#i still do not exactly know why we were in morrison’s for so long but honestly it be like that sometimes

[fingertipsmp3]

My mom: how did the three of you manage to make going swimming, eating a meal, and buying milk take 4 hours?

Me: you’re forgetting that “the three of us” is one adult who dislocated her knee two weeks ago, another adult with undiagnosed ADHD, and a 2.5 year old

[davosmymaster]

The Saddest Part of Me

TAGS AND WARNINGS - +18, Minors DNI, no smut (yet) but mentions of sex/sexual themes, hurt/comfort, angst, fluff, mention of past abusive/violent relationship, canon-typical violence, breaking-up, Jake is the fist of Khonshu, Marc and Steven don’t have the suit anymore, post-MoonKnight, my non-native English is a warning itself, no beta

PAIRINGS - Jake Lockley x fem!reader ; Marc Spector x fem!reader ; Steven Grant x fem!reader

WORD COUNT - 4.6k

SUMMARY - Tired of Jake’s missions turning deadly, Steven and Marc ask you for help. It backfires.

A/N - This started as first person pov, dont know exactly why but i liked it and went with it. Then it changed after one of the pauses and I was too tired to change it (also i like it as it is) so I didn’t. Don’t read if you are easily triggered. Credits to whoever made the gif. Part two will be up when it’s up.

THE SADDEST PART OF ME

 Toni Morrison once wrote that "love is never any better than the lover". And as if that wasn't a horrible enough claim on its own, she followed with "wicked people love wickedly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, stupid people love stupidly."

 I found myself called to those lines and, trapped by the words of a book that had me crying for most of it, I discovered I was more moved by that sentence than I had been for the rest of the novel. Trapped as I was, my mind rushed to find meaning beyond the words. I remembered past flings and failed relationships, abusive exes, and even friendships that hadn't worked. Finally, at last, my eye caught the shape of one of my boyfriends watching a cricket game on tv; as if I hadn't been aware that he was there, as if it was the first time I saw him. Truly, saw him.

 Steven noticed, of course he did. He was always hyperaware of his surroundings and, unlike Marc, he didn't know how to be subtle about it. He leaned back on the sofa, almost melting against it, and looked in my direction with the most relaxed expression he had in weeks. There was one cute smile on his lips; eyes gleaming with comfort after a long week of work. He was finally spending time with his girlfriend, and the time felt valuable for both of us even if each was doing our own thing.

 He must have seen something on my face, something buried and hurt perhaps, something I'm still not very sure of what it was; but something regardless, because his eyes switched off their glow as if someone had thrown a handful of sand over them. His smile trembled slightly, without him ever finding out, as if his body was understanding something he was not. A presage.

 "You feeling alright, love?" he asked.

 Even though I heard him loud and clear, felt his worry as my own in the way he looked at me; my brain did not seem to register. My mind was long gone, far away from there. I was looking at Steven but I had no problem with him. I was looking at his body. No, I was not, either. I was looking at the shell that contained the three men I was in love with. And I just happened to be looking at Steven because he was there —the wrong place at the wrong time— but who I was really looking for in those eyes, the person that deserved to be there at that moment, it wasn't Steven. It wasn't Marc, either.

 It was Jake.

 We'd just had the most terrible month in our relationship. Even though I'd like to say it only concerned Jake and I, it truly did not. Marc and Steven had their role in the problem too, even if it was well-intentioned in the end. Our argument seemed to be over, at least for now. But neither of us had apologized nor had we found a peaceful way out of our trouble.

 No. Not at all.

 It was over because we had both decided we loved each other more than the problem hurt us. Now we were ignoring both the problem still unresolved and the gap his lies had created between us.

 Yes, Jake had lied to me. Repeteadly and over a long period of time. Problem was he didn't regret it at all. My mind had been trying not to think more about the matter, ignoring it, living happily in naivety. In my coping mechanism I was blind to the elephant in the room: Jake didn't regret his actions at all. He didn't regret killing those people and he sure as hell didn't regret lying to me about it.

 That meant only one thing: he would kill again. That is, if he hadn't already.

 As if he could read my mind Steven's frown deepened. He got closer, his hand closing the space that separated us. His thumb very slowly touched my cheek. It was so slow, so gentle, as if he was frightened himself of my stupor. Or even scared of me.

 The slowness did not restrain my soul from shooting back into my body. The jump it caused could only be described as the sensation of falling from an imaginary abyss just as you are about to fall asleep.

 It was right then when I realized Jake wasn't hidden there, in those eyes. It was just Steven. Only sweet and sincere Steven.

 "You alright?" he asked, a worried chuckle dancing on his lips. "I lost you for a moment there, uh. In the land of the dreaming?"

 I smiled, even if I couldn't quite remember how.

 "Yeah, yeah... Sorry I scared you," I said, but still took his hands and put them away from me. All I could think about was those hands unfortunately being a part of Jake. Those pretty hands that belonged to Steven and Marc too, but which had been smeared with thick blood clotting around the nails. All I could see was them holding the gun Jake had been so reluctant to throw away, the small pocket knife he always wore as a key chain.

 "Can I ask you something..." I said then, my words so fast my mind had barely registered them, my tone so devoid of life it sounded as if I was going to ask him to kill me. Maybe I was. "...Steven?"

 I pronounced his name trying to breathe a bit of life into the sentence, but I could already tell by the way his breathing was caught in his lungs that he did not believe my facade for one split second.

 He took my hand in his, the heat warming them but freezing my body at the same time. Those hands...

 "Of course! Of course you can. Bloody hell, why do you even ask it like that?"

 I smiled and, with my thumb, I massaged the deep frown between his eyebrows. He relaxed the muscles there, suddenly aware of his expression.

 Half of me did it for him, because I was starting to feel guilty for worrying him. Half of me did it because my hands felt trapped under his.

 Steven relaxed, smiling once again. Partially relieved.

 "Are Marc or Jake listening?"

 Steven seemed confused at the question at first. He fixed his eyes on my own, but at the same time very far away from there. Then he looked around: at the tv, at any nearby mirrors, even his mug and the tea in it.

 "No, they aren't," he said. "But I can look for them, wake them up, if you want me to."

 "No, no. I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

 Steven tilted his head to one side slightly, confused.

 "Oh, oh. Sure, love."

 That's when my turn of taking his hands in mine came. It was the only way in which I could feel safe in both my question and his answer, in the truth of them, actually. I had never once before questioned Steven. I had blind faith in him, I always had. But as I said, what should have stayed as a Jake and me problem, had somehow tainted Steven and Marc too. Up until this point I had firmly believed I distinguished every single one of them from the others, and treated them accordingly; but now my body was showing me that, in fact, a part of me saw all of them as the same man.

 "If Jake hurt anyone again, you would tell me right away. Right?"

 His eyes shot open. From where I was seating in front of him I could almost hear his heartbeats.

 "Of course! Of course I would. Marc would too. We did it before, right?"

 "Eventually, yeah. After hiding it for months," the tinge of disgust in my voice did not go unnoticed.

 His hands were now trembling.

 "We didn't know what to do! At first we didn't even notice it was something that would affect us. Then I told them. And neither of them listened. We did tell you about Khonshu and we thought it was... implied. But Jake never wanted to kill...!"

 "Okay, okay. Steven. Steven look at me," I said, as he kept talking and talking in a panicked state. "Look at me, okay? You said sorry. Marc, you and I talked about this. It's okay. You said sorry. You're forgiven."

 He stopped talking, pressed his cheek against my hand when I tried to comfort him. He nodded as if trying to absorb my words. But his pupils still jumped slightly, here and there. Restless, unsafe.

 "I would tell you," he finally said with a tiny voice. His eyes welled with tears. "I promise. I promise I would. Please don't go."

 He made me cry too. Almost jumping over him, I hugged him, pretty much estranged him with my arms. I clung to the sweater he was wearing as if holding on for dear life. Steven followed with no less force. He crushed me against his chest, breathing hard into my hair, silently crying. With hands wide open over my whole back, it felt as if he was both trying to memorize the feeling of me in his arms and, holding me in place so I wouldn't abandon him.

 "Why do I feel like you're gonna leave?" he whispered.

 Steven had very little power of the matter, and that fact terrified him beyond reason. He couldn't stop Jake from killing again. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing your disgusted, disappointed, crying face again. But if there was something he could not even think about, that was you breaking up with them, leaving them, hating them. He could not conceive the world without you being the first thing he saw in the morning. He could not go back to be and feel as lonely as he did before. He couldn't.

 Being in this impossible situation, anxiety rising up to the clouds, the only comforting thought he could get was that, if he behaved, if he was good, despite what Jake could do, if he was good and behaved like you wanted him to, then you wouldn't abandon him. You might abandon Jake for being a murderer, but if he proved himself... then you wouldnt —couldn't— leave him.

 In his mind, he is ten years old and doing the dishes at two in the morning so mom will kiss him goodnight.

 Stupid people love stupidly

 Regaining someone's trust is not an easy task, everyone says that, but no one talks about how complicated it is to regain intimacy with the other person.

 It's not about sexual intimacy. That's easy, perhaps too easy. And Jake makes it even easier; he knows what buttons to push, where and when to touch you so you're left wanting more, pursuing him yourself against your own judgement. It's the other intimacy that is difficult to get back, the type in which you start talking about life and don't finish until dawn. It's about the cuddles, the feeling of being comfortable around each other, planning stuff to do together because you don't want to —not even think about— doing it with anyone else. Before Marc and Steven told you what Jake had done, asking you to help him stop, it wasn't uncommon for you and Jake to dance around the kitchen while cooking; both slow and quick Latin songs playing through the speakers. He loved to dance bachata, you loved to see him happy.

 Now your home is silent, the closeness complicated. The kitchen doesn't smell like spices anymore, and even the flat seems to have become darker. Maybe London has become darker, maybe the entire world has shunned the sun.

 Jake promises one day that he will never do it again. He waits for you to be in bed and slides under the covers. For a long time, he says nothing; he's still hesitating. Jake isn't sure he can keep this promise he is about to make. After all, he doesn't kill people because he likes it; he does it because they are necessary.

 Eventually, when he feels your breathing evening out, he knows if he doesn't do it you will never trust him again. And so he does it; unsure and scared, but is anyone ever not unsure and scared? he asks himself.

 You hug him tight then. It's the closest he's felt to you in a month. He's missed you more than he dares to admit. So he buries his hands in you, in your hair, your back, your shoulders, the back of your thighs. He doesn't want to let go. All he wants is for time to stop. If he could choose where to live for the rest of his life, he would live in the exact spot between your jaw and neck that his nose is caressing just now. He would die there, too.

 You're the only good thing in his life. Everyone knows that.

 Suddenly a month has passed, a more than reasonable amount of time for you to start letting your guard down. Jake has been so patient and careful that you start to feel like a fool for creating this awkward space between the two of you; although the truth is, it's not your fault.

 There are only fifteen days to your anniversary, or at least the start of it, as each of the boys takes an entire day to celebrate it with you. That makes your anniversary a weekend-long thing. With your anniversary so close, you feel an overwhelming sensation of hopelessness. And in the midst of your nostalgia for what you were, and loathing what you've become, you ask Jake to forget anything ever happened. He complies.

 The following is your day off, but Jake has work in the evening. Still, that doesn't stop him from scheduling a date. He takes you out for brunch to the most beautiful restaurant you've ever seen. You are seated on the inner patio. There is a fountain there, and the decoration is Bukowski books on small shelves and flowering vines on the walls.

 You sit on a pallet drilled into the wall. It has beautiful rainbow-coloured cushions to sit on. Jake takes the chair in front of you, but he's too far away for your liking. Instead, you take his arm and ask him to sit a bit closer. Jake takes the seat next to you, not even his flat cap concealing the happiness glowing in his eyes. As he sits down, as if by a reflex, he puts one of his hands on your thigh. He caresses your knee for a few seconds before taking the menu and placing it in front of you to decide what you both will be having, together.

 Two hours later both of you are taking a walk in Hyde Park. It's January, but the sun is shining over your heads anyway. Jake has never been one to be affectionate in public, but now he has his arm around your shoulders as you walk. Your face hurts from laughing and smiling. This is exactly what you missed, just what you needed. It all gets worse when, just before you leave, a squirrel chases Jake across the parking lot.

 Jake drives you home, he drives slowly through London because he doesn't want to let you go. He doesn't want today to end. He stops the car at the beginning of the street because there's a street market today and he can't get through. He stops the car there, double-parked because it is impossible to park anywhere else in the city. He gets out of his limousine at the same time you do. With a quick, determined step he circles the limousine, and you wonder what the hell he's doing. Then, he takes your face in his hands and kisses you. His lips brush yours, it's barely a caress until it's not. All you feel is him, his love, his warmth, the fabric of his driving gloves on your cheeks.

 "Thank you," he whispers.

 It feels like an I love you, so you take it that way.

 Unfortunately, the honeymoon phase lasted just one more day.

 He had no other choice, he wouldn't have ever risked another fight with you if he had the option not to. In fact, it was an accident. The fault wasn't entirely his. Yet Jake was so scared that you could see what he had done in his eyes, through his soul, that he drove to the other end of London and fell asleep in the back of the limo, on the plain floor.

 Steven had panicked so much that his consciousness disconnected. He was nowhere to be found. Marc, on the other hand, was going through all five stages of grief. He had gone from calling him every single insult in the English language to denying that Jake had done anything. By the time Jake decided to get back home, Marc was in full depression stage. Thinking of the worst.

 Even if he wanted to shut down the way his alters were doing, he couldn't. Jake cared for the others to an obsessive extent. All his life, he had taken the hard punches. He had killed so the others wouldn't have to, he had taken his mother's beatings with not a single tear shed, he took insults and humilliations; he took Elias' calls begging Marc to come back home when he ran away, he took the hardest parts of military training and most life-or-death situations that followed.

 He took Khonshu. He was still taking Khonshu.

 Marc and Steven had enough of the god, but someone had to do the work anyways. After all, the pigeon had only freed the other two. And if Moon Knight and Mr Knight wouldn't fight, then Jake Lockley would have to do. Someone had to protect the travellers of the night, that's what Khonshu had said when Jake asked him to free him as well.

 He was still debating what to do, whether to keep it from you or not, when Steven made the decision for him.

 "Jake," he spoke, appearing out of nowhere. "If you don't tell her yourself, I will."

 He grabbed the steering wheel tight. He saw red for a split second, then focused on the road ahead.

 "What?" he almost barked.

 "You heard me."

 "Si será hijueputa- Who do you think you are?"

 Steven said nothing else despite Jake's attempts to provoke him. His silence only made him even more nervous. He insulted him for twenty minutes, called him things he didn't really mean, until eventually, he stopped.

 "Okay, Steven, have it your way," he said. "Just give me some time to think how."

 "You have an hour."

