#not sure where this is going from here

[serasfanfiction]

Inspired by this Twitter thread.

Part 1 | Part 2

Lucifer had managed to keep his side of the deal, mostly by straight-up avoiding the hell out of Alastor. This sometimes resulted in him walking right back out of rooms he'd just walked into, exiting stage left upon Alastor arriving, and one memorable portalling out of a room when he turned around to discover the red head between him and the only exit to the room.

He was suspicious Alastor had done that last one on purpose, but Lucifer had no solid proof he could actually show, so he'd swallowed his measly dignity and all but literally fled. It had galled him to do it, but he'd done far more embarrassing things for his beloved Char-Char and this honestly didn't even rank.

This little game might have gone on indefinitely, if Charley had not called a Hotel-wide meeting. It sounded like she had come up with a new team building exercise and wished to try it out on the residents.

Lucifer had overheard talk about the exercises from Angel (something about being thrown off a building and trust falls?) while sitting at the bar shortly after moving into the hotel, but had never personally seen any himself. Curious, he'd come down to watch, even if he hadn't intended to participate.

He really should have known better. The moment Charlie spotted him, her eyes lit up with that smile he was so terribly a push over for. "Dad! Come join us!" She near skipped over, snagging his hand. "Pleeeeease? I've already made it up with you included! It'll be so much fun!"

"Uh..." Lucifer glanced behind her, eyes falling on Angel, who had snorted. Husk(er? Was it Husker? or Husk? He really needed to get their names down better) and Maggie (Vaggie?) appeared to be long suffering, but present. Nifty was her usual self.

And then there was Alastor. Alastor, who was watching him like a particularly interesting specimen he was just waiting to see what it would do. Like he was just waiting for their king to make a fool of himself or run away.

Well, fuck that! Yes, he could be socially awkward sometimes and he found large crowds of people overwhelming, but! He could do interactions! And it was supporting his daughter - that was always good, right?

Right.

He turned his own smile on Charlie. It was a little too big, but he really meant it. "Of course, sweetie. What are we doing?"

Charlie near squealed, permission given to tug her father over to the rest of the group. She plopped him down beside her girlfriend - noticeably leaving breathing distance between him and Alastor - before taking her place on the other side of Vaggie.

"So, for this exercise, we are going to need to draw names!" She pulled out some folded up pieces of paper, holding them up for everyone to see. She opened her mouth to continue, only to pause as if realizing something. She bit her lip as she looked to the papers to the group of them. Then her eyes fell on her father and Lucifer could all but see a light bulb go off over her head. "Dad! Could we borrow your hat! We can draw the names out of that!"

Lucifer huffed softly, bemused, but handed over the hat easily. A few eyebrows went up from the other members of the group, as if they were surprised he would so easily give up what was for all intents and purposes the Crown of Hell to be used for his daughter's whimsy.

Heh! Jokes on them, because this still didn't even count as the least dignified thing he'd ever done to entertain his kid (because she may be an adult now, but she was a baby once and he may have been absent throughout most of her life, but not even he had been absent during her baby/toddler years. Lilith would have killed him).

Charlie took it, throwing the names into the hat. Carrying on as if there hadn't been a disruption, she explained, "When the hat comes to you, you pull a name out." To demonstrate, she reached in and shuffled the papers. Pulling one out, she proceeded to hand the hat to her girlfriend, who also did the same. As they passed it on, she added, "Once everyone has a name, look who you have! That's who you're going to be saying something nice to!"

Angel, never one to miss an opportunity, leaned against the bar in such a way that every curve was accented. "Oh, I don't need a trust building exercise to find something nice to say about some of you's." His smile was just as suggestive, and while the line seemed to be thrown out to the group in general, no one missed the way he glanced at Husk.

Husk himself gave a slight roll of his eyes in response, but it didn't appear any more gruff then Angel's comment was overtly pushy. If Lucifer wasn't mistaken, he would have said both of their expressions looked fond.

Lucifer tracked the progress of the hat as it made its way around the room, coming to Niffty. Her grin widened and her little hands twitched. "Ooooo. This could use a little polishing." Her single eye peered up at Lucifer from across the room, as she near vibrated with glee. "You don't mind if I polish this do you?"

