#perhaps a bit impractical but i think it’s very fun

[meebles]

i keep seeing those “living weapon as a form of intimacy and trust” posts and now i’m thinking about an AU where jedi can literally turn themselves into lightsabers

some jedi prefer to work as weapon-pairs, some don’t, and they likely all still build their own material lightsabers— but they also all at least learn the transformation technique to use in desperate situations…

…such as obi-wan, held captive with cody sometime during the war, turning himself into a lightsaber for cody to wield and free the both of them

they work together extremely well— for cody, no other weapon has ever felt so natural to use, and perhaps obi-wan has never personally been all that fond of working as a weapon-pair until now— that it only makes sense for them to continue training together

[izzystizzys]

“ - but have you ever considered, I don’t know, not sucking all the time? Just a thought.”

It takes the combined grips of Nuisance and Hound to keep the wriggling, snarling body beneath Fox from throwing him off its back. With three years’ practice of having to fix his own rickety desk chair over and over again, the movement merely ruffles the proverbial fringe on his helmet.

“And I don’t mean that as an insult, necessarily. Well, I do a little bit. But also I have some amount of empathy for the no doubt immense amounts of trauma that had to go into the creation of something so dysfunctional as you, on a very personal level, so have you considered going to the root of that in a way that’s like… useful? Instead of wasting it all on kriffing Kenobi, I mean. Look at the guy. All he does all day is drink tea and commit warcrimes. I bet he knits for fun. Bit of an embarrassing nemesis, don’t you think?”

“I”, says Kenobi, then pauses. The space between his eyebrows is creased with uncertainty, and he looks deeply torn between continuing rocking the shaking Duchess of Mandalore against his chest from his corner of the throne room and re-activating his lightsaber to continue losing his fight against the Darksider Fox is currently sitting on. “I feel like I should object to some part of that, but I’m not entirely clear on what. Or how this happened, again. Isn’t Mandalore a few star systems from your purview, Commander?”

“Probably the warcrimes”, mutters Nuisance underneath his strained breath.

“About as far from my supposed assignment as yours, General”, says Fox a little louder.

Kenobi twitches. Fox cannot claim to know which of them does it. Both, maybe. Probably.

“I will - taste - your - flesh!”, heaves out Darth Maul, snarling and hissing.

“Oooh, kinky!”, calls Grids, from the corner where she’s got her stun-setting aimed at the other Zabrak, currently passed out cold. Fox sighs deeply. He knew he shouldn’t have taken those three - any combination of Grids, Hound and Nuisance in a room together usually spelled chaos.

Unfortunately, it also spelled competence. The Basic alphabet can be funny that way.

The point being: as of some months into the war, one of Fox’s assigned tasks is the surveillance of all GAR-wide communication. All command-class staff theoretically got that memo, but no one seems to have read the fine print where that includes both professional and personal communication, as well as any and all comm devices registered or suspected to be registered to that person. Especially not one Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala.

The point further being, if that sounds both immensely impractical and sort of terrifying in a democratic supposedly non-surveillance state, you’d be bang on the credits, and to Fox’ eternal chagrin the singular person in this whole useless army who’s spent the second of thinking necessary for that conclusion.

The final point being, when one frantic General’s mad dash across the Galaxy to rescue his teenage sweetheart from the spectre of his supposedly dead nemesis crosses his desk on its way to the Chancellor’s inbox, it doesn’t take much time for him to block any and all trace of it across the digital space of the GAR commboard and take matters into his own hands.

“ - which is why I told Thorn to suck it up and be in charge for a few days, and also why you’re still alive, your Highness, very welcome, was no trouble at all”, he concludes, drily. The Duchess stares the wide-eyed look of someone attempting to reconcile clones with ‘sentience’ or perhaps ‘personality’ in her head, but won’t say it outright.

Or the look of someone who’s just been violently overthrown and nearly murdered, perhaps, Fox allows.

“Um -“, Kenobi hedges, blinking rapidly.

“And the reason you’re still alive, probably. You’re welcome for that too, by the way”, Grids calls from the back of the throne room, cheekily.

“Alright”, says Kenobi, loudly. There’s color back in his deathly-pale cheeks, Fox notes, even if that color is a lot of red. It doesn’t fade very gracefully into his beard. “Opinions on whether or not I had everything under control notwithstanding -“

“You really didn’t”, Hound supplies helpfully.

“ - opinions notwithstanding, I am admittedly still lost on why you’re now sitting on Darth Maul and attempting to, to - jeer at him, Marshall Commander!”

“We’re not jeering, we’re trying to create a safe space and lay the groundwork for more open communication”, Fox says, primly.

Maul screams into the ground, attempting for the umpteenth time to rear up and visit great violence upon Fox, which admittedly has him rattling in his crosslegged seat atop his back.

Kenobi raises a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Safe space?”

“He’s restrained and not stabbing anyone, I personally feel much safer than before”, Grids muses. “Watch the teeth though, Hound. Little biter.”

Indeed. Fox’s right greave will have to be replaced posthaste.

“And anyways, the point isn’t to jeer at him, it’s to make clear that he’s focusing his energy in the wrong places and could be doing much better things with his admittedly not-great life”, Fox adds, shifting to cast a pointed look down at Maul. The Sith is panting open-mouthed into the durasteel floor, sharp teeth gnashing wildly as his piercing yellow eyes shine with barely restrained rage. “I’m just saying - aim higher. You aren’t seeing the forest for the Kenobis, Maul. Can I call you Maul?”

“I will feed you your own entrails”, yowls Maul.

“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. Right now, I’m an easy target to focus all that built-up rage on, but is killing me really going to help you achieve any of your goals? No! Think about it - when it all comes down to it, who sent you on that mission to Naboo in the first place? Who made sure the Jedi and, by extension, Kenobi would be there to kill you? Who used you as a dejarik piece and then cast you aside the second you outlived your usefulness?”

Beneath him, Maul slowly stills in his struggle, still panting heavily. Hound and Nuisance don’t let it deter them in their vigilance, because they’re damn good vod’e and possess an ounce of common sense.

“And, look, I get it. I could spend the rest of my life punching every civilian who spits on me in the streets and it would even be satisfying. I could hit back the Senators who think of clones as easy targets. Or - I can aim my sights at who’s on top. And I think you know who I mean, because you know as well as I do the same damn man has ruined both our lives.”

Kenobi makes an alarmed noise, and Maul an interested one - not that Fox is going to let him walk out of this place awake. Still, he tilts his head in a way he hopes conveys his helmeted grin successfully to non-vod, as well as the bloodlust behind it. “You’re also welcome for the fact that the Chancellor won’t have heard of your spontaneous resurrection yet, by the way. You’ll retain your element of surprise instead of gambling it away on petty revenge on Kenobi.”

“He cut me in half!”

“He killed my master!”

Fox waves their protests away.

“Also, that’s treason!”, Kenobi adds, sputtering. Fox grins. Kenobi purses his lips, and continues. petulantly, “…do you have any proof?”

“So. Much. Proof”, says Nuisance, dreamily. “Like, do you want it alphabetically or by date?”

Which is when the Duchess, of all people, bursts out into barking, crazed laughter.

“You - you’ve certainly given yourself an edge in that fight, Marshall Commander”, she wheezes, brushing tears from her eyes. Fox raises his eyebrows at her, which she somehow seems to be able to tell, because she gestures at the clunky handle dangling from his belt.

“What, this old thing?” He unclasps the black rectangle from its hook, holding it up in the air. Maul stills strangely beneath him, and Kenobi goes ghostly pale again. Fox is starting to get a bad feeling.

“I took it off Viszla and beat him over the head with it. I figured he’d taken it off a Jedi cadet or something. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

[sgiandubh]

He's been in Los Angeles since Tuesday. Work friend saw him in Malubu Tuesday night. She said he was with a couple people no mention of Caitriona.

Dear Tuesday Anon,

I am sorry to pop your balloon here, but I'd be reserved on this. It could fit, but barely.

You all know I am terrible with timelines, but here is my take on things:

Sunday 28th, red carpet in Ostende, Belgium. Afterparty, etc. Perhaps not the best idea to pop in a car all'alba/at daybreak for an almost 5 hour ride to Paris.

Monday 29th, not much. We can speculate, but I would need an Advil. Most probably on this way to Paris. I doubt the Eurostar (the train formerly known as Thalys) was worth a Brussels detour and, while they used to have an Ostende-Paris direct link, it was dropped off around 2015. Why take a 90 minutes' detour (119 km!) to get to the Bruxelles Midi Train Station and hop on the Paris direct Eurostar link for the 90 minute ride, when you could only add (roughly) an hour by car and leave directly from Ostende?

I am immediately having visions of the horrendously impractical hullaballoo at Bruxelles Midi and to me, it's a firm no. @margareth-lv 's guess of a direct car trip is the most logical one and I am sticking with it. Paris pic was posted on Wednesday morning and he was staying at the Hôtel Lutétia, as I heavily hinted in my post (it used to be the Nazi Abwehr/Military Intelligence HQ during World War II). Probably one of the corner suites (angle of rue de Sèvres and Boulevard Raspail), hotel has a very good seafood restaurant, too.

Everything fits: the outside view, the reel/story angle. On my screenshot, x marks the spot on the map and the arrow, the outside view of the corner suites. I should know, it was my playground, many moons ago:

It is possible the reel was taken Monday evening upon arrival, but for being intimately familiar with Parisian nights, my best bet is on Tuesday morning, very early (jogging? leaving?). Just an intuition, and I could be wrong and I am ready to correct and edit, as we go.

We then assume a direct CDG-LAX flight. Since it's not possible to check past flight schedules, we work with a random February Tuesday. First and Business class yield different results (Shipper Mum, a former airline executive, helped me with those over the phone: hi, mum!).

Traveling First Class (very possible, damn expensive, but money is no object and Frequent Flyer mileage - always redeemable):

Traveling Business Class (reasonably possible and two more options):

Factoring in arrival/border/luggage procedures and city/airport, then airport/city transfers, it's not impossible, but to any normal human being who was Batman only on stage (even very fit)... a bit of a stretch.

This is my take on your info. Please don't take it personally (or at least try). I simply think he might have arrived in LA yesterday, Thursday, when the Los Feliz pic was taken, with his luggage in tow.

But you know what, Tuesday Anon? One thing I am sure of, is that this is exactly what he wants us to do, right now. Cue in the Yellow Ski Outfitgate, for fun. Schuss on top - that was a blatant von Trapp latergram and my mind immediately pictured a sidesmile.

At any rate, don't be a stranger. I answered you with all the care and caution in the world. And thank you, whoever you are. It was a fun phone call to Bucharest and Mom, who is laughing like a drain and told me I was probably bonkers.

[rachelsshowerthoughts]

I had the most hilarious Aware AU thoughts:

OK, so everything leading up to Origins is the same as discussed.

When Adrien stops to help Fu he's almost caught but Chloe was waiting outside & jumped in when Nathalie showed up and made a sufficient enough spectacle that Sabrina could grab Adrien and they bolt into the school.

Argument over seats ensues, Adrien & Nino making tentative friends.

Kagami is probably around but maybe not in this class. Gabriel is irritated but also figures that an Akuma attack is a good reason to force Adrien out of going to school & keeps Nathalie waiting. So he can't even head out to the arcade across the street.

This is all a big red flag to Nino when he hears & sees that yes, Adrien's bodyguard & his fathers assistant have basically parked outside the school to obsessively watch them all day.

Stuff happens, Ivan becomes an Akuma & in the chaos Adrien, Chloe & maybe Sabrina, grudgingly agree to go to the Agreste Mansion cos it is at least very heavily fortified. Minor argument with Nathalie but time is dead bodies with a giant rock monster around.

Anyway this means Adrien has company when he finds Plagg.

Fortunately the Kwami of Destruction is all in favor of teenage rebellion "Fuck yeah, stick it to the old people!" & has no issue ignoring that Chloe knows Adrien's identity, though they do work to cover it up a little bit when needed.

But, but, but, here's the fun part.

Chloe also becomes Chat Noir.

Not all the time but when its impractical for Adrien to do it she dons the ring. Both already having many aesthetic commonalities and a familiarity with each others personalities, the way the Glamour works & mild physical form changes when transforming and... No one notices, not even Fu!

Also both flirt with Ladybug, a lot.

This also helps keep a bit of a divide going once Fu is discovered, because Adrien shares details on the book with at least her, or potentially the entire "Shitty parents club". & this leads to knowing about Fu earlier and a more contentious relationship.

IE, he wants to take Plagg back, Plagg does not want to go back, they do not want Plagg to go back & they have enough information to make Fu's entire operation very fucking difficult.

Also the book may be found or stolen earlier.

Like Bubbler is a great time/excuse to trash the mansion for funsies ya know?

Obviously Marinette is not a fan of this whole... Everything, even if she doesn't get all the details or learn IDs, she respects authority figures and seniors, & though she might not want to lose Chat she doesn't think turning it into a contest of wills is the "Right" way to fix things.

Also I think Kagami might be Marinette's first pick for an extra ally which might happen sooner as Fu would want someone else more in line with his thinking on side.

This isn't a dig at Alya, but in Aware Marinette as technically known Kagami longer. Sees her as very respectful & dutiful, and has 100% seen her bravely try to throw down with Akuma to keep people safe.

Meanwhile the bee, or perhaps snake or tiger can still end up lost XD

Chat: Me, knowing the location of the Miraculous no one told me was missing? Its less likely than you think! Also Chat: Hey, new hero, we should definitely 100% accept this person & not question their identity!

