#this idea was borne from wanting bart to be able to have all his family together in one place

[miadeardn]

okay so i have been thinking very extensively about a flash family movie à la into the spiderverse

wally west is the main character, he's 14/15 and obsessed with the flash, not knowing that he's his uncle. eobard thawne, in an attempt to strengthen his own powers and take away barry's so he can kill him and replace him, creates a machine that can tap into the speedforce (or something like that). so barry goes to stop him and wally follows him because who would pass up a chance to see the flash in action? barry attempts to destroy the machine but he isn't able to completely dismantle it before it deploys. wally gets caught in the blast, which grants him superspeed and a connection to the speedforce. barry loses his powers and is severely injured from the explosion and when wally runs down to try and help him barry reveals his secret identity and gives wally his flash ring, telling him to run and not let thawne find him. wally obeys but stays behind just long enough to watch thawne kill barry.

the machine's explosion disrupted the speedforce and everyone who had been tapping into it when it exploded gets pulled into wally's universe. this includes an alternate universe barry, bart allen/impulse, jay garrick/flash, jesse chambers/jesse quick, max crandall/max mercury, irey west/impulse and jai west/kid flash, and jess chambers/kid quick (plus maybe don and dawn allen/the tornado twins and jenni ognats/XS but things might get real confusing with the whole allen family tree in one place). they'd all have a bit like in spiderverse where they say "my name is [name] and i'm the fastest [man/woman/kid] alive" and explain their origin stories. it would be funny to see bart and irey bicker over who was impulse first and see wally freak out over meeting his kids from an alternate universe

they all have to work together to defeat thawne and go back to their universes because the speedforce is messed up. wally gets mentored by the older flashes and gains the confidence to follow in barry's footsteps and become his universe's flash (like rebirth wally west) and its all just a bunch of flash family bonding! this is mostly self-indulgent because i want to see all of the flash fam together in one universe

[woahajimes]

How do you picture all of the bat boys? Like do they all have black hair and blue eyes to you? Also, what are your thoughts on Jason having red hair but dying it?

Hey luv <3 You are a literal deity for sending me this ask, just know that. 

- Dick has brown hair, yet a brown so that you think it’s black, but in the sunlight, it looks a very deep shade of brown. You won’t notice unless you’re looking for that specifically. His skin tone to me will always be like this tone, perhaps a little lighter (honestly don’t @ me because i keep reading comics and dick is literally white so my brain just did that thing in which it lets itself be lied to), and he’s been whitewashed for literally 80 years but i stick hard to my idea. His eyes are blue, just blue. Not like... specks of white or green or anything like that. They’re just a blue that he really isn’t conscious of, but it’s also a specific shade of blue (this up to your own imagination), yet not enough so you can name it, but enough so you can recognize it. Anywhere.  To me, Dick has dimples. I just know this. Also vvv nice eyebrows and eyelashes. I would literally sell my soul to have Dick’s eyelashes. 

- I still can’t decide on Jason. I just can’t do it. On one side, there’s blond jason todd that was also from the circus or something like that, and he’s from the 80s and pre-crisis (whatever that means) and a writer admitted that he forgot that jason’s hair color so really this is a whole mess. And Red-haired Jason is a gorgeous idea! But if anything were to be, I’d say that Jason has red hair, but it tilts more into the auburn side. Like bart’s hair color, but a bit more red. Yet I canon Jason with naturally black hair, this literally black and pitch black over and over, perhaps once brown then dyed???? and then maybe with the lazarus something happened and... I don’t know. Honestly. But Jason with black hair is what I lean onto, so that. 

There’s also the white strip of hair. At first I was thinking it came from stress, because it happens, but then everyone went with lazarus and stuff, so i just shut up. And honestly the white strip i headcanon it to be really faint at first, like whatever happened in the lazarus, and jason used to be super self-conscious about it, because people would look at him like just one more freak that came back from the dead (don’t ask me who becaus i won’t know what to tell you). So he was on his way to get hair dye (the confectionery’s store iykyk), to cover it up, and he was checking out the things, with the hood of his jacket covering it up, and the girl behind the counter, probably the daughter of the owner, or someone (she didn’t look a day beyond 13), she made this comment on how cool Jason’s hair was and why he didn’t accentutate it more (with bleach). And this lifted Jason’s spirit, so he go the bleach, even though he just assumed that the girl was making propaganda for the bleach (which cost more than the hair dye).  So anyways, that’s my headcanon on the white strip of hair, and I just think that the little comment that made him change his mind, just changed a lot of things for him, and with accentuating the white strip of hair, Jason started accepting who he was and stuff. 

His eyes (to me) will be blue. I have this headcanon in which pre-death, Jason had birth marks and moles, his lips parted when he relaxed, his nose lost the delicate shape it used to have. He had a mole (as i just mentioned) right above his lip, on the left side, and he had more across his back and shoulders. He had birthmarks (one on his thumb and another in his inner thigh), and multiple scars across his body. But these scars are completely and utterly... domestic. Toying around with the stapler, stapling both his fingers together at age 4, falling off the bike at age 6, a dog bite in the right ear (he also had cigarette burns in his arms, in the back of his neck as well, but that’s something for another day). Although his eyes. His eyes aren’t what they used to be. They were always blue, and they still are, but it’s a different blue. Before the j*ker happened, Jason’s eyes were a speckless blue, an innocent one. And then they turned a dark blue, and I don’t wanna say what everyone says, but jason having specks of green (and white) in the originally blue irises of his eyes is just a really cool concept. The green, of course, for the connective tissues and muscle fibers that the lazarus was able to stitch up. The white for the ones that the lazarus wasn’t able to complete (for whatever reason). They were just left blank. Note that you can’t see it, not unless you’re paying ridiculously close attention to Jason’s eyes. 

- Tim Drake is pretty. That’s all. In my head, he will always have freckles. Always. Not like freckles, freckles, not by like genetics or anything, but by the sun. Tim Drake (as all the batboys, but they don’t have freckles, except for Dick when i feel like it) spends a lot of time under the sun. I know there’s the whole idea of fandom in which he’s ‘dead inside’ and has huuuge bags under his eyes and barely sleeps and always spends time inside with his laptop and drinking coffee. And I mean, sure, Tim Drake might get little sleep, but he also screams off he vibes of a guy that is really hyper when with friends, but in a more subtle way. Tim Drake is just... i mean he’s like that. I don’t picture him as closed off, or monotonic. So he probably, yes, stays up all day and all night, gets like three hours worth of sleep, and then just vibes and goofs (when with friends) all day long. He is this professional hoe but that’s for another day. 

His hair’s got the middle part going on, which used to be short, then grew and that was that. He didn’t bother to cut it, only to realize that he actually liked it like that. When he showers, it’s like... to his chin. The front strands. You know what i mean?

His eyes are an icy blue. All blue, not specks of anything. But it’s a light blue, and from far it looks grayish. 

Tim also has beautiful eyelashes write that down.

- I’ll have to admit, I don’t think often about Damian’s appereance. The thing i have thought about most are his eyes. Like.... They’re green, but the only explanation to that is the lazarus (now, i know that there are versions of talia in which her eyes are green, and yeah that could come from anywhere in the family tree, but i’ll stick with brown because i’ve seen it mostly in brown so). And you’re probably tired of hearing me talk about the lazarus, but i have this headcanon in which, you know, Talia’s been in the lazarus so many times, and that affected her bloodstream, or something like that, and that came into play when Damian was born. But his eyes were still brown, but he had the connective tissues and muscle fibers and everything else that makes the iris, and the first time that Damian came into contact with the waters of the lazarus, they... activated, per se. And his eyes were green, time by time that he came in contact with such.  And besides that, I swear to you that i haven’t thought about much else.

I wanted to write this part on duke, but then i realized that i don’t know that much on him, and as im learning, I’m just exploring the canon facts of his character, and haven’t actually given much thoughts onto other aspects, so if you guys have any headcanons about duke’s appereance (or any other batboys’, really), feel totally free to share them!

[ohbarty]

𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖞  𝖋𝖎𝖑𝖊𝖘  :  BARTEMIUS CROUCH JR is an eighteen year old pureblood. he is currently working as an intern for the department of magical law enforcement, and is suspected of siding with the death eaters. nicknamed the acolyte, they’re described to be disingenuous and devoted. wherever they go, they leave the scent of whiskey-splashed tea, the faint sweetness of an elderflower, & the air before a storm, and the memories of finding sanctuary in a rebellion, an oath of allegiance, the tell-tale tic, & houses that never felt like home behind. 

- STORY

barty was born on the 4th of june, the first and only child of bartemius crouch sr and his wife, eleanor crouch - though how they both came to the decision to bring him into the world was a mystery that would puzzle the young boy for much of his life. while his mother was almost unrelenting in showing her affection for him as a child, his father, despite how loving he was to his wife, always seemed to have something better to do, somewhere more important to be whenever it came time for him to look barty’s way. it was almost as if bringing a child into the house was just another present he was giving his wife, not something he had to really care about or check up on himself - not even sharing a name could make that happen.

although barty sr never seemed to want to spend all that much time with his son alone, that didn’t stop him from dragging him along to lavish ministry parties, where barty would end up being left to be watched by the usually older children of the witches and wizards his father was busy mingling with elsewhere. when it came time for him to accompany his mother as she spent time with her friends, his situation was practically mirrored. however young they were at the time, however, these weren’t connections that barty would come to regret making, even if they were forced upon him at first, nor were they ones he’d abandon soon.

when it came time for barty to go to hogwarts, he was thrilled - finally, he wouldn’t have to be faced each night with the absence of his father, finally, his time with his friends wouldn’t be backdropped by formal, boring conversation of how brilliant barty sr was - it was his dream come true. at least, it was before it actually did come true - it was before he, after almost four minutes of deliberation by the hat, was sorted into ravenclaw. 

after spending much of his youth and even just the train ride to the castle talking with his friends, many of whom were already students, about how he’d soon be in slytherin with them, about which teachers favoured their house and which ones didn’t, about how to snatch the best seats in the dungeon commonroom before anyone else could and how long it would take for him to get to each classroom in the morning, finding out that everything he’d learned through osmosis was going to be absolutely useless was more than a shock. though he knew he was curious and was frequently the first to figure out a solution or quickly spin up an alibi if ever a situation called for it, he had never considered he’d be sorted into ravenclaw - and as he got acquainted with his new housemates, it didn’t take long for him to decide that he hated it there. outside of the house quidditch team, who he made sure to treat politely and almost happily put up with when he came to join their ranks in his third year, barty didn’t waste any time making friends with his housemates - in his eyes, the lot of them were pretentious, arrogant, annoying gits, and though he played nice when he had to, he made sure to spend all of his free time as far away from them as possible, instead meeting up with his old slytherin friends and, after most of them had graduated, opted to study alone (for ‘his concentration’) rather than fall back on them as his last resort. he’d rather be seen as friendless than as a ravenclaw.

thanks to who he spent the majority of his time with, it wasn’t at all surprising the crowd he fell in with - despite his father’s life being dedicated by that point to throwing death eaters in azkaban, barty couldn’t wait to become one of them. if anything, crouch sr’s hatred of them only fuelled his desire to listen closely whenever they brought up the ‘dark lord’ - though it wasn’t the only reason he turned to his side, nor was the presence of the only people he could say he’d ever been really close to, though without them he wouldn’t have considered it at all. the main reason was lord voldemort himself. the issue of purebloods vs muggleborns honestly couldn’t have meant less to him by the time he got the dark mark emblazoned on his arm - it had only taken one in-person meeting with the man for him to decide his was the side he wanted to support. he was respected because he acted, feared because he deserved it, and though he made it clear he was the man in charge, he still at least responded when his followers talked to him - he had become more than his past had seemed to want to dictate for him, and that was nothing short of what barty wanted to. he was incredible - when it came between choosing his parents, one who hated him, one who only loved the idea of him, and lord voldemort, there was absolutely no doubt in his mind when he immediately sided with the latter. 

now, barty works as an intern/assistant in the department of magical law enforcement, a position granted partly for his O.W.L results, partly for the reputation of good work his father’s name carried, and partly for a sly imperius curse kindly performed on the wizard in charge of hiring by one of the other deatheaters who was already in the ministry. it’s dull work, and he couldn’t care less for it - but that’s not the impression he puts on. at work, he’s a curious, outgoing young wizard who just wants to live up to his father’s name - and sure, he might mislabel a few things, misplace a couple documents, accidentally let a few people off the hook, but it’s not as if anything he messes up really matters, does it? with you-know-who on the loose and all, the ministry have bigger problems than a couple rookie errors - at least, that’s what barty’s counting on. 

tldr: barty crouch jr’s dad neglected him, he was sorted into ravenclaw which he hated and spent most of his time with his slytherin friends from before hogwarts despite it, he became a death eater as soon as he graduated and now works as an intern/assistant for the ministry.

- PERSONALITY

although he hated himself for it because it meant he was sorted into ravenclaw, barty has always been fairly strategic and just generally intelligent, though he avoids chances where he may have to show it outside of a small comment here or a correction there, only bringing up what he learned through hours and hours of studying alone to avoid his housemates if it’s absolutely necessary. he’s cunning, but doesn’t pride himself for it. 

barty is nothing short of devoted, and when he finds some idea or person to be loyal to, he does it for the sake of being loyalty, not caring at all for what he personally could gain from it, how it would impact his reputation - he only did well in school because he learned for the sake of learning, not to do well, and now he’s joined voldemort, he cares purely for the man and the cause itself, having no real end goal in sight, despising anyone who’s a death eater for personal gain despite their shared allegiance

in fact, looking to the future has never been something barty’s been particularly good at - though he does make plans, thorough plans, and since he was a kid has been able to whip up excuses like that, when things go wrong, he prefers to think of a solution on his feet rather than plan for it in advance, and has pretty much no idea what he wants to do beyond the vague idea of helping his fellow death eaters to voldemort win, with no real ambition outside of that. he gets frustrated when he has to think of alternate possibilities, something that he’s been struggling with since he was at hogwarts - divination and astronomy were always his worst subjects. 

barty can get surprisingly emotional - though it’s something he worked furiously to hide as he drew closer to his graduation, he is genuinely fairly sensitive when it comes to things he actually cares about and can take things very hard. simply, he commits with his heart rather than his brain. although he has been able to force himself to cry to manipulate someone in a certain way, the fact he once spent a night sobbing over the death of his family owl is something he’d rather keep from the rest of the death eaters. 

barty is very observant, and very keen at spotting fine details - while so far it’s only really helped him at catching snitches, it has started to help him pick up on the mannerisms and habits of those around him. 

barty is a fairly decent manipulator - though he’s still learning, he’s great at covering up his own emotions or even his whole demeanor to keep him from being caught out in a lie, something which has been especially helpful during his time at the ministry, and it’s a skill which has definitely come in handy in general. 

