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gothamite-rambler · 3 months ago

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Tim (putting the book in Jason's backpack): We got the book. It was really easy, Ra's just told me to take it and leave fast.

Jason: You think he's annoyed when we visit?

Tim: His reaction didn’t suggest that.

Damian paced the room, his hands fidgeting impatiently as he glanced around with mounting worry.

Damian (panicked): Come on, come on! We have to hurry!

Tim (confused): We’re not in a rush… right?

Dick: No. Damian, why are you so eager to leave? This is your home; I thought you’d want to look around a little.

Damian (tapping his foot): I already walked down memory lane when we got here. I’m over it! We have to go!

Jason chuckled.

Jason (correctly guessing): I’m pretty sure he’s worried Talia will spot him.

Damian bit his fingernail, scanning for a secret escape route.

Dick: That makes sense. I did feel a chill in the air.

Damian: That's not funny, Grayson. We have to go! There is no way she's close— The footsteps of a terrifying spirit are approaching.

The sound of heels echoed through the halls, growing closer like a dinosaur searching for its prey or a mother about to smother her son with hugs and kisses.

Suddenly, the door to the room was kicked in. Thinking quickly, Damian used Tim as a shield, standing behind him like a pillar to avoid being spotted.

Talia (eager): Damian! Habibi, give your mother a hug! Where is he?

Talia strode into the room, shoving Dick aside as she searched behind him.

Talia (attitude): Grayson, where did you hide my son?

Dick (waving): Hi, Talia! Good to see you.

Talia: Don’t ignore what I asked.

Dick: I didn’t, it’s just customary to greet someone, not assault them.

Talia: Oh please, that was barely an assault. You're just as weak as I’ve told others.

Dick (calmly pointing at Talia's nose): You have a booger sticking out of your nose. It’s pretty noticeable.

Talia covered her nose, blushing slightly. Recovering, she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her nose while scanning the room.

Talia: Where is my baby? I must hug my child!

Dick (feigning innocence): He’s not here. At all.

Jason was unable to respond, too busy laughing at the absurdity of it all. As Talia scanned the room, Damian turned Tim’s body to keep himself hidden. Balling up her handkerchief, Talia tossed it at Dick.

Talia: Hold this, since you noticed, ass-man.

Dick dodged, but being a good brother, he stood in front of her to block her path.

Talia (holding out her arms): Usfour, come out of your hiding spot! I just want to hug you and shower you with affection. It’s what a good mother does, and I’m at least semi-okay. Grayson, my foot will be making contact with your little dick if you don’t move.

Dick: If you kick me, I'm telling my dad.

Talia: You would do that! You have never matured.

Dick: Honey, you have?

Dick and Talia bickered as Jason texted on his phone, while Damian stayed hidden behind Tim.

Damian (whispering): Don’t tell her where I am.

Tim (lying): I got your back.

Tim raised his hand in a mock gesture of surrender.

Tim: He’s over here, Talia!

He stepped aside and playfully shoved Damian forward. As soon as Talia spotted him, she squealed.

Talia (shoving Dick out of her way): Move, ass-man!

Damian (angrily to Tim): You mother—

Talia rushed over and enveloped her son in a tight hug, causing him to squirm and gasp for air. She moaned happily, snuggling him with a wide smile.

Damian (glaring at a grinning Tim): Drake, I will make you pay for this.

Tim (indifferent): Totally worth it for now.

Talia: And I appreciate you for that, Drake. I knew I had a reason to dislike you less! You’re smart, unlike the adult brats who try to deprive me of my time with my usfour.

Jason: In my defense, I raised him for eight years, and this is all funny.

Dick: And I loathe you.

Talia: Glad our feelings are mutual then, Grayson. Now, Damian, I’ve missed you so much! You’re still so adorable! Oh, those cheeks are still so soft. Let me give you some kisses!

She kissed Damian on the forehead and then nuzzled her nose against his cheek while humming. He kicked his feet, trying to escape, but her grip was like that of a python wrapping around its prey.

Damian (whining): Mother, you’re embarrassing me! And you smell too much like lavender!

Talia: Shush, let me love you! I love you!

Talia kissed Damian again on the forehead.

Talia: I love, love you, my baby! And I know you love me too.

Damian: Can you go back to being mean and insane? I miss that!

Damian groaned as he heard his amused brothers mocking him, deepening his frustration.

Damian (suppressed rage): The moment we get home, I’m going to deal with all of you. Mother, we need to leave—

Talia: You can take care of whatever it is in a few minutes. Let’s go see Grandpa! I know he tried to hurry you and your brothers out of the castle, but I convinced him to see how much you’ve grown. He has a gift for you too.