"Um--" Lucifer's own hands twitch with the sudden need to retrieve his hat and wait. Was she removing one of the strands of his hair caught in the hat and pocketing it??

"Nonesense, Niffty." Alastor's near drawl put an end to her manic episode with ease, his hand coming down to pat her head as if she were a mere child. She certainly smiled up at him as innocently as one as she snagged her paper and held the hat up for him. "I'm sure he keeps all of his possessions nice and clean."

Damn right, he did. So what if he cheated a bit and used magic to do so. The end result was all that mattered.

Alastor gave her one last pat on the head, before locking eyes with his king. Never breaking eye co tact, Alastor placed a single hand under the top of the hat, his smile smug and something close to victorious as he took possession of it, however briefly.

(The image rose in Lucifer's mind, sudden and unbidden, the whisper of a warning, of this sinner wearing the hat - the crown - as if he were born to it. His shadows dark around him, eyes and teeth alight with sinister power.)

Lucifer shuddered. He blinked hard to dispell the vision.

Alastor's smile was all teeth as he plucked out a name. Not even remotely pretending to be pious, he held the hat out to Lucifer. "Your hat, your Majesty."

Lucifier was almost loathe to take anything from the Alastor, his own hat or not. Narrowing his eyes, it was only his promise to Charlie that held his tongue for him (and judging from the little shit's expression, he knew it). Lucifier near puffed himself up, his own smile gracious and over-the-top as he snatched the hat, aggressively pulling the final slip of paper from the hat. He held the smile as he placed his crown back where it belonged, the motion finally chasing away the last of the unease from the vision.

Everyone had either already opened their paper or were in the process of doing so. Lucifier felt it was like being the first to blink - breaking eye contact - but his self confidence wasn't quite so low he couldn't let Alastor have this one. He looked down at his paper, opened it up, and then felt his stomach drop.

Sitting their in his daughter's handwriting, innocent and damning all the same, was the name:

Alastor.

Somewhere, his father was laughing at him, pettily and pitilessly. He could almost hear it all the way down there in Hell.

Lucifer balled the paper up into a fist, eye twitching. He could feel Alastor watching him intently, but he refused to give anything else away. Ignoring the sinner felt like pulling a tooth, but he did it anyway, focusing on Charlie.

"Great! Now that everyone has their name, we can start. I'll go first and the person I have will go next and so forth!" She held up her paper for them to read the name. The hotel's oldest guest's name stared back at them. She turned to him. "Angel, I just want to say how proud I am of you and your progress! We've even found fewer stashes lately!"

Angel leaned on the hand he had braced on the bar, his expression near screaming he thought Charlie was adorable in a way that Lucifer could almost see Charlie suddenly questioning if they were finding less stashes lately because Angel had actually been using less or if he was getting better at hiding them. Just as equally visibly, she shook her head to banish the thoughts as if she found them too mean to think before standing resolute by her statement.

Angel wasn't the only one looking at her like they thought she was just too adorable at that point.

His daughter really was too good for this place.

Still, Angel seemed to soak up the positive feedback, something a little more genuine to the playful smile he turned on the bartender. His little paper read, Husk.

Huh, so his name was Husk? But Lucifer thought he'd heard--

Eh, it was a mystery for another day.

Lucifer tuned back in to Angel saying, "You already know you're my favorite person. You always know just what I need after a long day of work."

As if feeling the awkward tension rising from the rest of the group (curiously, all Husk gave was a grunt, and a highly tolerant one at that), Angel shot a coy look over his shoulder at his audience. "All I meant was a good drink. What did you think I meant?"

Charlie clapped her hands together, shaking off whatever just happened there. "Ooookay! Husk! Why don't you go next?"

Husk didn't look thrilled to have been roped into all of this, but he also have the look of someone who had long ago learned it wasn't worth fighting it. He held up his note, which had Niffty's name on it. "Thanks for keeping the bug population down," he rumbled, just this side of sincere.

Niffty was pleased with it either way. She turned on Vaggie (Maggie?) without bothering to pull out her slip. "I really like your room. It has all the mother bugs in it. I thought they could hide from me, but I found them anyway." She cackled, a kitchen knife appearing in her hand seemingly out of nowhere.