 The image Jake formed on his mind was nowhere close to the moments following his confession. Yet it was somehow even worse. The smile from your face vanished quickly into a thin line, your eye became dull, absorbed by something far away from there. Whatever you were thinking, whatever images were playing inside your brain, he just hoped it wasn't him covered in blood.

 Your sight was lost somewhere on the small dots that covered the kitchen table, round wounds in the wood like gunshots. Your index flew to one of them, rubbing your fingertips against it for a few seconds, then giving up and lifting your head to look at him again. Crossing your arms over your chest as if you were cold.

 "What do you expect me to do now?" you asked. If death had a voice, Jake was certain it would sound like yours. "You promis-."

 "I know," he said. He inhaled oxygen, but seemed to exhale despair. He moved quickly from where he was standing at the other end of the table. With a squeak he took the chair right next to you and sat down. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but I had to-"

 "You had to." you spat. "Was someone pointing a gun to your head?"

 "Actually, yeah..." he responded, lips pressed as not to laugh. He forgot to mention he was also caught by the throat, until the other guy pulled the trigger and Jake moved his attacker's head in the trajectory of the bullet. "But I don't think that changes anything, does it?"

 He saw what he thought was doubt in your eyes. Although he could have easily have mistaken it for the misery drowning your pupils. Deep down —perhaps not so deep— Jake couldn't understand why you cared so much for these people. Sure, he didn't like to have other people's blood on his hands, but at the end of the day many of them deserved to be dead. Jake wasn't getting why there was so much fuss about the matter. All he cared about was you, though. And if you cared, that made the matter grow in importance. He didn't care about hurting his enemies the same way he didn't care if he found a wallet on the street and didn't return it; sure, it wasn't ideal, but it was their loss, not his.

 He took your hand the same way you had once done with Steven. He tried to comfort you somehow. Jake wasn't good with words. In fact, he didn't think he were any good with anything except his job, his work for Khonshu, and fucking your brains out. He had never had the need to protec anyone who didn't already live in his body; but he cared about you too much, and didn't want you to suffer.

 Then, you took your eyes out of his fingers warming your cold ones. With the same expression and voice but dry eyes, you spoke

 "I think we need to break up."

 Jake blinked a few times, nodded, too; but his mind had not caught up on the words. He looked at your eyes again, confused by your pitied expression.

 Then he chuckled, lips tightly closed.

 "What?"

 "I said..." a shaky breath came out of your mouth. "I said I... we need to break up."

 Jake felt his chest and throat close up, the bile still rising to his mouth somehow. He coughed once, when he felt the acid burning its path, then rose up from the chair, swallowed. When he got to the window, he realized he was shaking. A hand tugged from the roots of his hair.

 "¿Qué dijiste?" he asked, turning around to look at you. He looked at his reflexion in a mirror right next to his face, found his own face, not a trace of the others, but asked them anyway. "¿Qué dijo la pendejita esta?"

 Rage was quickly starting to burn up in his veins. Slowly, as not to scare him further, you walked closer.

 "I'm sorry, Jake," you told him, now your own eyes welling with tears. His arms wanted to take you, hold you, tell you everything is going to be fine; but you were only crying because you were hurting him. And you know it. And you know it. And he hates it.

 "Don't fucking-" he said, although he doesn't even know where the sentence is going. His body was not reacting to his command, not even breathing properly. He doesn't understand why his mouth tastes bitter, or why you're trying to hurt him saying that.

 He touched his face because there was something there bothering him. Dust, maybe a particle of something, an eyelash stuck in his eye, whatever. But when he touches it, his finger are wet.

 Oh, a tear.

 Before your body could make contact with his he held both your arms to stop you, his fingers curled around your forearms, your eyes filled with tears only half shed.

 "You can't," he said, then chuckled again like a madman. "You could never."

 He was so sure, too sure, there was not an ounce of doubt in his mind. He seemed so certain that his back straightened, his breathing evened out. He seemed calmed and it confused you. Were you driving him mad?

 "You can't," he repeated, halfway to a chuckle again. "You could never break up with the others, you love them way too much."

 His claim broke your own heart. The only reason Jake had for believing you would stay with him through thick and thin, was because he believed you wanted the others too much. The pieces of your heart crashed, splinters flew away, you could no longer feel it beating. You ached for him, but that didn't change anything.

 "Jake I'm not breaking up with the others," you said, and regretted there was not a kinder way of doing it. "I'm breaking up with you."

 He thought he heard a relieved breath then, and he lost it, completely lost it. It could have been the air coming in through the partially opened window, it could have been the tv still on, or even the kettle still complaining as the water cooled off. But he lost it all the same, not even knowing if the sound had come from Steven and Marc in the headspace or something entirely different. He took the mirror next to him and punched it, hard. The splinters covered his knuckles, blood rushed through the wounds to the to the rhythm of his heart.

 Violent people love violently.

 "Putos cabrones," he insulted them, but his tone was softer that he meant, breathy even.

 "Jake, baby... don't."

 He let you touch him this time. You kept still crying and he hated it. As his concern for you grew, so did his hatred. Your cold hands held both his cheeks, your lips pressed against his forehead just once. The blood staining his white shirt, his whole uniform. He had never gotten it ripped or even stained in a fight, and he was partially embarrassed that the first time he got it stained was because of his own blood, his own wounds.

 You kept saying things, words that he supposed should sound comforting. But he was not listening, not at all.

 "Why are you doing this to me?" he whispered, then his knees gave up under him. "I trusted you. I trusted you."

 "I can't." you told him, begging him to understand. "I had a relationship before, one where he would tell me he was going to change, promise me, and then go back to treating me the same, and I forgave him. And he would do the same thing to me again. And I forgave him. I can't go through that again, baby. Not again. Not with you."

 Jake wanted to scream. He wanted to ask you why you could be patient with others but had not the same patience for him. But he didn't. He stayed silent. He knew such a question would hurt you. Countless times had he hold you while you cried for your past, for how others had mistreated you. The thought that he had done the same was burying him alive. He wanted to melt, pass through the wooden planks on the floor, fall until he reached the barren land, then be swallowed by dirt itself; become nothing.

 He wiped the tears from his face, leaving a bloody trail wherever his fingers touched. You blinked in front of him a few times, shaky lips he wanted to kiss saying goodbye gave him, instead, a bit of hope.

 "Violence is easy, Jake, it's the easy path," you told him. "I can't- I won't be with another violent man. If you show me you can change, I promise you'll have me forever."

 He nodded. He had a mission now.

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[tiredmako]

Hi! I was wondering could we get either a Frank Morrison or Ghostface x reader story where they’re in a relationship and they find out either Frank/Danny got injected with Blights serum.

Reader is then worried about him and rushes to try help him recover from the serums pain? And maybe the other killers seeing that being shocked that a survivor is caring for a killer. If that makes sense and isn’t too much!

Thank you 🤍

⭒kisses for my killer ~ frank morrison⭒

woahhhh sorry this took like forever to right... my play that im in is coming up and ive been pretty busy with that, but tech week is next week so ill be extra busy then but after im free for like!!! ever but anyways 2nd tumblr fic! woohoo ALSO! i had to do a ton of research on blight lore but it was super confusing but i promise i tried my best.... sorry if shes not perfect ;( also not proofread

the woods surrounding the survivor's campfire were dark and lonely. it was an ideal place for some sort of horrible crime- a child to get snatched up, a murder, or in this case, a betrayal.

whenever y/n wandered into the woods in hopes of ending up in ormond, they had a heavy pit in their stomach. if they were caught by another survivor- or worse, ended up in the wrong realm, they were done for. other survivors were already beginning to get suspicious about why they were sneaking out so much, and the lie of 'looking for offerings' was beginning to fail as they often came back with little to show for their long disappearance. if the other survivors found out why they were gone for so long, y/n would never live through another trial. y/n would forever have to keep their dirty little secret. no, not that secret. not the 'i left you on hook because i couldn't get to you in time' while in reality they were just too scared type of secret. a secret dirtier then that.

frank morrison. y/n being romantically involved with frank morrison was their dirtiest secret. a survivor and a killer. somebody who would spend eternity killing, and somebody who would be a victim to it all. not exactly the best pairing.

despite the... not so good circumstances, they still found their ways to love each other in secret. whether it be frank giving them the hatch or y/n helping him recover from a frenzy, they knew that no matter how small their action was it meant worlds to the other. such as in their last trial- they were with susie. after she'd massacred y/n's friends, she allowed them to hop into the hatch without a scratch on their skin. y/n knew for a fact that frank had something to do with this, which is why they'd decided to risk visiting ormond to say thank you. what they didn't expect, was to see frank before they'd even wandered out of the gloomy woods.

"frank?!" they yelped as he stumbled towards them.  his mask was long gone, and a panicked look was etched onto his face."are you okay? what happened?" he was limping and tripping over his own feet- clearly not in the best shape. he practically collapsed on top of them, y/n doing their best to hold him up.

"that stupid.." frank coughed violently as y/n began to slowly rub his back. "the fucking freak. blight. he tried to..." he leaned into them, gasping for breath. "experiment on me, or something." he'd ran away from the blight as fast as he could, but obviously had some disadvantages.

"what was it?"

"i don't know!" frank snapped, hugging them tightly. "fuck." he breathed out heavily. "i... sorry."

"no, frank, i'm so sorry..." they murmured, squeezing him tightly. "i don't know what to say, god that's so horrible." they gently rocked him. "you don't have to worry, though. he's not here, he can't hurt you. where were julie, susie, and joey?"

"they were in their own trials!" he gripped onto the back of their shirt tightly, allowing y/n to sit them both on the ground. his body was draped over theirs as they peppered kisses along his cheek and neck in an attempt to comfort him.

"well, he's not here anymore, okay? he can't touch you, i won't let him. i'll... beat him up, or something."

"you? you'll beat him up?" frank snickered, slowly beginning to calm down in their arms.

"or something like that." they rested their chin on his shoulder as he relaxed against them. "either way, you don't have to worry about him. you have a little team of people who'll keep you safe, yeah?"

"yeah, guess i do." frank paused, thinking for a minute. he squeezed them a bit tighter as he quietly spoke- his voice nearly silent. barely above a whisper. "i love you."

y/n smiled. "i love you more, frank."

off in the distance, joey, susie, and julie were watching in surprise. they knew from frank that him and y/n were in some sort of relationship, but the last thing the three of them expected was for y/n to be this... sweet on him. frank was a ruthless killer, yet here he was being cuddled and cooed at by a survivor. it was shocking to say the least, but in a sweet way. seeing that two victims of the entity were able to still find a light in the entity's realm filled the other three with some sort of... hope.

a hope for something better.

like + reblog for kisses <3

[evanisalittlelost]

It's been one of those days.

I kinda had an episode last night, and I'm still recovering from it. Sometimes, I feel like I can't function by myself. Which is part of the reason I moved back in with Dad. Well, that and when he was gone, I was an absolute mess. I did not leave the shop for weeks after I met Nero for the first time. Anyway, I'm still... broken.

This time of year absolutely sucks for me. I know I mentioned that in another post, but I have to talk about these things in bits and pieces. It's not easy to explain what I went through as a child. The bullying was only a small part of my problems. My grandparents (Mom's parents) did not really love me. They tolerated me at best. My grandmother was worse than my grandfather. To this day, I still refer to them as 'the Mafia' because, at one point, they came to try and get me back.

Yeah... you can just imagine the field day my Dad had with them. Especially when he had Morrison go through all the trouble of forging my birth certificate and identification records to keep me out of their hands. The Mafia had the absolute nerve to come to Devil May Cry and slap a warrant for Dad's arrest on his desk. WITH police in tow.

Oh yeah. He was pissed.

This was about a year after the realized I was still alive. They told everyone that I had dragged off by an animal out in the forest, which is why they never recovered my 'body' and were so heartbroken about it. Then they had people watching my Dad the whole time.

Apparently, I was going to inherit their money or something like that. I don't care to know the full details. Not important anyway. But it's the abuse that I went through growing up in that mansion that I can't get over. I wasn't physically abused, I was emotionally abused and treated as Mom's pet.

I'll make it clear that Mom did not treat me like that at all. She was the only person who really loved me, but they tried to keep us separated as much as possible. The Mafia is exactly what they sound like.

I almost drowned under their watch and they didn't do shit about it.

I'm getting angry just thinking about it. The worst part is up until I turned 18, they still got their lawyer to send a letter to my Dad every year about how they could pursue him for legal charges. He pinned the letters up on the wall and used them to play a really fun game of darts. We don't get letters anymore, but I did hear that the Mafia has lost quite a bit of money in a bad investment.

Karma is a bitch.

Still, this is just one of the many problems I'm dealing with emotionally. The good thing is that I am in the right place with the right people. I have a family that really loves me. They aren't all blood relation, but they are my family.

Okay, I've made myself cry. I'm gonna stop here before I have another episode and this has gone on entirely to long.

Thanks for reading 😊

I'm gonna go make some hot chocolate and watch anime with Dad now.

[writingforfun0714]

Spoilers for Tales of the Jedi!!

*not story related*

I know I said before I disliked the short runtimes of the episodes, but I was correct in that the stories/music were fantastic!

BUUUT!!!

What is with the clone model?!?Rex looks exactly the same in CW. It’s obvious with Obi-wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, and even Mace that their designs have been redone to keep with the slicker, nicer animation (advancing technology). While everyone looks better, Rex still looks exactly the same with the sharp, angular lines.

I’m honestly not surprised that Rex’s design didn’t change, but I must admit that I had hoped, deep down, that they would’ve changed the model (even just a bit like they did with the other characters). Disney does listen to SW fans if we shout loud enough so they technically could’ve changed the clone model to be more like Temuera Morrison (I know Disney would never apologize for the racism, but any change, even a little, is welcome). But again, I’m really not surprised Rex’s model didn’t change. Just disappointed.

Even though the stories and music were amazing, the fact that Rex/the clone model hasn’t changed isn’t just racism, it’s sloppy animation. It hurt as a POC and as an artist to see. Don’t get me wrong, everything else animated looks great. It’s just that Rex/the clone model wasn’t updated, making him appear off and out of place with the rest of the scenes. It also made Rex look older (whether unintentional or not). Like yes, the clones all have accelerated aging (except for Boba/Omega obviously), but everyone else slightly aged with each time skip but Rex looked old from the beginning (S1 version of Anakin/Ahsoka scene). Would’ve loved to see the lines on his face appear rather than just be there like they were for the clone model in CW.

I just…wish Disney would acknowledge the clones being whitewashed. I don’t need an apology. I don’t. It’s been so long. I just want them to change the model. Even a little bit at a time until they look like Temuera Morrison. I’d say that they look more accurate in their older, Rebel’s design than the CW animation style. Rebels isn’t completely accurate, but it’s better than CW’s/BB’s version. Listen, they could’ve changed the clone model for TotJ and if people were ???/didn’t like it, Disney/Filoni could’ve stated Rebels as an inspiration or something. I like Filoni as a storyteller, but the racism whether intentional or not has now started hurting the SW community. I love Dee Bradley Baker. He’s an amazing VA like Tara Strong or Grey DeLisle. But he shouldn’t have been cast as the clones in the first place. It should’ve been Temuera Morrison, Daniel Logan or another New Zealand VA.