One big difference between Fu & the other shitty adults, is that he's much more like Roger. IE, he is trying to do the right thing, genuinely does not want to bring anyone pain. He is just intensely paranoid & overly cautious tot he point where it can become harmful.

So, first of all, this is hilarious to me. Yes, absolutely, all of this.

second, I see your "Kagami is chosen by Marinette first", and raise you "As a body double". Like, I think part of why Alya gets picked to be the Fox was proximity - the Akuma was her little sisters, it was the middle of the night, she's already aware of the situation, Marinette trusts her and needs a teammate, boom, Alya gets to be the Fox. However, for Kagami, you're right, she does know her longer here, so probably trusts her more. So, I suggest learning about the "Cat Siblings" (this is Marinette's best guess, if she doesn’t have their identities, that the Chat Noir duo are siblings) gives Marinette ideas. Like, yes, Fu is clearly against it, but part of Marinette probably thinks "dammit, that’s such a good system, though!". How many times has she been screwed over because she had to be Ladybug, and completely fucked up her schedule? There being TWO people to be Cat Noir, while not ideal, is still better for Cat Noir in general. Not that Marinette would EVER do something like that, once the Guardian makes his stance clear! Oh no, absolutely not!

Which, uh, doesn’t mean she hasn’t THOUGHT about someone else to let borrow the earrings in an emergency, OR that she hasn’t thought about Kagami specifically, OR that she hasn’t quietly discussed it with Tikki (in hypotheticals) what to do if she's taken out! So (my best guess for what happens) when Marinette comes down with a particularly nasty flu, and can't even stand up without feeling dizzy, she actually doesn’t think that long before calling up Kagami, like, "uh, hey, weird question, do you think you could take over being Ladybug for me? I can taste colours, and not in the fun way."

Of course, Kagami does it, and because she's VERY different from Marinette (personality-wise) while the public is fooled thanks to the Glamour, Cat Noir is "uh, excuse me? Who are you???", and Kagami has to awkwardly explain that your regularly scheduled Ladybug currently has a fever of one hundred and four, and can't really leave the bathroom right now, so she's filling in. After it’s all over, she quickly leaves to give Marinette the earrings back (maybe drop off some medicine?), and Cat Noir(e) is left feeling, like, "ha, maybe the old man will get off our backs now, Ladybug clearly agrees with us!"

Which. Uh. Yeah, no, that doesn’t really happen. Maybe Ladybug's just better at explaining it, (or Fu is just a little prejudiced against the Cat in particular, I imagine the Order weren’t Plagg’s biggest fans, Fu probably internalized a lot of their shit), but he's . . . not OKAY with Ladybug sharing her ID and position with another person, but much more understanding. If Marinette was really that sick, then going out as Ladybug would have been seriously detrimental to both her and the fight against Hawk Moth. And there NEEDS to be a Ladybug in every fight, to purify the Akuma. Yes, Fu would rather she hadn’t done it, but it was clearly the right decision at the time, so Fu will trust Marinette on this. He still doesn’t recommend doing it too often, but a back up Ladybug is clearly a good idea.

Well, this means that Back Up Cat is good too, right? Nope! Still salty about them, still thinks one of them should knock it off, still thinks he should take the Miraculous back!

Yeah, you can imagine how this is going down with the Cat Noir(e) Duo. ESPECIALLY because this is the Aware Kids. It’s every instance of favouritism, of "unexceptional", of "not good enough". Congrats Fu, you just got knocked into "Adults we DO NOT trust"! You already had a foothold, now you get a proper seat!

On the flip side, I see this as where Marinette starts questioning Fu a little more. Because for all her black and white mentality, all her naïveté, the double-standard is GLARING. She's spent the past few months watching the battle of Wills that is Cat Noir(e) Vs Fu. She was expecting a HELL of a talking to once she wasn't throwing up her stomach. Instead, she gets mild disappointment at the SITUATION, general understanding, and even gets COMMENDED for her reasoning and quick reaction to the situation. Which makes her go "waitwait,wait, wait, hold the FUCK up", because what? What the HELL? Why is it ok if SHE does the thing that Fu's been railing against, but not Cat Noir(e)? Good grief, shouldn’t it have been a worse decision? The Cat Noir(e) Duo at least started at roughly the same time. They've been training and getting better alongside her. Now that Marinette's no longer fever-fogged, she's thinking it honestly would have made more sense to have Tikki take the earrings, and go find one of the duo to be a replacement Ladybug. They would have at least had some idea what they were doing! But no, instead she sent a friend, who had barely any idea, to do the job. And that's . . . . fine? What? And DON'T say it’s cause Ladybug needs to be there to purify the Akuma, Marinette knows she NEEDS back up! If anything, the Cat Noir(e) Duo was always kind of a comfort to her, cause she knew she was always likely to have SOMEONE there to support her. Fu so clearly showing favouritism is a hit to Marinette's view of all authority figures being kind and reasonable, making her start questioning him a bit more. Which, ya know, is probably needed.

On Fu himself, yes, he is very much like Roger. I'm not sure on how the particulars work out, since we have no idea what Roger's home life was like as a kid, but I've been operating under the adage "nothing exists in a vacuum". Roger didn’t spring forth fully formed with his opinions on "serving the public (toxic)", he had to learn that somewhere. Someone taught him those views, which he's passing onto Sabrina. And we SEE, at least partially, Fu getting taught his paranoia - if not from the Order itself, from the incident that took the Order away, which Fu probably feels a lot of guilt for. Which, as far as I can tell, he's managing by doubling down on the few teachings he had. Don’t give out IDs. Always put the Miraculous back in the box, don’t let them out. Don’t let the Kwami know any secrets.

Unfortunately, much like Roger, I feel like Fu also needs to see his stubbornness blow up in his face before he realizes he's fucking up.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

The beauty of Coven Evelynn's splash art (art by Alex "alexplank" Flores)

I have several friends who might have actually killed me if I didn’t include Coven Evelynn in my analysis of beautiful splash art, and I can’t say that they’re wrong. Well, I mean, they’d be wrong to kill me, but they’re not wrong that this splash belongs here.

This splash pulls the common trick of having the expression left in shadow to sharpen its intensity. And one of the very good decisions made in this splash is that Evelynn is not at all interested in you. She is casually caressing one of the demonic entities that act as her lashers, gazing off to the sice of her shoulder with a pensive, quiet expression, and a playful little smile curling her mouth, as though she’s thinking of something quietly pleasurable or fun, or anticipating something.

And if her face had been fully lit, would that expression feel as strong? I don’t think so - especially because… look at her eye. Look at that tiny twinkle of blood red peering out from beneath her heavy lids and immaculate lashes. That red works because it’s able to light up from within the shadow.

The light instead falls across the lower half of her face and across her chest, illuminating her shoulders and breasts and the gorgeous ornamentation she is wearing. And yes, certainly the light is also used to sexualize her, to draw your attention to her body, but that’s… appropriate for the character, Evelynn is an erotic character by nature and this entire image is erotic. Not pornographic, please don't demonetize me YouTube, but from the smoke curling softly away from her golden claws, to the naked shadow demons supplicating around her body, to the lashers wrapping around her arms, to her outfit, this image is about sensuousness. Sensation and feeling. 

So, the light draws your eye to her breasts, and then across the chest to the raised arm, whose brightly highlighted claws has you looking at the lasher. From there to that warm but disconcerting glow as they wrap around her arms, and then perhaps down to the shadow demon gently caressing Evelynn’s thigh.

The beauty here is all sensuous, it’s all sensation and feeling, it’s all imagining what being in this moment might be like, how it would feel to touch the feathery surface of the lashers, how sharp her claws must be scraping against their naked skulls, the touch of dancing shadows - what it might feel like to have someone like this look at you like that.

The Coven skins are based on high fashion, bringing that sense of utterly untouchable, unachievable glamor into a skin, and Evelynn is probably the very peak of that aesthetic approach. She is rendered here like a goddess, like a marble statue come to life. The deeply impractical outfit, with its curved metal detailing, and odd feather structure are expressions of Evelynn’s power - not in a sense of physical strength, but her power to mezmerize, to be beautiful beyond beauty, to present an impossible image. The eroticism is doing the same thing. If you are seduced by this, even a little bit, then she has you.

This is an image of beauty as lethality.

---

If you liked this, I have a full video essay on beauty in League of Legends splash art HERE.

[thats-it-im-fallingdown]

I’ve finally reached season 7 of the clone wars. it’s been an awesome ride! here are my thoughts as a first time watcher of all things prequel-era. after this, I’ll watch revenge of the sith (yes, for the first time. yes i live under a rock. no there is no room for anyone else. find your own.) and Star Wars rebels, and I’ll have finally watched all of the main Star Wars stuff!

Ahsoka’s walkabout arc

-i love the martez sisters. i have an older sister myself, and while our dynamic is pretty different, they didn’t do too bad at capturing the feel of sister duos.

-español subtitles, my beloved. it is so good to have you back in my arms after being without you for season 6. I missed you more than you will ever know. you may not be a perfect translation of the audio, but i love you flaws and all

-I’m definitely skewed from coming to this straight after crystal crisis on Utapau, but the animation is really improved. Rafa’s hair actually moves and people’s lips move more naturally.

-I’m glad that ahsoka left that tube top behind. i hated how impractical her clothes looked in the early seasons

-I’ve reblogged a post about this a bit ago, but i wanted to say this myself. the way the jedi have taken the reputation hit for the senate is interesting to see from the perspective of your average citizen of coruscant. To trace, the war is just life getting harder for her and her sister. she wants to escape to the stars— but that’s where the fighting is happening. and the burden of blame shouldn’t fall so heavily upon the jedi. the Jedi order and it’s principles are themselves victims of the war.

-seeing Bo katan make an appearance was surprising, but ig she had to come back in eventually

-ahsoka’s plan in the final episode was so satisfying to watch. usually saying one thing to an enemy and another to a friend dialogue is super obvious, but it was done well here imo

-how could maul almost see her through the hologram? usually you only see other people, not their surroundings on the other end

-it’s really unlikely, but perhaps leaving her bike with them means the martez sisters will make another appearance. star wars loves cameos, i think it’s reasonable for me to hold out hope

The bad batch story reels

-I’m fond of the design of Anaxes. crunchy, crunchy glass. and a sky so pretty it was hard to focus on the dogfighting

-the way the bad batch pointedly makes fun of “regs” is interesting to me. it isn’t super mean spirited, but it’s biting and frequent enough to make me wonder how clones are perceived by civilians, and how they see themselves. from the clone bar on coruscant, we know there’s some, though admittedly little (because wartime) interaction with civilians who aren’t inhabiting the planets they fight on. you know philosophers in the gffa would be having a field day with the ethics of cloning soldiers. see, there’s some things in this universe you have to write off because of context— like the padawans technically being child soldiers. we can write that off because it’s a show that includes children in its target audience, and kids deserve to see themselves going on adventures. but this isn’t the case with clones. pong krell, for one. the famous “we’re clones sir, we’re meant to be expendable” among other lines, make it clear the essential humanity (lack of a better word) of the clones is in question by the inhabitants of the in-universe. in a roundabout way, I’m suggesting it’s possible the bad batch’s jabs at “regs” come from a place insecurity about their own individuality as much as it does a reaction to being shunned for not fitting in with their brothers. since they’re mutated, different, they have biological proximity to naturally born people. they’re similar to their progenitor, jango fett, but very distinct in personality and appearance, like how I’m similar and distinct from my parents.

-man, i don’t get why people rag on mace windu so much. he’s a generally good dude and a cool character. he’s firmly lawful good, which can be boring when it’s played wrong. windu is not played wrong. his character works, and i like the episodes where he’s gotten more screen time, and this is one of them.

-no disrespect if you like them, but i am. not sold on the bad batch. maybe things are different in the bad batch show, but here, they don’t feel like complete characters. like, this is a fine foundation for a four (five after echo joins) man band, but you’ve got to put those guys back in the oven they aren’t done yet. as I’ve rambled about above, I’m not averse to the concept of mutated clones because there’s some really neat potential to explore how clones and non-clones view one another and each other. the 100% success rate thing is pretty corny even for Star Wars, but i also don’t think tbb undermines the regular clones individualities, provided there’s some follow up on that how-does-clone-prejudice-work thing. what i am averse to is changing their facial features (mainly tech, but also crosshair) to be more typically white, like thinner noses, in an attempt to make them more visually distinct. the other aspects of their designs, physical and character-wise, make them plenty distinct. let them look like Morrison dammit! this is why I’m probably not going to watch tbb show. it was hard enough to sit through a four episode arc with them, i don’t think i can make it through a whole season.

-oo, foreshadowing anakin’s fall to the dark side when he kills trench. i love a good tragedy

-obi wan definitely knows padme and anakin are boning, right? who doesn’t know that they’re a couple at this point, honestly. and the ones who don’t should be able to figure it out pretty quick when padme’s pregnant and the father is ~unknown~ cmon.

Siege of Mandalore arc

-man hang on a minute. i need a minute alright

-i see potential for a short that follows what bo-katan and ahsoka have gotten up to in between oba dias and the siege. they’ve clearly gotten to know each other a little, and while it makes sense that we don’t waste any time on their relationship, it could be cool to see how their partnership developed. would also have the benefit of filling out how Bo-katan has progressed as a character.

-maul is so obsessed with obi wan and kenobi just.. doesn’t care all that much about his arch nemesis. yeah I killed him once, it didn’t stick. have fun fighting him ahsoka!