- HEADCANONS

do not call barty bartemius. bartemius, even if he doesn’t go by it much himself, is his father’s name - at the best of times, barty doesn’t even being like called crouch. he’s barty, or bart, or anything else - he’s not bartemius. 

barty has always loved quidditch, and the only ravenclaws he didn’t view with utter disdain while he was at hogwarts were the members of the quidditch team, which he joined in his third year as a seeker. 

he hasn’t spoken to either his mother or father since he left their home the night after graduating from hogwarts, despite working in incredibly close proximity with the latter

barty is a brilliant actor - though it hasn’t served him much use yet outside of just helping him stick to lies since he was a kid. how committed he is to whatever cause he’s focused on definitely helps the fact - he just has one infuriating achilles heel (see below)

whenever he’s nervous, stressed, or just caught off guard, barty has a habit of flicking his tongue over the corner of his mouth

when he’s around ministry people, he’ll keep his sleeves rolled down, though when he’s with death eaters, he’ll keep them rolled up

- WANTED CONNECTIONS

honestly i think i’d love any connections for him but that’s super vague so unless there’s a specific idea for him and another character here are some ideas!

pre-hogwarts/slytherin/death eater friends: originally these were all gonna be different points but all overlap so, whatever - basically, barty went into hogwarts with a lot of friends he’d met through his parents various parties and get togethers who either were already or were lined up to be slytherins, and when he was sorted into ravenclaw, he still spent most of his time with them - which is how he fell in with the death eaters. your character could be one or all three of these things, i just feel like this is the biggest section that can be covered simply lol

people who look out for him: that’s phrased very harshly but whatever - pretty much guaranteed to fit in with the above, someone who probably took him under his wing way before hogwarts and probably has something of an older-sibling like connection with them? he’d be super loyal to them - probably as loyal as he is to voldemort, though that probably wouldn’t be an issue since they probably would be as well. there’s a lot of probablys here - lots can be changed depending on your character, hell, maybe they knew him before hogwarts and tried to steer him away from hogwarts, i dunno! up to discussion

school best friend: again, a lot of potential overlap with the above two, but pretty much someone probably closer to barty’s age who he got on with really well in school and probably still does now - someone to confide in, to make stupid plans with, to help sneak firewhiskey into the school long before they’re allowed to drink it. 

death eater allies: different from friends - basically, though they’re both with voldemort, they don’t necessarily get along. maybe they find him annoying, maybe he finds them too self-focused, maybe there’s just bad vibes - could be anything. he’s still pretty young at this point and would definitely be taking orders and learning from people above him in the pecking order, so something could come of that.

ravenclaw housemates: barty, despite being a ravenclaw, does not like ravenclaws - but he couldn’t always avoid them. even if he slinked off to be with his slytherin friends, he’d still be spending a lot of time with his housemates, so definitely some connection possibilities there, especially if they were on the quidditch team with him - absolutely not a necessity, though

ministry coworkers: could be order, could be neutral, could be deatheaters - just people barty spends his day with at work, pretty much. maybe they’re working together to sabotage things, maybe they suspect him of something, maybe they’re genuine work friends who are completely oblivious to one anothers allegiances - who knows

a lot of these are very vague, but like i said most of these are sort of just jumping off points and i really am down for pretty much any connection - genuinely just throw any idea at me

- OOC

hello! my name’s ringo, i’m 19, and i live in melbourne, australia (aest/aedt in less than a month)

my name’s not actually ringo, sorry for lying to you all for the briefest of seconds - my real name is jackson, but that’s pretty boring, and i’ve been using the name ringo since i first got my mum (whose a big beatles fan) to help me pick out a club penguin username when i was seven so going by anything else twelve years later is insane to me - if you want to call me jackson, though, that’s totally fine

this is my first time rping since 2018, when i decided to call it quits for a bit so i could focus on my vce exams - graduated last year, though, so i think i’m more than ready to get back into it, just please excuse me if i’m a little rusty

i do just really quickly want to make a note about my availability for plotting and replying and just generally being online, and this is the main reason i made this a whole section instead of just putting my name, age, and timezone up the top - even though i’m not currently studying (rip gap year europe trip) or working (recession), it’s pretty hard for me to get a lot of time online these days. i’m gonna try and keep this transparent while also not oversharing too much, but basically, my mum is a nurse working in one of the bigger hospitals here, and for the sake of keeping our family safe, she’s been isolating - and her not being here means i’m the only one looking after my three younger siblings. as well as needing to shop, cook, and generally take care of the house, i need to support them while they’re learning from home, so more weekdays than not i only really have the evenings to myself, at least until their end of term. i know this might make replies a bit patchy, and i really am sorry about that - but i just figured it would be better to just put this out there now, and i really hope its alright if i ask that you be a bit patient with me if things take a while. cheers!

anyway - my discord as of a few hours ago is jackyboyringo#1444 and you already know where my tumblr is, so please just hmu if you want to plot anything or even just chat! can’t wait to start writing!

[mydeardeath]

To belong with (6/8)

Whole series on tumblr (to belong series tag) or AO3

---

At first, it had seemed to be a good idea. Take Tim with him to do groceries shopping. Let him pick whatever he wanted, what he had missed. But seeing Tim pull another bag of candy into the cart made him regret his decisions. Part of him hoped that this wasn't what Tim usually ate, that he was just going for that junk because he had lacked food when he was... away. But Damian suspected that it was just what the other considered food. He was quite appalled. He knew that Tim wasn't the best cook. But that! Damian was quite horrified. Good thing that Tim had him now.

Damian had to restrain himself for throwing it all. Who could have imagined that courting would be so hard? Maybe he should invite Bart too. He was Tim's friend as well and a speedster. He would make all this junk disappear in a matter of seconds then he would show Tim what real meals were like and how amazing he was at making them. Damian pulled out his phone to tape a quick text to Conner, one eye still on Tim. He was still so scared of losing him. His heart had jumped in his chest when he had lost sight of him earlier. Tim hadn't been far, just in the next aisle. But still, Damian preferred to have him where he could see as much as possible. Tim had been taken away from him once. It could happen again. For all he knew, the ones that had taken Tim in the first place might want him back. There was no certainty that Tim was safe, that they would leave him alone. And Damian wasn't going to let that happen again.

He quickly caught up to Tim, receiving a little smile when he asked if he wanted anything else or if he was ready to leave. Tim was oblivious to Damian's feeling, his fear of having Tim disappear once again. He was just enjoying being back in Gotham. Being free after all this time. Because even if it had not been years but weeks for Tim, it was still a long time being prisoner.

***

Preparing lunch didn't take long considering there wasn't much cooking to do. It was good working in tandem with Tim even for such a simple, domestic task.  That not something Damian had imagined he would be doing. He had shared a few nights with other people. Nameless people, he knew nothing of. He had not cared to create a romantic connection with anyone. It was kind of illogical. He had loved Tim, but they had never been together. Most people had seen his feelings for Tim as a simple crush, then they had seen it as an unhealthy obsession. And maybe they had been right. He had been a kid back then. He had started to spend time with Tim had the end, had started to know him. But that wasn't enough to form a true relationship. He could admit to himself that he had been born on a childish caprice. Thing is, Damian never had closure. He was given hope that one day he would have the chance to prove himself worthy of Tim's attention. Maybe, in the end, Tim wouldn't have been able to return his love. Maybe Damian would have grown out of his infatuation for the Omega. There was no way of knowing what might have happened. Damian never got his opportunity. All he could do was wonder "what if?". That thought had held him back for years. Now he would get his chance. He would take his chance with Tim. Whether or not he would be successful didn't matter. Well, it did matter a bit. But Damian could accept not getting him if that choice was theirs and not the outcome of outside forces.

For Tim to make a choice about their future, he first needed to get his life back. Damian didn't want to share his return with the family quite yet. He was still mad at them. It didn't stop him from knowing that it needed to happen. He couldn't keep Tim locked up in their apartment. Of course, Tim would end up attracted by Damian if it was only the two of them. Whatever had happened to Tim had been traumatizing. Damian had been the first familiar face he had seen in weeks, the first safe place he had found. If he kept Tim away from the other, the Omega would become dependant of him. No matter how much he desired him, that wasn't the way he wanted to get him.

He was informed of Tim's friends arrival just a minute before they were at the door. He had put a satellite in place to inform him of their movement. Tim was excited to see them. They were his friends after all, but Damian could tell that he was also anxious. He had preferred being warned in advance and not have them suddenly banging on the door.

Tim's hands had started trembling when Damian had told him they were almost here. The youngest Robin had taken them into his own, gently squeezing his hands to make him understand that he was here for him.

"I will get it" Damian let go of Tim when the doorbell rang, maintaining eye contact as long as possible before turning to his guests.

Kon was here with Bart as well as Cassie. Damian hadn't thought of inviting her. He hadn't wanted to crowd Tim with multiple people from the start. The invitation to Bart was solely for the junk food that needed to disappear. He should have guessed that it would have been hard to have the two of them without her tagging along. Not that he minded her company, he just hoped that it wouldn't feel overwhelming to Tim. Maybe that would prepare him for their family.

"Damian", they saluted him, "so why did you needed us here?"

"I don't need you. He does." Damian made a vague motion behind him even if they could not see Tim from the threshold.

Conner was confused. He had not expected anyone else to be here. Damian didn't hang out with that many people. He had made some friends within the Titans but most of the time he was the one that came to see them. When he was in Gotham, he was either alone or with his family. Kon didn't imagine that Batman was waiting in the living room. Damian would have rather went to the manor than invite him over. It was way too calm for Dick and his daughter to be here. But there was someone here. Now that Damian had said that he wasn't alone, Kon could clearly hear another heartbeat not far away. One that seemed oddly familiar. One that brought back memories from years ago.

Kon rushed past Damian without a word, leaving his flabbergasted friends in his wake. In less than a second, Kon stood before Tim. Or someone that looked exactly like him at least. But it couldn't be. Tim was dead.

Kon knew that Tim had tried to clone him when he had died. Maybe he had kept trace of his works and Damian had found them. Kon knew what Tim had meant to Damian. The youngest Robin had never seemed to grow past his lost. He had never heard of him dating. Yes, he had a few flings. But one night stands weren't close to a relationship. Maybe Damian had broken down and decided to create a new Tim.

But as he was thinking about that, some part of him couldn't shake the feeling that this was the real Tim. He knew one or two things about clones. He had learned to recognize them. One of the easiest ways was listening to the heartbeat. That not something you could simply replicate. You could learn, but it was a long process. And, unless Damian had records about the rhythm of Tim's heartbeats, he would not have been able to get it right just by pure luck.

They were used to people coming back to life. Him. Bart. Damian. But six years was a long time. And the man before him didn't look older than the last time he had seen him. He had not been raised from the dead and waited years to return to Gotham.

Yet, somehow, this was Tim standing before him.

Kon didn't waste another second before pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.

"I may be civil to you now, Superboy, but if you hurt him when he has just come back to me, I will make you chock on kryptonite."

Kon released a bit of the pressure he had put on Tim, apologizing quietly to his friend.

"What the fuck?" Cassie nearly yelled. She and Bart had been following Damian into the room. They hadn't been able to get a clear look on who Kon was hugging, the other person almost disappearing under Kon's form.

They hadn't known why Damian had asked for them. Kon's reaction had raised even more questions. They hadn't known what to expect. But Tim wouldn't have been their first idea. Nor the tenth.

Bart and Cassie hadn't been exactly enthused to answer Damian's invitation. Yes, he was somehow civil now, but he had yet to be anything close to friendly to them. They were glad that Kon had convinced them to come. This was the best surprise they had had in forever!

For a long time, none of them said anything, simply joining in the hug while Damian watched from a few feet away. Bart was the first to pull away.

"Have you always been this short? I don't remember you being that much tiny. But I was shorter back then. Probably why I didn't notice. Wow, and look at this babyface. You are so cute. How come I never noticed you were so cute." Bart was gushing, even attempting to pinch Tim's cheeks.

"I am not cute" Tim spluttered, offended. He had always been one of the shortest in the family. He was roughly the same size as Cass and taller than Damian. But Damian had been 12 years old, so he hadn't meant much. It was expected that Damian would grow but Tim had thought he would too. He knew he would never have the same bulk that Bruce and Jason had, but he could have hope for a late growth spurt. Seemed like Bart had had one. Cassie too, even if on a smaller scale. They had all been teens the last time he had seen them. While he was still one, his friends had grown into adults. He had missed so much.

"Hey, are you okay Tim?" Cassie asked him gently.

"Yeah. I'm happy to see you guys." He smiled faintly. He couldn't quite hide his sadness. He should have aged with his friend. Experience the start of adulthood with them. How many things had he missed in their lives? They would probably tell him everything but he would never get to experience them, and that hurt.

"Ow, Tim. We are so happy to have you back." Cassie smiled at him.

"Yeah, especially if you want back in the team. Imagine, with his adorableness, villains will stop fighting right away. Make our jobs easier." Bart joked.

Tim gripped his arm and threw him on the grounds.

"I see why you would need an easier job, you're getting slow kid flash." Tim teased him, earning laughs from his former team and a proud smile from Damian. He may not have returned at his highest form, but he could still kick some ass.

[sociallychallengednerd]

Okay so... Batfam/hp AU because i have literally been thinking about this and onl y this for days

After the the second war the Waynes are an old pure blood family Bruce was in the order and all. after the fighting he ends up adopting kids orphaned during the fighting

So he adopts the first three all at once:

There’s Dick whose parents were both muggle born and were killed in the blood purity trials. He’s the oldest and goes to Hogwarts first getting sorted into Hufflepuff he’s got an immediate crush on the Ravenclaw a year above him, Barbara. And he makes friends Wally (gryffindor), Kory (gryffindor and half Veela) and Roy (again gryffindor) all around heartthrob and pretty boy spends the next several years dating through most of his friends, being the seeker and star of the quidditch team, and hovering obsessively as the rest of his siblings

Next year, Jason, muggle born, gets sorted into Ravenclaw (i went back and forth a lot but idk i love nerd jay and i wanted the core 4 robins to be in each of the houses and Tim is def slytherin in my books) Jason keeps mostly too himself, not a lot of friends outside of family but his marks are fantastic and he knows the castle and all the best hiding(and reading) spots like the back of his hand. It’s all good till later in his forth year a bit after turning 15. He gets in a fight, nothing unusual for him but those are usually tussle, nothing serious not one ever got hurt, till now. The other boy hits Jason with a dark curse (think the harry and Draco bathroom scene) only this is serious dark magic and Jay is rushed to St Mungos, the rest of the Waynes are a wreck and Jason doesn’t come back to school for months. But finally he’s able to come back for the last month of that school year or so and he looks ROUGH he still has to get weekly treatment at Mungos cause the curse hasn’t fully left his body. Between the physical exhaustion, the rumor mill as school, and how cripplingly he finds himself behind in his study’s Jason just kinda snaps- pushing away the family, isolating himself. The last person he would have expected to reach out to him was Roy Harper of all people, but well.... I have a whole lot more in mind for jay but this is gettting really long (maybe if someone wants ill post more later)

Tim, a year behind Jason, is sorted into Slytherin. He freaks out about it a little and what others with think of him especially so soon after the war. He’s from a noble pure blood family but his parents died caught up in the fighting they were a long line of slytherins and took a passive stance in the war. 1st year he makes in house friends but 2nd year he ends up being assigned to tutor a group of gryffindor so from his year Kon, Bart, Cassie. And Tim really likes them, but it takes them a while to warm up to him. He’s standoffish and slytherin which to them means suspicious, but they eventually become fast friends. Third year and Kon starts dating Cassie and Tim who’s been nursing a growing crush on him is quietly devastated. He starts dating Stephanie(gryffindor?? I feel like there’s a lot of those) later that year but a couple of broom closet makeout session in fourth year and both come to the conclusion that their interested lie.... elsewhere so they break up and Tim returns to sadly pining over his best friend

I don’t know what year Cassandra comes into this, i wanna say around Tim’s 2nd year she starts school late but she’s still in Tim’s year or maybe one above, idk. But she’s a hufflepuff and Dick is so happy to have a sibling in his house with him. She and Tim are always quietly attached at the hip like ‘those freaking twins in the shining’ (according to Kon)

Bruce doesn’t find out about Damian until Talia drops him off with him. The league werent necessarily following the Dark Lord but they had similar interests and the groups used each other for their own benefit, so... Damian has some thoughts about blood purity thankfully though he has a good year with Bruce to try and unlearn some of that shit before school. He’s sorted into gryffindor, the same year and house as Jon, Kons little brother. At some point without really thinking Damian using the word mudblood, he mostly knows that pure blood doesn’t equal greatness(after all looks at Tim) but it’s habit. Still before he can correct himself Jon is there. There’s a fist fight, parents are called, and sitting there in detention next to this boy, this wizard, who threw down his want to punch Damian across the face he can’t help but be a little infatuated.

I have a lot of other ideas but that’s for another time

[spencecreates]

Bleeding Blades: Chapter 1

Idk if i’ve ever posted chapter 1 here (idk if it’s even good) but the restarted version of bleeding blades chapter 1

word count: 4001

warnings: mention of war, murder, suicidal ideation

The land of Teradio was once prosperous and peaceful, filled with the beauty and love of the ruling family. It was an envy of its neighbors and powerful, avoided in war and a coveted ally. It was overseen by the god of life Seres and goddess of family and love Meriam and their children, the last of the Libbirix. A perfect family ruling a perfect nation. 

There are four Libbirix, a winged race and the children of gods. They used to be plentiful and jewels of the world. They were as powerful as they were beautiful, beacons of perfection and wonders of Teradio and the surrounding world.

There were two other races in Teradio, the Klol and Gripois. A warrior race and servants and workers under them. They were complacent in their roles, under the Libbirix and following the word of their god and king. It was for this reason unrest began, the disbalance of people among the nation. A rebellion sparked with one of Seres’s own sons.

The Fall of the Libbirix was jarring. Had things not been as perfect as told for a rebellion? It was led by Seres’s favored son Lucifer. He spoke with a silvertongue about the injustices he saw among his kingdom, inflicted upon his people. His rallying voice called for a change his father did not like.