It’s interesting that they did that for Bad Batch’s Omega. Her VA is Michelle Ang, a woman from New Zealand in her mid 30’s (who imho does NOT sound like a child at all). Like they knew to get a NZ VA for Omega, but not for the clones? I’ll be honest and say that I don’t know why Baker got the job (I know he and Filoni worked on AtLA together so I wasn’t sure if that had something to do with it). Baker tried but it just didn’t work. That’s why Omega’s accent sounds so different compared to the rest of CF99.

I’m assuming that Filoni is just one of those guys that if gets called a racist, just digs his heels in deeper and denies it, though doesn’t do anything to prove that he isn’t. People care a lot about being called racist, but don’t really do anything about it.

If you wanna learn more about whitewashing in the SW fandom, specifically about the clones, go check out @unwhitewashthebadbatch

There’s amazing info about what is whitewashed specifically, POC in the SW fandom, how to support POC and their organizations, etc. I saw it one day on my feed and am so happy to have found a place to get info.

[tomes-of-fenwyrm]

October Wrap-Up

The Graveyard Book - Neli Gaiman

4/5: Lovely writing as usual, and a perfect cozy tale to get into the spooky spirit. I loved the characters especially, and the style of telling individual stories was really well done. Solid read.

The Halloween Tree - Ray Bradbury

3/5: I usually love Ray Bradbury but this one just didn't thrill me. I don't know if it was just me not being in the right frame of mind but I just wasn't vibing. It had some fun moments but it was just ok for me.

Batman: Arkham Asylum- A Serious House on Serious Earth - Grant Morrison

4/5: Beautiful art by Dave McKean once again which bumps up the rating considerably for me. The writing was really nice at times if not a little too pretentious at times. Also, not being super knowledgeable about Batman previously makes it a little bit of a difficult read sometimes. Characters that aren't clearly named, etc. The plot was also a little confusing at times but honestly, I was just excited to see the art so...

If We Were Villains - M. L. Rio

3/5: This was a little meh for me. It's often compared to Secret History and it is extremely similar. I didn't connect with any of these characters as much as Secret History and it felt a little forced. I do like the use of quotes from Shakespeare being used in conversation as if it's their own words so the line between actor and character is blurred. I enjoyed those moments especially. But, otherwise, I found it predictable. Still a solid read.

Death of the Endless #1-2 - Neil Gaiman

4/5: This is a compilation of comics about Death from the Sandman series. She's my favorite character so by default, I'm going to enjoy it a lot. Most of the stories were very engaging but a few didn't hold my interest as much. Overall, had a great time.

House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski

5/5: This is one of the most unique reading experiences I've ever had and I really loved it. Was I scared? Not really. But if you love things like Cain's Jawbone, research, or puzzling, this is an excellent book. The format was totally unique and it made it hard to put down. I do feel like this is another one that really benefits from reading it multiple times (as is evident by the community for it on Reddit) but even on this read through I can see all the possible solutions to the mystery inside. I love how philosophical it got most of the time and it really delves into how we perceive horror. Some of the sections did drag a bit, but arguably, that's part of the point. This was a world I was excited to escape to. I also listened to the album his sister Poe wrote alongside the book and I highly recommend it as well. It became my favorite album to listen to this month. :)

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen - Shea Ernshaw

2/5: I gave this a very generous 2/5 which is honestly too much. I didn't like it. It has some nice writing at times but it felt rushed and forced and ugh. Also (SPOILERS) why does Sally need a backstory? And a predictable one at that? It was totally unnecessary and I just felt bored the whole time. It doesn't feel like my Nightmare Before Christmas. I feel like Disney was really pushing this one and maybe Ernshaw didn't have enough freedom or passion to make it truly good.

The Sandman Book 3 - Nell Gaiman

4/5: Excellent as always. Lots of good stories!

The Hellbound Heart - Clive Barker

3/5: This was a suggestion from my brother who loves the Hellraiser movie. I read it. I enjoyed it. It's not my usual bag and honestly, I liked basically no one in it. Kristy was nice though. I couldn't help feeling that everyone deserved exactly what they got. The mood was pretty good but I guess I was expecting there to be a bit more? It is meant to be more of a pulp horror though, so at face value, it's solid for what it is. That being said, I don't have any huge desire to read more Clive Barker.

The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

5/5: Wonderful! I loved the writing, and I loved the way the story slowly progresses. I prefer a psychological horror style so this was an absolute delight. Excellent discussion on mental health, women's roles, etc. It was also a perfect size to read one morning with my coffee. This was an instant favorite and I'll be reading it again.

I read a lot more than I thought I would be able to! I have a lot more I wish I could've fit into the Halloween season so I may continue reading a few into November.

[roobylavender]

i don’t really agree with the idea that ra’s can be swapped out for talia in terms of damian’s upbringing and nothing would change about the story bc he’d be near exactly as abusive as morrison wrote talia to be like.. no.. that’s just misunderstanding ra’s as a character which frankly a lot of people do. ra’s is emotionally abusive but there are still specific patterns to that behavior. he wants the people at his side to genuinely believe in his vision and abide by it and act upon it, it’s far more complex than him being a physically abusive person who would brutally train a child with no remorse or regard for that child’s well being. current canon esp in the last year has led to this belief that talia grew up cold and pressured to take upon the role and be the perfect weapon but she didn’t. she and ra’s were implied to have a relatively fine relationship as she grew up and things only began to shift once bruce entered the picture and became an influence on talia and her loyalties

when the idea of losing talia to bruce began to veer into reality, ra’s became more possessive and insistent in what he wanted talia to do to ensure she would remain on his side. but even then when she ultimately left him for good to move to metropolis the retaliation that ra’s took out wasn’t on her, it was on bruce. he respected her attempts to break out and do something on her own terms, and that’s not to absolve him, i’m simply pointing out how he’s capable of respecting the people he cares about so long as they don’t go directly against him. so when you toy with the idea of ra’s killing damian’s adoptive parents (which is something i believe he would do. they’re an obstacle to his family after all) and thereby choosing to raise him on his own you have to remember that damian is ultimately a child who will possess little to no tangible worldview with respect to what ra’s is preaching (unless his parents are conveniently environmentalists and he’s a genius child which personally is a boring cop out)

so damian is this relatively unexposed kid whose parents suddenly die only for a man to present himself as his grandfather. ra’s pulls the strings to let it all show in the paperwork and damian goes home to one of his bases. and i think the first thing ra’s would do is teach damian about the world. about the way he views it but in the simplest terms understandable to a child. and he would pull damian into this world of scholarship and travel and athleticism not out of cruelty but out of love. bc there is genuine love that ra’s has for bruce and talia even if he eventually abused it. he was overjoyed when they were going to have damian. and he can still be overjoyed and engrossed in the idea of having a grandson to call his own and to teach his philosophy to even if ultimately what he would be doing is projecting his own desires onto damian. he can hope for damian to be the one person in his family who stands by him and understands him and follows him and it can be tragic bc we know his worldview is ultimately wrong and what he’s done isn’t right and damian needs to be rescued asap. but it would all be punctuated by love that would frankly be so much more interesting to explore bc the real crux of ra’s as a character is that he is incredibly proud and lonely and loving in all of the most heartbreaking and potentially unforgivable ways possible. he holds onto people too tightly without understanding why they might want to let go. and there’s no better person to explore the breaking point of that behavior through than a completely unaware damian who ends up on his doorstep and genuinely believes he’s going to live with a grandfather who loves him in all of the right ways. and love him ra’s does. just without telling damian all of the ugly truths it took to get him there

[thimbil]

Having some thoughts about the references and inspirations used for the Bad Batch’s designs.

So Boba Fett is my absolute favorite character and Temeura Morrison was perfect casting. I went to see the 2008 TCW movie in theaters because I was so excited to see him again, even if he was animated. You can imagine my disappointment. Whoever was on screen was not Temeura Morrison. You could sort of see a resemblance if you squinted and didn’t think too hard about it. They replaced Temeura with Racially Ambiguous G.I. Joe. If I didn’t know better and someone told me the animated clones are space Italians from the moon of New Jersey I would buy it. One Million Brothers Pizzeria and Italian Bistro. Not that there’s something wrong with being space Italian, I just don’t think it’s the right choice for the Fetts. The design got slightly improved by season 7 but it still bugs the hell out of me.

I did eventually get into the show later and (of course) got invested in the clones. Unfortunately, they were largely sidelined by the Jedi storylines. Out of the two new main characters created for TCW, Ahsoka definitely got more development and focus than Rex. When they announced The Bad Batch, I was excited to see a show specifically devoted to the clones… at least that’s what it said on the tin. We have all seen what lurks beneath those stylish helmets.

Jango Fett, you are NOT the father.

So who is?

Based on interviews with Filoni, it sounds like the Bad Batch was a George Lucas idea. And like all his ideas, it’s super derivative. The original trilogy directly lifted elements from sci fi serials, westerns, and samurai movies, more specifically Kurosawa films like The Hidden Fortress. For The Bad Batch character designs, the influence is obviously American action and adventure movies.

Now let’s get specific. Bad Batch, who’s your daddy?

Hunter

Sylvester Stallone as Rambo in First Blood 1982. That bandana has become an integral part of the iconic action hero look. You see a character wearing one and it’s a visual shorthand for either “this character is a tough guy” like Billy played by Sonny Landham in Predator 1987, or “this character thinks he is/wants to be a tough guy” like Brand played by Josh Brolin in The Goonies 1985 or Edward Frog played by Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys 1987.

Hunter’s model is closest to the original clone base. If you look closely you will see the eyebrows are straighter with a much lower angle to the arch. His nose is also not the same shape as a standard clone like Rex, including a narrower bridge. It’s certainly not Temeura Morrison’s nose. Remember what I said about space Italians? It didn’t take much to push the existing clone design to resemble an specific Italian man instead of a specific Māori man. The 23&Me came back, and Hunter inherited more than the bandana from Sylvester.

Crosshair

The long narrow nose, the sharp cheekbones, the scowl. That’s no clone, that’s just animated Clint Eastwood. Not even Young and Hot Clint Eastwood from Rawhide 1959-1965. With that hair, I’m talking Gran Torino 2008. The man of few words schtick and family friendly toothpick in lieu of cigar are pure Eastwood as The Man With No Name from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns A Fist Full of Dollars 1964, For a Few Dollars More 1965, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly 1966.

In a way, this is full circle because the actor Jeremy Bulloch took inspiration from Clint Eastwood for his performance as Boba Fett in ESB.

Wrecker

In an interview Filoni lists the Hulk as an (obvious) inspiration for Wrecker. Ever seen the old Hulk tv show from 1978? Well take a look at the actor who played him, Lou Ferrigno. Would you look at that. Even has his papa’s nose.

You could make the argument that Wrecker was influenced by The Rock, an appropriately buff ‘n bald Polynesian (Samoan, not Maori) man. But look at him next his Fast and Furious costar Vin Diesel and tell me which one resembles Wrecker’s character model more.

Tech

Tech is a little trickier for me to place. If he has a more direct inspiration it must be something I haven’t seen. That said, his hairline is very Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard 1988. His quippiness and large glasses remind me of Shane Black as Hawkins from Predator 1987. In terms of his face, he looks a but like the result of McClane and Hawkins deciding to settle down and start a family. Although, Tech’s biggest contributors are probably just everyone on TV Trope’s list for Smart People Wear Glasses.

And finally,

Echo

Oh Echo. Considering he wasn’t created for the Bad Batch, he probably wasn’t based on a particular character or movie. But if I had to guess, his situation and appearance remind me a lot of Alex Murphy played by Peter Weller in Robocop 1987. However, Robocop explored the Man or Machine Identity Crisis with more nuance, depth, and dignity. Yikes.

The exact tropes and references used in The Bad Batch have been done successfully with characters who aren’t even human. Gizmo from Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990 had a brief stint with the Rambo bandana. I could have picked any number of characters for Defining Feature Is Glasses but here is the most cursed version of Simon of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Suffer as I have. Marc Antony with his beloved Pussyfoot from Looney Tunes has the same tough guy with a soft center vibe as Wrecker and his Lula (also a kind of cat). Hell, in the same show we have Cad Bane sharing Cowboy Clint Eastwood with Crosshair. I actually think Bane makes a better Eastwood which is wild considering Crosshair has Eastwood’s entire face and Bane is blue.

So we’ve established you don’t need your characters to look exactly like their inspirations to match their vibe. So why go through the trouble and cost of creating completely new character designs instead of recycling and altering assets they already had on hand? Just slap on a bandana, toothpick, goggles, and make Wrecker bigger than the others while he does a Hulk pose and you’re done. Based on the general reaction to Howzer it would have been a low effort slam dunk crowd pleaser.

But they didn’t do that.

So here’s the thing. I like the tropes used in The Bad Batch. I am a fan of action adventure movies from the 80s-90s, the sillier the better. I am part of the Bad Batch’s target audience. Considering what I know about Disney and Lucasfilm, I went in with low expectations. I genuinely don’t hate the idea of seeing references to these actors and media in The Bad Batch. I don’t think basing these characters on tropes was a bad idea. If anything it’s a solid starting point for building the characters.

The trouble is nothing got built on the foundation. The plot is directionless, the pacing is wacky, and the characters have nearly no emotional depth or defining character arcs. They just sort of exist without reacting much while the story happens around them. But I can excuse all of that. You don’t stay a fan of Star Wars as long as I have not being able to cherrypick and fill in the gaps. This show has a deeper issue that shouldn’t be ignored.

Why do the animated clones bear at best only a passing resemblance to their live action actor? In interviews, Filoni wouldn’t shut up but the technological advancements in the animation for season 7. So if they are updating things, why not try to make the clones a closer match to their source material? Why did they have to look like completely different people in The Bad Batch to be “unique”? Looking like Temeura Morrison would have no bearing on their special abilities and TCW proved you can have identical looking characters and still have them be distinct. In fact, that’s a powerful theme and the source of tragedy for the clones’ narrative overall.

Here’s Filoni’s early concept art of Crosshair, Wrecker, Tech, and Hunter. (Interesting but irrelevant: Wrecker seems to have a cog tattoo similar to Jesse’s instead of a scar. Wouldn’t it have been funny if they kept that so when they met in season 7 one if them could say something like “Hey we’re twins!” That’s a little clone humor. Just for you guys 😘)

None of these drawings look like the clones in TCW, much less Temeura Morrison. Let’s be generous. Maybe Filoni struggles with drawing a real person’s likeness, as many people do. But he had to hand this off to other artists down the line whose job specifically involves making a stylized character resemble their actor. Yet the final designs missed the mark almost as much as this initial concept. Starting to seem as if the clones looking more like Temeura Morrison was never even on the table. It wasn’t a lack of creativity, skill or technical limitations on the part of the creative team. I don’t think there is an innocent explanation. They went out of their way to make the final product exactly how we got it.