Damian: I don’t wanna!

Talia: It’ll be quick. I swear! Ever since I’ve been striving to be a better mama, I feel so much lighter. My mind is clearer, my fighting is more agile, and I still have my rivalry with Grayson. My sworn enemy, and the reason I’m not with Bruce.

Dick: Your therapist is either lying to you, or you’re not listening.

Jason: Dude, stop! I’m going to die from laughter.

Talia: Ignoring you both. Let’s go, Dami!

Talia giggled, dropping Damian and grabbing his leg instead, preventing his escape.

Damian (screaming): No, no! He smells like mothballs! Mother, please!

Talia ignored his protests and dragged him away from his brothers. As Damian's screams echoed through the halls, the brothers were left in the room, processing what they had just witnessed.

Tim (perplexed): That was clingy… and adorable. Do I miss my mom that much?

Dick and Jason (relating): Yeah.

Tim: Hm, I accept that. Talia is like a villain, but not an evil mother anymore. What changed?

Jason: From what I remember Ra's telling me, after Nyssa kept killing Talia and putting her in a different Lazarus Pit, driving her insane, he put her dead body in his pit. When she woke up, she was the same but different. She had an epiphany, like she met her "maker." They told her not to be a bad person to her child, to be a better mom, or the pits of hell would welcome her and never let her go.

Dick (speculating): Why is she still an asshole, though?

Jason and Tim: Because neither of you like each other.

Dick (prideful): Yeah, the balance of the universe would unravel if we liked each other. At least I'm glad she replaced her violence with smothering love for Damian.

Tim: You think the "maker" was her own mom?

Jason (agreeing): In this mad world? Probably. But that was entertaining at least.

Tim nodded, but wondered about a missing person in their group.

Tim: Why isn't Bruce here?

Dick: Ra despises him, and he feels the same way about Ra.

Jason: Right, and Ra's made it clear they’d fight to the death if Bruce set foot in here, and not just toss him into the pit. Bruce said he'd break every bone in Ra's body and make him wish he was dead. There was a lot of tension after Talia went murder hobo insane. Just our usual family dynamics.

Tim: Cool, I get that. Want to check out his skull collection?

Dick: Sure, I’m down.

Jason: Did he update it?

Tim: Yep! He’s added the spines of his enemies too. One of the maids here can give us apple fritters she made as well.

With that, the brothers quietly slipped away as Damian's protests faded into the distance, still audible as Talia hugged him. Ra, the eccentric grandpa, was about to launch into another tangent about the world’s problems.

usfour- little bird

habibi- term of endearment Arabian parents use for their child

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quietly-sleeping · 1 year ago

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Shen Qingqiu wanted to kill one of his fellow Peak Lords.

At least, that was what the rumors swirling around Cang Qiong said. The disciples couldn’t seem to agree on who the Qing Jing Peak Lord wanted to kill; just that he had sent his disciples out with an order to retrieve.

Shang Qinghua was the first of the Peak Lords to hear the rumors, his disciples had gotten more chatty than usual, the typical workload for anyone on the peak not leaving much energy to do much of anything. Other than gossip, as it turns out.

“Shizun,” His poor, overworked Head Disciple spoke up while they were sorting out yet another tower of papers into only mildly less intimidating stacks. “This disciple was wondering, has Shen-shibo said anything…worrying lately?”

“In what way, Wu Xiaoli?” Shang Qinghua didn’t stop his work, he really couldn’t, he barely had any time at all to himself after working to the bone every day, if he stopped at all he’d have to forgo sleep to get it all done. “In a murderous way?” Wu Xiaoli was hesitant as she said this, her hands barely slowing as well, what a good disciple.

“Your Shen-shibo is almost always like that, is something specific supposed to be happening?” Shang Qinghua glanced over at her, her prolonged silence stretching for a moment more before she spoke again. “In the way that most of Cang Qiong believes he is trying to capture and then kill one of his martial siblings.” Wu Xiaoli let that sit in the air for a moment before adding, “It should be fine, right Shizun?”

Shang Qinghua really regretted being reborn. “Yes, you could say that Wu Xiaoli.” He felt faint. The paperwork, just the thought of the paperwork a murder like that would spawn nearly sent Shang Qinghua into a panic attack, nausea starting to build in his throat already.

Which would lead to a visit from Mu-shidi, who while nice, was still trying to drug him with anxiety meds that Shang Qinghua did not need, thank you very much. He could feel Wu Xiaoli staring at him as he pondered how viable throwing himself off the mountain would be for knocking him unconscious, very viable, with only a mild threat of death, before she looked out the window and jolted.