-you really don’t notice how much a character has grown on you until you realize you care about them deeply even when they have plot armor huh? yeah, ahsoka and rex have entrenched themselves in my heart.

-now, I only know revenge of the sith from cultural osmosis, but that’s enough to not only understand what’s going on off screen at the same time, but to effectively be in darth maul’s place. everything is falling to pieces and nobody but you can see it yet. the jedi, the republic, the separatists, all of it

-this arc got allll the crunchy visual effects. breaking glass, embers, smoke, the works. wish they didn’t make maul’s lightsaber bizarrely skinny

-I especially loved maul and ahsoka together in this. they parallel each other in a way that I hasn’t noticed before, how they’re both apprentices who failed (from a certain pov) in a way that saved themselves

-maul’s dialogue and voice acting is mwah mwah. he’s gentlemanly without being aristocratic, or becoming a cliche mob boss kind of character

-katee sackoff is truly perfect as bo katan, and I’m not just saying that because I had a crush on Starbuck in battlestar galactica. i cant imagine a better (voice) actress for the role

-hello, ursa wren. how have you been holding up among the hordes of aggressively blond blue eyed whites? there surely must be better ways to add Viking influence that aren’t making the mandalorians look like Swedish racists

-ahsoka technically isn’t a jedi, but in this arc it’s really obvious that she had the skill to be a jedi knight. she would’ve become one if she hadn’t left the order. her skill at adapting under high pressure and at combat (she’s a match for maul himself!) don’t let you forget that she is well past being at padawan level

-i’m sure i violated so many viewing guides by watching this before revenge of the sith but it worked out fine, so •_•

-the painted helmets….

-hey, hey. don’t cry. Fives saved rex and ahsoka, okay? think about that. his death wasn’t a complete waste in the end at least

-I’m looking forward to seeing what rex gets up to after this. i know he shows up in rebels, ahsoka too, which will also be interesting to watch

[mushroom-for-art]

what do you think of the designs of the badges in pokemon scarlet and violet compared to the designs of the badges in past pokemon games?

I'll be honest I haven't played Scarlet or Violet so I had to Google what they looked like and the fact it was difficult to find a picture with all the badges and I could only view them all on a zoomed in YouTube thumbnail, oof that ain't it fam. I'll give the game the leeway of its a new game therefore there may be less footage but after some research I found you don't even have a badge box? Which. I'm taking away points again there cause no badge box?? No easy view?? Gotta view one at a time? Nah. Hate that personally.

While looking at the badges as well, again probably because I haven't played it, but I genuinely couldn't identify which was what, like okay the link fairy looking one probably fairy, ice cream probably ice type, the weird block probably steel, paint palette? Paint type??? Though it's probably normal type though Larry is that gym leader I think and that doesn't actually make sense now I'm thinking about it? Obviously flower plant thing for grass, I was a bit disappointed there the grass type gym leader he's a bit of a menacing bramble thorn themed man he could've had a bramble thorn looking badge but no it basic leaf you'd think they'd give him or he'd be allowed a custom badge like do the gym leaders design them? If they do oof uninspired. Also blue one for water, bug for bug, yellow for electric type I think. But I saw at least 3 that I thought were dark type and wasn't sure on. They don't really feel very good in my opinion.

Now I do respect its probably hard to come up with decent designs game after game maybe they're running low on inspiration tank but compared to past games they don't feel very good. I never played sword or shield either but that badges make a circle shield idea was cool! If a little impractical I suppose like in a logical world sense, they're very weird shaped it'd feel strange showing off singular badges and it probably looks strange in your badge box but satisfying when you have them all that's fun. I think they should have fun with badges experiment.

A fun idea I just had, perhaps the next badge box because please bring it back is a scenery and getting the respective badges adds in that respective element to complete to picture, a badge that looks like flowing water that sits in the scenery as the start of the river, maybe a grass type plant that's a cluster of flowers or petal like shapes that make a barren patch a meadow of color ect. I dunno just thoughts.

[tittasale]

Endless sky ships with fighter bays

ENDLESS SKY SHIPS WITH FIGHTER BAYS PLUS

ENDLESS SKY SHIPS WITH FIGHTER BAYS MAC

I really think that more factions should have some very long range weapons.And if a ship got pinned down so that railgun fire could actually hit. However, a carrier with primarily railguns actually made a very good support ship, where the fighters and escorts did the fighting, and the carrier stayed at long range. In ES terms, a heavy warship loaded with EVN's railguns would lose to a medium warship armed with blasters. As in, even a big ship loaded with nothing but railguns tended to fair very poorly because they just weren't fast enough (or high enough DPS) to outperform a ship even a category lower than them equipped with regular weapons. Perhaps a key detail is that while they felt like they could materially affect combat, they were sufficiently slow that it was really hard for them to actually win combat. I won't say that EVN's railguns were spectacularly effective, but they were both environmental and fun. That being said, there is room for long range artillery. We've got a bit more flexibility thanks to zooming, but most should still be in the ship+outfit could be designed such that a railgun is allowed to be installed on another ship, but is impractical. For example, the ships could be developed during the Navy or pirate campaigns. It would be fun to see railgun ships be part of a campaign. The ships themselves ideally should have a property allowing them to make use of the outfit so other ships cannot mount them. To fulfill this vision, the railgun would have to be restricted to railgun-capable ships. The railgun can be visually incorporated into the design.

ENDLESS SKY SHIPS WITH FIGHTER BAYS PLUS

Each would have limited gun emplacements- the light warship may only have the single gun mount filled by the railgun, plus one or two turrets (default loadout would make these anti-missile turrets). In this context, it would fire slowly as a fixed gun (never a turret), require more energy than most other human weapons, have long range and do a ton of damage- provided you can hit your target.Ī light warship class could be designed to incorporate a single such railgun, while a medium or large warship could mount two or perhaps three.

ENDLESS SKY SHIPS WITH FIGHTER BAYS MAC

Rather than introduce a niche weapon with even longer range, or create something that competes directly with the particle cannon, I envision something more akin to the HALO universe's MAC weapons (or some Mass Effect ships, or really a lot of other science fiction vessels), where a ship is designed around the railgun. The particle cannon currently performs the function EVN's railguns were designed for- long distance fighting. I don't see a discussion on this already, at least not as I envision it. For this request, I focus on it as a human concept, but there's no reason some other faction couldn't have it instead (or also). My proposal here is different than either the EVN or Hai versions. EVN had several calibers of railguns to fill the long-distance niche currently handled by the particle cannon in ES. I don't see why the Hai or someone else wouldn't have scaled this up for use on larger vessels. The Hai already use one in game, albeit a very small one on drones.

[sneez]

some order of the flaming rose uniform redesigns inspired by the armour of the winged hussars, a polish heavy cavalry formation active between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries :-)

[harbingers-appointed]

Y0ur Dem0n King, Small info post

Doodles of the mans

So the DemonKing Yb Au is still in its baby stages so nothing is wholly set in stone yet! (Just started working on this idea 4 days ago haha) so some information may be reworked later since it is under development still.

You had a normal life until one day you had a near death experience leaving you in a comatose state. However in that moment HE felt something, he felt YOU. And HE had to have you for himself. His whole being needed your soul next to him, as if you were made for him-no- you were made for him. He was sure of it. Your very soul was dragged to hell and your consciousness awoke in HELL... unsure where you were as you were carted off to some Palace. You were to serve as a servant for the rest of eternity.

All that's was left was to court you. However, he didn't want you to panic, he couldn't have that. He had devised a most devious plan to gain your trust and eventually, You.

There would be different "routes" for this Au, so YB's plan would be different based on his Yn~ though, typically his only goal is to just have you and have you believe you and him are destined to be together. Why else would you be here, reading this?

Information on the Demons

-The Demons reside in a version of "Hell" with Yb being the King aka Devil. Until YOU- his love interest- is pulled into Hell, Yb is a very cold and calculating ruler who spends most of his time cooped up in his Palace.(until you come into his life that is) While he is the Orginal Devil, many of his subjects have doubt in them over whether he is still fit to rule. That absolute power that's gone unchecked for too long has corrupted him.(and maybe it has...) He needs you to be by his side forever by any costs. He has most of the same traits from Classic!Yb, but with a demonic twist and a bit more caution. He is more wise and patient~ He has been waiting so long for you after all.

-Lucy rules over all succubi and all sex demons. She reigns as a seemingly aloof leader, but is very skilled in manipulation and using her abilities and magic to seduce others. Lucy respects Yb, but has her own agenda... so who knows who's side she is truly on.

-Tk is a demon of knowledge and magic, works as a tactician for Yb but has their doubts on Yb and his ideals. Depending on who you focus your romantic interest in will determine how Tk acts. They try to be a friend of You in every route, though perhaps more depending on how you are.

-Don is the second in command under Yb. He leads large legions of demons and is known for his wit, but also his work ethic. He doesn't agree with how Yb is running things in Hell, and is plotting to overthrow him in secret. He doesn't think much of Lucy even though she has definitely tried to bed him on more than one occasion. Don is respected by many demons for his strength.

Fun little tidbits

-Demons horns can be very sensitive to touch~.

-Yb might be insecure about his height.

-Demon Don, if he grows to respect You, you become one of his greatest weaknesses. But he will deny feelings for you at all costs... He knows his place.

-Lucy will always help you out with useful sex tips and supplies. While she seems disinterested I'm your situation it Isn't hard to tell she listens more than you think.

-Tk tends to hold back on talking to you too much out of fear of Yb. They know more about his "plans" than they admit to you.

-All the Demons can change their size at will, but maintaining a larger form for long is difficult and impractical.

- Yb wants to throw you a... once in a life time celebration when you finally take his hand.

-Demon Don typically has his scleras in his more demonic monstrous form (darkened)

-Yb has different magic that is including, but not limited to; controlliny blue flames, telekinesis, telepathy/not mind reading/, manipulating souls.

-demon tails are also very sensitive, but they can also be used like an extra appendage in some cases. Such as holding objects, stroking, touching... wrapping around things~♡

Alright

That's everything for now :)

I am sure I will have some more solid information soon! But here is the general idea for right now.

If you have any questions my asks are open!

I tag all my DemonKing Yb stuff with the tag #DemonKingYbAu

[wisteria-lodge]

lion primary (bird model) + slightly burnt lion secondary

Hi there! I’m a fan of your sorting posts, and of your kind and insightful way of supporting people in finding out more about themselves. So naturally I’d be very interested in your take about my own sorting, if you’re game! :)

I won’t talk much about my Secondary, because now that I’m starting to unburn my Lion seems very clear to me, even when my explosion-prone Badger model still tries to get in the way of that clarity sometimes. The more interesting riddle is my Primary. So far I’m operating under the working theory that I am a Lion with a very strong Bird model - or is it the other way ‘round?

The supposed dichotomy between “thinking” and “feeling” in many of the more binary personality models has always bugged me, so it’s no wonder this is the area where whenever I feel like I’ve decided on who I am (for now) a new question mark pops up (so much fun!).

If ‘thinking’ and ‘feeling’ doesn’t work for you as terminology, it might help to think of Lion as leading with subconscious reasoning, and Bird as leading with conscious reasoning.

Instead of trying to formulate a cohesive text, which would have gotten even longer, I’m putting together an associative list of thoughts and stories that kept turning up while I was trying to figure out my Primary.

A very Lion primary way to solve a problem, not gonna lie ;)

- I think I got my Bird model from my father, who made quite an effort to teach me to look at things from all angles. As a child, whenever I got in a fight with this friend I had, he would sit me down and ask me to put myself in my friend’s shoes. It was hard, because a lot of the time my friend was being unfair to me and I actually could have used some support, someone to tell me that it was not okay to treat me this way. But I’m still immeasurably grateful for my father’s lessons, through which I’ve learned to understand peoples’ motivations and gained an understanding for the complexities of every conflict. He also taught me to doubt, to look closer, to not just believe the first thing I see, or want to see. To this day I still consider my ability to pin down the relevant factors of a situation before I make judgments one of my strengths.

That definitely sounds like a very strong, beloved Bird model.

- Whenever I had to write an essay at school or uni, I first had to come up with some aspect about the subject that I really cared about, even could be passionate about. (I am passionate about many things, so it was usually possible to find some connection to that.) Then I would use the essay to discuss this aspect in great detail, ending with a polemic flourish. I had the time of my life doing that; meanwhile the text would structure itself magically in relation to the issue I had chosen to focus on. Whenever I tried to write without such a focus, I’d get bored, stressed and the text would be of a much lower quality.

- Something similar happened in oral exams at uni: Only when I got the opportunity to bring a discussion paper (a few pointed statements regarding the exam topic) which I could then debate, I was able to recollect all the important details I needed for that. If I just had to report on the topic or answer questions, I often got confused, to the point of drawing a complete blank.

Linking things to emotion and passion - thinking with emotion and passion, basically - is a Lion primary thing. Especially if doing that makes you feel safe & comfortable & effective & happy.

- Even as a teenager I was very interested in philosophy, ethics and moral decision making.

I love teaching philosophy to teenagers. It’s the perfect time for it, they are so into it, and if it were up to me I would absolutely make it a required class.

I picked up certain philosophical ideas and concepts that I liked and integrated them in my belief system (yes, I know how very Bird that sounds).

I had my mind blown by Genealogy of Morals in high school, and I still won’t shut about Eichmann in Jerusalem. But what was so staggering to me in high school was… here are these ways of thinking that are possible and allowed. The fact that here they are in words in front of me made me a great deal more expansive.