His eldest brother was sent to squash the rebellion, told to do what it took to end this war before it even began. There was a battle, brief for the immortals yet the years as agonizing as an eternity for those that fought. A battle to ensure there was no war, Seres had said. In the end, Lucifer had to be subdued in the worst way possible.

His brother Michael, Teradio’s shining sun and golden warrior, cut off his wings and those of his followers with his blade of glittering gold. He took from them their magic and senses of self with the amputation, ensuring they would never rise again.

As quickly as the rebellion had begun, it was snuffed out and its followers were left in the ruins of the city they had once called home. They were left expected to rot and die.

Centuries passed as they rebuilt their city, their magic from their wings lost but finding new powers deep within themselves as they learned they were so much more.

Lucifer gazed out his window at their city, heart swelling with pride and body aching from a long past battle.

“The anniversary of our Fall is almost here,” he said to Bartholomew, making him look over from where he was sweeping. “It weighs heavy over everything.”

His hand went to rub where a brand was hidden under his shirt sleeve. His father had given it to him himself, on each arm and again on his back between the scars from losing his wings. They marked him Sacraas: the one cut from family, without hope, without loyalty. Never would his wounds from that fateful time fully heal.

“I’ll ready the salves for the pain, sir,” Bart said as he went back to what he’d been doing. Lucifer nodded. 

“Thank you, Bart,” he said softly, continuing to stare out the window. Finally, he glanced back to Bart.

He was a young half Gripois, his other half hidden from everyone else. His arms were marked with a Dreamcatcher’s markings. It started at his hands, covered in a smoky black and gray that swirled up to his elbows and continued to climb each day. He didn’t even know how rare that marking was. 

Lucifer sighed deeply and moved to walk past him, rubbing his eyes with one hand. He felt his age so heavily now. He nearly stumbled, grabbing to a wall to keep himself up as he caught his breath.

“Luci?” Bart’s concerned voice came from behind him, gentle hands moving to help him up. He shook his head.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he said, waving off concern. “It affects me earlier each year, hm? I just need to rest.”

He straightened up with a sigh, glancing down to the younger man and offering a small smile. He felt so tired, and it was barely midday. He pulled from Bart’s supportive hands to walk towards his room, his shoulders sagging with the weight of amputated wings.

His door swung open for him and he smiled a little. 

“Thank you, my dear,” he said, hand pressing to the door frame before he continued to bed. 

He sat down heavily, putting his face in his hands. He ached, his entire body in searing pain it seemed. It all originated in his back, those wounds…

He stood slowly, moving to his mirror. He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled his hair in front of his shoulder, turning and craning his neck to see his back in the mirror. 

There used to be a patch of feathers between his shoulder blades that went up the back of his neck and to the middle of his back. They’d been a dusty pink, matching the base of his wings. It had long since fell out. All that remained were small blackened ones, like they’d been burned. 

Pieces of bone jutted out on either side from his back, the end jagged and broken and the skin around it red and tender and fresh. They twitched like the wings that no longer existed wanted to fly once again and Lucifer clenched his teeth nearly to the point of cracking at the incapacitating pain that shot through his body. 

It took a moment for the waves of it to subside and finally Lucifer took a breath, tears stinging his eyes. The physical pain brought them but the ache in his chest, in his heart that caused them to fall. 

They slid down his cheeks like raindrops, pattering to the carpet below as he bowed his head. Sobs wracked his aching body, shoulders curling in despite the strain. 

Not for the first time, he’d wished he had died in that war. He wasn’t much of a fighter, he should have. And perhaps the thousandth time, he found himself wondering if he should right that. He thought to the knife resting in his desk. So simple it would be, do it right and it’d be fast. He wondered the reaction it would invoke. 

Those thoughts were halted as there was a knock on the door. He quickly wiped his eyes and moved to grab his shirt, slipping it back over his shoulders. 

“Come in,” he called, glancing over to see the young Klol step in. 

“Bart said you’d need this,” Jabez said, holding a vial of the pain salve. Just seeing him pained Lucifer further. He was the child of his Bond and best friend, whose death still plagued him. And he looked so much like him. Straight straw-like hair that was tied at the nape of his neck with a ribbon and bright red eyes, though they had his mother’s thin shape and monolid. They matched his sharp features, pointed chin and nose with thin pouting lips. 

“I do,” Lucifer said, moving to take it. He was barely able to look at Jabez, it hurt far too much. He made a dismissive gesture. “I don’t know why he asked you to bring it. Now go.”

“Most people say thank you,” was the retort and Lucifer scoffed.

“Most people are worthy of being thanked.”

“Mhm. Not here, they’re not.” He glanced back as Jabez crossed his arms, hips cocking. “Now I know you can’t reach that spot on your back, may I?”

He held out his hand and Lucifer stared at it for a moment before rolling his eyes. He handed him to vial and pulled his shirt off. He moved to sit down back to the other. He didn’t react as a gentle hand began to massage the salve around the wounds. He sighed, feeling his shoulders relax.

“It looks… worse,” Jabez murmured. He shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about it, not with him. He just wanted the pain to stop. “Oh come now, you know I’m not one to judge.”

“I haven’t done anything. That’s just the progress hundreds of years have done,” he snapped. A judgemental hum came from behind him.

“Oh of course not. It doesn’t itch when it heals, you don’t continue to sleep on your back and bend these remains anymore, of course not. That’d be dumb.”

“I thought you didn’t judge.”

“I’m not. Should I be?”

A growl was hissed between clenched teeth. “Just finish up and leave.”

A snicker was the last sound either of them made. Lucifer stared at the canopy of his bed, the sunlight dancing through the window, bathing the dark pink fabric in warm golden light. Funny how something so simple would stir up so many memories.

“Tonight was your father’s idea,” he said finally. Jabez froze, barely breathing anymore. “This party every year. Celebrate the anniversary of… becoming your own.”

“Dad… dad just enjoyed partying,” he said finally, voice sounding pained. 

“He did. I never understood it. He somehow convinced everyone else that he was the calm one of the two of us,” he said, a faint smile playing across his face. He shook his head, glancing back over his shoulder to the young man. 

Tears had gathered in Jabez’s eyes and were sliding down his face. He stopped and turned, pulling him into a hug. The action shocked them both.

They were not friends, though Lucifer had kept him and helped raise him. In fact, the two of them rarely got along. This was so rare, to be this close to each other without pain that Jabez immediately tensed, waiting for something. When nothing did, he slowly hugged Lucifer back, being squeezed tighter.

“He would never blame you for what happened, Jabez,” he whispered. “Never. Your father adored you from the moment he knew of you. He cried just telling me you were to be born.”

Jabez whimpered.

“I never meant to make you doubt that…”

They stayed in the embrace longer than was intended and then finally Lucifer released him. He stood quickly. 

“I need to go.” And with that, he hurried out the door. Lucifer sighed. He had broken something so long ago, when he’d reacted so angrily in the wake of Cecil’s death. Though the regret stayed buried. 

Such thoughts were shaken away. He closed his eyes to breathe.

By now, a numbness coated his back. He felt himself finally relax. After all, the pain had ended. For now. He moved to sit on the bed and sighed, closing his eyes. 

The party was merely hours away… but he was so tired. He rubbed a hand over his face and finally laid down. He needed sleep, he had been awake the night before. It wasn’t uncommon on the eve of the anniversary. Whenever he closed his eyes, he pictured the golden blade and the golden hand that had held it. 

He had hated his brother for so long after. He had hated nearly everyone. They had sat by while he was mutilated and tossed away like common filth. Now it was much the same as his back; blessed numbness, but beyond repair and horrifically scarred. He had no true feeling towards his family, but he knew it ached. Deep in his chest, within his heart, it ached so horribly that at times he felt he could hardly breath.

He curled into a tiny ball, a soft blanket being pulled over himself. It was such a poor substitute for his wings, not nearly as soft and without the weight and movement. But he had gotten used to such discomfort. He had no other choice. 

Finally, he forced himself into sleep. He couldn’t afford to look tired at the celebration.

In his dreams, he saw his brother. Michael stood over him and looked down with his lips pulled back in disgust. He condemned him, disowned him. Unlike in reality, the sword was used to pierce Lucifer’s chest.

He awoke in a panic, sitting up and his hand going to his chest as pain swirled through him like his own blood. He closed his eyes as he pulled his hand away. He almost expected to find blood when finally he looked but there was nothing. His hand was clean, as was his chest. No blood, no stab wound. No Michael.

Lucifer wept. His eyes stormed, the torent in his heart finally manifesting itself. In another time, he would have comforted himself with the thought that Michael would never do that, he would never kill his beloved little brother. He loved him far too much. 

But this was not that time. Lucifer now knew the truth. Michael held more loyalty than love, his capacity to obey was far greater than to love. Though he had learned long before that never could the blame for his father’s decisions lay on someone else, even if they were the weapon he wielded. And Michael was more Seres’ sword than his son. 

He closed his eyes and curled back up, trying with desperation to will his pain away. Tears finally stopped and he again laid in numbness. It wasn’t until the sun had long since gone down that he finally got up.

The celebration was in an hour and he finally began to get ready. Fanciful clothes had already been laid out, a silken wine blouse embroidered with pink roses down along the cuffs and over his chest, fitted dark pants, and a long dark gray coat embellished with pink carnations. It was tame compared to the things he’d worn before. 

Unlike then, he had no want to bring much attention to himself. He would likely already have far too much as it was. He hardly left his castle, hardly made appearances, even as the appointed “king” among the Fawkyrn. Perhaps that was a part of the curse, to feel uncomfortable in the spotlight his youth had always sought out. 

He moved to rub his hand over the sigil upon his arm again, closing his eyes at the gentle throbbing it sent through his body. It didn’t ache like his wings, just reminded him it was there and steadily stealing his sanity. 

He shook his head and finished buttoning his shirt. A hand ran through his curls, grimacing as he yanked a knot. He was vain and prided himself on his appearance, and yet… he hardly had the energy to maintain it. Barely enough to live day to day.

Finally he stepped out of his room, a black ribbon coming up to tie up half his hair in a complicated knot on his head as he went downstairs.

“I expected you to not be ready yet.” He turned his head to look at Bart, a gentle smile crossing his face as he saw him. He too was dressed far better than usual, in dark blue clothes and his hair pulled back from his face. It showed his most striking features easily, his mismatched eyes and hair. His left eye was yellow, matching the blonde side of his hair. The right was sky blue, striking against the black side. 

“I have to be there on time. I’m the guest of honor,” Lucifer answered. He stepped over and deftly straightened his coat. “You look nice. You’re only ever seen in your work clothes.”

“There’s never really occasions for much else,” he said, brushing Lucifer’s hands away. “Besides, my work clothes are far more comfortable.”

Lucifer shook his head. He was thankful for the younger’s relationship, it pulled him from home and gave him some semblance of a normal life.

“Where is Jabez? We need to leave.”

No sooner had he spoken than the click of heels could be heard on the wooden floors. They looked over at Jabez, looking more like his parents in a long dark blue dress slit to the thigh and his hair hung loose around his shoulders. Lucifer still felt that pang as he saw him. 

“Come on,” he said quickly, turning to leave. It was a night of remembrance, as well as a celebration. They were alive but had lost so much, in the war and the years since.

Libbirix were not believed to be able to survive without their wings. It held their magic and according to some stories, their souls. But here they all were, alive and well and now… celebrating.

The celebration was held in the courtyard in the center of the city. The lights could be seen as soon as Lucifer walked through his garden and, despite himself, he smiled. His people were still here, still found reasons to celebrate. 

As they left the gate, music and laughter rose to greet them and the twirling skirts and coats of dancers flashed over the cobblestones like flowers thriving in the stones they never should have grown.

Lucifer smiled as he walked, the ache lessening. It was times like this that he knew he had done the right thing. He had freed them. It had come at a great cost but it was worth it. 

“Oh Luci!” 

He turned to look at Lilith, rolling his eyes as he saw the group of men she left. He moved to allow her to hold onto his arm.

“Hello, Lil,” he said with a warm smile. “I am glad to see that you are enjoying the night.”

“Oh, immensely,” she said with a smirk, glancing back to the bachelors. “You got here earlier than I expected.”

“I hate to miss any of this, you know this, my friend,” he said, tilting his head. “He would never want me to.”

Lilith’s smile turned sad and genuine as she thought to her late partner. She shook her head.

“Cecil would have killed if ever you did while he was alive. And even dead, he would have dogged your steps until you came and saw your people.”

Lucifer chuckled, a sad sound as he watched Lilith. He sighed and turned to look at the others.

“I know. And he likely would have gotten drunk and started a fight,” he said. Lilith laughed beside him, though sadness was on her face. They stood in companionable silence until she moved to offer him her hand.

“Dance with me,” she insisted and he gave her a look, brows wrinkling above the bridge of his nose. “Come now. The last time you danced was at the wedding and that was decades ago.”

He shook his head.

“No thank you. I’m afraid I’m a bit too sore to dance that way,” he said. He nodded to the group of young men. “Perhaps they will humor you.”

“Oh fine, go sulk and drink then,” she said and turned with a flick of her hair. She glanced back at him with a smirk and a wink. “Just know that my offer is there.”

He shook his head at her and watched her walk off. Then he turned and searched out glasses of wine and a table laden with food. The best part of any celebration. 

He saw a child, barely to his hip, rush to the table. She wore her hair in intricate braids and a long dress that was stained with some blue substance. Likely the result of some fruit tart, the same as the one she was trying to reach for. 

Lucifer watched her struggle to get the plate holding the sweets and then moved to scoot it closer to her with a warm smile. She looked up with wide purple eyes and an even wider smile as she snatched a few of them up. 

“Don’t get a stomach ache, little one,” he warned warmly. He moved to pluck one from the plate and gave her a wink as he moved to step away, making her giggle as she rushed off again. He watched her with a soft look and then sighed, sitting on a bench to finish his drink and dessert. 

He watched the children there. They were so young, they knew nothing but this life. Nothing but the crumbling city that used to thrive. He sighed, closing his eyes as he finished his wine. 

“Well hello, your majesty,” a cooing voice said beside him. He turned to look at the woman, offering a warm smile.

“Hello, Aita,” he said politely. The two had never been close but she was a beautiful woman. She was tall and plump with warm features. Her eyes were black but in the right light looked purple or even blue while her skin was the gentlest red, like a dying fire. Tonight her rich red curls were piled on her head in intricate knots and she wore a dark dress off her shoulders and trimmed with fur.

“You always look so lonely at these,” she said as she sat down, much too close to him. He chuckled.

“That’s because I am,” he said honestly. He looked at everyone else; the dancers dip their partners, children twirling and giggling, and even those serving seemed to be having a good time. “But it is not a horrible thing. I am here with my people.”

“No one should be alone, not tonight.”

“I am not alone,” he said and gave a warm smile. “It’s not the same thing.”

Aita rolled her eyes and leaned back. They sat in silence for a moment and Lucifer wondered if he had been rude to her. He thought through their conversation, though his concentration broke as she finally spoke up again.

“My brother would have loved this. It’s not what you wanted, but to see everyone who’s suffered coming together this way and enjoying life and… free…” She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “And none of this would have happened without you.”

Lucifer was silent. How he’d often told himself that. It was hard to enjoy this thinking of all they’d have lost. It was molting season and he wished he could see the feathers on the wings, colorful and catching the light of the lanterns. But it was never a sight he would again witness. He sighed, looked down to his glass.

“I am going to get more to drink.”

He stood to retrieve something stronger, letting it burn his throat as he drank. He didn’t mind it and was half through it when he was urged to speak, as their king and leader. The one who had brought them here. He felt his heart pound as he slowly gave in and stood, glass extending out in a pseudo toast. 

“My friends,” he began, voice stronger than he’d thought it’d be. “It is tonight nearly four hundred years ago that we were removed from our homes and positions. Four hundred years since we had decided we’d have enough of my father’s oppressive laws. Four hundred years since we lost our wings.” He swallowed. “But it is not a sad night. Tonight, we remember.

“We remember those who died for this, those who left us here to rot, and why we have chosen this. My father dictated laws between the races of Teradio that never should have been. Our children and people deserve more, all of us deserve so much more! And here we are, we were expected to die but we have thrived and made a home among these ruins, we have made a place for ourselves. We are a people that can not be extinguished, no matter how much the world may be against us! Our fallen brothers and sisters smile upon us, this is not the ending we had pictured but it is our happy ending! To the Fawkyrn!”

There was a cheer and clinking glasses and Lucifer smiled as he sipped his drink. He looked over then, pausing as he saw something in the distance, upon a hill. He set his glass down as more noticed it. A fire swallowing the hillside far too close to the city limits and above it, a flash of glowing gold. 