“Forgive this disciple, Shizun, Tan-shijie requested a meeting about the salary allotted for building a new garden on Qiong Ding.” Wu Xiaoli hurriedly sorted the last few papers in her hands before standing and nervously brushing at her yellow robes.

“Don’t get scammed too badly this time.” Shang Qinghua said around the lump in his throat as he fished another very late work order for Bai Zhan, thank you Liu-shidi. Wu Xiaoli pouted for a moment, looking ten years old rather than nineteen before turning on her heel and marching out the door. “This disciple will try her best, Shizun!” She called out behind her.

Shang Qinghua did not hold back on the panicked sobs of dread now that his disciple was gone. He was more open with his sobbing response to issues when she was younger, but that led to a good year or so when Mu-shidi was very blatant in drugging his food and tea with anxiety meds.

The despondent Peak Lord angled himself so any tears wouldn’t hit the delicate paper covered in ink. He may have to appear red and puffy later, but by the gods that had forsaken him, he would not ruin his paperwork.

Qi Qingqi was the next to hear about the rumors. Her usually on-top-of-things Head Disciple, Shi Fa, was distracted by the adorable new addition to their Peak, little Liu Mingyan. The four-year-old giving the poor girl a run for her money.

It was amusing, but it did prove that perhaps Shi Fa wouldn’t be a great fit for Peak Lord. Which was an utter shame, the girl was perfect in every other aspect, Qi Qingqi mused on the issue for a moment before nodding to herself, a Hall Master then.

They’d do better only interacting with the students in a more detached manner, still there to advise or support the Peak Lord’s decisions. Qi Qingqi looked back down at the report that had made its way onto her desk, the handwriting hurried with ink blotches and missed strokes.

Shi Fa had heard the rumor while attempting to track down Liu Mingyan on Bai Zhan and extract her from the feral child colony that populated the Peak. One of the eldest of the feral children had been hired by a disciple of Qing Jing, needing their help since they had left the sect more often and to varied places.

Shi Fa had located Liu Mingyan and managed to contain the delightful ball of fury while gathering more information, Shen Qingqiu had ordered a fetch mission on a martial sibling. None of the Qing Jing disciples actually fessed up to which martial sibling it was, but Qi Qingqi was certain it was not one of the Peak Lords.

Since a murder had not happened during the last Peak Lord meeting, and Shen Qingqiu had been no more nasty than usual. The true question was, out of the martial siblings wandering the world, which had managed to offend Shen Qinqiu so deeply while having not stepped foot into Cang Qiong in roughly ten years at this point?

Truly, what an amusing situation, Qi Qingqi could barely keep herself from giggling like a young maiden at the possible reasons this whole situation played out. Her darling wife would suggest something along the lines of a romantic falling out, which Qi Qingqi would normally agree with, as her wife was always right, but it was Shen Qingqiu they were talking about.

Honestly, the man wouldn’t know romance if it bit him in the ass.

Shen Qingqiu heard the rumors and felt deep distaste for his gossiping martial siblings. They must be the ones to fuel this, the rumors wouldn’t have spiraled out of such control that they suggested he was hunting down a romantic partner that had scorned him.

Truly, the imagination in his disciples was utilized in everything other than their studies. He’d be much more comfortable in sending his disciples out into the world if he didn’t have to read multiple poems about bamboo after every assignment.

Other plants existed on Qing Jing, they had gardens, and they didn’t have to write about Qing Jing specifically. He could only read so many synonyms of the color green before he began to feel a deep frustration at the mere mention of poetry.

However, there had been progress, of a kind. Sightings of his wayward shidi were documented in various areas along the border between the Human and Demon realms. Shen Qingqiu was reluctant to mark them as true sightings, at least the sightings given to him by his disciples.

His network of spies, at the very least, gave more reliable sightings. He’s thrown out so many reports in the last year of a tall man with dark hair and some sort of pet. They fit the most basic description of his shidi but lacked any truly distinctive markers.

It was infuriating. Shen Qingqiu knew that his shidi wasn’t hiding on purpose at least not anymore, his shidi probably wasn’t even aware he had forgotten about their meeting. A broken promise, Shen Qingqiu seethed.

The only thing keeping Shen Qingqiu from actually ordering his spies to hunt his stupid, airheaded shidi down was that it would freak the man out, drive him into actually hiding himself. It had happened before, roughly around the time of the Qing’s ascension. The previous Ling You Peak Lord had ordered a manhunt of their youngest shidi.

The forgetful man had hidden so deeply that the previous Peak Lords were half certain he’d died in some remote hidden realm. Of course, anytime Shen Qingqiu felt like vanishing for a while, he was always dragged back.

