my lovely friend @inspeech)

Summary:Red hood has taken a young vigilante under his wing and subsequently changes Damians life forever.

A/N: THANK THE LORD I FIGGURED IT OUT!

Tags: @comic-nerd-dc @comic-brew @psychovigilantewrites @psych0crybaby

The cool crisp water against her hot back sent chills up her body. The heat from the air no longer feeling sticky against her as the cool water washes away the humidity on her skin.

It was the middle of October, and everyone had grown accustomed to the cold air. But the last 3 days had been a heat wave that shot the cool air into hot and humid. Causing everyone to trade their sweaters and jeans for tank tops and shorts. Thankfully the manor was for the most part cool, below the 100 degree weather outside.

It was mid day when she decided to go outside into the large outdoor pool. The scorching heat outside made her skin sticky almost instantly, even with the Bathing suit she wore. It was a nice welcome when she stepped into the cool water.

She threw the weight as far as she could, watching it plummet to the floor below.

She took in a large breath, and dove down. The instant pressure on her body, but with the weightless surrounds her. She dove as far as she could down to reach the weight, but once she reached the 20 feet depth, she felt her lungs closing up more and more until she couldn’t take it and swam back up.

She let out a large gasp when she broke the surface, no longer feeling hot but cold as she took in the much needed air.

She heard someone walking behind her, turning abruptly but relaxed when she saw who it was.

There stood Tim, clad in dress pants, a button up and a tie, his jacket laid in a heap in his arms, long since taken off due to the heat. “You doing anything today?” He asked. She swam over to him, resting her arms along the pools walls. He crouched down to her level. “Not really, why?” She asked, her head tilted slightly. “I just got back from the most boring, soul sucking meeting that almost made me jump out the window and let god decide if I lived or not.” This caused her to laugh, Tim joining in on the laughing. Once their laughter died down, she looked back to him. “Alright, what you got in mind?” She asks. A smile takes over his face. “I know the perfect place.”

They both walked into the large coffeehouse, the smell of coffee beans and baked goods hitting them as soon as they entered. The sounds of people talking, plates being moved and the soft hum of music took up the room.

Her shoes softly padding along the hardwood flooring. She decided on a pair of soft black ballet pumps, an ivory long sleeve top tucked into a pair of high waisted cropped trousers. Her hair freshly cut, soft curls framed around her eyes. Tim wore the same clothes he came home in, just trading the suit jacket for a leather one.

They both sat in their seats, sipping on their drinks. Tim chose his usual black coffee with sugar, her choosing a green tea with lemon. “Want anything to eat?” He asks, causing her to look up at him from her cup. “Would they have any yogurt?” She questions, causing Tim to roll his eyes and chuckle. “Yes, yes they do.”

“So how was the meeting?” She asked, after finishing her cup of yogurt. “It was more a brainstorming day. The board wants to expand Wayne enterprise to other fields.” He says, taking a sip of his second cup of coffee. “What do they want to expand on?” She asks. “More Real estate and construction.” This caused her to be further confused. “Why? I thought you guys were more tech?” Her head slightly tilted as she eyes him. He sets his cup down onto the table. “That’s the new Wayne enterprise. The Wayne’s got their name and money originally for helping colonize Gotham. They were the ones who built most of the homes and helped build the city. They’re wanting to widen the company to other branches. I’ve got little to do with it, I’m pretty much just one of the faces of the company.” Tim says, finishing the last few sips of his now cold coffee.

Sandy puts her chin in her palm and eyes him, “so you said you’re the face of WE, what position do you actually have in the company?” Tim chuckles at this, writing out the check as he speaks. “Bruce gave me the position as the CEO. I took it due to being one of the only ones in the family who was both interested in it, and old enough. Damian was to young at the time, I was old enough at the time to take the job. And even now that’s he’s old enough, Damian doesn’t have any interest in it. Says he can’t stand the people. And honestly, yeah I understand him.” Tim chuckles, looking at her and seeing her chuckle under her breath. “Alright, let’s head out before there’s too many people.”

Before either one could fully step out of the coffeehouse, they were Bombarded with cameras flashing, people yelling out all around them and being surrounded. Her throat closed up almost immediately, feeling like her insides would fall out to her feet. Her heart sank and filled with a tight pain. Her breathing grew sporadic and heavy, nearly causing her to cry.

Tim quickly tucked her shaking head into his chest and nearly carried her shaking body out of the crowd of press, feeling the tears soaking his shirt the longer they were in it. He bent his head down to hers, lightly running his hand into her hair to hopefully soothe her. “Hey hey shhh it’s okay we’re almost at the car.” He warped his arm around her side, practically carrying her the rest of the way due to her sobs and hyperventilating.

They both drove off in a hurry, tims hands gripping the wheel so tightly his fingers were an even pallet shade.

Her sobs turned into small silent tears cascading down her face. She looked over to him, his eyes trained on the road, jaw set and brows in an angry line. “What are we gonna do?” She whispers, dread sinking into her stomach, making her want to throw up. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure out something okay?”

‘Who’s the mystery girl?’ ‘CEO of Wayne Enterprise Timothy Drake Wayne with girl.’ ‘Who’s the girl Tim drake Wayne was spotted with? All the information we have.’ Papers, news outlets, gossip websites, magazines, anything you name it and her face was on the cover of it. But the one that stuck out, the one that caused tears to stream down her face, was a magazine by cat grant. ‘The new gold digger in the Wayne family.’ At the bottom showed her with both Tim, and a foggy picture of her and Damian our for dinner. Along with a photo of her hiding in tims chest, and one with damians jacket on her and his arm around her.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she sits with everyone in the family room, all minus one. She knew he’d be here any minute now. After a phone call from dick, Jason promised to be there within the hour.

The door swung open, hearing heavy footsteps hurrying down the hallway. She stood up, seeing him at the door of the large room. She ran over to him and into his wide open arms. She let out a few tears into his chest, clutching to him with all her strength. She took in the familiar smell of him, the scent of cigarettes strong on him. Knowing he puffed on one either before he left or in his way.

She looked up at him, seeing behind his dark tired eye bags, his eyes shined with bushes tears. “I missed you so much bugga.” He whispered into the top of her head, kissing her forehead lightly.

“Alright, we all are up to date with what’s happened, correct?” Bruce asks, breaking the very uncomfortable silence in the room.

Jason sat beside her on her left, with Tim on her right. Next to them say dick and Barbara, with Alfred on the other couch. Beside Alfred, sat bruce and

Selina. And sat in a chair was damian.

Tension was high in the room with the two, almost creating a thickness in the air that worried all of them. They all could see them avoid looking at one another, with a slight uncomfortable pain expression.

Sandy held her necklace in her fingers and twirled it lightly back and forth, Jason taking notice and putting his hand on her shoulder.

“So are we just gonna sit here in silence this entire time, or are we gonna actually talk?” Asked Tim, shocking sandy and mostly everyone. They had grown used to Tim being one of the more quiet of the family.

“No you’re right Tim, we need to figure out what our next step is.” Replies dick. Jason’s jaw ticks lightly, a scowl on his face. “We’re all talking about the same one right? The article written by cat?” Asks Jason, anger evident in his voice. His eyes shone with anger, jaw set and fists balling lightly.

Bruce sighs as he looks at him. “Yes, that one in particular is the one that’s caused concern-“ “then why not go after her? Why not do something about it for all the bullshit that article alone said.” Jason not back, fists now in a tight ball. “There’s one problem with that jason. She has some of the super family behind her-“ Jason slams his hand on the table in front of him, breaking Bruce from speaking. “Isn’t this fucking asshole over here best friends with one?” Jason points to Damian, eyes wide in anger. “Why dont you make yourself useful for once in your fucking life and have your buddy call off his cousin so I can have a word with her?” Jason angrily says, eyes boring into damians equally fiery stare.

“I’m not having Jon do that.” Damian said back, shaking slightly in his seat, his eyes boring into Jason’s. “God you are seriously the most useless one out of all of us! AND REPLACEMENT OVER HERE WAS ROBIN FOR A YEAR BEFORE YOU CAME IN!” Jason yelled back, fists now shaking along with the rest of his body. “Jason that’s enough!-“ “STAY OUT OF THIS BRUCE! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH AS IT IS WHEN YOU GET INVOLVED WITH ME! No I’m fucking sick of how this fucking prick thinks he’s the king all because he’s ‘the blood son’ when he’s nothing but A FUCKING PRICK WHO NEEDS TO GET OFF HIS HIGH FUCKING HORSE!”