This goes beyond homage. They could have made the same pop culture references and character tropes without completely stripping Temeura Morrison from the role he originated. It was a very purposeful choice to replace him with more immediately familiar actors from established franchises and films. It wouldn’t shock me if Filoni, Lucas, and anyone else calling the shots didn’t even think hard or care enough about the decision to immediately recognize a problem. And I don’t think they believed anyone else would either. At least no one whose opinion they cared about. Those faces are comfortingly familiar and proven bankable. They are what we’re all used to seeing after all. They’re white.

Lack of imagination, bad intentions, or simple ignorance doesn’t really matter in the end. The result is the same. Call it what it is. They replaced a man of color with a bunch of white guys. That’s by the book garden variety run of the mill whitewashing. There’s no debate worth having about it. For a fanbase that loves to nitpick things like whether or not it’s in character for Han to shoot first or Jeans Guy in the Mandalorian, we sure are quick to find excuses for clones who look nothing like their template. Why is that? If you don’t see the problem, congratulations. Your ass is showing. Pull your jeans up.

[stxleslyds]

Also, the writers' failure to understand, every crime Jason committed had a motive. Attack other criminals? Holy warrior destined to purify the world of evil. Attack Bruce? Joker's still alive. (Oh, Jason, it's much worse than that.) Attack Tim? A parody of what he once was. He wasn't just a "bad boy". He was dangerously insane.

Hi, Anon! Yup, there seems to be a lot of things that writers have gotten confused about Jason Todd/Red Hood and the biggest one is his motivations to kill certain criminals.

Let’s be honest, Judd Winick set a golden path for the upcoming Red Hood writers. But each and every writer that used Red Hood in their stories completely missed the point of Jason’s character. All of them. It’s so incredibly wild to me that every other writer read UtRH and came up with whichever version of Jason they came up with.

Let’s list the writers that completely missed the point.

Geoff Johns in Teen Titans vol.3 #29.

Geoff Johns was one of the first to completely mischaracterize Jason, why on earth would Jason go to the Titans Tower to beat up Tim? This is not me saying that Jason would never do that because Jason thinks of Tim as his brother or a friend or the person that he can trust the most from the Bat-Clan (can you believe Lobdell tried to sell us that one?), this is me saying that Jason wouldn’t have done that because he couldn’t have given less of a fuck about Tim’s existence.

When Jason found out that Bruce had another Robin he wasn’t bothered by his “replacement” he was mad at Bruce for having another child playing hero after he lost his life as a fifteen-year-old. Jason didn’t even think of Tim as his replacement as fandom likes to make us believe, Jason called Tim “pretender”. And that was that, but to go from minimal recognition to go out of his way to beat him up at Titans Tower is a massive mischaracterization.

Paul Dini in Countdown (to Final Crisis).

Paul Dini in Countdown did absolutely nothing with Jason, I am sorry but that’s all he did. Him writing Jason was like watching a dog trying to catch their own tail. He started with a pretty basic take on UtRH Jason, then he added a bit of Jason being an annoying man with Donna, then we had the jealousy arc because apparently, Jason had the hots for Donna but she didn’t want anything to do with him and he was all angsty when she paid attention to Kyle instead of him, and then, later on, he had that whole Red Robin bullshit (I am sorry about this, but I absolutely hated that, it was so dumb, I am so glad it didn’t last long because it was just too bad), and after all that mix of just not interesting stuff he went right back to the Jason that he had at the very start. It was a waste of time, but I guess that he had to be there because he was an anomaly and all that. I just think that was DC’s first try at making Jason Todd/Red Hood something more than just a street-level vigilante and they failed miserably.

Tony S. Daniel in Batman: Battle for the Cowl.

Even though the first two did make mistakes with Jason’s characterizations, this man was the first to just throw UtRH out of the window and make up his very own version of Jason Todd. And his version was horrendous, that Jason had no problem with attempting to kill children and innocent people, he also really wanted to be Batman because Gotham needed a Batman and he wanted to be the person to wear the Cowl and he was looking for a Robin for himself.

I know, the whole concept is the perfect opposite of what Jason Todd and Red Hood were in UtRH. Every aspect of BftC Jason is based on nothing.

Jason wanting to be Batman because Gotham needed Batman is just the beginning of what’s wrong in this book. Jason became the Red Hood (in part) because he believed that Batman and his ways weren’t what Gotham needed so he made a better version of Batman with Red Hood (according to him) because Red Hood did what Batman refused to do. Another thing that is just wrong is Jason wanting, Damian, Tim or Dick to be his Robin, there is just so much wrong with this, first of all, Jason wanted Batman to stop having Robin because child soldiers ran the risk of dying at a very young age and that’s exactly how he saw the whole thing because that was what had happened to him. Second, if Jason was mad at Bruce for getting another Robin why would he now want one of his own to team up with his Batman? Damian was a child, Tim was someone that apparently Jason hated (because Jason beating Tim was mentioned in this event), and then Jason actually asked Dick Grayson, Nightwing, to be his Robin? Listen, there is no way that was Jason, nothing about him makes sense, even taking into account that Jason had beaten Tim already in this event Jason actually tried to kill both Tim and Damian (it might have been just one of them but yeah, it still doesn’t make sense).

I just don’t think that Tony S. Daniel knew who Jason Todd was, maybe he got confused but the thing is, his “villainous” and deranged version of Jason Todd allowed a villainous and deranged version of Red Hood to happen with the next writer that I will be talking about.

Grant Morrison in Batman and Robin vol.1 #3-6.

This was the birth of the villainous, deranged and bloodthirsty Red Hood. There is absolutely no trace of UtRH Jason here, not even if we are looking at the opposite of things like we could do with Daniel’s Jason. Grant Morrison wanted Dick and Damian to have a villain to match their Batman and Robin and they decided to give us a red-haired-pill-headed-red hood. Everything from Morrison’s characterization of Jason is crazy, from the red hair (hello pre-crisis) to the awful Joker’s Red Hood looking suit, everything was just weird.

I still don’t believe that was Jason, to be honest, I would rather think that version of Jason was actually a rouge Skrull that came all the way from the Marvel Universe and lost his way in Gotham City. Maybe when he made the jump between universes, he got too much information and got confused and took the form of the wonkiest Jason Todd he could come up with.

This Jason was absolutely deranged, he knew exactly what he was doing and he didn’t care if innocents died. This Jason was the one that got locked up in Arkham. This is the Jason that Dick put in Arkham for Jason and everybody else’s safety.

Dick putting that Jason in Arkham wasn’t a bad thing or something that anyone can use to shit on Dick Grayson (not on this house). This Arkham was reformed and that Jason knew that if he stayed in that new Arkham he would stay away from trouble, but here is the thing, that Jason loved trouble, so he took all the tests to prove he wasn’t insane and asked to be transferred to Blackgate (where all the Red Hood’s enemies were). That Jason didn’t ask to be sent to Blackgate because the Joker was a cell away from his in Arkham, he did it so he could go on a killing spree in Blackgate (which he did when he got there).

Skrull Jason was just bloodthirsty and nothing like UtRH Jason, he had no motive other than just killing for fun or whatever. He didn’t want to protect Gotham and he couldn’t have cared less about the drug trade in Gotham. In Batman and Robin vol.1. Jason Todd was unrecognizable. And luckily, we never saw him again.

Scott Lobdell in Everything that he ever wrote about Red Hood.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Lobdell was the king of overpowering Jason, he was the one that drove Red Hood farther and farther away from his street-level vigilante status. He continuously added more to him, he was a big deal because he was meant to take down Ra’s al Ghul, he was a big deal because he was the only human to train in the All-Castle and learned to summon the All-Blades.

This Red Hood’s morals and ideals were kind of gone, there just wasn’t any kind of interest in Jason to get rid of drugs or try to control its trade in Gotham, he just had no interest in street-level threats, everything was extraordinary in both New 52 and Rebirth. If he wasn’t in space he was in some mystical land. His friends and allies became even more and more powerful, his level of power was completely off compared to the others. His personality was ever-changing and quite honestly you could barely see the Jason that he once was.

This Jason also was very inconsistent in the way that he felt towards people (obviously because Lobdell is a shitty writer), he wanted to follow Batman’s rules and was shown as someone that still had fond memories of his life with Bruce before he died but was also willing to let those memories go, to move on? Maybe? I don’t know. But he changed his mind about Bruce and following his rules or not for a very long time. Jason was also a little bitch about Dick, and he was a little bitch because he (Lobdell) never gave the reader or anyone a concrete reason as to why he hated him so much and then in Rebirth he decided that Dick wasn’t that bad. Also, Jason went from “Willis Todd, abusive husband and father that deserved to die” to “Willis Todd abusive husband and father but he sent me letters when he was in prison and Penguin had him killed so now, I really want to avenge him”. Yeah, I don’t really know why that happened and like most of Lobdell’s arcs and stuff it was never really completed or well thought out.

Lobdell’s Jason characterization was a mess for ten years and that’s the prime reason why Jason is a character with no solid background, story or future.

James Tynion IV in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Tynion’s Jason Todd was a hero, he was like a mini Tom King Batman. Everything he did was right and there was just no way that you could bamboozle him. This Jason was able to hold to Blades that drained his soul as well as hosting the Untitled in his body (that were able to drain his soul too) and on top of all that he completed his journey of the Chosen One by making those ancient martial arts moves that he learned before he was Robin even though Talia hadn’t been able to master it yet.

Scott Snyder, Tim Seeley in Batman Eternal and Batman and Robin Eternal.

A mess, this was pure New 52 levels of bullshit and they all just wanted to push the “Batfamily” and while Dick was gone, they were trying to make Jason fill the void that Dick left in Batman events. It didn’t work at all and all they did was mess around with Jason’s characterization more.

Geoff Johns in Three Jokers.

I have talked enough about Johns’ takes on Jason Todd and Red Hood, but let me tell you something real quick, if a writer thinks that the best they can do with a character is make them give up their morals/ideals for an unrequited love interest, then they can keep that idea for themselves. Geoff Johns wrote a book that was absolutely not needed and then proceeded to butcher every characterization that he could, Three Jokers was three issues long and he managed to add more trauma to Jason’s torture, push the narrative of Jason being at fault for his own murder and make Jason’s motivations to be the Red Hood weak enough to make him want to give up his work for a woman that he barely knows (and doesn’t like him at all).

Joshua Williamson in Future State: Red Hood and Robin #5.

Now, with Williamson I have issues only when he writes Jason, not because his stories are bad, don’t get me wrong, I would have completely enjoyed FS: Red Hood if it weren’t for the completely unnecessary Rose/Jason side plot he had going on. Jason was clearly working undercover for some people that he hated working with. He had to arrest or kill “masks” (vigilantes, just like he “used” to be) for the Magistrate.

His ideas were pretty solid, Jason did the job but he never killed the masks and actively didn’t trust the Magistrate but he was working there to tear them apart from within, and that’s amazing if Williamson had given us Jason Todd/Red Hood working undercover to dismantle an organization I would have been really happy.

But that’s not all he gave us, even if I just forget about his failed attempt at giving Jason a relationship, I can still see that Williamson is the kind of writer that wants (or is just following DC) to make the “Batfamily” happen no matter how dumb and out of place it looks in comics’ canon. So, I am a little bit weary, any writer that leans too much towards making Jason and Bruce work together and become a family makes me want to scream, but I do understand that is just me, many people want those two to be buddy-buddy, I, personally, would love to see Jason kick Bruce in the balls and tell him to lose his number.

Chip Zdarsky in Urban Legends: Cheer.

Ah, yes, I remember the days in which I thought that this could have been something good. Well, I was utterly wrong and I suffered all the way through this mini. I feel like now I can safely say that Zdarsky only wanted to write a Batman book but DC told him, “Hey you can write Batman but it has to be within a Red Hood story, but don’t worry, you don’t have to know much about the Hood guy, just come up with something and write Batman around that”.

I know that’s what happened because I read that story and all we got from it was horrible characterizations for pre-Robin Jason, Robin Jason, Jason Todd and Red Hood. I don’t know how he did it but yes, he managed to mess it all up.

From Jason not really wanting to be Robin and acting recklessly every step of the way, to secret desires of a perfect family with Bruce and so many other people that he couldn’t care about, Urban Legends: Cheer is the perfect book to avoid at all costs if you believe that the concept of “Batfamily” is the biggest lie, DC is trying to profit off this time around.

Zdarsky also nerfed Jason in ways that I thought DC only wanted to nerf Dick Grayson. But I was able to see that I was wrong. Zdarsky’s run also pushed some of the most disastrous narratives that DC really wants readers to believe like: Robin Jason wasn’t good at his job, he was too reckless and ultimately his death was his own fault. Yay! I want to cry!

I will give Zdarsky two points for at the very least showing that Red Hood wants to protect children and that he has a huge issue with how the drug trade is controlled and abused in Gotham City, it had been a while since we had seen that aspect of Jason’s Red Hood make an appearance.

-

It’s just too many writers completely missing the point of Red Hood’s character or simply writers agreeing to destroy Jason’s uniqueness in the DC Universe so DC (as the publisher) can further push the abomination that is the “Batfamily” in comics’ canon.

I do agree with you Anon when you say that Jason isn’t just a “bad boy” but I also don’t think that we can call UtRH Jason “dangerously insane”. Personally, I will only use that last description for BftC and Batman and Robin Jason, those two were dangerously insane indeed.

UtRH Jason was very meticulous in who he wanted dead and who got to live. He entered Gotham’s most dangerous world and he had to make a big entrance, he invited the eight most prosperous street dealers to a meeting, showed up with the decapitated heads of each of their right-hand men and an AK-47 and said:

“I am offering you a deal. I will be running the drug trade from now on. You will go about your business as usual. You will kick up forty percent to me. That is a much better deal than the Black Mask will give you. In return, you will have total protection from both the Black Mask and Batman. The catch? You stay away from kids and schoolyards. No dealing to children, got it? If you do, you’re dead.”

This was Red Hood! Red Hood wanted to control the drug trade in Gotham because he knew that Gotham is far too corrupt and filled with drug lords for him to just want to eradicate drugs from Gotham. If he had tried that he would have been a dumbass, but he wasn’t. He didn’t want to start a gang war and get innocent people killed because of it, he wanted to set the rules of his new Empire and he had to start with the street-level drug dealers, from there he grew until he became a major pain in Black Mask’s ass.

We went from Jason wanting to control the drug trade and take over Gotham’s underworld so people like Black mask couldn’t have people work for him (or being dependent on him) when they were still in high school or were in a vulnerable position, to Jason fighting a war for a mystic land because he was their “Chosen One”. DC really wanted to do something grand (yet boring) with Jason instead of sticking to a street-level vigilante that could have become a Drug Lord to control the drug trade of a city that is so filled with crime and corruption that it can’t be saved by anyone.