Now that I think about it — I don’t remember adjusting my beliefs as in any way traumatic back then. The shift from a belief in the Christian God to Mother Goddess to my very own brand of agnostic paganism was smooth, natural.

Now that I think about it… I would describe myself as a mythic relativist (which is a term I just made up.) Systems of belief are metaphors, and they’re metaphors trying to describe and say something large and beautiful about what it means to be human, and what it means to live a good life. And since we are all human, they are all attempting to describe the same central, indescribable thing in different ways.

I feel this very deeply, but it took me a long while to be able to articulate it.

I constantly reevaluate, and I adapt.

You stop reevaluating and adapting, might as well be dead.

Still, there are some basics I’ve kept with me that just make too much sense to me to give up, and some that perhaps I keep because I just really like them and I’m kind of attached to them.

… somebody’s thinking with Pathos :)

- I’m a constructivist at heart, so that makes it much easier to tweak the content of my beliefs while staying true to the principle that we (socially) construct our reality, and (my take on this): that I choose what kind of world I want to live in, and according to that I make choices which are the most likely to create that world.

- At uni I attended a seminar about the development of moral judgment and action. What I remember most clearly about it is how much it bugged me that the other students didn’t seem to understand that morality always depends on the perspective. Even though I had definite moral convictions that I was ready to fight for, at the same time it seemed obvious to me that theoretically there could be a justification for every kind of moral guideline; it depended on your principles and the world you wanted to live in.

A human after my own heart.

I wanted to understand these different perspectives, not talk about empty categories like “right and wrong” or “good and evil” that meant nothing to me. I still feel that way.

Absolutely. I don’t use alignments when I DM Dungeons & Dragons. I mean, I can list evil *things* but that’s not the same thing as defining *being evil.* I want to know WHY these people did these evil things.

It just seems so impractical and complicated to base a conversation on those broad categories that don’t have any definition people can agree on instead of referring either to defined principles (in order to explain what good/ bad is *for you*) or consequences of certain actions, and whether you want them/ accept them/ don’t want them.

Oh that’s a fun discussion. Asking a highschooler to define “evil.”

(and then they have to figure out what moral systems Jigsaw, Pinhead, the Joker, and Bane all subscribe to.)

- Between “the Revolutionary” and “the Grail Knight”, I would love to be the former, but I’m clearly the latter. I’m someone who questions, not someone who knows.

Take my archetypes with a grain of salt, they are supposed to describe characters. (Who are different from people - but still useful, because they are attempts to describe us.) I actually want to write more about the differences I see between the way fictional secondaries are written and the way real-life secondaries work.

And just “knowing”... is dangerous. That’s how Exploded Lions happen. 

There are a lot of causes I find worthy to fight for, but I haven’t committed to any one, which so far I’ve attributed to my Burned Secondary (How do I do things?).

Sounds about right.

If I’m honest, though, it feels a bit strange to really, really fight for anything. I’d rather contribute to the cause by keeping an eye on whether we stay aligned to our values on every level of the fight, not by storming sightlessly in front of some army. (I got polemic again, didn’t I? ;))

So after all this Bird talk, why do I think that I’m a Lion?

… that was the Bird segment?

- I trust my intuition. It has never steered me wrong, with one exception: My Primary burned for a time when I first understood the concept of privilege and internalized bias, which was coincidentally at a time when I also went through a lot of changes in my personal life. Like many people unaware of their own privilege, I had thought of myself as “one of the good ones”. I learned that even with the best intentions I could cause great harm without even noticing it. This then also happened to me in a relationship, when I was already confused, hurt and more than a bit burned. It seemed like I couldn’t trust my intuition anymore, but I also couldn’t figure out intellectually what to believe, because I felt mentally overwhelmed by all those new concepts, all of which put my previous convictions into question. Which Primary burned then?

Been there, done that, it’s brutal. It sounds to me like a Lion dramatically changing direction - that’s what I mean when I say that it *hurts* when a Lion changes their mind. Birds see their past selves that thought wrong as almost different people. “I wasn’t aware of my privilege then, now I am, and can take steps doing forward.” But if you’re a lion it’s like… I *should* have been aware, and the fact that I wasn’t says something terrible about my moral/emotional calibration, and THAT has to be put right.

- I felt like everything I had learned about the world and myself didn’t count anymore. My concepts and my strategies didn’t serve me anymore. So I started to rebuild everything from scratch, this time with less pride and more practicality.

Yeah. That’s some Lion recalibration. With a Bird Model, to help.

- Anyway, I trust my intuition. It contains my experiences, instinct and all my accumulated unconscious observations of the situation, and it’s very reliable. Usually I use it as an important source of information which I try to back up with data/ understanding, but when push came to shove and the apparent facts would contradict what my intuition told me, I would be unable to set my gut feeling aside. I wouldn’t follow it blindly, of course. But I would never just go against it either. If the voices of my unconscious and conscious mind don’t align, I keep poking at the issue until they do. If I absolutely cannot come to a satisfying conclusion, I go with my gut. Since I know it usually knows what it’s doing, I’ll find out the reasons for my feelings later. (Weird, says my inner bird who is busy compiling these examples.)

I’LL FIND THE REASON FOR MY FEELINGS LATER. What a perfect way of articulating what is perhaps the central experience of being a Lion primary.

- Probably I’m just both, you know. Some interesting lion/bird-chimaera. I like it.

I read you as a pretty clear Lion Primary, Bird primary model. But as always, the decision is very personal.

- I have a weird way of processing information: I read/ hear it, work to understand it, work to connect it to existing knowledge in my mind, then my beliefs, my existing knowledge and my feelings about it all wind around each other, grow into each other, some dissolve together, becoming a swamp which then nourishes the plants of new ideas and connections that grow from it.

You grok it. And that’s not weird.

I often can’t remember where certain knowledge came from. I can’t take it out of a memory shelf and tell you about it. I usually remember that I’ve read a certain book and whether I liked it / it influenced me, but I won’t exactly remember what was in it, even if it was important to me. Because all that information is already processed/ digested/ transformed into something new. It’s much easier to access my memory swamp intuitively than consciously.

and you seriously had like… any doubt that you were a Lion.

In intellectual discussions I tend to get stuck because I just can’t remember enough of the details (for my satisfaction), just my conclusions about the topic and how I feel about it.

I’m inclined to think that not accessing the details is either a secondary thing, or an entirely unrelated processing thing.

What do you make of all this? I’m very curious!

:)

[On an unrelated note, I’d like to specify the compliment I made at the beginning of this post. I’m really impressed with your ability to pick up on what people need, not just what they say they want. As a counselor this is a skill I try to hone, so I know how difficult it is to not get too distracted by the story people tell and miss the more subtle cues. You have a powerful combination of perceptiveness, insight and so much kindness, which you use to effectively support people who have questions, are in distress or confused. You don’t generalize. You don’t judge. You see the people who talk to you.  I love that you’re a teacher, because I can see you’re using the influence that gives you in a way that contributes to making the world a better place. Fellow Idealist, I’d like to give you a High Five for that, if I may. :)))]

I’m not sure I’ve ever been given a better compliment. Thank you.

[whatifxwereyou]

Ashes Chapter 7: The Sea

Pairing: Liu Kang x Reader

With time comes understanding, to a point. At the very least comes understanding. You have some revelations and in the ocean, you find some peace. Also- you are take the worst selfie ever.

A/N: This story had been heartbreaking to write, but also a ton of fun? There's a tiny little reprieve in this chapter and the next and then right back to sadsville! Thanks for reading. I appreciate you guys and would give you all hugs and smooches if I could and it wasn't a pandemic Lol. Did you know that USBs can disintegrate? So, you know, back up your work in more than one place.

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You barely slept. Liu had come in a little while after you and hadn’t said a word though you had caught his eyes on you at least a dozen times. Neither of you had really slept, you supposed. Before sunrise you’d given up on sleep and got up. You cleaned up in the small washroom and then went outside to meditate.

The woods were peaceful.

The mountains were peaceful.

You were not. But you had time to reflect.

You tried to think about literally anything else besides the arguments with Liu Kang from the past two nights, but it was nearly impossible.

Wasn’t it unhealthy of you to even consider what Liu Kang was suggesting? Your long-term very serious relationship had just ended, and it had only ended because he had died. Then again, you weren’t sure what would have happened with Liu if he hadn’t put himself in a place of lesser significance than Kung Lao.

Because with reflection, you’d realized that was what he had done. And it was something that he had always done ever since you’d known him.

Kung Lao. Descendant of the Great Kung Lao. The Chosen One. A man who had been raised since his youth to embody the spirit of the champion who had saved Earthrealm many years ago. Liu Kang had put him on a pedestal. He’d been taught to.

He was just a filthy orphan. He’d even used those exact words to describe himself. Liu Kang was second place- even to himself. Then when Kung Lao had come to him regarding you, he’d done the same thing. Put himself in second place. He’d even said that he hadn’t deserved you.

Your meditation was ruined.

Dammit.

Why hadn’t you noticed before? If he had just told you any part of the truth all those years ago, then you would have grabbed his shoulders, shaken him, and told him he was just as worthy of love and praise as Kung Lao was. But that wasn’t what he’d done. He’d chosen to put a wedge between you.

“The past is just that.” You had to remind yourself. You couldn’t go back in time and erase what had happened. There was no way to know what would have become of you if you had pushed Liu Kang a little further than you had back then. It had been so unlike him to behave that way but you’d also been terrified that he would say exactly what he’d said. He’d fulfilled your self-doubt and fears without realizing.

It had broken you. You hadn’t had it in you to push him.

You’d instead agreed to go out with Kung Lao and that had started a wonderful relationship. But you had also started it when you’d been broken. It had taken time for you to open up to Kung Lao about anything, to be intimate with him, to connect and all because you had been broken up about Liu Kang. Kung Lao had been patient with you and you supposed that was because he had known that Liu Kang was stepping out of the way for him.

Hindsight was everything in this instance.

An unfamiliar energy joined you nearby, seated a few feet away from you. Nightwolf. He was calming. You sat in silence and watched as the sun rose beyond the trees, spreading its radiance over unfamiliar but still beautiful terrain. You cleared your mixed thoughts of Liu Kang, of Kung Lao, and of guilt.

You were there to work, not to sort out your baggage. Part of you considered that Raiden had sent you together to work out your baggage but who knew anymore? It didn’t matter. You quieted your brain and focused only on the sunrise.

Nightwolf had something to say. You could feel it but you would also allow him the time to find the words that suited him. You hoped it was soon. Silence was unkind.

Finally, he turned to you.

Thank god. If he talked then your brain would stop filling the silence.

“I’ve decided meet your Lord Raiden at your request.”

“Really?” You made no effort to hide your surprise. Honestly, you and Liu were making all the wrong impressions on people lately so you wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d said no or needed more time. If that had been the case then Liu Kang would have… you stopped your thought. You had no idea what Liu Kang would have done. He wasn’t himself those past few weeks.

It stung to think that.

You wanted him to be okay. You wanted him to be okay more than you wanted yourself to be okay. If you had to suffer every day in grief for the rest of your life for him to be okay, then you would have. So much for your brain shutting up.

“Like you said last night, it’s the right thing to do. I don’t wish to leave my home but if doing so means protecting it? Then it’s worth it.”

“Thank you.” You breathed a sigh of relief. He was so reasonable and kind. You hoped that you got to know him a bit better when you got back to China. He seemed like a good guy. At least this one thing had gone right, though you were certain that it was because Nightwolf was a good man and not because you and Liu had done an exceptionally good job of convincing him. You’d spent time with him, of course, but your collective energy was a total mess. “Do you need time to make arrangements for your home?” Honestly, you were ready to leave right now. Then you could head to Hollywood.

Maybe Liu wouldn’t come with you and you could have some space and time to think. Then again, you were now incredibly concerned about Liu Kang and wanted to make sure that he was okay. Your handling of the arguments had been poor, at best. It was difficult to be kind to yourself and remind yourself that you were struggling too.

“I packed all that I should need.” He smiled as if reading your thoughts and you nodded.

“Thank you, Nightwolf.”

“The decision was an easy one when I thought about it. What was the alternative, really? To ignore the truth? Live life knowing that I could have done something great for my people? For our world?”

“Well, when you put it that way…” You drifted off with a smile and watched the sun as it settled just amongst the trees. Perhaps today would be a good day.

“Just say the word and we can head on our way. The hike will take us another three days and…”

“Yeah, about that.” You explained briefly that you would be summoned to Raiden’s Temple and that you didn’t have to worry about typical means of travel. It was difficult to explain why you had hiked to see him but wouldn’t be hiking back. Raiden could have very well done many of the things you’d done himself but the reasons he didn’t were his own. You could guess but your brain was exhausted by speculation right now and there was no point.

Liu Kang joined you partway through your explanation and sat politely after greeting you both. He was more like himself that morning and you were glad for that. He didn’t jump down anyone’s throat or interrupt you even once. He even offered you a soft smile and gave words of gratitude to Nightwolf. You left them to gather your things and soon enough, you were having breakfast and then going on your way.

Back outside, Liu Kang stood before you and with a flourish of fire that startled Nightwolf he prayed for safe passage. A crack of lightning burst blindingly before you, offering you passage through.

“You can stay for the moment if you like.” Liu placed a gentle hand on your forearm and then escorted an impressed and surprised Nightwolf into the lightning. You were surprised that he hadn’t hesitated to walk into it. Your first time had been Liu Kang practically carrying you through it while you rattled off the reasons it was a terrible and impractical means of travel.