Michael.

[whetstonefires]

I have wandered into your tumblr and I want to know absolutely everything about your ideas for Earth 3 Impetus and Motion. EVERYTHING. Possibly the least relevant part of that is the family line, as Earth 3 often has really skewed versions of the characters. Would the first Johnny Quick even have a speedster grandson when he was killed and his blood used to power his successors?

Oh, cool ask! Thank you!

😄 I’m very happy to talk about this but I’m afraid you may be disappointed, because I’m Doing It Wrong. I’ve been working off and on on a bespoke Earth-3 for the past…several years. Production has slowed but not stopped. It’s up to over 300,000 words on AO3 at this point.

The issue that set me off was that tendency to skew; I didn’t like it. I found that, most of the times DC had built into Earth-3 before rebooting again, there were two countervailing currents leading writing decisions. On the one hand to make things As Wrong As Possible compared to the main timeline, and on the other to just make them…arbitrarily different.

Lois Lane is Superwoman, evil counterpart of Wonder Woman, for some reason, woop-de-do; this fits under both categories.

This process worked neither according to the ‘timeline that diverged into a Bad Timeline at some point in the distant past but somehow contains versions of the same people in the same place’ premise of the original Star Trek ‘Mirror, Mirror’ episode, nor does it work according to any direct cosmic principle of inversion, although some of the early versions claimed to.

(See: Mirror Christopher Columbus discovered Europe and then later Evil George Washington conquered England for the American Empire, what even guys. 😩)

Also Earth-3 so transparently existed almost every time it was reinvented as a place to get villains from, and to look bad in comparison to the main timeline, without any attention to making it work internally, which I thought was a damn waste of a cool concept. ‘A damn waste of a cool concept’ drives a lot of fanwork lol.

So for my world, I had the slightly conflicting goals of working as close to that amorphous thing ‘canon’ as possible, and of making the setting stand on its own, as a superhero setting, with internal causality and more or less the usual sort of hero-versus-villain logic. So I inverted the alignments of only superheroes and supervillains, and kept as much as possible of their backstories intact.

This means my stuff doesn’t map onto any canon Earth-3, especially not the one from Forever Evil because that came out after I’d already gotten all the big things pinned down. 😅 Some people get upset about this and come yell at me about how i.e. Owlman is Thomas Wayne Junior. But since I always saw that particular concept as a huge cop-out from looking at how few alterations it takes to turn Bruce Wayne into a spectacular villain, I was like ‘nuts to that’ from the start.

If you’re cool with my relationship with canon, on we go.

-&-

So, Impetus and Motion! I don’t remember what I said on that one post where I remember blathering about it, so forgive me if I repeat myself. ^^

Lineage is the same as canon, technically. I’ll go over it; if you don’t care just skip ahead to the next subsection. 😄

Mirror Barry Allen, the Dash, got his villain name for his signature kill technique of grabbing someone, hyperaccelerating them, and then letting go at the right moment that they get dashed against something immovable and go splat. He dashes people against things.

(His eventual sidekick, Blaze, got his for liking to make things combust by accelerating their molecules. The combination makes them sound like a pair of racehorses, which they did not intend and are very annoyed by when it’s pointed out.)

The Dash is pretty scary, especially because most of the ways he abuses his speed for profit are so low-key nobody even notices (i.e. screwing with the stock market) and he doesn’t need to be a supervillain. He just likes it.

His public villain profile is relatively low for the level of danger he poses, tho, because his town is infested with really dumb superheroes who beat him embarrassingly often, when he actually turns up to fight or is successfully ambushed. And with the occasional exception the scale of his crimes is fairly small compared to i.e. Ultraman.

Keeping him imprisoned is ridiculously difficult, tho. He can’t be completely depowered (because the Speed Force is external to him and all the power dampeners that are used assume they’re trying to shut off something generated internally) and he’s really smart, so it took years of battles to keep him long enough to transfer into a proper cell even, and longer to get an unblurred look at his face.

His secret identity survived so long that Barry Allen was there to comfort Iris West after she was targeted by the Dash on several occasions, and they were married by the time he got ultimately unmasked.

She left him after that and moved back to the future, which she was still from because that’s hilarious, but he eventually tracked her down and promised to reform if she’d take him back. This obviously fell apart eventually, but not until after the twins were born.

I haven’t mapped out the mirror Thawne line. I assume the Thawnes with healing powers who inadvertently adopted Barry’s twin were much nicer in this timeline but idk if he ever became Cobalt Blue or what. I hope he lived to old age. Apparently there have been multiple Cobalts Blue? Idk idc, Flash continuity what even are you.

Everyone thought Eobard Thawne was nuts, but he actually did go back in time and stop the Dash from destroying the world with nukes in a fit of rage, his historical analysis, method of giving himself speed powers, and time machine were all successful. He may additionally suffer from some degree of psychosis, but he wasn’t wrong. (His little brother still exists in this universe because good!Eobard wasn’t the type to manipulate time to erase inconvenient family members. He also doesn’t have the title Professor because he never got tenure, so he just goes by Zoom.)

-&-

Bart is still Don and Meloni’s kid. Frankly I don’t understand those two in the normal timeline, so it’s hard to construct their mirror versions in any depth or even decide whether they should get mirrored. (Probably not tbh.) But I don’t exactly need to, because the resulting Bart is very much the same and thus doesn’t really know them. He was still born with his weird speed glitch that caused him to be raised in a simulation, and eventually time-traveled to un-glitch him.

The difference is that he’s not a nice kid. He’s a two year old who looks twelve and has received all his socialization from reasonably good AI in a world that was not real. Where nothing had consequences. Where nobody was real.

He’s very frightening, is Impetus. Impetuous, wildly powerful, selfish–oddly sweet, occasionally, in the ‘gay and innocent and heartless’ way of Peter Pan, but probably even more likely than Peter to knife someone. He’s so delighted the first time he eats actual ice cream, as opposed to a simulated version, but the ice cream stand is now on fire.

Mirror Bart isn’t so much cruel or even un-empathetic as solipsistic. He’s arrested in the state of an intellectually advanced toddler playing, what’s that game called, the one where the objective seems to be getting in car chases a lot? When was the last time they made a new one, I feel like I haven’t heard it mentioned in ages, it’s a dead franchise isn’t it I’m old. Grand Theft Auto! That’s it. He doesn’t just not understand that danger is real, the way Impulse started out. People aren’t.

Impetus is easily bored and surrounded by NPCs. It gets ugly, sometimes.

He also time-travels a lot more frequently than normal Bart, because he doesn’t really get attached so he doesn’t try to maintain a normal life of any kind, so he pops up all over the timestream.

Jason Blood hated him personally long before Bart had any idea who he was; they have a villain rivalry plagued by causality issues and closed time loops that is alternately epic and stupid as fuck.

And then there’s Thad. Thad’s had a less awful time than he did in canon, I think–President Thawne is not technically a supervillain so he’s probably about the same as in the original timeline, but even assuming Meloni and Don are still out of the picture (probably it’s Barry’s fault in this dimension?) raising a kid as a ‘defense mechanism against a supervillain’ calls for less extreme brainwashing fuckery than raising one to hunt down a superhero.

So he probably behaved a bit more like a reasonable grandparent, simply because the context incentivized him to emphasize concepts like duty and loyalty more, and hatred less. He might even have been able to go public with Thad’s existence, depending on the spin he came up with. Among other factors.

But it was still a depressing, isolated, dehumanizing way to grow up, and it went on a long time, because as per canon Thad has the opposite problem from Bart in terms of how he passes through time. Motion is a 40-year-old man with a 12 year old’s body and approximate life experience.

Thad was already So Tired when he finally got out into the world on his own, and once he encountered Impetus he learned pretty quickly to both pity and fear him.

Even when Thad tries to avoid Bart and just have a life, Bart always crashes back into his existence again, and in the meantime he feels guilty. Because even if he could completely shake off having been raised to see countering Impetus as his whole reason for existence, he’d still feel a lot of personal responsibility to try, because he has the ability to stand up to him in a way almost no one else does, and he knows Bart’s out there resulting in casualties.

Due to all the time travel involved, even having just defeated Impetus doesn’t mean he’s not still out there at an accessible point in the timestream, needing to be stopped.

Impetus results in Motion the way Inertia resists Impulse. They’re very much locked into an action-and-reaction framework that does not even a little bit help with Thad’s clone identity issues.

Except for how the amount of time Thad spends saving people from Bart has slowly created a fairly large body of people over the course of history who know them as distinct entities, and like Thad a lot better. 

Good feels good. ^^ It’s not necessarily the case that this happens, obviously, but with their alignment swap they also ultimately exchanged who’s defined by isolation. It takes Bart a long, long time to even understand that he’s lonely.

[secondgenerationnerd]

Yes for the songficcc

Born to Run

Ok, I know this a super cliche song to associate with Speedsters, but like, I personally really love this song. I love the beat, the songs, everything about this song. I also really love the idea that the Justice League has an annual picnic, complete with a Karaoke battle. So enjoy this fic!

—

The warm June air keeps the heroes war. The shining sun matches the smiles all around the lake.  The splashes are nearly drowned out by the laughs. One perfect day for those who protect everyone. One set of twins seem to shine brighter than everyone else.

Jai and Irey West, a.k.a. Velocity and Impulse, look nothing alike and couldn’t be closer. Sure, their infamous arguments can startle the most seasoned hero, but the brother and sister always know the next move. Takes a lot to catch them off guard.

“Well, Ladies and gents. Thank you again for the amazing day and excellent participation in all the games today. Even though the Bat-Family definitely cheated a few times.” Oliver Queen gives a pointed to the family in question.

“You can’t prove that!” Stephanie Brown shouts, earning a laugh.

“Now that that’s out of the way, time to start this years humliation–I mean, Karaoke contest. You all know the rules, anyone can be nominated by anyone, but the performers chose the song.” Oliver Queen looks at his phone. “First perfomance shout be fast because, Jai and Irey, you are up!”

“Wait, what?” Irey looks at her twin, both midbite on their fifth plate of food.

“Get up here, you two. Your team sends their love.” The two glare at their teammates, all of whom avoid eye contact. As they walk to the stage, they switch to Korean.

“Plan of action, Jai?”

“I say,” Jai grins at his sister, “Let’s remind them who’s kids we are and give them a show.”

They pick out their song and each take a wireless mike. Their teammates all immediately regret this decision when they see the evil grins on the twins’ faces.

“I’m born to run,” Irey’s voice is simple but beautiful,” down rocky cliffs, give me grace, bury my sins.”

“Shattered glass and black holes, can’t hold me back from where I need to go, Oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh.” Jai’s voice demands attention, raspier than his sister’s but incredible. “Yellow hills and valleys deep–”

“I watch them move under my feet, stranger things have come and gone, to see the world and take the throne.” Irey looks over at her brother. “Don’t hold back.”

“Oh, I, won’t hold back.”

Their voices blend together, resonating throughout the area.

I’m gonna live my life, like I’m gonna die young 

Like it’s never enough, like I’m born to run,

I’m gonnaspend my time like tomorrow won't come

Do whatever I want like I'm born to run

Irey tosses her long hair back as she winks at Damian, “I wanna see Paris”

“I wanna see Tokyo” Jai waves a hand in her direction. Lian notices a few other girls staring at her boyfriend with starry eyes. “I wanna be careless even if I break my bones”

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young

Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run

Two cracks of lightning and the twins disappear from the stage. Irey reappears by their team, pressing a sweet kiss to Damian’s cheek. Jai stands on 

“A winding road where strangers meet,” ,“To feel the love of a warm drink.”

“My body moves, it's speaking loud,” Irey gives Damian another kiss to the cheek. A few heroes are sure they see the Teen Wonder blush, “Don't have to say what I'm thinking now.”

“Don't hold back”

“Oh, I won't hold back” Irey holds the note longer than they though she’d be able to. 

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young

Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run

I'm gonna spend my time like tomorrow won't come

Do whatever I want like I'm born to run

They find some of their family memebers, pulling them to the stage. Donny and Dawn Allen laugh and sing along with their younger cousins. Bart, Barry, and Wally look at each other before deciding, fuck it, and dance. 

I wanna see Paris, I wanna see Tokyo

I wanna be careless even if I break my bones

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young

Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run

Irey and Jai stomp their feet in time with the song, their family’s voices joining them. 

All these things I've seen and done

I live my life like I'm born to run

All these things I've seen and done

I live my life like I'm born to run

(I was born, born, born, born, born to run

I was born, born, born, born, born to run)

All these things I've seen and done

I live my life like I'm born to run 

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young

Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run

Wally swings Irey around, her laughter making many of the other heroes laugh. Donny and Dawn spin at lightning speed. No doubt reminding everyone why they got their nickname. 

I'm gonna spend my time like tomorrow won't come

Do whatever I want like I'm born to run

I wanna see Paris, I wanna see Tokyo

I wanna be careless even if I break my bones

I'm gonna live my life like I'm gonna die young

Like it's never enough, like I'm born to run

Irey and Jai vocalize for a moment as the song ends. They bow before the stunned heroes, not even trying to hide their shit-eating grins. Jai gestures to his teammates, “Y’all forgot one important thing. We’re Wests. We don’t back down from a challenge.”

“And we’re more than willing to show off.” They get off stage, hugging their cousins one more time before heading over to their friends. Jai gets stopped by some female heroes, not noticing his girlfriend’s narrowing eyes. Irey kisses Damian’s blush tinged cheek. “What did you think, Dames?”

“I love you with all my heart, but I can’t answer that right now.” He covers his face. Irey laughs, hugging him from behind and kissing his cheek. She murmurs sweet things to him in an effort to help his embarrassment. He’s still a little shy about their relationship, even a year after being out. Her gentle words seem to help a bit.

“Hey, baby.” Jai sits next to Lian. She shoves his shoulder.

“Who said you got to be good at that? How do you know that song?”

“You’re shocked speedsters know a song that’s literally about being born to run?” Jai raises an eyebrow at her. He sees the bit of hurt in her eyes and gives her a kind smile. “I love you, babe.”

“How sure are you?” 

Jai gives her a long kiss, holding her chin and smiling against her lips. “Might be born to run, but I’m running home to you, baby.”

“Good.” That seems to help a little. The West twins watch the rest of the night, cheering and laughing with their friends. There’s no telling what their futures hold, but they’ll run towards it so long as there are days like today. 

[melyaliz]

Hidden Rainbow

Requested by @speedypan

Fandom: DC / Young Justice

Pairing: Bart Allen x OC slight Will Harper x OC

Notes: This takes place around season 2ish.

I honestly really want to write more Gigi and Bart stuff (or just more Gigi stuff) So Thank you Kim for the request. I’m sorry if there isn’t enough Faith and Gigi.

More about Gigi

Maia is owned by @royslittleharper

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive​

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

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

“They are scared” Antoinette’s voice flooded Gigi’s mind as the two small girls lay in their bed “I can hear their voices so loudly”

Gigi took her twin’s hand closing her eyes “It’s ok, they are our parents they will take care of us”

“I don’t think they can.” her sister’s voice had an edge to it. “The bad man is coming.”

“The bad man can’t get us, remember what daddy said.”

Antoinette shook her head moving closer to her sister the fear and dread she could hear her mother’s thoughts telling her otherwise. Even at her age of 4 she knew, she knew it was coming.

“It’s ok,” Her sister’s voice broke through Antoinette’s thoughts, “I’m here for you, we are a team remember.”

A promise made by two girls who were much too young to understand who they were or what was out there for them. Just two children barely babies who didn’t understand that sometimes promises can be broken by fate itself.

--12 years later --

“I’m telling you, it’s an army of penguins.”

“But if she saved Santa wouldn’t it be more like reindeer? Or I don’t know, something cooler like Dragons?”

“You don’t think Penguins are cool?” Gigi looked up at her best friend who was swinging her legs back and forth on the counter as she watched Gigi construct her classic ice cream concoction.

“I mean Gotham has this villain named the Penguin and he’s kind of a dork.”

“You say that about all the villains.”

“That’s because they are!”

Two types of chocolate syrup on top of three sugar cubes, and don’t forget the sprinkles (rainbow of course). Faith stole a bit of her friend’s ice cream with her finger, however the moment it touched her lips she made a face.  “Honestly, I don’t know how you can eat that.. It’s… kind of sweet.”

“I have a refined pallet.” Now to add some extra whip cream before topping it with cocoa pebbles cereal.

“Is that what we are calling it?”  

The sound of the alarms went off in base, an intruder. Both girls looked up at the flashing lights confused.