"Thaaaanks..." Vaggie's eye twitched as she reached over and plucked the sharp object out of the maid's hand. It disappeared onto her person, likely wherever she hid her spear. Dangerous object temporarily no longer a danger, she held up her paper. Lucifer, it read.

The devil in question felt a small spike of anxiety. He knew what his reputation was like and how it was perceived in Hell and on Earth. He may have ignored it at the time, but he hadn't failed to hear what Adam had spat at him.

The Most Hated Being in All of Creation.

Vaggie, an angel herself, would have heard all the same spew of lies and truths. He didn't think she thought of him that way, but as Charlie's partner, her opinion actually mattered to him.

As if reading his thoughts (and who knew, maybe she could, he was aware of how expressive he was), her sharper edges softened a bit. "I, uh, I'm glad you're not as terrible as they said you are," she offered, looking away.

Lucifer blinked, refusing to admit there might be tears at the corners of his eyes.

He really, really needed to learn her name. Number one goal after this.

Charlie hugged Vaggie, singer her praises. Vaggie played it off that she wasn't moved by them, but one had to be blind not to see how she melted into her girlfriend's arms.

Caught up in the moment, Lucifer could almost forget that it was his turn. And that meant he'd have to say something - ugh - nice to a certain Hellian. He wanted to live in this nice little bubble for a moment.

Sadly, Charlie herself burst it, turning to her father expectantly.

Oh. Oh, how he really didn't want to do this. It didn't help that when he turned to Alastor, the Radio Demon already knew who he'd gotten.

One day. One day, Lucifer was going to wipe that grin off his face. He could be patient.

He could.

Alastor watched him, waiting to see what he'd come up with. Perhaps still waiting to see if he'd make a fool of himself.

Lucifer forced down the irritation, the anger. Felt his muscles loosen. It made it easier to call up his own brand of charm - the same charm that lured not just Lilith but Eve in as well. (Had lured Adam in as well, but, well, that never made it in the history books.) He looked Alastor up and down, eyes half lidded and smile all teeth.

"With a voice like your's, I can see why they let you be a Radio Host." Lucifer's smile edged a touch bit more towards a grin at the way Alastor's eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise. On a bit of a high from catching him off guard, the little king reached up for his hat, pulling it off with a flourish. He gave his head a slight shake, as a pair of dear ears - blond, like his hair - appeared on top of his head. A movement off to his left caused them to twitch towards the sound before moving back to face forward. "The ears are cute, too."

This was not the first time he had mimicked someone. He'd become a small, yellow version of Ozzie during performances at the House of Asmodeus. He'd fashioned himself white and red wings like Bee's on the occasional party of hers that he had attended.

The times he'd mimicked Lilith... well, he'd leave that one to the imagination.

Alastor?

Alastor didn't respond. At all. He might as well have been made of stone.

Alastor continued to not respond long enough that Lucier was genuinely worried he might have pushed too hard.

For a split second, between one blink to the next, the Radio Demon's eyes flickered with dials. Something unnerving flickered behind that gaze that set alarm bells off in even the King of Hell's brain.

Slowly, as if it were being drawn up by a puppeteers' string, a single one of Alastor's hands rose up. His eyes locked and his own ears - and how had he not known they were ears? - trained forward as all of his attention remained on the ears on Lucifer's head. Claws sharp enough to go straight through metal like tissue paper ran lightly down one of the blond ears.

Startled, Lucifer lost the concentration needed to hold their shape, ears disappearing.

Alastors' fingers withdrew and if Lucifer didn't know any better, he'd say that was disappointment on Alastor's face. "A shame," he said wistfully. "You look good with them."

Lucifier stared, heat rising to his cheeks and it took ever ounce of self control not to leap across the room.

Alastor, as if nothing had just happened, turned to Charlie. Lucifier didn't hear what he said (it made Charlie happy, whatever it was), something between heat and a chill running down his spine as he worked out what he'd seen.

He knew why it had never occurred to him Alastor was a deer. That look had been hunger. A wendigo's hunger, famished and bottomless.

And, maybe, just maybe, an altogether different type of hunger.

Oh, he was absolutely was never using those ears again.

Tbc

Part 3

[charlietheepicwriter7]

“Psst! Old Geezer!”