“Good luck.” You bowed politely to Nightwolf who wished you well. They disappeared into the bolt of lightning, leaving you alone again with only your thoughts to keep you company. God, you were tired of your thoughts. They were exhausting. You wished you could have a break from your brain.

The woods were still and silent minus the wind rustling through the trees. You sat atop one of the logs surrounding the abandoned firepit and considered that it felt lonely there without Nightwolf’s presence. You hoped that whatever came next regarding Outworld and Mortal Kombat, that he would be okay. He was a good man.

Lightning struck behind you and you half-expected Raiden to be the one to greet you but instead it was Liu Kang. He walked to join you after the lightning had disappeared and sat next to you. The tension was instantly awkward and nervous between you. You had so many things that you wanted to say to him, to ask him, but you said none of them.

Liu Kang was a wonderful man.

A good man. A brilliant and studious disciple. A skilled and dazzling warrior. An excellent listener. A good friend. A tremendous lover. And still he seemed to think that his place was in the service of others. Another outstanding trait, except that it meant he thought he was worthy of very little. Then he��d finally thought of himself enough to tell you truths that he’d hidden and you’d panicked.

Worse than that? You were too exhausted to say any of that to him. You expected it to be a fight if you did.

It appeared that Liu Kang was exhausted too. When you caught his face in the morning sun, you could see his weariness and the depths of thought behind his dark eyes. He turned as if feeling you studying him and you locked eyes briefly before both turning away. There were volumes left unsaid between you but you took his hand without thinking and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

You would be okay.

One way or another, you would be okay.

Time was what you needed. But you also thought that was what you’d needed with Kung Lao too and then that time had been stolen from you. You didn’t want that to happen again either but you didn’t know how to fix what had broken with Liu Kang. You wanted to fix it so badly but you didn’t even know what fixing it meant.

You only knew that you wanted him to be okay.

He squeezed your hand in return before letting go and standing. You joined him, urging your bag onto your back. “To Hollywood?” Your voice felt dusty, creaky, like a door that hadn’t been opened in eons. Only minutes had passed but it was enough time for the mood to have shifted.

“Yes.” Liu bowed his head but avoided your eyes. “Whenever you’re ready.”

“Nightwolf was okay without us being there?”

“Yes. You were right. He made the right choice for the right reasons. I should have given him the time and explanation he deserved.” He walked away from you and you watched him go. “I didn’t want to go to Hollywood. I asked Raiden just to send you.”

Oh.

That was fair, you supposed.

It hurt for a second before you could picture him in your head telling Raiden that he didn’t want to hurt you anymore so he would stay behind. Falling on his sword again and again to protect the interests of everyone but himself.

“He insisted?”

“Yes. Apparently, this actor is a handful.”

“Didn’t think I could do it alone? Jax and Sonya are already there.”

“And Cole.”

Ah, yes. The man that Kung Lao had died to protect. You hadn’t met him in person yet. He’d rallied your friends when they had needed it and had saved Liu Kang from his grief. You dreaded seeing them. Seeing new people meant that they would walk on eggshells around you. They would ask you how you were coping. You’d have to explain for the millionth time that grief was something you learned to live alongside rather than overcame. Then the tremendous guilt that came with the attention of it all. Liu Kang had lost his brother. You were sure that he was going through something similar but people seemed to act more sympathetically toward you.

“You ready?” You didn’t know what else to ask. He didn’t want to be there and whether the reason was you, the others, or just disliking California, you felt awkward. You wanted him to have his space and to grieve the way he needed to. That was all you wanted. But Raiden, apparently, had other ideas.

You admired the sunny sky one last time before you joined him as he summoned the lightning that would take you across the country.

You arrived on the beach.

You could hear people chattering in the distance. It was amazing that no one had seen you. You supposed that Raiden was a god and knew where to put you but the whole thing still dazzled you. Years of traveling by his hand and you had never once gotten used to it. You hoped that it always surprised you.

Liu walked toward the water instead of toward the road on the other side. You were still a bit away from Hollywood and you didn’t know where you were going. You assumed that Raiden had told Liu but you also imagined that where you were headed wasn’t toward the water. There was nothing there but dark ocean under gray skies.

You watched as he made his way down the wooden steps of the boardwalk and onto the beach and then hung your head back toward the sky and prayed. You prayed for peace for Liu Kang, prayed for the patience to get through whatever came after your last horrible confrontation. He’d said you’d owed it to yourselves to figure it out. Figure whatout? If you still had feelings for him? It was clear that he did for you and the very thought gave you goosebumps that you had to mentally work to shake off before following him into the sand. You took off your shoes and followed him.

The sand was warm between your toes despite the overcast skies and chilly breeze. Pulling the smartphone from your pocket, you took a picture of Liu Kang standing just before the water line in the sand where the waves were currently lapping at low tide. He was beautiful and so you turned away and put the phone back in your pocket. You were grateful now for the camera in the phone. That was one thing that you regretted not having over the years.

How many pictures did you have of Kung Lao?

One.

From your first date. He’d asked someone on the street after dinner to take a photo for you on a throwaway camera you’d bought on a whim during your previous trip. Most of those photos had been of random things that had made you laugh, sites you’d visited, or important things that you’d had to show Raiden but couldn’t bring with you. Except for the one photograph from your date, that was.

You wouldn’t let that happen again. Even if you and Liu were in a complex place, you wanted pictures of him. Of you together. You decided to steal another one and as you were admiring it on the screen, Liu Kang joined you at your side. You fumbled with the phone, dropped it in the sand, and before you picked it up, Liu was doing it for you.

He dusted off the screen and handed it back to you. He didn’t ask you why you’d been admiring a photo of him, but you swore you caught just the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. “I missed the ocean.” He gestured toward the water. “Didn’t mean to sidetrack us.”

“Do you think Raiden would be furious with us if we just… sat on the beach all day?”

“Maybe. Are you going to tell him if we did?”

“…only if I’m mad at you.” You smiled and he shook his head before turning his gaze back toward the water. He’d earned the shore. The waves. Even just for putting up with you the night before.

Liu Kang sat in the sand, legs folded. You sat next to him, careful to make sure there was a little distance between you. Maybe you could be at peace next to each other if neither one of you opened your mouths. You took a picture of the ocean.

He watched you curiously as if to silently ask why you were suddenly taking so many pictures. So much for not talking. You just hoped that you didn’t end up screaming at each other on the beach. This place was peaceful and you so rarely had peace. You were sure that soon enough you would be amidst chaos. You had earned this moment.

“I didn’t have any pictures of Kung Lao.” You explained when he didn’t let it go. He nodded as if to understand but you saw his brow furrow, as though he wondered whether or not he had any pictures of him either. “I have one, I guess. But it’s old and poorly shot and I… I don’t want to forget his face. I don’t want to forget anyone’s faces. You enjoyed the ocean so much just now and now… now I have that picture forever.” You’d said too much which was just like you.

“Can I see?” He held his hand out for the phone and you offered it reluctantly. What if he deleted them? Maybe he didn’t want pictures of him. It was a silly thing, but you had been desperate to see Kung Lao’s face one more time and all you’d had was one blurry picture where you’d gone on your first date and your damn heart had been broken after Liu Kang so you hadn’t even looked happy in the picture. Kung Lao, however, had looked incredibly happy, even if his face had been blurry.

Kung Lao was rarely the type to sit still, especially when you were out and about in the world. The picture was an accurate portrayal of him at the time.

“You look sad.” Liu Kang handed the phone back to you and much to your surprise, he’d taken a picture of you. You definitely did look sad. You hadn’t meant to wear your heart so obviously on your sleeve. “I don’t want to forget your face either, Y/N.” In a gut reaction, you covered your mouth and stared back at the water and felt your eyes burn with tears. They were threatening to turn into sobs but you refused to cry. You were sure that you looked ridiculous, contorted, and trying to hold back tears. “I don’t want you to look sad.”

It took you a solid few minutes to keep yourself from just bursting into tears. “Well, I’m sad.” You decided there was no point in lying when you’d been broken up about it so obviously. “But so are you. Maybe it’s okay to have pictures where we look sad.”

“Maybe.” He scooted closer to you in the sand. “Take a picture with me.”

“Why? To have proof of how miserable we’ve made each other in the last week?” You turned the camera around on the phone after struggling to figure out the buttons.

“What? You don’t want to relive us screaming at each other every time you look at it?” His smile was weary.

“Already reliving it pretty consistently without photographic proof, Liu.”

“We should talk.”

“I know.”

“I’m afraid of what you’ll say.”

“Yeah, that scares me too.”

“What you’ll say? Or what I’ll say because I feel like we’re doing a lot of talking without thinking lately which is unlike both of us.”

“I have always had a hard time with that. You maybe think too much before you talk.” You tried to lighten the mood and he at least laughed a little, even if it was just beneath his breath. You adjusted the camera and Liu carefully took it from your hand before aiming the screen toward you both.

“…how do I do this?” He tried to adjust his hand so he could take the picture while he held it and so you reached to do so instead and took the least flattering picture that either one of you had ever taken. “Try that again.”

“That isn’t how you want to remember us?” You pointed to the little preview in the bottom corner of the screen.

“Not at all.”

You were terrible with technology, it turned out, but together you figured it out and took a nicer picture. “…we both look sad.” You sighed and put the phone back into your pocket, pulling your jacket tighter around your shoulders. The ocean breeze was surprisingly chilled. He nodded to agree and you watched him for longer than you should have. Even sad, he was handsome.

Even when he’d been fighting with you the night before, he’d accused you of thinking more about the memory of Kung Lao than your own feelings. But your feelings had been terrified of him and you had run and hid instead of confronting him. Hadn’t that been selfish? A thing he had not accused you of being. Your heart hurt.

He was right. You should talk. You hadto talk. Even if you locked yourselves in a room and screamed at each other until you broke or talked it out calmly, you had to find a way. But you weren’t ready to. For now, the sound of the waves breaking onto shore were soothing mixed with the sounds of families out for a stormy day on the beach. There was plenty of chaos to come, but for now, you sat side by side in relative peace.

Peace was a strong word.

You sat together troubled and sad but without judgment. You suffered separately but together.

Next Chapter >>

[hatterstan-shameblog]

Prompt My Own Damn Self # :He’s Not the Guy You Marry, But He Is The Guy You [REDACTED] in the Night Club Bathroom at Two O’Clock in the Morning, Which is Also Important

Summary: Literally what it says in the title, except we find out what [REDACTED] means, which is very fun and exciting. That’s right, everybody, we’re 👏 going 👏 there 👏

Warnings: ‼️18+‼️ Extremely Explicit Sexual Content. Do NOT be uncool and read it if you’re not of age. Otherwise, there’s alcohol involved here (wow what a surprise 🙄), like one mention of drugs, and smoking. Aside from that, it’s pretty straightforward.

Genre: Mediocre Smut

Pairing: Hatter/Fem!Reader

Notes: There are two types of people in this world: people who are very attracted to the weird sexy hat guy who started a death-game pyramid scheme, and LIARS.

Real talk, though: this is pretty explicit. More explicit than I’ve gone in a very long time, so I’m a little rusty. It veers into “hate sex” territory, which was kind of fun to write, honestly. I live for the banter. (Also, the “you” character in this is kind of great? I like her.)

HEY! Just another reminder! This is 18+ so if you’re not of legal age, do yourself a solid and ditch this little thing, okay? Okay.

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

It starts with tequila shots.

Salt licked. From your wrist. His chest. The hollow of your throat.

Lime bitten. Held between your fingers. Between his teeth. Between your pushed-together breasts.

Music pulses. Lights flash. He’s got a hand on your ass. You’ve got your lips on his neck.

“Wanna go somewhere?”

“Yes.”

And he leads you, hand on the small of your back, away from the bar. People stare. You like it.

‘Somewhere’ is, apparently, a two-stall women’s restroom, tucked away in a narrow little hallway which runs to the left of the bar. A place for shooting up drugs. A place for scribbling on the walls with permanent marker.

A place for sex. Hot, sweaty, anonymous sex.

...Well, semi-anonymous, anyways. It’s impossible to live at the Beach and not know who the man in red is, the man who sells a shot at salvation for nothing more than a few playing cards.

You lean against the tastefully cream-colored counter which hosts, among other things: a sink stained pink with cheap soap; three forgotten tubes of lipstick; a small mirror, holding an abandoned credit card and two small lines of cocaine; a crumpled up hand towel; a half-finished bottle of Asahi beer; and what was probably once a wedding ring.

“Great ambiance,” you murmur flatly. The harsh light of fluoresent bulbs burn your eyes, diverting your gaze to the white floor, “Been ages since I got fucked in a classy place like this.”

“Ages?” Hatter flicks the lock on the door with a low thunk.

“Hours,” you answer, mournful tone betrayed by a smirk tugging at the corner of your mouth, “Had you not come along, my dry spell might’ve gone on through the morning.”

“Perish the thought.”

And he does not so much approach you as he descends upon you, mouth sucking at your collarbone and leg pushing between your thighs.

“Tell me,” he pants into you ear, breath hot and fingers deft as he unties the strings of your bikini top, “How do you want me?”

“Now,” you hiss back, “Don’t care how, just—fuck, just give it to me.”

“Then, if you would be so kind?” He holds a condom between his index and middle fingers.