What was going on?

“Should we…” Faith’s voice trailed off as a yellow streak flashed by the kitchen only to come back for a moment the speedster slowing down enough so both girls could see him.

A bright red-haired boy stood there for a moment his head cocked to one side looking over the two girls who were sitting there just looking back. Well in Gigi’s case she was standing there, a large bowl of diabetes in her hand a spoon of said treat in her mouth.

A second later he was gone, Nightwing shouting something from the command room.

“Who the hell was that?” Faith asked, her friend shrugged taking another bite of her ice cream.

“Do we go find out?”

“I guess, I mean alarms are a bad thing, right?” Jumping off the counter Faith sighed running her fingers through her hair “I can’t keep up with the comings and goings of this place.”

-----5 years ago----

“They found your sister,” Jean’s said gently as she walked into Gigi’s room. It had been Three years since Gigi had lost her sister. She was still just a kid. A kid who’s world had been filled with villains and heroes. People who cared for her and made sure she was safe. They were her family, helping her find her sister. Helping her learn about her own powers.

“But Gigi,” Jean’s voice trailed off for a moment as if she wasn’t sure how to put what had happened into words. This was their lives the young teen thought as she looked down at the young girl before her. This unrealistic crazy life.

“Is she ok? Is Antoinette ok?”

“The bad guys, the people who took her. They were collecting mutants from all different times and, while it’s only been three years for us it’s been… nine for her.”

----------Present ----------

Never in the red-haired girl’s life had she never imagined she would ever be part of this.

The big leagues.

Being a mutant meant there was a certain stigma attached to her, being born with a deformity, something that wasn’t right.

A mutation.

Yet here she was. Going on a mission with the sidekicks of some of the greatest heroes around, Superman, Flash, and Batman. And being led by the best of the best.

Willow.

She had saved Santa once. No other hero could top that.

“Willow, Angry Spice won’t let me sit next to him!”

“Stop calling me that!” Superboy snapped pushing Guardian Angel’s (known by Gigi as Faith her very bestest friend in the whole world) head gently as the girl bounced in her seat.

“And after I made you come on this mission and everything” Angel grumbled crossing her arms over her chest sticking out her tongue out.

“Yeah you should be grateful,” Blue Beetle said, “it took two missions before she even admitted I could stay.”

“She doesn’t have a choice who goes on these missions,” Superboy said glaring back at Angel.

“Yeah, you should be grateful you are part of the losers, it is really just Willow, Plastic-girl and I until sneaky sneaker and then BeeBee, we only took pity on you because you're always so angry.”

“Yeah” Gigi aka Plastic-girl twisted her head around in her seat exorcist style to look at Superboy, “Why are you always so angry? There are so many amazing things to be happy about. Like Vines.”

“Vines are amazing.” Impulse, aka sneaky sneaker, nodded in agreement. “Jamie spent all last night showing them to us.”

“Hey, I helped!” Angel said added.

“You spent the whole time throwing popcorn at Bart to see if he could catch them in his mouth.”  

“Which he did, my favorite was when I did a backflip off the bookcase.”

“Please tell me you got that on film,” Willow said

“Of course” Plastic-girl, said holding up her phone to show the greatest hero that ever lived. “I’m going to start our own vine account.”

“Too bad it no longer exists.”

“WHAT!?!” Both Plastic-girl and Impulse cried in pure shock and horror.

“WHY!?!”

“What villain did this?”

“It’s because he crashed the mode”

“Wait really?”

“Don’t say that to them Angel, they don’t know.”

“Impulse wouldn't do that, would you.”

“You think I would?” the look on Impulse’s face was so hurt that Plastic-girl instantly regretted saying it.

“No of course not! You are here to save us all not take away happiness and joy. In fact, you have brought extra happiness and joy since joining our team.”

“Wait I have?”

“Yeah I mean did you see all those videos we did, they are so cool.” Plastic-girl scooted close to Impulse to show him more of the videos she had taken from her best friend and the best hero (besides Willow of course) doing crazy stunts.

“I’m just hoping she could cram one more happiness and joy into that sentence” Guardian Angel snickered to Superboy

“Does all their freakouts end like that?” Superboy asked as the two redheads obliviously watched the videos laughing and sitting way too close to each other to be “just friends”.

“And people said Roy and I were bad” Willow muttered.

“You guys still are,” Angel said.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

------5 years ago-----

“Antoinette?”

Antoinette turned as her young sister walked into the room. Her twin. Now 6 years younger than her. It was as if they didn’t even know each other anymore. Gigi her sister she was some older girl, broken and a shadow of a memory.

For Antoinette Gigi hadn’t changed at all. She was the same as she remembered. So sweet and full of possibilities. In Gigi, Antionette saw what her life could have been.

If she was still Antionette.

“It’s Hope, I know you and mom are still getting used to calling me that but… I’m sorry” Hope turned “But Antoinette just holds a lot of pain for me, from the lab and… just everything.”

“I’m sorry” Gigi whispered crawling into bed next to her sister.

“It’s not your fault, it’s because we’re mutants. People are never going to know what to do with us. Kill us or use our powers.”

“Mommy says she wishes we were normal so we didn’t have to deal with those people.”

“Yeah…” Hope’s voice trailed off, “Sometimes I do too.”

--------------------Present-------------------------

“Plastic-girl!” Guardian Angel’s voice could be heard in the distance as Plastic-girl struggled for air as the bad guy with the huge metal arm held her up by her neck. Normally she would be able to squeeze out of this but for some reason… she couldn’t.

Her team wasn’t far off but they were also struggling with the team of them who seemed to have some impressive tech. It was like they had known they were coming. How their tech had singled them out, dividing them and coming right for Plastic-girl.

“I’m going to have fun opening you up girl,” the large man said leaning forward so only she could hear “little mutant skum, seeing how you tick, how you got those powers.”

Her world was blacking out, spots forming around the sides of her eyes. As hard as she tried she couldn’t seem to fight it.

“Relax I’m here”

Her sister's voice echoed through her mind. How? Where?

The bad guy let out a scream of pain dropping Plastic-girl gasping on the ground clutching her neck where large bruises were forming.

“Hope?”

The dark red-haired woman walked slowly through the bad guys as they all fell to the ground. Her eyes glowing red as the man who had once been strangling her twin was now screaming in pain.

“Hope let him go.” Plastic-girl whispered horsley as her sister raised her hand, “He…”

“He was going to kill you, I’m just showing him what pain he has inflicted on mutants like us.”

“No Hope… we are the good guys”

The bad guy fell to his knees tears streaming down his face as he tried to claw at his brain as Hope pulled apart his mind from the inside.

“Please!” Plastic-girl cried her voice squeaky and in so much pain it felt like she had just pulled sandpaper out of her throat. They were better than this. If they treated the bad guys the way they were treated what was the point? They would only prove them right.

They were monsters.

From where she was standing Hope let out a small grunt hitting her neck only to realize someone had shot her with a tranquilizer dart.

Willow stood a few feet away holding up her bow next to her Plastic-girl recognized Cyclops and Nightcrawler.

Nightcrawler teleports behind Hope catching her as she slowly blacked out. Plastic-girl scrambled to her feet feeling two hands helping her.

“I got you,” Impluse said next to her, “Are you ok?”

“My sister…” Plastic-girl muttered tears filling her eyes threatening to fall. She wasn’t sure if it was the pain of seeing her sister like that. So angry. Filled with so much hate.

“She’s fine,” Cyclops said, “we have been looking into a gang that has been taking mutants kind of like the ones that took your sister and her friends. I knew we shouldn’t have brought her with us.”

“What do they want?” Willow asked coming up next to him

“We aren’t sure yet but it seems like maybe some kind of virus.”

“Can we help?” Angel asked glancing from Plastic-girl to her sister as she bit her lip. For a moment her eyes met Her best friend before the red-haired girl looked away.

“Not right now but thanks, this is a mutant issue.” Cyclops said “So I would appreciate if you guys maybe didn’t get the League involved they tend to make things more.. messy” he added.

“I’m not sure…”

“Yeah no problem,” Willow said cutting Superboy off shooting him a glare, “We all know what it’s like to deal with an internal issue.”

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

A mutant issue, the words seemed to swim around Gigi as she sat in her bed her knees pulled up to her chest.

A mutant issue.

It was always the same. The Mutants and the Justice League.

The people who were born with a defect and those who had a defect happen to them.

No matter how much she tried to lie to herself it always felt like she didn’t belong to either of them.

Next to her Faith rubbed gentle circled around her back

“Do you think Conner will tell?” Gigi asked glancing up at her best friend.

“Maia would make him keep it quiet.”

“I just… she’s not bad you know, she just… had a lot of bad things happen to her.”

Faith shrugged, “Who am I to judge? I mean she did save your life. She seems ok to me”

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

“Hey man, I was thinking maybe we could…”

“Bring Gigi’s favorite Ice cream?” Bart finished Jamie’s sentence holding up a large bowl of sweet ice things.

“What’s in that?”

“In order, two scoops of Coffee, two cookie dough and a scope of something different because you should always be open to change, three cubes of sugar then top with white and dark chocolate syrup. Add sprinkles then cover with whip cream for a surprise rainbow, add one normal gummy bear and one sour one,  more whip cream with cocoa pebbles so it looks like a night sky only the opposite. Then finish with two cherries dipped in strawberry syrup.”

Jamie stood there mouth hanging open “Wow Hermano you have it bad.”

Bart blinked, a blank look on his face, “What bad?”

Jamie shook his head chuckling “Tell you what, how about you go give Gigi her special ice cream and I’ll meet up with both of you later.”

“You sure? I mean we’re all a team…”

“Naw, you go ahead.”

“Crash.”

He was gone before Jamie could say another word.

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

Both girls were laying on Gigi’s bed now talking about anything and everything. Faith was telling a silly story about the last time she was on patrol with her uncle and Tim Drake when she was interrupted by a knock.

“Yeah?”

“Hey is it cool if I come in?” Bart asked peeking in. Gigi nodded sitting up giving a small wave. Her eyes and nose still slightly red from crying. “I brought gifts!” Bart said holding out the bowl of ice cream.

“It has two cherries! And a sky full of black stars.”

“And a hidden rainbow and a yin and yang gummy bears”

“Wow,” Gigi said reaching out taking the bowl before taking a bite, “You’re amazing”

Bart chuckled rubbing the back of his head, “Thanks”

“I can’t believe you remembered her whole ice cream.”

“How couldn’t I? It’s totally crash”

“Have you actually tried it?”

“No”

“Probably for the best,” Faith said motioning to a free spot next to Gigi “join us.” Bart scrambled up onto the bed glancing over at Gigi as she dug into her ice cream.

“How are you feeling?”

“Ok, this helps.”

“I’m sorry about all the mutant stuff.”

“S’ok” Gigi mumbled, “Family can just be complicated sometimes.”

“That’s why you have us,” Faith said nudging her, “We are your family too. And no matter what we have your back.”

“Y… Yeah” Bart said, “We hate seeing you sad.”

Gigi smile holding out her bowl for Bart to take a spoonful. “Thank you,” she said with a wide smile. “You guys are really the best ever” Bart matched her smile as he took a large spoonful.

“Ok wow… that is REALLY sweet”

“Told you.” Faith snickered

“It’s prefect,” Gigi said moving her spoon around so a few colored sprinkled showed up, her hidden rainbow. Like her friends, they were always there, no matter what was around they were always there ready to make her days just a little more wonderful.

-GET TAGGED!- 

Tagging: @royslittleharper​​  @the-shadow-of-atlantis​​ @coffee-randomness​​ @daisyboobear​​ @nilthanious​​  @jason-redhood​ @hello-i-lovespiderman-blr @ocelysium @pinkwitch21 @tomhncharliep

[darlingpetao3]

Past Tense (Team Flash & Reader)

Rating: T

Summary: You and your frenemy Nora get into an argument that leads to an accident… A big mistake that finds you trapped in the past and meeting your Team Flash parents.

A/N: This could also be considered a Nora & Reader. Disclaimer - Though I may have written about a fueled animosity between Nora and the Reader, it by no means represents how I feel about Nora myself.

“How could you, (Y/N)? I knew you were evil, but this is a new low.”

“You really need to open your eyes, Allen,” you say to the short brunette, “It’s not like I’ve done anything wrong!”

“You’re going to kill him!”

“Don’t be so melodramatic!”

“What did you call me?”

“Mel-o-dra-ma-tic.” This fires Nora up to no end, that girl really has a temper on her. You can see the multi-coloured electricity emit from her. She’s charging up.

“You’ll be sorry,” she growls.

You give her a ‘come at me’ motion with your hand. Nora West-Allen may be the fastest girl alive, but you have some pretty quick tricks of your own.

She winds up for a punch, and wow, she almost catches you off guard. You activate the power of your gloves, a gift from your godfather. You vibe yourself out of her way and end up where she once stood. This time you’ll get the jump on her. But Nora makes another run at you.

Even though “XS” is able to throw a killer shot to your body with her fist, you manage to suck her in with you into your handmade breach.

Why does it feel like your head is spinning?

You and Nora are suddenly sprawled out on the pavement in front of a series of retro looking houses. Your rival groans and gets up, leaving you on the ground. You hear her gasp.

“What is it this time, you drama queen?” She pulls you off to the side, behind some bushes.

“You just ruined all of our lives,” she whispers harshly as if her world was falling apart in front of her. You squint at what Nora is looking at in one of the houses.

“I highly doubt that, but explain.”

“That!” she points at the blue house in front of you, “That is my grandparents’ home! That is my mom and dad walking inside!”

“Yeah, so?”

“My mom and dad are not in their twenties!”

“Oh my God…” you breathe out, seeing your own kind-of-horror. “I see my mom, too…” There she is, getting out of her car. Mom - long, wavy chestnut hair and so freaking young.

“Allen…” you say slowly, realization creeping upon you, “I don’t think we’re in 2045 anymore…”

“Yeah, no shit!”

***

It took you and Nora approximately five months until you stopped bickering over whether it was a good idea or not to come clean to your parents from the past. Nora kept trying to subtly insinuate herself into random moments of her parent’s lives. Like that time she posed as wait staff at her mother and father’s wedding. But you were smart enough to stay away. You understood that the tiniest interaction with the people you knew could cause a ripple in time and potentially disrupt the timeline. You’ve heard plenty of stories from your mom over the years all featuring Nora’s father.

Like father, like daughter, you suppose.

But it was now or never. Almost half a year had gone by and you were both still stuck in the past. If anyone knew how to help you, it was Mr. Allen and your mom - Caitlin Snow.

Nora goes up to her grandparents front door finally, one day in May, and totally crashes her family’s get together. To be more specific, her Aunt Jenna’s baby shower. Who was just born. Days ago.

Of course, you were never one to be so rude as to interrupt something so intimate as that, especially when uninvited. Plus, you weren’t even supposed to be born yet, so... that could be awkward.

But you just have to peer from behind a car at Nora about to mess things up again when you two find yourselves outside of Joe and Cecile’s home. You weren’t about to aide in catapulting the two of you even further into time travelling trouble.

It was about a half hour, maybe not even, until the entirety of Team Flash (minus Joe, Cecile, and Jenna) hustle out of the front door. Their expressions range from deadly serious to complete awe. Your phone dings in your pocket.

Going to S.T.A.R. Labs, coward 😘 -XS

You try to reign in your frustration. You’re not a coward, you’re careful. But something in you is already pulling you towards the Laboratory building.

***

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

Everyone is staring at you. Even your mother said that you looked strangely familiar to her.

“My name is (Y/N), and-”

“-Are you my daughter, too?” Barry asks, looking like he’s about to worry all over again.

“No, I’m hers, actually…” you gesture to Caitlin. Mom.

“I’m what? Excuse me?” Caitlin falters. “There’s no way-!”

“Yeah,” Cisco pipes up, “She’s not even seeing anyone right now!” Your godfather really was a riot, even in his heyday.

“Gee, thanks for that.” Aw, she’s got that flustered look on her face. It’s so familiar and comforting. “Then who’s your father- wait! I don’t want to know! That could be detrimental to the timeline-”

“-My father is Julian Albert,” you couldn’t help but blurt out, letting your cares fly free. It’s just so nice to be able to talk to her, even like this. You hadn’t been able to talk to your mom for five months, whether she was from your time or this one. The Team Flash members all glance around at each other like, ooh girl, someone needs to make a long distance call.

Barry shakes his head and says to himself, “This is...too much information.”

“How does it feel to be on the other end, Barry?” Cisco jokes. Barry doesn’t answer that.