Batman doesn’t eradicate crime, he “controls” it, puts a blank it over it, lets it nap up until it wakes up once more to make more mess.

Red Hood had other plans, certain criminals didn’t get to nap, or, better said, they would get to nap forever.

So, no. I wouldn’t call that “dangerously insane”, I will call that “vigilante that believes himself judge, jury and executioner” of a city that is drowning in crime and corruption.

Anyway, I hope you have a really nice week Anon and thank you so much for sending me this ask!

[etherealdizzle]

DBD Danny x Frank x Male Reader

I have a request, Frank and Danny(Ghostface) are soulmates, but they recently found out that a male survivor reader(that is new to the entity’s realm) is also their soulmate.

Trigger Warnings: Violence

When you’re born, the mark on your wrist appears. It slowly fades into existence. Once you’re ten, the mark is clear. It’s a pair of initials. Different for everyone. Some people have one, some get two, and very few get nothing. What are the initials for, exactly? Simple.

Your soulmate.

Those who are born with a mark search their whole lives for the person they are meant to be with. Often, they travel all across the world, searching. Some get to meet them. They get to love and to be loved with the other half of their soul. Nearly everyone gets initials. But not everyone gets to meet their soulmate.

Frank Morrison figured that would be his fate. He was stuck in a shitty town with the same group of people. He’d been moved from adoption home to adoption home, never staying in a new place for long. He hadn’t met his soulmate. So, he figured it was time to move. That was until he met a girl named Julie.

Their friendship bloomed into a series of theft, violence, and eventually murder. The group now found themselves in the Fog, a new realm away from the real world. While some accepted their new fates, others were dissatisfied. The marks on their wrists stayed, reminding them of a lost love they would never find.

Frank had two marks. Two initials. Two people he would never get to see. Two people who he would never get the chance to love. He was angry. He kept his marks covered, hoping to forget about them and begin his new life. The life that took his soulmates away from him.

But others didn’t stop searching. Danny Johnson believed the Entity was on his head. He knew it would bring his soulmates to him. He was right. For one of them, at least.

“Danny Johnson,” He introduced himself to the man standing before him. The man’s eyes widened, jaw opening slightly in shock. “...What?”

Frank scrambled, nearly tearing the fabric as he tried to take a look at his wrist. D.J. But maybe it was a fluke, like so many times before. Initials were unique, of course. Frank reached forward and grabbed Danny’s hands. Danny pulled back, but stopped his effort once he saw what the man was trying to do. And Frank saw it. In black text read ‘F.M.’

Frank slowly looked up, eyes still wide, and let out a shaky breath. “It’s you…”

✯ ✯ ✯

It was hard at first. Danny was clingy, and Frank was still processing. But now, they two were in love and they couldn’t be happier. Danny was definitely the more affectionate of the two, but that didn’t mean Frank didn’t care for him. He just showed it in a different way. Less touchy and more words. Danny didn’t mind. As long as Frank was happy, he was happy.

But both of them felt like something was off. Sometimes, the initials burned. Danny didn’t mind as much, just pulled his costume over his wrist and pretended it wasn’t there. But Frank would sit and stare at it. Two letters. An initial. A person. Someone was out there, alone. Were they searching, too? Danny trusted in the Entity to bring the missing link to them. Frank wanted to believe. All he could do was ask.

He asked, and the Entity listened.

✯ ✯ ✯

“Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty pleaseeee?”

“No.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Why not!?”

Frank crossed his arms and looked to his lover. “Because I don’t even think they exist here!”

Danny huffed, upset. “Maybe we could ask the Entity…?”

“I doubt the Entity would give you a cat.”

“If I asked nicely!”

“No.”

Danny heard the ringing bells in his ears. He sighed, deciding to move the conversation to another time. If Frank had anything to do with it, the conversation would never come up again. The ringing came again and Danny winced, the loudness of the bell something he would never get used to.

“You gotta go?” Frank asked, uncrossing his arms. Danny nodded, and Frank stepped closer to his partner. “Have fun,” He grinned, kissing Danny gently.

“Always do, boss,” Danny winked, waving goodbye as the Entity took him into a trial.

It was Autohaven Wreckers. Ghostface liked it, it had lots of cover for him to hide with. But he also hated it because it was open as well. He just had to figure out where to go. He crouched, moving and making his way until he heard a noise. A voice. He didn’t recognize it. Using the tires as cover, he leaned to see who it was.

“I don’t even know how to repair this,” It was a man. He talked to himself, standing over a generator. He began to connect wires, but the generator exploded. He sighed, trying again. He wasn’t someone Danny knew. He was new! Ghostface had a different way of greeting new survivors to this world.

Danny ran at him, jumping on him. The man landed on his back with a thud, grunting as the air escaped his lungs. “What the fuck!?” The man yelped, trying to push Ghostface off. But it was no use. Ghostface had his legs on either side of the men and pinned his arms down, holding them above his head. He was stuck. The man struggled for a moment, but realized there was no use. He gave up, looking angrily at the killer above him.

Ghostface chuckled. He liked seeing their reactions to his unusual greeting. Danny studied the man. He was well-built, with a face Danny could only describe as handsome. And attractive. And beautiful. Okay, he had a few ways to describe him. Danny flipped his arms so he could see the initials. Actually, it was a pair of them. The first read, ‘F.M.’ … Wait. What? Danny shook his head, thinking of it merely as a coincidence. He read the other one. ‘D.J.’ …

Yes!

The Entity had listened! It brought him the last piece of his soul! And what a beautiful piece he was. Ghostface released his tight grip of the man’s arms, and the man began to rub the sore spots. Danny grabbed his own mask and pushed it off his head, smiling at the man before him. “Tell me - Am I better or worse than you were expecting?”

The man looked to him with confusion. “What are you talking about…?” And once Danny revealed his markings to the man, he understood. “O-oh… well… fuck…” The man said, unsure what to say.

Danny grinned. “I’m your soulmate! Oh! We can go on dates together! Go on strolls, you can watch me kill your friends! It’ll be great!”

The man was still processing. “You’re… my soulmate?”

Danny simply nodded.

“And what about-”

“Frank Morrison! You’ll love him, he’s great!” Danny got off of the man, putting his hand out. He grabbed it, and Danny helped pull him up. The man was shaking, and Danny felt responsible for helping him out. He slung an arm over the man’s shoulder and winked. “Don’t worry, now that you’re my soulmate, I won’t hurt you.”

“And the others?”

“I can’t promise anything.”

✯ ✯ ✯

There was no way for Ghostface to show Frank to the man. All he could do was give him a description of Frank and hoped he could figure it out. Danny kissed him on the cheek, perhaps a little too eager, and pushed him down the hatch. And thus began the search.

He hadn’t found him yet. He saw a pig, a cannibal, twins, a plague… He was starting to give up hope. But then, he found him. At least, he thought it was him. Matched what Danny had told him.

Frank spotted him. The man was hesitant to walk towards him, scared it wasn’t him. But Frank broke the distance between them. He pulled his mask off, smiling gently at the man before him. “Danny told me. I can’t…”

“Can’t believe it either, huh?” The man laughed. “Never thought I’d find my soulmates here, of all places. Was hoping for a little more romantic qualities.”

“It’s as romantic as we make it,” Frank flirted. “Speaking of, wouldn’t it be better with just us two?” Frank slipped his mask on. “Wait here.”

The man waited, slipping into cover every once in a while when he saw his teammates. They’d probably figured he’d died already. To be quite frank, he sucked at looping. Wasn’t good at it yet. Perhaps Danny and Frank could help him.

“There,” Frank tossed his mask off, grinning at the man. “Isn’t that better?”

The man nodded, unsure what to say. “So… we’re soulmates, right?”

“With Danny,” Frank agreed, stepping closer to the man.

He hesitated, freezing up. His heart was pounding. “S-Sorry… just…”

“I get it,” Frank reassured. He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. Testing. Once he saw he was allowed, he moved it down, gripping his waist. “It’s not like how you imagined it. Me neither. But you know what?” His other hand found the man’s waist. The man felt his heart slow. “At least we found each other. Some don’t get that much.”

The man nodded, putting his hands on either side of Frank’s upper arms. “I’m happy to have found you, Frank.”

“I’m the lucky one.” Frank leaned forward, closing the distance. He pressed their lips together and was happy once the man kissed him back. He meant it, too. He was lucky. Hell, he didn’t deserve this. He would never take it for granted.

✯ ✯ ✯

Danny met him with enthusiasm. “Frank told me you kissed him!” Danny practically tore his mask off. He pulled off the best puppy dog look he could.

The man chuckled. “It’s your turn, then, right?”

Danny agreed, practically jumping on the man as he smashed their lips together. It was sweet and rough at the same time, but it felt so good.

The man knew he had his hands full with these two.

[cherryblossomflowersstory]

Just a Friend from School

Pairing: Tony Stark x Daughter!Reader, Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: YN asks her father if she can bring a friend home to study with, but when he finds out it's one of the Avengers and he happens to like his daughter, things get a little heated.

Warnings: Fluff, Yelling/Fighting, Protective Parenting, Sight cursing

A/N: Here's my first one shot for this blog! (Yes, I wrote this at 3am, don’t judge me) I've been watching all the Marvel movies in order lately and I felt like I needed to write a protective Dad Tony fic. Feedback is greatly appreciated! Enjoy!

***ASKS OPEN***

*Let Me Know If You’d Like To Be Tagged*

CherryBlossomFlowers Masterlist

While tightening up a few things on his suit, Tony heard his phone chime on the table. He stood with a sigh and wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt. When he picked up his phone, he noticed it was a text from his daughter.

He smiled as he read it to himself:

YN Stark 3:02pm "Hey, Dad. Is it okay if I bring a friend home to work on science homework? It shouldn't take more than a couple hours."

Tony rolled his eyes before replying: "That's fine. I'll see you in a bit."

He set his phone back on the table with a scoff, "Only 2 days into her new school and she's already making friends. Not bad, kiddo."

The next 20 minutes flew by as Tony continued to work on his suit. It wasn't long before F.R.I.D.A.Y. was informing him that YN was walking into the tower.

As he stood to walk out of the room, he decided to try and make a good first impression on his daughter's first friend from her new school. He wiped his hands off with a nearby cloth and wiped the sweat off of his face with his shirt once more.

He walked down the long hallway towards his living room, ready to greet his daughter and her friend, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a male voice.

"Wait, wait, wait. Mr. Stark is your father?" the voice shouted.

"Yeah?" YN replied, "I'm YN Stark. You've known this for 2 days, Peter."

Peter? As in Peter Parker?! Spiderman Peter Parker?!

Tony jogged into the living room and came to an abrupt halt when he saw YN and Peter standing next to the couch.

YN smiled at her father, "Hey, Dad," she walked over to him, "I guess you and Peter know each other. Well, he said he knows you, so I didn't know if you...wait a second, how do you know-"

"Your friend from school is him?" Tony interrupted her.

YN nodded slowly at him, "Yeah? Why? Is that a problem?"

Tony looked up at Peter, "Can I speak with you for a minute?" he turned to YN for a brief moment, "Alone?"

YN rolled her eyes, "I guess I'll go get my notebook from my room. And I'll change into sweats or something more comfortable."

As YN walked out of the room, Tony stepped in Peter's line of sight and stared him down. Normally Peter wasn't even close to being afraid of Tony, but in this moment, Peter was ready to run out the door.

"Listen, kid. I'm going to be straight with you," Tony's voice was low as he stared at Peter and pointed down the hallway, "That little girl down there? That's my only daughter, my only child. And I will do anything and everything to make sure she is safe and careful."

"M-Mr. Stark, sir, believe me I want nothing more than to make sure she's safe and careful," Peter's voice stuttered, "Especially now that I know she's your daughter."

Tony took a step towards Peter and got in his face, "I'm going to ask you this one time and one time only, and you better give me a legitimate answer."

"Y-yes, sir," Peter stuttered.

Just then, YN emerged from her room. She walked down the hallway but stopped just before she got to the living room when she heard her father and Peter speaking.

Tony narrowed his eyes, "Do you like my daughter, kid?"

Peter swallowed hard, "D-do I like her, s-sir?"

"Don't bullshit me, Parker," Tony seethed through his teeth, "Yes or no, do you like my daughter?"

Peter cleared his throat, "I-I guess I don't understand what exactly-"

"Do you see her as more than a friend?" Tony interrupted him.

Peter opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out. His throat felt dry as a desert, he was sweating bullets, and he felt like his legs were going to give out. He swallowed hard and looked down at his feet.

"You do, don't you," Tony whispered, "Say it."

"I-I think she's pretty cute, but I don't know if I like like her," Peter breathed out.

"You think I'm cute?" YN said as she stepped towards them.

Tony whipped around, "How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to hear you threatening my friend, Dad," YN crossed her arms.

Tony scoffed, "I wasn't...threatening him. I was just, you know, warning him about hanging out with my daughter."

"Warning him? About what exactly?" she looked to Peter.

"H-he just said that he wants you to be safe and careful," Peter stuttered, "And I told him I want the same thing."

YN rolled her eyes, "Dad, you've known for years that I get along with guys way more than girls. Just because I bring a guy friend home from school to do homework doesn't mean anything," she walked up to her father, "You've got to stop being so protective. I'm not that little girl anymore. And I'm not, nor have I ever been, fragile."

Tony sighed, "I know, honey. You're very strong. Luckily you get that from me," he winked, "I'm sorry that I got so protective. You're my only child, my baby girl. And I just want you to be-"

"Safe and careful, I know, Dad," she hugged him, "I can take care of myself from time to time."

Tony broke from the hug and turned to Peter, "Sorry, kid. I'll try and watch my temper," he wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulder, "Be good to her, okay?"

Peter nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Now if there are no further interruptions," YN grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him towards her, "I'd like to work on this biology homework while it's still fresh in my brain. We can go into my room if you-"

"No way," Tony shook his head, "You two can work out here where F.R.I.D.A.Y. can keep an eye on you."

"Dad..." YN warned.

Tony sighed, "Fine. But the door stays open."

"Deal," YN nodded then turned to Peter, "Let's go."

Peter and YN grabbed their stuff and walked down the hallway to her bedroom. Tony watched them walk away as he leaned into the couch with a sigh.

"When did she get so grown up? And where the hell did she get that attitude?" Tony said to himself before the realization struck him, "Right, right. I guess I'm at fault for that."

He pushed himself from the couch and walked out of the living room. As he walked down the hallway, he paused at YN's room and listened in on their conversation.

"Did you really mean what you said, Peter?" she asked.

"Uh, kind of? I mean you are cute, but I also don't want to overstep my boundaries. I've known you for 2 days," he replied.

YN laughed, "That's true," she paused, "Well, if it's any consolation, I think you're pretty cute as well."

Tony made a disgusted face as he stepped away from the door and walked away from the room. He made his way back to the lab and to his suit, and he continued to work on it for the next couple hours.

