#reveal feels

[vox-ex]

vigilante + breakfast

Supercorptober 2023

"You can put your strength down. I’m sitting here with you at your kitchen table. You don’t need to say anything." - Eden Robinson

or ... Lena saves Supergirl from Lillian but winds up having breakfast with Kara

----

Lena doesn't know how she got here.

Standing in the kitchen of a cabin up the coast while a superhero showered in the other room.

Well, she does.

But it's a story too long to tell on 3 hours of sleep. She thinks about just leaving, about placing a note on the counter and going after Lillian on her own for almost killing Supergirl. But playing vigilante was literally the one thing she said she told Agent Danvers she wouldn't do.

So that's how she wound up here.

Standing in the kitchen of a cabin up the coast, water running in the other room while she tried to make sense of the last 24 hours and the room in front of her all at once.

She finds it all narrows down to one thing, or rather three, all stacked together.

She notices the bright blues and deep reds first, the way they stand out against the dark wood. She runs her fingers over the heavy material of the suit and through the thick creases of the cape, trailing over the edges of the sigil that peeks out. It's softer than she thought it would be. Careful stitching and little flecks of gold woven throughout. She marvels at the hidden complexities of something that had always seemed so much simpler.

But things up close never quite appear like they do at a distance.

They look out of place, folded there on the kitchen table.

The care to place them so perfectly, a contrast to the rest of the room.

A blanket still covering half the couch. Two pillows wedged together against the arm. A pot of coffee on the counter, still warm but half gone. A missing mug from the cabinet. A plate covered in bits of jam and burnt toast crumbs in the sink.

But there was an odd comfort in it, of things having been taken out and put back a little askew — careful in its own way, but cautious too. It felt familiar in a way she couldn't place.

She came back to the suit, noticing one more thing tucked inside the folds — a pair of dark-rimmed glasses.

She carefully picked them up, unable to leave them in their place like the rest of the things she had found.

Familiar in that same way she couldn't place.

They were heavier than they should be.

She turned them over in her hand, tracing the outline of the frames, running her finger over the faint outline of scratches too deep to polish away.

Imagined them set in front of bright blue eyes.

They became even more familiar then.

Marveled at the simple illusion of them.

Was so caught up in it that she missed the sound of the water stopping.

Missed the sound of someone else coming into the kitchen.

"They have lead in them."

She almost dropped the glasses.

She imagines they wouldn't have broken if she had.

Finds herself careful with them all the same.

Kara came up next to her, hair still damp as she finished putting it up into a loose bun. She had cuts scattered on one side of her face still. Mostly healed. Mostly just angry lines and shallow marks. But Lena remembered them deeper, remembered her bleeding. Her ears rang in sympathy at the memory of how they got there. Remembering the the cape in front of her wrapped around her body instead, protecting her. It hadn't felt as heavy then.

Looking at her felt like walking into the room all over again. Some parts of her familiar, others out of place.

"I'm sorry, I - I was just..."

"Please don't be." Kara gently took the glasses from Lena's hands with a soft smile and slipped them on. "I left them there for you." Her fingers lining up with the imperfections on the lenses. The cuts along her cheek coming into sharper focus, too.

"I thought, I thought it might be easier to see when I told you about me...all of me."

She reached out and adjusted them just a little, letting her fingers linger there for a moment. She felt Kara relax against her.

"There you go," Lena said

The oversized sweater and messy bun made her seem even softer. More like the Kara she had come to know.

"Here I am."

But Lena could see it now - the strength coiled beneath her gentle nature, the way she stood taller under Lena's touch. Could see all of her.

Her fingers drifted from Kara's glasses to her chin, her thumb stretching up to touch the split in her lip that seemed to be taking the longest to heal.

Suddenly, even more of yesterday made sense.

Her mother hadn't just been trying to hurt Kara.

She had been trying to hurt her, too.

Her shoulders fell as the weight on them grew.

"I should have gotten there sooner...If I had just realized what she was doing, accepted it."

"Hey," Kara set her jaw, beneath Lena's touch. "You got us both out of there."

"What if she comes after you again?" Lena asked quietly.

"She will, and we'll stop her," Kara promised, "together." Her voice softened..."tet me protect you too."

Lena nodded, taking a deep breath. Years from now, she would become used to this kind of hope, but for, now it was still new.

"I have to be honest, though; I would really like some breakfast first. Because I tried making toast, but it was --"

"-a little burnt on one side," Lena finished.

Kara ducked her head, and Lena laughed, the sound coming easily even now, as it always seemed to do with Kara.

"Any requests? I am told I make good pancakes."

Kara squeezed her hand...careful...familiar.

"Perfect, pancakes sound perfect."

----

read and follow along on Ao3 too

[mylittleredgirl]

okay tumblr’s exclusion from the twitter social media ban list is hilarious but genuinely we do not belong on there. if a real human person asks “where can i find you on social media” and your choice is a swift death or revealing your tumblr, most of us would simply expire. half of y’all change urls every week like you’re in witness protection. just imagine for one second attaching your wholeass government name to your latest two am clownposting and tell me that didn’t send a cold chill down your spine. the only place i ever want to see the words “connect with me on tumblr!” is on the ao3 profile of an author i’m actively stalking. anyone in the world can follow me except anyone i personally know. antisocial media.

[bixels]

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

[egophiliac]

(almost) four years in, and I finally had time to draw something for the anniversary! woo! 🎉🎉🎉

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Horse Meshi. Delicious, in Horse.