“Way to follow your own rules,” Nora mutters under her breath. Oh great, is she going to embarrass you in front of everyone’s much younger selves? You give her a look that screams, shut up or I’ll vibe blast you to kingdom come. She flashes you a whatcha gonna do about it? smile. You lunge at Nora, but Cisco and Caitlin hold you back.

“Hypocrite,” she calls you and gets restrained by Barry and Iris.

“Train-wreck,” you spit.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Caitlin shouts and you’re already being taken back to when you were a child, “What is going on here? Why all the hate?”

“Yeah, that’s not what we’re about here at Team Flash!” Barry adds in total shock.

“Are you two like this… all the time?” Iris asks you and her daughter.

“Yeah,” Nora huffs in response. When the younger version of your mother asks why you bicker and fight all the time, you roll your eyes.

“Because she’s dating Bart!” Nora lets out, like it’s been tormenting her inside.

“You’ll have to tell us who Bart is,” Iris calmly tells her daughter.

“My twin brother! Your son! She’s going to break his heart!”

Just as you’re about to protest, Barry says with a hand to his forehead, “Wait, we have a son, too?”

”Such a cutie,” you admit. Iris holds onto Nora a little tighter at her attempt to break free.

“Okay, okay, this has got to stop, now!” Barry raises his voice. Everyone in the room freezes. Mr. Allen takes a deep breath. “Nora, why are you so against (Y/N) going out with... Bart?”

“Because! It used to be just me and him! Now I never see him anymore and she’s stolen him away. She’ll break his heart-“

“But I won’t, Nora!” you protest. “I love him, okay?!” You look awkwardly at Bart and Nora’s young parents. “I’m sorry you don’t see him that much anymore and I’m sorry about what’s happened between us. It sucks and I never wanted us to be like this. But I would never, ever hurt him, I need you to know that.”

She’s been stunned silent, some of her hair falls in her face when she looks down. Then Nora mumbles something.

“Speak up, honey,” Iris says.

“I’m sorry,” Nora says a bit louder, “I didn’t know you…”

“Well I do,” you confirm. “And I’m not some kind of black widow, just so you know.” She scratches the back of her neck. “Can we just forget about everything?” you ask. “I’m so tired of fighting with you.”

“Please? I am too.”

“Okay!” Cisco claps his hands, “Happy fun times from here on out! Now, let’s get to work on getting you back to the future.”

Nora sighs and slips you twenty dollars as you say, “I knew he’d say that.”

~

A/N: If I changed a few minor things it’s because I got so carried away in writing this idea. So much fun!

Requested by @bartallenisbae : Please write a flash team x reader about the reader transporting herself to get Nora but gets stuck as well. Nora and reader hate each other and when she introduces herself as the daughter of Caitlin and Julian. The team gets used to her (but start to get annoyed over the fighting with Nora and her and please no sexual tension they really do hate each other) and the team finds out the reader is dating Nora’s twin Bart and Nora is jealous of her because she’s used to it being her and her brother

[kl-writes]

Stable DC Timeline (Part 2/5)

At this point, I started thinking about what their ‘current’ ages should be. I see Flashpoint as the end of the initial DC Universe, so that’s the starting point for the stable DC Timeline’s ‘current’ era, or at least the point in time from where stories should develop and we start to put in new thoughts and ideas. Flashpoint takes place in mid-1974 (Unadj. 2011).

Batfamily:

Bruce Wayne: 55

·         Dick Grayson: 37

·         Helena Wayne: 27

·         Jason Todd: 26

·         Timothy Drake: 24

·         Cassandra Cain: 23

·         Damian Wayne: 22

·         Duke Thomas: 15 (Existence uncertain, he’s post-Flashpoint. His first appearance would be mid-1975, and we consider the current time to be 1974).

Selina Kyle:  55

Katherine Kane: 34

Barbara Gordon: 38 (Puts her at 16 at her first appearance)

Stephanie Brown: 23 (Puts her at 13 at her first appearance, and 17 at the birth of her daughter)

·         Unknown Daughter – Adopted by someone?: 6

Alfred Pennyworth: 75 (First appearance was in 1946. However, he was with the Waynes presumably during the upbringing of Bruce, so I used the minimum age of 20 at Bruce’s birthday, making his birthday 1899.)

Luke Fox: 19 (Post-Flashpoint)

Harper Row: 14 (Post-Flashpoint)

Speedsters:

Jay Garrick: 55

Barry Allen: 47

Wally West: 35

Iris West II: 3

Jai West: 3

Bart Allen: ??? (1966 would be his first appearance. Speedforce affected his aging, putting his birthday at 2 years prior, despite appearing to be 12. His effective age is about 20 as of 1974, so his civilian records likely have his birth year as ‘1956.’ These are fake, though, as he’s from the future).

 For a lot of the more modern comics, the ages of Damian and Timothy seem a bit too old, given their personalities. Even Dick seems a bit too old with this timeline. We can see that although the adjusted timeline works well for the oldest characters in DC, when it comes to legacy characters, the timeline isn’t perfect. It doesn’t help that in some stories, Dick and Wally are seen as young adult peers, and in others, Wally is seen as the father of a young family. This is where the stable timeline starts to change how characters are perceived. This is also why I wanted to minimize any changes to characters I might make to force them to fit the timeline, because introducing a stable timeline will force character growth and maturity.

Another thing I thought about was making certain character deaths permanent. Superman came back to life, Batman came back to life, and Jason Todd came back to life. My thought is, that unless their return created new stories (Like with Jason Todd), maybe they should just stay dead. This means that Superman died in 1965 (Unadj. 1992), Batman died in 1973 (Unadj. 2008), and Barry Allen died in 1962 (Unadj. 1986).

This doesn’t stop their stories. Wally West as the Flash has been thoroughly explored- in many ways, he absolutely trumped Jay Garrick and Barry Allen as the Scarlet Speedster. Dick Grayson as Batman was also interesting- he became Batman out of necessity, to stop the battle for the cowl. His dynamic with Damian was interesting. Given that Damian is “now” 22, perhaps Dick Grayson would step down from the role of Batman, and go back to being Nightwing. Damian always wanted to be Batman’s successor. Jason Todd, Timothy Drake, and Cassandra Cain all seem as though they’ve gone on their own paths of heroism now.

Superman’s permanent death would also be interesting. It was Superman himself that stopped the fighting of the supermen. Had he not intervened, perhaps Steel would have become Metropolis’s hero. Maybe constant battles between Lex Luthor and Superboy would have opened up new avenues- it’s not a straight Darth Vader, given that Superboy’s only a clone, but Lex Luthor has shown some affection for Superboy in the past. What would happen if Lex were able to establish a more permanent sort of mind control? What if he did so, and essentially took control of Metropolis’s ‘Superman,’ being able to play both sides of the board? There’s definitely a lot of room for stories like this.

Those were the biggest 3 deaths at the top of my head, but there were many others where the character came back to life, but didn’t necessarily have to. I’m not counting when they came back within a few months (Like with Wally West or Guy Gardner), of course, just the deaths that were “supposed” to stick- Bart Allen II, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, Martian Manhunter, Captain Boomerang I, etc.

Another thing we can do is look at deaths of minor characters, especially those around Final Crisis and Flashpoint, and determine whether we want those deaths to ‘stick’ or not. For example, Weather Wizard’s son, Josh Jackam, was killed off during Final Crisis. Owen Mercer, son of the first Captain Boomerang, was killed during Blackest Night. Both of these characters were potential ‘legacy’ characters. The Rogues don’t have many of these, so it might make more sense if they didn’t die, especially since their deaths didn’t have any lasting effects on the story.

Rogues (And kids):

Leonard Snart: 47

Lisa Snart: 37 (DEAD)

Hartley Rathaway: 46

Mark Mardon: 46

·         Josh Jackam: 5 (Dead?)

Sam Scudder: 46 (DEAD)

Evan McCullock: 31

James Jesse: 45 (DEAD)

·         Billy Hong: 17

Axel Walker: 24

Digger Harkness: 45 (Dead?)

·         Owen Mercer: 23 (Dead?)

Roscoe Dillon: 45 (DEAD)

Mick Rory: 44

Roy G. Bivolo: 35 (DEAD)

Owen and Josh are soft deaths for the reasons listed above. Digger came back to life, but he should probably just be dead-dead like Superman and Batman. Looking at this, it’s kind of depressing how many of my favorite characters, the Rogues, are dead.

If we were to look at a modern (1974) Rogues, we might also consider Wally West’s hallucination in the Flash v2 #140, with Cadet Cold, Mirror Miss, Heat-Whelp, Weather Whiz-Kid and Captain Slingshot as children of the Rogues. Cadet Cold would either be Leonard’s kid, or perhaps an unknown child of Lisa and Roscoe, who was perhaps sent to an orphanage. Mirror Miss would be Evan’s, Heat-Whelp would be Mick’s, Weather Whiz-Kid is more than likely Josh Jackam, and Captain Slingshot is Owen’s. Billy Hong, AKA Makhalli, with his magical powers, would likely become a superhero of some sort, if so, probably mentored by Hartley. But all of this is just speculation!

 The Luthors and the Supermen:

Clark Kent/Kal-El: 56 (DEAD)

Jonathan Samuel Kent: 1? (Existence uncertain, as he’s a post-convergence character who is the son of the New Earth Clark Kent)

Christopher Kent/Lor-Zod: 22

Kara Zor-El (Supergirl): 46 (DEAD)

Kara Zor-L (Powergirl): 39

Alexander Joseph “Lex” Luthor: 55

·         Lena Luthor II: 6

·         Connor Kent/Kon-El: 9, he was “born” in 1965 with the body of a teenager, so his biological age is anywhere from 22 – 28. (DEAD)

·         Jerry White: 32

Lena Luthor I: 45

·         Lori Luthor 17, high schooler. Honestly, this one could be anywhere from 14-19, she only appeared in one storyline before Flashpoint.

One thing that I didn’t realize before was that Superboy was yet another person who died and came back to life 3 years later. So my remarks earlier about the dynamic between Lex Luthor and Connor might not apply, depending on where you set the limit on how long until death becomes “permanent.” My initial thought was 1 year max, but maybe this should change. I’m not quite sure what to do with the two Karas, but it’s entirely possible that Superman has 2 cousins.

 The Marvels and the Sivanas

Billy Batson: Biologically 23/Chronologically 42

Mary Bromfield: 23/42

Freddy Freeman: 23/42

Thaddeus Sivana, Sr.: 56/75 (Assuming a starting age of 40)

Magnificus Sivana: 36/55

Beautia Sivana: 36/55

Georgia Sivana: 23/42

Thaddeus Sivana, Jr.: 23/42

The Wizard: 9000+

This is another special case. The original run was from 1941 – 1953, and due to a long story about legal issues, didn’t have another ongoing series until 1973, and after Crisis on Infinite Earths, in 1991. In 1973, Billy had been gone for 20 years without aging, due to being exiled by Dr. Sivana, placed into suspended animation. In 1991, the story was that the Wizard froze Fawcett City in time to protect it from the encroaching evils of the outside world. As a result, between 1953 and 1991, we can say that the Marvel family didn’t age. Even adjusted, that’s 1945 – 1964, or about 19 years taken from Billy’s life. Billy began Captain Marvel at age 7 – 14, depending on the version. If we aim low, and take into account the lost years, then in 1964 his age is still only 13, which fits him being a child hero for that series.

The Sivana family, like the rest of Fawcett, only lost 9 years.

Edit: Upon re-reading, I found that the sivanas also lost 19 years. I adjusted the ages accordingly.

[cait-writes-stuff]

Future Mrs. G - Dick Grayson x Reader

YJ verse where you're on the team but you don't really get along with Dick for whatever reason until Bart comes from the future and only knows you as Mrs.Grayson + Saw the "Bart knows the Reader as the future Mrs. Grayson" and I raise you Bart knows the reader as the future Mrs. Todd but cannot say a goddamn thing until Jay shows back up again. Optional: the reader from the Dick fic (*snorts*) and the reader from the Jay fic are besties. Not necessary but adds another element, no? + IF YOU SEE GOTHAM do you remember that episode where Dick parents appeared and also were fighting and couldn't bear each other until jim made their families rebound and at the end were both cutie pies in love and went to thank Detective Gordon? I just remembered for the Bart thing like : Mrs. Grayson? Gordon: oh yes you remind me of your parents kid, lmao.

 A/N: This is a combination of a bunch of prompts because a ton of people asked for a fic where Bart comes from the future and knows shit. I figured it would all fit nicely together!

“UGH! You’re such an ass!” You shouted, pushing against Dick’s chest. He didn’t even wobble from the impact which only frustrated you more.

“You want to talk about it sweetheart?” He asked condescendingly.

You – You UGH! My mission? Really??? You gave the mission that I’ve been working on for a year to fucking Lagoon Boy? You know Dick you typically take a girl out on a date before you fuck her over!” You seethed. He appeared infuriatingly calm in the face of your anger.

“Lagoon Boy’s skills were more suited to the mi-“

“I don’t give a flying fuck why you chose him. That was my case. You had no right.” You said accentuating your anger with sharp pokes to his chest.

“I had every right. I’m serving as team leader while Kaldur is home visiting Atlantis. That means I’m calling the shots and I say you’re off the mission. Get over it or go home.” He replied firmly, his mouth set in a hard line as you glared up at him. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

“You keep pushing this and I’m going to make your life a living hell Dick Grayson. I will not be sidelined.” You hissed.

“Is that a threat?” He asked, his eyes narrowing at you. You didn’t even flinch at his intense glare.

“It’s a fucking promise.” You swore before turning on your heel and storming off.

“I can’t believe him Red! He’s such a fucking ass!” You complained to your best friend. The two of you were sitting in the near abandoned grotto where all the tributes to the fallen are stored. This was usually a fairly private place since no one really liked to remember just how dangerous this job was. Red would know, her first love and boyfriend had his own hologram down here. You had offered to meet in a different place for her sake but she insisted that Jay would have wanted us to meet where we had always met. Jason was your friend too but it was hard to see your friend be so torn up over his death.

“Didn’t you have a crush on him?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

“When we were kids sure but I’d never be with him now. Not in a million years. I have standards Red, standards that include not being the most infuriating person to walk on Earth.” You swore.

“It sounds like to me you’re just frustrated that he won’t roll over and give you whatever you want at the drop of the hat.” She shrugged.

“I’m angry that he won’t let me work on the case that I’ve been working on for a year!” You cried. You worked yourself to the bone to get to where you were in the case and to have him step in and just hand it over to another team member to finish, it pissed you off more than anything.

“Have you ever thought that maybe he’s just trying to protect you?” She offered.

“Seriously? You’re taking his side?” You asked incredulously. How could your best friend defend this jerk? Wasn’t she supposed to take your side on this instead of making excuses for Dick?

“No I’m just saying that maybe you’re misreading the situation.” She shrugged. You scoffed at the notion.

“I’m not –“ You started to say before you were cut off by a blaring alarm warning the presence of an intruder. You and your friend immediately dropped the conversation and sprinted toward where the alert was coming from. A whirl of yellow sped past you just as you were about to enter the briefing room.

“Shit!” You swore, turning around to follow the speedster intruder. The yellow blur turned around and ran straight back towards you. Expecting it to run straight into you, you braced yourself for what you knew would be a painful impact but instead you were surprised to find that the young speedster wrapped you up in a tight hug.

“Hey Mrs. Grayson! Long time no see! Ha! How are the kids?” He asked, his words coming out only just slow enough to recognize what he was saying. He glanced around your body and saw something that made his eyes widen. “Welp gotta go now! See you later Mrs. G!” He waved before racing away.

“Why didn’t you take him out?” Dick shouted jogging up to you.

“I was going to but then he . . . hugged me.” You said still trying to grapple with what had just happened. You were so many levels of confused.

“Well what’s your excuse?” He snapped turning to look accusingly at Red. She shrugged and didn’t offer him an answer. Dick sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t have time for this right now. Just . . . spread out and try to corner him alright?” He said before running back in the opposite direction of where the speedster was heading.

“Something you want to tell me Mrs. Grayson?” Red leaned over and asked you, grinning like the cat that ate the canary. You put your hand over her face and turned her grinning face away from you.

“No.”

It took a while but eventually the team was able to apprehend the mysterious speedster. It didn’t take much before he confessed that he was the Flash’s grandson from the future. He certainly had the proof to back up his claims.

If he was from the future that made wonder about what he had said to you when you first ran into each other.