Jason has moved into Damians face, nearly inches away from him. Tears brimmed jason's eyes, anger so prevalent that it made his heart throb in pain due to holding back.

Damian wasn’t far off from it as well, now fully shaking, his legs having a hard time keeping himself standing. Heat radiated off of each other as both men shook in place.

“Get the FUCK out of my face Todd! And STAY THE FUCK OIT OF THIS IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH Y-“ “THATS MY FUCKING DAUGHTER! ANYTIME SOMEBODY HURTS HER THEY'RE DEALING WITH ME! Same with you you little bastard. See that scar across your cheek? That’s from me. And if I had it my way, this is hell and I’m the devil.” Jason spat, getting right in damians face. He can feel the raging breath Damian takes the closer he gets to him. Feeling the anger pouring off of him. “I’ll show you what hell is-“ “you better keep that fucking trap of yours shut. I was the first robin to die. I’ll gladly make you the second one. Oh wait, mommy’s boyfriend already did that a few years ago.” “Alright that’s I-“ “ENOUGH!”

All eyes turned to sandy. Who had now gotten up from her seat, shaking slightly as she stood.

Her eyes burned with tears as she watched them both, watching as both got worse and closer to breaking. Her Stomach in so many knots, it felt as though it’d fall out into the floor in a heap. Her mind played a thousand different thoughts on what she could do. Her options were limited, she could grab Jason’s arm and pull him away, she could get between them, she could hit both of them hard enough to knock them out, or get a squirt bottle and spray them like cats. The last one made her chuckle slightly.

She watched as Damian raised his hand from his side, and her heart shrunk and fell. The anger inside her screaming out loud enough to boom out around the room.

Emery one watched as the first tear slid down her cheek, quickly wiping it away as fast as it came. Her hand shook by her sides relentlessly. Her jaw set and eyes cold as she bore into both of the men’s eyes. “If you both are done with your dick measuring contest, then can we actually talk like fucking adults for ONCE.”

“We could sue her, she is in defamation of character.”dick says, eyes looking back to Tim and sandy. Tim sighs, head resting in his hands. “Cats had more lawsuits against her than I have bullet wounds, she always weasels her way out of them each time.” “Fucking vulture.” Damian whispers. Sandy lightly chuckles when she hears it. Jason looks over to her with a raised eyebrow, her shaking her head at him lightly.

Leaves crunched under both of their boots the longer they went down the sidewalk towards the park, his jacket covering her arms, along with his hand around her side pulling her into him.

Damian noticed them first, seeing them around the corner snapping the photo. His jaw set, eyes hard on the man as he pulls her further into him. His grip ever so slightly tighter. “It’s another one.” Damian whispers, looking down at her. A soft laugh escaping her. He tilts his head slightly, brow raised as he looks at her. “You mean another vulture?” She teases back, making Damian smile and roll his eyes. She laughs at his expression, causing him to let out a chuckle. “And hey, I don’t mind. As long as they get my good side.” She jokes, moving her head so only her left side was shown, in a mock model face. He laughed at her antics. “Oh trust me, all your sides are good sides, gorgeous.” Damian whispers, kissing the top of her cheek.

“Well then what can we do? We can’t just let her and the media make whatever they want about sandy.” Barbara replies, slightly scooting into dicks arm. Looking over at her.

“How about an interview, or a press thing? Why not clear everything up with my word.” All eyes looked to her, even Damian looked questionly at her. “Are you sure?” Asks Jason, worry struck to his face. “An interview would be the better option.” Replies Bruce, all eyes still trained on her. “Then that’s it, that’s what I’ll do.”

She ran her fingers over her hair for what was probably the 100th time in the last hour. Smoothing over her skirt probably even more frequent.

She was scared, her heart sinking low the entire day it felt like. Each hour that ticked closer to 2 her stomach would twist further.

Dread filled her when the clock showed 1:50. 10 minutes left of life outside of the spotlight. 10 minutes of having only a few people knowing she exists. 10 more minutes of having as normal of a life that she’s had.

Her flats padded against the floor softly, her heartbeat taking up most of the noise in her ears. Sweat beaded down her forehead that she quickly wiped away.

One more hallway until she reached the room they decided to have the interview. They chose a small office, it had a few chairs, a couch, and a table. Pictures hung on the wall along with a large window. It was one of the few small rooms in the manor, but it would fit perfectly.

Her breath got caught in her throat when she passed the living room door. There, walking out was damian. They both stopped in their tracks, as if they again were frozen.

Damian sighed when he looked at her. She adored an off white floral top, a black skirt, and ballet flats. Her hair was slightly curled, well as much as it could due to the short length. Her face appeared bare, besides flushed cheeks and lips painted as red as a fresh rose. Her posture was tight, ridged. She looked about ready to pass out from anxiety.

Damian sighed. “You’re too tense. Relax your shoulders, take a deep breath. It’s not as scary as you think.” Her shoulders instantly lowered, her posture was still ridged. But more natural, and less like a board or robot. “Thanks, I just can’t help but be scared.” She looked away when she spoke, a pain in his heart when she couldn’t even look him in the eyes. “I know, but this is Vicki Vale. She’s not as bad as most reporters.” He replied. A soft smile on her face appeared. “So she’s not a Vulture?” She giggled, causing Damian to lightly roll his eyes.

She walked by him, down the hallway to the room. Significantly more relaxed. When her back fully turned to him, a soft smile adorned his face as he lightly chuckles under his breath.

When she reaches the hard wood door, she stops. She takes in a shaky breath, her heart again pounding. She reaches up and takes her necklace into her fingers, running her thumb over it a few times. Instantly calming her slightly. She again takes in a large breath, and turns the knob and opens the door.

Walking in she instantly spited the large camera, the man behind it, the lights, along with a blonde woman standing in front of the camera. The woman who she recognizes to be Vicki, walks to her putting her hand out. She shook it lightly, hand still slightly shaky. Both of them walked over to the two chars, now facing each other. “Alight in 3,2,1. Go.”

Vicki turns to her, with a smile on her face “Hi there I’m reporter Vicki Vale,” “hello there, it’s nice to have you here.” She replied, a soft smile on her face. Her heart beat going down slightly. “Thank you for having me here. Now, why don’t we start this off with who you are?” Vicki asks.

“My name is Saundra Todd.” Both the camera man, and Vicki gasp. Shock written on their face. “Todd? As in?” A small chuckle escapes under her breath. “Yes, as in the daughter of Jason Todd.” Vickis eyes widen further, not even trying to hide the shock in her face. “But, hasn’t he been dead for years? I don’t understand, he passed when he was 15?” Vicki asks, “funny you say that, cause he’s alive.” Both Vicki and the camera man gasp even more.

“When my dad was 14, he had a stalker. At first it wasn’t so bad. A couple letters,both Bruce and Jason thought it was weird but the letters were harmless. They thought it was probably just a girl or boy around his age who thought he was cute. But overtime the lets became more concerning. They would go from nice to lashing out, each one getting worse. Bruce hired an investigator to find who it was, but they came up empty. One night, when my dad was 15, him and Bruce got into an argument. He left. He was wandering around the city that night. He had grown up on the streets so he knew where he was going. Well, before he knew it, he was knocked out. He was taken by his stalker who followed him, to an abandoned warehouse. He, beat my father so heavily, that he passed out. The guy was sure he killed him, and left. Later that night, Bruce called the police, and someone had tipped them that they heard screaming from the warehouse. Officer Jim Gordon was the one who found him. They took him to the hospital. And there, Bruce, Jim and my dad, made a plan. They decided to fake my fathers death. And have him leave the country. And so he did. He went to Europe. He had a fake name, fake aliace, everything. Well a few years passed, and they caught the man. When Bruce called him telling him, my dad said he wanted to stay. And there he stayed. For 5 years my father stayed in Europe. Well when he was 23, he decided he wanted to come home. He didn’t take up the Wayne bane, or come back announcing he was alive. Over the years he grew comfortable being out of the spotlight. And so, he moved into a small apartment. He’s not my real dad, he actually found me. I was an orphan, had been for a long time. I was living on the streets at the time. And one day, he saw me. I was only 17 at the time. And he offered me a place, and here we are.” “I just, wow. I can’t believe he’s been alive this entire time. Is he ever wanting to come out himself?” Vicki asks. “I don’t know, he’s pretty comfortable where he’s at now. I was too until well, you know.” She laughed, causing Vicki to chuckle. “Very true, Gotham isn’t very forgiving in that department. Especially since you’re seen with the Wayne family.” Her heart was no longer feeling like it would fall out her chest, now feeling comfortable. “Oh yeah, especially since I’ve been staying here the last month.” Confusion written on Vickis face. “Oh? And why’s that?” She asks her. “My father went back to Europe to visit some of his friends for a while, I chose to stay here in Gotham.” “Now, I gotta ask, what’s your father like? I mean we haven’t seen him in over a decade.” A soft laugh leaves her at the question. “He’s absolutely amazing. He’s incredibly caring, he’s always looking out for me. But being that he’s only 6 years older than me, he's kinda like a big brother to me at the same time. He’s also a huge dork, he’ll go at any length to make me laugh. He’s the best father I could ask for. But it always hasn’t been that way. When I first went to stay there, we barely talked. It wasn’t just an instant father daughter bond. Hell, he didn’t adopt me for a few months. He’s not like Bruce who has adoption papers in his jacket.” She chuckles. Everyone turned to the door when they heard large laughter behind the door. Vicki turned to her mouthing ‘who?’ “Oh that would be my uncle. The cool crisp water against her hot back sent chills up her body. The heat from the air no longer feeling sticky against her as the cool water washes away the humidity on her skin.