“The fuck did you just call me–!” Dick Grayson was a lot of things–cop, detective, vigilante, handsome beyond mortal comprehension–but he wasn’t old! Twenty-three was not old! When he got his hands on that brat– “Oh, it’s you. You need to knock it off, kid.”

The kid in question had become something of a legend to the Central Bloodhaven Police Department. Detective O’Mallery had dubbed the kid “Stalky,” but Dick thought Lurky was a more accurate name; the kid lurked outside murder scenes, often showing up before the press… and sometimes, before the cops. Lurky was a short kid, easily half Dick’s height, and pale. He practically glowed, lighting up the alley Dick was guarding. He wore a black overcoat that swamped his tiny body, with the sleeves and hem cut to fit the child’s frame and a stiff gothic collar that reached his ears. Lurky’s black hair and blue eyes uncomfortably reminded Dick of—

“Nah, i don’t think i will,” the kid dismissed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “‘Sides, you can’t do anything to stop me.”

“I can arrest you,” Dick said, completely serious. “You’re interfering with a crime scene, again. I’d be well within my rights to do so.” The kid looked unimpressed. 

“Okay, boomer.”

Dick resisted the urge to murder a child. Barely. 

“Besides,” Lurky continued, “I just wanted to do my civic duty and inform you of the bloody knife three alleys over. Pretty sure it could help solve the crime scene there.” He gestured towards the apartment building behind Dick. “Andrew Grant-Williams, age 36, apartment 214. Right?”

“How the hell did you know that?”

“What, that thing with the knife? I looked for it, obviously.”

“No, about the suspect!” Dick glared at Lurky. “There’s no way you could have pinpointed who in the apartment died; did you steal a police radio!?” If he did, then Dick would actually have to arrest the kid. 

“No, I didn’t steal a police radio. Yet.” Dick tried really hard to ignore that last part. He’d done far worse things as Robin, after all. “His wife told me.”

Andrew Grant’s wife, Patrisa, died four years ago in a mugging gone wrong. Before Dick could question Lurky further, Dick blinked and Lurky vanished just like Batman. 

Even worse? Dick bothered checking the dumpster three alleys over and found, underneath a bag of kitchen scraps, a hunting knife, still bloody. 

[anakirui]

hot take ??

the only reason people say that "mafuyu and tsukasa have nothing in common" when presented with mafukasa parallels is because they equate mafuyu and tsukasa being similar to "tsukasa has depression" because the fandom equates mafuyu's personality to being depressed and nothing else.

it doesn't help that people (primarily younger people in the fandom) who DO believe in mafukasa parallels end up making the mistake of portraying tsukasa as depressed because as of right now he is not (although it's possible he was in past because of his Very Unclear Middle School Backstory but that's irrelevant)

anyways, mafuyu and tsukasa are narrative foils because their core personalities are built off of the concept of wanting to make the people around them— especially their families— happy.

they both developed personalities at a young age based on someone they looked up to. for tsukasa, it was seiichi amami's performance that inspired him to be a star— a hero that could cheer anyone up. for mafuyu, it was her mother taking care of her that inspired her to be a nurse— and you can see the similarities from there.

for mafuyu, her identity would first come into conflict when her mother expressed her want for mafuyu to be a doctor— suddenly, "everyone's" happiness didn't match what she wanted to do, leaving her in a state of disorder and eventual depression.

for tsukasa, his identity was something he nearly forgot in its entirety at the start of the main story— becoming arrogant and fully absorbed in a hero persona, forgetting the kind person he truly is. furthermore, his current character arc seems to be foreshadowing that what "being a star" to him is going to be called into question— maybe it is something more than just being the main character that saves everyone.

their insecurities are incredibly similar.

in mafuyu's first mixed, mafuyu feels insecure towards ichika because unlike ichika, she feels as if her lyrics have no genuine meaning to be expressed to other people— despite them being her very real feelings. this is brought up again in her second mixed as well.

in tsukasa's third focus event, something similar happens. when watching seiichi's performance, he thinks that his acting is "real" and feels inferior towards him, which is ironic because tsukasa has been method acting this whole time. when tsukasa is acting out rio or bartlett or really anyone at this point in the story, it's not just those characters— it's a reflection of his traumas.

just like mafuyu, tsukasa undermines his passions he's poured his feelings into because someone else's work is more genuine in his eyes.