In truth, you’re glad for it—you’d rather not deal with the mess after all is said and done—but there’s no way you’ll give him the satisfaction of a ‘thank you.’

“Fine,” you huff, snatching the foil square from his grasp, “Don’t suppose you have anything better to—oh!”

Hands on your hips spin you around so you’re facing the mirror. You grip the edge of the counter, knuckles straining, and watch as he reaches around to palm your breast.

“Apologies,” he makes eye contact with you in the mirror, “but I seem to have my hands full at the moment.”

And that’s when you feel fingertips slipping beneath the seam of your bikini bottoms, an insistent press against the slick of your slit.

You spit a curse and fumble with the condom, desperation setting in as his hands continued to dance across your flesh. After some moments (too many for your liking), you’re successful in your endeavor, and pass the unwrapped nuisance over your shoulder.

“Much obliged,” he thanks, removing his hands to sort himself out, “You know, I appreciate—“

“I didn’t come here to talk,” you snap. He laughs in response.

“Ooh, you’re mean!”

And he’s sliding the crotch of your swimsuit bottoms to the side, exposing only what is necessary and lining himself up—and, okay, that’s the kind of semi-impractical hotness you were looking for from this particular encounter. Your muscles clench involuntarily around nothing and you cant your hips back to get him to move it along...but nothing happens.

God, what is this guy’s problem?!

“But, I wonder,” he whispers into your ear, “are you desperate enough to say ‘please?”

Of all the guys to pull for a quick fuck, of course you get the one who’s a total tease. So smug, arrogance blooming as he presses a soft kiss to your left shoulder. There’s no way you’re giving in to this asshole, so you glare at him in the reflection of the mirror.

“Fuck you,” you spit, teeth bared and mouth formed into a malicious smile.

He shrugs his shoulders.

“Close enough.”

You both cry out when he fills you with a single, fluid thrust. And—fuck, fuck, fuck!—that is good. One of his hands curls around the jut of your hip, while the other splays across your collarbone, thumb and forefinger framing the base of your throat in a firm but gentle touch.

Otherwise, he remains still—perhaps he’s being gentlemanly and allowing you time to adjust? No, no, he’s definitely being a tease again.

Seriously, what is his goddamn deal?

Since he seems content to take his merry time, you take matters into your own hands, moving against him in a somewhat-awkward but still satisfying rhythm.

“You,” he says between heavy breaths, “seem eager.”

There’s something in his voice that seems amused, as if he finds your candor endearing. You lean forward a bit, angling your hips so his length is able to sink deeper and, oh, that’s much better.

“Want something done right,” you pant, “gotta do it yourself.”

“You don’t think I’d do it right?”

“Sweetie,” you coo with a condescending smile, “I know you wouldn’t.”

And you’re lucky that guys like him are all the same—arrogant, showy, desperate to prove their sexual prowess—because he finally (finally!) decides to get his sorry ass into gear and make something happen.

The hand that was around your neck gropes at your breasts, the cool metal of that stupid-ugly-tacky ring catching on your skin in an annoyingly tantalizing way. The other shoves its way between you and the edge of the countertop, deft fingertips circling your clitoris in a way that makes your toes curl in your sandals. You bite your lip to keep from crying out as he fucks into you, hips snapping hard but steady against the plush of your ass.

“You know, the people I fuck usually try to be nice to me,” he says, “nicer than you, anyways.”

The hand on your breast pinches your nipple, earning him a sharp gasp.

“Why be nice?” You clench around him, causing his rhythm to falter, “You’re just the means to an end.”

“And here I thought we were making love.”

Teeth scrape down the length of your neck, and fuck—you’re getting close. Your arms are shaking. Your heart is racing. You hate to admit it, but he’s good at this.

“Darling,” he growls into your ear, “I do believe you’re about to come.”

“Shut up,” you snap, trying desperately to sound cool and unaffected despite the fact that your composure is about to shatter and there is not a goddamn thing you can do about it.

“Well, go on then. After all,” he hisses, “I don’t have all night.”

What starts as anger is quickly overtaken by pleasure—white-hot and blinding, enough to make your knees shake and your eyes spring with tears. It’s exactly what you were looking for, exactly what you had been expecting from the most notorious sex fiend at this God-forsaken place.

Apparently, he must’ve come too, because he’s pulling out with a surprising tenderness—gentlemanly in one way, at least. He even makes sure to right your bikini bottoms, making sure that they’re once again covering you completely before turning his attention to himself.

“You know, I didn’t know people could glare their way through an orgasm, but you made it happen.”

“I’m a woman of many talents.”

Before you choose to look in the mirror, you fix the rest of your bathing suit with a tremble in your fingers. You can feel him watching you, and honestly, you’re not sure how you feel about that. Good, mostly, but tinged a bit orange with annoyance. You try not to think about that too much and, with a deep breath, look at your reflection.

The first thing you do to assess the damage of your little liaison is check your makeup—your eyeliner is a bit smudged, but that’s easily fixed with a few swipes of your littlest finger. Your hair, however, is another story, so you set to fixing it with a dissatisfied huff.

You hear the snick of a lighter behind you and the scent of fresh-burning nicotine hits your senses. You turn around to see him leaning against the tile wall with a cigarette between his lips and smoke curling in wisps towards the ceiling.

He raises an eyebrow when you approach him, then chuckles when you snatch the cigarette right out of his mouth and take a long, deep drag. It’s almost as good as the sex.

“You know,” he says, “I think you might be a bit in love with me after my spectacular performance.”

That makes you choke, your lungs switching from laughter to coughing and back again.

“Spectacular?” You quell your sputtering with a gulp, “You were passable. At best.”

“Careful, sweetheart. You’re getting awfully close to giving me a compliment.”

You take a step closer to him, shoulders squared, fingers ashing the cigarette onto the floor.

“Not your sweetheart,” you say, taking one last drag and blowing the smoke directly into his face. You smile when he flinches.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” you say, pressing the mostly-smoked cigarette between his lips, “I have somewhere to be.”

You turn on your heel and begin to walk away, making sure to sway your hips just so as you do. There’s no way his eyes aren’t glued to your ass, and the thought makes you smile triumphantly.

“Until next time, then,” he calls—and it’s cute that he sounds so sure that you’ll come crawling back to him.

You exit the bathroom with a self-satisfied smirk, enjoying the thought of him lighting another cigarette and trying not to chase after you.

Three days, tops. That’s how long it’ll take for him to beg.

You can’t wait.

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

also just in case you were wondering, he DID leave the sunglasses on—BUT they were on his head kinda holding his hair back because I truly believe he would do that. also the kimono has pockets and he thinks it’s very cool to carry around all his stuff in there (for example he keeps a granola bar on his person at all times because sometimes you just get hungry yknow?)

[devildom-dedicated-daydreams]

Cheating Bastard and Puppy Brother (Cheater!Lucifer x Reader x Mammon) Part 4

Part 3

WARNING: Offensive language, sexual themes, dubcon

Diavolo had thousands of request forms to oversee and approve for the upcoming school festival, he called over Lucifer to help him segregate the doable from the impractical, but while Diavolo already finished half of his share, Lucifer was only on his seventeenth request form. He kept glancing over his D.D.D. resting on the corner of the table, which was odd, Diavolo thought, because Lucifer usually kept his device on silent and tucked away in his pocket. 

Diavolo called him but Lucifer didn’t respond.

“Lucifer,” he repeated. Again, it was like Lucifer was deaf.

Diavolo sighed and then snapped his fingers, sparking red lights in front of his aide.

Lucifer drew back in surprise, almost shifting into his demon form before calming down and facing Diavolo. He cleared his throat, “Did you need something?”

“No, but it seems like you’re preoccupied. Too preoccupied to do your work,” coming from Diavolo, the words weren’t meant to reprimand but to console. It has been years since he has seen Lucifer stressed to the point he couldn’t do his work.

“Maybe you should take a break, Lucifer. Finish the paperwork tomorrow,” Diavolo suggested. He may be the Crown Prince of Hell but even demons valued friendship.

Lucifer was going to decline but then his D.D.D. buzzed. Not wanting to appear too eager, he gracefully gathered the remaining paperwork and sorted them in the rightful drawer before bowing to Diavolo and leaving with his phone.

Once he was out of the office, Lucifer checked the new message but was disappointed that the sender wasn’t who he was expecting.

He opened Asmodeus’ message, thinking that it was yet another complaint about one of their brothers stealing his beauty products, but was surprised to see that it was a link to the campus newspaper’s website.

His D.D.D. was almost obliterated when he read the headlines:

[RAD DEMON AND HUMAN EXCHANGE STUDENT DATING!?]

Beneath the bold text was a picture of Mammon and you eating dinner at a human-food restaurant. When you dated Lucifer, he made it clear that he didn’t want to make the relationship public and Asmodeus’ flirtation with every living being (including you and fellow human, Solomon) did not count as dating, so this was the news of the century.

Lucifer didn’t understand. Were you doing this on purpose? Were you trying to get on his nerves?

He thinks back to that fateful night at that restaurant and wonders when everything went to hell.

He ran a hand through his hair and marched out of the academy. He needed to talk to you, and he was going to shove Mammon into a freezer for what he did.

***

Lamia checked the comments on the discussion board beneath the news article. Demons made fun of humans for being too nosey and judgmental but her species was just as bad. Harsh criticisms on both Mammon and that human garbage flew in one after another.

The True Pazuzu: Did that moron brother officially lose it?

I Am Roth: An idiot demon and a human -- they’re perfect for each other!

Hari_ng_Aswang: I can’t believe that human had the audacity to seduce one of the avatars. What a slut!

rosemarysbabe: What’s more shocking is that Mammon actually fell for her.

DwendeBoi: @rosemarysbabe How could you possibly know if Mammon actually likes her? She could just be a plaything for all we know!

Mammon’sClubPresident: @DwendeBoi That’s right, no one deserves Mammon but me!

Lamia wondered if this piece of news reached Lucifer. Surely, this coupled with that one, glorious night she and Lucifer shared should finally end his relationship with his human whore. She has had her fair share of human flesh, often breaking marriages and sometimes even tempting men of faith away from their God.

She chuckled and thought back to that night …

*

Lucifer tugged on his tie and breathed. Tonight was supposed to be a very personal, very special occasion but before he could go home and celebrate with you, he had to deal with Devildom’s entertainment industry.

He was Diavolo’s proxy in this pseudo-formal gathering. Pseudo-formal because this party had nothing to do with Devildom politics and everything about rising stars finding potential benefactors. Asmodeus would’ve fit right in with this crowd, Lucifer thought.

He glanced at his pocket watch. The party was supposed to end two hours ago and he should’ve been back at the House of Lamentation giving you your one-year-anniversary present.

While he debated with himself whether to stay or not, a familiar figure slithered towards his side. Lamia wore a slinky silver dress that was treading between sinful and tasteful, a human man and even the average demon would sell his soul for a single night with her. But Lucifer was immune to her so-called charms. The only creature that could tempt him was you.

To her every attempt at conversation, he merely smiled politely or nodded tersely. Sometimes he gave no reaction at all, finding the desserts on the buffet table more interesting.

Lamia, the rising star of Devildom’s film industry, did not take too kindly to being ignored. She’s never been one to chase after her partners (it was always the opposite) but she has always been fascinated by the seven brothers, especially the oldest. The fame and glory of having him would secure her position as a celebrity. She only came to this stupid party because she heard he would be coming as the royal family’s representative. But now he’s like this?

Throwing caution to the wind, she decided to up the ante and tried to press herself against him as she spoke. “Hey, Lucifer … I’m actually feeling a little lonely, would you perhaps -- ”

Lucifer gracefully stepped away before they could touch and she almost stumbled. He cleared his throat, “I beg your pardon, I think it would be best if we don’t start any rumors by acting like we’re close friends.” He wore his practised smile but his tone was firm. He then turned around and went to the balcony.

Lamia was left on her own, clenching her hands tightly and cheeks hot-red from anger and embarrassment. Suddenly, one of her competitors approached her, snickering.

“Don’t even bother. Lucifer never pays anybody attention, especially now that he has that human for a lover.”

Hearing this made Lamia a hundred times more bitter. She bit her cheek so hard she drew blood, but then she quickly composed herself and gave her rival a sneaky smile. “We’ll see about that,” she declared before turning on her heels and approaching the buffet table.

She reached into her shell-shaped bag and pulled out a small glass vial. It was a little gift from a witch fan of hers, the girl was not her type but she had talent, particularly with aphrodisiacs and Lamia asked for this special brew just for tonight. Just for Lucifer. She didn’t actually think she had to use it but it’s a good thing she kept it in her purse.

She poured all the contents in a single glass of blood-spiced wine. She then picked up a glass of crystal water and then followed Lucifer to the balcony.

“I want to apologize for my earlier behavior,” she said, handing him the potion-laced wine.

Lucifer glanced away from his D.D.D., gave her a small smile and took the wine.

“I know we just met and I’ve made a terrible impression on you so I thought we could start again.”

He nodded, but she caught his eyes when they ever-so-slightly rolled towards his D.D.D.

He was definitely distracted.

Lamia raised her own glass, “To new beginnings.”

*

Lamia grinned. With this, she can kick Mammon out of the entertainment business and get Lucifer for herself.

Part 5

EDIT: Lucifer didn’t cheat. Lamia tricked him using an aphrodisiac, i.e. she raped him. Now, I don’t want to get too pedantic or political because that’s not what this blog is for, but I will like to clarify that non-consensual sex is never okay. I don’t want you guys to think that just because Lucifer more or less takes the incident in stride that I take female-on-male rape lightly in real life. Do remember what this fanfic is truly about (for angst-inducing entertainment involving two demon brothers and not a sociological or political commentary) and that it is literally about thousand-year-old demons.  