It was the middle of October, and everyone had grown accustomed to the cold air. But the last 3 days had been a heat wave that shot the cool air into hot and humid. Causing everyone to trade their sweaters and jeans for tank tops and shorts. Thankfully the manor was for the most part cool, below the 100 degree weather outside.

It was mid day when she decided to go outside into the large outdoor pool. The scorching heat outside made her skin sticky almost instantly, even with the Bathing suit she wore. It was a nice welcome when she stepped into the cool water.

She threw the weight as far as she could, watching it plummet to the floor below.

She took in a large breath, and dove down. The instant pressure on her body, but with the weightless surrounds her. She dove as far as she could down to reach the weight, but once she reached the 20 feet depth, she felt her lungs closing up more and more until she couldn’t take it and swam back up.

She let out a large gasp when she broke the surface, no longer feeling hot but cold as she took in the much needed air.

She heard someone walking behind her, turning abruptly but relaxed when she saw who it was.

There stood Tim, clad in dress pants, a button up and a tie, his jacket laid in a heap in his arms, long since taken off due to the heat. “You doing anything today?” He asked. She swam over to him, resting her arms along the pools walls. He crouched down to her level. “Not really, why?” She asked, her head tilted slightly. “I just got back from the most boring, soul sucking meeting that almost made me jump out the window and let god decide if I lived or not.” This caused her to laugh, Tim joining in on the laughing. Once their laughter died down, she looked back to him. “Alright, what you got in mind?” She asks. A smile takes over his face. “I know the perfect place.”

They both walked into the large coffeehouse, the smell of coffee beans and baked goods hitting them as soon as they entered. The sounds of people talking, plates being moved and the soft hum of music took up the room.

Her shoes softly padding along the hardwood flooring. She decided on a pair of soft black ballet pumps, an ivory long sleeve top tucked into a pair of high waisted cropped trousers. Her hair freshly cut, soft curls framed around her eyes. Tim wore the same clothes he came home in, just trading the suit jacket for a leather one.

They both sat in their seats, sipping on their drinks. Tim chose his usual black coffee with sugar, her choosing a green tea with lemon. “Want anything to eat?” He asks, causing her to look up at him from her cup. “Would they have any yogurt?” She questions, causing Tim to roll his eyes and chuckle. “Yes, yes they do.”

“So how was the meeting?” She asked, after finishing her cup of yogurt. “It was more a brainstorming day. The board wants to expand Wayne enterprise to other fields.” He says, taking a sip of his second cup of coffee. “What do they want to expand on?” She asks. “More Real estate and construction.” This caused her to be further confused. “Why? I thought you guys were more tech?” Her head slightly tilted as she eyes him. He sets his cup down onto the table. “That’s the new Wayne enterprise. The Wayne’s got their name and money originally for helping colonize Gotham. They were the ones who built most of the homes and helped build the city. They’re wanting to widen the company to other branches. I’ve got little to do with it, I’m pretty much just one of the faces of the company.” Tim says, finishing the last few sips of his now cold coffee.

Sandy puts her chin in her palm and eyes him, “so you said you’re the face of WE, what position do you actually have in the company?” Tim chuckles at this, writing out the check as he speaks. “Bruce gave me the position as the CEO. I took it due to being one of the only ones in the family who was both interested in it, and old enough. Damian was to young at the time, I was old enough at the time to take the job. And even now that’s he’s old enough, Damian doesn’t have any interest in it. Says he can’t stand the people. And honestly, yeah I understand him.” Tim chuckles, looking at her and seeing her chuckle under her breath. “Alright, let’s head out before there’s too many people.”

Before either one could fully step out of the coffeehouse, they were Bombarded with cameras flashing, people yelling out all around them and being surrounded. Her throat closed up almost immediately, feeling like her insides would fall out to her feet. Her heart sank and filled with a tight pain. Her breathing grew sporadic and heavy, nearly causing her to cry.

Tim quickly tucked her shaking head into his chest and nearly carried her shaking body out of the crowd of press, feeling the tears soaking his shirt the longer they were in it. He bent his head down to hers, lightly running his hand into her hair to hopefully soothe her. “Hey hey shhh it’s okay we’re almost at the car.” He warped his arm around her side, practically carrying her the rest of the way due to her sobs and hyperventilating.

They both drove off in a hurry, tims hands gripping the wheel so tightly his fingers were an even pallet shade.

Her sobs turned into small silent tears cascading down her face. She looked over to him, his eyes trained on the road, jaw set and brows in an angry line. “What are we gonna do?” She whispers, dread sinking into her stomach, making her want to throw up. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure out something okay?”

‘Who’s the mystery girl?’ ‘CEO of Wayne Enterprise Timothy Drake Wayne with girl.’ ‘Who’s the girl Tim drake Wayne was spotted with? All the information we have.’ Papers, news outlets, gossip websites, magazines, anything you name it and her face was on the cover of it. But the one that stuck out, the one that caused tears to stream down her face, was a magazine by cat grant. ‘The new gold digger in the Wayne family.’ At the bottom showed her with both Tim, and a foggy picture of her and Damian our for dinner. Along with a photo of her hiding in tims chest, and one with damians jacket on her and his arm around her.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she sits with everyone in the family room, all minus one. She knew he’d be here any minute now. After a phone call from dick, Jason promised to be there within the hour.

The door swung open, hearing heavy footsteps hurrying down the hallway. She stood up, seeing him at the door of the large room. She ran over to him and into his wide open arms. She let out a few tears into his chest, clutching to him with all her strength. She took in the familiar smell of him, the scent of cigarettes strong on him. Knowing he puffed on one either before he left or in his way.

She looked up at him, seeing behind his dark tired eye bags, his eyes shined with bushes tears. “I missed you so much bugga.” He whispered into the top of her head, kissing her forehead lightly.

“Alright, we all are up to date with what’s happened, correct?” Bruce asks, breaking the very uncomfortable silence in the room.

Jason sat beside her on her left, with Tim on her right. Next to them say dick and Barbara, with Alfred on the other couch. Beside Alfred, sat bruce and

Selina. And sat in a chair was damian.

Tension was high in the room with the two, almost creating a thickness in the air that worried all of them. They all could see them avoid looking at one another, with a slight uncomfortable pain expression.

Sandy held her necklace in her fingers and twirled it lightly back and forth, Jason taking notice and putting his hand on her shoulder.

“So are we just gonna sit here in silence this entire time, or are we gonna actually talk?” Asked Tim, shocking sandy and mostly everyone. They had grown used to Tim being one of the more quiet of the family.

“No you’re right Tim, we need to figure out what our next step is.” Replies dick. Jason’s jaw ticks lightly, a scowl on his face. “We’re all talking about the same one right? The article written by cat?” Asks Jason, anger evident in his voice. His eyes shone with anger, jaw set and fists balling lightly.