[shorthaltsjester]

watching the sdcc panel and i am just very :) about how sweet their answers to “what are some of the micro moments from the game that have stuck with you the most over the years?” are. taliesin saying what the fuck is up with that which was the first like The Party Gets To Know Each Other moments of c3. travis saying asking his wife if he could kiss her in campaign. marisha going way back to the cannonball competition in campaign one. ashley choosing the beauyasha date but also just the silly goat noise matt made. liam adding onto that to compliment matt roleplaying grass so well and then saying his favourite moment was writing a story for laura and reading it to her as caleb for jester. and then matt saying that was his answer, and that his favourite moments of the game are when they find ways to give gifts to each other whether tangible or not. and sam saying his favourite moments have less to do with the story and is more so when he can just. see his friends across the table from him. when marisha perches and when laura and ashley are (badly) drawing dicks and liam saying he loves when sam sneezes and ashley tells him to stop it and just. yeah. they Are an extremely popular online powerhouse, but i’m so happy that they’re also friends building a world together out of gifts to and love for one another.

like i Am so enamoured with the characters and the world of exandria but the moments when you can feel the love that those people have for each other reach out from behind the stained glass of their performances (to steal a metaphor from brennan lee mulligan) are so extremely special and i am endlessly grateful that they decided to share their silly little home game with the world.

[petr1kov]

here's the scene i've mentioned before where nemesis and melinoë talk about hypnos, for those who wanted to see it!

[wolfythewitch]

Odysseus is a fine captain only because if my men opened the bag I told them not to open right as we see my homeland in sight I would start throwing people overboard. He just wanted to kill himself

[spocks-kaathyra]

Spock looking for whales at the Cetacean Institute!

[lynxgriffin]

Eldritchrune - A Dark Bargain

1 | 2 | 3

Story Setup Eldritchrune Masterpost Kris is skeptical at first, but ultimately decides to give up their soul. What this means for their eventual future is yet to be seen!

[bbbbbbbbatman]

Bruce finally decided it’s time to reveal his identity to Superman and Wonder Woman, so he takes off his mask…and is met with two blank faces. Zero recognition.

Like, Bruce Wayne is in that celebrity category of being famous for being rich and famous and also as a local celebrity, so I like to imagine that outside of Gotham, if you’re not that into celebrity culture, you probably wouldn’t recognize him walking down the street. And yeah, Clark’s a journalist, but the celebrity stuff and charity fluff pieces aren’t really his area and Diana’s never really understood the fascination with celebrities. So yeah, they don’t recognize their coworker sans makeup and expensive clothes, with helmet hair, looking like he hasn’t slept in 48 hours.

So now Bruce has to sit there, trying to figure out the least dickish way to say “don’t you know who I am?” bc he’s just not used to the lack of reaction. So he finally stumbles out with, “do you not recognize me?”

And Clark is feeling the awkwardness now but trying to be polite, “I’m so sorry, have we met as civilians before?”

“N-no, that’s—that’s not what I meant.”

Diana, trying to be helpful, “oh, are you some kind of celebrity?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am.”

“Oh,” Diana is excited now, “are you one of those influencers I’ve heard of?”

Bruce thinks a little part of him just died inside. “No, no. I’m…no.”

He’s trying so hard to think of the best way to explain that’s he’s famous for being rich, stupid, and having his parents killed traumatically in front of him but without sounding like that guy, like he’s trying to brag to his coworkers bc he’s not, he’s just used to bigger reactions, okay?

But now Diana and Clark are staring at him all politely and earnestly, wanting to learn about their teammate, meanwhile Bruce is trying to shrink into himself like a turtle bc he’s feeling super embarrassed and he would have played this whole thing differently if he’d known this is how it was going to go

[satoumafuyuss]

Still getting used to drawing them but I'm happy with how this turned out so I will post it :)

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 198

Now Bruce was not expecting to reincarnate upon his death. At least he thinks he died, he’s pretty sure he did. There wasn’t any other reason for him to be a well, literal baby. Around two he thinks, which fits well with the fact that it’s around that time that babies start forming memory recall, if he, well, remembered correctly. 

But while he knew about reincarnation thanks to Shayera and Carter, he’d never exactly given it much thought towards himself. Because seriously, what were the chances of such a thing as him being given another chance? 

So he was quite surprised at his situation, experimentally opening and closing pudgy hands that looked well, just a tiny bit off. He’d never been that pale before, he thinks, even back when he never went outside like, ever. 

He turned his gaze towards the mobile above him with a sort of idle curiosity- a mixture of bats (ha) and other trinkets he wasn’t familiar with. It also caused him to get his first good look at his parent, asleep on a rocking chair right next to the crib. 

Huh. They had the same pale skin he did, albeit in the light it looked like it was slightly tinted blue, and while their hair was white they didn’t exactly look old. They looked surprisingly well rested for raising a toddler too, unless they had a nanny or something similar… He rolled over, managing to very shakily push himself to his feet with the help of the crib. 

Why was standing so hard as a toddler? And why did he have his memories of everything except how he had died anyway? 

His head whipped up from where they were staring at his feet when he heard a snort, finding his parent awake and standing. Somehow silently enough that he hadn’t noticed- or he was that easily distracted by the unfamiliar giddiness bursting in his chest. 

“Morning little bat,” his parent easily picked him up and held him while he inwardly sighed at the nickname. Of course his bat motif would follow him into this life. A low rumbling almost caused him to jump, his body relaxing before he could fully register the sound. The… purring? 

Oh. 

He wasn’t human this time around. 

[tblsomedoodles]

The Preferable Alternative-prologue-part 2

Start - Previous (just start) - Next

And here we go! : )

[hotbabelien]

i had this comic sketched out last spring and the new series incited me to actually finish it. i love the interactions between the Captain and Pat so much...

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslighter? I hardly know her!

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