[homeformyheart]

simply be mine - adam du mortain x f!detective (twc)

author’s note: i needed to write a fluff piece after my last fic, “cottage by the sea,” and got inspiration while listening to a couple songs (see prompt line below) for a new years’ eve party fic. i hope you enjoy!

copyright: all characters, except my oc detective, are owned by mishka jenkins @seraphinitegames. series/pairing: the wayhaven chronicles  – adam du mortain x f!detective (regina bishop) rating/warnings: 14+; descriptions of drinking  word count: 3.1k based on/prompt: “only girl in the world” by rihanna / “one and only” by adele summary: adam struggles to understand why anyone would care about human new years’ eve traditions, but when he finds out regina enjoys them, he finds himself intrigued.

simply be mine

when regina walked into the warehouse living room an hour before the agency’s new years’ eve party, she was pleasantly surprised to see unit bravo somewhat dressed up, even if they were standing around brooding like usual. she was both surprised and excited that she was invited to attend as well, without having to be someone’s plus one, even though she had been assured by both nate and farah that they would’ve invited her. she giggled internally at the memory of farah practically jumping off the walls of the warehouse living room in excitement, yelling what seemed like a hundred words per minute about going shopping and getting ready together.

she quickly learned that the rest of unit bravo hated attending agency work functions and avoided them as much as they could. however, everyone was “strongly encouraged” to attend the new years’ eve party, which she gathered from both morgan and adam that what the agency meant was “we better see you there or we’ll give you the worst cases next year.” she thought they were probably exaggerating a tiny bit, but let it slide.

perhaps to make up for the fact that they’d have to spend the night in a brightly lit and loud room for several hours with colleagues they didn’t care for, regina found that unit bravo had already started pregaming before she arrived, and they pregamed hard. she saw firsthand the sheer amount of alcohol they needed to consume just to feel a little buzzed.

another rare upside to being human, regina noted, a couple of shots of any brown liquor and she was good to go. of course, she only managed one shot of nate’s vintage prohibition-era whiskey before he snatched it away and started lecturing her on its rarity and history and had to settle for farah’s tequila.

“regina, do a shot with me!” farah practically screamed, bounding over to her with a half-empty bottle of tequila and limes in one hand and a pinch of salt in the palm of her other hand.

“who taught you how to do a tequila shot?” she asked incredulously as farah poured a generous shot for them both and handed her a lime.

“i looked it up online!” she said with such a proud look on her face that regina could only smile fondly at the person who had become her best friend on the team.

they both knocked back the shots and cringed, the salt and limes providing little relief to the burn; regina could only assume it was maybe ten times worse for farah. but then farah drained whatever was left in the bottle and let out a loud whoop before wrapping regina up in a big hug.

“i am soooooooo glad we get to celebrate with youuu!! you are the best person on this teammmmmm, after me, of course,” farah shouted and regina couldn’t help but laugh.

adam raised an eyebrow. “you mean she’s the best human on the team, don’t you, farah?”

“nopeeeeeeeeeeee. regina’s the bestttttttttt of us and you can’t convince me otherwiseeeee,” she said in a singsong voice, much to everyone else’s annoyance.

“hey farah, why don’t you put on some pre-party music?” regina suggested. farah’s eyes lit up and she sped away and disappeared before regina could blink.

she felt adam’s large presence behind her, casting a figurative shadow over her in the living room. the room was softly lit by the chandelier farah herself had selected, much to morgan’s annoyance. regina let herself lean back slightly without actually touching adam’s chest, knowing it would tempt him to wrap his hands around her waist.

except he only kept one hand hovering near her hip as he said in a low murmur, “you really shouldn’t encourage her, you know.”

the corner of her lips twitched as though it wanted to break into a smile, but regina knew adam wouldn’t appreciate being teased about being a ‘stick in the mud’ considering each member of unit bravo took their turn throughout the day telling him to lighten up.

“you know she’s not going to stop, so just let her have her fun,” she winked as a familiar song started vibrating through the walls, followed by farah’s vocals. “we’ll be heading out soon anyway.”

morgan let out a sound that was a cross between a loud huff and a growl as she stomped outside, cigarettes in hand.

“i want you to love me, like a hot ride,” farah sang out as she appeared in the living room, twirling gracefully as she leaped over the table to land in front of regina. “be thinking of me, doing what you like.”

regina laughed as adam sighed loudly, intending obviously for them to hear, before he walked over to where nate was leaning against the bookshelf with a glass of wine. she immediately missed the warmth of his body behind her, or rather, the tingle she got in her spine from the prospect of his touch. she took a long sip of her whiskey, willing herself to actually enjoy tonight and not dwell on the lack of progress between her and adam.

“come on, regina, sing with me!” farah grabbed her hand and started twirling her around, whatever was left of the whiskey sloshing out of the glass and on to the floor.

“want you to make me feel, like i’m the only girl in the world,” regina belted alongside farah, throwing her head back. “like i’m the only one you’ll ever love; like i’m the only one who knows your heart.”

farah grabbed the wine bottle on the table by nate before he could intervene and put it to her mouth like a microphone. “only girl in the worlddddd,” she crooned, before collapsing into a giggling fit on the couch, bringing regina down with her.

despite wanting to roll his eyes at farah’s antics, even nate couldn’t help but smile at how cheerful his family was and how nice it was to celebrate the holidays together.

“we should get going soon,” he said, finishing his glass of wine.

“no, wait, regina’s not dressed!” farah said, immediately standing and pulling regina up with her.

“what are you talking about? i am dressed,” regina protested, motioning toward her tailored dress pants and blouse.

farah wrinkled her nose. “oh honey, no. this is a fancy party and you need to dress like it. come on!” before she could protest further, farah had dragged her back toward her room.

* * * * * “you know, regina might appreciate it if you partake in some new years’ traditions,” nate said quietly, glancing over at his longtime friend, who was staring out the window.

adam looked over at him with one eyebrow raised. “and what traditions would that be?”

nate smiled mischievously. “well, the one that seems to be really popular among humans is kissing someone at midnight.”

nate could feel adam’s shoulders tense a fraction of a second before he saw the physical movement itself. “that is an impractical and inane tradition. i would think the detective to be above such childish antics.”

now it was nate’s turn to raise an eyebrow at him. “and i think she’d appreciate the romantic gesture. it’s not childish to want to ring in the new year with someone you care for.”

before adam could retort, the sound of heels clacking along the hallway and the gentle swishing movement of fabric drew his attention toward the only thing that was capable of unraveling centuries of carefully architected walls with a single glance. regina appeared in the living room, farah’s arm looped in hers, dressed in a strapless black floor-length gown with a sweetheart neckline and slit that went all the way up to her mid-thigh.

adam’s eyes followed the length of the slit; the creamy complexion of her skin drawing him in. his gaze traced the way the fabric clung to her curves, dipping at the waist before cupping her chest. her hair was styled in soft waves to one side, leaving her collarbone and neck exposed. he didn’t realize his eyes were continuing to trace the delicate lines of her neck and jaw, before they landed on her red lips. they were lighter than blood and yet, just as, if not more, enticing to him.

he watched as the corner of those luscious lips quirked up into a smirk, which seemed to snap him out of his trance. his gaze shot upward to meet her teasing blue ones, not realizing that his feet seemed to move of their own accord until he was standing right in front of her.

“can i help you, commanding agent du mortain?” regina said, the low and sultry tone of her voice sending warmth south in an unfamiliar, but not wholly unpleasant way.

adam’s throat suddenly felt dry – an odd, human-like sensation that made him pause, until he realized that regina was suddenly very close. too close. he inwardly begged his legs to take a step back, but they wouldn’t budge, and he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to anyway.

“your… dress. it’s impractical. what if you were to get attacked?” he said slowly after clearing his throat, clasping his hands behind his back.

regina smiled and gazed up at him knowingly, a look that was both infuriating and intoxicating. as though she could read every piece of his soul back to him and love all of him anyway.

“don’t worry, i have my volt gun strapped to my thigh, see?” she reached for his hand, her touch sending a jolt up his arm that would worry him for medical reasons if he were human, but instead was stoking a deep primal urge within him as she moved it toward the back of her thigh.

the familiar rectangular gun was firm underneath his fingers and even though regina had let go of his hand, he held on, not quite allowing himself to graze her skin, but feeling her body heat at the tips of his fingertips all the same.

“besides, i know you all will be keeping an eye on me,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him. adam could hear the flutter of each lash against the air and found himself wondering how they’d feel against his skin as she kissed her way down his chest.

“of course, i— i mean, we, won’t let anything happen to you,” he said, moving his hand back behind him, flexing it once before resuming his stance.

“well, i only care that you are keeping an eye on me, commanding agent,” she said, giving him a flirty wink before putting on her coat and following farah out to the car.

adam let out an audible groan and rubbed his face with his hands. nate clasped a hand on his shoulder and he looked over to see his best friend was smirking at him.

“it’s okay. but if you’re going to pretend like there’s nothing between you all night, then you won’t mind if we all take turns dancing with her, right?” his smile only widened as adam’s mouth parted in stunned surprise. “come on or we’ll be late.”

* * * * * adam stood, tense and rigid, in a corner of the ballroom near the balcony doors with morgan, who ducked out every so often when the lights and sounds got to be too much, while nate and farah took turns dancing with regina. it baffled him how an entire room full of trained agents could let themselves potentially be compromised by partaking in such celebratory activities. even his own team, although he would admit only to himself that they needed the break.

farah loved the upbeat songs that allowed her to twirl regina around as fast as she could, and he wondered how regina could handle what must be incredibly dizzying and nauseating for a human. and then there was nate, who took advantage of the slow ballads and classic waltzing music sprinkled throughout the evening, to lead regina around in simple box steps. it was very unlike adam to care what his team did during events like this, as long as they behaved themselves, but something about how nate would lean in every once in a while to say something and make regina laugh made him want to crush every glass in sight.

he crossed his arms and glared at the back of nate’s head, knowing he was doing this to antagonize him, somehow. he felt his gaze unwillingly soften, however, whenever he felt regina’s eyes glance over at him. he quickly looked away when he realized she was walking toward him, surveying the room as though he was being vigilant.

“not fond of dancing?” she asked, the words coming out in soft gasps as she sought to catch her breath.

“i don’t see the point,” he said quickly, the defensiveness in his tone catching even him by surprise. surely, he didn’t need to explain himself.

“sometimes things don’t have to have a point to be enjoyable,” she offered, her voice pleasantly cutting through the din of the party. “and i really like dancing.”

regina let out a soft hum as nate arrived and handed her a drink. she drank it gratefully, giving nate a gentle smile that made adam grit his teeth. morgan appeared next to her and swiftly took regina’s drink, finishing it despite her half-hearted protest.

“so, regina, what is your favorite new years’ eve tradition?” nate asked, hiding his smile behind his glass of wine and ignoring adam’s pointed glare.

“oh well, i always like how excited everyone gets and parties like this are definitely fun,” regina answered, pausing for just a moment to look down at her glass hesitantly before continuing, “but the best one is of course getting to kiss someone at midnight.”

“it’ll be midnight soon, do you have anyone you plan to kiss yet?” morgan asked, slinging an arm around regina’s shoulders. “i’m free at midnight, if you’re interested.”

adam cleared his throat. “that would be unprofessional, agent.”

morgan brought another cigarette to her lips. nate stopped her hand with the lighter and motioned to the balcony. “let’s get some air, morgan, and leave these two alone.”

“sure, if you think that means he’ll actually kiss her before i do,” morgan snickered, too soft for regina to hear but it was obviously directed at adam.

a soft romantic melody started playing over the speakers; a love ballad that regina was familiar with, judging by the way she started humming along and swaying gently in place.

i don't know why i'm scared i've been here before every feeling, every word i've imagined it all you'll never know if you never try to forget your past and simply be mine

regina blinked at adam’s sudden appearance in front of her, his large figure towering over hers and blocking the chandelier from her sight.

“you like this song.” it technically wasn’t a question.

“um, i guess?” she asked, puzzled.

“you should dance,” he said, his hands itching to reach for hers.

regina tilted her head to the side and looked up at him searchingly, her blue eyes delicately framed by her long dark lashes. “are you asking me to dance?”

he pursed his lips into a thin, straight line. “you would need a partner, and seeing as no one else is around, i can… dance with you. if you’d like.”

her eyebrows shot up in surprise. she was not expecting adam du mortain to willingly admit to asking her to dance. she quickly looked around and noticed that most of the agents had gone out on the balcony to watch the fireworks.

she smiled and tucked her hand gently into his and led him to the dance floor. they settled into a swaying rhythm as regina wrapped her arms around his neck. adam hesitantly placed his hands on her waist, and a sweet heat bloomed throughout her body, making her feel flushed.

“i thought dancing was pointless?” she asked teasingly after encouraging him to shift his weight between his feet to match her movements.

adam lowered his head, as if he didn’t want anyone reading his lips or hearing what he was about to say. “with you… it doesn’t seem that way.”

regina shook her head fondly. “you continue to surprise me, commanding agent.”

i dare you to let me be your, your one and only i promise i'm worthy to hold in your arms so come on and give me the chance to prove i am the one who can walk that mile until the end starts

“i hope so,” he muttered quietly. “i have lived over nine centuries, yet every day with you seems new and uncertain.”

regina was afraid to ruin the moment by saying anything and decided to step closer and rest her head on his shoulder instead. she smiled when his hands tightened around her waist, bunching the fabric in a way that she was sure would leave wrinkles.