Bruce sighs as he looks at him. “Yes, that one in particular is the one that’s caused concern-“ “then why not go after her? Why not do something about it for all the bullshit that article alone said.” Jason not back, fists now in a tight ball. “There’s one problem with that jason. She has some of the super family behind her-“ Jason slams his hand on the table in front of him, breaking Bruce from speaking. “Isn’t this fucking asshole over here best friends with one?” Jason points to Damian, eyes wide in anger. “Why dont you make yourself useful for once in your fucking life and have your buddy call off his cousin so I can have a word with her?” Jason angrily says, eyes boring into damians equally fiery stare.

“I’m not having Jon do that.” Damian said back, shaking slightly in his seat, his eyes boring into Jason’s. “God you are seriously the most useless one out of all of us! AND REPLACEMENT OVER HERE WAS ROBIN FOR A YEAR BEFORE YOU CAME IN!” Jason yelled back, fists now shaking along with the rest of his body. “Jason that’s enough!-“ “STAY OUT OF THIS BRUCE! YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH AS IT IS WHEN YOU GET INVOLVED WITH ME! No I’m fucking sick of how this fucking prick thinks he’s the king all because he’s ‘the blood son’ when he’s nothing but A FUCKING PRICK WHO NEEDS TO GET OFF HIS HIGH FUCKING HORSE!”

Jason has moved into Damians face, nearly inches away from him. Tears brimmed jason's eyes, anger so prevalent that it made his heart throb in pain due to holding back.

Damian wasn’t far off from it as well, now fully shaking, his legs having a hard time keeping himself standing. Heat radiated off of each other as both men shook in place.

“Get the FUCK out of my face Todd! And STAY THE FUCK OIT OF THIS IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH Y-“ “THATS MY FUCKING DAUGHTER! ANYTIME SOMEBODY HURTS HER THEY'RE DEALING WITH ME! Same with you you little bastard. See that scar across your cheek? That’s from me. And if I had it my way, this is hell and I’m the devil.” Jason spat, getting right in damians face. He can feel the raging breath Damian takes the closer he gets to him. Feeling the anger pouring off of him. “I’ll show you what hell is-“ “you better keep that fucking trap of yours shut. I was the first robin to die. I’ll gladly make you the second one. Oh wait, mommy’s boyfriend already did that a few years ago.” “Alright that’s I-“ “ENOUGH!”

All eyes turned to sandy. Who had now gotten up from her seat, shaking slightly as she stood.

Her eyes burned with tears as she watched them both, watching as both got worse and closer to breaking. Her Stomach in so many knots, it felt as though it’d fall out into the floor in a heap. Her mind played a thousand different thoughts on what she could do. Her options were limited, she could grab Jason’s arm and pull him away, she could get between them, she could hit both of them hard enough to knock them out, or get a squirt bottle and spray them like cats. The last one made her chuckle slightly.

She watched as Damian raised his hand from his side, and her heart shrunk and fell. The anger inside her screaming out loud enough to boom out around the room.

Emery one watched as the first tear slid down her cheek, quickly wiping it away as fast as it came. Her hand shook by her sides relentlessly. Her jaw set and eyes cold as she bore into both of the men’s eyes. “If you both are done with your dick measuring contest, then can we actually talk like fucking adults for ONCE.”

“We could sue her, she is in defamation of character.”dick says, eyes looking back to Tim and sandy. Tim sighs, head resting in his hands. “Cats had more lawsuits against her than I have bullet wounds, she always weasels her way out of them each time.” “Fucking vulture.” Damian whispers. Sandy lightly chuckles when she hears it. Jason looks over to her with a raised eyebrow, her shaking her head at him lightly.

Leaves crunched under both of their boots the longer they went down the sidewalk towards the park, his jacket covering her arms, along with his hand around her side pulling her into him.

Damian noticed them first, seeing them around the corner snapping the photo. His jaw set, eyes hard on the man as he pulls her further into him. His grip ever so slightly tighter. “It’s another one.” Damian whispers, looking down at her. A soft laugh escaping her. He tilts his head slightly, brow raised as he looks at her. “You mean another vulture?” She teases back, making Damian smile and roll his eyes. She laughs at his expression, causing him to let out a chuckle. “And hey, I don’t mind. As long as they get my good side.” She jokes, moving her head so only her left side was shown, in a mock model face. He laughed at her antics. “Oh trust me, all your sides are good sides, gorgeous.” Damian whispers, kissing the top of her cheek.

“Well then what can we do? We can’t just let her and the media make whatever they want about sandy.” Barbara replies, slightly scooting into dicks arm. Looking over at her.

“How about an interview, or a press thing? Why not clear everything up with my word.” All eyes looked to her, even Damian looked questionly at her. “Are you sure?” Asks Jason, worry struck to his face. “An interview would be the better option.” Replies Bruce, all eyes still trained on her. “Then that’s it, that’s what I’ll do.”

She ran her fingers over her hair for what was probably the 100th time in the last hour. Smoothing over her skirt probably even more frequent.

She was scared, her heart sinking low the entire day it felt like. Each hour that ticked closer to 2 her stomach would twist further.

Dread filled her when the clock showed 1:50. 10 minutes left of life outside of the spotlight. 10 minutes of having only a few people knowing she exists. 10 more minutes of having as normal of a life that she’s had.

Her flats padded against the floor softly, her heartbeat taking up most of the noise in her ears. Sweat beaded down her forehead that she quickly wiped away.

One more hallway until she reached the room they decided to have the interview. They chose a small office, it had a few chairs, a couch, and a table. Pictures hung on the wall along with a large window. It was one of the few small rooms in the manor, but it would fit perfectly.

Her breath got caught in her throat when she passed the living room door. There, walking out was damian. They both stopped in their tracks, as if they again were frozen.

Damian sighed when he looked at her. She adored an off white floral top, a black skirt, and ballet flats. Her hair was slightly curled, well as much as it could due to the short length. Her face appeared bare, besides flushed cheeks and lips painted as red as a fresh rose. Her posture was tight, ridged. She looked about ready to pass out from anxiety.

Damian sighed. “You’re too tense. Relax your shoulders, take a deep breath. It’s not as scary as you think.” Her shoulders instantly lowered, her posture was still ridged. But more natural, and less like a board or robot. “Thanks, I just can’t help but be scared.” She looked away when she spoke, a pain in his heart when she couldn’t even look him in the eyes. “I know, but this is Vicki Vale. She’s not as bad as most reporters.” He replied. A soft smile on her face appeared. “So she’s not a Vulture?” She giggled, causing Damian to lightly roll his eyes.

She walked by him, down the hallway to the room. Significantly more relaxed. When her back fully turned to him, a soft smile adorned his face as he lightly chuckles under his breath.

When she reaches the hard wood door, she stops. She takes in a shaky breath, her heart again pounding. She reaches up and takes her necklace into her fingers, running her thumb over it a few times. Instantly calming her slightly. She again takes in a large breath, and turns the knob and opens the door.

Walking in she instantly spited the large camera, the man behind it, the lights, along with a blonde woman standing in front of the camera. The woman who she recognizes to be Vicki, walks to her putting her hand out. She shook it lightly, hand still slightly shaky. Both of them walked over to the two chars, now facing each other. “Alight in 3,2,1. Go.”

Vicki turns to her, with a smile on her face “Hi there I’m reporter Vicki Vale,” “hello there, it’s nice to have you here.” She replied, a soft smile on her face. Her heart beat going down slightly. “Thank you for having me here. Now, why don’t we start this off with who you are?” Vicki asks. “My name is Saundra Todd.” Both the camera man, and Vicki gasp. Shock written on their face. “Todd? As in?” A small chuckle escapes under her breath. “Yes, as in the daughter of Jason Todd.” Vickis eyes widen further, not even trying to hide the shock in her face. “But, hasn’t he been dead for years? I don’t understand, he passed when he was 15?” Vicki asks, “funny you say that, cause he’s alive.” Both Vicki and the camera man gasp even more. “When my dad was 14, he had a stalker. At first it wasn’t so bad. A couple letters,both Bruce and Jason thought it was weird but the letters were harmless. They thought it was probably just a girl or boy around his age who thought he was cute. But overtime the lets became more concerning. They would go from nice to lashing out, each one getting worse. Bruce hired an investigator to find who it was, but they came up empty. One night, when my dad was 15, him and Bruce got into an argument. He left. He was wandering around the city that night. He had grown up on the streets so he knew where he was going. Well, before he knew it, he was knocked out. He was taken by his stalker who followed him, to an abandoned warehouse. He, beat my father so heavily, that he passed out. The guy was sure he killed him, and left. Later that night, Bruce called the police, and someone had tipped them that they heard screaming from the warehouse. Officer Jim Gordon was the one who found him. They took him to the hospital. And there, Bruce, Jim and my dad, made a plan. They decided to fake my fathers death. And have him leave the country. And so he did. He went to Europe. He had a fake name, fake aliace, everything. Well a few years passed, and they caught the man. When Bruce called him telling him, my dad said he wanted to stay. And there he stayed. For 5 years my father stayed in Europe. Well when he was 23, he decided he wanted to come home. He didn’t take up the Wayne bane, or come back announcing he was alive. Over the years he grew comfortable being out of the spotlight. And so, he moved into a small apartment. He’s not my real dad, he actually found me. I was an orphan, had been for a long time. I was living on the streets at the time. And one day, he saw me. I was only 17 at the time. And he offered me a place, and here we are.”