“So . . . Bart was it? You’re from the future?” You asked sitting next the the young boy in the kitchen. He had been rifling for food in the fridge and eventually made himself a gargantuan sandwich filled to the brim with the oddest ingredients.

“Yes ma’am.” He answered taking a wide bite out the sandwich.

“Can I ask you something? About the future?” You asked hesitantly.

“I make no promises.” He responded.

“Understood.” You nodded. “You said something when we first met. You called me Mrs. Grayson. You want to tell me why?” You asked the seemingly simple question.

“It’s your name isn’t it? You are married to Nightwing right?” He asked. Your eyes widened and you heard Red start to cackle hysterically from the living room.

“Noooooo.” You corrected immediately.

“Whoops. My bad. Forget I said anything then.” He said.

“Hold up. Am I married to him in the future?” You asked.

“I really should talk about –“ He started to argue but you cut him off before he could finish.

“Tell me!” You insisted firmly.

“Well I guess I’ve already said this much.” He sighed. “Yeah. You guys are the most disgustingly in love couple that I’ve ever met. Well you and the Todd’s really. Speaking of which where is Jason?” He said.

“Dead.” You answered simply. Suddenly Red’s laughing ceased.

“Oh. History never was my best subject.” He laughed, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Look kid, you’re nice and you clearly come from a future but are you sure you’re from this universe’s future. Nightwing and I . . . we aren’t even friends. I’m sorry but I highly doubt I’d ever marry him.”

“Look Mrs. G,”

“Please don’t call me that.” You insisted.

“I only know what I know.” He continued without hesitation. “One of your grandkids is a good friend of mine.”

“Oh god. I think I’m going to be sick.” You groaned.

“Thanks again Commissioner Gordon. This intel is really going to help.” Dick thanked the older man, holding up the flash drive that was just given to him.

“Anytime, son. It’s the least I can do after all these years of service that you and the Bat have given this city.” Gordon responded.

“It’s all in a day’s work Commish.” Nightwing smiled.

“Are you alright kid? You seem a little off tonight.” Gordon asked. He had known Robin, Nightwing, whatever name he goes by for years but the young man didn’t seem as chipper as he usually was.

“Just girl problems. Nothing too worrying, I assure you.” Dick brushed off. He had to admit that you had been on his mind a lot lately. He hated how antagonist your relationship with him had become. He had been such good friends with you when you were both just kids and now . . . well you two were lucky if you walked away from a conversation without being at each other’s throats.

“Oh?” Gordon questioned. “It’s that girl that bring along sometimes isn’t it? The one that you bicker with? It’s funny, you two remind me of a couple that came into the precinct back when I was still just a detective. They came from rival circus families and boy did they act like it. They bickered the entire time I was watching over them but not long after the family feud is patched up and these two come back in engaged and utterly lovesick. They offered to name their first born after me, you know.” Gordon reminisced one of the oddest cases he had ever been assigned. Unfortunately the young circus couple famously died after their trapeze line was tampered with, leaving their young son orphaned.

“I’m pretty sure this girl hates me. She’s made that pretty clear.”

“There’s a fine line between love and hate, Nightwing. Give it time.” Gordon encouraged. Dick chuckled and shook his head at the idea that you could ever grow to have feelings other than annoyance for him

“I hope you're as good at giving relationship advice as you are at your job.” Nightwing joked.

“I’m old, Nightwing. I think I know a thing or two.” He argued.

“If you’re right, I’ll be sure to send you a wedding invitation.” Nightwing said lightheartedly, not really thinking that your relationship would ever get to that level. It just seemed so far off considering where the two of you were now. Gordon though, he had seen stranger couples develop. He believed wholeheartedly that these kids would eventually come to find kindred souls in one another.

“I expect nothing less.”

[gothxmsirxns-blog]

Home

Pairing: Young Justice x Reader [platonic] Kaldur x Reader [romantic]

Relationship: friends and past relationship 

Request: nope

Plot: based on theses prompts;  50. Promise me you’ll come back...I need you to promise me,49. I can’t promise you that, 51. I missed you,‘don’t break my heart and tell me you’ve forgotten me’, 91. How long has it been?

Key: [Y/N]= your name, [h/c] = hair colour, [e/c] = eye colour.

Words: 1,588

A/N: I’m sorry I haven’t uploaded anything in so long. I’m hopefully getting back on track soon. 

3 years ago

The mission had been long, and it had been physically exhausting on the young heroes and this was obvious as they walked into the main area of Mount Justice where they were greeted with Batman and and Black Canary staring them down, Canary with soft eyes and Batman with his usual hard stare as they all joined them around the screens on the computer that seemed to be broadcasting all their mistakes from the mission, well more specifically [Y/N]’s mistakes.

The young hero had been the newest addition to the team and, and though she had been there close to a year upon recommendation of Doctor Fate after seeing her magical potential she was still having difficulty controlling her magic and she once again put the demon in danger by not being able to keep it in check.

Looking to the ground, she rubbed her arm with her opposite hand and let out a gentle sigh, she didn’t know what was wrong with her or why her magic always seemed to go nuclear when she tried something even slightly more difficult than a defensive or telekinetic spell, but it did. And now the team was getting punished for it.

The feeling of a warm hand wrapping around her own hand and pulling it down to the side, away from her arm that she had unconsciously stopped rubbing and started digging her nails into, broke the [h/c] girl out of her thoughts and forced her to turn to face the man she had come to call her boyfriend.

A comforting smile was on the Atlantean’s face as he rubbed his thumb softly over the knuckles of the girl as the team was dismissed. Another sigh left her lips as she looked into the eyes of Kaldur, the two of them being the only two remaining as Batman had left for Gotham and Canary was beginning her sessions with some of the team to go over the trauma of the mission.

“I’m useless-” another sigh left the young girl's lips as she used her free hand to move some hair out of her face, “- I can’t do anything right.” A comforting smile made it’s way onto Kaldur’s face as he removed his hand from [Y/N]’s, only to bring it up with his free hand and cup her cheeks as he spoke to her.

“You are doing fine my love. You are still learning.” Another sigh passed the girl's lips and she cast her eyes to the ground again, “You are still improving. This time 12 months ago you had no idea that you had magic and now look at you, you are doing amazing.”

While she enjoyed hearing the encouraging words coming from Kaldur, [Y/N] knew they weren’t true. What was true was up until 12 months ago she had no idea what she could do, she thought she was normal, that was until her family was in danger and she found herself unconsciously casting a shielding spell around them, protecting them from shrapnel and gunfire.  That was how the League found her, well more Doctor Fate, and he recognised the potential in her and took her under his wing, bringing her into the team almost immediately to allow her to learn with those her own age as well as from him.

It was also then that she learned she was adopted and her adoptive parents had no idea what she could do, though they didn’t love her any less, and they had been trying to find out everything they could about her birth parents ever since then to giver her a chance to find out who she really was and how she was born with magic.

“We both know that’s not true. Kaldur, I’ve been working with Doctor Fate for a year and I can’t even do a simple tracking spell! I-” Huffing slightly, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked to the man, “I have to leave.”

Kaldur’s eyes widened as he processed her words, he hadn’t expected that and he didn’t want that. He was sure the team didn’t want that either, they adored the girl despite her misfortunes and thought of her as a sister. “W-What? Why?”

[Y/N]’s tongue darted past her lips as she felt them dry up, along with her throat, a direct response to having to tell Kaldur that she had to leave. “My birth parents? Their from a homo magi community that’s really reclusive. They, uh, when we contacted them to find out about my parents they told me they could help me.”

“I have to go.” She stepped closer to the boy, closing the small gap that had been between them as she spoke because this might be the last time she spoke to him for a while, the last time her lips would touch his for a while.

“Promise me you’ll come back” He looked down to the girl, his hand reaching out to push some hair behind her ear, “I need you to promise me” A soft sigh pushed passed [Y/N]’s lips and she once again looked to the ground, a nervous tick she had. “I can’t promise you that.”

It was the truth, she didn’t know if she would be back. She didn’t know the price she would have to pay to learn to control her magic, and she didn’t want to leave with empty promises in the air. So, that was the last thing said before the girl leaned up and pressed a kiss to Kaldur’s lips, their last kiss before she left.

Present, 3 years later.

The team was tired, they always were after a fight and they had just gotten out of the showers when they were called to the training area for a briefing for their next mission, well a continuation of their current mission that seemed to be broken into sub-divisions of missions like in a video game, and a long groan left the lips of many of the members. But they went anyway.

This team, this team consisted of Kaldur, L’Gann, M’Gann, Connor, Bart, Artemis, Tim, Jaime, Barbara,Virgil and Cassie, it was a new configuration that took some getting used to as old members had left and new ones had joined and they were getting used to the others abilities and fighting styles. But they were a good team, they got along well and worked well together but this newest mission was kicking their ass and so Batman had called in reinforcements.

Before the team stood a girl, with long [h/c] hair that looked familiar and [e/c] eyes that sparkled with excitement and happiness and she overall looked familiar, like a friend not seen in years and the feeling of knowing nagged at the back of the original teams mind as if they should know this person and yet they don’t.

“Who is this?” It was Kaldur that broke the silence and a gentle laugh filled the air, it came from the lips of the stranger who was standing with their arms crossed and their eyebrow raised as they looked over the team. “Don’t break my heart and tell me you’ve forgotten me?” And it was then that everything clicked.

Smiles broke out onto the faces of M’Gann and Artemis as the girls walked forward and wrapped their arms around their old team mate while Connor and Kaldur remained frozen, trying to comprehend what was happening. “[Y/N]!” It was the declaration of her name by M’Gann that broke the boys out of their trance as realisation dawned upon them. However, the remainder of the team remained confused as to who their stranger was and how she was known to the original team.

“I missed you. All of you.” She looked to her former teammates, though there was 2 missing, she still spoke the truth, she had missed them all. “Where did you go?” A little chuckle left the girls mouth and she tilted her head slightly and let out a ‘tt’ sound, “That’s complicated. Because it was technically another dimension so we will not talk about it.”

A light laugh left Kaldurs lips as he stared at the girl with an eyebrow raised, “Of course you would end up in an alternate dimension.” [Y/N] pouted slightly, “Okay. It was deliberate? I was supposed to be there.” Kaldur laughed at the girl and a kind smiles were shared between the two.

“How long has it been?” [Y/N] questioned her friends, after all she wasn’t sure because she was preoccupied, “Three years.” Shock dawned on [Y/N]’s face, she honestly hadn’t realised she was gone that long.

“Not that I don’t love you being back, but, why are you back?” Licking her lips slightly she thought for a moment, “I thought it was time for me to come home and Batman needed reinforcements for your fight against Faust. I wanted to come back, Batman just gave me a reason too.”

“Wait, so you’re back for good?” M’Gann’s voice raised a few octaves at the end of the question to match the squeal she let out when the girl answered her question with a nod, “I’m back for good.”

The friends were broken out of their conversation and brought back to reality as a new voice broke through the crowd, the voice of Virgil Hawkins who’s tone matched the looks on the rest of the team, “Can someone explain what is going on?”

[beautifulrzilience]

“So, why you working at Staples?”

Hey ya’ll! Good afternoon. It feels like I haven’t really been on here (even though I took one day off). I’m still trying to figure out how this whole blogging thing works. When I should blog, how long, how often, etc. At the same time, I don’t want to burn myself out. In addition, I want to make sure that what I am writing about is thoughtful, provocative, and useful. So bare with me if you can.

Today I really feel compelled to talk about hustling while in graduate school. I remember back when I was an undergraduate, our McNair program directors hired this guy Don Asher to come talk to us about graduate school. By the way, if you don’t know what the Ronald E. McNair program is -- LOOK IT UP (It is a program designed for first-generation and/or low income undergraduate students of color who are interested in graduate school but have no idea how to get there. I think a big part of my success in getting into graduate school is thanks to having participated in this program). So I guess this guy was a big deal, some white guy who was being hired by hundreds of programs across the country to give us socially and culturally deprived kids the 411 about how to get to grad school and how to navigate it. I don’t remember much of what he said-except for one thing: hustling. 

He was going on and on about using our talents and creativity to find ways to make extra money while in graduate school, since even if we were to get fully funded in a program, it wasn’t going to be enough to sustain ourselves financially. And so when I first matriculated into UC Berkeley, and I realized my single studio was going to cost me $1,200 a month, plus a monthly $80 fee for my parking spot, $400 for groceries, my $390 car note, gas, living expenses etc. -- I also realized that the $1,500 a month I was getting from being a Graduate Student Instructor was not going to cut it.

So you’d think that of course I was going to naturally look for jobs that would boost my CV (curriculum vitae; a.k.a academic resume) up, which would mean searching for jobs that were relevant to academia. After all, I was a Doctoral Graduate Student at UC Berkeley. However, after being constantly stiffled with the elitism of students and faculty at Berkeley, I decided that I would look for a non-academic job. I just didn’t want to be around academics all day. They can be stuffy. I wanted to be somewhere where I could be my ‘authentic’ self. Talk about Love & Hip Hop and Bad Girls Club--talk shit--keep it real about life--you feel me?

So I thought, “Hmm, what are my options?” Well I knew what working in retail was like (since I was 16 I began working as a grocery bagger at Ralph’s Grocery store in Newport Beach,CA), maybe I’d try working somewhere (not in the grocery store business because I promised if I didn’t have to--I’d never go back--talk about humbling experience) where I could get some perks. Perhaps, Sephora (at the time I had discovered my love for makeup), or maybe Victoria Secrets (that’s before I knew how they exploited incarcerated peoples for their labor). But in the end, I randomly ended up getting hired at the Staples right across my studio. 

I know, STAPLES.

But let me tell you the story of how it happened-- how this came into fruition--and how this in itself was-and has been another humbling and rewarding experience. Because not only did it serve as a motivation to keep pushing through in school, but I also realized that some of the smartest people I know end up working at Staples. Some of these people are some of my closest friends I have. Friends that have become more like extended family. 

(from left to right: Napoleon Davila (my gay best friend), Joel Jara (my viejo who I had to force to be my best friend), Mary Giovanetti (my Italian Jersey girl), and Adam Vargas (you just gotta talk to him for 5 minutes--he a crazy one) This was my going away party at some bar in Berkeley, CA)

So one day I headed down to Staples because I needed a planner so I could manage my time efficiently (because at the graduate level, things can get a little hectic with all the responsibilities you end up having as a graduate student). As I find the isle I needed, there was a big hefty Black man on this ladder organizing some of the store’s merchandise. I guess he noticed that I was having a hard time deciding between the planners and asked me if I needed help. I looked up (I was sitting on the floor at this point and had a handful of different planners in front of me) and asked him, “Which one do you think is cuter?” He started laughing and his laugh was contagious so I started laughing and I told him, “I know, I know but I’m serious.” I don’t remember how things unfolded but we started chopping it up right then and there. We talked about issues pertaining to the Black and Latino community. At some point I remember interrupting him and asked, “Dude, what are you doing here? You’re so smart you should be in school!” That’s when he disclosed some of his personal life history and his struggles growing up in the Bay Area as a young Black brotha. 

I don’t know what compelled me to ask, but I did anyways, “Hey do you know if they’re hiring here?” in which he replied, “Yes we are.” So I asked, “Where’s the manager?” “I am the manager, stop by tomorrow for an interview.” I thanked him, finally picked a planner, went up to the front desk and paid for my shit and walked home. The next day I showed up for my interview, which turned out to be super informal. I’m never going to forget it, “Listen I already knew I was going to hire you, this is just for formalities. You have a great attitude and personality and we could use some of that to change the culture around here. You’re hired.”  LOL I know! Just like that, I ended up landing a job as a cashier at Staples in downtown Berkeley, CA. Who knew me going in there just to buy a planner for school would result in me getting the perfect part-time job that was right across from my place. Talk about convenient. 

The beginning was a little awkward for me. Getting adjusted to this type of work. Again, I had been used to working in a predominantly white and rich community in Southern California and as a grocery bagger at that. But things got better and I quickly befriended the people at my store. Before I knew it, I found myself at Staples quite often hanging out even if I wasn’t on the clock. Eventually I ended up transferring to the Copy and Print Center and that’s when things really took off. You could hear my hyena cackles from across the store. That’s how the “CC Krew & Allies” was born. Some of the funnest, memorable memories I have are with these people. When I got accepted into CUNY, I knew that meant having to say bye (not forevaa) to my homies at (what’s now called) the Print & Marketing Center and at Staples and I would transfer to the Staples that coincidentally enough (or not, maybe it’s just destiny) was going to be right down the street from my new studio. But I wasn’t sure if I would actually go through with the transfer because I just thought about what it would take to build a new family in a different place, and my heart just didn’t want to.