Every once in a while, his mind drifted to Peter and YN. He wondered what they were doing and if she was all right.

But then a thought occurred to him: She's YN Stark. She can take that little guy easily.

After that, Tony never had to worry about Peter hurting his daughter in any way, especially since she had access to every Iron Man suit in the tower.

----------------------

Masterlist

My Cherry Blossom Flowers

@mlovesstories @kitwithnokat @smollestbean-2

@desiredposion @akshi8278

@andykasane @idksupernatural @let-me-luve-you

@emery--nicole--morrison @cro0kedme @viktorthemythical @underage-spoon

@pearllol @starshineandbooks @ashleyantics @pleasantpalacelampzonk

@miniaturejudgeturkeytree

@lovelyjelly @homosexualhavoc @burn88sworld @ice-ice-monster

@parapiaffe @magnificent-paulsonn

@frogbog2 @happytheoristdreamer @luceetheelephant

@athenastark @rose-doggo @sunshine-ape-123

@angelicstar @thebluetint @acapsicumannuum​

[theyreonlynoodlesmike]

It's Just a Movie: Part 22 (Poly!Lost Boys x Fem!Reader)

<- Previous Chapter Next Chapter ->

Warnings: cursing, 80s typical views on homosexuality (but no homophobia just,,,,as accepting as the 80s could be)

Word Count: 2958

This chapter is pretty much exposition/a feel good chapter because we need a break from the tension and also because I said so. Also, the boys are not straight, but it's the 80s so they don't talk about it.

You were stuck back at the cave as the boys took Michael to the bridge, but you knew they wouldn't be taking you. They hadn't taken Laddie or Star, and it would look out of place if they'd taken you. You were almost tempted to make a joke that they wouldn't understand. August 1st, 1987 was a Saturday, but memes didn't exactly exist yet. So, you sat on the couch and tried your best to make a dent in the holy grail of chinese food that Marko had picked up. But, no matter how much you ate, you could still feel something eating you up inside. 

You had to let Michael and Star turn. Diverting from the plot too much would've made it so none of you would know what was next. It was better to follow the story so you'd know what to expect rather than going in blind. You stabbed your takeout a little harder than you needed to as you reminded yourself that. No matter how bad you felt, this was what needed to be done. You just hoped that, before this was all over, you could find a way to apologize to Star and Michael. 

You hadn't heard Star come over to you. You knew that she had probably already tucked Laddie in for an early night, and it wasn't until she was standing right in front of you that you looked up. Her hands were balled into fists, and she was gnawing on her lip. For a moment, you thought perhaps it had been a bad idea for the boys to leave you alone with her. Your mind flashed back to what had happened nearly a month ago, but then Star said,

"How could you? Why did you? You didn't say anything- You-" She threw her hands, frustration clear in her voice. She looked close to tears, and the lump in your throat seemed to only grow larger. "You didn't even try to stop them." She said, but her voice was shaking. You gulped, setting your takeout aside. You were vaguely aware that Star was a half. She was stronger than you, and could probably snap at any moment. You had to be careful, but it seemed you'd gotten your wish a little quicker than you'd thought. You didn't know what to say, but you still stood. She backed away, giving you a small amount of distance and a chance to explain yourself. 

"Star, I didn't-" You started, but you quickly stopped yourself. You had to choose your words carefully, and you decided that lying wasn't the way to go. You were aware of some of the boys abilities, but not of all of them. Whether it was just the boys or not, they always seemed to know when you were telling a lie. And, at the end of the day, you knew the boys were going to change him. So, you whispered a quiet, "I'm sorry." And reached out to hold her clenched hands. You held them for a moment, and finally she relaxed them to take yours instead. She sighed, her body relaxing. While she didn't tell you that she forgave you, you didn't expect her to hold it against you for long. After a moment, she asked again,

"Why? Why didn't you say anything?" And you bit your lip. This was a hard one, but you couldn't just not answer. With the way she looked at you, her brown eyes imploring you to answer. Tears gathering in them. You sighed yourself, cursing her and the way she tugged on your heartstrings. Though, you knew she deserved an explanation.

"I'm," You paused to find the words, glancing away to collect your thoughts. "I'm not in the position to really tell them no, Star. I mean, I'm not-" You tried to find an excuse, one that wasn't Max. That wasn't that you weren't from this world. That wasn't that you were trying to save the boys. "I'm not the one that tells them what to do, or- Or, decides what happens. I'm just-" You hinted as vaguely as you could at the existence of Max, but it was still a weak excuse. You knew she would probably just end up asking why you weren't in that position anyways. To her knowledge, you were the girlfriend to three of them. Surely, you had some level of weight in their decisions. Finally, you came to a solid excuse. "I'm not one of you." You said. It was the best you could come up with, and she sniffled as the look in her eyes changed. It was one of confusion, even if she knew that was true. Then, after a moment, realization filled them. Her grip was tighter as she held your hands, and she let out a small, 

"Oh." Now, it was your turn to be confused. She had given your hands a squeeze, before she dropped them altogether and went to wrap them around your shoulders. She pulled you in for a tight hug, and you awkwardly returned it. You hadn't thought that your response would've worked that well. You didn't know what she was assuming, but you let it slide. Whatever it took to get her to stop asking hard questions, you supposed. She even reached up to pet the back of your head, whispering, "I didn't- I'm- I guess, we're in this together then, huh?" She asked, and you tried not to seem too confused when she pulled away to look at you. You, out of instinct, gave her a nod, and then whispered,

"Yeah." She nodded back, petting your cheek before she took a step back. Her hand slid down from your cheek, down your arm, before she took your hand. Her cold fingers nearly made you shiver, and she gave your hand another squeeze.

"We'll take care of eachother, yeah?" She asked, and you looked between her eyes at the way she stared at you. It was intense, the look in her chocolate brown colored eyes. The slightest tinge of a smile was on her lips, and it compelled you to agree. Finally, after a moment, you gave her another nod. It felt weird, like this exchange had more weight than you'd meant for it to have. But, you thought having Star for an ally wasn't exactly a bad decision. Perhaps it would make it easier to convince Michael that the boys weren't as terrible as he would later think. All you had to do was convince Star first. 

"And she didn't kiss you?" Paul asked later that night. You were telling the boys about it after they'd returned, and both Star and Laddie had fell asleep. Paul was laying on the bed, playing with your jacket while Marko sat next to you, leaning into you. Dwayne sat behind the three of you, back near the pillows with his back against the wall. He reached over, smacking Paul's head. Paul whined, rubbing the spot as he said, "What? I'm just saying! She totally kissed Michael first and it just seems like if I was in her shoes, I would've totally taken that moment to make a move!" You turned your head as Dwayne said,

"Well, Stars not you, dumbass. Plus, she's probably straight." He said, making a point of the word. But Paul scoffed and Marko grinned while he shook his head. Paul, looked up at the brunette, saying,

"If Star's straight, then so is David." And you covered your mouth to muffle your laughter as you looked at the platinum blonde. Marko and Paul didn't even attempt to, even as David narrowed his eyes at both of the blondes. Paul continued with, "I mean, c'mon, David. You have a type. You put that Jim Morrison poster up and Michael's a dead-ringer, so we get it! There's no shame in that!" As the other two died from laughter. David lifted his cigarette to his lips, and then blew smoke at Paul. If he was closer, he probably would've aimed for his face.

"Whatever, Paul. I'll remember this the next time I catch you checking out some guys ass." David retorted, and Paul didn't even look perturbed by his words. He simply shrugged and held up his hands.

"Some dudes have nice asses. Am I supposed to not look?" He asked, and this earned an eye roll from the blonde besides you. When Paul noticed, he balked at the curly-haired blonde. "Oh, don't you try to pretend to be Mr. Heterosexual in front of the babe, Marko. You totally sucked-" But you raised your hands to diffuse the conversation, and escalating voices, before the sun went down. All conversation on the fluidity of their sexualities aside, you had brought this up for a reason. 

"So, what do you think?" You asked David. You hadn't really known what to make of Stars words, and you stared at the boy for some guidance. He was clearly thinking it over, smoking his cigarette as he did so. You had given up on trying to enforce any rules about smoking in your room, to the point where Dwayne even had a cigarette burning in-between his fingers. Finally, he shrugged and said,

"She sees you as her friend. Maybe as someone she can relate to. I don't see any harm in that. As long as you don't plan on switching sides." He said, flicking the end of his cigarette. You scoffed at the sheer ridiculousness of the idea. 

"Oh, yeah. I'm totally ditching you guys for the Frogs." You said sarcastically, and David smiled at your joke. It was nice to see him smile, and you felt as though you hadn't, at least genuinely, seen him do it in awhile. You smiled back, and then asked, "So, how'd it go with Michael?" And you heard a telling chuckle come from all of them. Paul sat up, holding his hands out as he said,

"Michael totally almost pissed himself when the train came." He said, before the boys erupted into a chorus of laughter at the memory. You smiled, finding their laughter contagious. Though, you still felt the need to comment,

"You guys seem to be enjoying this hazing thing, huh?" You asked. You knew that they had to do it for the sake of the movie, but none of them seemed nearly as hung up about it as you did. Well, as much as Star had been making you feel about it. Marko nudged you with his shoulder, saying,

"Well, he totally kills David in that movie, babe. It's nice to get some payback." He said, and you hummed. You supposed he deserved it if you thought about it that way. You leaned forward, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Well, he's not going to this time, so don't do anything you don't have to." You said, and they all more or less agreed. It didn't take long after that for Paul to attempt to kick everyone out, but his attempts were proven to be futile when Marko reminded him of their new sleeping arrangements. Paul whined, cuddling up next to you and pulling you close. Eventually, after a brief shared look with Marko, you proposed the idea of Paul staying with you as well. He was quick to agree, and, that night, you laid on your back to accommodate the two sleeping vampires. At one point throughout the day, Marko said,

"Paul, that's me you're grabbing." And both you sleepily giggled at the sound of Pauls hand moving against the sheet as he retracted it, and the small, 

"Oh." That escaped his lips.

The next night was slow. All they needed to do was scare the shit out of Michael and Sam, and then visit Max while Michael went to lay the moves on Star. You, unfortunately, were in a very awkward position. You could come with them when they went to harass the Emerson's, but you definitely couldn't come with them to Max's. And, the boys couldn't necessarily drop you off and pick you back up from the cave, just because Michael would be there. The idea of you hanging out at the boardwalk and waiting for them had been tossed around, but it wasn't until that night that you really considered it. You did not want to be in the cave when Michael came to make his moves. Suddenly, you understood a little bit of how Star must've felt the past few months. 

So, with far too little enthusiasm, you decided that you would wait on the boardwalk for them. You'd kissed them each goodbye, as you didn't have an audience of half-vampires to see it. But, now that you were there, you wholeheartedly regretted that decision. You popped your collar up against the nights chill, doing your best to protect your neck as you walked through the crowds. It was busy, as busy as usual. 

You had walked up and down the boardwalk a million times, but only once without the boys by your side. And never at night. Most of the surf-nazi's stayed in the water during the day, but you quickly found out that they flocked to the boardwalk at night. You didn't know if it was just a build-up of nerves from the movie or if it was the fact that your boys weren't with you, but you practically scurried away the second you heard the sound of a group of teenage to twenty-something year olds gathering on the boardwalk. After wandering around the boardwalk for a little while, you passed the Frogs comic store. Inside, you could hear Alan say,

"Okay, we'll come over and do it for you." And your ears perked. You paused for a moment near the outside stack, listening to Edgar say,

"Well, you better get a garlic tshirt, buddy, or it's your funeral." Edgar hung up the phone that they'd been previously crowded around, and you saw the pair of them notice you. They didn't look pleased to see you, and you guessed your biweekly visits turning into nearly daily wasn't exactly a welcome sight. You didn't spare them a smile, and you simply let the comics slip back into their spots before you turned and walked away. The Frogs' eyes followed you the entire time until you were no longer in sight.

When the boys finally caught up with you only about an hour and a half later, you were relieved at the sight of them. The five of you were able to have a night alone, and, after the usual rounds, you decided to ditch the boardwalk for one of your favorite all-night diners.

You squeezed into a corner booth, getting stuck between Marko and David. The five of you ate, laughed, and, finally, relaxed. It felt nice to let loose, and you took the opportunity to lay your head on David's shoulder as you laughed along with your boys. You were able to hold David's hand, and you didn't have to consciously think about monitoring your actions. It felt good. Nice. They played rounds of paper football, and Marko started an almost violent game of spitball. It only ended when one of them spit one at Dwayne and it got caught in his hair, and he even sent you a look when you couldn't stop giggling.

While you were having a good time, you knew that, eventually, the four of them had to eat. And you knew diner food wasn't going to help. So, after lots of promising to Paul, you were allowed one more solo ride on his bike. Even after you'd kissed and said goodbye to all of them, he stood in front of you, held the handlebars, and stared at you with the most serious expression you'd ever seen on his face.

"You did good last time, but that doesn't mean you should be any less careful. Darling? Sugar? Pudding pop? I love you, but, please, don't crash my baby." You gave him a small smile, and a small tilt of your head. You were almost positive that he hadn't even realized he'd said those words to you, and you leaned forward to press a kiss on one cheek, the other cheek, and then on his lips. It made his serious expression falter, and you could tell he was melting by how his arms began to buckle. 

"I promise, okay? I love you too." You told him, your voice quieting as you returned the words. You watched his brain short-circuit and quickly reboot, trying its best to comprehend what had just happened. You didn't warn him that Marko and Dwayne were walking closer, as he was far too busy to notice. Before he could say anything else, Dwayne grabbed him by the back of his jacket and yanked him away from the bike. 

"She's not gonna crash it, dude. Just let her ride. Now, I'm starving, so c'mon. Bye, babe." Marko said, half-dragging half-leading Paul towards his bike. You mouthed a "thank you" to the both of them, and called a final goodbye to all of them as you pulled your helmet on. They watched as you revved the engine to life, and then lurched forward to head towards Hudson's Bluff. You didn't see how Paul swayed for a moment, a wistful smile on his face as he repeated the words over and over in his mind. He turned to the boys, a bigger grin growing on his face. 

"Did you guys hear that?" He asked, and they almost wished you hadn't said it just so they wouldn't have to hear Paul talk about it the entire ride to the beach. Whether that was out of annoyance or envy, they preferred not to think about it.

[bull3t-f0r-my-v4lentine]

Tell us about your Craftsman and Butler headcanons! (and your anon asks seems to be off, ppl don't like send asks openly afaik)

FUUUUUCK IM SO SO FUCKING SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG ;;;A;;;; I FEEL SO BAD BUT IM GONNA DO THIS DNDKDNDAIHAHSBBSBANA

this is actually a mix of me and my best friend’s hcs since we basically share our own universe together (nothings rlly changed besides personal hcs and backstories)

Craftsman HCS ;

His actual name is Christopher Morrison, and he is actually the older brother of Roger !