“I just, wow. I can’t believe he’s been alive this entire time. Is he ever wanting to come out himself?” Vicki asks. “I don’t know, he’s pretty comfortable where he’s at now. I was too until well, you know.” She laughed, causing Vicki to chuckle. “Very true, Gotham isn’t very forgiving in that department. Especially since you’re seen with the Wayne family.” Her heart was no longer feeling like it would fall out her chest, now feeling comfortable. “Oh yeah, especially since I’ve been staying here the last month.” Confusion written on Vickis face. “Oh? And why’s that?” She asks her. “My father went back to Europe to visit some of his friends for a while, I chose to stay here in Gotham.” “Now, I gotta ask, what’s your father like? I mean we haven’t seen him in over a decade.” A soft laugh leaves her at the question. “He’s absolutely amazing. He’s incredibly caring, he’s always looking out for me. But being that he’s only 6 years older than me, he's kinda like a big brother to me at the same time. He’s also a huge dork, he’ll go at any length to make me laugh. He’s the best father I could ask for. But it always hasn’t been that way. When I first went to stay there, we barely talked. It wasn’t just an instant father daughter bond. Hell, he didn’t adopt me for a few months. He’s not like Bruce who has adoption papers in his jacket.” She chuckles. Everyone turned to the door when they heard large laughter behind the door. Vicki turned to her mouthing ‘who?’ “Oh that would be my uncle. He’s quite Nosy.” She chuckles. The door opens to appear dick. “Hey, I just was passing by.” He laughs. She turns her body to him, now the camera on both of them. “Oh suurree you were, Richard.” She teases. Making him chuckle and point a finger at her. “Hey you know my name ya little shit.” He laughs. “Oh I’m sorry, should I call you Ric? Ricky? Oh how about Richie rich?” Everyone in the room now laughing so much they’re clutching their sides, loving the banter between them. Dick bends over and chuckles at her. “You really are just like your father you shit.”he teases. “Oh but you love me.” She teases back, a shit eating grin on her face.

“Okay now that was one of the funniest things I’ve seen.” Vicki laughs, both her and sandy sitting back down. “Oh you’d die if you saw how bad we get. I’m always messing with everyone here.” She chuckles, now totally comfortable. “I bet I would, now, mind if we get to the topic that everyone’s been waiting for?” Vicki asks. “I was wondering when we’d get to that.” She chuckles. “Alright, so, the biggest one that everyone’s been wondering has been you and Tim.” Sandy sighs and takes a drink of the water beside her. “We’re only friends. He’s actually my best friend. The cameras just caught us off guard when we went out for coffee. He saw that I was panicked and hid me in his jacket. There’s nothing romantic between him and I.” She chuckles. “Now the other one people have been wondering, you were spotted for a while with Damian Wayne. And some photos of you guys, looked a little less platonic than you and Tim. Is there anything going on?” Vicki asks. A pain shoots through her heart at the question. Causing her to sigh. “There nothing going on between Damian and I either. My dad introduced me first to him, being that we are the same age. That’s just how we are.” “Oh alright, you guys just seemed to be a bit more flirty in the photos.” Vicki replies. Causing her to chuckle. “And why didn’t anyone just assume I’m naturally flirty.” Shr chuckles, winking at the camera.

It’s as if overnight everything changed, no more the gold digger, mystery girl, anything negative that was said was whipped clean. ‘Late son of Bruce Wayne Jason Todd alive!? And has a daughter!’ ‘The new member of the Wayne family’ ‘Saundra Todd, all we know about the new Wayne family member.’

Of course a part of her was happy, after all the nasty tabloids, it was a nice change to see. But she was also worried. No longer able to have a small bubble she had been in her entire life. No longer being able to go out and not spotted. No longer having a personal life. It was daunting really, but she took it in stride, deciding that she should use her now small bit of fame for better.

Shortly after the interview, she was in the works for a fundraiser for homeless children and teens, to raise money for good shelters that provided what the children needed.

Dinner had finished long ago, most of everyone had left the dining room and left for either their rooms, or wherever in the manor they chose.

Alfred sat in the library, reading. Sandy had offered to do the dishes for him, claiming that he needs his time for himself to rest besides sleep. He didn’t argue, knowing the extent of how stubborn she could get, especially when it came to helping. It truly warmed his heart though, how much she truly wanted to help the aging butler. He wasn’t as fast or had as much energy as when the boys were all young. He knew this, having turned 81 early in the year. So having her help him around the manor took a lot of the weight off of him.

He was halfway through the book when Damian walked in. Not paying much attention to the young man, until he sat down in one of the chairs. He looked over to see damians eyes on the paper. He watched as he picked it up, opening it, watching as a scowl grew on his face. Damian set the paper down onto the table and got up abruptly. “Master Damian, something troubling you?” He asked. Concerned for him. “She seems to be loved real quick.” Damian replies, annoyance evident in his tone. “Why yes, Miss Todd has made a good impression in the city recently.”

Damian sighed, looking away. Anger still present on his face. “Yeah if only they saw what she was really like. They'd probably change their tune.”

Alfred set his book down onto the table, looking at him with annoyance written on his face. “This is how Miss Todd is. She is a kind, loving, and wonderful young woman. And I am sick of hearing how you speak to her all because of what happened. Everyday I watch as the poor girls heart breaks whenever you act the way you do. I put up with this arrogant attitude when you were young but now it’s just childish. I understand you are in pain master Damian but she is just as much. You were after all her first too. I am very disappointed in how immature you’re acting. I helped to raise you differently.” Alfred never yelled at any of them. Never once has they heard the elderly man raise his voice in a yell. But he always had a way to scold each of them without ever raising his voice.

Pain shoots through damians heart when Alfred told him this. It grew even worse when he walked out of the room. He never truly thought about it, about that it hurt her as well. He was so consumed by his hurt that he reverted back to how he was years ago. His heart thumps in pain when he remembered all the times he’s seen her face contort in pain, all the tears he’s seen stream down her face. But confusion fills him, he was her first? She had never mentioned being with anyone else. He just assumed she had. Pain grows in him further, but he doesn’t understand why.

“Why didn’t you tell me I was your first?” He asks abruptly. Jumping her and causing her to drop a cup in the sink. He watched as her face goes from shock to pained when she looked at him. She quickly looked back to the cup in the sink, picking it back up to wash. “What?” She asks, still not looking at him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to jump you. But, why didn’t you tell-“ “you were my first everything Damian. The first guy I had feeling for, first date I ever had. My first kiss. Everything.” Her voice slightly cracked when she muttered kiss. Tears welled up in her eyes. Pain shots through him watching as she tries holding in the tears. “You were my first too, I just don’t understand why you didn’t-“ “she didn’t have to tell you anything. Now why don’t you leave her be.” Both of them turn their eyes to the door, seeing Tim standing there. His arms were crossed over his chest, standing ridged. Face contorted in annoyance and anger at him. Anger fills him as he looks at Tim. “I was just simply asking.” He spat, anger prevalent in his tone. “Well sorry. With how you talk to her, can’t help but worry when you open your mouth.” Tim says, anger dripping in his tone. Both men stood in front of one another, Damian clenching his fists tightly at his sides. “Do is all a favor and just leave. You’ve done enough to hurt her. Making her remember isn’t gonna help anyone.” Anger grows further at tims words. “Oh didn’t know you were her bodyguard.” He replied, annoyance and sarchasm heavy in his words. “No, it’s simply just being her friend.” Tim turns to her, anger subsided when he sees her. “Come on let's go watch a movie.” He asks her.