But fast forward to today, August 25th 2017, I made the decision to go through with my transfer  to the Staples out here in Harlem, NY. I thought it was going to be a hassle and it wasn’t. So I take it as a good sign. I’m open to making new family connections out here in the East Coast. I know I got a good job as a researcher for The Safe Return Project back in Richmond, CA (who were so generous to let me work away from Cali), and I am a Research Assistant for a professor for John Jay, but there’s a unique opportunity of familial kinship at Staples. And as far as sustaining myself through grad school, as my mom told me this morning, “Muy bueno hija, para que tengas un poco de dinero extra..” (Translation: “This is good baby girl, you’ll have some extra money coming in). My rent out here is $1,500 a month. I will be spending $115 a month on the train (a.k.a bart for my Bay area folks) for transportation... food.. clothes etc. 

The reality is folks, that for us People of Color, we have to hustle. That’s the name of the game. Nicki Minaj isn’t going to always pay our loans or our college tuition. Drake isn’t going to fund our research so that we don’t have to work. We have to constantly be hustling and grinding to make our educational aspirations a reality. 

And as a working class Woman of Color, I know this game all too well. I’m literally living the “American Dream.” From cleaning houses at the age of five with my mom in the upper echelons of Balboa, CA--to bagging groceries in Newport Beach, CA--to working as a cashier at Staples-- even if not the most glamorous jobs, I am grateful that I was able to make some extra cash for myself so that I didn’t have to financially depend on my parents who slave away each and every day to provide for us. I am proud of the hard work ethic my family has instilled in my brother and I. I am never going to be above taking a job at a place like Staples. In the words of one of good friends and mentees Jesse Ruiz, “Stay hungry, stay humble, & pay your dues!” So if you need a copy, hit yo girl up at the Print & Marketing Center. I got you. 

[sssshhhthefilmsabouttostart]

The best and worst films of 2018

If after watching 112 films teaches you anything, it's that Hollywood will continue to pump out the franchise blockbusters - and audiences will still hand over their cash to see them, no matter how below average or unoriginal they may be.

Cinematically, 2018 was a year that marked the final screen appearances for both Robert Redford (’The Old Man and the Gun’) and Daniel Day-Lewis (’Phantom Thread’), heralded Bradley Cooper’s impressive directorial debut (’A Star Is Born), served up an innovative high-tech thriller (’Searching’) and bestowed the most gob-smacking showdown involving MCU’s greatest heroes and villains (’Avengers: Infinity War’).

It was also a very good year for Netflix loyalists who saw the company release a succession of well received films including ’Annihilation,’ ‘Roma,’ and ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.’

Despite Dirty Harry’s memorable comment that “opinions are like assholes, everybody’s got one,” the films that have made this year’s ‘best list’ have been selected on the basis of the lasting impression they have left on this viewer after the lights have come up and the curtain’s been drawn.

So, what succeeded and what failed?

Ladies and gentlemen, may we please offer for your consideration…

50. THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN

49. INCREDIBLES 2

48. FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL

47. THE POST

46. CHAPPAQUIDDICK

45. RED SPARROW

44. GAME NIGHT

43. DEADPOOL 2

42. BOY ERASED

41. WIDOWS

40. STRONGER     

39. MOLLY’S GAME

38. FAHRENHEIT 11/9  

37. THE DARKEST HOUR

36. FIRST REFORMED

35. A STAR IS BORN

34. ISLE OF DOGS

33. BREATH

32. THE WIFE

31. READY PLAYER ONE

30. BLACK PANTHER

29. WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR

28. BRIGSBY BEAR

27. LADY BIRD

26. SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO

25. BEAUTIFUL BOY

24. PHANTOM THREAD

23. GHOST STORIES

22. FIRST MAN

21. TULLY

20. I, TONYA

19. SUSPIRIA

18. RBG 

17. THE FAVOURITE

16. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY 

15. MANDY

14. BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99 

13. SEARCHING 

12. A QUIET PLACE

11. BLACKKKLANSMAN

10. SWEET COUNTRY

The Australian ‘western’ is a genre all its own, and ‘Sweet Country’ was the finest example of its type. Both Warwick Thornton's direction and Dylan Rivers’ cinematography was outstanding, as were all of the lead acting performances. Shot in both Central and South Australia, ‘Sweet Country’ transcended the genre’s tropes to tell us a quintessentially Australian story, albeit a bloody, brutal and tragic one. 

9. VICE

As with his previous film ‘The Big Short,’ writer/director Adam McKay set aside the clean, colourful look of his comedies (’Anchorman,’ ‘Step Brothers’) in favour of a washed-out, edgy look, with the frequent use of hand-held cameras. The entire ensemble - including Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell and Amy Adams - were all impressive but it was Christian Bale’s skilful and highly effective portrayal of former VP Dick Cheney that deservedly received the kudos from critics everywhere. 

8. THE ENDLESS

Indie filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, wrote, directed and starred in this terrific slow burner about two brothers who decide to revisit their childhood UFO death cult for some closure. Initially, the film’s daunting atmosphere gave the impression that this horror/sci-fi would follow the usual story ‘beats’ that accompany the genre. But after some mind-bending twists, ‘The Endless’ soon switched from being about a crazed cult into something else!

7. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

It’s no secret that Sony’s last few attempts with the character of Spider-Man have been underwhelming to say the least. However, this rousingly entertaining superhero adventure was easily 2018′s most unexpected surprise. The film’s impressive animation was beautiful, fluid and unique, whilst the storyline was both compelling and genuinely funny. What can we say - we finally got the ‘Spider-Man’ movie everybody wanted. It’s OK Sony, we now forgive you for ‘The Emoji Movie.’

6. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Sadly robbed of the Best Picture gong at last year’s Academy Awards, this third movie from award-winning playwright Martin McDonagh (‘In Bruges,’ ‘Seven Psychopaths’) was a dramedy that started with cleverness and wit before opening up into something truthfully human. McDonagh’s screenplay was so good that every single cast member, no matter how little their screen time, gave a great performance.

5. AMERICAN ANIMALS

In this true-crime movie, four bright and well-off college students in Kentucky plot to steal some rare books from their university's Special Collections Library in a misguided quest for personal glory. Written and directed by Bart Layton, ‘American Animals’ cleverly woven script was narrated by the heist's actual participants, bringing a fascinating layer to the proceedings as well as a connection between the characters and audience.

4. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

It may have been the most intense, complex and stirring MCU film yet, but it was as lean as epics get, with none of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time feeling wasted. While the many characters and intersecting plots may have confused casual viewers (it’s assumed audiences are now familiar with all that's come before), for fans, it was one mind-blowing moment after another.

3. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT

Who would have thought that a 20+ year franchise would have been able to deliver one of the most exciting and visceral action films in recent memory? ‘Fallout’ saw the stepping up of both the action and the stakes, with the personal screws tightened on Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the horrible consequences for failure. Love him or hate him, Cruise's performance was lean and focused, whilst Christopher MacQuarrie’s direction was effective and thrilling, always hitting every action beat - dead centre.

2. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Director Lynne Ramsay’s bleak yet effective thriller about a broken and tormented ex-military vigilante (Joaquin Phoenix), who makes a living rescuing kidnapped girls and making the perpetrators violently pay with a hammer, was a dark and twisting journey into one man’s soul. Ramsay's filmmaking powers and script, combined with Phoenix's committed, unadorned performance and Johnny Greenwood's absolutely superb soundtrack, easily delivered one of this year’s most standout movies.

1. HEREDITARY

Although it polarised audiences everywhere, ‘Hereditary’ was a refreshing example of a studio (A24) subverting expectations and the perfect showcase of what horror is capable of when taken seriously.

Even as the film ventured into territory familiar to its genre, writer/director Ari Aster skillfully orchestrated the tension into something that felt like a nightmare straight from hell. What begins as a drama about a family tearing apart with grief, slowly descends into madness and the supernatural. 

Rather than rely on a ‘conveyor belt’ of jump scares strung together with a derivative story which exists purely as a vehicle to deliver those jump scares, ‘Hereditary’ put family drama at the forefront and milked every ounce of dread from the hideous realities of familial cohabitation for what they’re worth. 

Whilst the film’s cinematography, production design and score were all some of the best the horror genre has seen, it was the performances that finally sold ‘Hereditary,’ notably Toni Collette’s tormented turn as a manic mother who is mourning the loss of a parent. 

‘Hereditary’ didn’t just redefine horror - it successfully put its own wicked stamp on the tropes of the genre, and provided audiences everywhere with a truly unsettling experience.

Hail Paimon!

…AND NOW, THE WORST!

20. VENOM

19. THE MEG

18. MILE 22

17. WINCHESTER

16. LIFE OF THE PARTY

15. BLOCKERS

14. SKYSCRAPER

13. THE WEDDING GUEST

12. DEATH WISH

11. BOAR

10. THE NUN

Sadly, this fifth chapter in the ‘Conjuring’ universe was nowhere near as scary, inspired or coherent as its predecessors. The quick onslaught of jump scares, punctuated by sudden noises on the soundtrack, quickly dashed the hopes of viewers who saw the entire exercise as a colossal waste of time (not to mention that the titular character was almost ‘missing’ in her own movie). 

9. THE PREDATOR

This was a prime example as to how you kill a franchise. ‘The Predator’ was so bad, it made both ‘AVP’ movies look like modern day masterpieces. Whilst the acting and storyline were awful, the film suffered from plot holes, the lack of any kind of script, the constant desperate dramatic music featured relentlessly throughout and the forced jokes. Why director Shane Black thought injecting a comedy script into this franchise was a good idea is anyone's guess. 

8. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim Henson and the director of ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ and ‘Muppet Treasure Island,’ somehow thought this juvenile attempt at humour was a good idea. Instead, it did the most offensive thing that a comedy could ever do - it failed to make you laugh. 

7. THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME

This forgettable and redundant comedy, from its tired title to its forced acting and humour, tried desperately to be everything at once and ended up being nothing at all. Given the talent involved, one would have expected some semblance of subtly and finesse to let these strong performers elevate the material as they've been known to in the past. However, when the material was as blunt as a sledgehammer, there wasn’t much anyone could have done. 

6. GRINGO

Despite its polished production values and stellar cast, ‘Gringo’ amounted to an absolute bust. Director Nash Egerton’s unsavoury and amoral comedy of errors qualified as something contrived, convoluted and ultimately incoherent. Crammed with a myriad of ‘madcap’ situations that weren’t even remotely funny or original, this crappy caper failed to keep up with its talented cast who struggled in their portrayal of such unpleasant stereotypes.

5. PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING

CGI vomit. 

4. THE 15:17 TO PARIS

Anybody desperately wanting to watch this train wreck should fast forward the first hour and six minutes. Clint Eastwood’s effort to pay tribute to the three brave men who foiled the 2015 Thalys train attack was a cinematic misfire of epic proportions. The bold step of having the real-life heroes play themselves was a bad call (awkward delivery, mumbled lines), whilst the film also had an underlying Christian/pro-gun/pro-military vibe about it.  

3. ROBIN HOOD

From the over-the-top bow and arrow fights to the bizarre mix of costumes, ‘Robin Hood’ was comparable to Guy Ritchie’s disastrous reimagining of ‘King Arthur,’ only worse. Far worse. This umpteenth version of the legendary heroic outlaw was severely lacking in the entertainment and thrills department, and continued the Hollywood tradition of blockbuster remakes absolutely falling on their arses.

2. ACTION POINT

The ‘Jackass’ films were great, but this dismal wannabe ‘Caddyshack’ or ‘Porky’s’ left audiences longing for the relative artistry and sophistication of the crazy lads’ glory days. ‘Action Point’ was a predictable, exceptionally cheap and humourless affair, a watershed moment in terms of anyone ever bank rolling a feature film for these guys again. RIP gentlemen, it was a fun ride.

1. HOLMES AND WATSON

It’s all elementary as to which film was by far the very worst of 2018.

Everything about ‘Holmes and Watson’ was lazy, incompetent and decidedly unfunny. This shockingly misguided assault of repetitive bad slapstick and terrible writing squandered the remarkable talents of John C. Reilly, Rebecca Hall, Steve Coogan, Kelly Macdonald, Ralph Fiennes and Hugh Lawrie, and saw Will Ferrell give what was easily the worst performance of his entire career.

This was no ‘Step Brothers’ - this was pure, unadulterated garbage. 

[patriotic-american-dude-blog]

I hope no one confuses my patriotism, for nationalism. And, yes, I know the difference.

My intention with this blog, which I have never done before, is to write my story. A story of how I came to be the person I am today.

I like me, a statement I couldn’t always make in honesty. It took me decades to learn to accept me, like me, even appreciate me, as a person. In learning to do so, I also learned to be open and honest with others about me.

So, without any further delay, here begins the tale of me, to the best of my recollection. Yes, the names will be changed to protect the ‘innocent.’

I have an older brother, Bart, born 14 months before me.

My parents had recently separated. My father came over to take my mother out for her birthday in early April, 1966. 9 months later, he came over and took her to the hospital, so she could give birth to me.

(Now, my parents disagree very much as to whether they were ‘together’ or ‘separated’ at the time of my mom’s pregnancy and my birth. I went with my father’s story, because the timing matches up and my mom’s story is based on the premise, “There’s no way I would have a bastard child!!” Keep in mind, my father told me that they weren’t divorced until after I was born, so on that aspect, I believe her.)

I was born in Los Angeles in 1967, sharing a birthday with Richard M. Nixon, ugh. I was a placenta prebia; a dangerous form of pregnancy, where the placenta forms over the cervix. In my case, the placenta was delivered prior to my arrival. In 1967, this usually resulted in the death of the baby and sometimes the mother as well. I was considered a ‘miracle’ baby; a one-in-a-million. Not that I believe my mother saw it that way. To her, at that time, I think she wished I hadn’t made it out alive.

(For clarity, while I don’t think my presence was welcomed as a child, my mother and I are close today, and I feel very welcomed and appreciated by her.)

My name is Eric. Yes, that is my name. I am the ERIC in amERICa. ;-)

My parents disagreed on what name by which I should be known. My mom wanted to name me after my father, while my father wanted to name me after an uncle who had recently passed away (My mom is from a Jewish family and this is very traditional. I believe my father really, really wanted to be accepted by my mom’s father, who was a prominent business owner in Los Angeles. Oh, my father was NOT jewish and his father was a high ranking officer with the Los Angeles Police Department.). In the middle of the night, a nurse brought me to my mother and placed me in her arms, asking, “Have you decided on a name? We really need one for the birth certificate.” My mom reached over to the nightstand and picked up her pack of Erik brand cigarettes, telling the nurse, “Hmmm...just go with Eric, with a ‘c.’ The ‘k’ looks too German.” So, there you have it. I was named after the brand of cigarettes my mom was smoking in the hospital, the night I was born. And, yes, smoking was pretty much allowed everywhere in the 1960s.

Of course, I don’t remember any of that, so we all just have to take it as it is, being as none of it was ever caught on film. My first memory is a very early one. I was a toddler, barely able to walk. My father came over to my grandparents house to show everyone his new motorcycle. I’m not sure why, being as I know he and my mother were definitely divorced by then. I think my father was still attached to the idea that he and my mother would re-unite and that my grandfather would welcome him into the family....Spoiler alert....no, this would never happen....My mom was holding me with one arm, while I was straddling her left hip. My father took my brother for a ride on the motorcycle. When they returned to my maternal grandparents’ home, my father was trying to help my brother slide down off the motorcycle, warning him to be careful of the tailpipe, stating, “Careful that tailpipe is really hot!”

My brother responded, “I know!!” and slid down, burning the inside of his left leg on the tailpipe. It was a bright red burn, which was obviously quite painful for a child, less than 3 years of age. (By the way, my brother was always very tall for his age. If memory serves me correctly, he was 23 inches at birth, and was always the tallest kid in his grade, until the last couple years of high school.). What this means is that I was about a year and a half old. I’ve shared the memory with parents in the past. They were both astonished and remember it well, finding it unbelievable that I could have that memory. Why? Because they both agree that it happened in the summer of 1968, right before my father moved to northern California. So, they figure I was somewhere between 18 and 20 months of age. I know, bizarre, isn’t it? Having a ‘good’ memory was not a ‘good’ thing for me. Trust me, I so often wish I didn’t. I think it would make life much easier, if I could have just forgotten stuff.

My next memory is from a very short time later. But, if interested, you’ll have to wait a short time to read it. I’ll be back tomorrow. :-)