now, then, foils have many similarities and parallels (and i could honestly list a lot more), but how i define them is that they usually have some kind of major branching difference that MAKES them foils.

for mafuyu and tsukasa it's pretty straightforward.

mafuyu's people pleasing behavior comes from external expectations and pressures— her mother's demands.

tsukasa's people pleasing behavior comes internally, from himself— if he can't meet his own standards, if he can't be the perfect big brother or the perfect star, then he is nothing.

and even then, there's some overlap.

tsukasa's behavior was indirectly encouraged by his mother praising him for being a "good big brother" over the phone instead of asking him if he was okay while home alone.

mafuyu's terrified to be herself around other people because she doesn't want to worry or bother them— she doesn't want to be a burden— and projects her mother's expectations onto them, not realizing that they would prefer the real mafuyu if they knew the truth.

and the concept of mafukasa being foils is most perfectly and blatantly portrayed in these two cards.

mafuyu, the marionette, sitting limp on the floor— puppeteered by her mother's demands and donning a mask to hide her true self.

tsukasa, the jester, standing above everything else— puppeteering silenced plushies— his feelings. he's not being completely honest with himself, and he doesn't even realize it.

mafuyu has cut her strings and ripped her mask in half. she has acknowledged her true feelings and expressed them to her mother, even if she had to run away in the end.

tsukasa has not yet cut his.

[noodles-and-tea]

I doth declare that I miss the Losers Club! Mayest I have some art of them from thee? :3

(I adore the Losers, can you please draw them if you have any time? No pressure!)

I know it’s only 2/7 but I hope it’ll do for now!!

[purgetrooperfox]

tired: fox has never done anything wrong in his life he was under control of the chip he didn't mean to kill fives he would never do that

wired: fox was being deliberately, continuously manipulated by palpatine into doing anything he wanted under threat of severe bodily harm, no chip necessary

inspired: fox is a product of brainwashing and genuinely believes in the senate and the republic, which is in constant conflict with the rhetoric he hears from politicians and his general dislike of senators, but that conflict is ultimately irrelevant. he believes in the institution with his entire self. he was born to die for this system and would lose his shit if he started questioning it in any meaningful way. The Institution told him to kill fives so he killed fives, it told him to hunt down ahsoka so he did it, etc etc. conviction that this is all worth it because the republic Can Only Be Right (or else his entire existence and everything the guard puts up with are meaningless) is what gets his ass out of bed in the morning. he'll do terrible things to protect it, and by extension his sense of self, and he won't apologize for it because it's categorically Right in his brain. none of this changes the fact that he's routinely abused by this system, or the fact that he's enslaved by it, or that he has no real choice in anything, only how he personally reconciles it all

send tweet

[nebuladreamz]

A little different than last year's, but here we are again. To say that this past year hasn't been absolutely wild would be a lie, cause HOLY SHIT MAN

This year's birthday is. A little different for me, but you already have the silly comic to show that so I won't make like a broken record oops

But, despite the changes and hills that life's decided I should climb or throw at, it hasn't changed the fact that I'm so genuinely fucking thankful to the people that I've known since joining this fandom. I'm not even kidding when I say that being here has actually changed my life for the better. I know I said something similar last year, but this time, hoo boy it sure turned up the AMP and test how far I could go.

So, to everyone, both new and old; thank you for being here :D

@garbagechocolate @darkxsoulzyx @smoljeanius @bunmuffin @skizabaa

@tuzesdays @sleepykas @fernzwing @kandidandi @starsketchez

@just-a-drawing-bean @notdysfunk @ilsole @amberluvsbugs @cloudyvoid

@nomsthecat @alfinefalf @nosleepygay @theblog-with-thestuff

@cacaocheri

(Edit: ty kibbits for informing me of the. Fuck ass tagging system)