They both walk to the door of the kitchen, but before leaving, Tim turns to him. “Just remember, you brought this onto yourself.”

[felassan]

Tevinter Nights

Major Plot Details & Story Summaries for stories 1, 3 and 5

There are no leaks, these are just available to see in previews.

[spoiler warning for all stories jic, obviously]

Three Trees To Midnight

The opening story is set about one week after the fall of Ventus in Tevinter to the invading Qunari in 9:44 Dragon. (This event was shown in the comic Dragon Age: Deception.) The Qunari invasion is progressing beyond Ventus and moving into Rivain. The Qunari Antaam have attacked the people of the south without the blessing of the other Qunari societal bodies. Consequently, their efforts are somewhat hampered as they are without their usual support-base of workers, healers, craftspeople, spies. Little things are not running as well as they should - supplies are late, ships are not in good repair. The absence of the Ben-Hassrath means that there is nobody to determine which captured bas mages should and should not be given the mind-altering substance qamek, or to measure out the correct doses. The Antaam are taking many prisoners as they go and enslaving them in work-gangs. They are also giving large, mentally-lethal doses of qamek to every single bas mage they capture. Small doses of qamek shackle the mind. Large doses completely break it and leave the recipient effectively lobotomized forever. 

Saarbrak of the Ben-Hassrath posed as a member of the Antaam and went to investigate the rumors he had heard of these actions. The Antaam who took Ventus were not acting in accordance with the Qun. Saarbrak knows that some of the bas now call Qunari monsters as a result. He is disappointed in the Antaam, and believes that it is their actions that truly threaten the Qun. He kills Bas-taar, keeper of bas slaves and work-camp overseer. Bas-taar was a leading figure in the conquering of Ventus.

A few Dalish elves snuck into Ventus as it was being sacked to get information about the Qunari invasion. They succeeded, stealing Qunari plans just as Ventus fell. One of them leaves to quickly get word to the Dalish clans before the Qunari land in Rivain.

We visit Arlathan Forest for the first time. The spirits in there are very old and powerful, remember what once was and can feel the moods and fears of those who enter. The woods are also home to rare entities known as forest guardians, which are large quadrupedal structures made out of wood, stone, runes and lyrium. They have two lethal blade arms which they swing around in combat and may be powered by magic, but it is not clear. They are not usually hostile to elves in the forest and in this story one responds aggressively to hostile intruding Qunari.

A City Elf who joined the Dalish and a human Tevinter mage (mlm) who originated from a slave family unwillingly join forces as they escape from an Antaam work-camp where they had been imprisoned and flee into the forest. Along the way they begrudgingly learn to work together and by the end they have developed a sort of mutual respect for one another, thanks to this trial by fire.

The Horror of Hormak

In a Nevarran forest, Wardens Ramesh (mlm) and Lesha are on a rescue mission to find a missing party of their colleagues. The lost group had been led by one Senior Warden Jovis (mlm). It is implied that Ramesh and Jovis were in love but Ramesh pulled away due to the trials of Warden life, leaving things between them unsaid and unfinished, many years ago. Everything about the woods they’re in feels wrong, bad, off. Lesha’s horse spooks and flees. There’s a weird briny smell and there seems to be something horrid and predatory and squishy-sounding lurking around; there’s a decidedly “DA:O build up to the Broodmother reveal” vibe going on through this whole short. They find one of the missing Wardens, Friedl. She’s raving mad, has snapped, and has gouged her own eyes out. She garbles creepily about something “down there, something bad”. Jovis’ party thought it was darkspawn, but it’s worse. Different. Not twisted, created. She says she escaped and pleads with them not to make her go back. “We must leave this place to her, to them.” She screams and sobs. “They build it for her! They wait for her!”

The Wardens make camp for the night, tieing Friedl up so she doesn’t harm herself. In the night she whispers and mutters. Friedl chews through her restraints and then her wrists and bleeds out. She trailed thin gray fluid behind her, and when they find her body gallons of the weird liquid pour out of her mouth, for a long time. Disgusted, they build a pyre for her and press on. The woods fall away and they reach a mountain. They find evidence of a large fight between the missing Wardens and darkspawn. There are dozens of darkspawn corpses, insane amounts of Warden blood, but no Warden bodies. Clearly something awful is going on. They notice the darkspawn bodies are different, mutated like no darkspawn has ever been known to be. Extra heads and limbs, genlock parts on hurlocks and such like. Ramesh and Lesha are disturbed but find a staircase down into a dwarven thaig called Hormok. They descend into the most decrepit thaig Ramesh has ever seen. Hormok fell centuries ago and it’s unexpectedly, oddly quiet. They find coded marks made by the missing Wardens which say they don’t plan to come back and warn others not to come after them. The two resolve firmly to go after them as Wardens leave nobody behind. At that moment, darkspawn appear. They are also changed, each in a different way. Scorpion tails, avian skulls, snake heads for fists, bat wings. And they’re strangely cunning.

The Wardens defeat them. They search and find a secret door, and descend further down a passageway. The stench of decay and brine is even stronger. They find a painting of three figures; a person/supplicant, a priestess/queen and a monster. The figures themselves look elven but the artistic style seems dwarven or like Avvar cave paintings. Further on the same painting repeats many times, but in each instance of it the person and monster change and change again. The priestess seems to look a little crueler in every iteration. This freaks them out but they press on. Further still they find a vast room which is clearly part of some elven ruins. Sometimes in the Deep Roads Wardens find elven architecture mixed in with dwarven, but this place is entirely elven, nearly pristine and ornate with carvings. The walls are covered in endlessly repeating bas-reliefs. On the top row, elven knights and queens hold court over respectful kneeling folk. On the middle row, elven mages heal patients and remove illness and injury from their bodies. On the bottom row, armies of halla pull elaborate aravels to distant mountains - one of which is the same mountain they’re beneath now. The more they stare, the more disquieting the carvings become. A halla horn symbol repeats on each column and seems to shift before their eyes. They look back at the bas-reliefs, which now seem all wrong. Prison-ship aravels, alien insectile halla with too many horns, mages forcing corruption into the infirm, contemptuous rulers and terrified subjects. 

They tear themselves away and find the final door. The smell is now overpowering. They slip through and find ranks of twisted grotesqueries, a menagerie of twisted body parts assembled at random. A halla with a snake’s maw and varterral legs. A spider with many serpents instead of many eyes. In the center, there’s a massive pool of the gross gray liquid. Above a huge lyrium crystal is suspended and growing sickly green. Streams of energy flow from it into the pool. Darkspawn walk in, the ‘water’ flows round them and when the ‘cocoon’ shatters, out comes another fucked up darkspawn. This is an army, but not of darkspawn, of something worse. The Wardens accidentally make a noise. The boulder they’re hiding behind isn’t a boulder. It’s a massive monstrous centipede. Each segment is the size of a horse, each leg a small tree. It screeches and surrounds them with all the grotesqueries baying in a cacophany. But the centipede’s head isn’t a head, it’s Senior Warden Jovis, twisted and broken. He’s fused to it, the flesh of his waist flowing into chitin, eyes unseeing, mouth stretched. The thing recognizes and talks to Ramesh. It’s clearly wrestling between being Jovis and being the creature. The Jovis-thing tells Ramesh his party of Wardens drank. Unlike darkspawn they can’t just touch the liquid, it needs to be inside, and it takes a while for the change to happen. “They turned us. Two halves, two wholes. Trying to be two ones. But I stayed me, and it hates that. And we waited for you! Oh, yes! Now you come.”

The monster begs Ramesh to “bury it, bury me”. “Can’t let this out. She cannot have it. Not again. Locked for a reason. Collapse the entrance. Stop me, stop us.” The remaining humanity in the thing is suddenly gone. The Wardens fight it and the other beasts. Lesha dies holding everything off so Ramesh can escape. He runs and runs and manages to bring the mountain down on the monstrosity before it can escape, using dwarven explosives they passed on their way in. Ramesh grieves and weeps, and goes to warn the other Wardens about the horror that lurks beneath Hormok, and probably elsewhere as well. He realizes with slow terror that in the bas-reliefs, the aravels brought their prey not only to the mountain he’d just brought down, but to eleven others. 