“10…9…8”

her head shot up at the sound of the crowd outside counting down the last few seconds to the new year. “i didn’t realize it was almost midnight, we should go join everyone.”

adam’s green eyes bore into hers and she was close enough that she could see little specks of gold reflected in them from the chandeliers and ornate décor throughout the room. “you… you want to kiss mor—ahem, someone at midnight.”

“7…6…5”

“oh, i didn’t mean anything by it,” she said quickly, giving him a reassuring smile. she tried taking a step back only to find that adam was holding her tightly in place.

“but it’s a tradition you enjoy.” it was a statement, but he was looking for confirmation while trying to maintain his composure despite his heart hammering so loudly in his chest he thought regina would be able to hear it.

“4…3…2”

she dropped her hands from his shoulders and let them rest on his chest, fiddling with the lapels of his jacket nervously. “oh well, i— i suppose with someone i care for, yes.”

the final second and cheers from the balcony faded into the background as adam leaned forward and touched his lips lightly to hers; they were softer than he imagined, even with the layer of faded lipstick between them.

regina’s body instinctively arched closer to his as she sought to deepen the kiss, her hands scrambling for some part of his shirt she could hold on to. she barely registered that it was over all too soon as adam pulled back, her head spinning from the kiss in a good way.

“happy new year, detective,” he whispered hoarsely, resting his forehead against hers briefly before stepping back and walking away.

regina touched her lips to savor the pleasant tingling feeling the kiss had left behind. happy new year indeed.

* * * * * mentions:  @kelseaaa; @kat-tia801; @anotherbeingsworld; @crackerdumortain; @pearlsandsteel; @gloynporslen; @sosolenoo; @alyssalauren; @wayhavenots; @gingerbreton; @takemyopenheart; @writer-ish; @fhauvilles;

[whereflowersbloom]

Pumpkin Disaster

Richard could almost smell the cinnamon spice, vanilla scent and cinnamon sugar in the air. The colors of the leaves changed from green to a dazzling display of red, orange and yellow. The air became crisper and temperatures dropped a bit as a chill came into the air.

Richard Grayson absolutely loved Halloween. As expected of the eldest Wayne sibling, he was the kind of person who enjoyed decorating and preparing the manor for Halloween because of his everlasting enthusiasm for holidays. He loved the cheesy and horror movies, the excuse to stuff his face with candy, the seasonal special editions of cereal, the elaborate and extravagant costumes, the creative decorations. It was his second favorite holiday. And he definitely considered it a holiday.

Halloween wasn’t just a day to him. Oh no. The whole month of October was Halloween. But with his vigilante duties, intermittent Titans training and constant Gotham crises cropping up, he had made it through two weeks of the month without an ounce of Halloween festivity. But that was about to change.

“You never carved pumpkins for Halloween?” Dick Grayson asked incredulously, pressing a hand to his chest in a move overly dramatic.

Damian exclaimed a familiar ‘TT’ in response. For him seeing people playing pretend, wearing flashy and ridiculous costumes was not particularly interesting. Thought they weren’t much different from the impractical clothing Todd and Richard insisted on wearing. It was just a recurrent reminder that he was not a normal child.

“Which part of I was raised in the inhospitable and desolate mountains you didn’t comprehend, Grayson?” Damian brusquely returned with furrowed eyebrows.

“But we cannot celebrate it without carving your first pumpkin...” Grayson sounded so downhearted it stung Damian with shadowy guilt. Out of all his adoptive siblings Grayson was the pleasant and tolerable one. Damian swallowed hard.

“I want all of us to carve a pumpkin!” Dick declared holding up his index finger in contempt. Damian raised a dark eyebrow as a go on communicating silently. “We are all doing this together as a family.”

“It’s not necessary. I’m not a small child anymore.” Damian scoffed, rolling his eyes before refocusing on his Robert Frost book, flipping another page. No. He would not acquiesce easily into this. He was self-sufficient, mature preteen. Not a child.

“Demon spawn, you are only eleven.” Jason commented before putting out a finished cigarette. Fortunately Alfred wasn’t lurking around to give him disapproving eyes for smoking inside the manor.

“Is this your way of asking for a new scar, Todd?” Damian threatened through gritted teeth and clenched fists, mind quickly calculating the damage of throwing an explosive batarang.

“You’re getting less insufferable to be around.” Jason scoffed and met Damian with a sly smirk. “Dickie, pouting is not an acceptable reaction for a full-grown adult.” Jason sing-songed as he grabbed his motorbike keys.

“This includes you Jaybird. I plan on getting you into the Halloween spirit.” Dick announced with his authoritative leader tone, letting Jason know he would be part of this wether he liked it or not.

Jason groaned dreadfully, cursing under his breath. Great. Now he was part of the Halloween circus. At least he didn’t have to take the annoying gremlin pumpkin picking. God knows what would happened if they fed him candy. The thought gave Jason chilling goosebumps.

Damian folded his arms over his chest in a sign of disagreement. “I don’t do pumpkins. It’s a waste of food. It amounts to about 18,000 tons of pumpkin, including flesh and seeds. Have you read the recent studies on how it’s destroying the environment?”

“Come on, D. You will have fun. You can carve your own Robin lantern” Dick encouraged, practically vibrating with excitement. Damian wondered what on earth he did to deserve such blinding sunshine as his adoptive sibling. “...and I’m sure Alfred will find a convenient way to make use of the pumpkins.”the last words seemed to have done the trick to convince the younger boy.

Damian considered the options carefully for a solid minute. He knew better than ignoring Richard wouldn’t get him anywhere. He wouldn’t leave it alone. Sigh. If it meant he could help Pennyworth baking a pumpkin spice pie with ginger-snag crust...

“Lead the way, Grayson.” Damian sighed resignedly.

Dick squealed in joy, bouncing to his feet and wrapping his arms around Damian’s neck.

It was just pumpkin carving what exactly could go wrong. Right?

~~~

Less than two hours later Jason Todd walked into the kitchen of the Wayne manor, initially looking for a cup of peppermint tea as the Gotham chilly autumn winds were making him crave a hot beverage.

“Would anyone care to explain why is there a whole fucking pumpkin patch on the kitchen table?” Jason muttered audibly, mouth opened in stupefaction. What in the name of Halloweentown....Where did all these pumpkins come from?

“Language, Jay.” Dick scolded him glancing up at him over a pile of massive mutant pumpkins with a provoking grin.

“I grew up in the Narrows. I’m allowed to swear.” Jason rolled his eyes in reply as he tried to avoid stepping on the pumpkins, accidentally squashing them, they were scattered on the floor, table, those fucking things were everywhere. “Dickie, are you going to explain?”

“These are from Roy.” Richard gestured the numerous orange bulbs with his right hand. “I think he got these from some illegal smuggling bust. I didn’t really ask a lot of questions. I just accepted them because I thought it’d be fun to try carving Batman lanterns with little D.”

It took Jason less than two minutes to process the information. Why was the golden boy not bothered by this?

“You mean these are contraband pumpkins.” He remarked skeptically, green-blue eyes widening still rather incredulous.

Dick simply shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d have a problem.”

Right. Only if Bruce found out about the origin of the contraband pumpkins. Then he’d be blamed for being the bad influence and his merry band of disreputable friends. He groaned as he rubbed the nape of his neck.

“And where is the demon spawn. I don’t seem him anywhere.” He questioned narrowing his eyes and tilting his head to the side the slightest. He had to be close to Dick, but the kitchen was alarmingly too quiet. Too quiet for his liking. This meant trouble.

Tim didn’t try too hard not to flinch as a knife flashed dangerously close to his face and flied past Jason. “This is the third time in the last hour. I’m starting to think it’s personal.” Tim spoke calmly with a sarcastic tone as he continued sipping his black coffee expressionless as usual. Getting knifed by the little demon spawn before Halloween would hav been the cherry on top of the misfortune cake.

Jason was genuinely concerned and wondered how many cups of coffee Tim has had today. Hopefully not over five.

“If he wanted you dead, you’d be already in a casket.” Jason pointed out. It was no secret Damian’s strong aversion towards replacement, but he didn’t wish the shortstack dead.

Tim just shrugged his shoulders casually. “Well, I suppose we always could use your old one.” Fuck that. He took it back.

“Low blow, replacement.” Jason feigned hurt putting a hand to his chest right above his heart in a offended manner.

“It’s juts not cooperating.” The young kid voiced his frustration and discontentment . Leaving the kitchen knife he used on the table. Tt. He was trained and raised for excellence and he couldn’t carve flawlessly a stupid pumpkin. Mother would be entirely displeased.

“Requires time and practice, Dami.” Dick whispered softly with a warm smile, running his hand up and down the preteen’s back.

“I don’t know D, to me it looks like you’re slaughtering it mercilessly.” Jason joked with a wolflike smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Head moving in different angles trying to find a figure or face in the pumpkin Damian had been carving. “Unless you were thinking of the Joker, If so then you have my seal of approval.” The little demon spawn was never the most pleasant person to be around but deep,very deep down maybe Jason had a soft spot for him. Not that he would ever admit it out loud. Never.

“Do us a favor and keep your mouth shut, Todd.” Damian barked, glaring daggers at him.

“I never did Halloween with my parents.” The words escaped Tim’s mouth before his brilliant brain registered the order. The pain wasn’t there anymore. No. There were charity Galas, social events for wealthy socialites, last minute journeys for significant discoveries. Because people often assumed there will be plenty of time later. Tim didn’t want Damian to live for the later.

“I remember trading a cheap wristwatch for expired candy once. Not a great deal.” Jason muttered nonchalantly, giving it unimportance. Tone flat and factual. His memories from the narrows weren’t memorable for being happy or enjoyable but he had what he managed to obtain and he did what was necessary in order to survive. Nothing to be ashamed of.

“There’s always a first, Timbo.” Dick placed sympathetically a hand on Tim’s shoulder in a comforting way. Tim smiled softly back. Well, perhaps this pumpkin carving experience could be fun.

~~~

“This is the grossest thing I’ve ever done.” Tim announced, scooping a handful of pumpkin guts out of his pumpkin and examining them distastefully. “Seriously. I’ve done some pretty gross things, but this takes the cake.”

Jason flicked playfully a few pumpkin seeds at him and Tim moved fast enough to evade almost all of them. “Don’t be such a crybaby, replacement.” He has been playing with the large pumpkin, stabbing it numerous times picturing the joker’s fAce.

“Look at the gremlin, he’s been doing it for like two hours. What if he’s developed an addiction?” Jason mumbled slightly concerned and half-joking to Tim.

Damian pulled the pumpkin impossibly closer to him, practically cradling the thing in his lap. His mind completely absorbed in the task of carving the perfect pumpkin. His back was pressed to the cupboards behind him, a series of knives and napkins scattered at his sides. He looked focused, impossibly focused, like there could never be a more important thing for him to pour his energy into. Because Damian Wayne even if he didn’t admit it was obsessed with maintaining perfection. Failure was not a word he accepted.

Damian rolled his eyes. “I’m fairly sure no one has ever got addicted to pumpkin carving and I can hear you, mindless fools.”

"Any behavior can become compulsive.” Tim supplied absently, eyes fixed on the small pumpkin in front of him.

Dick paused briefly from working on his Nightwing lantern to just observe Damian, not even trying to hide the smile on his lips.

Dick and Jason quietly exchange discreet glances. Quickly they picked a few pumpkin seeds out of the bowl that resided in the scented of the kitchen table, flicking them over towards Damian who squawked and tried unsuccessfully, to duck. Due to being too focused on the task assigned. “Will you stop distracting me? I have a masterpiece to finish!”

“A masterpiece?” Jason asked teasingly, glancing pointedly at his Batman lantern.

“Yes. A masterpiece, Todd.” Damian exhaled exasperated. What did anyone have to do to carve a mere pumpkin in peace?

“Come on, little D. It’s time to have some fun!” Jason threw a handful of pulpy flesh at his face. Oh. This would be seen as a declaration of war. Quickly, Damian grabbed a portion of pumpkin and aimed for Jason’s leather jacket. ‘NOT MY JACKET’ several minutes later, Drake was covered in the orange flesh from head to toes. He was in urgent need of a bath. Grayson was smart enough to grasp a breakfast tray and use it as a shield, however it didn’t work for long. Damian and Tim teamed up to caught him on the top with a surprise attack, Drake sneaking behind his back. Needless to say the kitchen was in shambles at this point. Good thing Pennyworth has been busy the whole day reorganizing the library.

“What’s all this mess in my kitchen?! Master Richard I demand a proper explanation!” A very agitated British voice came from the doorframe. Alfred very upset, furrowing his grey brows appeared looking utterly baffled by the chaos.

Oops.

“Fuck me” Jason and Richard grumbled in unison from the floor covered in pumpkin pulp. Soon they broke out in bowls of laughter all four of them. Damian genuinely laughed at his heart’s content with the innocence of a normal child. His family may have been unstable and insane, but canned if they weren’t entertaining and the best part of his new life.

Some mandatory batbros bonding October prompt 🎃 🙈🙈🙈❤️💜💜

Also I’m celebrating 1.8K followers. Thank you so much for your support and reading my stories. I appreciate it 🥺🥺

Edited here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26891536

@sofiii @chromium7sky @deep-in-mind67