AND TAGGING OTHERS BECAUSE. POINTS. BONKS WITH HEAD. GETTING TO EITHER INTERACT OR TALK OR WHATEVER IS ALWAYS A DELIGHT

@ohno-the-sun @kibbits @ink-yy @saltyfryz @kaprisvn

@hierba-picante @sunny-sophies-garden @cookiiemancer @sneeblbop @justaduckarts

@pepethehumanz @crystalmagpie447 @woolysstuff @mocha-illustrates @duhsty1

@sanchensky @pillowspace @victarin @witherfide

[I DEFINITELY GOT SONAS WRONG AND THESE AREN'T ALL THE SILLY PEOPLE I KNOW BUT IM SITTING HERE AT 2:30 IN THE MORNING JUST KNOW YOU'RE THERE IN SPIRIT HANDING YOU ALL POPTARTS WAUGH]

[daily-odile]

1,,,, 100 days,,,,,,,,, and 800 followers,,,,,,,,,,,,,

From the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[apprentice-s]

i can feel your energy from a mile away (1/3)

[erinwantstowrite]

personally i think the trope of "said something i wasn't supposed to while high on pain meds at the hospital" only works if it's smth actually incomprehensible. down with this trope. that and the whole "speaking out loud but the narrator doesn't know they are" trope. you should legally have to tag that i think. i know this usually happens for characters that would never admit something otherwise but actually there are a billion reasons someone would admit something they wouldn't otherwise. for example: someone else has a bomb-

[coquelicoq]

what i like especially about the pronouns in the goblin emperor is that this language doesn't just have the T-V distinction (aka informal vs. formal second-person pronouns, in this case 'thou' vs. 'you'), it also has informal and formal first-person pronouns. having BOTH of these distinctions in the same language lets you fine-tune your tone by mixing and matching. with only one axis of formality, when you use informal pronouns, are you being familiar in an intimate way, or in an insolent or dismissive way? when you use formal pronouns, are you being polite or standoffish? you can't tell just from the pronouns; there's ambiguity. but a language where you can use a formal first-person pronoun in the same sentence as an informal second-person pronoun allows you to distance yourself (via the formal first) while also being familiar (via the informal second), thereby achieving the conversational tenor known to linguists as Fuck Thee Specifically.

[breadandblankets]

what if because of future vision and how Duke processes light he has like elf eyes for space

when Duke looks up at the night sky he doesn't see what anyone else sees, the glowing ghosts of stars long since dead hidden amongst the living, he sees the stars as they are Right Now

[subtle-as-an-earthquake]

"Well, we were kissing, it was secret..."

[betterthanbatman1]

Can anyone tell me where this is from?? pls pls

[turtleblogatlast]

The fact that Leo can go literally anywhere on earth to be alone with his thoughts at a single moment’s notice is something that shakes around in my head all the time. Like, portals and teleportation are amazing and convenient abilities both in and out of battle, but they could also so easily be used to run away as well.

I don’t think Leo ever would, at least not most of the time. He loves his family too much, and is too dependent on their love and attention to cut himself off so suddenly like that, but it’s a very real possibility nonetheless.

It’s a good thing Leo’s overall temper is more on the mild side and he prefers going to his room or something to complete solitude, because it really is dangerous for a kid to have the ability to isolate themselves like that at their fingertips.

[hypewinter]

His senses were dull and his limbs felt numb. As he dimly heard a hissing sound, Danny tumbled out of a pod. He barely had time to catch himself on his hands and knees as he fell to the floor.

"He isn't ready. This plan will fail," he distantly heard a voice say. "We should at least age him up all the way to cause more confusion."

"No," another voice retorted. "If he is too old they will immediately suspect something is amiss. This will cause reasonable confusion. Enough to have the birds running around as we slowly regain control of the city."

What? Who were these people? What was going on? Danny tried to stand or at the very least look up to catch a glimpse of some faces but his body refused to cooperate. It was evidently too busy feeling like jello.

The first voice clicked their tongue in disapproval. "Very well, if you insist," they relented. "You there," they said, apparently talking to someone else now. "Bring him."

Danny heard footsteps recede. At the same time, he was roughly grabbed and thrown over a shoulder. Well this reincarnation is off to a great start, he thought sarcastically as he was carried who knows where. Something told him this was somehow Clockwork's fault. It just had to be.

----

Around the time Bruce is presumed dead, the Court of Owls unleashes a clone onto Gotham so they can take back over without anyone getting in their way. This unfortunately coincides with Danny deciding to give reincarnated a try. Shenanigans ensue.

[kikker-oma]

Poor Four, he really has no idea what's happening to him 🥺