He’s somewhere in his 50s to me, but I don’t always think of it lmao

He has a super bad temper and you can often catch him slamming things down or punching his work table cus somebody pissed him off lol (he goes soft around the Butler though)

Him and the Butler are engaged, still don’t know when exactly to get married lol. They have a lot of work to do they just don’t exactly know when they can actually settle down.

He proposed to the Butler on his birthday actually, and he even crafted the ring himself! (it’s a little rose gold ring that wraps around in a heart shape)

Angry scottish man go brrrr

He has a scottish accent so fucken thick it’s like a spanish person trying to speak english to a 3 year old to most ppl

He used to own a small toy shop in Scotland ! he made every single toy and ran it himself, a lot of people in the town went there every christmas and birthday

Gæ

Not many know it but this guy is literally,,,,6’6,,,,,tower

He has a huge gash on the side of his mouth that opens up in his cheek revealing his teeth, gums and inner mouth. it doesn’t affect his ability to talk but he is insecure about it, so he hides it with that mask.

Butler HCs ;

His real name is Theodore Vandmear, most people call him Theo for short. His nickname is Teddy tho (as in teddy bear), but usually chris calls him that <3

He sounds legit EXACTLY like winnie the pooh, even says things like “oh bother”

He also stutters a lot, and his voice can be very quiet and sheepish, you might wanna grab him a megaphone in order to have a conversation

This man literally acts like a cat. he fucking PURRS. he wants to destroy everything in SIGHT.

when he uses his telekinesis for something very very strong and powerful, his nose will start bleeding like eleven from stranger things lol

He uses he/they pronouns <3

His mother was british (she was the only parent he had), yet being in scotland for so long (despite being super sheltered and usually kept away from society) he does have a scottish twang to his voice. certain words will sound scottish, some words will sound british

he sneezes like an dog lol

ALWAYS helps christopher with anything he needs to do as far as duties or personal hygiene, he’s not only his fiancé but also somewhat of a nervous caregiver, it’s very sweet

he sleeps in those nightgowns men used to wear back in the day but it somehow ends up looking cute on him and it’s soooo comfy

extra HCS ;

Theo tends to watch Chris work once the day is done and they’re settling down to go to bed

They both actually live in the Maw with the other employees. After the Pretender died, the nest began crumbling and crashed down from the sky, and they (somehow, i’m too lazy to come up with a reason why) landed up in the maw. However they were separated for a little while

Theo was actually wandering around the bottom areas of the maw, super hungry and still with his hands restrained in the back. he didn’t sleep, didn’t eat, didn’t talk to anybody except himself, and just wandered around aimlessly like a zombie

The maw did set out a few employees to search for him, that included Chris, and they eventually did find him. the lady chopped off the cuffs and let his hands free, and they did have to fix his back and he had to wear a corset for a little while to help his posture, but other than that spending a LOT of time with chris and maaaaaaany many many hours of sleep and naps later he was back to normal and able to function. he was put to work as the maw’s butler. cleaning, doing laundry, etc but this time he was treated like a human instead of a monster who had to be cuffed

muchachos i’m so tired i can’t write anymore i hope this was enough tho 😭😭😭😭 again i’m so sorry for being late pls feel free to always inbox me again i love writing out my ideas n shit

[woahajimes]

Jon Kent had become an excellent liar. 

“We're never finding Damian.” 

That was a lie, although it could also count as truth. They were never finding Damian. 

He was. 

He didn’t have any of this information assured, but he was trusting that it kept real. He had known Damian for at least a year and a half, perhaps even less, but it had felt like forever. It was funny how people changed over time. 

When he met Damian, things were rocky. Jon actually despised Damian, he tried to get away from him. He’d always make excuses for leaving, either with Kathy, or his dad, or Maya, even. Damian had been too cocky, a little far too confident. 

Too sure of himself and his abilities, it made Jon angry. 

It filled him with envy. 

When they were sent to boot camp, Jon realized something. Damian was, sure, older than him, and more mature, and maybe not taller, but he was more skilled than Jon in almost everything he could do. 

Damian was, in a way, just like him. A small way, of course. Nothing big, they weren’t mirror on mirror. Jon hadn’t been raised by a supervillain grandfather, and Damian wasn’t a half-breed between an alien and a human.

That was really the reason that he offered Damian the granola bar. He realized the small chance that they were similar. They were both lost, in different ways, but lost altogether. Jon didn’t actually know if Damian had ever been lost, if Damian even knew that being lost meant. 

Maybe someday he’d find out. 

When Damian slipped into his room, mocked him for going to sleep while the moon was still living, when he dragged him out the window, mocked him once more for not being able to fly, that’s when Jon knew there was something. Something in Damian that made Jon want to stay, just for a while longer. 

When they matched in school, just a few educational years of a difference, nothing much, Jon was psyched. They were already close friends, even though not much had passed since Damian had visited him at night that first time. 

What could he say? They became friends pretty quickly. 

When Kid Amazo destroyed their headquarters, Jon and Damian had become pretty close friends. They were actually joking with each other, and mocking each other and making fun of each other, as friends do. Of course, Jon wouldn’t exactly know this by the palm of his hand, for friends weren’t exactly his area of expertise. 

Yet Damian felt like a friend, like a best friend. 

After all, he had saved him, when Jon was drowning at the bottom of Morrison Bay, given him a rebreather, and swam Jon’s limp, unconscious body for a few minutes, until Jon regained consciousness. 

Saving each other’s lives, they were practically inseparable. 

Their second Summer together came around, the whole gig with the cube of the fortress and the primary colours of Jon. If he was being honest, he really enjoyed that summer, perhaps the best summer in his ten years of life. Jon had always wanted a sibling, and that summer it felt like he had hit the jackpot. He could finally say that Damian was his best friend, at least without getting elbowed in the stomach. The golden kryptonite, Jon took it as a gift, being split in two, it was a portion of something he had wanted for so long: A brother. And even though having somewhat of a twin wasn’t as fun as he had expected, he enjoyed it, for as long as it lasted. 

Jon remembers telling Damian that he’s going to spend time with his grandfather. Jon was spending the night at the manor, he was sitting in front of the TV. 

“Hey, D?” Jon turned from the TV, he looked at Damian. “What are we doing this summer?” 

Damian drifted his eyes from the screen. He looked at Jon. “What do you mean?”

Jon rolled his eyes. “Summer is in like two days, dummy.” 

Damian shrugged, his eyes wandering back to the TV. “Nothing much, why?” 

Jon turned back to face the TV. “I think I’m going to go see my grandpa.” 

“Cool.” And that had been that. 

Jon should have told Damian a bit more, maybe then he would have been opposed to Jon leaving. Instead, he had left out minor details from Damian, details Clark had told him when Jon had left, when Jon had already spent a few years in the volcano prison. 

Jon had to admit that his time in the volcano prison had messed him up a bit. He had thought about Damian a lot, more than he’d like to admit. If Jon was around… what? Fifteen? Then Damian would have been around eighteen. It struck him a few days later, just how much he’d missed. Damian would have already left the school, maybe gone to some college for smart super-hero ninjas. Probably forgotten all about him, about the summer of super and the Kid Amazo and all the things that Jon held tight to his chest. He probably forgot about the time they played Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with pillow forts and nerf guns, about the times they ate cotton candy, sitting on the roof of the Carousel in the Hamilton fair. Pairing up for sports, even though they were three years apart in grades. 

Damian had probably forgotten about all that. 

It was really the Hamilton fairs that got to Jon. He used to love those as a kid. He went for the first time when he was nine, second time ten, third time eleven. The second time he went, it had been Jon’s first year since meeting Damian.

Damian couldn’t go for some mission with Batman, but Jon had met up with Kathy, He told her all about his adventures with Damian. She kept quiet, mostly because Jon wouldn’t be. It was pretty insane to think that this had all been in the same year, Jon meeting Damian, Jon moving away from Hamilton, to a private school, creating a public figure alongside Damian: the Super Sons. Nearly drowning in Morrison Bay, his mom almost killed, it was a bit too much for the mind of a 10-year-old.

Yet Jon got to the part in which he called Damian his best friend, and Kathy spoke up.

“Jon,” She stopped what she was doing and she met eyes with him. “What is it you even like about Damian?”

The question had caught him off-guard. “I- He’s kinda nice someti-”

“No,” Kathy interrupted him. “Not really, no. He’s not that nice at all.”

Jon kept quiet. He shrugged it off with a simple “I guess so,” and the night kept moving. He returned home, but Kathy’s question rung in his ears.

“What is it you even like about Damian?”

Jon sat on the office chair in his room, a marker on his hand. He stared blankly at the 9x9 whiteboard in front of him. He uncapped the marker and wrote down Damian’s name. 

He’s funny sometimes, Jon thought to himself. When he’s not being mean. He decided to write that down. 

He’s really smart, too. Jon wrote that down as well. 

He wrote down a few more things, all jots, and he reminded himself of the paper he had written for school not long ago. He took out his backpack, his binder, carefully opened the rings and slid out his paper. He started skimming it. 

“ ‘If I had to describe Damian in one word, it would be dependable,’ Jeez,’ Jon whispered into the room. “What was going on in my head?” 

He kept reading. “ ‘No matter what, when the chips are down, he always takes care of me.’” Yeah, that part was true. 

He read the last part in his head. I know I can trust him no matter what kinda trouble we find ourselves in.

Jon capped the marker, he deleted everything he had written on the whiteboard. He didn’t need a list for all the things he liked about Damian. He knew already, Damian was his best friend, no questions needed. 

Jon had done and said things he wasn’t proud of. He for one, developed new habits, bad habits. He wanted to pin an excuse on them, that it wasn’t his fault that he had developed such habits. It was just his reaction to being put in situations like that. Example taken, Jon had started to talk to himself. He wasn’t exactly sure if it was a habit or a sign that he was going insane, but he didn’t like it altogether. Remembering it was torture, it was a habit he started in the volcano prison. 

Jon clearly remembers that the first time he talked to himself, to Damian. When exactly, he wasn’t sure, but Jon had a hard time getting used to the lack of things, in this case, a small daily occurrence he shared with Damian. 

Their shared habit started in their first sleepover, it had rooted from something they were watching on the TV. The woman on the screen was putting her kids to sleep, and she asked her youngest boy, “What was your favourite part of the day?”, to which the boy answered “spending time with you, mom.” 

Damian snorted. “Let’s  watch something else.”

Jon whipped his head around and looked at Damian. “Let’s pick a movie.” His eyes beamed, he was grinning. 

They had picked out a movie they never got tired of rewatching: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. They had turned off the movie early, Alfred coming in and telling them to get ready to sleep. 

Each in their perspective beds, both had been quiet for a while, until Damian spoke up. He pitched his voice, and said, “What was your favourite part of the day?” Mimicking the woman. 

Jon snickered. “Spending time with you, Dami.” He pronounced the new nickname like ‘Day-me’, and heard Damian make a vomiting sound. 

“Don’t you dare call me that,” Damian sat up, and Jon did as well. “I will end you, Kent.”

Jon waved his hand, he could make out Damian’s expression even with the lights turned off. “Pfft, what about Dami?” He pronounced it like ‘D-ah-me’. 

Damian’s expression softened. “Mother used to call me that,” he said. “She wasn’t very fond of nicknames, but I guess she liked that one.”

Jon felt heat rising to his cheeks. He hadn’t meant to touch a sore subject. He knew there was a complicated relationship with Damian and his mom. “I think I’ll just stick with ‘D’.” he said quickly. 

Damian laid back down on his bed, he turned away from Jon. “No, it’s fine. Whatever helps you sleep at night, J.” 

Jon still sat on the bed, he arranged his pillow. “D?”

“Yeah?”

“‘Hukka’” 

Jon could have sworn Damian smiled, just a little. “‘Hukka’, Jon.”

It was embarrassing to sorts, Jon had to admit. Whispering ‘Hukka’ to himself at night, swearing that he could see Damian if he just squinted a little bit. Asking Damian how his day went, swearing that he could almost hear an answer, the things you did for lost best friends. 

Jon had also thought about Damian, yet in more ways than those. Sometimes he wondered if Damian still wore turtlenecks, if he had made any new friends. What if he had gotten a girlfriend? Or a boyfriend? Worse, what if Damian had found a new best friend? A new super-hero partner, someone that didn’t leak tears when they watched movies like Coraline. Someone more like Damian, like a… super-smart ninja assassin. 

When Jon finally spotted earth, a late teen, he started thinking about everything that could have been. Perhaps if Jon hadn’t left, him and Damian would have been having ice cream and maybe getting their own statue as the super sons. Maybe they’d have moved past the Super sons. 

Jon wondered where Damian was now. Maybe he was Batman, although Jon secretly wished that he wasn’t. He had always thought that Batman was cool, but it wasn’t really Damian. Batman was in a way, everything that Damian wasn’t. But if Damian wanted to be Batman, then Jon really didn’t see why not. Could Jon be the Superman to his Batman? Maybe? 

It took him as an overall surprise, realizing that only three weeks had passed. It made hope linger in his stomach, a fluttery feeling. Maybe he hadn’t missed so much after all. 

But Damian had stared at him like a stranger, like he used to stare at the boys at school. It made Jon’s heart stop beating, just for a few moments. He wanted to cry on Damian’s shoulder, even if Damian had only aged three weeks. Damian had rejected him, and that hurt more than Jon could have expected. Damian had collected himself, after a short time, and they spent the night together. Then, before Damian left, he hugged Jon, tightly. Maybe Damian was also feeling what Jon was. 

Maybe his letter proved that. Maybe the letter was Damian’s way of expressing everything that he felt for Jon. 

So Jon set out to find Damian, to ask him about the letter. To finally explain to him everything he wanted to say. 

[readbythestarlight]

BOBF chapter 4: The Gathering Storm

“Boba Fett partners with Fennec Shand” what?? they’ve been parters this whole time

Oh wait maybe this means this is when he partners with her after she gets shot in TM

Which means our flashbacks are catching up to present day?

I’m still mad about the Tuskens just FYI

Hmmm so is this where the plan to take over the palace starts to come into play? And his motivation is to fix Tatooine for the Tuskens?

Banthas are giant desert dogs now huh

Oh good a burp joke

Oh wait did I hear a hint of a Specific Theme in there?

FENNEC

What’s the timeline of this show exactly because like we start with him after the sarlacc. How long was he in there? And then how long was he with the Tuskens? Because the events of Mando are 5ish years after ROTJ (supposedly)? The passing of time here isn’t very clear. Not that it matters I’m just curious.

Honestly tho I’ve been dying to know how he found Fennec so I’m excited

Oh god it’s them again

Wait

Them…. BEFORE Boba met them in present day?

What

Why are they even here

Thanks I hate this tie in

Techno cyberpunk kids are not what I want

“Aren’t you a little old to be here” oh go choke

I mean seeing how she got her cool cybernetics is neat but I don’t like the feel of the scene. The music?