(yo I’m lookin at you Ghilan’nain)

Luck In The Gardens

In a tavern in Dairsmuid, Rivain, a Lord of Fortune (who is Rivaini and almost certainly genderfluid, non-binary, bigender or similar - “I’ve always just thought of myself a myself, and had fun in the bargain”), sits by a fire drinking with companions. They narrate to their audience a tale of something they recently got up to in good ol’ Minrathous. Lords of Fortune are new additions to the lore. This group is a multi-species, Rivaini guild of treasure-hunters and dungeoneers, where all members regardless of gender seem to be called Lords. In Minrathous, this Lord had been given a tip on where to find information for a job in the city. This individual is a master of disguise; clothes, wigs, makeup, vocal changes, across-gender presentations. They can even disguise themselves as some of the other races of Thedas (as in human, elf, dwarf, qunari).

So. Our LoF goes to the docks at night-time and sneaks into a building where a meeting is to take place. They secrete themselves in the rafters. A bunch of magisters come in and start playing cards, a secret game of Wicked Grace for the slumming elect. They chat away and the LoF listens in. Talk turns to what the LoF is there to hear. There are flyers plastered around town with a reward posted for someone to kill some kind of demon or monster that is plaguing the city. The LoF is there to listen into see what they know about the monster. A former Venatori dude says he’s heard it’s got something to do with the Venatori. A man with a curled mustache pipes up. Surprise, it’s Dorian Pavus! The group wonder if the monster is a Venatori abomination. It isn’t, they just encountered it during a search under the city for a cave. It’s not a demon and it killed all of them. The rafter cracks and our LoF falls, shocking everyone. Dorian acts quickly and is able to convince everyone he knows them and they are his lookout. LoF plays along. Maevaris is also there! Dorian and the LoF, who we’ll now call Hollix because that’s what Dorian randomly named them, take their leave, chat and become acquainted.

Dorian says Josie is his dear friend and she sends him gifts, a few choice bottles from her vineyards. His house no longer has slaves, only employs servants, a change he says he’s ashamed to have only made recently. Someone he met in the south, obviously Inky, changed his mind on the matter. Hollix has never met another mage of Dorian’s station who doesn’t keep slaves. Mae arrives. Dorian and Mae are on the outs with most of the rest of the Magisterium. The state of the Magisterium makes Dorian raggedly depressed. Mae calls him dearheart. Their duty to their country means they have to be well-informed about it. Dorian was the one who posted the flyer. The monster is killing people, Vints aren’t all heartless and he and Mae don’t like the idea of something like this in their city. But lately the political rumblings in the Magisterium mean they’ve had to spend all their time keeping their eyes on scoundrels, such as at the card game. They are trying to win a few of them over. It’s been slow but they’re giving them a chance to prove they’re not complete fools. This busyness is why they can’t hunt the monster themselves.

The three discuss the monster. It’s killed at least 9 people. Town criers dubbed it the Cekorax, “headsman”. Victims’ heads are never found. Hollix agrees to hunt it. Hollix eventually finds it in the sewers. It’s a Lovecraftian wormy bulk with a thrashing mass of tentacles that radiates joyful malice. Its voice is many voices speaking together and it calls Hollix “Visitor”. Some parts on its tentacles open to show real human eyes studded in there. Its voices urge Hollix “Stay with us. Come inside, where it’s warm. There is room in the crown of the blind. I am a sweeter ending than you know. Things are rising. Stay safe inside of me.” Hollix runs and escapes. Later Hollix is walking in the fancy gardens. The Cekorax taunts them and they realize it can come out of the sewers/water, since its coils run behind grass and under the base of trees. It’s the perfect predator, surrounding you, nestled everywhere. “No more false faces. No masks. There will be others. They will be joined in me.” Hollix eventually devises a cunning plan to kill the Cekorax. They convince it to show them “its whole”. It opens up like a lily and inside is a ring of severed heads, eyes gouged out but otherwise healthy, the source of the voices; the crown of the blind it refers to. Dorian, Mae and Hollix kill the monster using magic, gaatlok and a harpoon. It dissolves, the heads fall and blue-white liquid pours away.

Dorian escorts Hollix to the docks where they will leave, and Hollix gets their reward. The two wonder what the Cekorax was. Ancient breed of demon? Fiend brewed up by a magister? Dorian was at a party with a Mortalitasi a while ago. Five cups in, she went on about “things past the Veil of our world, neither demon nor spirit”. Perhaps it wasn’t the tipsy nonsense he assumed it to be.

Mae sends her regards but couldn’t see Hollix off due to intrigue striking in the Magisterium. Mae arranged for a ship to take Hollix home. Dorian says Hollix to consider this one last courtesy, as he and Mae would hate to leave Hollix with a bad impression of their fair city, although Hollix never wants to return. They part amicably.

[therealbrigeedarocks]

Rewatched A:TLA and LoK Again

and i still have a few thoughts on them, mostly LoK

i still hate mako as a character with all my heart and soul, and i hope that he dies alone and unhappy because of how shit of a person he was. i hope it is forever thrown into his face how bad he is at relationships and it follows him to his grave

why the hell do people argue that aang wouldn’t favor tenzin, there is literal proof in atla the show and the comics that prove aang is capable of being, well, one-track minded when it comes to the air nation. does he do his best to acknowledge it when it happens (anger at the new air acolytes, the yangchen festival)? sure! but he’s still human. he loved all his kids, but you’re kidding yourself if he wouldn’t unintentionally put tenzin above bumi and kya in certain things

and yeah, bumi, kya, and tenzin all having problems with their dad wasn’t a surprise and something i liked about lok. aang was the avatar and was a shining example for others, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t make mistakes, even with his own family. he wasn’t a shit dad but he wasn’t perfect

why the absolute fuck was it never expressed in the show that amon/noatak’s bloodbending closed the chi paths and that’s how he took away a person’s bending? why did i have to look that bit of info up in a wiki for lok?

i still blame nickelodeon for how they dicked around with lok’s...everything, including scheduling, but really the writers have some blame to share when it comes to dropping plot threads. why would the equalist movement just...stop? they had legit grievances that should’ve been carried over into the other seasons

i still enjoyed watching the earth queen and p’li get theirs

yeah it was pretty bullshit that we don’t really check in with the fire nation and how they’ve changed after ozai’s rule

in fact it was also bullshit that we get throwaway lines about why the remaining gaang members weren’t more active

breaking the connection makes sense more in the “we can’t just keep bringing roku and aang and kyoshi back for cameos that feels like a copout and/or retread’ way than it does storywise but whatevs

speaking of, how do the previous avatars feel when the 4th avatar down the line from them is born? i mean, we only ever see as far back as yangchen at most (wan doesn’t count and you know it) no one else gets consulted. they’re seen but never talked to. must suck in the...spirit realm? afterlife? cosmic space-between-spaces? wherever.

korrasami for life, fuck mako

still disappointed toph couldn’t/wouldn’t bend platinum

speaking of, how the fuck is there that much platinum in the avatar-verse? they can just build a giant platinum bot on a whim?

while i still like bolin, it was super obvious they tried WAY too hard to make him the funny one and it’s just...hmm

i’m still glad that not everyone was on board to train at the air temples and just jump into being part of a new revived nation. but i don’t think they went far enough with it. it’s kind of the gryffindor problem: at least one of the nations/houses has to be the “good one” while others are allowed to be more ambiguous or just down right bad/evil. it could’ve provided more tension for tenzin having to deal with and come to terms with airbenders who couldn’t or simply didn’t want to live up to air nation ideologies. not everyone wants to avoid war, not everyone wants to be vegetarian, not everyone can give up their worldly possessions so readily

raava and vaatu didn’t have to be good guy/bad guy either. we could’ve had an avatar that tried too hard to bring order but nope, raava’s the reason an avatar exists and we can’t have a totalitarian avatar. light needs dark, chaos needs order, they define each other. and if the avatar brings balance that means they need both chaos and order to maintain the world. there could’ve been a chaotic avatar that brought change to a stagnant world after an avatar that brought that stagnant world into existence in the first place. i don’t think i’m explaining it right, but either way, it felt like too much of a reason to make sure there are no bad avatars

katara needed more screentime

don’t you dare try to tell me suki and sokka didn’t have at least one kid, hopefully a daughter named yue

and don’t you dare try to tell me zuko and mai didn’t get together either. i swear i can see mai in fire lord izumi

[until-theend-oftheline]

Out of the Shadows - Part 1: Roles to Play

Pairing: Clint Barton x Reader

Warnings: Gunshot wound. Life on the run. Life of Crime.    