If this continued for much longer, Shen Qingqiu might have to, with deep disgust, call in the brute to track down his shidi. Shen Qingqiu shuffled through the papers stacked neatly on top of his desk, however, other measures could be implemented before he had to rely on the brute.

He paused, long fingers tapping on the paper he was holding as he hummed thoughtfully. This could do. Qi Qingqi certainly had contacts of her own, even the sniveling rodent of An Ding had his channels. A polite request for tea from his shimei was certainly unexpected, ah her wife must be coming along.

Shen Qingqiu felt the corner of his lips twitch slightly, for a woman of such brutal background, Qi-shimei’s wife was such a stickler for formalities.

Yue Qingyuan, despite the pains he went to keep an ear and eye on his Xiao Jiu, couldn’t keep track of everything the strategist did. So when Wei-shidi mumbled over his cup of tea about a manhunt, Yue Qingyuan felt a deep twist in his gut.

He knew that Xiao Jiu had his reasons, but his Xiao Jiu had grown even more reticent since the ascension, but that had never stopped Yue Qingyuan. Wei-shidi had fled quickly, muttering about checking on a volatile sword, but the sect leader barely heard him, just nodding with a small polite smile.

Blankly he stared at the wall for a moment, lost, before he called out. “Tan Liu?” Soft steps walked towards the office, “Yes, Shizun?” Tan Liu was the oldest of the Head Disciples and her command over her shidi and shimei made Yuq Qingyuan certain she knew about what was going on.

“What is this about a manhunt?” He asked, his thumb rubbing along the teacup. Tan Liu hesitated for the barest moment before she straightened, “Shen-shishu issued a retrieval order for a martial sibling of the Qing generation. The general description has made its way to this disciple's ears, but not the name. I apologize.”

Yue Qingyuan hummed for a moment, gently setting his teacup down on the low table. Tan Liu scuffed her feet gently on the wooden boards before speaking up again, “This one knows she should have reported this earlier to Shizun, however, this one felt she didn’t have enough information or evidence.” Yue Qingyuan glanced over at her with a small smile, “This master understands, the description?”

Tan Liu relaxed slightly, before reciting the short description she had made sure to memorize. “A taller man of slight build, favors lighter colors such as white and pale blues and greens, wears a simple hairstyle, typically braided, dark green eyes, with a slightly crooked nose.” Tan Liu paused a moment before continuing, “Likely to be spotted with a creature of some sort, the creature will be tame, likely rare. Will take requests regardless of reward or how simple the request may be.”

Yue Qingyuan closed his eyes as his Head Disciple’s voice tapered out. He knew exactly who his Xiao Jiu was hunting. The man was difficult to pin down, even harder to keep in one place, the only person who had succeeded before was the man’s own Shizun, who had defaulted to tracking talismans.

“Good. Thank you, Tan Liu.” Yue Qingyuan didn’t look over at the woman as he waved his hand. They both had paperwork to return to, and she didn’t need to be standing around waiting for him to come to a decision. He heard her soft footfalls as she left the room, the door shutting behind her.

Yue Qingyuan sat in silence for a long moment, a deep exhaustion beginning to form deep within his eyes, Xiao Jiu was certainly hunting someone. Their youngest shidi in fact, someone they hadn’t managed to track down before their ascension, his courtesy name still sealed within a final letter from the Previous Ling You Peak Lord.

It had been ten years, perhaps the man had slipped out of hiding, his guard falling enough for them to herd him back to the sect. If Xiao Jiu didn’t bring this up at the Peak Lord Meeting next week, Yue Qingyuan would, if only to bring their shidi and shimei into the hunt.

Shen Yuan, the missing Ling You Peak Lord, and the youngest shidi of the Qing generation. He was still out there, at the very least, Shen Qingqiu believed he was, which knowing the man, was probably as good of evidence as Yue Qingyuan would get. A soft sigh left his mouth before he stood, his paperwork was still waiting for him, and if he was going to be ascending another Peak Lord soon, he’d need his schedule as free as possible to plan a ceremony.

part two

ao3

#svsss #fanfic #mxtx svsss #shen yuan #shen jiu #yue qingyuan #shang qinghua #qi qingqi #so sorry about my grammer #this is what i was complaining about shen jiu for #had to rewrite this from the ground up #ill post this on ao3 later but i wanted to get it out there before i over think myself into oblivion #also the time line has been altered #the qing generation ascended about 10 years before the tlj fiasco #that is relevant information later #you can blame my roommate for the bullshit i pull with qqq's wife #part 1

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