Oh look stinky melons! So they DO stink and they didn’t just give Cobb a rancid one.

Hi yes anyone wanna write some fic of Fennec dealing with some of the trauma that comes with having your body heavily modified without your consent even if it was to save your life?

Bonding through almost dying in the desert awwww

So yeah he’s not an idiot he shouldn’t need her to tell him that bikers weren’t behind killing the Tuskens

“My debt is paid” girl please you’re destined to become his bestie

The Slave I has just been sitting in there for 5 years huh

Anyway Fennec continues to be the most badass and my wife

Boba being an animal guy is both adorable and unexpected

“Now go! Find other banthas, make baby banthas! Go!” Might possibly be my least favorite line of the series

Idk if Temuera Morrison *actually* said he feels like Boba talks too much but sometimes I agree.

“Kill that bloated pig who double-crossed me” wait…. Who are we talking about. Fortuna?? How did he double cross Boba??

Okay now this feels sincere and I’m soft about Boba who found a kind of peace with the Tuskens and who was ready to stop being a hunter and just live a normal life with people he cared about

Oh this tech is NEAT

Fennec has ALL the cool toys

Fennec continues to be too cool for this show

Ouch the SI is looking rough

Right okay so Boba pre-bacta treatments can kick a Gammorean’s ass, but then later AFTER he’s had treatments and should theoretically be stronger, needs the Gamoreans to taken down people kicking HIS ass. Make it make sense.

Fennec my Queen

Ohhhh badass shot as the ramp closed

“Next time?” Yeah what next time I thought you were ~leaving :)

I’d have loved to see a little more than “one mission and now we’re buds” but hey

Oh is he gonna blow up the fucking sarlaac??

Wait I’m sorry the ship can fit down in there? *doubts*

Oh wait it wasn’t in there just…. Zooming in somehow

RIP the sarlacc

“Next time don’t touch my buttons” I don’t want to laugh and yet I did

“I’m tired of our kind dying because of the idiocy of others” I am once again confused by his motivations for becoming daimyo

“You can only get so far without a tribe” okay I’m into that line

“Completely healed”???

“What about the scars on the inside” Good question

I do continue to love the colorful parts of Mos Espa (just not the power rangers mopeds)

lol Wookiees rip your arms off

Welcome to the palace family Krrsantan or however you spell your name

I like “hey mate”

Stuff is finally going to be happening now maybe…?

Cool final shot that like exactly fits how I imagined the upper portions of the palace with a balcony and all

Overall MUCH better than ep 3 thank GOD my only real objection is the obnoxious cyberpunks/ “the mods”

[thevindicativevordan]

Any thoughts on Grant Morrison's Action Comics run? Beyond T shirt-and-jeans Superman being great.

That whole run reinvigorated my love of the character.

There have been numerous thoughtpieces about New 52 Superman, how he worked and how he didn't but these two entries really do a great job of summing up why Morrison's take on Superman was great. Morrison laid the foundation for a new generational Superman that DC completely fucked up and ran into the ground. I'll always be bitter about that, even if I had tapped out of reading the New 52 Superman books by the end due to how bad they got. Editorial and their idiotic mandates were what screwed over the potential of this take in my eyes.

Now I get that it wasn't to everyone's taste, but I cannot fathom how anyone could ever claim that Pre-Flashpoint Superman was better. If you liked Byrne's reboot better, your guy already got rebooted after Infinite Crisis. For someone like me who really enjoyed the Johns/Busiek era, that era's potential got spoiled after Johns & Busiek left, with New Krypton imploding and the awful Grounded taking it's place. When you get to the point where the best Superman book is the one starring Lex Luthor, it's time to reassess the franchise and figure out where the hell it went wrong.

Which is exactly what Morrison did. For this new Superman, Morrison mined all the best ideas of every Superman era to really give what I consider the ideal "base" for Superman. They also took pains to address common criticisms about Superman, working to correct his pop culture image. People have been complaining that Superman is "too perfect", "too unrelatable" for a long time, so Morrison addressed that. They gave Superman his balls back, and let him reacquire that Golden Age edge he had originally.

There are a lot of complaints you can make about Morrison's Superman, but I don't see how you could accuse this guy of being "flawless" or "bland". He definitely had a personality that you could describe, love him or hate him. Compassionate, but not a pushover. Clearly holding himself back, but unafraid to occasionally let loose. Flaws that were patently obvious, Clark had a temper here that could get him into trouble. There was a real showcase of anger here, of Superman being furious at the way people were treated by the rich and powerful, then doing something about it that I ate up.

I read this run just as I was coming into my teens and it hit perfectly for where I was in life. Did not want a Superman who would smile and tell me it gets better, I wanted a Superman who looked you in the eye and told you he felt that same anger, and then encouraged you to go out and do something about how you felt. That was what this run delivered in spades, and it expanded what I believed could be done with Superman.

While it totally blew my mind to see Superman acting this way the first time I read Morrison's Action Comics run, in retrospect it really isn't that different from how Superman has acted even under Byrne. One of the few traits I've seen carry across Superman incarnations in the comics is that he has a temper underneath that affable nature. "Don't tug on Superman's cape" as the old song goes. This run simply elevated that to the forefront of the character again, for the better in my eyes given I believe "Wrath" is Superman's Deadly Sin.

In fact, one of the strongest features of this run is that Superman gets actual character development over the course of the run, analogous to what Batman underwent in Morrison's Bat-Epic. While the Bat-Epic was merely Morrison re-canonizing Batman's entire history, and applying a retroactive character development storyline that culminated in Morrison's current Batman work, their Action Comics run had them attempt to craft something similar for Superman from scratch. What that meant was Morrison attempting to draw on the most important traits of every Superman era and incorporate those into this new take. So Superman had the Golden Age temper, compassion for the oppressed, and cockiness. The Silver Age supergenuis, proud scion of Krypton who cherished his Kryptonian nature, member of the Legion of Superheroes, and participant in stories that weren't afraid to get weird. Superman's wrestling with his place in the world, the importance of Clark Kent, and making journalism a key part of the character strike me as all being hallmarks of the Bronze Age. From Post-Crisis we got that Clark views himself as human and loves his adopted parents, considering them as equal to his birth ones.

One of the big frustrations for me with the endless origin stories for Superman, is that so many of them follow a predictable and stale formula where Clark puts on the suit and is essentially ready to go. Doesn't interfere with human affairs, is modest and humble, restrained in usage of his powers, it's like Clark has meta knowledge of what he "should" be, despite that he shouldn't have any foreknowledge of what a "superhero" should look like. He operates the same way at the start as he does in the modern day, and that's really boring to me. This Superman, because of the difference in powers and attitude, operated extremely different from his "present day" incarnation. Dangling Glenmorgan over the edge of a building isn't something a fully powered and mature Superman should do, but it works great to make his early days different and exciting to read about, it makes returning to that era something you can do different storytelling with. This run is the only time where I really cared that Superman is "supposed" to be the first superhero, because figuring out what that means here is a big part of how he develops.

We all know the common complaint that Superman is "too powerful" and that "nothing can hurt him" (funny how Thor never gets hit with those accusations), so Morrison made sure to show that this take on Superman could be beaten even if he could never be defeated. Events conspired to force Clark to use his brains as well as his powers to overcome the challenges in front of him.

Examples include him using his heat vision to fry Lex's equipment and escape the military, using his rocket ship to defeat Brainiac, and rallying the population of Metropolis to banish Vyndktvx. Not to say that Clark never used his brains before to win, but this run was very upfront and in your face about how important Clark's intellect is to triumphing over his foes. Can't take seriously the complaint that Superman is too overpowered when Morrison constantly showcased how even a very powerful Superman could get his shit wrecked by his Rogues.

Another example of Morrison addressing criticisms is Kryptonite. A lot of people poke fun at how convenient it is that pieces of Superman's homeworld follow him all the way to Earth. Isn't that a bit of an asspull? So Morrison made Kryptonite the power source of Superman's rocket, giving it a perfectly natural and believable reason both for it to end up on Earth, and for Lex & the military to get a hold of it since Pa Kent gave the military the rocket. That's still my preferred explanation for how Kryptonite ended up on Earth.

It also provides a better explanation for all the different Kryptonite variants. DC can handwave away the different types as a result of Lex experimenting or the different "forces" on Earth such as magic or the Speed Force or whatever creating the different variants. That to me is much more believable than Kryptonite travelling all across the galaxy yet still ending up on Earth somehow.

There have also been a lot of complaints about Superman's villains, and Morrison diligently set about reworking them. By far one of my favorite aspects of the run, was the villain revamps. Nimrod felt like a clean revamp of Terra-Man, making him into Superman's Kraven the Hunter struck me as a patently obvious route to go, wild no one has followed up on that or used him since. Metallo felt like a good synthesis of Johns take of him as an Anti-Superman weapon, and the sympathetic aspects of Corben's origin that are always there, I liked that Morrison didn't make him a total bastard before his transformation like Johns did. Brainiac got some sympathy added to him in that the collected worlds that were already marked for damnation, thus he was "saving" them in a fashion. Clay Ramses embodied toxicity as a wife-beater even before becoming Kryptonite Man, and I thought his backstory was a great way for Clark to still deal with "real" issues via a manner he could punch. Ramses is still the best take on Kryptonite Man. Vyndktvx felt like the greatest realization of the threat Mr. Mxyzptlk could pose should he decide to get serious since Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, plus I'm a sucker for stories where superheroes fight the Devil. Drekken and Superdoom took the only interesting aspects of Doomsday (his ability to evolve and that he can kill Superman respectively), and were much more interesting characters.

And oh my God, speaking of Superdoom, that part of Morrison's Action run has aged like fine wine. I don't know if they caught wind of DC's plans for the character, or if they were just prescient, but everything that Superdoom is playing on is still sadly all too present. What Superdoom is as a character is a condemnation of what DC keeps doing with Superman: killing him off or making him evil.

When you realize what Superdoom (demand for a more violent and "realistic" Superman) and Vyn (WB/DC) stand in for, it makes the frustration Morrison is channeling much more palpable. Those two plotlines are all DC can think of to do with the character, returning to those again and again. Endlessly attempting to recapture the high of Batman and Doomsday beating the shit out of Supes in The Dark Knight Returns and Death of Superman. Overcoming these two obstacles is Superman's greatest challenge as conceived by Morrison, because both are out to corrupt and ruin the very idea of him. It's not just a physical death he faces, but a metaphysical one as well. Sadly it's a threat Superman just can't seem to lick in the real world, with more and more takes on "Evil Superman" coming.

Lois and Jimmy are great here, because Morrison actually made the investigative journalism aspect of Superman important. Lois is an active participant in the story, trying to break in to the base where Clark is being held by her father, competing with Clark for stories (I love how Morrison writes the banter between the two of them), and generally being classic Lois. Jimmy though benefitted from being positioned as a peer rather than as a kid in comparison to the two, something I wish the comics had carried forward. It looks like My Adventures With Superman is going with that interpretation at least, so I hope others do as well. Jimmy being Clark's roommate really adds to their bond, and I wish we had gotten more stories with that status quo.

Investigative reporter Clark Kent was so actively used here that it feels jarring reading other Superman runs where they tend to downplay and ignore it. Following Clark as he travels to different areas of Metropolis and actually interacts with people, instead of hovering above them as Superman, makes him feel human. Watching Clark actively pursue stories aimed at bettering peoples livelihoods, and seeing how those stories crossed with the superheroics, was one of my favorite aspects of the run. It's one unfortunately few other writers seem all that interested in, especially the New 52 writers who followed Morrison (I know editorial probably bears a lot of blame for that though).

Besides all that, this run was a lot of fun! The Legion of Superheroes showed up, their connection to Clark restored, and they got to play a big role in Clark's adventures! Krypto the Superdog! Martian colonies! Memorizing all of medicine, Superman performs a lifesaving operation! Lex using a "bullet train" to knock Clark out! 5-D imps! Rampaging robots from beyond! A Phantom Zone Halloween story! John Henry Irons suits up as Steel and kicks ass alongside Clark! Every Superman Rogue teams up to try to kill him, but Lex Luthor saves his life because that's a privilege he reserves for himself! Showcasing their trademark love for the Supermythos, Morrison took us on a tour of Superlore that demonstrated the depth and width of what could be done with Superman. Meanwhile the backups by Sholly Fisch excelled at giving us smaller, more human stories about Superman (the one where Clark meets Pa again via time travel "after" Pa has died always gives me a lump in my throat to read).

Ultimately this didn't get to be the foundation for the next generation of Superman stories as it deserved. Johns made New 52 Superman the scapegoat in Doomsday Clock for a lot of storytelling choices he did over in Justice League, something that pisses me off to no end. You want to tell me that this guy "didn't relate" to people, didn't inspire "hope"?

Like hell he didn't. This guy was Superman in every way that mattered and he deserved better than to be framed as the scapegoat for all the stupid decisions DC made about what to do with him. Greg Pak was able to do some great work with this version after Morrison, and just like how Gene Yang got a redemption work starring Superman, I hope to one day see Pak return to the character. Would love to read a Black Label Superman story by Pak that follows his take on young Superman.

All wasn't lost however. Against all odds, and Rebirth trying it's damndest to sweep everything under the rug, it looks like parts of this era have actually survived to the current Infinite Frontier era. With Morrison being heavily involved no less, both as an ideas guy and as an actual writer.

Superman & the Authority is explicitly Superman coming full circle back to the attitude displayed by his young counterpart under Morrison. Janin has outright said that the costume Clark wears here is reminiscent of the t-shirt and jeans era of Superman, and this book so far feels saturated with an energy level from Morrison I haven't seen in their work for hire since they left Action. Reaching old age and realizing he never really delivered on the high ideals of his beginnings, it's Superman putting together a team to hopefully succeed where he couldn't alone. Scathing in how it criticizes the superhero status quo, this has been extremely entertaining to read. Wish Morrison was writing 12 issues with this team, and that ultimately it will be up to PKJ to deliver on the potential is a drawback (although I've loved PKJ's Action run so far), but I'm glad to see DC finally treating Morrison and their ideas with more respect than was shown during Rebirth.

Jon meanwhile feels like an even more explicit attempt at redoing New 52 Superman. There's the updated new suit, designed to appeal to a new generation with it's streamlined look. Positioning Jon as a Superman who wants to tackle the "real" issues, with Taylor explicitly comparing him to Golden Age Superman which as I mentioned was an era Morrison tried to reincorporate into their reboot. There's the Legion of Superheroes connection which played an important role in Morrison's reboot. The rumors about Jon's sexuality are interesting, hinting that DC is willing to go outside the box with him in a way they never would with Clark. I'm excited to see what kind of Superman Jon ends up becoming, if he can deliver on the promise of the New 52 Superman all the better.

This run deserves to be remembered and to have the lessons it tried to teach respected. Probably my favorite mainline run on Superman, I hope more people come around to liking it as time goes on.