Square Filled: Bounty on their Head for @badthingshappenbingo and Anniversary for @clintbartonbingo

Word Count: 1800ish

A/N: This is written for @thorne93 writing challenge. I am so sorry I am late! The entire series is for her challenge and it’s inspired by Greek Tragedy by the Wombats and Drive you mad by Amy Shark. 

Clint is a mix between comic book version and MCU personality-wise. He is deaf and has no wife and kids. The world is a bit closer to MCU and it takes place somewhere between CAWS and CACW mostly.

Betaed by: @jewels2876 - thanks darling!

Out of the Shadows Masterlist

***My fics are not to be saved nor posted on any other sites without my express written permission.***

Officially Clint Barton had been hunting the Black Hood for years. She had managed to piss off a few politicians years ago by regifting some money they had earned from various drug lords to an orphanage outside the city. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been on SHIELD’s radar before then, but that was when they decided to actively try and bring her in. They did so by putting one of their best agents on her; Clint Barton. 

The thing was Clint was only really one of their best agents when he chose to be. He did his job to an extent. He trailed her for months before he made contact just after she had cleaned one of the city’s most notorious kingpins out of millions of dollars. Clint didn’t stop her. He knew the money would go where it was most needed. That was the thing about the Black Hood. She never kept any of the money she stole for herself. She regifted them to people that needed them the most, like a modern-day Robin Hood, stealing from the criminals and corrupt and giving to the poor and needy. 

Which was also one of the reasons Clint had no intention of bringing her in the first place. People were rarely hurt during her thefts and when they were, they were criminals that most likely deserved worse than the state Black Hood left them in. 

Truthfully Clint probably would have stayed hidden in the shadows forever if it hadn’t been for the bounties that different crime families placed on her head. Even if what she stole wasn’t enough to put them out of business she was a nuisance and an embarrassment to them. They wanted her gone. They wanted an example made of her so no one ever attempted the bold moves the young women, nobody knew who was or even looked like, had done over the years.  

Almost nobody knew what she looked like. There was one exception to that rule, but he would also never give away her identity to anyone unless she made the choice to let him bring her in. 

High-speed car chases and parkouring across buildings to escape crime families wasn’t a new sport to her, but it was still tiring and the Black Hood was out of breath when she made it to her motel room out of town and where she felt safe enough to pull the mask of her face. 

She winced and placed a hand against her side, leaning forward to brace herself against one of the tables. It hurt to breathe and not only because her lungs threatened to jump from her chest after the miles long sprint over buildings across the city she had just made. One of the thugs had managed to catch her side with one of his bullets even if none of them could aim for shit, one person could only dodge so many projectiles flying at you at once. 

“Are you hurt?” Black Hood jumped when the voice sounded from the vents. She ignored the shooting pain from her right side as she aimed her gun towards the ceiling just as the vent fell to the floor and a man poked his head into the room.

“What the fuck are you doing in my ceiling?” she hissed equally annoying with the intruder as she was with the pain, that was threatening to drop her any minute now if she didn’t slow down a bit. 

“Technically not your ceiling. It’s Mrs. Adams,” the man shrugged staying seated in the vent, smirking down at the angry, confused woman below him. 

“What? Who?” the young thief hissed as she glared at the man above her. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Mrs. Adams. The sweet old lady that owns the motel,” the man answered still smirking. “I’m Clint. I would shake your hand and everything, but I fear you’d might shoot it off if I tried.”

“Clint… Are you one of Osbourne’s men or do you work for Fisk?” she hissed, before flinching again and hunching over a little. 

Clint frowned when he saw the pain in her face and movements and instantly let himself drop to the floor, raining his hands above his head.

“Not a criminal. And I’m not here to arrest or hurt you. You’re bleeding on the carpet,” Clint nodded towards her right foot and her eyes briefly followed the direction he looked. 

“No shit Sherlock,” she hissed, but still she lowered herself into one of the chairs next to her with a groan. She kept the gun pointed at Clint’s chest as she snarked at him. “What are you a spy or something?”

“Actually….” Clint shrugged running his hand behind his neck, giving her a small smile as her eyes widened. 

“You’re….” the woman narrowed her eyes, looking towards the vent before her eyes found Clint again. “Shield. You’re the bird guy.”

“Bird guy,” Clint grumbled as he took a step closer, “keep pointing that gun at me and I’ll start to reconsider patching you up.”

The woman lowered the gun slightly, letting Clint slowly approach her and kneel down in front of her chair. 

“You said you weren’t going to arrest me,” she accused but let Clint help her lower the gun before he took it from her and laid it down on the table next to them. 

“I’m not. Can I?” Clint let his hand hover above her shirt waiting for her to nod before he raised it up. She hissed leaning back in the chair, letting Clint have a better look and he knew she had to be in worlds of pain if she let him get this close to her. 

“We need to get that bullet out,” Clint frowned when he saw her wound. “Get on the bed. Do you have a first aid kit somewhere?” he asked, before quickly reaching out to catch her when she almost fell over trying to take a step.

“In the bathroom. In the purple bag,” she nodded towards the door in the back of the room, reluctantly leaning on Clint as he helped her get to the bed. 

“Lay down. I’ll go get it. Don’t run,” Clint pointed to her and ordered, causing the woman to pull a face at him. 

“Does it look like I’m in any condition to run anywhere birdbrain?” she hissed, ignoring Clint’s grumbling from the bathroom. 

“It’s Hawkeye, not bird guy,” he corrected, “I prefer Clint though.” His tone softened a bit as he lowered himself down on the bed next to her, holding a pair of tweezers into the fire from a lighter he had pulled from his pocket. One never knew when a fiery arrow was called for.

“This is gonna hurt Miss…” Clint looked into the woman’s eyes and for a brief moment, he was sure he saw a flicker of doubt in them before she shook her head. 

“Not giving you my name,” she insisted and Clint smiled as he pulled up her shirt once more. 

“I’m about to dig a bullet out of your spleen. I’ve got to call you something other than Black Hood,” he teased, causing the woman to pull a face at him once more but this time she was hiding a smile behind her stubborn facade. 

“You can call me Aurora,” she offered and Clint frowned before a grin broke on his face. 

“Like Aurora Florentina Magnosson?” he asked, and Aurora sent him an impressed smile. 

“Exactly like that. Now get that damn bullet out of me would you Clint?” she ordered, but with a playful glimmer in her eyes despite her pain.

“Okay. Bossy,” Clint mumbled before reaching behind his back for one of his arrows, offering it to Aurora. “Bite down on this.”

The Black Hood was a loner. She trusted no one and had always told herself she needed nobody either, but that weekend she had needed Clint. She could barely move, shivering through a nasty fever and only eating and drinking whatever he brought her.

As soon as Black Hood or Aurora as she was to Clint now had started to get better, he had brought up the option of returning to SHIELD with him. She wouldn’t have been the first person he was sent to kill or arrest he had brought back and talked Fury into hiring instead. Aurora had skills and potential as an agent if only she could learn to trust people again. 

She had rejected his offer and Clint had decided not to push her. She was strong, fierce and righteous, but Clint saw something else in her too. Someone that had been hurt and let down by everyone around her. Someone that still saw the good in people that deserved her help. He saw a scared and angry young woman that was struggling to find her place in the world while keeping everyone at arms distance. He saw someone that he had been himself once or close to it. He knew that pushing her would only drive her away so instead he had promised she would see him again and his offer wouldn’t go away. 

Clint had kept that promise, tracking her down every year on the anniversary they met. Not that he ever really lost tabs on her. Aurora might not trust him completely yet, but Clint needed to make sure she stayed safe. It went beyond attraction and professional admiration. She was beautiful, funny and mysterious. Clint would be lying if he said he wasn’t falling for her. She was also highly skilled and someone Clint saw would be an asset to the Avengers if she was willing. More than that she was a kindred spirit and someone he had grown to care about.  

Every year Clint spent the weekend with her. Weekends that became increasingly intimate and it became harder and harder for him to say goodbye. He wanted to drag her back to SHIELD and then when they dissolved, the Avengers, but he knew he couldn’t. Turning her life around had to be her choice, just like he wanted to be her choice and not just a knight in shining armor, dead set on giving her a better life. In the end, it wasn’t who Clint was and he wasn’t so sure the life he could offer her was all that much better or even safer. Just less lonely. Either way, the choice was Aurora’s to make. 

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